RE: UKNM: Dreamcast vs Playstation

[Robin Edwards]

Sega seem to have something of a history of pioneering something (Megadrive, 

then Saturn) and having their corporate bottoms severely whooped by the 

competition a few months later. It does seem this time around that the 

stat-mongering that surrounded the launch of the 32/"64" bit consoles has died 

down, presumably because no sooner have you put out a shoddy ad saying "64 

bits, twice the power" or whatever, the competition announced some new 

vapourware that took away all of the thunder. It is a very painful industry to 

be in, and the Dreamcast software truly looks much better than the previous 

generation consoles, but then we've all seen what PS 2 can do...


My prediction? Sony will well and truly trounce the Dreamcast early next year. 

Sega will, again, have a few months to say "our new console is better than 

anything else on the market" before being hammered into 3rd place by Sony and 

Nintendo. Dreamcast sales in Japan have not been as impressive as expected, and 

I can only assume people are waiting for Playstation 2.


Now if Sony would kindly confirm that PS 2 will indeed play DVD movies (it has 

the power to, but they're a bit evasive when asked if it actually will) and 

access the net, and if they'd just see fit to release a version that sits 

nicely in the AV stack under the telly (i.e. front loading CD, looks more in 

tune with the Amp, VCR and digibox) then I would be stunned if it failed to 

storm to the top of the tree as with the Playstation.


Given that it is also supposed to have USB and Firewire ports, thus allowing 

some form of high speed connectivity with a PC (with a big hard disk), they 

would need their bumps feeling if they didn't incorporate an MP3 player to turn 

it into the ultimate front room entertainment and communications centre.


Robin (available for wish-listing/consultancy if Sony are reading...)


On Wednesday, August 11, 1999 4:28 PM,

matthewwmaximtraining [dot] com

[SMTP:

matthewwmaximtraining [dot] com

] wrote:

> I think the Dreamcast has a lot to offer, the opening range of games already

> looks impressive and easily outstrips the meagre offerings Sony gave us when

> it launched the Playstation.  I also read that Sony were knocking off a

> further 20 pounds of the cost of a new Playstation down to around 70 pounds

> to help stave off the threat of the Dreamcast in the run up to Chrimbo. It

> does make you think though of the huge amounts of profit they must have been

> making initially when Sony were knocking Playstations out for 300 pounds a

> shot!


--

Robin Edwards

Clockworx Design Limited

T: +44 1543 252370           F: +44 1543 420761

E:

robinclockworx [dot] co [dot] uk

     W: http://www.clockworx.co.uk/ 

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