The Dreamcast - Sega's last stand. Wow.

If you haven't seen or played Soul Calibur, you need to. Sega's betting everything on this one, and although it is technically the weakest of the Next-Generation consoles, it is the only one we have right now. And I can't stop playing it.

They have a year to establish themselves, and you have a year to save up for another next-gen console. This might just save them. If they can firmly establish themselves as number-two (let's be realistic), they can stay alive long enough to deliver on those promised upgrades to the system.

That's right - upgrades. Sega claims everything in the system, right down to the CPU and CD-ROM drive are upgradeable. The CD-ROM becomes a DVD-ROM. The 56K modem becomes a cable modem. The processor gets faster, the RAM gets bigger, and so on. Sounds like a PC.

Here's one thing that doesn't sound like a PC: $199. That's right. With a 56K modem. Forget Web TV.

Oh, and you can play games on it, too.

Lots of games. Nineteen titles were available at launch, and there are TWO HUNDRED more in the works. By the time the other consoles launch, DC will be on its third wave of games, and there will be a massive amount of them. No, scratch that - a staggering amount. Many of the Saturn favorites will show up in some form on DC, and Sega was once well known for its sports games. Right now there's a certain penchant for developers to churn out RPGs, partly because consumers have a certain penchant for buying them. So, DC should have a good variety of titles, making the system more attractive.

But, looming on the horizon is PlayStation2, and Nintendo's Project Dolphin. Some stiff competition.