Sega Drops Dreamcast Price To $50 357
kerskine writes: "Just read this article on CNET that says Sega has just dropped the price of the Dreamcast console to US$49.95. Given past articles on Slashdot on all sorts of fun Dreamcast projects, now's the chance to get one. Why not get two (in case you break one)?" See also this article on getting Linux to run on Dreamcast, and NetBSD is another option to explore. 8ight points out even more interesting Dreamcast information.
Linux box priced (Score:2, Funny)
consoles (Score:2, Informative)
although I'd be really impressed if anyone managed to get linux running on a snes.
Re:consoles (Score:4, Informative)
It's been a while since I owned one (1993 I think) but even back then, you could copy, disassemble, and hack every game that existed on these little buggers. Back when Street Fighter II just came out on the Famicom, some friends and I patched the nintendo version to behave like arcade hacks popular at the time (check out the various sfII
roms for mame if you don't know what I'm talking about).
They were, and probably still are, pretty fun.
Re:consoles (Score:2)
Great hardware for $50 (Score:2, Insightful)
Firewall? (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyway, something to think about.
Re:Firewall? (Score:2, Interesting)
Still, it does have a keyboard and mouse, so if not a firewall, maybe a cheapo terminal?
Re:Firewall? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Firewall? (Score:2, Informative)
Wish it wasn't the case, because talking to the DC via a serial cable is a pain in the ass.
DreamCast Hard Drive (Score:4, Informative)
http://homepages.compuserve.de/bITmASTER32/dc/dc-i de.html [compuserve.de]
With pictures, etc.
Re:Firewall? (Score:2, Funny)
"Of course, not having a hard drive also means limited logging."
> lpt
Why use it as a Firewall? (Score:3, Informative)
Or, you could buy any one of a number of solid-state firewall routers that periodically sell for less than $50 and run on less than 5watts. (Mine is an SMC that cost $49 a few months ago, is the size of a small cigar box, and is also a printe server and DHCP server.)
e.g., www.smc.com
Perhaps the sega box is fun for playing games and experimenting, but there are more practical solutions for firewalls today.
Re:Firewall? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Firewall? (Score:4, Informative)
This limited supply, coupled with a high demand from gamers who want one for netplay (QIIIA, UT, and a precious few other games support the BBA), means the average going price for a BBA is far more than the DC box itself. A quick scan of eBay shows only one currently available, at a starting bid of $120 (!).
So the cost of two of these puppies, and one DC box, would set you back far more than an Ethersys router, which is an all-around better option in any case.
In addition, the DC has only one modem/BBA port; getting two to work with it would be nontrivial.
Bob
BBA (Score:2, Informative)
Re:BBA (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:BBA (Score:2, Informative)
What I want to know... (Score:2)
Thanks!
Re:What I want to know... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What I want to know... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What I want to know... (Score:3, Interesting)
Better link (Score:3, Informative)
That link points to part 2 of the article.
You might want to start at the beginning [linuxdevices.com]. html [linuxdevices.com])
( http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7466555948
Buy Two! (Score:4, Informative)
Don't believe me? The game is THAT good. I still play Lode Runner, and I'll be playing Virtual On ten years from now.
Re:i always do! (Score:2)
Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's my project for December: turning my Dreamcast into a sweet arcade cabinet. Build a wooden frame or buy an empty one and use your dreamcast + cheap TV for an excellent combo. I'm estimating the whole project will come in under $300 bucks.
I've seen MAME projects which use PCs and other gear, but this is the best value. You can burn a MAME emulator along with some roms on a bootable disc, you could buy Atari's Greatest Hits for 20... or if you like modern games, there are lots of arcade-straightforward titles like Crazy Taxi, Dead or Alive 2, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 that make great pickupandplay games for a few minutes.
Just because the system didn't make it in the market, don't write it off; the potential for hacking, modding, or simply playing quality games is high. And by the end of the year I'll have a standup version of Crazy Taxi to play...
Re:Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:2)
2Flower writes:
Here's my project for December: turning my Dreamcast into a sweet arcade cabinet.
From linuxdevices.com [linuxdevices.com]: The Dreamcast sports a Hitachi SH7750 CPU running at 200 MHz, with 16MB of memory.
Okay, MAME, under Win98SE, needs over a 300 Mhz K6-2 for some games (KOF, etc). Any early arcade games, or anything up to and including the SNES generation consoles should run fast enough on a dreamcast (although this is an educated guess that assumes the Dreamcast performs at about the same rate as a P200).
However, I'm tempted to turn a Dreamcast into an emulated gaming machine as well. I like the idea of of a desktop omni-console. However, I don't think the dreamcast is fast enough for some arcade games, although I'd be happy if I was wrong.
Re:Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:2)
Re:Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:3, Informative)
JOhn
Re:Great fodder for an arcade cabinet! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Note: not all displays can be mounted in cockta (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Note: not all displays can be mounted in cockta (Score:3, Funny)
Wow only 50 bucks..... (Score:3, Funny)
Cheaper than a GameBoy Advance! (Score:3, Insightful)
But there is a dark side to this. A lot of the good games (Grandia II, Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia) are being ported to the Playstation 2, GameCube, and the Xbox.
Then we can take the other side and say it's a good thing Sega is porting those games over. Take Resident Evil: Code Veronica - it's around $40-$50 for the Playstation 2 version, while the Dreamcast version can be found (usually used, granted) for around $20. Looks the same, plays the same, and except for those added scenes in the Playstation 2 version, is pretty much the same game.
So you could get a Dreamcast for $50, and the good games for around $20-$30 each, or just wait until the good games (because most of the crappy ones won't be brought thanks to Darwin's Survival of the Funnest, except for Sakura Taisen which will probably never reach an English market).
Me? I'm buying another Dreamcast, just in case the one I have ever blows up
Re:Cheaper than a GameBoy Advance! (Score:2)
Another point to consider is that with the X-Box and GameCube coming out now that alot of people may be turning in their Dreamcasts for store credit. Guess what they'll be doing with their software? They'll either be turning those in too or selling them on eBay or something. So you win/win! You can get the console for cheap and pick up all those games for cheap too!
Sakura Taisen DOES rock, by the way. Part Four comes out on Dreamcast in 2002! w00t!
Re:Cheaper than a GameBoy Advance! (Score:2)
And I don't get Sega. They have to know they'd sell 1,000,000 units in the US if they brought it over - the fanboy element alone would handle that.
What's the point? (Score:2, Interesting)
Soul Calibur - Discontinued
House of the Dead 2 - Discontinued
Hydro Thunder - Discontinued
Ready to Rumble - Discontinued
The list goes on and on, and it seems like the only games I can still buy in the original shrink wrap are the ones that nobody really wanted. I guess the only thing left to run is Cheap Linux Console.
And don't forget... (Score:3, Informative)
Fifty dollars, eh? (Score:2, Funny)
Dammit!!! (Score:2, Funny)
I LOVE my Dreamcast...! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I LOVE my Dreamcast...! (Score:2)
...at what framerate? My friend and I got the NES emulator working on the DC, but we had to set it to skip every 3rd frame if we wanted a decent clip. And thats NES, for chrissakes! You can see why we didn't even attempt SNES or MAME. The DC's 200MHz is seriously under-powered for emulation (either that, or the emulator ports need a lot more work. I'd like to believe #2, because *real* DC games have crazy graphics and framerate, and if that can be done, then so should emulation.)
Modem/Ethernet? (Score:2)
Re:Modem/Ethernet? (Score:2)
Yeah, but that's a broadband router, and I'm still on dialup (the bandwidth gods haven't blessed my apartment yet... *sigh*)
Re:Modem/Ethernet? (Score:2)
Like the Linksys boxen: It's a 4 port 10/100 switch. It's web administratable. It does NAT. It does port forwarding, etc. However, it also does printer sharing, can share a cable modem OR a 56K modem on a serial connection (no USB modems). Oh, and it's cheap. Mine works great. Even dials up the modem for me when the cable modem goes down for slow backup.
Re:Modem/Ethernet? (Score:4, Informative)
It's PCI. All the spccs for all the Dreamcast hardware are described in detail here [mc.pp.se].
New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a functionality that Sega took away several months ago, meaning that the newer dreamcasts cannot boot Linux/DC, NetBSD/DC, the Bleem packs, the Utopia bootdisk, or anything else that isn't on a GDROM.
The $50 dreamcasts are a nice cheap game system, but don't buy a new DC expecting to run linux or netbsd just by burning the images on the net to a CDR.
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:2)
This is a functionality that Sega took away several months ago, meaning that the newer dreamcasts cannot boot Linux/DC, NetBSD/DC, the Bleem packs, the Utopia bootdisk, or anything else that isn't on a GDROM.
And that includes MAME discs, too. I wonder how much this affected DC sales? I sure know that I don't want a $50 DC that won't play imports or hacks.
So can anyone tell us how to tell the new ones from the old ones, preferably while they're still in the original box?
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:2, Informative)
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:2, Informative)
So you're saying new dreamcasts are incompatale with the Sega Dreamcast web browser that comes with them, which is on a normal CD-ROM??? I don't think so there chumpie...
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:3, Informative)
One thing that is quite common is for the drive to go bad on a dreamcast. Find an old broken unit and replace the drive with a drive from a new non-cdr bootable unit and the old unit will be able to boot cd-rs again.
Or so I hear
These will too boot on CDR's and even CDRW's (Score:5, Informative)
It includes 1 09/09/99 unit, 2 sportspack units and one unit purchased at bestbuy on latest batch 3 weeks agai.
All play jap imports using the hacked bootdisk by utopia
Thats not true! (Score:3, Insightful)
Second you can boot a DC off a CD and then bootstrap it off a NFS server (or whatever) - I've got this kind of setup at home - so in essence the cdr is just a bootstrap medium. Of course it helps to have a cross compiler for SH4 - but that seems to be more effort then the average slashdotter is in to.
Re:Thats not true! -- Well, Sort of... (Score:2, Informative)
6.1. Newer Non-CDR DCs and workaround Thanks to DJ Motion from isonews, jc, OEM, and Xeal on dcwarez.
The new DCs have their BIOS programmed to prevent booting CD(R)s which have audio (audio boot data in this case) before the game data (formally known as the MIL-CD format). Not nice. Especially considering nearly all previous games - including ECHELON rips - work like this. When buying a Dreamcast, look for Dreamcast units manufactured BEFORE November 2000. There have been some units manufactured in Nov. 2000 with the new BIOS revision that will not work with CDR's. Note that retail box type (regular or Smash Pack) does not matter, only the manufacture date of the unit, which should be visible through a small window on the Dreamcast retail box. Also identified as not working with CDR's are the Sakura Taisen and Hello Kitty special edition Dreamcasts available in Japan.
So it looks like data only CDRs should work, just not audio _before_ data.
lnical
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:3, Informative)
Oh no (Score:2, Funny)
Ah well...
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:2)
I had expected that the ones in stock would be more recent, but getting a pre Sept 2000 shouldn't be too difficult if you want to be safe.
Re:New Dreamcasts CANNOT run linux (Score:5, Informative)
It's not so much the board as it is the BootROM in the Dreamcast.
A little history here (as recounted to me by a few Sega of Japan people)... Sega of Japan (SOJ) originally intended the Dreamcast to run off of GD-ROMs only, but the problem is that GD-ROM discs cost $13 (at least, that's what the blank ones we sold to game developers cost, I have no idea what the mass production expense is). The problem is that Sega then decided that they wanted to distribute free demo discs, and the cost of GD's for this purposes was astronomical. So, they came up with this MIL-CD format that would also boot on a Dreamcast, a regular CD (in media) but had a special signature that the BootROM checked for.
SOJ thought that their little secret was safe (through security by obscurity), until somebody discovered it. I don't have any concrete facts on who did, the rumor that I heard is that the Bleem team (who are very intelligent people, BTW) had a MIL-CD imported from Japan and cracked it that way . Of course, at this time, the GameShark was starting to exploit the MIL-CD format. Then the cracking groups started exploiting it (presumably by looking at GameShark).
At this point, Sega of Japan didn't really care, but Sega of America (SOA) was mightily pissed - our third-party developers were not impressed. There was some internal experimentation on copy-protection/anti-cracking schemes (which I will NOT discuss), and we also lobbied SOJ to put out a new BootROM (v2.0?) that did not allow for booting from CD's. Once they had used their depleted stock of previous (1.1 I believe) BootROM's, then they started using the new chips.
The problem is that there were many hardware revisions of the Dreamcast, so you can't necessarily guarantee by a date (or version number) whether your DC will boot CD's or not.
Of course, there is some legality regarding using the MIL-CD format - Sega intentionally put in some Sega trademarks in the BootROM and the MIL-CD format, so that the only way to have them boot is to contain that Sega text. Thus, in theory, you are subjecting yourself to trademark infringement cases (they did this as a result of Sega v. Accolade, way back when).
-- Joe
Sorry to ruin all your beowulf fantasies... (Score:4, Informative)
Better uses include playing games (duh!), internet appliance (comes with 56k modem), and the emulators/mp3 stuff.
Just don't count on networking it for a decent price!
Re:Sorry to ruin all your beowulf fantasies... (Score:2)
So sad that this box has been put out to pasture so quickly.
Re:Sorry to ruin all your beowulf fantasies... (Score:3, Informative)
Though $79.99 is kind of high for a game system which is not being made anymore.
use the power of google (Score:2, Interesting)
Emulators for the DC (Score:4, Informative)
There's also quite a few cool proggies to do other things with your dc. MPEG vid players, streaming mp3 players, and demo disks to check out.
And if you're thinking about running linux on the DC, my man Fivemouse [fivemouse.com] has got 119MB Disk Juggler images you can dl and burn up. And check out his GBA webserver while you're there.
Offtopic: Slashdotter hardware interests (Score:5, Funny)
Dreamcast: Mostly gushing praise, even though Sega is a huge corporation (and Slashdotters in general seem to be anti-corporate, at least in theory).
Mac: 80% flamingly negative, 20% positive. OS X is changing this somewhat, though it seems most people don't want UNIX being used by people who aren't geeks.
iPod: High praise, though some people hate it because it's from Apple.
iPaq: Generally positive.
PS2: Brings out lots of anti-console rhetoric; negative overall.
Xbox: 60% positive, generally from people who dislike Sony and Nintendo and want a console to be more computer-like. This is even though Microsoft is usually hated otherwise.
Transmeta: 90% negative, though often for no real reason.
Intel: Intel suxors, down with Intel!
AMD: We'll make another exception to the "multi-billion dollar corporations are evil" rule, because we like those inexpensive processors.
Amiga: Misty-eyed nostalgia, including some people who incorrectly think that the Amiga sported the world's first multitasking OS. About 10% of the responders are still fighting the "Amiga is better than ____" battle, like Japanese sailors on small islands in the 1950s who didn't know WWII was over.
Re:Offtopic: Slashdotter hardware interests (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Offtopic: Slashdotter hardware interests (Score:3, Insightful)
Not true at all. In most cases it is easy to predict what the replies will be before reading them.
Re:AMD "exception" (Score:2)
If you have examples of AMD violating the law, I'm all ears.
Bye bye importing taxes. (Score:2)
Here in Brazil anything bought by mail/internet don't pay taxes if under US$50. Now I can buy my DC and pay only US$50 + shipping :o)
I wonder what will happen to local retailers.
cheapest internet access ever? (Score:4, Interesting)
Can I buy a dreamcast, a keyboard, connect it to the internet and have it run a browser? if this is so, this is the cheapest way to setup an internet cafe, and since I live in a third world country, I can actually see this being an option for inernet access on very poor regions, where telephone service is available, but computers are out of the question.
anyone knows about this? I think I might be willing to donate several if this is viable.
Re:cheapest internet access ever? (Score:2)
Re:cheapest internet access ever? (Score:2)
Re:cheapest internet access ever? (Score:2)
Re:cheapest internet access ever? (Score:2)
Yes.
A Broadband Adapter for each would be ideal, but might be rare/expensive. What might be cheaper yet kludgier, would be to set up some sort of modem-to-modem connection between the DC out-of-box 56k and some cheap modems set up in NAT gateway PCs. But that would be VERY kludgy
Re:cheapest internet access ever? (Score:3, Informative)
I bought one of the Dreamcasts when the price dropped to $80. I paid about $160 that day for DC stuff. But, I got the DC itself, a keyboard, mouse, extra controller, two "rumble packs", two VMU's, and a few games that I bought solely because of title/pictures/whatever. (some cheesy role playing games), and a 'VGA Box'.
First thing I did when I got it all home was hook it all up to my television (didn't screw with the VGA box thing yet), plugged in a gamepad, keyboard, and mouse. Booted up, put in my ISP settings, and I was online browsing and doing emails. So, as long as you've got a dialup ISP, technically, you're good to go out of the box. You don't need the keyboard to type (you can have some keyboard overlay thing on the screen pop up and use the gamepad to control a cursor around to type --- royal pain in the ass though -- spend the $8 for a keyboard!).
Out of the box net appliance? You betcha! Plus, my kids and I have a blast playing games as well!
--Xan
Under $50, now isn't that nice... (Score:3, Funny)
i miss atari.
i might as well (Score:2)
1. Atari Jaguar
2. Nintendo virtual boy
3. Atari 7800
4. Vectrex.
I'll hook it up to the TV card, and have some fun. Hopefully it won't end up in the closet like the 4 mentioned above reside.
Arcade Stick Console? Argh! (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001ZV
Discontinued, you can't buy one... (Score:2, Informative)
I have been looking around for a good joystick for the Dreamcast, and the one from Agetec pointed to in the above amazon link seems to be the best from what I hear. The problem is that Agetec has stopped producing them and they are almost as rare to find and get as Kryptonite. I have tried looking around a few months back in stores that Agetec listed and could not find one. There are places online that I can get them which is also rare, but I don't really trust them and one store would not take my credit card order for some unknown reason.
Good luck finding a decent arcade stick. Besides this one and the one by interact which is also hard to find, all the others I have seen are cheap pieces of junk.
For those interested you can see both joysticks here [planetdreamcast.com])
Nostalgic merit and then some (Score:2, Insightful)
New DC should be able to run Linux & Emulators (Score:2, Informative)
Some Oct 2000 and all Dec 2000 and later do not boot using the audio+data format. This is the format that most pirated games and emulator disks use. There is an alternative burn method to get the later manufactured ones to boot CDs, www.dccopyworld.com and www.isonews.com and www.dcemulation.com has more info on that.
Only VERY few DCs were manufactured that do NOT boot from CDs at all. They were only released in Japan, and were generally "special" DCs, like the Sakuren Taisen (sp?) special edition DC.
BleemDC works on all US DCs, so other CDs should also.
Games (Score:2)
I've seen Sonic and that's just a little too fast for a 5 year old.
Doom on the Dreamcast? (Score:2)
if so Im going out right now and buying one!
$20 at Target (Score:3, Interesting)
good idea (Score:2, Informative)
Australia misses out. (Score:3, Informative)
Ozisoft, the Aussie distributer for Sega, has said that their supplies have dried up, and Sega won't be sending any more our way.
Hmm. Luckily enough, I already own one!
Re:wow (Score:2, Funny)
Re:wow (Score:2)
Re:there are only 3 games... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:there are only 3 games... (Score:2)
Re:there are only 3 games... (Score:5, Informative)
Just do a little investigating and you'll find that Dreamcast has a ton of awesome and addicting titles that most systems don't have.
(Sega makes a good deal of them)
Just to name a few...
Jet Grind Radio
Space Channel 5
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Shenmue
Soul Caliber
Virtua Fighter 3tb
Sega GT
Lots of good Capcom titles (Resident Evil, Street Fighters)
All the Sega Sports titles
check out
http://www.dreamcastplanet.com
for lots of good info!
plus for emulators to run on the DC, check out
http://www.dcemulation.com
I Love Dreamcast!
Sega Rules!
Re:Those will all be on XBOX soon enough...bwahahh (Score:2, Informative)
Re:128-bit linux? (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? RAM addressing (Score:3, Informative)
Huh? Umm, if you are correct about the 64 bit datapath, yes it does make a difference! That means you can move 64 bits of data at once out of/or into RAM. Doesn't matter if you have 640k or 64M, you can still move more data. If that's what you mean by datapath...
Re:An other one bites the dust. (Score:4, Interesting)
As close as I can estimate from looking at some press releases, the DC moved at least 5 million in the US, 2 million in Europe.
It has a large library of games, not as big as the Playstation, but it has a much better crap:good ratio. Games are cheap new or used ($20-$30 range for most).
Doing useful stuff with Linux requires the Broadband adapter or "DC Coder's Cable" (modified serial cable). Both are available from lik-sang.com
The homebrew community continues to make impressive contributions. check boob.co.uk for more info.
Re:An other one bites the dust. (Score:2)
Re:Sound output?? (Score:4, Informative)
review on IGN [htmhttp]
Re:Sound output?? (Score:2, Interesting)
let's see if THAT works...
Re:Alright! (Score:2)
Re:Can you hook up a VGA monitor to Dreamcast? (Score:2)
Re:Hey SEGA open source DreamCast software/hardwar (Score:3, Informative)
Licensing fees. Sega may have discontinued the Dreamcast as hardware, but the platform is still very much alive. New games are still coming out for the DC because Sega is still licensing out to game developers.
Rumors also pointed to a Dreamcast PCI card and/or set-top-box that had recording features as well as Dreamcast Features. (RUMORS. Don't take this as fact!)
You're better off developing games under Linux and porting them to LinuxDC.