The History of the Dreamcast - parts 1 & 2
Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Retro, Sony PlayStation 2, Video. Tagged with Dreamcast.
I saw part one of “The History of the Dreamcast,” by The Gaming Historian - aka Norman Caruso randomly, about a month or so ago.
Rather than post up the first part on its own, I decided to wait it out for part two to arrive and bring you guys the full thing. You see, while “Mr. G Historian” does not cover the full ins and outs of the Dreamcast’s life, the videos do serve as a beautiful tribute to one of the best-loved (among Sega Nerds at least) consoles of all time.
The videos cover the rise and fall of the Dreamcast, part one focusing on the rise of the system, and part two (you guessed it) on where it all went wrong. I’m sure he misses a few points or facts in the retelling of history, but it is good nevertheless.
My only issue really with the videos is that our host does not really show off much of the system’s capabilities - he mentions a few, but it would have been nice to see some of the wonderful games being played. Still, it is a lovely homage to the system, and I guess if I really want to see those wonderful games I can always turn my own Dreamcast on - which I might just do after posting this. ;o)
Comments on this article
There have been 15 responses to this article.
“8GB of data on single layer”
Riiight…
emogrumpyuke
Posted June 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm.
Where it all went wrong = Japanese gamers buying into the Sony hype machine.
Kataztrophy
Posted June 27th, 2008 at 10:04 pm.
Sony’s a multi-billion dollar company - they had the resources and they used them, Microsoft too. It’s a shame; their systems are total shit, supported by pre-paid hype and competition that can’t compete with the billions both companies have invested to penetrate the market.
Dub
Posted June 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm.
The Dreamcast was so far from obsolete by the time it was launched it’s not even funny. Also dual layer DVDs are not 17GB. It seems like this guy is just pulling his info from Wikipedia, but I commend him for the effort.
There’s a good DC retrospective floating around the web that G4 produced back when the channel was actually about games. It’s called Icons. There are actually quite a few well-produced episodes of Icons, including the one about DC.
Likening Sega to the Roman Empire was funny though.
shinneri
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 12:11 am.
I hate to say this ,but its necessary. Japanese gamers ruin the game industry….they wont buy anything not made in their country. They not only wont buy certain games, but a large number of them wont even try certain genres; fps, western style rpgs, sports that are not baseball or soccer. To make matters worse, they dont buy the gears of wars, or the the orange boxes they’ll buy some shit like hello kitty …..princess maker ……..virtual girlfriend …shit! Its so annoying! They ruin the market! They are the reason Nintendo NEVER has to try to make money. They slap some piece of shit that plays JUST well enough, with Pokemon or Mario and they sell like a gazillion copies….mostly over there! Meanwhile whole genres are ignored because of THAT markets unwillingness to try. I’m not a hardcore sega fanboy anymore, to be honest their greatest strength ended up being they greatest flaw: innovation…being way too ahead of their or anybody elses time, with that being said EVERYBODY, i repeat everybody owse something to Sega, for martyrdom if anything else. Who had blue lens lasers in thier consoles firs? Sega. Who had the first functional online community built internally (not counting x-play)? Sega. Come to think The Wii online functionality still doesn’t touch the Dreamcast. And they still dont have as many genres covered. This is the best selling console in the world? Thanks to the Japanese. And ill say this no one…..no one has made a add-on that was as awesome as the potential of the VMU. So there I said it. No Sega, No PSN, No Sega, No xbox live, No Sega Violence in console games…..jurys out on that one, but they were the ones who took the risk on MK1 and now look whey everybody is.. Im not even gonna touch on 3D graphics on consoles or 3d fighting games in general. Point is this was long over due and well deserved.
Hiryo
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 1:24 am.
This guy is very wrong, he omitting lots of facts.
I can’t believe this guy is getting posted here.
whiteguysamurai
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 1:39 am.
Not to say i hate Japanese gamers but they really do ruin the the balance of the game industry with their bullshit! they make well playing (sometimes anyway) shitty looking otaku games like…..disgea or something, and you got this boatload of morons in America who are so stuck on riding the Japanese culture train that they but this shit for 50 buck. Dont get me wrong these games play well, but 50 bucks for a Super NES game …..now?!? WTF? Graphics aint everything ….but there is a reason you pay 5 bucks for a PSN or XBLA game and MGS 4 or GOW2 cost 60 bucks. So if you think that’s a valid argument you are LYING to yourself! Graphics equal man hours….you gotta pay ppl for that stuff, Anyway my point is that Japanese gamers and otaku tend to pay the same amount of money for a game that looks like it was made in the stone age, usually with some lame assed gimmick behind it like dating virtual girls or driving a fucking bus. Hey Sega made a taxi simulator but at least it looked cool! If i were SEGA or Microsoft I wouldn’t even bother gracing them with my presence! Harsh but necessary!
Hiryo
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 1:51 am.
I don’t hate Japanese gamers but my point is this, if other countries are going to buy your shit, you could at least try theirs! A large portion but Not all of them don’t seem to get that. I not omitting facts Peter Moore said himself, “we have to go where the fish are biting”.
Hiryo
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 1:55 am.
it actually made me cry a bit.
thats why i hate sony and the other companies. i was born as a sega gamer in this virtual world and i should die as one too. in the other hand i enjoy my dreamcast than the actual gen (yes i got the 3 of them) there is no such a thing better the my dreamcast’s experience.
alexer
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 3:31 am.
I’ve met the Retroware guys and they’re nice, but their show’s never been particularly compelling. I believe they work at the History Channel. I’ve only watched part 1 and it’s already full of inaccuracies and misleading info. You can’t cover DC history in 20 minutes. They prove this, and if part 2 is anything like part 1, it’ pretty much garbage.
Rob F
Posted June 28th, 2008 at 10:19 pm.
the gaming industry sucks without the old mighty SEGA!
paly
Posted June 29th, 2008 at 12:35 pm.
2D>3D
ribbitking17
Posted June 30th, 2008 at 6:45 pm.
We cannot really blame anyone. However, I will say this, SEGA COULDN’T SELL GOLD EVEN IF IT WAS FREE!!!. That’s right, their marketing department its terrible. Gamecube, N64, and other consoles lacked the game quality that the DC had, but they managed to stay alive longer. Why???? Because they know how to sell a product. I mean look at the DC it had Wii type games before the Wii, and it had Online gaming before Xbox live. How can you lose?? Don’t market it properly. Very Few ads in mags, commercials on TV and the few that were aired were unappealing. Anyone remembers the ad “DC, It’s thinking?” What the hell, who cares if its thinking, you are gonna play with the damn thing, not have a conversation with it! Anyone remembers, the old Sega Genesis ad, “GENESIS DOES WHAT NINTENDONT”. The marketing for Genesis was brilliant. They compared graphics in ads, made fun of nintendo for being a kid’s machine, etc,etc,etc. MY point is that SEGA lacked the aggressiveness to market their own products. Anyone remembers the SEGA Master system? Same story, better system, better graphics, good games, bad marketing. As far as Japan is concerned, the DC lacked the RPG games to succeed to that market. In the Japanese market nowadays you good share of RPG games. Also, Sega has always made terrible decisions. Anyone remembers the Sega CD and the 32x? Who in the world launches two more platforms when your new flagship system is just around the corner? Especially when your current system is on the lead!!! As far as I’m concern, Sega has been and still is, their own worst enemy.
Alexkidd
Posted July 4th, 2008 at 10:06 am.
darn, can’t go back and proofread my previous comment. :(
Alexkidd
Posted July 4th, 2008 at 10:09 am.
Hiryo
I actually agree with you to a certain point. the Japanese refuse to buy anything that isn’t made in there country which is stupid. I don’t think no DVD player was a issue with the dreamcast, the gamecube didn’t have one and that did okay so is the wii. Sega consoles were always badly marketed from day one. they were just beating by sony cause they have more money and bigger support that was from ps1. I also think Sega should have held back waiting for the ps2 to be released and then jump in with a even better console which would have better hardware and be cheaper to produce.
Sega Tom
Posted August 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am.