Panasonic M2
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Panasonic M2, earlier known as 3DO M2, is a multimedia terminal and cancelled
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
. It was initially developed by
The 3DO Company The 3DO Company was an American video game company based in Redwood City, California. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies to develop the 3DO standard of video gaming hardware ...
as a
peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...
chip for the 3DO hardware before turning into a standalone successor system. In January 1996, the technology was acquired by Matsushita (
Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...
) who continued development as their own
game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location conne ...
before cancelling it altogether in 1997. The M2 technology was then incorporated into commercial-oriented devices including a
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
arcade board and in interactive kiosks.


History

As with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, the M2 hardware was co-designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical. First announced as a
peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...
chip for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer with a custom
PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
microprocessor, the M2 eventually became a standalone console and was exhibited and demonstrated at the 1995
Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) was an annual Trade fair, trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, wit ...
. For a time, the M2 was scheduled to be released both as a standalone unit and as an add-on chip. In 1996, an M2 developer stated that he did not think an M2 add-on chip was possible because the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and M2 architectures were too vastly different from each other.


Matsushita sale

Initially the plan was for the 3DO Company to license the console to multiple manufacturers, as it had done with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and both Matsushita (
Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...
) and
GoldStar GoldStar was a South Korean electronics company established in 1958. The corporate name was changed to LG Electronics and LG Cable on February 28, 1995, after merging with LG Chem, Lucky Chemical. LG Cable was spun off from LG Electronics and ch ...
were signed on to produce M2 units. However, 3DO later sold exclusive rights to the M2 to Panasonic for a sum of $100 million agreed in October 1995, and relinquished their involvement with the console over the next several months. Matsushita formed a new division in April 1996 named Panasonic Wondertainment Inc. headquartered in Tokyo to be their in-house software developer for the M2. Several of the M2's third-party developers expressed concern that Panasonic would be unable to give them the same high quality development support that they had been receiving from 3DO and said that in light of this they were reconsidering whether it would be worth the effort of learning how to develop for the M2. For several months Panasonic and
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
were discussing a partnership over the M2, but talks between the two companies broke down in the second quarter of 1996. According to 3DO president Trip Hawkins, "The deal was virtually done. It only fell apart at the last minute." According to Omid Kordestani, a 3DO spokesperson, the M2 could generate 1 million polygons per second with the graphics features turned off and 700,000 polygons per second with the features turned on. There were plans to make M2 models with built-in
DVD player A DVD player is a machine that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...
s, similar to the later
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. According to 3DO senior vice president of hardware engineering Toby Farrand, "M2 was designed knowing that we would make it a DVD capable player." A preview in '' Next Generation'' published well before the console's planned release gave it four out of five stars, claiming that the M2 was several times as powerful as any gaming console then on the market. They also praised the 3DO Company's strategies for securing third-party support for the system, and concluded that "M2 has crossed the line from being a collection of fanciful tech specs to hard silicon that people can work on and believe in." The M2 failed to appear at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo; a Panasonic spokesperson at the show said they were still undecided on how they were going to use the M2 technology, and that it was no longer certain that they would be using it as a gaming platform. By the end of 1996 a release date was not yet set for the console, and third-party developers were stating that in practice the M2 was not significantly more powerful than the
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
. ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' summarized the M2 situation at this time: "Some months, it seems the boat is still afloat: Rumors crop up of a public showing, new demos come out or a Matsushita official doles out some tantalizing hints. Other months, it seems the boat has capsized, with developers scrambling to get off the boat while they still can."


Cancellation of console

Matsushita cancelled the project in mid-1997, unwilling to compete against fellow Japanese electronics giant
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
's
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
and
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
, both of which had recently had several top-selling games released for them. Word of this leaked in late May, but it was not until July that the console's cancellation was made public, via an announcement by Matsushita president Yoichi Morishita. The M2 was canceled so close to release, marketing had already taken place in the form of flyers, and several of its prospected launch titles had gameplay screens in circulation. In October 1997 Matsushita announced that they were marketing the M2 hardware as an industrial system capable of custom multimedia applications for simulations.


Use in other hardware

Development kits and prototypes of the machine became very valuable pieces among collectors. M2's technology was integrated in the multimedia players FZ-21S and FZ-35S, both released in 1998. Both products were aimed at professionals working in medicine, architecture, and sales, not home users. The M2 also became a short-lived arcade board by
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
. The agreement to develop the board was made well in advance of the M2 console's planned release date, with the understanding that games using the arcade board would be ported to the home console, similar to the relationship between the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
and Namco System 11. Because games ran straight from the
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
drive, it suffered from long load times and a high failure rate, so only five games were developed for it. In the late 1990s and from 2000 on, the system was also sold in the
interactive kiosk An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, or education. By 2010, the largest bill pay kiosk network ...
market. In 2000, PlanetWeb, Inc. began offering software to allow the M2 to be used as an Internet appliance. All of the software released for the M2 kiosks was developed with the "CDMotion for M2/M2X" software, which was a point and click "codeless" SDK for M2. None of the applications utilized the Macintosh based SDK in conjunction with Macintosh Programmers Workbench. The M2 technology was later used in
automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...
s, and in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
in coffee vending machines.


Technical specifications

These refer to the cancelled video game console. *
Central processing unit A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions ...
– Dual 66 MHz PowerPC 602 **Implements the
32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...
PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
RISC In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a comp ...
instruction set architecture **
PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
CPU designed for
consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...
applications **1.2
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s power usage each **32-bit general purpose registers and ALU **33 MHz 64-bit multiplexed address and data bus **4 KiB data and instruction caches (Level 1). No Level 2 cache **1 integer unit, 1 floating point unit, no branch processing unit, 1 load/store unit ** SPECint92 rating of 40 each, approximately 70 MIPS each. **1 million
transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...
s manufactured on a 0.50
micrometre The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...
CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...
process *Custom ASICs cohabiting on the motherboard **BDA: ***Memory control, system control, and video/graphic control ***Full triangle renderer including setup engine, MPEG-1 decoder hardware, DSP for audio and various kinds of DMA control and port access ***Random access of frame buffer and z-buffer (actually
w-buffer A z-buffer, also known as a depth buffer, is a type of data buffer used in computer graphics to store the depth information of fragments. The values stored represent the distance to the camera, with 0 being the closest. The encoding scheme may ...
) possible at the same time **CDE: ***Power bus connected to BDA and the two CPUs ***"bio-bus" used as a low-speed bus for peripheral hardware *Renderer capabilities: **1 million un-textured
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
s/s geometry rate **100 million
pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s/s fill rate **reportedly 700,000 textured polygons/second without gouraud shading or additional effects **reportedly 500,000 textured polygons/second with gouraud shading, lighting and effects **shading: flat shading and gouraud shading ** texture mapping **decal, modulation blending, tiling (16k/128k texture buffer built-in) **hardware z-buffer (
16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
) (actually a block floating point with multiple (4) range
w-buffer A z-buffer, also known as a depth buffer, is a type of data buffer used in computer graphics to store the depth information of fragments. The values stored represent the distance to the camera, with 0 being the closest. The encoding scheme may ...
) **object-based full-scene anti-aliasing **
alpha channel In computer graphics, alpha compositing or alpha blending is the process of combining one image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. It is often useful to render picture elements (pixels) in separate pass ...
( 4-bit or 7-bit) **256x224 to 640x480 resolution at 24-bit color *Sound hardware – 16-bit 32-channel DSP at 66 MHz (within BDA chip) *Media – Quad-speed
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
drive (600 KB/s) * RAM – Unified memory subsystem with 8 MiB ** 64-bit bus resulting in peak 528 MB/s bandwidth **Average access 400 MB/s *
Full Motion Video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, vector graphics, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games featur ...
MPEG-1 *Writable Storage –
Memory card A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices, such as digital cameras as well as in many early games conso ...
s from 128 KiB to 32 MiB *Expansion Capabilities – 1 PCMCIA port (potentially used for
modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...
s, Ethernet NICs, etc.)


Accessories

The M2 console gamepad was to have six buttons positioned by the right thumb and two shoulder buttons, much like the standard
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
gamepad, and a D-pad surrounded by a rotating analog wheel.


Games

In late 1995 four M2 games in development had been shown to the public: '' ClayFighter III'', '' Descent'', ''Ironblood'' (later released for the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
as '' Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft''), and an untitled racing game by Studio 3DO (presumably '' IMSA Racing''). A fifth game, '' D2'' (a sequel to '' D''), was previewed early the following year. Studio 3DO also claimed to be working on a version of '' BattleSport'' for M2. Other confirmed M2 projects include '' Return Fire 2''; ''Power Crystal'', an RPG by British developer Perceptions; a rail shooter developed by Genki; and ''NFLPA Superstars'', a 6v6 backyard football game by Condor (later renamed
Blizzard North Blizzard North (formerly known as Condor) was an American video game development studio based in San Mateo, California. The studio was the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area division of Blizzard Entertainment, and it was known for the Diablo (series ...
), whose budget of nearly $1m helped the company financially during the development of '' Diablo''. A game based on the film '' Escape from L.A.'' was announced in 1996, but may not have entered development. In 1996, a '' Top Gun'' game was in development by Spectrum Holobyte but was never released.
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
and
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
were both later confirmed to be licensed M2 developers. '' Ultra Game Players'' magazine reported in its July 1997 issue that, according to a former 3DO employee, nearly 80 games were in development for the M2. In 2008, the now-defunct website Games That Weren't 3DO/M2 released a 2d shooter that was originally part of ''IMSA Racing'' as a hidden mini game but was made bootable to work as a stand-alone game on any 3DO M2 hardware. In 2010 the only completed M2 game, ''IMSA Racing'', was made available to the public. In 2017, two fully playable builds of Ironblood were released by a German collector and are available for download to this day. In January 2020, a compilation demo disc was released by the YouTube channel “Video Game Esoterica”. The disc contains twelve diverse demos from the development period of M2 and includes the only known playable files of the M2 version of D2.


Konami arcade games based on M2

* '' Tobe! Polystars'' (1997) * ''Total Vice'' (1997) * ''
Battle Tryst is a 1998 in video gaming, 1998 3D computer graphics, 3D Versus fighting game, fighting arcade game developed and published by Konami. It is Konami's second attempt in the 3D arcade game, arcade fighting game market after their 1997 in video gam ...
'' (1998) * '' Evil Night'' / ''Hell Night'' (1998) * ''Heat of Eleven '98'' / ''The World Soccer Championship'' (1998)


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Official website of the M2 (1998)Games That Weren't 3DO/M2
– A website about unreleased 3DO M2 games
Video Game Esoterica M2 Demi Disc Release
{{Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer CD-ROM-based consoles DVD-ROM-based consoles M2 PowerPC-based video game consoles Sixth-generation video game consoles Vaporware game consoles Home video game consoles