Tumours

Today I ventured away from the friendly vibrant Manchester suburb I call home and took a journey to Salford for a job interview. For the uninitiated, Salford is like a tumour growing on the side of one's face - ugly, festering and very malignant. Such is the relationship between Manchester and Salford.
However, due to my eagerness to find some sort of employ, I arrived at my foul destination an hour early. To avoid slipping into a boredom induced coma, I had a walk around the local shopping 'complex.' Imagine my shock when I saw a Gamestation! I went in and discovered not one; not two; not three; but FOUR shelves of Dreamcast games!!!! FOUR FUCKING SHELVES!

And there were some decent games there too - all as part of GS's terriffic Buy One Get One Free offer. Virtua Tennis, F355, Tony Hawk 2, Unreal, Quake 3...I could go on. Unfortunatley, I didnt have my credit card with me. Bollocks.

I left empty handed and took a wrong turn - this lead me to some sort of flea market/bring and buy sale (see right). I wandered around and the surgically implanted Dreamcast Case Spotter(tm) that resides in my cerebral cortex was switched from auxilliary power mode to full on turbo mode. Lo and behold - I spotted a familiar blue case peering out from inside a box of brick a brac under a table. Trickstyle and Chu-Chu Rocket, surrounded by copied versions of LeMans, Space Channel 5, 18 Wheeler and more. Upon enquiring as to the price of these items, the grubby urchin behind the 'counter' retorted: "four quid each." "Fuck that" was my reply.

So the moral of the story is this my fellow Dreamcasters - always be on the look out for DC related stuff, it's everywhere - you just need a keen eye and a Dreamcast Case Spotter(tm) embedded into your brain to find it.

However, never pay more than £3!

"Hmmm, I see..."

Having recently had my life status bumped down to Unemployed Bum, I have suddenly found myself with a bit of extra time on my hands. Therefore, in between fruitless trips to the Jobcentre, having pointless conversations with 'recruitment' agencies and whiling hours away in the gym, I have been playing Shenmue.

To be totally honest, while I'm very impressed with the graphics, the actual game leaves a lot to be desired. The game world certainly looks very lifelike and suitably 1980s, but when it comes to the crunch, it just isn't as good or free flowing as many would have you believe. Infact, it's nothing more than a very pretty version of Wolfenstein 3D. Let me explain.

There may appear to be endless rows of shops, houses and people to engage in conversation, but ultimatley no-one has anything to say and you are just directed towards the next point by plot specific characters. There are some nice diversions thrown in (like collecting the plastic toy eggs from the vending machines and stuff), but if you stripped all the superficial aesthetics away, Shenumue's game world would be a series of long grey corridors (streets) with lots of little empty rooms leading off them (the shops/houses etc).

Maybe that's a little harsh, but you'll see what I mean if you play it. There are loads of lovely little gardens just waiting to be trampled on - but wait! This washing line seems to be hindering my wantonly destructive progress. That'll be the cold, grey metallic wall.

Still, for the PS2 obliterating graphics alone - I love it.

Maybe I could get a job down at the docks like Ryo - all I need is a brown leather jacket and half a tub of shockwaves on my thatch. Salford Quays here I come...

Pictures...that move?!

Click on the links below to view some interesting Dreamcast related videos courtesy of Google Video.

Japanese Dreamcast launch advert
A brilliant Dreamcast documentary
View the unreleased Dreamcast Half-Life advert

Let me take you by the hand...

Recently, the Dreamcast Junkyard took a trip away from the gritty northern cess-pit it calls home (Manchester, left) to a promised land where we were told the streets are paved with gold and kerbed with blocks of diamond: Lahndan Tahn (London Town). Imagine our distress when the streets infact turned out to be pretty similar in construction to those in our own city. When the initial wave of disgust faded, we took a wander around and found it to be quite a pleasant place - except for the South African gentleman who called me a 'twat,' 'wanker' and 'dickhead' for leaving a Coke bottle on a table outside his 'cafe.' A thoroughly suitable ambassador for a country that may best be described as a 'Shithole.'

The trip was meant to be a little break from the familiar sights of home, but was actually a secret Dreamcast bargain gathering mission. However, the mission was almost a complete failure due to my complete failure to spot a single games shop in our fair Capital. Sure, you wouldn't really expect to find a game shop on Carnaby St or Downing St (er...), but we even ventured down to Whitechapel on the tube. One of the only games related things I saw was this shut down Sega Casino:
Other shut down games things included the legendary Gizmondo shop:
Of course, the trip didn't consist solely of looking for Dreamcast related stuff, but I was quite amazed by fact that I actually knew some of the road layouts simply from playing MSR!!! Who said games aren't educational?!Look! Is it London or is it MSR? Look! I've gained loads of Kudos blazing up and down this street and through that arch!

As you can appreciate, my insistence on stealing a Vauxhall Astra and doing a burnout next to the Houses of Parliament didn't go down too well...