3DO ZONE Forums

I was playing my good ol' FZ-1 the other night with my headphones plugged into the headphone jack on the controller and I thought to myself - why don't the current generation consoles have this feature? Something to do with the controllers being wireless maybe? But what about the PS2, Xbox or even PS1? Why didn't they have this feature?

I mean, it's great when I want to have a bit of late night 3DO action and don't want to wake up the missus. I can put the headphones in and crank up the volume.

Can anyone name any other console besides the FZ-1 3DO that had a headphone jack in the controller? Do the GoldStar or Sanyo versions have this? I can remember the original Sega MegaDrive had one in the console itself but not in the controller.

Oh and don't get me started on how good the concept of daisy-chaining the controllers was (no expensive multi-tap devices for 3DO...)

I've always liked it too , however , the general public at the time were't particulaly fussed and it was relatively expensive to manufacture which is why it was dropped on the FZ-10

It absolutely rocks though with a decent set of noise cancelling headphones.!

My sanyo came with the FZ-1 controller so I can't comment and I've not owned a goldstar since 1996!

Im a third shifter so on my nights off if i want to play a game the headphones options is good. None of my controllers have them though lol. My new tv doesnt have a headphone port either. My old one did, im not sure why a brand new tv doesn't. I get around this though by using the audio out on the back of the tv and plugging it into this little music mixer I have. I can even EQ the sound heh.

Most modern tvs are designed without jacks because they are intended for use with surround amplifiers hence the rca audio out and in some cases optical out.
Because of this amps have the headphone jack not tvs
Its a pain

The Goldstar controllers have a headphone jack

I have to agree that more systems should have headphone jacks. I'd like to be able to tune my a$$hole neighbors out even more! My tv output has noise in it figures lol.

Puggsy wrote:Something to do with the controllers being wireless maybe? But what about the PS2, Xbox or even PS1? Why didn't they have this feature?

For a wired controller, two additional wires are required for audio. Not that much of a problem, so dunno why older consoles didn't have it. But it was even abandoned by Panasonic while the 3DO was still on the market. The smaller controller released with the FZ-10 had the headphone jack removed already.

As for modern wireless controllers, that would raise costs quite a bit. An additional A-D converter would be required in the console, and a D-A converter in the controller. Battery lifetime would be lower, etc.

the xbox360 controllers do audio already but not the way we are asking. It can send the voices from people speaking online wirelessly to the controller and out to the headset (wired or wireless). It doesn't seem to effect the controller's battery life at all, but it is very low quality. For decent sound to go to a pair of headphones im sure its gonna have to pull some watts. But the controller battery life for the 360 isnt bad at all. I use rechargeable batteries and I probably get a a good 40 hours per charge.

price would be a major factor though. the controllers are already too damn exspensive. So it probably just the mighty dollar once again making good features non-exsistant.

just some thoughts.

heh ive only used the Headphone jack on one system, my Genesis and only one time

ive only owned very short headphones for walkmans so it wasnt to much fun sitting right ontop of the system to use them. i have one set of huge headphones from the 80's but i didnt buy a jack converter to make the big plug fit into the small holes untill the mid 90's and by then i had no reason to be quiet

oh i did try the headphone jack on my 3do MAS arcade stick when i opened it up and found a regular controller board inside it, but that was to see if it worked before i closed it up again

The Sanyo version does have this.

I personally think this was the greatest idea ever. The 360 managed to get 50% of the way there with the ability to plug your headset/Mic into the controller but it's proprietary socket and what you get in the box is utter rubbish.

Strange but true: I had a vacuum tube tv that kind of blew up on me. I used the headphone jack in the 3DO controller, spliced a wire, and plugged in some cheap speakers so I could still play my music.

Yes, it was necessary. I was living in a cheap efficiency and I had no other electronics besides a rickety old PC that barely played Tie Fighter.

Still, I thought it was a neat if crude bit of DIY.