Australian videogame players will be offered Sega Dreamcast consoles for free later this year.
The Australian distributor, Ozisoft, says it will follow the example of Sega American which announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles last week, that it would give Dreamcasts away to people who signed up for a two year contract with an Internet Service Provider.
Sega also plans to release at least 16 games capable of being played online, as well as a range of peripheral including an Internet camera; and service including Voice over IP capabilities, which allow user to make cheap international calls over the Internet.>> Go to ZDNet Australia's FULL COVERAGE of E3
In the United States Sega will be the ISP, but in Australia it is likely to be Telstra's Big Pond.
Australian Dreamcast spokesman Steve O'Leary said Ozisoft would hold discussions with Telstra soon about replicating the US offer, however, it was unlikely to come into effect until late in the year.
In the meantime the price of Dreamcast consoles is expected to drop sharply within the next five to six weeks.
In the US Sega has announced the console will sell for US149 (about $260), however, it that price is subsidised by Sega Japan and it is not expected to drop that low in Australia where the current retail price is $499.
O'Leary said that the introduction of the goods and services tax would cut about $50 from the price and there would be further reductions on top of that.
He would not comment on suggestions that the price would fall to $299, saying that the new price had yet to be decided and would be determined by Sega Europe.
Existing owners and anybody who buys the console between now and the finalisation of details of the Internet offer will receive a refund equivalent to most or all of the purchase price (depending on when they purchased the machine).
Dreamcast has been a slow seller in Australia with only about 18,000 being sold since it went on sale in November.
O'Leary said it was felt that Dreamcast had reached its market saturation at its current price point and it was time to drop the price.
The first online title will be a puzzle game called Chu Chu Rocket, which is due for release in Australia in about six weeks.
