Sega pins retail hopes on Dreamcast launch

Sega has released the final details of Dreamcast, its next generation console, including the pricing and the arsenal of games that will accompany the product.

The announcement came on 6 October in Shinagawa, Japan, the venue for Sega's final pre-launch briefing in the run-up to release.

Dreamcast will retail for Y29,800, about #144. If this price translates to the European launch, it will be the lowest launch price of a modern console and a serious challenge to Sony and Nintendo.

The range of games to back up the launch will include Sega Rally 2, Godzilla Generations, Sonic Adventure, Virtua Fighter and Resident Evil. Dreamcast titles will be priced at Y5,800.

However, Sega also admitted that the Japanese launch of Dreamcast will be delayed by one week to 27 November.

The games vendor has also provided details of its partners and Dreamcast licensees for development in Japan.

The list of 38 companies in Japan that will be licensed as developers was taken from the 321 companies involved in the project.

About 100 of these are based in Europe and the US. The Japanese list includes Bandai, Konami, Imagineer and Winky Soft.

The Dreamcast launch is Sega's final attempt at the market following its trouncing by Nintendo and Sony and the subsequent withdrawal of its Saturn console from the US market.

The vendor also suffered worldwide losses of Y32.8 billion for the year ended 31 March (PC Dealer, 19 March).