Panasonic M2

It wouldn't have been against the PS1 or N64, it would have gone against the PS2 and other non retro consoles.

>>2856025
Panasonic was aiming for a 97-98 release date before they canned it, so it would have come out before the Dreamcast, even if it was a 6th gen machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkGdhKC6SM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocaTno8iYVU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLGfeDHIYo

In terms of graphics, it was definitely above the N64, but weaker than the Dreamcast.

>>2856029
that fighting game looks pretty good.

console itself aesthetically reminds me of something SNK would do

>>2856029
>even if it was a 6th gen machine.
The concept of a console belonging to a "gen" was a recent invention to retroactively classify old consoles.

>>2856378
8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and co. prove you wrong, we always had generations and still do.

>>2856385
Bits =/= Generations
CPU processing power was indeed used by companies to promote a console's supposed superiority over another (particularly by Sega when they introduced the 16-bit Mega Drive), but that no longer became viable when bits were no longer the only the main determining factor of a system's capabilities, so "bits" was dropped and "generations" (e.g. 4th gen, 5th gen, ect.) was introduced later on around the generation transition between PS2/Xbox and PS3/Xbox 360.

>>2856378
It was the generation to follow the 3DO.
Now you could question whether the 3DO (1993) and the N64 (1996) belong in the same generation or the M2 would be closer with 1998 but that's partly because the N64 kept getting delayed.

Those machines are really sexy, I love how they look.
Graphics look like top end N64 stuff, maybe a bit better, might have been fucked by the DC when that came out.

Software support and price would have been key, just like the original 3DO (which had issues with the former and had no hope with the latter).
I still think the 3DO would have had a strong chance if it was built in-house and sold directly like normal consoles were instead of the licensing scheme it used.
The 3DO's price hurt it, since the machine was pretty capable and could have easily garnered more software support with a larger install base, especially with the open-door policy.

File: 3do_alive.jpg (108KB, 480x720px) Image search: [Google]

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>>2856684
>I still think the 3DO would have had a strong chance if it was built in-house and sold directly like normal consoles were instead of the licensing scheme it used.
It seems Panasonic were probably going to license the hardware manufacturing out like 3DO did, because there was a Goldstar M2 shown off that looked like the Korea-only 3DO Alive II model.

The actual pic of the Goldstar M2 is in potato quality though.

>>2856021
That machine design looks rad.

But sadly, that's probably the only good thing about the machine. From what I heard, the Dreamcast was 4x more powerful according to Kenji Eno, who did a M2 exclusive game that they had to rewrite from scratch to the Dreamcast when the M2 got cancelled.

So if they go for a 97-98 launch, then they would've got smoked very fast, because the system was as powerful as a N64 without its crippling hardware bugs.

>>2856395
>was introduced later on around the generation transition between PS2/Xbox and PS3/Xbox 360.
Wrong. Go lookup old game mags using the term "next gen". The numbering of gens may be somewhat recent, but the concept of gens has been around for a while.

>>2856894
I feel like the machine could have coasted along with updated PS1/N64/Saturn ports and some original software until about 2001, of it came out in 1997.

>>2856894
If the M2 came out in 1997, it probably could have coasted on upgraded PS1/N64/Saturn ports and some exclusives until about 2001.

It looked like it would have got Konami support - maybe an updated port of MGS.

>>2857418
>>2857438
Sorrry. Clover didn't load quick enough.

>>2857417
>Go lookup old game mags using the term "next gen". The numbering of gens may be somewhat recent, but the concept of gens has been around for a while.
That's exactly my point. Next-gen merely meant a new technology or the next iteration of something, but there was no 3rd gen, 4th gen, 5th gen or anything like that back then.

At any rate, I'm not a fan of the whole "gen" classification system since a lot of pre-2000 systems outside the mainstream Nintendo/Sega/Sony ones don't exactly fit into the so-called generation categories since you have lots of weird in-between systems like the Supergrafx, 3DO and Jaguar, even stuff like the Atari 5200 and SG-1000 that are pigeon-holed into the same generation with their respective predecessor and successor (the Atari 2600 and Master System respectively). You could even make a case for platforms like the PC Engine and Dreamcast being in-between gens too

>>2857438
>It looked like it would have got Konami support - maybe an updated port of MGS.
MGS1 was actually planned for the original 3DO at one point. It might had shifted to the M2 had it actually been made.

>>2856029
>In terms of graphics, it was definitely above the N64
>above

lol no

Evil Night and Battle Tryst look like ps1 games, they even have the lack of perspective corretion on textures from ps1

IMSA looks like your average N64 racing game

So I'd say it's on par with N64 at best, definitely not above.

Technology wise, If the M2 was released it would've been the last 5th gen console, not the first 6th gen.

>>2858808
I'm not the guy you're responding to but are you literally smoking crack cocaine?

>>2858812
You seem triggered by my post, anon. Why?

File: 1448545181311.png (670KB, 1600x971px) Image search: [Google]

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>>2858827
I'm not. But I want some of what you're having. You on silkroad?

>>2858831
>I'm not.

Yes you are.

>>2858831
I want /v/ to leave.

>>2858840
No, you don't, you faggot.

>>2858843
>>>/v/

File: m2-coffee.jpg (6KB, 225x300px) Image search: [Google]

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Some of the prototypes were reused as coffee vending machines.

>>2856894
>>2858808
The M2 was definitely more powerful than an N64, but definitely less powerful than the Dreamcast. It's fairly easy to look at the specs and work this out. But it was probably a little closer to the N64 end of things.

I'd like to think of it more as a turbocharged N64. It even had the same texture cache limitation, except the cache was bigger.

> as powerful as a N64 without its crippling hardware bugs.
What kind of "bugs" are you talking about?

>>2860310
No sound CPU, forced shitty microcodes.

>>2860321
>No sound CPU
That's not a bug, that's an omission.

>forced shitty microcodes.
That's not a bug either, that's more like a forced development policy.

An actual bug would be like how PS2's hardware-AA function literally did nothing even though it was a documented feature. Or how Saturn's VDP1 would in certain circumstances overdraw pixels for no reason.

File: DSC03423_30.jpg (213KB, 1200x900px) Image search: [Google]

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some m2 pics here, fucking hell this guy really likes the 3do

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/188483-bitrate-3do-and-m2-collection-11-years-worth-many-pics/

>>2860310
>What kind of "bugs" are you talking about?

Awful memory latency, inability of some parts of the hardware to access memory directly, textures limited to 4k size, microcodes closed for developers. And carts limited the amount of stuff you could put in games.

Fix all of that and make it have the RAM pack by default, and it could take on the M2, on a good day.

>>2860361
>Awful memory latency
All RDRAM has awful memory latency. It's literally a characteristic of that type of RAM. In return you get crazy amounts of bandwidth. There was nothing particularly unusual about the N64's RDRAM.

>inability of some parts of the hardware to access memory directly
That's just an omission of extra memory/data buses on the motherboard.

>textures limited to 4k size
See above. There was only one bus from the RAM to the texture unit, and it went through the texture cache.

I think you need to look up what a bug is. Making a minimalistic motherboard design that omits some features in order to save on manufacturing costs certainly isn't it.

>Fix all of that and make it have the RAM pack by default, and it could take on the M2
And it would have cost twice as much (and the M2 was supposed to cost even more than that) and not delivered twice the performance.

And it still wouldn't be as powerful as an M2. The M2 is clearly using much newer hardware. Even if you "fixed" the N64, it still would only have a theoretical fill rate of 62.5 Mpixels, versus the 100 Mpixels of the MS2.

>>2860357

>that collection

What in the hell is wrong with that guy? How could anyone like a failed games console that much? He must have spent tens of thousands on that pile. I am stunned.

>>2860528
Nah, most expensive game for the system goes for 30-40 bucks. Typical CiB games go for less than $10

Still weird to spend that much on a really shitty failed handheld/phone library

>>2856385
>i fell for the bit maymay
That's ok. Lots of people who had actually been born when 8 bits was a thing did to.

>>2856385
The 68000 has 32 bit registers and 32 bit address space. It has 16 bit data bus but so did the 386SX and that's universally accepted as 32 bit. The only reason the 68000 isn't accepted as 32 bit is because the ALU is 16 bit. Faster clock speed isn't the only reason the Genesis has so much better CPU performance than the SNES.