This September Sega will introduce Dreamcast, its entry in a new generation of consoles that will allow multiplayer action over the Net while running faster and more realistic games. In one Dreamcast football demo at E3, you could see the frosty breath of the players in cold weather. Sega’s CEO, Bernie Stolar, acknowledges the impossibility of displacing leader Sony (56 million PlayStation units sold worldwide vs. 8.9 million Saturn and 24 million N64), but he pledges a $100 million ad campaign to win back an audience of dedicated gamers.
Even with that modest goal, Stolar faces an uphill battle. Both Sony and Nintendo announced their own 128-bit, Internet-connected machines, due late next year, and each promises to trump Dreamcast in power while merging gaming functions with other entertainment. Nintendo announced it will work with IBM and Matsushita to make a machine, code-named Dolphin, that will use DVD technology. And Sony’s PlayStation II, an early demo of which wowed attendees, will also likely play DVD movies and music, browse the Web and send e-mail. Said one CEO of a high-profile game company: “Sega doesn’t have a chance. They don’t have the resources to compete with these guys.” But judging from E3’s geeky gamers, who flocked to check out Dreamcast, it may be too early to count Sega out.
