Oh, the Dreamcast. The worthy successor to the MegaDrive (or Genesis for those of you from foreign parts
)- the Saturn doesn't count; that thing was bound to fail - that didn't get the advertising, 3rd party support or sales to keep it alive. Seriously though, what idiot decided to release it with two other next-gen (at the time) consoles from massive companies just around the corner? Consumers (and the game developers that make money off them) are savvy enough to want to wait and see how it pans out before shelling out money. I know I did! The Dreamscast relied on the rabid enthusiasm of Sega fanboys and look what happened (Admitedly I am one of those fanboys, I consider the MegaDrive my favourite console ever).
Keeping this in mind, I find it hard to believe that a new Dreamcast, assuming Sega could ever get enough cash and structure to start building consoles again (which isn't going to happen any time soon), would work. It would be just a little bit of history repeating. Everyone here would buy one, but imagine trying to convince the current generation of gamers - who may never have heard of, seen or played a MegaDrive or original DC - to buy one...it won't happen. Sony and Microsoft are too big, too well supported by 3rd party and have too much market prescence. And don't get me started on the Wii's appeal to the casual gaming lot. Beside's the fanboys and older gamers I really don't see this having any marketable appeal and thus the same thing would happen. No 3rd party games, no market room. And now that you can get the old Sega games on download and Sega has moved it franchises to other systems there's not even any sort of exclusivity to it, which means no real incentive to buy other than the logo of a company that nearly went bankrupt over a decade ago. Hardly inspiring.
I find it interesting that someone mentioned a partnership with AMD. If you consider the business model at AMD (having consistant architecture throught model lines, meaning consumers don't have to buy an entirely new system every 2 years and production, thus retail cost, remains relatively cheap) and what happened with the MegaDrive (attempting to extend the lifespan of existing succesful hardware by integrating new technolgies into the base structure) it's quite an interesting dynamic. I don't know how this approach would work for consoles (which are pretty much self contained) but I'm a fan of AMD and always build my pc's around their products; I'd be interested to see what they could with a console. correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they do the graphics architecture for the Wii? They've been able to make some slick looking games on that system...
So in the event that Sega/AMD did make a console, what direction would it take? Next Gen, packed full of HD graphics, Blue-Ray players and Hard-drives (Which it just doesn't have the money/ability to do at this time) or a less powerful, gaming only, nostalgia driven fun machine (like it's rival Nintendo have done with the Wii). Or a mix of the two? The second option might be way cheaper to produce (and thus become availiable for significantly less than current sysems - I'm thinking circa $250 bucks) and have some feasablity in comparison to the first but again, outside Sega die-hards it might be hard to market to the masses. Especially in this age of online gaming. But a push to bring back a time where you got your mates together to sit around a console and game in each-others prescence - without the fiddly motion controls - would be most welcome I think. A machine with specs somewhere between Wii and X-Box could definately handle remakes/sequels to all the good ole games like Shenmue, Powerstone, Panzer Dragoon, Nights ...I'd even like to see some MegaDrive classics like the Strike and Road Rash serises remade. Shining Force. Platformers like Earthworm Jim, Rocket Knight Adventure and of course Sonic. Fighters like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage - hell, one of the games I've played a buttload of recently was Scott Pilgrim, and that's 16bit retro through and through! Then there's Sega's Arcade classics like Virtua Fighter and Virtua Cop, Daytona USA etc., all of which a system without cutting edge specs could handle.
But, like I said, history would probalby repeat itself. Then again, it might just be a good little money maker for Sega at the tail end of the current Gen of consoles and become a stepping stone to proper entry into the next generation with all the major players having to step aside and pay some serious respects to one of the old heavyweights.
What do y'all think?
