PPR 8
So you probably saw this coming & well yeah...I don't blame you, even though it was the Sega console that was considered to be the last stand that Sega had left to give & fell under pressure against the launch of the Sony Playstation 2 & many other circumstances as well, the Dreamcast is still regarded as one of the most celebrated consoles in video game history & leaves a legacy within just a half of year making it a full two years while the last game release was in Febuary of 2002, retail sales were slashing prices on remaining product, the Dreamcast has a legacy that is up to par to even rival the Playstation 2 which is just now nearing discontinuation...
As the Sega CEO of Sega of America Bernie Stolar made the announcement at E3 that the Saturn is not the future, Sega was already underway developing the console that would be the company's Hail Mary as as American support behind Sega was decreasing all the more after another failed Hardware investment amongst consumers. As Sega released the Dreamcast throughout '99, the North American launch of the Dreamcast surpassed all expectations in sales with over $98 million dollars console sales. what I also want to get into before I move into what made the Dreamcast a garaunteed mainstay within the entertainment center, I also wanted to addess the software line up as I whole heartedly stand behind my claim that the launch line up of the Dreamcast is only second to the launch line up of the Super NES. The games included in said launch line up included Sonic Adventure which was Sonic's true debut into three-dimensional platforming & still to this day in 2009...is regarded the best 3D Sonic game. As well as Soul Calibur, an amazing actual port that is also noted to being more superior than the arcade it was ported from with the most stunning graphical display that a Home video game console could ever produce, Power Stone being an arena based multipayer fighting game with a huge assortment of weapons & ever so changing obstacle courses that Power Stone called stages. I honestly could go on & on with the other titles with the launch line up for the Dreamcast like Expendable, Blue Stinger, Hydro Thunder, & House of the Dead 2. Other than the launch line up & the hype, why was everyone jumping ship in 1999 to the Sega Dreamcast? well the Dreamcast had plenty of inovation & power under the hood to back up the investment.
Being the very first console to have built-in modem capabillity right out of the box, as well as online multiplayer support for software & using an inovative perpihal of a memory card known as the VMU, shorth for the Visual Memory Unit which allowed you to with games that provided the additional support such as Sonic Adventure or Time Stalkers, additional mini games that you would be able to play on the VMU unit, & finally also beating the Nintendo Gamecube to the punch, The Sega Dreamcast also provided support for SNK games on the dreamcast, most notabley King of Fighters '99, provided support to a link cable to the SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color which gave it access to even more features, similar the GC/GBA connection cable in performance & function. What made the Dreamcast so awesome was that this was Sega at it's best, this was Sega finally learning the mistakes that it had made from the Saturn era & delivering an amazing console with ever growing software library with very many quality titles spanning across all genres & quality software support that even trumped Nintendo at the time which was a spectacle to behold for us kid in that day that remembered how the tables were similarly place in vica versa fashion in the 16-bit generation against Nintendo & this is where I want to throw in what I felt exactly helped kill the Dreamcast so young...With the release of the Plastation 2 inevitable for the Sega Dreamcast & the Playstation 2 being able play DVDs out of the box & with DVD being the hot media format replacing VHS & the PS2 also having the capabillity of having four player support & future online network as it wasn't availble at the time ( I also want to point out that the Dreamcast had these capabillities with out additional perpihals required ) so while the Dreamcast had more than a fighting chance especially with the fact that given the chance to be on the market more that it could've evolved like all other consoles & have first party & third party games being developed to take full advantage & the capabillities of the Dreamcast with even more quality software? well the low down will follow like this.
With the Saturn failing expectations in the console stand off from the 32-bit generation left consumers with a bit of a sour taste in their mouths. where Sega made the ultimate 2D maching with more power pumped into it that could've regulated the Neo Geo AVS & Neo Geo CD into a comparison of a Super NES & an NES, the Saturn led with this capbillity & finding out the hardway that American gming public were all about 3D gameplay oriented games which the Playstation stood behind from it's lauch even though they also had a staple of 2D side scrollers growing. The Saturn eventually shifted gears towards developing 3D games for it & though the Saturn was capable of this, it strengths lied in being a 2D power house & along with a string of terrible business decisions made by SOA from the launch of the Saturn, it wasn't a surprise that it would soon fail. Moving back to the Dreamcast, moving more into the future after the Playstation 2 being released, the Dreamcast was holding it's own & slowly losing fanbase despite the amazing games availble with the release of titles like Jet Grind Radio, Ecco: Defenders of the Future, Grandia II & Phantasy Star Online with an incredible online experience for being a console MMO & so many others. One particular game recieved an immense amount of hype & several millions of dollars towards development & years of production from Sega's second party development team Am2, famous for their arcade line including the likes of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, Hang on, Space Harrier, & many other lead by Yu Suzuki. The game I making a reference to is Shenmue, in my personal opinion which I whole heartily set aside, I personally felt this game was a master piece & it also helped inspire sand box game play made famous by the game Grand Theft Auto III. Shenmue released intending to be the swan song that would cement the Dreamcast fanbase & ensure it was here to stay, the game failed it's expectations with wildly spread mixed reviews where it either recieved a genrally high score to great score to incredibley low scores with reviewers protesting against readers even warranting a rental of the game. So the game did recieve mostly great scores, with the investment & very low sales especially from amount of money that Sega invested, struggling to recover from that & while trying to hold up against competing against the Playstation 2, the Dreamcast eventually stoped production & everyone knows the rest.
So with the console reaching it's 10th anniversary, I've been reading that some people were considering on purchasing a Dreamcast as they missed out on it during the time when staying with the Playstation 2. I myslef along with several others included, even to this day still have the dreamcast hooked up to their console setups, please if you havent purchased a Dreamcast & consider purchasing one, I will be doing a one time thing only after the next Press Pasue Radio Top 5 segment, will be going over a list of the Ten must own games for the Dreamcast for the early adopter, so thank you everyone for allowing me to wax philosophic about Sega's amazing final console. please comment & if any of you want to comment or message sharing your own memories about the Dreamcast, feel free doing by either contacting us at our website www.presspauseradio.com or of course our Myspace, 1up, & Twitter for Presspause radio, as well as contacting Toast at andrewhandshoe@gmail.com. or Paco at his Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/ilovemybehbie_kelkelz or me at my Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thisalcoholmywreckingball Until then this Georgieboy signing out & I'll be posting up a new Top 5 & we should have our Website fully launched as well! & please subscribe to us on iTunes.
Edit: We decided that doing a retrospective was not enough to really do the Dreamcast justice at all, with more personal reflections & thoughts on what kind of impact that console had made on all of us. As well as reminder of the contest in which I had announced within the podcast episode, here are the rules & a chance to win a Dreamcast episode of your own. The way the contest works as I announced it thee podcast is we will take 27 respones total from different indiviuals who submitted their answers to my three questions which are in the podcast so give it a listen, I will chose the 9th response 3 time on the 27th response (get it? 09/09/09) & the three indiviuals names who would go into that drawing will then be randomly selected out of a hat & contacted to win the Sega Dreamcast with NFL2K1, wish I could give a better game but it is a great game & we all want to wish every one good luck, please check tthe contacts left in this blog & thank you for listening again to us on Press Pause Radio
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Reader Comments (2)
I loved the Dreamcast. My experiences with the system were limited as I was only able to keep it for a few months, but I enjoyed it immensely. The main games that I played were Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Hydro Thunder. I really enjoyed those games and I wish I didn't have to sell my Dreamcast. I was really tight for money, so I had to sell it. I never got a chance to play some of the classic games on it such as Space Channel 5, Shenmue, Soul Calibur, and more. Hopefully I will be able to in the future.
Should I post the answers here? I know I'll do it in pig latin. That's very Sega, right?
1. Erniebay Olarstay
2. Iesskay ofway Arcadiaway
3. Atanakay
Love,
Naked BoB