Whats the deal with the M2?

[Jestr]

So from time to time I see M2 systems from Panasonic on eBay. It seems like all of them look different and none of them ever come with software. Is there any M2 software out there? What's up with all of the different M2 versions? Thanks for any info.

[sabre2922]

I have a few pix of various M2 prototypes on my blog might have to go back a page or two.

those are most likely prototypes that may or may NOT work but I have heard rumors of actual production models (such as the Sega Neptune=mostly empty shells)but its highly unlikely.

also there were MAYBE a handful of games for the system but not sure if any of them were actually finished in fact all ive seen are a bunch of random demos.

[Guyver03]

First, I would direct you to this link...it will give you some good base information to start from.

http://hawanja.com/m2.htm

Then I would also recommend you read this.

http://nfg.2y.net/games/polystars/

Most of the systems are either demos, empty shells or some kind of dev kit. As far as I know, there are no actual games for it. There are something on the order of 3 Japanese arcade games based on the hardware and 1 unfinished demo floating around I think. It would be awesome to have one but it's a large investment for a system with no confirmed working software.

[sharp]

There were never games for the system released as it was never completed. Of course there can be multiple development versions of games, but the chance you fnd one are really small.

As said earlier there are a few arcadegames using the m2 hardware. Only I never saw them for sale.

[anagrama]

Loads of info & images on Assembler. Search the forums.

[slapdash]

Not only was the machine never "finished", but even the idea behind it (is it game machine or an interactive kiosk driver?) changed a bit as they developed it, so they probably based different prototypes' looks on its function (i.e. more "professional" looking for the kiosk, more "fun" for a gaming machine) as well as just trying something different.

[sharp]

Not only was the machine never "finished", but even the idea behind it (is it game machine or an interactive kiosk driver?) changed a bit as they developed it, so they probably based different prototypes' looks on its function (i.e. more "professional" looking for the kiosk, more "fun" for a gaming machine) as well as just trying something different.

Yes it was a bit like the CD-I as far as I see it. The main difference is that Philips made profit on the CD-I in the end by using it for kiosks. The consumer version was outside the Netherlands a big failure.

[Trebuken]

I bought an FZ-25s off ebay lasy year. $35 I think. Guy had 25 of them for sale I thinks; that quantity gave me the impression that were not just developement units...but I have no idea. It's an awesome looking machines, has ports for everything on the back. Solidly built, did not come with a controller or remote...it was new in the box...

It seems to serve no purpose...I though I might hook it up one day and throw various disks in it to see what happens...(CD-I, 3DO, backwards compatible?..) might make a decent VCD player for all I know...

Later,
Trebuken