Advantages of DUX delays

Taken from the DUX blog:



"Given DUX is receiving many delays since its first release date announced at april 2008, I'd like to explain a bit how these delays have been occurred and how its all for the good of the game.



Originally DUX has been intended just to be side-project with only 5 stages and simple scoring system. During the development our quality bar to meet has been increased from time to time, so upgrading and expanding is what we're using the delays for. Now the game is a full-scale project with 6 instead 5 stages. Additionally, most stages are longer and featuring way more enemy types then before. The game also now features a more advanced scoring system, given the bullet soaking ability of your pod. The difficulty settings are more balanced as well, to make the game a fair but still challenging experience. All in all the game has a lot of advantages from its extra time given, which is of course a good thing for players.



To give an exact release date is currently hardly possible, because this depends on very hard to estimate factors. From now on I'll report how thing going with the release of this game once a week, so more on this in the next week."


I am actually pretty excited about this one chaps...

Let's Play Dynamite Cop!

I don't know if anyone here keeps an eye on my personal youtube account, but I've been doing rather a lot of play throughs of games lately, mainly of Mega Drive and arcade games (because they're nice and easy to emulate), and my latest one is of one of my favorite Dreamcast games Dynamite Cop. It's not the Dreamcast version being played, rather the original arcade Model 2 version on the rather excellent M2 emulator, but it's nigh on identical to the Dreamcast one bar the cut scenes not being pre rendered (and as you'll see, the emulation for these parts isn't quite perfect yet). Either way, if you ever wanted to watch someone laugh and shout at one of the silliest games on the Dreamcast here you go! The first part is below, click here to find the rest of the videos (of which there will be a total of 8 of by tomorrow).


Pippin At(black)mark(et)

OK, so it might be slightly old news by now, but some dude has ripped the decrepit G3 processor, shite memory and 'daughter card' (or something equally alien to us normal*, PC using people) out of an old iMac - and replaced them with the innards of a 200MHz, Windows CE-powered, NAOMI-based behemoth. Kinda like sucking Barry Chuckle's guts out through his mouth and squirting Brett 'The Hitman' Hart's vital organs up his ass to fill the void. Pictures? Why, yes:




An iMac. And a Dreamcast. In same body. Just think what Brundle could've achieved if only that pesky fly hadn't got into his teleportation pod...

Pippin Atmark? Possibly - but I digress.

Speaking of bizarre shit, how would a NES look if it was dressed up like a moderately successful early nineties console and sold in flea markets in Peru?

Erm, like this:


* By 'normal,' I mean people who can't afford to buy a crate of branded lager, let alone an Apple Macbook. Fucking Ikea catalogue-reading, scatter cushion owning CUNTS. Cough.

Virtual On: XBLA



It's Virtual On. On Xbox Live Arcade. Do I need to say more?

Well, actually, yeah. The guys over at Gametrailers fucked up. Virtual On: Ontario Tagram? WTF? It's Oratorio Tangram, you twats...

Eat My Shorts

OK, so in the past we've featured a Dreamcast hat, a Dreamcast jacket, a Dreamcast towel and swimming shorts set...fuck, we've even spouted shit about a (pretty poor) Dreamcast-shaped tissue box holder. We now sink to new depths, however:

Dreamcast boxer shorts!



Do you love your Dreamcast so much that you want your cock and balls swinging up against a high quality embroidered image of Sega's magnum opus? You do? Then click here for more details.

Radical!

G'day. You may recall a video I did a few weeks back that documented the visual qualities of ace racer LeMans 24hrs. Well, I've been at it again. Y'see, last week I bought the rather spiffing 360 snowboard 'em up Amped 3 and I've actually been playing it non-stop since then. But earlier today, I had a thought: How do the DC's best snowboarders stand up to Amped 3?

Cue me rummaging around for my copy of arguably the DC's best looking 'boarding sim - Sega Extreme Sports. I know it's not technically a proper bonafide snowboarding game, what with all the hang-gliding and mountain biking going on, but the boarding sections are super cool (sorry), and miles better than Snow Surfers and that bit in Sonic Adventure where you have to outrun that avalanche.

Anyway, enough waffling. Here's the vid. Enjoy.

A Dreamcast Flightstick?

Oh Dreamcast. When will you stop surprising me?

I found a new controller that I had never heard of before. Perhaps someone here has seen one before but it doesn't seem to be listed on any of the major Dreamcast sites and is only mentioned in the odd message board post.

Behold the Dreamcast Panther Flightstick:
Look at all them buttons...

Apparently this controller was also able to be used with FPS games like Quake 3 and perhaps even the unreleased Half Life.

As it is there are several opinions out there ranging from "Crap it doesn't work on many games" to "Wow this works awesome on Starlancer" to "Ugh Madcatz...". (I personally never had a problem with Madcatz stuff on the Dreamcast My steering wheel works well and my lightguns are good. I actually sold a new madcats controller for nothing because I was told that 3rd party controllers shorted out the Dreamcast's control board...then a first party controller shorted out my control board...)

As soon as I get this and my copy of Starlancer I will give a proper review of this seemingly rare controller. Is it a good controller? Is is crap? Is it worth it as a collectors item?

Only time will tell.

Unveiling a moment in history...

I'm currently doing a little mod on my Dreamcast (more to follow), and came across something rather interesting...



Nothing particularly interesting there, you think? Look closer...


"katana" inscribed on the motherboard. 



The katana was the Japanese version of the Dreamcast prototype. There were two basically, the SEGA USA "Dural" and the SEGA Japan "Katana". Eventually, SEGA went with the Japanese one, though both were pretty similar. It's a shame the Dreamcast didn't have a built in DVD player... but it was far too expensive in 1998. Things could have been rather different... but then again, Sega was in so much debt by 1999, even though the Dreamcast was doing quite well, there was nothing to be done against the Sony machine.

Some Wind & water fan art for ya.


Take this artwork as an apologise for still not getting around to sorting out that video review I promised.Sorry, it might get done one day!

Wind and Water - €12 + Shipping

Thought I would share this good news with others... HuCAST (bringing us the eagerly anticipated DUX) have some copies of Wind and Water puzzle battles for sale for €12.

From their email:

"HUCAST.net decides to do not stock redpostgames products anymore, so you can get Wind & Water for Dreamcast to a special pricing. Only 12 EUR instead of 32,95 EUR. "


Bargain. I nearly bought this last week at full retail. The Gods have spoken, open up your paypal accounts and go and buy it.

Dreamcast: A Forensic Retrospective

Dan Whitehead wrote up a Dreamcast retrospective over at EuroGamer.

Any comments on this?

I personally thought that this line made the article worth reading:

"most gamers opting to wait for the sure-to-be-awesome PS2, with its mysterious "emotion engine" and games that would literally emerge from the screen and fellate you senseless."

I am somewhat disappointed that never happened...

In other news I am setting up another classic video game day and the the Dreamcast will play a huge role (Powerstone 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2 Whoo!). Last time I had hooked up the Dreamcast to the VGA port of a projector and the Soul Calibur matches looked really nice. Perhaps this time I will actually edit some of the footage from the matches and showcase them here.

In other other news Saturnalia is going on at the other Junkyard. So if you enjoy other CD media game devices from Sega check that out.

The Year of the DUX

Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate... DUX is nearly ready! (Have we heard this before??) This is from the Dux blog, linked to in an email I just received...


It's Almost Done
27.01.09

Given DUX is almost done, it only takes about a month to release this game. Currently end of February is aimed, but perhaps early March becomes more realizable as issues may happen. So gameplaywise the game is already on spot and all important features are implentent - from now it's just about the last bits, and publishing this game.

By this opportunity I'd like to thank all purchasers who are patience about their pre-order, and aren't abused by the many delays. The additional development time that the game receives makes it a way better game then it should have been orginally. Taking pre-orders early also assures the quality of the product, as its an active investment to the games development budget. Additionaly, there's going to be a (very) small bonus for all DUX pre-orders on HUCAST.net

Btw, the soundtrack of the game is going to be published early February instead of January.

Monday Morning Reds...

Following on from the Sunday night blues that I am sure we all experience, comes the Monday morning reds. Monday morning reds can occur as either; hungover, bloodshot eyes; hours of NTSC Dreamcast fun [red swirl]; or, in my case, the Royal Mail delivery man.

Over at SEGA Nerds, they have been posting about the new House of The Dead game, out on Wii I think. I don't have a Wii, so I don't care about that to be honest. What I did care about though, was my recent purchase - a UK DC gun. It came with HoTD2 (already have it in PAL and Jap) but it brought my gun tally up to two.


Another welcome addition to the residence was a FREE hand-me-down 42" Plasma monitor  . Amazing. This is going to rock. Can't wait. Thank you Mr. Postman.

Sunday Night Blues

Ho hum. Another life-threateningly dull weekend draws to a close, then. Only thing to look forward to now is work in the morning. How pathetic...

On the other hand, whilst trawling eBay for stuff I don't need, want or have enough money to actually buy I discovered a rather cool Dreamcast peripheral:


A Desert Eagle!

According to the guff in the description, it's even got a motorised blow-back function like those guns on the old Time Crisis arcade cabinet - which is uber-cool whichever way you look at it. Blasting zombies and terrorists with a Desert Eagle? I'd buy that for a dollar...

Want it? Look here.

NTSC vs PAL game storage

PAL game storage has always been a bit of a nightmare. I used to have to store my games in a box, as I couldn't afford the storage racks back when they were on sale in Electronics Boutique. I finally got some on eBay...


... and they can stack on each other too! This saves even more space. Unfortunately, I have only got 3 of these racks (totalling £11.50 though - not bad) and they hold 10 games each. I had 52 games as of this post, but I have about 64 now... so I still have some in a box.

At least this way I can put my favourite PAL games close to my mini games centre here in my bedroom. I can then play backups and Japanese games in the lounge on on of the other Dreamcasts.

Japanese games on the other hand, like their American counterparts, come in standard CD jewel cases most of the time, allowing for easy and sexy(?) storage.


Some people have used this storage issue as an additional reason to get NTSC games, and leave the PAL ones alone with their big, bulky cases, which disintegrate if in contact with air or even when just being looked at.

Share your Dreamcast storage woes! Share tips and ideas! Do PS1 game racks hold DC PAL game cases? Share your thoughts, dig deep into your heart.

Read about 24 hours of Dreamcast

Sorry I have not been posting very much. I have been working overtime! Now that work is calming down a bit I will try to blog a bit more.

Luckily the rest of our contributors have been doing a much better job of it!

Anyways, I am somewhat pissed off that my job made me miss out on an excellent 24 hour Dreamcast event!

The people over at http://www.ihaveadreamcast.com/ played the Dreamcast for 24 straight hours and did a live feed!

I may have missed out on the live feed but the blog itself is fun reading if you are bored.

I might have to record the next video game event I organize and show off my own dreamcast skills.

Dreamcast Express Videos

Remember me showing you these in a post a while back of recent purchases of mine, including that modded Japanese Dreamcast? If not I'll jog your memory: these are demo discs that you could only obtain if you were part of the Dreamcast Partners Club. They only made 7 volumes but many of them had 2 discs in each. I managed to get these two volumes pretty cheap and they're quite a novelty.

Volume 4 contains a Tokyo Game Show '99 disc which is crammed with video previews of all kinds of Dreamcast games, including many that were not released here. Below is two youtube videos of all of these clips on the disc. Be warned; squeaky Japanese narration throughout that may grate on your ears.





What you won't see is how they're presented: you select a stand of Sega's Tokyo Game Show area, and a camera is swooped through that area in live action. As you swim past the set up games, you can hit A to view a video of that game. There are also interviews about Space Channel 5, Virtual On 2 and D2. The D2 video is a special screening in a fancy cinema room. The disc also contains some content to download to your VMU.



Volume 7 contains two disc with a whole bunch of playable demos and heaps of VMU game saves. One of the discs contains a bunch of videos, which I have a video of above. Blue Submarine No.6 looks particularly interesting, with stunning cel shaded graphics for it's age. Looked it up and the game is mega rare and expensive. I remember seeing the anime of that once.



There is also a video on there all about the Dream Eye, that sweet digital camera we never got over here, which gives you a good insight into how it works and what you can do with the software. Web cam chat on a console in 1999. Mental. As a further tease, the video also has footage of 'presents' you could obtain if you were part of the same club you would get these demos from. Virtual On soft toys! A D2 figure! An Afro Thunder T-shirt! I want it all! :(

To get a good read up on all of the Dreamcast Express demo discs, check out Segagaga Domain's write up on them.