Time's Top 10 Failed Consoles

[Hawksmoor]

http://techland.com/2010/11/04/top-1...nsoles/?hpt=C2

I call BS on the Neo Geo and the Dreamcast. Otherwise, not a bad list.

[buzz_n64]

Screw that article. First they get facts wrong. 3DO- "the first game system to use CDs for content delivery." Then, they count unreleased systems like the Phantom. There are TONS of those alone, and that would fill the list, like the Indrema. If I didn't know any better, I would think this was a Yahoo article. Pathetic.

[retro junkie]

You would think that they would do a little research in attempting to write an article like this. One would easily find out that it was the NEC PC Engine in Japan that had the first CD rom gaming. And I feel that a console has to enter the marketplace in order to be considered failed. Good intentions don't count.

[k8track]

Oh look, yet another top-ten worst/biggest failure of a console list. Yawn.

[Baloo]

The Phantom? How can that even be a failure if it was never released?

Dumb list.

[Bandicat]

I would have put the Atari Jaguar on there before I put the Dreamcast. Also I think the Atari 5200 and Lynx could have found their way into that list.

[fahlim003]

I would have put the Atari Jaguar on there before I put the Dreamcast. Also I think the Atari 5200 and Lynx could have found their way into that list.

I would never lump Lynx in with the 5200. The Jaguar is slighty better but on the whole, not a very successful or practical system, add-on wise. The 5200 of that group is surely the worst and as a result best candidate to replace the Dreamcast.

Agreed on the point mentioning the Phantom, as in why bother including it. I too was reminded again of Indrema...
Another general publication list of meh.

[FinalLapTwin]

If the 3DO, CDI, and Dreamcast are failures why are the systems and games holding their value?

[ScourDX]

No Amiga CD? Man those guys don't know jack.

[pepharytheworm]

Is it sad that I actually like all those systems? I am really surprised at Jaguar not being on the list as it usually on every top ten worst lists.

[Steve W]

I think they put these consoles on the list because of their potential. Other than the Laseractive, all of them had the potential to change the way we play games, but for some reason they never took root and gained a foothold. The Atari Jaguar or 5200 were almost doomed from the start because of the management of the company at the time. But think about the N-Gage. Everybody plays games on their phones now. But Nokia leapt in earlier than everyone else and didn't plan their strategy out that well. A bad unit design (removing the battery to change games?) and a poorly thought out array of old PS1 ports as launch titles damaged its reputation too badly and it never recovered, even with a much improved redesign and some really great software. All the consoles in this list had the same ability to conquer the market if they were utilized properly, but they never took off.

I can see why all of these consoles are on the list, other than the Laseractive. Unless they were taking into account having an all-in-one entertainment experience, with a box than can play games and high quality movie playback. It wasn't until the PS2 came out that any console really reached that potential.

[diskoboy]

Laseractive had huge potential.

Unfortunately, it was just a victim of bad timing and an unreasonable price tag - it basically came out at the tail end of the Genesis' shelf life. The price tag for the TG and Sega CD add ons were $600 - damn near the half price of the laseractive, itself. And Laserdisc never becoming a widespread format didn't help much, either.

If Pioneer designed the LD player to read Genesis/TG-16 CD-ROM's out of the box, instead of having to buy a seperate add on, they might have stood a chance in the upscale market.

And what's with Crazy Taxi supposedly being the best Dreamcast game? Ask most people, and they'll either say NFL2K1, Soul Calibur, Jet Grind Radio, or Shenmue. Crazy Taxi was good, but not the best. Even CT2 was better than the original! I'm even more shocked that the Jaguar didn't make the list.

[Steve W]

Actually, I want to know where the guy from the Laseractive YouTube video is located. The games and laserdiscs he's got has price tags that look like they're from either the Vintage Stock chain or the Movie Trading Company.

[Leo_A]

The title is "Top 10 Failed Gaming Consoles", not "Top 10 Worst Gaming Consoles".

I'm not sure why the fanboys are getting so upset. Something like the Dreamcast didn't even come close to reaching the potential it had. Where as something like the Jaguar didn't really have much potential due to various circumstances that were working against it from the start for many reasons. The Jaguar did as good or better then pretty much anyone ever expected, so I don't think it would be appropriate to include it in a list of the biggest failures.

And the Atari 5200 and Atari Lynx don't deserve to be on there. The Atari 5200 was a console version of a computer that had been on the market for several years and was largely intended as a stopgap measure to bridge the gap between the 2600 and a true next generation console, which it did pretty well.

And the Lynx was successful for several years. had a solid software library, and was well recieved. It did better then it probably ever deserved to due to having to go up against Nintendo with it's new GameBoy after the massive success they had enjoyed in the console marketplace beforehand.

"If the 3DO, CDI, and Dreamcast are failures why are the systems and games holding their value?"

What does holding their value have to do with anything? And you don't think the Dreamcast was a failure? It had a good two year or so commercial run. You thought it achieved everything it was capable of and fully realized it's potential during that time period?

I'd like to think it didn't, which would mean I'd consider it's commercial run as having been a failure (Although the console and the games released for it were great).

I'd have to disagree about the inclusion of the NeoGeo. It was intended as a niche product to begin with and succeeded very well in that niche with game development lasting for a long time. It was never intended to compete with the same marketplace purchasing things like the SuperNes and PSOne, so the fact that it didn't is no reflection of it's success.

[Gameguy]

Actually, I want to know where the guy from the Laseractive YouTube video is located. The games and laserdiscs he's got has price tags that look like they're from either the Vintage Stock chain or the Movie Trading Company.

I checked his youtube page, he's from the Phoenix Area.

[Steve W]

I checked his youtube page, he's from the Phoenix Area.

I looked that up too, there aren't any Vintage Stocks or Movie Trading Company stores there. Maybe he bought those games and laserdiscs on a trip to Oklahoma?

[Famidrive-16]

Not a bad list really, even if the NeoGeo inclusion is debatable.

Now, NeoGeo CD on the other hand...

[FinalLapTwin]

I have an Action Max and it's not holding value like 3D0 or Dreamcast. So just wondering what is considered a failure?

[Rob2600]

http://techland.com/2010/11/04/top-1...nsoles/?hpt=C2

I call BS on the Neo Geo and the Dreamcast.

I worked at Electronics Boutique in northern NJ at the time. After the PlayStation 2 came out, the Dreamcast was dead. I remember early 2001, people would come into my store asking for the PlayStation 2 and I'd tell them we haven't had any in stock for weeks. Then, I'd show them the Dreamcast which cost *one-third* the price, but they'd insist on waiting for a PlayStation 2.

When a $300 product is outselling a $99 product of equal quality by a ratio of 10-to-1, then that's a failure.

[diskoboy]

I worked at Electronics Boutique in northern NJ at the time. After the PlayStation 2 came out, the Dreamcast was dead. I remember early 2001, people would come into my store asking for the PlayStation 2 and I'd tell them we haven't had any in stock for weeks. Then, I'd show them the Dreamcast which cost *one-third* the price, but they'd insist on waiting for a PlayStation 2.

In a way, this is true...

I literally started my job at a Babbages the day the PS2 was released (my training day was NOT fun, say the least...). We couldn't sell any shipment of PS2's we got, until everyone that pre-ordered one got theirs. So basically, it wasn't until about April we finally started selling PS2's as we got them in.

During that time, we tried to push the DC as a cheaper alternative. No one was having it.

I still say that even thought the DC struggled with the PS2's popularity for several months after it's release, it still had a few good years left in it. There were many games planned that were eventually cancelled that would've given the DC some attention, again. Rez, Half-Life, and Shenmue 2 being prime examples. Like Bally did with pinball, Sega pulled out of the market prematurely.