The long-awaited Dreamcast collection for the Xbox 360 and PC now has a release date: February 22. The collection includes Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5: Part 2 (ha!), and Sega Bass Fishing. No price available just yet.

Sega says the games will feature “enhanced graphics” for both the 360 and PC, but only the 360 version has Achievements and Leaderboards. So if Achievements mean anything to you, then you’ll probably want to go the 360 route.

Also note that the PC version will only be digital download only.

Hopefully this is the start of more (and more frequent!) Dreamcast releases. I think we all can agree it was a console that was ahead of its time (even if it was only playing catch-up with what had been happening on the PC for several years by then).

The new game, called Sturmwind, is an arcade shoot-em-up, and is scheduled to be released in the middle of next year by Redspot Games and guaranteed to represent! It’s not some homebrew thing, it’s a full game with packaging and everything, and should run on your Dreamcast — you still have your Dreamcast, right?

The game is available for pre-order from Redspot, and will set you back about $46.

[via Kotaku]

To be honest, I wouldn’t feel too bad about pirating games for this system now. I’ve been known to grab a used Dreamcast game at GameStop now and then for $3, but Sega &co. aren’t seeing any of that, and I think the best thing you can do is appreciate their last hardware effort and classics like Sonic Adventure for all they’re worth.

To do that, you can either get this MicroSD adapter for $5 (!), or you could actually just buy a new Dreamcast that’s been modded with a front-loading SD card slot and extra video options in the back. I don’t think you’ll find anyone to play Phantasy Star Online with you, but the rest of the games should be more than playable.

For the record, I think the best Nintendo emulator ever put together was for the Dreamcast. NesterDC SE, you were far and away the best way for playing NES games, on any platform. I salute you.

[via Technabob and Slashdot; image: Penny Arcade]

It could be a great way to spend $89. Games are widely available at second hand stores and here’s a fun fact, the Dreamcast doesn’t need any modding or cracking to play pirated games. All you need to do is download them and burn ‘em on to a CD. So yeah, it’s totes worth $89 in my opinion. Jet Set Radio and NFL 2K2 agree.

This is the IntoDream, a homemade, portable DreamCast. It’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster of sorts, being part DreamCast, part PSone, and part N64.

It’s definitely a “pictures speak louder than words” type thing, so watch along with me as we remember the hours lost to Phantasy Star Online, Grandia II, Skies of Arcadia, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Soulcalibur.

via SlashGear

Last time Dreamcasts were spotted for sale, the price was north of $100, but Amazon now has the system for only $79. It’s NIB too. Ladies, this could make a great Christmas gift for your nerd boyfriend.

Everyone loves the Dreamcast. It has a great selection of games (that are very easy to pirate), good enough graphics, and 10x the cool factor of a Nintendo Wii. If you’re going to get this system, make sure you get at least a Visual Memory Unit and you probably want an extra controller too. Chances are that local second-hand gaming outlets have those cheap.

[Amazon via DealNews]

The year was 2003. Two friends and I had just finished moving into a swanky three-bedroom affair a block away from Lake Calhoun in the trendy Uptown area of Minneapolis. Upon waking up after a blowout house warming party with what seemed like 500 of our closest friends, I found my SNES, Genesis, and Dreamcast covered in beer and orange juice. I haven’t felt complete since that very moment. If you could punch someone’s soul, that’s how it feels.

Now it appears that Sony’s “currently in discussions to bring a number of Dreamcast titles exclusively to PSN,” according to MCV. As someone who owns an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii, the soul-punching feeling – a feeling I’ve somehow crumpled into a hot ball of anguish and stuffed waaaaay into the bottom of my stomach – is now beginning to stir.

Rumor has it that “Sony is currently cherry picking its preferred titles from Dreamcast’s back-catalogue,” meaning that some Dreamcast titles may indeed make their way to other consoles, provided Sony doesn’t want them. So all the good games go to the PlayStation Network and we get Crazy Taxi. And the Simpsons version of Crazy Taxi.

Dreamcast games coming to PS3 [MCV via G4]

E3 got you down? Nintendo’s Vitality not what you expected? Pick yourself up the hottest tech from before this nation’s long nightmare of war and prosperity – the Sega Dreamcast! Amazon has this thing new-in-box for $119.99 with free shipping, a tempting offer to any young man or woman whose love of Sonic is uneclipsed by a desire to breed.

Some advice from the Amazon description:

The Dreamcast system is, in a word, awesome. Fire up Soul Calibur, and instantly you’ll appreciate that the graphics and gameplay are even better than in the arcade version. And Sonic Adventure, with its light-speed gameplay, is sure to wow even the most jaded gamer.

It’s amazing that such a small machine (it’s about the size of your mouse pad) can deliver such incredible performance. Chalk it up to superior engineering. Dreamcast’s only downside is that it comes with only one controller and a demo disc. In order to truly take advantage of Dreamcast’s capabilities, we recommend outfitting the controller with a Jump Pack and a Visual Memory Unit. Getting one or more extra controllers is also a good idea, because some of the best Dreamcast games support up to four players at once.

Sonic Adventure will run you $39 while Crazy Taxi will cost $3.

There is certainly only a limited supply of these systems available, so you better lay down your $100 fast. But you get everything, brand new in the box. Just think that the controller will not be warn out, nor will the CD drive make funny noises. It will be great. And soon you’ll be gaming like it’s 1999.

In what may qualify as nostalgia overload, an enterprising Canadian has replaced the insides of an old all-in-one iMac with a Sega Dreamcast console. The end result is the iCast.

The process is detailed here on the CGCC forums by user “Logicdustbin,” who says:

“I had a couple G3′s laying around, and for some reason I had a 15″ LCD monitor. As I was cleaning up my workshop, these to things were sitting beside each other, the LCD looked to be about the same size.

So I started taking shit apart. Dropped about 100 pounds of CRT monitor out of the iMac, and in went the LCD, fit just perfect.

Since that fit in nicely, it was an easy decision to slap a Dreamcast inside. The hard part was figuring out where to place it. I didn’t want to cut a big hole in the side of the case (although I was debating on turning the handle on the back of the case to an access port for the disks), but, I ended up doing a ‘PS1 upside down mod’ – its not great, but it works pretty good.

He then extended the controller ports, allowing him to plug the controllers into the front of the iMac, followed by the arduous tasks of getting the power button to work with the new monitor and rigging up an amp to push sound through the iMac speakers. It all appears to be well worth it, though, as this is one nice looking mod for any Dreamcast fan.

Here’s video of everything in action:

iCast [CGCC.ca via hack a day]

Video after the jump

This here is a limited edition Sega Dreamcast, one of them Resident Evil: Code Veronica editions. Supposedly only 1,800 of these were made, which seems reasonable: not even Wikipedia mentions its existence.

If you’re willing to part with $800, it could well be yours. And if I even had an extra $800 handy, I would seriously consider it. Dreamcast was too beautiful for this world.

via Gadget Review

I’m getting all wrapped up in this interview with Peter Moore over at The Guardian. In today’s second part, he recounts his transition from the demise of the Dreamcast to his eventual move over to Microsoft. Seems he held some resentment against Sony PR for getting in the way of his Dreamcast plans.

After a hard time shifting Sega into a third party developer, he met up with Steve Ballmer who convinced him MS was ready to take on Sony. The focus was a head to head battle, and apparently Nintendo was an aside, although the conversation touched upon acquiring the sleeping giant. Imagine that, if Nintendo was a part of Microsoft…

There are some good specific Xbox 360 details too. From spending a day choosing which “mnemonic shhhhh noise” to choose for boot up, to confusing the bloggers with 20 different prototypes, it all makes for good reading.

The Guardian has a pretty cool interview up with Peter Moore, president of EA Sports. Back in the day, he was head of Sega of America. In fact, he was the guy who killed the Dreamcast.

As awesome as the Dreamcast was, maybe it’s a good thing it died; it served its purpose. It helped usher in the next-gen era of console gaming by supporting broadband capabilities. It could even be argued that they forged the casual gaming space with games like Samba de Amiga and whatever-the-hell that Leonard Nimoy fish game was called. Oh yeah, Seaman. Anyways, I have a hard enough time choosing between the 3 current consoles, I don’t need a fourth cluttering up my mind.

Perhaps it’s not fair to blame Peter Moore for the death of the Dreamcast anyways. He was probably just the triggerman. In fact, even though the Dreamcast was a success, it wasn’t enough of a success to justify continued production:

“We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire – we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said – and I can’t remember the exact figures – but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn’t sustain the business.”

The interview makes for an interesting read about the early days of the console wars. Make sure you make it to the end, where he talks about playing NBA 2K1 with Ice Cube and reveals that even he wasn’t too sure about the modem actually working. Ah, the early days of the console wars.

Sure, it’s not the most portable of portables, but if you long for the simpler days of Dreamcast, why not build a version you can take almost anywhere? Also, a note to the guy who sold me the broken Dreamcast at the Detroit Lakes, MN flea market last summer; I want my $20 back. I’m coming after you like a tornado made of arms, teeth, and fingernails.

via Nowhere Else 2.0

This guy is thinking of suing Nintendo, alleging that he came up with an idea that the gaming giant copied with its so-popular-we-can-all-afford-long-pants Wii system.

This video was apparently made about eight years ago. If it’s real, this guy might have a shot at some cash. Contrary to popular belief around the blogosphere, it’s my opinion that he’s wearing shorts, not boxers.

Man invented the Nintendo Wii eight years ago, in his underpants, using a Dreamcast [Tech Digest]

Sega filed for some patents back in August that are looking suspicious. Flash memory cards? I don’t remember Dreamcast brand flash cards – though they did have the amazing VMU, the world’s first (and last, probably) combination Game Boy and memory card. To be honest, there really isn’t much of a chance this is happening – it’s down to the big three now, and Sega would get crushed if they tried to bring out something as heavy as a PS3. I don’t understand why they would even try, though – the Dreamcast is still a great machine. It’s got a ton of homebrew stuff, the best NES emulator in the world, and a great catalog of incredibly cheap games. Here’s my advice: forget about this rumor, go buy a DC now instead of food, play some Sonic Adventure, then get your Mega Man on!

Rumor: Is Sega Working on Dreamcast 2? [Kotaku]

It’s available now for pre-order for $129 and will ship September 29. If it was every your goal to have a portable Dreamcast, this is probably about the closest you’ll ever get to it.

Product Page [Play-Asia via WristWatchReview via Gizmodo]