Southend Museums - Where Dreams Are Cast?

Thanks to DCJY Facebook follower Andrew Runagall for alerting us to this - it looks as though Southend Museums in the UK have a secret obsession with the Dreamcast from the look of their corporate branding. Probably best not to let Tivola see this - they'll be forced to change the colours. Well, the orange swirls at least!

The NTSC Gallery is now open

The PAL Gallery is delayed by around four weeks

Objection! Dreamcast Swirl goes to Court

In honor of the now dead UK:Resistance, I thought I'd feature another Dreamcast swirl sighting. This time, the iconic red (sometimes blue) swirl appeared in the fifth episode of the first Phoenix Wright game. I have to admit, I would love to try a "Salmon Swirl" lunch. Looks delicious!

Where there's smoke...

... there's a Dreamcast!

I had an appointment this morning to have blood drawn, so in an effort to lift my spirits before a needle was stabbed into my arm I stopped and snapped a photo of this Dreamcast logo sighting. Located in the middle of a a long depressing hallway, this was probably placed by hospital staff who knew a Dreamcast swirl can lift even the most depressed of patients. Either that, or it was a coincidence.

But wait! Using the powers of photoshop, lets just see how close the two are:

Amazing! Looking at this overlay, we get a swirl factor of 90%! Very impressive. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to collapse from blood losssssssssdwsFEFsffsfffff..........

Pizza, Ice Cream and a Blue Swirl

While returning from the gym on this beautiful Columbus day, I noticed that a local daycare had a familiar logo painted on the side of their building. I quickly snapped this shot of it. While I could have parked the car in the lot and gotten out for a better shot, remember that it was a daycare, it was 3pm and I was a 26 year old sweaty man in shorts (due to the gym). Suffice to say, I was in no state to snap photos of a building full of children. I wonder if they really do offer pizza, ice cream and Dreamcast (European imports, no less!).

Lookin' Like a Fool With Your Swirls On the Ground

As I entered a hotel yesterday, I was greeted by this carpet pattern:

Super-fans who would like to see this for themselves can check it out at Radisson Northeast Hotel in Philadelphia. This will be my second swirl sighting in a month, perhaps the Dreamcast is sending me the message that I need to give it more attention. Today I was kind enough to replace the batteries of my Dreameye, so it seems the subliminal swirl messages are working.

ps - Last year I had a video feature planned, but lack of time and the belief that I needed AVGN levels of production quality led that idea to dwindle. Now I've conceded that I need to make a video and quality be damned, hand held camera and unscripted chatter is good enough! Expect the first video by April. Whee!

More than just an orange swirl

こんばんは！ OK, that's the last Japanese I type unless someone asks me to. Good evening, dear readers. For my first post on the hallowed 'yard, I thought I would bring something special. Something from a distant land. Over here, for whatever reason it is (though I have my opinions) we don't seem to give much of a damn about limited editions. Over in Japan, there have been limited edition game consoles and peripherals since the early 90s. Typically, if someone says they've been playing games from Japan, it'll usually be chipped or modded native hardware, playing 'backup' games/CDRs. Rarely, do people import consoles themselves. There's the large postage cost, the language barrier and the question of power sources (see my reply to "modded DC goodness"). There is, however, a beautiful and rarely seen world of limited edition consoles and peripherals...

This is my Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) Dreamcast system. Sakura Wars is one of the largest RPG and anime franchises in Japan. In 2006 I went to the Sakura Taisen café in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Inside, the waitresses were dressed as the very characters printed on this limited edition Dreamcast. For those of you interested in Sakura Wars, I plan on doing a special feature at some point. There have been many limited edition games, including goodies ranging from calendars to music boxes, included with the games. Anyway, this one is pink (yes, girls either love it or worry about your sexuality), there's a matching controller and VMU too. All boxed. Lovely.

Doesn't this thing look evil?? It's my Regulation 7 Dreamcast. This is my console of choice. Sleek, sexy and very rare. Regulation 7 is related to the Pachinko (Japanese slot game) restrictions on gambling. These Dreamcasts were made for pachinko parlours (in the UK these are seedy "arcades" - think Piccadilly Gardens bus stop arcade), for people to get a feel for what the Dreamcast was about. Showing the "edgy" side of gaming, this black limited edition console really has character. Again, matching black VMU and controller. All boxed. Lovely. Running out of room; I will include my Hello Kitty Dreamcast in a Hello Kitty special in the future :)

Now, a weird peripheral this one. The Densha de Go! controller! Yes, you drive a train in the game. Yes, this is the controller. Yes, that space in the middle of the controller is for your pocket watch. Yes, I feel a bit weird owning one, but the plethora of DC stuff I own hides this weirdo controller... which is actually brilliant for Densha de Go! An often overlooked game, "Let's go Train!" is an excellent arcade conversion. More on that another time though... but you'll love it I am sure.

Anyone reading this on a MacBook, iMac or MacBook Pro? How about anyone owning a phone with a 0.3MP camera on it (VGA)? OK, well, the Dreamcast had a webcam years ago. It is a stand alone digital camera; a webcam and also part of a series of games and 'foto-fun' on the Dreamcast. Again, this is pretty rare folks. The build quality is astounding and it genuinely makes me wonder how the Dreamcast didn't crush the PS2 and DC2 (*we wish*) kill off the PS3 and rival XBOX 360 consoles. Only problem with this is that there's no memory card. That means, you have to upload photos to your Dreamcast and email them. Of course, you can save it on your VMU if you have one...

Which brings me onto my last photo and set of comments. Visual Memory Units. Look at them all. So cute. Why aren't we all walking around now, with something similar to a PSP/iPod Touch that plugs into our 360s? The potential of the VMU was huge. Plugged into arcade games, around a friends. Take your gamer profile with you... again, huge potential. As you can see, the bottom left VMU is the dull generic and UK only model. The others are, clockwise from top left: Godzilla VMU; SEGA direct black; SEGA direct camo; SEGA direct leopard; Astro Boy VMU; Reg 7 VMU; Limited Ed Green; Limited Ed Blue; boring-UK-why-the-fuck-don't-we-do-limited-editions VMU.

So there you have it. My first post and hopefully a little colour into the otherwise drab world of western gaming experiences. There's more to import Dreamcast gaming than an orange swirl...