Worst console you ever owned?

noodler · 07-06-2013 11:16AM

I never owned a Dreamcast but I have to say none of the games I know about ever interested me.

Does the fact the gaming library was so small, due to the system's early death, not kind of legitimately add to any argument that it wasn't all that great?

By all accounts, it was technically a great machine but so was the PS3 in its infant years but if the catalogue hadn't improved significantly then people would not have been very forgiving about it!

*Ends controversial post*

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 11:35AM

If someone thinks the Dreamcast is a bad machine, they just don't know enough about the machine to make that judgement.

The games library is far from small. Just lots of the games most European gamers wouldn't have heard of.

Myrddin · 07-06-2013 11:36AM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

FYP

Ah cmon, that's like saying how do you know dog sh1te doesn't taste good if you've never tasted it

Some things in life are perfectly safe to assume, cd-i muckness is one of them, dog sh1te another

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 11:38AM

EnterNow wrote: »

Ah cmon, that's like saying how do you know dog sh1te doesn't taste good if you've never tasted it Some things in life are perfectly safe to assume, cd-i muckness is one of them, dog sh1te another

I can confirm that Retr0 was talking out of his hole when defending the Zelda CDi games :pac:. I wanted to gouge my eyes out after the first one. Then he made me play another!

Still trying to get over that so I am.

MrVestek · 07-06-2013 11:40AM

noodler wrote: »

I never owned a Dreamcast but I have to say none of the games I know about ever interested me.

Does the fact the gaming library was so small, due to the system's early death, not kind of legitimately add to any argument that it wasn't all that great?

By all accounts, it was technically a great machine but so was the PS3 in its infant years but if the catalogue hadn't improved significantly then people would not have been very forgiving about it!

*Ends controversial post*

Small games library? It has a pretty impressive library for a console that was only in the market for two years.

Did you play it much at the time that it was released or are you just looking back on it with 2013 eyes?

The console innovated in so many ways back in the day and kinda shaped the way things went going forward. If there was no Dreamcast the Xbox 360 as you know it today would not exist.

Retr0gamer · 07-06-2013 12:12PM

noodler wrote: »

I never owned a Dreamcast but I have to say none of the games I know about ever interested me.

Does the fact the gaming library was so small, due to the system's early death, not kind of legitimately add to any argument that it wasn't all that great?

By all accounts, it was technically a great machine but so was the PS3 in its infant years but if the catalogue hadn't improved significantly then people would not have been very forgiving about it!

*Ends controversial post*

It might have lasted only 18 months but for a few of those months it had more games being released on it per month than any other console ever. For a console that lasted only 18 months it had an awful lot of cracking games on it. There is absolutely no way it can be called a bad machine.

If what you are saying is true then the Neo Geo Pocket which had a library of about 70 games would be terrible as well. It doesn't matter how many games are on a system, all that matters is how many good ones are on it and in the case of the Dreamcast I'd put it ahead of many consoles that had much longer lifespans such as the original XBox.

LoGiE · 07-06-2013 12:40PM

I was talking to a mate yesterday over a pint and he told me his family had bought him and his siblings an Amstrad GX4000. I recall seeing one in Peats and Cleary's but have never actually played one before.

He swears it was worst console he's ever owned but then again the Mega drive had just arrived so that may have had rather large impact! Anyone here owned one?

Retr0gamer · 07-06-2013 12:59PM

It's a good candidate for the title. It had **** all games on it and what was there were just Amstrad games you could buy on tape for £3.

penev10 · 07-06-2013 01:10PM

Dreamcast and Gamecube are tragically underappreciated consoles.

If the PS2 wasn't the cheapest DVD player at the time it would've had more competition from the DC imo. I remember it was about a year after the PS2's release and there were feck all games for it whilst the DC had an amazing line-up - Soul Calibur, Quake 3, MSR, Hidden and Dangerous, RE:CV, Virtua Tennis.... but yet the PS2 was selling!

My least favourite consoles are the GBA and PSP. The GBA just didn't deliver until the SP revision and the PSP left it too late for any decent games to come out for it and even then a lot never made it to an EU release.

kerinethan · 07-06-2013 01:11PM

GameCube

Myrddin · 07-06-2013 01:12PM

kerinethan wrote: »

GameCube

I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten.

Retr0gamer · 07-06-2013 01:33PM

penev10 wrote: »

If the PS2 wasn't the cheapest DVD player at the time it would've had more competition from the DC imo.

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it. Sure a handful of people probably bought it for the DVD player but it was a tiny amount. It was all about the brand name and games and the DC just didn't have a chance in that regard. When the PS2 was launched DVD wasn't really taking off, people were happy with VHS. It was the PS2 bringing DVD into the household that made DVD take off, especially in Japan. People bought the machine for the PS brand name and the promise of games like MGS2, the DVD was a nice extra that didn't matter to the vast majority of people.

The Last Bandit · 07-06-2013 01:42PM

LoGiE wrote: »

I was talking to a mate yesterday over a pint and he told me his family had bought him and his siblings an Amstrad GX4000. I recall seeing one in Peats and Cleary's but have never actually played one before.

Ya I got one a few months back (although a I remember on guy in college with me had one).

Its an absolute stinker of a yoke. Console itself looks ok but is poorly designed, the power switch for example doesn't turn off all the power to the console so you switching it off and pulling out the power jack can damaged it !! Hence the big stickers on the box warning you to remove the power adapter from the wall before pulling it from the console.

Controller is one of the worse I've used..

Ok, so they got the timing wrong and released this just as the 16bit era was starting off. But even compared to the NES and SMS the games suck.
Amstrad didn't even have enough faith to produce mask ROMs for the games (all 23 or so of them), they're all on eeproms -which is handy today

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 01:46PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it. Sure a handful of people probably bought it for the DVD player but it was a tiny amount. It was all about the brand name and games and the DC just didn't have a chance in that regard. When the PS2 was launched DVD wasn't really taking off, people were happy with VHS. It was the PS2 bringing DVD into the household that made DVD take off, especially in Japan. People bought the machine for the PS brand name and the promise of games like MGS2, the DVD was a nice extra that didn't matter to the vast majority of people.

You sure about that?

Around that time, loads of people I know bought them because DVD players were clocking in around €200-€300 so it made sense to get a PS2.

I can remember specifically waiting for a PS2 because of the DVD player and not getting a Dreamcast. .

In fact, I remember trying to convince my dad to buy a PS2 but in the end he bought a fancy DVD player

elfy4eva · 07-06-2013 01:50PM

o1s1n wrote: »

You sure about that?

Around that time, loads of people I know bought them because DVD players were clocking in around €200-€300 so it made sense to get a PS2.

I can remember specifically waiting for a PS2 because of the DVD player and not getting a Dreamcast. .

In fact, I remember trying to convince my dad to buy a PS2 but in the end he bought a fancy DVD player

PS2 had some really good hype and marketing. But having a DVD player on top of a new Gen console was definately the icing on the cake for me and my Bro when we bought ours. Made it the centrepiece of entertainment for the house 10 years ago

Retr0gamer · 07-06-2013 01:50PM

Was this around launch or well into it because my recollection of events was that it was the PS2 that drove the demand for DVD and not DVD driving the demand for PS2's.

What I find funny about the PS2 DVD is that it was far and away the worst DVD player on the market since it only output in composite so the increase in picture quality was near negligible

penev10 · 07-06-2013 02:50PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Everyone says that it's the DVD player that sold the PS2 but at the time nobody really cared about it.

I'm only going from anecdotal evidence not any empirical data but at the time the PS2 was rated as the best budget DVD player in all of the technology magazines (Stuff, T3 etc) which surely must've swung a lot of sales it's way.

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 02:56PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Was this around launch or well into it because my recollection of events was that it was the PS2 that drove the demand for DVD and not DVD driving the demand for PS2's.

What I find funny about the PS2 DVD is that it was far and away the worst DVD player on the market since it only output in composite so the increase in picture quality was near negligible

It was definitely around launch as I was originally going to buy a Dreamcast but decided to hold off and wait for the PS2 for the DVD functionality.

Always regret doing that!

elfy4eva · 07-06-2013 02:59PM

o1s1n wrote: »

It was definitely around launch as I was originally going to buy a Dreamcast but decided to hold off and wait for the PS2 for the DVD functionality.

Always regret doing that!

hey hey hey I wont be hearing about any regrets about owning a PS2, I have mine still hooked up to the bedroom telly for DVD's in bed and my PS1/PS2 Games! Still going strong two Red ring Xboxes and a YLOD PS3 later!

Andrew76 · 07-06-2013 03:00PM

Yeah built in DVD player was a factor in buying it for me also - back then top DVD players were silly money (to me anyway) and I wasn't at all anal about the quality of the dvd output - the fact it played them was enough for me. Even bought the snazzy PS2 remote also.

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 03:06PM

elfy4eva wrote: »

hey hey hey I wont be hearing about any regrets about owning a PS2, I have mine still hooked up to the bedroom telly for DVD's in bed and my PS1/PS2 Games! Still going strong two Red ring Xboxes and a YLOD PS3 later!

No regrets about owning a PS2 - regrets about not buying a Dreamcast therefore contributing to Sega no longer making consoles

:(

The Last Bandit · 07-06-2013 03:44PM

[Sega HQ Japan - circa 2001]

Damn it, if we had only sold 1 more unit then we could keep the hardware business afloat. Even a lousy PAL sale would do..
Now, anyone find that Panzer code yet ?

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 03:52PM

The Last Bandit wrote: »

[Sega HQ Japan - circa 2001]

Damn it, if we had only sold 1 more unit then we could keep the hardware business afloat. Even a lousy PAL sale would do..
Now, anyone find that Panzer code yet ?

Hahaha! You just know that's exactly how it went down :pac:

Myrddin · 07-06-2013 03:53PM

o1s1n wrote: »

No regrets about owning a PS2 - regrets about not buying a Dreamcast therefore contributing to Sega no longer making consoles :(

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Gotham · 07-06-2013 03:56PM

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 03:57PM

EnterNow wrote: »

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Gotham · 07-06-2013 03:59PM

EnterNow wrote: »

Sega mod contributes to demise of Sega

Sega's demise wasn't the consumers fault.
They made too many consoles with short life spans, developers couldn't trust them and they drifted away from sega platforms for ones that had a longer lifecycle.
It probably started with the 32X. The Sega CD didn't help either.

o1s1n · 07-06-2013 04:00PM

Gotham wrote: »

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

Please tell me you're trolling!

Sin and Punishment 2?
Xenoblade Chronicles?
Mario Galaxy 1 and 2?
Smash Bros Brawl?

You mad bro!

Gotham · 07-06-2013 04:01PM

o1s1n wrote: »

Please tell me you're trolling!

Sin and Punishment 2?
Xenoblade Chronicles?
Mario Galaxy 1 and 2?
Smash Bros Brawl?

You mad bro!

Mario galaxy maybe.
But even then, is a handful of games really worth buying a console over? We're comparing all consoles we owned now.

CiDeRmAn · 07-06-2013 04:01PM

Gotham wrote: »

Probably the Wii.
The only good game on it is Zelda, and it's sub par at that.

Eh, no.
You can see yourself out

The Wii set the standard with the two Mario Galaxy titles.
They also played host to many cracking games, I've been picking them up over the last month or so, not a mini game compilation in there.
There may be complaints about the controller but it was a bold design step and made the machine more accessible to most, opening gaming up to a vast new market.

Worst console you ever owned?

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