3do M2

[WindowsKiller]

Are there any plans to add some 3DO M2 items to the Rarity Guide? Only "Console, M2" is currently listed, and the description for it is also quite inaccurate.

[Bojay1997]

Are there any plans to add some 3DO M2 items to the Rarity Guide? Only "Console, M2" is currently listed, and the description for it is also quite inaccurate.

What do you think should be added? I don't know anyone who actually has a true prototype of the console, just those development systems and drive boxes which Panasonic actually sold to game developers like Interplay and others and the kiosk computers and development kits they sold to industrial video developers for training kiosks. Those "prototype" controllers pop up from time to time, but never sell for much. Other than that, I have yet to hear about any other M2 stuff besides the final arcade games which came out in a collector's hands.

[WindowsKiller]

I know a handful of people who own stand-alone prototype consoles (blue/grey) as well as final units (black). Those can be added, as well as the dev cards and the drive box, the prototype controllers (yes, plural), maybe the two kiosk systems, and of course the arcade games. And prototype games do exist as well, I own two myself. So there's plenty to add. And since I'm collecting M2 stuff for three years now, I can pretty much estimate the prices and rareness of most of the stuff.

[Bojay1997]

I know a handful of people who own stand-alone prototype consoles (blue/grey) as well as final units (black). Those can be added, as well as the dev cards and the drive box, the prototype controllers (yes, plural), maybe the two kiosk systems, and of course the arcade games. And prototype games do exist as well, I own two myself. So there's plenty to add. And since I'm collecting M2 stuff for three years now, I can pretty much estimate the prices and rareness of most of the stuff.

Hmmm...it seems like a weird grey area since the system was technically released, but not as a game system, except for the arcade market. The "final" black units you are talking about which were designated FZ-21S1 were sold to the training market and not sold as game systems, so I'm not 100% sure they are appropriate for the guide. Same with the kiosk units and I don't know that the DP Guide covers development or arcade stuff. Have you actually uncovered real evidence that anyone has the home console version M2 prototype systems in their collections? I've seen people post claiming to own them over the years, but nobody has provided any evidence as far as I know. It's exciting to know you have some game prototypes which I suppose would be appropriate for the guide.

[WindowsKiller]

The "final" black units you are talking about which were designated FZ-21S1 were sold to the training market and not sold as game systems

That's one of quite a few wrong "facts" floating around. The black units already existed in late 1996 and were the final hardware (though the design was still to change). I know two people who are in possession of such an "early" black unit, and another one owning a 1998 model. Photos of these units exist as well.

When Matsushita released the FZ-21S1 as a set-top box media player, they didn't bother changing the design or hardware, so apart from a different date printed on the PCB, there's no difference between the FZ-21S1 that Matsushita sold in mid-1998 and the earlier black units. Not even the BIOS was changed, so you see a controller there in various help screens that was never available. ;-)

The grey units with blue buttons that are in the hands of a few collectors are also more or less the same as the black units, but they require a PCMCIA card to boot. They are from mid- to late 1996 and were part of non-Mac-based dev kits.

[Bojay1997]

That's one of quite a few wrong "facts" floating around. The black units already existed in late 1996 and were the final hardware (though the design was still to change). I know two people who are in possession of such an "early" black unit, and another one owning a 1998 model. Photos of these units exist as well.

When Matsushita released the FZ-21S1 as a set-top box media player, they didn't bother changing the design or hardware, so apart from a different date printed on the PCB, there's no difference between the FZ-21S1 that Matsushita sold in mid-1998 and the earlier black units. Not even the BIOS was changed, so you see a controller there in various help screens that was never available. ;-)

The grey units with blue buttons that are in the hands of a few collectors are also more or less the same as the black units, but they require a PCMCIA card to boot. They are from mid- to late 1996 and were part of non-Mac-based dev kits.

While I'm not disputing the accuracy of your dates, I still think it's a grey area since Panasonic included "games" as one possible use for the FZ-21S1 and its prototype precursors, but never really did anything to move that use forward. I still have my documentation for the FZ-21S1 that I used to design training applications for a public entity here in California and there are some promotional materials that encouraged game development as well as sales and training uses for the FZ-21S1, but again other than the arcade use, it never was commercially used for that application. I have no doubt the black and the blue/grey units exist. I used to use one of the early black ones. What I haven't seen is any of the prototype models shown at various trade shows which were specifically designed for games. In my mind, those are the 3do M2 game system protos, not what Panasonic sold for the training and kiosk market which is what everyone seems to have, whether or not they are hardware similar to the prototype game consoles.

[WindowsKiller]

I don't think it's a grey area at all. Of course, there's no need to list the kiosk units (i.e. FZ-35S and FZ-55), but everything else fits to what DP already covers. There's lots of development hardware listed already, and DP even has a dedicated Arcade section. :-)

btw, it's not that no games were made for the system. Panasonic actually did quite a few mini-games for the kiosk unit, though those were mainly targeted to older people.