Dear Future Gamer

Although I'm very happy with the Dreamcast on the whole, I feel that there's one significant flaw with the system. I'm referring to the VMS memory cards. Now unfortunately, most of you who bought your brand spanking new DC on October 14 won't suffer this problem at first, but it's very annoying. After three months of use with the VMS, it started resetting itself every time I unplugged it from the DC. Since then it's got even worse - I can't even turn the damn thing on. I was worried that the VMS was faulty but was relieved that my saved games were still intact.

I went down to my local import shop to see what was up and this is the answer I got.

"One battery (the VMS has two) powers the saved games and will last five years, but the other battery runs the VMS games and stuff when not plugged into the DC."
"And that lasts?" I asked.
"About two to three months".

I was stunned. Three months. That's a little short, to be honest, isn't it? I can see there being many complaints from punters in three months' time, saying, "What's up with my DC?" only to get the reply that you need to replace the battery every three months. Can you or any other readers shed any further light on this?

Rob Wilson

FG: I don't think it's the disaster you think it is, Rob. A new battery every three months isn't such a hardship, is it? What does everyone else think? Drop us an email and let us know.