Gaming 360

I found this great article over at Xbox Advanced so i decided to post it up here, the article basically outlines and gives the writers view on the link between the Xbox 360 and Dreamcast.

In light of the fact that the Xbox 360 is planning to launch before the Playstation 3, many gamers are beginning to draw dark lines of comparison between the impending Xbox 360 and the failed life of the Sega Dreamcast. Are these comparisons valid? Should Xbox fans be worried? Is the Xbox 360 going to go the way of the Dreamcast?

First of all, let�s explain the reason, and history, behind such claims. The Sega Dreamcast was to be the definitive console to judge all future consoles by. It was to be the most powerful console ever made up to that point, it was supposed to have some of the best games ever to be produced, and it was to completely innovate the online world by providing online multiplayer with its built in modem. The rare thing about the Dreamcast though, was the fact that all of these claims and all the hype about it — came true. It was most powerful, it had amazing games, and it did revolutionize online gaming on consoles. In every way, the Dreamcast had the stuff to make legends and the power to succeed. However, sales wise, the Dreamcast failed.

And here begins the grounds for comparison. The Dreamcast came into the gaming world in September of 1999. At first, its sales were phenomenal, with most stores being unable to keep units in stock. However, it also came at the point where Sony was revving up its hype to promote the Playstation 2. Sony, being the masters of hype which they are, were consistently promising a new level of gaming. To the consumer, Sony made it appear as though the Playstation 2 was leagues above the Dreamcast. As a result, the sales of the Dreamcast fell off, as more and more people felt the Playstation 2 was the only real �next-generation� machine and awaited its arrival. And even with one of the worst launch lineups in the history of gaming and a plethora of faulty consoles, Sony still beat out Sega by making the Playstation 2 appear the better console. In the end, Sega was forced to stop production of the Dreamcast and ended up selling the system for $50 to clear inventories.

The painful irony about the story of the Dreamcast is that, in retrospect, it is easy to see that the Playstation 2 was not really that much better than it; in fact, even today there are gamers who believe that the Dreamcast is technically more advanced than the Playstation 2. There were other factors like how the Playstation 2 had a DVD player when the Dreamcast did not, but that does not counter the fact that the Dreamcast died an untimely death. However, with these things aside, we need to evaluate the claim and fear that like the Dreamcast which launched too early, the Xbox 360 will fall prey to the Playstation 3.

It is easy to see the same scenario playing out once again. The Xbox 360 plans to launch Fall 2005, while the Playstation 3 plans to launch Spring 2006. The reason that Microsoft is releasing their console so early is because they want to have a leg up on Sony this gen, in contrast to last generation when Sony had an early launch in comparison to Microsoft. In the short term, this move will pay off for Microsoft. Being that they will launch right before the Christmas shopping season, the Xbox 360 has great chances to become the hot item of choice on Christmas lists. However, in the long run, the move may hurt them. Since the Xbox 360 is launching before the Playstation 3, it is sacrificing some levels of power for the sake of time efficiency. As a result, Xbox 360 may peak early on, and leave the Playstation 3 to show off its graphical might in time for the next Holiday season. However, since many have already commented on how close the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are power-wise, I doubt the two systems will ever truly surpass one another — except for in the beginning when the Xbox 360 is by itself.

The next area of comparison and concern is really the only valid one in my eyes: format. Had the Dreamcast been a DVD player instead of a CD player, it might have in the end outlasted the Playstation 2. However, since the Playstation 2 was the first affordable DVD player on the market, many people bought it over the Dreamcast simply for this feature. Again, there is a major format difference in the impending generation. The Playstation 3 plans on supporting the Blu-Ray disk format — which can hold upwards of 50 GBs of information; where Microsoft is planning on supporting the current DVD format for its games. On one hand, this is beneficial to Microsoft because game-makers are comfortable with the format already, it is cheap to manufacture, and consumers can watch DVDs they already own on the system right out of the box. However on the other hand, it may be the bottleneck of Microsoft�s new system data wise (though Microsoft has a Hard-drive, while Sony has none — something which a gamer should be more concerned about). To Sony�s advantage there are currently no Blu-Ray players out on the market today, so it might be an opportunity to offer a new important feature in home entertainment at a low cost. But will Sony be able to bite such a bullet by using such an expensive feature in every console, while making the console cheap enough to be competitive? Also, will there be enough demand for a new format in a market where many people have yet to even move over to DVD? In the end, it is a very large bet for Sony to make, and if it pays off it will be amazingly successful in countering Xbox 360, but if it fails it will almost certainly spell disaster for Sony.

On a final note, I think it is important to point out several differences between this impending battle and the one which we have already seen played out between the Playstation 2 and the Dreamcast. Firstly, no one is mentioning the fact that Microsoft has very strong third-party support from companies like EA, Squaresoft, and Ubisoft — while the Dreamcast was supported by none of these major companies. Secondly, the Dreamcast was the brainchild of a bankrupt company: Sega. It lacked the financial support which Microsoft gives to the Xbox name, and in the end this prevented the Dreamcast from doing many things which might have taken attention away from the Playstation 2 (aka — good marketing). And thirdly, the Sega name had suffered many tribulations up the point of the Dreamcas: the failed Saturn and Gamegear systems, the empty hardware promises which were never fulfuilled, and the numerous failed add-ons. As a result of these short-comings, many gamers and consumers were lenient to sign on with Sega, when the hugely successful Playstation line was just about to come back to the limelight. The Xbox name on the other hand, has thus far been very popular and very successful in the current market, which means it will have gamers and consumers behind it when it launched.

Though there are many concerns which haunt this upcoming generation, I do not believe that the Dreamcast-X360 link should be one of those concerns. If anything, such a link should be flattering because to many, Dreamcast was close to the perfect console. In the end, I believe that both Sony and Microsoft are far too large of companies to allow their products to fail, and the way things are shaping up, this should be one of the best generations ever.

I did not, nor do i claim to have written this article, content was punlished at Xbox Advanced.