For my business ( and for my own anticipation at the time as well ) 1995 were the real console war years between an established player ( Sega ) and the new upstart on the video game block ( Sony ) with two next gen consoles Saturn and Playstation respectively.
May 1995-Sega/Saturn
Released in May of 1995, ahead of it’s supposed announced release, in order to be the first to market, and also carrying a high price tag ($399) which Sega felt targeted gamers who absolutely had to have the console first and could afford the higher price point ( Sony’s Playstation would later retail for $100 dollars less ) Sega fired the first shots of the 32 bit console wars, I remember walking into my local EB ( Electronics Boutique for the uninitiated ) and looking at the Saturn and my first thought’s were about nthe console’s size… up to this point the average console was pretty compact, and lightweight, and the Saturn was none of those things, and it’s price tag was not very appealing either ( this would be an advantage for my gaming rental business ) but…..ohhhhhhhhhhhh……..the games!!!!!
Clockwork Knight, Panzer Dragoon, Daytona USA, and Virtua Fighter, were some of the first games to come out for the system and these games really showed the power of this console.
They looked great, they played well, and I was in videogame heaven!
The only real regret I had about the console was the fact that there really was not a great ” Sonic The Hedgehog ” game for it.
Ultimately, the real problem for Sega, was their’s console’s chip design.
Two main processors, along with six other processors, made the Saturn a problem child for most third party developers, and thus third party support lagged for some time for the Saturn.
This would be the first of several mistakes and miscalculations on the part of Sega, and would eventually ( several years later ) lead to Sega’s bowing out of the console wars as a console developer and becoming strictly a software developer.
Ironically, several years later, Sega would have it’s mascot, Sonic available to play on the Playstation Two ( which I own and occasionally enjoy playing ) and in 2006 for the XBox 360, and again in 2007 for Sony’s own Playstation3
Wednesday it’s Sony’s side of the story.
[...] online community. The best part is … it’s all 100% free! Check them out here: Join Hey Nielsen! Sega vs Sony…The Console Wars…I Was There!/ Se… saved by 1 others molanda555 bookmarked on 01/09/08 | [...]