Submission + - Happy 10th anniversary, Sega Dreamcast! (cnet.com) 2
traycerb writes: It's been 10 years since 9/9/1999, when the Dreamcast launched on American shores. The hardware was ahead of its time: online capability, web browser, a visual memory unit, a controller that anticipated the much-loved xbox 360 controller. The games were amazing: Jet Set Radio (the first popular 3d cell-shaded game on a console), Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (still the apotheosis of 2-d fighting; just try finding a copy on ebay), Soul Calibur (still looks good compared to the recent Xbox/Ps3 versions), NFL 2K (came out of nowhere and was so good that it shook EA into spending tens of millions of dollars to seal up exclusivity for NFL rights. Boo monopoly!), Ikaruga (the amazing shooter from the amazing Treasure), and just plain quirky hits (Seaman, if you preferred talking to creepy mutant fish, or perhaps Shenmue, if you were looking for some hot forklift action).
No doubt some of the reasons for the Dreamcast's demise lay with Sega, whose dubious hardware decisions (ahem, 32x) finally caught up to them, in the form of ambivalence from both developers and gamers, just as the console-making world was shifting to the multinationals with big pockets who were willing to spend it on pricey hardware design (or could absorb the cost of faulty hardware design *cough*RROD*cough*)
No matter. The DC still holds pride of place in my entertainment center. The Dreamcast is dead! Long live the Dreamcast! I'm off to play some Sonic...
No doubt some of the reasons for the Dreamcast's demise lay with Sega, whose dubious hardware decisions (ahem, 32x) finally caught up to them, in the form of ambivalence from both developers and gamers, just as the console-making world was shifting to the multinationals with big pockets who were willing to spend it on pricey hardware design (or could absorb the cost of faulty hardware design *cough*RROD*cough*)
No matter. The DC still holds pride of place in my entertainment center. The Dreamcast is dead! Long live the Dreamcast! I'm off to play some Sonic...
