The horror ...
     Sega announces that it's cancelling its latest system.  Within weeks, the store shelves are cleaned out of all the cheap, good titles.  What are left are the high-priced first-run games and the consoles; that is, newer-issue consoles in the black boxes.  Practically all of the older ones are gone ... long gone, unless you luck out or get one through resale somewhere.  And don't count on a large number of those 100-odd planned "last titles" ever seeing the light of day - just like what happened with 32X and Saturn.
     The horror ...
     It hurts to do my weekly run these days.  Twelve and twenty-foot store shelving sections that used to be dedicated Dreamcast are now largely empty.  You could take what's left, cram it all into a four-foot section, and still have room left over.
     The horror ...
     I was at Best Buy this past Friday buying some CD-Rs for my music.  Right in front of me was a family of four whose two young sons had conviced their parents to buy them a Sega Smash Pack Dreamcast bundle, along with three or four of their favorite games.  How hard I found it to resist the urge of going up to them and saying, "You're wasting your money, folks - the system has already been discontinued."  I didn't, and they left with two happy children.  I wish them well.
     The horror ...

     It's the death of the Saturn all over again, folks, except that it happened a lot faster than before.  I remember, because that was about the time that I got involved with Sega systems.  Make no mistake - Dreamcast's demise is little more than Saturn's all over again, except that this time the victim of Sega's ways is a console that by all rights should have become a big success.  It didn't, because Sega violated its own main business axiom.  It stuck with the same business model for too long.  By the time they figured out what was wrong and tried to correct it, the market had changed yet again.  Their fixes was for the old market.  They didn't work very well (or at all) in the new one, and that's why Dreamcast is dead a full three years sooner than it should have been.
     Every generation of videogame consoles gets the "contendas," you know.  Remember the movie Requiem For a Heavyweight?  That classic line, "I coulda been a contenda?"  Dreamcast now joins the ranks of such fellow "contendas" as the NEC Turbo GrapH/X 16, the Sega Master System, and the Colecovision as the systems that should have been bigger success stories than they actually were.  They could have been "contendas," but the market changed too quickly for them to dominate the opposition and eventually rule the field as they should have.  Theirs is the legacy that should have been, not the legacy that actually was.
     It's an object lesson of which the surviving players in the great console wars shoud take appropriate heed.

     Vaya con dios, Dreamcast brethren.  It's been a wild, fun ride, but it's over.  So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Considering the company history and the strength of its competition, Sega faced an industry that simply couldn't commit itself wholeheartedly to Dreamcast.
- Chris Charla, editor - "Manifest Destiny," NextGen (04/2001)

No matter what the company [Sega] tried - offering rebates, dropping its price, and offering online console gaming - it couldn't establish a sufficiently installed [user] base to stay alive.
- Kevin Toyama, writer - "It's done thinking - Sega pulls plug on Dreamcast," NextGen (04/2001)

The world of games is changing, so Sega must change, too.
- Hideki Sato, the new Sega CEO - "SEGA: Dead or Alive," EGM (04/2001)

We have a group of developers that managed to program for Sega Saturn, and if they can program for Saturn they can program for anything.
- Peter Moore, Sega of America president - "SEGA: Dead or Alive," EGM (04/2001)

Sega is Xbox bound!

Having Sega on board with Xbox is a huge win for gamers around the world . The creative artists at Sega will help us establish the benchmark for great Xbox gaming experiences both on and off-line.
- Robert Bach, Microsoft chief Xbox officer - "Sega Confirms Xbox Lineup," Core Magazine (03/29/2000)

We believe that Microsoft will be very successful with Xbox, which is why we have such a close, strategic relationship with them.  Our world-renowned development studios have been very impressed with the Xbox hardware, and they are excited to bring new gaming experiences to consumers by utilizing the platform's power and network capabilities. We share Microsoft's commitment to broadband online gaming and will work with it to deliver the best content possible to gamers.
- Peter Moore, Sega of America president - "Sega Signs With Microsoft," FGN Online (03/30/2000)

 
I believe that God gives the momentum of the times as an aid to those who grasp prophetic manifestations and seize upon those moments to create a new business. I believe as well that God gives these same individuals social responsibility, a mission to contribute to the world at large.

Among the more notable highlights of Okawa's business career was the founding and continued operation of CSK Research Institute (aka CRI), Sega's parent company, in 1967.  CSK was so successful that it wound up being the first information systems company to be listed on the Nikkei Stock Exchange.  Okawa was also one of the prime movers and shakers in Japan's government-sponsored high-technology drive after the Korean War, during which time he made many friends and business contacts.  All in all, Okawa was either involved in or oversaw the operations of almost a hundred different Japanese businesses and companies, all of which he shepherded under the auspices of CSK.

Okawa took over the chairmanship of Sega in 1997 from the departing Hayao Nakayama after the failure of the Bandai-Sega merger.  He had long been appalled at the way Nakayama and his cohorts had been running the company, and began his tenure by dismissing or encouraging the retirement of many senior Sega personnel.  His cost-cutting measures would eventually expand to cover the whole corporation.  He oversaw the launch of the Dreamcast in a market that frankly did not want another Sega videogame console, but was also the first senior Sega executive to go on the record (Christmas 1999) as saying that it would be Sega's last such product.  Despite his best efforts and those of his staff, Okawa was unable to stop Sega's slide toward impending bankruptcy.  Nevertheless, Okawa held up his resignation until the fate of the Dreamcast was clear and his long-term business plan was well underway.  In one of the last acts before his death, Okawa turned over nearly ¥85 billion (almost US$700 million) of his personal holdings in Sega back to the company.  This action offset Sega's projected year 2000 losses and ensured its financial stability for its coming transition to being a software-only videgame business.  It was a final act of faith for Okawa, who still believed in what Sega could offer the videogame industry and was willing to back his commitment with more than just words.

Also a noted philantropist, Okawa was well known for his charitable contributions.  He helped establish and finance the foundation that bears his name, one dedicated to the furtherance of information technology and telecommunications research.

Funeral services were limited to family and close friends, although both CSK and Sega held private memorials for their respective employees.

At one point in time, Sega had the best software publishing ability by far.  We had 600 to 700 people just dedicated to software development.  Even more than that … at one point there were 800 to 1,000, and they were the best, as proven by what they achieved in coin-op [the arcade business] .... [Today's Sega] could have been designing for other systems, thereby having a universe to sell into that was not limited by Dreamcast.  Whether it’s 3 million or 5 million, or 7 million, they could have had a universe to sell in to that was 70 million PlayStations .... I have been advocating the idea that Sega should become a content provider, providing software for all existing systems and systems to come such as Xbox.  Hardware has been such a drag on Sega.  Selling software on one system is to limit your mobility. Why put yourself to a disadvantage to the Electronic Arts, THQs, and other companies who have the ability to sell software to all systems?.... I've been advocating this for more than seven years now and always felt it was a bit of a folly for [today's Sega] to be limiting their potential to Sega hardware .... Unfortunately, it took the situation that they are going through today to make them realize that they had to make a change.

If you are interested in reading more about the stories that appear in Dreamcast Week In Review, then the editor suggests checking out these links:

Dreamcast Gaming and Magazine Sites

Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine	Now out of print.  Damn ... it was the best Dreamcast mag around.
SegaWeb	My #1 online source for Sega-related news in the U.S. market.  Excellent site layout, lots of info, plenty of pics, and a top-notch writing staff combine to make this a must-visit place for any serious Sega fan, old or new.

Mainstream Gaming and Magazine Sites (United States)

Daily Radar	Perhaps the best all-around general-purpose videogaming site on the web.  While they don't get as deep as, say IGN, in their coverage, their articles are just as well written and they often have unique stories of their own.  An excellent place to visit on a daily basis.
Electronic Gaming Monthly	EGM is one of the oldest and most respected magazines in the videogame industry.  They have a great website, too!
FGN Online	At Fastest Gaming News Online, you'll get stories you won't find anywhere else - including lots of scoops and sidebars that don't normally make it onto the major sites until after the fact.
Gamer's Republic	This is what every gamer wants - an Internet gaming site created by gamers for gamers.  They also publish one incredible little magazine, too.
IGNDC	This is the Dreamcast corner of IGN, one of the largest and most informative multipurpose gaming sites on the Internet.  They have sections devoted to just about every system and console on the market today.  There's lots of stuff here to find, although sometimes you have to dig for it due to the size of the site.
Next Generation (aka NextGen)	Perhaps the best all-round U.S. gaming magazine devoted to cutting-edge technology,NextGenfeatures an excellent writing staff, informative articles on things that are months (sometimes years) down the road, and lots and lots of color screenshots of up-and-coming and soon-to-be-released games.  They cover all the major gaming console platforms, as well as (Wintel) PC games. Highly recommended, as is their web site.

Mainstream Gaming and Magazine Sites (Europe)

Console Domain	My main source of information for videogame news coming out of "merrie olde England."  The articles tend to be brief and to the point, which means they don't always have all the info I'd like, but I still manage to find many useful tidbits here.
Core Magazine	A good source for out-of-the-way information, tips, rumors, and so on.

Mainstream Gaming and Magazine Sites (Asia)

The Magic Box	My #1 source for Asian gaming news, and it should be yours, too.  Lots of info, lots of screen shots, and (best of all) the entire site is in English for us Occidental types!  Highly recommended.
National Console Support	The best source on the Internet for imported Japanese releases for all major consoles.  I get a lot of my Japanese box scans from here.  I also get the occasional nugget of info regarding import-related issues.

Sega™ and Dreamcast™ are trademarks of Sega Corporation.  All other protected intellectual materials referenced in this document are the properties of their respective owners, and said references are made in accordance with current intellectual property law as defined by the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 828 UNTS 221.  D2WIR is an independent publication and is no way endorsed or sponsored by Sega Corporation or any of its affiliates or licensees.