Sega Postcard
On the heels of news that Sony's PlayStation 2 sold a million units in seven days in Japan, Sega of America sent out a whimsical post card to journalists last week.  One side of the postcard had a montage of clipart with the tagline, "Find the Modem."  On the back, Sega goes on to explain that there isn't a modem in the picture, "Just like a certain big new game system that's about to come out – no modem."  Indirectly referring to the fact the PlayStation 2 doesn't come with a modem, Sega claims this to be "very last millennium of them."  One problem: Sega also claims that "online gaming [is] available now" on the Dreamcast, but that's far from the truth.  Yes, the Dreamcast does include a modem, but so far Sega has been unsuccessful in bringing true online gaming to the platform.  At GDC, Sega V.P. Peter Moore claimed Sega will have games up and running on the Dreamcast network by Christmas, but I remain skeptical that Sega can pull off Sega Rally at 60 frames per second over a 56k modem. 

At the same time, I've already heard rumblings that USB modems will be available for the PSX2 at launch.  So, here's a tip to Sega: Don't spend the next six months claiming the Dreamcast beats the PlayStation 2 because it has a built-in modem.  Get some online games up on Dreamcast and then maybe you have a stronger point.  But until then, the modem is just a web browser that can download additional game content, and hardly a major point of differentiation between the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2.

Feedback
E-mail me your comments

 

Back To Top

© Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 GMK Studios
Feedback? Send us your comments: feedback@gameslice.com
GameSlice is a Member of the UGO Network