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Non-Tech : The New Iomega '2000' Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: R. Murphey who wrote (3384)	11/10/1999 6:24:00 PM
From: Scott Moody	Respond to of 5023

SEGA ZIP DRIVE dailyradar.com Sega Zip Drive -- Everything you need to know Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Sega Zip Drive... Sega of Japan forever blurred the line between the Sega Dreamcast and PCs at the Tokyo Game Show this fall. During a press conference in September, the company announced plans to release a zip drive for its newest system and since then, speculation -- and controversy -- has washed over this peripheral. Here's what everyone should know about this device. Does this zip drive have a name? Everybody has been calling the unit the Dreamcast Zip Drive. This is, of course, not an official title. What are the basic specs for this machine? The zip drive will be a 100MB ATAPI Drive. Sega plans to sell private label Dreamcast Zip 100MB disks for the unit. What does the zip drive look like? And how does it fit into the Sega Dreamcast? The drive is roughly the same size (albeit a touch shorter vertically) and shape as the Dreamcast console. It's colored off-white, plugs into the Dreamcast's modem port, and rests under the console. Once the drive is plugged in, it will then be possible to reattach and use the system's 56KB modem. The drive carries a slot for zip disks as well as a USB connector for as-yet-unidentified add-ons, which could possibly include digital cameras and printers. The Sega zip drive will also take advantage of a power pass-thru cable, meaning the device won't need its own electric supply. How fast will this zip drive be? No one has really gotten a chance to put the machine through its paces. So this question must, for the time being, go unanswered. Is Sega making this peripheral? Sega and hardware manufacturer Iomega will be producing this drive in a joint venture. What can this zip drive do? Simply put, the drive will expand the Dreamcast's storage capabilities immensely. The drive's manufacturer, Iomega, has said the device will be designed "to dramatically increase the capabilities of not only game playing, but Web-based activities such as content saving of e-mail and Web searches." More recently, a Sega insider stated the unit's potential would move more and more toward gaming applications. With the zip drive, users will be able to store endless game data, characters, e-mail notes, and favorite Web sites. It will also store downloaded photos, movies, and sound files (possibly in the form of MP3s). It might also be possible for people to create their own low-end Web site and upload it from the zip drive. A Sega insider has speculated that data, including public domain games, levels, and characters would be supplied for the zip drive through various channels such as retail outlets and Internet sources. That sounds pretty good. Is there a downside? Yes. The storage and flexibility of a PC may well come with a heavy price. Iomega has said the drive will allow players to download game updates from the World Wide Web. Updates are great, but if it's possible to download updates, it will also be able to download patches to fix bugs in Dreamcast games. Even though Sega maintains standards for releasing games on the Dreamcast, there's still a very real fear that the zip drive might herald hour-long patch download sessions. So when will this zip drive be released? Sega plans to release this device in Japan on February 15. The American release date, if there is going to be an American release date, is undetermined. Does that mean the zip drive may not be released in the United States? That remains to be seen. When asked about the zip drive, Peter Moore, Sega of America's senior vice-president of marketing, said, "It's still scheduled to launch on February the 15th in Japan as part of their peripheral lineup. We, as a company here, who have a different marketplace and mentality toward the Internet, are still looking at how the zip drive enhances the Dreamcast gameplay. Obviously, it gives greater storage capability for e-mail, should you choose to use your Dreamcast as an e-mail device. But we're still weighing up the pros and cons and ready to make a business decision as to whether we will offer the zip drive to U.S. consumers." How much will this unit cost? A price has yet to be determined. Sega refused to comment on information on unfinished hardware. Daily Radar speculates the device will be seen as a revenue generator via software rather than the unit itself and, as such, it might clock in at $100-$150 American dollars.