Happy 10th Birthday, Sega Dreamcast

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Happy 10th Birthday, Sega Dreamcast

Ten years ago, Sega launched the Dreamcast in North America - and though that song has ended, former Sega of America boss Peter Moore looks back on the console and reflects on all the good times (and the not-so-good).


Peter Moore may be the boss of EA Sports right now, but way back in the mists of time he was large and in charge at Sega of America. Ten years ago today, the Dreamcast hit North America, and would go on to ... well, to not do quite as well as Sega was hoping. In fact the Dreamcast marked the end of Sega's reign as a console maker, as they bowed out to leave the generation to Sony, Nintendo, and eventually Microsoft.

Few individuals have the perspective on the rise and fall of the Dreamcast - from its launch as the harbinger of online gaming on consoles to the decision made to discontinue development - as Peter Moore, and so his blog post [http://itsinthegame.ea.com/archive/2009/09/08/9-9-99-ten-years-after.aspx] on the subject is actually a rather fascinating read. What went wrong for the Dreamcast? Would EA's refusal to make games for the system be prophetic?

Moore also offers an insider's look at the death of the Dreamcast:

[blockquote]Allow me this forum to correct one misconception about the final days of the Dreamcast. As we emerged from the Christmas selling season of 2000 and collated the sales data in the following January, it was evident that we were falling short of the critical mass target we had set ourselves for continued investment (read: ongoing losses) in the hardware business. Sega of Japan had rightly set sales goals for the North American market for that critical period, and as strong as our numbers were, they fell short of where we needed to be to continue. The decision was made, from Japan, to pull the plug and begin the transition to becoming a multi-platform third party developer and publisher. We at SOA, while disappointed, were in full agreement that this was the only real course of action, and it was with a heavy heart that I hosted the conference call on January 31st, 2001, announcing that Sega was ceasing manufacturing of the Dreamcast console. The call on the decision was made by SOJ. The conference call to announce the decision was conducted by SOA.[/blockquote]

Whatever the console's ultimate fate, it is beloved by many - not only for games like Soul Calibur, Shenmue, and Rez, but for being the first console to really take tentative steps into the online scene. The Xbox Live and PSN of today wouldn't exist without the Dreamcast's dinky little 56k connection.

So happy birthday, Dreamcast. We salute you. I suppose there's always the chance that Sega could use the anniversary to announce the Dreamcast 2, but... well, let's be realistic for a bit, shall we?

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ChromeAlchemist

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Aug 21, 2008
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And really, DC online probably wouldn't exist without Sega Megadrive's brief stint with online either methinks. SEGA have always been co-pioneers of the industry next to Nintendo.


YOU'RE MY BOY/GIRL, DC!

 

Vohn_exel

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Oct 24, 2008
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AWww, I miss the days when Dreamcast was still a possible sucessful console :p. I still have mine, though I haven't played it in forever. I don't even know if it works, the cat threw up on a controller. But I ain't throwing it away! The dreamcast brought me my (still) favorite RPG: Skies of Arcadia. Also, it's home to the only good Sonic 3D game, Sonic Adventure.
 

Low Key

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May 7, 2009
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I think I'll hook up my Dreamcast and play it today! Too bad I only have 2 games for the thing.
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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harhol said:
A pretty terrible console and Shenmue is a strong candidate for worst game of all time.
Wow. I am floored by the amount of wrong in that sentence. Not to say that I don't understand why people didn't necessarily enjoy Shenmue -- as ambitious as it was, it wasn't always all that fun -- but if you really think it's the worst game of all time, you clearly haven't played very much.
 

Quadtrix

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Dec 17, 2008
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If Sega hadn't released the 32X and Sega CD, and instead made games that were on the Sega CD, like Sonic CD, on the Saturn, I think they'd still be making consoles today.
 

Zac_Dai

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Oct 21, 2008
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A console that never deserved its fate.

I never actually owned a Dreamcast but a mate picked one up years later dirt cheap with a bunch of games. A lot of fun was had playing on it round his house.
 
Nov 28, 2007
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harhol said:
Susan Arendt said:
harhol said:
A pretty terrible console and Shenmue is a strong candidate for worst game of all time.
Wow. I am floored by the amount of wrong in that sentence. Not to say that I don't understand why people didn't necessarily enjoy Shenmue -- as ambitious as it was, it wasn't always all that fun -- but if you really think it's the worst game of all time, you clearly haven't played very much.
I'm well aware that I'm the only person on Earth who doesn't worship the Dreamcast, but I can't help how I feel.

The "worst game of all time" has to be something well-known & iconic, or else the statement is meaningless. Shenmue isn't the worst game I've ever played in a technical sense, it's just the ultimate example of bad game design mixed with an over-inflated budget mixed with unwarranted pretentiousness mixed with shattered (and I mean shattered) expectations.

Besides, I only said it was a candidate. Everyone knows that the worst game of all time is Rogue Galaxy.
Really? I'd say E.T., Superman on the N64, or Daikatana would be the worst games, as opposed to a game that is widely considered to be well done. If it has a Metacritic score of 83, it is not even close to "the worst game of all time".
 

cleverlymadeup

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Mar 7, 2008
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Susan Arendt said:
harhol said:
A pretty terrible console and Shenmue is a strong candidate for worst game of all time.
Wow. I am floored by the amount of wrong in that sentence. Not to say that I don't understand why people didn't necessarily enjoy Shenmue -- as ambitious as it was, it wasn't always all that fun -- but if you really think it's the worst game of all time, you clearly haven't played very much.
i do believe either Big Mother Truckers or Superman 64 hold that title of worst game ever

i think what killed the Dreamcast was the fact that the Saturn was such a bad console. so everyone lost faith in Sega at the point
 

Valiance

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Jan 14, 2009
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Still have it, can't connect to the PSO servers anymore though.

And no reason to play Quake 3 on it anymore. lol.

But I still play some interesting games on it, you know?
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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So many good games. PSO, Jet Grind Radio, Power Stone, Soul Calibur, Grandia II, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5, Hydro Thunder...