New products stars of Consumer Electronics Show - Summer Consumer Electronics Show, Chicago, Illinois

Discount Store News, June 21, 1993 by Pete Hisey

CHICAGO - The latest version of the Summer Consumer Electronics Show was stripped-down - and more focussed on the emerging technologies transforming the industry. Held earlier this month, the show was lively and chock-full of new and eminently saleable products.

The show's emphasis has shifted from traditional CE, like televisions and VCRs, to the emerging confluence of computer, video and audio technology. Interactive entertainment, including standalones like CD-I and 3DO and computer platform technologies like CD-ROM, were the stars.

Tandy and Casio teamed up to beat Apple to the punch in the emerging personal digital assistant category, as the two introduced Zoomer, a penbased pocket organizer and communicator. Zoomer is due on the market this summer, at about $700, a price that should decline quickly. It combines all the features of Apple's Newton and is actually in production.

The battle between competing interactive CD platforms - most notably CD-I and 3DO - is heating up. Philips relaunched its CD-I (Compact Disc Interactive) product, which first appeared about 18 months ago at about $1,000. Today, supported by more than 100 software titles, the platform has been augmented by a full-motion video accessory that will allow users to purchase full-length movies on CD. In demos, the sound and picture quality were superb, and Paramount has already announced support for the platform, with-50 hit movies-like Top Gun due this fall. Other titles on the way include rock videos, Playboy programming interactive adult-oriented movies and animated favorites.

Philips also debuted the first interactive music CD, a title by rock singer and composer Todd Rundgren that will supplement his Forward release, No World Order Rundgren is so taken with the technology that he has renamed himself TR-I (Todd Rundgren Interactive) for the project. The CD-I version features a full menu of listener options, remixes of each cut by five different producers, and literally millions of possible song constructions. Rundgren estimated that a listener, using all available options, could listen 24 hours a day well into the next century before repeating a combination.

Newcomer 3DO sees its advantage in a similar technology in terms of its marketing clout, with giants like AT&T and Matsushita (through subsidiary Panasonic) supporting the product, and more than 300 software developers writing titles for the platform. The first player was available from Panasonic, and some original software titles are near completion. Among them are Crystal Dynamics' Crash'n Burn, a car race gaine with stunning visual effects and Total Eclipse, a space war title with 3-D effects. Sanctuary Woods, a Canadian developer and publisher, will have several children's and family titles as well.

The latter is a key trend in the industry. While traditional game-playing platforms like Nintendo and Sega have made a killing, primarily by appealing to core male teenage gamers, development in emerging interactive platforms is emphasizing appeal to the entire family.

On one hand, developers like Sanctuary Woods will publish titles only if they're free of gratuitous violence, according to company president Scott Walchek. Hi-Tech Expressions' "kid-approved and parent-accepted" titles stress cooperation, strategic thinking and humor. At the other extreme are R-rated game-movies like CD-I's Voyeur, aimed at adults.

The emphasis throughout the industry is providing programming that will appeal to all market niches. IBM and Disney announced an agreement that will bundle 11 Disney software titles with mass market IBM PCs for a nominal add-on charge of about $15, with the aim of attracting the family buyer. In a similar vein, Disney, Sega and Virgin teamed up to produce the Aladdin video game, featuring animation nearly up to film standards, as well as compelling play and a liberal dose of humor.

The Sega/Nintendo war continues unabated, with each sniping at the other, again concerning family orientation. Sega announced shortly before the show that it would put ratings on its games to warn parents of violence and adult situations; Nintendo shot back that its games don't need ratings because they're pre-screened for violence. The latter is debatable, but it's clear that some gaines are pushing the edge: parent reaction is inevitable.

Sega showed its first version of virtual reality games, which vp Paul Rioux said was only about 30% completed. In its present form, it's a neat effect and not much else.

The company is rapidly rolling out software for its Sega CD platform, which has been reduced in both size and price. About 70 titles will be available by Christmas, and Rioux said that the company expects to sell one million hardware units by year-end. The company's Activator, a ring in which the player stands and becomes, in effect, a body-controller, has met with good consumer reaction, Rioux said, and more peripherals are on the way. Rioux added that while Sega will continue to cater to its core gamer audience, its long-term strategy is to get the whole family involved, introduce "edutainment" titles that will "trick a kid into learning something," and find ways to promote to the female gamer, who at present plays games, but almost never purchases.