Far from giving up the ghost of the ill-starred Interactive Multiplayer console, 3DO Co is making a splash in the Internet waters with agreement to acquire multi-user old-timer Archetype Interactive Corp. Archetype claims to be the developer of the Internet’s first three-dimensional graphical multi-user game, known as a ‘MUD’, after the term by which it used to be most frequently referred, Multi-User Dungeon. The acquisition represents the first component of 3DO’s Internet strategy, and is int ended to give it a head start onto the World Wide Web – although the whole strategy still rests heavily on the fact that people have to buy the consoles first. Under the letter of agreement, Archetype will become part of 3DO’s newly-created Internet division, which takes over from 3DO’s systems software and content creation divisions. Archetype’s primary product is Meridian 59, a dynamic three-dimensional visual environment in which hundreds (the companies claim thousands) of users will be able to play simultaneously using the Internet as a medium. Steve Sellers, co-founder and executive producer at Archetype sees the new MUD as an area where graphics of CD-ROM games and the communications of the Internet meet. Already, more than 10, 000 users across the globe have played early versions of the game and a final version with expanded capabilities and game play is expected by autumn, to be followed in the first half of 1997 by further Internet products. The Internet is the first medium ever to provide unique communications between computing resources and people across the globe, said chairman and chief executive Trip Hawkins in a statement. The Internet, he says, ushers in a new era of social computing. Meridian 59 is a revolutionary title that will propel gamers into an entirely new world and way of entertainment, says the publicity. Meridian is actually based on the classic Dungeons and Dragons model where players choose their characters, equip them with persona l attributes and weapons and send them into the adventure. Archetype was started in 1995 by two sets of brothers and is run from four remote locations across the US. Mike Sellers, the creative director, works out of Sherwood, Oregon and his brother Steve out of Berkeley, California. Andrew and Chris Kirmse, the company’s chief technology officers, operate from Vienna, and Blacksburg, Virginia respectively. The company has 10 employees focused on engineering, programming, art design and marketing.
