Dreamcast drops to $99, Virtua Fighter 4 and Space Channel 5 for PS2?

Note:  Sega's goal is to get out of red and into black, the only way they can do this is to change, this change is: developing and publishing games for other platforms.

Dreamcast's retail price will drop from $149 to $99 beginning February 4, 2001. That's only 4 days away. This sudden price drop is due to Sega's transition from a hardware and software company to a software-only company.  Sega is trying to liquidate the remaining 2 million or so Dreamcast units they have in inventory. Currently, 4.5 million Dreamcast units have been sold in the US, well short of Sega's goal of 7 million units by March 2001. Sega manager of marketing communications, Heather Hawkins, stated, "We'll continue to support the hardware through December 31st, as we anticipate some hardware will still be in retail at that time, but we'll no longer be holding inventory as of March 31st [2001]." As you may already know, Sega will be refocusing its hardware efforts by looking to license Dreamcast technology to outside hardware manufacturers. The main hardware manufacturer will be Pace Micro Technology. With this collaboration we'll see the world's first set-top box with the capabilities of a powerful videogame system--the Dreamcast.

Sega will become "platform agnostic", this means Sega has no commitment to any company and will be developing and publishing games for other platforms in order to reach their goal of the world's leading game publisher. While we're on this topic, Sega has announced several key titles currently in development for other platforms stated for releases later this year, they are: (if you are a Dreamcaster be prepared to be very surprised and some-what angry, I was) Virtua Fighter 4--a sequel in Sega's flagship fighting series --will be a Playstation 2 exclusive built from the ground-up, this has to be the biggest blow to Sega fans; Space Channel 5 for Playstation 2; Sakura Wars for Playstation 2; and Let's Make a Pro Sports Team for Playstation 2; the latter two will most likely not make it to the US. Also, the deal with Acclaim to bring Crazy Taxi, Zombie Revenge and 18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker to Playstation 2 after April 2001, has finally been confirmed. Other titles that have been confirmed are: Chu Chu Rocket! Puyo Puyo, and Sonic the Hedgehog Advanced, all for Game Boy Advance. In case you are wondering, there has been no news on whether or not we will see Sega games on Nintendo's Gamecube or Microsoft's X-Box. Sega mentioned that they are currently looking into porting Saturn classics to Playstation one. Wouldn't that be nice? If Sega does decide to port some over, hopefully they are games that I don't already have for Saturn like, Shining Force 3 (I couldn't find it) or Deep Fear (I think that was the name of the survival/horror game on the submarine).

Fellow Dreamcasters don't fret, the Dreamcast is not dead (yet). Sega's VP of Corporate and Marketing Communications, Charles Bellfield, stated, "We're not giving up on Dreamcast. We'll continue to support the platform well into the next 18 months, and beyond that, as long as it is profitable." You see, Dreamcast still has hope. If the word of a Sega VP isn't enough, then chew on this: Sega has confirmed over 30 first party titles for the remainder of 2001. Some of the big-name titles are:

• Jet Grind Radio 2- anyone up for some more tagging and skating?
• Shenmue 2- you already knew this was one of them...finally, we can find out what happens to Ryo on his quest to find his father's murderer
• Toe Jam and Earl III- oh yea, the series continues
• Bomberman Online- hopefully, this is as good as Saturn Bomberman, if not better
• Sonic Adventure 2- supposedly faster, but how is that possible?
• Daytona 3- Daytona USA hasn't come here yet...hey you can't go wrong with sequels, even if the first one hasn't been released yet

What is my take on this announcement? As long as I'm able to play Sega's excellent games (whatever platform they are on), I will support Sega 100%. Hey, don't abandon the Dreamcast just yet (Sega hasn't), we still have at least 18 months of gaming bliss to look forward to on the Dreamcast. If you abandon the Dreamcast (and Sega) now, you will miss out on the great games I mentioned earlier, plus some. One last thing. The titles I mentioned above (and didn't mention) are only first-party (Sega's) titles, there are still over 40 other titles to be released by third-party companies. Over 70 new games in the course of one year isn't bad, as long as more than half of them are worth buying. Sooner or later we will have to deal with this: we will have a new third-party developer/publisher--Sega--but no Dreamcast. Everybody, go out and buy a Dreamcast within the next 2 months, if you don't do so soon, you will miss your chance to experience one of the best systems ever created.

--Dreamcast "Mac" Otaku
      Where's that Gamecube pre-order slip?