Did you guys know that Xbox was supposed to be DC compatible

[bacardipr05]

Yes it was seriously considered at the time Sega knew it was a losing a battle. Sega wanted to continue support for DC in another form. This would of put a curve on pirated games at the time for Sega. They couldnt agree on the online content and Microsoft was hesitant on retooling its system. It could of have been great for both companies. Geez if it did happen i wonder how that would affected the gaming world now. For a while Microsoft was going to just outright purchase Sega as well.

[GSZX1337]

I remember reading this a while back and having my mind blown. I used to call the Xbox the Dreamcast 2 in jest. After reading that, I thought "Damn, my joke wasn't so far off."

[BurningDoom]

I read this in the History of Electronic Gaming book (such an awesome book, I highly recommend it for those curious about the history of gaming). It's just one of the many, many what ifs in gaming history.

A couple others:

-Nintendo originally approached Atari about a deal to brand the NES with Atari in the U.S. It fell through because Atari got mad that Nintendo produced games on it's competition's hardware: The Colecovision. But imagine how different gaming might be if Atari and Nintendo worked together. Would Sega have ever stood a chance?

-This one is a little more well-known: Nintendo approached both Phillips and Sony about creating a CD-Rom add-on for the SNES, much like the Sega CD, Jaguar CD, and Turbo CD add-ons. Both started development on them and both times Nintendo decided against it part-way through. The end results were the Phillips CD-i which through licensing during the development period actually managed to put Zelda and Mario games on it's system. And with Sony the end result was Sony Playstation; the irony being that Nintendo created it's biggest competition by dissing Sony. But imagine the domination Nintendo would have had if they had let Sony made a CD-Rom add-on. Nintendo and Playstation in one.

[CFFJR]

Whoa, I never knew about Nintendo/Atari!

I bet that would have changed a lot.

[GSZX1337]

Sega also came to Atari to distribute the Genesis in the US.

Sega initially attempted to partner with Atari Corporation for distribution of the console in the US, but the two could not agree to terms and Sega decided to do it themselves.[12] Sega was not able to meet the initial release date and United States sales began on August 14, 1989 in New York City and Los Angeles. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year.

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Sega_Mega_Drive

I first read this on VintageComputing, but I can't seem to find the entry again.

[BoringSupreez]

Sega also came to Atari to distribute the Genesis in the US.

Sega initially attempted to partner with Atari Corporation for distribution of the console in the US, but the two could not agree to terms and Sega decided to do it themselves.[12] Sega was not able to meet the initial release date and United States sales began on August 14, 1989 in New York City and Los Angeles. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year.

Man, Atari was one of the biggest screw-up companies ever, weren't they? They passed up on NES and Genesis, and then they went and released Jaguar.

[Anthony817]

And there are many other ties with Micro$oft and $ellout $ega than you know.

Peter Moore, SOA CEO took over the reigns of Microsoft and made it in the image of the way Dreamcast was.

360 Dreamcast, both White consoles with similar controllers...

Microsoft, Sega Collaborate on Dreamcast: The Ultimate Home Video Game System

REDMOND, Wash., May 21, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it will collaborate with Sega Enterprises Ltd. on Sega's new Dreamcast home video game system, slated for release in Japan on Nov. 20, 1998, and in the rest of the world in 1999. As a result of the collaboration, Microsoft will provide an optimized version of the Microsoft® Windows® CE operating system with integrated DirectX® services as the operating system for use with Dreamcast.

The Microsoft and Sega collaboration marks a leap forward in game console technology. Dreamcast will include advanced hardware technology in 3-D graphics, sound and input devices, as well as an on-board modem to support Internet access and network gaming. The inclusion of Windows CE with DirectX provides a flexible, versatile development environment, supported by Microsoft development tools, that eases title development and makes possible true cross-platform title compatibility with Windows-based PCs. The result is a powerful platform that enables creative and technical advances in video games to reach entirely new levels.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/pres ... agmpr.mspx

23 eerie parallels between Xbox 360 and the Sega Dreamcast.

http://www.1up.com/features/dreamcast-20

Read that and tell me what you think then?

[AppleQueso]

Xbox was the spiritual successor to the dreamcast in a lot of ways. DC really took strides forward in online gaming, Microsoft took it to the next level. Xbox including a built-in HDD and stuff like custom soundtrack is something I could definitely have seen Sega doing if they were in charge of it.

Plus the controllers. I mean hell they even have the same face button layout
Y
X B
A

Only thing Microsoft is really missing is Sega's first-party game design. Microsoft doesn't really have anything like that under their belt.

[vlame]

23 eerie parallels between Xbox 360 and the Sega Dreamcast.

http://www.1up.com/features/dreamcast-20

Read that and tell me what you think then?

Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing 3 are in the same series...

[Anthony817]

Its the creativity they are lacking. All they did was build and expand upon what Sega taught them with the Dreamcast.

Sure Forza is nice, but they need more first party titles. Oh well, we got more 3rd party games on 360 than we know what to do with.

And yeah, the controller really says it all.

Let me show you the evolution of the 360 controller, and where its roots lie.


Saturn 3D controller


Dreamcast controller


Xbox "Duke" controller


Xbox 360 controller

Instead of having a screen, the 360 has 4 quadrants of light that can tell you various things when something happens in a game, but its not utilized as much as the screen on the DC controller was for game specific info.

@vlame, that's correct.

Metropolis was a take on the city in the Superman universe, whilst Gotham was a take on the Batman universe. Does that have anything to do with racing? No, but its a quirky interesting fact I learned Bizarre Creations came up with.