Dreamcast: Would it been a survivor?

[ThatCrazyGu]

Cut him some slack for the spelling and grammar, look at his location.

[MrPopo]

As mentioned, first consumers were wary because Sega had been fucking up since the Genesis attachments. Then there was the Playstation 2 on the horizon. The PSX was the clear winner of its generation and there was no reason to expect the Playstation 2 to suck. It's strictly a brand thing; if I purchase a 2010 Ford and love it I will likely buy a Ford when I need to upgrade to a minivan in 2015. Also, don't forget EA not releasing any games on the Dreamcast. There goes a lot of your biggest sports titles, which is a decently sized demographic, even though we tend to not care too much about them. I also see the modem as ahead of its time, as console internet gaming was never going to work until we had broadband. In the PC world you already were getting that dedicated phone line for your PC to browse this thing called the internet, so playing a game over it was something that made sense. You also had that nice chat interface through the keyboard that you lacked on the Dreamcast (for most titles).

[Xonticus]

I dunno, I played many dreamcast games over 56k and rarely had problems. Now if they had released a more affordable and widely produced broadband adapter, it would have helped. I think Sega was in the right direction for multiplayer games, that is one of its strong points.

They also had the dreamcast keyboard and mouse, but again like you said, better support would have helped. But then again, playing an intense game online really needs voice chat as we later realized (helped by Alien Front Online which used MIC chat but wasnt as well executed)

I think without the dreamcast, I don't think console gaming would be where it is at right now..... the industry learned alot about what worked and what did not work. Regardless if you think the DC was gold or complete junk, you cannot deny the importance of its existence. If you do, well, that's up to you I guess.

[silverback]

The modem in the uk was a pathetic 33.3kbps instead of Americas and Japans 56k one, that was an issue.

DVD playback, now this isn't the issues its been made out to be, only the PS2 played dvd's out the box, the xbox needs the dvd kit and the gamecube just can't (standard consoles I'm talking about not hacked etc)

Perhaps releasing the console a year later would have been a better idea, but then the saturn was dying/dead then again it did the 360 no harm.

The console was replaced by the xbox, lets not beat about the bush, the DC was the original xbox. Microsoft used it as a development tool then chose to improve it and came up with the xbox.

The dc still looks good today, the game son it were a lot prettier than the PS2's.

I still think they shouldn't have pulled the plug so early.

[gtmtnbiker]

DVD playback, now this isn't the issues its been made out to be, only the PS2 played dvd's out the box, the xbox needs the dvd kit and the gamecube just can't (standard consoles I'm talking about not hacked etc)

I don't think the DVD kit was a requirement for the xbox, was it? You could still control the playback of a DVD via the standard controller.

[silverback]

DVD playback, now this isn't the issues its been made out to be, only the PS2 played dvd's out the box, the xbox needs the dvd kit and the gamecube just can't (standard consoles I'm talking about not hacked etc)

I don't think the DVD kit was a requirement for the xbox, was it? You could still control the playback of a DVD via the standard controller.

on the 3 I have to play it you need the kit it even says so when you put the disc in

[RCBH928]

I am still confused. Look at it this way. These are some arguments used.

1)Dreamcast had no believers in the system as it created multiple consoles.
Truth: People are STILL Sega fans, they were so happy about the Dreamcast on its launch day. Dreamcast had one huge support, the library of the Dreamcast must be one of the higest ratios of great : bad games. Unique and new games like Shenmue and Jet Set Radio. What lack of support?

2)Dreamcast needed a DVD drive.
Truth: Xbox and Gamecube didn't have a DVD drive. At least you needed the playback kit for the xbox. Both did good enough. Plus at the launched of the Dreamcast, DVD was fairly new. I do not think people bought PS2 just to watch DVD but it was a nice add on. Not to mention ps2 was $100 more than the Dreamcast, thats 50% more in price!

3)EA didn't give Dreamcast support.
Truth: So what? There were other great sport titles on the Dreamcast right ? (2k)

4) Bad online speed.
Truth: In 2009, the Wii is selling like crazy and it has one of the worst online features. People hate the Wii for its online system. As far as I know, there is no MIC for the Wii either.

5) Playstation 2 is better than the Dreamcast.
Truth : Overall yes it is, but who said we wanted the Dreamcast to be as successful as the ps2? Why do you people compare it to the ps2? There was an xbox and a gamecube too, which during their lifetime of of 5-6 years sold 23 million , double that the Dreamcast sold in 2 years!

6)Graphics are weaker than the competition.
Truth : Completely true, but who said you needed the graphics. Wii(non HD) is giving super graphics ps3/360 a hard time, while it is LAST generation graphics. At least the Dreamcast was NOT last generation graphics, it was highly updated hardware. PS2 was weaker than gamecube/xbox , but it sold multiple times their combined units. Snes beat 3do AND Neo Geo , given their graphics are WAAAAY better than snes.

7)Games are not selling
Truth : Dreamcast has a 10+ million users base. Most developers are happy to reach just 1 million in sales. Given that the console stayed alive, there would have been a lot more users of the console meaning more buyers.

You see it does not add up the reason why Dreamcast failed.It also doesn't add up WHY did Sega pull the plug so quickly?

I expect the reason is as following:

Dumb management. I think the management of Sega made a huge bet that they will be dominant console and will selling hundreds of millions of consoles, and multiples of that in games. I bet they had huge debts that can not be covered, and their $100 million launch campaign proves it. They were in such a huge trouble. Even so, it still does not make sense why did they quit on the system? They already have the manufacturing and everything planned, they already have to pay the debts any way, so why kill something that has a chance of generating even more income for you?

[LoneCynic]

I bought a Dreamcast when they first came out, and I supported the thing all the way up to and a bit past its official demise in North America. It was a great console for its time, and regardless of the arguments as to should they have pressed on, could they have survived, that's all in the past now. The thing you SHOULD be realizing is what the Dreamcast's legacy is in the modern gaming era: Online gaming out of the box.

Yes, despite its limitations compared to today, that 56k racing on Daytona, getting "Downloadable content" for Sonic Adventure, all the endless battles on Phantasy Star Online, the Bomberman Online bouts, and the first time I trash talked on Alien Front Online were some of the most unique and exciting gaming experiences I'd ever had at that point.

It was successful enough that Sony scrambled to get the network adaptor out the door for the PS2, and ultimate failed to do anything significant after Socom: US Navy Seals with it. Sony overpromises and under delivers. In fact, everything the PS3 is capable of today falls right in with the linup of supposed features the PS2 was eventually going to be capable of with its HDD and Network Adaptor.

Nintendo said "We'll take a peice of the Phantasy Star Online Pie" with the Gamecube, had some laughs selling modems and Broadband adaptors to all the distraught Dreamcast players of the title who rapidly picked up where they left off with the Gamecube version, and then did nothing in the realm of online after that.

Microsoft was the only one who paid attention to the Dreamcast and said, "Maybe there's something to this after all." Scrambled Xbox Live together for the Xbox, and then kept on developing the idea further.

Back in the Dreamcast days, you'd type to someone with the keyboard and ask them if they had another online title that you also had and give specific directions where to meet on that other title. Look where we are now with Xbox Live, friend lists, voice chat, downloadable content. All of it was pioneered by Sega and their Dreamcast. At a time when all the other console makers were taking a lax position and saying true online gaming experiences out of a home console were at best another ten years away, Sega said screw it and made it possible then.

Sega made it a frontline feature, they did it first. Everything we have in the way of online gaming with Consoles today is due in part to the pioneering spirit of Sega, and their determination to make that dream a reality. They may have failed in the long run due to bad management changes, marketing strategy, lack of DVD player, whatever, but while they were here just a few short years, they were some of the best gaming years I can remember, and I've been playing video games since the Intellevision II back in mid 1980's.

[Barry the Nomad]

Amen LoneCynic! Couldn't have said it better myself. I experienced all that the Dreamcast had to offer online, and while I never experienced the PS2 or Gamecube online from what I hear it was shit. Only a few games worth playing per console? Pathetic. Xbox was the only system to pay attention to what SEGA was getting at, and thats the reason why I'm a SEGA -> XBOX gamer. In my eyes, the Xbox 360 is the "next" SEGA console.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

There have only been a few moments in gaming when I have truly been struck speechless and I'll never forget them:

1995: I play my first videogame (Super Mario Bros.) at the age of 3 on my dad's NES.

1998: I make my first real friend, the first thing we do when I go to his house for the first time is play Sonic on his Genesis.

2000: My town gets a Wal-Mart and my mom makes a big deal about going to it as it was a pretty big event in our then small town. Then I see it for the first time, there in the electronics department was a sleek looking white box in a display of some sort lined in an orange trim. I remember walking up to it and with my limited 7 year old knowledge on games grabbed the controller, after that I never looked at gaming the same way again.

Why the controller had a screen! It vibrated when I got hit! The weird little joystick thingy under my thumb on the controller that was completely different from the then only existent to me D-Pad! But no, these things were all pale in comparison to the image on the screen so far above me that I could barely see the image, Sonic. At that moment everything clicked, the controls felt natural, the graphics ran smooth and stunning, it was as if I had played the game a thousand times before; and yet in that one instant everything changed as well.

Sadly as small children often do I didn't bother to learn the 'white box's' name (we never really went to the store much if at all during it's first year or so open), confident in santa to bring one for christmas. But the months passed and people at school kept talking about these 'Nintendo 64' thingies that they had at home now at this point I had only ever owned or played the NES and I suddenly had the thought 'What if this Nintendo 64 was the white box !?' I begged, pleaded 'wrote santa' and finally on christmas I got my 'Nintendo 64' needless to say I was both ecstatic and dissapointed at the same time.

2003: Sonic Adventure DX is released on the Gamecube, a store demo at the Wal-Mart not unlike the Dreamcast one before reintroduces me to a game I had all but forgotten over the years. This time I make sure to find out and remember the console and game's names.

2004: I'm loaded up with grandma's birthday money and currently on eBay. Now armed with my masterful Google detective skills (by a 12 year old's standards anyway....) I've been able to track down a 'legendary' Sega Dreamcast and after some quick thinking, a calculator and some bargaining my mom agrees to get it if I pay for it 100%.

A few days to a week later it affives in the mail a little worse for wear and with a spindle of burned games, but it works and that's all that matters right? What followed was weeks of staying up late playing Street Fighter III, Spiderman, OutTrigger, Unreal Tournament and Dead or Alive 2. I'd moved well past my Sonic Adventure phase after having beaten it on the Cube, but these other games were just as cool.

In short though as I feel I've ranted and babbled long enough, the Dreamcast probably wouldn't have survived the big market change with the arrival of the PS2, Gamecube and XBOX. It was a phenomenon, a miniature generation in and of itself filled with a glimpse of the future with online communities, high definition graphics and ironically, choice of console color. But in the end as all good things do it came to a close with barely a whimper (or a hellstorm of bullets if you lived in Japan), disappearing just as quickly as it came, and Sega (the REAL Sega) bowed out gracefully and respectfully from the hardware industry to start anew making games for all consoles.

Now while I can't speak for the watered down mess that is the Sega of today I can tell you this about the Dreamcast, it would have never made it. It was too good at it's peak, the swan song among swan songs and if it had gone on for any longer it would have become just another console in the history books instead of the true legend it became.

And that ladies and gentlemen were my two cents.