Showing posts with label replacement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label replacement. Show all posts

Replacement VMU Shells heads to Kickstarter - VGNYsoft give us the Lowdown!

 

Based out of New York video game boutique Videogamesnewyork, publisher VGNYsoft have been well known in the Dreamcast scene for a long time now for publishing a whole load of indie games stateside for our beloved Sega console. For a list of what they have released in the past, check out Mike's Complete Guide to Commercially Released Dreamcast Indie Games.

I was particularly excited last year to see them venture into releasing custom VMUs, starting with a limited edition of Hermes featuring a Hermes-branded VMU, which I showcased on the blog back when it came out. This was then followed by a Blockbuster-branded VMU (which was actually authorised by the Blockbuster's owner Dish) which was offered as a prize for the fourth World Video Game Championship at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I rightly presumed these two VMUs were a sign of more to come, and today at 12pm EST VGNYsoft will launch their campaign for replacement VMU shells in a variety of unique colours.

We got a chance to talk with Daniel Mastin of VGNYsoft and get the scoop on this brand new Kickstarter campaign, along with some teases about upcoming indie releases.

Credit: Adam Koralik

DCJY: Hi Dan! Thanks for chatting to us about your Kickstarter. I think we can speak for a lot of Dreamcast fans when we say that we are excited for the prospect of replacement VMU shells. What can people expect from the Kickstarter? And what was your reasoning for going to Kickstarter as opposed to just selling them via your normal store?

Dan: The Kickstarter is a way to connect with the community before all of the production numbers become finalized. The initial production is set to include six colors, with stretch goals and a community vote to help add additional colors. Each VMU shell includes five injection-molded parts: the front, back, cap, battery door, and the D-Pad, and will have an MSRP of $16. In future productions, we will continue to introduce new colors as we produce more. 

Where did the inspiration come from to produce replacement VMU shells?

The idea came to light as a culmination of circumstances. Our retail store handles a considerable number of repairs and shell swaps for customers. Additionally, our publishing company (VGNYsoft) continues to produce and release numerous indie games for the Dreamcast, and our warehouse happened to have an abundance of new, sealed clear green VMUs. With some creativity, we pieced together the concept of elevating Dreamcast indie releases to the next level! 

So were the Hermes and Blockbuster VMUs early tests for this idea?

Hermes was our proof of concept, we used new [official] VMUs for that production. The Blockbuster VMUs were a very small batch built using some of our early production samples.

You are based in the USA, will fans overseas be able to get hold of these VMU shells?

The Kickstarter will ship to most international countries, and we will also collaborate with international retailers to offer additional overseas solutions once the production is complete. 

You previously released a Hermes-branded VMU. Can we expect to see more custom VMUs to tie in with other Dreamcast indie releases?  

Custom VMUs are the secret sauce behind the entire production and the foundation for funding the very expensive injection molding process. We have a lineup of future limited edition releases that will feature custom-printed VMU shells. The first one will be announced in just a few weeks before the VMU shell Kickstarter is finished! 

That's exciting to hear! Finally, is there anything else that Dreamcast fans can expect from VGNYsoft in 2024?

VGNYsoft recently released North American versions of Ploid and Reknum from Nape Games (who also has a new game currently on Kickstarter). We have a few titles in the works for 2024 as well, which will be announced soon. In general, we are always looking to build deeper engagement with Dreamcast indie developers. Our goal is to help uplift their projects and bring them to a wider audience through high-quality physical productions.

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Thanks to Dan for giving us the lowdown on the Kickstarter campaign. Click here to go check it out for yourself, and be sure to let us know in the comments below which colours you'd like to see VGYNSoft produce next.

Replacement PAL Game Covers

Over the years I've picked Dreamcast games up from a variety of sources. The most prolific supplier of new titles these days is undoubtedly eBay, as finding games in shops and at car boot sales (at least, for a realistic price) is something of a rare occurrence in this climate. In the past though - and certainly when I first started the Junkyard back in 2005 - it was quite easy to find Dreamcast software for peanuts in most branches of now defunct UK games retailer Gamestation. Sadly, as well as being covered in 'BOGOF' stickers (that's 'buy one, get one free'), a lot of these games usually came with the caveat of either having a broken box, missing manuals, missing inserts...or a combination of the three. Does this type of thing look familiar?

Blowing up the Dreamcast Controller Board.

This is a public service message to all the Dreamcast fans out there.

I have heard from many different sources that crappy third party controllers can easily blow out ports on your Dreamcast.

What I found out yesterday was that even an official Dreamcast controller can do this. A first party Dreamcast controller I had recently bought was faulty and blew out the F1 resistor in the controller board. That means that NONE of the controller ports will work.

Here is the culprit. I bought it from a thrift shop the other day.



I suppose it's live by thrift shops, die by the thrift shops. But there are two ways to look at buying Dreamcast stuff from pawn shops, Salvation army, "boot sales", garage sales...ect.

A. - Most people won't resell or donate electronics that they know are faulty.

B. - Most people are jerks or too stupid to know that the stuff they are selling is faulty.

For me it's a moot point. I only paid like $10 for the Dreamcast I blew up because I got it at a garage sale. I could have paid more for stuff from Ebay, but are electronics purchased like that really safer? It's debatable.

Anyways you can buy a new resistor to replace the one the faulty controller blew out. It takes a bit of time and RISK to your Dreamcast. Some people have had better luck than others.

Here is a nice little guide from the Devcast site:

http://devcast.dcemulation.com/mods/repair/repair.php


And here is a little blurb from the Dreamcast Scene Site.

http://www.dreamcast-scene.com/index.php/Main/Controlboardrepair

There is also a less safe but easier way

I do not suggest that anyone tries this. You can hurt/kill yourself if you don't know anything about electronics (I was supposed to unplug it?!!?!?) and you can easily damage your Dreamcast beyond all repair. It involves using a bit of wire to directly connect the legs of the busted F1 resistor.

I am mainly putting this up so people get a little better picture of what the F1 fuse looks like.

Basically the Dreamcast is very easy to crack open. You just need a regular Phillips head screwdriver.

Take out the 4 screws then flip it over to remove the top.




You then can see all the bits that make the Dreamcast magical!


Anyways there is the damn F1 resistor that blows out if you use a crap controller

(or an official controller that's faulty)







My crappy fix actually seemed to work. However, this Dreamcast might now be the largest fire hazard in my house. Plus if you ever use a faulty controller in that Dreamcast it might just blow out the whole thing...





So it's a bit hard to fix this if you are not used to it. Buying a new resistor isn't expensive but you will need a soldering iron to get the old one out and replace it.

It might be a better idea to simply buy a replacement controller board or even a new Dreamcast.

In conclusion beware of trying out new controllers! If you happen to have two Dreamcasts don't use the nicer one to test out controllers for the first time. And yes, even official Dreamcast controllers can ruin your controller ports.

All in all I suppose that it's a good lesson to learn. Even the Dreamcast can fail (though it's pretty damn simple to try and fix it).