Tickets Please!

Right. Listen up you 'orrible lot. Things have been getting out of hand around here the last few weeks. Too much frivolity if you ask me. Frivolity and fun. And that's the problem with the youth of today. If it's not playing Dreamcasts, it's raping OAPs and smashing up bus shelters whilst under the influence of cheap cider. To address this problem and restore the equilibrium, today we're going to have an educational session.

Ever heard of Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Yep, it's a ridiculous name, but I'm guessing most of you enlightened DCJY followers have read many, many volumes on Brunel's genius - but for those who haven't, here's the science bit.

But why, pray tell, am I bringing Mr Brunel to your attention? Well, it's because he has something to do with my latest Dreamcast-related purchase. Sort of. You see, Brunel built railways. Not personally of course - he employed yokels and vagabonds to do it for him (and paid them in broken dreams and dysentery, or so I'm told); and with my latest acquisition - you too can indulge in a bit of railway building 'action':

Railway Tycoon 2 has arrived at platform 758!

Exciting, I know! It's a game...that lets you build railways! Across fields! So you can transport textiles and passengers to different towns! Not only that, but the back of the box states:

• All new 3D game engine!
• Addictive and deep gameplay spanning from 1804 to 2000 and beyond!
• 60 Engine designs!
• Realistic stock market enabling take-overs, mergers, stocks, bonds and bankruptcy!

A REALISTIC STOCK MARKET! STOCKS! MERGERS! Take 2 Interactive - with this number of insanely exciting features you are spoiling us!

So, Railway Tycoon 2 then. It's a bit like the bastard lovechild of Sim City and Command & Conquer. With trains. You start the main game in the early 1800s and have to build rail connections between various little towns. As the game goes on, you'll be given more arduous tasks such as transporting goods (like milk, eggs and flour - now there's a recipe for disaster and/or pancakes) and building bigger and better stations. As the years 'fly' by (not in real time, you understand) you'll be able to buy more advanced diesel and eventually electric engines. The game also promises to yield 'futuristic' flying trains with machine guns, lasers and matter displacement cannons on them, but in all honesty you'll either go bankrupt before you reach the 1930s (something that happens with alarming regularity in Railroad Tycoon 2) or just lose interest altogether, turn the Dreamcast off and go for a shit/piss/pint (delete as applicable).

Should really think about reducing their carbon footprint

As far as I'm aware, there are only two real time strategy games on the PAL Dreamcast - this and Conflict Zone, and even though I've been a tad critical of Railroad Tycoon's subject matter (c'mon, trains are hardly exciting), it's probably the better of the two. Graphically it's pretty accomplished - especially when played in VGA mode. The landscapes roll impressively and the building and train models are superbly detailed - you can zoom in and out and rotate the view to your heart's content and it never stutters or slows down. The sound is a little less impressive, but you'd never expect to have SUM 41 or Nine Inch Nails blasting out whilst your steam locomotive struggles to get up a hill.

If only the DLR ran this smoothly

If you're the kind of person who shuns human contact in favour of the scale model representation of South West Trains' rail network in your attic, and you also happen to own a Dreamcast - then get a bit of Railroad Tycoon on the go. You won't be disappointed.

"New" Dreamcasts Not Really New? Who Knew!

Well it turns out that there seems to be a few bad apples thrown in the bunch.

Not really New...

It seems like some of the "new" Dreamcasts being sold at Think Geek were not really new at all. (Probably returned items)

Ever vigilant wraggster from DCEmu alerted me to this in his most recent article after he read all about it in Gizmondo.

Gizmondo ran the article about the matter after they read one from the Consumerist.

The Consumerist ran the article derived from a Rumors article written at Destructoid by Nick Chester.

So lets run down the list.

Destructoid originates story.

Consumerist grabs story.

Gizmondo gets story via Consumerist.

DCEmu reads story on Gizmondo.

I read the story from DCEmu.

I knew a guy in college who was an extra in a movie starring Kevin Bacon! Yeah!

I hope this doesn't lead to people thinking that we aren't really on top of all the Dreamcast rumors flying around. I mean we were kinda in the top ten of the people who first reported this (At least we were when I first started typing this out).

All kidding aside the Think Geek Monkeys replied to the Gizmondo article with the following comment.

"Hello from ThinkGeekland!

We emailed Destructoid's editors [where this post originated] late last night but haven't seen the posted amended, so here's our Official Apology, in blog comment form.

First, a little backstory: We came upon an amazing cache of new-in-box Dreamcasts not too long ago. We had a bunch of units shipped to us to inspect them, and indeed, though the boxes were a little worse for the wear on the outside, the consoles had nary a scratch and even the wire twists that bundled the cables had never been undone. It was like magic--magic that had been hiding in a warehouse, unknown, for years.

So we asked our source from whence these beautiful Dreamcasts came, and they didn't know--could've been a liquidator, or a Circuit City that had closed shop. (Hear that? It's the sound of a plot thickening.)

But we'd seen them with our own eyes and figured it was best to share our discovery with the world. Hundreds were snatched up quickly and squees were heard 'round the internets.

So far we've had 2 instances of not-so-new-in-box Dreamcasts. The individual who received the one reported here contacted us via email (which never appeared in our inbox, for some reason) and Twitter (through which we've taken care of the situation) has already been issued a return shipping label. We're more than happy to refund him for the Dreamcast as well as shipping.

We're very sorry about the whole thing--we never meant to ship used Dreamcasts. We know our customers are smarty pants and could tell if they'd been duped with a stale Dreamcast; we'd never get away with taking advantage of you guys, so why would we try?

And now we have 3 options: 1. Stop sharing the gift of new Dreamcasts; 2. Have them all shipped to us and inspect each one individually and then ship back to the warehouse; and 3. Continue spreading the (mostly) untainted Dreamcast love and working with the very few customers who get lemons.

We hope you'll understand why we're continuing to offer them on our site (when we get our grubby little paws on more, of course). And again, we apologize to the 2 customers who ended up with what appears to be returned merchandise.

--The ThinkGeek Monkeys"

This was their response to the original Destructoid article.

Personally I did order a Dreamcast from them (Though I would have had seconds thoughts if I knew that Monkeys were processing my order...damn dirty primates.). It was in a beat up box that smelled faintly of bananas but it was NEW.

If I had gotten a used Dreamcast I would have known and I would have been a bit upset. But really folks. It's a console that's ten years old. You are always rolling the dice when you order stuff online. Still it looks like Think Geek is gonna back up their reputation and work with the people who got screwed over on this deal. It also looks like the number of people that did get screwed over might be very small.

-All Hail the Undead Console!

P.S. - In the article about ThinkGeek's response blogger Nick Chester used the word "Debacle" to describe the situation. It's my personal opinion it was more of a Kerfuffle or perhaps a Snafu.

Shenmue PAL vs NTSC-J

Where are the sailors? 船員はどこですか？ Whether you ask this pertinent question in English or Japanese, one thing is true... you're talking about Shenmue (hopefully). This game is without doubt one of the best games ever made. Hailed throughout the gaming world, Shenmue is an RPG with a difference. If you haven't played it, go and buy it.

The differences between the Japanese and PAL versions are quite subtle. Obviously, the PAL version also includes some interesting voice acting - but aside from that, the games are near identical.

Not so when it comes to package presentation...

The Japanese version of the game clearly has a larger focus on the excellent artwork and less about brand recognition and an 11+ rating. Online functions are advertised on the PAL pack as this was a big pushing point in Europe.

The backs are largely different too. Similar use of graphics - I prefer the PAL version this time. A nice little blurb in each language, followed up with all of the other info. One thing I think the Japanese versions always win on though, is the column on the right - showing number of players, game type, accessories etc...

Jewel case vs. the PAL format... looks like there's 3 CDs in the NTSC-J version??

Why yes! We not only get the game but also a "Shenmue Jukebox" CD for our aural pleasures, with the following tunes:

What a treat! Typical of a Japanese release  - extras that the fans will love are thrown in. As so often is the case - probably in a cost-cutting measure or just because the West "doesn't get it" (SEGA Europe or SEGA Japan deciding?? Take your pick), we were left short without this great little extra. 

Here's one of the songs:

Upcoming Homebrew: HyperTension

Want even more homebrew FPS goodness on your Dreamcast? Well I've just been informed about this project by TDGMods called Hypertension. It's based on and the Monolith series Blood, and is being developed with an engine called EDGE, which is based on the Doom source code. Here's the video preview:



The game is unfinished so all the bugs haven't been ironed out yet but either way it looks interesting. The game has some RPG elements including an inventory so you can combine items to make weapons. Looks like theres some good fun to be had setting enemies alight with a lighter and spray can, reminds me of Dynamite Cop/Die Hard Arcade!