"On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris from public property and it’s mainly private land that’s still affected – areas that can’t be cleaned without the owners' permission. But when Pitts points to flood-damaged cars in the street and a house washed partially into the street, the mayor shoots back. "That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."
Friday, August 25, 2006
The Shins Break My Heart
There have been a lot of albums I've eagerly anticipated this year. Muse's album was way up on my list as was Cursive's. But the one album that stood out as my most anticipated album of 2006 was The Shins' next album.
Turns out, I'll have to wait until 2007 for that one.
According to some Yahoo! News source (the #1 source for news), The Shins have pushed the album "Wincing the Night Away" back to early 2007. Originally, it was expected in August, then it was pushed back to October. Now this.
The Shins break my heart.
Let's hope its worth the wait.
Turns out, I'll have to wait until 2007 for that one.
According to some Yahoo! News source (the #1 source for news), The Shins have pushed the album "Wincing the Night Away" back to early 2007. Originally, it was expected in August, then it was pushed back to October. Now this.
The Shins break my heart.
Let's hope its worth the wait.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Oh Sega! What Happened?
I went into some strange fit the other day and decided that I'd like to plop down $60 on a Sega Dreamcast, 22 games, 3 VMUs and 2 controllers. A pretty fine deal if you ask me. Of course, this got me thinking...why was Dreamcast such a failure? The answer may surprise you.
Dreamcast didn't have to be.
From what I've looked at, Dreamcast's biggest failure is not that it underperformed the competitors or didn't have great titles. Dreamcast's biggest failure is that Sega decided to pull the plug, perhaps a bit prematurely.
Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999 (9.9.99...remember??) and Sega stopped production in March of 2001. That's less than 2 years!! Hardly a console run, if you ask me. Of course, Sega had just come off the heels of a terrible run with their lackluster Saturn system and didn't want to waste their money on another system that looked to be doomed. However, the looming launch of PS2, which is only moderately more graphically advanced than Dreamcast, cast its powerful shadow on Sega and the company decided to pull the plug .
In its 1 1/2 years, Dreamcast was a powerhouse. The level of games that were released for the system were of an incredible caliber. Jet Grind Radio, 2k Sports, Soul Caliber, and tons of other games made their way to the system, and people were buying, but Sega decided that they weren't buying enough. Due to what they considered poor sales, they pulled the plug early.
Look at that! In 1 1/2 years, Dreamcast sold more than half of what the GameCube did and what the Xbox did. The difference is that both the Xbox and GameCube were released in November of 2001, giving them over 5 years to sell systems.
In this light, Dreamcast wasn't failing at all. On the contrary, it was raping! Sure, the system is technically less-powerful than all three of its competitors, but its game library was huge and great! In its year and a half, it hosted over 200 games!! Let's see Xbox 360 pull that one off. If Sega had played its cards right, and maybe waited it out a bit, there's no doubt in my mind that Dreamcas would have come in 2nd or 3rd in the console race for that generation. With sales at that rate, all they had to do was build a library of acclaimed games and bring people in.
It's a shame really. Sure, I've always been a Nintendo fanboy at heart, but there's no denying some of the innovative features of the Dreamcast. For 1999, that's pretty incredible. Would I buy a Sega console if they decided to get back in the business? Who knows? All I know is that the Dreamcast is an amazing system, and one that should have gotten a better chance.
I found three Dreamcast controllers on some random shelf at Wal-Mart the other day. They were marked down to $6.99 and looked like they had been sitting there for the better part of a decade, but they were there and they were new!!
Wal-Mart on Sawdust Rd. in Spring, Tx hasn't given up on you Sega, and neither have I!!
Thank you for the Dreamcast.
--Cale
Dreamcast didn't have to be.
From what I've looked at, Dreamcast's biggest failure is not that it underperformed the competitors or didn't have great titles. Dreamcast's biggest failure is that Sega decided to pull the plug, perhaps a bit prematurely.
Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999 (9.9.99...remember??) and Sega stopped production in March of 2001. That's less than 2 years!! Hardly a console run, if you ask me. Of course, Sega had just come off the heels of a terrible run with their lackluster Saturn system and didn't want to waste their money on another system that looked to be doomed. However, the looming launch of PS2, which is only moderately more graphically advanced than Dreamcast, cast its powerful shadow on Sega and the company decided to pull the plug .
In its 1 1/2 years, Dreamcast was a powerhouse. The level of games that were released for the system were of an incredible caliber. Jet Grind Radio, 2k Sports, Soul Caliber, and tons of other games made their way to the system, and people were buying, but Sega decided that they weren't buying enough. Due to what they considered poor sales, they pulled the plug early.
| Dreamcast | 10,600,000 | 7% |
| PS2 | 91,390,000 | 64% |
| Xbox | 21,900,000 | 15% |
| GameCube | 18,800,000 | 13% |
Look at that! In 1 1/2 years, Dreamcast sold more than half of what the GameCube did and what the Xbox did. The difference is that both the Xbox and GameCube were released in November of 2001, giving them over 5 years to sell systems.
In this light, Dreamcast wasn't failing at all. On the contrary, it was raping! Sure, the system is technically less-powerful than all three of its competitors, but its game library was huge and great! In its year and a half, it hosted over 200 games!! Let's see Xbox 360 pull that one off. If Sega had played its cards right, and maybe waited it out a bit, there's no doubt in my mind that Dreamcas would have come in 2nd or 3rd in the console race for that generation. With sales at that rate, all they had to do was build a library of acclaimed games and bring people in.
It's a shame really. Sure, I've always been a Nintendo fanboy at heart, but there's no denying some of the innovative features of the Dreamcast. For 1999, that's pretty incredible. Would I buy a Sega console if they decided to get back in the business? Who knows? All I know is that the Dreamcast is an amazing system, and one that should have gotten a better chance.
I found three Dreamcast controllers on some random shelf at Wal-Mart the other day. They were marked down to $6.99 and looked like they had been sitting there for the better part of a decade, but they were there and they were new!!
Wal-Mart on Sawdust Rd. in Spring, Tx hasn't given up on you Sega, and neither have I!!
Thank you for the Dreamcast.
--Cale
Saturday, August 05, 2006
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