Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

With a little bit of educated Googling, it's possible to find information on pretty much anything on the net. Into shit eating porn? cool - just type it into the little white oblong box and you can be privvy to more turd guzzling than you could ever imagine. Likewise, if pictures of prototype Dreamcast hardware is your vice (as is mine), then typing said parameters into the all consuming corporation's search box will invariably throw up such delights as these:

[Image]
YAWN. Old. News. Seen them all before here at the Junkyard. How about some 1997 era 'Sega 64' / 'Dural' shots instead?

Here you go:

[Image][Image]How cool?! These pics were featured in the Frontline section of issue 8 of defunct games mag Saturn Power (Christmas 1997). The reproductions here were taken with my shod-tastic digital camera and not, as one would prefer, a proper scanner - but as is my mantra, used many times in the past - you can't have everything. Moving back to the pictures, the article states that the images were 'leaked' from a source in Tokyo and then published by Gamefan Online. The images are pretty low quality, and are covered in Japanese text which I suppose, back in '97 lended an air of authenticity to them. What's interesting though, is that the article gives some technical specs about the system, including the implementation of a DVD drive, AC-3 sound ("phenominal, but very expensive"), and the ability to shift 1.8 million polygons per second ("very tricky to imagine").

[Image] Someone needs to invest in a spell checker methinks

The controller appears to be a bastardisation of the original Saturn analogue pad, but with the X,Y and Z buttons given the boot. Also, there only seem to be two controller ports which, given that the N64 was already availible with it's revolutionary 4 port design, would appear to a step backwards for the Sega64/Dural/Blackbelt/whatever.

Even though it is stressed in the article that the images could very well be a hoax, there are still some similarities with the final design of the Dreamcast - the colour for one, and the pad isn't that dissimilar, while the layout of the buttons on the console itself (save for the ommission of a reset button) is quite reminiscent and it also appears to feature a vent on the side, hinting at the implementation of a fan based cooling system.

Of course, it's obviously not the console as it is today, but still an interesting bit of history.