Dreamcast?

[IsoNeko]

Why do you think it failed? As a kid of the 90's growing up during the Era of SNES to PS2. I have to say that by cheating Sony I ruined Dreamcast.

There was a guy who could chip your PS1 and PS2, and then let it play Copied games. This stopped me from ever purchasing a Dreamcast and seeing what they had to offer first hand (because their marketting was pretty poor). I had the best titles, for a fraction of the price. A £40 pound brand new game for £5 seemed mighty nice for a kid of my age.

Later on though: My PS2's hard drived exploded for some unknown reason. My parents bought a Xbox because it was cheaper. I played GTA 3, and Halo 1. And was since hooked. Gamecube didn't appeal to me because 1) It was purple and therefore gay. (I was young, sue me) 2) The pads were awkwardly shaped and uncomfy. And at this time, Microsoft had started making smaller controllers.

 

[SyphonX]

It didn't fail for me.

Skies of Arcadia.. nuff said.

 

[JokerGrin]

I've never owned a console by Sony. I bought the Dreamcast simply because I'd played it at a friend's house and realised how great it is. I think it was the lack of publicity for the DC and the marketing onslaught by the Playstation that saw it into an early grave. There's no denying it's a solid console, check out Shenmue, PowerStone 2 and Virtua Tennis to name a few. It's a real shame it didn't sell as well as it deserved.

 

[SmilingKitsune]

I think it failed because the competition was too tough, the rising might of Sony didn't make it very easy to survive then.

 

[internutt]

The Dreamcast never failed. It was a brilliant console. Some fantastic games. It was the lack of DVD and PS2 super-hype that killed it.

Without it Microsoft would never have had the ability to create the Xbox. Microsoft did a lot of the development for the DC. Developed the SegaNET online service and such. Also look at the controllers, fairly similar, even down to the memory cards at the top of the controllers.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I don't think it was a failure the same way the game cube wasn't a failure, the PS2 just beat them both. Wow.. now that I think about it... the PS2 fucked a lot of consoles, PS2 sales were higher than PS3 sales last Christmas.

 

[IsoNeko]

The Dreamcast never failed. It was a brilliant console. Some fantastic games. It was the lack of DVD and PS2 super-hype that killed it.

Without it Microsoft would never have had the ability to create the Xbox. Microsoft did a lot of the development for the DC. Developed the SegaNET online service and such. Also look at the controllers, fairly similar, even down to the memory cards at the top of the controllers.

You know what I mean. Failed as in failed on the market.

 

[sheic99]

No copyright protection.

That is the main reason, you didn't need to mod your DC to play pirated games, you could just put a copied disk into the machine and it boots normally.

 

[oliveira8]

I don't think it was a failure the same way the game cube wasn't a failure, the PS2 just beat them both. Wow.. now that I think about it... the PS2 fucked a lot of consoles, PS2 sales were higher than PS3 sales last Christmas.

The PS2 is the best console ever.

 

[JokerGrin]

I don't think it was a failure the same way the game cube wasn't a failure, the PS2 just beat them both. Wow.. now that I think about it... the PS2 fucked a lot of consoles, PS2 sales were higher than PS3 sales last Christmas.

The PS2 is the best console ever.

Well, there's some kindling... I can feel the flames approaching. Might hide from them in my bed.

 

[oliveira8]

I don't think it was a failure the same way the game cube wasn't a failure, the PS2 just beat them both. Wow.. now that I think about it... the PS2 fucked a lot of consoles, PS2 sales were higher than PS3 sales last Christmas.

The PS2 is the best console ever.

Well, there's some kindling... I can feel the flames approaching. Might hide from them in my bed.

No really it is. Plenty of developers still release games for it and its still actively selling. No console in history so far as matched the impact that the PS2 had.

 

[varulfic]

No copyright protection.

That is the main reason, you didn't need to mod your DC to play pirated games, you could just put a copied disk into the machine and it boots normally.

Sounds to me like that would get the console more players and not less. You might argue that developers distance themselves from the console because of that, but the number of quality titles on the system (which undoubtably would have increased if the console sold better) discredit that argument.

I'd guess it was the PS2 who hogged all the players. Really is an awesome console, and I'd leave it at that.

 

[Green Tentacle]

One of my favorite games for the DC is Seaman. Its like Nintendogs except much better.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

I think timing had a little to do with it too. I remember tons of hype over it's release on 9.9.99 (North American release dates here, btw). People took a liking to it at the time it came out, but it never had a killer-app to push sales - none that I can remember, at least. By the same time next year, minds had been made up over the Dreamcast and people were looking forward to PS2 in October 2000 and XBox the year after, in November 2001. The fact that the PS2 had DVD and homebrew support, plus TONS of killer apps cemented it's position as a truely awesome machine. If it weren't for Halo, the XBox coming the next year would have suffered a similar obscurity.

 

[sheic99]

No copyright protection.

That is the main reason, you didn't need to mod your DC to play pirated games, you could just put a copied disk into the machine and it boots normally.

Sounds to me like that would get the console more players and not less. You might argue that developers distance themselves from the console because of that, but the number of quality titles on the system (which would undoubtably have been increased if the console sold better) discredit that argument.

But weren't a great number of those first party games.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Sounds to me like that would get the console more players and not less. You might argue that developers distance themselves from the console because of that, but the number of quality titles on the system (which undoubtably would have increased if the console sold better) discredit that argument.

I'd guess it was the PS2 who hogged all the players. Really is an awesome console, and I'd leave it at that.

The success of the console depends on game sales, because the revenue from software sales off-sets the hardware investment. Easily pirated games means that the hardware never pays itself off, no matter how many systems you sell. Stupid Sega!

 

[Trendkill6]

It just couldnt compete with the PS2, it's what people wanted so it's what they bought to the point that the Dreamcast just wasn't selling enough to be profitable.

But I loved the Dreamcast
Especially the game blue stinger

 

[varulfic]

The success of the console depends on game sales, because the revenue from software sales off-sets the hardware investment. Easily pirated games means that the hardware never pays itself off, no matter how many systems you sell. Stupid Sega!

Maybe, but that wasn't the reason it failed, just means that it still would have failed sooner or later.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

The success of the console depends on game sales, because the revenue from software sales off-sets the hardware investment. Easily pirated games means that the hardware never pays itself off, no matter how many systems you sell. Stupid Sega!

Maybe, but that wasn't the reason it failed, just means that it still would have failed sooner or later.

sure, but like I mentioned in my other post (I think you mentioned something similar) I think it was the timing. If sega had waited a little longer, built in DVD technology and generally made the Dreamcast more competitive against the PS2 it would have stood a better chance. Sega just has this history of MONUMENTALLY STUPID hardware development.