I believe that the Dreamcast was destined for failure no matter how good it turned out. Many people lost faith in Sega after being let down by the Sega 32X, Sega CD and the Saturn. In the case of the Saturn, most of the best games never reached American shores, and Sony's Playstation was superior in almost every way. Therefore the Saturn was terminated way early, and after being let down for the third time, many people lost faith in Sega. And then came the announcement for Sega's newest console, the Dreamcast. Sega attempted to make amends for their past mistakes, and enter the market with a new next generation console. The problem was that Sega did not have deep enough pockets, and winning the hearts of the public back would not be easy. Because of the success of the PS, most people had faith in Sony, were willing to wait for the PS2. After looking back on the Dramcast launch day until now, I have come to my own conclusion of the system.

When the system launched on 9-9-99, it was the first next generation system, and was more powerful, than any system on the market(except the PC). I bought my DC on launch day, and I was quite impressed with the software available. Sonic Adventure, Powerstone, Soul Caliber, and Ready 2 Rumble were solid launch titles, and I was impressed with the graphics, especially with Sonic Adventure. I would argue that the DC had a much better launch than the PS2. As time passed, like most consoles, the DC had it's share of mediocre titles, but the ratio of good games versus bad, was favorable to the DC. All this was happening while Sega was loosing money faster than Sonic himself. Sega became desperate, and cut the prices of the DC. In the meantime, Sega went online and the public had the opportunity to play online with a videogame console for the first time in history. The online games they, like Quake and Phantasy Star Online were of high quality, and were fun to play online. During the holiday season of 2000, the DC was at it's prime, with titles such as Shemue, Phantasy Star Online, MDK 2, Skies of Arkadia, and Grandia 2, Sega seemed to make a great comeback. I was sure that the DC was going to have a long lifespan. Sega was finally winning back the hearts of the public. I was sure that my DC was here to stay for a long time. Things went down hill very quickly from there. Sega was loosing money fast, and was selling few consoles compared to the PS2. Sega abandoned the Dreamcast. The first year of the DC's lifespan was good, but after the announcement of the Dreamcast's future termination, the second year was quite poor. The second half of the DC's lifespan can be compared to a tired old man who is about to die. The DC was chugging along, with fewer and fewer games being released. Because of the DC's limited future, many third party developers, cancelled projects left and right. To the public's dismay, many anticipated games never made it to the store shelves. Half-Life was cancelled, but the walkthrough guide was still sold in stores (try and figure that one out). To put it plain and simple, the second half of the DC's lifespan sucked. The final nail in the coffin was the cancellation of the much-anticipated Shemue 2. It was all over for the DC. I know that Sega tried, and they did a good job, but the lack of money, and the public's lack of interest brought the DC down. The DC had a two-year lifespan (which is short); the second year was a joke. One good year does not make for a great system, regardless of whose fault it is. The DC was terminated too early. The DC did show promise, but it was never realized.

Now it is July 26, 2002, and the DC has long since been laid to rest. Three new consoles have emerged, the PS2 Gamecube, and XBOX. All of them are great systems, with solid titles, and by far graphically superior than the Dreamcast. The PS2, Xbox and GameCube will be around for a long time and have a bright future. All of these companies have deep pockets, and are proving themselves to the public. These three systems have many good games and are far superior to the Dreamcast. In short, the PS2, XBOX, and GameCube are the future; the Dreamcast is the past.

Games of interest:
If you want to by a DC, the price is cheap (only $ 45). Here are some games that are of high quality and that I recommend.

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

MDK 2

Crazy Taxi

Crazy Taxi 2

Powerstone

Powerstone2

Resident Evil Code Veronica

Skies of Arkadia

Grandia 2

Soul Caliber 2

Shemue

Phantasy Star online

Quake 3


Note:
You can find some great bargains on DC hardware and software, but they are selling out.




Recommended: Yes