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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
xboxThe Original Xbox, the Duke, and the Capacitor Time BombSomewhere inside almost every early original Xbox, a capacitor the size of a fingernail is quietly deciding whether that console lives or dies. If yours has been sitting in a loft since the Halo 2 days, the decision may already have been made — and you won't know until you crack the case open. We'll get to that. First, some respect for the most gloriously excessive console of its generation. Microsoft crashed the console war with a PC in a trench coat When the Xbox landed in November 2001, So
segaWhy Every Unserviced Game Gear Is on Borrowed TimeThe listing says "tested — powers on." The photo shows Sonic frozen on the title screen, and the description never once mentions sound. Experienced Game Gear collectors read that silence the same way: the capacitors are going, and the seller either doesn't know or doesn't want to say. Sega's 1990 handheld is a strange collectable. It's essentially a Master System you can hold — a Z80 heart pushing a 4,096-colour palette onto a backlit 3.2-inch screen while the Game Boy made do with four shades