A dozen of the most poorly selling consoles
A dozen of the most poorly selling consoles.10th place: Dreamcast
Released in late autumn 1998, the year in Japan, and a year later in the US, it was the fifth console company Sega. She was the last. The failure of the Dreamcast was in my opinion two things – a bad reputation of the previous failures Sega, in particular Saturn, Sega 32X and SegaCD, and a failed GD-ROM.
The fact that games Dreamcast already does not fit on a single CD and use a DVD in that era was quite expensive. Therefore, using GD-ROM optical disc with a capacity of 1.4 GB developed by Yamaha. The CD was a much higher level when using the same cheap technology of production of CD-ROM drive, but the drive itself Sega got so many complaints that the Department return was literally torn calls. Disks not read and scratched in the drive (now something similar is happening with the Xbox360), but also increased the cost of the game on order (for wheels GD-ROM released one single factory Yamaha and he did it not too slowly).
Enthusiasts console hacked her chip and found that no data validation is not used, that allowed to reflash the console to work with normal CD-ROM and record discs on CD (1GD – about 2CD). This has led to the flourishing of piracy, and even in Russia the Dreamcast sold well. But in 1999 came the Playstation 2 and the Dreamcast was considered a foregone conclusion.
In the absence of the popular games console is dying – it's the law industry. The players had nothing left, how to choose the Playstation 2, and Sega has only sold 10.6 million consoles in three years of sales worldwide (for comparison, the Wii sold by now at 800-900 thousand pieces per month and it is only in Japan, not to mention the rest of the world).
Key games: Soul Calibur, Seaman, Crazy Taxi
9th place: TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx-16 was released in 1989 in North America and won a good 6аллы in Japan, where she predicted a great success. In the United States and Europe, the console never caught and there are at least two reasons:
1) Nintendo is bad practice to prohibit the release to port their game on TG16 and NES at the same time (thank God, she was in court was forbidden to do it, otherwise we would never see a multi-platform projects);
2) when localization of games. At the time, few companies thought about the fact that games in General need to localize.
NEC successfully promoted the console in Japan, using only advertising on billbord in major cities. And it worked because Japan is a small country and people who have bought a console in Sapporo, be sure to tell friends from Yokohama, about how cool it is. Thus the cost of marketing was almost none.
When this promotion strategy has been applied in North America, marketers are faced with the fact that the console was almost underground, because of it, almost no one knew. City more "word of mouth" – less. By 1991, the ninth, the TurboGrafx-16 was completely dead, and the number of consoles was measured 10 million pieces worldwide and 2.5 million in the U.S. and Europe.
Key games: Bonk''s Adventure, Splatterhouse
8. Saturn
Sega Saturn was released in the US a few months before the release of the PlayStation in 1995, but despite the odds, as well as the Dreamcast a few years, she's also bent on the market after 3 miserable years. The high cost of the console ($399 – now it sounds almost like a joke. Oh, sorry then, no one knew that a decade later the console will sell for $800 and not blush) left its imprint on the wallets of gamers, and a complex system of two 32-bit processors, video processing, and one processor of the sound, did Saturn not only very sophisticated, but very expensive to manufacture console. As a result, a more simple PlayStation broke it to the British flag. What do you not regret. By the way "selling" Saturn 9.5 million copies worldwide, and the most popular was oddly enough in France.
Key games: NIGHTS, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA
7. Sega CD
CD-ROMs in the early 90's was on everyone's lips. It seemed to be aliens from the future brought a mega-technology that enables a thin plate to record as much as 650Mb of information! No wonder Sega after the release of their Genesis has released an addon to it that allows you to play games on CDs and play full-screen live video (16-bit, and of course distortion to hell – but who in 1992 looked at it? DivX has not yet been invented). The problem was simple – first the price of $299 it was, well, a lot, and secondly, it came at the end of the late 16-bit life cycle, when a console that is already quite outdated, but felt the peak of freshness, so to speak. And thirdly, it does (almost) did not improve the gameplay and graphics of games. Thank you only for the best Sonic game of all time (Sonic CD), but everything else was not so good, so it becomes unclear how Sega managed to sell a whopping 6 million units.
Key games: Sonic CD, Night Trap, Earthworm Jim
6. 3DO
Ohhh.... About this monster once, quite in detail told Ivan Zenkov, so it only remains for me again.
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (full name of consoles) was the first 32-bit console hit the markets Made her notorious founder of Electronic Arts, Trip Hawkins (Trip Hawkins) and released the system was in the distant 1993 by Panasonic. It was the first (and almost last except PS3 for now) console, which was positioned as hi-end equipment.
This "pathos", as well as $700 in green had made its imprint. Managed to sell around 2 million consoles (Wikipedia says 6 million, but where did they get these figures I don't even know) and 3DO century waned.
Key games: Road Rash, The Horde, Gex
5. Virtual Boy
Almost not portable and definitely not pocket game console Virtual Boy (console to name language does not turn) was released by Nintendo a few months after the release of the Sega Saturn in the summer of 1995 (I would have said well, VERY BAD time to run – it was a Saturn and PSX). Valued at $180, with a red monochrome mechanical (!) display with pseudo-graphics – VB looked cool only. Nintendo Virtual Boy dumped on the market just to take a break before the release of his unfinished Nintendo Ultra 64, a year support for VB has been completely terminated.
It was sold 770 thousand consoles and the failure of Virtual Boy, Nintendo completely shoved to the Creator of the Game Boy and the Metroid franchise – Gunpey Yokoya (Gunpei Yokoi).
Key games: are You kidding me, call IT games?
4. CD-i
If there is light at the console, which is not to say that it is – even the console is Philips CD-i. Released in 1991, and a good rosreklama based on the TV system was most similar to the Sega CD, because she played 16-bit VideoCD, with the prefix "interactive" it came with the basic tutorials, encyclopedias, music and other discs, called that games could be a stretch. The advent of cheaper, more powerful and entertainment consoles , completely killed the console, but its support Philips worked right up to 1998 year. All CD-i was sold in the amount of 570 thousand pieces.
Key games: Zelda: The Wand of Gannon, Dragon's Lair, Myst
3. Atari Jaguar
The Jaguar was Atari's last attempt of the company to produce financial and wealthy console. The system was released in November 1993 as a 64-bit machine, although in reality she was 32-bit (only graphics card had the ability to read 64-bits). Released on the market with a price of $250 dollars, the Jaguar hit the market with the slogan "Do the Math!" (Count!)
Half-Life 2: Episode One, remember?
Alyx Vance: Well, Gordon... unless you have a better suggestion... He is a robot. He's done the math.
[turns to the Dog, whispering]
Alyx Vance: You did do the math, right?
[Dog shakes his head]
There was almost the same.
What do you think, despite the successful and very cool game Tempest 2000, accident in our list of infamous consoles a respectable third place console, sold in the amount of 250 thousand copies?
You are on the joystick view. To make something worse in my opinion is simply impossible. About the game, we tactfully keep silent.
Key games: Aliens vs. Predator, Tempest 2000, Iron Soldier
2. Sega 32X
Sega 32X – this is the beginning of the end for Sega as a producer of consoles. Launched in November 1994 as the second expansion for the Genesis (the first was the Sega CD), it caused only bewilderment – "how many 16-bit add-ons to the old console they intend to release?!).
Those are not the lucky ones who spent $650 American green will long remember a guide Sega mother, because as a division of Sega of America (which developed the console) didn't have the slightest idea what Japan does are hard at work on Saturn. As a result, we have 200 thousand actually deceived owners and support for consoles for three months.
Key games: Virtua Racing Deluxe, Knuckles Chaotix, Doom
1. The Apple Pippen
Apple and Japanese toy maker Bandai teamed up in 1995 to bring to market a "next-gen video game console". Yes, about the "NextGen" said back in ' 95. Released for the unreal price of $599, the console was limited in everything. Pippin was technologically weak, worked in a stripped-down MacOS, and were manufactured as a gaming system, such as a personal computer. Apple never intended to release its own Pippin. The Corporation intended to sell the production license third-party companies, on the model of the failed 3DO. However, the only company which has released your license Pippin — Bandai.
Just sold about 42 million consoles, despite the enormous cost of advertising. The PC World has included Pippin in the list of "The worst technological solutions of all time" and that's why (and also because of games on it and was not) Pippin tops the list of the ten most poorly selling consoles.
cool theme!
them of all this I only saw the Dreamcast!
nightmare! :)
although the Dreamcast handlebars t(l)
The high cost of the console left its imprint on the wallets of gamers, and a complex system of two 32-bit processors, video processing, and one processor of the sound, did Saturn not only very sophisticated, but very expensive to manufacture console. As a result, a more simple PlayStation broke it to the British flag. What do you not regret. - that's it, no regret. Ps-one taxis
RainBull, respect for the article
Wow ! this is DDA !
Thanks to the author !Very interesting and informative, I have about half of them have never even heard of!
What is Shenmue?
Genre : RPG, adventure
Publisher : Sega
Developer : Sega AM2
Lead designer : Yu Suzuki
Game version : for PC (adapted) and Dreamcast
System requirements :
Required minimum : 2GHz Athlon XP / P4 2.6 GHz, 512 MB, DirectX 8 3D Accelerator (30 fps)
Chankast recommended : Athlon 64 3400+ / P4 3.4 GHz, 1024 MB, DirectX 9 3D Accelerator (100 fps)
Shenmue rival Final Fantasy!
Since the release of our last major material, on perhaps the most ambitious and anticipated games of the present six months, the project Shenmue has acquired a mass of new details, rumors, facts and speculation, which we simply can not with you to share. Moreover, the very Sega for the "reporting period" has managed, first, twice to delay the release of the game (of course we suspected it at the time of the announcement of this masterpiece), and secondly, to start a massive and very aggressivley advertising campaign Shenmue, which resulted, for example, the appearance of spots from the game in theaters before the screening of the infamous film Star Wars: Episode I, as well as free distribution of all purchasers of the games on the Dreamcast first free half-hour video film called What's Shenmue, and then, from the fifth of August, and the first playable demo version of the game. In addition, the game Yu Suzuki managed to light up as much as five different game shows (Milia'99, Tokyo Game Show in Spring, Game Developer Conference, E3'99 and finally, the Network Jungle), each of which we nepremenno learned about the game something new. And as more information became available, the stronger our confidence that the new project will be a Sega game capable of changing the General idea of the RPG genre, and video games in General.
Network Jungle
In a rather strange from the point of view of a normal person with a "Western" psychology of the exhibition dedicated to all kinds of new technologies, whether or not related to the Internet, held in Tokyo every year during the holiday "Golden week", Sega decided to make a show, the purpose of which was to sing the hymns of the ingenious project. Unlike much more professional-oriented Tokyo Game Show (though there players go), filmed by the stand did not have the actual Sega irrelevant. Already from a distance of tens of meters, any visitor can see a giant inscription Shenmue, towering over a cute stand, equipped with a huge video wall where you were constantly spinning the most beautiful spots of the game. At a same distance was a fair amount of demonstration stands, where anyone could try out different game modes. The set was standard - various QTE battle (in which the outcome is determined by proper and timely press appear on the screen sequence of buttons), Free Battle (free mode fights, causing a strong feeling of deja vu to the tune of Virtua Fighter), a few mini-games (Darts, "one-armed bandits") and training special superblow, which the main character teaches the American-Japanese rapper, able to throw the empty bottle to a height of five-story building and smash her well-aimed kick. The main surprise became a kind of technological demonstration of the capabilities of the engine Shenmue, where using standard tools was quite plausible recreated the same stand, which in fact happened all of the action. Ryo could go to the wall with clips, to a small stedicam and could even play some of the mini-games. It is the ease with which the game engine to cope with the real objects that exist in real life, just amazing. Another very serious surprise, prepodnesenny us developers on Nework Jungle, was a new look of most of the main characters in the game. As you know, Shenmue will not prerendering rollers, and all graphics from beginning to end will run on the engine of the game. As shown by this presentation of the game, that's not entirely true. After Sony surprised everyone with its phenomenal technological demos Next Generation PlayStation, the most impressive of which were the scenes of Namco and Square, passed a very realistic human faces and emotions, Yu Suzuki, probably, not without the help of their colleagues from the Department of provocations Sega decided that it was time to show what Sony is so proud that she calls a true revolution, prohodya the same Dreamcast at least ten times the power, all of this is just common marketing chatter. And here, in defiance of the not too well done demo versions of Sony AM2 made some of their "demos". In them the heads of the main characters in Shenmue, generirovanie in real time on the console is simple and laconic explained pleasant voice some features of the game. But it is worth noting, as was done in these individuals. All or almost all that we could witness just a couple of months ago on the PlayStation II, turned into realnosti on already published and available console. High resolution, superrealistic textures, bright eyes, a carefully generated the eyebrows and hair are quite realistic twitching in the wind, and most importantly, the facial expressions of the characters - all this makes the statements of the competitors is extremely unconvincing. Of course, all this fun is so liked Suzuki & Co that they immediately decided to remake all the videos in the game under a new technology, thus not only eliminating the need to insert the video game, but for the first time in the history of creating realtime cartoons almost-level Square'vskih masterpiece silicone rollers to FF8. If not better...
Think here is well described by this game:
Genre: FREE
Platform: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Sega-AM2
Publisher: Sega
Author Yu Suzuki
Date: 29/12/1999 (JP); 06/11/2000 (NA)
''To lose is always hard, especially when leaving the circle of everyday things what have long been internalized and what has always been proud of that will never be forgotten. Especially painful if it's not "what" but "who"... Shenmue Main character, a simple guy Rio Hazuki from Yoko$uka, suffered a hard fate of an orphan. Anxious to return home, the Chinese mafia in the family dojo, theft of ancestral relics in the end – the death of a loving and beloved father... Then severe suffering, grief... and the Desire for revenge.
This is the beginning of the Saga of Shenmue, remembered us the closest to reality depiction of life, albeit reconstructed through the television screen. It is very difficult to define a clear genre affiliation game, if not to take into account this by the developers strange wording Full Reactive Eyes Entertaiment (FREE) . Moreover, I think, an attempt to fit the creation of Yu Suzuki in any of the established framework should equate to violent claiming free man brand powerless servant. In the end, it is not necessary to be seven spans in a forehead, in order to understand a simple truth: “There are many, Horatio, in the world, than are dreamed of our sages”.
Masterfully crafted blend of insidious machinations of thugs, ancient Asian legends, truly high feelings, and just good human relations in this case are just the incomprehensible substance of which we, the gamers called the great Game. Starting the search for the killers of his father with the neighbors asking questions (“have you ever seen a black car?”), Rio brings the matter to the attention of accounts with the bosses of criminal gangs. He fights not only for the satisfaction of his desire to get even, but to ensure the safety of their acquaintances, friends, relatives. In the end, the efforts of men not in vain. Hero deserves universal respect, and, if necessary, receives invaluable help of others, it needs to do its not an easy mission. Someone dissatisfied snort- “again, they say, Yes, the heroism of zeal for the good of the people! Corny!” No, Shenmue is absolutely devoid of sweetness and sentimentalism inherent in the cliché stories about the “Prince on the white goats.” This is the world in which we all live, a cross section of one of his many layers.
Thoughts swarming in my head, trying to comprehend what he saw, but the emotions still prevail, giving vent to the raging delight. The Dreamcast was by no means weak for its time, but SUCH a beauty even at her few people who were hoping to see. Graphics are amazing, while no inhibition did not occur. In addition to the stunning detailed urban landscapes of note, and beyond realistic weather effects. Raining like a true, sad pedestrians open umbrellas, and the sky with a grey overcast arrays of clouds. Cloudy winter days can Wake up in the morning to find the surrounding streets swept light snow. Change of weather, time of day, the cries of crows flying, ethnic motifs of beautiful music in the background – all this creates the mood and helps to blend in with the atmosphere of the game together. Technical implementation does not give reason to think about the “artificiality” of what is happening, on the contrary, once playing the way Rio, the gamer is unlikely to want to get out of it until then, until the last line of the credits will not be absorbed by the upper border of the screen.
I happened to meet people who consider the game totally pointless. Oddly enough, Shenmue really is very, very close to a kind of “life simulator”. It all moves on as usual: people work, relax, communicate and even celebrate the natural needs, and all the usual elements of human existence are on the surface and to see with their own eyes the lives of ordinary people in all details do not need to exert absolutely no effort. For numerous events, outof-quests, regular visits to the neighbors, trips to the store and other vain things once lost and relegated to the background the main objective. After some time, finally, comes a true understanding of what is happening and the gamer begins simply to live in this surreal world. Here you can (and should!) tighten the course of the action, constantly being distracted by the various, seemingly unimportant events that come with each new day.
It in virtual reality without the dangers. Say, came the hero from home and meet a pair of street extortionists. Here it is impossible to linger, no wonder father taught Rio a martial art. Fighter from our ward turned out, to put it mildly, not weak, so to fight back he will be able to many. Combat system itself worked no worse than any other fighting game: a variety of special moves, an Arsenal which can, if desired, to fill a considerable number of new techniques that will help a young warrior in unpleasant encounters. There is another way to set the heat opponents (or just avoid danger) – Quick Time Events. For example, when Rio was not ready to a worthy meeting a suddenly appearing threat, or you need someone to gently protect, instead of standard mode is activated the fight with a QTE. The essence of this feature consists of the following: on the screen for a short time periodically at a picture of the buttons that need to press. If linger – in the best case will be given a couple more attempts; in the worst – will have to go through the whole event again.
By visiting even the smallest area of the city, one will notice a kind of local landmark, is invaluable to a General, already enormous, the appeal of the game. Indeed, Shenmue would not be itself if there were not these stores with tons of useful and not very goods, private restaurants, hall arcade (where you can enjoy classic hits from Sega's Hang-On and Space Harrier), travel agencies and other establishments that you can visit. Hundreds of assorted NPCs will also make a positive contribution and will help to achieve the ultimate goal. Almost everything from scurrying here and there the passers-by, always busy and disinclined to talk, and ending with the “big shots” of the underground organizations. Someone will ignore the invisible avenger, someone will help with good advice/valuable information, others unsuccessfully try to put your mind... in short, everything goes on as normal in civilized life.
The nonlinearity of the plot regularly comes to the forefront, bringing beauty out of the seemingly intractable impasse of the circumstances. Once the game stunned gamers will never lay three of the coveted drive on a dusty shelf – at each new playthrough Shenmue brings new surprises, and really forcing myself to come along and across from the beginning to the end.
Almost perfect in technical terms, product, flavored famously spun the story, vast in scope and extremely interesting. It offers the player thousands of all sorts of pleasant things, like a player with interchangeable cassettes (!), furdiburb quest with a kitten, the local “Kinder surprise” (Heh...) and many others, large and small, but always pleasant additions to miraculously transform the gameplay, elevating it to absolutely dizzying heights. Not to see Shenmue simply inexcusable. Unique game (to be like of which could only of her brilliant sequel), praiseworthy and becoming the object of worship, it is an undeniable fact.''
From myself:
In General, this is a game that has changed my view of games. Today's hits for me, no one parameter does not fall under this (dare I say this word) masterpiece.
Here you can write a Ps 3 and 360 Keramik. As we all know PC they sell like hotcakes. Because it is OK and the game.
Here's the result, as once a company wanted to create something of their own, but whether technically lost to its competitors, whether the marketing pumped up... well, good topic. Extremely - on the Console forum.
Admiral Fag
No,they are normally sold!
Here's another list I need some. You have guessed what it is. That others prefer.
Admiral Butcher
As we all know PC they sell like hot cakes
Yeah especially in the eve of each academic year
PS
On the Panasonic main were: Gex, Killing Time, Captain Quazar Crash N Burn, The Need for Speed (the way the series originated on this console). All the best was on her game from studio 3DO
Compared to others, the Dreamcast is not such a failed console. One can count a dozen or two of those who sold a lot worse.