Showing posts with label Book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book. Show all posts

Let's take a look at The Dreamcast Encyclopedia by Chris Scullion

Keen Junkyarders will know that we recently had video game writer and journalist Chris Scullion as a guest on the latest episode of our podcast, the DreamPod, where Kev and Mike talked to him all about his brand new book “The Dreamcast Encyclopedia”, the latest in his series of books that review every game on specific systems.

Now, with the book firmly in his grasp, Kev has taken to YouTube to showcase it. This is not a review, but if you've been wondering about purchasing it, Kev gives a great rundown of what is contained within, so check out his video below.

The Dreamcast Encylopedia is available to purchase now from Pen and Sword books. You can listen to our DreamPod episode with Chris on Buzzsprout, along with all great podcatchers.

DCJY welcomes Chris Scullion

In episode 121 of our podcast, the DreamPod, Kev and Mike welcome the one and only Chris Scullion! 

I'm sure many people are well aware of who Chris is, but if you aren't, he is a long-time video games journalist who was most notably the longest-running staff member at Official Nintendo Magazine UK, but has also written for many other UK gaming magazines such as Official Xbox Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine, and Retro Gamer, along with a plethora of other online gaming media. 

On this DreamPod episode, we talk to Chris all about his brand new book “The Dreamcast Encyclopedia”, the latest in his series of books that review every game on specific systems. We chat to Chris about the writing process for the book, the games that stood out, and more!

The Dreamcast Encylopedia is available to purchase now from Pen and Sword books. The book will see a general release in North America by the end of the year, but can already be pre-ordered from sites like Amazon. We will be sure to review it on the blog when we get our copy!

You can listen to this episode of the DreamPod and all of our previous episodes on Buzzsprout, along with all great podcatchers. A big thank you to Chris for coming on the DreamPod.

Daytona USA back Online, Dreamcast: Year Three, Samba De Amigo in VR, and more! - Dreamcast News Round-Up July 2023

Summer is here... not that you'd know in the UK, though, because it's been raining nonstop for two weeks straight. At least the forecast for new developments in the Dreamcast community is looking promising, so much so that I thought I'd round it all up for you in this handy post. There's an overarching theme of homebrew wizardry this month, whether that be in the form of new software or hacking old software, so be sure to thank all the talented individuals mentioned for their hard work.

Dreamcast: Year Three announced!

This piece of news is one I have no shame plugging first! Last month saw the release of Dreamcast: Year Two, a book edited by Andrew Dickinson that features many written collaborations from The Dreamcast Junkyard team and others in the Dreamcast community. Well, for those who were wondering, Andrew confirmed in a tweet that Dreamcast: Year Three is coming, revealing its awesome cover, illustrated by KinkySketch, as well as saying to "expect a [Kickstarter] campaign mid-2024". The plan with this one will be to launch the campaign with much of the content already produced to avoid long waiting times for backers.
Front cover art for Dreamcast: Year Three
For more information on The Dreamcast Junkyard's book releases, check out our dedicated section on the website.

Debug Indie Sampler, Vol. 3

Wave Game Studios have already given away two great demo samplers, each featuring snippets of the latest and greatest in Dreamcast indie games and homebrew. Anyway, here's a heads-up to say that Debug Indie Sampler, Vol. 3 has gone up on Wave's store for pre-order, and as before, the only ask if that you pay for shipping. None of the demos have been confirmed yet (as represented by the anonymous coloured squares on the cover below), but Wave have said that "[we] won't be disappointed". Exciting! The sampler is limited to 2,000 copies and won't be reprinted, so make sure you go and grab one!
Cover art for debug indie sampler, vol. 3
This modern art is getting out of hand...

Reinvigorating the games of old...

While you sleep, talented hackers in the Dreamcast community toil away, tweaking the inner workings of your favourite Dreamcast games to make them more accessible in various ways. You may never have knew you needed hacks like the ones discussed below until this article, so let us know if they went straight onto your GDEMU or a CD-R after reading.

VGA Dreams
This follows on from a topic brought up in Lozz’s last Dreamcast News Round-Up. TapamN has been doing some amazing work making a whole load of Dreamcast games compatible with VGA output. A bugbear of many a DC fan is the seemingly random assortment of games that don’t natively work with this oft preferred method of video output, so what TapamN is doing is a godsend. 

The most recent title to receive TapamN's VGA treatment is the The King of Fighters '99 - Evolution, the Japan-exclusive Dreamcast remake/port of The King of Fighters '99. Here's to enjoying Neo Geo-quality bouts in beautiful VGA on the best console ever made.
Screenshot of King of Fighters '99 working via VGA
The King of Fighters '99 - Evolution working in VGA mode, as shown by Derek Pascarella (ateam).
Also hacked to work with VGA is survival horror title Seven Mansions - Ghastly Smile, another Japan-exclusive game that received an English fan translation thanks to SnowyAria and MrNobody back in 2019. This one is particularly handy, as I'm pretty sure it was the only fan translated game available for the console that lacked VGA compatibility, so this hack is a great addition to GDEMUs everywhere.

A full list of the VGA patches that are available and where to download them can be found on the console mods wiki. With these most recent additions, the number of Dreamcast games that remain incompatible stands at a surprisingly slim 24. 

Let’s take a look at Dreamcast: Year Two

Back in July 2020, Dreamcast: Year Two - the sequel to Andrew Dickinson's Dreamcast: Year One book - went to Kickstarter and smashed its funding goal within 64 hours. It took a while to get finished, but is now complete, printed, and gradually making its way out to backers. As somebody who was involved in the creation of this book, I'm really excited for everybody to get their hands on what has been created here.

And with that, I must now insert my obligatory 'conflict of interest' disclaimer. Unlike the first book in this series, which Tom reviewed on the blog upon its release, Dreamcast: Year Two has full involvement from The Dreamcast Junkyard, and even sports our branding on its back cover. When we interviewed Andrew for our podcast, the DreamPod, little did we know it would be the start of a great friendship, and that he'd eventually go on to join The Dreamcast Junkyard team himself. Because of this, you will also find written content from Junkyard members Brian Vines, Kev Mason, James Harvey, Lewis Cox (me!), Mark Williams, Mike Phelan and Tom Charnock in this book. Myself and Tom also assisted with editing and proof reading. Oh, and we all backed the project too. With all of that in mind, this article will not be a review, but merely a "look" at Andrew's new book.

If you would like to have a peek behind the curtain to hear more about the process of this book's creation and the Kickstarter, I recommend you listen to Andrew's recent appearance on The Sega Lounge podcast.

Dreamcast: Year Two and the accompanying DCY Zine.

So, the book. Just like its predecessor, Dreamcast: Year Two again uses the format originally created by Sandeep Rai for his PS Vita: Year One book (with his blessing, of course!) This time, the book covers the events that occurred in the world of Dreamcast between April 1st 2000 and March 31st 2001. This includes the console's cancellation, the advent of online gaming, the appearance of many notable games, and much more. All of this is presented alongside the excellent art of illustrator Dan Tiller, whose colourful style, with its many paint splatter effects, is a stark contrast to the very clean artwork of Dreamcast: Year One. Andrew explains that there was a clear rationale for this design choice: "I wanted something a bit messier, to show how messy the second year [of Dreamcast] was. It was really colourful and bright and amazing, but it was also the end of the Dreamcast and things were going wrong!" He also went for a predominantly blue theming over Year One's orange, ‘cause European blue swirl for life, yo.  

Other than the Junkyard team, the book also contains writing from members of the wider community such as Retro Faith, the Dreamcast Years crew, and Dreamcast Hub, as well as a great piece from the creator of the 'Years' book format, Sandeep Rai.

After some introductory pages (including a foreword by the Junkyard’s founder Tom Charnock!), the book begins with a detailed breakdown of the events of Year Two, written by Andrew. First, he covers why many consider it to be the Dreamcast's "golden year", before hitting us with the one-two punch of reality that in the grand scheme of things, the Dreamcast wasn't doing quite as well as we thought. Not only was there the looming threat of the PlayStation 2, but poor attempts from Sega to quash rumours that the future was looking grim for the Dreamcast and that Sega were to become a third-party developer wasn't doing much to reassure fans. 

Andrew then takes us back to that devastating moment when the news of the Dreamcast's discontinuation reached the masses, and reflects on how fans at the time handled the news, excellently summed up using Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' five stages of grief model. This analogy-based chapter is definitely one of my favourite pieces of writing I've read from Andrew. Well done, sir.

This segment is then followed by a collection of interviews. One of Dreamcast: Year One's strongest suits was its interviews, and the interviews in Dreamcast: Year Two are excellent too. The selection of interviewees is nicely varied, each hailing from a different creative background, but with an appreciation for the Dreamcast in common. The interviewees are as follows:

  • Corey Marshall (voice actor, English voice of Ryo Hazuki in Shenmue)
  • Darren Jones (Retro Gamer magazine editor-in-chief)
  • Adam Koralik (YouTube Creator)
  • John Linneman (YouTube Creator, Digital Foundry)
  • Iain Lee (TV Presenter, Channel 4's Thumb Bandits)
  • Forbes Longden (Dreamcast Today founder)
  • Mickaël Pointier (developer, V-Rally 2's Dreamcast port). 
It was particularly interesting to hear many of these guys reflect on their memories of first hearing the news of the Dreamcast's cancellation. Even more harrowing than that news, however, is Adam's story about losing a red Code: Veronica Dreamcast controller at airport customs. That tale is going to haunt me for a while...

After the interviews come some longer form articles covering a range of topics. These articles are a new addition for Dreamcast: Year Two and fit naturally within the page order. Dreamcast and Saturn Junkyarder Brian Vines' piece "Beyond Saturn" explores the many ways in which the Dreamcast picked up where its ill-fated older brother, the Saturn, left off. Brian's article is followed by Sandeep Rai's, in which he waxes lyrical about the Dreamcast's many excellent Capcom fighters. After this, Retro Faith provides some great insight into the origins of online gaming, and how the Dreamcast introduced this now hugely popular feature to a generation of console gamers. Finally, our very own Mike Phelan talks about the Dreamcast's many weird and wonderful peripherals (there's a lot).

Brand new 'The A to Z of Dreamcast Games - A Collector's Guide' incoming, including 'physical' version

We're having a bit of a book bonanza at the Junkyard this year! Not only are we helping to contribute towards Andrew Dickinson's Dreamcast: Year Two and fellow Junkyard member James Harvey's recently announced new project covering Dreamcast racing games, I can now confirm that this year will also see the release of the new and updated 'The A to Z of Dreamcast Games - A Collector's Guide'

A few years ago, I released a free downloadable guide, which proved quite popular - currently racking up around 7,000 downloads, it was an attempt to catalogue every single retail Dreamcast release from all regions (and independent releases as well), give a brief review of each title, and give collectors, or just the curious, a handy companion on their journey through the Dreamcast library.

Well, as promised all those years ago, an update is about to land - and this time, there's going to be a physical release too. A downloadable version, for free, will still be available in the future, but a limited number will be printed first and available to anyone who wishes to have a 516 page 'pocket' guide close at hand. Or propping a door open, or for whatever reason you wish, really.

So what's new this time around?

  • Updated and corrected release listings, including all new Indie releases up to (at least) April 2021. Now covering nearly 700 individual games, and around 1,900 different versions.
  • Covers included for each and every variant release around the world.
  • Revised collecting guides for each region and indie games. 
  • An updated 'upcoming games' section, listing all currently 'in development' titles.
  • Various 'boxout' sections throughout the guide, dealing with different areas of the wider Dreamcast collecting world, from regional oddities and budget releases, to homebrew games and translation projects.
  • Will include separate 'checklists' for each major collecting area - no need to deface the guide if you don't want to!
Now, I want to be clear about this right from the start - this is not a book full of pretty pictures or particularly insightful commentary on the history of the Dreamcast, neither are the reviews an in depth analysis of each game. This is instead more like a companion piece for a collector - a guide through the various different releases on the console, in a relatively concise format. If you've seen the last version of the guide (if you haven't, here's the announcement article and download link from a few years back) you'll know what to expect, and that will still be the basis for this new physical release. A downloadable version will be available, a short while after the printed release, and that will be, and remain, free.  

Due to the level of interest the first guide received, and all of the wonderfully positive comments, remarks and questions that I've received over the last 2 and a half years, a physical version of this guide seemed like the logical next step to take. How *exactly* we go about doing that, I've still not yet decided, with various possibilities out there - whether through a standard 'pre order' model, a crowd funding system or something else. This includes allowing the book to be sold via respected retro sellers. Whichever route that is decided upon, I am committed to keeping the price as low as possible, and the ethos of the printed version of this guide will remain a non-profit basis for myself. With that in mind, any excess money left over will be donated to some of the many fantastic community members out there keeping the Dreamcast alive with ports, homebrew and other projects. The guide is, however, fully written - with the exception of reviews for the next few incoming indie releases - so once the route we take to printing is confirmed, it will not be long before releasing. I'm looking to keep the cost of the printed version of the guide as low as possible - with the aim of it being no more than £20 before postage. 

Keep your eyes on the Dreamcast Junkyard for further news regarding the next stage of this project, which will hopefully be in mid April - with a hopeful release date of the print version of the guide by June at the latest! If anyone has any comments, questions or suggestions, feel free to get in touch with me via all the usual forms of digital communication - but the easiest of all is to contact me on twitter (@space_turnip). I'd like to get a handle on how many people would be interested in a physical version, so don't hesitate in contacting me. 

Finally, my thanks to Lewis Cox, co-Junkyarder, who not only designed the fantastic new cover for the guide, but also did the mockups shown in this article and has been massively supportive throughout this entire endeavour.

The A-Z of Dreamcast Racing Games: Another New Dreamcast Book Releasing in 2021!

I wanted to share with you a personal project that I’ve been working on over the past few weeks behind the scenes, and hope to release this year for the Dreamcast community: a new physical book titled The A-Z of Dreamcast Racing Games.

This book will cover all 50 racing games ever released on the Dreamcast (as well as a few extra that never actually got released), featuring a retrospective review of each game as well as some insight and interviews from the original development teams of select titles. There will be some additional content included as well (I’m not giving away everything just yet!) and it will be the ultimate companion for any Dreamcast fan who loves racing games.

I’ve made a conscious decision not to go down the traditional crowd-sourcing route for this book and instead will be self-publishing via Amazon. This decision enables me to keep costs down as low as possible, not having to commit people to up-front orders and additionally, makes the book readily available to anyone worldwide. It also means that the book will be published in a format that is not too dissimilar to a cheats book from back in the 90s, which I must admit I really like!

Book Review: Dreamcast: Year One

Full disclosure before I begin this review: I - and other members of the Junkyard team - backed this book on Kickstarter. I was interviewed in the book and also did some fact checking. That said, I wasn't paid and stand to gain no financial reward for any of this. Now thats sorted, on with the review.
Dreamcast: Year One backers also get a cool little sticker to go with the book
The popularity of books exploring every corner of the gaming landscape shows no sign of being on the wane, and the latest crowdfunded offering is now plopping through letterboxes around the globe. Dreamcast: Year One is the third book in the 2 Old 4 Gaming template after the superb Sony PlayStation Vita: Year One and Years Two & Three, written by Sandeep Rai. This latest Dreamcast-flavoured tome was written by long-time Dreamcast fan Andrew Dickinson (founder of the Dreamcast Years podcast and website) and successfully Kickstarted back in April 2019.


Now that the book is finally here, how does it stack up against the competition? Quite well, actually. And the main unique selling point Dreamcast: Year One has over the other recent releases is that it focusses primarily on the UK release of the console. As someone who resides in the UK and saw the release first hand on this fair isle, the perspective is one that struck a chord with me on a personal level and so I was naturally intrigued by the premise.
The artwork is truly sublime throughout
As alluded to earlier, I was interviewed by Andrew for Dreamcast: Year One, and was asked about my history with the Dreamcast and also the story behind the creation of this very blog and the community surrounding it. For that alone I am grateful, as it allowed me to share my own experiences as just a normal random bloke who somehow found a niche with a blog about a failed Sega console. But enough about me.
OK...maybe a little bit more about me
Dreamcast: Year One opens with a fairly intricate deep dive on the history of the Dreamcast, going all the way back to the 16-bit era, the Sega Saturn story and the development of the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation. The introductory chapters are about as comprehensive as you could get if you're a newcomer to the Dreamcast and wanted to educate yourself on the story so far. Particular highlights for me include the section on the Sega New Challenge Conference in 1998 - something which fascinates me still to this day, such is my obsession with the Dreamcast tech demos that were showcased during that event.

The Dreamcast Junkyard Presents 'The A to Z of Dreamcast Games'

It was nearly three years ago that The Dreamcast Junkyard presented the Ultimate Collectors Guide - an attempt to gather the complete listings of every Dreamcast game ever released into one handy guide book. We even printed a run of the guide that a few souls managed to obtain before...well, I think we all know the story by now.

Now, whilst the guide served a purpose, it's probably fair to say it never quite attained the 'Ultimate' status we attached to it. For list nerds like myself, it's great to be able to grab a checklist and see what random Japanese oddities still need to be tracked down, but - and I say this as the one who compiled the guide - it lacked a little soul. Through all the positive reactions the guide gathered, I promised I'd be back in a few years with a bigger, better and improved version, one that wasn't quite as painfully dull to look at, and the completion of a somewhat ridiculous personal quest.

That guide, I'm happy to announce, is now here! Grab yourself a downloadable copy by hitting the 'download button below!
Now, with the literary world of the Dreamcast starting to get some attention (we're all looking forward to delving into Darren Wall's 'Sega Dreamcast Collected Works' when it releases), I want to make it perfectly clear to all of you now that this is not - I repeat, not - a professional product of the highest quality. If you're looking for a lovely looking book to sit on your coffee table, then chances are you'll be disappointed. If, however, you enjoyed our first guide, or found it useful on your own Dreamcast collecting journey, then I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. I like to think of the guide as the 'Football Manager' of books - it's not a looker, but hopefully it's the content which counts.
That's not to say this is just a carbon copy of our first guide either, though. The time between the original guides release and now, has been utilised to give more content, more detail and, of course, a few more lists. This time around, the A to Z of Dreamcast Games features:
  • Info on 670 Dreamcast games, presented in the A to Z with a mini review 
  • Full release listings for all games, expanded from the original guide significantly, and now covering a grand total of 1846 individual releases.
  • Upcoming games section
  • PAL, US, Japanese & Indie collecting sections, each with a collecting guide, helpful lists, rare & expensive game spotlights and more
  • Rarity and value guide for all 1800+ releases
  • Now looks a little less dull, with covers throughout the guide to brighten it up a little!
Weighing in at a total of 506 pages, it's fair to say that a printed version of this guide is not on the horizon - but who uses 'books' now anyway though, eh? Designed to stick on your smartphone or tablet as a (hopefully) useful tool, we embrace the new digital era here at The Dreamcast Junkyard - especially as it's a touch cheaper than having to pay for these all to be printed!

Let us know what you think in the comments, on Twitter or in our Facebook group!