#the 3do company

[retrocgads]

USA 1997

[waterkirby--64]

WaterKirby__64's Video Game Hall of Fame:

Portal Runner

[numberxxisora]

Today, we play a couple innings of baseball and see how well we can smack the air around.

[selene-lunette]

Fumito Ueda's interview from the 5th issue of PSM (July/August 2024)

Interview done by John Kaminari for PlayStation Magazine (Italy). I translated it to the best of my abilities.

He who transformed video games into art. "PSM" had the great opportunity to interview Fumito Ueda exclusively, after a silence that lasted many years.

There are giants (colossi) of the video gaming industry who mass-produce games merely to fill a schedule increasingly saturated with cookie-cutter products, and then there are small giants (colossi) like Fumito Ueda who, with only three games under his belt, developed for Sony Computer Entertainment, can undoubtedly be considered among the most talented and innovative game creators of all time. After leaving Japan Studio, Fumito Ueda founded the independent studio genDESIGN which, in the upcoming months, will present us with something that could rewrite the rules of video games yet again, and make our favorite hobby even more similar to a work of art of inestimable value. When we interviewed him he spoke to us about him as a gamer, as a game designer, as an artist and as a person. And he told us many anecdotes that make us understand the reason for some of his choices along his path, even painful ones. Because Fumito Ueda isn't a game designer... he is an artist who makes video games.

When did your "first contact" with video games happen? I think it occured with Block Kuzushi or Space Invaders. I remember playing both around the same time. Back then my parents ran a café and they had these two arcade video games there. However, I only remember playing them a few times.

What was your first experience in the video game industry? I was a computer graphics animator at Warp Co., Ltd.. Before that I had an experience in the creation of computer graphics at a movie company, but that was my first time working on a video game. My first experience with Warp Co., Ltd. involved the movement of the main character Laura in the CG sequence added in the 3DO version of D's Dining Table Director's Cut. However, it consisted of only a few cuts. I later became the main CG animator for Enemy Zero.

What prompted you to start working as a game designer? The reason I left Warp Co., Ltd. was due to the fact I wanted to create works that I had designed myself. I was lucky enough to be able to do this at Sony Computer Entertainment (Sce) and I was assigned the role of game designer and game director.

Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to become a game designer or did you want to take up another career? When I was in college I wanted to become a contemporary artist. The reason I got into the video game industry was primarily to a earn a living. Obviously I loved video games and I was what everyone today would call an "otaku", but back then I wouldn't have thought of making it my career.

Simply put, what kind of person is Fumito Ueda? I'm someone who can't help but feel anxious if I'm not constantly creating, even if it's something small.

How did you get involved with Japan Studio? After leaving Warp Co., Ltd., I had started developing Ico as an independent production, but I was worried because I didn't have enough money. In 1996, while I was looking for a job as a freelance CG artist, I turned to Sony Computer Entertainment. At first I approached Sce with the intention of simply helping out with the CG production for their games, but I was asked if I wanted to continue developing Ico with them, no longer as an independent production but as an internal Sce project. I jumped at this opportunity and a production team was formed. Ico was completed in 2001.

How did the idea of Ico come about? The idea was to create an heroic fantasy game similar in setting to Resident Evil, which had just been released in that period and which adopted a fixed camera system. Furthermore, at the time, I wondered if it would've been possible to feature NPCs' animations (non-playable characters) using an artificial intelligence, like in Ganbare Morikawa-kun No. 2, Hello Pac-Man and Wonder Project J', which I personally liked a lot. Eventually Ico was born.

I think Shadow of the Colossus is the most pioneering game ever made. Can you tell us an anecdote about your production process? While producing the game, I imagined that the henkei collision technique would become common in future action video games. And this was precisely my strongest motivation: to reach the goal faster than anyone else.

[There's a little section explaining the henkei collision technique] What is the "henkei collision"? In Shadow of the Colossus the playable character Wander is able to cling to the bodies of gigantic bosses, which made the interaction with the colossal enemy very "intense" and required a very different method of management and control compared to other video games. In English the term could be translated to "deforming collision".

I heard that the development of The Last Guardian was long and difficult. Without giving too much away, could you tell us what happened during that time? The game development engineers wanted to create something overly sophisticated. Using those various technologies was very difficult (like Ico's hand-holding or the deforming collision from Shadow of the Colossus). I think there hasn't been much investment in the foundations that support that advanced engineering; on the contrary, they were rather neglected and the company management did not fully understand the importance of issues of this caliber.

What impact did the 2011 Fukushima tragedy have on Fumito Ueda's sensitivity as an artist? Immediately after the earthquake I couldn't help but feel a decline in power in the entertainment world... and I'm not just talking about video games. However, I felt that my mission was to continue to fulfill my role and in fact I continued to create. Regardless of the type of "unpredictable" difficulties that one may encounter in life, such as the Coronavirus for example, people adapt to the changing environment and little by little this becomes everyday life again. It is something very precious for us living beings, but also a little scary I would say.

What are your sources of inspiration outside of the video game industry? Are there any artists you particularly admire? I think there has been strong video games influences, but I'm convinced that movies, especially anime, have also greatly influenced my works. Not only by legendary Japanese animators, such as Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yasuo Otsuka, but also by manga and anime artists, both national and international, such as Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo, Paul Grimault and René Laloux.

Thinking back to the games you created, I can imagine that you have a great appreciation for European art and architecture. Do you also like Italy? I actually don't have much knowledge of European architecture, but I like Italy. I also really appreciate Italian food and have been riding a Vespa for about 35 years. I went to Rome once while I was a member of Warp in 1995 and I visited yet again in 2017.

What do you think is more important to be successful in the video game industry today: money or ideas? Ideas are a means to solve most problems, not just economic ones; I'm speaking in general, not just referring to the world of video games.

What games have you enjoyed in recent years? They are not exactly new releases, but some time ago I was very engaged in Humanity and PowerWash Simulator. The first game embodies the charm of programming, while the second is a game that extracts the principle of pleasure hidden in everyday life.

[Two of his top 3 were also added]

TOP 3: Fumito Ueda's favorite places in Tōkyō 1) Tōkyō Gate Bridge - Reiwa Island 2) Tōkyō's Museum of Contemporary Art 3) Daikanyama Tsutaya Books

TOP 3: best video games of all time according to Fumito Ueda 1) Prince of Persia (1989) 2) Virtua Fighter (1993) 3) Half-Life 2 (2004)

[xinfinityl0ve17]

By Mana-sama

Nostalgic Game Inferno

The Xbox, which I will be discussing this time, made a striking impression with its beautiful, green-glowing icon that was visible beyond the earth sliced by an "X."

When the announcement of a new hardware invasion from America came i was excited back in 2002. At the time of the Xbox's arrival, the gaming market had seen Sega's Dreamcast defeated, while Nintendo's N64 and GameCube were struggling. The market had become a stronghold for Sony, led by the PS2.

Speaking of the PS2, it had a significant advantage with its DVD playback function. Even though the DVD market wasn’t established yet, the ability to play games and watch DVDs was quite impressive… Sony’s strategy was ahead of its time. Then, Microsoft which had dominated the global PC market launched an attack on the firmly established PS2 empire from across the sea! "Microsoft's game entry with immense wealth. They must be a terrifying enemy for Sony," I shivered at the thought.

The reason I felt this way was due to my encounter with the "ATARI 2600" from the American company Atari. I recall when I was still a young child. At a time when even the Famicom hadn’t been born yet I was familiar with games through a system at toy stores where I could play for a few minutes by inserting 50 yen. Despite being in such an era, the price of the ATARI 2600 was around 60,000 yen. It was an astonishingly expensive item for a child, and of course, I couldn’t get one. In the midst of this, the infamous "Atari Shock" occurred leading to Atari's downfall! This created a dark history in the gaming market with its collapse.

Now, back to the Xbox's invasion of Japan. The advertising campaign was tremendous. Leading up to its release, Shibuya was dyed in Xbox colors, creating a huge buzz! My first encounter with the actual Xbox was during an interview with Famitsu about the Xbox. I visited the Famitsu editorial department to be interviewed and got to see the console before its release!

As a result, the first American attempt at entering Japan ended in failure. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the first attempt, but let’s leave it at that for now.Then, in 2002, a time leap occurred, marking the start of America’s third attempt at entering Japan with the black ship Xbox.

Why is it the third attempt? Because the 3DO, which I love dearly and discussed in the first installment of this series, attempted its second entry in 1994. Some might think it’s a Japanese-made game console since it was released by Matsushita Electric Industrial in Japan, but in reality, the 3DO is American-made. Japanese companies had licensing agreements with the "3DO standard."

Now, getting a bit sidetracked—my first impression of that black, square object was striking. It felt substantial, and a line forming an X ran across the middle. Inside it was a semi-transparent green dome of the Xbox, which gave it a presence that made me think, "This is really cool!" and I couldn’t help but shout that in my heart.

The only disappointment was that the green dome didn’t light up. If it had lit up, it would have been perfect. That said, the original Xbox is one of my favorite consoles.

[dungeonsynthguide]

Gene Rozenberg Meridian 59 (1996) Soundtrack for the 1996 MMORPG, developed by Archetype Interactive and published by The 3DO Company.

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Saturn - Death Mask

Title: Death Mask / デスマスク

Developer/Publisher: Electric Dreams Inc. / VANTAN International Co. Ltd.

Release date: 16 February 1996

Catalogue No.: T-22701G

Genre: First Person FMV Adventure / RPG

Back in the early to mid-nineties many companies were making these so-called interactive movies - many of which were pathetic shallow efforts with nothing whatsoever to keep you interested. Crap like Corpse Killer and Quarterback Attack are big offenders. Also known as "Angel Devoid: Face of the Enemy" on Windows PC in the west, Death Mask on the other hand is at least interesting to look at thanks to its Blade Runner-inspired looks.

The game starts with you waking up in a hospital only to find the nurse take a fit when she identifies you are wearing the face of Angel Devoid (a bit of a bad guy, you see). From here you must escape the law, seek advice in the underground world, and basically solve problems to keep yourself alive. Think of a shallow Snatcher with FMV and that's what Death Mask is. Not too bad yet not too good.  Just a shame that they dubbed this into Japanese instead of subtitling it. (Just like Phantasm, there is already a fan translation of this out there.)

That being said, I liked Death Mask (Angel Devoid). It doesn't have a whole bunch of innovation to offer the world of video games, but it sure does have a very cool style. Probably the strongest attribute that the game possesses is its ambition. Back in the 90s, people were edging ever so closely to the day when we would be playing real-time 3-dimensional adventure games that feature super high-resolution graphics and seamless integration of live-action FMV. Angel Devoid almost delivers a lot of the "dream game" components listed above and the developers must be commended. The acting of the live-action characters is a weak element in this title, as it is in most others, but it's plain to see that genuine efforts have been made to raise the bar. 

This game is made by the same company (Electric Dreams Inc.) that made the close-to-softcore porn 3DO game disc Neurodancer. I can't help but think that Neurodancer on the 3DO might have been some form of inspiration behind this game. Oh, and some good news in terms of video compression, the game uses the True Motion video codec - the same video codec that Sonic Jam uses. While still a little bit blockier than the PC original, this still looks quite nice.

That being said, I can't help but think that maybe the people behind the Sonic x Shadow Dark Beginnings animation took some narrative ideas from this game, or perhaps it's just me overthinking it.

[lesvegas]

Did you know 3DO released a console back in the day that was also 700 fucking dollars when calculating for inflation? Did you also know it- yeah of course you know it flopped because you've never even heard of it. Also 3DO doesn't even exist anymore. They went bankrupt in 2003. Not because of their shitty console, no, but because they decided to make like 5 shitty Army Men games a year instead of 1 good one every 2 years. The only reason I even know they existed is because a game that came out a year after they went under credited them because they did technically develop parts of it before someone else bought the IP and finished the game for them. It was also the last Army Men game ever made. Sorry this was supposed to be an enraged post about the price of the PS5 and how it reminded me of a much dumber game dev company but the Army Men autism took over.

[funky-wunky]

Okay but who remembers Monster Manor? Like, tell me at least ONE of you remember the good old Sims company EA game on the 3do called Monster Manor. That thing was fire. It had like, 12 levels I believe, but that thing was great. The narrator was awesome and the shit he says always slaps too. Like, "Tread carefully now" WAS FUCKING AWESOME AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I LIKE IT THAT MUCH, but i would 100% nerd out with someone talking about it.

[z-raven]

Army Men Sarge's War

Sarge's War killed off all of Bravo Company, but like I don't know if that includes all the helicopter people that were in Air Attack or the Green Rogue.

So, like the Green Rogue and Bombshell could be still alive after the events of the game, of course it is implied that Bravo Company could get brought back to live as they might have cloning vats with the DNA of all the fallen soilders.

It ended on a Cliffhanger, but of course they never made a sequel, because 3DO and the Army Men franchise are dead at the moment.

I am probably one of the few people that liked those games, but of course Sarge's War I didn't bother getting due to thinking a gritty Army Men game didn't appeal to me

[retrocgads]

UK 1998

[allstartrekgames]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: A World for all Seasons

Original Release: N/A (In development 1994)

Developer: Spectrum HoloByte

Publisher: Spectrum HoloByte

Original Platform: 3DO

Not played: No leaked prototypes.

A choose-your-own adventure game with 3D characters and pre-rendered backgrounds. There was an article about it in Electronic Gaming Monthly, which has some screenshots, but not a lot of information about what the story was going to be about. It used some impressive 3D renders to use as 2D backgrounds, so only the characters were actually rendered by the 3DO console. These character models look like they were later used for cutscenes in A Final Unity.

The screenshots show off a very colourful alien city and a desolate looking world with interesting structures, along with some odd-looking aliens. The main rooms of the Enterprise D were also rendered, with a couple of views from the bridge, including one where you select options from the tactical console and an image of the viewscreen showing ship combat.

It looked like a very ambitious game, but the constant changes to the 3DO hardware before launch likely made development very difficult (the console had one game when it launched), and companies started dropping it as the Saturn and PlayStation arrived shortly after.

[tetley1173-igb220-blog]

What is this blog about?

By Shannon Tetley

I'm creating this blog to document my journey learning game design and it will be submitted as part of my assessment for the class IGB-220 taught at the Queensland University of Technology. It's my aim to create an interesting record of my learning and to share what I learn with others in an informal yet professional manner.

Why am I studying game design?

Well, I'm actually studying for a bachelor in IT believe it or not. My major and passion is in computer science and I'm studying minors in mobile/cloud applications and user experience. I'm learning game design for the purpose of gamifying mobile apps but that's just the academic reasoning. I've loved video games from a young age and have dreamed of making them for a living since I was a teenager. I chose to study computer science for job security and only discovered my passion for it after beginning my studies. Studying game design for my user experience minor was a happy accident but due to my interest I have embraced it enthusiastically.

How did I become obsessed with video games?

I became interested in them by watching other people play them from a young age. I've always had an active imagination and a lust for adventure. I enjoyed playing make believe and video games are a natural extension of that for me. There's nothing more fun to me than to be immersed in a fictional world were you can explore and act out fantasies.

I don't remember the first game that I ever payed but I do remember being frustrated when I had to stop playing other peoples games when I had to go home from a friend or families house. Eight year old me was determined to get hold of my own games, so when my parents gave me the option of pocket money or a PlayStation for Christmas I gave up the pocket money 😂.

Army Men: Air Attack developed by The 3DO Company

My first game was Army Men: Air Attack published by 3DO. I loved this game because I got to play with army men that could actually shoot! I loved the light-hearted and comical story of this game but it was all about the action for me. From that point, I collected games over the years and even swapped consoles with friends, including an N64 which introduced me to the world of Nintendo. In Lecture 1; Fundamentals of Game Design (Conroy), we discussed how culture naturally forms around games and play. This resonated with me, given my own experiences, sharing and playing video games with friends. My friends and I have incidentally formed a unique culture of our own which stemmed from our mutual ownership and playing of games throughout our lives.

What kind of gamer am I?

While studying in my first week of game design I came across a concept I found interesting written by Richard A. Bartle (Bateman, Step 4). Professor Bartle talks about the four main types of player, from the point of view of a game designer.

My interpretation of the four gamer types are:

Achiever - That friend who brags about getting 100% in every game they get their hands on.

Explorer - They love to learn the lore of the world and discover all the cool things in the game world.

Socialiser - Plays the game to hang out with friends or to meet new people. Often found hanging out at the grand exchange in their favourite MMO.

Killer - They're those SOBs that hang out on your ship spawn killing you in Sea of Thieves! Yes I'm still salty about that 😠, they didn't even take my loot 😂.

Metroid Prime developed by Retro Studios

I can safely say that I'm an explorer. The first game I ever got truly obsessed with was Metroid Prime developed by Retro Studios. To me, Metroid was about exploring an abandoned and corrupted alien world. I got hooked on finding all the lore walls to piece together the story about why the world was corrupted and to find out what happened to the mysterious Chozo who left behind such beautiful and intriguing ruins.

What do I hope to get out of game design?

My dream is to write backend code for games and to have the skills to turn boring old phone apps into more enjoyable experiences. Even if that dream doesn’t pan-out, this class will be a valuable opportunity to learn design practices which I wouldn’t normally learn in my more technical computer science degree.

Gaming has always been an integral part of my life. I’ve always been subconsciously aware of the culture my friends and I formed and I internally knew what kind of gamer I was – I just never had the vocabulary to describe it. Just one lecture of Fundamentals of Game Design, has prompted me to critically reflect on why my experiences playing games have been positive ones and making these links has shown me how I can tie academia to my game design.

So far, the theoretical concepts I’ve been introduced to have been very insightful and have inspired me to apply these theories to my own game design. I hope this class will continue to open my eyes to the concepts which make good games so enjoyable.

References:

Conroy, David. “Fundamentals of Game Design Lecture 1.” IGB-220 Fundamentals of Game Design, 25/7/2023, Queensland University of Technology, Online. Lecture.

Bateman, Chris. Beyond Game Design : Nine Steps Towards Creating Better Videogames, Course Technology, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=3136230.

[gmlocg]

536.) Cannon Fodder

Release: December, 1993 | GGF: Action, Shoot 'Em Up, Real-Time Tactics, Real-Time Strategy | Developer(s): Sensible Software | Publisher(s): Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc., Krisalis Software Ltd., Ocean Software Ltd., The Codemaster Software Company Limited, Sold Out Sales & Marketing Ltd., Kuju Wireless Publishing Ltd., Telcogames Ltd., Sensible Software | Platform(s): Amiga (1993), DOS (1993), 3DO (1994), Acorn 32-bit (1994), Amiga CD32 (1994), Atari ST (1994), Genesis (1994), SNES (1994), Jaguar (1995), Game Boy Color (2000), J2ME (2004), Symbian (2005), Windows (2009), Macintosh (2013), Linux (2015), Antstream (2019)

[erysdren]

I'm A Director Now I Guess

I don't usually write long posts or anything, but I'm gonna try my best to write a vaguely interesting blog post here about what I've been up to the last few months.

Since 2017 I've been fascinated by a defunct videogame/software/media company named RUNANDGUN! Movin' Pictures, which existed from 1993 to 2004 or so. It was founded by four friends just out of college, and was based in Chicago. In the early days, they made ends meet by doing contract media work for companies like VictorMaxx, Nickelodeon and TV Land. Once they had a footing though, they set about making their first big project: Duelin' Firemen!, an extremely weird and abrasive FMV game for the 3DO console.

Filming commenced in 1994, and continued throughout 1995. A handful of programmers were brought on throughout the development, but no concrete "game" could be established. The founders were film students, and making pictures move was what they were good at. While almost everything they planned to film had been filmed, no sort of gameplay or even a working prototype had been developed.

By 1996 they had a few 3D mockups, but nothing concrete. This was also the time that the 3DO, their target console, had shown itself to be a total failure. The timeline is a bit hazy, but this is approximately when they gave up on Duelin' Firemen! as a game, and tried to pitch it as a short film. Around September of 1996, they edited all of the finished footage together into a 7 and a half minute short film, which they submitted to the Sundance Film Festival. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were rejected.

After the failure of Duelin' Firemen!, they hired their first full-time programmer. With their same oddball sensibilities and a few years of experience under their belt, they successfully produced Wild Ride! Surf Shack, a cute surfing game about doing sick tricks and scoring huge points.

It's hard to find much evidence online of this game at a quick glance, but all of the known versions can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

After Wild Ride, the team realized that the emerging market of handheld consoles could be highly lucrative. A subsidiary company was created, Cave+Barn Studios, which consisted of essentially the same members but with a new name and new contractual obligations. They developed a few Gameboy Color games, which were cancelled, including a sequel to Wild Ride! named Wicked Surfing.

Later they moved on to the Gameboy Advance, developing the cult hit Urban Yeti! and the much-lampooned BattleBots: Beyond the BattleBox. In 2002 or 2003 they entered into a bad contract with an unnamed publisher, who pushed them to develop games for the Playstation. After some time, the publisher pulled out suddenly, leaving Cave+Barn high and dry, and without any money to pay their bills. They went under shortly after that.

That's the short version of their story, essentially. And since 2017 I've been working on a feature-length documentary film about them.

I can't help but be fascinated by this group. A floundering media company, fucked over by publishers at every turn, trying their damndest just to make something that appealed to their sensibilities, which they say did not really exist in videogames at the time.

I've collected loads of archival material, including development assets, behind the scenes footage, tapes and photos, all from the 10+ years of this company's existence. I've also done a handful of interviews. But in the last 6 months the project has really gotten off the ground.

One of the founders has agreed to finance my project, with me as the director and him as the producer. With his help, I went to Vancouver last week and shot interviews with 3 of the subjects, and it was just fantastic.

We had a really great crew! All the stuff we recorded looked and sounded amazing. I asked the interview questions along with my co-writer Cass, who came in remotely.

I'll be able to show some of the stuff we shot soon, contracts allowing. I estimate that this short film, which is a precursor to the full length film, will be completed sometime around Q3 2023.

[digicloudm]

3DOS launches decentralized global 3D-printing service on Sui

Decentralized manufacturing network 3DOS recently launched its peer-to-peer 3D printing network on the Sui blockchain. 3DOS, a company that dubs itself the “Uber for 3D-printing,” announced the launch on Sept. 12. According to the company, it now boasts 79,909 3D printers in its ecosystem in more than 120 countries.  A heat map of 3DOS’s decentralized infrastructure. Source: 3DOS Decentralized…