Gaming Hacks

Use Your Dreamcast Online

Take Sega’s remarkably versatile console onto the Net.

Though it may seem as if going online with a relatively simple console such as the Dreamcast will be dull and boring, there are actually plenty of cool things you can do. Even now, after the Dreamcast’s heyday, you can browse the Web, chat on IRC, and play Quake III with PC-hosted servers. The following sections show you how.

Finding the Right Hardware

Although perhaps an idea ahead of its time, Sega bundled a web browser disc with many versions of the Sega Dreamcast. These programs supported SegaNet, the official Sega ISP, as well as an ISP of your choice, meaning the service still works even today. Additionally, several Dreamcast games allow online play or interactivity of various kinds, whether by downloading add-ons, checking out web pages from within the game, or actually playing against other human beings in real time.

However, the Dreamcast has only a built-in 56-KB modem. (European versions have a 33.6-KB modem, presumably some subtle commentary on the static-filled nature of Continental phone lines.) So, in unexpanded form, the Dreamcast has no way to attach a normal DSL or cable modem to it. Broadband is a major issue.

There is an expensive savior in the form of the official Dreamcast Broadband Adapter. Sega produced this device in very limited quantities during the Dreamcast’s lifetime because broadband was much less popular back in 2000 or 2001. Now that the Dreamcast is no more, the connector ...