I think it is a complete hoax. Why would SEGA set up a site like that in the first place?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Anonymous said...
How bizarre. It's definitely got my attention anyway.
In this thread someone had the smart idea to look up the whois info and the website does appear to be properly registered to Sega as far as I can make out seeing as it was registered last in 2005. It could of been hacked of course.
It's a bit odd that you register for a new email. Why not just ask for your current email addy if it's some kind of freebie or they are just collecting data for some weird reason?
Has anyone signed up to it? Did it ask you to create a password? I'd use something different from any other passwords you use just in case. Not that anyone can register on there now. I just wondered if anyone got in before the site got swamped.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Anonymous said...
Ok just had a sniff around and it's been suggested that Sega let the domain lapse back in 2005. I took a quick look through the Wayback Machine and it would seem to support that idea going by the way it looked from July 2005 onwards.
Plus the banner looks fake to me. The font doesn't match up like the word Dreamcast has just been pasted in there. Plus the fact as some people are already saying the sign up part was in English not Japanese and the sign up suspended notice currently up is also just in English.
The PlayAsia link that has now mysteriously disappeared has apparently been on there for a while. Was it an affiliated link by any chance? eg: did they get any money by people clicking on the link?
I have to say this is smelling more and more like something unpleasant. :-/
The gmail addys given out I presume are easy enough to fake and due to the high volume of interest they can't keep up with making the things any longer. Would they really go to all this bother just to get some revenue from some Google ads though?
Registrations are up again. I've just signed up, used my "backup" e-mail, just in case (my main one is already full with spam). Now I just have to wait for my account to be activated, I'll post here when that happens.
So, my account was created and it's basically just a regular gmail account, with the difference that my e-mail is (my dreamcast serial number)@user.dreamcast.com and...that's it.
Nothing more and nothing less, just an email account. At least it has the word Dreamcast in it, so it kind of makes me happy...
Anyway, if anyone finds more info about this, feel free to share with us.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Anonymous said...
Sign ups are back on at http://www.dreamcast.com/ and it appears to have a new banner on it linking to the Sega forums. I ran it through Babelfish and it's an old post I think talking about the Sega Direct store closing on March 31st. I imagine this is his lame attempt to make us believe that something great will happen at the end of the month. I'm hoping he gets shut down before then.
The dodgy Babelfish translation of this site would seem to suggest that Sega have confirmed that they are not in control of that web domain so it's definitely bogus.
My Dreamcast is sitting next to me as I type but I'm not signing up even for curiosities sake.
On all the major sites that ran this story alot of the comments showed that people took out their Dreamcasts and played around with them for a bit.
There were comments about how the visuals on Dreamcast games and anti-alsing rivaled that of the PS2 and the Wii. (though to be honest I don't know how accurate those comments are)
Some even though this was nothing but a fishing scam looking for info on people who might have money to steal at lease it shows that there are alot Dreamcast fans still out there.
...hopeless rejected Dreamcast fans still looking for something to believe in...
come on - it was obviously some kind of scam - to echo nick944: why would Sega set this kind of thing up? The DC is dead as a commercial entity. Therefore it generates no income for Sega. Which equals scam. Romantic, but still a scam.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Anonymous said...
Well the problem was that the story ran on http://kotaku.com/ probably amongst others so of course everyone read it and thought it must be true if they posted it. That was until some people started asking questions.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Anonymous said...
they got my attention 2
Friday, March 14, 2008
[Image]Sega have updated Dreamcast.com with the following message: "Do you still own a Dreamcast?" along with a new user@Dreamcast.com registration set up page which requires your Dreamcast console's System number (which I believe may be the sticker at the bottom with the barcode). After Sega recently updated their trademark for the brand name and now this, what could they possibly be up to? What are Sega planning? Whatever this turns out to be, it shows that Sega has not fogotten about their last console after all of this time, and are even hoping that no one else has. Whatever it is, sign up and hope for the second coming, folks.
EDIT: Word is spending about on forums that this *might* be a hoax by a spammer trying to make money off the google ads from the G-mail account signing up to this gets you. Until Sega confirms that they are indeed not involved with this, I'm skeptical. At the moment the site is "temporarily suspended" due to so many requests, so who knows, but if someone is using the Dreamcast name as a scam...
"Sega asks us "Do we still own a Dreamcast"?"
16 Comments -
I think it is a complete hoax. Why would SEGA set up a site like that in the first place?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
How bizarre. It's definitely got my attention anyway.
In this thread someone had the smart idea to look up the whois info and the website does appear to be properly registered to Sega as far as I can make out seeing as it was registered last in 2005.
It could of been hacked of course.
It's a bit odd that you register for a new email. Why not just ask for your current email addy if it's some kind of freebie or they are just collecting data for some weird reason?
Has anyone signed up to it? Did it ask you to create a password?
I'd use something different from any other passwords you use just in case. Not that anyone can register on there now. I just wondered if anyone got in before the site got swamped.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Ok just had a sniff around and it's been suggested that Sega let the domain lapse back in 2005.
I took a quick look through the Wayback Machine and it would seem to support that idea going by the way it looked from July 2005 onwards.
Plus the banner looks fake to me. The font doesn't match up like the word Dreamcast has just been pasted in there.
Plus the fact as some people are already saying the sign up part was in English not Japanese and the sign up suspended notice currently up is also just in English.
The PlayAsia link that has now mysteriously disappeared has apparently been on there for a while. Was it an affiliated link by any chance? eg: did they get any money by people clicking on the link?
I have to say this is smelling more and more like something unpleasant. :-/
The gmail addys given out I presume are easy enough to fake and due to the high volume of interest they can't keep up with making the things any longer.
Would they really go to all this bother just to get some revenue from some Google ads though?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Anyone tried to translate the hiragana under the "Do you still own a Dreamcast" phrase?
My Japanese is a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure it's not a translation of the sentence above, because I can't find the word "dreamcast" in it.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
It could easily be a hoax, I for instance own the site www.dreamcast.dk
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Hmm. Well I do not have my Dreamcast's system # handy so I suppose I will wait.
hmm...Maybe it is a scam? But all that trouble for what?
Monday, March 10, 2008
Registrations are up again. I've just signed up, used my "backup" e-mail, just in case (my main one is already full with spam). Now I just have to wait for my account to be activated, I'll post here when that happens.
Monday, March 10, 2008
So, my account was created and it's basically just a regular gmail account, with the difference that my e-mail is (my dreamcast serial number)@user.dreamcast.com and...that's it.
Nothing more and nothing less, just an email account. At least it has the word Dreamcast in it, so it kind of makes me happy...
Anyway, if anyone finds more info about this, feel free to share with us.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Sign ups are back on at http://www.dreamcast.com/ and it appears to have a new banner on it linking to the Sega forums.
I ran it through Babelfish and it's an old post I think talking about the Sega Direct store closing on March 31st.
I imagine this is his lame attempt to make us believe that something great will happen at the end of the month.
I'm hoping he gets shut down before then.
The dodgy Babelfish translation of this site would seem to suggest that Sega have confirmed that they are not in control of that web domain so it's definitely bogus.
My Dreamcast is sitting next to me as I type but I'm not signing up even for curiosities sake.
Monday, March 10, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/2ufcsx
Damn...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Dammit. Phishing scam.
Ah well at least I didn't sign up.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Why torture us like this? Why God, WHY!!!????
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Take it easy FK.
On all the major sites that ran this story alot of the comments showed that people took out their Dreamcasts and played around with them for a bit.
There were comments about how the visuals on Dreamcast games and anti-alsing rivaled that of the PS2 and the Wii. (though to be honest I don't know how accurate those comments are)
Some even though this was nothing but a fishing scam looking for info on people who might have money to steal at lease it shows that there are alot Dreamcast fans still out there.
...hopeless rejected Dreamcast fans still looking for something to believe in...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
come on - it was obviously some kind of scam - to echo nick944: why would Sega set this kind of thing up? The DC is dead as a commercial entity. Therefore it generates no income for Sega. Which equals scam. Romantic, but still a scam.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Well the problem was that the story ran on http://kotaku.com/ probably amongst others so of course everyone read it and thought it must be true if they posted it. That was until some people started asking questions.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
they got my attention 2
Friday, March 14, 2008