Former Sega Employee Reveals Sega Pluto Prototype Console 79
An anonymous reader writes "A new Sega console has been revealed, albeit it an old one that never made it past the prototype stage. The console is called the Sega Pluto, and apparently only two prototype units were ever made. As for what's inside the Sega Pluto, it looks to be a modified Saturn that includes the NetLink 28.8kbit/s modem as standard. It allowed Saturn consoles to be linked up using a dial-up connection for multiplayer gaming. A disc has also been found by another user that is an internal Sega Saturn CD-R that holds a terminal specifically for Pluto."
Re:if only it had had a network socket (Score:1, Insightful)
it would probably have ridden the broadband boom as a interesting niche gadget and still be available today even in a cheapo form. (yes there was an add on but it was too expensive and hard to get to work)
That's unlikely. You seem to forget how long ago this all was now. Assuming the Pluto was created around- or shortly after- the time the Saturn came out (i.e. the mid-90s), that was the point when the Internet was only *just* becoming known to the public and consumer access becoming more widely available. At that point, those who *did* have it at home would almost all have been accessing it via dial-up.
Sure, there might have been a few rich and enthusiastic geeks with early broadband, ISDN and the like, but not enough to make it worth Sega caring about at that point. (Bear in mind I'm talking about home access, not university labs, who I assume *would* have a dedicated line- but back then you certainly wouldn't have got an Ethernet connection in your dorm).
If Sega *had* offered this, it likely would have been LAN (not Internet) oriented.
Affordable consumer-oriented broadband (ADSL and cable) services only really started being offered in a widespread manner in the early-2000s, and didn't really start taking over from dial-up until around the middle of the last decade. The Saturn had already flopped and been succeeded by the Dreamcast in the late-90s, and even the Dreamcast might have been pushing it to rely on widespread broadband ownership. So expecting it to have worked in the Pluto is just implausible.