Sega Plans to Stop GD-ROM Production 02/2007 ?

[Elven6]

CD's won't use DC or Naomi games to their full potential. They shave off 400MB, longer load times, bigger strain, cut backs (due to the 400MB no longer being their).

[DanPotter]

This is another rumor. Dreamcast is made to read both formats - just like your DVD player. Homebrew does in no way affect the GD-ROM drive's lifespan.

I never did figure out for sure where this rumor came from. I think what happened (based on a couple of images I've seen) is that some cruddy CD creators put huge "padding" files on their CDs to push all the data out to the edge of the disc, for higher bandwidth (i.e. streaming files faster). Unfortunately they left the ISO directories near in the inside ring, so the head has to seek back and forth almost constantly if there's anything but streaming going on. That does wear it out.

Smart CDs will do as much streaming of sequential data as possible and push it towards the outer ring by including full sessions before the data area, to keep the indices near the data. Or just leave everything right where the ISO maker puts it.

You can really tell the difference between these two methods if e.g. you listen to the drive while playing FoF vs one of the "naive pad file" discs.

That said... 7+ years later, very little is going to stop the working of time on those drives. I'm sad to say that my second dev machine's GD reader seemed dead when I tried it tonight

Edit: Doh, didn't see the extra page of responses in there. Sorry.

[kohan69]

I'd love to sign it, but I'd love to know if this is confirmed by SEGA first.

I personally hate the GD-ROM, it's like an impotent adolescent - already not a CD, but not nearly a DVD :P

Please explain why stopping GD-ROM production would kill any future arcade-to-dreamcast ports. Wouldn't NAOMI still exist with a CD-drive?

and to dispel the CD myth:
reading any disk wears out the motor and laser.
Games that are harder to read causes the laser to die faster. This is true for back-up CD and DVD games for Playstation 2

With dreamcast, this is not usually the case. The one back-up game that wears-out the dreamcast more than the original GD-ROM is 'Skies of Arcadia' due to compression. Does this mean if you play it your dreamcast will die? No. Does this mean if you played the original Skies of Arcadia it would have less wear on your dreamcast? Yes.
The best way to take care of your dreamcast laser is to clean your original Dreamcast disks and burn your CD-Rs at the lowest speed possible

[JKKDARK]

I'd love to sign it, but I'd love to know if this is confirmed by SEGA first.

Yes

I personally hate the GD-ROM, it's like an impotent adolescent - already not a CD, but not nearly a DVD :P

It was a way to stop piracy. Just check what happened with the Saturn and PlayStation.

Please explain why stopping GD-ROM production would kill any future arcade-to-dreamcast ports. Wouldn't NAOMI still exist with a CD-drive?

Sega will not license games on CD-ROM. And developers want an official release, if they can't on Dreamcast, they will move to another platform.

and to dispel the CD myth:
reading any disk wears out the motor and laser.
Games that are harder to read causes the laser to die faster. This is true for back-up CD and DVD games for Playstation 2

With dreamcast, this is not usually the case. The one back-up game that wears-out the dreamcast more than the original GD-ROM is 'Skies of Arcadia' due to compression. Does this mean if you play it your dreamcast will die? No. Does this mean if you played the original Skies of Arcadia it would have less wear on your dreamcast? Yes.
The best way to take care of your dreamcast laser is to clean your original Dreamcast disks and burn your CD-Rs at the lowest speed possible

No. I believe Dreamcast is not for read under the disk.

[quzar]

Yes

This is NOT confirmed by SEGA in any way (unless there is more news than the initial news). This is information leaked from one of the current NAOMI/Dreamcast game development studios, and could be a misinterpretation/misunderstanding/overreaction/plain 'ol rumor.

[Christuserloeser]

This is information leaked from one of the current NAOMI/Dreamcast game development studios, and could be a misinterpretation/misunderstanding/overreaction/plain 'ol rumor.

That's the same impression that I got. It's not going to happen.

Two hints:
1. Anyone noticed how many new NAOMI games are anounced to be released during the next few months ?

2. Remember that the Wii is GameCube compatible and that there's an arcade board based on the GameCube hardware which would allow straight 1:1 arcade -> Wii releases...
And exactly that board is using GD-ROMs...

[Xiaopang]

and to dispel the CD myth:
reading any disk wears out the motor and laser.
Games that are harder to read causes the laser to die faster. This is true for back-up CD and DVD games for Playstation 2

yes and no. *EVERY* drive wears out from day one you use it. that's just the nature of mechanic machinery...why this would only apply to a ps2 is beyond me

With dreamcast, this is not usually the case.

and the reason for that would be? the dreamcast uses a physical drive as well and aside from the higher density it does wear out. might be slower, but it surely happens.

The one back-up game that wears-out the dreamcast more than the original GD-ROM is 'Skies of Arcadia' due to compression.

what has compression to do with wearing out a drive? may be there's more seeking, but still the effect would be ridiculously small, except for the case that the dc would access the disc constantly...for a loooong time...months if you will


just a word to this whole thread. seems to me as if that kinda petition to save the dreamcast from commercial death would have belonged more in the year 2002 than in 2007. whining about the "apparent" death is just laughable. production of the hardware stopped years ago and sega doesn't even make a profit from the stuff you can buy at stores and off ebay. even if 2 or 3 commercial games and ports are released every year this still doesn't mean that the console is alive. this chapter of video gaming history was closed a long time ago. still celebrating and using the console is another thing, but acting as if everything would depend on a few shoot'em ups on some dreamcast-compatible systems is just ridiculous...

[JKKDARK]

just a word to this whole thread. seems to me as if that kinda petition to save the dreamcast from commercial death would have belonged more in the year 2002 than in 2007. whining about the "apparent" death is just laughable. production of the hardware stopped years ago and sega doesn't even make a profit from the stuff you can buy at stores and off ebay. even if 2 or 3 commercial games and ports are released every year this still doesn't mean that the console is alive. this chapter of video gaming history was closed a long time ago. still celebrating and using the console is another thing, but acting as if everything would depend on a few shoot'em ups on some dreamcast-compatible systems is just ridiculous...

They make a profit from the games they license.
And I know you don't want to read it, but until March 8th (the latest official game at the moment -Karous-) the Dreamcast is alive Small or big, if it's official, it's alive. Even various games are still online with the official servers.
And it's not ridiculous to support your favorite console. Are you really a video game player?

[Xiaopang]

lol am i a video game player? you can bet, but i'm also realistic. just because of *one* game, a console is not alive and the money sega makes of the licenses is unimportant compared to their other franchises on actual consoles. in other words, if sega would only depend on their dreamcast licenses they could close down after an hour for lack of money. thats how unimportant they are.