Philips Media

Background

Philips Media B.V. (formerly Philips Interactive Media B.V.) was a division of the titular Dutch conglomerate that created the CD-i, an interactive multimedia CD player that could play games and movies. The system came out of Philips aiming to get into the gaming market, and attempting (and failing) to produce a CD-based add-on for the Super Nintendo; Sony also attempted this prior to Philips, but the deals fell through, which eventually led to the creation of the PlayStation.

Originally introduced as a home entertainment system, it sold very poorly, causing Phillips to eventually rebrand the CD-i as an official video game system. However by that point, it was too late. The system was a critical and commercial failure, mainly due to its poor marketing, limited library of games, poor controls, and high retail price of $700 USD ($1,525.39 USD in 2024). It is also particularly infamous nowadays for four games based off of the Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda series of games, all thanks to a mutual agreement between Nintendo and Philips. They are notorious for their poor quality and for being heavily featured in YouTube Poop videos, particularly the ones made by Animation Magic. 136 games were released for the system (in contrast to 1,850 games on the PS1), and 570,000 units were sold worldwide (in contrast to over 100 million units of PS1s sold worldwide), and the CD-i was largely abandoned by Phillips in 1996 before it was officially discontinued in 1998.

The company itself also released MS-DOS titles, and also owned several distributors and publishers (including Pathé Interactive, a joint-venture with the Chargeurs group, who held a 20% stake in the largest French game company Infogrames at the time). Infogrames then announced in August 1997 to purchase Philips Media, which was soon completed, and their stake was soon folded into Infogrames' management.

1st Logo (December 3, 1991-1995)

The Philips shield
The finished logo
"DISTRIBUTED BY" version

Visuals: Against a black background, there is a dark blue Philips logo, which consists of a shield with "PHILIPS" at the top in white, with a dark blue circle containing wavy lines and some stars at the bottom. The circle transforms into a CD and flips around as the shield morphs into a brighter blue rectangle, with "PHILIPS" left intact. The CD inserts itself into the rectangle, forming a white line. The words "INTERACTIVE" and "MEDIA" appear above and below the line, respectively. The logo then goes "3D" at the end.

Variants:

A still version exists with "DISTRIBUTED BY" over the logo. This can be seen on VCDs of movies distributed by Philips Media.
- Sometimes on the still version, "INTERACTIVE" is dropped from the logo. "PHILIPS" is closer to the line, and the rectangle is thinner.
On some Philips Funhouse games, more effects can be shown.
- For example, the closing version in Labyrinth of Crete grows eyes inside the P's and licks itself.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: It starts out with a deep bass chord, which leads into a synth fanfare. It was composed using the Roland D-50 synthesizer, with known patches "Digital Sound", "Flutish Brass" and "Oriental Bells" used.

Availability: Appears at the beginning of most games for the Philips CD-i console.

The full logo (with music) was even shown on an episode of G4's Icons chronicling The Legend of Zelda. It is also shown on earlier games published for DOS, including International Tennis Open.
The still, "INTERACTIVE"-less variant can be seen on movie VCDs released for the system; movies released with a green logo on the cover and spine can be played on most computers and DVD players without owning a CD-i console.

Legacy: This logo is one of the more "memed" on the wiki, thanks to it appearing before the aforementioned and infamous Nintendo-based games for the system, which, as previously mentioned, have been repeatedly featured in YouTube Poops.

2nd Logo (1995-1998)

The Philips shield
The finished logo

Visuals: On a black background, the Philips shield is seen all in dark blue, including the text. The shield zooms in as the stars and circle inside it zoom away first and the waves move at different paces. The word "PHILIPS" in a thin font rises up from the waves as they shrink to reveal "MEDIA" in the same font. The waves thin out to form a line and shrink which then fades to red and the logo flashes, changing the colour to white with a blue outline. The line gains a phaser-like light that shifts from left to right and disappears when the last note is played.

Variant: A still version exists.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: A synthesized fanfare with an electric keyboard section.

Availability: Can be seen on games from 1995 to 1998, like the PC CD of Lamb Chop Loves Music and the DOS version of Asterix: Caesar's Challenge. The still version can be seen on the CD-i port of Myst.