Dreamcast sleeps with the fishes

The rumours have been flying for days, but Sega has finally bitten the bullet and admitted the cold, hard truth: the Dreamcast is not long for this world. Sega will be clearing its inventory of machines up to March 31, and is hoping to aide the

The rumours have been flying for days, but Sega has finally bitten the bullet and admitted the cold, hard truth: the Dreamcast is not long for this world. Sega will be clearing its inventory of machines up to March 31, and is hoping to aide the product flush with a price drop of nearly $US100.

Interestingly enough, Sega is planning on continuing to support its beleaguered console for at least 18 months, continuing to produce games and other software. Though the Dreamcast only sold about two and half million units world wide, Sega still sees that as enough of an install base to continue developing titles.

The decision makes more sense in light of Sega's other big strategic move. The company will begin to produce titles for competitor consoles such as the Playstation2 and Nintendo's upcoming Game Cube. Long awaited titles like Virtua Fighter 4 and possibly something based on the Space Channel 5 franchise. Sega also expects to produce content for Gameboy, Palm, the original Playstation and possibly for the Xbox.

When asked by C|net's Gamecenter if Sega would ever again venture into the console hardware market, VP Charles Belfield said 'I doubt very much that Sega would produce another home console'. Ben Mansill, Atomic editor and member of the Atomic Dreamcast Tennis League was contemplative about the console's imminent demise.

'Tennis has been around for a long time, and I don't expect the loss to make a big difference.'
Sega's Web site