Xbox Almost Played Dreamcast Games

[Tom Goldman]

Xbox Almost Played Dreamcast Games

The Dreamcast died off long ago, but it would have lived a longer life if negotiations between Sega and Microsoft didn't fall apart.

The inevitable end of Sega's hardware business almost led to Xbox cross-compatiblity with Dreamcast games. Sega Chairman Isao Okawa was in negotiations with Microsoft to add Dreamcast functionality to the original Xbox console after it was clear that the Dreamcast wasn't cutting the mustard on its own.

The Dreamcast was first released in Japan at the end of 1998 (everywhere else in 1999), and regardless of its failure was a great console for the time. Modem support for online play was one of the Dreamcast's forward thinking features, and a selection of decent games were released for the system including Marvel vs. Capcom and the weird as hell Seaman.

The negotiations to keep the Dreamcast alive within the Xbox made it all the way to personal meetings between Okawa and Microsoft bigwig Bill Gates. As reported by Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5447897/how-xbox-could-have-helped-the-dreamcast-survive], former Microsoft executive Sam Furukawa tweeted: "Before Mr. Okawa passed away he visited Gates several times, to see if it would be possible to add Dreamcast compatibility into the Xbox." The reason it never happened was actually due to the Dreamcast's online features, which Okawa insisted must still be available through the Xbox. Microsoft did not agree, and only wanted Xbox games to have internet capability.

This attempt by Okawa was just one phase of his efforts to save Sega as he reportedly sunk $900 million of his own stash into the company to keep it from failing. The Dreamcast is one of the machines I wish that I owned, and probably will someday unless they're all lost in a fire. It would have been great if I could just pickup an Xbox instead, and it definitely would have done something for Sega even if most Xbox owners didn't know what a Dreamcast was.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5447897/how-xbox-could-have-helped-the-dreamcast-survive]

Permalink

 

[Sporky111]

Huh, that's pretty cool. I guess I can't blame Mr. Gates for wanting online play to be exclusive, but I think that letting them have their way would have been better in the long run. Microsoft would have had exclusive rights to Sega games.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Nowadays they just rerelease Dreamcast games on Xbox Live Arcade.

And I buy them because I am a shameless Sega whore, and my Dreamcast has gone to silicon heaven.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Poor Sega...They just never knew how to make it work.

 

[UnravThreads]

I never owned one, but I wanted to. Was a real shame as it was a console with a lot of potential!

I bet Microsoft are regretting that decision now, it would have been a fitting tribute to SEGA and Mr Okawa. I had no idea you could download Dreamcast games on Arcade (as said by GloatingSwine), but it's just never the same.

 

[Paddin]

Damn, I wanted Sonic Adventure on the Xbox! It was rumoured, but never confirmed..

Sigh, thanks for clearing it up anyway Escapist

 

[Go Fighting In The War Room]

Sigh.... I miss Dreamcast so much.

*Stares longingly at the Jet Grind Radio Case*

Memories...

 

[Lord Krunk]

Hey, at least we got Jet Set Radio Future.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, this shows Bill Gates was not only greedy, but stupid as well.

Why? Well, he should've just let Sega games have online. They'd still be on the XBOX, and those would make him millions, maybe billions. It was pride that lost him the chance to make the XBOX nmuch better. but he's so rich, he didn't care. :/

Oh well. Can't change what could've been.

 

[Plurralbles]

regarding the state of sega right now... Good for MS, now they don't have a nasty black mark from Sega beign affiliated with them directly the last few years.

 

[adamje2326]

Toy commander, Jet Set Radio and Blue Stinger could have lived a little longer

 

[Roxas1359]

Hey, at least we got Jet Set Radio Future.

*Sniff* But it doesn't feel the same though.
Curses, if only Bill Gates went with Sega's idea. I could be playing Skies of Arcadia, and Jet Set Radio again instead of having to a copy for Gamecube and Xbox.

 

[Zer_]

Well, this shows Bill Gates was not only greedy, but stupid as well.

Why? Well, he should've just let Sega games have online. They'd still be on the XBOX, and those would make him millions, maybe billions. It was pride that lost him the chance to make the XBOX nmuch better. but he's so rich, he didn't care. :/

Oh well. Can't change what could've been.

Adding DC multiplayer support to the original X-Box could have ended up being a very painful process. In bad circumstances it could have even required extra hardware which costs much more money (along with manpower).

I completely understand Microsoft's reluctance to include Multi-Player compatibility.

 

[Acidwell]

Well, this shows Bill Gates was not only greedy, but stupid as well.

Why? Well, he should've just let Sega games have online. They'd still be on the XBOX, and those would make him millions, maybe billions. It was pride that lost him the chance to make the XBOX nmuch better. but he's so rich, he didn't care. :/

Oh well. Can't change what could've been.

Adding DC multiplayer support to the original X-Box could have ended up being a very painful process. In bad circumstances it could have even required extra hardware which costs much more money (along with manpower).

I completely understand Microsoft's reluctance to include Multi-Player compatibility.

What extra hardware would the online dreamcast need? It had a standard modem.
I think they should have included it, exclusive internet compatiblity seems a stupid reason to not include compatiblilty.

 

[Jaranja]

Damn, I wanted Sonic Adventure on the Xbox! It was rumoured, but never confirmed..

Sigh, thanks for clearing it up anyway Escapist

I have no response but that Avatar is brilliant. Where'd ya get it?

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

It would have been nice not to have needed a DreamCast to play DreamCast games if for no other reason than to save space for the black behemoth that was the original Xbox to occupy.

What would be a better idea than that, though, is to just put more of the DreamCast library on to Xbox Live and to expand support for backwards compatability for Xbox games that are a bit more obscure than Halo and Barbie Horse Adventures.
I'm sure that there are others who would like to play Gladius and Otogi 2 besides myself.

 

[Narcogen]

Well, this shows Bill Gates was not only greedy, but stupid as well.

Why? Well, he should've just let Sega games have online. They'd still be on the XBOX, and those would make him millions, maybe billions. It was pride that lost him the chance to make the XBOX nmuch better. but he's so rich, he didn't care. :/

Oh well. Can't change what could've been.

I don't think it shows that at all.

Offering backwards compatibility for titles is one thing. It lets people who owned that console continue to play what they've paid for; it provides added value.

Offering two separate online platforms for a single piece of hardware is something else. MS has fought it-- and sensibly-- since the launch of XBL because they know that the value proposition for the Gold service requires a critical mass. Once you start splitting the population, the value of the service to each remaining portion of it is less by a degree that is much more than proportional to the decrease in population size.

Online dreamcast games probably would not have supported any of XBL's features: leaderboards, friends lists, messaging. It would have bifurcated the online population, as they would have appeared to drop off the service when launching DC games, probably in a manner more precipitous than happens now with original XBox games. Reviews would have pointed this out, would likely have chided MS for not doing a better job integrating the two services, despite the fact that it would not likely have been worth it.

Lastly... billions? You have to be kidding me. If the DC platform wasn't capable of delivering multibillion sales as a native platform, it wasn't going to do it in emulation, with or without online.

I think the problem here is that Sega saw the compatibility as a way to try and stay relevant and perhaps influence the future development of online gaming platforms. If they had considered it a way to become a premier Xbox developer and deliver the best value for their customers who bought the DC and its games, they likely would have ceded the online requirement and you'd be able to play DC games on the Xbox-- perhaps even on the 360, who knows?

This wasn't greed on the part of Gates, who made a sensible decision for MS and the platform. It was short-sightedness by Sega.

 

[Nurb]

Lets face it, Sega has been making piss-poor decisions since the 32x, their only redeming act was making the dreamcast, but then started making stupid decisions again by abandoning it in favor of lame Sonic games and ruining the Total War series

 

[ItsAPaul]

Geez, I would've bought an xbox asap if it had that.