Jet Set Radio Coming This Summer!


SEGA Blog has just shared some VERY exciting news regarding the next Dreamcast rerelease. The game being released is Jet Set Radio,as if there was any doubt. They also confirmed that the game will be known as Jet Set Radio, so say goodbye to the original US title “Jet Grind Radio” (and good riddance!). Also, the game will be in beautiful widescreen, as seen in the screen shot above, and the game is coming to XBLA, PSN, and Windows PC Digital Download this summer! SEGA has also announced a contest where fans can get there art in the game and win prizes for doing so. Reminds me of when the game originally released, I recall SEGA having a similar contest. So far so good! Now SEGA just needs to confirm that there will be no music cuts. 

A Sneak Peek at the Dreamcast's Smithsonian Debut

For quite some time, Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution has been planning an Art of Video Games exhibit. The show began with an open vote allowing gamers to choose the 80 games which will receive representation at the show. In the end, a number of Dreamcast games made the cut, including ChuChu Rocket!, Sonic Adventure and Shenmue. Now that the games are picked, the show is under construction and employees have offered up a sneak peek at what will become the kiosks. Looking forward to seeing these up and in use! Check out more photos here and learn more about the show here.

Half-Life Dreamcast Comes To the PC?

In Dreamcast news that can only be described as somewhat odd the unreleased Dreamcast version of Half-Life has been released for the PC.

It's a bit interesting, I thought the only major differences were from the High Definition pack which was already available for the PC version. However, the creators of this mod state that there are many other differences including additional graphics, NPC models and Dreamcast easter eggs in the game.

Personally I only noticed one little extra thing when I played the Dreamcast version but it did run very nicely.

More info here:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dreamcast



If you have the Steam version of Half Life you can run the Dreamcast version as a mod.

Dream Room UK 2011 Marathon on YouTube!


If you missed my Dream Room UK 2011 livestream marathon from a few months ago, you could find it all on my livestream page, but now I have started uploading it to YouTube as well in 2 hour chunks with bits like me walking off to grab things cut out to save some time! The rest of it can be seen below!

Metropolis Public Transport Racer

Check this out -



Who knew you could drive buses and taxis and freakin' LAWNMOWERS in MSR? I certainly didn't! To be fair, seeing as I only ever managed to get as far as Chapter 13 or thereabouts in my crappy Vauxhall Astra, I shouldn't really be so surprised...but this awesome Youtube video has made me want to jump back into MSR and give it another go.

As a side note, I heard that once you beat every chapter you get to drive around each city in a sort of 'free ride' mode, with all the barriers removed. Anyone out there know if this is true? Answers in the comments section, please.

Dreamcast Versus Xbox 360 Part 3

Hello, and Season's Greetings (vomit). You may remember my previous forays into the world of video creation, Dreamcast Versus Xbox 360 Part 1 & 2 that I uploaded to Youtube a few years back and also published here at the 'Yard. To my utter astonishment, the first one has over 20,000 views at present so there's obviously demand out there. Demand to see videos comparing Dreamcast games to games from the current generation. Granted, the mind boggles...but I've dusted off my shitty old Fujifilm (non-HD) digital camera again, recorded some new footage and slapped together another DCJY-exclusive visual comparison. This time its WRC 2 on the 360 (which is a stonking rally sim, by the way) squaring up against V Rally 2: Expert Edition. Enjoy:



The quality is lamentable, I know. And the editing isn't amazing (what do you expect from a Media graduate?!), but I'm using shitty tools. Give me a 2002 Avid suite and I'll give you Avatar 2. Sort of. Meh.

Before anyone says it, I know that WRC 2 is an awesome visual showcase (although it's no DiRT 3...), and I know that V Rally 2 looks like a tramp's gusset in true comparison...but to be fair, it doesn't look too far removed from most Gamecube and PS2/Xbox rally games. Even if all the Gamecube ones were a stain on Humanity. Damn this digressing! Anyway, it's just a bit of fun, so don't go mental.

There's more:

If I don't get the chance to say (write) it - Happy Christmas to all on the DCJY team, and to all our readers around the world. You guys and girls make it all worth it - 6 years on!

Sturmwind delayed again!

Just heard this from redspotgames website. Bum cakes. 

In spite of best planing, the release of Sturmwind has to be postponed: Our long-term CD-ROM manufacturer surprisingly had to declare bankruptcy after 19 years in business. From 40 employees only a few remained. Therefore this resulted in the situation that the scheduled delivery date for Sturmwind could not be met in the end.
The only possibility has been to relocate the production – to avoid further delays of the bankrupt facility. Nevertheless items like the spaceship models have been completely manufactured already. Our new partner is one of the largest videogame CD / DVD press plants in Europe with over 50 years of experience in medium production. In the meanwhile we already placed our production order for Sturmwind. 
The release date is set to TBA (“to be announced”) consequently.
Details are currently clarified between redspotgames, Duranik and the new facility. Also we are arranging material for another announcement with more exact information within December, which will be after Christmas however. All orders in the redspotgames online shop will remain valid.
At least they've let us know why and this is clearly something that couldn't be prevented. Just more waiting I suppose, shame that this has now become a 2012 release but we'll eventually get to play it!

Off the Cuff

Like a monstrous and garishly-lit harbinger of inevitable over-indulgence, Christmas is on the horizon. Yes, it's the time of year where we have to spend money on other people for no good reason other than that we're expected to. But what to buy? What to get for the Dreamcast lover in your life? A new game? A new pack of VMU batteries so you don't have to listen to that fucking beep every time they power up their system? A VGA cable so that they can enjoy their favourite games in hi-res on the new HDTV?

All viable suggestions. But no. What they need are these:


Dreamcast-shaped cuff-links!

And don't worry if the DC fan you're buying for is a girl (yes, they do exist...or so I'm told)...these cuff-links can (probably) be turned into trendy ear rings with only minor modification! Who'd have thunk that in 2011 we'd still be able to procure Dreamcast cuff-link and belt combos? In your FACE, Sony!

*Sigh*

Get some here.

Dreamcast Cosplayers!

What to do while waiting for the release of Strumwind? Post some photos of people dressed up as Dreamcast characters, of course! Here are the best of the best I have found on DeviantArt.

Jet Set Radio
More after the jump!

The Dreamcast Junkyard is 6 years old!

From yesterday, that is! Tomleecee started up this blog back on 7th December 2005 and even though we don't all get to update this place with article as often as we used to, it is still one of the most active Dreamcast websites on the Internet, isn't it? I hope it is anyway. Either way it's the sixth site that shows up when you search for Dreamcast so that's pretty neat.

I can't even believe it's been that long. Having been here myself as a writer since April 2006, I'm not really sure where all those years went. Oh yeah, they went into taking photos and photoshopping them like this:


Remember that time I thought I'd found Maraca compatibility in a Baseball game only for it to turn out the game was playing itself? How about that time a commenter on UK: Resistance described me as a wank muffin? Good times!

But enough about me, no one cares! It's all about the Dreamcast coverage, of which we have had oodles of! Quite handy when a supposed dead console turns out to be undead really, gave us all more to talk about, and there's STILL some fantastic indie games on their way so we're going no where! There will defiantly be unboxing videos at least for the new releases from me, and the Dreamroom livestreams will be something of a annual thing for both Barry and me if we can help it.

By the way I really hope no one minds me messing with the layout of this place a little. You may notice it's a wee bit more roomy here now!

Anyhow, happy birthday you great big pile of HTML code you!

Purely Belter

Alright. Just been trawling eBay for Dreamcast stuff and I happened upon this little trinket:



It's advertised as a VMU Belt...which is a pretty accurate description...but look at it! It's just a VMU glued to a canvas belt! Call me cynical, but isn't this the cheapest attempt to glean cash from DC fans you've ever seen?

Saying that though, if this Frankenstein's belt had been around back in the day (1999), I probably would have bought one. Beats carrying the enormous and unwieldy bulk of the massive VMU in your pocket. Hmmm.

Fancy one? Go here.

Sturmwind Special Edition revealed, new release date!

Now how's this for a nice surprise? Redspotgames have finally revealed their special edition of their upcoming Dreamcast game Sturmwind, and it contains the following:

- Sturmwind game (obviously)
- Sturmwind Soundtrack CD (of course)
- Full colour tactical guide booklet (ooh)
- Full colour Sturmwind 3D printed model 1:72 scale (whaaa?)

Well that last one sure is a first for an indie Dreamcast release! The whole set comes in a rather snazzy looking blue box too! This can be all yours very soon for 69,95 EUR / US $96.60 / around £60.50 GBP. At that price it's not going to be for casual Dreamcast gamers but for the collectors amongst us it's a rather lovely bundle, and it will only be available for a short time in limited numbers so pre-ordering now is a must if you want it!

Oh, and the release date? We can now expect the game to arrive on the 22nd December! That's a bit later than 11/11/11, but they have been doing a lot of bug testing and the like to make sure the game is ship shape! More on this game as we find out more!

NG Dev Team releases Gunlord trailer!

NG: Dev Team have finally revealed gameplay footage of their next Neo-Geo and Dreamcast release Gunlord, and boy is it a meaty trailer! We're treated to almost 9 minutes of footage, including the story. As everyone probably expected from the screenshots, this is very much a Turrican style game, right down to the way the character walks about! Hardy a bad thing when the Dreamcast is sorely lacking in any games of this run and gun genre mind: remember the Dreamcast was never treated to any Megaman, Metal Slug or Contra games!

The game is due in December on the Neo-Geo and January the 15th for the Dreamcast in both regular, special and even a expensive collectors edition which contains both the regular and special editions in a box with some bonus goodies!. The official website for the game is now live so go check it out!

Quick drinking game: take a swig every time the narrator says "THE MASTER."

New Sturmwind Footage!


We have new footage from Redspotgames of their upcoming Dreamcast shooter Sturmwind in from a German TV show interviewing the developers. Skip to the 12 minute mark to see the gameplay footage. The game is due out later this month!

Sonic Generations Dreamcast Era Trailer



Courtesy of IGN comes the second era presented in the upcoming Sonic Generations, the Dreamcast era! Why SEGA chose IGN and not us to present this trailer, I'll never know. Sonic Adventure fans should enjoy the first look at the HD remix of Speed Highway, while Sonic Adventure 2 fans get yet another glimpse of City Escape. Seaside Hill, while not a Dreamcast stage, looks amazing. Far better than the original Sonic Heroes stage both in graphics and gameplay (no more incessant chattering from Sonic, Knuckles and Tails). To those arguing that the title "Dreamcast era" doesn't work for two Dreamcast games and one multi-platform game, remember that the same year Sonic Heroes released in Japan, many Dreamcast games were still being sold. So of the same era? Sure!

SEGAbits Celebrates the Dreamcast's 12th Birthday!


As most Junkyard readers probably know, I write for a number of SEGA blogs including SEGAbits. Thanks to SEGAbits admins George and Sharky, as well as their technical wizard Shadi and myself, we decked out the site in Dreamcast imagery and made sure that the writers contribute Dreamcast-related articles throughout the month of September. There is still a week and a half left, but you can catch up on the past three weeks of Dreamcast articles by clicking here. Check out nuckles87's multi-part "Years of the Dreamcast" series as well as editorials and special features.