3DO ZONE Forums

Reassuringly expensive?

The only number that really matters is the inflation-adjusted one... So, the Neo Geo actually gets the title!

...inflation was high in the US during the early 1990s

I see no mention of the ultra expensive LASERACTIVE. Costing as much as $750 to $900 depending on where you went, then add in the expansion modules to play Sega Genesis or Turbo Grafix games, and more like karaoke at a cost of around $300 each.... makes 3DO look MUCH more appealing.

CD-i is still in the top for all-time money losers for it's parent company. (1/2 a billion according to a magazine article I read at the time of CD-i's demise)

Though we all know that any survey can be skewed by the surveyors. Most news agencies do it all the time, helps to shift blame from themselves. But thats the conspriacy talk again. LOL

The most expensive thing nowadays is ambition. Imagination and unique design follow suit. So what happens, 1 million Halo clones. 1 million Street Fighter clones, and all.... totally as disappointing in the long run as the games they clone.

People couldn't play 3DO during it's lifetime because it was so expensive, combined with scathing magazine articles by 'paid for the kill' reviewers, it was doom for any chance the system had. (a note here to Sega : If you ever decide to do a system again, make sure you staff your 'Official' magazine with people who like your system. Nintendo does it, Sony does it, but Sega? Nah... lets hire guys who like the competition) HA!

Drax

Oh, one more Q,

Does anyone else think it would have been a much better future for the two companies if Sega & Matsushita had gone ahead and combined forces? Sure it would have delayed or cancelled the Saturn, but I think if one of them would have backed down from the 'only my hardware should be used' argument, then their combined abilities might have overcome the Sony marketing machine.

We all know Sega has never been able to market their way out of a paper bag, but perhaps with Matsushita up front, it might have given them a better chance.

Ah, for the time when the Sega M2 was a posibility. It was an intresting couple of months of speculation, but ultimately disappointing.

Drax

It would have been a very smart move on Sega's part, but I think they were always determined to go ahead on their own (remember the other potential merger they were going to have w/Bandai?) They were great game designers, but not great business folks. To think that they had a machine that was as successful as the Genesis, and were still in the red through out it's whole life cycle and beyond ... Dreamcast could have survived much longer had Sega managed their funds correctly.

Gir Draxa wrote:Oh, one more Q,

Does anyone else think it would have been a much better future for the two companies if Sega & Matsushita had gone ahead and combined forces? Sure it would have delayed or cancelled the Saturn, but I think if one of them would have backed down from the 'only my hardware should be used' argument, then their combined abilities might have overcome the Sony marketing machine.

I love the Saturn too much for this to be a good idea in my mind... But still, I'm not a big fan of where the game industry has gone under Sony's watch, so maybe there's something to it.

Anyway, I just picked up a Neo-Geo CDZ and it's interesting to compare the Neo's history to the 3DO's. On one hand, you have the most expensive console in history with the most expensive games, whose releases were few and far between, and it managed to live on for 15 years and still has a bustling community of thousands of fans. On the other hand, you have the second most expensive system which had some great games mixed in with a whole mass of crappy shovelware, it only lived for a few years, and the community was all but dead until this place popped up. (Maybe it's a revival!)

So, I don't think the 3DO's problem was its price. It just never found its niche.

Hitachi HiSaturn Navi - 1500$
http://nfggames.com/games/hisaturn/

I actually liked quite a few of the 3DO titles that released. The price had alot to do with it. Big problems were thatalot of the big name games were also available on other systems that people already had. Trying to explain the warranted big difference between Syndicate on the 3DO over the Genesis was like pulling teeth. Anyone who worked in a game stare back then knows what I am talking about.

Gir Draxa wrote:I see no mention of the ultra expensive LASERACTIVE. Costing as much as $750 to $900 depending on where you went, then add in the expansion modules to play Sega Genesis or Turbo Grafix games, and more like karaoke at a cost of around $300 each.... makes 3DO look MUCH more appealing....
Drax

The LaserActive cost me $1,600 with the SEGA CD add-on. I still have the box and everything that came with it... I should have gotten the TG-16 add-on though. :/ I have a copy of Dracula X and nothing to play it on.