Manchester Videogame Expo

Following on from this post, I thought I would share my brief experience at the expo at the Urbis. I went back in May I think (can't remember) and was disappointed with the lack of SEGA memories.

All in all, it was pretty good though. I was lucky to go outside of the summer holidays, so no children were about. Playing the original wipEout brought back a few memories.

There should have been more Sonic material there... he was (is??) a massive gaming icon.

I did think this peice of art was fantastic though.

What really struck me was the lack of Saturn and Dreamcast information. The Saturn was a massively failure against the Playstation and should not be forgotten. The Dreamcast was SEGA going out with a bang - and should not be forgotten either. I was upset that I had more of a retro collection in my apartment than at an exhibition... but such is life.


On the pin-board I noticed this lovely note, so I had to take a photo of it. "What about the Dreamcast" indeed, my good friend.

Dreamcast User Top 100: Vote for your Favorite Games!

As I suggested in the comments some time ago, here's something I've been wanting to set up a big event for the Dreamcast's 10th Anniversary since it's American launch (because 9.9.99 is the date everyone remembers) and here it is. The poll was so big that instead of placing it on the side here where it would look rather ridiculous I've set up a temporary blog for it. You can vote for as many or as few games as you like, and you can also edit your picks too. The poll is open for 30 days.

Take note just reading through the list may take you a while, so wherever you want to pick every game you like or just your absolute favorites is up to you. There's 385 games to vote for spilt across eight polls (because it errored out when I had it as one large poll). That's almost the entire consoles library, Japanese, PAL, American, even indie releases are all included.

The poll will close on 4th September and the results of the top 100 (and the bottom 20, and maybe even the entire 385 if there is enough demand for it, will be revealed on good old 9/9/09. I really hope this becomes the definitive poll of everyone's favorite Dreamcast games anywhere, so the more people who vote the better. Get stuck in!

Cut Away

You know how I like to rape other websites for DC related shite? Well, I've been at it again. This time, it's our old friend Unseen64. Unseen is one of my favourite websites because it documents unreleased games across the whole spectrum of consoles, and it's updated quite regularly. Now, we all know about the unreleased stuff like Castlevania and the cancelled DC ports of Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Max Payne, but Unseen64 has produced info on a title I've never heard of before:

It's called Cut Away, and whilst the only info they have on this mysterious title is an advertisement, its always interesting to learn of hitherto unknown games for our beloved undead console. From the promotional artwork shown, it appears that Cut Away may have been an FMV adventure in the style of D or Torico, but after a quick snoop around on Google I found this article giving more info about how the game may have played:

"As a third person adventure, the gameplay will unsurprisingly be similar to both Capcom's Resident Evil and Pulse's Undercover. While specifics are still being kept under wraps, it's clear that the story will take place in San Francisco. Plenty of CG movies are promised, as is an intriguing story to keep you on your feet. Speaking of which, bombs have been planted across the city by terrorists. As the hero, it's your job to stop them from causing complete and utter chaos, whatever the cost may be!"

Sounds a little too much like a press release to be truly helpful, but then again it's the only real info I could find on this highly enigmatic piece of vapourware. Curiouser and curiouser...

Isosceles

Apologies for my recent lack of input here at the Junkyard. I've been having a major malfunction on the broadband front and as such haven't been able to get anywhere near the internet for at least a fortnight. Sure, there are internet cafes dotted about, but I'd rather lick the decomposing innards of a CJD-infested cow cadaver than pay £1.50 for twenty minutes of shit-slow Netscape Navigator. But I digress. Last week I spent a few days in my home town of Manchester and I was both surprised and delighted to discover that a museum in the city centre was holding an interactive exhibition detailing the rise of the videogame.

This exhibition (aka Videogame Nation) was being held in what's known as the Urbis - a glass isosceles triangle of truly grotesque proportions:

Urbis, yesterday. Sans legions of skaters usually found outside.

Anyway, I grabbed a mate and went to check it out. It cost £3 to get in and was overrun by shouting kids, but it was quite a decent little exhibition - indeed I was initially impressed by the first display case I was greeted by because it housed copies of long defunct games mags and consoles of yesteryear. So I wandered around, played on a NES and an Amstrad GX4000, posted a lap record on WipEout and even had a quick bash on Banjo Kazooie...but something was niggling at me. And as I approached the end of the trip down memory lane, it hit me in the face like a massive wet fish swung by an irate cybernetic clown: The was no mention whatsoever of the Dreamcast, or for that matter, the Saturn!

As such, I was forced to draw a Dreamcast logo on a piece of paper and pin it to the comments board on my way out, along with the caption: "Dreamcast - gone but not forgotten!"

The Dreamcast Junkyard: still spreading the good word. I suppose I should've written "All Hail the Undead Console," but you can't have it all, eh?!