Dreamcast: Difference between revisions

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The Sega Dreamcast is the most recent Sega console to date even though it is officially dead. It was released in 1999 long before other similar consoles were and enjoyed brisk sales its first season. It was an attempt to break into the console market with a next generation system designed to supersede Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's N64, but mainly because doubt (most Sega consoles have been failures) and anticipation of the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Xbox, it lost a lot of steam and Sega began to lose money once again. Early 2001?, Sega announced that the Dreamcast was to be discontinued but that new games may still be made. The failure of the Dreamcast was the final blow that took Sega out of the hardware business.

Dreamcast used a proprietary format called GD-ROM for storing games in order to foil software pirates, a strategy that ultimately backfired when the first run of discs had a high rate of defects, and pirates managed to pirate the games anyway (in some cases the pirated games were released before the legitimate versions!).

The Dreamcast has a modest hacking enthusiast community. The Availability of Windows CE software development kits on the internet, and ports of Linux and NetBSD operating systems to the Dreamcast give programmers a selection of familiar development tools to work with.

Specifications

CPU: Hitachi SH-4 RISC CPU with 128 Bit graphic computational engine built-in (operating frequency: 206 Mhz 360 MIPS/1.4 GFLOPS)
Graphics Engine: PowerVR2 DC (capable of drawing more than 3 million polygons per second)
Memory: Main RAM-16 MB, Video RAM-8 MB, Sound RAM-2 MB
Sound Card: Super Intelligent (Yamaha) Sound Processor with 32-Bit RISC ARM CPU core built-in (64 channel PCM/ADPCM)
GD-ROM Drive: 12x maximum speed (when running in Constant Angular Velocity mode-CAV GD-ROM is a new high density memory medium (capacity = 1.2 GB)
Modem: Removable 56kbps modem
Color Output: Approx. 16.77 million simultaneous colors

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 The '''Sega Dreamcast''' is the most recent [[Sega]] console to date even though it is officially dead.  It was released in [[1999]] long before other similar consoles were and enjoyed brisk sales its first season.
-It was an attempt to break into the console market with a [[next generation]] system designed to supersede [[Sony]]'s [[PlayStation]] and [[Nintendo]]'s [[N64]], but mainly because doubt (most Sega consoles have been failures) and anticipation of the [[Nintendo GameCube]], Sony [[Playstation 2]], and [[Microsoft]] [[Xbox]], it lost a lot of steam and Sega began to lose money once again.  Early 2001?, Sega announced that the Dreamcast was to be discontinued but that new games may still be made. The failure of the Dreamcast was the final blow that took Sega out of the hardware business.
+It was an attempt to break into the console market with a [[next generation]] system designed to supersede [[Sony]]'s [[PlayStation]] and [[Nintendo]]'s [[N64]], but mainly because doubt (most Sega consoles have been failures) and anticipation of the [[Nintendo GameCube]], Sony [[PlayStation 2]], and [[Microsoft]] [[Xbox]], it lost a lot of steam and Sega began to lose money once again.  Early 2001?, Sega announced that the Dreamcast was to be discontinued but that new games may still be made. The failure of the Dreamcast was the final blow that took Sega out of the hardware business.
 Dreamcast used a proprietary format called GD-ROM for storing games in order to foil [[software pirate]]s, a strategy that ultimately backfired when the first run of discs had a high rate of defects, and pirates managed to pirate the games anyway (in some cases the pirated games were released before the legitimate versions!).