Recently, in a ceremony for the Okawa Foundation, Sega Enterprises chairman Isao Okawa made several announcements about the Dreamcast's future and the future of Sega as a whole.

     The highlight of the show was the Dreamcast peripherals that made their appearance. Networking seems to be the big theme for the DC and Sega, as they displayed several new devices to help make the system even more interactive and dynamic. Among them were the Dreamcast Digital Camera, Dreamcast zip drive and a DC microphone.

     The camera and mic are designed with both video and audio communication in mind. Perhaps a little picture-in-picture or HUD on the other players screen. The zip drive, however, offers some of the most potential for the Dreamcast. Sega claims it will be considerably faster than the current PC drives available, but has no US release date. The last heard foreign release is February. Ideally, the drive would allow for game customization and expansion through downloads.

     Mr. Okawa also discussed the ability of the Dreamcast to compete with the upcoming Playstation 2 and Dolphin consoles. He feels that the DCs networking abilities and modem inclusion are the true strengths of the machine. Network gaming is where the DC appears to be headed.

     The big surprise of the evening, though, was the announcement that the Dreamcast would most likely be Sega's last console system. What this boils down to is that Sega will be putting a lot of effort into Dreamcast peripherals to expand it and turn it into the greatest machine they can. Okawa feels that Sega's future lies in the internet and software titles rather than their console influence.

     With the online support for the Dreamcast coming to the US in the near future and the focus on enhancing addons, the DC could end up being one of the most impressive systems to grace gamers' hands. The path Sega will be taking after this is foggy, but could prove to be incredibly successful.

     As long as there are different languages used in the world, errors will be made. Sega's PR department has recently replied to the idea of the Dreamcast being the last console with the following statement.

"What he was trying to convey is that Sega is going to be focusing its efforts increasingly on the internet. That means using the Internet as a delivery system for software, online gameplay, e-commerce, etc. However, you still need some form of hardware to receive that information. Sega will not be delivering content for the PSX2, Dolphin or the PCC through the Internet. So, Sega will always need to develop some form of console."

     So the final word from Sega is the Dreamcast is not the last console. Sega wants to expand using the internet versus current methods. RPGamer apologizes for the confusion, and wanted to set the record straight.