Sega Re-Releasing the Dreamcast in Japan

[dcware]

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000790071989/


awesome

[Whiskers the Wonder Cat]

Don't sound so happy. They're re-releasing "refurbished" as in "used" Dreamcasts.

[johno590]

Don't sound so happy. They're re-releasing "refurbished" as in "used" Dreamcasts.

There is nothing with refurbished items. They are fixed to work like new, and Im sure they look good too. I think its cool that they are doing that, but is Sega really going to be doing it?

[Gemini-Phoenix]

There's been rumours of a budget rerelease for about a year now. Shame it's only refurbished ones though, and shame it's Japan only ~ Apart from that, it could have been great news indeed, and certainly good for the DC games market on eBay (Especially good news for people with an extensive collection of sealed DC games) ;)

[dcware]

Where exactly does it say they're refurbished?

[dreamcaster]

Sega did this ages ago - this must yet be another run of refurbished units they've amassed.

[KingKRool]

I've still yet to own a Dreamcast.

[goatdan]

Sega has been doing this on and off, but it isn't refurbished units. What they are is units that were made with the left over parts from the manufacturing of the original console. Basically what happened was that when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast, they had a mass of unassembled parts left over, and they figured they would never need them. But they waited, and lo and behold the market demanded more consoles, so they restarted the assembly line and pushed a bunch through. This I'm sure is the same thing.

It isn't a "release" however as much as it is just a "reprinting," if you will. This will be a limited, limited number, as their part supply has to be dwindling off by now.

[joshnickerson]

Aren't they still releasing new DC games in Japan? I seem to remember reading a year ago that another shooter was being released for the console.

[Ed Oscuro]

Suddenly I wonder what the boxes are like. :O

$83 seems steep for a DC, but they *are* brand new...hmm.

[TurboGenesis]

Sega has been doing this on and off, but it isn't refurbished units. What they are is units that were made with the left over parts from the manufacturing of the original console. Basically what happened was that when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast, they had a mass of unassembled parts left over, and they figured they would never need them. But they waited, and lo and behold the market demanded more consoles, so they restarted the assembly line and pushed a bunch through. This I'm sure is the same thing.

It isn't a "release" however as much as it is just a "reprinting," if you will. This will be a limited, limited number, as their part supply has to be dwindling off by now.

Will these consoles have current manufacture dates on them? Such as a 2005 year?

[Griking]

I'm sure that there would have to be a current date or serial number on them in order for Sega to be able to handle warranty claims.

[goatdan]

That's actually a really good question about the manufacturers date. If I can get my hands on one, I'll share :)

[MegaDrive20XX]

Why does everyone fear "Refurb"? It's damn good! Everytime I have bought a system that is refurb, I never have a single problem with it!

This is awesome of Sega, but the price of $83 USD is a bit too much...then again...if that's the price with the bundled unit (game and system) then that's pretty much $50 for the game and $23 for the system...Im game!

[smork]

Sweeeet.

Now if I can just get that Blue Hello Kitty Dreamcast that I want new...

I don't think 10K Yen is too bad a price for a new console, either. I was in Bangkok recently and saw a new-in-box DC selling for 10K Baht -- about $250. I asked them, "um, is that the real price?" And they said yes, it's what we paid for it new. Hmm, good luck with that!

I also jsut had someone here in Kl try to sell me a very abused DC with no hookups at all (no controllers, even) for $40. Ha ha ha!

[Ulticron]

Honestly I think a refurbished system is alot better than buying someone's used system. At least with a refurbished system you know a technician has given it the once over an cleaned it up.

It's nice to see Sega up an doing something like this, but it's a far cry from what I'd like to see, and I know good an well I'll never see it. A new Sega console.

[Ed Oscuro]

Now if I can just get that Blue Hello Kitty Dreamcast that I want new...
Suddenly I doubt this is going to bring down the price of those. Grrr then! (Personally, I would go for the red Regulation one).

As for the good points of a refurb, yes, there are many, but couldn't you find a new one (with a bit of luck) in the wild, or even buy one off eBay? I see one up for $87 (I think $93 BIN) that has eight new games with it! (no idea what titles they are though...)

[Julio III]

You've got to remember you've got to pay shipping for a console all the way from Japan which is not going to be cheap

[dojosky]

Thats cool hmm for those who are looking for brand new american dreamcast just PM me !! I have 3 in stock ! and even one original shipping carton that 4 dc are packed in it but only have 3 in it ! and i have over 40+ sealed brand new dreamcast games as well as several brand new dreamcast accessories !! good to see dreamcast fans here !! :D

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Refurbished or used editions are not the best, but it´s a good idea by SEGA...step by step...new Sega console...step by step...we´ll see...

Matías

[jonnyutah]

Sega should re-release it under the original Katana name. Infact, sonic team not too long ago referded to the Dreamcast as Katana because early DC kits had the Katana name printed on the units. project-katana was in the works way back when gamefan was still around...wow. I loved reafingh the rumor section....

[jonnyutah]

king k rool, why not? I've ran into quite a few people that didn't buy a dc.... they always say: I remeber seeing that white console in the stores but I was waiting for the ps2

[segagamer4life]

I've still yet to own a Dreamcast.


you need one, its a great affordable system, with alot of great games, shenmue should be your first aquisition.

[CYRiX]

Well my local video game store has 3 for $19.99 each, so I could care less.

[goatdan]

I had it semi-confirmed today that Sega has stated that these systems will NOT be MIL-CD compatible. That is interesting. That means that they might finally be releasing those. That means that I want one... BADLY.

I'm trying to see if I can get some contacts to get their hands on one for me. It would be very, VERY interesting if they really weren't. If that's true, I am almost positive they are not refurbs, but newly assembled consoles.

[GaijinPunch]

You've got to remember you've got to pay shipping for a console all the way from Japan which is not going to be cheap

Roughly 6000 yen.... not worth it by a long shot.


I had it semi-confirmed today that Sega has stated that these systems will NOT be MIL-CD compatible.

This is not the first time they've done this. After the R7 was released, the have done a special just like this at least one other time when Puyo Puyo Fever came out I believe it was. If I'm not mistaken, those weren't MIL-CD compatible either, so it's safe to say that these won't be either.

[drewbrim]

I had it semi-confirmed today that Sega has stated that these systems will NOT be MIL-CD compatible.

I'll be that guy. What does MIL-CD mean/stand for?

[Julio III]

I had it semi-confirmed today that Sega has stated that these systems will NOT be MIL-CD compatible.

I'll be that guy. What does MIL-CD mean/stand for?

Basically it means that these Dreamcasts cannot run software thats on normal CDs or CD-Rs.

Which means no homebrew.
And I guess this means that goatdan's games wont run on them either, which is a shame.

[goatdan]

I had it semi-confirmed today that Sega has stated that these systems will NOT be MIL-CD compatible.

This is not the first time they've done this. After the R7 was released, the have done a special just like this at least one other time when Puyo Puyo Fever came out I believe it was. If I'm not mistaken, those weren't MIL-CD compatible either, so it's safe to say that these won't be either.

I can confirm that the Puyo Pop Fever Dreamcasts were, in fact, MIL-CD compatible. It is a pretty major change actually, as the entire BIOS would've had to been rewritten, as they were going to remove the ability for the Dreamcast to play any CDs period, including music CDs. I want to get my hands on one just for that purpose.

To date, I have lots of people telling me that they have never come out, and proof of that with the fact that I have asked all of our importers in Asia to tell me if our games don't work on any consoles there, and after thousands of copies sold, NONE have had that problem, and I have never seen that BIOS.

That's why I'm especially interested in getting my hands on one of these :)

[GaijinPunch]

You want a non-MIL CD compatible machine? I've only used two DCs (my first one which went tits up, and my Super Black Model) so I'm not the best person, but after some googling, this page (http://sokonuke.chu.jp/distinction.html) tells about how to tell if a DC is MIL-CD compatible or not. Take all of this w/ a shaker of salt.

Judging by the barcode, the 3rd digit is the year of production. 8's and 9's are 98 and 99 respectively, so are MIL-CD compatible. For 0 models, those up until November are comptible), and for 1 models, all with few exception are incomptaible.

How do I know if I get a 0 model? No way to know specifically, but Sega did change their name in 11/01 from Sega Enterprizes to Kabushiki Gaisha Sega (Sega Corporation). If yours says Sega Corporation on the back, it is likely an MIL-CD incompatible model.

The site also says there is no 100% way to tell, so you can't sue them or anything. Again, I've never tested any of this, as I've had the same DC for a long time now, and don't play homebrew or backups other than Propeller Arena.

EDIT: I also found some sites w/ some incomptaible models on their for sale list (probably old though). ONe was listed as an HKT-5000 model only.

[goatdan]

You want a non-MIL CD compatible machine? I've only used two DCs (my first one which went tits up, and my Super Black Model) so I'm not the best person, but after some googling, this page (http://sokonuke.chu.jp/distinction.html) tells about how to tell if a DC is MIL-CD compatible or not. Take all of this w/ a shaker of salt.

Judging by the barcode, the 3rd digit is the year of production. 8's and 9's are 98 and 99 respectively, so are MIL-CD compatible. For 0 models, those up until November are comptible), and for 1 models, all with few exception are incomptaible.

How do I know if I get a 0 model? No way to know specifically, but Sega did change their name in 11/01 from Sega Enterprizes to Kabushiki Gaisha Sega (Sega Corporation). If yours says Sega Corporation on the back, it is likely an MIL-CD incompatible model.

The site also says there is no 100% way to tell, so you can't sue them or anything. Again, I've never tested any of this, as I've had the same DC for a long time now, and don't play homebrew or backups other than Propeller Arena.

EDIT: I also found some sites w/ some incomptaible models on their for sale list (probably old though). ONe was listed as an HKT-5000 model only.

I have a Dreamcast that was manufactured in 2001, which was supposed to be past the cutoff point that works. I've looked at the Google things, I've talked with people involved, and they have confirmed that they were never put into regular production. In fact, until Sega said that these new consoles were not compatible with MIL-CD format, I could confirm with no one that the new BIOS had even been programmed.

There is a VERY simple way to figure out if your console is a MIL-CD one or not... turn it on with a music CD in it. In non MIL-CD compatible machines, music CDs will be unrecognizable too. As I've said, after thousands of sales of our games, the result so far has been ZERO incompatible systems. I'm not saying that there isn't a chance they are out there, but I greatly doubt that if there are that the systems are much more than prototypes that were sold.

[GaijinPunch]

There is a VERY simple way to figure out if your console is a MIL-CD one or not... turn it on with a music CD in it.

Well, obviously @_@
The guides were for people to know before buying them though. As I hit a few lists of "non MIL-CD compatible Dreamcasts" for sale, I would assume at least some exist. Then again, I've never seen one.

[goatdan]

The guides were for people to know before buying them though. As I hit a few lists of "non MIL-CD compatible Dreamcasts" for sale, I would assume at least some exist. Then again, I've never seen one.

I've seen those lists too, and contacted those people (basically, we could probably get a work around for the MIL-CD incompatible systems with our games if we could get our hands on one of them to look at) but they were all mistaken so far. And, like I said, people that were in the know actually said that they don't think that much if any were shipped, so I really doubt it.

But anyway, we'll see. If these are also MIL-CD compatible, I'm going to assume they all are.

[jonnyutah]

I'd like to see a re-design of the dc. ....a smaller scaled down size.... much like you saw with ps1,ps2, and nes.

[tritium]

I had read somewhere that thesystem for Sakura Taisen (pink) doesn't read music CD's. This may be of interest for those who want the incompatibility to play with.