December 3, 1998 - Issue 5

Dreamcast launches in Japan

Sega's 128bit console Dreamcast launched in Japan last week, with the initial ship-out of 150,000 machines selling out on the first day. Sega are hoping to shift a further 350,000 Dreamcasts by the end of the year, 1 million before Easter and a total of 5 million units by the end of 1999.

Many people bought a couple of the games available at launch, although only Virtua Fighter 3tb can be regarded as a title that reflects the power of the 128bit hardware. Other launch games include Godzilla and Pen-Pen, but Japanese gamers are eagerly awaiting Sonic Adventure, Blue Stinger and Sega Rally 2.

Capcom have delayed the release of Bio Hazard from the spring to the winter of next year. They aim to shift a million units of the game and believe that in order to do so the Dreamcast must have an established user base of at least three million.

Sega are set to open a Net Ranking page for Sega Rally 2, wherein gamers from around the world can log in their lap times and high scores. The Dreamcast steering wheel for Sega Rally 2 launches on January 14 in Japan and should cost the same as a new game.

This was the first Future Gamer to change colour and we decided we'd pick four colours and rotate them. Issue 5 was blue. Highlights became Front Page and Further Reading became Paper View. This issue carried a review of the year's biggest game - Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.