Pop Culture Icon.

I think am going to do a new feature here where I make post every time someone uses the Dreamcast in their movie/webcomic/whatever as a Cultural Icon.

Take this brand new brand new MegaTokyo strip where Fred Gallagher has a zombie dinosaur eating a Dreamcast console.

http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/1171

They are getting harder to find, aren't they?

It's amazing how many people utilize the Dreamcast as an icon. I won't dredge up any of the many many examples I have seen the in the past but I will make mention of new ones I happen to see.

Forbidden Kingdom movie features the Dreamcast

There is a Dreamcast in the new movie "Forbidden Kingdom". Apparently there are a number of video game references in the movie.

"the best reference is also the most subtle. In the first five minutes of the movie, after Jason wakes up from his dream, you can see a Dreamcast on the left hand corner of the screen underneath his TV."

(Quote from Siliconera)

http://www.siliconera.com/2008/04/28/the-forbidden-kingdom-co-starring-the-dreamcast/

Jackie Chan, Jet Li and the Dreamcast?

Ticket Bought.

Scraping the Barrell

I realise it’s been a while since my last post here at the Junkyard – but fear not! The recent blizzard of clear and blue plastic cases that has been battering my letterbox like a weather-based version of Ricky Hatton will put paid to this dearth of updates over the next few days. In the meantime, I thought you may (or more likely may not) like to see this:

In a maelstrom of ventricle-ceasing boredom, I borrowed – and subsequently only watched half of – possibly the shittest Adam Sandler film (EVER) off a mate last week. It’s called Punch Drunk Love, and even though the DVD box says it’s “Fucking Awesome, you twatting cunt” (sic), it’s actually a load of bollocks about a socially inept cluster fuck who is afraid of (amongst other things) getting intimate with a woman. Yep – it really is that good. Anyhow, the reason I bring this celluloid bowel movement to your collective attention is this: It’s got a Dreamcast in it!

Spotted a DC in a film? Want to share it with the world? Don’t bother – this is just a shite filler until I can be arsed to write about my new stuff.

NB – To the mate who entered my domain, saw my Dreamcast and ran over to it with childlike glee screaming “Wow! Is that an N64?!” – have a word with yourself.

E3 2007 reveals new Dreamcast game!

Remember how EA decided not to develop games for the Dreamcast all those years ago? Well, now after all this time they have finally seen the errors of their ways and decided to bring a game over to it. Yes, in 2007! This game is..

The Simpson's Game! Out of boredom I was watching a bunch of trailers of new game trailers being shown at this years E3 event when, at the end of this trailer for the game, EA revealed their cleverest plan ever! These guys are the biggest in the industry for one reason: they port their games to everything, only now they are taking this to the extreme! Just take a look at this amazing announcement! It makes perfect sense because the Dreamcast never had a Simpson's game either!

Finally EA have seen the potential in the undead console! This is surely a confirmation that Sega will be re-releasing the Dreamcast at an RRP of £99 with 100 games built in and a new VMU that can play Game Gear games! You heard it here folks! We knew you were up to something really Sega, all these crap games you've been making the last few years were just a cover up for your major plans to rule the industry once again! As if life couldn't be any sweeter, my 2nd all-time favourite system ever, the Amiga, is getting a comeback too! My life is complete!

Notice the familiar Sega Swirl on the main guy's headband?

Subliminal Advertising 2

Following on from the Gagaman(n)'s (eyes left, people) frankly amazing post about Janet Jackson's heaving, wobbling breasts (and something about Sega too), today I noticed something almost as good...

Below is a picture of the televisual set up in my (our) modest (Israel, 1973) living room:

You will notice some multicoloured arrows, funnily enough inserted by the latest Mossad technology (cheers Avner). Don't be afraid though - that is the power of the modern Acorn Archimedes computer workstation, also responsible for the targetting of enemy troops in Lebanon. And here, as ever, is the quay. Or 'Key.' as landlubbers prefer:

Green: Our cheap-ass Freeview (because Sky is far too expensive)
Red: The lovely 1694 DVD player made exclusivley for the Dreamcast Junkyard by our friends at Rumbelows, for the modest price of 16 Groats
Blue: The Dreamcast 128-Bit Interactive Multimedia System by Atari. Or Sega. One of the two.
Pink: The fucking huge GAY curtains somebody put up for effect of 'batchelor pad' but actually scream 'we are all queer...please 'break in' through our open bedroom windows and bum us...' etc.

However, I - as regular readers will have no doubt guessed - digress.

Tonight (incidentally a Friday), since my socialising choices consisted of a) going to a friend's flat to watch the entire final series of 'The West Wing,' or b) Sitting on my own and watching Will Smith's (hopefully) last movie, 'Hitch' on the ancient DVD player (red arrow). I took the manly option...and chose the red arrow (Hitch).

The West Wing?!?! I'd rather put my eyeballs in the microwave for 8 minutes, then eat them betwixt two shaves of Hovis smothered with camel spunk. And Hellmans, Naturally.

Anyway, getting back to the POINT, while I was watching Hitch, on a TV above my Dreamcast...I noticed something - or 'someone' familiar:

YES! In the opening scenes where our hero, The Fresh Prince (sadly unaided by either Carlton or Phillip Banks), tells us how we can all find true love, there is a scene involving a fucking loser next to an Ice Cream Van. Guess who pops up?

It's only motherfucking SONIC:

So, the moral is - wherever geeks, The Fresh Prince, and Sonic all pop up...true love will always follow.

And Spongebob.

But a quick knee in the face will probably see that twat off, no probs.

Subliminal Advertising.

Ok, so why the hell am I posting a Janet Jackson video here? Well, let it load and skip to about 1:40 into the video and look at the fuzzy blue screens in the background. Is that Jet Set Radio? Shenmue? Samba De Amigo? Why yes, what are they doing in there then? Well, the video appears to be plugging all sorts of things, like the Nutty professor and those Sony robot dogs, so I'd go as far as to say that Sega paid them to sneak those Dreamcast snippets in there, for what good it did. Even more important: how the hell did I happen to come across this? Well, I can't really remember how for sure, but I do remember flicking through music channels once back in 2000 and spotting the Samba monkey out of the corner of my eye. I flicked back and sure enough Ryo's father is dying behind Janet Jackson wobbling her boobs about. How odd.

But this isn't the only case of subliminal advertising I've seen from Sega that very year for their console, oh no. I don't suppose anyone remembers the movie adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats do they? No, and I don't blame you either. Anyway, my sister had this on DVD, and I was sitting around as she was watching it once, and one of the themes in the film appeared to be subliminal advertising in pop music. With this in mind, the whole film was splattered with exactly that. Nearer to the end of the film, great honking big Sega logos start to pop up in the background of this over wise forgettable teen flick, and right near the end of it there's some big screens showing of Space Channel 5.

While I managed to find the Janet Jackson video, finding the scene from the Josie film has proved more difficult. The best I can find as evidence that I'm not making this all up is 3:05 into this video clip below. Sega endorsing bitch fights! Oh, and what the hell is a Sega Megarena? Is that like Sega World? Oh well. I also believe there was a horror film released that same year that had a Dreamcast logo on it's posters, for some unexplained reason. I wonder if that had anything like this in it...?

The DaSega Code

Finally got the see The DaVinci Code this weekend. Hmmm. Not that impressed to be honest - it was pretty much identical to the book (as one would expect), and due to this it actually seemed as though I'd already seen it - everything was pretty much how I'd visualised it myself. Except for the pudding faced Audrey Tatou, that is. Anyway, this isn't a goddamned Dan Brown discussion forum - the reason I brought up said church scaring, conspiracy whipping tat was this: It's got a Dreamcast in it!

Not an actual Dreamcast console, you understand - that'd never go down well with Sony Pictures - but a DC logo. Sort of.

In the scene where Langdon (Hanks) is giving his piss poor 'lecture' on Religious Symbology at the Paris Ritz, have a look at the background on the big screen. Just incase you missed it - here's an Official Dreamcast Junkyard Screengrab (tm):

Even Robert Langdon plays Jet Set Radio. And if it's good enough for him...

SEE!!! IT'S THERE! I have to give full Kudos to my Dreamcast-Logo-Spotting cerebral inplant, but come on people - how good of a spot is that?!

This got me thinking about the actual logo itself and the meaning behind it. Whenever a piece of marketable shite is launched - be it a stereo, a car or a brand of yoghurt - the firm usually spend hundreds of thousands on brand development. How and why did Sega come up with the swirl?
Well, after much digging (aka Google), I discovered that the swirl is a religious symbol of some sort (hence Dr Langdon's useage for his slideshow) that has been found carved into the walls of Celtic tombs and other places where ancient civilisations are thought to have practiced some form of religious ceremony. Experts aren't entirely sure what it represents, but the most popular theory is that it represents life, death and rebirth. A sort of life-cycle, if you will.

So, were Sega cheekily marketing the Dreamcast as their 'rebirth'? It would make sense looking at the meaning behind the 'swirl,' it's just that, obviously it didn't work. It's also a Wicca symbol for 'goddess.' Sega and the occult? No wonder the Dreamcast flopped. Maybe they should have stuck to something less likely to upset an Elder God - like (cue clouds gathering) Sega Thunderbox.

Although...

Yep, there's more...

The sudden and unexpected appearance of the Dreamcast logo in the strangest places continues, people. Earlier, I was explaining to my housemate how Man United are going to catch Chelsea and win yet another league title in spectacular fashion, when something in my peripheral vision grabbed my attention:This rather poor quality photo is of the net curtain in said housemate's bedroom! But that's not all - as the swirl caught his attention I was able to half inch (pinch) his PSP, flush it down the toilet and replace it with a Tiger Game.com. Ho ho...THE FOOL will be forced to play Lights Out in monochrome for all ETERNITY!

As well as that, I gave in to temptation earlier and did actually take those two games back to the shop (Suzuki Alstare and Speed Devils Online). I exchanged 'em for the original Speed Devils and...eek!...Spirit of Speed 1937!!!

Now, The Dreamcast Junkyard is 100% supportive of the Dreamcast for obvious reasons (it being the greatest Sega console ever, and Sega being the greatest games company ever...as the Americans may be heard to frequently exclaim - "Do The Math!"), but is in no way biased. If a Dreamcast game is great - I'll say so...but likewise if a game sucks, the 'Yard will tell it like it is.

Using that ideology, Spirit of Speed sucks. A lot. Even to the point of sucking ass. A few reasons squire?

• You get a tarmac/tire squeal when you accelerate on grass!
• The graphics are atrocious.
• The frame rate often dips to flickerbook levels. Like the ones of a bouncing ball you used to draw on the corner of your maths book in school. But less entertaining.
  
• The loading times last for eons - indeed, this gamer watched the rise and fall of an empire of bacteria in an old yogurt pot before the first menu even appeared.

Also - If anyone out there reading this also owns Spirit of Speed, could you be a mate and tell me how to switch to the 3rd person view shown on the back of the box?!

As I already suspected, Speed Devils Offline is vastly superior to the Online variant and has a fantastic single player championship (and as mentioned in an earlier post, superior graphics and music too). It's actually a lot like Rush, but with more detailed tracks and more customisability (not sure if that is an actual word). Overall: a damn fine game, peeps.

New review here too. Lest we forget the HORROR of Army Men: Sarge's Heroes...

Subliminal Mindfuck

As quite possibly the World's Saddest Person (tm) and also the caretaker of the Dreamcast Junkyard, it's part of my job description to keep my eye out for ALL Dreamcast related things. Yesterday, I spotted something else and here I present it for your viewing pleasure.

I was on the bus reading the newspaper (Daily Mirror) when this Argos brochure fell out from betwixt the pages:
It's only advertsing cookers and fridges and stuff so I didnt take much notice of it at first but after exhausting the drivel filled pages of said tabloid, I had a quick flick through the brochure. Page 8 was as exciting as evey other kitchen appliance stuffed page, but something caught my eye...Yes, next to the BEKO and Indesit oven/stove combos (retailing for a rather excellent £279.99 and £399.99 respectively, I might add) was ANOTHER DREAMCAST SWIRL! LOOK!So that's one in the toilets at a pub; one on page 8 of the Argos sale catalogue...they're everywhere!! Could this be part of a secret subliminal advertising campaigne by Sega? Probably not, but we can all dream can't we?
If you spot any suspicious swirls whilst out and about and can be bothered taking a picture with your phone, email it to the Dreamcast Junkyard and Ill put it up. The challenge has been set, my friends...

To round off these mobile phone based escapades, I was on my way home from the Gym earlier today and I happenend to spot this:It's a PS2 box lying destitute in a pile of rubbish next to a disused railway line. How apt :-)

Inconspicuous

Like most people of a stable disposition, this gamer likes nothing more than a few beers. So last night (like on most Saturday nights), I found myself in a local hostelry partaking in much merry making. Imagine my suprise when I went in these toilets to relieve myself...

No - It wasn't the pristine condition of these Gents' that suprised me...It was the pattern on the wall tiles:That, my good man, is quite clearly a Dreamcast swirl!

The Dreamcast Junkyard: always alert!

Sublime Idiocy

Anyone remember that semi-decent Jude Law film eXistenZ from a few years back? What you probably didn't know is that Sega sponsored it's cinema release here in the United Kingdom in order to expose the Dreamcast to a wider audience. Want proof? Here you go:
What do you mean you can't see the Dreamcast logo? Look just under the big 'Z.' That is a Blue Dreamcast swirl, my good (wo)man*. Clear as day, that. Nice one Sega.

Also, top marks for sponsoring a film where everyone who plays games turns into a HOMICIDAL MANIAC with MENTAL PROBLEMS.

*Gotta be politically correct these days...but lets be honest, if there's a single female reading this page, I'll eat my own scrotum.

Picture Overload!!!

When rose fingered Dawn swept across the sky this morning, I awoke to find that it had snowed overnight, turning this hell hole into something of a magical winter wonderland. As other people prepared to make snow angels and snowmen, I used my initiative and creativity to produce this: A Snowcast!
I've started noticing that there are quite a few PSP ads popping up too.
I saw this one and others like it on my way to work...

Then I turned a corner and saw this fucking behemoth plastered on the side of a building:

Now thats what I call advertising. Now, this is just a theory, but I reckon that if Sega had done something like this with the Dreamcast instead of this:Or this

then it might have lasted more than three poxy years. It wasn't all bad today though. At dinner time I prised myself away from my desk and forced myself outside. I wandered into a well known city centre goth-athon called 'Affleck's Palace' and found an original Pac Man arcade cabinet! Even better still, tucked away next to it was an original Sega Rally cabinet, complete with steering wheel and pedals. I had a quick go on it, but the years away from the awesome Saturn version have made me rusty and I was getting nowhere near my old personal best of about 48 seconds on the Desert track (with the Celica...the Lancia is a pig). Oh well.

Still a great game though, but it has to be the most uncomfortable-to-play arcade cabinet of all time...you have yo use pedals and stand up? Ridiculous!