dreamcast being rereleased

[SirPoonga]

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000790071989/

[NIVO]

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/1441  <------ i still want this to be a reality. I know i'd get in line and gladly pay up to $100 for a pci card that could play dc stuff. Of course the whole gdrom thing would have to be worked out(but nothing that couldnt be overcome).

[Lilwolf]

I came here to post the rerelease!

Heck, if they produced a PCI version... I would hope they would try and incorporate a non-media version...

put an ID in each card which is non-configurable.  Then do like IToons does it.. you download each game where it would ONLY work on your computer / card.

Now that would be kick ass!

And if you have registered the product, you could download it for a small charge.

Now that would be cool!

[JoyMonkey]

I really hope Sega gets back into the hardware side of things again soon.
Thinking of the Dreamcast's mainstream failure breaks my little monkey-heart 

A PCI card that lets people download games and play them on their computers?
Drop in Genesis and Saturn emulators and it sounds like the most appealing part
of the Nintendo Revolution has some competition brewing.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

[Grasshopper]

You know the more I think about it the more I ask myself how could a re-released Dreamcast not succeed? I mean if it's possible to make money out of repackaged Commodore 64s and Atari 2600s then surely someone can still make money out of the Dreamcast. And the Dreamcast is not just a nostalgia trip. I've yet to see a PS2 or X-Box game that the Dreamcast couldn't handle. I bet Sega are kicking themselves that they lost their nerve and stopped production so soon.

However, I think they would be wise to give the machine a facelift. The original beige boxes looked a little dull and people need to feel like they're buying something new otherwise they'll just keep buying second hand Dreamcasts off Ebay. Also it needs to be made more "plug & play". A VGA converter should be built in and also some flash memory so that VMUs are not required. I think potential customers will be turned off if they have to buy a load of extras to do anything useful.

[Grasshopper]

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/1441  <------ i still want this to be a reality. I know i'd get in line and gladly pay up to $100 for a pci card that could play dc stuff. Of course the whole gdrom thing would have to be worked out(but nothing that couldnt be overcome).

A DC PCI card is a very nice idea but unfortunately I don't see it happening.

An Amiga based PCI card was promised many many years ago but it never go off the drawing board. I believe a DC PCI card would fail for the same reasons.

There are three problems.

Firstly, interfacing the DC to a PC is going to be trickier than most people realise and therefore cost a lot in terms of research and development.

Secondly, this would only be a niche product and therefore the manufacturer wouldn't be able to achieve the volume of sales required to bring the price per unit down to a reasonable level.

Thirdly, it would have to compete with emulators such as Chankast. Chankast may be slower and more buggy than a real DC at the moment but by the time the PCI card reached market Chankast might well be as fast as the real thing.

[Goz]

There has been no new updates to Chankast in about a year

[MameMaster!]

...I agree.....I think it's amazing that the NES along with many others have been re released but not the DC.

I think if they could package it for $75. bucks with a pack in game...it would be slam dunk.

I would even buy another just to add to the 4 I own.

I still tend to use it more than my Xbox.

[versapak]

$75 might be a bit much

You can get a gamecube, which is still actively supported, for only $5 more.

Maybe $50 with a few games would be a good deal, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their effort to re-release the machine.

[MameMaster!]

$75 might be a bit much

You can get a gamecube, which is still actively supported, for only $5 more.

Maybe $50 with a few games would be a good deal, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their effort to re-release the machine.

hmmm....good point.....but I wonder if they could sell it for that little and still make enough profit to make it worthwhile.

[Lilwolf]

I bet it wouldn't be as hard as you would expect.  Mainly because dreamcast can already output vga signals.   So connect directinput for the controls (and have a few spots in the back for original controllers).   

Then getting the data from another source... really be the trouble. 

Then rearranging the board onto a pci board...

ok not super easy...  But I could see them selling a lot to people who already love teh dreamcast... and other then a portable version, I don't see them selling many

[testicle187]

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/1441  <------ i still want this to be a reality. I know i'd get in line and gladly pay up to $100 for a pci card that could play dc stuff. Of course the whole gdrom thing would have to be worked out(but nothing that couldnt be overcome).

A DC PCI card is a very nice idea but unfortunately I don't see it happening.

An Amiga based PCI card was promised many many years ago but it never go off the drawing board. I believe a DC PCI card would fail for the same reasons.

There are three problems.

Firstly, interfacing the DC to a PC is going to be trickier than most people realise and therefore cost a lot in terms of research and development.

Secondly, this would only be a niche product and therefore the manufacturer wouldn't be able to achieve the volume of sales required to bring the price per unit down to a reasonable level.

Thirdly, it would have to compete with emulators such as Chankast. Chankast may be slower and more buggy than a real DC at the moment but by the time the PCI card reached market Chankast might well be as fast as the real thing.

They used to make a video card that let you play Sega Saturn Games on your PC and use Saturn controllers via it...  Diamond Edge 3d cards I believe.  I don't see why they couldn't do this with the Dreamcast as well, if they REALLY wanted to

[ChadTower]

They used to make a video card that let you play Sega Saturn Games on your PC and use Saturn controllers via it...

[versapak]

They used to make a video card that let you play Sega Saturn Games on your PC and use Saturn controllers via it...

[ChadTower]

Right... I'm a big Saturn fan... if they had actually been able to play Saturn games, rather than ports, I'd have had to track one or two down.

[Grasshopper]

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/1441  <------ i still want this to be a reality. I know i'd get in line and gladly pay up to $100 for a pci card that could play dc stuff. Of course the whole gdrom thing would have to be worked out(but nothing that couldnt be overcome).

A DC PCI card is a very nice idea but unfortunately I don't see it happening.

An Amiga based PCI card was promised many many years ago but it never go off the drawing board. I believe a DC PCI card would fail for the same reasons.

There are three problems.

Firstly, interfacing the DC to a PC is going to be trickier than most people realise and therefore cost a lot in terms of research and development.

Secondly, this would only be a niche product and therefore the manufacturer wouldn't be able to achieve the volume of sales required to bring the price per unit down to a reasonable level.

Thirdly, it would have to compete with emulators such as Chankast. Chankast may be slower and more buggy than a real DC at the moment but by the time the PCI card reached market Chankast might well be as fast as the real thing.

They used to make a video card that let you play Sega Saturn Games on your PC and use Saturn controllers via it...  Diamond Edge 3d cards I believe.  I don't see why they couldn't do this with the Dreamcast as well, if they REALLY wanted to

Interesting. But it sounds like a graphics card that came with ported Saturn games.

I don't doubt that you could fit a Dreamcast motherboard onto a PCI card. But there would be little point unless the Dreamcast could communicate with the PC in some way. For example as a minimum the Dreamcast would need to have access to the PC's CD ROM drive and hard disk. There would also need to be some means of launching Dreamcast programs from the PC. You'd need drivers, a rudimentary API etc. Would multitasking be allowed i.e. could Dreamcast and PC programs be run simultaneously. Would DC and PC programs be able to communicate with one another whilst running? Would the Dreamcast and PC share the same memory? Lots of tricky decisions.

It's certainly doable but I suspect it would cost more than most people realise. It may actually be easier for Sega to write a Dreamcast emulator for the PC. They'd have the inside knowledge to make it really fast and stable.

[TravistyOJ]

Ouch Denied!

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000747072347

[Grasshopper]

Ouch Denied!

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000747072347

At least it suggests they're testing the water.

[Goz]

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/1441  <------ i still want this to be a reality. I know i'd get in line and gladly pay up to $100 for a pci card that could play dc stuff. Of course the whole gdrom thing would have to be worked out(but nothing that couldnt be overcome).

A DC PCI card is a very nice idea but unfortunately I don't see it happening.

An Amiga based PCI card was promised many many years ago but it never go off the drawing board. I believe a DC PCI card would fail for the same reasons.

There are three problems.

Firstly, interfacing the DC to a PC is going to be trickier than most people realise and therefore cost a lot in terms of research and development.

Secondly, this would only be a niche product and therefore the manufacturer wouldn't be able to achieve the volume of sales required to bring the price per unit down to a reasonable level.

Thirdly, it would have to compete with emulators such as Chankast. Chankast may be slower and more buggy than a real DC at the moment but by the time the PCI card reached market Chankast might well be as fast as the real thing.

They used to make a video card that let you play Sega Saturn Games on your PC and use Saturn controllers via it...  Diamond Edge 3d cards I believe.  I don't see why they couldn't do this with the Dreamcast as well, if they REALLY wanted to

Interesting. But it sounds like a graphics card that came with ported Saturn games.

I worked for Diamond Multimedia in the beginning of the 3D revolution (The Edge and Monster - 3dfx voodoo) in the QA department and I can confirm that the Edge indeed did have Saturn ports and didn't actually play Saturn games. There were some products that Diamond did produce in very minimal quantities that would certainly be cool in todays world. There was one card that did allow you to play 3DO games. If I'm not mistaken Creative made one as well 3D0 Blaster or somthing similarly titled.

-Goz

[toyfiend2004]

Would this really be THAT hard?

[Trenchbroom]

If I'm not mistaken Creative made one as well 3D0 Blaster or somthing similarly titled.

-Goz

The 3DO Blaster I believe it was called.  It did hit the market, although if I remember right it required a specific CD-ROM drive model to work. 

[AlanS17]

If they came out with a Dreamcast on a PCI card, I'd build a PC with the sole purpose of playing DC games and storing them on a hardrive along with other media. That would be sweet. I wouldn't want to integrate it into machine I've already got going. I'd want it dedicated.

[versapak]

If they came out with a Dreamcast on a PCI card, I'd build a PC with the sole purpose of playing DC games and storing them on a hardrive along with other media. That would be sweet. I wouldn't want to integrate it into machine I've already got going. I'd want it dedicated.

Yep


A dreamcast PC, in an aracde cab, with all the greats on the hard drive would be perfect.

[rackoon]

Man, you guys are killing me.

I cant stop salivating.

I have been dreaming about playing zombie revenge, hydro thunder, pod racer etc... on my cab.

Infact I busted my dreamcast out of storage last week and fired that puppy up.

Please tell me it will happen some day.

[Scott84]

Man, you guys are killing me.

I cant stop salivating.

I have been dreaming about playing zombie revenge, hydro thunder, pod racer etc... on my cab.

Infact I busted my dreamcast out of storage last week and fired that puppy up.

Please tell me it will happen some day.

Why not incorporate a DC into your cab?

Havent quite a few people done that already?

[spiffyshoes]

Yeah, but if the DreamCast was part of your PC you could probably set it up to rungames off the Hard Drive.  In which case you could incorperate it into your front end like Mamewah.

[Crowquill]

The tricky part of this equation is being able to read the game discs themselves. GD-ROM was a proprietary format. If I remember right, Yamaha made a PC GD-ROM drive, but it would be expensive/hard to track down probably.

I still don't see much advantage to having a DC-on-a-card.

[daywane]

backups are not a dreamcast disk, iso's are not hard to find

[clanggedin]

Hate to burst your bubble guys, but it was confirmed that they are not rereleasing the Dreamcast, but selling off the refurbished units.

Sorry. Engadget or Gizmodo made this announcement a few days ago.

[versapak]

Hate to burst your bubble guys, but it was confirmed that they are not rereleasing the Dreamcast, but selling off the refurbished units.

Sorry. Engadget or Gizmodo made this announcement a few days ago.

Yep

Though you burst no bubbles here. The info you give was already posted in this very thread 9 days ago.

[clanggedin]

I guess that's what I get when I don't read the whole thread. 

[sp0rk]

http://www.excellentcom.net/super1.asp

for those wanting to play DC in thier cabs.

These look awesome!