Launched on the 4th September 1994, the 3DO was supposed to be the definitive standard by which all other CD based consoled would follow. The company was set up by none other than Trip Hawkins, who I'm sure many of you will have heard throughout the years.
Trip Hawkins for those of you still scratching your heads set up Electronic Arts in 1982. By 1993 EA had become the biggest third party developer in the world. A title they still hold today. However, Trip became frustrated with the necessity of having to develope games for the many different formats out at the time. He decided to set up and create his own console in 1990 and formed the 3DO Company.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the 3DO was supposed to be a standard. Much like VHS...except it never happened. Althought the machine was technically impressive the games never did it much justice. That was until Capcom decided to release it's almighty Super Street Fighter 2 game. But apart from this and a handful of other titles the main flaw in the 3DO design was that each manufactures version of the console was different, meaning that compatability was a problem.
Just before the 3DO dream died the 3DO Company decided to announce an add on device codenamed M2. The specifications and demos shown were very impressive but the project was eventually canned..although I'm not sure why...
Don't dispare though...it isn't all sad news! The 3DO Comapny still lives on albiet in software form. They have released games like Battle Tanx, Army Men and others on verious platforms. The quality of these titles have been questionable, but at least they still have jobs in the games industry!! :)
System Specs | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions: | (W)11.2"x(D)10.6"x(H)3.5" |
| CPU type: | 32-Bit ARM60 RISC processor |
| CPU speed: | 12.5Mhz |
| Colors Available: | 16.7million |
| Max Resolution: | 768x576 |
| Main RAM: | 2Mb |
| Video RAM: | 1Mb |
| ROM: | 1Mb |
| Battery Backup: | 32Kb |
| Audio: | 16-Bit PCM |
| CD-ROM speed: | 2x |
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