Page 1 of 1

Fan asks for "Philips CD-i Classic Mini", Philips answers: "We will try our best"

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 11:59 am
by Bas
"Right then, @Philips, it's time" - Chris Scullion asks on twitter. These retro classic mini consoles are a major success. If Nintendo, Sega, SNK and now Sony can do it: Why can't Philips release a CD-i Classic? He even made an add for it. Amazingly, what I didn't expect, was the answer of Philips:

"Thank you very much for reminding us of the Philips CD-i! We appreciate the thought of a smaller, classic version of one of our legacy devices. :)" (@PhilipsCare)

"We will try our best to fulfil your dreams and release something you suggest, but cannot promise anything yet. Please be a bit patient and stay tuned. Thank you in advance. " (@PhilipsCare)

I'm sure the idea that Philips would actually release a Classic Mini version of their CD-i would be more than awesome, but let's face it: It's not going to happen:

-Philips sold their Philips Media business to various parties, they do not own the licenses of all the games anymore (I'm not even sure if they own the license of their CD-i system)

-Philips is totally devoted to medical systems, they don't have any manufacturing capacity to produce their own consumer electronics anymore.

-No fully functional emulator is available and I'd guess the games would run through emulation, right?

Please convince me I'm wrong, I'd love to see a Philips CD-i Classic Mini!

@InteractiveDreams

Re: Fan asks for "Philips CD-i Classic Mini", Philips answers: "We will try our best"

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 2:21 pm
by cdifan
It is unclear who currently owns the licenses to the games, many appear to have been sold separately by Atari or its parent companies in recent years. Of course, it depends exactly what rights were sold...

I think Philips does still have software licenses for CD-RTOS, which is really all they need if they go the emulation route. They also own a few patents on the CD-i system itself.

Manufacturing is easily outsourced, as you can see from the many kickstarter and similar projects producing multimedia gadgets.

No *fully* functional emulator exists, true. But a Classic CD-i box does not necessarily have to play any CD-i title, in fact it probably won't as that would only encourage more (illegal) downloading. If you bundle a selection of titles then it is possible to make those work well...

Re: Fan asks for "Philips CD-i Classic Mini", Philips answers: "We will try our best"

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:32 pm
by Alan_Eng
I wonder if, by releasing this mini version, it could re-invigorate interest in CD-I? Do Philips realise I wonder just how popular CD-I still is? :)