CD-i 180/181/182 for authoring and development

This was Philips' all time first basic configuration model CD-i system. Developed in a joint venture in 1988 by Philips and Japanese Kyocera for Philips America. Not many were sold in the Netherlands, these cd-i players are very hard to find. Some employees of Philips took this home to work with it. The CDI 18x system was modular, only the CD drive CDI 180 with caddy-loader and the MultiMedia Controller (MMC CDI 181) were needed to operate.

The CD-I 182 module could be added for authoring purposes, featuring two floppy disk drives, SCSI and parallel ports and an additional 1 MB of RAM. The system could not be extended with a Digital Video cartridge.



This CD-I system works on 120 Volts - 60 Hz (Japan) and even it can play on Pal television using the lines-switch (525/625) at the backside. To get it to work, there must be a 120V to 220 Volts convertor for the Netherlands. And that's easily done in getting a 220/380 Volts transformer. Connect 220 Volts to the 380 Volts side of the transformer, in getting 110 Volts from the 220 Volts side of the transformer. No problems with 60Hz.

This modular system was designed as a low-cost editing platform for multimedia programs. It has an integrated graphical user interface, a navigator software package (like CD-i Paint, Sequence editor, Menu editor) for creation of title prototypes. It reads MS DOS formatted floppies!

Thanks to this Philips virtual museum

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Scramble CD-i prototype, by The Vision Factory

The SPC Vision crew first mentioned this to us sometime ago when I rather presumed he'd mistaken it for an already released game on one of the Golden Oldies Volumes. However it turns out that this was dropped from any release. Shame, it looked kinda good! I have to admit they have me at a disadvantage because i'm not familiar with the original Scramble that this would be a clone from. More than the screenshot above is nowhere available anymore, but it's Scramble on CD-i! It never got a fancy name like the others... I guess they knew that the game wouldn't be included. It was a shame, because I remember some people were real enthusiastic about it. I liked Guardian alot and thought the effects of the ship blowing apart were particularly impressive by CD-i standards. With shrapnel rebounding off the planets surface as shards hit the ground. The attention to accuracy was nice as well, when the ship blew up in free space the shards just drifted apart in all directions! Cute little animations all round, it looked like Scramble would get the same kind of treatment and it looks like a perfect alternative for the lost Space Ranger CD-i prototype as well! And do you remember Breaker, another CD-i prototype by The Vision Factory (aka SPC Vision)!

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Piracy and hacking make CD-i a cult hit

After 20 years, CD-i is getting slowly more popular thanks to the emulation scene. There are less people who look on Interactive Dreams to dig up old memories from their CD-i youth and there are more people looking here for illegal downloads of game iso files and a hacked CD-i Emulator. Following several forums shows both exist on the Internet. I suppose it's a good thing because it's the only way for CD-i to attract new people: New visitors dislike to play CD-i on their HD television, which apparently doesn't give a pretty picture. From our developers point of view, you'll never find here any links to illegal downloads, but I won't deny it's easy to find using google. cdifan: "I am aware of the illegal copy of CD-i Emulator that is floating around. The site still gets several failed activation attempts every day I won't discuss this any further except to say that it is a hacked version of an unlimited edition binary that I actually sold to someone". Our stats shows hundreds of people looking for the games, and it's increasing every month. By far the Nintendo licensed CD-i games are popular to you: Hotel Mario and Zelda's Adventure are on may peoples' wishlist according to Google's keywords. A surprising and increasing interest in our lost obscure multimedia format: Enjoy CD-i, and if you like it, you may consider supporting the CD-i scene so more releases like Frog Feast and CD-i Emulator will arrive!

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CD-i Emulator: no major updates since the 2005 launch

Coming up on its 3-year birthday, the compatibility of CD-i Emulator is still quite limited. The author about this issue: "I haven't invested much time in this; I feel the functional holes are still too large. When DV emulation is in somewhat decent working order (meaning it supports at least simple continuous play) and the pointing device support is in better shape (this includes the much-wanted keyboard support), I'll add some checkpoint/tracing functionality and then the serious compatibility work can start. So far I've only fixed a few generic problems and worked around one or two title bugs (mostly null pointer errors or some variant thereof). If somebody with relevant knowledge (preferably a CD-i developer himself) wants in, I'd be willing to discuss this. So far it hasn't happened; It wouldn't necessary need to be an "old" CD-i developer; cdoty (who is the creator of homebrew games on CD-i) has proved that it is quite possible to bring yourself up to speed on the platform even now. I'd certainly be supportive of such an endeavor. Perhaps somebody feels motivated by this? "

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Community: "CD-i Emulator open-source?"

Three years have passed since we bought CD-i Emulator and we all know there have been no update available since then. Thankfully cdifan actively posts on the CD-i Emulator Support Forum and responds to any questions asked about the CD-i Emulator. We all agree cdifan is a godsend to the cd-i community so that's why I feel the issue "CD-i Emulator going open-source" is sensitive. However, the discussions are rising because there are people interested to dive into the project as well. As we all want more updates and compatibility, I want to discuss the reasons behind it, because it was cdifan himself who posted the following words one year ago: "I still stand by what I said in 2005: the sources will be released at some point, but that point hasn't been reached yet. Of course, things have taken a year or two more then I originally expected..."

cdifan: "Releasing the source to CD-i Emulator is entirely possible, there are no legal or other issues preventing it except that I'm (still) of the opinion that it wouldn't contribute anything to my goals of the venture. And before you ask, these goals do not include making money as a concern of any significance. A few days of regular work earns me more then I ever got from selling CD-i Emulator. What exactly would [people] do (or expect others to do) with those sources? Please note that providing a full edition binary for free was discussed (in small circle) and considered unadvisable, months before the public release in 2005. To date I have seen no indications that this decision was wrong; every petulant whine I see (into which category I do not consider your posting to be), here or in other fora, actually supports the original reasoning."

First, I think we have to figure in the obscurity of the system, and available emulators. To date, this is by far the most complete emulator for the CD-I. No one in their right mind would stick with CD-Ice because it's free. And from a developer's point of view, the extra features are well worh the money. cdifan about the limited version of CD-i Emulator: "I am still quite satisfied with the price point. Anybody seriously interested will not find it a problem, and more then halving it like you suggest would make it feel "cheap" to me. The little extra money it might bring in (but that would mean at least doubling the sales, which I think is unlikely to happen) isn't worth that to me. I don't think the time limit is hurting. It allows you to do a reasonable evaluation of the program; three minutes is plenty of time to evaluate how a particular CD-i game works with the emulator, which is really the point. I rather thought it would be just enough to get you hooked into a level, so you'd really have motivation to get an unlimited edition!"

Most of you believe the project is dead as you've not heard anything for a while now. You remember how long it took for the first version to arrive? Years! I wouldn't exclude any possibility that cdifan will surprise us with his developments soon, but I'm sure that when kids question him and the emulator all the time, it doesn't help at all. As far as we're all concerned, CD-i Emulator is under development. But there are other opinions. Merijn: "Let me first say that it is all CDi fan's decision and rights to do whatever he wants to with the emulator. If he does not wish for it to be open source, then so be it. However, just like you say Bas, it took years for him alone to develop the emulator. Coming up on its 3-year birthday, the compatibility is still quite limited. Which is the main reason why even I myself haven't bought it yet. If money is not the issue, then why not try to create a community of developers for the emulator. It could still be a closed community, where you would have to apply to become a member, prove your merits and all (so as to keep the kids who want it for free out), but then at least it could perhaps take some of the burden Off CDIfan, and make for more updates). Again, it's CDIfan's decision, but it's still worth discussing."

The project is not abandoned as such, but he took a well deserved break from the project. I'm sure when the time is right there will be an update, but I believe cdifan has a lot on his mind now (his own baby!). Last year cdifan has been helping Charles Doty with getting Frog Feast running on CD-i Emulator and this has caused some small changes in CD-i Emulator (which nobody can see yet because they haven't been distributed). cdifan: "Actual development is still mostly stalled; still waiting for available time to restart full-bore development... Anyway, it *is* possible to emulate CD-i titles with only a small amount of exact hardware emulation; you would replace it with exact *software* emulation instead. This is what CD-Ice did, but in my opinion it is *more* work then the exact hardware emulation route. The main advantage of the technique would be that no system ROM images are needed. To do this, you would not need to reverse-engineer the exact details of hardware like I've been doing; the Green Book specifications of the system APIs should be enough."

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Soundtrack of Kingdom: Shadoan on CD-i

Who would have thought a computer game song would have hit the top ten in 1995. It is excellence like that and an eye to detail that may make Rick Dyer’s dream of producing a breakthrough fantasy adventure using traditional animation techniques a reality. The Shadoan musical soundtrack was composed in New York by Martin Erskin and Andy Brick as well as Doug and Brian Besterman - all Disney musicians well-respected for their award-winning contributions to film classics. Julie Eisenhower, related to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, earned the lead singing honors. Shadoan is a fantasy adventure game that is available on PC platforms through Interplay Inc. Canadian-based ReadySoft Inc. produced Shadoan versions for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, and Philips Media has produced a version of Shadoan for their Philips CD-i platform. Shadoan features more than 70,000 hand-painted cels of animation, a musical score arranged by the same composers who scored Hollywood blockbusters such as Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast. Below you'll find the soundtrack video, originally brought to us by Le Monde du CD-i.



Music video thanks to Omegalfa. Additional info by The Computer Show.

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Philips released the CD-i 740 in 1996, the most advanced CD-i player ever made

When Philips decided to discontinue their CD-i business, they still released one of the best CD-i players in 1996. The Philips CD-i 740 player was the very last CD-i player to be released by Philips. Perhaps one of the more rare players of Philips, the CD-I 740 is the most advanced consumer CD-i player ever made. Featured an RS232-port alongside with two seperate ports for input devices. Had extensive controls for playing of CD-Audio at the front of the player. Build-in Incorporated Digital Video. Only available in a very limited edition. When they appear on eBay it is regularly sold for over 50 euros a piece. The player itself is 43.5 cm width in a design that fits other Philips audio/video products like the FR751/752, DCC600/730 ,CD751 player etc. In this version they put both controller ports at the front of the player (I never understood why other players had their second port at the back of the player!). Below you'll find a few pictures to remember it.





(pictures are very rare to find, I would like it a lot if you can help me to find more pictures!)

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Brain Dead 13: CD-i video footage

After the initial success of Dragon's Lair creating the Full Motion Video Adventure genre for video games its successor and spin-offs including Space Ace offered little innovation to the gameplay. As a late arrival Brain Dead 13 reworked the genre with a simple refreshing approach, infinite lives and multiple ways to die! This addition to the games mechanic removed the frustration typically associated with these games and served up a fun and varied gaming experience. See the video below for a few examples of the multiple deaths and resurrections inflicted upon the games hero Lance Galahad pushing the boundaries of cartoon violence to the limit! Although it is still the same point or click type of a game the multiple death and resurrection screens makes it more varied than its counterparts without a doubt. The video below was originally posted by Le Monde du CD-i, a french CD-i website which has been offline since October 2007. Let's all hope their team (Omegalfa recently visited us again, so he's still in touch) will put it online again soon!



Thanks to Omegalfa from Le Monde du CD-i

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There are two versions of "The 7th Guest" on CD-i

After Philips released the 4xx series of CD-i players it turned out "The 7th Guest" didn't play on it. It crashes when a puzzle was loaded, while the 2xx series did play fine. So in 1995, Philips had to rebuild the disc, and a new version came out eventually. Interactive Dreams reported this earlier. The new version was released in a video cd jewelcase. I hardly see any of these anymore, I guess the majority is of the first batch. However, the case is a very bad way to tell what version it is. The jewel cases get broken a lot, so a lot of people replaced the box. XCLTempesT investigated every "The 7th Guest" disc he owned and he reported a remarkable difference. XCLTempesT: "If I look at the number at the center of the disc I get 8110033V113 and on others 8110033V203. Not all v203 discs come in VIDEOCD cases (2 out of 3 do) and not all V113 discs had CD-I printed on the case (1 out of 11 came in a videoCD case, but the previous owner may have switched the case, I don't know) I own 15 copies of the 7th Guest, 1 US title (a different pressing so no number) 11 discs are marked v113 discs (1 UK, 10 Dutch), and 3 are V203 discs (Dutch). So if this is a representative group, that would mean 1 in 5 discs are V203."

Personally I also changed my patched version into a CD-i case, because it's no VideoCD! The first version of The 7th Guest hangs when trying to start the first cake puzzle. It's basically the very first puzzle you enter when playing the game. The intro plays fine, the menu works fine. So you enter the dining room (left door from the start entrance) en you watch the cut-scene. After that, you click on the cake when the cursor changes in a skeleton. At this point the system hangs. The new patched version doesn't. I only have the new version. Mine is a V203, so that could be true!

But XCLTempesT did a quick test with one v113 and one v203 on a cdi-450/00 and on a CDi470/00 player. "All discs worked without any problem, I could play the puzzle normally. I tried it on a CDi-220/60 and on a CDi-370/00 player, both work without any problems. I checked both discs using iso buster, and they are (a little bit) different. The only file that has a different date (and size) is the "cdi_t7g" file on the disc. On the v113 discs it is 153600 Bytes with date 29-3-1994, on the v203 discs it is 151422 Bytes with date 1-3-1996. There seem to be only these 2 versions. the US disc I have has identical file sizes and dates as the v113 discs. Also the dates of the files suggest the game wasn't released for cd-i in 1993 at all, but in fact it was 1994 (probably April or May )."

In the end, we still don't know the exact size of this compatibility problem with "The 7th Guest" on CD-i. The different versions and dates still hint at the identification of a patched disc, but we need more testing to conclude which version hangs on which type of CD-i player!

Thanks to XCLTempesT for his tests with this game on various players!

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CD-i video capturing: CD-i PAL is not really a PAL signal

Does anyone has some experience with capturing video from a cd-i player? (And I don't mean filming the television screen with a video camera, or using cd-i emulator or something... ). RDJNL recently posted some interesting results now he bought a device with RCA and S-Video input connections which connects to his computer via USB. That could mean videos are coming up at his own CD-i website: CD-i is Great! Anyway, there are still some problems. RDJNL: "I connected my cd-i player to it. I tried a few different freeware / shareware video capturing software tools and several cd-i games, but I couldn't get it to work... Until I tried 'The 7th Guest'. The strange this is, I can't capture or preview the cd-i start up screen nor the bumpers, but when the actual game starts, it suddenly does work. I wonder why. Is there anything special with this game? What other games are likely to work? Why don't they all work? What can i do, if anything, to get them all working? Why can't I capture the cd-i startup screen? By the way, I also connected my Playstation 2, and capturing works. Is there some difference in input signal or something?

Broadcast studio technicians have told cdifan that the video output signal from a CD-i player (well, at least a 605) is nowhere near the PAL standard. To get it suitable for broadcasting required interposing a frame store. This is a device that "captures" video frames digitally and then encodes them back out into a video signal, usually used for frame rate conversions. For the 7th guest issue, my guess would be that the DV cartridge has its own video generator that kicks in when MPEG starts playing. Perhaps the same thing happen with other DV titles. It could also be that the video output is switched to interlaced (this is normally off) which causes a subtle difference in the timing of the sync signals. Also, white-book capable DV cartridges (all except the very oldest ones) will switch video timing when a video-cd (or something that seems like one) starts playing, but The 7th Guest doesn't trigger this unless they've used very low-level trickery (there is no API call to do the switching). Also it might vary between types, as each Digital Video Cartridge has different video connections: the large cartridge use an analog video signal, the small one uses a digital one.

"The home screen of a lot of CDi players doesn't output PAL 50 Hz . I believe it is more or less PAL 60Hz. Any normal PAL TV can handle PAL-60, but a lot of capture cards/devices cannot (sometimes because of software settings, and sometimes it is a hardware problem)", according to XCLTempesT.

More when it develops.

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Whack-a-Bubble: an Arkanoid clone on CD-i

We present you: a CD-i review by Tom Lenting! "Whack-a-Bubble is a colorful but poor looking Arkanoid clone; Arkanoid is Break Out with the ability to shoot the bricks. The bricks have been replaced by bubbles. Though colorful the graphics are plain and a little pixelated. The sound is alright with a suiting relaxing melody than didn't get on my nerves too rapidly. The control works fine, but the gameplay doesn't offer anything more than you can find in common freeware, shareware or even online Flash-games. Besides the regular 'arcade challenge', there are some additional options like three difficulty settings, beat the clock and your high scores are saved in a nice overview. It is also possible to play the game with two players in 'head 2 head'."



I have to add that I don't agree with his score and arguments. For one, this was available as a budget title for 10 euro's, a small detail Tom seems to forget. Personally I find Whack-a-Bubble a very rare and nice two-player game which plays a bit like Pac-Panic. I admit, Whack-a-Bubble is not as polished as Philips' Pac-Panic, but it definately has its charme. Want to know a little about the history of the developers behind Whack-a-Bubble? Read our story here. More of Tom's review? Read here!

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Family Games: DIMA wants casual gamer (c)

Gir is still busy with other things although he keeps on telling the CD-i Collective will return early 2008. When time permits a new wing at CDinteractive will be dedicated to Gir, but for the time being, let's revisit on of the classic reviews that CD-i Collective had to offer. This time: Family Games! Gir: "You know, its always been a vice of mine to collect demo and sampler cds. I always found it incredibly interesting since the first ones appeared on the TG-16 and 3DO. Its not because I'm cheap and don't want to buy the whole game, more its to see the games as they would be BEFORE release.3DO's PO'ed samples are the best example of a game in progress. This title is what that seems like to me, samples of ideas, and works in progress. Not bad, but not good either.


The case can be made that FAMILY GAMES I is just what the naime implies, tame games that the family can enjoy. Which indeed they are. BUT... the case can also be made that had a few of these titles seen a bit more development, they might have seen release as titles on their own.

But that's just my blue-skying again. As it is though, there is some fun to be had in this title. A loose assortment of games of varying genres, really a bit of something for everyone. Starting with the stuff for the youngsters, theres an art pad type game, best used with the roller controler or mouse. Then theres WIZARD, a more high definition look to PONG, with a medival theme. A memory game called WHERES THAT SOUND, again, break out the mouse or the roller controler for best results. SUPER SLIDE, a tiles & pictures game, and CAPTAIN ALPHABET. All of which are fine in visual appearance, and seem to control well. Just don't expect alot from them.





Stepping up to the older generations, we have games like FULL ATTACK, which is actually a pretty nice shooter in the R-TYPE or SCRAMBLE vein. This is one of the titles, that given some more development, more cinematics and storyline, could have made it into its own title. I think this is an older project that was just abandonded, and later used in this title. Nice controls, and very good graphics.

Then theres Morphon Invasion, a chessy rip-off of the Atari 2600 classic MEGAMANIA, with a psycho-circus theme throwin in for some odd- reason. Gameplay in this one is kind of harsh as many of the enemies need to be killed before you ever see them on screen. This is due mostly to the odd nessessity to frame the entire screen with the psycho clown. (see below). Not much fun to be had.





If I could say they fixed anything in this one from the Micro Machines engine, it would be that annoying screen jitter & jerk. It's actually pretty much non-existent. A real plus to the smooth scrolling nessessary in a racer of this sort. Saddly, the control being so oddly proportioned, it makes it less noticable, as on more complex levels, it can be hard to get up to much speed at all.

One odd note, they made no attempt to use the onboard storage in the machine, rather all games are saved via password. Very unusual. But then again, it just adds to the overall "rushed" feeling the game gives.

JOKISAN'S ADVENTURE plays alot like the classic TUTANKAM for the old arcades. Run around in a maze, avoid the odd baddies and pick up alot of stuff. Almost Zelda-ish in initial feel, but not much more than a speedy action title. Control, even with the four button pad is hit and miss. Kind of feels mushy, at points, and other times, too tight.





SKID KART, is and attempt to cross-breed PAC-MAN and RALLY CROSS. While intresting in theory, it has died in execution. What you're left with is a moderately intresting title with a mediocre graphics, poor AI, weird sounds (no car sound again, but at least sounds for the pickups), and moderate controls.

HOT ROCKS, an attempt at a cross breed of ASTEROIDS and MISSLE COMMAND, but in 3-D. Kind of a neat idea, but needs a story to give some kind of drive to it. Control is pretty good, button 2 cycles between the 4 views your gun can fire in. Great if you hook up the mouse, but it'd be better with some sort of objective.As it is, its a good time waster. But not much above that.

There are a few more titles on this one, but nothing worth too much mention. Its a good title to sample game ideas, and play around with some classic arcade clones.

Content property of: Gir Draxa from the lost CD-i Collective (hopefully back soon) - Screens taken by Le Monde du CD-i (also offline these days *sigh*)

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Philips never wanted to compete with Nintendo or Sega

While Philips did dabble with the idea of expanding into the edutainment market, there was never a presumption that they would compete with Nintendo or Sega. At best there was the idea of competing with the 3DO as a multi-media appliance (or as Pioneer called it, "in­teractive home-entertainment system") in the high-end market, and a limited number of games were presented at tradeshows to round out the platform library. This was a way to sell their video platform to the affluent A/V consumer by adding the pitch that their video system is better because your children can use it for their entertainment as well. In 1995 the home entertainment market was very segmented with multiple stratas of competition. While it's easy in hindsight to blanket them all into the "video game market", as vertical market players, in reality they were horizontal market players that crossed into the space to increase their feature lists.

These catagories of systems were generally never even marketed on the whole as game machines. They were attempts at driving a home video format/player when it was preceived that the killer application to sell your video player was including the ability to do other things than play movies. Pioneer attempted to enter this market as well with the model CLD-A100 LaserDisc player which had Genesis/PC Engine AND karaoke expansion capabilities. But even then, that system was marketed as a LaserDisc player with these extra enhanced features. The Nuon was originally planned as an enhanced DVD player that *also* played games and would eventually have internet access. The Pippen was a home Internet appliance that *also* played games. Even my Palm Pilot plays games but that doesn't make it a game machine.

In 1995 the replacement for VHS was the killer application everyone was searching for. Everyone wanted to show you how great a movie looked on their player first followed by "oh and by the way it will play games too!" But that didn't make any of these systems video game consoles.

Personally I think that it's questionable having CD-i in the "computer video games" comparison listings, and at best it should have it's own side catagory.

By: Bcripster

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