???? – 2000retired
64DD
“Arrived late to its own party, brought a clock, and rewrote time anyway”
“It dial-up'd so consoles could broadband.”
Released in 1998 amid the dot-com bubble, the Dreamcast was Sega's big bet on the internet: the first console to include a built-in modem, with online play and connectivity as a core selling point. As hype built for Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega leaned hard into the online pitch. Fans loved that their console wasn't just a game machine — it was a window into the web, years before that was standard.
Sega went beyond its prior online ventures, investing in unified online services and even pioneering downloadable console content, a concept Xbox Live would formalize a few years later. But with mounting losses weighing on the company, Sega retired the online functionality in 2001. What it left behind was a blueprint — the modern connected console owes it a quiet nod of thanks.
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“Arrived late to its own party, brought a clock, and rewrote time anyway”
“Small screen, big joystick, heart of gold — outlived by everyone who played it.”
“160 million homes, one DVD tray, zero regrets.”