IDE connectivity to 3DO.
Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:18 pm
The guys over at the Freedo reckon they have drawn up the blueprints for a device that will allow an Panasonic FZ-1 to connect to an IDE drive. However, they have a catch 22 situation.
The basic upshot is they need a lot of pre-orders and deposits to make the project viable. The more they sell, the lower the price. The fewer they sell the higher the price. I'm sure you can see the problem. The other problem is that they haven't promoted it a lot.
Any suggestions?
I've thought of setting up a pre-order deposit scheme. The target would be 100 per-orders. People would pay a deposit on the understanding that if, in 1 year, there are not 100 pre-orders they get their cash back, however, with a 100 preorders the price for the device can be guaranteed and it'll be lower than say if just 20 of us want to buy one.
It doesn't fall into the standard business model and it sort of means the buyers would also have to be the sellers. It would be a community model. Of cause the more people that think its a good idea - the more demand, the more the need for supply. And things get back to normal.
What is the demand?
One benefit would be rarity. A similar device for the Jaguar, known as Catnip, now commands silly prices on the open market. As does games like BattleSphere on the Jaguar. This homebrew hardware adds a collectors value to the device - which obviously has a plus side for owners and collectors of video game rarities.
Benefits of the device would be the problems of lens wear. The 3DOs CD lens does have a finite life span, as does the NVRAM. Now it is purely speculation on my part but the addition of a Harddisk could mean Linux on the machine, it could mean a whole load of homebrew utilities and a lot of possibilities after that. Remember, the MS Xbox owes more than just a thank you to the addition of standard IDE drive to the inside its casing - the 3DO Multiplayer could also benefit in a similar way.
...
it's a tricky problem. Any thoughts...?
The basic upshot is they need a lot of pre-orders and deposits to make the project viable. The more they sell, the lower the price. The fewer they sell the higher the price. I'm sure you can see the problem. The other problem is that they haven't promoted it a lot.
Any suggestions?
I've thought of setting up a pre-order deposit scheme. The target would be 100 per-orders. People would pay a deposit on the understanding that if, in 1 year, there are not 100 pre-orders they get their cash back, however, with a 100 preorders the price for the device can be guaranteed and it'll be lower than say if just 20 of us want to buy one.
It doesn't fall into the standard business model and it sort of means the buyers would also have to be the sellers. It would be a community model. Of cause the more people that think its a good idea - the more demand, the more the need for supply. And things get back to normal.
What is the demand?
One benefit would be rarity. A similar device for the Jaguar, known as Catnip, now commands silly prices on the open market. As does games like BattleSphere on the Jaguar. This homebrew hardware adds a collectors value to the device - which obviously has a plus side for owners and collectors of video game rarities.
Benefits of the device would be the problems of lens wear. The 3DOs CD lens does have a finite life span, as does the NVRAM. Now it is purely speculation on my part but the addition of a Harddisk could mean Linux on the machine, it could mean a whole load of homebrew utilities and a lot of possibilities after that. Remember, the MS Xbox owes more than just a thank you to the addition of standard IDE drive to the inside its casing - the 3DO Multiplayer could also benefit in a similar way.
...
it's a tricky problem. Any thoughts...?