TOKYO - Sega of America, currently in Japan for tomorrow's Tokyo Game Show, informed GameSpot News that its Dreamcast Network will not support online gaming until the second half of 2000. The company outlined its current plan in terms of the network's functions.

　　Q4 99 - The Dreamcast Network will offer such Internet functions as web browsing, chat, and e-mail.

　　Q1-Q2 2000 - Online minigames such as board, puzzle, and card games will be introduced to the network.

　　Q3-Q4 2000 - Full online gaming will come to the Dreamcast Network. 12 online titles including Half-Life will release during this period.

　　With real online gaming missing from the Dreamcast Network until the second half of 2000, GameSpot News asked Sega about the delay. A company representative claimed that these phases have been planned all along for the Dreamcast Network. However, those who have followed Sega closely in the past know otherwise. Former Sega COO Bernie Stolar commented on several occasions that online gaming would be available on day one. And then later this year, when it became known that the network would not be ready to handle online gaming at launch, Sega reps claimed that by late winter or early spring it would definitely be able to support online games. With the new announcement of online games not falling into place until Q3 2000, one has to wonder what Sega didn't foresee in putting together its Dreamcast Network strategy.

　　Another factor to take into account is that by the time Sega's Dreamcast Network is finally able to fully support online gaming, broadband Internet connections (such as cable modems) will be more commonplace. It's very likely that Dreamcast owners will want to adopt the broadband connection speeds for their Internet gaming and do away with the current modem included with the Dreamcast. This may raise the question in many gamers' minds as to whether they really want to pay the extra money for the modem that is included with the Dreamcast if it only serves as a tool that lets you browse the Internet and play online card games.

　　It should also be noted that by the time the online gaming becomes a reality on the Dreamcast Network the big titles that have been announced for the system won't seem nearly as big anymore. Titles like Sega Rally 2 will no doubt seem inferior to second generation Dreamcast racers, and titles like Half-Life and Baldur's Gate will already have sequels or pseudo sequels on PCs.

　　On the plus side, though, we've heard that Sega does have some truly ambitious projects lined up for its Dreamcast Network. Provided Sega can now use this extra time to put together some truly stellar titles and have them ready for Q3 2000, we could be in for a real treat next year. Sega went out of its way to include a modem in every Dreamcast unit, so it it's already in a great position - now it's just up to the company to show us what this Dreamcast Network can really do.