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Sega Drops Dreamcast Price To $50
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.
Now I can get a dreamcast for the same price as a 486 xterminal.... nice sega!
on the other hand, you can get your hands on a working super nintendo for under $20, and while we're considering buying unsupported consoles, why not go with one that has an almost limitless library of games available for it.
although I'd be really impressed if anyone managed to get linux running on a snes.
lysergically yours
Just a small step below the new generation - PS2/X-box/Gamecube, and only $50! I bought one for $90 Canadian a short while ago, and am duly impressed with the graphics. Buy the damn thing, already - it comes with 3 or 4 demos, and costs about as much as a single *game* for other systems out there.
Last post!
The article mentions that there is a "broadband adapter" that you can get for this--it's an ethernet port. Now if you could get it to work with two of them (I have no idea how the hardware works), then you could use this as a firewall/router. Since it's running on a CD, you don't have to worry about someone modifying files on it if they manage to hack in (which is unlikely, as the script kiddies wouldn't be up to modifying the x86-based Linux hacks to deal with the dreamcast, even if you didn't fix the known vulnerabilities). Of course, not having a hard drive also means limited logging.
Anyway, something to think about.
or 6 for the price of 1 ps2 or xbox.
Why can't they just sell some more of the friggin "broadband adapter" ethernet cards. Does anyone know of a way to hack together one without blowing the money on an overpriced ebay auction?
Is where can I pick one of these up for $50? Most stores around me (central CT) don't carry them anymore...Anybody out there have a website that carries them?
Thanks!
Juiced? Or Not?
That link points to part 2 of the article.
You might want to start at the beginning. html)
( http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7466555948
The absolute best part about this is that you can get two Dreamcasts for $100. Anyone who has ever player VOOT for the Dreamcast knows that there's pretty much no console based multiplayer game that has ever gotten within miles of being as good as this game. With game prices falling, now's the chance to put together a head-to-head system that will still be playable and extremely enjoyable 10 years from now when the console is both dead and obsolete.
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.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
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...
....for that price I can buy two. One to use and one to hold up the low end of the couch!
Vote early. Vote often. Vote CowboyNeal.
On the one side, that's a great plug for the Dreamcast. It's a great little system - the games are fun, interesting, the controller is fairly comfortable, and yes, there's all the other cool (Linux) tricks coming out for it.
;).
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
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I started shopping for the DC games I always planned to get, but...
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.
"Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
the dreamcast can also play games. Lots of them in fact. So much has been made of its usage as an internet appliance, a linux box, etc., but it is also an excellent gaming console. Soul Caliber is still one of the best looking titles on any console IMO. And the price of dreamcast titles continues to drop, making it even eaiser to amass a decent collection of games.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball(TM)
Fifty dollars is cheaper than my Thanksgiving dinner's going to be. Wonder what the family'd say if they opened the serving tray and saw a Dreamcast?
This guy?
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
And I just paid $59.99 for mine on Sunday!!!!
Pax, Ardax
Let me tell you about my Dreamcast: I use it to play games for NES, SNES, Sega Master System, MAME, Colecovision, Gameboy, and other systems, all of which are emulated (some near-perfectly) on the Dreamcast. An N64 emulator is reportedly in the works, too, as is an Apple ][ emulator, and more. I have run Linux on it successfully (although I wish I had a hard drive). I can also use it as an MP3 player, and using the newest VCD player I get full-motion, full-screen playback of VCDs on my TV (some earlier attempts were choppy, but the new player is great). I can use it as a web browser (if I want to see what the web is like on TV for some odd reason), or to send e-mail. Right now, I have it set up for my roommate to use for her e-mail so she doesn't need to "borrow" my computer. All that use out of it, and that's without even looking at the large library of Dreamcast Games. For 50 bucks, this thing is a steal.
So the Dreamcast comes with a modem, right? And you can add an Ethernet card of some sort? I was just told that you can't you them both at the same time, but what about when you run it under Linux/NetBSD? If it's possible, I'm thinking of buying one and using it to replace my dialup/NAT box so I can turn off my loud-ass PCs at night and just leave the Dreamcast on. Is this possible? Any pointers on how to do it?
Actually none of the 128-bit consoles (Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube & X-Box) have a 128-bit processor, I sincerely doubt one exists, only stupid reviewers from crappy gaming sites which haven't got a single clue on hardware talk about 128-bit consoles. The Dreamcast's SuperH 4 has a 32-bit datapath, the tweaked PowerPC 750 (G3) on GameCube too, the Vr5900 (that's a tweaked R5000 from MIPS) of the PS2 on the other hand has a 64-bit datapath but that doesn't do any real difference since the PS2 will never address more than it's 32 megs of RAM. And well, X-Box, talk about mobile Celeron ;-). Everybody is shouting about 128-bit consoles just because every one of those has some vector unit inside able to crunch 128-bit vectors (that is 4 32-bit floating point vars). Well, since the SH4 can multiply 4x4 matrices directly why not talking about the powerful 512-bit CPU of the Dreamcast :-)
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.
The AC above me got it right. SEGA released the DC in Japan during the midst of its worst recession since post-WW2. However, the American launch was big (sold more in one day than the Saturn sold the entire time it was being produced.)
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.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
But the Broadband (Ethernet) adaptor is extremely rare. It costs over $100 on ebay. So your DC node is going to cost you around $150 each.
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!
hit google's cache
http://homepages.compuserve.de/bITmASTER32/dc/dc-i de.html
With pictures, etc.
Seems like boob.uk is slashdotted right now, but also check out dcemulation for news about emulators for the DC. There's a bunch.
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 has got 119MB Disk Juggler images you can dl and burn up. And check out his GBA webserver while you're there.
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -Gandhi
Dude!
:-)
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!
It's always interesting see the different reactions to hardware on Slashdot.
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.
I have purchased 4 dreamcast systems, 2 for me and 2 as gifts, all of them have been able to play cdr's and the one i use i've moded to read cdrw's as well.
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
review on IGN
Username taken, please choose another one.
You're looking for shapes in clouds. The set of slashdot users that happen to post to a given article has much less uniformity of opinion than people seem to expect.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
let's see if THAT works...
Username taken, please choose another one.
The set of slashdot users that happen to post to a given article has much less uniformity of opinion than people seem to expect.
Not true at all. In most cases it is easy to predict what the replies will be before reading them.
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$50 + shipping :o)
I wonder what will happen to local retailers.
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
First - this was a rumor - I have a dreamcast that was just purchased in the store the other day - in the black and red box (with the sports scene on it) - boots CDR's just fine. I don't know where it came from, but I have YET TO SEE a DC that can't boot cdr's and I've picked up like 4 of these for friends and family.
Second you can boot a DC off a CD and then bootstrap it off a NFS server (or whatever) - I've got this kind of setup at home - so in essence the cdr is just a bootstrap medium. Of course it helps to have a cross compiler for SH4 - but that seems to be more effort then the average slashdotter is in to.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
The reason intel is hated is the same reason m$ is hated -- they illegally abused their monopoly position repeatedly.
If you have examples of AMD violating the law, I'm all ears.
I have never seen a dreamcast in action other than those demo units you see in some stores, so I'm not sure if what i'm about to say will be as wrong as that email from kabul Katz told us about
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.
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
Any one else remember those old atari 2600 commercials? when the 2600 was $49.99? It was a rap song and it was like "under 50 bucks - 50 bucks ? - now isn't that nice?"
i miss atari.
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
I might as well buy this console since I also bought:
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.
Yeah, because all of the electrons from the beam gun fall down and collect in the bottom of the tube.
Great, so you can suck at Quake in parallel now...
--
I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy
The console is $49.95, but the ARCADE STICK is still $59.95? Come on! Always wanted one, but it's just not worth it for the price.
3 7/ qid=1006373038/br=1-29/ref=br_lf_vg_29/002-7781294 -2395242
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001ZV
Great console to have, not just for its own nostalgic merit, but for also for emulating other nostalgic systems (handles MAME and Nintendo very well)...It's just crazy to believe that about 1450 nintendo games can all fit on the same self-booting cd...and all under 300MB I believe.
-jc
64-bit datapath but that doesn't do any real difference since the PS2 will never address more than it's 32 megs of RAM
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...
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
AAAH! lik-sang.com doesn't exist! Where can I get the broadband adaptor? Are you just someone horribly teasing those of us who want to make a dreamcast firewall?
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Actually, you've got it backwards. The DreamCast uses a PowerVR3 chip as it's graphics core, and has internal hardware to DOWNSAMPLE that to NTSC. That's one reason why the graphics tend to blow away even a PS2; it produces a 640p image, then interlaces it for NTSC television. For an example, DOA2 vs DOA2: Hardcore. The PS2 version has jaggies harsh enough to cut the screen of your TV.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
that's easy to fix. add an electron drain to the tube. only problem is getting hooked up to the electron sewer which is expensive and time consuming. you are better off not using electron for your display. instead use neutrons brighter color and no draining problems (slight health problems though).
Since it's running on a CD, you don't have to worry about someone modifying files on it if they manage to hack
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.
--- -- - -
Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
DC manufactured Sept 2000 or before can run anything, and are the ones you want to get.
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.
Actually, all of the Sega ones are pretty much being ported cross platform. The only ones that I know of that have some exclusivity (for a limited time) are Sonic (GameCube, funny how the 2 most recongizable brand characters are appearing on the same platform) and Shenmue 2 (X-Box). Sega seems to be taking their cross-platform strategy seriously and porting most of their games across the board. Some games that are being ported to Nintendo, PS2, and X-Box (more than one platform) include Soul Caliber, Virtua Fighter, Sega GT, and Super Monkey Ball. Capcom titles may be heading over to GameCube more than X-Box (considering what's happening to RE series). Hopefully, Sega will remain a strong neutral player so that they don't upset anyone anymore (considering Sega fans are loyally divided now).
From amazon anyway, there is no buy button and they don't have any in stock. Adding it to one's wish list gives " This item is currently unavailable. "
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)
Or get 3, and set them up RAID-style for a game system as reliable as the Space Shuttle!
__
Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
What have you got to lose?
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.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Not to support a troll or anything, but you (and anybody else who expects his console to break) would be better off buying one now, and another one when/if yours breaks. Unless the console is incredibly popular, rare, and out of production, prices will fall with time, and you can get a replacement cheaper by waiting.
Yes! That guy!
Does anybody know if there are any good games that will keep a youngster entertained for hours on end? Somebody that already likes Mario.
I've seen Sonic and that's just a little too fast for a 5 year old.
I never really looked into the dreamcast, but is it possible to play a networked game of doom?
if so Im going out right now and buying one!
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
I got a phone call today telling me that they were only 20.00 at target. Aparrently it has been so since sunday. Good luck finding one though...
Sheesh, after all the work of brainwashing people on buying me Dreamcasts for Christmas, now I need to do it again for something else (since the darn thing won't run Linux).
Ah well...
Petru
Buy one. Even though almost no new games are coming out for it, the games that are currently out are some of the best. And since they're only 20-40 dollars each, you can buy a whole lot. If you're getting a Dreamcast, I'd recommend: Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi (original), Virtua Tennis (or Tennis 2K2, i suppose), and Phantasy Star Online (they're both good). Believe me, you won't regret it. Even if you can't run Linux on it...
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
Under 50 bucks... 50 bucks? heheh
Having looked around at all the stuff the Dreamcast can do.. play mp3s, VCDs, go on the net, the games.. these seem a snap at $50 and I want one.
In the UK, however, they cost $150. Even the ones for sale on eBay UK are like $100. Too much. $50 is an ideal price, and I even looked at the import duty on them from the US.. 2.2% + 17.5%.. even with that it'd still be under $90 for a brand new one.. but Amazon won't ship electical items to the UK!
So what do we do in the UK? Pay three times more for everything, like normal? Seems like it. Any ideas?
mogorific carpentry experiments
I haven't seen any that do anything but play from CDs.
Unfortunatly, the price drop isn't going to be passed on to Australia.
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!
From what I know the Dreamcast Broad Band Adapter is basted of the RealTek 8139 chip, which is common supported. I bought a DC planning on getting on hacking this thing (currently I just play "Worms" on it.. fun game). I took the modem out to look at the interface and it's definately not a stock PCI slot that it plugs into. I'm not very big on hardware but I'd imagine taking your modem and using the parts form that to rip the adapter off and slap it onto an RTL8139 card is possible but I'd like to hear from somebody much more knowledgable on the matter. For me it'd be a heck of a lot of fun whipping out the soldering iron, a $20 NIC and turning it into a BBA adapater for the DC. Can it be done?
Looks like someone never took Marketing 1301. Let me splain it to you.
Bigger = Faster.
Faster = Better.
Better = $$$$$$.
$$$$ = Hookers.
Keyboard = $10
VGA Adapter = $10
Mouse = $15
Being able to play Quake III on the Dreamcast at a lan party... Well, About $35.
I bought (in Knoxville, TN, yesterday evening) a MadCatz brand adapter, marked down to $9.99 from $14.99, with a short cable on one end to one of the four dreamcast inputs, and on the other end a (selectable, via cool little sliding door) port for either a PS/2 or AT keyboard.
:) The Sega keyboard (they had one in stock) feels like a typical PC keyboard -- that is, not great response, but no worse than today's ordinary, mediocre, forgettable, disposable keyboards.*
...
I have read that keyboards other than the Sega may not be compatible with the various OS projects loading on the dreamcast though, so I may have to go back and get a sega keyboard as well. I'd much rather have a nice preowned-by-NASA IBM behemoth hooked up to it, though
Tim
* but I'm not bitter. Noooooo
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
it's true that there are a lot of places in the world where old monitors aren't just lying around people's garages, but ... for a whole lot (most, I think, but can't say) Americans, anyhow, a weekend yardsale haunting or two should yield a working VGA monitor for $20 or so. I say this based on time spent in NYC, suburban MD, rural TN, and Austin, TX in the last few years. Yard sales aside, (not) in the worlds of Ebeneezer Scrooge, "Are there no thrift stores?" I see VGA monitors (rightly considered near useless for modern OSes) mostly unused, in landfills, etc.
:)
Your part of the world may vary
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5