View Full Version : Did your love for gaming die with SEGA?
ShinobiMan
06-12-2008, 10:03 PM
Hey guys,
The other day I dug out my Dreamcast for old times sake and relived some of the greatest gaming moments of my life. I even heard that Phantasy Star Online still has a private server up for people who have a codebreaker.
But that's besides the point. Soon my good times turned to sadness, as I realized that (corny as it may sound) in my heart, when SEGA called it quits as a hardware maker, my love for gaming died with them. Sure, I'll throw on the occasional new game and love it to death (Mass Effect, Super Smash Bros. Brawl), but the last time I can remember being an active gamer was in the final days of Dreamcast.
The Sega Dreamcast was this special console. It was the underdog... a true champion for all us wishful thinkers. Fans of the system salivated at the thought of each and every new game, and Sega delivered. Games like Phantasy Star Online, Crazy Taxi, and Sonic Adventure were new, exciting, and above all, FUN.
Now, I realize we probably have a lot of threads about the Dreamcast here at DP, but in this thread I'd like to ask a question that maybe others would like to elaborate on.
Did your love for gaming die with SEGA?
Maybe it's because I was younger and more impressionable back in those days. Maybe those days are just surrounded with wonderful memories.
Whatever the case, I'm still a gamer and always will be. Sadly though, for me, things haven't been the same since 2002.
Brian Deuel
06-12-2008, 10:22 PM
I'm an arcade guy at heart, and I think Sega was the best arcade game company from the early 90s to the early 00s. The Dreamcast (and the Saturn) allowed me to play ports of some of those games, and the Naomi and STV arcade systems were just beefed versions of the respective console hardware, which to me was the height of coolness.
I got an Xbox eventually, but only to mod it and play emulators. But yeah... to me, console gaming pretty much ended at the Dreamcast. I still write code for the thing!
diskoboy
06-12-2008, 10:26 PM
It didn't really die....
But to me, things just aren't quite the same, anymore.
I find it ironic that Sega no longer wanted to develop for home consumers, yet they stuck with the even more dead arcade biz.
However, my Dreamcast still gets played on a daily basis.
josekortez
06-12-2008, 10:32 PM
Yeah, the unraveling of the development teams was the real end of the Sega we all knew and loved, even though a few of them seem to be holding on for dear life.
Apparently, the members who used to be WOW Entertainment are doing that new Valkyria game for PS3 and they are including Vyse from Skies of Arcadia as a playable character for the fans.
Yeah, but I do agree that the magic I felt the first time I played Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast will probably never be replicated with another new game. Ever.
Sega's still around and they've developed and published some amazing games since Dreamcast! Sega didn't die, they just changed and aren't as consistently good as they used to be. BUt when they're good, nobody can touch em!
I've heard that Sonic Unleashed is amazing, hope it turns out to be Sonic and Sega at their best!
I just hooked up my Dreamcast today after not touching it for quite a while and it got me to ordering a few things for it (a few games, a new UMV and an S-video hookup), it really is a shame that the system died the way it did.
The last game I had in it was Propeller Arena, I finally had a chance to really try it out today and it's a real shame that the game got canceled. I'm sure the online mode would have been something great and with the whole virtual console that's going on now, maybe theres a chance that Sega will decide to release it that way.
Ascending Wordsmith
06-12-2008, 10:52 PM
The gaming greatness that I've experienced with Sega is quite possibly the most fun I've had in my gaming life. When Sega announced it would no longer develop hardware, I was like, "Damn, why couldn't it be Sony?" Sega not making consoles was like a dairy cow going dry. It just didn't sit well with me, but I had no choice to accept it.
As unfortunate as it was, Sega's decision to slash its hardware division coinicided with my decline in the interest of gaming. During Sega's tenure of console production, my gaming glee was at its height (especially during the Genesis and SNES era). Now, I have next to no interest in this generation of gaming. Is it because of Sega's absence? Not likely, but when they left the console scene, it was a shock for me.
Wraith Storm
06-12-2008, 11:15 PM
I agree with what most of you have said. Since Sega left the hardware business, it’s like a part of me died. I still enjoy some games, but I don’t get the same "special" feeling I used to get when playing newer games.
Every system (not just Sega systems) up through Dreamcast I loved and could really get into. Anymore, when a newer game comes out (PS2 or beyond), I play it for a few minutes and then toss it on the shelf and it’s months before I come back to it. Even if it’s a game I really like! For some reason I can’t “get into it” like I used to.
However, I'm sure if Sega were still making systems, that "special" feeling would still be present when I played a new game.
Trevelyan
06-12-2008, 11:28 PM
My love of games certainly didn't die. After the Genesis, which was the last Sega console I owned I was sad cos I was a big fan. It is/was the main console brand etched into my (& alot of UK people's) childhood memory. I had a Genesis over the SNES (& SMS over the NES), but I could just see it going under in the new market splashes made by Sony (PS1 then PS2) & the N64 (not to mention a strong PC market). The Saturn & Sega CD floundered. It maybe ought not of gone under the way it did, & it was sad imo for a host of reasons. However I can & do forget about "what could of been" regarding alot of things, such is life for me.
Push Upstairs
06-12-2008, 11:38 PM
No, the XBOX is my adopted "SEGA" system and I have been having fun playing that for nearly 3 years.
I also decided that even thought games & the gaming industry aren't the same as they used to be, I can't use that as an excuse to give up games. I'll miss out on newer good stuff if I limit myself to only older games.
BHvrd
06-12-2008, 11:42 PM
For a time, yes, yes it did.
After playing online, downloading user content, playing minigames on the vmu and endless hours on PSO and many other great games, it was just hard to compare.
PS2 just wasn't the same. Sure the games were great, but the connectivity just wasn't there. Xbox was good for one thing and one thing only....Halo, and at the time it was worth it, but it still didn't compare to the DC vs. PC Quake 3 Arena wars on the Dreamcast.
Xbox is still too closed architecture for my liking, but PS3 with PSP connectivity, the announcement of PSO at home "PS3" and on the go "PSP", more open to user content, and "Home" i'm starting to get back into console gaming as much as the DC days, given it has taken some time, Dreamcast was ahead of its time for sure and the memories will never be forgotten.
It is getting good again, oddly enough it has taken Sony two generations to catch up to where Sega was in 1999.
suppafly
06-12-2008, 11:44 PM
I really think it did
The DC was the last console that I really loved. My genesis is still #1 though :D
FlufflePuff
06-12-2008, 11:45 PM
Not at all. I never really liked a Sega console more than any individual competitor. The SNES was better than the Genesis, both the N64 and PS1 were better than the Saturn, and the PS2 was definately better than the Dreamcast. There are good games on lots of Sega systems (Sonic, Phantasy Star, Soul Calibur), but none of the Sega systems had a total library better than any of their competition.
SpaceHarrier
06-13-2008, 12:02 AM
Echoing the sentiment of a couple other posts: part of my love for gaming died when the Dreamcast did, but not all of it.
Nintendo's fires are still stoked with the innovative DS and Wii and despite loads of shovelware, there are still plenty of first-rate experiences to be had there.
It was an amazing couple of years with DC, and that's what made it so bad I think.
I do, however feel that I'm in that same mire that I was in 7 years ago, when I declared the DC "my last gaming system EVER". Well I later broke down and bought ALL 3 next gen systems plus both handhelds.
Now I'm feeling the same way again, but replace DC with Wii. Innovation and simple fun rule the day for me now..
j_factor
06-13-2008, 01:30 AM
I didn't have a chance to get into the Dreamcast "at the time". I was a big-time Saturn supporter, and when Bernie killed that off, I switched over to Playstation (I actually had Magic Knight Rayearth preordered, took it home when it was released, beat it within a week, and sold all my Saturn stuff the next day to buy a PSX). When DC launched in the US, I'd only had my PSX for about a year, and I was highly skeptical of this new Sega system since they hadn't even released any games (in the US) in quite a while. I was also just plain butthurt about the Saturn. Over time, though, I warmed to the Dreamcast. Most of my friends/acquaintances got a Dreamcast, either at launch, or Christmas '99, or their birthday in 2000, or Christmas 2000. This was a 180 from having known only one other person with a Saturn. All my friends would always talk about how this game or that game was amazing, and I would often get to try them out myself. Pretty much every party during that time involved a bunch of us huddled around a TV with a Dreamcast. I can't tell you how much time was spent taking turns with Crazy Taxi. That's the only game I've ever known to be a great party game without having any multiplayer whatsoever.
Anyway, around Christmas 2000, I decided I would get a Dreamcast in the near future, and started saving some money. I looked at the games that were coming out around that time, I looked at the games that were in development, and I looked at its popularity, and decided there was no way I could ignore this system any longer. Then I blinked. Then word came out that Sega was quitting the hardware business. That happened right as I was just about to make the plunge. I postponed my purchase and decided to think about it for a while. I went back and bought a used Saturn for nostalgia's sake. I ended up buying a Dreamcast in August of 2001. Although there were still a few releases left (that was right as Floigan Bros. and Ooga Booga were coming out, and before Bomberman Online and etc.), from the beginning I concentrated on bargains and used games. There were a lot of good deals to be had on Dreamcast games in late 2001 and 2002. The effect for me was that even though I bought a system when it was less than two years old, from the moment I had it it was basically a "classic system" already.
Did my love for gaming die? No. Some of my enthusiasm waned. It did seem at the time, that when Dreamcast died, its focus of arcade-style/action gaming kind of went with it. I bought and enjoyed PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox. But they never captured the same "feel" that Dreamcast did. Wii has kind of re-captured that feel, at times. Dreamcast was the king of simple gameplay with depth; games you could easily pick up and play, but had a lot of strategy/skill to them as well. Crazy Taxi being a perfect example.
You know, a lot of people share the sentiment that when Dreamcast died, so too did a certain kind of gaming. But what's an interesting coincidence is that Sega pulled the plug on DC near the time that Midway pulled the plug on their arcade operations. The result was a huge hole where Midway arcade games used to be, and also a general sharp decline in the quality of Midway's games (although I liked Dr. Muto).
On the upside, the death of the DC is partly responsible for my interest in classic gaming.
boatofcar
06-13-2008, 01:48 AM
I was taking a break from gaming around the time the Dreamcast came out, and by the time I went back in, the DC was already dead.
So, no, I never felt any pain at the loss of the Dreamcast, although I did appreciate it for its NES emulation capabilities.
Push Upstairs
06-13-2008, 03:34 AM
I was still rocking PC games when the DC was around, so I don't really have that much attachment to that particular system.
Volcanon
06-13-2008, 06:20 AM
Arcades are alive and well here in Japan.
The new virtua fighter is fun, esepcially since they made Jeffery some sort of incoherent raving lunatic.
Brian Deuel
06-13-2008, 07:49 AM
Arcades are alive and well here in Japan.
The new virtua fighter is fun, esepcially since they made Jeffery some sort of incoherent raving lunatic.
Yeah, and I'm glad some of those new Sega games are making their way here. We have a major arcade/go-kart place here that gets ALL of the new games the week that they come out, and I'm glad I get a chance to play all of them. Sega arcade games still rule, even if they are a bit long in the tooth with regards to genres.
c2000
06-13-2008, 08:26 AM
Somewhat, yeah.
Still enjoy playing Sega Superstars, GTAIV and some other games on the 360 from time to time.
8bitgamer
06-13-2008, 08:49 AM
Did your love for gaming die with SEGA?
No, but I had a similar feeling in 1984, during the Great Video Game Crash. Fortunately, the NES came along, and I slowly, but surely got caught up in the new era.
Like most of you, a part of me died too. It just doesn't quite feel the same anymore. The last game that got me hyped up crazy was SA2, it was such an adrenaline rush playing it. I've been feeling even more empty since the fall of Sonic Team.
There's new things to keep me interested though. I still love gaming, but not the same way I used to.
Xexyz
06-13-2008, 10:35 AM
Did my love for gaming die with Sega? No, in fact, it was brought up to a whole other level thanks to Nintendo and their "2nd coming of the 16-bit era" GBA.
RadiantSvgun
06-13-2008, 10:44 AM
No, but....
Whenever I play some of the stuff on Genesis, I look at the newer systems, and wonder:
Where's my Streets of Rage 2?
Where's my Phantasy Star? (not an mmo)
Where's my Kid Chameleon?
Where's my Landstalker?
Where's my Light Crusader?
Dreamcast was and still is a great console, but sega really captured me with the genesis.
otaku
06-13-2008, 10:54 AM
My favorite type of gaming is arcade style. My favorite company is sega (along with snk, capcom etc) anyway loved the hell out of the dc its the last time I remember being really enthusiastic about gaming recently I bought a brand new dc with all the games and have been loving it. However I can't complain to much the 360 with rock band, guitar hero and sc4 and so many other great games I'd say things are still pretty good.
ShinobiMan
06-13-2008, 11:24 AM
Sega was Buddy Holly
Would that make XBOX 360 Weezer? :-D
"I looked just like Buddy Holly."
I always thought the XBOX and 360 were the spiritual successor to the Dreamcast. The design of the 360 is very similar.
segagamer
06-13-2008, 02:01 PM
I would have to say "no," but I am really getting back into 16-bit gaming with the Genesis/MegaDrive as well as the TG-16/PC-Engine, though. In general, today's games are a bit too complex for my personal taste.
Soviet Conscript
06-13-2008, 02:09 PM
i always disliked sega. i didn't like the sms, i hated the genesis with a passion and much prefered the tg-16 and snes. didn't care for the sega cd. never bothered with the saturn.
i did like the dreamcast thogh.
whats funny though is in the past 5 or so years i bought a saturn as well as pulled out and started playing my old sega systems again.
i've really grown to love my sega systems and their games alot even though i didn't appriciate them as all when i was younger. so acually sega has helped rekindle my love for classic gameing though at the time of its death i wasn't really affected.
BydoEmpire
06-13-2008, 03:17 PM
It didn't really die....
But to me, things just aren't quite the same, anymore.That sums it up for me. I still play games practically every day, on a variety of consoles (my pre-crash systems get as much play time as my 360 & Wii), but it hasn't been as exciting since the Dreamcast died. The industry has gotten bigger, and games have gotten better in *some* ways - online features for example - but they just don't have the magic that they used to (there are exceptions, of course, MP3:Corruption was pure magic to me). Of course, this could be as much a function of my age & current lifestyle than the games themselves. ;)
Just my 2c, but I don't think the 360 could even shine the Dreamcasts's shoes, let alone be considered the "spiritual successor." I could *maybe* see the original Xbox since it had so many great Sega exclusives.
ShinobiMan
06-13-2008, 03:35 PM
Just my 2c, but I don't think the 360 could even shine the Dreamcasts's shoes, let alone be considered the "spiritual successor." I could *maybe* see the original Xbox since it had so many great Sega exclusives.
Well, I meant in terms of architectural design. It's white, Peter Moore was front running it, it came out a year before PS3, and it was cheaper.
mailman187666
06-13-2008, 03:36 PM
I loved all the sega systems that I've owned reguardless of how the general publc viewed them. I loved my Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast. Gaming has not died in my eyes, but it has lost something that it once had, and that was whatever it was that Sega put into thier games that nobody quite can capture like them.
jahvybe
06-13-2008, 03:45 PM
Actually Dreamcast helped bring me back. Before I started "collecting"(definition collecting: Hording more of something than I could ever need or use) I had a ps2 but didn't play it much. Mostly Tekken when people come over. Also had a n64 and mario kart for when people came over. Then one day I ran across a dreamcast for cheap at goodwill. Went to CD/Game exchange to look for a game. The only thing they had that looked intersting was Shenmue. I loved it and had to get an xbox to play shenmue II. That pretty much started me onto the path of hording and destruction.
I don't really get that much use out of my other sega stuff though. But there are some sweet games on dreamcast. Not that there isn't on the other sega systems.
James8BitStar
06-13-2008, 06:31 PM
My love of gaming was already on the wane during the Saturn days, so I'd have to say no to this.
Fuyukaze
06-13-2008, 07:23 PM
In a way, yes. To a degree, no. I buy more older games now then before, that much is definitly clear. Sega games always felt like a polar oposite of the spectrum. Either they were the best games out there or they were the worst. It was like Sega didnt know how to make a game in the middle to me.
DJ Daishi
06-13-2008, 07:49 PM
Hey guys,
The other day I dug out my Dreamcast for old times sake and relived some of the greatest gaming moments of my life. I even heard that Phantasy Star Online still has a private server up for people who have a codebreaker.
But that's besides the point. Soon my good times turned to sadness, as I realized that (corny as it may sound) in my heart, when SEGA called it quits as a hardware maker, my love for gaming died with them. Sure, I'll throw on the occasional new game and love it to death (Mass Effect, Super Smash Bros. Brawl), but the last time I can remember being an active gamer was in the final days of Dreamcast.
The Sega Dreamcast was this special console. It was the underdog... a true champion for all us wishful thinkers. Fans of the system salivated at the thought of each and every new game, and Sega delivered. Games like Phantasy Star Online, Crazy Taxi, and Sonic Adventure were new, exciting, and above all, FUN.
Now, I realize we probably have a lot of threads about the Dreamcast here at DP, but in this thread I'd like to ask a question that maybe others would like to elaborate on.
Did your love for gaming die with SEGA?
Maybe it's because I was younger and more impressionable back in those days. Maybe those days are just surrounded with wonderful memories.
Whatever the case, I'm still a gamer and always will be. Sadly though, for me, things haven't been the same since 2002.
wow, you pretty much nailed it. I definitely think it has something to do with that fact I was a bit younger back then (1999-2002). Actually, its not just that, the Sega Dreamcast had some of the best and most unique games I had have ever played. I now just realize that most of my favorite games are on the Dreamcast (Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, Skies of Arcadia, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, MDK2 MvC2, etc.) the list just goes on.
Push Upstairs
06-14-2008, 12:48 AM
The only thing that SEGA dropping out has done was affect my love for SEGA.
I enjoy the SEGA of old, but I'll never consider what it is today to be the same company as it was before the Dreamcast.
j_factor
06-14-2008, 02:21 AM
I think Sega was still good right after the Dreamcast, but the Sammy merger and the messing-up of the dev teams made them lose it.
retro junkie
06-14-2008, 02:52 AM
I still own,
Sega Genesis (the first one) Sega CD, 32X
Sega Saturn
Dreamcast
Sega Nomad
Sega Game Gear
I've owned them, straight from the store shelf, from their “hey day.” I purchased a Sega Genesis long before I ever owned a SNES. I still remember the time I got my Dreamcast. “Toys-R-Us” was having a special were you bring in 10 video games and get the Dreamcast for $99.00. I ran by a store that had a bargain bin and picked up a few games for a couple of dollars and put them with some terrible games I didn't like. Traded them in and had a Dreamcast.
I wouldn't say that my love of gaming died with Sega's demise. I was very sadden, at the time, that a giant in the gaming industry would no longer produce gaming hardware for the home. I presently wish for a Sega machine and wonder what they might have produced. Sega is just not the same without their own hardware. I feel they lost something along the way. But I still enjoy, and cherish, all of the Sega systems that I own.
Tommy
06-14-2008, 04:26 AM
Never had a dreamcast, so my answer is no. Wish I did though, :bigmac:
Daria
06-14-2008, 02:14 PM
Where's my Landstalker?
It jumped ship to Sony. Alundra was awesome. (:
PapaStu
06-14-2008, 02:43 PM
Nope. My love of gaming has never hinged on any one game or system. It evolves with what gets released and what is there. If I want to go back and play what was, I do, if I want to play whats now I do.
Sega is far from the end all be all of games.
Lemmi_Is_God
06-14-2008, 02:49 PM
I really think it did
The DC was the last console that I really loved. My genesis is still #1 though :D
same here, i think my gaming died in 2001 with modern gaming and after i bought the DC for $50, its my only emu player. sure i have an Xbox and a GC but the games i have are mostly compilations for both systems. i have no interest in the PS2,PS3,360, or the Wii
i love the Genesis/CD/Saturn/DC and the 3DO they are the most played systems i have
i would like to get a gameboy player for the GC so i could get into some of the awesome games for that handheld without owning the handheld itself
Flack
06-15-2008, 08:24 AM
Nope. My love of gaming has never hinged on any one game or system. It evolves with what gets released and what is there. If I want to go back and play what was, I do, if I want to play whats now I do.
Sega is far from the end all be all of games.
I'm with PapaStu on this one.
I usually like to wait a year or so before buying a new console to see what the game library looks like by then. I got my Dreamcast Christmas of 2000 and within minutes (okay, a month) they announced they were stopping production. Nothing like paying new price for a console that was circling the drain! Awesome! Anyway, I played the system and I enjoyed it and when I got tired of it I shelved it. Like PapaStu said, I don't put too much into what I think about companies, instead I just buy the systems and play the games and let the fanboys have their fun without me.
you didn't mention skies of arcadia!
It didn't die with sega, and while sega definately isn't my favorite game company the dc is my favorite system :D with the n64 a close second ;p
I think Sega was still good right after the Dreamcast, but the Sammy merger and the messing-up of the dev teams made them lose it.
I know WHY THE HELL DID THEY CLOSE OVERWORKS
evilness -_-
RadiantSvgun
06-16-2008, 11:13 AM
It jumped ship to Sony. Alundra was awesome. (:
Alundra was kickass. But I liked the characters and story in Landstalker. I guess Climax canned the PSP remake.
Sega used to have some really good platformers with really good music. I guess thats one thing I really miss about sega.