Happy Birthday Dreamcast!
Tuesday Sep 09, 2008
Today is a very special day in the heart of this old gamer. Today marks the 9th anniversary of the launch of the Sega Dreamcast (or, DC). The DC is one of the most beloved systems in the history of the video game industry and it is a system who's life was cut way too short. The date of 9/9/99 will forever remain as one of the most amazing console launches ever.
At the time of the DC's arrival, Internet fever was in a full pitch tilt, the future of everything was online and the DC was ready for it. Shipping with a modem and a web browser in the box, the DC was light years ahead of it's time, compared to the other systems on the market. Along with the web browser, it also ran Java applications and several games shipped with Java enabled components. Games like Daytona USA and Grandia II.
Aside from the online capabilities, the DC utilized memory cards known as Visual Memory Units (VMUs) like this one
A memory card that had a 48 dot x 32 dot LCD screen, game controls, an 8-bit CPU, and 16KB of memory. The VMU acted as a screen when plugged into the DC controller that allowed you to see game information on the controller itself. When removed from the controller, you could play mini games that, when plugging the VMU back into the controller, would result in changes to the DC games. Imagine leveling up your character through mini-games while you are away from the DC. The VMU also had the ability to plug into another VMU to play head to head games or transfer files back and forth!
Along with the amazing system, Sega had an online game network that allowed multi-player games like ChuChu Rocket and the NFL2K series to take root. In a time when web browsers were just becoming sophisticated, Sega was enabling full head-to-head competition across a 56K modem. Revolutionary indeed.
The launch of the DC was one of the most successful in history. On 9/9/99, Sega sold $98.4 million worth of product in 24 hours. Comparing that to the $28.5 million that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace generated in the first 24 hours of the movie launch, Sega claimed that it was the biggest grossing day in entertainment history. By the end of the first four days of the DC being in the market, Sega had generated $132 million in sales.
Alas, the mighty Dreamcast could not hold its own against the juggernaut known as the PlayStation 2 and on January 31, 2001, Sega announced that they would cease the production of the Dreamcast and become a 3rd party publisher.
To commemorate the birthday of one of the best game systems ever made, I present you with three awesome commercials that defined the Dreamcast. Happy Birthday DC!
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