FIGURE B

The Dreamcast is one serious piece of technology. Click picture for a larger image.

But wait -- there's more. For offloading 3D graphics from the main processor, the unit uses the 128-bit NEC PowerVR2 graphics accelerator chip with 8MB of video memory. The PowerVR2 can render over three million polygons per second using Gouraud-shaded, Z-buffered graphics with full-scene anti-aliasing, shadow and light volumes, bump mapping, hardware-based texture compression and fog effects in 16.7 million colors. Whew! While there are newer graphics chips for PCs like the RIVA TNT2 and the 3Dfx Voodoo3 that can draw over five million polygons a second, the PowerVR2 outperforms today's most advanced arcade machines and delivers crisp and very fast 3D graphics on today's home TV sets.

For sound, the Dreamcast uses a specially designed processor built by Yamaha that can render 16-bit CD quality digitized sounds and music in 64 distinct voices, with 2MB of RAM for wave table synthesis, and is fully surround-sound capable.

The Dreamcast's built-in 33.6K modem makes the device completely Web-enabled and allows you to browse the Internet using your dial-up ISP right out of the box. It's detachable from the main unit, so you can upgrade to higher-speed Internet access options via DSL or Cable Modem.

And finally, the Dreamcast runs on a heavily modified version of Windows CE that has been optimized for use as a game console OS, and includes the Direct3D APIs ported from Windows 98 to support 3D games. When using the Dreamcast, you won't find any Start Menus or Windows dialog boxes displayed on your TV set - Windows CE's entire APIs and native interface have been hidden from the user. Thank goodness. If there's one place where I don't want to use the Windows interface, it's on my TV.

The Fun Stuff
The unit allows you to connect up to four standard Dreamcast controllers, as well as specialized controllers like the Dreamcast Arcade Stick, Fishing Controller, and Light Gun. These standard controllers employ both analog and digital directional controls, and have four action buttons and two triggers. The controllers are ergonomically designed and fit comfortably in even my ogre-like hands. Finally, somebody engineered a game controller that adults can actually use.

Each controller can have a VMU (Visual Memory Unit) attached to it. A VMU is a matchbox-sized device with an LCD panel that doubles as a game save unit and Tamagotchi-like toy (those little electronic games that aren't full-blown video games).

When detached from the game controller, the VMU can be used to swap game files and game data with friends by connecting it to another VMU, and some Dreamcast games (like Sonic Adventure) download small games to the VMU that can be played independently, like the aforementioned Tamagotchis. Bet you thought you heard the last of feeding those annoying virtual pets, didn't you? The Dreamcast controller also accommodates the Sega Jump Pack force-feedback module, including other third-party modules made by Performance and Mad Catz.