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# Right...
I'm to do my uni essay on 'Why the Dreamcast Failed' while listening to some lovely electronica!
(Olly Aphonix, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:21, archived)
# Isn't that a really short essay?
"Because Sega are marketing fuckwits who couldn't sell beer to 19 year-old Englishmen on holiday."
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:23, archived)
# Well,
It's got to be about 2000-2500 words, so, no.
(Olly Aphonix, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:24, archived)
# Hrrrm.
Copy & Paste?
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:25, archived)
# If Only
.
(Olly Aphonix, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:26, archived)
# sega made the units too expensive to produce
so when the price had to drop as they all do eventually they were making a loss on every unit they made.
(I helped save b3ta! Professor Fnord Regius Professor of B3ta Chronology, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:27, archived)
# And when you release your hardware,
and your primary competitor instantly announces a new machine that will be 10 times better, you're pretty much fucked from then on.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:34, archived)
# But that's true of many consoles
I thought I'd heard that even to this day the PSX/PS1 hasn't made any money itself, just through software sales...?
(I helped save b3ta! JustHere4Coffee remembers when all o' this were car parks, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:37, archived)
# Every console is sold at a lost,
all the money is made through software. Look hour much cash Microsoft are shedding at the moment, they don`t predict a profit on the XBox for several years.
(Dr Wadd, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:39, archived)
# Last I heard,
they weren't predicting a profit from the console at all. Something I read said that they were only using it as a means to gain a foothold in the market and would start profiting from it on the next one.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:41, archived)
# About
the same number of sales they got for it, isn't that?
(I helped save b3ta! Herr Tezcat, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:27, archived)
#
new_matt's theory of games machine failure™

big control pad = doomed to failure
small pad = runaway success

snes, dreamcast = good machin, too big pad, doomed
playstation = small pad therefore a winner

xbox. launched with hyuuuuge pad. was filing. introduced small "japanese" pad, picking up.

qed
(I helped save b3ta! new_matt, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:24, archived)
# Um....
SNES wasn't a failure. Did you mean N64?
(Olly Aphonix, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:25, archived)
# plus the SNES had small controller
gotta love the snes. there were some FANTASTIC games on there. i'm still impressed by them.
(I helped save b3ta! Or is it?, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:29, archived)
# Hence the huge success
of the Game Boy Advance, which so far has a catalogue of games almost entirely made up of SNES ports.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:32, archived)
# I'm still waiting for some of the greats, though.
Chrono trigger, FF6, megamanX, and some of those never released in usa games, like star ocean and FF5
(I helped save b3ta! Or is it?, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:48, archived)
# I have FF5+6 for the PS1.
And 4 for that matter.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:53, archived)
# yes,
yes i do.

excuse me, for i am drunk
(I helped save b3ta! new_matt, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:32, archived)
# It was only a failure if you were stuck with a PAL machine.
First opportunity I got I trade mine for a modded NTSC model, there were so many games that were not released outside the US or Japan.
(Dr Wadd, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:37, archived)
# But that doesn't explain
why the dreamcast is still popular, while I know less people with XBoxes than I knew with Saturns - and I knew no-one with a Saturn.

Saturns are the reason the Dreamcast failed IMO.
(I helped save b3ta! JustHere4Coffee remembers when all o' this were car parks, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:26, archived)
# Rememer also that Sony were promising miracles with the PS2...
...just when the dreamcast should have been cleaning up.

Always been more of a nintendo man myself, you can't beat a good Zelda game.
(I helped save b3ta! Mystery_Bob, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:28, archived)
# Dreamcast suffered bad timing
if they'd held it back so it could use DVDs, it would have really had a chance...

Whenever I saw a Saturn running anything, it looked only marginally better than a SNES, which considering it was (at the time) "next gen" really put me off... So naturally when the DC came along I (along with many others, by the looks of history) was put off by bad memories. Lack of a DVD version was just an extra nail in it's coffin, when the PS2 made (and kept) a lot of promises... not all of them, but enough to keep the punters interested.
(I helped save b3ta! JustHere4Coffee remembers when all o' this were car parks, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:34, archived)
# I love my Saturn....
got it for a couple of quid at a boot sale, it was *wow*r@re*boxed* and came with both Daytona and Need For Speed...sorted. 'Course, I own a computer museum so I needed one anyway, but those games are great, and cheap!
(I helped save b3ta! witchy is covered in BEES, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:30, archived)
# The Saturn was bad hardware, but had some excellent games.
It just got mulched by the might of Sony's effective marketing.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:31, archived)
# It was not so much bad hardware per se,
but the design meant that it was incredibly difficult to program for. Sega's attempt to give it decent 3D power by throwing in a second SH2 meant that the hardware was incredibly difficult to program effectively, but when people got it right there were some top games. Ideally it should never have been marketed as a 3D console as it throws 2D stuff around with ease, witness the Capcom fighters or Radiant Silvergun.
(Dr Wadd, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:35, archived)
# I found the dreamcast pad to be the right size.
I could use it easily without getting thumb cramps.
(goat thinks you're shit, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:27, archived)
# the factthe buttons had the x and y etc cut out of them was a very bad move
as it caused blisters in those shapes.
(I helped save b3ta! Professor Fnord Regius Professor of B3ta Chronology, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:30, archived)
# Cos Sony Playstation have
the name and the reputation, and the Xbox is backed by the mighty Microsoft 'gainst whom none shall stand...
(I helped save b3ta! Batsgirl, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:28, archived)
# ...and we've already
done the b3tamax versus VHS argument this week :o)
(I helped save b3ta! witchy is covered in BEES, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:31, archived)
# It may have failed commercially,
but as a bit of tech it was a wonderful bit of kit. Sega didn`t so much screw up with the Dreamcast, but people had long memories about their failures with the Saturn.

Ikaruga, drool.....
(Dr Wadd, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:32, archived)
# I asked everyone here about my essay
'The photograph never lies'
they really helped out and I got a high mark today! Cheers guys!
(I helped save b3ta! Milkman Dan, Tue 21 Jan 2003, 23:33, archived)