Sega Dreamcast, a console ahead of its time

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] Saturn games are notoriously hard to port, it made sense to port games like Grandia to the PS1 because of the larger install base and more potential profit, but not to the Dreamcast, where the userbase was too small to warrant the time and money it took to port the game.TheKungFool

I know Saturn games are more difficult to port than others, but I disagree that it would have been a waste.

I personally don't buy the "not worth it due to the small DC user base" arguement, because my point is that offering these games would have been a tool specifically used to INCREASE that user base, and offer amore roundedand attractive game lineup.

We can all agree that the DreamCast was a powerfull and capableconsole right? So why did it fail? Because the games just weren't there is the answer I keep coming up with. Thats notto say us hardcore gamers can't come up with decent lists of worthwhile DC titles,but I think a few well placed Saturn ports-reworks would have helped the game library substantially, especially in certain genres like RPG, Shmup etc.

I'm probably wrong, lol, I just don't seehow it would have been so difficult to port/remake a few Saturn titles to help the lineup, especially given the time and funds SEGA wasted on projects like the Shenmue title that never came out

You should look up Play Value Dreamcast. Very good retrospective of the console. To say it wasn't ahead of its time is just absurd, it was a very powerful little system and it didn't just OFFER online play, it was built from the ground up to support it, something that was certainly an entire console generation early. The real problem was that Sega had alienated developers, gamers and retailers with its behavior during the 32x, Sega CD, Sega Saturn era, and was left to fight for itself against Sony, who had more money, more consumer trust and more developers.djwood84

me and another friend were debating that topic of why the Dreamcast failed, and we came to the conclusion was that the PS1 was still strong in 1998-2000, with games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 8 and many others.Darkman2007

Right, but the PS1 was "still strong in 1998-2000" due to the games, not the hardware. Even after the DC game out, PS1 gamers didn't exactly flock to the DC for the advanced features it had,which is exactly why the DreamCast needed to launch with a better lineup, or at the least, have better releases within its first year.

Its likeSEGA focussed so much on the online features, whacky new IPs, and arcade ports, that they just flat out forgot that people might actually want to play normal titles from the expected SEGA franchises.

Plus, even when the PS2 came out, people were still buying up the betterPS1 games like crazy, so I still think SEGA missed a huge opportunity to use a few of the better Saturn games (in re-release or port format) to usher in the DreamCast with Sega staples, and at least offer a rounded library in that first year.

There is zero doubt in my mind, that had SEGA offered the likes of a few standout Saturn remakes/ports like"Shining Force III", "Panzer Dragoon Saga" and such, as well as one or two more mainstream offerings from series like say "Shinobi" and "Golden Axe" the system would have done better (not saying it would have necessarily done amazing, but just....better than it did)

I think people talk about the "arcade perfect ports" without actually thinking about it.

Soul Calibur ran on the system 12 board in the arcade, which is basically an upgraded PS1, so of course the DC is going to manage a perfect port, though Namco gets credit for redoing the game for the Dreamcast.

as for games like Dead Or Aive 2 , it ran on the NAOMI board, which is a Dreamcast arcade machine, so again , of course its going to be perfect.

its no different then the PS1 running a perfect port of Tekken 2 , since that was a system 11 game, or the Saturn running Die Hard Arcade perfectly , because that ran on an STV board, a Saturn arcade machine.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] me and another friend were debating that topic of why the Dreamcast failed, and we came to the conclusion was that the PS1 was still strong in 1998-2000, with games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 8 and many others.TheKungFool

Right, but the PS1 was "still strong in 1998-2000" due to the games, not the hardware. Even after the DC game out, PS1 gamers didn't exactly flock to the DC for the advanced features it had,which is exactly why the DreamCast needed to launch with a better lineup, or at the least, have better releases within its first year.

Its likeSEGA focussed so much on the online features, whacky new IPs, and arcade ports, that they just flat out forgot that people might actually want to play normal titles from the expected SEGA franchises.

Plus, even when the PS2 came out, people were still buying up the betterPS1 games like crazy, so I still think SEGA missed a huge opportunity to use a few of the better Saturn games (in re-release or port format) to usher in the DreamCast with Sega staples, and at least offer a rounded library in that first year.

There is zero doubt in my mind, that had SEGA offered the likes of a few standout Saturn remakes/ports like"Shining Force III", "Panzer Dragoon Saga" and such, as well as one or two more mainstream offerings from series like say "Shinobi" and "Golden Axe" the system would have done better (not saying it would have necessarily done amazing, but just....better than it did)

like I said the Saturn should have just been kept alive until 2000, so that the DC can have better specs , a DVD drive and probably a better launch lineup too.Darkman2007

well, the problem there, was that (at least here in Canada, and other parts of N.America from what I understand) the Saturn wasn't readily available or carried in many shops,at least not like the N64, PS1 etc were. I clearly remember seing the commercials for Panzer Dragoon, and having to check like 3-4 different stores before we found one that carried Saturns and a decent selection of game (which is obviously why the better games are rare and hard to come by)

In short, I too would have liked the Saturn to have stuck around a while longer, but I understand that SEGA felt they had a good model with the DreamCast, its capabilities, and while I don't blame them for upgrading the hardware from the Saturn to the DreamCast, I'll still always feel that either backwards compatability or some key Saturn ports could have helped give the DC a better fate (along witha few other mainstream first party releases)

Your perfect examples of PS1's Final Fantasy and Metal Gear titles perfectly illustrates my point about the DreamCast's limittedlineup;you want to compete with Final Fantasy VII? Another Panzer Dragoon Saga could have done that. You want compete with Final Fantasy Tactics? A new Shining Force title surely could have done that.You want to compete with Metal Gear Solid? How about a new Shinobi with similar gameplay and stealth features? could have been done.

And again, if offering a new Shinobi, Shining Force, and Panzer Dragoon was too much to ask for, I don't see how the effort to toss a few ports out would have been a bad idea lol

[QUOTE="djsundowner"]

Sega could make a fair amount of money even now by re-releasing some of their amazing first-party Saturn games, but as was stated, porting them is very difficult, and, (from rumors I've heard, mind you) I've heard that the source code for some of the games (including Panzer Dragoon Saga) has been lost. The Saturn was a very wonky system in alot of ways, and it's all the quirks that led it to fail despite a high amount of potential that only Sega themselves were able to tap into.

Darkman2007

I should have said that Sega was the only company that could do 3D games right on their system (still a few exceptions, of course, but not many). The Saturn was a 2D powerhouse, however, and that's why games like Capcom's stable of fighters were so good on it.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="djsundowner"]

Sega could make a fair amount of money even now by re-releasing some of their amazing first-party Saturn games, but as was stated, porting them is very difficult, and, (from rumors I've heard, mind you) I've heard that the source code for some of the games (including Panzer Dragoon Saga) has been lost. The Saturn was a very wonky system in alot of ways, and it's all the quirks that led it to fail despite a high amount of potential that only Sega themselves were able to tap into.

djsundowner

I should have said that Sega was the only company that could do 3D games right on their system (still a few exceptions, of course, but not many). The Saturn was a 2D powerhouse, however, and that's why games like Capcom's stable of fighters were so good on it.

We all know, it had a modem 1 year and 10 months before the PS2 yay!! it is a shame it had a controller from 1996

We all know, it had a modem 1 year and 10 months before the PS2 yay!! it is a shame it had a controller from 1996

JuarN18

The difference is that it had online from the start; the Dreamcast was conceived with online in mind. That year and 10 months later only gave the Ps2 online through a network adapter that you had to purchase seperately.

[QUOTE="JuarN18"]

We all know, it had a modem 1 year and 10 months before the PS2 yay!! it is a shame it had a controller from 1996

AcidSoldner

The difference is that it had online from the start; the Dreamcast was conceived with online in mind. That year and 10 months later only gave the Ps2 online through a network adapter that you had to purchase seperately.

Though you could argue that many of the online games were worthless unless you purchased the broadband adapter separately. The Dreamcast was built with good intentions, and while it was the first one that could go online right out of the box, it did little to promote online on consoles (neither did the PS2, though... we have Xbox Live to thank for that).

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

The single analog stick never bothered me, and honestly outside of some of the FPS games on the dreamcast, I can't think of any games that would have really benefited from having the dual analog.

But I will agree with you, Sony definitely had the right plan with their controller layout,

Darkman2007

actually the saturn 3d controller is also bigger. the dreamcast controller was made for incredibly small hands and the saturn 3d pad is one of the best controllers I could think of.

I understand the love that the DC gets, it was a neat little console, but it wasn't really as forward thinking as fans would have people believe. By 98 DVD was well on the way to becoming the standard in home video and gaining steam in the PC market but Sega went with a CD drive. The 200 mhz processor was decent but at the time PCs were heading into 500+ territory. The 56k modem was also behind it's time, with broadband having become standard in mid to large sized cities by 1997. Of course the biggest flaw in the belief that the DC was ahead of it's time was that they did not see the necessity of a second analogue stick as video games were moving beyond 2-dimensional limitations of past consoles. Rather Sega preferred to sell consumers (who's trust they had already begun to lose) peripherals that were often usable for just a couple of games.

It's not a bad console, but calling it ahead of it's time has no basis in reality.

Second_Rook

in 1998 there were no 500 mhz pc for consumers. not even close.

besides this was an hitachi mhz processor while for pc intel was the norm, hitachi processor was considerably faster than those of intel. dreamcast is money/quality wise the best piece of hardware ever created. never was a system such a graphical step as this one. besides that the system was one and a half year older and equally as powerful as the ps2 despite ludicrous claims from sony of pushing 75 million polygons

again in 1998 and 1999 broadband was virtually non-existant. and still many people didn't even have internet.

my god it's hard to picture in where you were living during the late 90s. broadbant the norm in 1997?? lmao

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

The single analog stick never bothered me, and honestly outside of some of the FPS games on the dreamcast, I can't think of any games that would have really benefited from having the dual analog.

But I will agree with you, Sony definitely had the right plan with their controller layout,

bultje112

actually the saturn 3d controller is also bigger. the dreamcast controller was made for incredibly small hands and the saturn 3d pad is one of the best controllers I could think of.

[QUOTE="TheKungFool"]

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] me and another friend were debating that topic of why the Dreamcast failed, and we came to the conclusion was that the PS1 was still strong in 1998-2000, with games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 8 and many others.Darkman2007

Right, but the PS1 was "still strong in 1998-2000" due to the games, not the hardware. Even after the DC game out, PS1 gamers didn't exactly flock to the DC for the advanced features it had,which is exactly why the DreamCast needed to launch with a better lineup, or at the least, have better releases within its first year.

Its likeSEGA focussed so much on the online features, whacky new IPs, and arcade ports, that they just flat out forgot that people might actually want to play normal titles from the expected SEGA franchises.

Plus, even when the PS2 came out, people were still buying up the betterPS1 games like crazy, so I still think SEGA missed a huge opportunity to use a few of the better Saturn games (in re-release or port format) to usher in the DreamCast with Sega staples, and at least offer a rounded library in that first year.

There is zero doubt in my mind, that had SEGA offered the likes of a few standout Saturn remakes/ports like"Shining Force III", "Panzer Dragoon Saga" and such, as well as one or two more mainstream offerings from series like say "Shinobi" and "Golden Axe" the system would have done better (not saying it would have necessarily done amazing, but just....better than it did)

if sega had done that they would've been out of business in 2000

[QUOTE="Second_Rook"]

I understand the love that the DC gets, it was a neat little console, but it wasn't really as forward thinking as fans would have people believe. By 98 DVD was well on the way to becoming the standard in home video and gaining steam in the PC market but Sega went with a CD drive. The 200 mhz processor was decent but at the time PCs were heading into 500+ territory. The 56k modem was also behind it's time, with broadband having become standard in mid to large sized cities by 1997. Of course the biggest flaw in the belief that the DC was ahead of it's time was that they did not see the necessity of a second analogue stick as video games were moving beyond 2-dimensional limitations of past consoles. Rather Sega preferred to sell consumers (who's trust they had already begun to lose) peripherals that were often usable for just a couple of games.

It's not a bad console, but calling it ahead of it's time has no basis in reality.

bultje112

in 1998 there were no 500 mhz pc for consumers. not even close.

besides this was an hitachi mhz processor while for pc intel was the norm, hitachi processor was considerably faster than those of intel. dreamcast is money/quality wise the best piece of hardware ever created. never was a system such a graphical step as this one. besides that the system was one and a half year older and equally as powerful as the ps2 despite ludicrous claims from sony of pushing 75 million polygons

again in 1998 and 1999 broadband was virtually non-existant. and still many people didn't even have internet.

my god it's hard to picture in where you were living during the late 90s. broadbant the norm in 1997?? lmao

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="TheKungFool"]

Right, but the PS1 was "still strong in 1998-2000" due to the games, not the hardware. Even after the DC game out, PS1 gamers didn't exactly flock to the DC for the advanced features it had,which is exactly why the DreamCast needed to launch with a better lineup, or at the least, have better releases within its first year.

Its likeSEGA focussed so much on the online features, whacky new IPs, and arcade ports, that they just flat out forgot that people might actually want to play normal titles from the expected SEGA franchises.

Plus, even when the PS2 came out, people were still buying up the betterPS1 games like crazy, so I still think SEGA missed a huge opportunity to use a few of the better Saturn games (in re-release or port format) to usher in the DreamCast with Sega staples, and at least offer a rounded library in that first year.

There is zero doubt in my mind, that had SEGA offered the likes of a few standout Saturn remakes/ports like"Shining Force III", "Panzer Dragoon Saga" and such, as well as one or two more mainstream offerings from series like say "Shinobi" and "Golden Axe" the system would have done better (not saying it would have necessarily done amazing, but just....better than it did)

bultje112

if sega had done that they would've been out of business in 2000

[QUOTE="AcidSoldner"]

[QUOTE="JuarN18"]

We all know, it had a modem 1 year and 10 months before the PS2 yay!! it is a shame it had a controller from 1996

djsundowner

The difference is that it had online from the start; the Dreamcast was conceived with online in mind. That year and 10 months later only gave the Ps2 online through a network adapter that you had to purchase seperately.

Though you could argue that many of the online games were worthless unless you purchased the broadband adapter separately. The Dreamcast was built with good intentions, and while it was the first one that could go online right out of the box, it did little to promote online on consoles (neither did the PS2, though... we have Xbox Live to thank for that).

again you are talking out of something below your back because there was no lag at all in online dreamcast and yes I've played many of them back when they were hot and tens of thousands would be online playing phantasy star online which on itself was a revolution for consoles

and little to promote online gaming??? my god this is a joke right??

[QUOTE="AcidSoldner"]

[QUOTE="JuarN18"]

We all know, it had a modem 1 year and 10 months before the PS2 yay!! it is a shame it had a controller from 1996

djsundowner

The difference is that it had online from the start; the Dreamcast was conceived with online in mind. That year and 10 months later only gave the Ps2 online through a network adapter that you had to purchase seperately.

Though you could argue that many of the online games were worthless unless you purchased the broadband adapter separately. The Dreamcast was built with good intentions, and while it was the first one that could go online right out of the box, it did little to promote online on consoles (neither did the PS2, though... we have Xbox Live to thank for that).

What!? What do you mean little was done to promote the Dreamcast's online arena?

-Go watch any Sega presentations at E3 prior to the Dreamcast launch and you'll noticed that they pushed online as one of the premeire features of the Dreamcast.

-Starting in March 7, 2000 every Dreamcast in the US was bundled with ChuChu Rocket to promote online play.

-In Europe the tagline for the Dreamcast was "Up to 6 Billion Players."

[QUOTE="djsundowner"]

[QUOTE="AcidSoldner"]

The difference is that it had online from the start; the Dreamcast was conceived with online in mind. That year and 10 months later only gave the Ps2 online through a network adapter that you had to purchase seperately.

AcidSoldner

Though you could argue that many of the online games were worthless unless you purchased the broadband adapter separately. The Dreamcast was built with good intentions, and while it was the first one that could go online right out of the box, it did little to promote online on consoles (neither did the PS2, though... we have Xbox Live to thank for that).

What!? What do you mean little was done to promote the Dreamcast's online arena?

-Go watch any Sega presentations at E3 prior to the Dreamcast launch and you'll noticed that they pushed online as one of the premeire features of the Dreamcast.

-Starting in March 7, 2000 every Dreamcast in the US was bundled with ChuChu Rocket to promote online play.

-In Europe the tagline for the Dreamcast was "Up to 6 Billion Players."

in 1998 there were no 500 mhz pc for consumers. not even close.

besides this was an hitachi mhz processor while for pc intel was the norm, hitachi processor was considerably faster than those of intel. dreamcast is money/quality wise the best piece of hardware ever created. never was a system such a graphical step as this one. besides that the system was one and a half year older and equally as powerful as the ps2 despite ludicrous claims from sony of pushing 75 million polygons

again in 1998 and 1999 broadband was virtually non-existant. and still many people didn't even have internet.

my god it's hard to picture in where you were living during the late 90s. broadbant the norm in 1997?? lmao

bultje112

The point is that the Dreamcast was not ahead of it's time, if it were people (not including those who get hostile in forums when their baby is picked on) would look at newer consoles and say, "man the Dreamcast did that way back when." But the only ones who do that are Sega stalwarts.

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

in 1998 there were no 500 mhz pc for consumers. not even close.

besides this was an hitachi mhz processor while for pc intel was the norm, hitachi processor was considerably faster than those of intel. dreamcast is money/quality wise the best piece of hardware ever created. never was a system such a graphical step as this one. besides that the system was one and a half year older and equally as powerful as the ps2 despite ludicrous claims from sony of pushing 75 million polygons

again in 1998 and 1999 broadband was virtually non-existant. and still many people didn't even have internet.

my god it's hard to picture in where you were living during the late 90s. broadbant the norm in 1997?? lmao

Second_Rook

The point is that the Dreamcast was not ahead of it's time, if it were people (not including those who get hostile in forums when their baby is picked on) would look at newer consoles and say, "man the Dreamcast did that way back when." But the only ones who do that are Sega stalwarts.

I live in Califonia and we didn't have broadband in 1997. I guess if you lived in LA or San Francisco you might. But even outside of LA and San Francisco, California is a well-populated place. Broadband was FAAAARRRR from common in 1997.

I live in Califonia and we didn't have broadband in 1997. I guess if you lived in LA or San Francisco you might. But even outside of LA and San Francisco, California is a well-populated place. Broadband was FAAAARRRR from common in 1997.

Emerald_Warrior

I've played many of them back when they were hot and tens of thousands would be online playing phantasy star online which on itself was a revolution for consoles

bultje112

Yikes. Phantasy Star Online was horrible, and stands today as a great example of how poorly SEGA treats and miss-uses it's own franchises.

You could have called that game "Button-Tap'n'Chat" for crisakes, or at least "Space Journey Ultima" or some other damned name, but it was nothing more than a generic exercise in bland repetition, glazed over with Phantasy Star window dressing. It makes me cringe just thinking about how badly PSO destroyed Phantasy Star as a product. Up to that point, Phantasy Star was a first rate rpg series, and since PS0, it has been a dud.The thing is, people like PSO because of the online community, chat options, and co-operative aspects, but in terms of being a good entry into the Phantasy Star series, the game was a epic fail.

For everything "revolutionary" PSO did for online gaming in general, it came at a huge cost, as the series has never ragained its respectability (as an rpg series)

A first-rate proper entry from Phantasy Star in the form of a traditional turn based RPG to compete in the RPG market is what the DreamCast really needed.

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

I've played many of them back when they were hot and tens of thousands would be online playing phantasy star online which on itself was a revolution for consoles

TheKungFool

Yikes. Phantasy Star Online was horrible, and stands today as a great example of how poorly SEGA treats and miss-uses it's own franchises.

You could have called that game "Button-Tap'n'Chat" for crisakes, or at least "Space Journey Ultima" or some other damned name, but it was nothing more than a generic exercise in bland repetition, glazed over with Phantasy Star window dressing. It makes me cringe just thinking about how badly PSO destroyed Phantasy Star as a product. Up to that point, Phantasy Star was a first rate rpg series, and since PS0, it has been a dud.The thing is, people like PSO because of the online community, chat options, and co-operative aspects, but in terms of being a good entry into the Phantasy Star series, the game was a epic fail.

For everything "revolutionary" PSO did for online gaming in general, it came at a huge cost, as the series has never ragained its respectability (as an rpg series)

A first-rate proper entry from Phantasy Star in the form of a traditional turn based RPG to compete in the RPG market is what the DreamCast really needed.

You may not have enjoyed Phantasy Star Online but I did as well as thousands of others. It pushed forth what consoles could do with online play and I think PSO was great for what it was back then.

Sure, a true Phantasy Star entry would have been very much welcomed, but PSO did not dissappoint me one bit. There are still hundreds of people playing PSO on the Dreamcast through private servers, a testament to its greatness.

[QUOTE="TheKungFool"]

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

I've played many of them back when they were hot and tens of thousands would be online playing phantasy star online which on itself was a revolution for consoles

AcidSoldner

Yikes. Phantasy Star Online was horrible, and stands today as a great example of how poorly SEGA treats and miss-uses it's own franchises.

You could have called that game "Button-Tap'n'Chat" for crisakes, or at least "Space Journey Ultima" or some other damned name, but it was nothing more than a generic exercise in bland repetition, glazed over with Phantasy Star window dressing. It makes me cringe just thinking about how badly PSO destroyed Phantasy Star as a product. Up to that point, Phantasy Star was a first rate rpg series, and since PS0, it has been a dud.The thing is, people like PSO because of the online community, chat options, and co-operative aspects, but in terms of being a good entry into the Phantasy Star series, the game was a epic fail.

For everything "revolutionary" PSO did for online gaming in general, it came at a huge cost, as the series has never ragained its respectability (as an rpg series)

A first-rate proper entry from Phantasy Star in the form of a traditional turn based RPG to compete in the RPG market is what the DreamCast really needed.

You may not have enjoyed Phantasy Star Online but I did as well as thousands of others. It pushed forth what consoles could do with online play and I think PSO was great for what it was back then.

Sure, a true Phantasy Star entry would have been very much welcomed, but PSO did not dissappoint me one bit. There are still hundreds of people playing PSO on the Dreamcast through private servers, a testament to its greatness.

Unfortunately, I think you either ignored or missed my point.

If you read my post, you'll notice that I praised it for,and admit that people liked the PS0 experience for its community, features like in-game communication, co-operativeaspects, and so forth.

I'm not saying PS0 was a bad "online experience", on the contrary, it was a great "online experience".

Unfortunately, itwas a horrid "phantasy star" experience.

[QUOTE="bultje112"]

in 1998 there were no 500 mhz pc for consumers. not even close.

besides this was an hitachi mhz processor while for pc intel was the norm, hitachi processor was considerably faster than those of intel. dreamcast is money/quality wise the best piece of hardware ever created. never was a system such a graphical step as this one. besides that the system was one and a half year older and equally as powerful as the ps2 despite ludicrous claims from sony of pushing 75 million polygons

again in 1998 and 1999 broadband was virtually non-existant. and still many people didn't even have internet.

my god it's hard to picture in where you were living during the late 90s. broadbant the norm in 1997?? lmao

Second_Rook

The point is that the Dreamcast was not ahead of it's time, if it were people (not including those who get hostile in forums when their baby is picked on) would look at newer consoles and say, "man the Dreamcast did that way back when." But the only ones who do that are Sega stalwarts.

Well I will say that Sega did try things that were ahead of its time. However i will say to a degree you are right. The Dreamcast was not the first console to go online, the Saturn had a modem. Than you had things like the Sega Channel which was not an online component as we know it now, but a precursor to downloadable games on consoles. In Japan Nintendo had stuff like the Satellaview and things like that had some sort of online component. Than of course the PC had been doing this stuff for many years before Consoles.

What the Dreamcast did do however was that it was the first console that attempted to bring online play, or online components to the fore front on consoles. Now sure as I stated there were online components on other consoles, but the Dreamcast was the first to try to have an emphasis on online play. It was precursor to the explosion of online play that we would have in 6th gen and than of course the full implementation in Seventh Gene. Was it ahead of its time? Maybe, maybe not, but it was a precursor to what we have today. So in a sense it was a brief glimpse of modern gaming.

[QUOTE="AcidSoldner"]

[QUOTE="djsundowner"]

Though you could argue that many of the online games were worthless unless you purchased the broadband adapter separately. The Dreamcast was built with good intentions, and while it was the first one that could go online right out of the box, it did little to promote online on consoles (neither did the PS2, though... we have Xbox Live to thank for that).

Darkman2007

What!? What do you mean little was done to promote the Dreamcast's online arena?

-Go watch any Sega presentations at E3 prior to the Dreamcast launch and you'll noticed that they pushed online as one of the premeire features of the Dreamcast.

-Starting in March 7, 2000 every Dreamcast in the US was bundled with ChuChu Rocket to promote online play.

-In Europe the tagline for the Dreamcast was "Up to 6 Billion Players."

I guess you learn something everyday, I didn't know the SNES had an online service. I did some research and they actually did, it was called Satellaview. Apparently from what I read it was actually a satellite modem in which you had to have a BS tuner to recieve broadcast singals from a satellite broadcast TV station. You could access games as well as digital magazines with this service. It was only offered in japan, released in 1995. Pretty interesting, I never new this existed.

http://www.giantbomb.com/satellaview/60-98/