Joystiq remembers the Sega Dreamcast
by JC Fletcher 
{ Sep 9th 2009 at 3:47PM } 
Ten years later, the console is no longer being made, and Sega is just another software publisher, but fans continue to love the little white box. The Dreamcast's lineup of arcade ports and wildly experimental games inspired lifelong allegiance among the people who actually bought that stuff.
Join us after the break as a bunch of Joystiq writers share our Virtual Memories about that day (the day the snow turned to rain, and we saw a black car), and about the years of Dreamcast love that followed. In the process, we've learned that an unexpected number of us raised fish-monsters in Vivarium's Leonard Nimoy-narrated pet sim Seaman, and as a result we feel closer to one another. The Dreamcast is magical.
- Alexander Sliwinski (@XanderSliwinski): The only experience I had with the Dreamcast is when I caught my freshmen (I was an RA) in college playing with Seaman. I'll leave it at that.
- Andrew Yoon (@scxzor): Because I like being a downer, I'd like to remember the worst thing about the Dreamcast: piracy. Sega's final piece of hardware was pretty extraordinary, offering online play, a sleek design, a creepy (and wonderful) marketing campaign, and best of all: amazing games. While the hardcore gamers I know all championed the system, I can't think of a single one that actually bought games once CD burners became easy to access. Everyone was just trading discs, ensuring that, even without the PS2 looming ahead, the Dreamcast would no longer be worth it for Sega to continue at all.
- Christopher Grant (@chrisgrant): With the Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, and Super Nintendo all pawned off to fund my upgrade, I had put a significant amount of faith into Sega's ability to deliver with the Dreamcast. It was my second year of college and, living off campus, the Dreamcast became the household's focal point. For me, the soul would not stop burning as I challenged my roommates to game after game of Soul Calibur. For my roommate Chris (confusing, I know) NFL2K was an amazing sports simulator, years ahead of what EA was offering.
By the time Shenmue came out, I was certain the Dreamcast and I would grow old and die together, making its early demise even more difficult to deal with. My eyes? Oh, it's nothing ... I was just chopping onions. Really. I'm fine.
- Griffin McElroy (@griffinmcelroy): There once was a time when I would very unironically proclaim that Shenmue was my favorite game of all time. I don't really say that anymore -- but that could just be because I haven't played it in a while.
While any moment I spent playing Shenmue could be described as my favorite memories with the doomed console, the one that sticks out the most was my first moments with it. Justin had purchased it the night before (on a school night! How progressive of our parents), and I needed to play it before I went to school. I popped into his room at 5:30 a.m., and began my journey into Sonic Adventure. I wanted to fake sick and play it all day, but the folks weren't buying it. That's when I discovered the magic of the VMU. Having that small vestige of the gaming that laid before me at the end of the school day in my pocket was a great comfort.
- JC Fletcher (@jcfletcher): My first year of college was about fifty percent Dreamcast, I think. It launched just as I started school, which afforded me what may be the only opportunity I'll have in my life to regularly play four-player games. Also, yes, Seaman was around, too (total coincidence -- I didn't go to Alexander's college).
My favorite memory of that period: My hall and I spent a whole weekend working through the Crazy Box challenges in Crazy Taxi. As we got into the harder levels, and both the frustration and the excitement started to rise, people began showing up. Eventually, there was no more space in my dorm room (itself a Crazy Box) and we moved down to one of the student lounges. A few hours into the final challenge, the four-minute lap around the game's city (which, yes, seems easy now), I left to go do ... something. Get some food, go to the bathroom, whatever. I don't really remember that part. What I do remember is the excited outburst that rang through the whole dorm building when someone completed the challenge.
Also: Bangai-O. I don't really have a specific anecdote about this game. I just played it a bunch and had an awesome time, and wanted to mention that.
- Justin McElroy (@JustinMcElroy): Mine is and always will be Seaman. To this day, I have no explanation as to why that game has such a hold on me. Jellyvision's superb writing is part of it, sure. And I know it's partly because there's never been anything else quite like it. All I know is that just last week, my 8-year-old sister-in-law Rileigh and I spent a great afternoon raising Seaman from nautilus to awful, cruel fishman. Though the Dreamcast games all looked like the future at the time, Seaman was the first game I can remember feeling like the future.
- Kevin Kelly (@gadgetguy): My favorite Dreamcast moments were actually spent in pain ... longingly staring at my friend's console and wishing I could afford one of my own. Back then every penny went to rent, food, and comic books. Whoops. Looks like I misplaced my priorities. Still, playing Ready 2 Rumble and Shenmue at his house were some of the best video game experiences I've had. In fact, Shenmue still needs to be resolved. Maybe someone will get on that and make a third game.
- Ludwig Kietzmann (@LudwigK): When I first realized that the action-packed SoulCalibur intro was generated in real time, I took it as a sign that I had finally grasped the true technical might of the Dreamcast. But I was mistaken, and only much later did I encounter the system's most astonishing display of power -- rendering an unnervingly effeminate Lizardman in the place of Sophitia. Power really does corrupt.
- Randy Nelson (@DangerPenguin): I was (and still am) an enormous fan of Dreamcast, so I have a lot of fond memories of the system and all things Sega at the time. So ... it's kinda hard to pick.
My absolute favorite moment? Playing Dreamcast for the first time at Sega's "New Challenge Conference" in Tokyo (its public debut, actually, just before Tokyo Game Show '98). There really was a spirit that Sega was "back" after the disappointment of Saturn; I recall the excitement of game announcements like Power Stone and the shocker: Resident Evil Code: Veronica. There was also the "Christmas morning" effect of finally getting to hold the controller, watch the system boot up, and play games like Sonic Adventure and Virtua Fighter 3tb that I'd waited so long for. It was all just sort of perfect.
It wasn't long after this that I teamed up with a bunch of fellow Sega fanatics and launched the official U.S. Dreamcast magazine -- there were many, many long days and nights involved, but it's still one of my best memories having to do with writing about games.
Bonus: If you have a copy of the very first NBA2K lying around, there's a code (which I can't recall off the top of my head) that lets you play as the Sega development "team" -- and I'm on it. I start off on the bench, so you have to sub me in if you want to watch my tiny boosted-stat self dunk on Shaq.
- Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM): In the summer of 1999, I was going on a class trip to France. It involved a home stay, castle touring and a whole week in Paris. My relatives started giving me cash to spend on my trip, but I saved it instead. I hoarded that cash and some money I had made mowing lawns to buy a Dreamcast. I can remember counting up exactly how much I would need (plus tax) to pay for the system. On launch day, I wound up walking away with a Dreamcast and copies of Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur. There were some nice things I could have bought in France, but I still think I made the right choice.
A monumentally bad choice: Selling a ton of my Dreamcast games and VMUs to help pay for an Xbox 360. Deleting my Phantasy Star Online characters -- including a maxed out HUCast with a badass Lavis Cannon sword -- was actually painful. It was like saying goodbye to a friend.
Oh, and the fact that Capcom hasn't pursued the Power Stone franchise since the Dreamcast died is positively criminal. It's actually a crime.
- Xav de Matos (@Xav): What I remember about the release of Sega's last home console was the insane amount of near-perfect games I would spend countless hours with.
Titles like Soul Calibur, NFL 2K1, Jet Grind Radio, Power Stone and Skies of Arcadia all contributed to many absences from school and a lot of missed homework. Sega, you almost got me expelled from high school ... and I thank you for it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bradwart @ Sep 9th 2009 3:50PM
Bout time. SEGA!
Autobot @ Sep 12th 2009 7:03PM
Dreamcast will always be remembered for one awesome kickass game: IKARUGA.
(Yes I know that it came out on Arcade and Gamecube.)
Swagman @ Sep 15th 2009 12:21AM
Prestige, legacy and pride. This is whereit all begins . . .
Most people do not realize this, but of all four game consoles from last-gen, Dreamcast was the only one to support VGA natively.
What does this mean for to you, the Dreamcast fan reading this right now?
Simple.
About 90% to 95% of all Dreamcast games look almost as good today, running on 1080p HDTVs, as they did ten years ago when the system was brand new.
No bullshit.
I have mine currently connected up to my 40" 1080p Samsung LCD, using the Dreamcast VGA cable, plugged into the Samsung's D-sub port.
Plugged into my HDTV in this manner, the Dreamcast even defaults to my Samsung's native 16:9 aspect ratio (but allows the option to switch to 4:3 aspect). That's right, I play all my Dreamcast games in widescreen.
There are a very small handful of games like HydroThunder, which will not support the VGA cable. And there is even a small handful of games that do support the VGA cable, like Test Drive: Le Manns, that look like garbage on HDTV. However, the vast majority of games that I have played on my Dreamcast on my HDTV, still look absolutely amazing with the only graphical glitches being some pixel stretching and increased aliasing artifacts (the severity of which varies by game) . . . both from the upscale process, I guess.
Games like Shenmue, and Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio, and Grandia 2, Samba de Amigo, Shadow Man, Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Skies of Arcadia, Dead or Alive 2, Sword of the Berserk, Power Stone, Seaman, Phantasy Star Online, D2, F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa, and tons of others, all look just as good now on my HDTV, as they did a decade ago.
In so many, many ways, the Dreamcast was truly well ahead of it's time. The fact that I can still enjoy my Dreamcast collection on HDTV ten years after the system came out, without any significant loss in visual fidelity is proof of that. Having plugged up my Gamecube (VGA), my PS2 (component) and my Xbox (component) to the same television, I can honestly state that visually, none of them even come close - not even the Xbox, which surprised me. In all fairness, the Xbox did look very good whenever I put in a 720p game like Soul Calibur 2. But other than that, too many Xbox games look washed out running on my 1080p set. The TV's upscaler does it's best to clean up the images from these old consoles as best as possible. And out of all three systems, the Gamecube comes the closest to Dreamcast's visual quality on this set. Even so, the quality of Dreamcast's display through the VGA port is still unmatched by any other console from last gen . . . by a considerable amount, no less. Compared to the other three consoles, the images and textures are sharp, the colors pop, and the dynamic range is the icing on the cake. Were it not for the fact that the old Dreamcast graphics look dated by today's standards, you could almost swear that it was made for the hi-def generation with the way it handles itself so well on a proper HDTV. The games look almost identical to how they used to look, that it is just amazing.
Until last week (09.09.09), I had not plugged up any of my old game consoles since purchasing my PS3 and Wii at launch back in 2006 (I also picked up an Xbox 360 earlier that year). But with the 10th anniversary of Dreamcast celebration and all, I decided to plug in my Dreamcast and just happened to remember where I stashed my original Blaze VGA cable. I was totally surprised and completely blown away by the graphic quality of the system on my HDTV. I really was not expecting that, and am still in shock by it almost a week later. It convinced me to try plugging in all my other last-gen consoles over the weekend, after which I really realized just how 'future proof' the Dreamcast was. Out of all four consoles from last gen, it is the only one that natively takes full advantage of HDTV. What a shame then that it was the one with the shortest lifespan.
If you still own your Dreamcast, and have either a computer monitor or an HDTV, do yourself and find a Dreamcast VGA cable and relive the days of your misspent youth all over again.
Anyway, thought that I would pass that bit of info along. I'm off now to see if my Bleem discs still work. Metal Gear Solid is calling my name . . .
Captain Planet [Planeteer | Power of Captain Planet] @ Sep 9th 2009 3:53PM
I heart you Dreamcast. I'm sorry I ignored you for an entire MONTH when I met Abbey. You were right to die on me. Like you predicted, she was a whore (albeit a magnificent whore) and I'm sorry I did not head your earlier warnings. Thank you for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Shenmue and Resident Evil: Code Veronica.
Your pal, Captain Planet.
devilsei @ Sep 9th 2009 4:29PM
Don't forget about Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, Evolution, Power Stone, and, perhaps THE best Gundam game ever made; "Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise From the Ashes"
I curse myself, my family, and the ISP we had, AOL, for making it impossible to play Quake 3 Arena of Phantasy Star Online, all because AOL hated Sega for making a special browser for it.
Also, the built in phone jack was years ahead of its time.
Spartan [Planeteer l Power of bad weather] @ Sep 9th 2009 6:24PM
Powerstone 2.
'nuff said.
Stevetrop @ Sep 9th 2009 7:55PM
The Dreamcast was always close to the my heart. 9/9/99 just one day before my birthday and when I was turning 17. I picked up the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure with my first check from my first job at some store that I worked at.
So many great games, so many great times, so many fools I crushed ruthlessly on games online.
Anthony M. @ Sep 9th 2009 3:54PM
I taught myself how to type on you, oh Dreamcast.
Phantasy Star Online was an amazing game, and has had a large impact on my gaming life.
aero @ Sep 9th 2009 4:08PM
I played PSO for hours and hours everyday. My mom ended up making me sign a timesheet to limit the amount of time I spent playing.
cylet @ Sep 9th 2009 3:55PM
I remember Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Blue Stinger, Marvel vs Capcom, Powerstone, Phantasy Star, and Cannon Spike... Those were the happiest days....
Night Elve @ Sep 9th 2009 3:57PM
I still have my Dreamcast too bad I lost the A/V cable =| ... so basically I can't connect it.
Duke @ Sep 9th 2009 4:35PM
..unless you were to buy another cable for 99 cents.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dreamcast-Super-Audio-Video-SAV-S-AV-DC-Cable-Cord-New_W0QQitemZ180404982257QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games_Accessories?hash=item2a00f991f1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_2249wt_752
draco @ Sep 9th 2009 6:04PM
I had the VGA cable, it was pretty sweet.
Dowse @ Sep 11th 2009 6:38PM
So you only owned the VGA cable? Not the actual console?
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 9th 2009 3:57PM
I was lucky enough to find a Dreamcast in a used shop 3 months ago for $29.99....Turns out, it had never been used. Everything was still in the plastic and the wires were still twisty-tied all up.
I immediately broke out Sonic Adventure, Seaman, MvC2 and Soul Calibur and spent hours reliving 1999.
I'll always love my DC, and I'll always have hope for a new piece of hardware from Sega.
Wonderflex @ Sep 9th 2009 4:26PM
Oddly same story here. I just re-purchased a Dreamcast in perfect condition. It was an origional model to boot - way to go ISO's!
copa @ Sep 9th 2009 4:33PM
"I'll always love my DC, and I'll always have hope for a new piece of hardware from Sega."
Isn't it amazing how they jumped from one clusterfuck to the other... the 32-X, the Saturn... and when all of a sudden they got it so perfectly right with the Dreamcast, THAT was the deathknell for Sega hardware?
I had never seen so much imagination put into a console design. The VMUs and the built-in modem connection had endless possibilities in my mind (even though they both went tragically unused outside of Phantasy Star Online). I got one on launch day, and it was the first time since the Atari 2600 that a new console left me breathless.
If the third-party software support had been there for the Dreamcast, it would have been one of the greats.
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 9th 2009 4:46PM
It's exactly as Andrew put it in his testimony: I believe as well that it was the popularity of CD-Burners that put the Dreamcast down. You didn't need a boot disk, or a mod chip, and once people figured out that you could straight copy Dreamcast games, that was it.
BananaBoat @ Sep 9th 2009 5:11PM
That really was a shame. I was in middle school (no idea what grade) at the time, and even then there was rampant burning and trading. If that was happening in a middle school, you know it was happening everywhere else.
I still love my Dreamcast to this day. Games like Virtual On, Sonic Adventures, Jet Grind Radio, and many others made me realize that the future of video games had arrived. When the PS2 came out, and the first games for it looked and played like ass compared to any number of titles on the Dreamcast, I thought the victory was secured. It's a shame that Sega didn't have the marketing chops to fight off Sony, because the early demise of the console made me weep (until I saved up enough for a PS2 that is)
Solace @ Sep 9th 2009 3:58PM
I remember buying a Dreamcast around launch at Sears because it was sold out everywhere else. My first game was Sonic Adventure and I was in love with that game. I had no memory card and beat the game in under a day quite a few times. Some of my favorite games were Power Stone, Project Justice, Skies of Arcadia, NBA 2K series, Chu Chu Rocket, Resident Evil Code Veronica and so many others.
Dreamcast was truly ahead of its time and it was a sad day when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast. I never had a PS1 or PS2 before the Dreamcast but eventually I finally got a PS2 in 2004.
BxGT @ Sep 13th 2009 2:10PM
Thanks a lot dude, now i have the chu chu rocket theme song stuck in my head.
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 9th 2009 3:58PM
My first time ever playing the Dreamcast was at my cousin's house with Crazy Taxi, I loved that game. Then I eventually bought myself one with sonic adventure. I really need to buy a new one.
Kizzle @ Sep 9th 2009 3:59PM
Bought it the morning of release, 9/9/99. Easily in my top 3 consoles ever, and only recently surpassed by the 360, mostly due to sheer volume of titles and the Live service.
Jet Grind Radio letting you import your own graphics for graffiti is probably my favorite feature of any game from this decade.
Fire Pro Wrestling D was heaven.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the most fun I'd ever had with a fighter.
NBA Showtime is still my favorite 4-player "party" game ever.
Crazy Taxi was a perfect example of bare-bones simplicity still being able to be fantastic.
I could go on, but I'm sure plenty of people already know what I'm talking about. This console was something special. I don't even know how to define it, but I haven't seen something that gives off the same vibe since then.
lochack @ Sep 9th 2009 4:01PM
i went and bought dreamcast on lunch date, but i decided to return it and get a computer instead, which i regret to this day. I missed the chance to play all those great games.
arrrgh @ Sep 9th 2009 3:59PM
Shenmue and its sequel are still etched in my brain, I can't count how many nights I just didn't sleep and couldn't believe it was 8am and I was still playing...man that system had something special
arrrgh @ Sep 9th 2009 4:05PM
Believe it or not, I actually bought the system for House of the Dead 2, which I had spent at least $100 on in a Canada's Wonderland arcade.
xera077 @ Sep 9th 2009 4:00PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8Srg9ngoU
This is probably what I remember most from the Dreamcast.
Ah yeaaaaaa.
Captain_Hairy @ Sep 9th 2009 4:33PM
Dude, yes. I remember playing that game so much. Probably my favourite game soundtrack ever.
Kizzle @ Sep 9th 2009 4:01PM
I don't care what the final outcome of the war between the two consoles was. This was awesome:
http://www.megagames.com/news/images/segson_l1.jpg
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 9th 2009 4:04PM
Lol, man if something like that happened today there would be flamewars up the ass.
[Tre,back and NOT LEAVING no matter how much you want me to] [blogs at trespeak.tumblr.com] @ Sep 9th 2009 4:07PM
^^^^^^
You're darn right.
Space @ Sep 9th 2009 4:19PM
boy, did karma come back to bite sega in the ass or what?
brisknrocket @ Sep 9th 2009 7:45PM
Sony: SEGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
TexRob @ Sep 9th 2009 4:02PM
Crazy Taxi for the Dreamcast was the best version ever. Soul Calibur was one of the best fighting games ever, if not the best ever, IMHO.
It was such a great system, really wish things had played out differently. I think Sega, MS, and Nintendo would be a more innovative "big three". Sony has shown they don't innovate anymore.
Bradwart @ Sep 9th 2009 4:05PM
Wha? So the PlayStation Motion Controller, free online, user swappable HDD's, Blu-Ray, internal power supplies, these are all not innovative?
I'd rather see Sega, Sony, and Microsoft. Nintendo can have the VSmile crowd.
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 9th 2009 4:06PM
What the fuck are you talking about?
xera077 @ Sep 9th 2009 4:08PM
@Brdawart So..Dreamcast having an online service a controller that looks like the X-box 360, usually had the best ports of most arcade games, top-notch graphics, good RPGs and four players is not innovative?
Wtf? If Sega Net was never made there wouldn't exist a X-box Live. If PSO wasn't successful, we wouln't have companies to try to port MMOs onto consoles.
Moronic user is moronic.
arrrgh @ Sep 9th 2009 4:09PM
true dat
i still think soul calibur was the best one of the series
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 9th 2009 4:14PM
Xera, I think you need to read Bradwart's comment again. He never said the Dreamcast want innovative. He was just countering TexRob's blatant fanboyism.
TexRob @ Sep 9th 2009 4:22PM
My blatant fanboyism? I don't have my gamertag in my username. I own a PS3 and Xbox 360. Doesn't take a genius to figure out my gamertag or PS network ID.
"Wha? So the PlayStation Motion Controller, free online, user swappable HDD's, Blu-Ray, internal power supplies, these are all not innovative?"
Blu-ray is nice, but not innovative. You clearly don't know what innovative means. Innovative is doing something new, something that nobody else has thought of. Picking a new storage format, one that your company backs, is not exactly innovative. Like I said, it's nice, and the only reason my PS3 gets as much use as it does.
User swappable HDD is not innovative, see above definition. It is, however, a nice feature.
Internal power supply is a design choice, and something that plenty of other consoles have had. Some say it's good, some say bad. Considering the PS3 original's size, I'd say it was a bad idea.
Motion controller is a joke, a novelty.
Free online is something PS3 and 360 owners will never see eye to eye on. I much prefer spending $50 a year for a vastly superior online service.
doc j @ Sep 9th 2009 4:23PM
That's ridiculous. To say Sony isn't as innovative is completely unfounded. I *would* say I wish there was enough market for Nintendo, Sony, MS, and Sega to all have consoles, but since I can generally only afford (money and time) one console each generation it would pose more difficulty than its worth.
Sega played themselves out of the market with too many failures (SegaCD, Sega32x, Sega Saturn) so that when they finally released a GREAT console (Sega Dreamcast... which, by the way, had the greatest development name ever - "kitana") no one bought it. I still think that if Sega had a better symbol than the swirl and kept the name as the Sega Kitana they'd have hit it rich. Even still, they had a great product, but after all the consecutive system failures immediately prior to the DC, I do not begrudge people who waited on the system.
This is coming from an original Sega fanboy, too (which is okay, because I got a Genesis when I was 8). Still love the Genesis and the DC, but Sega is sleeping in a bed that they made for themselves.
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 9th 2009 4:36PM
To say XBL is VASTLY superior is fanboyism (just because you own both consoles doesn't mean you can't be a fanboy), sure it has some nice features that PSN doesn't have but it's surely nothing major. I wouldn't say the PS3 nor Xbox 360 is more innovative than the other, besides, it's the games that is the true innovation in a generation.
Space @ Sep 9th 2009 4:45PM
Sony puts out more innovative titles than any other publisher. the titles of the past decade prove that. It's undeniable!
as far as everything else...dvd, blu-ray, and backwards compatability were all their idea. The sony eye toy came out years before anyone was thinking about motion technology. Buetooth, removable HDD, PSP remote play for games and movies, PSone games that can be palyed on PS3 and PSP,
soon heavy rain will come out. they are going to start having 3D games soon
Give sony credit, this industry is as big as it is because of them...and Sega is where it is because of them.
Austin (PSN: lparAgonl) MIA @ Sep 9th 2009 4:58PM
@TexRob
Go look up "innovative" in the dictionary. Then come back and try to stand by your point. Imbecile.
DangerMouse @ Sep 9th 2009 5:09PM
Sony hasn't been innovative this gen. Clearly the 360 has been very successful with their online network, and yes, it's much better than the PS3's. Sony's been playing catch up since day one. But don't let the innovation hype fool you, it doesn't always make a better system. Nintendo may have hit the jackpot with the wii, but it doesn't work for all. You could say the Jaguar was innovative, the 32X, or even the Virtual boy, but they all failed miserably. Sticking to what's familiar is sometimes best, but the PS3 should've had an robust online system from the start, rather than promoting a "10 year lifespan".
And blu-ray isn't innovative. It's just the next logical step of optical media after DVD. What is innovative is the scratch resistant discs, but that's not a feature of the PS3. And backwards compatibility doesn't count, since the PS2 did it as well.
Space @ Sep 9th 2009 5:35PM
but backwards compatibility is a strong point as Sony did make the PS2.
Heavenly Sword and uncharted to this day have the best mo-cap and voice acting of any game. LittleBig Planet, enough said. Patapon, Echochrome, Flower. Heavy Rain, MAG, invisimles, ...dual analog
arrrgh @ Sep 9th 2009 5:35PM
PS3 has backwards compatibility?
Not when they shamelessly ripped it out of my 40gb unit, and the slim.
cmon sony, quit holding back the ps2 emulation
Succulent @ Sep 9th 2009 6:40PM
@doc j
SegaCD and Sega32x failed cos they were crap, but the Sega Saturn was brilliant :<
Sega Kitana...I prefer Dreamcast myself. The code names are usually fancy but wouldn't really fit.
Like the Nintendo Revolution! Although, at least with the Dreamcast, it's final name was replaced with something that you can say in a sentence without someone making a urine joke.
sc00by_y00 @ Sep 9th 2009 6:55PM
I gotta be honest I didnt get a dreamcast. I was very close to buying one but I never did, before I even got a chance I had heard that Sega was no longer going to manufacture consoles.
I had an n64 (golden eye, I played it so much I cant play it anymore seriously im too good 4 player madness, no one would stand a chance against me) in the 1st yr of uni, then the gamecube money was tight being a student and all, but I remember playing on the ps1 a lot ( ff7 damn that game was awesome and luniz I got 5 on it would best describe my state of mind back then lol ).
Anyway back to this thread and the point of my reply (ive beat around the bush enough to set it on fire I think) ...
The PS3 has this chip inside its called the Cell BroadBand engine, that Sony IBM and Toshiba developed .. That chip alone is more innovative than anything Nintendo or Microsoft have released this gen.. The Cell is currently employed in the worlds fastest supercomputers, ps3's are linked to produce super computers all because of this chip and yet again some are saying Sony hasn't brought anything innovative this gen, your absolutely clueless if you think the cell isn't innovative.. Six Axis ? Blue tooth usb rechargeable controllers ? the ability to have 7 controllers linked to a system ? Probably one of the best blu ray players on the market ? Yes your right Sony doesn't innovate at all and has brought nothing new (again Blu Ray is another primarily Sony invention keep that in mind. They didn't just stick it in they researched and developed the technology look up the meaning for innovation in a dictionary)..
Nintendo deserve all the success they have had. They have been here for the longest time and they deserve to be here, although I think they are branching away from games and going more towards a health fitness thing now, I guess they are kind of changing tactic from being just solely a games machine. Either way, regardless of whatever is said they deserve the success because ultimately they have in many ways revolutionized this gen with the wii fitness board and the motion sensing controllers.
Microsoft and innovation are two words that never mix, they can copy and produce bad copies thats about it.. the 360 ? pfft .. I would rather have Sega any day of the week month or year, at least Sega actually innovated at least Sega had some originality Microsoft have the worst piece of hardware ever produced as a games console, enough said ...
dextro @ Sep 9th 2009 8:13PM
@Space
You do remember a little console named GameBoy Colour that was, *gasp*, backwards compatible with the GamBoy?
Or are you familiar with a little something called the Sega Power Base Converter that allowed the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive to play Master System games (you know, what they call backwards compatibility).
So please, don't say Sony came up with the idea of Backwards compatibility cause Nintendo did it before.
Oh and btw: my only two gaming regrets so far are not having had the hability to buy the Saturn and the Dreamcast, I got stuck with my Mega Drive till I bought the original XBox in 2006!!! Yeah, I was poor!