Of course, it didn't happen, but that would have been fantastic. The story goes that SEGA Chairman Isao Okawa visited Microsoft to push his agenda. He wanted his Dreamcast games to be compatible with Microsoft's then shiny new Xbox. Okawa said that it would be a sort of upgrade path for current Dreamcast owners. It would also possibly help save a dying console.
Microsoft didn't bite. Okawa wanted his games to have the fancy online capability that MS was pushing. Microsoft only wanted online for their games. SEGA was handing over customers, but I'm sure Microsoft didn't want to have to pay to retool their game system for this compatibility.
I wonder if Microsoft would have done differently today, looking back. This would surely have helped them out in the Japanese market.
If you're anything like me, you still look at your Dreamcast fondly. I wonder if this would have helped Sega hold on longer or even succeed. Up for a little Shenmue 2 on Xbox, anyone?
How Xbox Could Have Helped The Dreamcast Survive [Kotaku]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
1:20 PM on 01.14.2010
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Out of all the things to turn down, you turn down this? I loved the Xbox, I loved the Dreamcast, the two together...? It could have been such a beautiful little illegitimate love child.
Microsoft could have totally killed Sony's "everything" ad, too: "Oh yeah? But does it play... Dreamcast games?!?"
@ RenegadePanda
Curious, what dreamcast game would you be playing over last-gen xbox games?? I personally choose Halo over Chu Chu Rocket any day.
Also, Shenmue 2 [b[was[/b[ on the Xbox. Not enough people came out to support it or any of the games that were really a legacy to Dreamcast - Gun Valkyrie, Jet Set Radio Future, Crazy Taxi 3 or Panzer Dragoon Orta.
There is a huge catalog of Fighters on the dreamcast.
The inclusion of DC games on XBL like Rez and Ikaruga should tell you there is a market for the games.
*heart attack*
If I didn't have a Dreamcast, I'd be playing a lot of games in addition to the Xbox library. Namely Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, Space Channel 5, Shenmue, Virtual On etc. There are at least 2 dozen games I loved for DC that would have complemented the (imo) excellent Xbox catalog of games.
really sad it didn't work out.
"God I can't believe I wasted 300 bucks on that"
I do agree that maybe with how hard it has been for them to breach the market in Japan they maybe would have taken the offer if they had a time machine or some shit...
I do remember having a lot of fun playing Sonic on that thing though.
We need more integration. We're on the "seventh" generation of consoles, for Christ's sake! What the hell is with this push toward making people buy half a dozen consoles to play their software library, when the hardware needed to emulate is readily available, and the parts needed for other backwards compatibility is still being mass produced.
Fuck, I really hate this industry sometimes.
altough the ps2 is my favorite console of all time due to its endless library of must-own titles (from which i dont even have one tenth of it) and the fact it exists in a theorical time-space void explaining its apparent immortality
i must admit that before that i was quite fond of the dremcast, afterall no other console has managed to create a fighting game as fucking amazing as powerstone 2
that said, if this had happened there wouldn't have been much reason to own a DC so i don't see how they were intended to co-exist.
at face value it seems like M$ made the smart move and helped kill off a rival, but IMO they would have been WAY better off adding the DC back catalogue to XBOX if only to compete with sony's massive PS1 collection.
In any case, if this had gone down, we might be playing Shenmue IV now :(
@ pl0x kthanxbai,
you and the SDF are a reason why I hate to turn my PS3 on.
How many Dreamcast games were based on Windows CE, anyway?
Dreamcast failed for several reasons, the biggest was failure to market and competition from Nintendo and Sony. By the time Dreamcast came out, a lot of people had lost faith in SEGA as a company and never gave their products a second look. Because of all that, third party support was lacking as well, not to mention the console was a bit too ambitious for it's time. A lot of features that people simply didn't understand or know about. In short, it was a victim of it's own innovation.
Dreamcast is still big enough in japan that companies are still releasing independent titles for the system.
Can you claim that for any last gen system here?
It's Microsoft's fault the DC didn't sell? Where is the logic in that. If anything, the Xbox is the only reason the US even saw Shenmue 2. It would have come to Dreamcast if SEGA had held strong and managed to sell their console. You should be happy we even got Shenmue 2. And as stated, Japan still supported the DC long after it died here, so they could have easily kept it going.
e.i. ( Yakuza & Valkyrie Chronicles )
& 360 Only, Ports e.i. ( Bayonetta )
On topic: I would love any opportunity to play some of my favorite DC games on any system.
It's a shame though. It would have kept the Dreamcast going for a little longer.
You're calling the developers of one of your favorite games liars?
I think he means the original Xbox which would imply it's a long dead idea.
However the recent news of DC games coming to PSN and XBLX kinda reboot those ideas albeit through digital means. In my perfect world they actually release an emulator instead of titles for $60 and you can play Dreamcast disc.
Mmm...
Once you said Shenmue 2 for Xbox, I decided to go look for it cause that was the first game my parents got me (for the Xbox).
Happy to say, I found it. Time for an extended weekend of nostalgia :)
My comment was kinda tongue-in-cheek, too...
Can you imagine if they had? The 360 would be doing better now had the original Xbox made this token gesture towards Japanese fans.
Not to mention it would mean I didn't have to replace my Dreamcast for the third time just last week...