NCS What's New for November 30, 1998

The first shipment of Sega's Dreamcast console arrived this morning. Please refer to last Friday's update regarding prices and availability of the console. Sega's new color decor for all of the DC boxes is a white and orange blend with the swirling DC logo emblazoned on the front of each box. The DC itself is very petite and looks like a miniature version of the Playstation shell, only it's colored white, a bit taller and much heavier. The console is more of a square than a rectangle and the casing doesn't creak anywhere, a testament to it's solid design. Two cables are included with each console: a standard A/V out with a special DC adaptor on one end and a power cable for the internal electrical adaptor. The joypad is a mixed affair. It's much smaller than we expected but the buttons and the joypad cross-pad feel hollow and lack spring. They're almost spongy feeling. The analog pad on the upper left of the pad is also of inferior quality to say, the Neo-CD joypad. The DC joystick is also a mixed affair. The base has heft but the joystick features the annoying click of microswitches whenever you move it and the buttons again, feel hollow. They are devoid of any substantial spring in them. All in all, a beautiful machine with excellent design qualities but the controllers are a major disappointment. Again, quantities for the DC are extremely low. This is due to Sega's underproduction so please read the link from last Friday before e-mailing or calling NCS with questions concerning the supply or prices. Everything that we know is drawn out in detail on Friday's link. More supply will be coming in over the next couple of days although we cannot determine prices at this point. They will likely remain high until Sega can pump more units into the distribution channel.