Last week we wondered whether the rumours we'd heard concerning Dreamcast's GD-ROM format being cracked were true. I've had hundreds of emails back, but am still none the wiser, as you'll see from these two letters...

Dear Future Gamer

Concerning your reply to Stephen Butter's email in FG40, I can tell you that Taiwanese pirates have already cracked the GD-ROM, but rather than making their own, they're just copying the game to the much cheaper CD format and selling Dreamcasts hacked to run these CD copies.

Tim Cousins


Dear Future Gamer

They haven't been cracked - at the minute it's impossible to do so. The GD-ROMS are split into two different portions. The first is like a normal CD and can be read in any CD drive. This section contains an audio warning (in Japanese) that tells you that the disc is a Dreamcast disc and may damage your system, etc. The first section then ends and all CD readers (except the DC) think that the disc is finished and so don't attempt to read any further. The Dreamcast, of course, does. Some people have claimed that they've copied DC games onto expensive CDRWs, but the DC can't even read these discs so they're just liars. I hope the situation stays this way as the Dreamcast deserves all the support it can get. Also, I do actually own a Dreamcast and a CD writer so I have a fair idea of what I'm talking about.

Simon Hagan

FG: So there you go. I'm inclined to believe Simon here because he's not the only one to explain the GD-ROM's makeup like this. If we get any definitive proof either way, we'll let you know.