Top 10 Failed Gaming Consoles

[Cro Morgan]

http://techland.com/3do/

[Mike Rotchtickles]

I take issue with some of those console systems on that list. Yeah there are those there that failed in terms of units sold, but there a couple that don't deserve to be there and some that had the potential but were just overpriced to make any sort of inroad in the gaming market.

First off, the Dreamcast was Not a failed console system. It sold a respectable 11 million units worldwide in only a timespan of just over 2 years. Those are not the type of numbers indicating a 'failed' system. The DC was/is a great console far ahead of it's time in many aspects. The fact is that Sega pulled the plug on the DC not because of any major shortcomings with regard to the console itself as a pure gaming system, but because Sega as a hardware manufacturer up to that point had made major mistakes with the Sega CD/32X and the Sega Saturn, so as a company it just didn't cope well enough with those profit losses and the end result was that the Dreamcast paid the price for those mistakes.
A few largely ignored but very real reasons for the DC's discontinuation were:

1) A dreadfully short supply of PowerVR2DC graphics processors. This had a major effect on the DC's launch in Japan.

2) No built-in dvd drive. The Playstation 2 took advantage of this in a major way. In fact, because the PS2 was the most affordable DVD player back in 2000, a large percentage of consumers were buying PS2's so that they could use the DVD playback feature of the system.

3) The promised online network took a long time to be implemented.

4) By mid 2000 the hidden code in the DC's BIOS was hacked. Piracy became a huge factor in it's revenue losses.

5) Third party dev's started jumping ship to the PS2.

The DC was an awesome system but at that time Sega just didn't have the financial clout to keep it going.


The 'failed' console list also includes a system such as the 3DO but makes no mention at all of the Atari Jaguar as well as the Jag CD attachment, or let's say the Sega 32X. That's a bit difficult to take a list such as this seriously with these type of omissions.
The 3DO ended up outselling the Jaguar by about a ratio of 8 to 1.

Lastly, the NEO GEO failed in the console market because of it's high asking price, yes, but this was a beast of a 2D machine that's still got a big following even up to today. The gameplay on this thing wasn't like something similar to the arcades, it WAS the arcade inside your own home.

[GOA MASTER MDMA]

for me the DREAMCAST was a failed console .
i had buyed it very expencive -only to figure out that the lifetime from the DREAMCAST is over after 2 years (i knowthe DC lived longer ,but the gamedeloveper stoped creating blockbusters )
so the DC failed coz his lifetime

i don´t think the piracy was the big problem - every console is hacked to play safetycopyes .
it was more the hardware error problem and that gamecreater stoped creating for dreamcast .
also big problem was the wrong /less comercial in europe (maybe in whole world)

i agree that in generell the DC was a good quality console .best graphikpower ;onlinegaming(with problems at beginning)and great games like house of dead3 -soul calibur-shenmue .
but
i mean at end of the day the DC deserved a place in the list

[ILuvBillVal]

I still have my Dreamcast. I thought the Dreamcast was awesome I really enjoyed it and thought it had a very unique look to its graphics as well. I remember playing Skies of Arcadia and being pretty "Wow'ed" by it at the time. The 32X, however (which I owned) did indeed suck a dick! I spent my fair time playing VIRTUA FIGHTER and a watered down, crap version of Doom but all in all a total rip off...

One that really stands out to me as well was the Virtual Boy. What a piece of dog crap that was. It was like "hey come on kids play this thing and get a stiff neck and aching eyes from staring at this ugly red screen!"

[Mike Rotchtickles]

for me the DREAMCAST was a failed console .
i had buyed it very expensive -only to figure out that the lifetime from the DREAMCAST is over after 2 years (i know the DC lived longer ,but the game developer stopped creating blockbusters )
so the DC failed coz his lifetime

you were disappointed by it's short lifespan. Fair enough. but let me just say that the system had an incredibly high ratio of 'good' to 'bad' games. Great sports titles, great adventure/action games etc etc. So even though some other systems might have lasted longer, the DC had the quality in a short span of time.

i don´t think the piracy was the big problem - every console is hacked to play safety copies.

here I disagree completely. Let's examine when you say that 'every console is hacked to play copied games'. The cartridge based systems of the past up to and incl the N64 did not have this major problem, so you must mean the disc supported consoles? Of the 128 bit era(of which the DC was part of) and forward I can't think of any system that piracy hurt as badly as it did the Dreamcast. The GameCube had it's own proprietary disc format that didn't have piracy problems. And as far as I know the Xbox and PS2 at least required some sort of mod to play backup games. The Dreamcast on the other hand was a system that could play copies without any hardware modification at all. Just pop the copied disc in and it will play flawlessly. There is no copy protection or region check or whatever at all. Massive oversight by Sega and one has to wonder just what exactly were they thinking?

also big problem was the wrong /less comercial in europe (maybe in whole world)

As a result of its financial issues maybe Sega started purchasing fewer advertisements in magazines and on TV, yes that's true enough, but initially and for a decent period to come the marketing was actually spot on. Nothing wrong with the marketing especially not with the US launch. Everyone and his dog knew the DC was coming. Sega spend millions in commercials and especially the US launch was a huge success. That's where they concentrated on and the work done by Sega of America paid dividends with the success of the launch. A quarter of a million sales in units in the first 24 hours alone, and a record of 300000 pre-orders for the system, speaks to a well organized campaign.

i mean at end of the day the DC deserved a place in the list

look as always I respect your opinion, GOA. You're speaking in terms of your own experience that the system in your eyes and to the cost of your pocket, should have lasted longer and been supported more than it was. My point is that based purely on units sold, the DC was far from a failure and in no way should be on a list with crap like the CD-i, Gizmondo and whatever else.

Bottom line: The Dreamcast had the right content. Had the right marketing. The philosophy of networked capabilities was right. The team was right. The partners they had were right. But they just didn't have the type of budget to be able to build the confidence of the brand in the eyes of the competitors that would have made a major statement that the DC was going to last and be a significant player in the market.
If you think about it, the first Xbox console was in a way a far bigger failure than the Dreamcast. But Microsoft had much more money than Sega did. They could absorb huge losses and move on. Sega simply could not and had to pull the plug.

[Amazing Matheja]

Blou,
I can't see the 360 on your signature picture, you don't like it?

[Mike Rotchtickles]

No I like it just fine. It's a great system.

So I need to add this to the sig.

[Amazing Matheja]

Haha!...
You know i was kidding right?
And now i know why you don't have it... Because it won't be symetrical anymore!
By the way, i had the 1st one of that sig man... Back in those nice 80's!

[GOA MASTER MDMA]

for me the DREAMCAST was a failed console .
i had buyed it very expensive -only to figure out that the lifetime from the DREAMCAST is over after 2 years (i know the DC lived longer ,but the game developer stopped creating blockbusters )
so the DC failed coz his lifetime

you were disappointed by it's short lifespan. Fair enough. but let me just say that the system had an incredibly high ratio of 'good' to 'bad' games. Great sports titles, great adventure/action games etc etc. So even though some other systems might have lasted longer, the DC had the quality in a javascript:bbstyle(-1)short span of time.

i don´t think the piracy was the big problem - every console is hacked to play safety copies.

here I disagree completely. Let's examine when you say that 'every console is hacked to play copied games'. The cartridge based systems of the past up to and incl the N64 did not have this major problem, so you must mean the disc supported consoles? Of the 128 bit era(of which the DC was part of) and forward I can't think of any system that piracy hurt as badly as it did the Dreamcast. The GameCube had it's own proprietary disc format that didn't have piracy problems. And as far as I know the Xbox and PS2 at least required some sort of mod to play backup games. The Dreamcast on the other hand was a system that could play copies without any hardware modification at all. Just pop the copied disc in and it will play flawlessly. There is no copy protection or region check or whatever at all. Massive oversight by Sega and one has to wonder just what exactly were they thinking?

also big problem was the wrong /less comercial in europe (maybe in whole world)

As a result of its financial issues maybe Sega started purchasing fewer advertisements in magazines and on TV, yes that's true enough, but initially and for a decent period to come the marketing was actually spot on. Nothing wrong with the marketing especially not with the US launch. Everyone and his dog knew the DC was coming. Sega spend millions in commercials and especially the US launch was a huge success. That's where they concentrated on and the work done by Sega of America paid dividends with the success of the launch. A quarter of a million sales in units in the first 24 hours alone, and a record of 300000 pre-orders for the system, speaks to a well organized campaign.

i mean at end of the day the DC deserved a place in the list

look as always I respect your opinion, GOA. You're speaking in terms of your own experience that the system in your eyes and to the cost of your pocket, should have lasted longer and been supported more than it was. My point is that based purely on units sold, the DC was far from a failure and in no way should be on a list with crap like the CD-i, Gizmondo and whatever else.

Bottom line: The Dreamcast had the right content. Had the right marketing. The philosophy of networked capabilities was right. The team was right. The partners they had were right. But they just didn't have the type of budget to be able to build the confidence of the brand in the eyes of the competitors that would have made a major statement that the DC was going to last and be a significant player in the market.
If you think about it, the first Xbox console was in a way a far bigger failure than the Dreamcast. But Microsoft had much more money than Sega did. They could absorb huge losses and move on. Sega simply could not and had to pull the plug.

hey bloufo ,i wil hold my answer short.
it was indeed a subjektive opinion about the DC
it was coz i payed so much money for the DC to play only 2 years :


but when i see the other failed consoles,and when i read your points , i must agree with you that the DC not deserved to be on the list.

the big problem in germany was that the DC started commercial way too less and way to late.
different behavior here from SEGA ,than in USA
SEGA ingnored the europe market completly . big mistake in my opinion-