History Platform / ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer

* [[UsefulNotes/GraphicsProcessingUnit GPU]]: Two custom video coprocessors.

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way. Sony and Microsoft actually sell their consoles for less than what they cost to produce, but make the money back and then some on game licenses and subscription fees[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee with the 3DO REAL, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later, 3DO ALIVE and 3DO TRY -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing the 3DO Blaster, an expansion card for [=PCs=] which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

* ProductFacelift: Because the 3DO was conceived as a standard for a console, 3DO licensed out the software for other companies to produce rather than producing the hardware themselves. The original 3DO models were made by Panasonic, but the following year newer models were released by Sanyo and GoldStar, as well as an add-on by Creative Labs that added 3DO compatibility to a PC.

The '''3DO Interactive Multiplayer''', also known as just the '''3DO''', was a 32-bit console released by the now-defunct [[Creator/The3DOCompany 3DO Company]] in 1993. The console was an attempt to create a standardized video game console format. The 3DO Company was founded by Trip Hawkins, the founder of Creator/ElectronicArts, which he left to form 3DO.

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way. Sony and Microsoft actually sell their consoles for less than what they cost to produce, but make the money back and then some on game licenses and subscription fees[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee with the 3DO REAL, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later, 3DO ALIVE and 3DO TRY -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing a 3DO add-on for [=PCs=] which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way. Sony and Microsoft actually sell their consoles for less than what they cost to produce, but make the money back and then some on game licenses and subscription fees[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing a 3DO add-on for [=PCs=] which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

As history has not been entirely kind to the 3DO, it's easy to overlook how it was legitimately primed to take the world by storm. The console was fairly beefy for its time period, heavily outstripping both the SNES and Sega Genesis in processing power at the height of their console war. The 3DO was also one of the first consoles capable of rendering textured 3D graphics natively, giving it an edge as the industry-wide 3D transition approached. The SNES and Genesis could only render rudimentary 3D graphics, and at very low framerate without the assistance of enhancement chips in their cartridges. Even with the use of chips such as the Argonaut-developed Super FX for the SNES or Sega's SVP, rendering 3D was still taxing on their respective hardware. The 3DO also received a lot of media coverage and pledged support from third-party developers thanks to light licensing costs. People were ready and willing to accept a new competitor into the video game industry. However, it never took off. You thought that the Platform/PlayStation3's [[MemeticMutation $599 US dollars]] in 2006 was ridiculous? The 3DO launched with a price of $699 in 1993 -- that's equivalent to $976 in 2006 and ''nearly $1,500'' in 2023 when adjusted for inflation. Though some stores sold the system for a bit under MSRP and later models ended up as cheap as $199, its launch price is still one of the most expensive of all time for consoles. The system also had a very anemic lineup of games in its infancy, launching with a single title and not receiving any notable games for several months afterward.

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G4TW_Zkm-NM One ad for the console]] took snipes at the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and Platform/SegaGenesis, dismissing them as baby toys compared to it.

** Another series of ads divided up gamers into passive (Super Nintendo), aggressive (Sega Genesis), and [=3DO=] players. One of those ads featured a boss walking into several employees' offices, arrogantly saying "You're working late tonight!", and spitting in their faces.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gex}}''[[note]]The best selling game on the 3DO with around a million copies. Considering there were only around 2 million [=3DOs=] to begin with that's actually a really impressive accomplishment, very few games that aren't pack-ins come anywhere close to a 50% install base.[[/note]]

As history has not been entirely kind to the 3DO, it's easy to overlook how it was legitimately primed to take the world by storm. The console was fairly beefy for its time period, heavily outstripping both the SNES and Sega Genesis in processing power at the height of their console war. The 3DO was also one of the first consoles capable of rendering textured 3D graphics natively, giving it an edge as the industry-wide 3D transition approached. The SNES and Genesis could only render rudimentary 3D graphics, and at very low framerate without the assistance of enhancement chips in their cartridges. Even with the use of chips such as the Argonaut-developed Super FX for the SNES or Sega's SVP, rendering 3D was still taxing on their respective hardware. The 3DO also received a lot of media coverage and pledged support from third-party developers thanks to light licensing costs. People were ready and willing to accept a new competitor into the video game industry. However, it never took off. You thought that the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3's [[MemeticMutation $599 US dollars]] in 2006 was ridiculous? The 3DO launched with a price of $699 in 1993 -- that's equivalent to $976 in 2006 and ''nearly $1,500'' in 2023 when adjusted for inflation. Though some stores sold the system for a bit under MSRP and later models ended up as cheap as $199, its launch price is still one of the most expensive of all time for consoles. The system also had a very anemic lineup of games in its infancy, launching with a single title and not receiving any notable games for several months afterward.

While the launch wasn't great and the system ultimately failed, the overall third-party support was still solid. As the 3DO Company was expecting their profits to come from console sales, their licensing fee was an extremely paltry $3 per game sold. Creator/CrystalDynamics, 3DO themselves, and Creator/ElectronicArts released some well-regarded titles for the console, and it even saw the debut of the ''VideoGame/{{Gex}}'' and ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' series. However, this didn't save it from the hype for the superior UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn and UsefulNotes/PlayStation systems just around the corner, nor did it solve the issues the manufacturing partners faced in profiting of their licenses. The 3DO format died a quick death after a much-hyped 64-bit add-on/successor console called the "M2" ended up being unceremoniously cancelled by Panasonic, though Creator/{{Konami}} did acquire the rights to use the hardware in several arcade titles.

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G4TW_Zkm-NM One ad for the console]] took snipes at the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} and UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, dismissing them as baby toys compared to it.

* Memory Expansion Unit: A Japan-only upgrade that plugs into the Expansion Bay in the consoles back. It also came with a Storage Manager start-up disc that is needed to use it.

As history has not been entirely kind to the 3DO, it's easy to overlook how it was legitimately primed to take the world by storm. The console was fairly beefy for its time period, heavily outstripping both the SNES and Sega Genesis in processing power at the height of their console war. The 3DO was also one of the first consoles capable of rendering textured 3D graphics natively, giving it an edge as the industry-wide 3D transition approached. The SNES and Genesis could only render rudimentary 3D graphics, and at very low framerate without the assistance of enhancement chips in their cartridges. Even with the use of chips such as the Argonaut-developed Super FX for the SNES or Sega's SVP, rendering 3D was still taxing on their respective hardware. The 3DO also received a lot of media coverage and pledged support from third-party developers thanks to light licensing costs. People were ready and willing to accept a new competitor into the video game industry. However, it never took off. You thought that the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3's [[MemeticMutation $599 US dollars]] in 2006 was ridiculous? The 3DO launched with a price of $699 in 1993 -- that's equivalent to $976 in 2006 and ''over $1,200'' in 2020 when adjusted for inflation. Though some stores sold the system for a bit under MSRP and later models ended up as cheap as $199, its launch price is still one of the most expensive of all time for consoles. The system also had a very anemic lineup of games in its infancy, launching with a single title and not receiving any notable games for several months afterward.

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way.[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing a 3DO add-on for [=PCs=] which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way.[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing a 3DO add-on for PCs which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

* The standard game pad has three action buttons (ABC), two shoulder buttons (L and R) and two menu buttons (X and P)[[note]]The Panasonic and Goldstar models came with different controllers (that are cross-compatible) with slight differences to the same basic design. It's debatable which one is better but neither one is particularly ''good'', fortunately adaptors can be found on eBay that will let you use a controller that doesn't suck. ''Unfortunately'' unlike most other consoles that use the 9 pin connector the controllers from the Genesis, Atari 2600/7800, etc... will not work[[/note]]. A six button controller (the REAL Pad Soldier) was also made for ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'', but it didn't actually add any new buttons - instead, it simply had the LXR buttons arranged atop the ABC buttons in order to mimic the standard ''Street Fighter'' button setup.

As history has not been entirely kind to the 3DO, it's easy to overlook how it was legitimately primed to take the world by storm. The console was fairly beefy for its time period, heavily outstripping both the SNES and Sega Genesis in processing power at the height of their console war. The 3DO was notably one of the first consoles capable of rendering textured 3D graphics natively -- the SNES and Genesis could only render rudimentary 3D graphics, and at very low framerate without the assistance of enhancement chips in their cartridges; even with the use of chips such as Sega's SVP or the Argonaut-developed Super FX for the SNES, rendering 3D is taxing on their respective hardware. It also received a lot of media coverage and pledged support from third-party developers thanks to light licensing costs. People were ready and willing to accept a new competitor into the video game industry. However, it never took off. You thought that the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3's [[MemeticMutation $599 US dollars]] in 2006 was ridiculous? The 3DO launched with a price of $699 in 1993 -- that's equivalent to $976 in 2006 and ''over $1,200'' in 2020 when adjusted for inflation. Though some stores sold the system for a bit under MSRP and later models ended up as cheap as $199, its launch price is still one of the most expensive of all time for consoles. The system also had a very anemic lineup of games in its infancy, launching with a single title and not receiving any notable games for several months afterward.

* The standard game pad has three action buttons (ABC), two shoulder buttons (L and R) and two menu buttons (X and P). A six button controller (the REAL Pad Soldier) was also made for ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'', but it didn't actually add any new buttons - instead, it simply had the LXR buttons arranged atop the ABC buttons in order to mimic the standard ''Street Fighter'' button setup.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gex}}''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3do_fz1_console_set_1.jpg]]

The system was unique in that it wasn't manufactured by the parent company. Instead, The 3DO Company licensed the blueprints of the console to various manufacturers, which provided their own versions, similar to the then-popular [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS]] standard for home video. While this may have been seen as an innovative business model at the time, it heavily contributed to the console's high price since it not only added an extra middleman that increased the cost, but also meant that the system couldn't rely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades_model razor and blades business model]] [[labelnote: Explanation]]A business model of releasing the main unit at a (relatively) low cost so people will buy complementary items, in this case games, and thus generate profits that way.[[/labelnote]] that most console manufacturers utilize. Panasonic was the first licensee, with [=GoldStar=] (LG) and Sanyo providing their own versions later -- the latter [[NoExportForYou only releasing in Japan]] -- and Creative Labs releasing a 3DO add-on for your PC which has the actual 3DO hardware on it and only required a CD-ROM Drive and a Sound Blaster 16 or equivalent card, not relying on the PC's processor and graphics card at all.

As history has not been entirely kind to the 3DO, it's easy to overlook how it was legitimately primed to take the world by storm. The console was fairly beefy for its time period, heavily outstripping both the SNES and Sega Genesis in processing power at the height of their console war. The 3DO was notably one of the first consoles capable of rendering textured 3D graphics natively -- the SNES and Genesis could only render untextured 3D graphics, and at very low framerate without the assistance of enhancement chips in their cartridges. It also received a lot of media coverage and pledged support from third-party developers thanks to light licensing costs. People were ready and willing to accept a new competitor into the video game industry. However, it never took off. You thought that the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3's [[MemeticMutation $599 US dollars]] in 2006 was ridiculous? The 3DO launched with a price of $699 in 1993 -- that's equivalent to $976 in 2006 and ''over $1,200'' in 2020 when adjusted for inflation. Though some stores sold the system for a bit under MSRP and later models ended up as cheap as $199, its launch price is still one of the most expensive of all time for consoles. The system also had a very anemic lineup of games in its infancy, launching with a single title and not receiving any notable games for several months afterward.

* MeaningfulName: It was the first game console built around polygons, the next step for the progress of interactive media. So we have audio, video, and ''three-dee-oh.''
* ProductFacelift: Because the 3DO was conceived as a standard for a console, 3DO licensed out the software for other companies to produce rather than producing the hardware themselves. The original 3DO models were made by Panasonic, but the following year newer models were released by Sanyo and GoldStar, as well as an add-on by Creative Labs that added 3DO compatibility to a PC.
* TakeThat:

* 640*480 resolution.

* Optional S-video support.

* 16-bit stereo or surround sound.

** Another series of ads divided up gamers into passive (Super Nintendo), aggressive (Sega Genesis), and [=3DO=] players. One of those ads featured a boss walking into an employee's office, arrogantly saying "You're working late tonight!", and spitting in their face.