Sega ends Dreamcast nightmare

Games-console giant Sega today confirmed it will stop making its Dreamcast machine in March.

Sega said it will instead start making games for its two rivals - Sony’s PlayStation2 and Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance.

The Japanese giant is also in talks to make games for Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Game Cube. Both game machines are set to go on sale later this year.

Sega’s greatest strength has been in its software line-up, which includes Sonic the Hedgehog.

And in a bid to return to profit, the firm is also looking at creating games for hand-held and other Net-linking devices.

The price of Sega’s existing machines are set to be cut further following today’s announcement.

Dreamcast sales have totalled 2.3 million worldwide compared to about 76 million Sony PlayStations, 30 million Nintendo 64s and 105 million Nintendo Game Boy machines.