ACCESSORIES YOU'LL WANT TO THINK ABOUT.

Byline: - David Bloom 

Want to check out the Dreamcast before the big rollout on Sept. 9?

Sega's big marketing push will make it easy, with appearances at Venice and Malibu beaches this weekend of a special vehicle outfitted with a broad array of the games and machines.

The Dreamcast ``Mobile Assault Tour'' vehicles will be at Venice Beach on Friday, then hit Will Rogers State Beach in Malibu on Sunday.

You can, of course, rent the Dreamcast at most Hollywood Video outlets, along with a few of the console's first games. But you'd better have some air left in that credit card; a rental requires a $350 deposit on top of the $19.95 rental for two days' use.

Should you like what you see, you can go to Toys R Us or other major electronics and toy retailers to put down a deposit on your own machine.

But what should you get to go with the basic $199 machine?

To start with, you have to get the virtual memory unit as well, for another $20. Its presence will transform sports games, allowing two people playing each other to secretly pick their plays on the VMU's separate tiny screen.

As well, with titles such as Sonic Adventure, it will download mini-games and characters you can play independently, and most usefully, stores high scores, characters and game progress. At least one VMU is a must-have, adding a great deal to the playability of many games.

Multiple-player games (the machine has jacks for four controllers) will require multiple controllers, and multiple VMUs (you can actually fit two VMUs in a single controller, or a VMU and the separate $19.95 Jump Pack for ``rumble'' functions), but you can probably hold off a bit on that purchase, say for Christmas, unless you're just itching to bash your buddies in a fighting or sports game.

Prices will vary on the extra controllers because Sega and numerous accessory makers such as Interact (at www.interact.com) are already making a variety of inexpensive alternatives, as well as some unusual accessories such as keyboards, light guns and driving wheels.

Speaking of keyboards, if you're serious about using the Dreamcast as an Internet machine for e-mail and the like, you'll want to get a keyboard. Sega's custom keyboard will cost just $20, a bargain for the annoyances it obliterates.

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Photo: Dreamcast's fully equipped ``Mobile Assault Vehicle'' will be at Venice Beach on Friday and Will Rogers State Beach on Sunday.