Sega of Japan announced today that it would start its Dream Library service, which will let Dreamcast owners download and play Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16 games, at the end of May. Using the latest version of the Dream Passport - which comes with the Japanese DC - Dreamcast owners can access the Dream Library interface on the console and select from more than 300 playable games. Sega acquired licenses from software companies such as Irem Software Engineering, Atlus, Capcom, Quest, Sun Soft, CSK Research Institute, T&E Soft, Hudson, and many others. A total of about 50 titles will be in the software lineup in May and June, and 15 titles will be added every month beginning in July. Players will pay a fee of 150yen (about $1.4US) to download the games, and then the software will be accessible for two days after the download. The game will save onto the Dreamcast RAM but then will disappear when you shut down the system. The game can then be downloaded again without a fee if you do so within the two-day time frame. You will be able to save your progress on the VMU.
Sega will announce the complete software lineup next month. We'll keep you informed.