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To add to Sega's glee, Nintendo has just broken off a huge contract with Sony to produce a CD drice for the SNES. To think that Nintendo laughed at the Mega CD and 32X, and couldn't even make an add on themselves! HA!
To make things even more amusing, Sony is now making its own console... now, that'll never work!
Anyway, Sega's new console is a truely superb machine. Supper fast processors, high numbers of sprites onscreen at once, and some dazzling specs when compared to the Megadrive. To add to this, Sega's arcade division has just created the first ever 3D mass market games. So, just as Sega is about to control the console market, its hardware team is revolutionising the arcade scene with something that home consoles simly cannot provide- 3D gaming!
Well, I say home consoles cannot produce, because this is exactly what Sega thought. After all, with the exception of Starfox, all home console games were 2D, and all home console gamers were happy. The 3D graphics technology was too advanced for console to deal with!
A few months later, and Sega have given the release date of the console and developers seem to be working hard on games for the machine. Sony and Nintendo are silent about their machines... Until something disasterous happens...
Sony releases its console's specs; and they tell the gaming world one things:
3D gaming is the way forwards
The only way, in fact. The design of the so called "Playstation" is totally geared arou nd playing 3D games. It has its own graphics chips, sound boards, and vector processors. The machine is far in advance of Sega's lonely 2D Saturn.
Sega calls a board meeting. What to do? So, the following, outrageously stupid, plan was made:
*Get the folks in hardware to redesign the console so that it could compete with the Playstation... VERY quickly. In fact, the only thing that the hardware people could do was to stick a second processor into the console, to, in theory at least, double the power of the machine. The only problem was that nothing else in the console was redesigned to cope with this, and hence the console was extremely hard to program on. Almost impossible in fact, when compared to Sony's policy of helping developers with the best software tools, an easy to code for console, and some epert libraries of pre-written game code for free use.
*Beat the Playstation into homes. And so, the Saturn's release date was put FORWARDS by 6 months. Good idea... destroy the competition before it comes out! Only problem was that developers had no time to make games for the console!
*Because of the poorly designed specs for the console, and little time to make production facilities, the console had to be sold at a high price. £400 high! Far in excess of anything gamers would be willing to pay at that time.
And so it became true that the Saturn failed to sell. Developers were amazed by the simplicity of Sony's console, and gamers marvelled at the textured 3D game, Tekken. Nintendo had gone into the dark ages, and Sony was left all alone for over a year with no competition.
Remind you of something more recent???
Sonic
It is so much different now.
Look at the N64 launch. Only Mario wasnt it?! We should have at least 10 games for the Europe Launch.
Also the launch price is also cheaper, and if Gamecube doesnt shift as much initially i'm sure Ninty will cut the price in-time for christmas.
And Ninty have finally started to understand that good advertising (not good games) sells the console.
By marketting the original PS with the trendy Hi-Fi manufacturer label, Sony were able to shift units to previous non-gamers.
With the PS2, developers could be assurred that it would sell just as well, so went with this option over the Dreamcast... as did ganers who knew the PS brandname well. (see the topic on "time and time again").
Which is shy ninty really needs some big advertising.
So they've got the Res. Evil series. Most gamers haven't even heard of the GC, let alone the games on it! Add to that, Sony have Xmas to sell consoles, AND MS are entering the market at the same time as Ninty... = not good!
Another N64?
Sonic
VERY hard to devellop for and released early with hardly any decent games (although the good ones seem to be coming through now.).
Let's get this straight:
Sega launch a "hard to develloper for" machine and gets whupped by the "cheap and easy" Playstation.
Nintendo launch's a "hard to devellop for" machine and gets whupped by the "cheap and easy" Playstation.
Fair enough.
Sega and Nintendo had become complacent and needed a kick up the backside. BUT:
Sega release a "cheap and easy" Dreamcast to compete against the "monstrously hard to devellop for PS2" and gets kicked into the ground, Sega almost go out of business.
Sony won that one PURELY on hype and advertising.
When Nintendo and Sega did that, they got kicked in the face.
Now Sony do that, every laps it all up and buys their product.
If anything, THAT is why the zealots SERIOUSLY HATE Sony.
They've had the biggest run of luck ever!
To add to Sega's glee, Nintendo has just broken off a huge contract with Sony to produce a CD drice for the SNES. To think that Nintendo laughed at the Mega CD and 32X, and couldn't even make an add on themselves! HA!
To make things even more amusing, Sony is now making its own console... now, that'll never work!
Anyway, Sega's new console is a truely superb machine. Supper fast processors, high numbers of sprites onscreen at once, and some dazzling specs when compared to the Megadrive. To add to this, Sega's arcade division has just created the first ever 3D mass market games. So, just as Sega is about to control the console market, its hardware team is revolutionising the arcade scene with something that home consoles simly cannot provide- 3D gaming!
Well, I say home consoles cannot produce, because this is exactly what Sega thought. After all, with the exception of Starfox, all home console games were 2D, and all home console gamers were happy. The 3D graphics technology was too advanced for console to deal with!
A few months later, and Sega have given the release date of the console and developers seem to be working hard on games for the machine. Sony and Nintendo are silent about their machines... Until something disasterous happens...
Sony releases its console's specs; and they tell the gaming world one things:
3D gaming is the way forwards
The only way, in fact. The design of the so called "Playstation" is totally geared arou nd playing 3D games. It has its own graphics chips, sound boards, and vector processors. The machine is far in advance of Sega's lonely 2D Saturn.
Sega calls a board meeting. What to do? So, the following, outrageously stupid, plan was made:
*Get the folks in hardware to redesign the console so that it could compete with the Playstation... VERY quickly. In fact, the only thing that the hardware people could do was to stick a second processor into the console, to, in theory at least, double the power of the machine. The only problem was that nothing else in the console was redesigned to cope with this, and hence the console was extremely hard to program on. Almost impossible in fact, when compared to Sony's policy of helping developers with the best software tools, an easy to code for console, and some epert libraries of pre-written game code for free use.
*Beat the Playstation into homes. And so, the Saturn's release date was put FORWARDS by 6 months. Good idea... destroy the competition before it comes out! Only problem was that developers had no time to make games for the console!
*Because of the poorly designed specs for the console, and little time to make production facilities, the console had to be sold at a high price. £400 high! Far in excess of anything gamers would be willing to pay at that time.
And so it became true that the Saturn failed to sell. Developers were amazed by the simplicity of Sony's console, and gamers marvelled at the textured 3D game, Tekken. Nintendo had gone into the dark ages, and Sony was left all alone for over a year with no competition.
Remind you of something more recent???
Sonic