I just sold my Dreamcast

[Arwin]

What made you think it was a PC in a box? The CPU was an SH4 not x86, it had it's own bus (not PCI) and the graphics chip, CLX2, had numerous features that were certainly not part of, say, DX or OpenGL.

You mean what made you think. Back then I thought it was what the Xbox 1 would later become, but with a GeForce2 at its heart, and polygon specs that I felt would soon be very outdated.

As I said, today I would have a more nuanced view.

PS2 had some fast FP hardware plus loads of fill-rate but only with very simple blend modes, which it achieved by using a 'hectare of silicon'. If you do some searching, you can probably find the B3D post I made many years ago which listed most of the leading-edge features of DC's graphics.

It is people like you yourself who have helped me understand the differences better. Nevertheless, at the time the Playstation games impressed me a whole lot more, and I was a firm believer in the value of integrated DVD. I don't think I was all wrong at the time in preferring the PS2 hardware, but like I said, today I have a much more nuanced view, due to just knowing a heck more about hardware and programming then I did back then (although I wasn't completely clueless, having at least attempted to program the DSP on the Atari Falcon).

 

[Simon F]

You mean what made you think.

Sorry. I had originally written "what makes you think" but changed my mind but didn't pay enough attention. I've now abused my power and corrected it.

 

[function]

I still play on my DC. It's the very last of the systems that I'd sell up if I was skint. It was the first and last 3D console that literally made my draw drop on a number of occasions.

When you look at what it brought to console gaming (much of what the Xbox and Wii sought to build their reputations on) and the enormity of its power in relation to anything else in the console, PC or arcade spaces at the time (the top arcade machine was based on the DC) it really stands out as a quite wonderful machine.

Too bad that Sega are now relagated to shovelware in the home and assembling PCs for their arcade machines.

 

[PARANOiA]

Why am I not surprised this turned into a Dreamcast nostalgia thread

I played most of the games mentioned and loved them... but their time has passed. I'm still very happy with my sale... picked up Guitar Hero 2 and Overlord with my profit. Yay for me!

BTW since we're reminiscing, Skies of Arcadia is still my favourite RPG to date.

 

[_xxx_]

$200? Is the guy a total retard without internet access or magazines? You can get it for less than $20 with some luck. Example:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listi...02940?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1184161939&sr=8-1

 

[Citrous]

I still have my ♥dreamcast♥. The reason I have kept it is solely for Ikaruga.

 

[Rys]

This thread made me dig mine out again last night for a nostalgic blast. The controller ergonomics aren't too hot any more, at least for my girly hands, but the system and the best games for it are just brilliant. They're so cheap these days on eBay and related places that everyone should pick one up.

 

[Deepak]

I too have my Dreamcast lying innocently in my TV cabinet. Haven't touch it since years, initially I wanted to sell it but then I decided to keep it....just felt like it. :smile: Dreamcast build quality is simply superb, very nicely designed...it feels like a "solid" machine. Only -ve point is the noise it makes while accessing a game disc.

 

[ballsweat]

I too have my Dreamcast lying innocently in my TV cabinet. Haven't touch it since years, initially I wanted to sell it but then I decided to keep it....just felt like it. :smile: Dreamcast build quality is simply superb, very nicely designed...it feels like a "solid" machine. Only -ve point is the noise it makes while accessing a game disc.

the saturn (at least the 1st ones) had superior reliability.

i bought and used the extended warranty for my dreamcast.

the gd-rom drive could be kind of wonky.

doesn't really make much sense for something made by yamaha. yamaha is almost as good as you can get.

i think jvc made the sega saturn's perfect cd-rom drive. yamaha was a partner for the audio, just like with the genesis. they also made the top-loading sega cd drives, but i could be wrong.

sega treated it's partners and 3rd parties with respect, unlike nintendo.

i know this sounds kind of dumb, but the biggest reason I like sega the best was b/c of that and i don't think it's right how nintendo continued to succeed, but sega didn't. try to refrain from flaming me for that. that's what i believe.

 

[Sonic]

SEGA didn't succeed because it was unable to make good business decisions and make games that people wanted to play. They also threw in the towel early on the DC when it could have been the Genesis of its generation.

I agree, the build quality of SEGA systems is above and beyond what the other manufacturers had at the time. The Saturn was a solid indestructible brick against the Playstation. I never had problems aside from the internal battery dying and losing a bunch of saved game information, but the good thing is I bought a new one and wham, fixes the problem. 512 KB of internal memory for saved games is pretty awesome for its time.

The Dreamcast's GD-ROM drive had a few problems. I'm not sure if it was the discs themselves that had an error or the drive. I remember having to load up NBA2k1 for five minutes at a time sometimes before it would read the disc.

 

[Simon F]

The Dreamcast's GD-ROM drive had a few problems.

I found I have to leave the disc lid open or the machine will reset. I have a suspicion that the microswitch may be a bit "dodgy".