Released in Japan to a subdued reception, the Dreamcast enjoyed a successful U.S. In contrast to the expensive hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with 'off-the-shelf' components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU and an NEC PowerVR2 GPU. The Dreamcast was Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast is a home video game console released by Sega on Novemin Japan, Septemin North America, and Octoin Europe.