Unlike the
Xbox Live service launched by
Microsoft in 2002, Sega never had a unified worldwide service for the Dreamcast. Instead, Sega created separate regional services that were developed independently of each other, with different companies from different regions participating in the development of the services in their respective regions. Former Microsoft executive Sam Furukawa recalled in 2010 that Sega chairman
Isao Okawa proposed adding Dreamcast compatibility into the
Xbox several times to Microsoft chairman
Bill Gates as Sega explored a sale to Microsoft after the launch of the
PlayStation 2, though negotiations ultimately failed due in part to the latter balking at the former's insistence on including online gaming with supported Dreamcast titles.
Dricas (Japan) Dricas was an Internet service intended for Dreamcast consoles in Japan. The service launched the week of October 28, 1998, with only a few features such as e-mail available; the feature set expanded in the weeks preceding the Dreamcast's launch in Japan on November 27, 1998. Much of its infrastructure was developed by ISAO Corporation, which was
spun-off from Sega on November 26, 1999. Its accompanying web browser, Dream Passport, provided the ability to connect via dial-up, browse the Internet, receive and send e-mail, chat with other users, and so on. The
Dreameye accessory, which was only sold in Japan, added the ability to send images and videos through e-mail and video chat. On March 30, 2000, Sega announced that Dream Passport 3, which was due for release on April 29, would include an online rental service called Dream Library, where users could download and play emulated
Mega Drive and
PC Engine games; a small fee was charged daily throughout the rental period of each title. Initially scheduled to launch with the browser, Sega delayed it to May 30, then delayed it again for two days due to "final testing"; the service went live at 18:00
JST on June 1 with 17 Mega Drive and 13 PC Engine titles available. Five Mega Drive titles were added to the service the same month along with 15 PC Engine titles. The service was temporarily suspended from January 27, 2001, to March 2001 due to Sega implementing compatibility with the Broadband Adapter through server modifications. Dricas persisted until March 7, 2000, when the service was consolidated into ISAO's multi-platform online service, isao.net. Broadband support arrived for the service a few months later on July 15 of that year, launching with the debut of the Broadband Adapter in Japan. Sega ultimately terminated the Dreamcast-dedicated portion of the isao.net service on September 28, 2007, officially eliminating the last remaining vestige of its ambitious plan for online gaming with the Dreamcast.
SegaNet (United States) SegaNet was a short-lived
Internet service geared for
dial-up-based
online gaming on the
Dreamcast game console in the United States. The service was created by Sega in collaboration with
GTE through its GTE Internetworking division, which was spun-off from GTE and renamed
Genuity in the midst of development as GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to form
Verizon Communications on June 30, 2000. As such, it was Genuity that ended up providing the dial-up service and network infrastructure. Sega additionally announced an agreement to have
Excite@Home as the exclusive portal partner for SegaNet on December 14, 1999, bringing
Excite's services and content to the online platform.
Microsoft participated somewhat in the development of the service, but they terminated their relationship with Sega just a few months before its launch over differences in its direction. As a replacement for Sega's original
PC-only online gaming service,
Heat.net, SegaNet was initially quite popular when it launched on September 7, 2000. Just over a month after launch, by October 27, 2000, SegaNet had 1.55 million Dreamcast consoles registered online, including 750,000 in Japan, 400,000 in North America, and 400,000 in Europe. This was somewhat surprising given that Sega initially set a monthly subscription fee of $21.95, relatively expensive compared to other ISPs of the time. However, it was unavailable outside of the
contiguous United States; support for Canada,
Alaska, and Hawaii was planned, but never realized. Unlike a standard ISP,
game servers were connected directly into SegaNet's internal network, providing very low connection latency between the consoles and servers along with standard Internet access via the included PlanetWeb browser. The browser doesn't support
Adobe Flash or
Java applets. SegaNet originally offered a rebate for a free Dreamcast with a two-year contract along with a free keyboard to encourage sales of the console. However, with pressure mounting from
Sony's
PlayStation 2 and the announcements of
Microsoft's
Xbox and
Nintendo's
GameCube, sales of the Dreamcast continued to drop and, on July 20, 2001, Sega announced they would discontinue the service just less than 11 months after launch. At this point, all subscribers were given the option to transfer their accounts to
EarthLink. Sega continued to operate the online game servers, initially removing the subscription fee for accessing them before reinstating it, albeit reduced to $9.95 per month, on November 1 of that year. They permanently eliminated the required subscription at the beginning of August 2002 with the intention of shutting down the servers by the end of that year; however, they decided to extend the service by six months, officially ending online support for most Dreamcast games effective June 2003. Sega continued to provide online support for
Phantasy Star Online and
Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 until September 30, 2003; the online servers for both games were shut down at that point, officially ceasing online gaming on the Dreamcast in the United States.
Dreamarena (Europe) Dreamarena was a free
dial-up-based online gaming service provided for all
Dreamcast consoles in Europe, launching with the debut of the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999. The service was created and operated for
Sega Europe by a partnership between
ICL,
BT and various ISPs; ICL developed the web sites and software, with BT providing the dial-up capabilities and network infrastructure, and the ISPs (one for each country) providing the Internet dial-up connection and telephone service. The service was initially available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom; it was expanded in December 2000 to include Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Although the service was free to access in the United Kingdom, ISPs in other European countries placed different requirements and prices for accessing it; the game servers hosted within the service were not accessible elsewhere on the Internet. Dreamarena Ltd was formed as a subsidiary of Sega Europe with around 20 staff to focus on development of the service. Some games released in Europe after the Dreamcast was discontinued did not include the online functionality present in other regions, infuriating some consumers who anticipated using the online features. After the discontinuation of the Dreamcast and its transition away from console hardware, Sega closed Dreamarena on February 28, 2002; subsequent online access required version 3.0 of DreamKey, which was released on February 1 and provided users the ability to access the Internet via an ISP of their choice. Online functions for the Dreamcast continued to run for another year until they were shut down on February 28, 2003.
Comma (Australia) On November 2, 1999, Sega announced its partnership with
Telstra to develop an online service for the Dreamcast in Australia through regional distributor
Ozisoft. This was just weeks before the Dreamcast was supposed to launch there on November 30; the online service was ultimately unavailable at launch due in part to the signing of the ISP contract only occurring the previous day. However, it was an ironic inconvenience as the consoles initially did not ship with Internet access discs; they were detained the previous week along with much of the other supplied launch software by
customs officers for lack of information about the
country of origin on the packaging. Ozisoft claimed that the delay in the network launch was due to the time required for developing and testing the network on the Dreamcast hardware, which was compounded by the Dreamcast's use of a proprietary
web browser. The network finally went live in mid-March 2000, with Internet access discs sent to registered Australian Dreamcast users that filled out a
reply paid card shipped with the console. To gain access to the network, Australian Dreamcast users were forced to use Telstra's Big Pond service; the Internet access disc, which had Dreamkey software similar to the European version, was bundled with a
voucher for 150 hours of free Internet access that users were required to use within three months of activation. Upon connecting, the browser went to the default
Comma web portal, which Sega hoped would develop similarly to
Yahoo! as an all-encompassing destination for users' Internet needs;
LookSmart powered the portal's
search engine. == Supported games ==