Panasonic 3DO????

arrowhead · Post by **arrowhead** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:25 pm

Im sort of a collector of consoles, and I have come across a 3DO system. It is 50 bucks, with 1 game (dragon slayer or something like it) and all hook ups. My question is: I have never played one before, so Im not sure of its capabilities. Are there any emulators for it? Does it have VCD capablities? Is it worth 50 bucks is my main question. Any comments about the system would be cool as far as its worth. I havent paid more than 15 bucks for a classic system in years because I usually search for them in flea markets/thrift stores. This is from an actual game reseller so normally I would not pay 50 bucks for a cosole for my collection, but its the first time I have seen a 3DO since they were selling retail for 500 bucks. What do you guys think?

Jeeba Jabba · Post by **Jeeba Jabba** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:29 pm

To be honest, Ive never played one either, But I hear it was quite ahead of its time as far as graphics go and does indeed have a few good games.

Ive seen them as low as $20 at local shops though.

Sir Slash · Post by **Sir Slash** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:20 am

some have VCD ...but i cannot say the price you see if great...ebay offers much lower prices...

reaper2k2 · Post by **reaper2k2** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 2:57 am

IT's a good system but no were near as good as a saturn that should give you a good idea ! the saturn is better in every way then the 3do

its still a nice system has lots of charm need4speed on it was better then the psx or pc version

mariobro · Post by **mariobro** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 3:48 am

Yeah, the 3DO was practically dead on arrival...

But it was impressive. I witnessed first-hand a graphical demo before its launch. It was just a cube with "3DO" on it, but it showed some amazing graphics effects for its time:

- Multi-axis rotation

- Full texture mapping

- Stretching and "squeezing" of the cube

- Full transparency

- A curtain behind the cube showed textile effects, like draping, fluttering and so on.

Sadly, no commercial game showed all of these capabilities. But it gave you an idea of its potential.

We might see it as expensive, but cutting-edge technology usually is. Its failure was even more bewildering by the fact that Trip Hawkins, founder of EA, was its mastermind... and that more than 50 companies signed up as developers for it.

Like the Atari Jaguar and the Dreamcast, it was a powerful system that suffered from bad marketing and malicious propaganda by its competitors.

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 5:01 am

Jeeba Jabba wrote:To be honest, Ive never played one either, But I hear it was quite ahead of its time as far as graphics go and does indeed have a few good games.

you heard wrong. Massively underpowered at the price it was sold at, and only one game that was good (Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo).

The DC should never be compared to the 3DO or the Jaguar, both of which were rubbish, overpriced, and under supported.

Chaniyth · Post by **Chaniyth** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 8:38 am

Need For Speed, and Fifa Soccer are also superior on 3DO tha any other system.

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 9:05 am

kubyx wrote:Need For Speed, and Fifa Soccer are also superior on 3DO tha any other system.

...and that contradicts my assertion there was only one good game for it.... how?

mariobro · Post by **mariobro** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 6:50 pm

The thing is, the 3DO never even got a fair shot at success...

So its potential was barely tapped. It was at least superior to the PSX. And the PSX wasn't exactly cheap at launch...

As for the Jaguar, it wasn't overpriced, quite the contrary. In an effort to get a decent market share, Atari priced the Jaguar at 200 USD, which was quite reasonable for a powerful system, for its time.

Both consoles (3DO and Jaguar) had planned hardware upgrades for next-gen gaming. The 3DO upgrade was even demonstrated at trade shows.

Who knows what made the PSX so popular? Timing? Piracy? Marketing? It certainly wasn't the unimpressive hardware, I'll tell you that much.

perry · Post by **perry** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 7:28 pm

It was piracy. I know a lot of people bought it cause they could get games for a fiver from the guy down the road, or they're mate in school.

zero · Post by **zero** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 8:30 pm

it's sad when you think about it, but the psx did have a lot of good games. but the mean selling point for it was piracy. you could get cpoied games for it almost anywhere, and it was so easy to copy ya own.

Calavera · Post by **Calavera** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 9:13 pm

Has anyone here ever played a CD-I?

Post by **pixel** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 9:48 pm

Calavera wrote:Has anyone here ever played a CD-I?

unfortunately yes

Calavera · Post by **Calavera** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 10:16 pm

tenchi wrote:
Calavera wrote:Has anyone here ever played a CD-I?
unfortunately yes

Why games did you play? How was the graphics?

Post by **pixel** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 10:30 pm

Calavera wrote:
tenchi wrote:
Calavera wrote:Has anyone here ever played a CD-I?
unfortunately yes
Why games did you play? How was the graphics?

McDonald's had a experiment playland setup with terminals based on CD-Is. Quite frankly, they were cheap little edutainment titles that sucked ass compared to the normal slide.

mariobro · Post by **mariobro** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 3:54 am

Yeah, the Philips CD-I blows donkeys...

I too, only played a demo unit in a store, and wasn't impressed. It was a "multimedia" device, which we all know, stands for "crappy system".

Then I bought one at a pawnshop, but it came with no power or AV cable, so I can't hook it up and try it out. It's a nice paperweight, however...

The CD-I was a sort of experiment by Philips and Nintendo, to test the potential of CD games. But it suffered from the usual bandwidth problems that CD-ROM had at the time. Even sprite based games were depressingly slow and choppy.

That's why Nintendo decided that a CD-based system wasn't viable yet, and opted for ROM cartridges for the N64.

Sony, on the other hand, a lot of experience with CD games, from its involvement with Sega as a Sega CD developer, and a lot of first-hand technical info. (after all, they co-created the format)

spaghetti · Post by **spaghetti** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 4:00 am

The biggest problem with 3DO is that it was more of a specification or a standard than an actual console made by one company. Think Microsoft PocketPC. However, only like one company made a 3DO, and they realized they were the only one doing it, and had the foolish idea that they could own a monopoly on it somehow. So they overpriced it. Nobody cared to pay that for a console. It died. The end.

Jaguar was a similar "bad marketting" case, I think. I blame it on the Tramiel family, who I will also remind you is responsible for RUNNING COMMODORE/ AMIGA INTO THE GROUND!!!! Bastards!

Jaguar had a lot of problems marketting because they spent loads of money making the damn thing instead of getting out there and securing deals with third party developers. Sounds a bit like Dreamcast....

The Tramiels were like giant anvils around Atari's neck while it was trying to swim in shark infested waters polluted by flesh-burning toxic waste.

arrowhead · Post by **arrowhead** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 4:31 am

Thanks everyone so far for the replies. I still havent decided if it is worth 50 bucks, but I think if its still there after my next quarter starts Ill probably get it.

On the topic of the jaguar(which I own and I think rocks pretty hard) I dont blame marketing, or anything like that, I blame it on the horrid absolutely terrible joystick. Who the hell would want to develop for a system with such an ugly, unusable joystick? Anyway, thats my 2 cents on the jaguar.

On the Atari related subject, what do you guys think is a resonable price for a 7800? Some dude in the recycler is crazy enough to believe someone would give him 150 bucks for a 7800 with 20 games. What would you offer him?

DeGamer · Post by **DeGamer** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:35 am

Buy your 3DO off eBay. You can get one for less than $50. Also, only the Goldstar and Sanyo models can play VCDs.

The 3DO originally sold for $1,000 at launch, then dropped to $799, then $650, then $499, then $299, then $199, then $100 overtime. Although it was the best system during it's time, it was not worth the amount of money, unless you have plenty of cash laying around.

Nyarlathotep wrote:Massively underpowered at the price it was sold at, and only one game that was good (Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo).

SSF2 Turbo is the MAIN reason why I bought the 3DO. However, there are plenty of good games for the 3DO that made me not regret buying one. Infact, mine is next to my DC right now. I also have a psx, PS2, Xbox and N64, but those are not hooked up and my Saturn is at my job.

Hey Nyarlathotep, do you know if there is a soundtrack for the 3DO version of SSF2T? I would love to get this since the 3DO game is the only version that has this music (Well, all 63 tracks anyway)

The 3DO can be compared to the DC in a few ways.

It was underated.
It was better than the other 2 consoles that it was competing against (SNES and Genesis, well 3 if you count Jaguar).
It got a crapload of add-ons and peripherals that never came to be.
The most well known and best games were ported to the next generation consoles (Saturn and psx), some which were either better (Offworld Intercepter), worse (Gex) or the same (Road Rash). Not all the best games were ported however.
There are many exclusive games that will never get the praise they deserve.
It got a death that it did not deserve.
It was capable of so much more.

All of the above sounds similar to what happend to the DC.

This also reminds me of the NeoGeo Pocket. I have yet to play a game on that system that sucks.

kubyx wrote:Need For Speed, and Fifa Soccer are also superior on 3DO tha any other system.

Actually the Saturn and psx Need for Speed had one advantage, two player mode. Besides that the 3DO version rules. Gex on the 3DO was also superior to that of the psx and Saturn counterparts. It also has many stages that are not in the other 2 versions.

mariobro wrote: The thing is, the 3DO never even got a fair shot at success...
So its potential was barely tapped. It was at least superior to the PSX. And the PSX wasn't exactly cheap at launch...

I wish more people knew this. And yes the Playstaion was $900 dollars the first time I saw it. Well, it could be because the store that was selling it, had it for sale one month before the release date (Ah, September 9, I remember it well). But even when it officially came out it was $500 in most places.

mariobro wrote:Who knows what made the PSX so popular? Timing? Piracy? Marketing? It certainly wasn't the unimpressive hardware, I'll tell you that much.

The hype that it got just because it was a Sony made product. It sure as fvcking hell was NOT the unimpressive hardware, I completely agree on that.

pHaDeD xP · Post by **pHaDeD xP** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 3:50 pm

i rememebr when 3DO came out, when i still had my subscription to GamFan, it was a pretty sweet system, boasting better visuals and texture mapping than any other system on the market. It was the system that made the "Geko" game sfamous

but really, it was way underated, and had so many features. The only thing discouraging about it was the price tag of $500. but it later was lowered to $300 if im not mistaken, correct if im wrong at all tho please