Video Game Gazette
The first 3DO, called the FZ-1, was produced by Panasonic in 1993. It was the first 32-bit console to be widely distributed in the U.S.A. A few years later Panasonic released a less expensive model called the FZ-10. The new model featured a design similar to the Turbo Duo, and had a clam shell cd tray rather than a front loading drive. The controller was also remodeled to fit smaller hands. Goldstar also produced a 3DO system. Late in the life of the system a PCI card was produced that allowed 3DO games to be played on a PC. Just before the company went out of the console business, a next generation system dubbed the M-2 was designed. It never went into production.
The 3DO is based on a 32-bit ARM60 RISC processor running at 12.5 MHz. It has twin graphics animation processors. Like all 32-bit systems it has a palette of 16 million colors. The system has a resolution of 640x480 pixels. The audio is handled by a 16-bit custom DSP. The 3DO has 2MB of DRAM, 1MB of VRAM, and 32kB SRAM with battery back up.
