So, here we are. A year after the Dreamcast was first announced. And what kind of year has it been? Well a strange one to say the least. At the start Sega had lost a battle with the Saturn due to the growing popularity of the Playstation. Then, after many months of rumours, Sega announce a conference. What was announced in that conference? Well, you would have to be pretty stupid not to know wouldn't you? The Dreamcast. The most powerful console the world had seen. 4x more powerful than the PSX and twice more powerful than the N64. Suddenly Sega were on top again. It was as though they had never moved from the spot. The demo's astounded us all. It was as if November was year's away from the Japanese gaming community. Magazine's raved on about it, people already started saving for it. Then the question came. What did Sony and Nintendo have to say about this? Well nothing at the time. As Sonic Adventure and other games were announced, they just stood back and stared. November came, but there were problems at the launch. Not enough Dreamcasts were available for the people who queued for hours. Only 350 000 were available and they were all sold out in minutes. Sega declared the console the fastest selling console. Not a surprise really. The games were not as great as people hoped. Only 2 were worth having. Sonic adventure and other games were delayed. It all had gone a bit pear shaped. 1999 came. So. Game shows came and games came out of their development mothers. Dreamcast sales were'nt doing well compared to the Playstation. But Sega went on. Amazing us more and more. But the fateful day came. Sony announced a new Playstation console, even though the current console was still selling as well as ever. Nintendo also announced a new console which was in developement. Suddenly Sega were being written off again. They announced new things for the Dreamcast, but no-one seemed interested. But thank god, they announced the launch dates for the American and European Dreamcasts. Cheap prices as well! One of the cheapest prices ever for the launch of a console. 199 in £ or $. With the modem as well! They are sponsoring Arsenal F.C and sponsored the U.K premiere of the film eXistenZ. Though at the same time they announced profit losses due to the recession in Japan. So it's been a very up and down year for Sega. And still we don't know how they're going to end up. In reality, this could be their last chance in the hardware market. Let's pray it works out because they bring out some brilliant consoles. -Ian Davies