The Dreamcast is Still Dead 131
00_NOP writes "Dreamcast lovers' hopes were raised earlier this month when it came to light that Sega had extended trade mark protection on the console's name. But hopes have now been dashed that we'll ever see another Dreamcast console, as even GameDaily's optimistic take on Sega's motivation makes clear. 'SEGA has no plans to get back into the hardware business, but we also want to protect our past and current brands. The trademark application was filed to protect our current and potential future use of the word DREAMCAST and to prevent other parties from using it in a way that could be confused or linked with SEGA.'"
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Re:That's just what they *want* you to think... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:That's just what they *want* you to think... (Score:4, Funny)
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Not quite. That might be what they're claiming but the truth is more amazing.
I have a spy in Sega, and they are planning to release the all new "Dreamcast 360x3". It features:
1. "EHDVD+", Sega's new high definition DVD format. Not compatible with Blu-ray or HD-DVD because it's better.
2. A 64 bit PowerPC that's multicore. IBM is specially designing this for Sega.
3. Some kind of ATI graphics, including a 1080i mode.
4. The ability to connect to the Internet. A new service, "Dreamcast Connected", will allow you to subscribe to multiplayer games and stuff.
5. Wireless controllers, with tilt detection for that "Not quite a Wii-mote" functionality
6. Large size and with big glowing lights on the front ensuring you'll never miss it when it's sitting in front of your TV
Sega hasn't come up with a final price yet, but they're expected to release different models of it for somewhere between $400 and $900. The $400 version will have the smaller hard drive and only an S-Video hookup, whereas the $900 will include a bundled copy of "Sonic XII: The SecondLife edition" plus an exclusive Hi-def copy of Employee of the Month on EHDVD+.
This is amazing stuff, a truly innovative console that will turn the market on its head.
To add to that Sega teamed up with Infinium Labs!
They're going to incorperate the awesome power of The Phantom Gaming Console [wikipedia.org] into their new product!
In even further news, the Dreamcast 360x3 will ship with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever [wikipedia.org]!!
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In related news (Score:2, Funny)
Good (Score:1)
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I'm much happier with them developing games than developing yet another console that won't be compatible with the others. Although I have to say that it does seem wrong being able to play Sonic on Nintendo hardware.
Until there ceases to be a lot of competition, I'll be satisfied having only 3 brands and 5 pla
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Until there ceases to be a lot of competition, I'll be satisfied having only 3 brands and 5 platforms to choose from.
And all three brands have lockout mechanisms to keep the little guy off the platform. Imagine an independent game developer who has a PC-based prototype of a game that allows four players holding gamepads to play at once. It works great with TV output, but I am not convinced that most potential customers know how to connect a PC's video card to a TV. So on which platform should this game be published?
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Download XNA Express for free, tweak the game to run on Xbox 360 hardware, and either hock it to a publish
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Please don't forget this (Score:5, Interesting)
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Good luck on the project though.
Make this a daily update (Score:5, Funny)
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I heard that one on the Chevy Chase show! (Score:2)
(It is good that the Gen. Franco angle was not lost in this discussion. I would have brought it up if you hadn't already done so. Good work!)
How philosophical... (Score:2)
Really, can something be dead which never lived?
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The guy did reasonably well at the box office, particularly with Timecop, and his career was taking off until... (can you guess?)... Rumble in the Bronx hit US shores.
Jackie Chan basically put a stop to Van Damme and Seagal's success because he set the bar so high right away. They never recovered.
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The guy did reasonably well at the box office, particularly with Timecop, and his career was taking off until... (can you guess?)... Rumble in the Bronx hit US shores.
I certainly can't disagree with your timeline; Timecop was in 1994, and Rumble in the Bronx was in 1995. But do you really think that is why he went away? Jackie Chan's movies are so very different than Van Damme's that I have trouble believing Chan killed off Van Damme's career. I would be more inclined to think that a series of box office bombs, starting with Street Fighter, are what killed his career.
I admit its been a very long time since I thought about this guy at all, but as I seem to remember hi
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Likewise, when Van Damme came along people basically forgot Chuck Norris (well things weren't quite that simple but once again the timelines fit).
I think it's in large part a question of something better coming along, a
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I think he just got too old for the early-20s-year-old squeal factor to carry him anymore.
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I don't think he was ever on quite the same action hero level as Schwarzenegger's [Terminator/Predator/...] or Stallone's Rambo/Rocky. He was always one step down, same level as Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Kurt Russel, and maybe Dolph Lundgren... a star, but not a superstar.
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But I'd definitely put Van Damme on the same level as Seagal. Seagal had a solid resume of action movies from around the same time that probably peaked with Under Siege. Which was defi
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Lundgren, not so much. Norris, yeah, but a bit down. Russel is more of a "real" actor, though.
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I hear both are doing quite well thanks to historical reenactments. Though the version of The Battle of Bunker Hill featuring Van Damme features more kicking than I think the historical record shows, but most people can accept the embellishment for the sake of improved drama.
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I actually tried out AC2 the month it came out... it was like playing Shadow of the Collossus but without the horse and without the collossi and without the cool music.
AC, AC, and more AC (Score:1)
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C'mon was anyone really expecting new sega hardware
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Asheron's Call is still alive and well.
Some fanboys haven't abandoned our piñata-simulator for the newer, more popular ones.
We may be a more intimate community than before,
Plenty of cyber-sex0ring in the ghost-town that is the online world.
but there's still plenty of fun to be had in the game.
"I'm a mac, and I'm a PC"...
It's not like we've removed content, just added new content.
Meet the new quests, same as the old quests.
Go resub and try some of the old quests for nostalgia's sake, or run some of the newer content for a change of pace.
For the love of gods, we're starving. We need your money! PLEASE! We're even cheaper than WoW!
What do you mean, still dead? (Score:5, Informative)
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Really? Can I get a new one from Sega? Can I get a new one from *anybody*?
Sorry, but when they stop making them, that's dead.
Chris Mattern
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So if Sony stops PlayStation 2 production tomorrow, the PS2 is dead, even if developers continue to make games for it until one year later, with people buying them?
Seems like bogus logic to me. There's this popular phrase: "It's about the GAMES, stupid!". No game console is anything without its games.
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Yes, of course if they stopped making any PS2s, it'd be dead. The reason your example sounds so ludicrous is because that they're *not* stopping production of the PS2, and in fact continue to sell it in large quantities, so trying to imagine such a unlikely fact creates an unreal picture.
Chris Mattern
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No shit, Sherlock. That's why I use if in my sentence. The essence of the analogy stands.
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Here's a better analogy for you: they finally stopped making PS1s (true). The PS1 is therefore, at this point, dead (of old age). I have no problem with that statement.
Chris Mattern
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It is an analogy of your argument, not mine. So it's not better, it's irrelevant (to my analogy).
Explain to me why a game console is considered dead when it stops being produced. I'm sure most people consider one dead when there's no production and no more games are being made for it. Like how magazines were saying the Dreamcast would go out with a bang through the release of the (then-latest) quality games, even though the Dreamcast wasn't being produced anymore.
So if everyone that wanted a Wii had a Wii
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Chris Mattern
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Explain to me why a game console is considered dead when it stops being produced.
Because for one thing, I can't buy a new replacement for a broken console.
I'm sure most people consider one dead when there's no production and no more games are being made for it.
In order to help both of us formulate a strong definition of dead, I need to establish outer bounds on the concept. Specifically, is the Nintendo Entertainment System dead? The occasional homebrew game still comes out for it. In fact, I'm working on making one.
So if everyone that wanted a Wii had a Wii, and production stopped (because of no demand), it's dead?
You mentioned Wii, a Nintendo product. Nintendo is different: its consoles tend to have a longer service life than those of Sony or Microsoft. I seem to recall fewer "dirty d
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Just because production stops doesn't mean that all the units that weren't bought instantly disappear. And I remember reading that Sega would still repair broken Dreamcasts until a bit more than one year after the production stopped.
I'd say it's dead. No more commercial releases. I'm n
Dead in which region? (Score:2)
I'd say [the Famicom/NES is] dead. No more commercial releases.
Games for Famicom and Famiclones are still being produced for sale in developing countries. Look at Street Fighter for NES [youtube.com], Mortal Kombat for NES [youtube.com], and all these Chinese games [shedevr.org.ru]. And if someone sells a copy of a homebrew on a ReproPak cart [retrousb.com], is that commercial?
Meanwhile the Dreamcast still gets games released commercially.
In which territory? Most Dreamcast software released during production of consoles was region coded. Is the Dreamcast (U) still alive, or is only the Dreamcast (J) alive?
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Not really. It doesn't have a publisher.
The Dreamcast gets commercial releases in Japan. In the US there are commercial releases of homebrew games, but I don't think those are region-coded.
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Because the user base stops growing. When it stops growing, all it can do is shrink.
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Yes, of course if they stopped making any PS2s, it'd be dead. The reason your example sounds so ludicrous is because that they're *not* stopping production of the PS2, and in fact continue to sell it in large quantities, so trying to imagine such a unlikely fact creates an unreal picture.
I get your point, but I think you should consider that there are 120 million PS2s in the world right now. Even if PS2 production came to a loud screeching halt, that's still quite a market to sell games into. If you look at it that way, one could see it as being alive so long as there are new things on the horizon to keep interest up in it.
That said, I don't think that in the context of this discussion that you are wrong. Sega only has 10 million machines out, most of them are likely hiding in dark plac
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Very true. However, I would submit that it is at least equally true that no game console is anything without the console, either.
Chris Mattern
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Of Course! [ebay.com]
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Maybe they should make a console (Score:1)
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Their real strength is software. Sega makes really cool, really weird games. Or at least they used to. Now all they do is churn out crappy 3D versions of Sonic (and really GOOD 2D versions of Sonic if you have a GBA or DS).
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The Dreamcast failed because a lot of developers got burned on the Saturn so they didn't write for the Dreamcast.
That and people believed the hype that the PS/2 would bring Toystory quality graphics.
Ahhh... For want of mod points... (Score:2)
debacle in the console market is precisely why it went belly up. I played the titles I bought when they were in the process of axing the thing in the tail end of Sega's production of them. Some of the titles were as good as anything on PS/2- some of them were arguably better in gameplay or quality of graphics. If they'd not shot themselves in the foot with the 32x, SegaCD, and Saturn so badly, th
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Sega is sitting this round, and most likely, the next round out for console making. This is obvious via Sega & Nintendo's recent chummy friendship, which has developed since Sega primarily makes games nowadays (although they still do arcade hardware in Japan & USA methinks).
However, the aqquisition of Sammy made me think that they do indeed have some type of long term plans, possibly with a new console at some point, but they are probably really worried about experiencing another Saturn or Dreamc
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I'm sure you meant the acquisition BY Sammy [wikipedia.org], which prompted a lot of Sega employees to leave the company. Make no mistake. Other than arcare hardware, Se
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Indeed, thanks for clearing that up; I haven't read up on video gaming history as of late. The fact that most Sega employees actually greatly tilts the possibility that another "Sega" console just ain't in the cards for the near future.
Now if only they could make more than one good sonic game every once in a while (haven't played Secret Rings, but my peers have said it was the best sonic game since SA2 on DC, camera issues aside).
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If you even stop off in the Los Vegas airport, you'll find gambling machines created by Konami, Namco, and Sega, amongst others. My guess is that Sega just merged it's way into this obvious ancillary revenue stream.
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It seems unlikely to happen, but I can dream.
There's room for a fourth console (Score:2)
Maybe this is a good time for them to get back into the console game. I don't know how much money they are making on games, but Sony has been showing us for a while that there is huge money in consoles. Plus the market for video games is bigger than ever and will probably continue to grow faster than other forms of entertainment.
True. Furthermore, all current-gen consoles suck. [tumblr.com]
I think there's room for a somewhat high-end console. Make it DVD based, put in a moderately good graphics card, HDMI, an ergonomic controller with a motion sensor, and make it not break once ever other week, and not sound louder than the PS3. Include a small-ish HD and price it 200-300 US$. It doesn't need Bluray, or a Cell. It doesn't even need to look quite as good as the Xbox. It doesn't need Ethernet, but put in wifi. Use an off-the-shelf dual-core P
Apple project dashed (Score:3, Funny)
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That is all.
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"But yeah, you download it to your iPod, right, so it's a podcast!" And I can download it to my computer, too. I don't call my computer a pod. It really annoys the hell out of me. Maybe I just hate Steve Jobs.
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Good comment. I don't think I could have said it any better.
Possibly DC on Wii VC (Score:2)
The G in GD-ROM (Score:1)
The Dreamcast is Still Dead (Score:1)
IMHO - The Xbox is the Dreamcast II (Score:3, Insightful)
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Well, some of the games used WinCE as an OS for them. It's not like the DC booted up and gave you a Window manager and all that other stuff.
"that the controllers for the Dreamcast and the Xbox had notable similarities in terms of button layout and gameplay..."
There are notable similarities between the XBOX and PS/PS2 controllers, too.
"...and have been of the opinion that Microsoft borrowed (or bought) heavily from Dreamcast in m
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Don't do it, they're just using you to learn as much about the console gaming business as they can. Once they've milked you for all the info, market research and money they can, they'll do their own console. Which they did.
And lets put it this way, there's a lot of former Dreamcasters that are now Xboxers. Some of that's just anti-Sony sentiment, but some of that is because the original Xbox was probably designed from ma
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You're referring to Peter Moore. However, he came to the Xbox project relatively late (in time for the 360), so I wouldn't exactly call him one of the "key" guys. Also, he's gone to EA now.
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http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3145154&did=1 [1up.com]
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What you saw me say was that Microsoft probably learned from the mistakes and successes with their interaction with Sega on the Dreamcast. That also includes the management that was still around when they disbanded the WinCE games group. You need to quit reading more into what people type than what is typed...
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You might want to think about telling someone to not act snotty to one's elders- I'm very, very probably older than most of the people posting on
But then, what did I expect? This is
But what about... (Score:2, Flamebait)
But what about the PS3???
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buy enough traction to get the studios to take them more seriously. Sony kind of pulled a Dreamcast
with the PS3, if the truth was admitted here. The biggest drags have been that cost and the overall
sign-off from the studios. There's beginning to be a decent enough line-up coming out of the studios
that I'm considering one of the 40Gb machines if budget permits and there's still any left here- but
in the e
python (Score:3, Funny)
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Doubtful. (Score:3, Informative)