Such words blow cold these days through the halls of one of Silicon Valley’s most publicized start-ups. Just a year ago, 3DO was touted as a budding Microsoft. Founder Trip Hawkins claimed his Interactive Multiplayer would not only crush Nintendo and Sega but would one day emerge as the box bringing interactive programming to the world. Time Warner, Ma-tsushita and AT&T bought in early. Thousands of investors followed suit, snatching up shares at $15 when the company went public in May 1993 – before there was even a product.
But Hawkins’s vision hasn’t materialized. Sales have been tepid – largely because the machines were priced too high and few software programs were available – and Hawkins is pouring his own money into the company to pay for marketing expenses. Meanwhile, 3DO’s stock has plunged almost 70 percent since October (chart), and some analysts say the company’s survival depends on a strong Christmas shopping season this year. Hawkins denies there’s anything wrong and contends that business is looking up. Sales have recently shown some life, and some of the new software for the multimedia player looks promising. But even the most optimistic industry watchers insist that 3DO doesn’t have much time to turn things around as companies ranging from the big game-machine makers to PC manufacturers produce newer and better products. ““The decline of 3DO is a cautionary tale for anyone investing in a new high-tech company,’’ says Mark Stahlman, a highly regarded computer-industry analyst.
Until this year, 3DO had all the markings of a winner. Hawkins, 40, had the perfect pedigree. At Harvard he created his own major in ““game theory.’’ (His senior thesis was a computer simulation of World War III.) He had plenty of experience with start-ups. As a teenager he borrowed $5,000 from his father to market his own fantasy football game, which failed. Fresh from Stanford business school, Hawkins was the 68th employee hired by a man whose zeal for his work exceeded even his own: Apple’s Steven Jobs. After four years there, Hawkins cashed in several million dollars of company stock and in 1982 founded Electronic Arts, now among the nation’s biggest makers of sport and game software.
3DO was born of his frustrations there. Hawkins was convinced that the future was in CD-ROMs (compact discs with extra memory), not the cartridges favored by the Japanese game-machine makers. And he was furious over the royalty fees – as much as $20 per cartridge – that Sega and Nintendo charged software makers for the right to market games for their players. His machine would change all that. The plan was this: instead of manufacturing it himself, he would license the rights cheaply to several electronics companies. His profit would come from software royalties, but unlike his competitors, he would charge game makers a mere $3 a disc.
Unveiled in January 1993, 3DO’s prototype drew raves. Its graphics made Sega and Nintendo seem as primitive as Pac-Man. It was hailed as the ultimate toy for boys from 18 to 40. Matsushita had agreed to be the first licensee, producing the box under its Panasonic brand name as the ““Real 3DO Interactive Multiplayer,’’ with a $700 price tag. Hawkins predicted that the post-college crowd he coveted wouldn’t wince.
But for those who knew where to look, cracks in the plan were already showing. First, Hawkins’s friends in the software community didn’t fall into lock step. Despite the low fees, many refused to create games for 3DO until at least a million machines had been sold. Hawkins kept a lid on the troubles through last summer, say Silicon Valley insiders. Friends say he figured to bridge the gap with sheer charisma. He traveled the country, cajoling retailers, charming conferencegoers and courting the press. Still, by the time the machine was launched, there was only one title available, the unfortunately named car chase, Crash ‘N Burn. Christmas, says a 3DO backer, ““was not the smash we planned.’’ By New Year’s, analysts say, most big investors had bailed out, leaving mom-and-pop types to watch their shares tumble. The first few months of the year were just as cruel. Analysts say the $200 price cut that Hawkins negotiated with Matsushita in February was too late and not steep enough. Says star venture-capitalist Don Valentine: ““Turning this around looks like mission impossible.’'
Ridiculous, says Hawkins. He insists the machine is taking off at last. Sales may not reach the original target of 500,000 within 12 months, but 120,000 have been sold so far – the vast majority in Japan, where college kids have made it a real hit. ““People like to take shots at us, but no one wants to look at the things that have worked,’’ says Hawkins, adding that the machines are now selling at a rate of 10,000 a month. (Matsushita wouldn’t confirm the figure.) More silver linings: a South Korean manufacturer, Goldstar, plans to make the machine under its label for the U.S. market, and Hawkins is promising about 100 new games by the holiday-shopping season. And last week another announcement: that Hawkins and his backers would invest an additional $37 million, including a reported $10 million from Hawkins himself. That helped boost the company’s stock.
Still, in the fast-moving world of high tech, it may already be too late for 3DO to regain its momentum. For example: while 3DO released more software titles this spring, it still doesn’t have a hit that would attract large numbers of customers to the machine. Nor does it bode well that some game makers have given up on 3DO. Spectrum Holobyte, a leader in interactive technology, was supposed to design a ““Star Trek: The Next Generation’’ game for 3DO, but spokesman Tom Byron says plans are on ““permanent hold.’’ A top sports-game maker, Accolade, has scrapped all 3DO projects ““unless their fortunes reverse, which no one expects,’’ a spokesman says.
Meanwhile, competitors are closing in. Many people who could afford 3DO’s player would rather buy personal computers equipped with CD-ROM drives, now that they’re com-ing down in price. Advance word on Sony’s Play Station and Sega’s Saturn interactive game player, due out in 1995, is strong. ““3DO is old news, the techno-savvy have moved on,’’ says consultant Mark Macgillivray. And so may 3DO, unless Hawkins can produce some software hits fast and peddle a slew of multimedia machines. After all, there are only 200 shopping days left before Christmas.
title: “Lost In Cyberspace” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Helen Morgan”
Yes, it can be difficult to get through to the Internet, because it’s so popular. These days it seems as though everybody has one of those cryptic little Internet addresses:
Hunchback@NotreDame.com, hoffa@landfill.r.i.p, millionsofbacteria@yourarmpit.p-u
Why is the Internet so popular?
For one thing, it enables you to communicate quickly and easily with people all over the world–even people you don’t want to communicate with. I know this for a fact, because one time several years ago, when I was new to the Internet, I attempted to send an electronic message to a writer I know in England named Michael Bywater, whom I met when I was on a book tour in London. Michael and I had really hit it off, in part because we share a common outlook on important economic, social, and political issues, and in part because we consumed an enormous quantity of beer.
So when I got back to the United States, I wrote Michael this chatty little message, which was basically an inside joke that would make sense only to him. It addressed Michael as ““Mr Chuckletrousers’’–a name I’d seen in a London newspaper headline–and it contained various sophisticated and extremely subtle humor elements that could look, to the uninformed observer, like bad words.
The problem was that, because of my limited grasp of how the Internet works, instead of sending this message just to Michael, I somehow managed to send (or, in cyberlingo, ““post’’) it to THE WHOLE ENTIRE INTERNET. It immediately became semi-famous. People called it the Chuckletrousers Post, and it spread like wildfire around the Internet, as people made copies and sent them to their friends, who made copies for their friends. As far as I can tell, thousands, perhaps millions of people ended up seeing it. If there are in fact intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe, I’m pretty sure that the first communication they will receive from our planet will be the Chuckletrousers Post.
The irony is, about a week after the original post, Michael Bywater posted a message on the Internet saying that he’d heard there was some message going around with his name in it, but he hadn’t seen it, and could somebody please send it to him? I had managed to send this hideously embarrassing message to everybody in the world except the person who was supposed to read it.
What, exactly, is the Internet?
The Internet is a worldwide network of university, government, business, and private computer systems.
Who runs it?
A 13-year-old named Jason.
How can I get on the Internet?
The easiest way is to sign up with one of the popular commercial ““on-line’’ services, such as Prodigy, CompuServe, or America Online, which will give you their program disks for free. Or, if you just leave your house unlocked, they’ll sneak in some night and install their programs on your computer when you’re sleeping. They really want your business.
What are the benefits of these services?
The major benefit is that they all have simple, ““user-friendly’’ interfaces that enable you–even if you have no previous computer experience–to provide the on-line services with the information they need to automatically put monthly charges on your credit card bill forever.
What if I die?
They don’t care.
Can’t I cancel my account?
Of course! You can cancel your account at any time.
How?
Nobody has ever been able to find out. Some of us have been trying for years to cancel our accounts, but no matter what we do, the charges keep appearing on our bills. We’re thinking of entering the Federal Witness Protection Program.
What if my children also use my Internet account?
You should just sign your house and major internal organs over to the on-line service right now.
Aside from running up charges, what else can I do once I’m connected to an on-line service?
Millions of things! An incredible array of things! No end of things!
Like what?
You can… ummmm… OK! I have one! You can chat.
““Chat’'?
Chat.
I can already chat. I chat with my friends.
Yes, but on the Internet, which connects millions of people all over the entire globe, you can chat with total strangers, many of whom are boring and stupid!
Sounds great! How does it work?
Well, first you decide which type of area you wish to chat in. Some areas are just for general chatting, and some are for specific interest groups, such as Teens, Poets, Cat Lovers, Religious People, Gays, Gay Teens Who Read Religious Poetry to Cats, and of course Guys Having Pointless Arguments About Sports. At any given moment, an area can contain anywhere from two to dozens of people, who use clever fake names such as ““ByteMe’’ so nobody will know their real identities.
What are their real identities?
They represent an incredible range of people, people of all ages, in all kinds of fascinating fields–from scientists to singers, from writers to wranglers, from actors to athletes–you could be talking to almost anybody on the Internet!
Really?
No. You’re almost always talking to losers and hormone-crazed 13-year-old boys. But they pretend to be writers, wranglers, scientists, singers, etc.
What do people talk about in chat areas?
Most chat-area discussions revolve around the fascinating topic of who is entering and leaving the chat area. A secondary, but equally fascinating, topic is where everybody lives. Also, every now and then the discussion is interrupted by a hormone-crazed 13-year-old boy wishing to talk dirty to women.
To give you an idea of how scintillating the repartee can be, here’s a re-creation of a typical chat-area dialogue (do not read this scintillating repartee while operating heavy machinery):
LILBRISKET: Hi everybody WAZOOTYMAN: Hi LilBrisket TOADSTER: Hi Bris LUNGFLOOK: Hi B LILBRISKET: What’s going on? TOADSTER: Not much LUNGFLOOK: Pretty quiet (longish pause) WAZOOTYMAN: Anybody here from Texas? LILBRISKET: No TOADSTER: Nope LUNGFLOOK: Sorry (longish pause) UVULABOB: Hi everybody TOADSTER: Hi UvulaBob LUNGFLOOK: Hi Uvula LILBRISKET: Hi UB WAZOOTYMAN: Hi U UVULABOB: What’s happening? LILBRISKET: Kinda slow TOADSTER: Same old same old LUNGFLOOK: Pretty quiet JASON56243837: LilBrisket, take off your panties LILBRISKET: OK, but I’m a man (longish pause) WAZOOTYMAN: UvulaBob, are you from Texas? UVULABOB: No. (longish pause) LUNGFLOOK: Well, gotta run. It is a beautiful thing, the Internet. It is.
What is the ““World Wide Web’'?
The World Wide Web is the multimedia version of the Internet, where you can get not only text but also pictures and sounds on a semi-infinite range of topics, stored on ““Web pages,’’ maintained by companies, institutions, and individuals. Using special software, you can navigate to these pages and read, look at, or listen to all kinds of cool stuff. It would not surprise me that, by the time you read this, somewhere on the Web you can look at an actual electron microscope image of JASON56243837’S CRAZED hormones.
Wow! How can I get on the Web?
It’s easy! Suppose you’re interested in buying a boat from an Australian company that has a Web page featuring pictures and specifications of its various models. You just fire up your World Wide Web software and type in the company’s Web page address–probably an intuitive, easy-to-remember string of characters like this:
www.fweemer-twirple~.com/ heppledork/sockitomesockitome@fee. fie/fo/fum.
What if I type one single character wrong?
You will launch U.S. nuclear missiles against Norway.
Ah.
But assuming you type in the correct address, you merely press Enter, and there you are!
Where?
Sitting in front of your computer waiting for something to happen. It could take weeks. Entire new continents can emerge from the ocean in the time it takes for a Web page to show up on your screen. Contrary to what you may have heard, the Internet does not operate at the speed of light; it operates at the speed of the Department of Motor Vehicles. It might be quicker for you to just go over to Australia and look at the boats in person.
Does that mean that the World Wide Web is useless?
Heck no! If you’re willing to be patient, you’ll find that you can utilize the vast resources of the Web to waste time in ways that you never before dreamed possible.
Common criticism of the Internet is that it is dominated by the crude, the uninformed, the immature, the smug, the untalented, the repetitious, the pathetic, the hostile, the deluded, the self-righteous, and the shrill. This criticism overlooks the fact that the Internet also offers–for the savvy individual who knows where to look–the tasteless and the borderline insane.
I am thinking here mainly of the World Wide Web. Whereas much of the Internet relies strictly on text, the Web is multimedia; this means that if, for example, you’re setting up a Web site devoted to exploring the near-universal human fear that a Star Wars character wants to consume your gonads, you can present this issue in both words and pictures.
In researching this I spent many, many hours exploring the World Wide Web. My time was divided as follows: Typing insanely complex Web addresses–2%. Waiting for what seemed like at least two academic semesters per Web page while the computer appeared to do absolutely nothing–93%. Reading snippy messages stating that there is no such Web address–2%. Retyping insanely complex Web addresses–2%. Actually looking at Web pages–1%.
All the pages described here are real; I did not make any of them up, not even the virtual toilet. And what you see here represents just a teensy-tiny fraction of the thousands upon thousands of Web pages, with new ones being created constantly. Do not assume, from what you see in this chapter, that all Web pages are a total waste of time; the actual figure is only about 99.999997 percent.
By the time you read this, however, you may not be able to visit all of these pages. I visited most of them in mid-1996; some of them may have since gone out of existence for various reasons, such as that their creators were recalled to their home planets.
http://minyos.xx.rmit.edu.au/ ~s9507658/toilet/
If you’re thinking about taking a trip to Melbourne, Australia, the first question you ask yourself is: ““What will the toilets be like?''
The answer can be found at this Web site, which offers detailed reviews of selected Melbourne-area toilets.
And that is not all: From this Web site, you can jump to some of the many, many other toilet-related Web sites, including a Virtual Public Restroom (““The Toilet of the Web’’), where you can write a virtual message and leave a virtual ““poopie.''
http://hogwild.hamjudo.com/ cgibin/wave
This is the perfect Web site to show to the skeptic who thinks you can’t do anything useful or practical on the Internet. At this site, you can click on a button that activates a motor at a remote location; the motor is attached to a large fiberboard hand, which waves back and forth at some cats, if the cats happen to be in the room at the time. You can’t actually see this; you just get the warm feeling of satisfaction that comes from knowing that you are causing a remote, simulated hand to wave at remote, possibly nonexistent cats. You also get a nice ““Thank you for your wave’’ message from the Web page author, as well as his description of the way the cats usually react to the hand (““Master will stare at it when it moves; the other three cats, Callie, Mutant, and Katrina, just ignore it’’).
http://www.bart.nl/~sante/ enginvek.html
This is the most thorough on-line course in Swedish cursing I am aware of; and if your computer has sound, you can click on phrases, and it will curse at you in Swedish.
Here are some of the practical Swedish curses you can learn on this Web site (I swear I am not making these up):
Han var en j vel pOE att fiska. He was bloody good at fishing. Satan! Ungen pissade pOE sig! Hell! The kid wet his trousers! Jag tappade den jevla OElen I dropped the f**king soap.
Let me repeat that the Web sites described here represent just a tiny fraction of what’s out there. What you really need to do is start poking around for yourself. You’ll quickly discover that what you’ve just read exemplifies some of the saner thinking going on. So go ahead! Get on the Web! In my opinion, it’s WAY more fun than television, and what harm can it do?
OK, it can kill brain cells by the billions. But you don’t need brain cells. You have a computer.
Emoticons are a very clever use of standard punctuation marks to express a human emotion. Suppose you’re typing a statement such as: I am feeling happy. The problem with this is, the reader cannot be absolutely, 100 percent sure what emotion you’re feeling when you type this. So at the end of the sentence, you ype a colon followed by a closing parenthesis: I am feeling happy :)
Right. When you turn the page sideways the punctuation marks form a “smiley face.” But that’s only the beginning:
:( Sad person :-) Happy person with a nose :–( Person who is sad because he or she has a large nose .-) Person who can still smile despite losing an eyeball :-D Person laughing :-D* Person laughing so hard that he or she does not notice that a 5-legged spider is hanging from his or her lip ;-) Person winking :-{8 Person who is unhappy with the results of her breast-enlargement surgery
