What if the Dreamcast never existed?

Is not only what the DC did but what it could've done.

 

Its that its the same re-harshes over and over again. Katamari wasnt that big of game, but gamers needed a breath of air so much that it was received as the messia.

 

Not quite. I've looked at screenshots, and Fear Effect just used stylized textures. It didn't do cel-shading in real time. And Fear Effect isn't the only game to use anime style textures in the PSX, I know Megaman Legends (And MM64) did also.

The first game with real cel shading ever was JS/GR. The first cel shaded game released in the US was Wacky Races.

 

BTW, Microsoft tried to buy SEGA sometimes...

 

didn't they try to buy nintendo too? I'm pretty sure I read it on this frorum last summer and microsoft got a rather fun response to it ^^

 

I know MS and EA tried to (buy SEGA) but sammy gave a better offer.

Then MS went on to buy nintendo, but iwata just gave them the finger.

 

My girlfriend thinks your avatar is wrong.lol

 

After the merger negotiations with Sammy jumped off, Sega's current president (Oguchi I believe) actually started new talks with the company to convince them (Sammy CEO Saitomi) to buy Sega. This deal has payed off massively now, I won't be surprised if EA were to be threatened by Sega this generation.

Quite a lot of Japanese companies merged (indirectly/directly, there are other reasons as well) because of the Sega Sammy merger actually.

 

Ironically, both of the games you mentioned were only released for the Dreamcast when their respective developers switched from Saturn production! If there had never been a Dreamcast, it's very likely these games might have appeared for their originally intended platform along with many other titles, such Virtua Fighter 3 and perhaps even SCUD Race.

As for the impact of Dreamcast itself, I doubt Sony was really that worried - the PlayStation 2 never exactly dominated the 128-bit market through honest performance levels or its fair share of advertising, did it? Sony went into the Dreamcast-era generation with the same arrogance it had when destroying the Saturn, and you'll probably see the very same thing happen again later this year. Despite not exactly being the company's greatest fan, I'm starting to feel a little sorry for Microsoft as the 360 will probably receive a similar treatment to the Saturn, Dreamcast and first Xbox once the real PS3 hype begins...

P.S. Aren't we also forgetting that Dreamcast wasn't the first console with network support? MegaDrive had the Sega Channel, while Saturn owners (in the US, at least) could enjoy online-enabled versions of Sega Rally, Virtual On and Duke Nukem 3D to name just a few examples. However, one thing you can't ignore is that Sega still pioneered the concept of online gaming outside of the PC environment. Sure there were others considering the idea before, though I'll admit that it wasn't until Dreamcast when the whole thing became good enough to actually play. Now if only Sega could "get in first" again - so to speak - and create the first worthwhile fighter with remote multiplayer features. Maybe in the next update of the VF series, perhaps?

 

What if Sega had stopped console production for a year or so after the Saturn and had just focused on their arcade presence? Crazy Taxi and the Star Wars Pod Racer games come to mind. Our little group spent more time in the arcades because of those games than we had in years, and we weren't the only ones. It could have possibly resparked the arcade life again.

 

K, the last 4 dudes:

1-Yeah I know is wrong, yet I'm wondering how can you be here and having a GF at the same time, since my quantum calculations say is impossible, unless your GF is imaginary, or a dude......

2-SEGA is going pretty well lately, yet is one of those "empty" corporations (funny they went from being a nice company to a souless corporation) whose only content left from their first ages is the logo and some intellectual properties.

3-I dont believe the X360 is going to end up like DC, although, if you think about it the Xbox didnt perform much better than the saturn, since the last one lasted 4 years in the west and almost double that in japan, while the Xbox had barely 4 years on the west and was a complete catastrophe in japan (2nd only to the Jaguar). The only difference is that MS has been constantly pouring money over the Xbox, even at huge losses.

4-Arcades were already teh de4d even before the DC. I say the last big hurrah was DaytonaUSA, since from the 80s that you couldnt see such amounts of cabinets and people willing to play on them. I say SEGA did make a last try with the GameWorks franchise, and it was a big failure...

 

Why do you guys think the PS2 launched eariler then sony planned?

The sad reality is that there was only one lesson learned from the dreamcast. Make better copy protection.

The online thing? Microsoft had been dreaming of an online system similar to live since before webtv came out. That wasn't really a sega inovation.

Bigger discs? Come on... you can't tell me that is a sega inovation

The only thing that was learned from the dreamcast was the fact that you need better copy protection. Sad, but true.

 

Again with this topic?

At the time the DC was at full capacity (2000) nobody had broadband, except your rich neibor, so nobody could download the games in an amount that could hurt the system. Theres the old rental way, but how could you copy GDs? unless you had the LAN modem (which was hard to find) you were screwed.

SEGA was BROKE, that the "sad" reality. Sony had the gigabillons to spend in ads and 3rd party exclusives, yet SEGA had only 3 millons for marketing and had to rely on their own studios to make the better games (although theres a small number of exceptions).

According to you the Xbox should be teh de4d too since it can be moded without a modchip, and you dont even need a DVDR, just get a bigger HDD and load it with games. Plus everybody and their dog has broadband today.

 

No where did i say that Sega failed with the dreamcast due to piracy, i said that copy protection was the only lesson learned from the dreamcast. They are two seperate issues. The dreamcast failed in the US for many reasons, piracy is just one of them.

The differance between modding an xbox and downloading a dreamcast iso is simple. Any idiot can download a patched dreamcast iso that self boots. It takes a reasonable level of computer experties to mod an xbox. If you could download xbox iso's that would work on a retail xbox, then the xbox would have died as quick as the dreamcast.

I don't have broadband, neither does my dog.

 

But at the time you couldnt, and thats what matters since today nobody, not even SEGA, carea about the DC legacy.

Anyways, what about your cat?

 

My cat is doing a lot better than your fox... :lol:

 

Lots of people had broadband back in the DC's heyday. There is a reason why the BBAs sold out as soon as they hit stores and Sega had to go into multiple runs.

Sure, you couldn't get the $12/mo promotional plans, but $40/mo for DSL as a promotion was pretty darn common. CD burners were already a dime a dozen and if some kid didn't have broadband all he needed was a friend at school with one.

Dreamcast piracy was HUGE. There are a number of titles on the DC where the number of pirated copies exceeds the number of official copies. Think about that for a second when you say broadband was "too expensive." You didn't need to be rich to afford $40/mo.

-hl718

 

But where are you? europe? I know broadband is cheaper there, yet here we are kinda late in that aspect.

Plus when I went there (spain to be more specific) you could find DC pirates in local game stores, something unthinkable of around here.

 

I remember you used to be able to buy pirate DC games in Manchester back in the day. They even were quite expensive, bout 3 to 5 quid. The same price for some bootleg anime on VCD. I brought the anime for the record, DC games were still about 40 quid through an importer at the time.

Oh and I used to download big (100 meg plus) files with dial up and a download manager when that was all I had. I do think DC was hurt by the pirates, even if this was not the biggest blow.

To answer this topic all I have to do is look at my DC collection. If the DC never existed I would not have had years of gaming pleasure. Sure I would have played something else, but the DC was the best way for the Naomi, spot on ADV ports and some wonderful Sega branding.

 

I really like SEGA and the games they make. But i just don't understand why they never use their succesfull franchises, like Nintendo does.

Out Run 2, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, After Burner, ... All released after the DC (although DC has Virtua Fighter 3, the best in the series is 4 Evolution.

Stuff like Sega Super GT, Indy 500, Emergency Call Ambulance and many others never got home ports. Some people say it's because the games only "work" on arcades, since they don't have much options. Don't agree with that. SEGA should learn a thing or two with NAMCO. Not only they make fantastic home ports of games like Tekken 5, Soul Calibur 2, ... but they also add lots of new stuff and modes.

The Saturn is a big example of SEGA not using their big names. No "Real" Sonic game, Sega Ages version of Out Run, After Burner but no new versions, Virtua Racing done by Time Warner (WTF?)

Talking about Sonic. They are really trashing the name of their most succesful character. Sonic Heroes and Sonic Riders are crap at best.

And where's Alex Kidd? Panzer Dragoon? Space Harrier? Thunder Blade? Where are the great Formula 1 arcades they used to make?

It was SEGA that made me like playing games, specially with their arcade games in late 80's and the Master System.

After Burner and Virtua Fighter 5 arcades looks promising. Out Run 2006 Coast To Coast for the current gen is great. Hope they remember the good old days in the next gen.