Dreamcast on a card?
Reports suggest that Sega will be releasing a Dreamcast-on-a-card for PC owners
Normally console manufacturers do everything they can to prevent other companies from developing "emulators" that allow games for their consoles to be played on PCs or even (in some cases) other console systems. But with Sega recently announcing that they are cutting their losses on their console business after the relatively lacklustre sales performance of the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast, and instead concentrating on developing games, all that could be about to change. Sega Vice President Hideki Sato has revealed that Sega are planning to introduce a PCI add-in card that will give PCs the ability to run Dreamcast games, and that it could be available as soon as the end of the year.
Sounds unlikely? Perhaps, but apparently Sega have already demonstrated an early design of the board in Japan. Hopefully we will know more soon, but given the imminent arrival of the PlayStation 2, being able to sell Dreamcast games to non-Dreamcast owners could help expand Sega's sales and turn around their poor financial performance. After all, Sega have only managed to shift a million Dreamcasts across the whole of Europe in its first year, while Sony expect to sell that many PlayStation 2 consoles within a month or two of its European release. Sega has already lost the console wars, regardless of the relative technical merits of the two systems, so allowing Dreamcast functionality to be built into PCs and (further down the road) set top boxes, digital televisions and other appliances could be a smart move.