While the higher-capacity DVD-ROM format was available during the console's development, its then-fledgling technology was deemed too expensive to implement at the time. The Dreamcast itself features regional lockout, only playing games released within its predetermined region however, the lockout is circumventable via modchip installation, boot discs, or cheat discs such as Datel's Action Replay. All licensed games for the Dreamcast were released on the GD-ROM format, a proprietary CD-based optical disc format jointly developed by Sega and Yamaha Corporation that was capable of storing up to 1 GB of data. The fifth and final home console produced by Sega, the Dreamcast is the successor to the Sega Saturn, whose commercial failure prompted the company to release it only four years after its predecessor's initial release.
The first of the sixth generation of video game consoles, it was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999, and in Europe on October 14, 1999. The Dreamcast is a home video game console developed and sold by Sega.
