[philyb]

was the dreamcast better than the playstation 2

[NorfolkBoy1]

That of course depends on a certain point of view, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

You could say that because the PS2 sold more units and is the most successful console ever then you can't question it's superiority, but that's like saying Titanic or Avatar are the greatest films ever.

Personally I'd go for a PS2, but I could count the number of times I played a dreamcast on one hand, so I;m not best qualified.

[Tal'shiar]

The answer is is so very simple. Playstation 2 was a huge success, Dreamcast put sega out of console market.

Of course you could always argue that the Dreamcast had more power and was out before the PS2, but if that mattered the dreamcast would have been fine. Games make the system, and the Dreamcast just didnt have enough of the titles that mattered (great games though, Shenmue 1 & 2 remain some of my fav games of all time). If raw power mettered, everyone would play PC. Its all in the games, and how they appeal to the market.

I think Dreamcast actually had to much of the asian feel to it for a western market (at the time atleast) to accept. Too many unknown games and odd art style from what this market is comfortable with. Plus Sega had had a bad history of advertising, and whilst the dreamcast did a much better job than the saturn, 3d, so on, it may have been too little too late.

[bob2005]

Dreamcast was massively underrated the graphics of some games still hold up today. Internet browser and a innovative memory unit a bold move by sega. Sad to see sega out of the console market.

[gdjman68wasdigi]

DVD playback was a biggie for the PS2, regarding its launch and launch titles, it was dire

soul caliber on the DC was a very different story


a great console, hopefully MS will do the biz and get DC titles available for download

[redhatmatt]

In terms of raw power no, the dreamcast was not better than the PS2, However, The PS2's hardware was generally more reliable, the PS2 had a shit OS. The Dreamcast was more futureproof.

[Ladyxxmacbeth]

the dreamcast was before its time

[SimonB79]

the PS2 was my 1st DVD player! .... So it gets my vote!

[ags_rule]

GTA and Halo changed gaming forever.

Dreamcast had neither of those, and that, in my opinion, is the main reason why it failed.

Other reasons come into play too, of course, such as price and lack of a DVD drive, but the failure to have a killer-app on the same scale as either of those titles was its death-knell.

[Tal'shiar]

Originally Posted by ags_rule

GTA and Halo changed gaming forever.

Dreamcast had neither of those, and that, in my opinion, is the main reason why it failed.

Other reasons come into play too, of course, such as price and lack of a DVD drive, but the failure to have a killer-app on the same scale as either of those titles was its death-knell.

Shenmue cost millions to make, in a time when that was unheard of. If anything, Dreamcast had quite an impressive line up of good games, yet it just never really took off. The end of Megadrive through the saturn too the dreamcast, sega made a lot of bad choices and they never really recovered.

[scooby1970]

I still have and still play my Dreamcast. I sold my PS2 when I had my PS3 (it plays PS2 games), but I rarely play PS2 games. I still spend hours playing the Sega Dreamcast, and love everything about it. Which of the two is the best? That's a hard one!

Mark

[Steveaustin316]

I did have a Dreamcast, and although it had a decent catalogue of games, it couldn't compete with the PS2.

Even the PS1 managed to outlive the Dreamcast.

[Alan1981]

The dreamcast had no shortage of great games. Shemnue, crazy taxi, jet set radio, skies of arcadia and powerstone to name a few. Unfortunately sega fans grew tired of getting their fingers burned after buying the saturn only 2 years earlier and were reluctant to buy yet another sega console.

[bob2005]

Still fire up soul calibur on DC every now and then easily the best version on any console.

[Steveaustin316]

Originally Posted by Alan1981

The dreamcast had no shortage of great games. Shemnue, crazy taxi, jet set radio, skies of arcadia and powerstone to name a few. Unfortunately sega fans grew tired of getting their fingers burned after buying the saturn only 2 years earlier and were reluctant to buy yet another sega console.

EA not releasing any games hurt the Dreamcast as well, especially the lack of FIFA games.

[BinaryDad]

On paper, the Dreamcast was a much weaker machine than the PS2. But it had a lot going for it, and where the PS2 was just a console that people played games on, the Dreamcast was complete gaming eco-system right from the the memory cards (VMU's) to the on-line component.

Sega put a LOT of work into the Dreamcast, and it still shows today. There was a lot of thought about what gaming was going to be all about, and how a games console could fit into that future.

I think it's fair to say that Microsoft took a lot of ideas from the Dreamcast eco-system when they were working on the OS and crappy DirectX port, and move that over to the XBox.

Even from a development point of view, it was obvious that Sega had put a lot of thought into how to make the machine accessible. They had asked all of the right questions, and given, what is to my mind, all of the right answers.

But people had gotten burned. They weren't willing to invest in the machine, and third party developers/publisher were not willing to take a risk on Sega. It didn't help that EA tried to turn the thumb screws by demanding that they be the ONLY publisher to be allowed to release sports titles on the platform. When Sega said no, EA walked away from the Dreamcast.

Perhaps Sega should have swallowed its pride and given up on the sports franchises it built up to combat Nintendo in the 16-bit era. Perhaps if it had, EA could have given the same boost to the Dreamcast that it had to the Megadrive and Sega might have stayed in the hardware business.

[DirtyBarrySpeed]

Both had fantastic games but because the PS2 had over 3000 games released on it, it created a surplus of rubbish titles.

[SJ_Mental]

I liked both but the PS2 for me was significantly better.

[redhatmatt]

Originally Posted by ags_rule

GTA and Halo changed gaming forever.

Dreamcast had neither of those, and that, in my opinion, is the main reason why it failed.

Other reasons come into play too, of course, such as price and lack of a DVD drive, but the failure to have a killer-app on the same scale as either of those titles was its death-knell.

Shenmue predated GTA III and was argubally the first full game in that style

[GB-UK]

Shenmue is my all time favourite game, nothing comes close to it, even today. So for me the Dreamcast was the better console. Still use it today.

[shepster34]

I loved my dreamcast. Playing crazy taxi was just like the arcade and had the great soundtrack which was lacking in the ps2 and gamecube versions. I believe the fact that it could play pirate copies of games straight out of the box without the need of any chip also played a part in its downfall.

[2Dshmuplover]

Dreamcast was aimed squared as a gamer's machine perhaps the last one with exception to Nintendo consoles. PS2 was a much more mainstream gaming/multimedia device which for the first couple of years, relied on it's brand name to sell consoles rather than games. There's a lot of great software on PS2 but there's also a metric shit ton of identikit generic cloneware/shovelware too.

For me the Dreamcast is the better system since in the few years it was alive it featured some of my greatest gaming memories, It really come out of the gates swinging. Examples include Shenmue, REZ, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Phantasy Star Online, Soul Calibur, F355 Challenge, Powerstone, Bangai O, Metropolis Street Racer, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, Headhunter, Capcom vs SNK, Street Fighter III, Zero Gunner 2. I hate to use this expression again but these were "gamer's games", not the type of software that appealed to the majority of Playstation's "post-pub" FIFA loving audience of that time.

Due to it's early death we never saw it's full potential but in a weird way I'm kind of grateful it didn't, since it's library is pure and unadulterated, it really did represent the end of an era of specialist gaming.

Dreamcast was so ahead of it's time and Sega were true visionaries who understood the soon-to-be console online market. How we managed to play on dial up connection with a 33k modem is beyond me.. and a lot the time it was lag free! There was also a fantastic community behind it via the superb Dreamarena, something we see expanded upon today on the WIi U in the form of Miiverse. It was also the first console with a second screen, it was crude by comparison but was to be expected at that time. Like most things with the Dreamcast it was too ahead of it's time. Next to the Sega Saturn it's still the greatest home console for arcade games and it will always be.

[gdjman68wasdigi]

Originally Posted by 2Dshmuplover

Dreamcast was aimed squared as a gamer's machine perhaps the last one with exception to Nintendo consoles. PS2 was a much more mainstream gaming/multimedia device which for the first couple of years, relied on it's brand name to sell consoles rather than games. There's a lot of great software on PS2 but there's also a metric shit ton of identikit generic cloneware/shovelware too.

For me the Dreamcast is the better system since in the few years it was alive it featured some of my greatest gaming memories, It really come out of the gates swinging. Examples include Shenmue, REZ, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Phantasy Star Online, Soul Calibur, F355 Challenge, Powerstone, Bangai O, Metropolis Street Racer, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, Headhunter, Capcom vs SNK, Street Fighter III, Zero Gunner 2. I hate to use this expression again but these were "gamer's games", not the type of software that appealed to the majority of Playstation's "post-pub" FIFA loving audience of that time.

Due to it's early death we never saw it's full potential but in a weird way I'm kind of grateful it didn't, since it's library is pure and unadulterated, it really did represent the end of an era of specialist gaming.

Dreamcast was so ahead of it's time and Sega were true visionaries who understood the soon-to-be console online market. How we managed to play on dial up connection with a 33k modem is beyond me.. and a lot the time it was lag free! There was also a fantastic community behind it via the superb Dreamarena, something we see expanded upon today on the WIi U in the form of Miiverse. It was also the first console with a second screen, it was crude by comparison but was to be expected at that time. Like most things with the Dreamcast it was too ahead of it's time. Next to the Sega Saturn it's still the greatest home console for arcade games and it will always be.

sniff

[XxBlaKOuTZxX]

Although we owned both consoles, I never liked the Ps2 but loved the DC. So for me, the DC was the better console but ahead of it's time.

[Ladyxxmacbeth]

Originally Posted by 2Dshmuplover

Dreamcast was aimed squared as a gamer's machine perhaps the last one with exception to Nintendo consoles. PS2 was a much more mainstream gaming/multimedia device which for the first couple of years, relied on it's brand name to sell consoles rather than games. There's a lot of great software on PS2 but there's also a metric shit ton of identikit generic cloneware/shovelware too.

For me the Dreamcast is the better system since in the few years it was alive it featured some of my greatest gaming memories, It really come out of the gates swinging. Examples include Shenmue, REZ, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Phantasy Star Online, Soul Calibur, F355 Challenge, Powerstone, Bangai O, Metropolis Street Racer, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Tennis, Headhunter, Capcom vs SNK, Street Fighter III, Zero Gunner 2. I hate to use this expression again but these were "gamer's games", not the type of software that appealed to the majority of Playstation's "post-pub" FIFA loving audience of that time.

Due to it's early death we never saw it's full potential but in a weird way I'm kind of grateful it didn't, since it's library is pure and unadulterated, it really did represent the end of an era of specialist gaming.

Dreamcast was so ahead of it's time and Sega were true visionaries who understood the soon-to-be console online market. How we managed to play on dial up connection with a 33k modem is beyond me.. and a lot the time it was lag free! There was also a fantastic community behind it via the superb Dreamarena, something we see expanded upon today on the WIi U in the form of Miiverse. It was also the first console with a second screen, it was crude by comparison but was to be expected at that time. Like most things with the Dreamcast it was too ahead of it's time. Next to the Sega Saturn it's still the greatest home console for arcade games and it will always be.

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