Ever since the death of the original Dreamcast, there have been rumblings of a Dreamcast 2. These would have seemed to been officially put to rest with Sega going exclusively third party as a developer, but gamers have kept the fire flamed. Why? Despite the implosion that was the Dreamcast, many still regard it fondly as one of the best systems made to date.

The Dreamcast 2 rumblings were started up again last August when Sega filed papers with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to extend their trademark over the Dreamcast name. One argument is that Sega was simply doing this to extend their control over a brand name they had invested heavily in. Still, why should Sega care at all? It isn’t like they’re still marketing anything under the Dreamcast banner. Of course, there’s always a chance they might re-release some classic Dreamcast titles under some Dreamcast Greats Hits name, but why wait this long to do so?

This has sparked interest among fans who believe Sega could be readying a Dreamcast 2. Still, could a company abandon hardware for this long and make a return? Atari certainly tried. Their Lynx handheld and Jaguar home console were at best valiant attempts to recapture their lost glory, though neither ever rose above being a niche product. Pile on top of all this that Sega’s original partner for the Dreamcast, Microsoft, has now entered the market themselves with the Xbox. It doesn’t seem likely that the Dreamcast could resurface. (more…)

Posted by Justin | 1 Comment »

For several years now rumors have been flying about that Apple was going to enter the gaming market with their clever design in tow. Rumors have circulated from an easy development platform within OSX, to a portable iPod/Gameboy hybrid, to a full on home console you’d connect to your TV. So far, none of these systems have materialized, though Apple has seemed to at least invite game developers to the Mac party, and the iPod has seen its share of casual titles ported to it.

But what if? What if Apple entered the gaming market with the some ferocity that Microsoft did, and now one generation later is a serious contender? What if Apple decided Apple TV wasn’t enough of a force in the living room, and they threw their considerable weight into the gaming market? What if we could see that system today?

Of course, much of the appeal originally of an Apple designed console was to be the intuitive interface and the simple, elegant design of the console itself. Well, Nintendo did that with the Wii…sort of. While the Wii’s startup interface is quite the departure from the Xbox 360 and PS3, it’s also not quite as elegant as the best Apple designs. For instance, the Wii’s photo channel lacks the smoothness we could expect from an Apple developed project, which would also likely include integration with Flickr, Picasa, and iPhoto. While the Wii’s Opera based web browser is a nice touch, it certainly lacks what we’d expect from a full implementation of Safari, such as on the iPhone. Along with a more robust web browser one could expect better integration with YouTube and iTunes, a la Apple TV. (more…)

Posted by Justin | 2 Comments »