Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio Reboot

From what I remember they were already massively in debt after the failure of the Saturn and yeah competing with Sony was bleeding them dry and ultimately when they surprised everyone by revealing the release date of it at E3 WITHOUT telling retailers and partners who were really pissed off, you can see how it was just one fuck up after another. It's crazy that despite selling massively in the States it just wasn't enough and their constant price cuts kept up the bleeding. As you say the older, cooler demographic that Sony were courting was just too strong.

Also didn’t get some key big franchises at the time so was on the back foot. Still probably my favourite console. So much quality. So much variety.

Shame because Sega put out much better sports titles.

It's a pretty mafiosa move from EA tbh, "if you make any sports games we'll pull out and you'll be ruined."

Dicks are the reason MS killed it's sports titles.

Still annoying that they dumped DC compatability last minute on Xbox.

Mmmm, did they? The big change was Sony getting involved. Microsoft were just following their lead and it was a couple of generations before they were competing in any meaningful way. 

I think the biggest issue was simply the marketing.

They spunked a load of money sponsoring Arsenal, and put out TV adverts with Robbie Williams soundtracks but NO footage of any of the games. Sony did experimental advertising at times (hello David Lynch) but mainly focussed on the games, people would get excited - Wipeout, GT, MGS2 and GTA would shift systems, and they were sure to show them off.

I was working at Sega at the time, and remember a mate phoning up when they finally showed some footage. It was the advert for MSR and he was blown away, asking me all about it, but up till then it simply wasn't on his radar.

EA really didn't help. A DVD drive would have been nice, but I think is overly credited as shifting PS2s.

The Dreamcast was amazing. Awesome library, internet enabled (a first), beautiful 480p output, great controllers and peripherals (my arcade sticks are still going strong) and it came out first. But Sony built hype, and made people want (and wait for) the PS2.

Dualshock 1, 2 and 3 were shite - the analogue stick position and deadzone were bloody horrible imo.

Sony only got their pad right from the PS4 onwards.

I'm a huge fan of the GC controller - the 8-way octagonal gate is something I wish was replicated on other controllers. Never had a problem with the button placement either and it felt lovely in the hand. C-Stick and the 'Z' button weren't great, I'll give you that.

Playstation analogue sticks just never did it for me until the PS4 and they're such a huge part of modern gaming.

Way to 'loose', far too close together, convex layout with poor grip and the position should be swapped with the D-Pad. At least they remedied the first three problems for the DS4 onwards.

Very aware that enjoyment of controllers is down to personal preference though!

Hah, I know what you mean. I still remember playing FF7 on the Playstation and being thrown when Circle was used to confirm.

It's strange as I actually wish most manufacturers would do that - my natural resting position of my thumb is on the Circle / A button.

Mmmm them triggers on the GC. That was pleasurable.

I think we already knew about games like Final Fantasy X, Tomb Raider and MGS 2 were also in the works for PS2, but not Dreamcast. Even if it was never officially confirmed, you knew it was already going to be missing out on big titles.

The GC pad's octagonal stick felt great for Smash Bros and Super Monkey Ball, would love a Pro Pad with that feature for the Switch