X-box Live arcade gets some updated Dreamcast goodness.

See that picture?

The cat represents the X-box 360.

The corn represents Dreamcast games like Rez and Ikaruga.

As you can see the X-box 360 is really enjoying the Dreamcast goodness. And I am sure gamers will too.

...Ok fine. I just wanted an excuse to post that .gif. But really a HD edition of Rez and an updated version of Ikaruga are being released on X-box Live. Rejoice.

-Articles linked from Kotaku.

EDIT: Racketboy has a much better article up about this that I somehow missed before. Go. Read. It.

Btw: One of these games (Rez) was mentioned in an article that Gagaman(n) wrote awhile back. Of course he said it should be remade for the Wii, not the 360. Still I think 1/2 points should be awarded.

9-9-99...was yesterday.

It seems me of all people forgot what yesterday was! Only the 8th anniversary of the Dreamcast's American launch! Of course, I won't be celebrating till October 14th, when it was launched in the UK, but this is the day many people class as the Dreamcast Birthday, even though it was out in Japan in November of 1998, which makes it NINE years old for those guys. Just a reminder of how good the American launch line up was though, which we'll probably end up doing every year. I found this rather helpful guide which even has the average scores for each game, from the blog Modern Geek.

Aerowings	69
Airforce Delta	65
Blue Stinger	71
CART - Flag to Flag	64
Expendable	61
House of the Dead	78
Hydro Thunder	80
Monaco Grand Prix	70
Mortal Kombat Gold	55
NFL 2K	91
NFL Blitz 2000	80
PenPen TriIcelon	64
Power Stone	84
Ready 2 Rumble	84
Sonic Adventure	87
Soul Calibur	97
TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat	60
Tokyo Xtreme Racer	71
Trickstyle	72

Average:	73.8
Top 5:	88.6
# of games scoring 80%+:	7
Number of games:	19

That's the officially proven best launch line up for any console...ever. The Japanese launch in comparison was pathetic. It had everything: sports games that sell like hot cakes and were actually good, the best fighting game of all time, and Sonic the god dam Hedgehog. If that's not evidence that there is something wrong with A) the gaming industry and/or B) the general public when a console with a day one line up like that still manages to be a commercial flop. Still, there's no point crying over it (really, there isn't), all the more great gaming for us real gamers who saw a good thing when it happened.

I must admit the Dreamcast has taken a bit of a back seat in my house recently. In the last 2 weeks I've blown quite a bit of money on three other systems: a GP2X (homebrew handheld that can play of emulated stuff, which is ace), and most ironically both a Playstation 2 (great deal: sliver slim model with 14 games and a bunch of other stuff for £55) and an X-Box (with 3 games and a Crazy Taxi like yellow and red sticker-job that is not as tacky as it sounds for £20). This doesn't mean I've forgotten about my all time favorite system though: while buying a accessory for my GP2X at Play Asia I also decided to purchase Last Hope, which is currently being sold for just £15 there. Redspot Games deserve all the money they can get for supporting the Dreamcast all these years later.

At this time of celebration though, Sega have ecided to remind us that they are soon to stop supporting the Dreamcast for good by cancelling their repairing service. This is Sega, who we have all seen plummet ever since they quit making games for the DC, hammering the final nail into the coffin.



But remember, the Dreamcast is an UNDEAD console. It will punch it's way out of that coffin Kill Bill Vol.2 style and eat the flesh of all the Sega execs that did it wrong! The Dreamcast is a reminder of what Sega used to be about, before they became about nothing but rushed-out-the-door Sonic games and movie licenses. This was Sega at their creative peak, and a golden era for gaming. Gaming hasn't been quite as exciting since.

Ok, so it may be a day late, but there's my little tribute. I'll finish it off with a probably rather obvious Youtube embodiment...

Dreamcast Hangover.

I am feeling a bit blue this morning.

You see I was celebrating the Dreamcast's birthday last night with a few rounds on the off-white box.

Yep. In North America 9-9-99 only meant one thing...the Dreamcast (and stocking up on canned goods and bottled water for no good reason *Y2K*). And now so many years later the Dreamcast is still a wonderful gaming device enjoyed by many.

Yet this auspicious occasion was marred by this article that reminds us of of the sad truth that soon Sega will no longer support it's greatest creation. You should still read that Kotaku article though, the comments people listed below it are a testament to how great the Dreamcast truly is.

So go to Sega's website while you can if you need to grab a manual for the Dreamcast or a Sega Dreamcast game (Scroll down to the bottom of the manual's page). Or consider sending in your Dreamcast in to Sega to be fixed if it's a limited edition one.

I currently have 4 Dreamcast's in the house. One mint condition one hooked up to my VGA adaptor at my computer desk. My Sega Sports limited edition is in secure storage in my closet. Down cellar I have Dreamcast that has been professional repaired and a beater Dreamcast that I use the most. The only thing that has ever gone wrong with any of them was the control board blowing up the F1 fuse in my beater model. But a quick fix and that Dreamcast is still going strong. If you make sure that they are on a cool hard none-carpeted surface Dreamcast consoles can keep working for a long time... But it would be nice if I could send in my Dreamcasts to Sega to get professionally repaired after this month is over. Too bad.

Still it's not all bad news. While I was at a game store recently a young gamer who looked about 14 years old was buying Dreamcast games. I heard him tell the store clerk that he had only recently got a Dreamcast and that it was his favorite console. It's nice to know that the system keeps getting new fans even as Sega keeps trying to pull the plug on it.

But Sega can't end the Dreamcast. It has a life of it's own and it will never die.

All hail the undead console. All hail the Dreamcast.

Dreamcast Game Price Drop...

I've already posted about this over at the Saturn Junkyard, but I'm a little traumatised by recent events over at Gamestation. To cut a long story short, previously Retro friendly Gamestation, has been bought out by Blockbuster and the much blander Game... The high street stores are now owned by Game and the ones nestled in the back of Blockbuster video stores have been bought out by Blockbuster...

Now, my local Gamestation was one in the back of a Blockbuster. It holds many happy memories for me, it's where I collected most of my Dreamcast software. Its where I bought Shenmue 2, when I knew nothing about it, only to be entranced by it for the following year.

It's where I picked up my Dreamcast steering wheel, keyboards, light guns and mouse... where I bought my replacement Saturn when the last one conked out, where I bought my entire Master System software collection and my Game Gear. Its been the mainstay of my expansive video game collection and a place I knew I could always go to browse and maybe score the odd bargain.

Now I know that Caleb recently scored an extensive Dreamcast haul from a major US videogame emporium that had claimed for years it didn't stock Dreamcast stuff. But what I saw on my last visit to 'my' Gamestation, that this place was now dead as a source of Retro Treasures. For there, in a lowly basket was every last piece of Retro kit that the shop had, just dumped and with prices slashed for a quick sale... No dignity, no display, just a random skip full of Dreamcast, Saturn, Megadrive, Gameboy software etc... Had you walked into the store a couple of months before, you would have seen a 'Dreamcast section' and occasionally amongst the mass of WWF games, the plethora of Chu Chu Rockets, the score of Tee Off Golfs and the host of Soul Fighters, you could pick up a pearl...

So what was in the basket then? Well uniformly priced at £1.99 was the following selection...

Loads of Virtua Striker 2, Pod Racing, Virtua Athlete 2K, Aerowings, Sega Bass Fishing, Tomb Raider: Last Revelation... But these weren't always in there boxes... Some were bundled in a plastic sleeve with an elastic bands wrapped round them... One of the interesting items was Aerowings at £1.99... In June that would have cost you £9.99... Now they have decided it is worth £8 less... Go figure!

Now I had been told by the shop's staff that Retro section would still be a feature, but when I saw the devestation layed before me, I was forced to ask what the future of Retro gaming at Blockbuster would be... The answer was that there would not be one... and for me that's just sad.

Sure there's Ebay... we can always go online and boost our collections... But for me personally that's not the same as going into a shop, checking out and thumbing through the selection and walking away with a much coveted title or a piece of hardware... For me it's the end of an era, and another nail in the coffin for our favourite undead console...

Even more worrying, is the fact that a similar fate has befallen the Dreamcast (and Saturn) at Chips, a smaller independent franchise, that previously boasted a Dreamcast and Saturn section, has now moved the games to a Retro cabinet, locked behind glass and unavailable for 'hands on' perusal... That means that in my town, there is no longer a shop where I can pick up Dreamcast goodies... And that's bad...

I know that both Tomleecee and The Gagaman(n) have enjoyed the bounties of Gamestation, but it seems that our shared experience is coming to a close... Let's kick a 40 oz to the curb in honour of our fallen hero... On a positive note, (I always look for a positive spin to any negative situation) on my last visit to Chips, I got a burnt copy of 'Rival Schools' from the nice guy behind the counter, in exchange for the burnt copy of Ikaruga that I gave him a few months before...

So its all good! This is Father Krishna signing out, and saying "Goodnight Children, Wherever You Are..."

You cannot kill that which is undead. (New Dreamcast games in 2008)

You heard the news.

New Dreamcast games are coming.

Oh yes they are coming!

Wind and Water (with extra Dreamcast version content)

and

Dalforce - A vertical SHUMP....*Surprize*... (No link yet)

Info garnered from:

ArcadeRenaissance

Sega Nerds

Kotaku

Awesome art and video - Shenmue - I'm still waiting

What a cool mural! And the music was from the "Beats of Rage" Dreamcast homebrew game.



Dreamcast fans are the coolest.

Long live the undead console.

Another Game using the Fishing Controller!

Despite not being able to read most of it, Sega Support Site is a very handy resource site with a lot of screen shots of unusual Japanese Dreamcast games (including the dodgy hentai games, so this site isn't completely work safe) and all sorts of other bits and bobs. On my weekly trek of anything with the keyword "Dreamcast" on Youtube I discovered this video that links back to the website, a video of yet another game being played with the fishing controller! Can you guess what other game could possibly use the motion sensing of the Fishing controller? How about the little known Japanese fighter Psychic Force 2012? Yeah, bet you didn't see that coming! To be honest, neither did I, so as soon as I saw the video I went to give it a shot for myself.

Going straight into the game won't give you any results though; you have to tinker a bit with the control settings first. All you have to do is Set the L Trigger to "Light Attack" and the R Trigger to "Strong Attack" and you're all set! Seeing as the motion sensors in the fisher replace those buttons, it makes perfect sense really.

So how does it work? Well, it's not in par with Soul Calibur and Virtua Tennis, that's for sure. In fact, where those games almost felt like proper Wii games (though not quite), this feels more like one of those lazy PS2 ports with rubbish "waggle" controls slapped on. Nothing that you do really translates into the game properly, and it doesn't seem to make a difference which direction you shake the thing, they'll always do the same attacks (of which they're not many in this game anyway). Just about the most satisfaction you'll get from this is swinging to throw projectiles. So I wouldn't exactly go out of my way to buy this game just for the motion controls if I were you, but it's interesting to see another game working none the less.

(Oh yeah, and on the front page of Sega Support Site at the moment is a hell nice Chu Chu Rocket port for the...Mega Drive! Yeah, I'm not kidding! Download the demo ROM and stick it through Gens. Also, here's a link to the website for the new follow up to Dynamite Cop that has just been released in Japanese arcades. Just because.)

Your Dreamcast is still alive *art*

Your Dreamcast is still alive by ~BiBiLeTanuki on deviantART

Sweet Dreamcast art from BiBiLeTanuki (aka Blinky).

I don't know if this has been featured before but I wanted to share it because it was so sweet. Once again it proves how inspiring and artful the Dreamcast can be.

Truly, the Dreamcast is still alive!

Now...say it with me...

ALL HAIL THE UNDEAD CONSOLE!
ALL HAIL THE DREAMCAST!

Playstation controllers...on my Dreamcast?

It's strange enough that I often buy cheap Playstation games from car boot sales, just so I can test them out using the Bleem beta, and end up sticking to playing them though it (despite the glitches you often have to put up with), when I actually own a Playstation which cost me a measly 5 quid that just sits there waiting to be used, but now I've gone and got me one of these:

I found this on Ebay with a Buy it now of £8, but it also had a "Make Offer" option. I made an offer of £5 and it was accepted, which is nice. They don't often show up on there, but Play Asia sell a few different ones (that look to be a bit better) for about £12 a piece, including one that lets you use Saturn controllers on your Dreamcast. Very handy if you've got, say, the rare Saturn Twin Sticks for Virtual On but don't want to buy the also very rare Dreamcast twin sticks for Virtual On 2. Unlike most of their Dreamcast stuff, they still have these in stock.

Anyway, this one I got is a "Mullennium 2000 (yes, it's actually spelt like that) Magic Converter" that rather poorly states on the back of the package: "Connects DreamCast, PSX controller, your TV as shown. Watch when you want to watch! Play when you want to play!" (What?) It was being sent all the way from Hungary, so it took a little while to arrive (not helped by the Post Office strike we had last week.) but it came through the post as I was chomping on some Corn on the Cob about 12 today.

As the packaging illustrates, you can use a standard PSone Dual Shock, along with a Playstation Steering wheel, of which there is a switch to go between the two (along with a DC plug adaptor hole. Did the PSone steering wheels need a separate plug?) I only have one Playstation controller on me (the one that came with my PSone) so this is all I have tried on it so far. I'll be sure to pick up some cheap bits and bobs to also try on it as well, though.

All the Dreamcast buttons are mapped to the a like parts on the PSone controller, with the left analogue stick on a Dual Shock becoming the analogue control. L2, R2 and the right analogue are not used for anything. I'm not sure if these buttons will function when playing a PSX game via Bleem, though, so I'll have to check that out.

Advantages:

* For many, the Playstation controllers are generally more comfortable than the Dreamcast ones, especially thanks to the nicer buttons and analogues. personally I'm still not used to the shape of these controllers, but after playing Soul Calibur with it for a while I'm growing to like it.

* The button layout is more or less the same (except the D-pad and Analogue being swapped) so playing Dreamcast games with it shouldn't disorientate you (the ultimate test for this will be Crazy Taxi, though, as I have that game down to a art, not even having to remember what button does what).

* Makes playing Playstation games through Bleem a lot easier. Parappa the Rapper with Bleem for example was impossible for me because even with the PSX controller I haven't quite figured out where each shape named button are (seriously, what was they thinking when they named the buttons triangle, square, circle and X?). You can tell I've rarely ever played on a Playstation before can't you?

* The rumble in the Dual Shock will work with rumble pack compatible Dreamcast games, which is nice.

* If you have a mate around for a multiplayer session who is more used to Playstation controllers than Dreamcast ones, than they'll feel right at home if you give them this. Mind you, do you really want to give them an advantage?

* Instead of forking out on a Japanese DC Dance mat, you could pick up a cheap Playstation one for a couple quid and plug that in instead. I'm not too sure how compatible other PSX accessories are with this particular one I have is though, I'll get back to you on that one.

* You could also pick up a better steering wheel. The Dreamcast didn't have many of these but the Playstation had bloody hundreds of them.

Disadvantages:

* For Dreamcast games, you're gonna have to stick a DC controller in the 2nd port for your memory card much like you would with the Fishing controller, which is a pain when some games can't even read the memory card from the 2nd port.

* This is more a snag with the Dual Shock itself: having to keep turning the analogue stick on. It has a habit of turning itself off in loading screens too, which can be a tad annoying.

* No light gun compatibility. Bleem Time Crisis with the gun is still a no no then.

* According to the packaging, when using a Steering wheel the Brake and Accel triggers are reversed for some reason. I can imagine this being a bit bizarre.

Phew, that's a long post. I presume the "Total Control" converters at Play Asia are better than this cheap one I have, but so far it's doing it's job nicely.

Sega’s new console to be powered by the crushed dreams and tears of Sega fans?

Sega is making remakes and sequels to awesome Dreamcast games!!!!

Sega is NOT making remakes and sequels to awesome Dreamcast games.

In an impressive “fake out” someone released a huge list of beautiful lies. Beautiful beautiful lies…

Of course it was false.

My only hope is that this display of the average Sega fan’s ability to create hope and then have that hope dramatically ground into the dirt will show that Sega can indeed create a console that can be powered by sadness and longing…

...so much sadness and longing. I need to go home, listen to emo music and hug my Dreamcast.

(I was just kidding about that last line.)

Media Monday! House of the Dead 2

A quick little media clip to brighten your day. Using the grenade launcher in House of the Dead 2 doesn't make saving victims easier, but combined with the rotten meat/big head mode it can be very entertaining.



Makes me want to pull out my HoD2 disk and "Suffer like G did" all over again.

The Greatest Story Ever Told...

I'm sure this title was originally reserved for the film version of the birth of Christ, but I'd beg to differ... For me its the story of Ryo Hazuki, and the murder of his father, you know the day the rain turned to snow...

I'm fairly sure there has never been a proper Shenmue 2 post here on the 'Yard, so here goes....Where do I start? Let me tell you about my own Shenmue 2 experience... I knew nothing about this game, nothing! I walked into Gamestation, looking for the usual £2.50 Dreamcast bargain and saw a title that warranted the price tag of £25.00... It was a double disc title as well. OK the price hinted at something big, and the two disc package hinted at something epic...

And epic it was! This game has probably consumed more of my life than any other! As I tentatively placed the first disc into my Dreamcast, I was greeted by a glorious visual feast... Something akin to a movie, with titles, the name Yu Suzuki attached to it, and a boy, on a ship sailing towards Hong Kong...

And so it started, off the boat, there were the most beautifully bedecked characters... Every person was dressed in beautiful silks... The lines on their faces, so fabulously rendered, speaking in unintelligible Japanese... (That sounded so right, with its subtitles...)

And so it continued... Graphically, this game still outstrips Red Steel, the Wii launch title (and why shouldn't it?) This is the most expensive game in developers history! AM2 seriously depleted Sega's budget producing this game! But lets get back to Ryo's journey...

As you wander round Hong Kong, you're gonna have your bag stolen by those pesky Heavens gang... But your bag contains that all important mirror so central in unravelling the mystery of your father's death? So you're gonna have to get it back by executing some VF3 fighting moves... (apart from the wandering round, you'll have to fight enemies and competitors on a regular basis and as you fight your repertoire of killer moves increases!) The story unfolds beautifully, as you pick up clues and explore your environment talking to key characters...

The timescale of Shenmue, is in real time, you're affected by the weather, your finacial responsibilities and so on.... You'll have to find lodgings, employment or gamble to make money and there can be a lot of waiting round! But you can just go and explore every, barber shop, temple, warehouse building, cafe and caged bird shop you want to!

That's the great thing about Shenmue! it rains, its sunny! Wanna kill some time? Go and work at the docks shifting crates! Go and play gambling 'Lucky Hit' games, or just waste some cash down at the arcade playing 'After Burner', 'Super Hang On' or 'Outrun' (all previous AM2 titles) which are secreted within the game...

The people that populate the Shenmue world are all interactive - by that I mean they will all talk to you (some are helpful in your quest, some indifferent and some hostile). The game unfolds at a very gentle pace and will take lierally days to complete. I'd highly reccomend a walkthrough, as the game can be frustrating if you get stuck with unravelling part of the plot... There's one here if you need it... Without a walkthrough you might miss the hidden treasures like the ever beguiling duck race (you can find your own racing duck within the grounds of the Man Mo Temple, but where do you race it????)

The characters you meet are fabulous - Shenhua Ling, Joy, Ren Of Heavens, Lan Di, Xiyung Hong - check them out here...

The game just gets you hooked and there is the first title (the very badly voice acted Shenmue) to play afterwards! And that's the way it was for me! I played them back to front, playing Shenmue 1 second. It's great, but the terrible wooden English voice acting make it a much leser experience... The world you can explore is considerably smaller, and the colours less vibrant. If you're only going to play one title, make sure its Shenmue 2...

The story unfolds, you've got to find out about those creeps that killed your Dad right? You'll find yourself hooked into the drama that connects you with a story that exists within China and Japan, Yakuza, gangs, Buddhism and Taoism...

As you span those two discs, you'll uncover fighting moves, mystery, spirituality and more...

I could spout on forever about the wonder of this game, but the greatest way to experience it is to play it yourself! Oh and the QTE's (or Quick Time Events) see you mash buttons at crucial moments, in response to the game's demands... Allowing cinematic events to unfurl before you if you're quick enough to meet their demands...

And the side/mini games/activities such as collecting bargainable capsule toys... Wonderful! Spend your hard earned dollars on capsule toy collections, and you'll have money to spend when you really need it! Just go to a pawn (not pr0n) shop and you'll be quids in!

The game never reached the US, being released in Europe and Japan only, but it did re-emerge on the XBox, bundled with a DVD of the story of the first Shenmue, allowing those who had never played the first title, so they would be up to speed when Ryo stepped off the boat... Sadly there never has been a conclusion to the story, no Shenmue 3. Reputedly in full development, the theory goes that it would be fincially disastrous to release and promote it, just bad economic sense... Despite the hopes of Shenmue addicts like myself, it's unlikely it will ever see the light of day. One thing is for certain, if it came out on the Xbox 360 or PS3, it would see me getting one on the day of its release!

I'm waffling a bit, so I suggest you check out a proper review here, here, here and here... Oh and for every Shenmue resource you'll ever need look here...

Shenmue trailer
Uploaded by kain91

Publicité Shenmue us
Uploaded by kain91

RUMMAGE: 18 Wheeler

Seesh, I've made 3 of these video reviews this week now. Anyone would think I have nothing better to do! Well, I do, but I can't be arsed to finish that animation I have sitting in the almost-ready-but-still-gonna-take-a-lot-of-work stage, so here's another Rummage installment for Sega's 18 Wheeler. Enjoy, and remember: "When you're hot you're hot baby!"

Dreamcast Collections To Die For, as seen on Sega's Flickr

As you may or may not have seen (it was recently linked to at UK:R) Sega now has an official Flickr account where they store everything that fans have submitted to them. Amongst all the collections of Sonic stuff, dodgy Photoshop jobs and creepy costumes are the odd pictures of some nuts collectors huge arse Dreamcast collections that will make you piss yourself. Examples!

This Casper Egas guy has with room filling lump of blue-cased British games, possibly every single one they released. Gulp! Mind you, I can see "Beat of rage" in a blue case there, and that's a homebrew game so er...I'm slightly suspicious. Still, very impressive if owning everything is your thing (I'd rather just own the games that didn't suck, myself).

While there was only about 250 (only?) games released in Europe, no one really knows how many japan got, but it has been estimated at around 600. Now I doubt anyone out there owns all of these, Stefano Biancuzzi is certainly getting there with this lot! Unfortunately it's impossible to see what any of these games are, but I'm guessing those ones in DVD cases on the end are the likes of Under Defeat, Trigger Heart Exthingymajig and SegaGaga. Git. Soeaking of which, how come so many people on that site have the SegaGaga box set? Bastards with their money!

They still have the photos I sent to them some while ago, too, which is nice. It's pretty out of date, though!

Now if only the Post Office will stop having a pissing Strike, I have a lot of stuff in the mail from Ebay I'm waiting for here! Oh, and another Rummage video will hopefully be up later tonight!

Excellent Dreamcast find in major video game retailer.

Note: First off, this little post is about the American game store "Gamestop". However, many of video game chains in Europe have been recently making similar mistakes of not stocking Dreamcast material. Therefore this article can be helpful to anyone. I am sure that anyone who has tried to shop for retro video games has encountered a similar situation (what with the "new gen" crap they have been trying to foist upon gamers).


GameStop.


Stop lying to consumers.


I have asked MANY different branches if they had any Dreamcast stuff left and they all pretty much had the same answer.

"No. Gamestop does not carry any retro games."

"None of our stores have any Dreamcast stuff left."

"There is no store that we sent all our older video games to."

I recently found out this was not true. There ARE some stores that have been sent Dreamcast stuff. I have no idea why gamestop employees wouldn't tell me this. Maybe they just didn't know because:

1. - Managers in local stores want you to shop in their store, not someone else's.

2. - Corporate leaders decided that nobody cares about Dreamcast stuff and didn't bother telling local area stores that certain stores do still carry retro stuff.

3. - There is such poor communication between stores that nobody really knows what the other store have in stock.

Now I have been to Gamestops and EBgames (same corporation) in most of the major cities in Northern and Central NY. Most of them do not have Dreamcast stuff. Every once in awhile they will have some VMU's and the occasional controller. However one store in Syracuse, NY DOES have Dreamcast stuff. ALOT of Dreamcast stuff. A whole damn shelf full. And I got a bunch of it last weekend.

Three bags full! (not all of this was Dreamcast, but the bulk of it was)

The haul included 3 Dreamcast fishing controllers!!!! Only one was first party but the "fission" controllers from Interact work quite nicely.



In addition I got a crapload of VMUS for .25 cents each. Including colored VMUs and the extra memory one. How much is this stuff selling for on Sega parts? New for $29.99???

The best part about all this is that I got all this stuff for less than $20.00. 75% off everything. The manager was happy to clear out shelf space.

This is YEARS after Gamestop stopped selling Dreamcast stuff. So for my European friends who are going through the painful process of Dreamcast merch being pulled off major chain store's shelves, take heart.

It's always worth asking the clerks if they happen to have any Dreamcast stuff left in stock. Or at least to try to ask if any local stores have any backstock of retro video games. You may get lucky.

In other news I managed to snag an Interact lightgun in another store (Game Craze). It's in good shape and it's HUGE. It's really one of the coolest lightguns I have ever used. Of course this the brand that is famous for breaking easily so I am gonna keep my Madcatz brand dual pistols for casual HOD2 or Death Crimson OX blasting (US brand lightguns work with Death Crimson OX...) It's good to know that some stores still support retro gaming and we should all try to support them as much as possible.

RUMMAGE: PenPen

Another installment of RUMMAGE already? I'm on a roll here so why not? This 2nd video review is of the oddball kids racer PenPen, a lanuch title with great cartoon-y graphics and simple game play. I'm kind of ripping off Screw Attack's Video game Vault feature with these, aren't I? Oh well!

RUMMAGE: New DCJY Video Review Series!

Here's a new feature for the Dreamcast Junkyard video accounts I've been planning for some time, and have finally got around to starting off. Rummage, as I've decided to call it, is a new series of video reviews, starting off with this one about the ape shit shooter Bangai-O, by those fantastic chaps at Treasure. This is my first time doing this so it's a little rough around the edges, but we all start somewhere! I have 2 more currently W.I.P and many more planned, and as soon as I make them, you guys will be first to know!