![]() The short-lived nature of Dreamcast's existence comes down to many different factors its early demise was not a cut-and-dried matter but rather the result of many events that conspired to usher the system to an early grave. PlayStation 2 won the console race before it ever reached the starting blocks, claiming victory on mindshare alone. While it had little to do with classic Phantasy Star, it introduced console gamers to the idea of cooperative gaming and persistent worlds. Phantasy Star Online: This week's big release, Destiny, owes a certain debt to this groundbreaking Sega RPG. And little surprise it began life in the guise of a Virtua Fighter RPG. ![]() Shenmue: Although Shenmue doesn't play much like the traditional idea of an RPG, it was very much about taking on the role - and the life - of protagonist Ryo Hazuki. Grandia II: Grandia II was much more the typical RPG experience of the era, but a great one its dynamic battle system made each enemy encounter tense and interesting. Skies of Arcadia: Designed by Phantasy Star co-creator Reiko Kodama, Skies offered an upbeat, optimistic experience akin to the classic days - a wonderful counterpoint to 32-bit RPG doom and gloom. "From my perspective, the Dreamcast's library revolved around replicating the arcade experience," says USgamer's Bob Mackey, "and that's not what I look for in a gaming console-especially in an era where I couldn't play enough RPGs." Perhaps that's true, but in its short lifetime the system still managed to give life to some role-playing greats. Dreamcast, on the other hand, seemed to many like the wheezing last gasp of a company that had made nothing but mistakes for half a decade. Yet to the teeming masses who lined up on day one for PS2 and whose demand kept it in short supply for nearly a year after its debut, the compact black monolith represented that shiny fragment of the future Sony was so good at peddling. A more powerful piece of hardware, yes, but not so much more powerful that it made the Dreamcast instantly obsolete. The console's demise came at the hands of Sony's PlayStation 2. yet just as quickly found itself discontinued by a meek and defeated Sega.įor all of Dreamcast's excellence, it simply couldn't stand for long in the face of Sony at its weird but elegant prime. On September 9, 1999, Sega launched the Dreamcast console in America. It may be difficult to reconcile today's ragged Sony with the behemoth it was in its halcyon days, but that impressive reputation had a powerful bearing on the outcome of an event that transpired 15 years ago today. 1999 to March 2001 - Dreamcast still managed to hang on long enough to create a loyal audience. With a run of merely 18 months in the U.S. Owning a Sony product felt like taking possession of a shiny fragment of the future. Did the world need Aibo, the interactive robotic dog? No, but it was as cool a gimmick as it was expensive, and helped project the image of Sony as a leader at the forefront of consumer electronics design. The days when you could walk into a Sony store like the one that used to reside in San Francisco's Metreon shopping center and be awed by the cutting-edge design of the company's innovative electronics even as their insane prices took your breath away. "Weird Sony" describes the company's mindset at the height of its power. ![]() Ten years ago, the PlayStation 4's bright success would have been simply a single hit in a vast portfolio today, it's the company's sole bragging point. ![]() Over the past decade, Sony has seemingly lost its way, struggling from one failed project to another. My favorite articles on the The Verge are the ones about " weird Sony" they make a fascinating counterpoint to current Sony. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team. This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247.
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