Ten Years Later: Sega's Dreamcast and Square's Final Fantasy VIII

The gaming websites have been mentioning nothing but Sega's last-ever console, the Dreamcast (which I formally owned), how it's impacted gamers and why there hasn't been a boom in the console MMOs (save for FFXI for the PS2 and XBox 360) ever since Phantasy Star Online first came out in 2001.

But what about Final Fantasy VIII, you say? I was fortunate enough to have enough money to buy both the game and the strategy guide when it came out on 9/9/99, the same day as the Dreamcast. Getting FFVIII for the PS1 was the only thing I could afford at the time. As for the Dreamcast, I bought it out of my birthday money two years later.

Don't get me wrong about Final Fantasy VIII, folks. I LOVE the Final Fantasy franchise and I've played and beaten FFVIII a few times. Even though it's predecessor, Final Fantasy VII, has drastically changed the home console market for the PS1 when it came out two years prior, it had spawned a direct-to-DVD film and numerous spinoffs, so to speak.

This Day in Video Game History: 09/09

9/9/1995: Sony's Playstation console debuts in North America.
9/9/1999: Sega's last-ever console, Dreamcast, and Final Fantasy XIII for the Playstation, both debut in North America.
9/9/2009: The British Invasion returns when MTV's Rock Band series debuts their latest installment, The Beatles: Rock Band, for the Playstation 3, XBox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Also, Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online becomes Free-to-Play fulltime with an optional premium service for current subscribers.