MSX SP 2022 - Live with Kazuhiko Nishi

So the MSX0 is a matchbox sized rasberry pi-like device with a sensor connected, MSX Turbo is a multi cpu device for educating purposes... And because Nishi thinks that modern tv's need a mediabox connected to make them show Netflix or Youtube, he wants to make an easy to use computer which you can connect to a big TV so you can stream Netflix and YouTube on it... This is the MSX3. Which will be powered by the '9998 video'...

And everyone in the room is applauding...

It is naive to think he is doing a commercial endeavor to appease a small retro community and perhaps sell 2, 3,5 thousand units at best...

This is something trying to reach a way broader audience and at the same time paying homage and respect as much as possible for the retro community and the origins of the brand... MSX3 seems like the best they can do to pay homage / respect to the scene, not bad at all, while everyone has their own wish list and will dislike a couple (or a dozen) things

Will this work? Who knows I think that's again, like Turbo-R, too little too late, but really whish Nishi and msx 0 / 3 / Turbo luck, if that was materialized three or four years ago it would have better chance in my point of view.

The main problem is that back in the days there were multiple systems, all with their own internal software. Today there are still multiple systems, but they all run one of the few mainstream systems; e.g. portable versions of Windows, some Linux distro, Android, iOS etc. So, the small device to operate your tv already exists as soon as someone makes an app for one of the systems I just listed. CPU, memory, graphics and sound were critical factors in the 80's, not anymore so today.

Nishi wants of offer a solution to a problem that doesn't exist anymore.

I think MSXVR is even more MSX3

No edit? Settopbox not setup box

I could see potential in an MSX0 device, if it is what I think/hope it is... If it is a small box to control IOT stuff and it is programmable with MSX basic, that would be pretty cool (if at the right price).

I think all those WONDERFUL things have pratically nothing to do with MSX as a retro entusiast would expect.....
So i do not expect a big success......

That's ok, but then, do not call this thing MSX anymore. ;-)

But then the question is whether a brand is allowed to spread its wings into territory it wasn't known for at the start. That's an interesting subject actually. The brand Pioneer is now famous for DJ-controllers, while before that it was just a brand of car radios. DJ's are happy, but I doubt any DJ thinks about car radios when they're using that gear.

On the other side:
What if the old Atari brand starts making gamer PC's (those standard and usually futuristic looking PC cases)? So, a regular gamer PC, with LED-lights everywhere and plexiglass exteriors, with the Atari logo on the case. Would that piss-off the old Atari scene? I think it would, because: why not use another name instead?

So, what Nishi does/wants, I think, is just make 'a product' (of which I doubt there's a viable market, but alas) and he calls it 'MSX'. And yeah, maybe it would be compatible in some way to the old MSX'es, but so is any PC running an emulator. So the real question is: why call it MSX, knowing it's a 40 year old retro brand that has nothing to do with his recent plans? Couldn't he come up with any other name?

Some business plan then, where you rely on <5000 people who don't even like your product.

He owns the brand and if he wants to put it in a matchbox he can. Why? Question is why not? He is a business man and want to generate buzz to his newest products, do you know a better way than having it with a brand that is somewhat known around the world?

Most people still are thinking he is targeting retro community, while in fact msx3 is the closest thing to appeal to that community (and nevertheless the one less talked), msx 0 is his focus, even msx turbo did not get uch attention. His focus isn't retro community but IOT and newcomers to it, trying to offer a different and possibly easier way to enter this. That is the true, IF, and that is a huuuuge IF, IF MSX3 ever gets released and not only MSX0 and msx turbo, that is the product that tries to appease the retro community, and it is far from being the priority.

It is like complaining Volkswagen put a water cooled engine on the new beetle, full of electronics and no longer the simple engine even non mechanics could fix... Why they did that? It is unavoidable

Do note that I don't care a rat's ass about what Nishi's intentions are, nor am I complaining about anything. If ever he manages to bring something onto the market, I expect neither of us will be interested in it. I'm just expressing that it's weird that a new business relies on the name of a mainly 80's system that is currently upheld by <5000 persons worldwide. Whatever extra exposure there could be is probably based on modern-day Metal Gear fans playing the old MG in an emulator.

The Volkswagen-example doesn't work, because car development is a gradual process. So, gradually engines get better, cruise control is added, airco is added, electric windows etc. etc. MSX is not exactly gradual anno today. The last real MSX is about 30 years old, the 1chip is more like a generic fpga-system with cartridge slots. So, anyone born in this millennium... has little connection to the MSX legacy.

How about this one. Forget the Atari example I gave. Let's imagine that now Mattel makes this new gamer PC, with the name Intellivision and the same font. Even though Mattel owns the name and can do whatever with it, would it make actual sense to do so?

Yeah, I don't care about it either, but hey, here we are discussing it and generating buzz... There were quite a few sites talking about MSX having a new piece of hardware after such a long time... That's exactly why this is being called MSX0 and not NishIOT

And the Beetle example is quite fine, between the last sold original beetle and the new beetle quite several years have elapsed, the only Beetle thing from the one produced in the 80s and 90s to the one produced recently is the name... Computer industry also is about gradual evolution, but if you stop following it, can't expect to have a simple iteration with a minor evolution over the last one, unless of course you are trying to appeal to a niche audience.

I couldn't care less about MSX0 and MSX TURBO, and just skeptical about MSX3, hoping for a nice surprise but not really expecting it... I just understand why Nishi is doing that, and probably this is a chance to be different than the rest of IOT stuff, generate buzz and try to sell it to a broader audience, let's see how it pans out idf it sees the light of the day

in the meantime, the crowdfunding is having great success!
It's a pity that its opened only for Japan audience (for now).
https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/648742
I trust Nishi and MSX0!

I really hope he will not use a VDP from the 90's. V9990 as it is, is a bit outdated. A VDP/GPU of the year 2023 is more appropriate. Staying in the 90's, is like Konami producing top quality games...