Word: sega
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Video games are for kids. Teenagers maybe. Right? But harried parents don't want to waste time sitting slack-jawed in front of Donkey Kong, Super Mario or even Gran Turismo. Wrong. After 20 minutes with NFL 2K, the premier game for Sega's new Dreamcast machine, I'm a convert. The football experience is totally realistic. It's almost like being there, right down to the touchdown two-steps and the frosty breath streaming from players' mouths (that is, if you've picked the Vikings and Rams to battle it out in a Minnesota blizzard). Uniforms get dirtier, players...
That, of course, is Sega's game plan. Launched in a $100 million marketing blitz last week in the U.S., Dreamcast is the first in a succession of machines that promise to bring real computing power for all the family to use. The graphics are far more realistic than those of even the best PC software on the market today and just about as textured as television. And while certainly designed for games, Sega's new consoles are capable of electronic wizardry that should turn even game-playing agnostics into believers. Dreamcast, for instance, comes equipped with a 56K modem...
PlayStation purists have already turned up their noses at Dreamcast. They claim that PlayStation II--Sony's next-generation console, expected in the fall of 2000--will blow it out of the water. So why bet a couple of hundred bucks on a minor-league player like Sega? Dreamcast, however, has a 12-month head start on PlayStation II. Past experience in the console market suggests that quality ultimately matters less than the ability to build up a loyal base of customers. So I resolved to give Dreamcast a chance...
Good thing I did. Dreamcast can be, well, a dream: in graphics, sound and especially speed, it's a quantum leap ahead of the 64-bit consoles. If anything, it may be a little too brisk. Take Sonic Adventure, a revamped version of that Sega classic Sonic the Hedgehog, which the company is marketing as the quintessential Dreamcast game. The visuals are 3-Delicious--Sonic's footprints appear in the sand as he zooms by, while the sun glints in the lens just as it should. But dismal attempts at midair loop-the-loops left me cursing at controls that...
...have design flaws. The controller isn't as comfortable as Sony's or Nintendo's, for one. The connecting wire comes out player-side rather than console-side, which can be irksome if you do happen to have a couch and want to sit on it while playing. But Sega's machine passes the all-important test: it's a blast to play with your buddies. Just ask my girlfriend, who spent hours testing the Dreamcast version of Mortal Kombat with me--and dished out a thorough whupping. Man magnet? More like man trap...