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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- May 21, 1998 -- Segar of America's parent company, Sega Enterprises, Ltd., today revealed its new ultimate video game machine with the power to outperform all in-home gaming platforms and most arcade systems. That power, driven by Sega's revolutionary system design, will deliver gaming experiences previously impossible on any home entertainment platform. The super console, christened today as Dreamcast in Japan, launches November 20, 1998, in Japan and in the fall of 1999 in North America.

Dreamcast can also describe Sega's platform partners - all global leaders in business and technology. Sega worked closely with Microsoft, Hitachi, NEC and Videologic, and Yamaha to customize each partner's Dreamcast contribution for unmatched 3D gaming performance.

With 128-bit performance from a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) central processor, an independent 3D graphics engine and a dedicated 3D sound chip, Dreamcast achieves a level of total system performance unrivaled by any consumer entertainment product. Dreamcast is also the first video game console to offer standard networking features for multiplayer gaming, bringing the best features of console, PC and online gaming together on one system.

"Dreamcast is Sega's bridge to worldwide market leadership for the 21st century," said Bernard Stolar, president and chief operating officer, Sega of America. "The Sega you see today is driven by two important goals: delivering the best new gaming experiences this industry has ever seen, and winning back the No. 1 position in the console category. We'll do whatever it takes to get there."

Dreamcast was designed to appeal to the hard core gamer, as well as the casual gamer and people who have never enjoyed interactive entertainment. Polygon counts topping three million per second leave players staring at the whites of their opponent's blood-shot eyes. A dedicated real-time 3D sound processor surrounds players with 64 channels of music, voices and gameplay sound effects at a quality rivaling professional audio equipment. Dreamcast's online capabilities will unite Sega fans around the globe with a range of intense action gaming that only a video game console can offer.

Dreamcast can display revolutionary new types of realistic and engrossing 3D graphics. Human movements, fog, water effects, light and shading appear ultra-realistic. With this level of graphic performance, effects such as the passage of time from day to night can be portrayed in real-time.

Another revolutionary feature of Dreamcast is the Visual Memory System (VMS), which is a memory card and the world's smallest portable game card with built-in LCD screen. Plugged into the Dreamcast controller, the LCD screen lets players set up secret moves against their opponents, such as killer plays in sports games, for which the defensive player will not be able to plan, thus adding an even more realistic feel to the game. Pull out the VMS card and it becomes a portable electronic game card no bigger than a business card. In addition, users will be able to save game features, such as user-created special players or teams, and share them with friends simply by linking two VMS cards together.

In designing Dreamcast, Sega accomplished its two key design goals: 1) a seamless integration of high-performance components, each optimized for a specific game processing and display task, and 2) a scaleable system architecture to take advantage of future technical enhancements and new gaming concepts hidden in the minds of the industry's most creative game developers.

SEGA UNVEILS 128-BIT SUPER CONSOLE "DREAMCAST"

Sega Europe's parent company, Sega Enterprises Ltd., today revealed its new 128-Bit ultimate video game machine, Dreamcast, with the power to outperform all in-home gaming platforms. Dreamcast launches on November 20, 1998, in Japan and in time for Christmas 1999 in Europe and the United States.

Dreamcast incorporates key technologies from global innovators including Hitachi, Microsoft, NEC, VideoLogic and Yamaha as well as cutting-edge digital contents from Sega Enterprises Ltd.

Dreamcast achieves 128-Bit performance from a RISC CPU and an independent 3D graphics engine. In addition, a dedicated 3D sound chip processor surrounds players with 64 channels of music, voices and gameplay sound effects at a quality rivalling professional audio equipment. This technology delivers 3 million polygons per second, allowing games to display revolutionary new types of realistic 3D computer graphics. For example, human movements, fog and water effects and shading appear so real that they might be mistaken for real images. With this kind of graphics capability, the passage of time from day to night can naturally be portrayed in real time.

Among the revolutionary features of Dreamcast is the "as standard" networking capability. Another is the Visual Memory System (VMS) which is both a memory card and the world's smallest portable game system with built-in LCD Screen. The VMS card can store up to four megabytes of data - more than some other next generation consoles. Plugged into the Dreamcast controller, the LCD screen lets players set up secret moves against their opponents. Pull out the VMS card and it becomes a portable electronic game machine no bigger than a business card.

CEO of Sega Europe, Kazutoshi Miyake said: "Our goal is to deliver unprecedented gaming experiences to European consumers. Dreamcast will achieve this goal. All prominent publishers / developers are already supporting Dreamcast, guaranteeing from day one the strongest software line-up ever available for a new videogame console."