Games - MSX

	Games - MSX

MSX is the name of a standard for home computers in the 1980s. MSX was conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi once a Microsoft Japan executive, now ASCII Corporation, who was attempting to create a single standard by which any company could build a compatible computer. Inspired by the success of VHS as a standard for video cassette recorders, many Japanese electronic manufacturers along with Goldstar, Philips and Spectravideo built and promoted MSX computers. Any piece of hardware or software with the MSX logo on it was compatible with MSX products of other manufacturers. In particular, the expansion cartridge form and function were part of the standard: any MSX expansion or game cartridge would work in any MSX computer.

Nishi's standard consisted primarily of several off-the-shelf parts, the main CPU was the Zilog Z80 running at 3.58MHz, graphics were provided by the Texas Instruments TMS9918 with 16 KB of dedicated VRAM in the design, and sound by the AY-3-8910 chip manufactured by General Instrument (GI). All of this alongside Microsoft's MSX BASIC configured a standard arguably superior to the competing Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 of the time, but also at a higher price point. This last factor was probably the main reason for it not to do so well outside of Japan despite all the benefits it brought to the market.

It is worth highlighting that until the appearance and great success of the Nintendo Famicom, MSX was the platform for which great Japanese game studios, Konami and Hudson Soft among others, produced their titles. Sagas like Metal Gear and Castlevania (called Vampire Killer on the MSX) were born on the MSX.

History

In the 1980s Japan was in the midst of a powerful economic awakening that many in the 'western world' thought unstoppable -- a new yellow peril as it were. The large Japanese electronics firms should have been able to crush the early computer market had they made a concerted effort to do so in the late 1970s. Their combined design and manufacturing power would have allowed them to produce better and cheaper machines than anyone else. But they initially ignored the home computer market and seemed to be very hesitant to do any work where there wasn't some sort of standard in place.

Thus when MSX was announced and a slew of big Japanese firms announced their plans to introduce machines, it set off a wave of panic in the U.S. industry. However, the Japanese companies avoided the intensely competitive U.S. home computer market, which was in the throes of a Commodore-led price war. Only Spectravideo and Yamaha briefly marketed MSX machines in the U.S. Spectravideo's MSX enjoyed very little success, and Yamaha's CX5M model was built to interface with various types of MIDI equipment and as such was billed more as a digital music tool than a standard computer.

Consequently, MSX never became the worldwide standard that its makers envisioned, mainly because it never took off in the United States. In Japan and South Korea, MSX was the major home computer system in the 1980s. It was also popular in several European countries (especially in Philips' home, The Netherlands, and in Spain), Brazil, even in Arab countries and the Soviet Union.

The exact meaning of the 'MSX' abbreviation remains a matter of debate. At the time, most people seemed to agree it meant 'MicroSoft eXtended', referring to the built-in MSX-BASIC programming language, specifically adapted by Microsoft for the MSX system. However, the truth, according to Kazuhiko Nishi during a more recent visit to Tilburg in the Netherlands, MSX stands for 'Machines with Software eXchangeability'. The MSX-DOS disk operating system had file compatibility with CP/M and was similar to MS-DOS. In this way, Microsoft could promote MSX for home use while promoting MS-DOS based personal computers in office environments.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for MSX ]

Games - MSX

History

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