How powerful was the dreamcast

[gunrock]

I always wonder how the out come might have been different if they added just a bit more memory to the PSone

Not a lot. The PSOne had the slowest memory known to man (to keep costs down), it took (and this from memory, I haven't programmed the PSOne commercially since 1999) 5 cpu cycles to read from memory and 6 to write to it. Now if that means nothing to you then, let me tell you it's slow.

To put it into perspective, a Pentium class PC can read and write to memory in 1 cpu cycle. Obviously with MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3dNow etc., a PC can do an operation on numerous bytes in a few cpu cycles.

So the old adage of computer programming of using extra memory instead of calculating in real-time to speed things up (by caching a table of values into memory for something), is turned on it's head, almost.

I liked the PSOne's simplicity, but hated it's restrictions. Still, at least there weren't [too many] compatibility problems to worry about unlike the PC and numerous graphics cards.

[Resonance]

The DC was originally going to be a DVD machine but at the time of release, it was too expensive to release a DVD/Games machine. It was indeed a great machine. I would have loved to see how far it could have gone if pushed!

[Kubrick]

There was a Dreamcast DVD add-on drive that got mooted for release in 2000 (plus a Zip drive, MP3 player...).

[Team Andromeda]

Maybe you have the special hi-res version then

I reckon the battles just look hi-res in comparison to the slightly pixellated town sequences (in particular the character sprites). I bet if you ran SF3 through Cassini at a higher res than 352x224 (Saturn's low-res) then you'd see a big difference.

Could be
I most probably am wrong , but it looks to be running in one of the Saturn higher Res modes. To have polygons that clear and sharp tells me that, and I still think the Battle looks good even today

Every mag said that Winter Heat was running in the Saturn high Res just like (Decathlete/ Athlete Kings) when it was pretty clear it wasn?t (given the downgrade in the sharpness in the polys ect).

[baad bwoy]

Sega Rally was the best game for me during the Saturn/PS1 era, on ether console, probably followed by Tekken 2, which had great graphics alongside decent gameplay.

I think the Sega brand always faced a struggle when being pitted against Sony, and imagine that had the situations been somewhat reversed and Sony had released the Saturn and the DC, while Sega had released the PS1 & PS2 the end result would have been the same i.e. the demise of Sega as a developer of games consoles.
Back in the days of the MD Sega would have put up more of a fight against Sony, as they did against Ninty.

I wonder if in a few years time similar discussions will ensue, to do with MS and Sony, with the PS brand being lamented, and people remembering many of its classic games with fondness...(need for speed, fifa and the like ) while recognising mistakes, made by Sony with the development and release of the PS3.

[trickytree]

Every mag said that Winter Heat was running in the Saturn high Res just like (Decathlete/ Athlete Kings) when it was pretty clear it wasn?t (given the downgrade in the sharpness in the polys ect).

Yep, Winter Heat was such a dog compared to Decathlete. 60fps/high-res -> 30fps/low-res was too much of a downgrade!

[Team Andromeda]

Yep, Winter Heat was such a dog compared to Decathlete. 60fps/high-res -> 30fps/low-res was too much of a downgrade!

Yeah the Graphics were rough in parts. But the downgrade did mean 4 players at the same time (in a few of the events ). Should add the Ski Jump is still the best ever, plus the sound effects are some best heard on the Saturn.

So it wasn't all bad

[eastyy]

Not a lot. The PSOne had the slowest memory known to man (to keep costs down), it took (and this from memory, I haven't programmed the PSOne commercially since 1999) 5 cpu cycles to read from memory and 6 to write to it. Now if that means nothing to you then, let me tell you it's slow.

To put it into perspective, a Pentium class PC can read and write to memory in 1 cpu cycle. Obviously with MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3dNow etc., a PC can do an operation on numerous bytes in a few cpu cycles.

So the old adage of computer programming of using extra memory instead of calculating in real-time to speed things up (by caching a table of values into memory for something), is turned on it's head, almost.

I liked the PSOne's simplicity, but hated it's restrictions. Still, at least there weren't [too many] compatibility problems to worry about unlike the PC and numerous graphics cards.

Was the saturns memory faster?

[gunrock]

No idea. I only worked for a week or three on the Saturn trying to port over the gameplay code from the PS1 version. We didn't get too far, as I went on holiday and after that the Saturn programmer had a nervous breakdown (actually, that's the truth) and the Saturn version was canned (TBH, the publisher weren't too keen on the Saturn version anyway).

Wait I just had an epiphany! Memory tells me that it was there was something like 1mb of fast(ish) ram and 1mb of crappy slow ram. And I was sat there thinking how I could make the code compile three-ways (PC, PS1 and Saturn) without branching off the code and still make best use of the underlying hardware...

[eastyy]

Hmm one thing i was thinking when it comes to cartridge based consoles is memory and issue for them at all?.Considering carts are far far faster than Cds

[sj33]

There was a Dreamcast DVD add-on drive that got mooted for release in 2000 (plus a Zip drive, MP3 player...).

Worth noting that the device on this pic is not actually an addon for the Dreamcast as such. Remember when Sega announced they were going to licence the Dreamcast hardware for use in other devices such as DVD Players and set-top boxes, but it never happened? That's it

[Kubrick]

You sure? That picture is from the E3 show, 2000.

(Translated from the page that pic comes from)

"It seems that this DVD player enables increase in quantity of the storage space for soft, and reproduction of DVD video by connecting with the expansion slot (modem port) of Dreamcast as long as the contents currently written to explanation writing are read. However, although the reference exhibition of this DVD player is carried out, it is not likely to be decided at all product specification and what kind of thing is done using this DVD player. Of course, undecidedness with whether entire it puts on the market. The DVD player currently exhibited was actually what is understood to be a mock-up at a glance, although each logo of DVD, Dreamcast, and Sega was attached."

Sounds like it was intended to be a MegaCD-style add-on to work in conjunction with the DC, not replace it.

[forpey]

I remember PAL DC's being packaged with cut price DVD players in an attempt to woo customers. But I don't think Sega seriously intended a DVD storage option.