Indie Devs design games for Sega Dreamcast?
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Indie Devs design games for Sega Dreamcast?
Could this be true? Since Sega discontinued the Dreamcast back around the time the PS2 and XBox were launching, things have gotten somewhat forgotten about it... until now. According to some ticker tape report I was watching on television, it sounds like an indie game publisher called, "The GOAT Games" or someone like that said that 10 games were going to be launched for Sega's fallen machine. This sounds like a Cinderella story to game design.
Of course, the Dreamcast uses Pocket PC technology for their games, so it's kinda easy to port a game into that, if you develop a game with modified Windows CE code (won't work with the .NET structure of VS 2005 (grrr... There go my chances in the near future), I don't believe). It's an easy platform to code for, so I'm surprised that Sega didn't do so well with that, there would've been far better support for that console, IMHO. Just glad someone has a heart out there!
I don't think many Dreamcast games used WinCE. I think that was more marketing than anything else.
We developed a Dreamcast version of Wetrix and didn't touch any form of Windows - we just used the Sega libraries.
Why on earth anyone wants to develop for a dead machine is beyond me.
Developing for a dead system is a bit like taking a death wish no?
*many* people still have a dreamcast, and it does have some prety cool games. For as long as people own dreamcasts selling for them isn't necesarily a bad idea.
Worms Armageddon & Sega Rally 2 used WinCE, but the sega libraries were much faster. The main use of CE was in the web browsing software...
Yeah, I never really gave the Dreamcast any thought until Sega pulled the console production, and discontinued them. If it weren't for Sony being so dominating, then Sega would've had another chance. Of course, Sega's consoles were more expensive than Sony's to a point, too. Like the Saturn was $100 more than the original PSX, I remember that. At least Nintendo stuck around in the console market, so we got them to look forward to. Just wish that Sega would've known that there's still a community of developers for a dead console out there. Then again, there's probably people still developing for the N64 or SNES after all these years, too, or even the Atari Jaguar :GASP:!
Dreamcast was cheaper than PS2 ... and a better piece of hardware for the most part too. It came with 4-controller ports and a built in modem. I used to love playing Quake 3 online with that thing!
Well, if it hadn't been for that DVD thing from PS2, Sega's console market would still be very much alive.
Dreamcast Homebrew has been going on for quite some time, with a few games and demos being released.
More at
http://www.dchomebrew.org/Cheers
Garion
Dreamcast failed for the same reason all consoles fail. It had a lack of software, which made many wait to see what would happen, and when people wait, other developers get scared off and start developing for other consoles. You would think that Sony's rivals would have caught on by now and started doing something about it, but Nintendo and MS seem content to keep ploughing their lonely furrow while Sony keeps tying up exclusives for it's consoles which guarantee it sales.
The hardware was good, the infrastructure was there, Sega just massively underestimated Sony and failed to tie up the games they desperately needed. It worked well for them in the long run though, as they're doing pretty well developing software for other people's hardware.
They learned to stick to what they do best. It's a lesson they probably would have benefitted from learning a couple of generations earlier when the Megadrive was being outdone by the SNES or when the Saturn was being trounced by the Playstation. And it's a lesson Nintendo could do with learning now. Instead of frittering their games away on the Wii, which will guarantee them third place, they could be selling those games on XBox360 and PS3, not wasting money on hardware development, and be making a killing.
But it'll probably take em a couple more generations before they learn their lesson too. Big corporations rarely learn lessons as fast as they should.
Nintendo ARE making a killing. Now.
And MS have yet to make a penny from the games industry.
Nintendo ARE making a killing. Now.
Ok, two killings then. I wouldn't mind betting that the vast majority of their current killing is in handhelds though.
As far as console sales are concerned, I can see that noone'd want a PS3 with a $600 price tag, so they may find themselves in 3rd place on consoles sold due to that expensive price tag. To me, it's a tie between the Wii and the X360, because you can have the basic Core 360 for $300, which is only $50 more than Nintendo's asking for the Wii. Which means that you are $50 less than PS3 when you buy both a Wii and a Core 360 like Peter Moore suggests. So with that extra $50, you could buy some budget indie titles for both systems easily. That's what I call console gaming for the next gen without that big price tag...
hey could be selling those games on XBox360 and PS3
I really cant see that happening unless Nintendo took all their franchises to the ever-increasing-in-popularity to a darker side.
(somewhat like the new Zelda)
But it'll probably take em a couple more generations before they learn their lesson too.
Just gotta defend Nintendo here. ;P
Nintendo appears more interested in changing the way we play games rather then money money money $$$ as the other two companies are after, and regardless to that fact, they're making good profit regardless of hardware sales and what not, and putting that profit to good use in trying something new in the next-gen of consoles, which we all still dont know how exactly the world will receive the product as a whole.
Could be good, could be a niche toy, who knows, all depends on the advertising & software, just wanted to state the fact not everyone wants games that are just countless sequels/rip-offs of each other in the stagnating gaming sections in my local stores.
(aside from the few gems as usual, some being much harder to find then others)
Last I recall they made profit off of GameCube sales also, so that has got to say something about how they handle their hardware.
[EDIT] Wtf did I save that as a PNG for...oh well, too late.
Ugh!, Mario gives me the creeps... Think I have the Mario equivalent of Coulrophobia.
> Why on earth anyone wants to develop
> for a dead machine is beyond me.
When does a machine truly die though?
http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/articles/cpcgamesin2005.html> And MS have yet to make a penny from the games industry.
Hopefully they will die a death soon, they've pretty much succeeded in severely harming the personal computer industry. I really hope we don't see that happen to the console industry.
Yes and some indies are being courted by major mobile labels.
...that said that 10 games were going to be launched for Sega's fallen machine.
Cool. That's one for each person who wants to buy a game for the Dreamcast these days. :o)
lol, exactly. And even if people did hunger for DC games, you can pick up pretty much any DC game ( exceptions being the rare jap RPG's of course ) for like a quid in any second hand games store.
Some of them haven't aged too badly and will be good value for a quid.
Dreamcast failed for the same reason all consoles fail. It had a lack of software
I don't know what you're talking about. Dreamcast had a lot of awesome games ... right out of the gate. The reason they failed was because they had morons running the business and the 'at the time' president ended up putting $700,000,000 of his own money back into the business just to pay off the company's debt. They just weren't making money for a long time.
People can't seem to get it through their heads either that just because 'they' don't own a Gamecube that no one has one and somehow Nintendo is stuggling. Nintendo is always making a profit, they are no where close to the shape that Sega was in. They profit by over a billion dollars a fiscal year. The last thing I read said they profit by just as much as Sony.
Additionally, Nintendo's software and hardware are intrinsicly tied together. Any Nintendo player understands that if you took the game and put it on another platform it wouldn't be the same game. It'd be like taking your girlfriend's mind and putting her in some other person's body would she still be the same ... HELL NO! If you don't get that you are simply ignorant to what makes Nintendo ... NINTENDO.
I don't know what you're talking about. Dreamcast had a lot of awesome games ... right out of the gate. The reason they failed was because they had morons running the business and the 'at the time' president ended up putting $700,000,000 of his own money back into the business just to pay off the company's debt. They just weren't making money for a long time.
People can't seem to get it through their heads either that just because 'they' don't own a Gamecube that no one has one and somehow Nintendo is stuggling. Nintendo is always making a profit, they are no where close to the shape that Sega was in. They profit by over a billion dollars a fiscal year. The last thing I read said they profit by just as much as Sony.
Additionally, Nintendo's software and hardware are intrinsicly tied together. Any Nintendo player understands that if you took the game and put it on another platform it wouldn't be the same game. It'd be like taking your girlfriend's mind and putting her in some other person's body would she still be the same ... HELL NO! If you don't get that you are simply ignorant to what makes Nintendo ... NINTENDO.
Yeah, on top of that, it's Nintendo's handheld market which is their big-time saving grace. The DS is by far and away the best selling handheld around, if I'm not mistaken. The PSP tried, but the DS seems to be outselling the PSP... Now with the DS Lite around the corner, it'll only capitalize on this. Nintendo seems like they'll have a winner in the Wii, or at least tied with the X360, putting that $600 monster from Sony deep in 3rd place due to that price tag. AFAIK, Sony's days of domination are over with the PS3...
Sony would be a little tough to dethrone, but with the console company that started it all after the mid-80s crash, Nintendo could reclaim that #1 title this next-gen round...
It's hard to say what's going to happen, but if there's ever going to be a great opportunity for Microsoft or Ninty to de-throne Sony, it's gonna be in the first year of the PS3's release... in the end it'll be about the games and how they're marketed.
> or at least tied with the X360,
How do you work that out? The XBox 360 is out already, has been for over 6 months and what good has it done so far?
The PS3 and the PiiS. They're not even out yet, XBox360 is the first of the next gen consoles that you can go out and buy freely and it's not making much of an impact. Imagine how it's gonna be when PS3 and PiiS are available to buy?
In Japan, it's pretty much a flop already. XBox360 and its games are fewer and bigger turds then the original X-Box with even more polish.
Give me my Dreamcast anyday.
Well, somewhat back on topic. I can see that some people still care about Dreamcast development. However, I also notice that those who still use the old Net Yaroze can still develop indie games for the PS1 as well (as a cheaper alternative to those who can't afford the PS2 games out there (assuming that PS2 can even play Net Yaroze games)). If I'm not mistaken, there was a developer's version of the PS2, but it's illegal in the USA, for some strange reason, I mean, come on, I'm not gonna pirate or reverse engineer anything, what gives, Sony?