3DO Interactive Multiplayer
Encyclopedia
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (often called simply 3DO) is a video game console
originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo
and Goldstar
. 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 Electronic Arts
founder Trip Hawkins
.
Despite a highly promoted launch (including being named Time
magazine's "1994 Product of the Year") and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the 3DO's high price (US$699.95 at launch), limited third-party developer support, and an over-saturated console market prevented the system from achieving success comparable to competitors Sega
and Nintendo
. This console was released in North America on October 4, 1993, Japan on March 20, 1994 and in Europe in 1994.
Since its discontinuation, the 3DO has been freqently derided by video game historians. Citing a lack of decent exclusives and an "astronomical asking price", in 2009 video game website IGN
chose the 3DO as its 22nd greatest video game console of all time, slightly higher than the Atari Jaguar
but lower than its four other major competitors: the SNES (4th best), the Sega Mega Drive (5th), the Sony PlayStation (7th), and the Sega Saturn
(18th).
, founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts
founder Trip Hawkins
. The company's objective was to create a next-generation, CD-based video game/entertainment standard which would be manufactured by various partners and licensees; 3DO would collect a royalty on each console sold and on each game manufactured. To game publishers
, the low $3 royalty rate per game was a better deal than the higher royalties paid to Nintendo
and Sega
when making games for their consoles. The licensing method accounts for why the 3DO was available from no less than four separate manufacturers.
However, this made the system extremely expensive. The manufacturers had to make a profit on the hardware itself, whereas most major game console manufacturers, such as Nintendo
and Sony
, sold their system almost as a freebie
, in the hopes of making up for the loss with software sales. This caused the system to be quite unaffordable to the common consumer, one of the biggest factors in its downfall. The 3DO was priced at $699, far above competing game systems and aimed at high-end users and early adopters. 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. Despite this, the promised "early adopters" never showed up to purchase mass quantities of games.
The launch of the platform in October, 1993 was well-promoted, with a great deal of press attention in the mass media as part of the "multimedia
wave" in the computer world at the time. Even so, the 3DO was awarded Worst Console Launch of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly
.
Price drops announced in February 1996 were perceived in the industry to be an effort to improve market penetration before the release of the promised successor of 3DO, the M2
. Heavy promotional efforts on the YTV variety show It's Alive and a stream of hinted product expandability supported that idea; however, the M2 project was eventually scrapped altogether.
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 as a multi-platform company supporting the Sony PlayStation
, Sega Saturn
, and computer platforms.
The higher quality of later CD-ROM based systems that emerged in the mid-90s, the limited library of titles, lack of third-party support, and the initial high price point are all considered to be among the many issues that led to the 3DO's demise.
RISC
CPU
, two custom video coprocessor
s, a custom 16-bit
DSP
and a custom math co-processor. It also featured 2 megabyte
s (MB) of DRAM
, 1 megabyte of VRAM
, and a double speed CD-ROM
drive for main CD+G
s or Photo CD
s (and Video CD
s with an add-on MPEG
video module). The 3DO included the first music visualizer in a game console, converting CD music to a mesmerizing color pattern.
The 3DO is one of few CD-based units that feature neither regional lockout
nor copy protection
, making it easy to use for pirated software
. 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 which English language consoles
could not read. Games that did not and still had compatibility issues include Sword and Sorcery (which was released in English under the title Lucienne's Quest), the adult video game
Twinkle Knights and a demo version of Alone in the Dark.
The 3DO, just like the Amiga CD32
, had standard video and audio ports that were compatible with standard off the shelf cables. In addition to standard RF modulator
support and stereo, the console could also be used with composite
and S-Video
cables.
Display
System board
Sound
Media
together via a port on the back of each controller. Up to eight controllers could be linked together in this fashion. All controllers for each 3DO console are compatible with one another.
In addition, standard 3DO controllers released with the Panasonic FZ-1 also contained a headphone jack and volume control for silent play. The Goldstar model also included a controller with this feature.
Third party accessories were produced by a number of companies including Logitech
and included items such as joystick
s, light guns and a steering wheel.
Some of the best-received titles were ports of arcade or PC games that other cartridge-based systems of the time were not capable of playing, such as Alone in the Dark
, Myst
and Star Control II
. Other popular titles included Total Eclipse
, Jurassic Park Interactive
, Gex
, Crash 'n Burn, Slayer
, Killing Time
, The Need for Speed, and Immercenary
. Additionally, 3DO had the most popular port of Road Rash
, and the arcade fighting game
Samurai Shodown
was ported to the system with all original graphics intact. The first home port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo
was also available on the system, exceeding the original with its CD-quality audio.
However, the 3DO library also exhibited less successful aspects of home gaming at the time. It was launched at the dawn of CD-ROM gaming, and early titles on 3DO (and Mega-CD alike) frequently attempted to use interactive movie
-style gameplay. Such titles rendered all and nearly all of their graphics in full motion video, which necessitated that any interactive influence from the player be limited to a greater extent than other games of the time. Some games followed a single unfolding of events simply by correctly timed prompts executed by the player. Night Trap
, Mad Dog McCree
, and The Daedalus Encounter
are some of the more notorious titles from this era. Also, digital video was of very low quality at the time, especially on low-cost consumer devices.
Game series that were originally launched on the 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 PlayStation and Microsoft Windows
, but was met with limited success.
project, which began as an accelerator addon for the 3DO, 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. 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.
Video game (primary market at end-of-life)
High-end A/V (secondary market)
(multi-purpose audio/video systems)
adaptation of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. The morose high school
teacher Itoshiki Nozomu describes purchasing a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, as well as a Betamax
VCR as one of the major mistakes in his life.
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo
Sanyo
is a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
and Goldstar
LG Group
LG Corp. is the second-largest South Korean conglomerate company following Samsung, and it is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. LG produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display,...
. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...
, and were originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical
Robert J. Mical
Robert J. "RJ" Mical was a pioneer in the video game industry and still an influential figure. He created video games at Williams Electronics, helped invent the Amiga computer, co-invented the Atari Lynx and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer with Dave Needle. He was a central developer of Amiga's...
of New Technology Group. The system was conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
founder Trip Hawkins
Trip Hawkins
William M. 'Trip' Hawkins III is a Silicon Valley American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate....
.
Despite a highly promoted launch (including being named Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's "1994 Product of the Year") and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the 3DO's high price (US$699.95 at launch), limited third-party developer support, and an over-saturated console market prevented the system from achieving success comparable to competitors Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
and Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
. This console was released in North America on October 4, 1993, Japan on March 20, 1994 and in Europe in 1994.
Since its discontinuation, the 3DO has been freqently derided by video game historians. Citing a lack of decent exclusives and an "astronomical asking price", in 2009 video game website IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
chose the 3DO as its 22nd greatest video game console of all time, slightly higher than the Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
but lower than its four other major competitors: the SNES (4th best), the Sega Mega Drive (5th), the Sony PlayStation (7th), and the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
(18th).
History
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was originally conceived by The 3DO CompanyThe 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...
, founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
founder Trip Hawkins
Trip Hawkins
William M. 'Trip' Hawkins III is a Silicon Valley American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate....
. The company's objective was to create a next-generation, CD-based video game/entertainment standard which would be manufactured by various partners and licensees; 3DO would collect a royalty on each console sold and on each game manufactured. To game publishers
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
, the low $3 royalty rate per game was a better deal than the higher royalties paid to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
when making games for their consoles. The licensing method accounts for why the 3DO was available from no less than four separate manufacturers.
However, this made the system extremely expensive. The manufacturers had to make a profit on the hardware itself, whereas most major game console manufacturers, such as Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, sold their system almost as a freebie
Freebie marketing
Freebie marketing, also known as the razor and blades business model, is a business model wherein one item is sold at a low price in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as supplies or software...
, in the hopes of making up for the loss with software sales. This caused the system to be quite unaffordable to the common consumer, one of the biggest factors in its downfall. The 3DO was priced at $699, far above competing game systems and aimed at high-end users and early adopters. 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. Despite this, the promised "early adopters" never showed up to purchase mass quantities of games.
The launch of the platform in October, 1993 was well-promoted, with a great deal of press attention in the mass media as part of the "multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
wave" in the computer world at the time. Even so, the 3DO was awarded Worst Console Launch of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
.
Price drops announced in February 1996 were perceived in the industry to be an effort to improve market penetration before the release of the promised successor of 3DO, the M2
Panasonic M2
The Panasonic M2 was a video game console design developed by 3DO and then sold to Matsushita . Before it could be released, however, Matsushita cancelled the project in mid 1997, unwilling to compete against fellow Japanese electronics giant Sony's PlayStation due to the failure of the 3DO...
. Heavy promotional efforts on the YTV variety show It's Alive and a stream of hinted product expandability supported that idea; however, the M2 project was eventually scrapped altogether.
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
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...
restructured themselves around this same time, repositioning their internal software development house as a multi-platform company supporting the Sony PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
, and computer platforms.
The higher quality of later CD-ROM based systems that emerged in the mid-90s, the limited library of titles, lack of third-party support, and the initial high price point are all considered to be among the many issues that led to the 3DO's demise.
Variants
Due to the licensing method employed by 3DO a number of different manufacturers produced the 3DO system for the market. The Panasonic versions are the best known and most common.- 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 $399.99 in the fall of 1994.
- Panasonic FZ-10 R.E.A.L. 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (Japan, North America and Europe) – Released a year or two after the FZ-1. It is a less expensive, slimmer and lighter model and replaced the FZ-1 in Panasonic's portfolio. The FZ-10 featured a top loading CD tray, an internal memory manager and repositioned the LEDLEdLEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
s and controller port. The controller is also smaller and lighter than the one included with the FZ-1, but lacks a headphones output. - Panasonic ROBO 3DO (Japan only) — A FZ-1 custom console, fitted with a five disc CD drive.
- Goldstar 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (South Korea, North America and Europe) — The Goldstar GDO-101M unit, released a year after the FZ-1 is similar in physical appearance to the Panasonic FZ-1. Due to hardware differences and file processing limitations, incompatibilities with some games were reported.
- Goldstar 3DO ALIVE II' (South Korea only)
- Sanyo TRY 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (Japan only)
- CreativeCreative TechnologyCreative Technology Ltd. is a Singapore-based global company headquartered in Jurong East, Singapore. The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries consist of the design, manufacture and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia, and personal...
3DO Blaster3DO BlasterThe 3DO Blaster was an add-on designed to allow compatible Windows-based PCs to play games for the 3DO console.It was a full-sized ISA compatibility card, and unlike other such add-ons, it does not emulate a 3DO system, but rather the whole system's logic board is included, with the input and...
— PCIBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
expansion card with a double-speed CD-ROM drive and one controller that enables a PC to play 3DO games.
Hardware
The original edition of the console, the FZ-1, was referred to in full as the 3DO REAL Interactive Multiplayer. The console had advanced hardware features at the time: an ARM60 32-bit32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
RISC
Reduced instruction set computer
Reduced instruction set computing, or RISC , is a CPU design strategy based on the insight that simplified instructions can provide higher performance if this simplicity enables much faster execution of each instruction. A computer based on this strategy is a reduced instruction set computer...
CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
, two custom video coprocessor
Coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
s, a custom 16-bit
16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
DSP
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
and a custom math co-processor. It also featured 2 megabyte
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
s (MB) of DRAM
Dynamic random access memory
Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...
, 1 megabyte of VRAM
VRAM
Video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM , which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in some graphics adapters....
, and a double speed CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
drive for main CD+G
CD+G
CD+G is an extension of the compact disc standard that can present low-resolution graphics alongside the audio data on the disc when played on a compatible device...
s or Photo CD
Photo CD
Photo CD is a system designed by Kodak for digitizing and saving photos in a CD. Launched in 1992, the discs were designed to hold nearly 100 high quality images, scanned prints and slides using special proprietary encoding. Photo CDs are defined in the Beige Book and conform to the CD-ROM XA and...
s (and Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
s with an add-on MPEG
Moving Picture Experts Group
The Moving Picture Experts Group is a working group of experts that was formed by ISO and IEC to set standards for audio and video compression and transmission. It was established in 1988 by the initiative of Hiroshi Yasuda and Leonardo Chiariglione, who has been from the beginning the Chairman...
video module). The 3DO included the first music visualizer in a game console, converting CD music to a mesmerizing color pattern.
The 3DO is one of few CD-based units that feature neither regional lockout
Regional lockout
Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country.-Video games:...
nor copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
, making it easy to use for pirated software
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
. 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
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
font which English language consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
could not read. Games that did not and still had compatibility issues include Sword and Sorcery (which was released in English under the title Lucienne's Quest), the adult video game
Adult video game
An adult video game is a video game which has significant sexual content , and are therefore intended for an adult audience. Adult games can fall into many genres and have diverse gameplay.-PC and console:...
Twinkle Knights and a demo version of Alone in the Dark.
The 3DO, just like the Amiga CD32
Amiga CD32
The Amiga CD32, styled "CD32" , was the first 32-bit CD-ROM based video game console released in western Europe, Australia, Canada and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London, United Kingdom on 16 July 1993, and was released in September of the same year...
, had standard video and audio ports that were compatible with standard off the shelf cables. In addition to standard RF modulator
RF modulator
An RF modulator is a device that takes a baseband input signal and outputs a radio frequency-modulated signal....
support and stereo, the console could also be used with composite
Composite video
Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
and S-Video
S-Video
Separate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...
cables.
Technical specifications
Processor- 32-bit 12.5 MHz RISC CPU (ARM60) made by Advanced RISC MachinesARM HoldingsARM Holdings plc is a British multinational semiconductor and software company headquartered in Cambridge. Its largest business is in processors, although it also designs, licenses and sells software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms, system-on-a-chip...
(ARM) (roughly equivalent to 25 MHz Motorola 68030Motorola 68030The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
) - Math co-processorCoprocessorA coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
- 32kb SRAM
Display
- Resolution 640×480, 320×240 60 Hz for NTSC version, and 768×576, 384×288 50 Hz for PAL version with either 16 bit palettized color (from 24 bits) or 24 bit truecolor.
- Two accelerated video co-processors capable of producing 9–16 million pixelPixelIn digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
s per second (36–64 megapix/s interpolated), distorted, scaled, rotated and texture mapped.
System board
- 50 MB/s bus speed (synchronous 32-bit @12.5 MHz bus)
- 36 DMADirect memory accessDirect memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
channels - 2 MB of main RAM
- 1 MB of VRAMVRAMVideo RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM , which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in some graphics adapters....
- 2 expansion ports
Sound
- 16-bit stereo sound
- 44.1 kHz sound sampling rate
- Supports DolbyDolby LaboratoriesDolby Laboratories, Inc. , often shortened to Dolby Labs, is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction and audio encoding/compression.-History:...
Surround soundSurround soundSurround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and... - Custom 20-bit Digital signal processorDigital signal processorA digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
(DSP) – 20 bit accumulator with 16-bit parameter registers for extended precision
Media
- Double-speed (depending on manufacturerManufacturingManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
) 300 kBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
/s data transfer CD-ROM drive with 32 kB RAM buffer - MultitaskingComputer multitaskingIn computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...
32-bit operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
Accessories
Among the accessories shipped standard with most 3DO systems were a/v and power cables along with one standard controller. The 3DO controllers were unique in that the system base unit contained only one controller port and the controllers could be physically daisy chainedDaisy chain (electrical engineering)
In electrical and electronic engineering a daisy chain is a wiring scheme in which multiple devices are wired together in sequence or in a ring...
together via a port on the back of each controller. Up to eight controllers could be linked together in this fashion. All controllers for each 3DO console are compatible with one another.
In addition, standard 3DO controllers released with the Panasonic FZ-1 also contained a headphone jack and volume control for silent play. The Goldstar model also included a controller with this feature.
Third party accessories were produced by a number of companies including Logitech
Logitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
and included items such as joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
s, light guns and a steering wheel.
Games
Alone in the Dark (video game)
Alone in the Dark is a 1992 survival horror video game developed by Infogrames. The game has spawned several sequels as part of the Alone in the Dark series , and was one of the first survival horror games, after the 1989 Capcom game, Sweet Home...
, Myst
Myst
Myst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
and Star Control II
Star Control II
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a critically acclaimed science fiction computer game, the second game in the Star Control trilogy. It was developed by Toys for Bob and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for PC; it was later ported to the 3DO with an enhanced multimedia presentation,...
. Other popular titles included Total Eclipse
Total Eclipse (1996 video game)
Total Eclipse is a space shooter for the 3DO. It was later ported to the PlayStation under the title Total Eclipse Turbo. The game was copyrighted in 1993 but not made available to the public until January 1994, leading some sources to mistakenly list its release date as 1993...
, Jurassic Park Interactive
Jurassic Park Interactive
Jurassic Park Interactive was the only strategy-based action game based on the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. It was released in 1994 exclusively for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer by Universal Interactive...
, Gex
Gex (video game)
Gex received mostly positive reviews. Aggregating review website GameRankings and gave the 3DO version 79.58%, the PC version 71.00%, the Sega Saturn version 69.35% and the PlayStation version 63.33%....
, Crash 'n Burn, Slayer
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer is a fantasy First-Person Action role-playing game based on the second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It was released in North America in 1994 and later released in Japan on January 20, 1995...
, Killing Time
Killing Time (video game)
Killing Time is a horror-themed FPS video game with Full-Motion Video components, developed by Studio 3DO. Though meant at first as an exclusive for their 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console, it was later ported to the Windows 95 PC platform in 1996 by Intrepid Software and to the Macintosh when...
, The Need for Speed, and Immercenary
Immercenary
Immercenary is a 1995 3D first-person shooter video game for the 3DO by Electronic Arts. While the player explores the Immercenary world, called the Garden, in first-person and engages in real-time combat, it is considered by some to be a computer role-playing game, rather than a first-person...
. Additionally, 3DO had the most popular port of Road Rash
Road Rash
Road Rash is the name of a motorcycle-racing video game series by Electronic Arts, in which the player participates in violent illegal street races. The game was originally released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, but was ported to several other systems. Six different games were released from...
, and the arcade fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown, known as in Japan, is a competitive fighting game produced by SNK for their Neo Geo arcade and home platform. In contrast to other fighting games at the time which were set in modern times and focused primarily on hand-to-hand combat, Samurai Shodown is set in feudal-era Japan ...
was ported to the system with all original graphics intact. The first home port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Street Fighter II
is a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting...
was also available on the system, exceeding the original with its CD-quality audio.
However, the 3DO library also exhibited less successful aspects of home gaming at the time. It was launched at the dawn of CD-ROM gaming, and early titles on 3DO (and Mega-CD alike) frequently attempted to use interactive movie
Interactive movie
An interactive movie is a video game that features highly cinematic presentation and heavy use of scripting, often through the use of full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage.-Philosophy:...
-style gameplay. Such titles rendered all and nearly all of their graphics in full motion video, which necessitated that any interactive influence from the player be limited to a greater extent than other games of the time. Some games followed a single unfolding of events simply by correctly timed prompts executed by the player. Night Trap
Night Trap
Night Trap is a video game that was released in North America on October 15, 1992 originally for the Sega Mega-CD. It was filmed over a three week period in 1987 for an unreleased game entitled "Scene of the Crime"...
, Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog McCree is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade shooting game in 1990....
, and The Daedalus Encounter
The Daedalus Encounter
The Daedalus Encounter is a computer game from 1995. It is an adventure/puzzle game from the short-lived subgenre of interactive movies. It was distributed by Virgin Interactive, and was released for the IBM PC compatible, Apple Macintosh, and 3DO.-Plot:...
are some of the more notorious titles from this era. Also, digital video was of very low quality at the time, especially on low-cost consumer devices.
Game series that were originally launched on the 3DO by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, Studio 3DO
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...
and Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics is an American video game developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and founded in 1992 by Judy Lang, Madaline Canepa and Dave Morris...
established themselves on other 32-bit consoles. One major hit for the 3DO, Return Fire
Return Fire
Return Fire is a 1995 video game developed by Silent Software, Inc. for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and later ported to the PC and PlayStation in 1996. It was preceded by Fire Power and followed by Return Fire 2...
, an advanced tank battle game, was ported to the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, but was met with limited success.
Aborted successor
The 3DO Company designed a next-generation console that was never released due to various business and technological issues. The M2Panasonic M2
The Panasonic M2 was a video game console design developed by 3DO and then sold to Matsushita . Before it could be released, however, Matsushita cancelled the project in mid 1997, unwilling to compete against fellow Japanese electronics giant Sony's PlayStation due to the failure of the 3DO...
project, which began as an accelerator addon for the 3DO, was to use dual PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
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
CD-i
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony...
system.
Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
later made an M2-based arcade board. 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.
Market competition
Video game (primary market at launch)- NECNEC, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
PC EngineTurboGrafx-16TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
with Super CD-ROM expansion - NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's SNESSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short... - Sega Mega Drive with Mega CD expansion
- Atari JaguarAtari JaguarThe Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
Video game (primary market at end-of-life)
- SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's SaturnSega SaturnThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe... - SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's PlayStationPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
High-end A/V (secondary market)
(multi-purpose audio/video systems)
- Commodore'sCommodore InternationalCommodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
CDTV - Philips'Philips Consumer ElectronicsPhilips Consumer Lifestyle is a part of Philips ; which is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2005, its sales were € 30.4 billion and it employed 161,500 people in more than 60 countries. Other Philips divisions are: Philips Lighting, Philips Healthcare, Philips Domestic...
CD-iCD-iCD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony... - Pioneer'sPioneer Corporationis a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop...
LaserActivePioneer LaserActiveThe Pioneer LaserActive was a short-lived Laserdisc-based game console released by Pioneer in 1993. In addition to LaserActive games, separately sold add-on modules expanded the hardware to include compatibility with the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 game cartridges and... - Tandy Video Information SystemTandy Video Information SystemTandy Memorex Visual Information System was an interactive, multimedia CD-ROM player produced by the Tandy Corporation starting in 1992. It was similar in function to the Philips CD-i and Commodore CDTV systems...
Emulation
FreeDO is a working 3DO emulator. While older beta builds are available on its website, it is still in development with the latest alpha build available here. A 3DO BIOS file is necessary for it to run.Cultural references
The console's high price and quick obsolescence is skewered in the animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
adaptation of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei. The morose high school
Secondary education in Japan
Secondary education in Japan is split into middle schools which cover the seventh through ninth grades, and high schools which mostly cover grades ten through twelve...
teacher Itoshiki Nozomu describes purchasing a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, as well as a Betamax
Videotape format war
The videotape format war was a period of intense competition or "format war" of incompatible models of consumer-level analog video videocassette and video cassette recorders in the late 1970s and the 1980s.- Overview :...
VCR as one of the major mistakes in his life.
See also
- 1993 in video games
- 3DO Rating System3DO Rating SystemThe 3DO Rating System was a rating system created by The 3DO Company and used on games released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. The rating system has four categories:*E - Everyone...
- List of 3DO games
- Panasonic Jungle