Once you experience 3DO, everything else is just TV...
The year was 1993, so far I had enjoyed a long lineage of videogaming. Arcades, The Atari 2600, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Genesis, and the Sega CD had provided me with countless hours of enjoyment. Could videogaming get any grander? Of course it could! One day I was walking through the local Mall, heading to the Electronic Boutique when something seemed different. Something was causing a stir. As I got closer, I saw a crowd of people standing outside of the big bay window. There was full motion video playing, but not the grainy Sega CD kind I was use to. This was VHS quality! I stood there with my mouth open. I watched as CDs flew through space around what looked to be Saturn. Then the planet turned into a name I would forever associate with the Real Player, Crystal Dynamics! There were two TVs playing Panasonic R.E.A.L. players. The other TV also had demos running. There was Total Eclipse, a space shooter on a distant planet. Was this a videogame or a movie? Then I saw what convinced me that 3DO was the future and deserving of my $$$. A full screen cartoon of Batman the animated series! Warner Bros. believes in the 3DO, how could it fail? I took another look at Crash N' Burn. I had never seen such beautiful graphics running at a break neck speed before. This put PCs to shame. I was hooked, but being recently married, I was also broke. How would I convince the wife that we needed this? Excuses started popping into in my head: "It could replace the VCR", or "Why waste money on a CD player, it plays CDs too!" And the infamous "Let's don't rush into a house just yet." I quickly ran into the store to see if they had any more left. One lucky 30-something guy was at the register with a Real Player. I couldn't wait to be in his place, then reality hit. There was the sticker, this high tech marvel would set me back $799.99! This was way out of my price range. Here was another untouchable system like the Neo-Geo that I would never experience. Unless I got divorced, I would never see this baby above my TV. So I said goodbye that day to the 3DO and watched it from afar.
While I waited for a price reduction, 3DO provided "Way of the Warrior" and "Road Rash." After months of waiting and memorizing the brochure (Hey, are those Arcade perfect ports of "Samurai Showdown" and "Street Fighter II" coming soon?) the price finally came down to a barely affordable number. I couldn't wait any longer it had to be mine for the low, low price of $399.99! With the wife's blessing and credit card in hand, I headed to the Mall. I walked into Electronic Boutique and ordered up a Panasonic FZ-1 R.E.A.L Player 3DO, "Way of the Warrior," and "Road Rash." The kid behind the counter went to the back of the store, then walked out with my system and games. As he rang me up, he said "Wow, you sure are lucky. Enjoy your 3DO." I assured him I would and left the store. I played all night until the sun came up. It was a great relationship from there on, I loved my REAL player and 3DO provided many quality titles that kept me busy; Slayer, The Need For Speed, Gex, Themepark, Bladeforce, etc. I was a believer in Trip Hawkins dream until the end. Hey, I was ready to buy the M2 add-on, but alas, it never came out. I watched as Sega Saturn owners got ports of my games, then Sony Playstation received ports. M2 slowly disappeared off of the covers of game magazines like EGM and Next Generation. Then it was gone.
10 years have gone by and my collection of systems has grown. My sons enjoy their Gamecube and I enjoy a round of GTA: Vice City when they go to bed. But every once in a while I take the old 3DO out for a spin, plug a headset into the controller and enjoy some of the magic that 3DO stood for (3.D.O. wasn't an acronym, go figure.) The time spent on my 3DO is just as enjoyable as the time spent on the latest multi-purpose game machines offered by the big boys. When you turn on your Xbox/Playstation2 to watch the latest Blockbuster movie, just remember to thank the little interactive multiplayer that started the big boys thinking; the first CD-only game system that won me over years ago, the 3DO. Sometimes, I miss that magical era in gaming history that 3DO and I share, but I don’t miss the load time.
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