DS is like Dreamcast? please no

i was thinking, the Dreamcast had a great launch, with all of the stores being sold out too. so then stores called for more, but by the 2nd month the sales went way down, then eventually just died. is the DS gonna be like that? after the holiday season is over? i hope not.

[Icedsoil]

umm, no why would it? Its been on the market for so long with other gameboys.

yea but dreamcast was supposed to be the ultimate system, like a lot better than sega genesis.

[MlKE]

the dreamcast came out before the video game market was ready for it. The dreamcast got slaughtered by the Playstation, which was only 1/4 the power. Everything about the dreamcast was too much for the current environment. Sony did well in releasing their system which was just as powerful as the Dreamcast at a time when we were all ready for it. The backwards compatibility also made it a stronger system.

The DS won't fail, because it's competition is a newcomer in the handheld market, and is taking the wrong perspective towards gaming (so far, at least). The backwards compatibility of the DS makes it a stronger system, just like the PS2 was.

And until there's a slump in sales of the DS, speculation like this is silly.

it was just a thought...

[DizzleDS]

The Dreamcast is my 2nd favorite system of all time. It was so technologically advanced for its time, and it's a shame that it did not make it in the console wars. Shenmue was such a great game, it actually brought my interest back in videogames. Plus the online scheme was AMAZING, I remember surfing the net in my basement just through a phone cord back in like 10th grade (I'm a sophmore in college now). So if the DS was like the Dreamcast, I would be extremely happy. haha.

[x999x]

Bernie Stolar killed the dreamcast on launch when he sank millions into production and marketing all of Sega's sports titles on launch. I had a chance to talk to him at the DC's US launch here in los angeles, and I have to say I was excited to ask him a question on the DC's online future. You know what he replied? "Online? Who plays games online?"

Bernie thought that cashing in on sports game franchises would have solidified a large userbase in america, since sports titles historically do very well here. After this userbase was established, more diverse games were to flow in. Unfortunately, this never came to fruition, and soon after the PS2 launched. The DC was then reverse engineered using it's own broadband modem, and then hacked by breaking it's GDRom's encryption, and making it possible to copy games over the broadband adapter.

So you take a small marketshare, and then make it smaller by only offering a limited palette of games, then stomp on it a few times with a big pirate boot that gives out free copies of games by the thousands and you'll have a pretty good idea of why the DC failed.

The DS is by no means a DC, and if anyone has ever made that comparison, I would have to immediately assume they are referring to the RaymanDS screenshots, in which it's clear Infogrames is recycling it's textures it did so many years ago for the DC.

[Palmtree]

Wow, that was some really interresting stuff x999x. I actually never had a DC, or knew anyone who did.... and I guess i know why now

[x999x]

Thanks, I used to work for Gamers' Republic magazine back then. I had a falling out with the editor in chief, who now heads Play Magazine. I'm more on the fringes now, but I still have my feelers out there in the industry, and have some great contacts. I don't mind sharing some of these stories, I think they're a great part of gaming history, and lore.

I remember going to the N64's US debut at the biltmore in los angeles, and low and behold, who should sit in front of me, but Mr.Shigeru Miyamoto! When he got to his chair, my mates and I stood up and just had to give the man his props. I mean we, the entire audience (press), were there doing our jobs that wouldn't have otherwise existed if the man didn't single handedly revive the american gaming market here in the US back in '84. Mr. Yamauchi should by no means be overlooked, I mean if he sold out to Atari like it was planned, we would have never gotten the NES, but the Atari 3600!!

You can read a REAL INTERESTING office memo between Atari executives regarding the Nintendo hardware acquisition here: http://www.atari7800.com/html/documents_nes7800.htm

That is a VERY JUICY read :)

[Wovi]

"SNES Play Station" ..oops! Hehe cheers for that x999x