Sega Announces Rental Details

Hollywood Entertainment and Sega of America held a conference call on Tuesday to reveal specific details about the Dreamcast rental promotion that the two companies have working on together. Beginning July 15, Dreamcast units will be available for rental in certain Hollywood Video stores.

Sega of America president and chief operating officer Bernie Stolar spoke on behalf of Sega, and Jeffrey Yap, president of Hollywood Entertainment, for Hollywood Video. The two outlined the plans for the rental program that will take place at 600 Hollywood Video stores around the nation. Depending on demand and area, stores will have between six and 100 Dreamcast units to rent - in all there will be 10,000 Dreamcast machines involved in the program. For a price of US$19.95 the Dreamcast can be rented with one game. Additional titles will be available for rent for $4.95.

The first game available for the rental program, Sonic Adventure, will be rented alongside the Dreamcast starting in July. Stolar commented that Sonic the Hedgehog is a strong brand and easily demonstrates the Dreamcast's speed and graphical prowess. Midway's Ready 2 Rumble and Capcom's Power Stone will be available for rental by mid-August. And NFL Football 2000 will be available for rental shortly before the Dreamcast launch on September 9.

When asked whether or not the VMU memory pack would be included with the rental unit, Mr. Stolar commented that it wasn't in the plans, meaning that gamers will not be able to save their data. Because of the nature of game rental - short periods of gameplay for the purpose of demonstrating the software - Sega doesn't feel that it's necessary for users to save their games.

Although exact figures weren't revealed, the rental program will be backed by a large media campaign by Hollywood Entertainment. Stolar commented that he felt Hollywood Video shared a similar vision to Sega's - the two are eagerly pursuing gaming audiences. Stolar also praised the Dreamcast's preorder sale figures, which he believes will amount to 200,000 by September. He also claimed that the Dreamcast will push 400,000 units in the first 30 days of release.

The Sega/Hollywood Video rental program officially begins on July 15 at 12:01am - in six cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Portland) where certain Hollywood Video stores will participate in the official rental launch.