The 3do multiplayer (24-bit color) had better hardware than the proposed msx 3 (15-bit color) and 3do could have modified this hardware to work as a msx. Plus the msx 4 will be great if M2 powered it. People from Electronic Arts (those who made software for the amiga) participated in 3do but lacked vision.

http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/whats_new/past/m2-press.html

from the page:

"The superior price and performance of the PowerPC 602 is enabling new classes of advanced home entertainment software," said Phil Hester, General Manager, Systems Technology and Architecture Division, IBM. "Working together with 3DO, we've defined the 602 with unique capabilities to make M2 the best possible technology for interactive entertainment applications. 3DO's 64-bit M2 system architecture will forever change the way people play, learn, and interact." -3do said

M2 alone cannot change the way people learn. It is just a technology. Msx, however is a computer and Russian schools enjoy using Msxes. If one combines the power of the 3do M2 with the sophistication of the msx, one could make a great computer. Too bad 3do didn't have that vision.

Panasonic actually stopped producing MSX in favour of 3DO in 1993.

was it not realistic to ask 3do to take over the msx standard? ascii kept the msx 3 from having a cd-rom. Yes, but 3do failed. I may be fantasizing, but I think 3do could have continued the msx line.

ASCII could not have kept the MSX3 from having a CD-ROM. In fact, thanks to Philips, MSX was one of the very first (if not: THE first) computers to actually have a CD-ROM interface. ASCII only defines the minimum standard of the MSX, every company was free to add their own peripherals to it, as long as they were sticking to the MSX standard. So, the only thing ASCII could have decided was the MSX3 not to have a CD-ROM by default, which is something completely different than defining the MSX3 standard not to have a CD-ROM at all.

Both platforms was commercial failures... Combining two failures doesn't make a success

I would not call MSX a commercial failure. It was in the USA, but it damn sure was not in Japan. Panasonic didn't produce the turboRs for charity, you know ;P

Quote:

I would not call MSX a commercial failure. It was in the USA, but it damn sure was not in Japan. Panasonic didn't produce the turboRs for charity, you know ;P

...until they quit about 10 years ago :S

..hoping they would make more money with 3DO, just like Philips was hoping they would dominate the market with CD-i

In all honesty, CD-i wasn't a bad idea. The philosophy behind it was quite sound. Ofcourse like Philips always does, they made a great mess out of it, but the idea was okay. That *could* have been a smash hit. Just like tive could have been in Europe if they would >>> Get their frikkin' brains checked and release the darn thing in Europe! <<<

And yes, I know Tivo was sold in the UK, but as usual Philips fails to see where its market lies. Now ofcourse, it's already to late... Sigh... If only Philips would hire me to do their thinking... They'd be less broke, at least...

Problem with Philips is most times marketing. Technological most products are most times good. However there marketing most times screws up.

I actually think Philips is doing great in Canada. They dropped silly trademark Magnavox and sell under their main brand: Philips. The price is comparable to lesser Japanese brands (JVC, Sharp), so people buy Philips stuff, and they are happy with the quality.

For instance all universal remotes here are either very ugly and cheap, or stylish and very expensive.

Philips sells a very stylish remote for a very cheap price.

And nothing beats the value of Philips high-end cables (Component, optical, S-Video etc.). Prices are half from silly north american brands like Monster, and quality is better.