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Welcome to my Dreamcast Page
Introduction
The Dreamcast (DC) is a console system being produced by SEGA, Microsoft, Hitachi, Yamaha Eelctronic, and NEC. The system has been released in Japan (release date was November 27th '98) and was just recently released in America on September 9th. Before the launch day over 300,000 consumers pre-ordered their Dreamcast and waited in anticipation for the monumental day to come. Which shattered a record in the video games industry that was previously held by the Sony Playstation with 100,000 pre-sold units. The day it came out (9-9-99) was the single largest retail day in history, with a total of over 97 million dollars in sales of hardware and software!!. And in it's first 15 days on the market it sold over a half million units, which is yet another huge record. Even the most cynical person can't deny that this system is great. I have some useful links on My Links Page that have more recent info than I could ever post on here. But check out all the stuff I have here first and then go to the links page..
The Hardware
I won't go into comparing it with all the competition, because it doesn't really matter how much more powerful it is than the rest, although it is a real ass kicker when compared to what's out there now. It's the games that count. If you really want to know about the specs, then go to Next Generation.
The Modem-One thing that really sets this machine apart from the pack, it the inclusion of a modem, which will be a huge selling point, and will revolutionize console gaming as much as multiplayer games have changed computer gaming. One of the best things about the modem is that it is totally modular, meaning that you can upgrade just the modem without getting a whole new machine. So if you for example have a high speed connection like a cable modem or ISDN, then all you have to do is buy a different modem and install it. Installing and changing the modem is also very easy, all you do is just remove the old and snap the new one in, it plugs into the side of the Dreamcast, no screws or bolts. Another feature of the modem that may become available is a LAN type of thing that plugs into the modem port. It will be interesting to see how game developers utilize this feature, but just think, you will be able to beat up your friend in Virtua Fighter 3TB from accross the room, across town, or from across the world; amazing.
The Disc's-Yamaha made a proprietary GD-ROM drive for the machine, the GD stands for Gigabyte Disc. As it's name says, it is a disc that holds one Gig (1000 megabytes), the disc's are 5 inches just like a CD or DVD. But these discs hold 35% more data than a CD (a CD can store up to 650 MB) this gives it more flexability, and also makes it harder for pirated copies of games to be played. The machine will still play your music CD's as well as the GD-ROM's. Bernie Stolar (the COO of Sega of America) has said that the Dreamcast will have DVD 'when the time is right.' When this will be nobody knows, and frankly, I don't really care if it uses DVD or not, if you want to watch DVD's then buy a seperate player, but who the hell wants to use a controller with a cord and its limited buttons for controlling the movies you watch. (Sorry for the cryptic nature of that sentence, but I can't really think of a good way to put it) I don't want a set-top box, and I don't think anyone else really does either, although it sounds great at first, when you think about it, that means that you can't watch a movie while someone else plays a game in another room... Things would get pretty ugly; can you say deathmatch?
The Rest- The Processor is a Hitachi SH4, which is a really amazing processor that can do some pretty fancy stuff. I have created a tech page that explains some of these functions. If you want to know about this amazing chip go to The SH4 Tech Page A hard drive will be available after the launch of the machine that will allow you to download different files from the internet and save large amounts of E-Mail or whatever you want. There aren't too many details about this one yet, but check out the sites that I have linked to on My Links Page , they will have more info about it. But don't go there yet; there is still plenty here that you haven't seen yet.
The Software/Games
The inclusion of a modified version of MS-Windows CE will make ports of popular computer games will available within a matter of days instead of the months it often takes with other systems. However this will not be a machine just for ports, there will be strict Quality Control enforced; unlike what happened with the Playstation. Not that the PSX wasn't/isn't a huge sucess. And most will have some special features specific to the DC version. But there is talk of making it so a DC player can play against a PC player across the net or maybe even a lan (all made possible by the modular modem). The lineup of great games are already looking absolutely great, again if you want to know more about specific games, go to IGN or Next Gen. The games are absolutely breathtaking to look at, but the real fun starts when you actually play them. You can really feel the quality and effort put into each and every game, either SEGA has put some strict quality control on developers, or the developers are just really happy to be working with the system.
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If all that wasn't enough and you want to know even more then visit the sites on My Links Page. At their sites you will find more detailed and in depth info
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