AH Challenge: The Sega Dreamcast Succeeds

Nevermore

I once posted a very similar topic of my own on this very subject (though I took an earlier POD that didn't focus on the console, but Sega in general), but I was curious as to the subject itself - is it possible to save the Sega Dreamcast post its launch date? I realize that it's probably going to be very hard to do so; Sega had so many problems at the time that it's understandable that they left the console biz about two years after the fact.

How might this affect things overall? I imagine that the Sony PlayStation 2 is also something that can potentially spell doom for the Dreamcast, so is there some way that its launch is delayed or the like? A four-party console business up until today is interesting to imagine, though. What does this mean for the Xbox and GameCube analogs?
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
We already have some threads on this if you do a search.

Me, I think the biggest thing was that the PS2 was so face-meltingly popular because it included a DVD player at a time when they were groin-wrenchingly expensive. So have the DVD format flop for some reason and that gives the Dreamcast (and Gamecube) a fighting chance.
 
Lord Insane

Lord Insane

Hm, with a butterfly-minimal approach, might having DVDs be introduced earlier, as in LacheyS's ASB Gorbachev TL, work? If DVDs are somewhat less of a new thing, and DVD players are somewhat cheaper, then that wouldn't be as much of a selling point for the PS2...
Though that is a pre-launchday POD.:eek:
 

crackersncheese

Thande said:
We already have some threads on this if you do a search.

Me, I think the biggest thing was that the PS2 was so face-meltingly popular because it included a DVD player at a time when they were groin-wrenchingly expensive. So have the DVD format flop for some reason and that gives the Dreamcast (and Gamecube) a fighting chance.
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More than a fighting chance. You have to realize just how advanced the DC was for its time. If it could get over that major hurdle, and if it could get games to take full advantage of its capabilities, it might well have reversed Sega's misfortune.
 

feanor512

I'm a Sega fanboy, but the Dreamcast was doomed as soon as the Playstation 2 came out. You would need a pre-launch POD. Either the Dreamcast is launched much earlier and a Dreamcast 2 with Playstation 2 class hardware is launched around the same time as the Playstation 2, *or* the Dreamcast is released around the same time as the Playstation 2 but with Playstation 2 class hardware.

Oh, and if you have 3DFX not fucking up their deal with Sega, then you could've saved 3DFX with Dreamcast and Dreamcast 2 sales.
 

Nevermore

crackersncheese said:
More than a fighting chance. You have to realize just how advanced the DC was for its time. If it could get over that major hurdle, and if it could get games to take full advantage of its capabilities, it might well have reversed Sega's misfortune.
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I do agree with the opinions that a DVD-drive would've definitely helped the poor Dreamcast live. However, I'm not so sure it would end well for Sega. Most 3rd parties have still abandoned Sega (I'm pretty sure it was Capcom at this point that only really was still regularly supporting them), not to mention the animosity existing between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. Even if the DVD-drive goes through, those problems are still going to exist for the company. At the very least, we might be able to artificially expand the Dreacmast's lifespan a bit here...
 
The Byronic Hero

The Byronic Hero

In order to get the Dreamcast to live, several factors are necessary. First of all, a better chipset. The chipset in the Dreamcast was notoriously difficult to program for. Change that and some of the problems third parties had with the system vanish. Second, the internet angle. The Dreamcast was the precursor to modern online gaming. Somehow advance internet usage in the US by a few years and that could have been a major selling point. As pointed out earlier, definitely end the conflict between the American and Japanese branches of Sega. It was the American branch that was responsible for the success of Genesis and the rise of Sega. Japan's interference eventually destroyed the company. There is also the animosity with retailers to speak of. In a move Sega saw as daring, they released the system early without telling consumers and shipping to only a few big retailers in order to pre-empt the PS2s launch. The problem was no one even knew the systems were out and those retailers that didn't receive the initial shipping were bitter towards the company.

Now if you really want the company to survive in the console wars, you have to go back to roughly the mid-90s. They had the opportunity to partner with Sony in manufacturing the Playstation (though the Americans wanted to, the Japanese branch adamantly refused). There was also the debacle of putting out multiple systems at once (Sega CD, Saturn, etc.) that divided the market and allowed the SNES to regain market share saving Nintendo. Sega could have been great. Corporate civil wars, bad decisions, and worse luck killed them.
 

james31

After the Saturn, Mega CD/32X, I'm not surprised that 3rd Party lost interest! But one of my favourite consoles, I think everyone who played it fondly remembers Virtua Tennis.

One of the weirder games for the Dreamcast was Samba de Amigo, where you used maracas - definitely fun. Wouldn't be a big stretch for a Guitar Hero style game to be available, bet you'd even be able to plug-in the VMU to download your greatest hits (in midi or later on, MP3 format).

I can't think of any killer FPS games for that platform. I think Quake 3 for the Dreamcast was hyped but didn't deliver.

Dreamarena supporting downloads of micro-games would be a bit implausible given the storage restrictions of the time and the non-broadband connections.
 

Slowpoke

Sega fuqued up the DCs predecessors (mainly because of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing; i.e. Sega of America not being in contact with Sega Japan) thus alienating many design houses. Also, Sony had poured ridiculously gargantuan amounts of money into hype for the PS2, most of which proved to be vapourware. I mean, heck, the first series came without a DVD-player suite, even though it had the physical unit.
 

feanor512

Inferus said:
In order to get the Dreamcast to live, several factors are necessary. First of all, a better chipset. The chipset in the Dreamcast was notoriously difficult to program for. Change that and some of the problems third parties had with the system vanish.
Click to expand...
Easy. Have 3DFX not leak that they were going to design the GPU, which angered Sega and convinced them to switch to PowerVR.
Second, the internet angle. The Dreamcast was the precursor to modern online gaming. Somehow advance internet usage in the US by a few years and that could have been a major selling point.
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Or just include the modem with every Dreamcast and make the broadband adapter widely available and affordable.
james31 said:
I can't think of any killer FPS games for that platform.
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Half-Life and its expansion, Blue Shift.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
mowque said:
Really? Nice word usage. :p
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I got it from TV Tropes.


Did Sega even have that much 3rd party support back in the glory days? From what I recall of the Master System and Megadrive generations, most of the really popular games - at least in Britain - seemed to be the in-house productions: Sonic, Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, Kid Chameleon and so on.
 

Pyro

I remember that Namco and Konami backed the Dreamcast at its launch but I don't think anything came out of it in the end other than Soul Calibur.
 
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