imported>Tom Morris |
imported>Robert W King |
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| | | ''Article has been moved to the talk page pending heavy revisioning/editing'' |
| The '''Dreamcast''' was a sixth generation video game console produced by [[Sega]]. It was the last console [[Sega]] would produce. It was the succesor to the [[Sega Saturn]], which had limited success in sales in both Japan and in the United States. It was released sixteen months before the [[PlayStation 2]] (PS2) and three years before the [[Nintendo GameCube]] and the [[Xbox]], and widely hailed as ahead of its time. It was one of the first consoles to participate in the pioneering of online console gaming.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dreamcast Connects Console Gamers |date=July 2003 |publisher=GameSpy|url=http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/25smartest/index17.shtml|accessdate=2007-07-19 }}</ref>
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| Sega officially discontinued in the Dreamcast in [[2001]], however the console's following is still maintained by occasional game releases from [[Japan]] and from the [[homebrew]] community. By the end of its lifespan, the console sold over 10 million units breaking various sales records set by past consoles. <ref>{{cite web |title=The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time |date=July 19 2007 |publisher=Game Pro|url=http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/111822.shtml|accessdate=2008-07-5 }}</ref>
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| ==History==
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| The prior console from Sega, the [[Sega Saturn]], struggled in sales inside [[North America]]. Then president of [[Sega of America]], [[Bernie Stolar]], pressured [[Sega of Japan]] to develop a succesor. At E3 of 1997 Bernie told the public that the Saturn was "not our future" and referred to the ill fated console as a "still born".
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| == Hardware ==
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| The power light, like the Dreamcast logo in [[NTSC]] regions, was [[orange (colour)|orange]] (this color was chosen because the Japanese consider it to be lucky). Games were sold in [[Optical disc packaging#Jewel case|jewel cases]]. In North America, these initially had the Dreamcast name and logo on a white background, but later games used a black background, similar to the PlayStation's. Japanese games used an orange-and-white scheme, and European and Australian games used blue.
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| The unit was packaged with a video cable which supported [[composite video]] and [[stereophonic sound|stereo]] sound. Available separately were an [[RGB]] [[SCART]] cable, an [[S-Video]] cable, an [[RF connector]] (included as standard in the UK, Germany and [[Portugal]]), and a [[VGA]] adapter (see accessories below).
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| Although there was no reset button on the Dreamcast system itself, there was a way to reset a game during play. If the player wanted to reset a game, they would have to press the A, B, X, and Y buttons all together and then press the start button. This would then take them to the game's main menu. If repeated, it would take players to the Dreamcast menu.
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| In North America, a black Dreamcast was released in limited numbers with a sports pack which included two Sega Sports titles. This was the same as other models except for the black casing and the Sega Sports logo located directly below the Dreamcast logo on the lid. [[Electronics Boutique]] offered a blue Dreamcast through its website. Similar offerings were sold through the [[Lik Sang]] website. Cases of different colors like blue, red, orange, and green were sold for replacements of the original casing. In Japan, Sega released many varieties of the system, including a limited edition ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog series|Sonic]]'' anniversary version, a pink [[Sakura Taisen]] version, and a [[Hello Kitty]] version released in 2000 in [[Japan]] which, due to its limited production, has become an extremely rare collector's piece. The package contains a [[computer keyboard|keyboard]], [[game controller|controller]], [[VMU]], [[computer mouse|mouse]], and a Hello Kitty [[trivia]] game. The console and accessories came in both translucent [[pink]] and [[blue]] in color with some printed designs.
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| The [[Brazil]]ian version, manufactured by [[Tec Toy]] under license, was essentially the same as the North American version, but its video output was converted to the [[PAL|PAL-M]] standard and did not come with the modem, which was available separately.
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| Dreamcast in [[Europe]] had a blue spiral logo, similar to the logo on earlier Sega systems. This change is thought to have been for [[copyright]] reasons: German company [[Tivola Publishing]][http://www.tivola.de/] had been using a similar swirl logo years before Sega branded Dreamcast with the orange swirl.
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| As well as the VGA mode to connect to a [[Computer display|PC monitor]] (again using an adapter), the European Dreamcast supported PAL video, in both 50 Hz and 60 Hz modes. This was a first for game consoles, as no previous PAL console had offered the option to play games at full speed, using the ability of many PAL televisions to operate at 60 Hz. This feature was exploited in previous consoles but only by modifying the [[console]] with a chip to allow it to run NTSC games (e.g., [[Sony]]'s [[PlayStation]]), or by adding switches to the internal circuitry to manually select between 50 Hz and 60 Hz (e.g., SEGA's [[Master System]], [[Mega Drive]] or [[Saturn]]). Although the 60 Hz code had to be enabled on the disc, doing so was a simple matter, and only a small number of games lacked it. The 60 Hz feature has become standard on all major consoles released since.
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| Games in Europe were sold in jewel cases exactly twice as thick as their North American counterparts, possibly to enable the inclusion of thick instruction booklets containing instructions in multiple languages.
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| A third-party company from [[China]] named [[Treamcast]] released a portable modified Dreamcast which used the original first-party Dreamcast components with a custom made plastic casing. This small system with its fold-down display resembled the later [[PlayStation|PS One]]. Many companies included software and a remote with the unit that enabled it to play [[MP3]]s and [[Video CD]]s. When the Internet import video game store [[Lik Sang]] contacted Sega to ask permission to sell a modified version of the system with Sega trademarks on the system, they were told that Sega did not approve of the unit, and felt that it violated their trademarks. In reality, this system is no different from a Dreamcast pre-modified with a third party shell, as the system's internals still use first party hardware, and the only modifications are the outside casing and internal sound and video adjustments.
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| In 2005, the internet import store Lan-Kwei started selling a "[[Treamcast]]" portable modified Dreamcast with a 16:9 widescreen [[LCD]]. Aside from the cosmetic differences in the case to accommodate the larger screen, there are no differences between the original [[Treamcast]] and the newer widescreen model.
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| === Technical specifications ===
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| [[Image:Dreamcast-internal.jpg|thumb|Internal view of a Dreamcast console.]]
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| [[Image:Dreamcast mainboard.jpg|thumb|The mainboard of the Sega Dreamcast.]]
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| '''Processor'''
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| * [[SuperH|SH-4]] [[RISC]] CPU with 32-bit Instruction Set and 128-bit FPU functions (operating frequency: 200 [[MHz]], 360 [[Instructions per second|MIPS]], 1.4 GFLOPS)
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| '''Graphics Engine'''
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| * [[PowerVR]]2
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| :*CLX2, 7.0 Mil polygons/second peak performance, supports [[Trilinear filtering]]. Actual maximum in game performance (with full textures, lighting, gameplay, etc.) of over 5 Mil polygons/second.
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| :*Tile Based Deferred Rendering eliminates overdraw by only drawing visible fragments. This makes required fillrate almost independent from scene depth complexity, thus making up for a low, compared to other 6th generation consoles, nominal fillrate of 100 MPixels/s as effective fillrate can be triple that amount.
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| :*Graphics hardware effects include [[gouraud shading]], [[z-buffering]], [[anti-aliasing]] and [[bump mapping]].
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| '''Memory'''
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| * Main RAM: 16 [[MB]]<ref name="BinaryPrefix">In this article, the conventional prefixes for computer memory denote base-2 values whereby “kilobyte” (KB) = 2<sup>10</sup> bytes, “megabyte” (MB) = 2<sup>20</sup> bytes.</ref> 64 Bit 100 MHz
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| * Video RAM: 8 MB 4x16 Bit 100 MHz
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| * Sound RAM: 2 MB 16 Bit 66 MHz
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| * VQ Texture Compression (5:1 texture compression)<ref name="FiringSquad-Dreamcast-review">{{cite web |title=Sega Dreamcast Review Part 1 |publisher=FiringSquad.com |date=1999-09-07 |url=http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/dreamcasthw/page2.asp |accessdate=2007-07-19 }}</ref>
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| '''Sound Engine'''
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| *[[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] AICA Sound Processor: 22.5 MHz 32-Bit [[ARM architecture|ARM7]] [[RISC]] CPU: 45 MHz,<ref name="FiringSquad-Dreamcast-review"/> 64 channel [[Pulse-code modulation|PCM/ADPCM]] sampler (4:1 compression), XG MIDI support, 128 step DSP
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| '''Storage'''
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| * [[Yamaha]] [[GD-ROM]] Drive: 12x maximum speed ([[Constant Angular Velocity]])
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| * [[GD-ROM]]: Holds up to 1.2 [[GB]]
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| * [[VMU|Visual Memory Unit]] ("VMU") 1 [[Mbit]] (128 [[KB]]<ref name="BinaryPrefix"/>) removable storage device and 4x memory cards that hold four times as much data.
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| '''Input/Output'''
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| * Inputs: [[Universal Serial Bus|USB]]-like "[[Maple Bus]]". Four ports support devices such as digital and analog controllers, steering wheels, joysticks, keyboards, mice, and more.
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| * [[Color depth|Color Output]]: Approx. [[Truecolor|16.78 million colors (24-bit)]]
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| * [[Video resolution]]: 640x480 interlaced or progressive scan
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| '''Dimensions'''
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| * 189 mm × 195 mm × 76 mm (7 7/16in × 7 11/16in × 3in)
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| * Weight: 1.9 [[Kilogram|kg]] (4.2 [[Pound (mass)|lb]])
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| * Color: Majority are white.
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| :* Japan: Various limited edition designs and colored consoles were produced
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| :* North America: Only a black "Sega Sports"-labeled model and a blue model from Electronics Boutique were officially available
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| :* PAL: No known alternate designs or colors
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| '''Networking'''
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| [[Image:DreamcastModem.png|thumb|A black 56k Dreamcast modem.]]
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| * [[Modem]]: Removable; speed varied among regions:
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| :* Original Asia/Japan model had a 33.6 kbit/s; consoles sold after [[September 9]], [[1999]] had a [[56 kbit/s line|56 kbit/s]] modem
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| :* All American models had a 56 kbit/s
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| :* All PAL models had a 33.6 kbit/s
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| * Broadband: these adapters are available separately and replace the removable modem
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| :* HIT-401 "Broadband Adapter", the more common model, this used a [[Realtek]] 8139 chip and supported [[10BASE-T|10]] and [[100BASE-TX|100]] [[Megabit|Mbit]] speeds, this device was released in Japan.
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| :* HIT-400: "Broadband Adapter", the more common model, this used a [[Realtek]] 8139 chip and supported [[10BASE-T|10]] and [[100BASE-TX|100]] [[Megabit|Mbit]] speeds, this device was released in US.
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| :* HIT-300: "Lan Adapter", this version used a Fujitsu MB86967 chip and supported only [[10BASE-T|10]] [[Megabit|Mbit]] speed.
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| ==References==
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| <references />
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