The entire hardware development history of Dreamcast through Next Generation magazine

[parallaxscroll]

I've been wanting to have these articles for a long time.

The beginning of Dreamcast (Katana) hardware development was certainly not Sega's first effort to find a successor or replacement for Saturn -- That actually began in late 1994, just before the Saturn launched in Japan, and continued through 1995 with Nvidia and Lockheed. As for the two internal pieces of hardware that competed to become what we knew as Dreamcast, I figure they must have been started sometime in 1996. By March 1997, Next Generation learned of one of them, and that's were this begins.

Some of you will find it pointless, others should find it quite interesting. I do hope you all enjoy.

http://i.imgur.com/HCQ2MR2.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/ztiEnIp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/x0ZOcgT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/d9lGojU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nibiUyd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/olrm2iA.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/PCyG3wT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Gpo5vza.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0rmcFjn.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/d4S4muV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ybbMjaF.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/eA3juXi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vWpIwUM.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/o2hLTVB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/b03FMzi.jpg

[parallaxscroll]

[continued]

http://i.imgur.com/WSIIuvZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GuHtIys.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lNnyFbi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7bUoQ1E.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/L5YC4Ki.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ejYcOBR.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/i4MZTNG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IYYtVvm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vtRqGBw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ntxSkye.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rQuwEbb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wQ2MsK3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/onP4kd3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KFNUac2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/K6T5ONV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8zBu6of.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oVa9nxI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vFe8qUN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/keFNbvE.jpg


Also, a nice related video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfTv0IvGYwU

[Einzelherz]

Thanks for posting these, they're awesome!

I've never seen a VMU cover cap in the wild. Did they ever actually exist? I also didn't know that the prototypes had a round start button.

[parallaxscroll]

Thanks for posting these, they're awesome!

I've never seen a VMU cover cap in the wild. Did they ever actually exist? I also didn't know that the prototypes had a round start button.

No problem.

Funny, I didn't even notice the VMU cover cap and don't know anything about them.

[celerystalker]

If you mean just the basic plastic cap that covers the plug on the VMU, they were included with every single Sega VMU sold. All 6 of my VMUs have them. People just lost them a lot.

[parallaxscroll]

NG's interview with 3DFX's top brass following Sega terminating the graphics chip contract with them in favor of NEC / VideoLogic.

http://i.imgur.com/IvW3juK.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/ajX8uPB.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/Vdn4gu4.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/jtnroUy.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/B0wU1LB.jpg?1


When 3DFX released their Initial Public Offering in June 1997, it contained a ton of references to the Sega/3Dfx Chipset for Sega's new console (although no specific technical details)
but it pissed Sega off so much, they killed the deal, and went with NEC / VideoLogic PowerVR for Dreamcast. That became final I think in July of that year.

You can read the IPO that 3DFX filed with the SEC here: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1010026/0000891618-97-002713.txt


DEPENDENCE ON RELATIONSHIP WITH SEGA

In March 1997, the Company entered into a Technology Development and
License Agreement with Sega (the "Sega Agreement"), under which the Company will
develop and license to Sega the technology for a 3D media processor chipset (the
"Sega/3Dfx Chipset") for use in Sega's next generation home game console product
(the "New Sega Game Console"). The Sega Agreement grants Sega the exclusive
right for three years to the Company's architecture solely for use in home game
consoles. Through the end of 1998, the Company expects to earn development
contract revenues and certain development bonuses provided that certain
milestones set forth in the Sega Agreement are met. The Company will derive
royalty revenue for each Sega/3Dfx Chipset incorporated into products sold by
Sega. Therefore, the timely development of the Sega/3Dfx Chipset by the Company
and the successful introduction and sale of the New Sega Game Console by Sega
will be critical factors affecting the Company's future business, financial
condition and results of operations. The Company has not yet completed
development of the Sega/3Dfx Chipset, and there can be no assurance that the
Company will successfully complete such development or, if such development is
completed, that the Sega/3Dfx Chipset will perform as expected. Despite
pre-release testing of the Sega/3Dfx chipset by the Company, there can be no
assurance that, once the Sega/3Dfx Chipset is made available to Sega,
performance errors and deficiencies will not be found, or if discovered, that
the Company will be able to successfully correct such performance errors and
deficiencies in a timely manner, if at all. If the Company is unable to complete
the development of the Sega/3Dfx Chipset or successfully deliver it to Sega, the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations would be
materially adversely affected.

[otaku]

Awesome post a real walk down memory lane and some info I'd not seen before. Thanks! It pains me as a die hard sega fan to see the company continue to make mistakes and do poorly- anyone read the recent forbes article? :(

[Blai]

Thanks for all the scans

[eskobar]

Thank you very much for the scans. Next Generation is my all-time favorite gaming magazine; it wasn't easy to get it on Mexico but I managed to own many issues; I learned a lot from the mag and still today purchase a few issues on ebay :hail:

[parallaxscroll]

I was really happy to collect and share these scans. Next Generation was also my favorite magazine back then, much more interesting to me than Diehard GameFan.

I also very much enjoyed the much lesser-known Intelligent Gamer and Intelligent Gamer's Fusion magazines. Those seem to be really difficult to find even scans of.

[SegaGT]

Thank you so much for posting this info. I love reading about the subject and all the history around it. There's so much that was behind closed doors and will remain unknown. I still have a couple neat things from those early days.

[parallaxscroll]

I know this reply is extremely late, but, you're welcome.

I have more articles on this, and related subjects (the rumored Saturn 2 upgrade) from EDGE UK magazine, and Ultra Game Players, that I will be posting here soon.

[parallaxscroll]

http://i.imgur.com/5kJcCaE.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/HeJJkiA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/zvf2x7H.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AUvlpgI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TCwIq5n.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MUugCyw.jpg

[SegaGT]

Can you believe its been 18 years!!!

[SpaceHarrier]

Can you believe its been 18 years!!!

..and since "it's thinking" it can now legally render consent. Tonight's gonna be a fun night.

[CRTGAMER]

I've been wanting to have these articles for a long time.

The beginning of Dreamcast (Katana) hardware development was certainly not Sega's first effort to find a successor or replacement for Saturn -- That actually began in late 1994, just before the Saturn launched in Japan, and continued through 1995 with Nvidia and Lockheed. As for the two internal pieces of hardware that competed to become what we knew as Dreamcast, I figure they must have been started sometime in 1996. By March 1997, Next Generation learned of one of them, and that's were this begins.

Some of you will find it pointless, others should find it quite interesting. I do hope you all enjoy.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I forgot all about this Thread until your recent additional scans. I right clicked and saved the very clear scans with all numerical by year followed by month number and page number to keep the same order for reading as an offline reference.

Your first scan in your latest Reply (Next Generation 1998-09 Page 001) is smaller then the others, the words cannot be read. Can you resubmit a larger scan?

[SegaGT]

..and since "it's thinking" it can now legally render consent. Tonight's gonna be a fun night.

:evil:

Speaking of naughty things and the number 18, I think Blue Stinger (which had an adult section in the non-US version) was set in the year 2018 so we are about to be up to date on that title. Christmas of 2018 will be present time...

PS Don't want to jack your awesome thread parallaxscroll But I couldn't help bumping it on the anniversary!
Doesn't seem like enough interest in DC now days to have started a new topic.