Andir said:
Here I though the Dreamcast had it first... Yeah, it was an add-on, but it was console online play. Even if we ignore this, the PS2 supported it and it came out before the XBox. I'd say the 6th gen was pretty close to saturation (besides Nintendo.) |
DC had it first, but it never really stuck out enough to save it from the PS2's marketing wrath.
Microsoft imitated it and made it the selling point of the console.
When Microsoft whooped out XBox Live, Sony and Nintendo weren't prepared, at all. Sony said "um...we made some modems?" tossed Twisted Metal Online and ran for the hills, never to touch it again. Nintendo flat out said it wasn't profitable (yet) but they'll release some modems anyway. The real difference was how Microsoft footed the bill for the servers, which was a huge upkeep cost for publishers. So they lept aboard the XBox, talked about how awesome online service was, and Sony/Nintendo were forced to imitate the new feature.
It's another example of the true innovator (Sega) unable to utilize their unique strengths before the big guy (Microsoft) took credit. I apologize.
There is no such thing as a console war. This is the first step to game design.
