In late February 2001, Sega of America had declared it's intentions of halting production of the Deramcast, the company's 128 bit system and many console gamers were left wondering what exactly had happened, while others (namely Sony fanboys) sneered that Sega had met their inevitable fate. The system, which was launched on 9/9/99, had broken previous launch records and had an unprecedented number of AAA launch titles. The system was also ambitious with the 56kbps modem included in the box, that introduced many casual gamers to the world of online gaming through easily accessible narrowband connections. But that system was met with many naysayer that cited their previous failures with hardware (i.e. Sega CD, 32x, Saturn) and continued to boost the profile of Sony's PS2.

But with the end of Dreamcast, many wonder what incentive there is to purchase a "dead" system. I hope to offer a few reasons for people to give Dreamcast a look if their in the market for a new toy.

The GBA (Gameboy Advance) is the newest portable gaming system. The system, which is a huge upgrade from the previous Gameboys, is really cool. It's new features are 32Bit graphics (The old gameboy was 8Bit, the graphics are the equvelent of Super Nintendo's with the Super seven chip), And a digital LCD screen, which can prossess better graphics than your HDTV. The new console comes with 4 buttons, instead of the two on the original game boy. The games are pretty cool. I have played Mario Advance (Super Mario 2 and Multiplayer Mario Classic) which was a beutiful game. The graphics were twice as good as Super Mario 2 on the Super Nintendo (On Mario All-stars). Also, I have played Caslevania. It's a great looking game, but it's so bloody dark, it's hard to see the enemys. But, the graphics are good. What really perplexes me, is why didn't Nintendo just remake all the mario games? if you look at the size of these games, Mario All Stars + Mario World took up like 2MB. The GBA Cart's can hold 10MB. Which is pretty extensive for Nintendo. I don't know how Nintendo does there compression, but it's just amazing. Think about this. Super Mario 64 was only 6MB. Oncarta of time (The original Zelda 64) was 8MB. That's very imresseive. I'm getting off the point. But it seems to me that Mario Advance is really a slack off, because they could have added Mario 1 & 3 (I love Mario 1, and Mario 3's really cool) with Worlds and lost levels. also, i don't see why they just couldn't bundle the mario land games also. I don't understand Nintendo sometimes. I guess there waiting to make money off of Mario Advance 2. Bu, the system seems solid. Suit's at nintendo say that Final Fight can have 8 enemy's on the screen at one (That's mad sprites) and that was about the extent of what they could do with the SNES. The price of a GBA is like $100, so if you got some extra spending money, go get it. When i get a job, i'm gonna get one. It's right up on my priority list with a 3D accelerator and More Ram. Before i forget, The GBA is not backlit. that sucks. I don't know why Nintendo just leaves these things out, but you can buy an external light for it for like $10. It makes seeing easier, but i would rather spend an extra 20 bucks for a system with backlight support. Poor Nintendo, they need to think about these things. For a better review, i'd consult either C/Net or Tech TV's Extended Play (I love that show).

Can't wait for the two new system's to come out? Nither can I. If your a novice gamer, i bet your wondering a couple of things. This text will try and answer some of your questions. The first thing i said when i heard about the X-Box was 'What! Why does Microsoft want to monopolyse somthing else?' The answer is simple, more money. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Microsoft will monopolise the gaming industry. How can i say this? It's not even out yet. That anser is also simple. Because the X-Box is better than anything the compition has. The Game Cube has a 500MHz prossessor (I think by Intel) and the X Box has a 733MHz Moble PIII prossessor. I hear (Not certain) that the X-Box will have a co-prossessor for the character AI. If that's true, then expect to be, in some cases, the hunted. The X-Box is a hardcore gamer's console, and is pretty much a really fast PC in a set-top box. How can anybody compete with that?

The Game Cube is going to try. The Game cube is the new system from Nintendo. The Game Cube is going to succseed where the X-Box fails. The Game Cube is a family console. The Game Cube has very impressive graphics, And will look better to most people (the novices) because Nintendo is trying to get there people to look like cartoons, and that is pretty easy to do with the Game Cube. Nintendo has finally weened it's self off of cartrages, and are now using Mini-DVD's. Theres really no probelems here, but it will lack the ability to play DVDs. Nintendo's not worried about this, because there a 'gaming company'. But, The X-Box can play DVD's. So your getting more for your money. Nintendo's games are going to include the new Luigi game 'Luigi's Manchon', where you are in a haunted mancion, and you go room for room with a flash light and a vaccum cleaner, cleaning up the ghosts. Accually, it sounds like a fun game. Nintendo's currently making a new Metroid Game (I don't know if that's for the Game Cube or the GBA) which could be cool.

I think the X-Box will win the console war though, because it's probably gonna come with Web TV. Also, the X-Box comes with a 10 Gig hard drive, an ethanet adapter (So you can network the X box to your computer's at home, and get a broadband internet accsess to it) And Microsoft can do alot with this. It's possible that the X-Box could play computer games. That would be the coolest thing. Microsoft is going to offer an online extention for the X box, where you only pay one flat bill per month, and you can do many things.