iPod? Schmipod!

All this recent talk about the Dreamcast's most unsung hero got me thinking last night. As I began ironing my trousers for another long, dull day of mental anquish (work), my MP3 player fell out of one of the pockets and landed rather curiously slap bang next to one of my VMs. After nearly 14 minutes of standing there in total silence, staring blankly at the floor and dribbling, an idea began to form. An idea with implications of coolness not seen since the Fonze claimed one of the toilet stalls in Al's Diner as his office.

What if I combined an mp3 player with a VM?









I know that another site has featured such a device in the past (see picture below), but that was merely a prototype from Sega, and I doubt if it actually really worked. More probable, it was just an empy shell designed to get people interested in the ailing DC. Too little, too late methinks. And that idea of bundling a free DVD Player the size of Guatemala was a bit of disaster too. But I digress.My knowledge of electronics doesn't really advance much further than "give it here...are the batteries in the right way round?" and then banging whatever it is that won't work on a table until it does (but I get by with that technique quite well). However, basic knowledge of spacial volumes and the ability to use my eyes (rather well, actually) implicates that the innards of my £20 cheapo-nasty mp3 player will easily fit inside the shell of a VM. As of writing this post, I havn't attempted to do it (that will come in the next few days), but rest assured the possibility will be looked into. On the flip side, there is a chance that all of my VMs will end up like this:
Or, if after a few minutes of tinkering I believe that my skillz are not up to scratch, the project will be filed in the drawer along with my recently scuppered plans to change my Dreamcast's LED from that redundant orange to a more fitting turquoise.

I did manage to have a quick blast on Phantsy Star Offline last night too. First impressions: not really impressed. I watched the opening FMV then played for about 25 minutes but was largely unimpressed (how many times can I get away with using the same word?!) with the fact that I died twice at the hands of these big mole things while trying in vain to roundhouse their faces in. It always works in real life, so I'm a bit mystified as to why these methods are useless in a virtual world. Saying that, Dr Robotnik has just moved in next door and you couldn't hope to meet a nicer Gentleman. Perhaps I'm just being an impatient git though - loads of people (well, one - Diogo who reads this blog), have said how good it is. They can't all be wrong. Or can they...?

Now that the Dreamcast Junkyard has aquired it's own identity in the form of that rather lovely title banner (up there!), I thought it was about time that the people of the North West of England were enlightened as to what they are missing out on. Therefore, I saw it necessary to have an advertising banner placed by crane on the (still incomplete) new tallest building in the North, Beetham Tower :-)

PS - just seen the ad on TV for Tomb Raider Legend. Looks passable (although check the dodgy animation when Crofty dives over the waterfall). But right at the end, Lara says "I'm waiting" in that fake ass, non-existent 'English' accent. Why?! No neeeeeed!

9 comments:

Tom Charnock said...

Patrick O'Connor, if you're reading - I don't know how to contact you with those details! Could you email me via my profile please? Your offer of help is much appreciated!

Anonymous said...

Yo, Tom, Tombraider looks btichin, yeah? Fake ass English accent? That's bullshit. Fuck's sake, man.

Anonymous said...

I look forward to hearing a more in depth review of PSO from you. Especially about it being less 'O' and more just PS. As I do not have the $200 for the high speed modem nor do I have the money or where-with-all to get the Dreamkey 3.0 (or whatever it's called) I would not be able to play it online. I am very drawn to it however.

Not sure what the state of the used game market is there, but Dreamcast (and all other Sega console games) are difficult to come by here. No larger retail chains carry them at all anymore and small mom and pop stores over charge for 4 year old scratched up sports games. Anything decent is strictly an ebay affair which always makes me a little oogy (scientific term) because I can not look at the disc.

Tom Charnock said...

Pierre = you can get a copy of Dreamkey from the Sega website, thats where I got mine from. Although it was the Sega Europe website...don't really know if Sega of America are still supporting the DC. Saying that, Sega Europe don't support it in the traditional sense, although they do offer a technical helpline and will reply to queries if you pester them enough!! As for buying games over here - likewise, none of the major games retailers stock DC stuff anymore, but a lot of independent stores stock games and peripherals and more often than not they are in really good condition of the age - I got Virtua Tennis 2 & Daytona a few weeks back from an indie store and they were in 'as new' condition!

Squall - Geez! You should really get your ass up here man! They can't give Dreamcasts away up here. The gamestation near me has about 3 in stock for £24.99 (with about 3 games) - if your willing to send me the cash and postage costs I'd happily pick one up for you...

Tom Charnock said...

PS - Patrick, if you're readin, thanks for the offer of help but I managed to sort the problems out myself by messig with the HTML again! Thanx anyway.

Animated AF said...

I have non idea how you'd pull off a VMU/MP3 combo. For strteres the only sound the VMU can pull off is beeping noises, and how would you go about getting the screen to work?

I must say I found PSO pretty unimpressive as well. Being able to make your own character is cool (mine has an afro and is about 6 foot tall), but actually getting anywhere without dying is annoying.

gnome said...

How about trying a freaky combo of the non-Sega, non-Virtual VMU, a shite mp3player and the normal VMU in order to create the ueber-Tamagotchi?

Anonymous said...

You could aways glue a cheap mp3 palyer to the back of a VMU :)

About the only things that I am able to find around here is NFL2k or 2k1 or other similar sports titles. Occaisionally I am able to find some other titles, but hey are scratched, booklets missing or cracked cases. Even then, the stores that have them in are few and far between. Closest on to me is 25 minutes by car and then the next closest if even farther. Limited stock and even less turnover does not make it worth the trip. Still, I keep looking. Hopefully as the weather begins to get nice again, I will be able to pick some up at yard sales or fles markets.

As for Dreamkey, it is only available through Sega Europe and then only to Europeans. Funny that. Sega of America offers nothing other than repairs and some downloadable instruction manuals for the Dreamcast. Too bad.

Ross said...

I also thought of how interesting the VMU would be if it played mp3s, but unlike you, I'm not crazy enough to take my nice-looking see-through blue VMU apart (especially since obtaining one of those babies in a game store is especially hard nowadays).

However, much luck to you, and I can't wait to see how this all ends up!