Interesting. Don't know if it's a good idea to put something out now... but I'll be watching the E3 coverage to see what happens.

I think this guys is mental. There's already 3 well established game consoles out there, you really think people are going to embrace a 4th?

This is the first time there has ever been 3 consoles in the market as opposed to 4 actually.

Also its doubtful that they are working on arcade technology. With people having Xbox 360s and PS3s in their homes, arcades are rather empty. I guess time will tell, if they did jump back into the hardware market I would definitely buy one. I'm a long time Sega fan.

Sega has got to make a next-gen console! ...Shenmue III has to be released on somthing!! ...Hey metalblessing. since you got a dreamcase recently, if you haven't play Shenmue...please do...so I can have someone else to talk about this amazing game with!!....please

Gorlim - I still don't have Shenmue for my DC - is it really THAT good? I hear all kinds of things from "It's brilliant!" to "It's meh". What's so great about it that I need to track it down?

Metal Blessing wrote:

Also its doubtful that they are working on arcade technology. With people having Xbox 360s and PS3s in their homes, arcades are rather empty. I guess time will tell, if they did jump back into the hardware market I would definitely buy one. I'm a long time Sega fan.

Arcades are still widely popular in Japan, however, which is Sega's biggest market. I could see a new arcade hardware set to follow up their previous successes such as the System 16, ST-V (Sega Saturn) and Naami (Dreamcast) boards LONG before I could see a new console. In addition, the Ringwide and Ringedge names SUCK BEYOND THE TELLING OF IT, and I have a feeling after at least marketable names like Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast that SEGA would go down the path of insanity with a HORRIBLE name like that. Granted, those names are probably a take-off on the Sonic the Hedgehog property, but a console w/ a name like that is very nearly doomed to failure just by virtue of the lame name. Also, a name like that has no imagery with it, which is what current consoles have:

Xbox - the "X" is for Extreme, no doubt
PlayStation - obviously this is an entertainment device
Wii - "We" as in multi-player interactive, get it? LOL

My guess is that Ringwide or Ringedge are something to do either w/ a new Sonic arcade title, or perhaps just a piece of hardware named after their flagship IP. The other possibility is that it's a new game where the whole "ring" thing plays a part, possibly similar to the Dance Dance Revolution games, but involving some kind of ring controller or concept - a virtual hula hoop contest perhaps (shudder)? Either way, SEGA's re-entry into the console market may be timely at this point, but ill-advised due to the global economic climate (even though Wii's are still flying off shelves), and the fact that enough SEGA fans were burnt by the early demise & poor marketing of the Saturn that many didn't take to the DC; they decided to wait until the PS2 came out because they didn't want to get burned twice. My guess is, enough adult gamers like me who love both their Saturn and/or their Dreamcast would give them another chance, but many younger gamers might not be so forgiving.

Still, SEGA has fiercely loyal fans world-wide. There are TONS of websites dedicated to SEGA gaming, most of them from the Genesis era, though there are a handful of Saturn and DC websites, and even a couple that laud the SMS. Lets not forget system16.com, which is the home of all things SEGA arcade. If they did it right, brought the system home w/ the right combination of old-school gaming fun, new-school innovation, graphics, audio, and wide-ranging age appeal (like the Wii), they could do it, and I'd be behind them. I haven't purchased a current gen console yet mostly due to financial factors, but also because I usually prefer to wait until a system's software library is mature enough that there are games I will want to play. I steer clear of the mainstream titles for the most part, because sports, racing, and most FPS games don't appeal to me. I'm an old-school gamer: give me my 2-D action/adventure games, my scrolling shooters (Gradius, R-Type, et al), some 3-D platformers ala Spyro the Dragon, good puzzlers like Bust a Move and a good mid-level RPG to sink my teeth into, and I'll be good to go. Throw in some free downloadable content (now that everything is online), licensing deals to allow me to play some older games on my system, either via anthologies or downloads, and (GASP!) even consider backwards compatibility w/ the Saturn and/or Dreamcast (maybe even Sega CD!), and I'd be sold. I'd be saving my pennies to be there in line at the Wal-Mart or Best Buy on the first day, or get my pre-order on w/ GameStop so I could have it at launch. Sure, the launch titles are usually crap compared to what comes w/in the first 6 months to a year, but as a long-time SEGA fan and supporter (I do own 3 SEGA consoles, after all), I'd be happy to help set them back on the path to console success in the US. I just fear that it may be too little, too late.

Phew, I wasn't planning on writing an essay!

Yeah, Sega has their own unique style of gaming. I agree that the name sucks, and if it did in fact turn out to be an arcade board it could still end up being a console. Last time they made the Naomi board and used the same board for the Dreamcast to make arcade ports easier. I've been browsing the Sega forums and some people are saying they doubt it because Sega is not exactly rolling in cash like in the early 90s. They actually killed the DC because they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

The name "Ringwide" makes me think of like an Arcade network. where you could play say...Virtua Fighter at the arcade with someone at another arcade across the world. "Ring" as in like a boxing ring, and "wide" as in all over the world. But thats just a guess.

TheDarkSlayer wrote:

Sega has got to make a next-gen console! ...Shenmue III has to be released on somthing!! ...Hey metalblessing. since you got a dreamcase recently, if you haven't play Shenmue...please do...so I can have someone else to talk about this amazing game with!!....please

And yes, Shenmue is awesome. I played it years ago and it was great, I picked it back up the other day and am playing through it again. I dont remember much of the story.
Shenmue was THE Dreamcast title to have. I Think it was a launch title too

I think of how Shenmue was so early in the Dreamcast's life, and how incredible it was. Then I wonder what the dreamcast would have been capable of a down the road. Because typically a console progresses over time as developers find ways to squeeze more out of the system.

If Shenmue was a launch title just think how awesome of games the DC would have if it stayed in the race

I can understand why they stopped making the dreamcast, but I cannot figure out why they stopped developing games for it. From its initial sales it was obvious that there were a ton of dreamcasts out there. Why not sell off all the old stock and keep putting games out on the console? There were tons of multi console games coming out that could easily have gone on the dreamcast. Im sure there was a ton of stuff behind the scenes I dont know about, but I remember being very upset with the dreamcasts death.

^^ They were on the verge of bankruptcy, and the proprietary GD-ROM disc format is a part of that. There are still indie developers making games for it (the indie 2-D shooter "Dux" should be coming out soon, I hope - I've been waiting on a release date for that thing for a LONG time).

Yeah ive collected alot of the indy games. The GD ROM format was pretty crappy since it was so easily copied. I learned about a year ago you can just download dreamcast games off the internet and burn them to a CD and they work. That just blew my mind. Granted they had to reduce the video and sound quality to get the games to fit, but still.
I enjoy playing a DC port of Wolf 3D

Yeah, thats one reason why Dreamcast is one of the more popular "homebrew" consoles. CD-Rs can ruin your Dreamcast over time though. Thats how my first Dreamcast died. I was playing a burned European import of Headhunter.

Here is the reason I have read:

CD-Rs are not as reflective as silver discs, and forces the laser to work harder, also when playing a legit game the laser takes breaks from loading and caches or whatever. But on a CD-R the laser stays on constantly, thus wearing the laser out faster. This will eventually be evidenced by your DC not reading discs anymore.

this is why I am planning on buying a spare DC. 1 for my normal games and another for my copy of Headhunter and any new releases (since many are done on cd-rom rather than gd-rom)

Yeah I noticed that too, its actually better for Homebrew games than DC backups, as they dont have to read to disc as much as a commercial burned game would. Im still actively looking for real commercial dreamcast games also. Something that sucks though is a few times ive bought games online and when I get them, they are burned "backups". That is really frustrating, so for the time being im just limited to what I have in my local shops.

Dux has lots of purdy colors. I cant wait to play it.

http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/index.php/Main/DUX

criesfrommypast wrote:

Yeah ive collected alot of the indy games. The GD ROM format was pretty crappy since it was so easily copied. I learned about a year ago you can just download dreamcast games off the internet and burn them to a CD and they work. That just blew my mind. Granted they had to reduce the video and sound quality to get the games to fit, but still.
I enjoy playing a DC port of Wolf 3D

Have you tried Beats of Rage? If not, go for it! Awesome beat-em-up in the Streets of Rage tradition, and TONS of hilarious mods for it (Mega Man mod FTW!).

Funny that you mention that MetalFro, I have been reading up on Beats of Rage lately trying to find info on how to mod it, and how easy it is.

Yeah ive played BOR, I also have Castlevania Symphony of Destruction Its a Symphony of the Night Mod.

this post is awesome, i remember having the sega channel way back when, and my dads house was always a pro sega pad, we had sega cd, gensis and master system, where at my moms house we had mostly nintendo and ps1, ps2, dreamcast ruled and its shortlife was sad, as was gamecubes, i am an avid ninten and sega fan

Sega and Nintendo are the only two remaining "pure" game companys, meaning that games is all they do. Microsoft and Sony do more than just games. Sega and Nintendo now seem to have a pretty good business relationship, I think it would be interesting to see the two of them merge to take on Sony and Microsoft.

With Nintendo's innovation and Sega's great line-up of game franchises they could pull it off.

This has nothing directly to do with Sega, but it was on the front page of yahoo the other day as "Unlikely console revival: Dreamcast". I found this on the Sega forums, and thought I'd share it.

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-42/1310463

Personally i don't think their's any competion for Xbox, PS3 and Wii.

Cause 1: PS3's are dreadful. The games are bad, the system is flat, the consoles gigantic, you can't play Ps2 games on it. Overall rubbish.

Xbox is King.

and the Wii gets boring after a few months after you've got over the whole Wii sports and the controllers. Once again no good games really. All for Kid's not for real gamers.

So i'd like to see what they come up with cause anything can top a PS3 and Wii

I think the Dreamcast is gaining popularity due to the economic status, and people are looking for cheaper alternatives. And I must say, since I re-acquired a Dreamcast I have been having more fun with it than I did with my Xbox. Thats just me though, Dreamcast had unique games

Jim,


I TOTALLY disagreed w/ you. I LOVE my PS3. My PS3 CAN play PS2 although I do admit the newer versions of PS3 doesnt' play ps2 anymore. However, it still is very very useful. I can play DVDs or Blu Ray on it...also, so far PS3 still is considered best blu ray player on the market. It has way less bugs and I never had ANY problem with it at all.

I'm proud to say I am satisfied with just PS3 and am not going to buy another xbox 360(one i had totally fried..ring of death )

mazzie wrote:

Jim,


I TOTALLY disagreed w/ you. I LOVE my PS3. My PS3 CAN play PS2 although I do admit the newer versions of PS3 doesnt' play ps2 anymore. However, it still is very very useful. I can play DVDs or Blu Ray on it...also, so far PS3 still is considered best blu ray player on the market. It has way less bugs and I never had ANY problem with it at all.

I'm proud to say I am satisfied with just PS3 and am not going to buy another xbox 360(one i had totally fried..ring of death )

just call 1-800-4myxbox and they'll replace it for free

Xbox 360 has been superior for the amount of good games out for it, PS3, not so much, though 360 has been shown to be inferior in construction (though the first Xbox was quite reliable)

As far as Sega, they really shouldn't bother returning to a crowded market, 360 is doing the best overall, though PS3 has a nice bonus with not having to pay for online gaming and Nintendo is making a nice cash return because Wii has inferior hardware of the other two consoles. I enjoyed Dreamcast and still have one, but honestly, both the Saturn and the Dreamcast ultimately tanked, that's not a good sign to have two console failures as your legacy.