I guess this never came to be?
-Andrew
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As a the newly appointed "Director of Marketing & Business Development" at
PDPI, I have first hand knowledge of this subject since I have looked into
it quite deeply.
There are a number of factors that caused the popularity of the PDPI L4 to
not reach it's full potential.
First we have to look at the timing of the card's entry into the
marketplace. It was launched in 1998 during a global decline in gamecard
sales. The most obvious factor governing this decline was the introduction
of USB and it's now full support by the operating system (Win 98). This
caused a lot of controller manufacturers to simply look at the USB port as
the means of connection since Microsoft did a good job marketing it
(although it has a lot of advantages as a whole, and can be much more in
performance should it be implemented correctly).
The popularity of FF has also been a factor. The PDPI L4 only supports
"analog" controllers, and FF controllers typically send their signals in a
native digital format that the L4 does not comprehend coming in. In fact
most FF controller manufacturers use the USB port (MSFF being the last to
make the change over).
Then we have the ugly factor that has been the main reason for my
appointment. Quite frankly.... there are too many people who do not
understand what the Standard Gameport does to your system. It taxes it
through the nose (regardless of CPU power), and is extremely susceptible to
jitter. They simply don't realize that it was invent and remained unchanged
since 1981! USB has changed a lot of the taxation issues but not effectively
solved the more important jitter issue. So in the end it is public ignorance
(in a kind meaning of the word) that has doomed the achievement of potential
sales/popularity for the L4.
Another important factor is the admitted overall lack of marketing of the
product. PDPI is a very small company who happen to currently specialize in
interface technologies. However, we do not possess some of the "marketing
funds" these game controller companies and soundcard companies do. As the
guy who now decides where the currently limited marketing dough goes, I can
tell you that we will not be focusing on the L4 in terms of marketing. We
have bigger things in the works and the game controller industry will never
be the same after we initiate our plans.
The past 7 months of my tenure has been to find an investor who can realize
our potential. I finally found it and we are in the process of closing the
deal (should be done by mid-January). This will make PDPI a fully
operational game controller manufacturer with the ability to mass-produce
(which is the key to lower per-unit costs to the end-user).
This means we will inititate our USB interface that we have completed R&D
on. We have done for USB what we did for the gameport. We have carried over
ALL of the functions of the L4 that still makes it superior to USB in it's
currently found configurations, and adapted it to USB. Meaning... we can
tackle the Jitter issue the exact same way we did on the L4. Meaning... we
can remove the jitter, which means we do not have to cut into the
positioning resolution to combat it. We can read a "full positioning
resolution spectrum" without having to worry about Jitter. Which means we
already have an advantage over other configurations in regards to precision
and performance.
Then we factor in the mandate that I am currently exercising. We are
listening to YOU, designing for YOU, and have been paying very close
attention to NGs like this one (among others) for answers to our design
questions... the end result should be a controller for each genre that is
custom designed to meet the enthusiasts and leisure users alike. With an
affordable price tag to boot. We know what's wrong with the other
wheels/sticks... and will make sure we avoid the same mistakes whilst adding
a few of our own bonuses to boot.
We will be on store shelves, and available around the world in such retail
outlets. The products will be accessible, and the company will be doing it's
best to give back to the Sim Communities in mainy forms (other than just
making a good controller...).
Rest assured Karl..... you will be hearing LOTS about us very soon :)
Cheers,
Shumi
PDPI
