Happy Birthday Dreamcast!

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Released 9/9/99! Still going strong, with new controllers, new games, new ports and a vibrant online community

 

[BrianL]

Dreamcast was pretty sweet!

 

[wallawallakids]

Ohh. I share an anniversary with Dreamcast. But one year off. Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. Learn something new every day

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Two and a half decades...

Interestingly, you can download an emulator called "ReDream" which runs game live off your hard disk in 4K resolution at 60fps. And the games are dead easy to get, in large quantities. For free. AND you can use, wirelessly, your Xbox or PS pads to control the games.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Two and a half decades...

Interestingly, you can download an emulator called "ReDream" which runs game live off your hard disk in 4K resolution at 60fps. And the games are dead easy to get, in large quantities. For free. AND you can use, wirelessly, your Xbox or PS pads to control the games.

The bolded point was actually one of the contributing factors as to why the Dreamcast failed. The game discs had ZERO copy protection against piracy (the PS1 and N64 did) so games were dumped online within a day or two of them being released. I remember watching a video where a Target employee at the time the Dreamcast was for sale was talking about how people would buy Dreamcast games and return them within 24 hours as they ripped the game files and no longer needed the disc.

Dreamcast games today are stupidly expensive so at least they're easy to find online if you know where to look.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

The bolded point was actually one of the contributing factors as to why the Dreamcast failed. The game discs had ZERO copy protection against piracy (the PS1 and N64 did) so games were dumped online within a day or two of them being released. I remember watching a video where a Target employee at the time the Dreamcast was for sale talking about how people would buy Dreamcast games and return them within 24 hours as they ripped the game files and no longer needed the disc.

Dreamcast games today are stupidly expensive so at least they're easy to find online if you know where to look.

I'd tell you where to just download them all from… but I suspect that the DIS mods may not thank me for championing piracy!

 

[BrianL]

Two and a half decades...

Interestingly, you can download an emulator called "ReDream" which runs game live off your hard disk in 4K resolution at 60fps. And the games are dead easy to get, in large quantities. For free. AND you can use, wirelessly, your Xbox or PS pads to control the games.

Emulation is cool, but it's not the same without the DC controller. I love to play with the original controllers whenever possible.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Emulation is cool, but it's not the same without the DC controller. I love to play with the original controllers whenever possible.

I definitely feel that. I know with Dolphin you can hook up an original Wii and Gamecube controller but I don't think it's possible for Dreamcast (referring to redream in particular).

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'd tell you where to just download them all from… but I suspect that the DIS mods may not thank me for championing piracy!

-glances over at my "totally legit" collection of Gamecube games on my PC-

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I definitely feel that. I know with Dolphin you can hook up an original Wii and Gamecube controller but I don't think it's possible for Dreamcast (referring to redream in particular).

There is an adaptor out there that allows you to connect a Dreamcast controller to a PC via USB...

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

-glances over at my "totally legit" collection of Gamecube games on my PC-

Heh, I'm guilty of that too!

 

[BrianL]

There is an adaptor out there that allows you to connect a Dreamcast controller to a PC via USB...

Okay, that's not bad. I always want to collect Sega systems the way I have with Nintendo, but I also know that they would collect dust most of the time. Still though.

Nearly all of my nintendo collection was bought new at or near when it came out, so it's a little different. I just never had Sega stuff - though my friends did and we would sometimes trade for a week. I do now have a Genesis, but that's it.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Okay, that's not bad. I always want to collect Sega systems the way I have with Nintendo, but I also know that they would collect dust most of the time. Still though.

Nearly all of my nintendo collection was bought new at or near when it came out, so it's a little different. I just never had Sega stuff - though my friends did and we would sometimes trade for a week. I do now have a Genesis, but that's it.

Both Nintendo systems and Sega systems are great, in their own ways I mean, the Dreamcast and Gamecube are both my favourite systems of all time.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

There is a school of thought that says that since Sega aren't making any more money from Dreamcast game sales, the media is classified as "abandonware" - so it's fine to just buy them second hand or otherwise acquire them.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

This goes for many older systems - the newer breed of emulators and hardware modifications - can breathe new life into games. It's pretty cool to see a Dreamcast game in hi-res 4K resolution at 60 frames-per-second!

You can also, pretty easily, insert chip readers into these classic consoles such as Dreamcasts and Gamecubes that allow you to download hundreds of games onto SD cards and run them natively on the systems. You can even adapt these consoles to output in HDMI hi-res using simple adaptors.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

One last DC newscast - GTA3 is being ported to the Sega Dreamcast by a team of very talented coders! It was initially ear-marked for the Dreamcast before the console was discontinued by Sega, but was never released. After a few weeks, we already have a working copy, with sound and lighting effects to boot. This is a monumental achievement, and I wish the team every luck.