You have probably already heard this. Dux + Wind and Water bundle sale

Yeah. Late news again.

But still there might be one or two of you out there who has not heard about this.

Redspot games is doing a bundle on the new shooter Dux and the new puzzle game Wind and Water. €37.95 or $51.55.

http://www.redspotgames.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=9

Pretty nice. Not a huge savings or anything but some people might be interested just for the convenience factor. They claim it's the cheapest bundle price on the Internet and I personally cannot prove them wrong.

So yeah if you were on the fence about buying these games then this might be the time to grab some copies.

Pulled from Sega Nerds.

(Also the Wind and Water has a neat little tribute to the Dreamcast on their site!)

Biggest DC Collection on Ebay ever: SOLD.

Remember a few months back when I mentioned this insane Ebay Buy It Now consisting of over 500 mostly sealed Japanese Dreamcast games? Turns out I kept it on watch for a laugh to see if anyone would dare to buy it for it's 7,500 Euro asking price (no best offer option either). Well, I just noticed it 'ended' which it's said a few times from not selling over the 30 days each time it's been listed, but this time it says "sold".

Holy shite, who is this Dreamcast collecting nutter who just splashed out on this gigantic assortment of GD-Roms? Are they going to be played? Left to continue gathering dust in their sealed state? Used as bricks for a Dreamcast house utopia? Whoever just bought this: please get in contact with us and let us know please, so we can bow down to your superior/rich/insane self!

GameDeals Episode 4 - The Game-Files

I got to admit, this is one of my least-favourite ScrewAttack shows, but this one episode is just awesome. Maybe because it parodies one of the greatest tv shows of all time, or maybe just because it's all about the Dreamcast! You decide...

Anyway, enjoy.

Goodbye Space Michael..

Here's the mission where he appeared in full (from the English PS2 version). take note Micheal phoned up Sega personally because he wanted to be be in the game. That's just how awesome he was!

As you may remember from my 'Common Themes in Dreamcast land' Article, MJ was also playable in Midway's Ready 2 Rumble 2! Here's the first part of a complete play-though of the game with the king of pop!



R.I.P, MJ. I also have an article about his contributions to Sega over at Sega Memories.

Ay up, it's that bloody Shenmue again!

It would seem that truth is stranger than fiction, and indeed, a good deal funnier too! You might remember that, a little while ago, in the comments section of our esteemed epistle, many chuckles were to be had at the idea of an alternative Shenmue universe. One in which our own Ryo Hazuki was a cloth cap and clogs wearing, twelve pints a night drinking, lard butty munching, whippet breeding tinker, such as you'd find in areas of Manchester, such as Gorton, Wythenshawe and Beswick.

Well if you let out a guffaw or two at the thought of this, then imagine no longer... For I have just been sent, by a shady underworld figure known only as Brrythnmd, an email of a video, of this most startling and revelatory delving into the mind of AM2 genius and Shenmue creator, Yu Suzuki... The British Shenmue!!!!

InsideOut Video of Dux

Dux arrived in the post last Friday, so here's a video of what you get with the regular edition and a quick spot of gameplay, which is conveniently cut to not show how many times I blew up on my first go. I also also set it to an option that turns the background off without realizing that's what it meant by 'Perfect' so er...yeah.

Jenson Buffoons

How do. I've been at Silverstone this weekend watching loud cars drive about for a 'Grand Pree' or something. Wasn't overly exciting, but I didn't have to pay for the experience (hehe!) so I'm not complaining. I did, however, spend a lot of the time baulking at the price of the food on sale at the event - one fuckwit had the cheek to try and charge me £7.50 for a cheeseburger that looked like it'd just been sat on by a certain Dr Banner, post anger-inducing incident. You'll be happy to hear that no exchange of currency took place, although a swift flash of the V sign did. On the bright side though, I happened to spot a bit of (slightly) DC related guff:

That's right folks, there was an 8-player Ferrari F355 Challenge trailer round the back of the Stowe corner grandstands...and people where actually queuing up for a go! If only the blinkered cretins had the sense to spend £20 on a Dreamcast and another couple of quid on a copy of F355, rather than £30 on a ridiculous Jenson Button baseball cap (that was no doubt made in Taiwan by a 6-year-old for about 14 pence), THEY'D NEVER HAVE TO QUEUE AGAIN!

Unless, of course, they were queuing for something other than a go on an F355 arcade machine...erm...

Back to the scene

My Dreamcast hates me. And the worst part is, she's (yes, you all know I call me Dreamcast a "she") right! I've been neglecting her, only playing with my many other consoles (except for the N64, that one's sitting quietly in a dark corner). Maybe that's why the laser slowly began to fade away... But now it's back! I really have no idea what's going on, maybe it just needed to rest for a bit, but, anyway, what matters is that I've been playing the hell out of that thing lately, with 3 particular games, 2 I already had, neglected in the shelf, and a new one. Let's break it down:

Le Mans 24 Hours


Amazing game. The only reason I didn't play it much when I got it was because at the time I was more into arcade stuff. Now that I'm seriously in the simulator business this game is a godsend in the Dreamcast's library. The gameplay's just...right, you know? The cars respond to every move you make, with fully analog control that lets you turn or accelerate exactly how much you want, depending on the pressure you apply to the analog pad or the triggers, and it just feels good, driving those hi-powered machines in a variety of different tracks. The graphics are pretty damn awesome, and, of course, it gives you the option to race the whole Le Mans challenge, in 24 hours real-time!



Radilgy/Radirgy/What-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it


Personally I like to call it Radilgy, as in Radio Allergy. Because that's what the game is all about, your character having a radio-wave allergy, and her father's being kidnapped, and you taking control of a flying robot shooting wave after wave of enemies... Pretty generic shmup storyline, you see. As I stated sometime ago in a comment to a Martin's post, I had it, though, as what happened to Le Mans, at the time I got it just for collection's sake, not exactly to play it. Well, now things are different. In the past months I've became a huge shmup fan, so I inevitably had to play this. Here's what I think.

The graphics are awesome, pure cell-shaded, bright colours, delicious animations goodness! The gameplay is tight, the controls respond well and the game's not impossibly difficult (although it's far from easy). There's the regular shot, a special move identical to the bombs in other games but which is used primarily to render you invulnerable for a period of time and a close-range sword attack, powerful but dangerous to perform since you're right next to the enemies, making it difficult to dodge incoming fire.



I only have two major gripes with the game. First, you can't use the analog pad. This is just stupid. If the damn thing is the closest you have to an arcade stick, why the fuck shouldn't they allow you to use it? The d-pad's fine, but it just isn't the same... Second, the main shot is weak as fuck. Even when you power it all up certain enemy ships take about half a minute to blow up, which leaves you felling like you have a peashooter on your hands.

Other than that, great shmup, specially considering the rather weak competition when it comes to the Dreamcast (face it, it wasn't a particularly great machine for shmup fans...).

Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles


Finally! I thought I would never get my hands on this game! (now I only have to get that Dux...) Played just a little bit yesterday, not enough to pass judgement, but I can already tell you two things. First, the gameplay is rather unique, so be prepared to suck at it at first. The game features a nice tutorial, explaining everything in detail, but still, don't expect to master it right away. Second, this game was made with love. Seriously. The attention to detail, to make this game appealing to the player and has solid, complete and polished as a game can be is really astonishing. Also, the soundtrack's great.

Now, I've only really saw the tip of the iceberg, but I can already tell I'm going to love it. By the way, Gagaman and Father K, would you be so kind as to send me your custom character's codes? I'd love to play as both of you :P


(Gman's rummage vid)

Dux is shipping out!

If you put in a pre-order for the latest indie Dreamcast shooter DUX, it's should be winging it's way to you from today, and according to the DC-Scene forums some people in Germany already have it. If you're one of those few and can type English, post in the comments with your impressions!

HUCAST put out some rather tasty preview photos of the final pressed boxes, both the regular and special edition, in their pretty DVD cases that can sit along side your other late Dreamcast shmups like Under Defeat and karous, if you were lucky enough to get your hands on those of course. Personally I have both editions ordered (the L.E with Play-Asia, so hopefully they don't let me down!) and they'll be sitting rather nidely besides Cosmic Smash and Segagaga, and also Last Hope Pink Bullets when it makes it way into the post.

Supermassive Black Pad

Look here, you contemptible buffoons (no offence intended). Back in the day, I was one of the three people in the UK who owned an Atari Jaguar. I'm sure there were many more in the US, but my predictions are based on hope, rather than fact. This is irrelevant though, since whilst my European contemporaries were kicking ass on Streets of Rage 3 or indulging in the superlative brilliance of Super Mario World, I was trying to convince myself that I'd embraced the future by enduring the 'delights' of...erm...Club Drive, Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy and Cybermorph (pictured, yesterday). Cough.

I'd like to say they were fond memories, but I'd be lying through my gargantuan ass. That's because the Jag was the very zenith of bilge. The reason I dredge this subject up like the decomposing carcass of a sheep that wandered too close to a canal edge, is that the Atari Jaguar will always be remembered for two things: A slew of sub-16 bit 'games,' and that fucking ma-husive joypad. For those that never sampled it's charms, here's a pic:

This is what a 64-bit Interactive Mulitmedia System joypad looks like

Yes, beloved reader, its the same shape and size as the crust from a loaf of thick-sliced Warburton's - and it features a bizarre telephonic pad in the middle that allows for 'quick & easy' access to camera angle changes and weapon selections (via an overlay that came with most games). To be blunt, it's the biggest joypad the Universe has ever known, has it's own postal code, and if you've got hands even slightly smaller than popular Bible baddy Goliath - you're pretty much fucked when it comes to using it. However - there is a new pretender to the Jaguar pad's throne. Ladies & Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the McLaren Dreamcast Pad!

Yep, it's a DC pad branded by the Formula 1 team McLaren. Yes - a pad. Not, bizarrely, a steering wheel, but 10/10 for effort guys. What you can't tell from the above picture though is the sheer scale of the thing. It's bigger than E. Honda's packed lunch - and in order to truly appreciate the colossal proportions of it, here's a comparison shot with the regular DC, PS2 and 360 pads:

Look at the 360 pad...scale is not exagerrated.

So, we've established that it's big. Really big...but how does it stand up to the official pad? Surprisingly well actually. Unlike most third-party pads, the McLaren one is very sturdy (not a great shock given it's size) and the analogue triggers are very responsive in driving games (again, not a great shock considering who made the thing). The one component of third-party pads that usually strikes fear into the heart is the analogue stick, but again the McLaren's is very robust and super-accurate. Strange, considering that it is actually a 'stick' protruding from the pad as opposed to the 'ball' that the official controller has.

Look here, Squire:

It's a stick and not a ball. How rude.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the McLaren pad though is the 'double rumble' one that's emblazoned on the box. Upon closer inspection (and finding that the rumble pack offers the same amount of feedback as when it's used with a regular pad), it appears that this 'double rumble' feature is only activated when the pad is used with 'compatible software.' Quite what this compatible software is though, I have no idea. And what the fuck is double rumble anyway? I'm assuming that there are extra vibration motors built into the pad (that'd explain the size), but I can't confirm this theory as I don't have a screwdriver that fits into the holes on the underside of the goddamned thing. Bah. I do have an assortment of hammers, bricks and crude cutting instruments but I tend to just use them when I need to smash open a coconut and devour the soft flesh contained within. Mmmm. Flesh...

But I digress. The McLaren pad is a worthy addition to the 'Yard even if it does require a flatbed lorry to transport, and is possibly the best 3rd party DC pad I've ever used. Smoke that, Madcatz.

Incidentally, I'm working at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone at the weekend. Might take my pad and get Lewis Hamilton to sign it. On second thoughts, he may not appreciate someone shoving a massive Dreamcast pad under his nose whilst foaming at the mouth and screaming.