Think Xbox was the first properly online-enabled console? You could be forgiven, especially as Microsoft would tell you so. But Dreamcast was doing it in 1999. It launched with a built in 56 kbit/s modem and eventually released a broadband adapter, albeit a little too late for anyone to care. Sure, consoles had used telephone link-ups before it, such as the SNES and Sega Saturn, but SegaNet was a massive leap towards online console gaming as we know it.

But while the SegaNet sort of stalled at the on-ramp of the information superhighway, the UK saw a much more thriving online community with DreamArena. The service had a homepage (below) not unlike the PlayStation Network screen, where you could browse for new content. The quality was good from the get-go, too, with a Nike-sponsored Sonic Adventure balloon hunting competition soon after launch. The Christmas tree in Station Square played that awful music from Christmas NiGHTS and everything looked rosy for Sega.

Above: The Brits had it a little better with their DreamArena interface

The service's high point had to be allowing for online deathmatches in Quake III: Arena. Even on a painfully slow (by today's standards) 56k modem, the game was smooth, fast and surprisingly lag-free. The Dreamcast Keyboard peripheral even allowed you to chat while you played... it really had everything new consoles are offering, only six years earlier. Later in the console's life, Seaman even offered a microphone - everything was in place for broadband to make the online dream a reality. What a shame it was all too early to catch on. Xbox picked up the baton and ran with it - and the rest is history.