3DO Interactive Multiplayer

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The first model of the 3DO, released in 1993.



The 3DO company and the 3DO console were a vision of entrepreneur and former chairman of Electronic Arts, Trip Hawkins, who founded 3DO with the intention of “build[ing] a game machine that was 50 times as powerful as Sega's or Nintendo's“ (Time, 1994). By choosing to develop a 32-bit CD-based console, the 3DO company intended to release a product that extended beyond gaming and was instead a multi-purpose system allowing users to use a variety of CD-based media as well as network using an external modem. The 3DO console was invented and designed by Dave Needle and TJ Mical, who co-founded the New Technologies Group, which eventually merged with and became part of the 3DO company.

Design and Technology

Physical Design

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Like most computers and home consoles, the 3DO is completely encased in an opaque (black, in this case) plastic box that does not show any of the system’s hardware. The first 3DO model was square and looked similar to a VHS player, while the second model was sleeker and more contemporary looking. The physical design of the 3DO allowed the system’s functions to be masked entirely, creating an environment similar to the “darkened room” or “chamber” of the camera obscura. Much like how the camera obscura allowed for an extraordinary visual experience through “…the representation of an exterior phenomenon [which] occurs within the rectilinear confines of a darkened room, a chamber, or in Locke’s words, an ‘empty cabinet,’” the gaming console exhibits this same sort of magic. Gamers are allowed a fantastical experience limited to the confines of the game that are “magically” produced by a black box. The user needs limited working knowledge of how the device operates in order to gain the visual (and audio) experience, and the machine does not necessarily need any user input in order to produce the experience (i.e. you menu and load pages), thus allowing the machine and the user to exist independently, “…the spectator is a more free-floating inhabitant of the darkness, a marginal supplementary presence independent of the machinery of representation” (Crarey, 41).


Core System Architecture

The 3DO was equipped with a ARM60 32-bit central processing unit. And had 1MB of video RAM. The ARM60 is now obsolete, and at the time the only other system that had an ARM60 RISC was the Zerlink GPS Receiver. The 3DO had several “folios” that allowed a relationship between several aspects of hardware and software. For example, the audio folio allowed for the creation and manipulation of sound effects and music. The 3DO was also the first home console that provided a visual display for music, so that when you played CDs a visual moving image would appear and change with the music, similar to older Windows screen savers. A 3-D folio was also developed for the console (but not released) and would have been used to create 3-D effects. The 3DO also had a digital control port, similar to the Mac ADB port, as opposed to an analog control port.



Other innovative peripherals were developed for the 3DO but never released. AT&T developed an external modem for the 3DO that would create a network using voice-over-data technology for users to talk to each other. External memory devices were also developed for the 3DO, specifically a 128K memory card that was developed by TDK and would allow players to store games externally. Additionally, computer plug-in cards were developed to allow users to play 3DO games on computer screens, which extended the life of the console beyond the television and made the 3DO a potentially versatile entertainment system. Unfortunately, the 3DO ceased production before any of these peripherals could be popularized.



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Game Structure

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Cover for the 3DO game "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties."


