The official last days of the Dreamcast

Razer · 4934 5157 5662 5658 Gender: Joined: 07 Oct 2002

from www.IGN.com-

Sega to Cease GD-Rom Production in February

January 18, 2007 - Few modern-retro systems have quite as enthusiastic and hopeful legion of fans as the Dreamcast. The last console Sega ever made was a solid and innovative system, the first to feature an integrated modem and internet support. Its mid-console-cycle launch sixteen months before the PlayStation 2 made it the most powerful console available when it was new, but it was unable to survive the onslaught of Sony's console when push came to shove in March 2000. Nevertheless, while the Dreamcast was going strong it was host to a number of games that easily hold their own today, like Power Stone, NFL 2K, and Marvel vs. Capcom.

Though Sega ceased production of the console in March 2001, rumors of a re-launch or sequel console have continued to find traction among the hopeful on the internet despite repeated denials by Sega. A variety of games have continued to trickle out of Japan, and an active pirate/homebrew community have kept the system alive for years after its early demise.

Today, however, Sega has put the final nail in the Dreamcast coffin, announcing that production of GD-ROM, the proprietary disc format used by the Dreamcast and Dreamcast-based NAOMI arcade board, will cease in February 2007. With no more official releases possible after the end of GD-ROM production, the Dreamcast will have reached its final end. February 1st will be a sad day, which we shall commemorate by ritualistically slaughtering a PS2, nefarious console of Dreamcast snuffing that it is.

Not to slight the games mentioned but I find it strange to overlook Phantasy Star Online, a game that made online gaming important to home console users. On a side note I still feel the greatest Sega console ever is and was the Saturn. That library has yet to be matched in terms of quality. The PS2 library may match it in number of great games but only because of sheer number of titles to choose from. The Capcom games (The SF and VS series), Shining Force series, Dragon Force, and last but certainly not least Death Tank, are unequalled to this day on any home console. I shed a tear for the Dreamcast, I cry for myself.

ScrumYummy · bunnyhunches of scrums Gender: Joined: 29 Jun 2005

I never owned a Dreamcast (I was a big fan of the Saturn, and gave up on Sega when they killed my favorite system), but I find it amazing that it survived this long, and with such a strong fanbase.

Shino · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:30 pm Post subject:

The Dreamcast was an incredible system. And it was sad to see it go then. It's even worse now. Bawl

Thanks a lot Razer!

RivaOni · Full English! Age: 41 Gender: Joined: 24 Sep 2002

I still play my DC almost daily, when one of them isn't suffering technical difficulties, I currently own a NTSC-J DC and a PAL one.

It's a shame SEGA are stopping production of the GD-ROM especially as we've seen alot of scrolling shumps released in the past couple of years in Japan for the Dreamcast, but then those things are so god damn expensive to import to anywhere that alot of its fanbase miss out,. like me for example!

Silver Adept · Otaku Lord Age: 42 Gender: Joined: 20 May 2003

It'll be sad to see the DC go. One of the only complaints I had about it was that it's D-pad was not exactly the world's most comfortable thing to use. And the somewhat large controller size. Other than that, though, it was okay. I've got good memories of having my butt handed to me on Capcom Vs. SNK 2 and Last Blade 2 for DC.