Bring back the Sega Dreamcast? [Updated]

The Digital Home : Simply put, the Sega Dreamcast was great when it was released on9/9/99 (in the US) and I'm a firm believer that Sega should releaseDreamcast 2 on 9/9/09. So where did this sudden change in mentality come from? Well, I gota bit nostalgic last week and I decided it was time that I break outthe old consoles to have a go at some of the games that played animportant role in my life -- Shenmue, Virtua Tennis, all the Sega Sports games and of course, Sonic Adventure. After playing through each of those games (and a few others -- Fighting Force, Toy Commander, Skies of Arcadia), I realized once again just how great that console really was. Considerthis: the Dreamcast was the first major console to offer networkingcapabilities and although the device was only capable of dial-upconnectivity (a major blunder), it still set a precedent that obviouslyhad a far-reaching impact. I wouldn't normally comment on this kind of thing--after all, no one gets more nostalgic about old technology than do I--but this one is sort of wrong-headed and historically inaccurate: Apparently, this guy isn't aware of how much Microsoft had to do with the Dreamcast. And after all, the Dreamcast 2 did come out, years ago. It was called the Xbox. There was even a Dreamcast 3. You may know it as the Xbox 360. And for the record, yeah, VMUs were dumb. :) Update: But wait, there's more!

Paul Thurrott

December 6, 2007

1 Min Read
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The Digital Home:

Simply put, the Sega Dreamcast was great when it was released on9/9/99 (in the US) and I'm a firm believer that Sega should releaseDreamcast 2 on 9/9/09.

So where did this sudden change in mentality come from? Well, I gota bit nostalgic last week and I decided it was time that I break outthe old consoles to have a go at some of the games that played animportant role in my life -- Shenmue, Virtua Tennis, all the Sega Sports games and of course, Sonic Adventure.

After playing through each of those games (and a few others -- Fighting Force, Toy Commander, Skies of Arcadia), I realized once again just how great that console really was.

Considerthis: the Dreamcast was the first major console to offer networkingcapabilities and although the device was only capable of dial-upconnectivity (a major blunder), it still set a precedent that obviouslyhad a far-reaching impact.

I wouldn't normally comment on this kind of thing--after all, no one gets more nostalgic about old technology than do I--but this one is sort of wrong-headed and historically inaccurate: Apparently, this guy isn't aware of how much Microsoft had to do with the Dreamcast. And after all, the Dreamcast 2 did come out, years ago. It was called the Xbox. There was even a Dreamcast 3. You may know it as the Xbox 360.

And for the record, yeah, VMUs were dumb. :)

Update: But wait, there's more!

About the Author

Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott is senior technical analyst for Windows IT Pro. He writes the SuperSite for Windows, a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE, and a daily Windows news and information newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE.

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