Podcast: Happy Birthday to the 3DO
Born on October 4, 1993, the 3DO game system was reponsible for a lot of firsts. One of the first CD-ROM consoles, the first 32-bit console, and the first console that relied solely on 3rd party manufacturing. For all it gets harped on, the 3DO still houses a strong library that borrows from both consoles and PCs as well as paving the way for original titles. Shawn Freeman from Knuckleballer Radio joins us to discuss the glory that was the 3DO.
Gaming History 101 
You probaably didn’t know back then (and maybe still now?) that the 3DO was not the first 32 bit console.
The Amiga CD32 was the first 32 bit console to market, being released September 17, 1993, althouhg to the best of my knowledge was never released in the US, so that maybe why you wouldn’t know about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_CD32
Sparky Kestrel
August 2, 2018 at 10:01 pm
Thanks for the reply. Back when we did this episode it’s entirely possible that at the time I was unaware of it. In the US the Amiga CD32 came out in small doses and late so I’m pretty sure the 3DO beat it to market here. I’ve also been told that the Amiga CD32 played, for the most part, Amiga ports. This always puts the discussion in a unique place because of the whole “is it a computer or is it a console” discussion, although given the controller and TV input the CD32 was most definitely a console. It’s good people know about the CD32 and I’ve always wanted one but NTSC (aka US/Japan) consoles sell for about $450+ today and I’ve heard there may be some hardware issues. It’s not a whole lot cheaper in Europe either, but I’d be open to PAL (aka European) consoles upon doing enough research.
Fred Rojas
August 10, 2018 at 10:24 am