The guys over at IGNDC recently had the chance to chat with Sega of America President and chief officer Peter Moore. During their conversation Peter Moore was asked, what system would run Shenmue II the best? Here is what Peter Moore had to say:
"I wasn’t kidding when I said Shenmue 2 was best suited for the Dreamcast because, while I don’t think we can show you today, Charlie and I saw Shenmue 2 running on Dreamcast last week and it blew me away. Yu-san will tell you that now he’s finding things in the Dreamcast hardware and pushing the envelope that he never did with Shenmue and it’s stunning, it’s absolutely stunning. But in doing that, you’ve gone so far with Dreamcast it’s not a question of a straight port to another platform, because he is in his fourth year working on. So you know you just can’t just port that straight over and get the same effects or even enhanced effects; while we all laugh when we say Shenmue looks best on Dreamcast, the way it works our right now, with the way he’s built that engine for the Dreamcast, the way the textures and the lighting work, and how he’s built that game, I don’t know if you can replicate that right now as a straight port on another platform."
Well, there you go! It would be possible to make Shenmue II look as good on the PS2 but there isn't enough time. Shenmue II is scheduled for a December release. Can you say 'Christmas Number 1'?
There is a question that has confounded mankind for years, a question that has caused untold ammounts off grief, a question that has even split familys apart[or not]...Would Sonic "ave" Mario or would the Fat Italian one "ave" Sonic? Looks like we may be about to find out folks.
Having been heavily rumoured for the last 3 months or so, Sonic is indeed a charecter in the upcoming GameCube title Super Smash Bros:Melee.
I would now say its almsot odds on that Sonic Adventure 2 or a brand new Sonic game will be coming to GameCube, what with Yuji Naka loving GameCube & now this, could it lead to a closer SEGA/Nintedno relationship then was previously thought? We will have to wait and see.
Oh and the bird from Perfect Dark and that foul mouthed Squirel Conker are confirmed charecters aswell.
Still, my moneys on Sonic...then again this is a Nintendo game on a Nintendo machine so maybe not.
In Bruno Bonelles[yes that spelling is wrong, so sue me] continued quest for world domination in the field off video games, Infogrames confirmed they will be distributing SEGAs games for Xbo, GameCube & GBA in Europe.
The titles include Jet Set Radio:Future, Panzer Dragoon, House of the Dead 3, Gun Valkyrie for Xbox, PSOver2, Virtua Striker 3 & Super Monkey Ball for Gamecube and the likes of Sonic Advance, Chu Chu Rocket, Advanced Colums and more for GBA.
The hella bad ultra gory sicko FPS Soldier of Fortune, which allows you to mutilate injured enemys, or shoot them in the tender regions then chops there head off, along with numerous other gory things, has gone gold, and is expected to hit yankie store shelfs within a week or two, the game is on for a late July release here i think.
Lets hope it sells 500,000 copies to rub Sierras Half Life canceling faces in it, oh and the former HL DC exclsuive episode Blue Shift has been release for PC, and is apparantly crap, which serves them bloody well right really.
No, not really SEGA or DC related, i just wanted to take the piss out off EA really.
The Simpsons Road Rage, what EA have basically done is taken Crazy Taxi, stuck the Simpsons in there, cell shaded it and used a title which seems totally unrelated to the game style to try and distance it from CT.
Its that time once again folks, to tell you whats dead and..uhm, well what is also dead, dissapearing this week, in alphabetical order are:
Alien Front Online[Europe & now Japan] - The promosing looking multiplayer tank blasting game has been canned for japan, leaving the titles destined for just one market, the US. How likely are SEGA to continue funding a game for just one territory? If previous form is anything to go by, not likely. Good news, if it does get a US release importers get to talk smack to americans while killing them, yay.
Bomberman Online[Europe] - Bastards, complete & utter BASTARDS, SEGA of Europe have canned our version of possibly the best multiplayer console games ever, expect Propeller Arean to be next on the choping block. This is one game i will without doubt be importing from the US.
Dynamic Golf[Japan] - Some sort of mad golf game, still on for release in the US under the name Virtua Golf, i dont know alot about this, i *think*, if i remmember correctly, it features holes on volcanos and stuff. European Status unknown, probably wont be released here.
Far Nation[Everywhere] - This game has been knocking about release lists since about early 99, rumour is this MMORPG[Thats Massivly Multiplay Online RPG, or online RPG to us] is still in the works for PC and Xbox, could be one to watch out for this, SEGA quality + some sort of Ultima Online/Everquest game can only be good.
And last, but definetly least:
Bikkauiman 2000[Japan, pressume everywhere] Aqua Panic[As above]
I have no idea what those two are about, knowing the bizzare japanese market, and going by the names probably a bizzare puzzle game, and a fish dating rpg with racing & tamogochi/pokemon sections.
After me shouting my mouth off constantly for the last 2 months that Headhunter DC was gone, it appears i was infact, wrong.
There are new shots on SEGA of Europes page right now.
I really thought it was dead, a shocking, but nice suprise to find it still alive really, but still dont count your chickens till they have hacthed....or something.
Sony & SEGA struck a deal yesterday, involving SEGAs PS2 titles in europe.
Sony will be publishing SEGAs first 7 PS2 games aswell as taking care off marketing, distribution and the like.
Among the list were already comfirmed titles Virtua Fighter 4, K-Project, Space Channel 5 & Space Channel 5 2 , but the list also includes the much rumoured Ecco the Dolphin, F-355 & Head Hunter.
Which probably explains why the DC version of Head Hunter went bye bye.
Other titles for PS2 were also announced, most noticably the NBA & NFL SEGA Sports games, its not yet known if these will be released in europe.
Oh well, at least SEGAs games may actually get the advertising & hype they so deserve with the Sony juggernaught behind them...bet the idiot mass market still ignore them thou.
*counts down the days till SoE vanishes*
If you go on PSO today, you're sure for a big suprise!!!
As I walked around Pioneer 2 with my friend this evening, all I could hear was that groovy rock music from the Sonic 2 demo... then I noticed little characters dotted around the place. There was Sonic... Knuckles... Tails and Robotnik! Hurrah! Due to the launch of Sonic Adventure 2 today in America, Sonic Team have put these little extras onto Pioneer 2 to make sure everyone knows it!!! I was on the US servers, and so I don't know if the same will apply for Japanese or European servers, but all I know is that this little treat was certainly welcome... and damn cool!!! Take a look for yourself! Log on now!!!
In a recent interview, Overworks Noriyoshi Ohbi made several intresting comments, including
"We're considering a sequel to "Eternal Arcadia."[Skies of Arcadia] Regarding which platform, we're still evaluating it." Which is obviously good news for RPG fans
But most intresting off all was this comment.
"Over the last two years, our content has focused mostly on the Japanese market. I'm thinking of developing more games for the U.S. market like the "Revenge of Shinobi" series and "Streets of Rage" series, which I once worked on for the Genesis and "Clockwork Knight" for Sega Saturn."
Now the new Streets of Rage game has been well publicised by Anchient, the original developers, what this has to do with Overworks im not sure, i thought Anchient were linked with Hitmaker, but a new Shinobi game has been rumoured for about a year now, and this is the first official confirmation that it may happen. Woot.
There are going to be ALOT of unhappy Dreamcast owners as Sierra officially announce after months of speculation and rumours that Half Life for the Dreamcast has been cancelled. This announcement is very tragic; a lot of people bought Dreamcasts for Half Life in particular.
In their official press release they said "Sierra regrets the cancellation of Half-Life for the Dreamcast due to changing market conditions" with no further explanation for the cancellation.
The review copies of the game were sent out a while ago, and the game was practically complete so why the cancellation? It all points to the greedy bastards that are SONY. This is the reason why I hate Sony so much, paying developers off large sums of money to get either exclusivity for their own console.. or just to laugh at the demise of another console.
There are rumours that an ISO of Half Life for the DC was slipped onto the internet though.. we'll keep you updated with any more news regarding that.
Oh well, we have Sonic Adventure 2 to look forward too.
Im sure Mike will be chuffed to hear that SEGA will be out in force at Nintendos Space World show.
Sonic Team will be there, and Yuji Naka has promised to reveal details off GameCube PSOs network play.
Only 3 of SEGAs 10 GameCube games have been revealed yet, and what with Naka being a massive fan of the GC & repeated hints from SEGA that Sonic is heading to GameCube, the prospect of Sonic & Mario being unveiled for GameCube at the same show looks more real with every pasing day. Now that would be big news.
Smilebite President Takayuki Kawagoe confirmed SEGA would be at this years fall TGS, and Panzer Dragoon would be making its highly anticipated Xbox debut. According to Kawagoe-san "you'll see something really special." Which means, if some off the more impressive Xbox games are anything to go by, it must be utterly stunning.
He also claimed it would be the best in the series so far, aswell as confirming several members off the original Panzer team, Team Andromeda, were on board and working on the game, which is good.
Eggs for Easter... Sonic for... erm... SONIC'S TENTH BIRTHDAY!!!
Remember they had Easter Eggs around in the lobbys in PSO when it was Easter? Wasn't that groovy? Well... Sonic Team have decided that huge parties and a simeltaneous world-wide release of Sonic Adventure 2 is not enough to celebrate the Hedgehog's tenth birthday... so, the Japanese will also be seeing characters from the latest Sonic game in PSO Version 2 when it is released!!! Check out this screenshot taken from SegaWeb. (I can get links working... but not bleedin' pictures! Grrrr...)
However... from this second picture, it looks like they may be able to actually PLAY Sonic characters in the new version of PSO!!! How this will work is another matter! Just check out this second screenshot also from SegaWeb!
While it is nearly certain that these Sonic characters will only appear in Japanese servers for a short time, I would hope that they appear the original PSO servers too! We should all get to see this kewl little addition... even if it probably will not last that long. Oh well... we'll soon hear the details of this... wierd... thing! As soon as we know, we'll let you know too!!!
Well...after a series of titles goin, it's been confirmed that Black and White has officially been put on hold now that Sega Europe as well as Sega America have decided not to publish the game.
There is some hope though as Lionhead Studios state that there are other publishers interested in picking up the publishing rights.
"Could you please post a link to my petition about the cancelation of Half-Life. It currently has about 500 signatues thanks to the hard work of many, and I am sure a small link in the news section for a few days would greatly help.
As you know the game has been "Canceled", but unofficially, and is actually completed. I feel that a petition with a few thousand signatures, many threatening a sierra boycott, will encourage Sierra to actually realease the game. Thank You Very much.
Sega have announced that they've shipped the keerrrazy Crazy Taxi 2 in the USA. Nice to see an eagerly anticipated game hitting the shelves that hasn't taken the plunge.
Crazy Taxi 2 includes a whole new city, New York, as well as new cabbies. There are also a whole host of new mini-games, which include Crazy 3 Jump, Crazy Balloons 2, Crazy Ramps, Crazy Road, Crazy Turn 2, and Crazy Jam 2.
The US Retail price is $39.99. In the UK, Crazy Taxi 2 is scheduled for the 6th of July 2001, and you’ll be able to pick it up from many online stores for a measly £24.99.
In a move almost as shocking as The Daily Sport not being classified as soft porn, SEGA of Europe have decided to bring the limited edition Sonic Adventure 2 10th Aniversary pack to Europe.
Only 200 units will be available, exclusivly through the SoE website, and can only be ordered from midnight, June 23rd. You cant pre order in any way, shape or form, so its first come first served, they will be retailing at only £30, which if you ask me is a bloody bargain.
Obviously they will be HIGHLY valuable, as so few are being brought to europe officialy.
I will do ANYTHING to get one off these packs....and if anyone asks, you aint seen this, RIGHT!
After all the stories floating about, its finally been revealed that the reason Black & White dissapeared from DC release lists was because SEGA of Europe decided not to publish the title.
This despite the fact that it has been hailed as the best PC game for ages, best game ever, best strategy game ever and various other good "best ever" titles....and despite the fact that SoE have been saying they will be publishing it for nigh on 2 years now.
Small snipet about the Headhunter situation, according to SEGA of America boss Peter Moore, when asked where the promosing looking Headhunter was at E3, he replied:
"Headhunter has reached a stage off development where the team are considering the future direction off the title"
In english that means that, like so many canceled 1st party DC games, it will almost certainly be heading to another machine...if the rumours CVG were spouting a few months ago are anything to go by that other machine will probably be PS2.
Great news has come from Ubi Soft regarding some of their new DC releases. A new RRP has been confirmed currently for the following DC titles,
The Next Tetris Soldier of Fortune Stupid Invaders Dragon Riders of Pern,
All these releases will retail for £19.99 rather than the usual DC RRP of £29.99 which has just been dropped from £39.99, so to people wanting Soldier of Fortune, it's basically Half price on what it was gonna be this time last month, Great stuff!
You read right, it has been reported that Half Life on DC is no more,
The only information so far has been from a French Web Site, and we will confirm it when english confirmations are made, but from the looks of it Sierra have announced the cancelation of Half Life due to their latest sales projections showing the title would not sell on Dreamcast (Don't know where they got that idea from, everyone I knew had it on pre order!)
Half Life is the fourth High Profile title to be axed in recent weeks,
Black and White setting everything rolling
Agartha just vanishing from DC release lists
Head Hunter going last week
And now Half Life. Things really do look bleek for the little white magic box!
You may have heard about Bleem! a while back. An emulator boasting of its ability to play numerous Playstation games on your Dreamcast with improved visuals. Giving us a few screens of Ridge Racer 4 in high resolution was one thing, but getting a bunch of PSX games to run flawlessly with visual improvements was a completely different story. In the end, the programmers decided to release a Bleem! version that could play Gran Turismo 2.. and Gran Turismo 2 only :)
You may be dissapointed, but the Bleem! pack for GT2 is priced at just £5.95! Some of the excellent features of Bleemcast! for GT2 include:
Increased resolution of 640x480 (more detail)
'Mucky' textures cleaned up
Many filtering effects implemented to make textures, smoke and lighting look more realistic
VGA support, play GT2 on your PC monitor!
Play any region of GT2 (including backups) on any region of DC!
More versions of Bleemcast! are planned for other popular Playstation titles. Final Fantasy 9 is a strong possibility; check out this page to see a FF9 screen with and without Bleemcast!
Tekken 4 and Soul Calibur 2 announced for arcades soon!
Don't even think about a DC conversion though... not with everything going on at the moment with the cancellations, etc. Still, at least our dear Soul Calibur is getting a sequel! Lets just hope and pray that the PS2 doesn't get both... otherwise I'll be mad!!!
Farnation - no longer in development for the Dreamcast...
Well, at least it isn't as bad as Headhunter which is no longer in development (damn! how could they do that???)! Oh well, we'll be seeing it on another next generation platform soon... rumours suggest it could be heading to the Xbox. I think that we need to start to seriously discuss the future of the DC in the forums. What the hell is going to happen???
Bleem's second DC Bleemcastpak, looks like it could well be Final Fantasy 9, there is a screenie hidden on the bleem website at here showing FF9 through Bleemcast.
First Screenshots of PSO for GameCube have just been posted up on CVG's website, I suggest you check em out, they look pretty impressive...this news story WAS going to be dedicated to the JSR Future screens which have made me smash my lower jaw on the floor! But the bloomin faz geezer has beaten me to it...So I'll cover PSO instead, CVG say it's PSO version 2, which if true could mean we have DC - GC link up games, and could explain why the game won't be released in Europe on DC.
Sega are brining a new version of Crazy Taxi to the Xbox, titled "Crazy Taxi Next". 6 online games are also planned for 2002 from Sega.
Some new screenshots have been kindly added to the forums by Alex of Jet Set Radio: Future. Believe me when i say that the screenies look AWESOME!! I loved JSR on the DC, and if there's just one game that I'd get an X Box for.. then this is it! Check out 9 jaw dropping high resolution screenshots here! and drool..
Oh and the X Box has got an official release price of $299 in the states, which is what we expected considering the PS2 price. 8th November 2001 is the big day for X Box, with 15 launch games.
I found some very cool shots of the RE movie today... but I cannot show them here. Instead, I will attempt to get ones without a site name plastered all over them (a site has the exclusive, and if I give them away, the guy spying for them may be thrown out! Eek!). If not, I'll post the site address in the forums tomorrow. Watch out! Zombies are coming to the big screen... and it looks better than we anticipated!!!
Yep, Suzuki-sans dogfighting game is now to be known as Propeller Arena.
It was unveiled today at E3, shown in single player & split screen modes.
Personal thoughts...The name change and the fact that online play has not been mentioned yet could mean that the online side has been droped altogether, pure speculation on my part, however if this is the case this could well be unofficial confirmation that the DC as an online gaming machine is finished. We will have to wait for more info.
Err, well it is, but for GameCube, SEGA confirmed today at E3 that PSOver2 would be coming to GameCube sometime this winter, which presumably means Nintendo plan on having an online network ready from the start, perhaps SEGAs various ISPs could be involved in this.
No news yet on if GameCube owners will be able to play Dreamcast owners online, what is know however is that the GameCube version has a 4 player split screen mode, ownage yes?
Graphically the game looks exactly the same as its DC counterpart, there are also rumours of it being playable at E3, could it be this will be GameCubes killer online title?
Granted this is not strictly DC related, but its very intresting anyway, more news as it comes in.
Well, despite being out 1 day before the chart was compiled, and having it's online play axed, Daytona USA 2001 PAL version has made it to No14 in the Chart Track ALL FORMATS chart...yes your all right...slow news day :P
It's a sad day for Dreamcast Light Guns world wide! As the rumours of House of the Dead 3 originally planned for release on DC later this year has now been moved onto Xbox instead. THis is a strange move from Sega as it is to be a NAOMI title in the arcades, this is probably what makes it so worrying though as it means absolutely NO Dreamcast title is safe from being scrapped. Maybe the rumours of Sega imminently dropping all DC software development could be true after all.
SEGA has teamed up with Chalk Networks to provide game retailers a new way of previewing games! Chalk and SEGA will provide a password protected website which will house streaming videos of up-coming games as well as screenshots. This will enable people in the retail side of things to hype up a game even more. Updates will be regular and as well as the videos, info on the games features, overview and other information will be made avaliable. It will not require the download of any new software either, as it will run using Windows Media player or Real Player. The videos shown on this site will eventually be made public after some time. Until then, the lucky retailers get to see it all first. OI! SEGA! GIVE US THE PASSWORD!!!
Well, usually I'd be gutted at such news...but the fact that it's already out in the UK makes me feel better. WWP was due to be released yesterday, but has now been rescheduled for the 21st, Titus gave no reason for the delay, but anyone wanting to import it will have to wait another 2 weeks! However the good feeling is short lived as the game will be released for $19.99 over there which is about £15. While we have to pay £29.99, and they wonder why UK DC games aren't selling as well as they could!
Well, www.videogames.com have got a list of confirmed games for E3... and what SEGA and others will have to show for the Dreamcast looks good! While there isn't as much stuff as for other consoles, what would you expect from a console that stopped production a couple of months back?!
Confirmed games:
18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker (SEGA) Agartha (SEGA) Alien Front Online (SEGA) Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (Infogrames) Black and White (SEGA) Bomberman Online (SEGA) Commandos 2 (SEGA) Crazy Taxi 2 (SEGA) Dogs of War (Take Two) Farnation (SEGA) Floigan Brothers (SEGA) Headhunter (SEGA) Max Steel (GAME Studios) Ooga Booga (SEGA) Outtrigger (SEGA) Shenmue 2 (SEGA) Sonic Adventure 2 (SEGA) Toy Racer (SEGA)
Well, that list seems to clear up a few things... kinda. Actually, it causes more questions! Why are supposed 'cancelled' games in the list for??? Oh well, we'll see what happens on the 17th May!!! Maybe there will be a few suprises there too! We can only hope!
Yup, it finally has a release date in Japan... the 26th July. Eek! Maybe good news for the Japanese, but it looks like we may need to wait till towards the end of the year to see a PAL version now... unless SEGA and AM2 have something good up their sleves, that is...
You read right! Those chaps at Sony Music in Japan have decided to release a CD with all your favourite SEGA choons on it... and the best thing is, Japanese gamers will be able to vote for which music they want to see in the final CD!!! Won't that be cool?! Check out http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Animation/segacon/ to see for yourself... If you wanna vote, the ability to read Japanese may help, but some of the game titles are in English (games like 18 Wheeler and F355 Challenge have made it in there!). The huge list ensures that a fantistic array of tracks will appear on the CD. Great news for all you fans of SEGA's great music!
What a day! 2 New DC titles in 24hours...not bad for a console in Limbo.
Crave Entertainment have just confirmed that they will be bringing Razor Freestyle Scooter to the Dreamcast this summer, although it's only on for a US release at the moment the low price point of $19.99 makes it worthwhile importing (should it turn out any good however the PSX version was poorly recieved) Ah well...at least a new game was announced. Maybe next time it'll be a good one!
Well, while US gamers have had Sega Marine Fishing as well as Sega Bass, PAL gamers have had a rod just for Sega Bass...well those Japanese are even luckier, as they are getting a Fishing title from Natsume (Creators of the Harvest Moon and Reel Fishing series') No news on whether the title will make it to USA and Europe, but the Qwirky Harvest Moon games did so I wouldn't totally rule it out. Ah well at least you got an excuse to dust down your DC Fishing Rods now.
Are Sierra doing an experiment on DC owners to see how much torture we can take? After the latest delay of the much anticipated title, it's now been announced that it has been totally finished, review copies are ready, and that it could well make it onto shop shelved (US ones at least) before the 6th of June.
Bad news however is that all these delays may be down to getting the PC version of Blue Shift finished to launch simultaneously with the DC version rather than to sort out the frame rate probs, which means we could well be getting the same game we would have gotten nearly 6 months ago!
The weird lookin arcade puzzler from Sega known as Monkey Ball has just been confirmed for a Japanese release this summer! See...not all doom and gloom for DC!
Absolutely fantastic news for to be GC owners (like me)
Sonic Adventure GC Jet Set Radio GC Phantasy Star Online GC...
...are all rumoured to be going on show at E3, Sonic Adventure was almost a cert for GC anyway, PSO also highly expected as it is made by Sonic Team who are an official GameCube devloper,
Jet Set Radio however, is the bigger and for me, most pleasant surprise, knowing how fantastic it was on the DC with graphics pumped up to GC standard it should lead the way for a higher frame rate, less slowdown and less pop up making what is a fantastic game even better.
Looks like the Xbox Sega announcement is looking more and more like an attempt in desperation over something to shout about!
We just need to wait and find out the major PS2 Sega titles now as the only one acctually being published by Sega at the moment is Virtua Fighter 4.
Capcom announced Resident Evil 0 & Onimusha 2 for multi formats yesterday, and the "likely possibility of Dreamcast[versions]", i cant really see this happening....but having said that, Capcom were one off the last 3rd parties to support the Saturn, one off the strongest DC supporters and SEGA and Capcom do have a very good working relationship so dont completely rule it out.
Smilebite have not ruled out the new Xbox Panzer Dragoon game for DC or other formats.
Lots off suprises from SEGA at E3, including much DC stuff, it may be they have been saving the best till last, now this is purely speculation on my part but maybe we will see a new Shinboi, Daytona 3, PSO2 and more as a swansong for the little white box, this could be true as there were quite alot of rumoured DC games from SEGA that no one has mentioned for a while, maybe they are saving them all up for E3, either way we will know in about 8 to 10 days time.
Jet Set Raido 2 is still on aswell, head of SoA Peter Moore said "The game is still on for Dreamcast", and SoE have also said "We can confirm that the sequel to Jet Set Radio is still due for release on Dreamcast later this year. We do not have an official release date yet, but there have definitely been no plans to cancel its release", take that with a grain of salt from SoE though, with there track record nothings is certain.
Monkey Ball is coming to DC! I dont really know alot about the game, but if it involves monkeys it must be good, right?
And finally in a shocking turn off events Half-Life may actually be released soon, review copys have been sent to magazines & websites in america.
After 2 months of almost non stop bad news, its nice to finally get a smidgen of good news really aint it.
For those that haven't noticed, www.dailyradar.com is dead. Not that we're really bothered though.. as we never really liked them anyway!
It's pretty sad at all the staff losing their jobs.. I'm sure some of them have fish to feed at home.. sob sob..
The UK version www.dailyradar.co.uk is still running though, whether that's good news or bad news, you be the judge :)
If you look at it like this though, they had over 30 staff members all earning a nice sum of money. We here at DCS are only 4, we earn bollux, yet we are running with our heads held up high! Damn u people are lucky!
Long time DC owners will recall that an early announced DC title was a game know as "The Worlds Scariest Police Chases" Which was sadly scrapped when Teeny Weeny Games went bust, then Fox Interactive decided to continue development themselves and renamed it Cops, the Sega went and announced the ceasing of DC production, and then it got scrapped again, well all of a sudden it's re appeared on the release list...only...something tells me is ain't on DC anymore! Why? Because Fox Interactive have just announced it for Breeze Box, I mean, Xbox, man, these mistakes are just so easy to make :)
..but i thought you may find this interesting, well, interesting isn't exactly the word!
"Two Arizona schoolgirls used dog poo, pond water and laxatives to make a cake for a school fair.
The second-year girls could face criminal charges after they took the cake to the Estrella Mountain Elementary School carnival.
The cake, decorated with whipped cream and Snickers bars, was to have been a competition prize, but school officials said it was impounded before anyone ate it.
It has been sent to a laboratory for analysis of the ingredients.
The girls, who have been questioned and released, could face charges of conspiracy to commit assault, reports The Arizona Republic."
Well, another bunch of Americans don't cease to amazine me =)
Well, it was expected to be released today in the US as mentioned in another news story...but guess what? Thats right, it's now been delayed until June the 3rd in US, no news of a UK release, but with the new news system, we'll be able to post it as it's told!
On the 20th of April 1999, 2 teenagers walked into their high school and began a rampage, killing 12 other students and a teacher using semi-automatics and a rifle. The teenagers shortly took their own lives.
Now the families of the victims are planning to sue several game companies for $10 billion because these companies apparently made "violent games that influenced the teenage gunmen" The companies include SEGA, Nintendo, Sony, ID Software and GT interactive.
That's the story, here's my input:
The people to blame are not game companies. Blame the US laws where firearms are available LEGALLY for an 18 year old. Blame the school that didn't inform the parents of the sick poetry these killers wrote and how they were admirers of Nazism. Blame the parents who failed to notice the instability and anger in their son's lives.
In the 1997-1998 school year, 506, (that's not a mis-print) 506 students from Columbine High School were suspended for bringing in weapons. What kind of a school is that? It sounds more like a war zone than an educational facility. Something was bound to happen if some many teenagers were bringing in weapons.
The 2 murderous teenagers were obviously disturbed. In a diary, one wrote on how they planned to kill 500 people, hi-jack a plane and then make it crash in New York city. They were both depressed, and felt as though they were outcasts.
I don't see how game developers can be blamed for the tragedy that occurred. Video games are a form of entertainment, just like movies and songs. Playing Virtua Cop won't influence you to kill someone.
I really sympathise with the families of the victims, but suing game developers won't solve anything. The only other thing I can think of is greed for money these families have..
Any comments or feedback regarding this news story is most welcome, click the link on my name above to send me your views and I'd be more than welcome to post up what you have to say on the site.
Nope, it's not comin to GBA yet (although with the sprite scaling the system can handle I wouldn't completely rule out an arcade perfect GBA version in the future) however, outrun has just been confirmed as bein in development for cell phones by Sonic Team! Sadly, this will only be availible in Japan, so don't expect to be wapping away on outrun any time soon.
It seems the gaming web sites have Dreamcast syndrome (That being they're all getting scrapped!) The latest casualty is the larger American section of Daily Radar owned by Future Publishing, you know...the ones who scrapped the US official DC mag and DC-UK. The UK Dailyradar is still operating, however, you are constantly bombarded by pop up adverts making looking around the site very annoying! Shows you just how good you got it on DCS! =)
Okay, so not such major news, but believe it or not, Half Life...if you can remember what that game is, is set to be released in the US on Thursday, so importers get your credit cards out! Everyone else, prey the European version doesn't get scrapped!
Well maybe not quite as the title says, but in Japan Phantasy Star Online is getting it's very own comic, hmmm, wonder what they will write about in that. Don't expect it to see a UK release, but now u know, that PSO ain't a DC exclusive anymore! :)
Sadly, those of you expecting to piuck up your monthly gaming goodness that was Official UK Dreamcast Magazine will be dissapointed to find that it has been delayed until the end of May, Dennis Publishing say the reason for the delay will be printed in the next magazine. But I have a feeling they were planning on doing a huge preview of Black and White or something, and having been scrapped in the last couple of weeks, have had to find another game to preview, of course it could be another reason, but I'm surprised they can publish anything at all the way as soon as something gets printed, it is either scrapped, or has online play removed!
That's right guys, the officially announced RRP of future games is now £29.99, a whole £10 less than before! That's gotta be good news considering how many great games are coming our way over the next few months. Skies of Arcadia, released yesterday in the UK, was the 1st game to feature the new RRP.
Look out for the following games coming soon at £29.99 each:
11th May - Daytona USA 2001 (with no online play!!) 25th May - Confidential Mission 1st June - 18 Wheeler 23rd June - Sonic Adventure 2 6th July - Crazy Taxi 2 20th July - Outtrigger
Yet more cancelations, this time all from SEGA of Europe.
The following games disapeared from SEGA of Europes latest release list never to appear again.
Red Lemons body guard sim Take the Bullet. The stunning god game Black & White. Promosing looking survival horror game Agartha.
Why? well Take the Bullet has been canned due to SoE deciding the game was still nowhere near release quality after 2 years of development, this was on the cards as SEGA had previously said it would be exclusive to Europe. The company behind the DC port of Black & White have gone bankrupt, and SoE have no plans to rescue them or give the port to someone else because it would delay the game well into 2002, past SEGAs official cut off point for DC support....so much for releasing games "aslong as it is profitable" aye lads. Agartha is still being published by SEGA, but has been switched to Xbox....perhaps exclusively, we dont know yet.
Ecco 2 is also rumoured to have been canned or switched to other machines.
This is quite suprising really, as these are all SEGA published games, and it was assumed the majority of SEGA published games would be safe from this sort of paniced ship jumping....mind you when you consider that SoE are incopetants, SEGA are cost cutting, the games industry hates Europe & SEGA of Japan fired SoEs entire network coding team, and 90% off the staff including the PAL localisation team its not too shocking.
Games not definetly confirmed as not coming to Europe but missing from the release list also include: Alien Front Online. PSO Version 2[Gits!]. All the Visual Concepts 2k2 American sports games. Age of Empires 2:Age of Kings. All Konami/Microsoft ports. Cosmic Smash.
Now lets all pray for Headhunter on DC first....not PS2!
Saturn Mark II here we come, fire up those CD-X converters people.
Believe it or not, games are still bein released in Japan!
Famitsu have reviewed 5 DC games this week, although none of them managed to get 30, at least they weren't a total wash out, looks like they would fit well on PS2 arf arf!
Angel's Present (Nec Interchannel, Adventure) - 21 / 40 Close To (Kid, Adventure) - 28 / 40 Eldorado Gate Vol. 4 (Capcom, RPG) - 25 / 40 Neon Genesis Evangelion Typing E Plan (Gainax, Typing) - 24 / 40 Sports Jam (Sega, Sports) - 27 / 40
Doubt any of these "obscure" titles will show up in Europe, apart from Sports Jam, which is looking like a decent multi player romp!
Sega have announced that they have 118 games in development, the majority of these will be for Dreamcast 65 of ‘em to be exact, although how ever many of these will make it outside of Japan is currently unknown, then the rest will be split between the Xbox, GC and PS2, 11 of them having already been announced for Xbox which leaves 53 for the PS2 and GC to fight over! PS2 having only been confirmed for receiving Virtua Fighter 4, it’s expected Sonic Adventure 3 and PSO3 will turn up on GC the latter providing Nintendo get their network up and running smoothly. However, no news on other GBA, mobile phone, and other hand held games that are in development.
We already knew that they were supporting the GBA, and now the inevitable has happened, Sega have finally announced support for the GC, currently Sonic Team (Responsible for Sonic Adventures 1+2, Chuchu rocket and more recently PSO) and Amusement Vision (Responsible for Daytona USA 2001) are Official GC developers, and Smilebit are expected to follow. Looks like the Xbox hasn’t got as much Sega support as first thought, but we’ll let you know about the newly announced titles, and for which formats they’ll appear on as they are announced.
Those lucky Japanese! Going back to good old 16-bit gaming! Every Argos catalogue you look through these days has something called a TV-Boy in it, well, Japan have just got something much better! A Mega Drive, in a lime green Control pad, but better than that, it has 21 classic games built into it, trundle over to www.igndc.com for the full details on the little wee games pad and the full list of games!
Some bad news from French Publisher Infogrames today, the eagerly awaited Unreal Tournament will just like Daytona (NOTE the list will probably rapidly grow from now on) not have any online play in Europe, so while the select few who have chosen to import the US version will have 8 player online frags, PAL players will be stuck with bots and a 4 player split screen, looks like the DC version’s edge over the PS2 UT has just disappeared! (I expect PSO2 to be the next offline only game J but being serious, with news of this, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up about online fragging with Outtriggers!)
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