Will we ever see Dreamcast clones?

A few years ago, I remember Sega claimed that they'd developed a "Dreamcast on a chip" that they were hoping to impliment into things like TV set top boxes and computers for playing DC games, but it never came through. Most of today's "clone consoles" for systems like the NES, SNES, and Genesis utilize a "console on a chip" type motherboard, which is why they are cheap to produce (and strangely light weight, in most cases). So I was thinking: when will we, if ever, see a Dreamcast clone hit the market?

The system is so easy to develop for that I'd think it would become an overnight hit in a lot of poorer countries like China, where a great many gamers are still playing the Famicom (or an equivalent clone). I'm not sure when the patents on these types of things expire, but you'd think that a "Dreamcast on a chip" wouldn't be very far off from reality by now. Also, given what a rabid cult fanbase the DC has in the west as well, I'm sure that there'd be a decent sized market for it outside of it's country of manufacture.

That would be a cool idea, I'm sure they could do it easily with the technological advances we've had in the last 9 years since its North American launch.

What makes me interested in this is that they could add to it. They could use the same engine but beef it up with more video ram and processor speeds. I mean if they added a little more power and injected a few Sega-like fun games into the fray I bet it would raise a few eyebrows.

I doubt Sega would ever do this because A) they don't have the money and B) there is no money to be made from it. Sega ditched the dreamcast because they were losing too much to piracy in the first place, so why would they subject themselves to it 10 fold now that EVERYONE has at least cable internet and knows how to use a torrent or find an ISO site. I think we'll see some crazy x-in-1 CD/DVD/GD game systems once patents expire as all it will take is the cost to design the chip since per unit costs will be incredibly small. I've already heard things about possible Playstation-on-a-chips in the works as soon as the patents expire, but that still is a few years off since the SNES just recently became legitimate maybe a year or two ago. If only we could talk someone into tackling a Genesis/32X/Sega CD all-in-one clone CDX style, that would be awesome.

They just recently renewed the Dreamcast patents.

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Originally Posted by Timstuff

The system is so easy to develop for that I'd think it would become an overnight hit in a lot of poorer countries like China, where a great many gamers are still playing the Famicom (or an equivalent clone).

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Not exactly sure if China actually can be considered a poor country. I think that the Famiclones and the MD clones are as successful there because

a) regular people seem to prefer PCs ("Shenmue Online"), cell phones and PMPs instead of paying lots of money for modern day video games
b) Mega Drive and NES already were incredibly successful when they first came out back in the 80s, early 90s as a friend told me, same goes for Russia btw.
c) so maybe NES and MD are closer to what people consider a video game ?

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Originally Posted by Christuserloeser

They just recently renewed the Dreamcast patents.

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Yea, wasn't that in 2006-2007 when the rumors of the "Dreamcast 2" were coming out?

Dreamcast 2 will never happen. They cancelled it in Q1/2001 among with the Dreamcast. See parallaxscroll's collection of DC2 facts here: http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6023


All I know is that either Renesas or Hitachi finished a Dreamcast on a chip back in 2004 (which nobody ever did anything with), and SEGA renewed the patents of the Dreamcast earlier this year (so they wouldn't expire).

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Originally Posted by Christuserloeser

Dreamcast 2 will never happen. They cancelled it in Q1/2001 among with the Dreamcast. See parallaxscroll's collection of DC2 facts here: http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6023

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I know, we all know, I was just saying that that triggered the rumors. After they renewed that patent everyone DC fan under the sun were climbing the walls with anxiety about why they would do that.

To be honest I don't want a DC2 I just spent mad money on my DC1. lol:D

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All I know is that either Renesas or Hitachi finished a Dreamcast on a chip back in 2004 (which nobody ever did anything with), and SEGA renewed the patents of the Dreamcast earlier this year (so they wouldn't expire).

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I didn't know that. That explains why Sega jumped at the chance to renew the patent. They didn't want someone else profiting from it. Sega must be pissed that the homebrews are making some money (Redspotgames, Hucast) but if it was Hitachi or Renesas they would have been very upset.

No, Hitachi (and Renesas, who now holds the rights to the Super Hitachi CPUs) was involved with Dreamcast's hardware design: http://www.renesas.com/fmwk.jsp?cnt=.../superh_family

It would be great if Sega capitalized on the fact that so many ISO's are available and made just the system for release in order to use all those images that are available. I mean, who wouldn't go buy a Dreamcast "Mach 2", with warranty and all the good stuff that comes with a brand new console, if it were to happen?? I sure would.

You mean like the "Treamcast"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treamcast
http://www.futurenews.at/wp-content/.../treamcast.jpg

There already has been a clone (and its pretty cool). Always meant to get one...
Mebbe not quite what you meant tho..

It uses original parts from original DCs AFAIK, no real coloning...

Yeah, they killed actual Dreamcast's to create that monstrosity.

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Originally Posted by nathanallan

It would be great if Sega capitalized on the fact that so many ISO's are available and made just the system for release in order to use all those images that are available. I mean, who wouldn't go buy a Dreamcast "Mach 2", with warranty and all the good stuff that comes with a brand new console, if it were to happen?? I sure would.

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I don't think Sega really COULD capitalize on that. I mean, the most you could charge would be like $70, if that, and that really wouldn't leave much for profit. Couple that with the fact that even with the ISOs there is only a small library of games and most gamers only want to buy the latest and greatest systems like PS3 or XBOX 360 and there isn't really a market. NES clones are popular because the original hardware was so shitty and most don't realize its only a $6 part that needs replacing. Also, NES/SNES/Genesis systems were simpler by a large scale and much easier to reverse engineer and put on a chip. I just don't think the technology is there yet to make a Dreamcast cheap enough that people would buy it and still make enough money to justify making it in the first place.

Some UK company had licensed the Dreamcast technology for use in a Tivo-like device, but I think they went out of business or something.

thing is, it's a tested and loved platform. if they have a cheaper, less expensive model it may do extremely well. i am imagining a cd-player looking thing with two control ports and video out cables. $70 sounds about right, and if they were to capitalize on freely available ISO' sthey could even have downloads for them on their own websites. imho, they will sell.

yay beer. :)