Will the Dreamcast be delayed? Sadly, yes. At the moment there are two possible reasons for this surfacing on various internet sites. The first possible reason is that the production of the Hitachi SH-4 chips is going slower then expected. The other possibility is that Sega want their launch titles to be absolutely perfect before launch. The delay? Well here is the good news. It's only one week. New launch date : 27th November 1998.
Sega have released a new series of Sonic Adventure screenshots and they are very impressive. They will be added to the site shortly.
UbiSoft have confirmed more titles for Dreamcast. These include Rayman 2 (Platform), Speed Busters(racing) and D-Jump(Adventure). The other games which they have confirmed include POD2 and Monaco Grand Prix.
How much will the Dreamcast cost sell for in Japan? (Part 2) Sega will be making an official announcement regarding the Dreamcast's launch price on October 6th, three days before the Tokyo Game Show in Japan.
Sega have announced that the Dreamcast VMS will plug into Sega's Naomi arcade unit. This will form an integral part of the crossover between games in the arcade and at home with players being able to transfer characters and high scores. At the moment it looks like the VMS slots will only be available in Japan, until VMS's are released outside that country anyway.
According to Konami they currently have no plans to convert any Metal Gear Solid games to the Dreamcast. Sad news. But my thought is that with the Sony Playstation versions of the game just coming ou they will be trying to sell as many copies of the Playstation version before they "surprise" the world with a Dreamcast version.
SNK are confirmed developers for Dreamcast however no titles have been announced, up until now. It is believed that a version of King Of The Fighters will be their first game.
It seems as if Playstation 2 is not as far away as first thought. Some sites are reporting it's release as April 1999 in Japan and Q'4 1999 in Europe and the US. More news is that the system won't be DVD as expected but will use a 1GB CD-ROM similar, but not the same, as the Dreamcast. The PSX2 will supposedly be backwards compatible, but not as powerful as the Dreamcast.
How much will the Dreamcast sell for in Japan? Well apparently the price for retailers is set at 20,800 yen. This equates to approximately $US160 or $AU270. These are only approximations due to the ever changing exchange rate but give some indication as to how cheap the system will be. Expect the public to pay slightly more then the retailers purchase price.
Some pictures hae started turning up on the internet of Sega's new Star Wars Arcade game. Although it is still early into production the results are already impressive. It is believed that the game is running on the Model 3 : Step 2 arcade board which would mean that a near perfect conversion to the Dreamcast would be possible.
According to the excellent Sega X site a date has already been set for the Dreamcast launch in Europe and the US. The date : September 1st 1999. Actually this ties in pretty well with my interview with a Sega-Ozisoft representative in Australia who said that it would be released in August 1999. Nothing has officially been announced.
No Cliché have released some details about 2 Dreamcast projects on their site. Firstly, they have an action game called Gutherman where "aim of the game is to drive vehicles through several breathtaking missions". The second title is an horror-adventure game called Agartha which apparently will use "a new innovative character control". Both titles will be launched with the Dreamcast in August.
Quite a bit of news today most of it coming from recent game announcements by Sega in America, and the JAMMA show in Japan. Let's get started shall we.
Sega have shown their Naomi arcade system at JAMMA 98. Naomi is almost identical to the Dreamcast, except that it contains 32MB main RAM and 16MB video RAM, double the Dreamcasts' RAM.
One interesting thing to note about the Naomi arcade board is that you will be able to plug in the VMS unit to save high scores and copy data to and from the Dreamcast.
House Of the Dead 2 was shown at the JAMMA show running on the Dreamcast based Naomi arcade system. The game should be released in Japan around November. No news on a Dreamcast conversion but you can almost bet you life on it.
Dead Or Alive 2 was also shown on the Naomi arcade board at JAMMA, increasing it's chances of a swift port to the Dreamcast as previously rumoured.
Next-Generation Online recently reported that Sega held a meeting with about 500 Babbages managers in Nashville to show off the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure was apparently shown to the crowd, and the US Dreamcast was confirmed to have the modem built in. Around a dozen titles are in development for use with the modem. Several US launch titles were announced; Sonic Adventure, the shooter shown at E3, a football title, and a basketball title. And finally, Bernie Stolar confirmed Capcom as a developer, and a "survival horror" game was confirmed.
According to the Fastest Gaming Network Web site the two sports titles to be launched with the Dreamcast in the US are absolutely stunning. Although everyone attending the event had to sign NDA's details have leaked about Visual Concept's basketball and football game. Apparently the basketball title will have features "like reflection of the players in the glass of the backboard, facial expressions, referees on the floor, and the arena has a lot of details like real benches (modelled benches). The football game seems also very impressive, just by the sheer amount of polys for each character: something around one thousand, which is more like Tekken 3 than Madden 99."
Look out for Dreamcast advertising soon. Sega announced at the babbages meeting that marketing the system will begin up to 6 months before the systems launch.
World Series Baseball 2000 is under development for release in March of that year.
LucasArts currently has 2 games in development for Dreamcast. No titles have been announced yet but you can almost bet that one will have Star Wars attached to it with the release of the movie next year.
Another small detail announced in America is the fact that Konami of Japan will be developing for Dreamcast. Metal Gear Solid Deluxe anyone?
According to Dreamcast.IGN.com the above statement may be very true. In fact, they are saying that the Playstation version of Metal Gear Solid will be enhanced and finished in time for the Dreamcasts' launch November 20th. Not only that, but a new sequel is in the works for the system as well.
Sega will be bring back some classics from the days of the MegaDrive. The latest news is that Toe Jam N' Earl will be making an appearance on the Dreamcast. Don't expect anything soon however. The game isn't even into the concept stage yet.
Blue Stinger is a game that has remained a very good secret up until now. Climax have been working on this Resident Evil type game for some time now. Below are a couple of pictures to tease you and for more information go to the Blue Stinger page.
I must send out a sincere apology to the Sega X web site. On September 11th I reported the news about Virtua Cop 3 which came from their site without acknowledgement. The Sega X web site is one of the most comprehensive web sites and you will find a link to their site on my LINKS page.
Capcom has officially announced their development on Dreamcast. I thought they were already confirmed you say? Well I thought so to. Capcom just recently confirmed they have 5 or 6 titles in development for the Dreamcast and one of them is described as "survival horror". Hmmmm.
Will Tekken 4 appear on Dreamcast? That is the question that many people are asking at the moment. With the Playstation still 2 years away Namco will be looking to make it's money somewhere and if the Dreamcast is powerful enough to do the job, which it will be, then anything is possible.
According to Next-Generation Online there is no plans for Sqaure to develop any games on Dreamcast at this stage, not even Final Fantasy 8. This may change in the future, but not in the short term anyway.
A press release has been issued stating that Sega have recieved their first shipment of Power VR2 graphics chips for Dreamcast. Why is this interesting? Well, firstly it increases the chances of Sega having 500,000 units ready for the November 20th launch. Another very interesting fact in the press release is that the Dreamcast's graphics performance is well over three million polygons/sec with a fill rate peak exceeding 1GigaPixels per second. Click here for the full press release.
Some more information has been learnt about the Dreamcast's launch here in Australia. There is also news regarding the modem which may have some bearing on all PAL territories. This Interview will hopefully clear up some of the questions currently being asked.
Rage have annouced that they have other titles apart from Incoming heading to the Dreamcast. They announced plans to port Expendable and Hostile Waters to the Dreamcast.
Chalk up another confirmed game. POD2 is heading to Dreamcast. According to UbiSoft the following features will be included :
- Totally new tracks including envolving climates and interactive elements
- 4 differents types of vehicles
- More than 10 options and weapons to collect
- 8 modes of original gameplay
- Multiplayer: up to 8 players
- More than 60 frames per second
It is unknown exactly what parts will make it into the Dreamcast version because this list also covers the PC, PSX and N64 versions.
According to the Fastest Gaming Network web site there was a bit to see behind closed doors at ECTS. Apparently Sonic Adventure was shown running on an actual Dreamcast but as well as that Sega Rally 2 and Daytona USA 2 were shown on a short video. As well as showing these games, three launch titles were announced for Japan. Sonic Adventure was announced as a definate launch title. Sega Rally 2 has also been confirmed as a launch title as has a top secret project from Yu Suzuki has been announced, Virtua Fighter RPG. Little is known about this game yet, but rest assured as soon as more is found out you'll read about it right here.
Virtua Cop 3, probably the most anticipated game for the arcades at this time. However, according to Game Plus magazine you won't see it at the arcades anytime soon, well not before the Dreamcast version comes out anyway. Game Plus also claims that the game will support new features never before seen in a shooter, and online play.
Will the Dreamcast be delayed? Some other web sites are claiming that if Sega can't et 500,000 units ready by November 20th then they will delay the launch until that quota is met. I just hope that this is one false rumour.
Just a few interesting notes about the Survey that many of you have been filling out for me.
DethKarz is a game that not to many people have heard about yet. But believe me when I say this was the hottest PC racing game at the recent E3 show. Why am I tell you this? Well according to a representative from Beam in Australia they are "seriously considering a Dreamcast port" for the game. This is excellent news for racing fans.
What happened at ECTS? Well not too much at all in relation to Dreamcast. Nothing was shown publically, not even Incoming. Oh well.
When will Dreamcast be released in Australia? According to a Sega-Ozisoft representative the Dreamcast will be released here in August 1999, one month earlier then previously expected. I am hoping to get an interview with Sega-Ozisoft in a couple of days so stay tuned. For those who don't know, Sega-Ozisoft are the distributors of Sega systems and games here in Australia.
A few notes about emulators. Several sites have been posting messages about two major Dreamcast related emulators.
Some web sites and newsgroups are starting to report that Sonic Team will be working on Burning Rangers 2 when Sonic Adventure is completed. I was previously led to believe that Sonic Team will be working on Nights 2. Only time will tell what the truth is.
Although UbiSoft have a few games which are strongly rumoured for Dreamcast, namely Rayman 2 and Tonic Trouble, they have officially announced a Formula 1 based game, Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation. However, it is doubtful the game will have the official Formula 1 license. Pictures released so far show that the game will feature a retro mode where you can drive cars from the 1950's and the game will also feature the tracks from that era. The game should be released in early 1999 in Japan.
According to the Dreamcast IGN web site Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast will be enhanced with over 40 stages to race in. As well as this Dreamcast IGN are reporting that Virtua Fighter 3 will most likely be the Team Battle version as I have predicted for the last several weeks.
So what games do Sega have in store for the arcades in the future, well heres the list of games that will most likely appear at JAMMA, the arcade amusemesnt show.
How many Dreamcast units do Sega expect to sell during it's lifetime? 10 million? 20 million? According to Forbes, Sega are hoping to sell at least 35 million units over it's lifetime. With numbers like this Sega will have to make the system bigger then the Playstation in the late 1990's.
Why have things been so quiet lately? Well the ECTS show is going to be held in London this weekend so you can expect quite a bit more news then. Stay tuned.
There has been recent speculation amongst Japanese press that Capcom will show a version of Street Fighter 3 running on Dreamcast at the Tokyo Game Show in October. Fingers crossed.
People have recently been asking about Microsoft's involvement with Dreamcast. What part will the company play in the future for Dreamcast? We all know that Microsoft have created a special version of Windows CE for the operating system in Dreamcast. However, that isn't all Microsoft are doing. They have already confirmed that Urban Assault will appear on the system and other Microsoft games are rumoured to be in development. Other rumours circulating on the net are saying that Microsoft will also provide other peripherials for the system, possibly a mouse and keyboard.
Launch titles seem to a hot topic at the moment. Godzilla Generations, Pen Pen Triathalon, and Seventh Cross are confirmed. Unconfirmed, and now strongly rumoured launch titles include Virtua Fighter 3, Super GT and Sonic Adventure (if it's ready in time).
It seems as if you general approval has been given to the new look of my site. Before the new look I was averaging 7/10 for my site in the survey. It is now averaging 9/10. If you want to let me know what you think click on : Your Say.
A lot of people have been filling out the survey which has been a great help to me in finding out what you are interested in. Some people have said that the layout of the site need improving. I urge everyone to e-mail me with suggestion or other sites on the net that you like the design of.
Send E-mail to : phantom@winshop.com.au
From the rumours I've heard Sega are working on a new Star Wars game for the arcade, very possibly based on the upcoming movie. If this is true then there is a good possiblilty of the game coming to Dreamcast. I must re-itereate that these are just rumours and nothing is confirmed from either Sega or Lucas Films as far as I know.
Sports fans take note. Apparently the VR sports range, including VR Football and VR Hockey, will be using Shiny's Messiah graphics engine for the players in the game. This is big news considering the graphics engine is one of the most advanced in the industry.
Hudson have a new Action/RPG coming out for Dreamcast. Hudson, commonly known for the Bomberman series, has named the game Elemental Gimmick Gear, or EGG for short. More news when I get it.
More news seems to be coming about with regards as to Sega's use for the modem. Not only will players compete against each other via the internet but the modem will be used to download games demos. How this will work with storage is unknown but all will be revealed as November 20 gets closer.
As you may have noticed I have put a link to this months poll at the top of the page. I urge everyone to be a part of the poll which only takes a few seconds.
Dead or Alive 2 may very well be headed for the Dreamcast. Originally intended for a Model 3 arcade board the game has recently been moved to Sega's Noami arcade board. Why is this improtant news for us? Well Noami is the arcade version of Dreamcast and as a result the game will be very easily converted for home use.