Of course, there were some bad ideas too, such as the $150 32X add-on with an asking priceofwell over $50 dollars forits meager offering of games... and although theSega CD add-on was groundbreaking, the extra cost for thesepoorly supported add-onsturned the once-essentialGenesis into a confusing, expensivemish-mash of ideas and products. Saturn may have beaten PSone to store shelves in its surprise debut, but just a few months of extra technological development could have made Saturn the superior 3D machine and changed gaming history as we know it.
If the ideas behind Dreamcast had been developed for another year, maybe Sega would still be in the hardware industry. But with Saturn dead on its feet by the end of 1998, there was no chance of such a product gap. And as we've just seen, Dreamcast alone gave gaming so many things. As history has shown, the brightest flames often burn the shortest.
Despite the rather sad end to the story, at least we're left with an amazing legacy of innovative ideas and unforgettable games from these machines. And at least we've still got Sega making games - for everyone. And long may that continue. For Ages.
April 30, 2007
