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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Dreamcast vs Original Xbox

 

I prefer...

Dreamcast 45 51.14%
 
Original Xbox 43 48.86%
 
Total:88
Pemalite said:
Cerebralbore101 said:
Never owned a Dreamcast, but Dreamcast. It was the first online console, and the first console with an MMORPG. Lots of unique gems on that system that eventually got ported to other systems. I played a few, so that's how I know how good the system was.

Apple Pippin beats the Dreamcast with online connectivity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bandai_Pippin

The Atari 2600 also had the "GameLine" cart adapter which allowed the Atari 2600 access to the internet,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameLine

Intellivision also had the PlayCable from back in 1980 which brought online access to that console.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayCable

You also had the Famicom also had a dial-up modem attachment as well and used the Family Computer Network System by Nintendo... Again. Predates the Dreamcast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Computer_Network_System

Sega Channel also existed for the Genesis... And so much more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel

There was also a 3rd party service called XBAND which allowed the SNES/Genesis to do online multiplayer gaming.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND

Sega wasn't the first console to have online internet access, but it was one of the first semi-decent (For dial-up!) implementations until Microsoft perfected it with the Original Xbox (Broadband LAN only) and set-up the model that all other console manufacturers emulate to various degrees.


I knew about Sega Channel, but not the others. I forgot that online can also mean internet access, or downloading games, in addition to multiplayer. I still think Dreamcast's online is noteworthy. All you had to do was buy an online compatible game, and a Dreamcast, in order to do online multiplayer with others. All those other things you mentioned had accessories to buy, or sold under 1 million lifetime sales. 

Same thing with how the Wii's motion controls were noteworthy, even though multiple devices (powerglove, genesis activator) had attempted it before. 



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Dreamcast wins this one. The only games I was interested in on Xbox were Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black. Dreamcast had a more interesting library. The PS2 and Gamecube were miles ahead of either system in terms of games though.



This thread made me do a bunch of research on Dreamcast, and OG Xbox games. I'm sorry, but I stand corrected. OG Xbox is just better. Hell, it's even better than GC, and as a Nintendo fan that's hard for me to admit. This guy's video sums up just how good the OG Xbox library was back in the day. He has some real stinkers in there, but his thoroughness is much appreciated. I didn't know From Software did two hack n' Slash games on the OG Xbox! And they both had pretty good reviews to boot!

Halo
Halo 2
Otogi
Otogi 2
Munch's Odyssey
Stranger's Wrath
Mech Assault
Mech Assault 2
JSRF
KotOR
KotOR II
Morrowwind
Jade Empire
Half Life 2
Steel Battalion
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Shenmue
Shenmue 2
Ninja Gaiden
Conker Live and Reloaded
Fable
Crimson Skies
Thief Deadly Shadows

Add in multiple racing titles, as well as the ability to play lots of multiplats online, when GC and PS2 couldn't. OG Xbox also had the best controller of its generation. 



Fairly close race so far.

Though it hurts my heart to vote against the Dreamcast, I really have to go with Xbox on this; Halo 1/2, Star Wars Battlefront, and Panzer Dragoon Orta were among my favourite games of the 6th gen, and give Xbox the winning edge.



Pemalite said:

From a graphics/horsepower perspective, the Original Xbox was the most powerful console of it's generation and was giving the console gaming world a small taste of programmable pixel shading that would become defacto during the 7th gen.

Often I hear that the OG Xbox is the "Spiritual Successor" to Dreamcast, but find that to be pretty far removed, they are IP's that are owned by completely different companies even to this day.

From a hardware perspective...
Xbox used: Intel x86 processor, nVidia Geforce 3 Hybrid GPU, Mechanical HDD, 64MB of RAM.
Dreamcast used: Hitachi MIPS CPU, PowerVR, 26MB of various memory pools of RAM.

Completely different.

The OS side gets a little more interesting, Dreamcast used Windows CE Kernel, but most games actually didn't use it, they relied on Sega's software stacks instead due to performance/feature reasons, however Windows CE is based on a fork of the NT Kernel... But the underlying OS principles are very different to the Xbox Operating Systems. - Windows CE is a very modular/compartmentalized operating system.

On the OG Xbox Microsoft customized the NT5 (Aka. Windows 2000) kernel for the OG Xbox, they essentially took the NT5 kernel and stripped it as far back as possible to make it as lean and efficient as possible, it doesn't even have a registry for example.

It would be no different than saying the Playstation 4 is the spiritual successor to an Apple Mac or an Android Phone because despite the hardware sets being chalk and cheese, they are all derived from a fork of *Nix.

In regards to games, that is entirely down to personal taste, I haven't played many of Sega's games so I can't give critique there, but I did enjoy Fable and Halo o the OG Xbox back in the day.

well actually a lot of games used CE kernell a lot in fact, and it run extremely worse 

watch the video until the end , and you are correct  Xbox is separate entity but not fully correct either, because many Dreamcast fans consider Xbox as the spiritual successor to Dreamcast and Sega wanted Xbox as their partner . Another prove is a lot Sega fans immigrate to Xbox and most of Sega fans are Xbox and Microsoft fans. Hell even the controler took idea from Sega Dreamcast, memory card VMU, etc etc. Xbox Arcade Live inspired by Sega Arcade, etc etc. And don't forget Peter More from Sega that help Xbox 360 to be recognized as a direct competitor to PS3. 



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Original Xbox >>>>>> Dreamcast

MS redefined gaming with the original Xbox. Games like Halo, TES Morrowind, Kotor and Fable would never have come to consoles without Xbox. The games I mentioned were far better than pretty much anything the Dreamcast offered (except Shenmue). I have always seen Dreamcast as an overrated platform. It's mostly remembered by the sad death it had and by representing the end of an era in gaming.



zumnupy10 said:
Original Xbox >>>>>> Dreamcast

MS redefined gaming with the original Xbox. Games like Halo, TES Morrowind, Kotor and Fable would never have come to consoles without Xbox. The games I mentioned were far better than pretty much anything the Dreamcast offered (except Shenmue). I have always seen Dreamcast as an overrated platform. It's mostly remembered by the sad death it had and by representing the end of an era in gaming.

Disagree on the overrated part although I see Xbox as the better platform DC is remembered for being ahead of its time that's why its death was so significant in gaming, a case point is how Xbox is seen as a spiritual successor to DC as it did what the latter did only better starting with the more cleaner online set up. On software DC lacks mainly in quantity but not really quality for example DC had the best versions of 2D fighters like MVC, MVC2, SF3 Third Strike, CVS, CVS2 and even on the 3D fighter front it had DOA2, Soul Calibur, Ready 2 Rumble and VF3 other case points in the library no platform had games like PSO, Jet Set Radio, Power Stone, Shenmue etc...

Another thing is some of Xbox's traits and even a few IPs were derived from the DC for example we mentioned online which Xbox executed well and pushed with the likes of Halo 2 but don't forget DC had Quake 3 online with cross platform support with PC before that and MSR is not only the precursor to Project Gotham it's the same team.



Pemalite said:

From a graphics/horsepower perspective, the Original Xbox was the most powerful console of it's generation and was giving the console gaming world a small taste of programmable pixel shading that would become defacto during the 7th gen.

Often I hear that the OG Xbox is the "Spiritual Successor" to Dreamcast, but find that to be pretty far removed, they are IP's that are owned by completely different companies even to this day.

From a hardware perspective...
Xbox used: Intel x86 processor, nVidia Geforce 3 Hybrid GPU, Mechanical HDD, 64MB of RAM.
Dreamcast used: Hitachi MIPS CPU, PowerVR, 26MB of various memory pools of RAM.

Completely different.

The OS side gets a little more interesting, Dreamcast used Windows CE Kernel, but most games actually didn't use it, they relied on Sega's software stacks instead due to performance/feature reasons, however Windows CE is based on a fork of the NT Kernel... But the underlying OS principles are very different to the Xbox Operating Systems. - Windows CE is a very modular/compartmentalized operating system.

On the OG Xbox Microsoft customized the NT5 (Aka. Windows 2000) kernel for the OG Xbox, they essentially took the NT5 kernel and stripped it as far back as possible to make it as lean and efficient as possible, it doesn't even have a registry for example.

It would be no different than saying the Playstation 4 is the spiritual successor to an Apple Mac or an Android Phone because despite the hardware sets being chalk and cheese, they are all derived from a fork of *Nix.

In regards to games, that is entirely down to personal taste, I haven't played many of Sega's games so I can't give critique there, but I did enjoy Fable and Halo o the OG Xbox back in the day.

The reason people consider the Xbox a spiritual successor has nothing to do with hardware and everything to do with software.

Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi 3, Shenmue 2, The House of the Dead 3, etc. all of these games were synonymous with Sega hardware. Xbox received exclusive sequels to these franchises. It is just in addition to that, Microsoft also worked with Sega to develop the Dreamcasts OS (which is likely where they started their relationship)



I liked the Dreamcast more but X box did have Crimson Skies. I also enjoyed playing local deathmatch with friends on Halo 1.



For me it is OG Xbox over Dreamcast, but that might be based upon the library I owned.

For Dreamcast I had: Sonic Adventure, Dead or Alive 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Evolution: The World of Sacred Device, Soul Reaver, Grand Theft Auto 2, Virtual ON Rainbow Six, and Slave Zero.

For the Xbox I had: Halo 1, Halo 2, Crimson Skies, Fable: Lost Chapters, Breakdown, Blinx: Time Sweeper, Mechassault 2, Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Morrowind, Ninja Gaiden Black, Jet Set Radio, Sega GT, and maybe a few others I've forgotten.

Not to mention that the Xbox hardware was far more powerful, and has a lot of feature sets that we take for granted now.