Sega Unveils Dreamcast to US

The moment the US console gaming press has been waiting for since the initial Japanese announcement last week about Dreamcast happened on Wednesday night in an invitation only event in Atlanta.

Sega started the event with Saturday Night Live's Kevin Nealon doing his infamous weekend update with jokes about the Clinton administration and highlighted fictional titles like "Hillary's Wild Ride", Paula Jones: Virtual Makeover, and Kenneth Starcraft. The interesting part of Nealon's speech was that Sega made fun of itself citing humorous (and completely fictitious) events like a group finding Sega 32X systems inside one of the pyramids in Egypt.

Sega of America president, Bernie Stolar than took the show and after talking about Sega as a whole, introduced to the attendees to Dreamcast. He announced that the Dreamcast system would not be shown to E3 attendees and instead of showcasing it on the floor of the show, said that we would be among the first US media to see the exclusive footage. As he outlined what we already know about the system, he announced that the SegaSoft and Heat.net would be the underlying provider for Dreamcast's multiplayer gaming service.

Although there wasn't a system at the conference, Stolar introduced video footage from the conference in Japan. The video only showed the island pictures from the Japan conference without some of the real-time showing off the systems power. While the video was crisp and clear, you could tell by the vibe in the room that the attendees wanted something more. In a surprise showing, Stolar introduced footage of the first game being developed for the US Dreamcast. Stolar said that the game was only 20 persent complete. Then the game ran...

As the room became silent, the game being shown ran at smoothly with a first person shooter that had a feel like Panzer Dragoon. The graphics were what made it stand out, imagine if the graphics from Rage's Incoming were adopted for Dragoon. The shots may be a little blurry but the game is a leap ahead for Sega.

We'll have more complete coverage of Stolar's speech tomorrow. Stay tuned.