Top 10 glorious technology failures

1 of 10

Posted on 5 Mar 2010 at 14:55

1. Atari Jaguar
The Jaguar was Atari's last big chance to prove it was still a player in the games console market after the failure of its technologically advanced, but flawed, Lynx handheld console. What a way to bow out of the industry.

From the start the Jaguar was designed to be a powerful beast. The marketing details pushed it as the world's first 64-bit system. It was a bit misleading, as the processor was 32-bit and only the graphics subsystem was 64-bit. Even so, in a world where the Sega Mega Drive and Nintendo SNES ruled, the Jaguar was a beast of a machine.

Initial strong sales looked good for the console, but they soon petered out, and the Jaguar sold less than 250,000 consoles. The main problem was games. Tempest 2000 was incredibly popular, but its basic graphics could have been programmed for anything. More impressive titles, such as Alien vs. Predator, showed the console off to its full potential, but were thin on the ground, as games developers found the console hard to develop for and plunging console sales put off other developers completely.

Throw in the massively complex controller and a series of rubbish add-ons, such as the Jaguar CD, and the console's fate was sealed.

Author: Expert Reviews Staff

1 2 3 4 5 6

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous News : General Next >

User comments

Robin Bithrey

Don't forget - Apple's Newton also made an appearance in Steven Seagal's 'Under Siege 2', sending a fax message through to his kitchen colleagues.....best bit of the film!

Shame about both Dreamcast and Jaguar in all honesty. Still got a Dreamcast in the loft - keeping it just for 'Metropolis Street Racer' (for all the kidz out there, Project Gotham Racing, the original!) and because it was just a really good machine - great graphics, good features, innovative controller, some nice titles, but as usual, first isn't always best...

Atari managed to mess up yet another product with the Jaguar. Not content with losing out to Commodore in the Amiga vs ST race (ST/TT/Falcon failures were better than Amiga, but who seemed to notice??), then with Lynx and Portfolio, they then messed up any idea that they could be players in the console market with the Jaguar. Fantastic product, poor marketing and execution. Such a shame - great machine too...

By cherrykeyboards on 8 Mar 2010