Author: Albert Silver
Date: 10:28:30 03/11/00
Go up one level in this thread
On March 10, 2000 at 18:09:57, Michael Cummings wrote:
>On March 10, 2000 at 13:46:38, John Merlino wrote:
>
>>On March 10, 2000 at 13:37:34, John Merlino wrote:
>>
>>>On March 10, 2000 at 02:08:02, Michael Cummings wrote:
>>>
>>>>On March 07, 2000 at 13:06:38, John Merlino wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On March 07, 2000 at 04:22:43, Harald Faber wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Hi John,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Is there a way to increase the hash size in CM7000? It is said that FreeMem and
>>>>>>other software show no difference in memory access, no matter if the ttable_size
>>>>>>in the .ini's are set to 20, 25 or other values.
>>>>>
>>>>>Harald,
>>>>>
>>>>>I am very sorry to report that the development team has looked into this and it
>>>>>appears to be a bug. They have no explanation for it, as the code that
>>>>>initializes the engine SUPPOSEDLY did not change during the rewrite from CM6000
>>>>>to CM7000 (since the engine itself did not change). However, what you report
>>>>>appears to be true.
>>>>>
>>>>>Unfortunately, because CM7000 has been officially put to bed, there will almost
>>>>>certainly not be a patch. Officially, since there isn't a way using the GUI to
>>>>>change the hash table size, then this ability is considered one of those
>>>>>"unsupported features". Therefore it doesn't warrant the time to create, test
>>>>>and put up a patch.
>>>>>
>>>>>Also, considering the recent layoffs here at Mattel Interactive (the new boss in
>>>>>town), no one is willing to stick their heads above their respective trenches.
>>>>>
>>>>>The development team tells me, however, that in the next version there WILL be a
>>>>>way in the GUI to change the hash table to be anything you want, from 8K to
>>>>>64MB.
>>>>>
>>>>>jm
>>>>
>>>>Hi John
>>>>
>>>>Good work keeping us informed
>>>>
>>>>Most know my dislike of CM7K, but CM6K is still a superior program in my eyes, I
>>>>wonder if you know what the sales have been like, and out of interest which
>>>>Chessmaster version has sold the most.
>>>>
>>>>And have they realised something that they did or missed in CM7K that they will
>>>>not make the same mistake again in CM8K.
>>>>
>>>>That said, even being a mass market program, there are features regarding the
>>>>engine, like setting hash tables, thatt have been around in freeware and old
>>>>chess programs for years. And features that when people learn, and start to play
>>>>better and grow with the program and thus use some of the more serious options
>>>>that have not been in CM programs of the past and would be of use.
>>>>
>>>>Most people have not wanted this to be a professional program, as it is for the
>>>>mass market. But some features would not be hard. They should by now have at
>>>>least some idea how to satify both sections of their selling (mass and serious)
>>>
>>>Hi Michael,
>>>
>>>Given that the development team is looking at Winboard, the ability to set the
>>>hash table size within the GUI, "infinite analysis" and the ability to log onto
>>>an internet connection as a computer player, I believe that they are now tending
>>>to lean towards features that can be considered to be for the "serious" player.
>>>
>>>CM7K was slanted towards getting young people to play, and towards cleaning up
>>>complaints that were made about the supposedly confusing interface. I think that
>>>CM8K is going to be more of the same, but with most of the new stuff geared to
>>>intermediate and advanced players. Apparently there is going to be a pretty
>>>advanced annotated endgame tutorial from Josh Waitzkin and the "rate my play"
>>>feature is going to come back, but it will be in a slightly different form
>>>(although it will be written by Bruce Pandolfini, who was responsible for the
>>>well-known "Solitaire Chess" columns -- which is pretty much the same thing).
>>>
>>>jm
>>
>>Oh, you asked about sales figures. From what I gather, the Chessmaster series
>>(all versions on all platforms) was the only one in Mindscape's entertainment
>>group (includes SSI and Red Orb and Petz/Babies/Creatures titles) that "made its
>>numbers". The CM series holds something on the order of 85% of the market share
>>(from the PC Data archives which tallies only retail titles). I don't have
>>actual dollar figures, but I can get them if you're interested.
>>
>>In other words, it did about as well as CM6K, which did very well. One fact is
>>always amazing to me is that (according to registration forms sent in) close to
>>75% of people who buy the latest version of CM for the PC are FIRST TIME BUYERS!
>>You would think that after 12 years just about every "typical user" who was
>>going to buy a chess program would have bought a copy of CM. It seems that
>>there's always a new crop of folks who have never bought a chess program and
>>keep CM's numbers strong.
>>
>>jm
>
>If you can get the actual sale numbers of units sold for each version, or for
>what you can, I would be interested in that.
>
>Just send them to my email, I doubt many people would be interested here.
Surely you jest.
A.S.
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