Next Gen? Bring It On...

Firstly - let me wish you all a rather late Happy New Year. I know we're 10 days into 2009, but I trust your Crimbo was good and your New Year piss-up was as much of a drunken, hedonistic blur as mine was. Anyway, back to the task at hand: Dream-fuckin-cast awesomeness, U-RAH!

Father K and マーティン's recent posts regarding the relevance of the DC in today's gaming environment really interested me, and so I thought I'd jump in with my own take on the subject. How so? Well, I recently purchased the sublime Race Driver GRID for a mere 20 quid from Game Station. Yes, I know they tattoo, starve and then gas Dreamcast games in their thousands, but I'll be fucked sideways if I ever spend a single groat in that corporate shit-hole GAME. Anyhow, upon sampling said 360 uber-racer, it became apparent that it features the world-famous Le Mans 24hr race.

There's also a Dreamcast game that features the world-famous Le Mans 24hr race.

After several hours sat in complete silence and dribbling into a cold Pot Noodle, a cog in my head switched position and an idea was borne: How does the 360 representation of the Le Mans course compare with the Dreamcast incarnation?

Wonder no more peeps:

Of course, I'm not a complete bell-end (only 76% at last audit) so I won't even contemplate suggesting that the visuals in Le Mans 24hrs are even half as good as those in GRID, but when you see them side by side it's hard not to notice that the DC's attempt still looks fairly decent. And it's TEN YEARS OLD!!!

So, to reiterate FK and マーティン's point - if Sega had had the resources and the PS2 buying zombies hadn't come and shat/vomited on the party, I'm pretty certain that the DC technology could have been en-vogue for a lot, lot longer than it was. Sigh. Just think of the games we could have had if the DC had survived for a few years longer...

Hopefully, Sam Beckett will one day quantum leap into the body of a high ranking Sony exec, circa 1999, and get Al to shoot him in the neck with a shotgun therefore setting into motion a series of events that leads to the cancellation of the PS2 project and ensuring the creation of an alternative reality where the Dreamcast conquers the world.

In other news, I recently visited Gloucester - a deeply historic medieval city now overrun by Corsa-driving tracksuit-clad 17-year-olds. With shit accents. But I digress . I was there to see a Feeder gig primarily, but took a walk around the main shopping district just to kill some time...and found TWO game stores within 40 FEET of each other...that both stocked DREAMCAST GAMES!!!

The City of Gloucester: an official ally of The Dreamcast Junkyard.

Dreamcast vs. Wii

I really liked this video, though I don't actually agree with it's stance. I think that both the 360 and the Wii have a LOT to thank our favourite console for in terms of innovation, but you'd have to be some sort of luddite to think they are inferior systems. Both are great and have a lot to offer current gen gamers, but their roots in Dreamcast soil are glaringly obvious for all to see...

What the above video does very succinctly though, is highlight beautifully what an amazing system the Dreamcast was (is!) I think the fact that the Wii seems to be a platform for Dreamcast re-issues (see last but one post) is not something that damns the Wii, but something that celebrates the Dreamcast.

Hopefully those peeps who are enjoying downloads of Ikaruga on the 360, or loving the re-issue of HOTD2, Sega Bass Fishing, Samba De Amigo etc. on the Wii, might at some point check out eBay and score themselves a Dreamcast for peanuts. Then they will be like me. I got my first Dreamcast three years after it's demise. I've spent the last four years revering it's splendour and buying as many pieces of Dreamcast software and peripherals as my family budget would allow. I've got one Wii, one 360, one PS2 and one Saturn. I've got eight Dreamcasts, (three 'boxed as new') in reserve. I have one next to my 360 and Wii, and in another room one next to my PS2 and Saturn. Guess which console receives the most attention?

Plus I'm waiting for brand new Dreamcast game DUX to be posted through the letterbox as we speak... As gamers, we should reap the benefits of whatever console can satisfy our gaming needs. As Dreamcast lovers we should feel smug to see how the seeds sewn by Sega's last gasp are still reverberating through the current generation. I'm confident that the love shown towards the Dreamcast may well be rewarded. Dreamcast 2 may well become a reality if we all pray hard enough!!