As an old school gamer, my fondest memories as a child throughout the 80′s were video games. The excitement of changing a dollar bill for quarters, the sound of the coins dropping from the machine and then the thrill of playing my favorite arcade video games. I can also remember a vacuum in my video game playing days, when I didn’t have the latest system or the latest games.
Things weren’t always so rosy throughout my life with video games, I must give credit to my two younger brothers for pushing me back into the video game world. I can remember throughout the latter 90′s, I lost some interest in video games. These were difficult times, college life yielded stressful days and nights and also broke my bank accounts. My extent of video games were three games, Street Fighter II, Golden Eye 007 and Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball.
Alas, the Sega Dreamcast burst on the scene in September 9, 1999. (We all remember the infamous release date of 9.9.99. Things were starting to look better for me during this time. Just graduated college, had a few bucks in my pocket and this cool new system had just hit the market. Then I began hearing all of this hype about a new game featuring a crazy taxi which played a soundtrack of The Offspring tracks! I was sold and back in the gaming world for good!
The Offspring - Sporting the Atari T-shirt!
That is why I was pleased to hear today that Sega is planning to release some classic Dreamcast titles oXbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®Network later this year. Marking the 11th anniversary of the release of Dreamcast, players can now relive the glory days of one of the most beloved systems ever released! The system was ahead of its time in terms of graphics and gameplay. This will give us old schoolers the opportunity to relive the glory days as well as allow newbies to experience the Dreamcast first hand. What were some of your fondest memories of the Dreamcast? Do you still own your unit? I do..it sits quietly in my basement! 
The official press release from Sega can be found here:
DREAMCAST GAMES TO MAKE DIGITAL RETURN
LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (June 10, 2010) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced plans to bring classic titles from its popular Dreamcast™ console to Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PlayStation®Network later this year. Sonic Adventure™ and Crazy Taxi™ will be the first two classics made available, with Sonic leading the pack in Fall 2010 for the 11th anniversary of the launch of the Dreamcast in the United States.
Each game is based on the original Dreamcast incarnation, featuring all of the gameplay that older players fell in love with, whilst allowing a new audience to discover it for the very first time. The games incorporate all-new enhancements and features such as high resolution visuals and surround sound. Online leader boards are now implemented, allowing players to compare their skills with friends across the world! In addition to this, all-new Achievement and Trophy integration will be available for each game released.
Launched on September 9, 1999, the SEGA Dreamcast is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed consoles of all time. Featuring a software library of over 650 titles, the system was widely hailed as being ahead of its time, and was the first to introduce online console gaming, with Internet support for games through a built in modem.
“The Dreamcast is fondly remembered by a large community of dedicated fans as a console that was ahead of its time in terms of graphics, quality and online gaming” commented Haruki Satomi, VP of Digital Business at SEGA of America and SEGA Europe. “There are few things that are more requested from us than making Dreamcast classics available for download in today’s digital market place. We’re very excited to begin offering gamers our beloved Dreamcast titles again on the current console systems.”
Sonic Adventure will be available for download in Fall 2010. Both Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi will be on display at SEGA’s booth (#2023) at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo.
For more information and assets, please visit www.sega-press.com
About SEGA® of America, Inc.:
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA® Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA of America’s Web site is located at www.sega.com/us.
I actually still use my Dreamcast.