Daniel Lloyd (thebbps.com) co-host of the SEGA Dreamcast Birthday Bash

Nothing quite melts away racial, religious, and socio-economic barriers like a memorial for an icon. There’s a camaraderie formed with others who share the same feeling of loss as you, which perhaps is made even tighter when there is joy sprinkled in amongst the sadness. You only have to take a look at the (ongoing!) Michael Jackson memorials/tributes that contain a mad mix of mourning and merriment.

Consider Wednesday night’s SEGA Dreamcast Birthday Bash the gaming geek equivalent of a MJ memorial. Held in The Creek in Long Island City, NYC (from 8PM to midnight), it’s hosted by Daniel Lloyd (of Bits, Bytes, Pixels, and Sprites) and Joshua Shabtai (of the Play Value podcast). Many systems and games will be set up for the crowd to fondly dig into, and local chiptunes will rock the house. I spoke with the pair about the formation of the event and their love of the SEGA Dreamcast.

SEGA transformed 9.9.99 into a date that no true gaming geek will ever forget. For me it was the launch date of the last system that I was truly passionate about–and still am. What does 9.9.99 mean to you?

DL: Well obviously 9/9/99 is the Dreamcast date, but i was a latecomer to the console. I remember the commercials. “It’s thinking…” and “This is the day you’ve been training for…”,  but I also just remember 9/9/99 being the night Chris Rock hosted the VMAs on MTV from The Metropolitan Opera House. I don’t know why I remember that.

Josh Shabtai of the Play Value podcast and co-host of the SEGA Dreamcast Birthday Bash

JS: First off, before I can answer this, I need to make a full disclosure: I was always a Nintendo guy. I always preferred the long-form single-player games that Nintendo excelled at compared to SEGA’s arcade romps like Space Harrier and Afterburner. In my world view, the Super Nintendo always trumped the Genesis. Sega’s history of pumping and dumping consoles and upgrades only reaffirmed my stance.

Now, with all that in mind, 9.9.99, and all of the hype leading up to that point, marks the one time in my life where I found myself actively rooting for SEGA, enough so that I picked up the system at launch. Every bit of information that trickled out about Dreamcast, from the badass ads that Daniel mentioned to the promise of SegaNet to the killer launch lineup (which to this day still ranks among the greatest initial wave of titles we’ve ever seen: Soul Calibur, NFL 2k and even Sonic Adventure) to that cuddly little VMU made my mind race with possibilities.

That said, 9.16.99 stands out in my mind even more strongly, however. I believe that was the day I read all about what Sony had in store for PS2. I felt like someone had kicked me in the face.

So you sensed the beginning of the end when the PS2 info trickled in?

JS: Oh man, definitely. I kept holding out hope that Dreamcast would pull it off, but the PS2 hype train quickly set me straight. I think it was when I heard the story about Saddam Hussein diverting PS2 shipments to use the Emotion chip as a missile guidance mechanism that I knew SEGA had no chance.

Was there any apprehension in picking up the system due to SEGA’s perceived failures with the 32X and Saturn?

DL: I grew up a die hard Nintendo kid. First non-Nintendo console I had was the PS2. A friend of mine had Dreamcast at launch though, and the first ever games I played on it were his Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Silent Scope. Finally picked up a Genesis and Dreamcast about 4 or 5 years ago. All I remember about the Saturn is just hearing other people talk about how much better the Playstation was.

JS: I’ve gotta say, the fact that SEGA had such a lousy track record actually worked on me in this case. It seemed like they really learned from their mistakes, which only strengthened my excitement. I know, I’m kind of weird.

What were some of your favorite DC titles?

DL: Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and Rez. Those games were the reason I got a Dreamcast. Also, Jet Grind Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Crazy Taxi.

JS: Soulcalibur, NFL 2K, Jet Grind Radio, Samba De Amigo. Later, I dug Space Channel 5 and Shenmue–I love experimentally mundane games!

When did you decide to toss the Dreamcast Birthday Bash? Was there any difficulty in finding a location?

DL: I knew I wanted to throw a party early on in 2009. I knew it’d be ten years, and I adore the console, yet so few people know about it. Then the idea came to have multiple TVs and Dreamcasts and just be a full on Video Armageddon. That’s when I realized my apartment wouldn’t hold more than four people comfortably and sent out an open call for help with a venue. Josh knew the staff at The Creek from his Saturday morning cartoon parties, and the rest is history.

JS: Exactly. This was all Daniel’s idea; I met him via Twitter and am honored to be able to help him turn this into a kick-ass birthday party. Shameless plug: BTW, if you’re into cartoons, search for Saturday Morning Cartoon Madness on Facebook — I use the group to organize other events.

Some critics say that the reason that the Dreamcast is so beloved is that it died before SEGA had a chance to, well, “fuck up.” Your take?

DL: I think SEGA definitely learned from the past. All of the Genesis add-ons and the Saturn were a joke, in terms of both hardware and price point. They really really got it right with the Dreamcast. Unfortunately, it was perfect for it’s present time, but had the past and future working against it. Sega had already a lousy reputation with the public and developers after the Saturn disaster. And once the PS2 hit with a DVD player right as that was catching on, it was all over. I think the major downfall was that the Dreamcast was ahead of it’s time. In my eyes, without the Dreamcast teaming with Microsoft for SegaNet, there would be no Xbox. And today, the Xbox 360 is my favorite current-gen console.

JS: Nah, it was a damn good system. People miss it because it was solid and a return to form for a beloved brand. At that point, SEGA knew it couldn’t keep pumping out consoles and when you look at what the launch team went on to do (for example, Peter Moore helping shape Xbox into its current incarnation; the 2K Sports guys developing a killer franchise — for a time, anyway), it’s clear the system was poised for good things.

Now the tough question: would you like to see SEGA get back into hardware game where, chances are, many of its titles would be console specific, or do you like the idea of SEGA games being cross console?

DL: Simply, no. As much as I enjoy their design and have fond memories of them, they should stick to software. Another console on the market would be too much. The 360 and PS3 are already pretty closely related, and the Wii has the lockdown on that casual demographic. What place would SEGA have? The only thing that would make me buy a new SEGA console is if the finally get a 2D Sonic game back to it’s glory days. All of Sonic’s 3D outings and sports adventures are terrible.

JS: From a nostalgic perspective, there’s something appealing about a dedicated SEGA console, but all in all, I’d rather they made high-quality games for multiple platforms than return to a single platform. What I would be more interested in is seeing SEGA return to its even earlier glories and take a more active leadership role in the arcade industry, sort of like several filmmakers and IMAX are doing in the film exhibition business. I guess I can dream.

Jeffrey L. Wilson  (703 Posts)

Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey L. Wilson’s love of all things shiny/digital has lead to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, PC Magazine, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. Besides overseeing the editorial content at 2D-X.com, the Brooklyn College grad hosts New York City’s monthly Bits and Bytes video game media and public relations meetup. You can find him at a bar sampling foreign beers, or on Twitter doing twittery things.