During multiple speeches yesterday at the 9th Annual Toy and Interactive Entertainment Conference, Sega of America revealed a few interesting tidbits regarding the future of both their software line-up and their Online itinerary.

The presentation made by Sega to various industry analysts, had more of a focus on anticipated sales, but still managed to convey a few useful tidbits. Senior VP of Marketing Peter Moore spoke on the console's anticipated sales and software availability through the end of the year 2000, and had some interesting hopes for the system. Not only did Moore reveal that the Dreamcast has sold through well over 750,000 units to date but that Sega plans to sell 1.5 million units by the end of 1999. Additionally, they hope to               reach the 2 million mark by March 30, 2000. Even more surprising were the company's hopes for the console by March of 2001, with Sega anticipating that they will have achieved an install base of 6 million units! 

Moore also revealed that the Dreamcast is currently slated to have over 160 titles available by the end of the year 2000, which is a shot up from the previous estimate of 140 given by then COO Bernard Stolar earlier this year. Sega's Charles Bellfield informed us that several 3rd party developers attended the conference, where they gave analysts a peek at the future, with informal announcements regarding over a dozen yet-to-be revealed Dreamcast titles, though there is no word on what titles were shown at present.              

In IGNDC's conversation with Bellfield, however, they did learn a couple interesting tidbits, including confirmation that a sequel to Sonic Adventure is now indeed official, and expected some time next year. Despite previous vagueness on the existence of the title, Bellfield went on record confirming the development of the game, revealing earlier reports from industry trade website GameDAILY, which had previously been left to speculation by SoA representatives, to be true.

Additionally, Sega confirmed the expected, informing IGNDC that we can indeed expect to see Phantasy Star Online in the states some time next year, however, it was not clear as to how closely the domestic release will follow the game's arrival in Japan.

Confirmation of this title's arrival came during a briefing on Sega's Dreamcast Online Strategy, which apparently will come in three major phases. Initially, Sega plans to release several low-latency parlor games, citing board games, card games, and even Sonic Team's Chu Chu Rocket as examples of the type of games Dreamcast owners can expect in the first half of 2000. According to Bellfield, however, no concrete decision has been made with regards to bringing ChuChu Rocket Stateside to date. 

The second phase will follow close on the heels of this initial Online run, featuring point-to-point engagements. Various Online reports have indicated that Sega Rally 2 will be the first title to support this element, though Sega representatives insist that SR2 was not mentioned in the presentation, and is still slated to hit stores this November without point-to-point support. By the same token, the idea of a re-release of the popular off road racer has not been completely ruled out, so this scenario isn't entirely out of the question.

Lastly, Sega promised full Online gaming support by Q3 2000, featuring titles like the aforementioned PSO and Turbine's Frontier. This will occur largely due to the early completion of Sega's Online SDK, which will reportedly be distributed to developers some time in middle of December. This date is a considerable jump on earlier estimates by Sega that kits would not be arriving until some time early next year, so hopefully this will result in an advanced implementation of Sega's Internet gaming community.

New Details on Capcom Techromancer Release

New details have recently been released for Capcom's upcoming arcade to Dreamcast conversion of Tech Romancer, known in Japan as Kikaioh.

As revealed by Magic Box, the home version will include a Hero Challenge Mode, where your performance of each fight is recorded, and depending on how well you do, you'll be rewarded with extra play modes. Other features include voice dialog, the ability to use hidden characters and bosses from the beginning, enhanced graphics, backgrounds, and extra moves for certain characters. Capcom also instends to make full use of the Visual Memory Unit, as players will be able to download mini-games for those tedious bus journeys home. 

The title is currently slated for a January 13, 2000 release date in Japan. No release date yet for the US.