The 3DO Hits America and Japan Awaits

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You're listening to Memories of 3DO, a retrospective look at

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a video games console classic.

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To make sure you get the latest episode, hop on over to 3dopodcast.com/listen and

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choose your preferred app to follow on.

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And now this week's episode.

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Leading up to its north American launch in October, 1993,

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while the 3DO still had problems, including a much reduced launch

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lineup due to developers getting to grips with the new hardware,

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excitement was still growing.

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Multimedia was the future as multiple video games and entertainment magazines

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were loudly screaming from their pages.

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News programs were also talking about a future where a set top box would

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be the hub of your entertainment

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set up - from TV to movies, sports, video games, and more.

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As such 3DO was ideally placed to be at the forefront of this next wave.

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However, as the months played down, it became clear that launch wasn't going

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to be everything 3DO needed it to be.

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Because of the hardware and the chips being used, the cost of the console was

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going to come in at an astronomical $700.

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Although manufacturers could set their own price, which would see

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a reduction soon after launch.

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There was also only one game available, Crash'n'Burn from Crystal Dynamics.

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While it wasn't a terrible game as such, it was in no way an example

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of the jaw-dropping graphics gamers had been promised in the

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months leading up to the launch.

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Additionally, due to manufacturing difficulties, Panasonic only managed

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to ship 30,000 to stores across the U S which led to huge shortages and

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disappointment from eager gamers.

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However Trip Hawkins and his partners were nothing if not savvy marketers,

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and they kept interest in a system peaked over the holiday period.

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Sneak peaks and trailers of the games to come look to show 3DO owners

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they had made the right choice as did upcoming accessories, like the modem,

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expandable memory, and more If the launch in the US was disappointing, the

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Japanese launch would make up for this.

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Kind of.

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While not the huge selling launches the likes of Sega and

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Nintendo enjoyed with new systems.

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70,000 units were shipped in Japan.

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While the first hardware partner was Japanese, the 3DO company was still

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very much an American piece of tech, which traditionally made it hard for

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any non-Japanese hardware developer.

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So 70,000 units was a pretty good achievement.

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Indeed, thanks to the Japanese launch and game magazines raving about the likes

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of Gundam Extreme and Full Boost, which satisfied Japanese gamers and the love

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of battlemech games, north American fans saw a bright future, especially with

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their love of the sport genre promising to be more than met by Electronic Arts.

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In fact, TIME Magazine even went as far as naming it their Product of the Year for

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1993 with a glowing reference that stated.

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If you think you've seen graphics, wait until you've seen the jaw

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dropping footage of the 3DO.

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Despite the imminent releases of next generation machines from Sega,

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Nintendo, and a new player in the market with Sony entering the fray,

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it looked as if the hiccups of the launch were firmly behind the 3DO

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and the marketplace was finally ready for this newcomer to shake things up.

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In the next episode of Memories of 3DO, the games start flooding out,

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the European launch, and a glimpse of a 64-bit future for the machine.