Moore: Dreamcast was the forerunner for online gaming today

September 9th, 2009, 20:04 Posted By: wraggster

EA Sports president Peter Moore has said he thinks the Dreamcast - 10 years old in the US today - paved the way for modern console internet services.

Writing in a blog post looking back on his time at SEGA ("I trust my employers here at EA will allow me the indulgence of reminiscence and nostalgia"), Moore talked about the famously-lovely dead console's strengths and its demise from his perspective as boss of SEGA of America in 1999, reports Eurogamer.

"I don't think it is an overstatement to say that the Dreamcast and its online network laid the ground for what we all take for granted today - online gameplay, linking innumerable gamers from around the world to play, compete and collaborate, as well as enabling new content to be delivered in addition to that which was delivered on the disc," he wrote.

Moore also addressed the issue of EA's culpability in the console's demise. "Over the years," he noted, "I have been asked many times whether EA's decision not to develop and publish games for the Dreamcast was a major contributing factor in its early demise.

"That we will never know. But it is hard to argue with EA's rationale at the time and the ultimate outcome - get in position for the impending arrival of the PlayStation 2, deploying all resources against the newest version of Sony's already wildly successful video game platform. You can't argue with the results."

Moore also said that the console's 18 launch titles on September 9 1999 was "probably three or four too many" and finished by clarifying that the decision to cease Dreamcast manufacture was taken by SEGA of Japan, not SEGA of America. He just had the unenviable job of announcing it.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-gaming-today

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