It has already been discontinued, and sells for a measly $50 brand new in the stores that still have the discontinued system in stock. It's failure is a mystery, since it's software was consistently far above average and very enjoyable. From such break-through titles as Jet Grind radio (or jet set radio as it was named in europe) to the amazing platformers like Sonic Adventure and Sonice Adventure 2, Dreamcast gave the video gaming world much enjoyment.
Alas, sales slumped and the Sega Dreamcast faced financial failure. Sega formally announced their retirement from the hardware market, and a switch to a software-only company. As a result, Sega-exclusive titles such as Sonic are now on the Nintendo gamboy Advance and Gamecube.
The Sega Dreamcast's failure may be due in part t Sega's dismal hardware history. They released the Sega Genesis way back in the early 90's a 16-bit system. Then they released the $200 Sega CD system as an add-on about 3 years after the Sega Gensis release. They made literally about 20 games for it, then they stopped. Gamers were out $200. Then Sega released the 32X, an add-on that supposedly boosted the 16-bit system graphiucs to 32-bit quality. Again, about 10 or so games were released then the hardware went kaput. Then the Sega Saturn was released, and it also failed miserably after a terrible US video game lineup. The Sega Saturn did well in Japan however.
Don;t forget the Sega Nomad and Sega GameGear, to portable systems that did terrible as well. The Nomad howver, in my opinion is still a great system since it can play all Sega Genesis titles.
So in summary, the Dreamcast is an excellent system that somehowfailed, with excellent titles. I reccomend Space Channel 5, Shenmue and Shenmue 2, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, and Samba de Amigo, as well as Jet grind Radio.
Hehehe im a video game nut, can you tell?
-Dan