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Sega Kills Off The Dreamcast
Rurik writes: "Over at MCV, a UK based site, they have a front page article about the death of the DreamCast. It seems Sega is losing too much money off the DreamCast, and are halting all production." An unnamed reader also points out this feature on cex.co.uk on same. Patrick Lewis writes of the move: "... and this time they mean it. Yahoo/Reuters says so." And of course, there's also coverage at Daily Radar, too. Update: 01/23 10:21 PM by T : Note that many of these stories prominently feature the denial by Sega representatives of the quitting-hardware reports; according to both the Nikkei news service and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, though, sales will halt once the current inventory is gone. Sure sounds like quitting to me.
Sega denies it.
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This is not my sandwich.
How distressing. I had just leaped into the 90's (now that its the 00's) when I won a Dreamcast at an xmas party last year. And now Sega is killing it? Great! And I thought I had a tough time finding good games for my Dreamcast before. *sigh* Why can't they just decrease funding for advertising and use the spare change to fund the conversion of some of the best-of Sega games to Dreamcast format for all of those who weren't as lucky as I was, who actually had to shell out a large chunk of change for this contraption.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."
I doubt that. What percentage of the mass market do you think has this ability?
Piracy might have had a -small- impact, but the complexity of acquiring and burning the games is barrier to entry for the majority of the population.
The real problem with the Dreamcast has always been marketing. Hardly anyone knows about how good the software for the DC really is. Right now, with the DC being 2 years old, it still offers the best console experience on the market (PS2 included), but if you go to the local arcade and ask around, the impression the kids in there have is that the DC is on par with the original Playstation.
Nobody really knows the scoop.
Sigs are awesome huh?
The press really needs some more integrity here, even if it is true, but esp. if it turns out to be false... again. These rumors hurt real people, you know, which is sad when they have no basis in reality.
(On the other hand, if the console did go down at this point, I think it would be kinda cool in a way... I'd love to pick up all the excellent Dreamcast games at bargain bin prices! Probably still couldn't afford them all before they'd disappear, there's too many good ones.)
http://www.mcvuk.com/ writes: "Sega denies Dreamcast death"
"Sega of America has denied reports that the company is to pull out of the hardware market and cease production of Dreamcast." That's a pretty far strech from "Sega Kills Off The Dreamcast" I know all about that first amendment, free speech thingie that Slashdot believes in, but could we PLEASE get a little editorial accuracy?
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
...then this marks another dead platform that NetBSD supports.
A shame -- I would've loved seeing sendmail running on a DreamCast.
Thus sprach DrQu+xum.
DrQu+xum: Proof that the lameness filter doesn't work.
It will be nice to see a PS2 or Nintendo version of the next 'Sonic', etc. It would be even better if they'd get their ass in gear and start doing reasonable GL or Direct3d ports of their games.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Download ISO from any site.
Place CD-R in drive (The tricky part: make sure it's 80 minutes).
Click "Start recording"
Every console maker's profits are nearly all in software sales. Hardware has traditionally been a loss of money.
I don't mind emultation for old games. It gives you a chance to relive some old favorites (particularly when the hardware is old and sometimes prone to failure) but enough is enough.
I don't think Sega lost the battle entirely due to pirate games, but I'm sure it created a good dent.
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-Be a man. Insult me without using an AC.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Even if Sega *were* to halt Dreamcast production - which they've denied, the Dreamcast is getting a position as *the* console for hackers, so isn't about to die completely just yet. I just got my serial cable and have been playing about, and there's a lot of scope for doing some really kool stuff. The fact that GCC can compile SH-4 well is a big help. If you want to get into it, check out sites like boob.
Anyway, remember that it's all just a rumour at the moment, although we all know Sega's been having serious problems.
It would seem rather odd for this to come on a day when Sega's share price has increased by 200 Yen a share though.. dirty tactics perhaps?
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Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Don't even go off of what Daily Radar says...
:)
Sega rumors which have already been shown to be false...
And then, last time it was the "Nintendo is suing us for screenshots" story which as it turns out, they were actually suing the media conglomerate Imagine that owns their site because they were apparently publishing books with trademarked and copyrighted Pokemon drawings all over it.
There is a really funny
Penny-Arcade comic strip that covers the issue pretty well in my mind.
It's a catch-22 situation. The more money you have, the easier it is to generate more. Marketting is one thing that isn't 100% critical to getting the product out there, so it's one thing that can be dropped in an already bad situation.
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If youa ctually read the Yahoo article-- its a third hand report. They are reporting that someone else reported....
a _d enies_rumor_of_dreamcast_s_demise_1.html
very sloppy, bad jounralism.
And SEGA has already denied it. This link
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20010123/tc/seg
is useful for the denial though the rest of the article is filled with similar sloppy/bad reporting as Yahoo tries to cover their first error...
First it was that Sega would be bought out by Nintendo. It screws with Sega's stock price. Thank you NYTimes.
Then a Japanese newspaper places Sega, fiscal-wise, ahead of a company that sold tainted milk to children which was in last place.
Then Sega "announces" that they would stop manufacturing Dreamcasts; this is denied.
Is this FUD generated by Sony or what?
Not that I wouldn't mind seeing the Dreamcast die. I bought one of those worthless Playstation 2's in October the day they came out, and there still hasn't been a good game released for the system yet. All my friends have Dreamcast systems with a large library of impressive and fun games. I can totally see why Sega would want to kill their machine - they've got too many good games - and online support that lets 4 people play a First Person Shooter through one console, ONLINE!! Someday the PS2 will be that cool, but not yet.
Joseph Elwell.
but, let's assume just for a moment that this story is true (apparently that's not a stretch for most readers, despite several reports otherwise) that Sega is stopping production of the Dreamcast.
The Yahoo link also states that they are focusing on software development. I already have a Dreamcast and I don't give a crap if they keep producing the boxes. It would thrill me to death that they realize their investment would be better spent making some more games.
But, looking at the Nintendo GameBoy, Color GameBoy, Pocket GameBoy, Bassackwards GameBoy, Mint-Flavored GameBoy, and Limited Edition Anti-Matter GameBoy, it hardly seems that ceasing production of the clunky, gray, original GameBoy was a sign that the company was giving up on their line. Anyone see the new, smaller Playstation 1? They stopped production of the original, right?
Yeah, thats why the Sony Playstation was the miserable failure it is.
Come on, install a mod-chip, or have one installed, then rent game from video shop, copy to CD, add to personal library.
No lengthy downloads, no dependence on broadband connection, cheaper console, easier copying process.
There is the necessity to modify the hardware, but the proliferation of people offering to do this is quite amazing.
Just look at how badly piracy has hit Sony's bottom line.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
Clearly stated at CNN Sega denies rumors "that it will be ceasing production of its Dreamcast video game console, adding that suggestions the company would produce software for its competitors were also misleading." Leave it to the brits to make something up..
As the subject says, it's Sega of America that denied the report, which is really interesting, considering that it is no secret that while the dreamcast has done fairly well over here, it did pretty badly in Japan.
I wonder if the story should be read as 'Sega of Japan is going to stop producing Dreamcasts, Sega of America instead will keep producing consoles and software'.
OT: personally I bought a dreamcast for basically three games: House of the dead, Crazy taxi and Dance dance revolution. At work instead we mostly played Virtua Tennis (*awesome* game) and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
-- the cake is a lie
Fomr the posts here I get the feeling some folks don't udnerstadn the economics of the platform market.
SEGA loses money on the Dreamcast
SONY loses monry on the PS/2
MS will certainly lsoe money on the X-Box.
The console is what is referredto in busiens sas a "loss leader". They sell it at a loss to gain incremental revenue. What is this revenue you ask?
Game liscensing. For every copy of every game sold for one of these boxes, the console manufacturer gets a license fee from the game publisher.
THATS why you want the market and give awya your hardware to get it. The revenues from license fees for the most successful game console are enormous.
1) It's the only next-gen console out with a library of good games
2) the games are new and different, not yet-another-FPS
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Then I had to find out it was just slashdot being slashdot and posting rumors.
Damn.. there goes my 500% return.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
That's a stretch. And when you consider that Sega is a player in the arcade machine market, and several of those machines used the same chip as the Dreamcast, it makes it a long stretch.
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Nothing denying that Sega of Japan is stopping unit production.
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This is tragic, considering the fact that the Dreamcast is at least as good, if not a better system than the Playstation 2. I hope Slashdot readers will take a serious look at what's happened here: Sony has effectively killed the Dreamcast through FUD. At every point of production with the Dreamcast, Sega has executed perfectly, providing a well-stocked system with lots of innovative, great games (even good launch ones).
If you've never spent a fair amount of time with this system, ignore these so-called game magazines FUD for a moment, and spend a weekend with one playing Shenmue, Soul Calibur, Jet Grind Radio or Samba De Amigo (friends & maracas are a necessity). These are easily some of the most fun, innovative games I've ever played, and marginally better than anything Sony or Nintendo or anyone else is offering at the moment.
Now try to contrast your Dreamcast experiences with the PS2: even if you can get your hands on a PS2 (months after the ps2 "launch", most people still can't buy them through regular retail channels due to Sony's "parts shortages"), you'll find that the PS2 is nothing more than a upgraded PS1 with a crappy dvd player. Sony has beaten Sega not through producing a solid product, but through press releases and media control (something with which Slashdot readers are familiar).
If Sega really is leaving the console business, I would strongly recommend buying one of these Dreamcast systems while they're still in stores. It is an extremely quality product with some of the greatest games on the planet.
Did I mention it boots linux?
Brandon
I live in California where there's no power anyway.
I think I'll take up reading by candelight for recreation....
Nope. I'm getting it too. It looks like, once again, the Slashdot editors posted a link without bothering to follow it themselves.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
The article denies that they've officially anounced such, it doesn't deny the rumor. Still, I'd be surprised if it were true.
Even though it is possible that the news stories could be interpreted in that fashion, I really don't think that it is a likely ocurence. As we all should know, the American branches of Japanese video game companies are not independent enough to continue production of a console that the "mother branch" sees as a lost cause. Because of the recent slide of Japan's economy, it would be much more expensive to produce Dreamcast units here in the States than in Japan. It would be stupid for Sega to develop a game here for the same reason, yet producing a game in Japan and then being forced to translate it to American to be able to sell it at all is ineficcient. Overall, this thought is just the desperate grabbing-at-strings of a desperate mind.
Why Sega of America denied the rumors is a much simpler question to answer (fortunately). Sega of Japan is not in America, so why would Americans care what they think? Much better to have the Americans spoken to by their local mouthpiece, SoA.
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I doubt it...
But...Maybe they'll buy the "Dreamcast" division.
Makes me wonder if the XBox will play Dreamcast games (either natively or perhaps after you buy a $100 add-on...)
(As an aside - does anybody else wonder about that "XBox" name? Until Microsoft trademarked it, an "X Box", to me, was a terminal machine for X-windows...)
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But the last word that I heard is the Sega is not stopping production of the dreamcast, but only in its current incarnation. If I can find the link, I'll post it, but the word was that sega has just recently put all(or most, or enough ;)) of the dreamcast hardware on a chip, so that it will be avaliable as an add in card, for pc's, and for integration into home theatre devices. Like TV's, and DVD players, etc. If anyone remebers where this link is, post it ;) I probably won't be able to find it. I believe that this was the unofficial followup to Sega official statement that it will start producing stuff for "other" platforms. Sega of America, I believe, clarifed it, and indicated that the "other" platforms were not other consoles, but were other incarncations of the dreamcast, which would be pretty cool.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
- A source inside Sega has categorically confirmed the continuing manufacture of Dreamcast-enabled products, although it is unlikely that they will take the form of the current white Dreamcast box. This ties in neatly with rumors that Dreamcast-enabled set-top boxes, DVD players and even a PC add-in card are in the works. So it seems that for the moment, the fate of the Dreamcast format is far from sealed.
Bizarre. It's hard for me to imagine that a low-volume PC-Dreamcast card could be more profitable than the dreamcast console. Especially because the console is already designed and has ramped up its production.--
I'm sorry but you're wrong.
The only modern platform machine claiming to make a protfit at retail is the upcoming Nintendo box.
Don't believe me, read the trades.
The "Japanese magazine" as you refer to it is basically the wall street journal of Japan. Its the key daily business newspaper.
They usually report things first. If they report it, its because Sega Japan told them so.
I expect Sega America (run by Americans) are in denial. Sega in Japan is nowhere with the dreamcast. They're turning themselves into a software/games company.
Sega still makes Arcade games, dummy!
-- dieman - Scott Dier
games I've ever played, and marginally better than anything Sony or Nintendo or anyone else is offering at the moment.
I think your using the word "marginally" incorrectly here. I belive you mean to say that the games are greatly better then what's available on the n64 and psx, but "marginally better" means only slightly better.
Amber Yuan 2k A.D
"and dear god does this website suck now." -- CmdrTaco
The story is here.
"Sega's continual commitment to Dreamcast involves incorporating the Dreamcast technology with set-top boxes," Sega of America spokesman Charles Bellfield told CNET News.com. Bellfield said Sega would probably look to partner with other companies that would make the set-top boxes and that announcements would be coming shortly. . . . "Both dedicated game consoles and convergence devices play a part in the future of digital entertainment," Bellfield said. "The console is not going away and the Dreamcast technology is not going away."
Nothing specific on whether such a device would enable high-speed connection to the Internet, but I can't see building a new device that didn't.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
For people who like "multimedia boxes" with limited game playing ability, I'm sure that Sony's box is just fine. Of course, in buying it and its games you are giving money to the MPAA directly, stifling Linux and helping to buy new laws like the DMCA. This is not true with Sega, though they aren't saintly they have never had that kind of influence.
Sega basically has decided to allow Sega Dreamcast clones. Think about this, why does x86 own the PC market? Clones. This is a huge advantage for Dreamcast owners, which has skillfully been turned into FUD by the hype machine at Sony (yes, maybe Micros~1 too, I wouldn't put it past them.)
Sega decides to try something innovative and open up their hardware, and Slashdot slams them in favor of Sony, one of the nastiest companies in the entertainment business.
But then, Slashdot's editorial bias against Sega has shown in the past, I can remember a snide little comment from one of the editors, "They've sold like what, 3 of them," referring to Dreamcasts in a previous story hyping the PS2.
This level of bias makes me wonder if Slashdot, which used to give short shrift to software tyrants like Sony (or is it only bad when Micros~1 does it), is recieving money from Sony.
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)