In what ways are the Sega Dreamcast better than the Sony Playstation 2? Apparently, the Sega Dreamcast is stronger than the Sony Playstation 2 in some ways, but in which ways is it stronger?
The first biggest thing in Sega Dreamcast's favor was that it came out 16 months before PS2. It was also $100 cheaper upon release, than the PS2.
From a development standpoint, the Sega Dreamcast was a much much MUCH easier platform to develop on, right out of the box. It's still a popular platform for homebrew game developers, beacuse it's a developer-friendly platform.
The PS2 was a much more difficult platform to develop on (especially compared to it's predecessor, the PSOne) for a long time, until Sony APIs and 3rd party development platforms started improving.
Sega's licensing policies and fees were also a lot more relaxed than Sony. However, Sony's PSOne was such a great success, that Sony was able to keep stronger 3rd party support than Sega, which resulted in a smaller library of games on Dreamcast. Sony had a larger marketing budget, and an already strong distribution channel. Sega's distribution was weak after Sega Saturn floundered for years in North America. Sony also had more influence over retailers, and was able to secure more shelf space for PS2 games (which became neccesary as their software library outpaced the Dreamcast 5:1).
Having worked on several projects both platforms, I can say that the PS2 did have a definite technological edge on the Dreamcast. It wasn't a monstrously huge difference, and one that should be expected considering the 16 month age difference and retail price difference (DC was $200 at launch, and PS2 was $300 at launch) between the two systems. Still, the PS2 was clearly a more powerful console, which is why it remained viable for 7 years, as of next March.
From a sheer number standpoint, here are the tehcnical differences:
Dreamcast CPU – 200 Mhz
PS2 CPU – 294 MHz (+ closely connected to system RAM)
Dreamcast GPU – 7.0 Million raw polygons/second
PS2 GPU – approx 20~50 Million ray polygons/second (debatable)
Dreamcast RAM & VRAM: 16MB & 8MB (100Mhz)
PS2 Ram & VRAM: 38MB shared (800MHz)
NOTE: I'm pulling these figures from memory, so they may not be exact, but should be close enough to illustrate the differences.
The Dreamcast was what it was, a less expensive and developer-friendly console that came out in 1999. The PS2 was a more expensive, and newer console. Even though they're part of the same generation (6th generation), they – as well as the anomalous Nintendo Gamecube and the late-breaking Xbox – are all pretty different platforms in many regards.
It's a lot like 7th generation of consoles… Xbox 360 is a modestly-powerful and lower-cost console that's very VERY easy to develop on. PS3 is technologically almost a whole generation ahead of itself, very expensive, and nearly impossible to develop on. And the Wii is a friendly anomaly, manufactured by Nintendo, who marches to a different drummer.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
The Sega Dreamcast was ahead of it's time and had the potential to go head on with PS2. The public was just not ready for another console when the Dreamcast was released. The Dreamcast does not have any true advantages.
References :
May 29th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
the 2k franchise was awsome and exclusive
References :
May 29th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Sega Dreamcast's graphics were actually about just as good if not slighly better then PS2's but it wasnt graphics that determined the winner.
You see PS2 had HUGE hype before dreamcast's release and the buzz went around that PS2 was the real next gen systems supposedly aeons ahead on Dreamcast (Which wasnt true buy sony was cramming this image into the minds of gamers). The Dreamcast had potential and the so called thought advantage of being first turned out to be their disadvantage. Could DC compete with PS2's HUGE support. Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X. I think that Sega underestimated the competion severly which lead to their demise…
GET THIS Final Fantasy 8 was released the same day as Dreamcast. Square-Enix never supported DC, EA never supported EA. Whats the lesson to be learned here?
Superior graphics are nice and all but they dont make or break the competition its the support that matters. Who gets the exclusives and who can generate the most hype and publicity and Sony did this the best.
Question is… Can it keep up? Possibly…
References :
May 29th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
The first biggest thing in Sega Dreamcast's favor was that it came out 16 months before PS2. It was also $100 cheaper upon release, than the PS2.
From a development standpoint, the Sega Dreamcast was a much much MUCH easier platform to develop on, right out of the box. It's still a popular platform for homebrew game developers, beacuse it's a developer-friendly platform.
The PS2 was a much more difficult platform to develop on (especially compared to it's predecessor, the PSOne) for a long time, until Sony APIs and 3rd party development platforms started improving.
Sega's licensing policies and fees were also a lot more relaxed than Sony. However, Sony's PSOne was such a great success, that Sony was able to keep stronger 3rd party support than Sega, which resulted in a smaller library of games on Dreamcast. Sony had a larger marketing budget, and an already strong distribution channel. Sega's distribution was weak after Sega Saturn floundered for years in North America. Sony also had more influence over retailers, and was able to secure more shelf space for PS2 games (which became neccesary as their software library outpaced the Dreamcast 5:1).
Having worked on several projects both platforms, I can say that the PS2 did have a definite technological edge on the Dreamcast. It wasn't a monstrously huge difference, and one that should be expected considering the 16 month age difference and retail price difference (DC was $200 at launch, and PS2 was $300 at launch) between the two systems. Still, the PS2 was clearly a more powerful console, which is why it remained viable for 7 years, as of next March.
From a sheer number standpoint, here are the tehcnical differences:
Dreamcast CPU – 200 Mhz
PS2 CPU – 294 MHz (+ closely connected to system RAM)
Dreamcast GPU – 7.0 Million raw polygons/second
PS2 GPU – approx 20~50 Million ray polygons/second (debatable)
Dreamcast RAM & VRAM: 16MB & 8MB (100Mhz)
PS2 Ram & VRAM: 38MB shared (800MHz)
NOTE: I'm pulling these figures from memory, so they may not be exact, but should be close enough to illustrate the differences.
The Dreamcast was what it was, a less expensive and developer-friendly console that came out in 1999. The PS2 was a more expensive, and newer console. Even though they're part of the same generation (6th generation), they – as well as the anomalous Nintendo Gamecube and the late-breaking Xbox – are all pretty different platforms in many regards.
It's a lot like 7th generation of consoles… Xbox 360 is a modestly-powerful and lower-cost console that's very VERY easy to develop on. PS3 is technologically almost a whole generation ahead of itself, very expensive, and nearly impossible to develop on. And the Wii is a friendly anomaly, manufactured by Nintendo, who marches to a different drummer.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Dreamcast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_sixth-generation_game_consoles