The M2, essentially 3DO 2, never managed to get itself produced, despite actually being an almost finished system, that already had more than a few games under development. Bits of the M2 technology were instead utilized in such rare systems as the 3DO FZ-35S by Panasonic. The FZ-35S was built to the M2 spec sporting dual PowerPC 602 CPUs, but with a whopping 16MB of RAM, a DVD drive and networking capabilities.
The machine is of course both rare and expensive, but you should really try your luck on this Panasonic M2 System 3DO FZ-35S auction. The system is a fully functioning 3DO M2, that impressively comes with two software disks: an original Pontiac 'kiosk' DVD, and a beta version of 3DO Studios' IMSA Racing - a fully working, playable prototype game. Seller ships to most parts of the world, and includes the system's box, manual, power lead and its mouse.
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Now, this is something you don't see often! I always felt like 3DO was underrated in many ways, and I wonder what could M2 be if only the market could give some trust in those projects?
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that 3DO gave birth to some popular series, mainly Need For Speed.
I wish I could find out more about the M2 via an emulator to be honest, as these things tend to be extremely expensive. Oh, and I remember being quite excited for the 3DO back then. Took some time till I got to understand it had gotten surpassed by the PS1.
ReplyDeleteI remember when the 3DO came out. It looked quite cool and had some fairly decent looking games going for it, but as I remember, it was phenomenally expensive. It was also out at the same time as the Phillips CDi and the Atari Jaguar.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation were just around the corner (in the UK at least, I think they may have been out in Japan by then) and there was a much bigger buzz for them than the 3DO, Jag or CDi. Couple that with the fact the PC, SNES and MegaDrive had some of their strongest titles out around then and it's no wonder that interest in the 3DO didn't last. Which is a shame in many ways, because the video I've seen of M2 hardware running demos were very impressive for the time.
Not sure how easy it would be to write an emulator for a machine sporting two PowerPC processors. I suspect even a high spec PC with multiple CPU cores would have trouble emulating two PowerPC chips. It might be easier on a Quad core G5 Power Mac, simply because its already running hardware that's broadly similar to the M2 spec.
ReplyDeleteI really wouldn't know about the programming of emulators dear Bob, but I'll happily take your word for it. After all, we've yet to see a really good Jaguar emulator.
ReplyDeleteThis of course reminds me I was quite the Atari/Jaguar fanboy, though at the tender age of my teens couldn't -sadly- be bothered with gaming; silly, I know. Anyway, thing is I once again agree. It was price that ultimately killed the 3DO.
It might still be be kind of difficult to emulate for now, but it won't stay that way.
ReplyDeleteI remember a big discussion in the early 1990s on Usenet were most people involved in the discussion came to the conclusion that the Amiga was way to powerful and complex a machine to ever emulate (I actually saved that thread somewhere). It took a while but UAE does a great job and pretty much runs on anything nowadays. All it takes is for hardware to keep progressing, which it naturally will anyway and for a person or team of people to get obscessed with making it happen, and it eventually will.
You do make a most valid point dear Paradroyd, though you'd have to admit that some of the more obscure machines -especially the more complicated ones- do not tend to receive the attention they need.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, there'll be decent 3DO emulation, of that I have no doubt.
ReplyDeleteShame there wasn't that many titles for it though.
And most of those that were did get pretty excellent ports anyway...
ReplyDeleteTrue. Its almost a case of 'Why bother"?
ReplyDeleteNow, a decent Jaguar emulator to play Alien v Predator, I'd like to try. Sadly, there's not quite enough decent games on the Jag to tempt me into tracking one down and buying it - but I think that was much the case back in 1995 as well...
Or a CDi emulator, so I can finally see for myself how godawful it's Zelda games were.
Actually, them Zelda and Mario games on CDi aren't that bad. Haven't spent ages on them, but for the short time I played them, I thought they were fine. Especially Mario's Hotel.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Jaguar, I'd also like to try its Sensible Soccer and Wolfenstein 3D ports.
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