Price Drop Fuels Sales

TOKYO - In visiting stores around the city it's easy to see that the Dreamcast is gaining more momentum here in Japan. The orange of the Dreamcast logo could be clearly seen on store walls everywhere, and the system's latest big release, Street Fighter Zero 3, has had considerable promotion as well, and more than one store we visited had the game on display for users to play.

The latest issue of Famitsu featured an article on the recent Japanese surge of Dreamcast sales and promotions, and it seems as though the system is starting to catch on. Since the system's price drop to 19,900 yen (US$165), sales have increased up to 60,000 - 70,000 units for last week. However, given that sales were virtually nonexistent for the weeks prior to the price drop, this figure isn't quite as impressive as Sega would have hoped. The real test will be if sales can remain study in the next few weeks. We'll give you follow-up sales reports as we hear them.