Dreamcast Among CNet’s “Biggest Tech Flops” of Decade

dreamcastAnother Console Makes the List Too

The Sega Dreamcast can add another dubious distinction to its posthumous resumé.

CBS Corporation owned CNet has compiled a list of the top 25 biggest “tech flops” of this decade.  Writer David Carnoy notes in his article that many machines which made the list were either “ahead of their time” or suffered from poor marketing muscle.  Heading the list was Sega’s last console.

Carnoy, perhaps with the understanding that them’s fighting words, tried to clarify just what he means by a “flop:”

It’s also important to define just what a flop is. In my book it’s simply something that was really hyped but didn’t live up to its promise or expectations. And while the word “flop” has a negative connotation, we here at CNET have a lot admiration for the designers, engineers, and everybody else who put their heart and soul into bringing these products and technologies to the world. Some of them didn’t deserve their fates.

In what can only be described as bipolar at its best, the Dreamcast’s top spot comes with a short description proclaiming that “We loved the Dreamcast” but “it didn’t make it.”  The DC beat out other flops such as the Sony Aibo, Satellite Radio, HD Radio, HD DVD and–interestingly enough–another console from another big name.

Coming in at #20 on the list is Nintendo’s Game Boy Micro, what would be the last in a series of re-imaginations for the long standing console franchise.  Carnoy claims that the Nintendo DS rendered the portable system obsolete.  Another portable console, the Gizmondo, also made the list.  Ever heard of it?  Neither have we.

For all its lack of support and slumping sales, Sony’s Playstation 3 is nowhere to be found on the list–though its UMD format did make the cut.

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