6th gen history

history of the 6th gen.

The sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era; see "Number of bits" below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century. Platforms of the sixth generation include Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998 with the release of the Dreamcast, and it was joined by the PlayStation 2 in March 2000. The Dreamcast was discontinued in March 2001 and that same year saw the launch of the Nintendo GameCube in September and Xbox in November.



Sony's PlayStation 2 achieved sales dominance, with nearly twice the sales of all its competitors combined with over 115 million shipped, making the Playstation 2 the best selling console in history. Microsoft's Xbox came in second with 24 million and the Nintendo GameCube was third with 21 million. The Dreamcast, which arrived prior to all of the others and was discontinued prematurely (1998-2002), came in fourth with 10.6 million, representing 6.5% of the sixth generation sales.

The release of the Nintendo DS on November 21, 2004 is often considered the start of the seventh generation. The sixth generation started to come to a close when the Xbox was succeeded by the Xbox 360 in late 2005. The GameCube was discontinued when the Wii was released in late 2006; however, PlayStation 2 sales have continued to be strong as of March 2007[1], due to the system's large software library, continuing software support, and affordable price. Games are still being produced for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube as of 2006, while Dreamcast games were officially discontinued in 2001. There are still a few games being released for the Dreamcast in 2007, but they are mostly NAOMI arcade ports released only in Japan.


Dreamcast

Sega's Dreamcast was the first console of the sixth generation and introduced several innovations. It was the first generation in history to offer a controller with a screen in the top. It also introduced Internet gaming as a standard feature through its built-in modem system, and online gaming would later be adopted by the Xbox and PlayStation 2, and the GameCube to a very limited extent.

Initially, the Dreamcast was successful, due to its lineup of critically and commercially successful titles, setting video game sales records at its launch. The console helped to restore Sega's reputation which had been damaged by the earlier Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, and Sega Mega-CD. Nonetheless, the Dreamcast was overall unsuccessful due to numerous factors. The impending and much-hyped PlayStation 2 slowed Dreamcast sales momentum a year before it was even released, preventing Sega from grabbing a dominant position in that generation. In addition, the failure of the Saturn (due in part to Sega's decision to quickly end the Saturn in favour of the Dreamcast - much as it had done with the earlier 32X in favor of the Saturn) had left developers (such as Electronic Arts) and customers skeptical, with some holding out to see whether the Dreamcast or PS2 would come out on top.

Sega's decision to implement a GD-ROM (though publicly advertised as a CD-ROM) for storage medium did save costs but it did not compare well against the PS2's much touted DVD capabilities. As the Dreamcast was released a year before the PS2, and with the announcements of the Xbox and GameCube in late 2000, Sega's console was considered by some to be outdated only two years after its release. The previous losses from the Saturn, 32X, and Mega-CD, stagnation of sales due to the PS2, and impending competition from Microsoft and Nintendo convinced Sega to pull out of console manufacturing entirely, devoting its resources to game development instead.


PlayStation 2

The brand Sony had established with the original PlayStation was a major factor in its dominance, both in terms of securing a consumer base and attracting third party developers; the gradual increase in one tending to reinforce the other. The PlayStation 2 was also able to play DVDs and was backwards-compatible with PlayStation games, which many say helped the former's sales. Sony Computer Entertainment secured exclusive licensing for key games such as Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2, and the Kingdom Hearts series enabling the PS2 to outperform its competitions' launches. Despite the hardware's technical shortcomings, the PS2 remains a force to be reckoned with in 2007. It continues to outsell the Xbox 360 and even its successor, the Playstation 3 in North America by a comfortable margin.

Xbox

While the Xbox had the formidable financial backing of Microsoft, it was unable to significantly threaten the dominance of the PlayStation 2 as market leader; however, the Xbox has attracted a large fanbase and strong third-party support in the United States and Europe and has become a recognizable brand amongst the mainstream. The Xbox Live online service with its centralized model proved particularly successful, prompting Sony to add online capabilities to the PlayStation 2, while the GameCube had a near total lack of online games. The flagship of Xbox Live is the game Halo 2, which is the best selling Xbox game with 8 million copies sold worldwide.

In Japan, its sales are far poorer, partly due to Microsoft's inability to attract major Japanese developers for their franchises as well as the size of the Xbox which did not fit local aesthetics and brand loyalty to Japanese console manufactures.


GameCube

Nintendo struggled with conflicting brand images, particularly the family-friendly one developed during the 1990s. Its arsenal of franchises and history in the industry, though earning it a loyal fan base, failed to give it an advantage against the Xbox and PlayStation 2 which captured the majority of the audience that preferred 'Mature' titles. Nintendo also made little headway into online gaming (in fact only releasing a small handful of online-capable games, the most popular of which was Phantasy Star Online, which was in fact a port of the Dreamcast game), instead emphasizing GBA connectivity. As a result, the GameCube failed to match the sales of its predecessor Nintendo 64.

Nintendo did however rejuvenate its relationship with many developers, often working in close collaboration with them to produce games based upon its franchises, in contrast to the past where it was frequently seen as bullying developers. As a result, the GameCube had more first and second party releases than its competitors, whose most successful titles were mainly third party developers.

Currently, the Nintendo GameCube sits comfortably in second place in Japan, and in a close third place in the United States and Europe.