Xbox 360 != Dreamcast 2.0, Part 2

In honor of the Xbox 360 launch, I'll finally finish up the last few pieces of this 1UP article which tries to compare the Xbox 360 to the Dreamcast.

16. Exclucive promotional partners leading up to the launch.

Like that never happens with any kind of product. I've gotten a bunch of free iTunes songs from Slurpee's and soda caps. (I actually forgot to redeem some of mine from the last contest...whoops.) It's not like such promotions hurt the consoles any. I don't really remember the one used with the Dreamcast, though.

17. Highly anticipated First Party racing game from Bizarre Creations (Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing 3).

MSR may have been anticipated, but it wasn't really a launch game on the Dreamcast. In Europe it was released in November 2000, and in the United States it wasn't out until January 17, 2001. Hardly inside the launch window. PGR3 is available right now, and was out on shelves a few days before launch. Also, most consoles have "highly anticipated first party" games. That's usually something you want for a launch.

18. Unique selling point: Microphone peripheral.

When the dreamcast came out, I'm pretty sure the microphone wasn't something you could buy until other games like Seaman (including narration by Leonard Nimoy AKA Spock!) and Alien Front Online came out. And now, since the Xbox really made use of online gaming with voice communication, a microphone is hardly a "unique selling point".

19. Software medium [GD-ROM,DVD-9] criticized as having not enough capacity by some developers.

The Dreamcast had a special format disc with about 1 GB of storage, I don't really see how that was annoying developers, since that was larger than standard CD sizes of the time. Sure, it wasn't DVD, the but power of Dreamcast meant more in-game cinematics instead of pre-rendered video cutscenes which took up lots of space. Also, I don't remember buying many multi-disc games for the Dreamcast. Even now with the next-gen consoles, I can't think of many multi-disc games on DVD on the Xbox. Having a standard DVD media for Xbox 360 will also help keep costs down instead of using a newer, more expensive format - that won't be filled to capacity for the first few generations of games.

20. Promises to be an evolutionary system - to someday play [DVDs,HD-DVDs].

I remember hearing for a little while about a DVD add on for the Dreamcast, but by then, I think most people had DVD players in their computers and another one for their television. Of course, playing DVD's was a huge selling point for the PS2, making people feel better about plunking all that money down on a system that didn't have a great launch lineup. Making an Xbox 360 that later plays HD-DVD's is still a long way off, since High Def DVD players have yet to hit the market, and doesn't really make this the same as when the Dreamcast was launched, when DVD players were readily available.

21. Crazy rich bald guy spotted at several promotional events leading up to launch.

Comparing Vern Troyer to J Allard? Come on.

22. Plans to eventually offer larger storage capacity with [a Zip drive, new Hard Drives].

The Dreamcast had adequate storage with VMU's, and the Xbox 360 Premium version (which you'll get if you're thinking straight) comes with a hard drive, and should serve you fine the entire time you have it. Shouldn't be any need for larger drives, but I guess it'd be quite easy to remove and slap another one on there since it connects to the side of the machine.

23. Metal Gear Solid [2, 4] trailer stole much of its next-generation thunder.

Eh. MGS2 trailer was good and did get lots of fanboys to sit around and wait and buy a PS2 at launch, and then sit around letting it gather dust for another year or two until MGS2 came out. I didn't really care for the MGS4 trailer, since it seemed more like a long cutscene than a trailer with good music.

So there ya go, the Xbox 360 is not the next Dreamcast. However, the Dreamcast remains a great console if people bother to take a look at what it brought to the table. Online gaming, multiplayer, great graphics and sound - things that have defined the current- and next-gen consoles. 1UP even went on to give 10 reasons why Xbox 360 will succeed where the Dreamcast stumbled.