DCJY welcomes former SEGA Europe Marketing Director Giles Thomas

In this episode of the DreamPod, regular hosts Tom and Andrew are joined by former SEGA Europe Marketing Director Giles Thomas. During his time at SEGA Europe, Giles oversaw the European launch of the Dreamcast after effectively being headhunted by SEGA from his role at MTV. 

In this episode Giles explains how he was pursuaded to join SEGA, his vision for the European TV advertising campaigns, meeting the SEGA Japan hierarchy, being grilled by Anne 'Weakest Link' Robinson on the BBC's consumer affairs show Watchdog, the European Dreamcast launch event, the influence of Sony's PlayStation, Robbie Williams, blue swirls, PAL game cases, how the delay of the European launch affected sales of the console, SEGA Europe's relationship with the US and Japanese arms of the business, and also what - if anything - he would have done differently if given the chance to launch the Dreamcast all over again.

Remember you can grab the latest DreamPod and all of our previous episodes on Buzzsprout and pretty much anywhere else you get your podcasts from. Huge thanks to Giles for joining us to chat about all things Dreamcast. Giles now runs the branding consultancy Mimo Brands, who work with many of the most well-known companies around, so we really appreciate the time he took out to speak with us.

Help Support SEGA Raise Funds For Special Effect!

SEGA Europe is raising money for the most noble of causes - gaming charity Special Effect, an outfit devoted to enabling those with disabilities to enjoy the most awesome pastime of all time: gaming! The Gameblast 18 event will see various members of the SEGA and Hardlight teams take part in a 24-hour gaming session, during which a multitude of games will be played, rivalries will be formed and souls will will undoubtedly still burn well into the wee hours.

The entire stream will be...erm...streamed on that Twitch thing - you know, that thing the cool kids are all using these days. Personally, I have very little idea what Twitch actually is, and that's because I only ever browse the internet with a Dreamcast and a copy of Dreamkey 3.0. Can't knock me for living the dream, can you?

Anyway, SEGA Europe is trying to raise just £2,000 for Special Effect in an attempt to help all of our fellow gamers who have serious disabilities enjoy games in the same way everybody else does. I'm pretty confident we can help them smash this total though. With me? Then go here to Just Giving and donate what you can. I just gave a tenner because I'm skint after buying a new motorbike, but every little helps. You can also watch the stream here or by using the window below once the stream starts at 6pm UK time on Friday 23rd February. Thanks all!

Watch live video from SEGA on www.twitch.tv
Update:
It appeats that SEGA Europe successfully reached their target of £2000 - well done to all involved and all those who donated!

The Awesome Dreamcast Kiosks & Display Cases We Never Saw

Kiosks were - and still are - a major part of any console's armoury when trying to woo potential buyers. Go into any game store these days and you'll undoubtedly see a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One set up and running demos. The same was true back in the days of the Dreamcast, and I have fond memories of playing Virtua Striker 2 in HMV one afternoon back in 2000.

Dreamcast Kiosks come in a number of guises, and they vary wildly from region to region. The ones I'm most familar with though, are the UK PAL-styled ones that adorned branches of Electronics Boutique and GAME, drawing me in with their glowing CRT screens and untold promise of 128-bit gaming, the likes of which I'd never seen before. Obviously they worked a treat on me (hence this place existing), but now we have something pretty special to share with you.

Here are some exclusive, never-before-seen computer generated images of the kiosks and in-store display cases that Sega Europe was intending to deploy across the continent with the aim of enticing the average gamer to part with cold, hard cash for a Dreamcast.

Some of them look pretty familiar, but others are new even to me...

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.