System Conflict

Continued

Recent History

t was somewhat a different story in the next round that happened in the mid-90's. Sega first released the Saturn but Sony followed with the Playstation. The difference between their release dates was negligible. Third party developers favored the Playstation because it was slightly better in terms of 3-d graphics and easier to program for than the dual-processor Saturn. Thus Sony quickly overtook Sega.

Nintendo more than a year later released the technically superior Nintendo 64. Third parties stayed with Sony because it had a much larger installed base. Other companies like Square (makers of the Final Fantasy series) switched from Nintendo because of their cartridge-based console, which was more expensive to develop for.

Nintendo also continued to target a younger audience with Mario and Pokemon. Only when it was too late did they make more mature games like Perfect Dark. Thus Sony completely took over the market.

Here in the country, the Playstation became probably the most popular console ever because of the abundance and affordability of its games courtesy of friends led by Capt. Hook, Long John Silver and other pirates.

Sega later released its Dreamcast. They introduced something new to consoles: online multiplayer capability. Coupled with its great graphics and groundbreaking games like Shenmue, it became quite popular for a time in the US.

But the hype generated by the upcoming PS2 made gamers wait. Thus the Dreamcast never enjoyed the success it deserved.

<< Previous Page Next Page >>