New Philips CD-I game Pirates! to be released 25th May

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I am very proud to announce the imminent release of the brand new Philips CD-I Interactive movie game Pirates! Get ready to start your Pirating adventure on Saturday 25th May…  🙂

The game is full DV and at certain points you will need to make decisions, which will determine whether your adventure continues. The game comes with a pirate dice which you will have to roll when prompted, and again this could prove pivotal to what happens next! 😀 Gear up for a fabulous ride and lots of humour  😀
The game has been a collaborative effort between Cat Mantra, Captain J and myself – and we all hope you will enjoy hours of fun with it!
You can read my Interview with Cat Mantra, from Retro Shack CD-I Cinema – The World of CD-i (theworldofcdi.com)
You will be able to buy your copy on 25th through Cat’s ebay.co.uk store here All NEW interactive Movie/Video Game For Philips CD-i.. Pirates! | eBay
The game comes complete with dice, Captain’s log notepad and swag bag – very neat!!  🙂

All that’s left for me to say, in pirate fashion, is ”Arrrrgghhhh – Ahoy there me shipmates!!”


Interview Keith Lehman and Paul Day from Laser Lords

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CD-i Queen might be for sure the biggest Laser Lords fan I meet in my life.
In the last year, she was lucky enough to get in contact with Keith Lehman and Paul Day, two Spinnaker employees who worked on the production of the game and answered an interview.

She (CD-i Queen) is planing to make an audio version of this interview in the future. She can be contacted on Twitter, Twitch and YouTube.

I hope you all enjoy reading my interview as much as I enjoyed coming up with the questions.

CDIQUEEN: Questions will be shown in black.
KEITH: Answers will be shown in blue.
PAUL: Answers will be shown in red.

Read the full interview here.


Return to CyberCity BETA version

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Last week, we’ve got a very exciting comment on our YouTube channel on our Escape from CyberCity Full Play.
Justin from Dallas (Texas – USA) saying this:

“I just found a CD case at the thrift store titled RETURN TO CYBERCITY. Inside is a burned disc labelled the same as the title as well as ‘BETA 95.03.17 for PC-REALMAGIC’ Does anyone know if a sequel was even planned? WTF is this thing?”

Yes, indeed, a sequel was planned, and we even have some pictures of the artwork of this Return to CyberCity sequel has been shown on different CD-i related magazines.

I answered him, and he very kindly contacted me back by email… with some pictures!

This is the 1st time I see a BETA disc about it. It is on his way to Hidden Palace for preservation, and I am awaiting to see if I can get a copy of it to test and take some screenshots or even a video of gameplay.
It was already known Fathom Pictures was behind this work, as it is the same company who made Escape from CyberCity.
As the CD label says, it is a PC version and needs an MPEG playback card to run under a Windows 3.1 OS.

The question is: Does a complete PC version has been published? As far as I know, no. But this BETA was also unknown to me, so… we never know…

With a physical copy, we will try to see if a reverse engineering is possible to get a CD-i version of it.

Take a look at those pictures from Return to CyberCity artwork I found in one of my many old HDD 😉

Take a look at the similarities between the BETA cover and the artwork pictures:

You can see Fathom Pictures at the bottom right side, and “CyberCity” letter type is the same.

Even if this is a PC version, this is a very exciting moment for the CD-i Community!
Thank you very much Justin!


High Scores competition – Steel Machine

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Next game for the High Scores challenge.
Thank you and congratulations for the winners on Hotel Mario™!
We’ve got a new challenger, Derio (Basque Country – Spain), he got directly access to the TOP 5 with his score! You can check the result here.

For August, let’s play Steel Machine!

Take a picture of your High-Scores until you lost all your lives, without using any Continuous!

NOTE:
Independently of the language version of the game, we accept all High Scores.
You can join the competition at any moment, even if you never sent us any scores before!
The objective is to play games you use to place in your showcase, use your gamepads, give something to eat to your CD-i player and of course, enjoy again playing interactive games just like in the 90’s.

Good luck!


Interview with Cat Mantra, from Retro Shack CD-I Cinema

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Cat Mantra is the gentleman behind Retro Shack CD-I cinema. He is also a recording artist, a game coder for the TRS-80 and has already released two recent CD-I titles as part of an extensive project. The third in the series is coming on Tuesday 18th July ”Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly”. I recently caught up with him for The World of CD-I about the project, his love for CD-I and future plans.
Alan: Tell us the inspiration behind your project to release 12 CD-I/videocd titles over the next 3 years?
Cat: Well, I have always been a creative person. In fact, sometimes I wish I had an “off” or “sleep” button hahah! This particular project began with me just wanting to see if I could CREATE VCD’s, with no thought to making them available on general release. After a LOT of trial and error I landed on the correct software and formula to do it. And then I thought “Why not?”. I am very experienced with modern video editing software through years of creating music videos, and in fact my first short film “Sailing on 8-mil” was released last year and enjoyed success at film festivals as far afield as California, won in Istanbul, and came 6th at Cannes indie shorts awards  😀

Alan: You mentioned to me that you discovered CD-I about 3 years ago. What sparked the initial interest?
Cat: I have the vintage collectors’ disease. Hahah! I had a 3DO back in the day, and again now; I also have Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, PS2, Wii, Original XBOX. And one day I just thought “Let’s have a look at these CD-i’s.” My first 210 arrived non-functional – the discs wouldn’t spin. A YouTube video taught me how to sort it! I now also have a FABULOUS restored player with new clock battery setup and RGB by my mate in the Netherlands Muh Mullet. He’s a GENIUS with hardware, and I can’t recommend him high enough to anyone who needs work done (and can afford the shipping  😀 ). I very much see the Philips CD-i with respect and for exactly what it is: The first TRUE multimedia device. Epic. The end.

Alan: Tell us a little more about your first 2 releases – for those people thinking of making a purchase – which I previewed on The World of CD-I in mid-March, and your reasons for starting with these particular titles?
Cat: I started with Bond because it was indeed the 60th Anniversary of Dr No hitting the screens at theatres and I am a Bondite so it was a no brainer! I only make videocds/CD-Is that I will want to watch myself, and just hope others will too basically  🙂 I was able to source TOP quality footage for that one from MGM, as I get licensing for these releases through my record label where required. I render in the highest possible definition – however it of course does come down to the source material. “Tales from The Outer Limits” is considerably lower annoyingly. But I think/hope I chose total CLASSICS for that all the same. The idea for this one came when the crypt keeper kept popping into my head!!  😀

Alan: How do you enjoy your own CD-I mainly? I.E. Are you a CD-I gamer, or do you prefer to watch movies, documentaries etc?
Cat: Mainly a gamer. I LOVE FMV-based games – that’s also why I loved 3DO back in the day. And still do! I tried the unreleased CD-I Voyeur 2 a few months back but it had some problems playing on my CD-I, but I look forward to trying that one again.

Alan: Tell us a little about what buyers can expect from your upcoming third title ”Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly”
Cat: Sci-Fi!! And I am going to include on it my new short “Space Trek”  🙂  I am releasing exclusively on VCD in physical terms. Fans of time-travel elements, comedy (Blackadder is featured) and sci-fi will love it  😉

Alan: Have you played the superb Nobelia CD-I game, released by TWBurn in 2022?
Cat: I think it’s FANTASTIC that this new game has been so well received. Incredible. I applaud TWBurn for his work, and dedication to CD-i. Fabulous achievement. For his next project I’d love a decent FPS or a Track and Field game (Alan: We are still hoping that Skyways will be completed  😉 ). Track and Field could use FMV – for example, a view behind a javelin athlete on the run up and launch. Hit that 45 degree angle, get a counter up on distance, and the cd-i then chooses from several FMV clips on the landing of the spear. On races, 100M for example, various start of race FMV possibilities. Speed counter. Time counter. And depending on how good or bad you are, the CD-I would choose the correct finish line FMV. I volunteer to create and supply ALL FMV for the game. And music. From the intro to the medal ceremony  🙂

Alan: We have spoken about the possibility of Retro Shack releasing an interactive CD-I movie game in the future. Could this be a reality?
Cat: Oh yes! And here is a short teaser which I hope will whet everybody’s appetite… https://youtu.be/UI2rIMpCHmM

Alan: Finally, what advice would you give to someone who is thinking of releasing a new CD-I title?
Cat: Just go for it. Simple as. Turn your imagination/dream into reality. The process itself is so very rewarding. And in the CD-I community you will get full support.

Thanks ever so much to Cat for his time, and we at The World of CD-I hope you will enjoy all of his CD-I releases  😀