The
Amiga CD32, styled "
CD32" and code-named "Spellbound", is the first
32-bit home video game console released in western
Europe,
Australia,
Canada and
Brazil. It was first announced at the
Science Museum in
London,
United Kingdom on July 16, 1993, and was released in September of the same year. The CD32 uses
CD-ROM media, and was developed by
Commodore, creator of the
Commodore 64 computer. It was based on Commodore's
Advanced Graphics Architecture chipset, and is of similar specification to the
Amiga 1200 computer. Using third party devices, it is possible to upgrade the CD32 with
keyboard,
floppy drive,
hard drive,
RAM and
mouse, turning it into the equivalent of an
Amiga 1200 personal computer. A hardware
MPEG decompression module for playing
Video CD was released. In the Christmas period following its launch, the CD32 accounted for 38% of all CD-ROM drive sales in the UK, exceeding sales of the
Mega-CD; however it was soon overshadowed by CD-ROM based games consoles from other companies, and was discontinued as Commodore went into bankruptcy.