Back when this story first came out about a Dreamcast PCI card being released by Sega most people assumed it was probably fake. Well things are moving forward with the project and it looks to be on schedule for a summer release in Japan followed up in the US this fall. Speaking of Dreamcast, the broadband adapter is now available.

Nikkei reports that this card will make use of the Dreamcast on a chip design. It will be released to Japan in the Summer and will be followed in the Fall by an external device for notebook computers. While nothing seems to be set in stone as far as pricing is concerned, it's expected that both will cost around $100.

The New York Times (free registration required) is the latest with an article about Sega and the problems they are having. As hinted at before, it looks like the Dreamcast will really be Sega's last gaming console, with their focus shifting on content. Analysts expect the company to post a loss of more than $360 million this year, so the Dreamcast hardware and software sales are still too flat to make any kind of profit. Also, people close to the supposed Nintendo-Sega takeover negotiations say the two companies have been having talks despite both the companies denying. Nintendo is apparently interested because Microsoft is interested as well, and Nintendo really doesn't want MS to get their hands on Sega. The article also mentions Electronic Arts being interested, but since they don't even make games for the Dreamcast (they decided to focus on the PS2 instead) this seems less likely.

Although Dreamcast has recently been second in sales only to Sony's latest system, PlayStation 2, Sega faces new competition. Microsoft, which is planning to introduce its own system, Xbox, and a next-generation system from Nintendo, Gamecube, may pose too great a threat for Sega to continue in the hardware business and may be why it has been holding talks with its rivals.

update The Sega Japan site has posted a letter from Sega's Corporate Executive Vice President Shunichi Nakamura, responding to this article and the previous rumors, saying the NYT publishes "groundless statements" and "misinformation".

Here's an interview with Randy Pitchford of GearBox discussing the port work being done for Half-Life to show up on the Dreamcast console.

Ah yes, some speculation for the Dreamcast. According to consoleparty and a few other Dreamcast fan pages, there are hints around the Sega camp of a possible upgrade for the Dreamcast video system. Much like the 32X system was for the old Sega Genesis.

The card would bring the DC hardware to an amazing 256 bits using the new NAOMI 2 technology. Other sources mention that the card will be priced at under $100