Ill-fated systems of the '90s

I was just perusing over this site:

http://www.classicgaming.com

and, contained within this site, is an article about the 3DO...who can remember this poorly marketed system?

Trip Hawkins (who currently is head, or near enough, of EA now, i think...corrections here if necessary) started up this venture and the poor thing never had a chance to survive in the world of the 16-bit world.

Around then, the 3D0 and the 3Di came out at pretty much the same time, i think, along with the atari jaguar.

Anyone here ever buy a 3DO or one of the other systems? i remember they were being proclaimed as "the next best thing" to come along (powered with amazing CD-ROM!).

Ah, the good oul days...:D

Lemming

Originally posted by MoonHawk
and, contained within this site, is an article about the 3DO...who can remember this poorly marketed system?

Trip Hawkins (who currently is head, or near enough, of EA now, i think...corrections here if necessary) started up this venture and the poor thing never had a chance to survive in the world of the 16-bit world.

Around then, the 3D0 and the 3Di came out at pretty much the same time, i think, along with the atari jaguar.

Anyone here ever buy a 3DO or one of the other systems? i remember they were being proclaimed as "the next best thing" to come along (powered with amazing CD-ROM!).

Yup ... I remember the 3DO

My step-cousin (in Glasgow) bought one dirt cheap with a bunch of games a few years ago when they weren't "quite" dead yet. Had some really cool games. I fell in love with "Space Hulk" on that system (me being a rabid Games-Workshop fan of course )

Shinji

Trip Hawkins (who currently is head, or near enough, of EA now, i think...corrections here if necessary)

Trip started up EA and then left to start up the 3DO project; he's now president of, erm, 3DO. The people responsible for such wonders as the Army Men games. If you've ever suffered the horrors of Portal Runner, you know who to blame...

Asuka

Here a poll should be posted, purely for the reason that Atari Jaguar could actually make a relevant appearance.(Novelty value)

A

Dont be at yourself

Stephen

Because sega have crap marketing/promotion skills.

Jimi-Spandex

Originally posted by Stephen
Because sega have crap marketing/promotion skills.

Pah! Thats no reason

I remember when everyone was all excited about the Jaguar, now look at it, its a running joke, quite the success in my opinion

The Jaguar failed for a number of reasons but I don't think it was because it was inferior technology...just the way it was implemented.

Did anyone see the controllers? No ergonomics at all, no thought went into how someone would use these things.

And the fact that instead of true 64-bit technology, it was in fact two 32 bit processors working side by side...obviously 64 bit! *sarcasm there*

And the games support were ****e. There's no point arguing that...in fact, when you look at it, poor Atari (the pioneers of the video game market and the actual revivers of all things electronic-game-related in the US) suffered a lot from bad support with it's systems...look at the Atari lynx.

Lemming

The tragic thing is ... the Sega Dreamcast has some absolutely beautiful games, and is a very nice system.

ObeyGiant

I bought a 3DO, ages ago.. I think I got mine on the launch day, actually, and it's still one of my favourite consoles. Certainly it hasn't got the 3D muscle of a Playstation, but that doesn't matter - it had some fantastic, groundbreaking games. Road Rash was fantastic (better than it's "true" 3D outings), Need for Speed is still classed as one of the best driving games ever, and Space Hulk scared me silly.

I think it's a shame that 3DO spent so much time hyping the ultimate vapourware, the M2. If they had chosen to spend their energies in hyping the 3DO, instead of immediately saying "Well, we know we released the 3DO last week, but look at what we're releasing next year!", immediately making the 3DO a redundant technology, I think it would have had a better chance on the market.

Still, it wasn't bad for a first foray into the world of 32-bit gaming.

NeRb666

Anyone remember the commodore console thing?

DeadBankClerk

Originally posted by MoonHawk

And the fact that instead of true 64-bit technology, it was in fact two 32 bit processors working side by side...obviously 64 bit! *sarcasm there*

isnt the dreamcast two 64bit processors?
i think i read it is a "128bit hybrid"

Shinji

The whole "bit" argument is pretty irrelevant from the PSone onwards. All the next generation consoles (and the N64) have really varying bit buses the whole way through them. Saying "128bit Hybrid" was just Sega being honest, ish; the machine has an SH4 processor in it, which does have 128 bit instructions. The various system buses aren't all 128 bit though.

It was the Saturn that Sega made the rather dubious claim of 64-bit for, on the basis of having two SH3 processors - each capable of running 32 bit instructions.

chernobyl

What about Atairs claim that the Jag was "affordable 64bit gaming"...

Lemming

Originally posted by NeRb666
Anyone remember the commodore console thing?

Yup. I remember it indeedy. The title was the C64GS (GS standing for Games System if memory serves me correctly).

Problem was, it could only take the C64 cartridges, and there weren't enough games released on them. Buy a C64 and get tape, Floppy Disk and Cartridge all in one for not much dearer. Go figure ...

chernobyl

Anyone remember the Commodore 16?
Hangman was pretty cool.

KdjaCL

I had a 3do and i had one of the best games i ever played and can`t remember the name .
Please help
it was a 2 player split screen war game with a choice of tank,jeep or helicopter and all the way tru was a classic music track and loud explosions and stuff.
was like Silkworm 2(SWIV) but a 2player game against each other .
Anyone who had one please can you help me name that game?

And the 3do wasnt that bad it had one of the best versions of Road Rash on it i ever played .
I have yet to have a BAD system just bad games .
And if i had the money i would have them all but i dont so i emulate them .

Kdja

chernobyl

Road Rash was a reason to own a 3DO and it looked pants on the PS1, also the 3DO was a very good CD player, that is the original one, the cheaper 2nd gen (top drawer cd loading) was a knock off version.

Lemming

Originally posted by kdja
I had a 3do and i had one of the best games i ever played and can`t remember the name .
Please help
it was a 2 player split screen war game with a choice of tank,jeep or helicopter and all the way tru was a classic music track and loud explosions and stuff.
was like Silkworm 2(SWIV) but a 2player game against each other .
Anyone who had one please can you help me name that game?

I think it was something like "firepower"?? My step-cousin had it.

the_corpo

wasn't it the commodore cd32?

Lemming

Originally posted by the_corpo
wasn't it the commodore cd32?

CDI (CD-Interactive)

ObeyGiant

Originally posted by Lemming
CDI (CD-Interactive)

No. The CD-i was a joint thing between Sony and Philips. It wasn't really marketed as a games console, more a multimedia plaything. The few games it had were of the detestable "interactive movie" genre. As such, the whole thing pretty much failed.

You're thinking of the CDTV. Another machine I owned and loved. It replaced my Amiga 500 completely. On top of all that, it came with a sleek black keyboard and mouse (which I'm currently tearing my attic apart to find).

gsand

i've got a cd32 right here

some decent games but commodore just never had the money to support it and ps1 sorta destroyed all hope for it...

flogen

ObeyGiant wrote:

No. The CD-i was a joint thing between Sony and Philips. It wasn't really marketed as a games console, more a multimedia plaything. The few games it had were of the detestable "interactive movie" genre. As such, the whole thing pretty much failed.

You're thinking of the CDTV. Another machine I owned and loved. It replaced my Amiga 500 completely. On top of all that, it came with a sleek black keyboard and mouse (which I'm currently tearing my attic apart to find).

I remember the CDi ads... involved a lot of eyes, if I remember correctly!!!

I thought that was a phillips only thing though, didn't realise Sony were involved too

RobertFoster

wow, three year old thread.

Goodshape

Brilliant. For a bit there I actually thought Shinji was back amongst us.

Retr0gamer

Arise! It lives! It lives!

iregk

The 3DO for its time was a great machine, it was also the first console to put video stream into games.

But it was not the first cd based console. Are we all forgetting the ill fated Amiga CD. A 16bit system that was brought out before the Snes and Mega drive went head to head...

Retr0gamer

Wrong about the CD streaming since it was a curse visited on all CD based systems (Night trap, shudder). The Amiga CD32 also wasn't the first CD based games system. that honour belongs to the CD add-on for the Turbografx16/PC Engine console. Also Sega would like to tell you differently that there Mega CD came out first. They were console add-ons but I'm sure one of the forms of PC-Engine that came out with the CD add-on built in was out before the amiga system.

My favourite ill fated 90's console is the Sega Saturn. I bought one about 9 months ago and love it. It had just as many great games as the PS1. The problem was that only a few of them made it outside of Japan.

iregk

True there were cd add ons available before the amiga cd but the amiga cd was the first complete cd based console. Also i'd completely forgotten about the turbografx system!!!!

Sega Saturn though, brilliant machine...

hal9000

hey retro where do you get those cards?

Goodshape

They're here -> http://www.boards.ie/gathering/

Also via board.ie\ sitemap\ gathering on the top menu.

TCamen

I had a 3do and i had one of the best games i ever played and can`t remember the name.Please help. It was a 2 player split screen war game with a choice of tank,jeep or helicopter and all the way tru was a classic music track and loud explosions and stuff.
was like Silkworm 2(SWIV) but a 2player game against each other .
Anyone who had one please can you help me name that game?

It was the classic game 'Return Fire'. Such a good game! I think it was eventually ported over onto PC. Used to play it for hours with my brothers. The object was to capture the enemy's flag from their base and then bring it back to yours. You could use a small or large tank and the helicopter to blast the enemy defenses, then you had to use the little jeep with no weapons to go in and collect the flag.

Still have the 3DO stashed away in a drawer somewhere, along with the games. Have some really cool games like Return Fire, Need for Speed & Demolition Man (it was great at the time purely for the novely value of having movie clips IN a game. The actual mechanics of the game are pretty poor). Have some truly AWFUL looking demos that were just hideous to play from the official 3DO magazine -- I remember one where you played as this guy who had a mini-helicopter rotor to fly around and shoot things, something like 'Coptor Cop', but it was DIRE. There was also this tragic FPS called "PO'd", talk about woeful graphics, and the game just CRAWLED along.

The Atari Jaguar, I only played a few times -- rented one plus 'Alien vs Predator' for a night, and it was just terrible. Those joypad.... a calculator with some gaming buttons added as an afterthought, HORRIBLE!

*edit* Just realised the person who was looking for the name of that game has probably either forgotten all about it in the 2 years since s/he asked, or has long since discovered the name :rolleyes:

dearg_doom

Oh man, the Saturn!!

Was that an ill-advised move, or what? (even though it had some great games!)

SEGA thought that 3-d gaming was just going to be a fad for the forseeable when they released that, so they updated their tried-adn-tested stuff, the Saturn has some of the best 2-d rendering of any system ever made.

Unfortunately it was too expensive, and thes the PlayStatio happened:o

I have to say though, they completely redeemed themselves with the DC, that was an excellent design, aparently easy/cheap to develop for too, just never had enough of a userbase to entice enough proper third party support!

But everyone should have one for the SEGA games alone imo!

Retr0gamer

The sofware only rendering of 3D on the saturn was a silly move by Sega. It could do all the effects that the PS could do but it just took some very skillful programming. Even still just look at the saturns best looking 3D game, Panzer Dragoon Azel. It maybe a lovely looking Saturn game but it looks like an early PS game and has some terrible pop-up. The nicer looking games also tend to be RPGs and can get away with slow frame rates (the exceptions being Panzer Dragoon Azel and the saturn version of Quake which are small miracles of programming).

iregk

The dreamcast was very very easy and cost effective to program for as it ran off a windows ce version so games could easily port from dc to pc and back.

Problem was with the saturn sega lost out huge to sony and the dc was left with far too much ground to make up. Still a fantastic machine adn easily the most beautiful...