Panasonic M2 Wikipedia. This article is about the game console. For the video tape format, see Panasonic MII. The Panasonic M2 was a video game console design developed by 3. DO and then sold to Matsushita. Initially announced as an add on chip for the 3. DO Interactive Multiplayer, it was later unveiled as a standalone console. The console was cancelled in 1. M2 technology was incorporated into other devices. Development kits and prototypes of the machine became very valuable pieces among collectors. M2s technology was integrated in the multimedia players FZ 2. Panasonic 3Do Game Console' title='Panasonic 3Do Game Console' />S and FZ 3. S, both released in 1. 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. The agreement to develop the board was made well in advance of the M2 consoles 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 Play. Station and Namco System 1. As games ran straight from the CD ROM drive, it suffered from long load times and a high failure rate, so only five games were developed for it. The M2 technology was later used in automated teller machines, and in Japan in coffee vending machines. In the late 1. In 2. Planet. Web, Inc. M2 to be used as an Internet appliance. HistoryeditAs with the 3. DO Interactive Multiplayer, the M2 hardware was co designed by Dave Needle and R. J. Mical. 5 First announced as an add on chip for the 3. DO Interactive Multiplayer with a custom Power. PC microprocessor,67 the M2 eventually became a standalone console and was exhibited and demonstrated at the 1. Electronic Entertainment Expo. For a time, the M2 was scheduled to be released both as a standalone unit and as an add on chip. In 1. 99. 6, an M2 developer stated that he didnt think an M2 add on chip was possible because the 3. DO Interactive Multiplayer and M2 architectures were too vastly different from each other. Initially the plan was for the 3. DO Company to license the console to multiple manufacturers, as they had done with the 3. DO Interactive Multiplayer, and both Panasonic and Gold. Star were signed on to produce M2 units. However, 3. DO later sold exclusive rights to the M2 to Panasonic1. Several of the M2s 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 3. A%2F%2Fstatic.old-games.ru%2Fuploadedimages%2F2015%2F04%2F08%2F56225552512da12b70.jpg&hash=bc14d736b3c1d5e912009280d8391f24' alt='Panasonic 3Do Game Console' title='Panasonic 3Do Game Console' />DO, 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 were discussing a partnership over the M2, but talks between the two companies broke down in the second quarter of 1. Software Hp Scanjet 2400'>Software Hp Scanjet 2400. According to 3. DO president Trip Hawkins, The deal was virtually done. It only fell apart at the last minute. According to Omid Kordestani, a 3. DO spokesperson, the M2 could generate 1 million polygons per second with the graphics features turned off and 7. There were plans to make M2 models with built in DVD players, similar to the later Play. Station 2. 1. 7 According to 3. DO senior vice president of hardware engineering Toby Farrand, M2 was designed knowing that we would make it a DVD capable player. The M2 was considerably hyped by the gaming press. A review in Next Generation published well before the consoles 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 3. DO Companys 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 make an appearance at the 1. 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. Matsushita cancelled the project in mid 1. Japanese electronics giant Sonys Play. Station and Nintendos N6. The M2 was cancelled so close to release, marketing had already taken place in the form of flyers, and one of its prospected launch titles, WARPs D2, had several gameplay screens in circulation a different game by WARP using the same name was later released on the Dreamcast. Technical specificationseditCentral processing unit Dual 6. MHz Power. PC 6. 027Custom ASICs cohabiting on the motherboard2. The Panasonic M2 was a video game console design developed by 3DO and then sold to Matsushita. Initially announced as an addon chip for the 3DO Interactive. When people talk about the humble beginnings of video games, the word Pong gets thrown around far too much. Pong was an early arcade game that came. BDA. Memory control, system control, and videographic 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 possible at the same time. CDE. Power bus connected to BDA and the two CPUsbio bus used as a low speed bus for peripheral hardware. Walking In Memphis there. Renderer capabilities. Sound hardware 1. DSP at 6. 6 MHz within BDA chip1. Media Quad speed CD ROM drive 6. KBs1. 1RAM Unified memory subsystem with 8 Mi. B6. 4 bit bus resulting in peak 5. Madonna Bedtime Story Single. MBs bandwidth2. Average access 4. MBs. Full Motion Video MPEG 17Writable Storage Memory cards from 1. Ki. B to 3. 2 Mi. BExpansion Capabilities 1 PCMCIA port potentially used for Modems, Ethernet NICs, etc. SoftwareeditIn late 1. M2 games in development had been shown to the public Clay. Fighter III, Descent, Ironblood later released for the Play. Station as Iron Blood Warriors of Ravenloft, and an as yet untitled racing game by Studio 3. DO presumably IMSA Racing. A fifth game, D2 a sequel to D, was previewed early the following year. A game based on the film Escape from L. A. was announced in 1. Capcom and Konami were both later confirmed to be licensed M2 developers. In 2. 01. 0 the only completed M2 game, IMSA Racing, was made available to the public. Konami arcade games based on M2 hardwareeditReferenceseditFurther readingeditKonami Arcade based on M2 System 1. Konami arcade board based on M2 technologyM2 Hit or Myth. Next Generation magazine, June 1. Noonburg, Derek. Power. PC FAQ, February 2. External linksedit.