9/9/99 Birth of the Dreamcast and Midnight Status …
10 years ago yesterday I was a college student enrolled in a computer science program. I spent most of my time programming games on my TI-85 calculator during class but still managed to take something away from the experience. I was also a gamer and September 9th, 1999 was a big day. Anticipation grew throughout the day as I waited for classes to end. The afternoon and evening couldn’t fly by quick enough. The moment I was waiting for was midnight, when I could finally wrap my arms around my very own Dreamcast at the local EB.
Finally, the night was getting long in the tooth. At around 10PM a friend and I headed out to Lynnhaven Mall stopping at Wendy’s for some late night spicy chicken sandwiches (a favorite during the college years). Then we finally landed in line for the hotly anticipated Dreamcast. The line was long but people were stoked. Everyone and their brother wanted to support Sega after the dismal failure of the Saturn. There was a hint of nostalgia in the air. Older gamers didn’t want Sony to put Sega out of commission even if they liked the Playstation. Thus, the calvary lined up at the stroke of midnight to put Sega back on the map.
The line was exciting initially but it was nothing in comparison to the first time they pulled out a working Dreamcast running Soul Calibur for everyone to try. The next thing you knew there was a line embedded within the first line as people tried their hand at this new game with the most amazing graphics ever witnessed on a home console. Remarkably, Soul Calibur played as good as it looked.
The crew at EB was extremely cool and efficient that night. Dreamcast systems, games and accessories had all been bundled up according to customer pre-orders prior to the big launch. As such we really didn’t have to wait too long. After finally getting our systems we returned to my place and continued playing all our new games into the wee hours of the morning. It’s hard to believe it was a decade ago!
Last night I had to do it, I had to pull the Dreamcast and co out of their bin and hook it up alongside my 360 and PS3. Much to my surprise Soul Calibur has held up really well. It’s still graphically impressive and the control and collision is super tight. I never understood why Sega gave up. In my idealists eyes the Dreamcast could be a competitor today. After reading the Gamasutra article with interviews of all the major executives involved I think the demise of the Dreamcast was pretty fishy. But what’s done is done. At least we got to enjoy the system for a while.
Of course I can’t just recap that launch night without explaining how it had some profound effect on me. Back then I was a college student who had programmed a few games on his calculator. Now it’s a decade later and I’ve become the game developer I had dreamed of. The largest effect that night had on me was a new found love for midnight launches and the excitement involved. The studio title Midnight Status is a direct result of that launch night (which as far as I can remember was the first midnight video game launch I took part in). Midnight Status is the excitement people feel for their entertainment. It’s what happens when people wait in line in the middle of the night with strangers who share a passion. It’s what runs through your mind when you didn’t pre-order an XBox and you’re running from store to store in the middle of the night trying to find a location with a short enough line to guarantee you a system. Midnight Status came from a seed that was planted in my mind 10 years ago when the Dreamcast arrived. It seems the name was quite suitable now doesn’t it?