Showing posts with label Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide. Show all posts

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.

Get A Free Copy Of The Dreamcast Collectors Guide

Seeing as we're no longer allowed to sell The DCJY Ultimate Collectors Guide, we're now giving it away for free at Sega Europe's request. All we ask is that you pay for the postage/shipping costs via the donate button below. There are limited numbers of these things so as soon as they're all gone, the donate button will be removed.
If you'd like to know more about the outlawing of this totally heinous publication, have a look at the previous articles here and here. Also, massive thanks to Junkyard reader Simon who randomly donated yesterday to help with purchasing of envelopes to send these things out - what a legend. Give him a follow on Twitter if you get a moment (@Stellaking_Si).

Recommended shipping costs depending on your location are as follows:

UK: £3
Europe: £7
USA: £9
Anywhere else: £10

If you'd like to donate more to help us with the DreamPod hosting or Mumble server costs, please feel free - as it is, I pay for it all out of my own pocket (although there's no obligation, naturally). Hit the button below, enter your address details as a message and the book will be shipped. Please allow a few days for me to send it out as I'm in the middle of moving house!

Thanks all, and keep dreaming!

Update
That's it - they're all gone! Done. Finito. Thanks to everyone who donated, your book will be sent out in the next few days. Keep it safe - it's part of a limited run and a piece of history!

If you didn't manage to get a physical version, don't worry as the latest PDF version is also available to download here.

The DCJY Ultimate Guide Fiasco Continues...

You may recall in late 2015 we launched the physical version of The Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide. It was really well received by members of the Dreamcast community around the world and was seen as a valuable resource for collectors and those who wanted to explore the Japanese library a little further (it has a handy accessibility guide for non-Japanese speakers). Sadly, Sega Europe's legal team requested that we remove the resource from sale because it wasn't an officially licensed product, and naturally we complied.
Since then, we have redesigned the book's cover slightly to include the labels '100% unofficial,' 'fan made' and wording to the effect that it isn't endorsed by Sega in any way. We thought that would be enough to allow us to distribute this book online once again, but apparently not. In the name of transparency, here's the most recent communication from Sega Europe's legal department:

Cease & Desist

If you managed to snag a Collectors Guide, you'll be pleased to know that it itself is now a collectable. That's because Sega's legal department has asked The Dreamcast Junkyard to cease sale of the guide as it isn't an official product, and naturally we will honour the request. For transparency, here's the email:

Dear Sirs,

We are pleased that you support the SEGA video game console Dreamcast and we note your creation of the Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide Book. This is however an unofficial title which is not authorised nor endorsed by SEGA and for that reason, we ask that you kindly cease sale of this book on your website and/or any other online channels as soon as possible. 

Please can you confirm that you have removed the book by emailing the Legal Dept.

As you will understand, in order to protect the brands within our group companies, we are only able to allow the creation of and promotion of authorised products and platforms.
We thank you for your understanding.

Yours faithfully

Legal Department
SEGA Europe Ltd.

For and on behalf of SEGA Holdings Co., Ltd.

Fair enough. It's not an official product and Sega have every right to request this. After all, they own the Dreamcast copyright and all that jazz. I have replied asking if there's anything we can do to make the book available again, so we'll see what they say. In truth, the upcoming Pix'N Love Dreamcast publication has probably had something to do with this...but c'est la vie! Once again, there is no love lost here (from our side anyway!).
Thanks to everyone who bought one and keep dreaming!

10th Anniversary Competition Bonus Stage - Winners!

Once again, massive thanks to Play-Asia.com for supplying us with the prizes for this, our final 10th anniversary competition; and thanks to everyone who entered. The VMU images seem to have flummoxed most of you (it wasn't meant to be easy!), but that said most of you got the vast majority of them right. So well done. Before we announce the winners, here are the answers:


How many did you get right? In truth, nobody got them all 100% correct but as stated in the original post, if that happened, the entrants with the next best number of correct answers would be crowned winners and recieve a prize. And so here they are:

1st Prize Winners: Mike Lodato & Alex Young
Runners Up: Yu Kajima, Ricardo Almeida & Anna Frohling
Well done to you all, and thanks again to Play-Asia.com for supplying us with copies of Dux and ReDux. Winners will also get a copy of our DCJY Collectors Guide. We hope you enjoyed the competition, and remember: keep dreaming!

Sega Central Features The DCJY Collectors Guide

Sega Central is Sega Europe's regular YouTube series in which presenter Dan gives details of competitions and shares Sega-centric news and developments. The latest episode offers viewers the chance to win some great Sega-related prizes and also looks briefly at the upcoming Warhammer: Night Goblins, but by far the best bit - to us anyway - is that the Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide gets a mention! Fame, fortune and stardom...at last! Well, almost. The video is below, but remember you can also purchase the Guide (which also doubles up as an incredible Christmas present, I hasten to add) by moving your mouse pointer thingy and clicking here.


Massive thanks to the lovely people at Sega Europe for the shout out, make sure you go and subscribe to the YouTube channel after reading this! Meanwhile, I'm off to go and have the Sega logo tattooed onto my forehead.

The Ultimate Collectors Guide Book

You asked for it, so here it is. The Dreamcast Junkyard Ultimate Collectors Guide is now available in an updated, physical form. Written by Mike Phelan and with a foreword conjured from my own pen (well, keyboard), this guide is packed to the gills with information on pretty much every single game ever released for our favourite system. You don't need to take my word for it though - check out the video preview below: