Sega Dreamcast | released in 1998 to 2001 | CPU: 200 MHz Hitachi SH4 RISC MEMORY: 16 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM for the GPU GRAPHICS: 100 MHz PowerVR2 CLX2 GPU, 7 million polygons/second, trilinear filtering, gouraud shading, z-buffering, spatial anti-aliasing, per-pixel translucency sorting, bump mapping. 24bit Palette of 16.7M colors, displaying interlaced or progressive scan video at 640x480 resolution. SOUND: Yamaha AICA Sound Processor with a 32bit ARM7 RISC CPU @ 45 MHz, 64 channel PCM/ADPCM sampler, XG MIDI, 128 step DSP. MEDIA/STORAGE: 12x CD-ROM, 1.2 GB GD-ROM, VMU, Nexus Memory Card
| Dreamcast was the successor of the Sega Saturn video-game console. It was the first 128bit console, from one of the big three console manufacturers, featuring the first built-in online capabilities (the online servers were run by SegaNet, Dreamarena, and GameSpy networks), and boasting a launch lineup of big-name titles such as Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, Soul Calibur, and Marvel vs. Capcom. Sales of 500,000 units in its first two weeks led to hardware shortages, and several magazines heralded the Dreamcast as one of the best products of the year (1998). Despite its short lifespan (1998 to 2001), the Dreamcast was widely hailed as ahead of its time until, just six months later, when Sony PlayStation 2 came and dominate the market (and a year later, along with the Microsoft XBOX 1). The Dreamcast couldn not compete with the power of the PlayStation (and later, Microsoft) brand, as the new machine from Sony (with its built-in DVD player) began a journey that would eventually see sales of 150 million consoles. In contrast, the Dreamcast managed to sell just over 8 million sales during its short lifetime. | |
| 24bit RGB 16,7 million-color palette (all on screen) | |
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