A truly forgotten console: the Apple Pippin
- Thread starter Prospero
- Start date
Late Stage Marxist
Member
Never heard of it. 95-96 was about the time I stopped reading comic books and EGM and started getting heavily interested in music, so I completely missed it.
After looking at some more of the marketing material, I don't know if the console was ahead of its time, terribly conceived, or a mixture of both. (Though 1995-1996 was around the time when Apple's upper management was crap, if I remember my Apple corporate history well enough. Spindler? Wasn't he the CEO then?).
From a Pippin FAQ that was apparently released by Apple:
From a Pippin FAQ that was apparently released by Apple:
ironichaos
Member
Look at those buttons. It's just like a PC. It even has the binary 1 in 0 power button.
Pippin? Is that an acronym for something? Crazy Apple.
Nintendo and Apple should partner and release the Pippin Longstocking 2.
Pippin? Is that an acronym for something? Crazy Apple.
Nintendo and Apple should partner and release the Pippin Longstocking 2.
ironichaos said:
That reminds me of what I said the first time I saw an Xbox. And, oddly enough, a (much more advanced) version of the PowerPC chip in the Pippin now runs the Gamecube.
Pippin is a kind of apple, just like MacIntosh (I think Pippins are greenish). Maybe the console would have sold better if it had been called Red Delicious.
FortNinety
Member
I've known about this system from day one. And since then, I've yet to see a screen shot. I'm most interesting in seeing the system's version of the Mac OS.
Mr. Lemming
Member
This console was 'almost' Bungie's console debut with Super Marathon. Never was released though as far as I know.
Here's a Pippin Dev Kit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=171&item=5143313522&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=171&item=5143313522&rd=1
Matlock said:
Why is it that people think Apple machines don't have any games? There's obviously far less titles released on current Macs than PCs, but it isn't like Macs are devoid of games either. You don't see reviews of Mac games on major gaming sites, but there's plenty of Mac gaming sites out there.
FortNinety
Member
tedtropy said:Bah, you know you want to get your hands on Apple Puzzle, Apple Puzzle II, Apple Puzzle II Hyber Turbo Puzzlin'...and...um...Photoshop?
To think... we're missing out on Adobe vs Capcom.
Gaussian Blur vs Ryu. FIGHT!
found some screens of the racing day game:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...ng+days+pippin&hl=en&start=6&client=firefox-a
too late, :-(
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cach...ng+days+pippin&hl=en&start=6&client=firefox-a
too late, :-(
Goodcow, there was a Dragonball Z game released for the system. What I want to know is if that means those game made it Stateside, which would be several years before the manga and anime did. I remember seeing pics of the game in magazines that appeared to be anime stills, so I think the game was FMV-based.
EDIT: Wow, it got a racing game and a Gundam game too.
Well smartass, I have a PC now and don't keep up with Mac gaming, but it appears that the next few releases are The Incredibles, WoW, Rainbow Six 3 Athena Sword, and first KOTOR. Mac gaming is generally months behind PC gaming, save for Blizzard's games. Doom 3 just got announced for release early next year.
I am curious if Half-Life 2 will see Mac release...would Valve bother making Steam for Mac, or would they just let it be ported and released by another company? (Half-Life 1 and Counter-Strike NEVER saw a Mac release, which I never understood given how massively popular those games were)
EDIT: Wow, it got a racing game and a Gundam game too.
goodcow said:
Well smartass, I have a PC now and don't keep up with Mac gaming, but it appears that the next few releases are The Incredibles, WoW, Rainbow Six 3 Athena Sword, and first KOTOR. Mac gaming is generally months behind PC gaming, save for Blizzard's games. Doom 3 just got announced for release early next year.
I am curious if Half-Life 2 will see Mac release...would Valve bother making Steam for Mac, or would they just let it be ported and released by another company? (Half-Life 1 and Counter-Strike NEVER saw a Mac release, which I never understood given how massively popular those games were)
Parallax Scroll
Banned
Prospero said:
Either him or Gil Amelio, I think.
Phoenix
Member
The Pipin was actually a kick ass piece of hardware that came out when Apple was wounded, beaten, almost broke and with no name recognition. Couple this with MUCH cheaper consoles out there with games from developers that people cared about and a name that was just beyond stupid (would have done better with Pimp'n) and what you get as a result is one of the worst console disasters EVER.
Nightbringer
Don´t hit me for my bad english plase
Pippin was never designed for be a console.
Necroscope
Member
Fuck, i didn't know this shit exsit. What is the best game on this console?
Pippin is more like a CD-I , i think.
the Pippin had absolutely ZERO 3D hardware, so therefore it could not compete with the PS1, N64, or even the Saturn for that matter.
if Pippin had contained a 3D chipset it might have been interesting.
there was a Pippin2, or at least one was planned.
Pippin2 with dedicated 3D hardware would've competed with M2 and Dreamcast
the Pippin had absolutely ZERO 3D hardware, so therefore it could not compete with the PS1, N64, or even the Saturn for that matter.
if Pippin had contained a 3D chipset it might have been interesting.
there was a Pippin2, or at least one was planned.
Pippin2 with dedicated 3D hardware would've competed with M2 and Dreamcast
"Holy Grail"? I don't think it was that rare. Maybe the US version, although I remember the US version was getting liquidated for blowout prices back around '97 (when Apple was in deep shit trouble). I was tempted to pick one up back then because I was heavily into Macs and the price was right, but there was no software. I remember the racing game, and there was also a Gundam game for it. The Gundam game was also released for the regular MacOS. One of the reasons I even considered buying a Pippin was to try the Gundam game (this was long before Bandai brought over Gundam to the US), but since a MacOS version was released there was no point. The game sucked BTW :lol
The Abominable Snowman
Member
HOLY FUCK! That's InuYasha is it not? Wow!Unison said:
[/IMG]
I heard about the Pippin once, in Ultra Game Players (Or was it Game Players back then) and they showed it as the "Power Rangers' console", and never heard of it again until Bandai and Sega nearly merged.
The mass market for high-end portables has been elusive, but Apple has been among the few to tap it with their portable music-playing iPods. They should capitalize on that by extending the brand into high-end portable gaming and trying to capture the emerging sector in its infancy.
Apple would need an established gaming partner, and that role would be fit perfectly by Sega Sammy who already have an infrastructure for hardware R&D and the desire for a proprietary platform.
Apple would need an established gaming partner, and that role would be fit perfectly by Sega Sammy who already have an infrastructure for hardware R&D and the desire for a proprietary platform.
dark10x said:
And it seemed to me that a lot of Microsoft's PR before the release of the Xbox was dedicated to convincing the public that the Xbox was a high-end console instead of a crippled PC. By comparison, Apple/Bandai's marketing strategy made it seem like they wanted it both ways--it's a console, but with some PC functionality, and it also has limited compatibility with a Mac. The end result was that the marketing seemed to emphasize the limits of the system, not the capabilities.
Of course, MS's willingness to take a loss on every hardware unit moved distinguishes the Xbox from the $600 Pippin as well.
pestul said:Pippi(e)n's have always remained in the shadows..
:lol
I remember seeing local TV coverage of the Pippen as part of their E3 coverage. This was back when a total avalanche of platforms were being announced, unveiled and speculated on. I saw the Amiga CD32 in person, the sequel to the Amiga CDTV (remember that puppy?), and played some golf game on the Phillips CD-i. There was also the Hasbro VR Toaster, which like the N64 was supposed to have SGI Onyx-like capabilities (ah, the wonders of bullshit hype). Then you had the Saturn Eclipse rumour, the PSX Type-C rumour, and the M2 stuff that was already talked about in another thread. Oh yeah, can't forget the NEC PC-FX...think it was a Japan-only release, and I know at least a couple of it's games were streaming video titles with anime footage. It was a pretty fun time back then, simply from the viewpoint of seeing what these hardwares were capable of, and if anyone would be able to do something hot with it before they expired. Oh yeah, this was from the DC era, but does anyone remember the VM Labs Nuon? :lol Actually made it out from what I know (built into a few DVD model lines), with a handful of games released for it. Wonder if any of those players are still kicking around.
The difference between then and now is that a lot of companies saw that there was an opening for them in the console industry, and that the tail end of the 16 bit era was the best time to launch their salvo. And it was a time when entry into the console industry was still relatively cheap. Of course most of those efforts were modest at best, and none of 'em touched Sony who weren't simply happy with matching the way the Genesis and SNES had been introduced, but far exceeded it. Now the price of entry into the console industry is simply nuts...Sony spent $2 billion on the PS2 fabs and R&D, and Lord knows what else besides. And I don't even want to think about what MS spent on XBox, one of the few companies that could legitimately afford to enter the game at this late stage.
Point being, I doubt we'll see anything like we did in the mid '90's, with several different hardware's coming out from all sorts of companies. Don't really see the Phantom materializing either. :lol