The Light Fantastic

Today's post is a bit of a cop out, as it has required minimal creative input from me. Other than, y'know, browsing Youtube, watching people fire M&Ms out of their belly buttons into cups, realising what the hell I'm doing and then looking for proper stuff...like this:

Yeah, a guy with a blatantly obvious talent for electronics (and a truckload of patience, I'm guessing!) modded a VMU so that it has a cool backlit screen. Reminds me of the Game Boy Light...only smaller, and I would probably buy one if he was making them to order as it looks fantastic when plugged into the controller. I was actually planning on doing a post about this:

Please ignore the dust on the TV. The butler hasn't been in yet.

It's a Dreamcast SD card reader I managed to acquire through a very odd series of events that I won't go into here, but after wasting a shit-load of CD-Rs and trawling various forums I still can't actually work out a) how to use it; and b) what the point of it is if you've already got 90% of the DC's game library and enough VMUs to fill a quarry. I understand it can be used to run other operating systems and games from, but to be honest I'm not really overly interested in that kind of thing...so it shall remain in my box of Dreamcast-related paraphernalia as an odd little curio, alongside the tissue holder and the jar of pickled eyeballs.

Soul 2 Soul

Ah, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. If ever there was an example of how a port should be handled, surely that game was it. If you've never played Crystal Dynamics' amazing vampire/wraith-themed adventure, then I suggest you head over to eBay posthaste and grab a copy while you still can.

Yes, Soul Reaver has a few minor issues with fogging and combat collision detection, but on the whole the surreal landscape and marvellously gothic architecture of the realm of Nosgoth (and, y'know, the awesomeness of the adventure as a whole) make for a thoroughly enjoyable little romp. And then, just when you're getting into it...the game ends on a rather abrupt note and a major cliffhanger.

And that's where the story, rather annoyingly, ends for Dreamcast owners. You see, Soul Reaver 2 was planned for release on the Dreamcast but the demise of the system meant that the game was cancelled, even though development had apparently been running alongside the PS2 version (that actually went on to be released). The reason I bring all this ancient history up, is that I've stumbled across some hitherto unseen (by me, at least) images of an early Dreamcast build of Soul Reaver 2. They all come from this Legacy of Kain tribute site, and I discovered it while I was trawling through an Assembler Games forum. Just wanted to give credit where it's due. Anyway enough waffle...here are some pictures:

We can only really speculate how complete this version of Soul Reaver 2 was at the time the plug was pulled (I'm gonna guess that it wasn't anywhere near complete), but I always think it's a little bit sad when new images surface of DC games that never made it.

Two Wheels...Good?

Well, the weather’s finally decided to behave and we in the UK have been blessed (temporarily at least) with a fairly decent few days. No grey mornings, no torrential afternoons and no evenings where you think it might be safer to move your car away from the trees that are swaying dangerously close to the telegraph pole outside the front door. Yes - this happened just a few weeks ago. Granted, our weather here in good old England isn't as severe as in some other countries, but for the past few years it has been consistently shit. But hurrah! The sun has come out and stayed out for the past week, and that can only be good for someone like me...someone who rides a motorcycle! Yes, the recent fine weather has meant that I’ve been riding the highways and byways of Northern England, taking in the sights and sounds. But this ain't no Goddamned travelogue. No, this is the Dreamcast Junkyard: the epicentre/epicenter of all things Dreamcast, depending on where you reside.

So why am I bleating on about weather and motorbikes and all sorts of other unrelated crap? Well, it’s because I got back from my most recent bike ride and suddenly realised that the Dreamcast has a whole host of two-wheeled-mode-of-transport-related titles. Well, three dedicated ones anyway. And I figured it was about damn time that I had a look at them. There’s also another game that features motorcycles, and I'll get around to that. Eventually. But before then...let us cast a critical eye on the Dreamcast’s stable of ‘proper’ bike ‘em ups...

Dot Co Dot UK

Just a very short infoburst of a post today: The Dreamcast Junkyard has yet another new URL - but this time it's www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk! The old blogspot.com / .co.uk one will still redirect here but just thought I'd make you all aware of our shiny new address.

Cheers.