Name: CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01
Year: 1996
Catalogue #: 8100332
“Welcome to RAM Raid: The best game on the internet, only available to CD-Online subscribers.
Your mission is to defeat others subscribers and became the best CD-Online RAM Raider and win the right to challenge RAM, the main computer.
Fight against RAM’s mercenaries, and defeat your fellow subscribers, RAM Raid is a heart-stopping jorney through “hyper-reality”.
Not bad right!!??
This message is shown after you inserted “CD-Online disc 01” and selected “the game”. Created back in 1996 by P.R.L. (Philips Research Laboratories) team and playable online via CD-Online server (not available anymore), this was the 1st ever world wide multiplayer online game.
After the creation of this game, Philips decided to create an offline version according to popularity of 1st person shooters known as DOOM like, and sell it as a regular CD-i game.
That’s when in 1997 Atlantis – The Last Resort born.
Atlantis use the same interface of RAM Raid and the same game’s engine, with absolutly new levels as new enemies. About the music, always the dance music, but a little bit polished.
Anyway, we need to say that the sensation betwen play alone against the computer is very differente than play a multiplayer game against opponents from other countries!
The Game is available on “CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01”
This is a CD-i disc with clickable links, they will let you browser to the internet.
2 modes are available: offline and online.
Offline:
This version is a trainning mode to prepare the player before the internet connection.
2 levels are available: “Practice Arena” & “More Practice”.
Online:
This is the game we are talking about!
9 levels playing in a multiplayer mode, connected to internet.
We all know this is no more possible anymore, since CD-Online was shutdown back in 1999. Connecting to the server, data files was loaded (needed to play online) like maps, enemies and other.
As inside the CD-Online disc, RAM Raid was an european realised only, the American internet on TV known as web-i never got this game.
UPDATE:
Some questions about in which CD-Online disc RAM Raid is available came out.
As the article explain, this game were developed back in 1996, one year before Atlantis – The Last Resort.
The CD case + the disc shown at the top of the article is CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01. This is where the game appeared for the very first time. But the game is also available in more CD-online discs.
Using IsoBuster you can easily define if RAM Raid is inside a CD-Online disc.
We show you 2 screenshots from two different CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01, each one a different language.
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- European version of disc 01
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- Belgium version of disc 01
CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01
– The European version with catalogue number “8101069 v2” is under English/French/Dutch languages.
V2 means that a earlier version is also available with the same catalogue number, but without v2.
CD-Online Internet Browser disc 01 – 96/10
– The Dutch version with catalogue number “8140153” is under Dutch/French (that is why the screenshot says Belgium.
Hi, I wrote this game while at Philips Research Labs. Feel free to ask any questions here about why, how, etc
The server files are lost forever, or is there a possible person who still keeps it?
I mean the server files of the multiplayer online game and the web-i / CD-online seevers.
I really don’t want to disappoint you Bas, but RAM Raid is definitely on the disc shown on the article.
In fact, the game is available in many CD-online discs, but the very 1st time the it appeared was on Disc 01 from 96/10, the blue one.
I will add scans from the blue and an orange one, both with the game on it.
Yes, the game is on the yellow one too…
No, there is no mistake on this article…
Cheers
Hi. I think they put it on a number of discs to keep up interest and people trying to work their way up the online leader board
Yes we stopped Atlantis development so we could switch to Ram:Raid. I had to code all theIP stuff from the specs (SLIP & PPP/UDP/IP/UCMP) and map and league table client and server code (!) and my Philips Media ADS colleagues switched to Ram:Raid graphics and maps.
Thinking back I think we missed launch but made issue #2
I mean ICMP and a customer TFTP version for data loading over the IP link