Very soon it'll be the 10-year anniversary of the Dreamcast.
Aaah, the Dreamcast. I had three - gave one away then the other two died on me.* For those of you who wonder about all those 360 owners who replace their RRoD'd machines and why? Let me just say, "I understand."
What I liked, loved, about the Dreamcast is I think it took some of the best of the previous generation, put an interesting spin on things, and was forward thinking.
Memory Cards (Neo Geo)? Check. 4-player capability from the get-go (N64)? Check. Easy for developers to work with (PS1)? Check. Expandability built into the controllers (N64)? Check. The web browser was very neat. VMU's (even if they were ultimately evolutionary dead ends) were cool. Built-in 56k modem and online play (that Sony mocked instead of emulating)? Hoorah! PC and DC cross-platform play for Quake III and I think Phantasy Star Online? Wonderful.
It was also the underdog, produced by a humbled Sega, and really wanted to be a gamer's system. I wanted it to do well. I cheered for it. It had my beloved 2d fighters, excellent 3d fighters (SC, VF and DOA2), plus plenty of games that really need to see the light of day again (Powerstone!!!).
Even looking back, I see a lot to like about the system. Now, companies have taken what they tried and put their own spin on things, and if nothing else, that's the important thing. When folks complain about Live and its paltry fee I remember SegaNet and its $15/month :P
In short - it was this generation in nascient form. We've got it better now in many ways, but overall back then it was sooo much cooler.
So, my hat off in fond rememberance of one of my favorite systems ever, even after all these years. It ranks up there with my beloved Neo Geo, and you guys know that's high praise coming from me. Its life was cut short, and gave me a distaste for any system getting taken before its time.
Indeed, it was the Dreamcast that changed me from a mere fanboy to a true gamer.
Thank you :)
*There was a run of Dreamcasts that were made in China. Notorious for having heat issues. Notice that Peter Moore was at Sega during that time. Notice the 360, a system he helped launch, also has heat issues. Ol' Petey is JUST TOO HAWT. Hopefully he'll stay at software centric EA... if he went to Sony or Nintendo then you'd have PS3's and Wii's combusting in people's homes.
update: You need to read this - Peter Moore looking back on the Dreamcast! I wish it was 10x longer!
Oh - one of the tech forums I go to sometimes had an odd comment/observation.
"I totally consider the Dreamcast to be XBOX 0.5. If you think about what the DC offered from a hardware perspective it totally makes sense. XBL comes straight from that initial push to be online"
After that, I remembered too that the Dreamcast used a specialized version of Windows (WindowsCE) and Direct X, just like the Xbox and the 360.