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By Tom Charnock
The 3DO release of id's seminal first person shooter 'Doom' is widely regarded as one of the worst console ports available. Back in the mid nineties, Doom was the benchmark for 3D gaming and every console manufacturer wanted a version on it's hardware to show the capabilities of the system.
Sega's 32X and Atari's Jaguar played host to decent ports of the PC title, and even the Super Nintendo joined the party. The 3DO however, received a very lackluster version that played in a tiny window and had a very choppy frame rate - although many agree that the re-worked music absolutely rocked. This was quite surprising for many at the time - in 1995 the 3DO was considered to be at the cutting edge of 3D gaming technology, so that it's port of Doom was so poor was something of a concern.
New details regarding the conversion of 3DO Doom have recently come to light however, as the game's principal developer Rebecca Ann Heineman has revealed the state of the build Art Data Interactive tasked her with porting to the 3DO, and also the numerous difficulties encountered due to the way in which the technology powering the console operated. It's a fascinating glimpse into the history of the 3DO and very indicative of the period in games development.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this story though, is that Heinemann has also released the full source code for the 3DO rendition of Doom, leaving the door wide open for software modders and the homebrew scene. Will 3DO owners finally get the port of Doom the console deserved? Only time will tell, but this is a very interesting story for fans of the franchise.
3DO Doom Complete Archive
The 3DO release of id's seminal first person shooter 'Doom' is widely regarded as one of the worst console ports available. Back in the mid nineties, Doom was the benchmark for 3D gaming and every console manufacturer wanted a version on it's hardware to show the capabilities of the system.
Sega's 32X and Atari's Jaguar played host to decent ports of the PC title, and even the Super Nintendo joined the party. The 3DO however, received a very lackluster version that played in a tiny window and had a very choppy frame rate - although many agree that the re-worked music absolutely rocked. This was quite surprising for many at the time - in 1995 the 3DO was considered to be at the cutting edge of 3D gaming technology, so that it's port of Doom was so poor was something of a concern.
New details regarding the conversion of 3DO Doom have recently come to light however, as the game's principal developer Rebecca Ann Heineman has revealed the state of the build Art Data Interactive tasked her with porting to the 3DO, and also the numerous difficulties encountered due to the way in which the technology powering the console operated. It's a fascinating glimpse into the history of the 3DO and very indicative of the period in games development.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this story though, is that Heinemann has also released the full source code for the 3DO rendition of Doom, leaving the door wide open for software modders and the homebrew scene. Will 3DO owners finally get the port of Doom the console deserved? Only time will tell, but this is a very interesting story for fans of the franchise.
3DO Doom Complete Archive