It's hard to look back at the grand days of Sony's Playstation and not feel at least a little nostalgic. Without a doubt Sony brought about the maturity this industry lacked for many years, something Sega had attempted to some degree back in the early 90's with limited success. Yet with PS2 less than a month away in Japan and several months till the American launch something seems amiss within the ranks of Sony's
processing behemoth, ingenuity.

Take a look at the Dreamcast and one might see forward thinking made affordable. The system has four controller ports built right in for ease in the multi- player gaming category. Its the first console to ship with a fully functional modem that at least at this point allows you to surf the net (With internet play just around the corner). Even the VMU with its LCD screen for displaying statistics, sports plays and mini games shows a real dedication to improving on existing concepts. Sure most of these ideas started somewhere else, Sega can't take credit for the invention of any of these, but by including these features into the Dreamcast, Sega insured that developers could take their games in any direction they wanted. Developers can now move their development into uncharted territory with new ideas and concepts previously unavailable to the consoles.

Why did Sega put so much effort into establishing these technologies into the Dreamcast?. Because Sega needed to prove themselves. Saturn had left a sour taste on the tongues of gamers and Sega was losing to Sony with each passing day. Being the underdog has its benefits, especially to the gaming public.

Sega is determined to be the mind set for the next millennium and that means widening the horizens, both in the realm of gaming and technology.

Sony has won the next generation war, the neccessity to prove themselves as they did when they first launched the Playstation, is no longer important. So what do they give us the gamer?. Bigger, faster but a little repetitive. Only two controllers ports. A larger memory card, but no Liquid Crystal Display. A new and improved Dual Shock with fully analogue buttons but its still the Dual Shock.

Sony will give us more of the same because that's what profit margins tell Sony to do. Profit margins are why PS2 owners will be playing almost nothing but sequels at the launch of the system, sequels sell. Until gamers start supporting new concepts expect to see twelve more Gran Turismos and twenty more Tekkens. Its thrilling to see such processing muscle coming of age to the consoles but its games like Chu Chu Rockets, Seaman and Space Channel 5 that true gamers will remember fondly when they look back at the console wars of the year 2000.