Hello everybody! I'm sure that this thread is a repost but since i havent found it with the search option i thought i should open a new one. Many of you (if not all of you) know about the existance of a rare prototype zip drive for dreamcast and i have some questions about it for the experts... My first question will be: How rare is that thing? And if it is rare what would the number of rarity be in a scale from 1 to 10? My second question is: How many copies have been made of this peripherial? And how did the others (if any) get scrapped/destroyed? (in short tell me the story of this damn cool thing) 3rd question is: how much would something like that probably cost? And last but not least WHAT does it do? Is it even compatible with any game or as a proto it doesn't do anything? [is it only made of plastic with no internals?(chipsets etc)]
This thing is rare. Only one unit known to exist. It is a pototype shown in some videogaming expo. I can't remember where now. The selling price on eBay for the one that surfaced last year was something like $10,000 and it didn't sell. It has no known software to operate it but the auction showed a zip disk that is supposed to contain some software for the drive. The seller stated that the mechanics of the thing worked (on/off, etc.) but it didn't have any real function.
it means that the unit was prototyped to some extent pending further software development in order to make good use of it. Apparently, there's no known Zip functionality in any DC games/applications, although I m not even sure how the DC's serial bus works (ie if its aware of the Zip's existence or it just zombies data through it like the 64DD)
with mockup you basically mean that it can be an empty shell. nothing inside. since the seller who wanted 10,000$ for it on ebay didnt provide any pictures of its internals, and mentioned that this is a non-working unit, its maybe just the case. and if it is with parts inside, they are most likely not complete. either way, it's a not working unit, so apart from attaching it to your dreamcast, you'll have nothing for use with this. games? this was just a prototype and pictures rarely existed, so no one knows about actual games supporting this zip-drive. wanna hear speculation? i bet SEGA itself had some stuff in the pipeline to support the zip-drive, since they were developing it together with Iomega.
wow! thnx for the info guys! though i think 2 zip drives existed... google: dreamcast zip drive go to images and you will see 2 disk drives. the one in some kind of a museum like place and another one in the ebay auction. Or is it the same drive in two different places?
Found this in an old Dutch news post: omega Corporation (NYSE: IOM - news) today announced that Iomega and Sega have signed a non-binding letter of intent to include Iomega's popular Zip® 100MB drive in a new collaborative product that will be designed to attach to Sega's Dreamcast system. The new product will also be designed to dramatically increase the capabilities of not only game playing, but Web-based activities such as content saving of e-mail and Web searches. In addition, Sega intends to sell private label Dreamcast Zip 100MB disks, offering both the device and disks in game-oriented channels. The collaborative product is expected to be offered as an option to Sega Dreamcast customers in the third quarter of 1999. Dreamcast began shipping November 27, 1998 in Japan and is expected to begin shipping in the U.S. and in Europe during the third quarter of 1999. Maybe that sheds some light in to the purpose of the zip drive.
Very yummy! too bad it didnt get released. hmmm.. I would surely hit one if it was for 1-2k $.. i can afford more XD
most likely 2 different versions! when a new product is developed, many mockups, pre-releases, test-units etc are assembled before it goes into mass production. or the existing zip-drives come from limited production runs for R&D purpose. who knows...
so there is not only one as the first poster mentioned! (thats a relief) i'd love to see me own one (which is almost impossible with my current budget but who knows XD )
Beat me to it. Mockup != Prototype. You are the freaking man, btw. I love reading actual news as opposed to people just making crap up. No joke. That's exactly what was running through my mind as I was reading "activities such as content saving of e-mail and Web searches." When I was in college we were issued a zip disk for all of our lab work. Back then 100 MB was huge (considering most machine still had floppy drives) and to lose that much lab/report/homework/research/etc. was earth shattering. I can't recall how many times a classmate would report that it was their unlucky day. -ud
Yea I remember being in college when those were big (I too thought the size limit was huge at the time lol.. sad), and I hated saving on those. For some reason, even though I had used floppy disks and never felt the same, whenever the content was saving on a zip disk I'd practically stop breathing and I'd just stare at the unit until it was finished, praying I wouldn't run into any bad luck. I once had a whole pre-college college class' worth of work on a zip disk, and I remember getting that data off there ASAP just in case I'd lose it all one day haha.
The DC Zip Drive made it to working silicon (ie there were multiple working prototypes, not just mockups). It connected to a standard, retail DC. Inside, the Zip Drive itself was just a standard IDE Zip. Yes, it's rare. No, you can't do much with it. The most I've ever seen one used for was video playback. Had it made it to full production, it was planned to support custom levels for games. It's a cool relic, but you won't be able to do anything remotely interesting with it today unless you can get a full set of tools with it. If you just get the drive, you've got a pretty piece of plastic and silicon. -hl718
I also wonder if the VMU MP3 player was just a mockup or if it actually worked. No one owns a specimen of it to my knowledge, but I wish one would surface on eBay or something so we could at least have some more pics.
wasnt the one on ebay a working one? It was also said that ithad schematics and software within it to launch it.
