Ascii Corp, developer of the MSX home computer standard, based on an 8-bit MS-DOS, disputes the forecasts that MSX is doomed following the emergence of other standards such as the 16-bit MS DOS-based AS, NEC 9800 and Nintendo’s Famicon: Japanese sales last year are put at 1.5m, with another 700,000 going for export to unlikely places like the Middle East, South America – and even Spain and Holland, although it has failed to make much impact in other European countries; in Japan, MSX machines are seen as exclusively for the games market because it is difficult to make a back-up of the plug-in ROM cartridges; Ascii also hinted at monster MSX machines that will outperform 80386 MS-DOS machines in the areas of graphics and sound by use of Amiga- and IIGS-like co-processors.
