Dedicated SEGA fans.. Can they make a difference?

[eXeler0]

What do you make of this?
http://www.projectdream.co/

The Dreamcast does have some real fans and you can recognize the passion from Amigaland.
But does anyone think it might succeed in talking SEGA into going back to doing hardware in this day and age?

[Retro-Nerd]

This is complete nonsense. Sega is maybe a bit flattered but there is no chance for a Dreamcast 2. This would take a lot of time and money that Sega doesn't have anymore.

[Galahad/FLT]

And even if Sega were to return to hardware, they resolutely would not refer to the Dreamcast in anyway whatsoever.

Much as a decent console as it was, it was also the failure of it that lead to Sega quitting.

Consoles are heading more toward PC territory now, designing hardware is less of an issue, its software which Sega have traditionally done well in.

[Adrian Browne]

If a viable niche device was created maybe Sega could be convinced to licence the Dreamcast name and related properties but that is all. These guys are talking up a good tale but I don't yet see and hard evidence to back up their claims.

Still I am now keeping an eye on their facebook page because "why not".

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

This is complete nonsense. Sega is maybe a bit flattered but there is no chance for a Dreamcast 2. This would take a lot of time and money that Sega doesn't have anymore.

While I'm also mostly sceptical about this idea, the thing is, R&D cost is not a huge issue if you go the "PC in a small weird looking box and a cute sticker" route.. (Think, Steam-boxes). but, yea.. SEGA is not in a very good shape atm.
So maybe they'd be tempted to license their name to some Steam-Box maker, and sure why not - call it the DreamCast2, cash in on the old nostalgia strapped suckers out there ;-) Bundle it with a SEGA exclusive.. voila...

[alexh]

I doubt they could remake the dreamcast hardware even if they wanted to. The FABs which made the chips have all closed or been upgraded to a smaller geometry

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by alexh

I doubt they could remake the dreamcast hardware even if they wanted to. The FABs which made the chips have all closed or been upgraded to a smaller geometry

Don't quite follow you here, why would they wanna remake the old hardware?

The old Dreamcast used a PowerVR GPU, the granddaddy of the GPUs in iPads, iPhones. I'm sure it's easy enough to "emulate" the old chip if you stay with that architecture. The CPU is a little less ideal. But it's only a 200MHz Hitachi PPC. It should be easy enough to "emulate"...

Still I think it would be more convenient for SEGA to stay away from hardware and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, license the brands to say... Zotac.. And they'd manufacture a Steam-box with Dreacast-esque design, decent enough hardware but not too expensive.
Then focus on offering SEGA exclusives and of course make the old Dreamcast library available as remastered (exclusive to Dreamcast2) downloads.
Should be easy enough to crank up the resolution of old games and apply some Screen Space based GPU effects to make it look better.

[nogginthenog]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

200MHz Hitachi PPC.

200MHz Hitachi SH4

[Retro-Nerd]

According to Sega comparable with a Pentium III 1GHz, performance-wise.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by nogginthenog

200MHz Hitachi SH4

Haha..right.. what I had in my head when I wrote it is that it's a RISC architecture CPU and my brain immediately thought of PPC. ;-) It's the wine talking ;-)

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

According to Sega comparable with a Pentium III 1GHz, performance-wise.

Floating point performance, maybe... It had a pretty advanced FPU for its time Integer performance, almost guaranteed a big "No".
Interesting side note.. The SH2 used in Saturn has been open sourced since patents have expired so it could easily be remade in an FPGA.

[mrbob2]

My question is...

why?

If you love the dreamcast and want to play the old games, go on ebay and search "sega dreamcast"

if you want to play fifa 16 you can use ps4, ps3, xbox360,one, pc

if its a new machine its not a dreamcast.

The dreamcast was a niche machine that had ports of ps2 games and several sega arcade games and shenmue. It was a machine of its time and came into an era where people just wanted to play tomb raider, fifa 2000, resident evil etc which were generic multi format titles and whilst the dreamcast had shenmu which was loved by many devoted fans, it was pretty much ignored by mainstream gamers and the console could not survive on its tiny fan base.
Even if for arguments sake it was as powerful as a ps4, so what? it would have dreamcast emulation to run old games? my laptop can run dreamcast games and the ps4/xboxone has all the next gen games covered.


it has 20k signatures which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty pathetic figure if you are trying to recoup the money you have just spent creating a new console and getting sega teams to "re imagine" old sega titles etc.


Most gamers today were in nappies when the dreamcast was around so people will not care or remember the console.

its like saying oooh lets make the spectrum +4 and bring back the good old days...

no

just

no

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by mrbob2

My question is...

why?

If you love the dreamcast and want to play the old games, go on ebay and search "sega dreamcast"

if you want to play fifa 16 you can use ps4, ps3, xbox360,one, pc

if its a new machine its not a dreamcast.

The dreamcast was a niche machine that had ports of ps2 games and several sega arcade games and shenmue. It was a machine of its time and came into an era where people just wanted to play tomb raider, fifa 2000, resident evil etc which were generic multi format titles and whilst the dreamcast had shenmu which was loved by many devoted fans, it was pretty much ignored by mainstream gamers and the console could not survive on its tiny fan base.
Even if for arguments sake it was as powerful as a ps4, so what? it would have dreamcast emulation to run old games? my laptop can run dreamcast games and the ps4/xboxone has all the next gen games covered.


it has 20k signatures which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty pathetic figure if you are trying to recoup the money you have just spent creating a new console and getting sega teams to "re imagine" old sega titles etc.


Most gamers today were in nappies when the dreamcast was around so people will not care or remember the console.

its like saying oooh lets make the spectrum +4 and bring back the good old days...

no

just

no

it's not so different from Amiga fans dreaming of new hardware, is it?. UAE works just fine doesn't it?
And really... why XboxOne when there's PS4? Why Steam Box when there's PS4...
But then again.. why are there 1000 different car models instead of 3.
Why 5 brands of milk instead of 1. This can go on for a while.
Brand loyalty is seldom logical, yet if money can be made out of if, it might attract interest from someone...

[ransom1122]

I don't see any fan based resurrection seeing the day of light. And by slim chance it does. It would fail faster then the actual dreamcast itself. And I'm saying this as a dreamcast owner who still uses it to this day.
My 2cents

[-Acid-]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

it's not so different from Amiga fans dreaming of new hardware, is it?. UAE works just fine doesn't it?
And really... why XboxOne when there's PS4? Why Steam Box when there's PS4...
But then again.. why are there 1000 different car models instead of 3.
Why 5 brands of milk instead of 1. This can go on for a while.
Brand loyalty is seldom logical, yet if money can be made out of if, it might attract interest from someone...

I think it is different. I don't think Amiga fans dream of new hardware but an OS which uses today's hardware. An Amiga OS that runs directly on today's PC architecture is probably most users' dream scenario. And even then it's a computer, it's open to public development of software which is what makes things like that viable. Consoles are for game playing mainly, computers are for amateur coders, musicians, 3D rendering and other software development as well as gaming and the internet.

A new console would be a complete closed shop and it would need to sell in the millions to be commercially viable for big companies to take any interest it in. As already said if you want a DC then buy a DC, Sega's time passed by over a decade ago just as Atari and Commodore's time passed decades ago as well.

The only way any company could come in now is to make an OS for off the shelf consumer hardware (ie current PC's) and then support it with games but they would also need third party developers to help them as well.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by -Acid-

I think it is different. I don't think Amiga fans dream of new hardware but an OS which uses today's hardware. An Amiga OS that runs directly on today's PC architecture is probably most users' dream scenario

The interest that many people exhibit for the Vampire 600 demonstrates that people are easily lured into wanting non-Amiga hardware as long as it is tied to their Amiga. It does really not matter that it is an entirely new computer, as long as it has some measure of compatibility and you can strap it to the Amiga it seems they will flock en masses to buy it. Logic, reason, all flying throug the window in the process.

Humans are not rational beings, if something attaches to another they feel it is not a foreign body but just an extension of the original body, even if the thing completely overrides and replaces it.

[eXeler0]

@Acid did you read post #7 on previous page?

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

I don't see any fan based resurrection seeing the day of light. And by slim chance it does. It would fail faster then the actual dreamcast itself. And I'm saying this as a dreamcast owner who still uses it to this day.
My 2cents

Basically I agree. I do own a Dreamcast but then it's only one of a large bunch of consoles I own, so for me personally the DC doesn't spawn a lot of nostalgia. SEGA as a band however, still does.
see post #7 for my view of the most realistic path.
Still.. Shenmue3 kickstarter topped $6 million. That's way, WAY above Amigaland money....

[Paul_s]

projectdream = cloudcuckooland...

Nice idea but after they submit their 100+ page dossier to Sega the reply will be something like;

"Dear xxxx, Thank you for your recent idea in relation to the Dreamcast 2. Unfortunetly we are no longer developing hardware but we admire your commitment to the Dreamcast Format. With Best wishes".

They would receive a better reply if they sent 100 boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts though (imo).

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Paul_s

projectdream = cloudcuckooland...

Nice idea but after they submit their 100+ page dossier to Sega the reply will be something like;

"Dear xxxx, Thank you for your recent idea in relation to the Dreamcast 2. Unfortunetly we are no longer developing hardware but we admire your commitment to the Dreamcast Format. With Best wishes".

They would receive a better reply if they sent 100 boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts though (imo).

the way their financials have been going lately it will be an e-mail starting...
"Dear xxxx, right now we can't afford to buy stamps to answer with a real letter...."

Considering the financial situation I'll maintain my arguments in post #7. Because that way they sell the trademarks and give away stuff they already have.