Xtinction?
So will Microsoft's intervention mean an end to the console market as we know it? And what will become of Dreamcast, the machine with which Mr Gates is already involved, having provided it with a Win CE operating system? Well, if X Box does exist as a games console, and if it does launch in Autumn 2000 with a modem, PlayStation2 performance and a 299 dollar price tag, there's going to be an impact on Sega's market. Dreamcast's key selling points are its online gaming facilities and Internet access, but if a 'PC in a box' were to offer similar features at the same price point, all those millions of people who've never heard of Sega, but see the Microsoft logo every morning when they boot up their office PC, are bound to be seduced by this more familiar brand name.

And of course there's the support of PC developers. At the moment, dozens of companies are converting their PC titles to Sega's machine - Half Life, Heroes of Might and Magic III and Baldur's Gate being some of the more high-profile examples. However, if an entirely PC-based console were to arrive, surely it would take most of this opportunistic business away?

Maybe, maybe not. But don't write off Dreamcast just yet. For a start, the key developers on Sega's machine are Japanese console veterans, not Western PC software houses. Sega, Namco, Konami, Taito and Capcom aren't going to suddenly fall sycophantically at Microsoft's feet when/if X Box launches, and these are the companies that will create Dreamcast's finest titles. Plus, despite the relative failure of Saturn, Sega will always have more currency as a videogame brand name than Microsoft - at least with people who know anything about videogames.

And for those who think Microsoft naturally dominate every market they enter - hands up who'd heard of the Open Arcade Architecture before the brief mention above? The whole enterprise was an abject failure - very few PC developers were tempted to port their titles across to the arcade, and very few of those titles would have worked anyway. This is perhaps why Microsoft got involved with Sega - they just couldn't break out of the PC market alone.