Dream Library
Microsoft has just launched it’s ARCADE LIVE service for the X-Box. One can obtain the software required for it via online at the Official X-Box site or as a bonus disc with the X-Box Live Gamer Magazine. The disc will install the necessary software for you to go online and download classic arcade and web games for a price on your X-Box hardrive. As a nice bonus, the classic arcade game Ms. Pac-Man is included on the disc for you to enjoy.
X-Box Live isn’t the future, it is the present of the online perfected experience. A service that Sony has debated like mad in recent issues of it’s own official magazine. You know I gotta give props to Microsoft when Sony is getting jealous and ready to mimic the excellent X-Box Live service. You know you got something good when the competition is ready to steal your ideas.
If the sales of Halo 2 are indication, there is profitability in the online world. Oh yeah, Halo 2 has sold 5 million copies to date and I have a feeling that a huge chunk of those numbers are because of the X-Box Live support. Also we can’t forget the awesome Tom Clancy titles which make UbiSoft a killing thanks to their overall greatness and excellent Live support as well.
Back to the whole Arcade Live experience, it got me to thinking, “Didn’t Sega have an online download game service in Japan or am I just on crack?” Thankfully I discovered with a little research that I wasn’t on crack and that Sega of Japan did indeed have such a service entitled Dream Library.
Launched on June 1st, 2000 the Dream Library allowed Dreamcast users in the far east to go online and download classic Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Turbographix-16/PC Engine games. Holy crap! Sweet!
The service is best described as an online rental service. You could download Phantasy Star II, Revenge of Shinobi, Alien Storm or Alien Crush into your DC’s internal rom for a couple of bucks. Once you turned off your DC *POOF* it’s gone, except for your save game file on your VMU. However, the online service would allow you to re-download the title for a couple of days without an additional fee. Pretty cool eh? The service would offer a huge library of titles and would sadly never set sail beyond the shores of Japan.
This service would have rocked if it came to North America. Download Sonic The Hedgehog for a couple of days for a couple of bucks on your DC would have kicked ass. The closest we got to playing these classics was a bonus disc, the excellent Sega SmashPack that was packaged with new DC’s and available separately for retail.
Those Dreamcast days were amazing. Sega’s Japanese online service Dream Library. Their North American online service Sega Net. Playing Quake III, Phantasy Star Online, Chu Chu Rocket and Star Lancer on that little 56k modem was awesome and it was doing that 4 long years ago. I just had to write this article and give some props to Sega, who paved the way of the future with the DC.
X-Box Live isn’t the future, it is the present of the online perfected experience. A service that Sony has debated like mad in recent issues of it’s own official magazine. You know I gotta give props to Microsoft when Sony is getting jealous and ready to mimic the excellent X-Box Live service. You know you got something good when the competition is ready to steal your ideas.
If the sales of Halo 2 are indication, there is profitability in the online world. Oh yeah, Halo 2 has sold 5 million copies to date and I have a feeling that a huge chunk of those numbers are because of the X-Box Live support. Also we can’t forget the awesome Tom Clancy titles which make UbiSoft a killing thanks to their overall greatness and excellent Live support as well.
Back to the whole Arcade Live experience, it got me to thinking, “Didn’t Sega have an online download game service in Japan or am I just on crack?” Thankfully I discovered with a little research that I wasn’t on crack and that Sega of Japan did indeed have such a service entitled Dream Library.
Launched on June 1st, 2000 the Dream Library allowed Dreamcast users in the far east to go online and download classic Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Turbographix-16/PC Engine games. Holy crap! Sweet!
The service is best described as an online rental service. You could download Phantasy Star II, Revenge of Shinobi, Alien Storm or Alien Crush into your DC’s internal rom for a couple of bucks. Once you turned off your DC *POOF* it’s gone, except for your save game file on your VMU. However, the online service would allow you to re-download the title for a couple of days without an additional fee. Pretty cool eh? The service would offer a huge library of titles and would sadly never set sail beyond the shores of Japan.
This service would have rocked if it came to North America. Download Sonic The Hedgehog for a couple of days for a couple of bucks on your DC would have kicked ass. The closest we got to playing these classics was a bonus disc, the excellent Sega SmashPack that was packaged with new DC’s and available separately for retail.
Those Dreamcast days were amazing. Sega’s Japanese online service Dream Library. Their North American online service Sega Net. Playing Quake III, Phantasy Star Online, Chu Chu Rocket and Star Lancer on that little 56k modem was awesome and it was doing that 4 long years ago. I just had to write this article and give some props to Sega, who paved the way of the future with the DC.
posted by Kelley at 10:02 AM
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