In a rather startling manner Sega have decided to take a very bold move starting this August by making their Dreamcast console unit free. That's not a typo, come August you'll be able to get a Dreamcast for free. The catch? (there's always a catch) You have to sign up with their ISP, Sega.com and then you receive a $200 rebate and a DC keyboard/mouse even if you already own a Dreamcast. Interesting strategy indeed and click on the link for the full details. With both Sony and Microsoft remaining quiet on the issue, the usually non-responsive Nintendo added their two-cents.

Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo's director of corporate communications, replied politely, "It won't affect Dolphin at all. Thoughts on what they are doing: I have to hand it to them, continuing to be committed to gaming. Dreamcast is a nice machine, but as you see from sales numbers, they weren't able to make a sizeable dent in ownership. With sales numbers as they are, consumers have rated what they consider the value of the hardware to be (nominal, thus now free). So, this is the direction they must go -- even though it's a bold move -- and we have yet to see if consumers who bought into the Dreamcast vision to begin with, will switch over from a dedicated console to online play. Online gaming isn't mass-market yet, but with Sega's interest and sizeable marketing commitment, we'll see if they can make a go of it."

This is a extremely interesting and exciting move by Sega, even if it is just to see how this all turns out, so please leave your opinions in the talkback page. Staff members will also leave their opinions so drop in and let us know how you feel on this issue.