3DO
 |
 | |
| Manufacturer | Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar |
|---|---|
| Type | Video game console |
| Generation | Fifth generation (32-bit/64-bit era) |
| Lifespan |   September, 1993 |
| Units sold | 6 million[verification needed] |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| CPU | ARM60 |
| Best-selling game | Return Fire |
3DO Interactive Multiplayer (most commonly referred to as the 3DO) is a line of video game consoles which were released in 1993 and 1994 by Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar, among other companies. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of New Technology Group. The system was conceived by entrepreneur and EA Games founder Trip Hawkins.
Despite a highly-promoted launch (including being named Time Magazine product of the year in 1994) and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the system's high price ($699.95 USD at release), limited 3rd-party software developer support, and an over-saturated console market prevented the 3DO from ever achieving any real market penetration.
Features and catalogue
The consoles had advanced hardware features at the time: an ARM60 32-bit RISC CPU, two custom video co-processors, a custom 16-bit DSP and a custom math coprocessor. They also featured 2 megabytes of DRAM, 1 megabyte of VRAM, and a double speed CD-ROM drive for main CD+G, view Photo CDs, The 3DO included the first music visualizer in a console system, converting CD music to a mesmerizing color pattern.
Some of the best-received titles were ports of arcade or PC games that weren't capable of playing on other cartridge-based systems, such as Alone in the Dark, Myst, Need for Speed, Out of This World, and Star Control II. Other notable titles include Total Eclipse, Jurassic Park Interactive, Crash N' Burn, Gex, Slayer, Killing Time, and Immercenary. Additionally, arcade fighting games like Samurai Shodown saw faithful recreations on the format with all original content included, and the first port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo exceeded the original with its CD-quality audio.
However, the 3DO library also exhibited the worst aspects of home gaming at the time. It was the dawn of CD-ROM gaming, and early titles on 3DO (and Sega CD alike) frequently attempted to use an "interactive movie" gameplay style. Such titles relied entirely on full motion video with little interactive influence from the player, often times patternized beyond a flexible standard. Night Trap, Mad Dog McCree, and The Daedalus Encounter are some of the more notorious titles from this era. Digital video was of very low quality at the time, especially on low-cost consumer devices. Aside from this, the most significant issue with interactive movie games was their limited level of interactivity and depth.
Game series that started on 3DO by Electronic Arts, Studio 3DO and Crystal Dynamics established themselves on other 32-bit consoles. One major hit for the 3DO, Return Fire, an advanced tank battle game, was ported to the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, but was met with limited success.
The 3DO console is one of few CD-based units that feature neither regional lockout nor copy protection, scoring it points amongst import gamers and software pirates alike. However, reports have suggested that the Goldstar model isn't particularly durable when used for either of those purposes. Although there is no regional lockout present in any 3DO machine, a few Japanese games cannot be played on non-Japanese 3DO consoles due to a special kanji font. Games that did not and still had compatibility issues include Sword and Sorcery (which was released in English under the title Lucienne's Quest) and a demo version of Alone in the Dark.
3DO hardware
Models
- Panasonic FZ-1 R.E.A.L. 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (Japan, Asia, North America and Europe) - The first 3DO system, which was initially priced at $699.99 in the U.S. The price was later reduced to $499 in the fall of 1994.
- Panasonic FZ-10 R.E.A.L. 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (Japan, North America and Europe) - Less expensive than the FZ-1, the FZ-10 is smaller compared to the FZ-1. The primary selling point of this unit (at least in the U.S. market) was the top-loading design, which addressed the main failure point in FZ-1 of the CD tray.
- Goldstar 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (South Korea, North America and Europe) - Early models of the Goldstar systems cause some games not to work.[citation needed]
- Goldstar 3DO ALIVE II (South Korea only)
- Sanyo TRY 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (Japan only)
- Creative 3DO Blaster - PC ISA expansion card with a double-speed CD-ROM drive and one controller that enables a PC to play 3DO games.
System specifications
Processor
- 32-bit 12.5 MHz RISC CPU (ARM60) made by Advanced RISC Machines (roughly equivalent to 25 MHz 68030)
- Math co-processor
- 32kb SRAM
Display
- Interpolated 640x480 resolution output to screen, upsampled from 320x240 or 320x480 internal resolution with either 16 bit palettized color (from 24 bits) or 24 bit truecolor [1]
- Two accelerated video co-processors capable of producing 9-16 million pixels per second (36-64 megapix/s interpolated), distorted, scaled, rotated and texture mapped
System board
Sound
- 16-bit stereo sound
- 44.1 kHz sound sampling rate
- Supports Dolby Surround Sound
- Custom 16-bit Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
Media
- Double-speed (depending on manufacturer) 300 kbytes/s data transfer CD-ROM drive with 32 kilobyte RAM buffer
- Multitasking 32-bit operating system
Demise
By the early 1990s, the video game market had become overcrowded. Sega, Nintendo, Commodore, SNK, and Atari each had a video game system on the market. When viewed internationally, the chief competition for the 3DO during its peak had been Nintendo's SNES, the Sega Genesis and NEC's TurboGrafx-16 platforms. The success and quality of subsequent next generation systems which began coming onto the market in the mid-90s, the limited library of titles, the lack of third-party support, and a refusal to reduce pricing until almost the end of the product's life were among the many issues that led to the platform's demise.
For a significant period of the product's life cycle, 3DO's official stance on pricing was that the 3DO was not a video game console, rather a high-end audio-visual system and was priced accordingly, so no price adjustment was needed. Price drops announced in February of 1996 were perceived in the industry to be an effort to improve market penetration before the release of the promised M2, heavy promotional efforts on the YTV variety show It's Alive and a stream of hinted product expandability items supported that idea.
The 3DO system was eventually discontinued at the end of 1996 with a complete shutdown of all internal hardware development and divestment of the M2 technology. 3DO restructured themselves around this same time, repositioning their internal software development house (Studio3DO) as a multi-platform company supporting the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PC platforms with a re-launch of Star Fighter and the PC launch of the first commercial, 3-D MMORPG, Meridian 59. The businesses' most successful post 3DO software release is considered to be the Army Men franchise which was their featured product line up until the company filed for bankruptcy and liquidated its assets in 2003. Take 2 Interactive acquired the rights to the Army Men series.
Aborted successor
The 3DO Company designed a next-generation console that was never released due to various business and technological issues. Called the M2, it was to use dual PowerPC 602 processors in addition to newer 3D and video rendering technologies. Late during development, the company abandoned the console hardware business and sold the M2 technology to Matsushita. While Matsushita initially claimed to be planning a game console with the technology, it was shortly thereafter re-branded for the kiosk market competing with the CD-i system.
Konami later made an M2-based arcade board. [2] Games ran straight from the CD-ROM drive causing long load times and a high failure rate due to the CD-ROM being continuously in-use.
See also
Primary market competitors in the high-end A/V space
(multi-purpose audio/video systems)
External links
- Project FreeDo - the 3DO console emulator
- 3DO Today - Large 3DO resource site
This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.