Virtual On: XBLA



It's Virtual On. On Xbox Live Arcade. Do I need to say more?

Well, actually, yeah. The guys over at Gametrailers fucked up. Virtual On: Ontario Tagram? WTF? It's Oratorio Tangram, you twats...

Eat My Shorts

OK, so in the past we've featured a Dreamcast hat, a Dreamcast jacket, a Dreamcast towel and swimming shorts set...fuck, we've even spouted shit about a (pretty poor) Dreamcast-shaped tissue box holder. We now sink to new depths, however:

Dreamcast boxer shorts!



Do you love your Dreamcast so much that you want your cock and balls swinging up against a high quality embroidered image of Sega's magnum opus? You do? Then click here for more details.

Radical!

G'day. You may recall a video I did a few weeks back that documented the visual qualities of ace racer LeMans 24hrs. Well, I've been at it again. Y'see, last week I bought the rather spiffing 360 snowboard 'em up Amped 3 and I've actually been playing it non-stop since then. But earlier today, I had a thought: How do the DC's best snowboarders stand up to Amped 3?

Cue me rummaging around for my copy of arguably the DC's best looking 'boarding sim - Sega Extreme Sports. I know it's not technically a proper bonafide snowboarding game, what with all the hang-gliding and mountain biking going on, but the boarding sections are super cool (sorry), and miles better than Snow Surfers and that bit in Sonic Adventure where you have to outrun that avalanche.

Anyway, enough waffling. Here's the vid. Enjoy.

A Dreamcast Flightstick?

Oh Dreamcast. When will you stop surprising me?

I found a new controller that I had never heard of before. Perhaps someone here has seen one before but it doesn't seem to be listed on any of the major Dreamcast sites and is only mentioned in the odd message board post.

Behold the Dreamcast Panther Flightstick:
Look at all them buttons...

Apparently this controller was also able to be used with FPS games like Quake 3 and perhaps even the unreleased Half Life.

As it is there are several opinions out there ranging from "Crap it doesn't work on many games" to "Wow this works awesome on Starlancer" to "Ugh Madcatz...". (I personally never had a problem with Madcatz stuff on the Dreamcast My steering wheel works well and my lightguns are good. I actually sold a new madcats controller for nothing because I was told that 3rd party controllers shorted out the Dreamcast's control board...then a first party controller shorted out my control board...)

As soon as I get this and my copy of Starlancer I will give a proper review of this seemingly rare controller. Is it a good controller? Is is crap? Is it worth it as a collectors item?

Only time will tell.

Unveiling a moment in history...

I'm currently doing a little mod on my Dreamcast (more to follow), and came across something rather interesting...



Nothing particularly interesting there, you think? Look closer...


"katana" inscribed on the motherboard. 



The katana was the Japanese version of the Dreamcast prototype. There were two basically, the SEGA USA "Dural" and the SEGA Japan "Katana". Eventually, SEGA went with the Japanese one, though both were pretty similar. It's a shame the Dreamcast didn't have a built in DVD player... but it was far too expensive in 1998. Things could have been rather different... but then again, Sega was in so much debt by 1999, even though the Dreamcast was doing quite well, there was nothing to be done against the Sony machine.

Some Wind & water fan art for ya.


Take this artwork as an apologise for still not getting around to sorting out that video review I promised.Sorry, it might get done one day!

Wind and Water - €12 + Shipping

Thought I would share this good news with others... HuCAST (bringing us the eagerly anticipated DUX) have some copies of Wind and Water puzzle battles for sale for €12.

From their email:

"HUCAST.net decides to do not stock redpostgames products anymore, so you can get Wind & Water for Dreamcast to a special pricing. Only 12 EUR instead of 32,95 EUR. "


Bargain. I nearly bought this last week at full retail. The Gods have spoken, open up your paypal accounts and go and buy it.

Dreamcast: A Forensic Retrospective

Dan Whitehead wrote up a Dreamcast retrospective over at EuroGamer.

Any comments on this?

I personally thought that this line made the article worth reading:

"most gamers opting to wait for the sure-to-be-awesome PS2, with its mysterious "emotion engine" and games that would literally emerge from the screen and fellate you senseless."

I am somewhat disappointed that never happened...

In other news I am setting up another classic video game day and the the Dreamcast will play a huge role (Powerstone 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2 Whoo!). Last time I had hooked up the Dreamcast to the VGA port of a projector and the Soul Calibur matches looked really nice. Perhaps this time I will actually edit some of the footage from the matches and showcase them here.

In other other news Saturnalia is going on at the other Junkyard. So if you enjoy other CD media game devices from Sega check that out.