Playstation!

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:21 am

vlame wrote:hmm, can just ask 1 off topic question? how long did it take devs to take 100% of all of the ps2's power? god of war, mi rite?

but look at the dreamcast, there are a ton of games that took fully advantage of the specs.

sony hyped the ps2. sony hyped the ps3. nuff said.

But I wouldn't have been surprised if somebody could have pushed the Dreamcast further (Treasure?)
It think the Dreamcast was only pushed to max of what was expected. However, I think if somebody was creative enough with their programming, you could have gotten even more impressive visuals and effects.

Post by **Mozgus** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:22 pm

racketboy wrote:10%? Isn't that a bit low?
Sega wasn't THAT helpless with the Dreamcast?
And the N64 sure didn't hurt it....
THe actual PS2 might not have done it but between the preceding hype of the PS2 and the fact that it had a DVD player while the DC would push the PS2 damage level to above 10%, IMO.

Nah. Sony had so little to do with it. Sega created most of their own problems. Even though as a console, it was doing a lot right, and was considered one of the best console launches in history, Sega was being poorly managed at the time or something. It just didn't make any sense for them to back out like that. PS2s may have been flying off the shelves, but it had no good games, and I believe Sony was actually losing money on every unit sold. Sega should have been racking in big profits.

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:31 pm

(off the top of my head, it seems that) Sega's third-part support died out rather quickly though -- Sony gobbled up many of the big names....

Post by **Mozgus** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:44 pm

racketboy wrote:(off the top of my head, it seems that) Sega's third-part support died out rather quickly though -- Sony gobbled up many of the big names....

They just bought them all? I don't remember reading about that happening. The third parties were free to announce that they were working on PS2 games, sure, but when Sega threw their hands up in the air and said they quit, the DC release charts felt like the peak of any console. It ended abruptly by Sega's hand. Once they announced failure, countless games that were mere months away were either canceled or ported to PS2. I really don't think the rights to those games were purchased by Sony or anything. It was Sega's fault. I don't pretend to know the real reasons for their pull-out, but one has to think Sega was having money issues. If they were having money issues after their best console launch ever, (I read long ago that it did better than Genesis, but don't quote me on that), then they were obviously making some poor internal decisions.

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:55 pm

It would be interesting to do a time-line study with game release dates and such compared to the "buzz" levels of the Dreamcast compared to the PS2...

Post by **Mozgus** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:28 pm

racketboy wrote:It would be interesting to do a time-line study with game release dates and such compared to the "buzz" levels of the Dreamcast compared to the PS2...

Yeah sure, but do "buzz levels" matter? Probably not as much as money matters. I just don't think Sega gave up on Dreamcast because PS2 had higher "buzz levels".

Post by **ott0bot** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:30 pm

racketboy wrote:It would be interesting to do a time-line study with game release dates and such compared to the "buzz" levels of the Dreamcast compared to the PS2...

and "actual" profits, perhaps....

Post by **Scooter** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:47 pm

Sega had some serious challenges at the launch of the Dreamcast. Sure, they had the strongest launch ever up to that time (or ever?), that took care of the early adoptors, but the money is to be made when the rank and file start buying in later. Much of that rank and file still remembered the love Sega gave them in the form of Sega CD, 32X, Game Gear, Nomad, CDX and by dropping the Saturn prematurely so were hesitant to jump in again. At that same time Sony was rolling out how incredible the PS2 was going to be. Sega's sales dropped just at the mention of Sony's yet-to-be-released console! Even with a full year's head start they were doomed by Sony's future hardware.

Sega had shot themselves in the foot long before the Dreamcast arrived and having lost the likes of Electronic Arts when they killed the Saturn certainly didn't help. Then doing the ole shovelware thing to boost the DC library of games was adding insult to injury.

I do wish Sega would have held out a little longer, nothing wrong with second place as long as you can make a buck (Nintento is a perfect example), but I have to think the money situation was pretty dire. A good number of the US execs should be put in prison for their series of magnificently bad decisions which led to Sega's near total demise. I do have to wonder how an easy to program for Dreamcast might have fared against the PS2 after the PS2 was actually out, the hype was gone and didn't really have any killer apps for quite a while. Sega might have been able to regain quite a bit of ground as their system matured while PS2 was still finding it's way, but it just wasn't to be.

Which still doesn't explain why they can't make a single decent game anymore. If it wasn't for their repackaging of their historical titles I wonder if they would still be around today?

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:10 pm

Mozgus wrote:
racketboy wrote:It would be interesting to do a time-line study with game release dates and such compared to the "buzz" levels of the Dreamcast compared to the PS2...
Yeah sure, but do "buzz levels" matter? Probably not as much as money matters. I just don't think Sega gave up on Dreamcast because PS2 had higher "buzz levels".

ott0bot wrote:
racketboy wrote:It would be interesting to do a time-line study with game release dates and such compared to the "buzz" levels of the Dreamcast compared to the PS2...
and "actual" profits, perhaps....

My only question is: where do we find that data? At least it's easier to guess popularity levels.