Sega, maker of the Sega Saturn 32-bit video game player, announced the new game machine carrying Microsoft's Windows CE operating system would be launched on Nov. 20 in Japan and in 1999 outside Japan.

``I am confident that Dreamcast will become a de facto standard for the future of digital entertainment,'' Sega Chairman Isao Okawa said in a statement.

``We believe the Dreamcast system represents a significant advancement in console-based entertainment,'' Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates said in a statement.

``For consumers, Dreamcast's state-of-the-art 3D graphics technology and online capabilities will provide unprecedented levels of realism and performance in game play,'' he said.

For developers, the Windows CE operating system with multimedia services will help reduce the time and investment needed to develop game software, he said.

With the new game machine, Sega hopes to regain a strong foothold in the worldwide game market after suffering a shrinking market share in the face of runaway sales of Sony Corp.'s cutting-edge PlayStation, as well as Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s 64-bit game machine, Nintendo64.

Sega said that sales of its Saturn game console in the United States have slowed, but it still continued to offer game software for Saturn.

Sega's new machine will have high-definition graphics capacity, a 64-channel sound system and will be equipped with a modem for fast network connections and online experiences.

Sega said that Dreamcast will also use advanced digital technologies of several other companies, such as Hitachi Ltd. and NEC Corp.