Similarly, the early success of the PlayStation was no doubt aided immeasurably by the exclusivity deal Sony struck with arcade giant Namco - ensuring that console conversions of Tekken, Ridge Racer and Air Combat would only appear on what is now the world's most successful videogame machine. The game was all but over for Trip and Co.

In many ways, the 3DO - which had faded to an ignoble end by 1996 - was a victim of timing. As Hawkins has often pointed out, the console was never built to compete with the PlayStation and Saturn - the microprocessors used in those machines just weren't available when the 3DO was designed in 1991.

Furthermore, the cost of CD-ROM drives and RAM back in '93 more or less FORCED the 3DO company to put their machine out at that suicidal price point. Given a little more time, and a lot more faithful support from key developers, things might have been different.

Ultimately, though, 3DO should not be looked upon as a complete failure - the platform was an innovation ahead of its time. It was one of the first consoles to use the programming language C rather than assembler; now all videogame consoles use C. 3DO was also the first console to come with built-in graphics libraries which helped developers create games more quickly - a feature later employed in the PlayStation.

Indeed, the consoles which were to follow, learned much from the 3DO company's mistakes. As for Trip Hawkins... he knew his idea of a console standard had legs; it was just that the 3DO appeared too early. Which is why, in 1995, he was already planning a sequel named M2. But that, dear readers, is another story...