Press release: 1998-05-28: Sega Reveals Blueprint for U.S. Dreamcast Launch in 1999!

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: Sega.com (archived)

SEGA REVEALS BLUEPRINT FOR U.S. DREAMCAST LAUNCH IN 1999

(See pictures from E3)
ATLANTA - May 28, 1998, E3 Booth #5346
Sega® of America today announced the blueprint for the much-anticipated next generation videogame system called DreamcastTM at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Billed as the ultimate video game machine with the power to outperform all in-home gaming platforms and most arcade systems, Dreamcast launches November 20, 1998, in Japan and in the fall of 1999 in North America.

Dreamcast combines the best features from console, PC and Internet gaming. The console's optimized architecture delivers a total system performance that goes beyond the bit-count battle that has defined the video game industry in the past. Sega chose global leaders in business and technology -- Microsoft, Hitachi, NEC, VideoLogic, and Yamaha -- as partners and worked closely with each of them to enhance their technologies for Dreamcast. The result is the most realistic and authentic 3D gaming experience ever conceived, supported by break-through gaming components that will change the face of the video game industry.

"In designing each element of Dreamcast we were driven by two goals," said Bernard Stolar, president and COO, Sega of America. "To make the best system for playing the best games, and to capture more than 50 percent of the next generation console market."

Sega of America's blueprint for launching Dreamcast includes a comprehensive plan to aligning the right games -- both first and third party -- and marketing muscle to support the biggest launch the industry has ever seen.

Software
Building on its heritage in software, Sega is committing its biggest and best game development teams globally to Dreamcast. Sega of America development teams are hard at work creating innovative sports, character and multiplayer online gaming experiences for Dreamcast. In addition, Sega has secured support from leading third party publishers who are already designing Dreamcast games for the launch next year.

Sega will launch Dreamcast in North America with 10-12 games and will ship between 20 and 30 titles by holiday 1999. Because of Dreamcast's architecture, the system is the first to deliver what gamers expect from advanced interactive entertainment - games that look and sound totally authentic with natural cause-and-effect physics. For example, in a football game, a player will "feel" the difference between a touch and a tackle.

More Ways to Play
Dreamcast will take the gaming experience far beyond the living room. Sega is working with sister company SegaSoft Networks, Inc.` to create a customized, massively multiplayer online gaming service for the new console. SegaSoft has made tremendous headway in online gaming with HEAT.NET`, giving PC gamers the broadest compatibility with multiplayer online games and the best competitive arena on the Internet. The Sega-branded online gaming service will include the best community and competitive features including e-mail, chat and point-to-point/multiplayer games. SegaSoft engineers will also work directly with game developers to assist in technical support. To show Sega means business in online gaming, the company is developing the world's first massive multiplayer console game, which is scheduled to ship when Dreamcast launches in North America.

VMS
Dreamcast will feature a Visual Memory System or VMS. VMS is a memory card with a built-in LCD screen. It plugs into the control pad to add a whole new level of strategy to game play. Gamers can use the LCD to set up plays in sports games or plan secret attacks in RPGs without their opponent's knowledge. VMS is a great community builder for Dreamcast gamers. Players can save special characters, moves or teams to the VMS, and trade game information by connecting two VMS cards. VMS is also a portable game device the size of a business card, complete with a directional pad, control buttons and an LCD game screen. This feature not only adds a new level of realism to game play but it gives Sega customers new ways to interact with each other. The Architecture
Key design considerations of Dreamcast's architecture were to seamlessly integrate dedicated components that have been customized for gaming, and eliminate the limitations inherent in previous consoles by providing developers with optimized high-performance graphics, audio, CPU memory, disk drive speed/storage.

For the CPU, Sega selected Hitachi's latest generation of its SuperH RISC architecture, a 200MHz SH-4 CPU, which delivers 128-bit performance in 3D calculations, resulting in highest resolution and faster graphics. In fact, the SH-4 processor is optimized to perform floating-point operations - the key to super-fast 3D calculations - four times faster than the Pentium#226# II.

For graphics, the customized PowerVR Second-Generation technology, developed jointly by NEC and VideoLogic, is key in providing the power behind Dreamcast's high-end graphics. The result is a peak performance of over 3 million polygons per second, outperforming today's most-advanced arcade systems.

By off-loading audio processing to a dedicated, real-time 3D audio chip set developed by Yamaha, Dreamcast is able to provide players with 64 channels of music, voices, and game play sound effects for audio performance that matches home theater equipment. In fact, Dreamcast's audio chip is as powerful as some entire next generation consoles.

Sega also worked with Yamaha to develop a high-speed CD-ROM drive which speeds up access time and allows for much bigger games and larger playing fields.

Microsoft will provide an optimized version of its Windows CE operating system with DirectX services that has been enhanced for console-style gaming. Windows CE provides Dreamcast developers a flexible, versatile development environment supported by the Microsoft Visual Studio Development System Version 5.0 and refined Visual C++ development system-based tools that makes title development more efficient while also allowing compatibility with Windows-based PCs. Windows CE with DirectX has been hand-tuned to be small and fast to provide superior performance specifically targeted at Sega's Dreamcast hardware architecture, giving developers the confidence that software developed for Dreamcast will take full advantage of every hardware feature in the system.

Sega of America is the arm of Tokyo, Japan-based Sega Enterprises, Ltd. responsible for the development, marketing and distribution of Sega videogame systems and videogames in the Americas. Sega Enterprises, Ltd. is a nearly $3.0 billion company recognized as the industry leader in interactive digital entertainment media, and is the only company that offers interactive entertainment experiences both inside and outside the home. Sega of America's World Wide Web site is located at (http://www.sega.com).