In a teleconference this morning, Sega of America officially unvieled the
Dreamcast release date and price at release. Confirming several previous
reports, Sega announced the system will be released on Spetember 9th, 1999,
with a price tag of $199.
At the conference, Bernie Stolar, President of Sega of America, confirmed there
will be 10-12 titles ready at the time of release, with a total of 20 first-party
titles on track for a release in 2000. Combined with third-party titles, over
100 games should be available for the Dreamcast by the end of 2000. Release
titles include: Sonic Adventure, Virtua Fighter 3tb, SuperSpeed Racing, NFL
Football (working title), NBA Basketball (working title), Geist Force, House
of the Dead 2 and Sega Rally 2 Thirty titles are slated to be released before
Christmas.
"The fact that Sega Dreamcast will launch for less than $200 is a monumental
industry 'first,'" said Stolar. "There's never been a next generation console
to debut at such a competitive price. At $199 with our system's hardware and
game library we feel confident that we will take back market share from Sony
and Nintendo."
The inclusion of a 56K modem allows the Dreamcast to provide full network
functionality, allowing consumers to play games over the Internet and giving
them access to email, chat, and web browsing. Full details Sega's Internet
strategy were not unvieled, nor were rumors confirmed or denied that a
modemless version of the Dreamcast will be available for $149.
"The Internet strategy is very important to Sega and we are dedicated to doing
something never before possible on a console or the arcade -- to connect
thousands of players together at one time under the same platform and create a
sense of 'community' online for gamers," said Stolar.
Sega also announced a $100 million marketing campaign, that will begin in
May and continue through the Holiday season. Sega is expecting big things of
the Dreamcast. They have already reported 30,000 pre-orders, and are expecting
a total of 200,000 by the time the system is launched in the US.
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The dream will soon be reality
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