Random Gaming Thoughts

[RCBH928]

you are right I didn't put into consideration the release date. Doing the GD-ROM was probably going to save a lot on hardware in 1998. Personally I think the whole early launch was wrong, I think they knew they were going to miss on the huge hardware upgrade. They launched in 1998 when PSX and N64 was still gaining momentum with release of MGS and Zelda: OoT. Logically they should have kept the Saturn. I think they knew Microsoft was going into consoles and the Dreamcast was their swan song and last chance to pull some money for themselves out of the console market.

TBF, the Dreamcast was mind-boggling compared to psx/N64 graphics + their built in modem. Then again it didn't really help them because their US release was late 1999 and PS2 was late 2000, so their whole advantage was merely one year. Really not worth the early launch and skip on all the hardware upgrades. It was a suicidal move.

[MrPopo]

Trying to keep the Saturn on life support would have also hemorrhaged money. Sega was in a no-win scenario there. Nintendo was in a similar situation with the Wii U into the Switch in terms of being offset from the expected generation release timeline, but since they had already taken a strategy of not trying to push the maximum hardware it worked out for them.

[Raging Justice]

I'm so sick of "hard modes" in video games that amount to little more than just a rigged, less fun version of the game where handicaps are placed on the player while everything else in the game gets buffed in some way. It's cheap, lazy, and feels like artificial difficulty.

Playing through hold my beer mode in Nuclear Blaze, which is basically just a cheap hard mode where every fire you put out comes back in 2 seconds and you're constantly running out of water. It's annoying and not fun in any way, shape, or form. I honestly would rather play some fun DLC or a cool new game plus mode or something than this crap. I'm hoping I get something cool for playing through this since the game gives you nothing for finding every hidden cat on normal difficulty and even makes a point of noting that you got nothing for it. So maybe that's a clue that doing it on hard mode unlocks something. It's the only reason I'm even bothering. Nuclear Blaze was a fun game on the first playthrough. The second, hold my beer mode, playthrough is lame.

I wish hard modes in video games would just go away. I wish devs cared more about REWARDING players than saying, "Oh you beat the game, cool. Now you unlock a more annoying, less fun version of it to play. You're welcome"

Gee, thanks guys. I feel so "rewarded" now

[Raging Justice]

I've been playing games for most of my life, and after years of abuse from various developers, I'm starting to get sick and tired of it.

FUCK YOUR CHEAP SHIT

[Raging Justice]

Oh, and I forgot the cheap, 1 hit kill, turrets everywhere on hold my beer mode, because I really wanted my fire fighting game to turn into Contra for no apparent reason

[Note]

TBF, the Dreamcast was mind-boggling compared to psx/N64 graphics + their built in modem. Then again it didn't really help them because their US release was late 1999 and PS2 was late 2000, so their whole advantage was merely one year. Really not worth the early launch and skip on all the hardware upgrades. It was a suicidal move.

Totally agree about the Dreamcast being mind-boggling at the time. My friend's mother brought a JP console back from Hong Kong in the spring of '99, and we were all amazed by it. The system instantly became a hit with my circle of friends. Out of about seven friends that lived in my area, we all ended up purchasing the console either at launch or within a few months. With that in mind, I thought the DC was going to perform well and be in the market for much longer than it actually was.

In regard to the production run issues with discs, I've personally run into bad copies of Sonic Adventure and Blue Stinger. I think Midway had a few games that were affected as well and the reprints of their titles had a "Hot and New" sticker to differentiate them. However, I think this also hurt Sega, as they really needed to avoid bad press after consumers began to sour on them from previous blunders. Other than Sonic, I stayed away from the affected games at the time, and still my Sonic disc was one from a bad pressing. Lol.

[RCBH928]

I personally feel DC had a chance against the Gamecube, not sure how much more powerful the NGC was. I think NGC kept floating because of the dedicated fanbase. XBOX+PS2 library is way better imo.

[marurun]

The Dreamcast made some very smart technical decisions but ultimately has less total RAM and less CPU power than the PS2. Of the post-DC consoles, the PS2 was the weakest and the Xbox the strongest, with the GameCube somewhere in the middle, perhaps closer to the Xbox.

[Anapan]

Amazing how they made the Wii only a bit of an upgrade to the Gamecube, but totally won in the market. The output resolution couldn't even show off the textures that could be mapped to the 3D objects - but this was a conscious decision knowing that the majority of the market would never use anything but composite for video..

[marurun]

Amazing how they made the Wii only a bit of an upgrade to the Gamecube, but totally won in the market. The output resolution couldn't even show off the textures that could be mapped to the 3D objects - but this was a conscious decision knowing that the majority of the market would never use anything but composite for video..

Yeah, the Wii is somewhere between 1.5x and 2x more powerful than the GameCube, which in console generation terms is pretty meager.