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playstationWhy PS3 Collectors Check the Model Number FirstFlip a fat PS3 over and read the sticker before you even glance at the disc tray. Those five characters — CECHA, CECHB, CECHC — decide what your library even is, because the PS3 is the rare console where the hardware revision matters more than most of the games it plays. Why collectors read stickers, not spec sheets The Japanese and North American launch units — the 60GB CECHA and 20GB CECHB from November 2006 — carry actual PlayStation 2 silicon on the board: the Emotion Engine CPU and Graph
nintendoWhy GameCube Collectors Check the Back Panel FirstThe first question a seasoned GameCube buyer asks has nothing to do with the games. It's "does it have the digital port?" Spin the console around: early units carry two video sockets on the back, and the smaller one — labelled Digital AV Out — quietly decides how much that little cube is worth to a picture-quality purist. Why the back panel matters more than the colour Nintendo launched the GameCube in 2001 as model DOL-001, digital port included. A later cost-cut revision, DOL-101, deleted i
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