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ConsolesThe Sega Dreamcast: The Console That Died Too SoonSeptember 9, 1999. Sega spent the day chanting "9/9/99" like a marketing incantation, and for once the hype was earned. The Dreamcast landed in North America with a launch lineup that actually mattered, a 128-bit Hitachi SH-4 CPU, and a built-in 56k modem nobody else was brave enough to bundle. It was the first console of the sixth generation, and it beat the PlayStation 2 to market by more than a year. And then it was gone. Sega pulled the plug on hardware in early 2001, barely 18 months into
Condition & GradingThe Original Xbox Clock Capacitor Is Eating Your ConsoleEvery unserviced original Xbox from the early production runs is carrying a small time bomb on its motherboard. It's called the clock capacitor — a stubby little component whose only job is to keep the system clock ticking while the console is unplugged — and on revision 1.0 through 1.5 boards it has a well-earned reputation for leaking electrolyte as it ages. That fluid is corrosive. It creeps out from under the capacitor, eats the copper traces around it, and does all of this silently while th
Condition & GradingHow to Grade GameCube Discs, Cases and Console BundlesTilt a GameCube mini-disc under a desk lamp and turn it slowly. Honest wear looks random — a stray arc here, a fingerprint there. But if the whole surface carries one uniform, circular swirl from hub to edge, like it went for a ride on a buffing wheel, you're looking at a resurfaced disc. That's not automatically a dealbreaker. It is something the seller should have mentioned. Small disc, small margin for error The GameCube's proprietary 8 cm disc is based on miniDVD technology, and its size