Just thinking about the Dreamcast brings back lots of fond memories.  Witnessing the red swirl as you powered it on, you knew that there was something special about it.   This was the first system that truly felt “next gen”.  The thought of playing an arcade-perfect Marvel vs. Capcom at the comfort of your home was simply marvelous.  Resident Evil sent chills down my spine as I was blasting zombies away in beautiful real-time graphics.  So, where did it all go wrong?

History in the Making
Towards the later part of the 90s, Sega was in a rut.  With the previous blunders of the Sega CD and 32X, Sega’s current console, the Saturn, was on the verge of yet another failure.  Despite some modest success in Japan, the Saturn only sold a mere 9 million units worldwide.  In comparison, the original Sony PlayStation dominated the sales charts with over 100 million units sold.  The public was starting to lose faith in Sega, and they needed a way to revitalize the Sega name.  Towards the end of the Saturn lifecycle, Sega had a secret project with 2 of their internal groups.  With one group in Japan, and the other in the U.S, they would be competing against each other to develop a new console system.  In the end, Sega crowned the Japanese team the victor, and thus the Dreamcast was born.

Revolutionary Specs
At the time, the Dreamcast specs were unparalleled.  Powered by a powerful 200MHz 128-bit Hitachi SH4 processor, 16MB of RAM, and a 12x GD-ROM drive, it was capable of crunching a whopping 7 million polygons per second.  To provide a different perspective, the original PlayStation only featured a 33MHz 32-bit MIPS processor, 2MB of RAM, and a 2x CD-ROM drive only capable of processing 360,000 polygons per second.  Clearly, nothing came close to the Dreamcast power.  What’s even more impressive was that it came boxed with a 56k modem.  You may scoff at the thought of dial-up Internet, but back then, playing games online was something simply ahead of its time.  Online game play was always a PC commodity up until the Dreamcast, since no prior consoles offered anything like it.  Contrary to prior beliefs, it was actually Sega who pioneered console online gameplay, not Microsoft.
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© van for Sleepy Gamer, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dreamcast, Features, Flashback, sega

Console revisions are nothing new to the gaming industry.  A look in history will show us that most successful systems has gone through at least 3 console revisions.  Take a look at the Genesis, Gameboy, PS2, and the list goes on.  This generation is no different.  These changes are made to either reach a new markets, introduce better security, or just to save a couple of bucks.  Here’s a general look at what we’ll be expecting this generation.

20GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, 160GB, what next?

Since its November 2006 release, there has been a total of 5 PS3 model changes.  Initially, you had the choice of a 20GB or 60GB model retailing at $499 and $599 respectively.  Despite the enormous price tag, Sony was still taking a $300 loss for each console sold.  They needed a way to bring the price down fast if they wanted more consumers to purchase their platform.  In late 2007, Sony introduced the 40GB and 80GB models for $399 and $499.  Although that seemed like a much better deal, one key feature was lost… backwards compatibility.  The older 20GB and 60GB models, included the PS2 “Emotion Engine” CPU that allowed it to natively play PS2 games.  To save manufacturing costs, this CPU was removed from the later models.  Thus, the 80GB model only provided limited PS2 backwards compatibility through software emulation, while the 40GB cannot play PS2 games at all.  Just recently, Sony announced a newer 80GB and 160GB models to replace the current ones.  Like the 40GB model, the new revisions will completely remove PS2 backwards compatibility as well.  Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to play your old PSOne games.

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© van for Sleepy Gamer, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DS, Features, ps3, PSP, wii, xbox360

Ever popped in a DVD lately? I bet you’ve already seen those annoying Blu-ray commercials. Blu-ray, the ultimate hi-def blah blah blah. We’re constantly reminded that Blu-ray is so much better than DVD. But is it really?

First off, what is Blu-ray? Blu-ray is a proprietary media format produced by a little company named Sony. These are the same folks who introduced us to the failed UMD, mini-discs, and even Beta tapes. This format is called Blu-ray since these discs are literally made using a blue laser. DVDs on the other hand, are produced with a red laser. Because blue has a much shorter wave length than red, a blue laser can burn more data onto a disc. Imagine writing with a fine-tipped pen vs. writing with a highlighter marker.

From the naked eye, there isn’t much distinction between Blu-ray and DVD discs. But what makes Blu-ray so special is that it can hold about 6x more data than DVD. Dual-layer Blu-ray discs can hold up to 50 GB while a dual-layer DVD can only hold up to 8.5 GB. With DVDs, movie studios need to compress and reduce the video quality so that it can fit onto the disc. Watch a DVD movie on an HD display and you will notice quite a bit of pixilation and artifacts that degrade the picture quality. Blu-ray movies are clear as day since the video looks extremely vibrant and crisp. That’s because it also provides 6x the resolution of a standard DVD movie. The higher the resolution, the better the picture will look.
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© van for Sleepy Gamer, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blu-ray, Features, Media, Technology