Happy 9.9.99 anniversary! Check out this massive video featuring DC youtube fans!

The Dreamcast launched in America on this day 14 years ago. Blimey! A friend of mine at his Youtube channel DreamcasticChannel has just released this epic 53 minute long video where he has gathered a assortment of youtube Dreamcast fans together to give us their take on the launch and what games they enjoyed. These include SegaCDUniverse, Adam Koralik, TheGamesShed, CartridgeBros, Chipsturs, FarmhouseMedia3000, ThePractitioNERD, Ultrapro, WarriorRazor as well as both me and my mate Murry Curry from our collaboration channel LuckyHit!

Meanwhile the thing I'm planning for the anniversary is taking much longer than I was anticipating, hopefully it should be up soon. For now though you have this brilliant video above!

Tomorrow..

SEGAbits interviews Official Dreamcast Magazine's Simon Cox and Francesca Reyes, and Gamespot's former editor-in-chief Ricardo Torres

To celebrate the 50th episode of our Swingin' Report Show podcast, SEGAbits admin George and I invited three legends of video game journalism to join us for a celebration of the Dreamcast's 14th anniversary in the United States. Not to get too deep into fanboy waters, but Francesca Reyes has been a personal hero of mine when it comes to covering video games. Francesca served as a writer for the United States Official Dreamcast Magazine (ODCM for short) throughout the magazine's thirteen issue run (issue zero through twelve) and went on to become editor-in-chief for the Official Xbox Magazine.

Simon Cox is a video game magazine veteran, serving as editor-in-chief for the first seven issues of ODCM. Simon's career also includes working on EDGE, GMR, Xbox Nation (a personal favorite of mine), 1UP.com, GameQ, and NVision.

Also joining us was Ricardo Torres, who worked for CNET Gamecenter throughout the Dreamcast's lifespan and went on to be editor-in-chief of Gamespot until 2011. Ricardo had some awesome stories from the Dreamcast days and had, as Francesca points out, an amazing memory of events that occurred 14 years ago.

I could write a whole essay on the things we covered with them for the 2 hour podcast, but why spoil the fun? Give it a listen now! If you don't wish to go the YouTube route, you can download the MP3 file from the SEGAbits article or subscribe to our show on iTunes (the show will be added to iTunes soon).

A few tidbits to get you excited: Simon reveals that he named the game Rez and there is a very funny story featuring Bernie Stolar (President of SEGA of America at the time).

Tahi - The Arocean War

This project is actually pretty old news on most Dreamcast sites and forums, but it is totally new to me so I thought it may have passed quite a few others by as well. So what is it? Apparently, Tahi - The Arocean War is a new(ish) action RPG that is/was being developed for the Dreamcast by an independent outfit called Reticon Entertainment Technology. The thing that piqued my interest is that Tahi appears to be a fully 3D adventure game, using polygonal characters in an explorable environment. True, there have been several high profile indie releases for the DC over the last few years, but in the main they've been 2D shooters, 2D driving games or puzzlers. A totally new adventure title breaks this mould and I'm very intrigued to see what a late 2000s polygonal game looks like on the antiquated hardware.

I say late 2000s because all the evidence suggests that Tahi started its development cycle in 2009, but since then there appears to be very little new info on the game. I emailed the team at Reticon asking for further info but the email bounced back, and the form on the site doesn't work...so for now I guess we'll either have to wait for more info (they appear to have updated their site earlier this month so I guess there's still something going on there)...or just accept that development has halted and Tahi has gone to the great vapourware graveyard in the sky.

Here's a bit of info on the game taken from the dev's website:

Since Tahi was originally for the SEGA Dreamcast, we had physical hardware limitations --

• 200MHz - SH4
• 16MB RAM
• 700-900MB storage medium

When the project was first started in 2009, it was originally programmed procedurally as a 'guess and check' style as we explored the functionality of the Dreamcast and its limitations.  The first attempts were difficult since there was no perfect IDE to use or methods for debugging compiled code, which made (and still makes) for an extremely slow testing environment.

As the project continued, we had to stop coding the game in a procedural fashion, since the code was becoming 'too patched' to function well and the idea of an engine was brought to the table. 

The original engined titled 'ION Engine' was to pack the lower level functions into a much more abstract and easier to use and maintain source code.  

The largest challenges are that of compile testing and programming for the Dreamcast platform.  The Dreamcast has no easy 'how-to' guide to program a game for its platform other than KallistiOS, and even with KallistiOS, there is not much support available for it and how to optimize and really use the Dreamcast's features.  So programming has been a very slow and experimental process of trial and failure.

The next largest challenge for this project is man-power.  A game of this scope and size is difficult for a small team to develop, many of us have to wear 'multiple hats' during this production in order to see to certain goal completions, which does slow down a production significantly.

Here are a few images and a Youtube clip of what has been put out about the game:

On a slightly different note, The Dreamcast Junkyard seems to have vanished from Google's results if you search for us. I've looked at the settings in the Blogger dashboard and everything looks fine...so we're a bit baffled as to why this has happened. The 'Yard still pops up on Bing (all is forgiven!) and other search engines (yep, they do exist!)...so if anyone has any suggestions, be sure to let us know what you think might be the problem! Thanks.

Dreamcast on BlackBerry...Surely Not?!

OK - I'm not afraid to admit this...I am a BlackBerry user. I have a BlackBerry phone and (sigh) I also have a BlackBerry PlayBook. It's a great tablet and does everything you'd want a tablet to do...and until RIM decided they weren't going to release the new BB10 OS for it, all looked good (well, OK-ish) for the future of the device. Oh, and that picture on the left there? I took that. Cool ain't it? Such a wasted talent. Cough. But this isn't an analysis of the future of the BlackBerry brand in the face of such monolithic competition from the iPhone/iPad/Android and the other lesser alternatives. Nor is it a look at my rather limp attempts at visual metaphors (Dreamcast? on Blackberry? See?!). No - this is a little look at something I spotted on the BlackBerry World 'app store' thingy this morning. Well, less of a 'look' and more of an appeal for further information. A bit like a telethon but minus the tele or the thon. Here, look at these horrifically blurred photos (incidentally, taken with my BlackBerry phone):

Don't be fooled - BlackBerry World is nothing next to App Store

Really sorry about the quality of these photos...

For the uninitiated (I'm guessing everyone reading this), that's what BlackBerry World looks like. But look closer:

There, next to 'Hot Asian Girls'

The 'No Reviews Yet' status sets alarms ringing

WTF?! What the hell is 'Dcast Emulator'?! Now, the PlayBook is a fine device for emulating Amiga, SNES, MegaDrive and even N64 games - it does have a 1Ghz processor afterall...but emulating Dreamcast games? I'm not so sure. There's a bit of a difference between emulating Lotus 3 or Mario Kart 64 and Daytona 2001. Indeed, this particular app only displays a single screenshot on it's page and the text simply reads 'Load ROM.' Also - it costs £3.50...and as there is zero information regarding this 'Dcast Emulator' on that there Google (or Bing either, for that matter - but we don't talk about Bing), I'm a little reluctant to splash out the price of a pint of ale on what could turn out to be a static page of outdated Dreamcast 'news' from Taiwan.

So - the reason for this post then. Have you bought Dcast Emulator? Is it an actual emulator or is it just a load of rubbish? Do own a PlayBook? (I know there's at least one other PB owner out there!). Let us know in the comments box (I know that makes me sound like one of those Youtube whores who can't get enough of their own voices and/or faces. Sorry). If nothing comes up, maybe in the near future I'll take the plunge and waste £3.50 on something I know is too good to be true. But for now, the mystery of Dcast Emulator remains unsolved.

*cue X Files music*

Soulcalibur Video Test with Altona Adaptor.

Today I got a VGA to HDMI adapter!

I tried it out with my trusty Dreamcast VGA box and it worked out pretty OK.

I assumed I would have to fiddle with the scaling a bit but Soulcalibur seems to work pretty well in 1080 with no adjustments.  I am assuming this will work much better with other titles like Shenmue.

In addition to video capture this is a easy way to hook up a Dreamcast box to a TV with no VGA input.  (This is the Atlona Technologies AT-HDVIEW VGA to HDMI Scaler which is unfortunately very expensive right now.  I got it cheap on ebay.)

Unconventional Ramblings

I went to Comic Con at the weekend. It was the first time I've actually been aware of such an event happening in my immediate vicinity, so naturally I jumped at the chance to attend...and I have to admit that it was a bit of a mixed bag. I don't really know what exactly I was expecting, but I'd seen various photos and tweets over the years about Comic Con events happening in other parts of the world so I was curious...but I wasn't as blown away as I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong - from the moment I arrived at the venue I was massively impressed by the number of other attendees who had put some fantastic amounts of effort into dressing up as characters from various comics, anime and games...but the actual event itself felt like little more than a massive table top sale where traders got to peddle their wares to the game and comic-loving public at inflated prices. I did see the guy who played Vaas Montenegro in Far Cry 3, and I also purchased this rather excellent squashy, handmade monitor from Sonic (which goes quite nicely with the early 90s plush toys that I have)...but I can't help but admit that I was a little underwhelmed by the whole experience.

Beats watching Big Brother I suppose

Maybe Play Expo in October will be more up my street, as I'm definitely more of a retrogaming nut than a comic reader. That being said, I still have to give kudos to all the guys and gals who dressed up in some frankly awesome cosplay outfits.

Moving back towards something vaguely related to the Dreamcast, last weekend I managed to pick up a used Nintendo Gamecube at a boot sale for a mere £5. What's that got to do with Dreamcasting? Well, I also got a copy of Wave Race Blue Storm...and what a lovely little game it is too. This got me thinking about the Dreamcast's only entry in the jet-ski racing genre, Surf Rocket Racers. So I knocked up a little comparison video:



I fully appreciate that Wave Race is a much better looking game than Surf Rocket Racers, and they both came out in the same year (which just demonstrates the technical gulf between the 'Cast and 'Cube)...but if you take out the water effects, Wave Race doesn't look that much better than SRR...right?! I mean, just look at the character models and the jet-skis themselves, and also the trackside details and you wouldn't really think that SRR is running on hardware that is vastly inferior to Nintendo's newer Gamecube. OK, this video doesn't really do much to fight the Dreamcast's corner, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how well our favourite Sega platform holds up against the last 'proper' Nintendo machine!

I finally got my hands on an S-VHS cable for my Dreamcast last week, and I'm very impressed with the image it kicks out on my CRT television. I do have a VGA box too, but both of the LCD televisions I have still give a fairly crappy image when I use the VGA adaptor (I'm guessing a contemporary CRT computer monitor would be the best thing to use with it). In the absence of such a display device in my abode, the S-VHS is probably the best option right now, and it has the added bonus of being compatible with all of the games I have in my collection. I did receive an email from a reader called Henrique regarding a Dreamcast VGA and Scanline Generator (thanks Henrique!), but as I haven't got one I can't really vouch for the quality of the thing. Reading the posts on that forum though, it seems pretty clear that the device is pretty nifty, so maybe I'll look into acquiring one in the future.

To wrap up this spectacularly random DCJY post, here's another short(ish) Youtube video I uploaded the other day. It's just a little bit of footage from an odd version of Doom I have on a CD-R I probably mentioned ages ago: Doom Classic Collection. It's Doom 2, but with the weapon and enemy artwork from Doom64 grafted in, and the file is simply called 'Requiem.' Enjoy.

Life's A Beach

Erm...I hate to start a post in this fashion, but what the fuck is this:

Right there, under TrickStyle. The audacity...

I've just noticed that out of every single game I have, only one has the name printed right to left instead of left to right. F1 Racing Championship, why must you be different? It's not big, and it's not clever. You'll forever be in the shadow of F1 World Grand Prix 2 and pulling an attention-grabbing stunt like this will never change that. Sigh.

Anyway. The sun's still out and my garden is still dying in the unexpected summer heat. I'm not complaining, but my significant other spent quite a while planting all sorts of green, leafy stuff out in the mud and I'll be damned if I'm going to fill a jug with water and start messing about expending calories by pouring the aforementioned wet stuff onto it. In the immortal words of Ivan Drago, if he (the foliage) dies, he (the foliage) dies. Of course, I'm just joking...I'll go and throw a mug of vodka on them in a bit: there'll be Hell to pay if she gets back from her travels and the yard resembles the surface of Planet Crematoria. Gulp.

And while we're on the subject of arid, sunny locales I thought it might be fun to profile some of the Dreamcast's best beaches!

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.

Pimp My 'Cast

Chances are, if you collect retro consoles you’re likely to own at least one beige-coloured piece of hardware. And the chances are that, if you’re reading this site, you own a beige Sega console. And that beige console is more than likely a Dreamcast. How do I know this? Magic, naturally, with a slight hint of mystical intuition. One of the more common problems I’ve noticed with the hallowed Dreamcast (yes, aside from the controller port fuse blowing) is that unless you keep it in the box and only ever get it out for special occasions (you know, like Christmas or a family funeral), it will eventually start to ‘yellow.’ Yellowing is what happens to lightly coloured plastic over time, where the chemicals that make up the dye in the plastic react with UV light and begin to break down, thus giving the material a tired and well...yellow appearance. And frankly, it looks shit. Add that to all the knocks and scuffs that build up over time (over a decade now, actually), and your Dreamcast can end up looking pretty sorry.

There are several remedies to this. First, you could attempt to ‘bleach’ your system’s shell as this Youtuber demonstrates...but that malarkey looks pretty dangerous to me - and besides, caustic chemicals do not mix well with hands that constantly drop cups of tea onto new carpets. Cough.

Secondly, you could spend a small fortune on one of those replacement cases that regularly pop up on eBay for fairly reasonable prices...but are located in Venezuela and so cost £30 to ship to the UK (granted, it may be cheaper to ship if you live closer to Venezuela but damn that’s expensive shipping). The Dreamcast shell is fairly easy to take apart and remove from the internal workings, so if you don’t mind spending the equivalent of a fortnight’s worth of food shopping on shipping costs, this is a fairly good way of pimping your Dreamcast.

But there is a third remedy. Enter DCJY reader Mike. He does shit like this to Dreamcasts:

Skies of Arcadia-cast

That right there isn’t one of those console stickers you just peel off and apply to your console - it’s a full on professionally applied vinyl coating. And you can have pretty much any design you want:

Jet Set/Grind Radio-cast

How is it done? I’ll let the man himself explain:

“Basically I work for a graphics and vehicle wrapping company, wrapping everything from race cars to motorbike helmets. I actually work in the finishing department. This involves cutting vinyl graphics, laminating prints, getting race car kits etc ready to fit, mounting custom graphics to Foamex and diabond panels etc.

For wrapping the Dreamcasts I first use an HD or similar quality image - this ensures that the picture doesn't look pixelated at all or blurry when upsized to fit the console. It's then down to the printing and artwork department to retouch the image (maybe change the colours slightly, resize it, upscale it etc). The picture can then be printed on cast vinyl in one of the HP Designjet L65500 printers (which are serious bits of kit), and it then comes to my department to be 'finished,' which in this case involves laminating it with some cast Arlon laminate, then trimming and applying to the Dreamcast. 

Placement is key to making the console look cool (you don't want to have an image of say Shenmue where Ryo's face is half off the console), and once you've got placement sorted apply the graphics and heat around all the different levels of the console. Trim carefully around the lid etc to ensure the join looks good. Then it's just a case of popping any air bubbles and trimming the edges and recesses nicely.”

I think you’ll agree that these custom Dreamcasts look pretty damned sweet, and as any image can be applied using the technique detailed in Mike’s explanation, you could have the world’s only Spirit Of Speed 1937 Dreamcast. Or not.

If you’d like to have your Dreamcast transformed - hell, go crazy and get a top-down view of a Sega Saturn or Neo Geo printed on it! - drop me an email via the link in my profile and I’ll supply contact details for Mike and his factory of wonders.

Bag Influence

Here at the DCJY, we like to keep our collective fingers on the pulse. The pulse of DC gaming, naturally. But the pulse of fashion is no different - why, just yesterday I acquired a really nice pair of lime green bell-bottomed flairs and some red sequinned platform boots to go with them. I really turned heads when I popped out for some milk last night, oh yes.

I realise that not everyone out there in DC land can pull off this look, but have no fear - DCJY (well, eBay actually) is here to offer some solace:

Wonder if there's a second VMU slot?

In THREE wild colours! Woah!

Erm...

Yep - that's a backpack in the shape of a Dreamcast controller. A backpack. In the shape of a Dreamcast controller.

If only I had a spare £200 so I could add one to my (already rather debonair) outfit. I feel a Kickstarter coming on...

Head here to the eBay auction if you fancy getting one, or probably just Google 'Segakawaii' and I'm sure you'll find a reputable source.

Dreamcast 2 - Fan-made trailer

We can always dream...

Sturmwind has arrived at last! Hooray!

The wait has paid off, as my copy of the limited edition arrived this morning. Phew, I was getting worried there for a moment! Also while the box it was delivered in was a bit squashed the Sturmwind box itself was wrapped in a lot of bubble wrap and arrived safely, despite not paying out for extra special delivery and tracking. Redspotgames are still being oddly quiet on their sites, but at least I can bring you evidence that pre-orders going back to November 2011 have indeed been sent out.

Here is the full content of the box set. The game itself, a booklet listing all the bosses in the game the soundtrack and the little scale model of the spaceship. The spaceship, being a 3D printed object as far as I know feels quite odd: it's kinda fuzzy if that makes any sense. I have yet to open up and play the game yet as I am holding out until I get time to make a InsideOut unboxing and first play of the game, but I'm pretty busy this week so I can't guarantee it very soon unless I find the time to squeeze it in. Typical as I wasn't any where near as busy last week! :P

Sturmwind, Where are you?

Sturmy-sturmy-wind, where are you?

We want to play you really badly.

You're apparently out but you're still not here,

why have you gone so silent?

I have a had a lot of respect for redspotgames, there releases have also been beautifully presented and arrived without a hitch in the past, and releasing games for a dead console must be a daring and tricky process. Games like Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles and Rush Rush Rally Racing couldn't have been published better, they were professionally printed and sit next to all my official Dreamcast games proudly, helped by the fact that they were also fantastic games, and I'm sure Sturmwind is equally brilliant. 

However, the handling of Sturmwind's release has been something of a complete misfire. Redspotgames Facebook page is flooded with comments from fans still waiting for the arrival of the game. People who paid out extra for special delivery recently have not even received their tracking numbers. The worst part of all this is redspotgames have been deadly silent ever since the launch day of April the 24th. Not a single tweet, Facebook update or comment has been uttered from the company in two weeks.

Many are probably starting to think that the game does not even exist in fully printed form at this rate, and I wouldn't blame them for thinking that as since the launch there has been no evidence from redspotgames to prove as such. Whenever Hucast or NG:Dev Team release a new game, we see photos of the print run all over their Facebook and website. In this case, nothing.

It does exist, however. Here is a photo of the special edition along with a huge pile of them behind it. This photo was found on eBay, where it currently has an asking price of just over £100.There are several other buy it nows on there too that also have the game, but again for beyond the retail price.

Better yet here is an actual unboxing of the limited edition and direct gameplay footage from pinkbullets.com. This video was only uploaded yesterday however, so there is still hope yet. Play-asia also have both versions of the game up for order, though they currently have no stock of the limited edition.

So what is going on? Much like many other I pre-ordered this game back in late 2011 and they have had my money, but it sure is taking a long time to show up for anyone, compared to previous releases from redspotgames. I want a raise of hands...who actually owns it?

This is a real shame because this game looks like it could by by far and beyond the greatest indie Dreamcast game yet, and really I just wanna play it.

The Ghost Blade teaser trailer!

Wow, the Dreamcast indie game scene is on fire lately! We now have gameplay footage from an early alpha build of Hucast's The Ghost Blade. The video features stage 4 including it's boss, and apparently more videos are on the way soon. Graphics are very nice indeed, though that sea animation looks a bit funky, but that's being worked on apparently. Also there is now both regular and special editions of the game to preorder at hucast.com, with the regular edition at 32 Euros and the special edition, limited to 1000 copies, which adds a soundtrack CD and different cover art is 50 Euros. They also still have the collector's edition with the soundtrack and super play DVD for the hardcore collectors.

Sturmwind releases tomorrow, launch trailer!

The long awaited Sturmwind from Redspotgames is the second new Dreamcast game of 2013 to release, or the first if you decide not to count Dux 1.5 as a brand new game, launching tomorrow! To hype us up there is a brand new trailer above, showing levels and bosses yet seen anywhere, and it's looking incredible. Looking forward to receiving this soon and will be bringing you a video of said arrival with an unboxing of the special edition and a first impressions look, direct feed this time, none of that pointing a camera at the screen stuff!

Dux 1.5 is shipping! Unless you pledged to the ReDux kickstarter..

Hucast Games revealed today that Dux 1.5 begins shipping out tomorrow, earlier than planned, so if you pre-ordered this expect your copy in the mail soon! If you pledged enough for Redux: Dark Matters on kickstarter to get that game with this one, apparently Hucast will not be shipping Dux 1.5 until Redux is out, as they are in a bundle box set I assume. A bit of a weird snag there; anyone that pledged any amount on the kickstarter gets discounts on the hucast store on everything so in theory I could buy it now at a discount, but I already technically bought it with Redux, but I guess I can wait for them both to arrive together, although a release date for ReDux is yet to be confirmed.

Well this is unexpected.

I have just been brought to attention something quite surreal by GavvieUK on Twitter. From the British Library website:

From 6 April 2013, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge University Library and Trinity College Dublin, gained powers to archive the entire UK web, along with e-journals, e-books and other formats.

To mark the passing of the new regulations, curators and other experts from all the participating libraries chose the 100 Websites which they judge will be essential reading for future generations researching our life and times in 2013.

What has any of the above got to do with the Dreamcast Junkyard? Scroll down to near the bottom of their top 100 list of website and er...we're on it.

The Dreamcast Junkyard - Blog dedicated to the community of gamers who continue to play Dreamcast games online, despite the fact they were officially discontinued in 2002

There is only two gaming related website listed in this top 100, the other being Nintendo Life. The list is mostly made up of websites like Ebay, Twitter, Facebook and UK sites like Daily Mash, Moonpig, the official website of Stephen Hawking, the BBC and lots of political and official government websites.

...I'm quite speechless. We are even mentioned in a BBC News article about it! Um....wow.

Dux 1.5 Trailer: Release date April 22nd

Looks like our first Dreamcast game of 2013 to ready to escape into the wild, though in this case it's not an entirely new game. Much like Last Hope: Pink Bullets, Dux 1.5 is a revision of, well...Dux, which came out back in 2009, and has made changes to make the game more balanced with adjustments to various gameplay elements, bug fixes and enemy patterns, instant re-spawn instead or re-loading from a check point, a new soundtrack and 'custom controls' which I assume means you can customize anything to any button.

The good news is if you already own the original Dux you can get your hands on this new edition. I;m not entirely sure how you go about claiming one but this is mentioned on hucast.com so if you log in from there and contact them they will let you know I would imagine. Also if you pledged to the Redux kickstarter you can get a discount on anything from their store, and if you pledged enough for Redux you will get Dux 1.5 as well.

The game has been revealed to be on it's way at the end of this month, the 22nd of April, although there is still no release date for Redux as of yet. As for wherever kickstarter pledgers will get this on street date or will have to wait till Redux is out, I'm just asked Hucast about that on Twitter..

Either way when this pops through the mail I will bring you a video including side by side comparisons with the 2009 release. I was pretty darn awful at Dux, so hopefully the changes will help go towards me getting further in it! :P

1500+ subscribers on Youtube? About time I posted something!

The Dreamcast Junkyard Youtube channel has been dormant for about 9 months now, since my Gunlord inside out video, and with over 1500 subscribers still about, it's about time I updated it! So here's a quick video about all the games announced to be releasing for the Dreamcast this year, which I will be featuring on the channel as soon as they arrive in the post, starting with Sturmwind at the end of April.

For this year of new content I thought it was about time I gave the channel a new lick of paint. I updated the channel design and in the video there is a new intro featuring that Dee Cee mascot I designed a while back. I'm also thinking about something for the 15th anniversary of the Dreamcast consoles Japanese release, but it's too early to say just yet. I did leave a clue though.

Remembering Kenji Eno

Last month a gaming legend passed away. Kenji Eno is not a household name but his influence on games is massive, creating unique works that have such a unique and mysterious feel to them.

Sega fans will know him best for games like D and Enemy Zero on the Saturn and D2 on the Dreamcast. He also created Real Sound: Kaze no Regret, a game on both the Saturn and Dreamcast that was a audio only adventure, so even blind people could play it. The man was also a musician and composed tracks for Sega Rally 2.

Here is a fantastic article over at Gamasutra about his career and influence. Also, a Dreamcast fan e-mailed me an interview with Kenji Eno discussing D2, scanned from an issue of Gamersrepublic. Check it out below.

Finally here's a video review Caleb did way back in 2007 of D2.

 

Sturmwind finally has a release date: April 24th!

Redspotgames announced on their Facebook page that Sturmwind now has a release date of April 24th. I pre-ordered this such a long time ago now, so I hope the wait has been worth it! Here's the press release in all it's cheesy glory!

We are under attack: Sturmwind pilots, fall in for saving the world in April 2013!

Antritt zur Weltenrettung!

The fierce enemy‘s troops have already reached our world‘s doorsteps and we are running out of time! Our reconnaissance drones have detected 16 promising locations for our search of „Mother“, the planet of our living ancestors. 

After several development steps by Duranik and redspotgames the launch date for your mission is clear. Sturmwind pilots, your all-dominant mission will begin on April 24th 2013. All documents will be sent to you until this very date.

Fight over 20 boss enemies in 16 levels. In addition to the so-called “Award Trophy System”, there will also be an internet highscore list in which your performance can compete against each other worldwide.

Your wings of steel are now our last resort. Stay ready for further instructions. Over and out.

This release date is for both the regular and limited editions. When the limited edition arrives I will be bringing you a unboxing and first impressions video! For the mean while, there is a preview article at That Darn Pixel that recently popped up, check them out! Also make sure to visit the Redspotgames Facebook for more details of the games development.

Leona's Tricky Adventures: a new Dreamcast Kickstarter!

What's this? Another Dreamcast game project up on Kickstarter? Why yes it is! I just got e-mailed about this one a couple hours ago. Here is what Silvana had to say on the project:

"The comic-artists M.Musal/B.Samuel, game music

legend Chris Huelsbeck and also Fabian Del Priore 

helped us to create a truly beautiful, explorative

puzzle game. Dreamcast (and Amiga) is our first

target platform as a tribute to where the inspiration

came from.

Help us to fund our Kickstarter campaign - this will

also give us the chance to integrate Dreamcast support

in our Kha SDK, which will make Dreamcast development

much more accessible for everybody since we know there

are thousands of Dreamcast- and Amiga-Fans out there

who are very disappointed that their consoles are not

continued by mismanagement."

UPDATE: The Kickstarter has been cancelled, and funding for this game is now going to take place via Paypal/credit card pledges at their website at this link, although on that page the pledges are for a PC version, go to this page to pre order the Dreamcast version with a standard version for 25 Euros as well as options for all the bonus stuff including the soundtrack, t-shirts and more from the kickstarter also still available. This way they can get funding without a target amount as such and can still get the game produced. 

Take Notes

Looks like Sega just can't resist teasing us with trinkets and other Dreamcast-related paraphernalia that we'll never see in the West (well, certainly not in Europe anyway). The latest offering? Only a Dreamcast-inspired laptop:

This range of console-flavoured laptops is currently only planned for release in Japan, and the full list includes Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast-themed lids as well as a standard blue 'Sega' one. According to CVG, the machines (known as the 'Sega Note PC') will come in several different configurations (the high-end model will feature a 2.40Ghz i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 1GB of graphics memory, as well as a Blu-ray burner), and those sexual lids are interchangeable meaning you won't have to fork out four times for the whole set.

I probably won't be swapping my Macbook for one, but it'd definitely earn you a few Kudos points if you whipped one out in a lecture or a coffee shop.

Reports of a 32X-inspired external Zip drive are unconfirmed.

The Ghost Blade Announced! Neo XYX Trailer!

Hucast, while busy on the kickstarted Redux: Dark Matters, has ended up announcing another Dreamcast shooter! The Ghost Blade is a TATE style vertical shooter, so if they time it' release right we might get two at the same time, the other being Neo XYX from NG: Dev Team!

They have a deluxe special edition up for pre-order right now, which contains the game, an artbook, a soundtrack CD and a superplay DVD! It's quite pricey at 80 Euro, but a cheaper regular edition to due to be put up for pre-order soon. If you do want this one though they only have just over 100 copies left so be quick!

Going back to Neo XYX, NG:Dev Team has released a trailer of the game. I get a proper Toaplan feel from it, in particular games like Truxton, which is a-ok by me! This game is due out in June, and is up for pre-order on both limited and regular editions.

At this rate we are going to get hopefully SIX Dreamcast games this year: Sturmwind (eventually), NEO XYX, Redux: Dark Matters, DUX 1.5 and Pier Solar! Phew!

Bitsocket celebrates #DCember, reviews project Justice

Bitsocket, an excellent Youtube gaming show if you haven't seen it already, has started a Dreamcast themed month on their channel (or half a month I guess) called #DCember (now why had I never thought of that one?) and have kicked it off with a review of Project Justice: Rival Schools 2, a proper underrated Capcom fighter that is still only available on the Dreamcast today. With any luck we will see more Dreamcast love from them throughout the month!

EDIT: Turns out #DCember was kicked off by the blog Midnight Resistance, who have a whole bunch of Dreamcast related articles you should check out here. They talk about Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Virtua Tennis 2, Soul Calibur and Confidential Mission.

Gunlord named game of the year by Classic Game Room

Mark of Classic Game Room has named indie Dreamcast game Gunlord the game of the year! Check out the video above to see an increasingly drunken Mark go through his list of favorite games before deciding that the Dreamcast is still very much alive. Was it the beer? The SEGA fan in him? Who knows. But the DCJY salutes Classic Game Room!

Missed Out On The Pier Solar Kickstarter? Don't Worry!

If you weren't able to get to the kickstarter in time but still want a copy of Pier Solar for the Dreamcast then you are in luck!

Watermelon Co. is selling preorders for the regular edition of the Dreamcast version on their website (scheduled to be released 5/13).

http://www.magicalgamefactory.com/en/factory/shop/

Pier Solar Dreamcast Game Fully Funded!

Watermelon's kickstarter has been fully funded!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/573261866/pier-solar-hd-an-rpg-for-xbox360-pc-mac-linux-and

There WILL be a new Dreamcast RPG!

Huzzah!

More details about stretch goals will be coming out tomorrow.

I'll never be able to look at a Dreamcast controller the same way again..

To most people, this photo above is just a Dreamcast controller. To those who have been playing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which just released on the PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii U recently, and has played that game quite far in, it probably means a extra bit more.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, and do not mind being spoiled probably the coolest unlockable in a Sega game for about a decade, and also need a solid piece of evidence why you as a Sega fan must own this game, check out the video after the jump..

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Zeit Geist

If you've looked at the comments for the previous post, there's a chance you've already copied and pasted the link to the following Youtube video. If you haven't, then get ready for a rather thorough analysis of the recently released (and unfinished) Geist Force. The Gagaman(n) did a post on the subject of this lost gem not too long ago, but I think the more exposure this newly released beta gets, the better. Geist Force is a game that really intrigued me when I saw it previewed in the games mags of the era - who wouldn't have wanted to see a Lylat Wars/Star Wing type game running on the brand spanking new Dreamcast hardware?

A reader by the name of DCeric has put together this rather cool video examining the various unfinished stages that make up Geist Force, and also looks at some of the debug levels that exist. Enjoy.

Dedication & Aberration

As I may have mentioned in some recent posts, the level of enthusiasm displayed by most of the Dreamcast community never ceases to amaze me. Even now, in 2012, there are multiple hand-helds, console mods and emulators popping up all the time, and the level of commitment to our favourite defunct system should be championed. To illustrate my point, I was recently (well, not that recently actually...I completely forgot to post about this but hopefully this will make amends) contacted by a DCJY reader known only as 'Aaron' who has, rather impressively, designed and built his very own bespoke DC arcade cabinet. Wanna see? Boom:



How awesome is that? According to it's talented creator, the unit is 47" tall and has a 17" LCD monitor strapped in. Aaron - the DCJY salutes the fruits of your labour...which was clearly actual labour, and not just clicking around on eBay after one too many beers as I am want to do on many a cold, lonely winter evening. Sigh.

On the subject of eBay and display cabinets, I have noticed quite a number of them popping up for auction - you know, the ones they used to have in GAME and EB back when the DC was en vogue? Weird coincidence or blood curdling conspiracy? You decide.

I finally saw the Angry Video Game Nerd movie trailer last night. Urgh. To use his own phrase against him: what was he thinking? I'm not gonna lie - it looks terrible. I think James Rolfe's AVGN reviews are fucking legendary and I was intrigued by the notion of a movie about the character...but just viewing the trailer made me slightly sad. What's with the stupid aliens and zombies and cliched army shit? Why couldn't it just have been a Napoleon Dynamite-esque tale of a nerd who loves talking shit about games in his basement? I realise the amount of work that must've gone into it, and that the whole project was funded by donations...but is this really what those fans who pledged money really wanted to see? More importantly, can the AVGN ever recover from this:


Again...you decide.

Art (Spin) Attack

Ever fancied owning a piece of game art? A hand-drawn portrait of Super Magnetic Neo perhaps? Or what about an original oil on canvas rendition of a scene from Crazy Taxi? Eh? Well, if you have - your luck is in. Well, sort of. Before anyone beats me to it, yes, I stole this story off the BBC News website, and to be fair it's only very weakly linked to anything to do with the Dreamcast...but the feature's title is Sonic and Lara: Video game concept art sold for charity, so I guess it's relevant. If you can't already guess from the aforementioned headline, there's going to be an auction of gaming concept art held at (well, after) the London Games Festival Art Exhibition. Here's one of the Sonic concept sketches that's up for auction:

Framed and signed by Yuji Uekawa. This'd look good in anyone's living room.

The range of stuff up for sale is pretty impressive, and covers all genres and platforms - the Arkham City stuff is particularly good, although not all of the art up for sale is of such a high standard: be warned Moshi Monsters do feature. From what I can tell from the website, the actual exhibition is over - they're just auctioning off the art in batches now. Be interesting to see what the Sonic art goes for. Might even make a bid myself, even more so if it's at £1.78 with 30 seconds to go. Ebay skills, don't fail me now!

Let's get back up to speed! News! News! News!

Yikes, looks like the Junkyard of Dreamcast has started gathering dust and there has been quite a bit of Dreamcast news lately! Apologies on my part for having seen said news but not having time to type it all up here, time for a catch up!

For starters: Oh hey two new Dreamcast games were announced recently! First off is the latest from our friends at NG:DEV TEAM.. NEO XYX!

This will be a TATE scrolling shooter, with six stages and bosses, and like all their other games will be appearing on both Neo Geo and Dreamcast! There is only one, off screen teaser video of the game which you can check out below.

Pesonally I can't get enough of these classic style scrolling shooters, but I can imagine some people would want something different from the indie Dreamcast scene once in a while, so how about an RPG?

Those in the Sega fandom may of already heard of Pier Solar: it was the most ambitious indie effort on the Mega Drive/Genesis, a huge classic style RPG that was sold in very limited supply and now goes for three figure prices. Well Watermelon Co. have set up a kickstarter for a HD remake, which they plan to release on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox Live Arcade and, most excitedly for us...the Dreamcast!

The graphics are being redone in high definition and while the Dreamcast is obviously not a HD console (by todays standards anyway), that version will be getting the same new graphics at 480p with VGA support. The disc will also include the original Mega Drive version too for those who missed out on the original (like me) and love the sprite art!

With 22 days to go the kickstarter is already 64% of the way and if you want to grab this game for your Dreamcast a $49 pledge will get you the standard edition, available in any Dreamcast region style packaging you choose to match up (PAL, US or Japan) with your shelf of games, and a $125 pledge will get you a collectors edition full of extra goodies in a big box set!

So er...how about those games still due? In the case of ReDux: Dark Matters, the other Dreamcast game that debuted on Kickstarter: it is apparently almost complete. According to the twitter account, anyway.

As for Sturmwind? Hmm, well, Redspotgames have not updated us about the status of that game since June, where they have a big Q&A about why the game is so delayed and the complications that have caused it's current 'TBA' date. It's a tad frustrating, but looking forward to the game when it's eventally released none the less. I just hope they update us on this soon.

UPDATE: According to Duranik's Facebook page the release date should be revealed in a few days as they are currently in the pre production test run. There is a new preview about the game here.