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The Halcyon is a LaserDisc-based machine from RDI Video Systems, the same company that made the LaserDisc-based arcade hits ''Dragon's Lair'' and ''Space Ace''. Trouble is, the novelty of interactive movies was wearing thin, but RDI just didn't notice it. Nor they took in account that most kids don't have the same kind of budget as professional arcade operators. So they produced the most expensive video game console ever ($2500, or $5400 adjusted for inflation), designed around a kind of game that people didn't really care for, at a time when the gaming market had simply collapsed. To no one's surprise, RDI could not find a market for it, and only a handful of units was produced before the company went bankrupt.
 
The Halcyon is a LaserDisc-based machine from RDI Video Systems, the same company that made the LaserDisc-based arcade hits ''Dragon's Lair'' and ''Space Ace''. Trouble is, the novelty of interactive movies was wearing thin, but RDI just didn't notice it. Nor they took in account that most kids don't have the same kind of budget as professional arcade operators. So they produced the most expensive video game console ever ($2500, or $5400 adjusted for inflation), designed around a kind of game that people didn't really care for, at a time when the gaming market had simply collapsed. To no one's surprise, RDI could not find a market for it, and only a handful of units was produced before the company went bankrupt.
   
It was ambitious, you have to give them that: it even had voice synthesis and speech recognition. But RDI's quick demise meant it was left with a library of just two titles: a sports game of digitized video, ''Raiders vs. Chargers'' - later re-released in arcades as ''NFL Football'' - and an interesting animated fantasy, ''Thayer's Quest'' - later released on several platforms (aka ''Kingdom: The Far Reaches''). So there's not much to play here, but its extreme rarity makes this system a fantastic collectible.
+
It was ambitious, you have to give them that: it even had voice synthesis and speech recognition. But RDI's quick demise meant it was left with a library of just two titles: a sports game of digitized video, ''Raiders vs. Chargers'' - later re-released in arcades as ''NFL Football'' - and an interesting animated fantasy, ''Thayer's Quest'' - later ported to several platforms (aka ''Kingdom: The Far Reaches''). So there's not much to play here, but its extreme rarity makes this system a fantastic collectible.
   
 
[[Category:Third Generation]]
 
[[Category:Third Generation]]

Latest revision as of 09:09, 1 June 2017

Halcyon logo
"Do you believe in magic? You will."

Let this disaster serve as a cautionary tale: what happens when you are greatly successful once, then cling to that while the world moves on?

The Halcyon is a LaserDisc-based machine from RDI Video Systems, the same company that made the LaserDisc-based arcade hits Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. Trouble is, the novelty of interactive movies was wearing thin, but RDI just didn't notice it. Nor they took in account that most kids don't have the same kind of budget as professional arcade operators. So they produced the most expensive video game console ever ($2500, or $5400 adjusted for inflation), designed around a kind of game that people didn't really care for, at a time when the gaming market had simply collapsed. To no one's surprise, RDI could not find a market for it, and only a handful of units was produced before the company went bankrupt.

It was ambitious, you have to give them that: it even had voice synthesis and speech recognition. But RDI's quick demise meant it was left with a library of just two titles: a sports game of digitized video, Raiders vs. Chargers - later re-released in arcades as NFL Football - and an interesting animated fantasy, Thayer's Quest - later ported to several platforms (aka Kingdom: The Far Reaches). So there's not much to play here, but its extreme rarity makes this system a fantastic collectible.

Third Generation
Consoles Action Max - Atari 7800 - Amstrad GX4000 - RDI Halcyon - View-Master Interactive Vision - Sega Master System - Nintendo Entertainment System - Casio PV-1000 - VTech Socrates - Epoch Super Cassete Vision
Computers Mattel Aquarius - Acorn Archimedes - Commodore 64 - Amstrad CPC - Fujitsu FM-7 - Apple Lisa - Apple Macintosh - Microsoft MS-DOS - ASCII MSX - ASCII MSX2 - IBM OS-2 - NEC PC-88 - NEC PC-98 - Amstrad PCW - Sinclair QL - Commodore VIC-20 - Sharp X1 - Sinclair ZX Spectrum