Enter the Dreamcast
The highly anticipated Dreamcast hits stores with its powerful 128-bit central processor and superintelligent sound processor, which has a 32-bit RISC CPU
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(64-channel ADPCM).
Skate Punks Unite!
Rockstar Games ups the ante in the licensed soundtrack department with the release of Thrasher: Skate and Destroy for the PlayStation. The old-school hip-hop lineup includes licensed favorites from Run DMC ("King of Rock"), Public Enemy ("Rebel
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Without a Pause"), Sugarhill Gang ("Rapper's Delight"), Grandmaster Flash ("White Lines"), Afrika Bambaataa ("Planet Rock"), and Eric B. and Rakim ("I Know You Got Soul"). The competing title, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, goes alt-punk instead, with songs by the Dead Kennedys, Goldfinger, and Primus.
The PlayStation 2 Hits Stores
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Sony's much anticipated PlayStation 2 finally gets a limited US release on October 26, 2000. Along with the 128-bit Emotion Engine CPU, the system boasts 48 channels of sound plus 2MB of dedicated sound memory.
The Art of Conversation: Seaman
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Sega's virtual-pet simulation for the Dreamcast, SeaMan, invites you to actually converse with onscreen characters rather than simply yell at them ("Dammit, Lara, flip sideways--then shoot!"). The game employs sophisticated voice-recognition technology, which lets you gradually hold adult conversations with the little aqua critters on everything from politics to baseball.
Talk With the Pokémon, Walk With the Pokémon...
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Nintendo releases a surprisingly fun entry into the voice-recognition arena with Hey You, Pikachu! for the Nintendo 64. The game is aimed squarely at the younger crowd but is endless fun for anyone with a short attention span. Using the included microphone and voice-recognition pad, you converse with and guide Pikachu through a literally endless series of miniquests by issuing voice commands.
The DIY Soundtrack
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Released in Japan and the UK only, the truly strange Vib-Ribbon takes the relationship of music and gameplay in an entirely different direction. Playing the rabbitlike creature Vibri, you must navigate levels that are themselves determined by the music track that's playing. Moody mope-rock equals slow and steady; frantic techno equals fast and furious. The kicker is that you can pop your own audio CDs into the PlayStation to generate entirely new levels based on the tempo of the music. A cult classic.
Game Boy Gets Funky
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Nintendo releases a new adapter for the Game Boy Color, and it turns the handheld system into a portable MP3 player. The $80 unit, called the SongBoy, attaches to the top of the Game Boy and equips the system with 16MB of memory (expandable to 32MB) for playing MP3 music files.
