/vr/ - Retro Games

I doubt it, but I never knew anyone with a Dreamcast so maybe. I don’t think the Internet was competent enough to work as a PC alternative, even if you didn’t have one. It seems like more of a novelty thing.

a friend of mine had a dreamcast when we were 15
he used it for the internet, but that was mainly cos he didn't have a PC until a couple of years later

>>7696121
>Dreamcast as a regular PC

No.

>>7696121
>because of it's web browsing capabilities, is that true?

I owned Dreamcast in 1999 (still have it too), and I did play for a monthly dial-up subscription from a local IPS to connect my Dreamcast to the web using the Dreamcast web Browser. People were not using their Dreramcast as a PC, but perhaps they were using it as a web browser. The system did come with a browser disc that you had to run. I had a subsccription to the Official Dreamcast magazine, and they would release demo discs for the Dreamccast,. Every so often the demo disc would come with a newer version of the Sega web browser.

>>7696121
>200mhz
>640x480
>16mb of RAM
>dialup with no US ethernet adapter til after the console died, and by that time even the shittiest Walmart PC you could buy could lap it in browsing capabilities
>on top of all these shitty specs, a browser that didn't update to support new technologies in a rapidly evolving web
No. It was incredibly limited. Did beat off to porn over dialup on it once, though. Was novel to do that on my TV at the time.

>>7696253
Oh that's interesting, do you have specifics for what web standards of the time it wasn't up to date with?

>>7696259
Fuck that you boorish cunt, I want to know about what he jacked off to.

some people did use them as computers, media players and emulators. I remember using the dc keyboard to type a high school paper that I emailed to myself to print at school. converting movies to play on cd-r was also a huge thing with some people.

>>7696121
I personally didn't do it, but knowing how cheap it was I imagine there was quite a few kids who did hooked it up in their bedroom, wired it to a phone line and browsed gamespot forums.

>>7696259
Yknow what, dude? Nevermind. It totally ruled. It was totally parallel to any half-decent PC of the day and wasn't a sub-webTV uber-poorfag experience that was RAM and CPU limited as fuck.

>>7696121
Reminds me of that SNES online banking thing but I don't know if that ever got anywhere. There's kids who only have the Switch or PS4 to watch Youtube on and stuff like that even today so I'm guessing at least one or two only had a Dreamcast to browse the internet. Probably not adults though.

>>7696305
That's a genuine question and my only reply here. That kind of shit is really interesting.

>>7696253
>a browser that didn't update to support new technologies in a rapidly evolving web

There were updated versions of the browser released in demo discs for the Official Dreamcast Magazine. I forget how many updates it received and I am unsure if it was available elsewhere. But with that said, the browser was still limited. didn't have any Macromedia features, I forgot if it worked with java script.

>>7696121
You made this thread on /g/ already.

>>7696121
No. It's is not true that you heard that. It's bullshit you made up for the (You)s. Have a few more. (You) (You) (You) (You). (You) can go back now.

>>7696428
Ahhhh I'm gonna (You) cummmmm!

>>7696121
Regular pc? No
Ghetto jerry rigged pc in my trailer? Yes

>>7696554
What did you do with it?

>>7696121
I mean yeah. I used it for internet, typing up some stuff and of course vidya. I don’t know how many people did but the experience was totally fine. I would look at porn, send emails and post on message boards with no issue. ICQ worked fine on there too. For myself at least it was my portal to the world for a while until I got a P3 PC a few years later

>>7696618
Worst. LARP. Ever.

>>7696645
What would even be the point in lying? The Dreamcast was my first taste of the internet anon. I’m sure it was shitty but it worked and I used it.

>>7696320
I think it supported up to like Flash 4 and some early Java but those are totally moot because the DC is way too RAM and CPU starved to use them smoothly or without crashing.

>>7696324
Like 2 major revisions, each way behind the PC/Mac. Not that one should expect performance and compatibility on par with PCs in this department, but OP asked about PC replacement and that's a hell no here.

>>7696645
It's not """""LA"""""RPing if it's on the internet you fucking retard. Sneed.

>>7696649
>>7696618
I’m really annoyed with people acting like this wasn’t a thing now. As
>>7696652
Said it did in fact support flash and Java and it actually ran games totally fine. You could download save games onto your VMU even. Most basic flash and Java games worked well if you had a mouse and keyboard. Pretty much all chat rooms worked and you could use Java IRC or ICQ for dedicated chat. It’s a little ridiculous people act like it wasn’t a perfectly capable way of browsing the internet at the time

Man. Being middle class was awesome. My shitty '98 Pentium 2 with no GPU was pleb tier but it wasn't 3rd world prisoner tier. Hell, I'd take my first Pentium 75 PC as a browsing machine over a Dreamcast.

>>7696660
Please. Lie to me and tell me some websites didn't shit the bed because you ran out of memory. Tell me that processor didn't chug-scroll pages that would have been fine on a '98 computer. Just because you limped along doesn't make it par or acceptable.

>>7696663
Again I said basic flash and Java games. Like that helicopter game or really simple stuff. There was websites dedicated to those really simple games at the time. Especially if you looked on geocities and the other one. Trick ties or whatever. It definitely chugged and was slow but for someone who hadn’t ever had a Pc before it was fine. I used it and talked to people online that I still know now anon. You could browse most sites and message boards fine. If you’re look on YouTube there’s people showing what it’s like and it’s a totally reasonable experience. My first desktop was a ridiculous upgrade and even now as an adult I’ve messed around with browsing on a P1 windows 3.1 laptop and it’s a far better experience. But it wasn’t totally horrible and it’s something I’m pretty nostalgic for.

>>7696653
What? No anon. Updates would download to your VMU in addition to the discs you would get. You just had to dedicate a VMU to it. There was many revisions and bug fixes. You could get a whole little setup from EarthLink.
>>7696259
Flash or Java heavy sites just crashed. Backgrounds usually wouldn’t load which was fine really. Formatting was really screwed up on certain sites because the font size was too big. Most stuff worked totally fine though at the time. It was slow but a very usable experience.
>>7696253
It was limited but being able to watch porn on it was great. For anyone that cares you could download and watch videos as well as listen to songs. I’m sure there was some kind of limit but you weren’t downloading anything big over dialup. And most videos did not work. Looking at pictures was easiest unless you had bookmarked what specific video you knew worked you wanted to watch. I hooked up with someone I talked to on my dreamcast as a teen. Chat rooms back then were legit and you really could meet girls and stuff on them. The internet was a really unique place at the time

>>7696121
I sold my dream cast because I wasn't using it, for like 60$ a a year ago. I am starting to regret it.

>>7696860
The laser probably died since then. You made the right choice.

I once used my dreamcast to evade a ban by looking up a free dialup ISP and connecting through that

As some have mentioned you could burn discs with emulators/roms. The DC was basically memoryholed by 2003 among the general public though, it was relevant for such a short time that there's no way you could say "people did" anything with them at large other than sell them or trade them in for credit towards a ps2 or xbox unless they were weebs. I say this as someone who still has their dreamcast from back then and played it tonight actually

>>7696880
I didn't even need the money, it was just sitting collecting dust for the most part. I wanted to pass it on to someone who would enjoy it. I played tony hawk 2 on a big crt before I sold it. Good times.

The problem with the dream cast were the expensive ass games. I really wanted to play seaman. The shit complete is like $130 bucks now.

>>7696893
>it was relevant for such a short time that there's no way you could say "people did" anything with them at large other than sell them or trade them in for credit towards a ps2 or xbox unless they were weebs.

I went on a buying spree for discount Dreamcast games. They system may have died. But the library had enough to keep me occupied for a long time. Also, crazy story. I paid $300.00 Canadian (or WE) and Sega had a $100 rebate program, going on. They were desperate for sales that they had a "send on one UPC Dreamcast code with proof of purchase to Sega HQ" and they would send back a $100 rebate. but Sega sent me two of them. One right after another during the same week. Sega sent me $200.00cnd back. Worked for me.

>>7696926
I got an insane haul at an Electronics Boutique in 2003 for nothing. Multiple games that cost a fair chunk of money now for like $5-10, havent seen anything like that since

>>7696932
>I got an insane haul at an Electronics Boutique in 2003 for nothing. Multiple games that cost a fair chunk of money now for like $5-10, havent seen anything like that since

I found Daytona USA 2001, Jet Grind Radio, Virtua Tennis, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, MDK2, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future and a few others for discount prices after Sega discontinued the console.

>>7696951
>I found Daytona USA 2001,

And speaking of Daytona USA. I did get to play the 4 player of this online with a 56k modem. I will say that, I didn't have the greatest connection, so there were some game drops. But I did get a few races in. I wish I could have spent more time with the online.

>>7696649
I'm guessing you do it for the (You)s like all the other newfags

>>7697019
>I'm guessing

>>7697069
>cringey cope
So I guessed right

>>7696121
>people
Yes. Not many though

>>7696121
Personally, in 2000 I never had a PC in my room, just the living room. I would use the browser on my DC for browsing in my bedroom, but that's really it. It didn't have MSN, I couldn't download stuff from P2P networks, I couldn't download anything for that matter. My friends also had dreamcast, but they only ever used their PC's for web browsing as far as I know

>>7696663
It's was smooth and just like any browser except you couldn't download anything and java would crash it

>>7696121
i got my own PC a couple of years later so i did use mine like that for about a year or so. purely for email and porn. as a regular PC though? no, that's retarded.

>>7696907
thats like the easiest console in the world to burn games and pirate for it was literally famous for it. that feature was so popular that it may have even killed the company that made it depending on who you talk to. You're literally an N'wah in the year of of our lord Vivec 2021 complaining that games for your Sega Dreamcast are too expensive when ADHD kids in 1999 had figured that out inbetween using their Dreamcast for porn and also

>>7696150
Pure soul

>>7696121
I can only tell you of my own experience back then, and that is completely false in my situation. Back in those days, we used to have bi-weekly gatherings and we'd bring our latest games and systems with to show off. There were 10-12 of us, but only 3-4 of us had the Dreamcast (including myself). None of us used it for web browsing, as computers did it better, as a few of us had cable modems, and only 1 person got the broadband adapter for the Dreamcast to play PSO, yet even then they would browse on PC. The host had a few computers on the network, and old weak one was the "bitch" computer which was untouched to burn Dreamcast games for us all which was acquired from browsing online on a PC.

>>7696121
I used it as a web browser for awhile

i used my psp for web-browsing since my cellphone was a nokia device, this was back in 2009

>>7696121
A friend of mine used to log in to the IRC networks using his Dreamcast. It was quite crazy to think he could do that with a console.

People used it for web browsing and gaming. I remember a lot of web sites not working that well on it.

I spent more time playing the Sega Swirl game on the web browser disc than actually surfing the web. It was a neat novelty, but using a real computer was better.

>>7700770
i did burn games for it. I had trouble finding the games online. Some of them still don't play correctly. Burned games also fuck the laser faster.

>>7703148
>Burned games also fuck the laser faster.
[citation needed]

>>7696121
No, you fucking idiot it had a web browser and that was about it. Not really a replacement for a PC at all.

And most people who had the money for a brand new console like that had aPC and internet beforehand.

>>7704658
>not pretending you used your dc to do everything you just learned it could theoretically do before you were born in a quick google search
Yeah, you really don't know how to fit in here do you kiddo

Somewhat of a tangential question, but, back when The Iso Zone was still up, there was some Chinese guy who losslessly repackaged GD-ROM games into 900 MB CDs (unlike other rips which decreased cutscene resolution, or downgraded the music) by re-compiling the library archives with a more efficient algorithm.
Is he still active, on one of the successor sites/forums?

>>7701852
>I spent more time playing the Sega Swirl game on the web browser disc than actually surfing the web. It was a neat novelty, but using a real computer was better.


yeah, Sega Swirl was one of the real hidden gems for the Dreamcast. It was packaged with many of the Official Dreamcast Magazine (US, and probably UK too?) demo discs for the Dreamcast console. This is why I had a subscription to the magazine. Also, image related is a Feb 2001 demo disc with Dreamcast Browser 2.6.

>>7706168

i have some of the Official Dreamcast Magazine demo discs, but not all of them. There's some pretty cool things on them. The MDK 2 demo has completely different voice acting, for whatever reason. They would come with updated DC browsers and the free game Sega Swirl. This disc (I do not have it) says it comes with a Jurassic 5 Music Video. Why? I would love to find an archive of all the Official Sega Dreamcast magazine demo discs.

>>7706168
>Also, image related is a Feb 2001 demo disc with Dreamcast Browser 2.6.

https://archive.org/details/OfficialSegaDreamcast11Feb2001/page/n11/mode/2up

>Browser 2.6 adds mouse support... call anyone using Dreamcall

I'm Guessing, if you have the Dreamcast Seaman microphone, you could use it on the 2.6 web browser and just dial people's land-line numbers. I guess since it is a 56k modem and connects through a phone line anyway, it was not hard to do.

>>7705368
I got my first DC in 2000, as did a bunch of other kids I knew, and none of us even used two internet browser. Why? Well I cant speak for everyone, but I personally had internet access and my own PC since 1994. So the novelty of the DC was more about thengames and graphics, and not replacing my expensive ass PC with novelty features built into a console.

Also; I dont try to fit in. And why would I? There's no point on an anonymous image board. I can just pretend to be someone else and move on if I want to. Your whole post reeks of ass hurt, BTW.

I've never heard of a single person actually using the web capabilities

Back in the day when netzero existed in the states people found a way to use it with the Dreamcast. I used that free isp for pso and email and the limited browsing capabilities mostly was crap. You could search for Dreamcast saves and download them for use (such as marvel vs capcom 2 with everything unlocked). That was about it.

>>7696150
Beautiful

You could Cross play Q3A DC with Q3A PC via Multiplayer

>>7696121
Dreamcast browser sucked. It could barely load most websites.
>>7696150
>and I did play for a monthly dial-up subscription from a local IPS
RIP not getting an American boot disc to bypass that ISP monopoly bullshit.

>>7706757
>RIP not getting an American boot disc to bypass that ISP monopoly bullshit

I'm in Canada. The IPS laws are different here. It was much less of a problem to go to a local IPS and have them route through my land line. I didn't use AOL or some other service.Literally straight to the web through phone dial-up IPS. It was like $20.00cnd a month too and no commitment. I thought it was worth it since I already had a Windows 98 PC that I used to connect to the net as well. But I did use the browser. Though I wish I knew about some of the later demo disc browser updates. The only games that I went online with were Daytona USA 2001, Chu Chu Rocket and Quake III.

>>7706448
When did everyone on this board become completely retarded?

>>7707749
When you allowed sixth gen consoles rather than get a board for '00s games.

>>7701682
>i used my psp for web-browsing
Had a DreamCast back in the day, but the PSP was the real deal, I could watch a lot of porn with it in my bathroom and fap a lot, usually download pictures or videos to my Memory Card to watch it later. That was before mobile phone's screen got bigger.

>>7710414
absolutely based playstation pornable owner

>>7709506
I never allowed that, friendo.

>>7696121
indeed i used to to it back in 99

>he didn't hook his dreamcast up to the vcr so he could record his porn browsing session and rewatch later

>>7696121
I bought a second hand VMU a few years back that had browser bookmarks from around late 1999 to late 2000 taking up around 60-70 of the blocks. So I assume the previous owner did.

Couldn't bring myself to delete them but I'm not running out of VMU space anytime soon so it's okay.

>>7712621
>browser bookmarks from around late 1999 to late 2000


Load up a Dreamcast Browser and tajke a look?

>>7712818
I'm surprised I never tried to looking back, can you just burn an internet disc for the DC or what?

>>7711759
Then why is it happening and why are you doing nothing about it?

>>7710414
i did this as well kek

>>7700770
>n'wah
based

>>7696121
I never had a chance to because I had cable internet and I couldn't use the built-in dial-up modem the Dreamcast had.

>>7696121
It's true. I bought a Battle Garegga PCB on eBay via the Dreamcast Webbrowser.

>>7712825
>I'm surprised I never tried to looking back, can you just burn an internet disc for the DC or what?


Yeah, you could just burn an .iso.

I've been trying to find a .iso of the last DC browser released was PlanetWeb 3.0. It seems like the Dreamcast Magazine (US) demo discs stopped at PlanetWeb 2.6. The Original Planet Web browser that came with the system was 1.0.

>>7713558
>I've been trying to find a .iso of the last DC browser released was PlanetWeb 3.0.


There is also apparently a PlanetWeb 4.x beta somewhere.

>>7712827
>Then why is it happening
Newfags

>>7712827
>why am i an implying newfag
Because your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries

>>7713558
>>7713647
Any idea what's up with this doublereddit spacing? I thought people were just being just double stupid but saw it in one of my own posts so know that's not it.

>>7714514
>doublereddit spacing?


I'm the king of Reddit.

That's just how I do things.

>>7697478
>Assuming that because we feel a certain way, what we think must be true
lrn2read anon

I used to use it for a browser now and again

>>7696121
I must have used the browsing a couple of times but it was so painfully awkward and slow. Man I miss slow internet and web1.0 shitty looking websites with no social media, no normies, no thots and no niggers.

>>7714587
Dude. Have you seriously not noticed? Or you thought everyone just started writing like a redditot, caus it wuz kewl? I really hope it's just a bug in the code and not the redditinati using their tesla coil brain wave weather machine as the developers originally intended.

>>7696121
Nope, I had one in January 2000 and by that time plenty of people already had Cable or ISDN/ADSL with a Pentium 2/3 or AMD Thunderbird playing AVP2 ,CS beta 4 or 5, Firearms and SC. No one cared for a shitty ass browser in a console.

>>7696253
>No. It was incredibly limited. Did beat off to porn over dialup on it once, though. Was novel to do that on my TV at the time.
what a gamerr moment, I was just thinking, isnt pornhub the most visited site on the ps4 web browser?