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The Wise Muse hereby predicts a return to the 8-bit Nintendo: the game selection is large and the console is cheap.

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/ is DCEmu UK, while http://www.dcemulation.com/ is DCEmu.

It's more than worth it ... for many, many reasons. Ask anyone at http://www.dcemulation.com/ or http://www.dreamcasthistory.com/ for the reasons, becuase it'd take too long for just one person to list the reasons, and I'm busy. Have a nice day :)

Okay, I feel you have a valid point there, but let us consider the Dreamcast... Okay, okay, I can hear the hisses, but hear me through. The Dreamcast was a fairly powerful machine, but one reason people chose the PS2 over it is because Sega didn't include a DVD drive (if you do some research, you will find that Sega was going to release a form of DVD-playback). I was of the same mindset as you, thinking "Oh, DVD playback won't be that important." But since Sony had it and Sega didn't, well, we see what happened...

Windows boots in 15 seconds, too, on a supercomputer.

GNU+linux fans are in no position to criticize windows speed. My GNU+linux system (with twice the ram) boots in twice the time it takes my windows 98 system.

Guy going with windows because its faster

The MacPack requires Classic, IIRC. Or at least some of the apps within it do.

Mac Tools Page

Looks like they still require Toast, but at least I can do research based on this starting point...

http://www.dcemulation.com/neededtools.htm

Has a tool called CDI2Nero. And I'm sure there's a tool out there to convert Nero to ISO somewhere (Alcohol burns images just fine for me, and I don't use Linux). ::shrug::

You don't need to do jack to hack the Dreamcast. It doesn't have any anti-copy protection that prevents it from booting off CDs. Instead it used a special disc format for the games called GD Rom that stores about 1.2 GB. So in theory, it was not possible to copy them. In reality, it turned out that there were a few groups able to extract the contents of the discs anyway and make them fit on 700 MB CDs, sometimes with ripping out movies and so on, sometimes not. Sadly, that's one of the reasons the Dreamcast tanked as hard as it did. Rampant piracy. Only a few of the release groups could make the discs because of the hardware hacking involved, but once they got made, they got passed around all over. It got so bad, there was even the rumor that Sega Japan approached the most egregious group with a bribe to stop doing it, which they allegedly took. But, nature and release groups abhor a vacuum, so when one group took a bow, others came in to fill the gap.

But the upside is if you want to run, say, MAME on it, just burn a CD with a bit of help and off you go. No hardware modding required.

girlfriend? I don't understand. Isn't that some mythological creature? :-)

Only kidding. Sorry to hear about that. I'd say it's definitely worth buying another one. Even if just to buy the system itself and download homebrew applications like they have at DC Emulation.

Disclaimer: I have a wife. What's mine is hers. When she's happy, I'm happy. :-)

It's not like this was the first Atari ST emulator ever. It's a port for crying out loud.

you could just use the dreamcast controller on your dreamcast running NesterDC - there's also a genesis emulator out there somewhere. I like running them on my dreamcast since it still gives you the console feel even though running and emulator on it.

200$ is a bit expensive for a hobby video game programming system. Why not just pick up a dreamcast for cheap and use it?

There are plenty of resources for it and some good examples of homebrewed games and applications already out there.

Not to mention it's a lot more modern and you can use some nice rendering hardware.

Linkage:
Dreamcast Programming
Dreamcast Homebrew
Dreamcast Emulation

I can point you to many people.

dcemulation.com
dcemu uk
ConsoleVision
Boob

>>There's plenty of emulators available for the >>not-so-dead dreamcast
>>http://www.zophar.net/consoles/dreamc ast.html

Or you could just goto DCEmulation.com the mother of all Dreamcast Homebrew Software.

Still, ignoring mods for proprietary commercial games, how can a member of the general C++-speaking public create and distribute games for consoles? Sure, there's the Linux add-on for American and European PlayStation 2 consoles, but how can a homebrew developer test programs on systems such as Xbox, GameCube, or GBA, without using tools manufactured by companies that the console makers are trying to sue into oblivion?

The Linux add-on for the PS2 is pretty useless for making games, though I guess you could use it to make some simpler games. You're right, though, that developing for consoles is very inaccessible. That said, homebrew communities are out there, such as GBADev or DC Developer. Linux on the XBox has also opened up some homebrew opportunities, as well. If you want to make games, though, you don't need any of those. What you need is skill, passion, and a portfolio of devleopment (or art, or whatever), which you can certainly do on a PC. PC mods are great for building up a portfolio, but they're certainly not the only way. Think, what did people do before Doom and Quake created the game modification craze?

You mean importing it from Brazil, then sending it back to Brazil? It'd be cheaper (and a much getter gift) to get him a Dreamcast, and a CD with a ton of SMS ROMs+emulator! Obligatory link... DC Emulation

Or just send him the money and tell him to get an used Dreamcast, they're pretty cheap 'round here.

Actually, grab NesterDC from here. This is version 7.1, which runs most games full-speed, whereas 3 had a 50% frameskip.

When you can pirate other systems games on there as well?

And then Sega blew it in the Dreamcast, with the CD-boot loophole (which they fixed only after a large number of units were already sold).

Actually, on a completely tangential topic, this isn't actually true. As it stands, it appears there are no DC's that are unable to play burned CD-R's. See here.

TBH, I think the ability of the Dreamcast to read CD-R's was really not such a terrible thing (and, in fact, rather brilliant, given the thriving homebrew community). The key thing to realize is that the DC drive was actually a GD-ROM drive (ie, 1 GB CD's), so the game manufacturers could have *easily* made uncopyable games by padding out the game with semi-random data to > 700 MB and checksumming random blocks in the padded out region, effectively making it impossible to burn them onto a standard CD-R.

Sega.com has discontinued Broadband Adapter distribution. You can buy used ones on eBay, or you can go to Lik-Sang and purchase one for $120.

Why does my video and audio skip and or freeze?
A: Again play with the encoding settings... try reducing the video bitrate, decimating by 2 or reduces the audio bitrate down to 22khz mono to avoid these skips. If you have found a magical setting that works GREAT share you findings (...)
The current decoder CORE cannot handle resolutions larger than 496x496. But a bigger issue is that anything higher then that the Dreamcast hardware can not handle (A/V skips). So do not look for any larger resolution anytime soon.

Try here. They've got links to a bunch of software and references to other sites on actual DC dev. Incidentally, for actually burning DC discs in Linux, just read this email that I snagged... it's really quite easy, but you need to pass the right options to cdrecord for things to work properly.

You can get a preowned Dreamcast (DC) at EBGames for $15 at a physical store or $19 online. Scope out DCEmulation for tons of homebrew ports and games (Mame, other emu's, mp3 player, divx player and many others) or fire up alt.binaries.cd.image.dreamcast for some commercial rips and work released by others. It even runs Linux (although a little dated) to a VGA monitor with KB support. The DC does not require any "chips" or internal hacks to run anything and has an internal modem.

Even further offtopic but I use my DC often, mostly for NES emulation and simply playing the games I've bought for it over the years.

Slowdown is an integral part of older consoles. Modern day emulators that can easily push these consoles with no slowdown at 60FPS impliment a technique to fake "slowdown." It's a lot easier to just grab a genesis emulator for your Dreamcast or Xbox than attempt a hardware mod like this.

Let me get this straight, are you seriously suggesting that being first to market now is a disadvantage? That coming out first is being 1 year behind?

It's counterintutitive, but it does make anecdotal sense. Think about the Dreamcast, first to market, less sophisticated than (at least, poorer graphics than) the PS2, GC, or XBox, and ultimately, the first to go.

Really sad, since the Dreamcast was relatively DRM-less, and it can not only run Linux "out of the box" (by the way, someone should port Knoppix to...), but even after Sega has dropped support for the console, it supports a healthy homebrew community. I use it for MAME, etc. on my TV with actual game controllers. (Also, you can pick a used Dreamcast up at Electronic Botique for $19.99 these days...)

I say Dreamcast launched late, given SEGA's history. The Genesis launched to compete with the NES and got stomped on by the SNES. I seem to remember the Sega CD competing with the SNES, just during its late years, and the 32X/add-on du jour/Saturn had to compete with the Playstation, but the Saturn came out around the same time as the PlayStation. Sega's smoked a lot of crack around release time, I guess. Thusly, the Dreamcast was Sega's PSX killer, but Sony started pumped the PS2, and lots of people decided to wait. The Dreamcast does have a thriving (ish) emulation and homebrew scene due to a homemade devkit and a lack of need for a modchip. Software includes DCBlast, my (crappy) baby.

I say Dreamcast launched late, given SEGA's history. The Genesis launched to compete with the NES and got stomped on by the SNES. I seem to remember the Sega CD competing with the SNES, just during its late years, and the 32X/add-on du jour/Saturn had to compete with the Playstation, but the Saturn came out around the same time as the PlayStation. Sega's smoked a lot of crack around release time, I guess. Thusly, the Dreamcast was Sega's PSX killer, but Sony started pumped the PS2, and lots of people decided to wait. The Dreamcast does have a thriving (ish) emulation and homebrew scene due to a homemade devkit and a lack of need for a modchip. Software includes DCBlast, my (crappy) baby.

Yup, and I am about to slap it on a cd and play it on my dreamcast. Well, maybe after I get the other FF roms.

Check this out!

If your interested in what the homebrew scene has to offer for the dreamcast, then I recommend checking DC Emulation. Also for the DDR fans, check out Feet of Fury.

As long as I can play my ps1/ps2 games on my ps3 I will be happy. If only Nintendo would add a port for NES carts... I could finally mothball my old system.

If it helps, SEGA added a port for NES carts to the Dreamcast, as it were.

If this were released on a wider scale, I'll bet it could make some good money, especially if it had the best of N64 + SNES + NES. So many great games for so little!

If you want to play SNES+SNES+Genesis+SMS etc games:

1. Buy a used Dreamcast for $40 or so.
2. www.dcemulation.com.
3. Got a good NNTP client?
4. Burn
5. Play
6. Support the companies (the ones that still exist, at least) by buying their current products (since the morons aren't set up to receive payment for electronic versions of discontinued products).

One thing I'd like to see, but I doubt it will happen is Nintendo throwing the entire NES/SNES library on a GameCube disc for like $50-100, and you could play them all, just choose your game from a menu. That alone would make the 'cube worth purchasing.

You can do exactly that with a Dreamcast. Just mail Nintendo a check for $50 (or buy 1-2 games you wouldn't have bought otherwise?).

Realistically, this kind of thing can't be done legally because just the attorney fees to figure out who owns the copyrights for what games would be overwhelming (ask the Blue Sky Rangers about trying to license 20 year old games).

Actually, the Dreamcast isn't quite dead yet! The hacker community has been writing all sorts of emulators and various trinkits for the DC for a while after it 'officially' died, so there will probably still be some demand for at least a Chu Chu rocket server. :P

Links:
Dreamcast Programming
Dreamcast Emulation(much more than emulation there...)

I'm not trying to flame or anything, but the DC has what is probably the largest homebrew communities around. Check out DC Emulation or BOOB! Dreamcast Development. A lot of people still use the Dreamcast (I still do, even though I've got a PS2 and Xbox). It still has it's supporters, especially in the homebrew, emulation and open source communities.

I was going to make a snarky Dreamcast comment too but I got beaten to it at least twice. ;-) On the other hand it looks like I can be the first to say...

Perhaps what Nintendo really needs is to come out early while being as developer friendly as possible. ... that that didn't work for the Dreamcast either. The DC was (and is) developer friendly, esp. compared to the whacked-out architecture of the PS2, and, well, it still didn't win.

On a related note, I'll be intrigued to see how much more power Nintendo gets out of the unit vs. the current Gamecube. Something a lot of fanboys don't understand is that improvement in real graphics quality and CPU performance aren't anything like linear (FPS and pixels/second are somewhat closer to linear). Once you get to Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube levels, and you get artists who know what they are doing, you need a lot more power to improve the actual quality of the picture. That's why, if you're willing to be honest about it, a latest-generation PS2 game may only look 40-50% better then a last-generation DC game, rather then the 300-400% you might be led to believe from the raw processing power difference.

There's a danger that by coming out so soon, the last-generation GameCube games and the first games out of the new Nintendo machine might not look as different as Nintendo might like, whereas PS2 was an instant winner over the old PS due to the time span. (The new hardware would of course look better in the last generation, but it has to have people buying it to get that far.)

I'd say this is a desparation move, and they really need to make sure they bring developers up to speed as quickly as possible, and make the first few games stunners.

That wasn't enough for the Dreamcast either, but hey, the alternative is certain failure.

Definately be sure to read the forums too - most new releases hit there before the main page. Plus, you can read about the progress of future Dreamcast homebrew apps.

dcemulation it has all the 'underground DC info youd ever need. also if you want to know about what your dealing with, check this page out.

This makes either the GBA or the GCN the first console to host two Metroid titles.

No, that would be the Dreamcast.

i have copied vanishing point, TER, and test drive le mans using DiscJuggler. should add that even on my relatively old DVD/CD-RW drive, it reads the data track as well as the session info without issue.

check out DCEmu, I promise, there's a lot of documentation on doing this.

I am a student, and wanted to get this thing based solely on the fact that I'd be able to get it cheap and buy second-hand games for next to nothing. I see my buddies with Playstations and Gamecubes and I like most of the games they play, but my roommate and I have gotten literally HUNDREDS of hours out of my $14 NHL 2K2 - and I know my friend put Zelda Wind Waker down inside of three days (as soon as he beat it).

The games are easy to back up (which, yes, makes them easy to pirate, too) so I don't have to worry about $60 going to waste on a PS2 DVD because of an errant fall or a little carelessness in loading the disc. The one concern I have with the DC is the laser motor - sites like DCEmu seem to indicate this is a legitimate fear, as there are tools available on their site making backups a little easier on the DC's laser.

I got my DC with a dozen games, two controllers and a memory pack for under $50. I bought more games but I still play the nucleus of old games and get at least a couple hours' use out of them every night. Needless to say, I am very happy with this purchase. :)

Yup, sure can.

I should also mention other sites that rock:

Play Nintendo games on your Dreamcast - DC Emulation

Add Composite AV to your Nintendo 2 - Here

The Howard and NESter Archive - Here

The Seanbaby NES page (funny, not safe for mere mortals) - Here

I went that route myself. I have a version for the PC and one for my Dreamcast. I have a rom for almost every game I have. Although not perfect, both play reasonably well. The advantage of the PC is the multiplayer over IP. The Dreamcast version of the EMU has a well designed interface that is simple and easy to navigate and provides access to all the roms on the cd from a menu. Less messy then keeping yet another console from cluttering up the entertainment center.

The latest several versions of NesterDC do not suffer this problem. It plays games flawlessly as far as I can tell (I'm sure it's not falwless, but nearly so). It also supports state saving and other goodies (turbo controller emulation, game genie, etc.). My NesterDC disc is by far my favorite dreamcast game; it is a fantastic emulator.

See DCEmulation for more emulators for DC.

I actually wrote a crappy Dreamcast game, constituting yet another use for the DC, along with all the other (much better) homebrew games out there. (Wow, way to plug that POS game, self!) Seriously, you can't effectively use Linux (no hard drive and it's slow, but there IS a Dreamcast keyboard), and CD-Rs wear out the Dreamcast's laser faster than the GD-ROMs "normal" games are on. FWIW, there are other homebrew emulators besides NES, including MAME, Genesis, and SNES.

" turns everyone's favorite hackable console (the Xbox) "

Hey! The Dreamcast Scene is just as hot right now, especially now that SDL has been ported!

Although, you can play Div-X on a Dreamcast which is probably just as quiet and cheaper!

Although, OK, you do have to do stuff>/b> so 90% of the population will never get it!

And if you can't afford an XBox (due to student loans and such), the ol $50 Sega Dreamcast has some really nice emulators for it! No mod chip required. I use the NES emulator all the time. Apparently MAME runs well. There's also some BSD distro for it, and homebrew games. Plus, it's so small and cute!
http://www.dcemulation.com/
http://www.consolevision.com/

Isn't this what Dreamcast Emulation is all about?

Well, not all about. But somewhat. A large part. Mostly. Kinda.