DREAMCAST $49 now @ BEST BUY.com

[ihaveanevilplan]

I went to Best Buy today and saw the pyramid of DC consoles for $49.99. I looked through about 5 or 10 of them and all of them had either May 2000 or June 2000 dates. Also extra controllers are on sale for $12.99 instead of the usual $14.99 price, VMUs are $9.99.

Picked myself up a DC and I'm copying games like crazy as we speak
FYI, the Best Buy is in Los Angeles, CA on Sawtelle and Pico

 

[aceO07]

I bought the VMU for $7.99

 

[beaver]

where?

 

[aceO07]

BestBuy. It's available at B&M site as well as their website.

 

[carlc]

A bit off topic.... does anyone's dreamcast make squeaking noises as the cdrom moves the lens?
Mine does. I just got it and want to be sure it isn't abnormal.

CC

 

[KeninMI]

<< i picked one of these up the other day. I had a $30 gc from my birthday that I used to buy this, another controller and 2 vmus. I have a *cough*newsgroup*cough* connection that can be used for games. My brother picked one up for 79 a few months ago, and I would have paid that for this console, easily. The best buy I went to on Friday was not packed, and there was a stack of about 50 or more sitting there. They were already sold out of Sega GT, so I didn't get that. but even without it, it's a great deal. >>



Umh *cough cough* where, how, etc for said newsgroup

 

[Archerkit]

I picked up my DreamCast at Best Buy B&M on Friday, as well as an extra controller, and a couple of VMUs.

My local target has memory cards on clearance, the 800 block ones for $3.24. What's nice is the DC lets you use 2 memory units, so the 800 block mem card sits underneath the VMU. I also got the DC-to-SVHS cable for $2.99 at Funcoland.

You also might want to check out all the emulation projects that go on for the DC, like DC Emulation - turn your DC into an NES plus a lot more!

Archerkit

 

[Dood]

My Best Buy had a stack of Dreamcasts for $49 last night (Saturday).

I got the $8 "2 year replacement plan". In addition to being insurance against failure, you can basically take this unit back to BB within two years and get your cash back or credit towards anything. So use this for 2 years then trade it in for the latest and greatest later!!

 

[aceO07]

The cashier at BB didn't explain the 2 year replacement place. Seems like an interesting idea, are you sure you can return it anytime in 2 years? It seems pretty tempting.

Is there an online copy of the policy so I could read it?

 

[digme]

can somebody provide me a link to this issue about a pre-dec 2k issue? mine unfortunately says a Manufacturing date of Decemeber 2000 thx

 

[Salvador]

I wonder what Sega is going to stop making? Is it all of the hardware? If that's the case, I'd better buy some additional controllers and any other hardware that I might want now. Otherwise, you'll be paying quadruple the price for a used unit on fleabay a year from now if you want to keep playing your Dreamcast.

Any idea on games? Will Sega continue to make the current game titles or are they dumping out of everything that Sega did in the past?

I'm trying to get an idea on what to buy now and what can wait until later.

I don't have a link concerning the units manufactured before Nov 2000, but I do know that there is a legit company making some sort of boot loader for about $5 (can't remember the name off hand) that will allow you to use games from other systems like PS1. They say that you cannot use this boot loader system with DC's made after October 2000, so that's good enough reason to want a Pre November unit right there even if you're not into ripping.

Sal

 

[Murph74]

I think the boot CD you're referring to is Bleem(cast)-- which I just went to check the bleem website, and it's dead apparently... legal issues maybe? Oh well, can't win 'em all....

Murph

 

[Pothead]

for those not familiar with the DC scene

Bleemcast IS NOT the boot cd.

Utopia made the boot cd.

 

[tourette]

So what is Bleem then?

 

[Pothead]

Bleem is used as a loader/precursor to play Playstation One games, but only a limited amount. A lot of games didn't work. They also have Bleem for the PC so you can play PS1 games also.

 

[soltrain]

kinda confused on the whole thing too...

so if you have a dreamcast that's past Nov 2000, you can use a boot disc to play burned cd's?>
the only advantage to having one pre Nov 2000 is that you dont need a boot disc to play copied games?

if anyone can point to a good dreamcast site i would greatly 'preciate it.

 

[aceO07]

www.planetdreamcast.com looks pretty cool. I only started looking at DC websites yesterday, so my standards might be low.

 

[Pothead]

hehe, yeah your standards are low.


Let me clarify:

Once upon a time, a group of people named Uptopia made a boot disc. People couldn't find away to play backups without a bootdisc. So Kalisto continues to make games which require the boot disc. You put the boot disc in and turnt he DC on, then the screen will tell you to put in the disc you want to play.

Then Echelon came along, cracking the DC fully. They were able to rip DC games and made them self-bootable (through a linux box). Now most games that are ripped are self-bootable. It was as if you bought the game. You just burn it with disc juggler (use 3.5 version).


Now Sega saw this as a naughty thing! So they started to change the bios of how the games were read. They saw how the games were being ripped so made sure that the DC would not boot the CDRs. And this came into affect after October 2000. Hence all the commotion about pre Nov. 2000 DCs.

You can extract the cdi file and change the files around to make it readable in the new DCs. I have no clue though of how to do it.

There are plenty of ripped games, just an example I have approximately a little over 250.


Any questions, children?

 

[DonIsHere]

<< hehe, yeah your standards are low.


Let me clarify:

Once upon a time, a group of people named Uptopia made a boot disc. People couldn't find away to play backups without a bootdisc. So Kalisto continues to make games which require the boot disc. You put the boot disc in and turnt he DC on, then the screen will tell you to put in the disc you want to play.

Then Echelon came along, cracking the DC fully. They were able to rip DC games and made them self-bootable. Now most games that are ripped are self-bootable. It was as if you bought the game. You just burn it with disc juggler (use 3.5 version).


Now Sega saw this as a naughty thing! So they started to change the bios of how the games were read. They saw how the games were being ripped so made sure that the DC would not boot the CDRs. And this came into affect after October 2000. Hence all the commotion about pre Nov. 2000 DCs.

There are plenty of ripped games, just an example I have approximately a little over 250.


Any questions, children? >>



Yes, I have a question. What if the DreamCast is actually dated October 2000?

thanks,
don

 

[Pothead]

No one really knows, some have said it began in Nov 2000, some say October. Best bet is to get one before October 2000 though. What i have gathered from peoples' experience is that the implementation is between Oct and Nov. One person I've heard has a Oct 2000 DC and it works with the CD-rs. I can't vouch that it does though, i only heard it from him.

 

[John P]

For those of you wanting to buy a package online, Electronics Boutique still has them in stock, but for $79.99. However, they don't charge sales tax and 2 day shipping is only $6.99.

Dreamcast Sports 2K1 Bundle at ElectronicsBoutique.com for $79.99

 

[soltrain]

one more question...

so if you go and you buy one online and happen to get it past Nov/Oct 2000, you're pretty much screwed for playing burned games unless you can find out how to change around the files in the dreamcast?

 

[Pothead]

yes, however, i posted ina thread awhile ago, BEFORE amazon dropped the DC price that they were shipping May 2000 DCs. I didn't care for the price. I wanted a DC that could play the CD-rs. Now Amazon is sold out and if they get more, it will def. be post Nov 2000 DCs

It's too much of a hassle for several reasons. Echelon will not release new games in the new format, they will continue to rip like the old ways, I'm pretty sure. Who would want to fix the files in every game? Besides, one has to extract using isobuster, and putting the files back together, I am not sure if it will be self-botable.

 

[Pothead]

Just another clarification, if you have a pre Nov. or Oct 2000 DC, you do NOT really need a boot disc, most games are self booting, only the old old old old old old games need to the boot discs. Some of the smaller ripping groups, i.e. Hooligans and ncb, have repacked the original games, so if you download self-booting games, you have no need for the boot disc.

 

[vortix]

OK, I've been lookin around for more Dreamcast info since I got my open box one at BB for $35 (not bad huh, it's a March 2000 one too ). Here's some cool sites to check out just to see some of the stuff you can do with Dreamcast:
dcemulation.com
consolevision.com
boob.co.uk

These sites are mostly dedicated to DC emulators and other neat programs (there are NO games or anything illegal on these sites). There are some good tutorials on dcemulation.com about how to burn self-bootable CDs, etc. They also have links to all the programs you need. After seeing all this, I'm trying to figure out what my Dreamcast can't do, lol.

It's pretty damn cool to be playing the old Nintendo games on Dreamcast, it works nearly perfectly, and it's so convenient being able to just pop in a CD and choose almost any Nintendo game known to man (no switching carts or anything)

Hope this helps