Dead-End (the cd-i's answer to ridge racer graphics)

http://cdii.blogspot.com/2007/03/dead-end-cd-i.html




The summary and pictures provided definitely show some potential...


Lol anyone attend E3 '95 grab any footage of this or test it out?

Heck has anyone else ever heard of this?
Now if only we could get that playble demo.



Also interactive dreams is great.
This guys got a fantasic cd-i blog. The information he digs up never ceases to amaze me.

 

The CD-i's answer seems to be prerendered footage with a car over it, reminds me of the laserdisc racing games of the early 80s...

 

interesting. actually quite a nice concept at first.. too bad they couldn't implement that technology...

 

They have added videos of the game on the same page! NOW THAT looked marvellous, nothing to spare with Ridge racer!

they really had a great concept, too bad they didn't had ebough $ and time to go on on it...

 

I must admit that it's a shame they couldn't pull off the racing game, then it would have been finished. I feel driving constantly at the same speed whilst shooting things doesn't seem as fun.

Oh, and here's that video link:
http://cdii.blogspot.com/2007/03/cd-online-video-preview-of-dead-end-cd.html

 

Hey thanks man. The video of the game definitely is pretty impressive. It really makes me wonder if the game would play well.

Oh well only time will tell. Hopefully a playable demo will somehow find its way to all of us.

 

Looks more like the CDi's answer to Need for Speed on the 3D0 to me.

 

Of course! That's what I was thinking of!

 

I just realised how ironic the game's title is :lol:

 

cheesy, but impressive

 

Thanks for the appreciation of the topic, I really hope we are able to track down some more of it in the future. I wanted to comment on something posted above:

mooseblaster : "I feel driving constantly at the same speed whilst shooting things doesn't seem as fun."

Well, if you read closely, you can find the following: This was made possible by a revolutionary technique called ‘Continuously variable MPEG video frame rates’ developed by Philips Media Los Angeles’ software engineers. What this technique basically did was to slow down and speed up the video stream the CD-i player would play, based on the player’s commands (accelerating and braking).

So if Philips was able to pull it, this would have been a revolutionay technique on CD-i. The variable framerate we've never seen in any CD-i title. Only Lost Boys took over the Seamless Branching technique (so MPEG files could be connected and played without a delay) and implemented in another FMV Shooter/Racer: The Lost Ride (click here}

 

Definately.

That was a pretty strange video if I dont say so myself. ;-)
Looks awesome though. Tis' a shame...
(I have too, I just have too..... 100th post... woo. ok.)

 

I cant find the damn video...

Anyway, prerendered? that sounds like MegaRace to me.

 

Its right here

http://cdii.blogspot.com/2007/03/cd-online-video-preview-of-dead-end-cd.html

 

Yep, that was my thought also. The CD-I excelled at video, and almost nothing else.

 

Saying that Railfan on the PS3 uses the same method, although it uses more processing power to make it look right at most speeds.

 

That's perhaps also the only reason why Dead End has some special notice. The way how they implemented a variable framerate function of MPEG1 coded video was very innovative. It's amazing how they can do so much with so little hardware. Pushing a console to its limits, the more the better.

 

The sad thing is that today real-time racing games look way better and more realistic than that...

 

That's not sad.... Umm I think thats just technology advancing.

 

Anyone ever see the infomercials for the CDI? So funny seeing the hosts trying to sell the CDI with footage of Zelda and other crappy games.