Latest Virtua Fighter 5 revision features classic Sega costumes

The latest version of Virtua Fighter 5, known as "R Revision B", features customisable costumes. Characters can now use items from classic Sega franchises, such as Space Channel 5, Samba de Amigo and Virtual On.

Other changes in this revision include a new camera system, new animations and new moves. It had a limited release in Japan back in March, and is now available nationwide.

Virtua Fighter 5 keeps getting revisions in the Japanese arcades, with some fans requesting them to be released on home consoles. Perhaps Sega could patch the original game with the extra features, or offer it as downloadable content.

[Source: Official Virtua Fighter Website and Virtua Fighter Dojo]

Dux released on Dreamcast

The latest Dreamcast game to be released is the h-scroller Dux. It was originally slated for release in November 2008, but it was actually completed yesterday and is now available for pre-order.

Initially, two versions were available for pre-order - a Limited Edition and a Regular Edition. The former has now sold out, leaving just the Regular Edition, which is available for $27.90 (£18).

Every pre-order comes with a sticker, poster and a soundtrack. The pre-orders are set to be dispatched in two weeks.

Here is a list of the final game's features:

• 6 stages filled with space alien scum and threats
  
• 3 upgradeable weapon types
  
• Upgradeable force device
• Multiple checkpoints within each stage
• Super smooth high-resolution CGI visuals
• Up to 3 loops with different difficulties
  
• Risk & Reward scoring system
• VGA support
• Region Free

Another new Dreamcast game is available too, called Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles. The puzzle game, released last year, can be bought here.

Despite the Dreamcast being dropped in the West in 2002, there has still been continuous development for the console. There hasn't been a year since its launch where no new games have been released, meaning there's still life in it yet!

[Source: Sega Nerds]

Were ThinkGeek's new Dreamcasts, well, old?

Nice Transformers covers!

Last month, ThinkGeek were selling a batch of new Dreamcasts for $100, all of which promptly sold out. Branded as "new in box", one buyer has stated that his was far from it.

Costing around $200 including postage, the anonymous buyer has said:

"While the extra controller was new, the console was far from it. The console itself is roughed up - the barcode has been scratched, the console's plastic has gunk on it."

He mentions there was further damage, things that time alone could not have caused. He has requested a refund from ThinkGeek, who, after two weeks, have not yet responded.

Could this mean all the consoles were used? Perhaps old systems were put in new boxes, or only some parts of the package were entirely new. So far this has been the only complaint to surface, so this may have been the only "old" console.

To sum it up, the buyer says:

"I could have easily bought a used Dreamcast locally for $25."

He could have indeed.

[Source: Destructoid via TSSZNews]

Sega at E3 2009, no Dreamcast 2!

Sega have recently revealed their E3 2009 line-up, firmly assuring us that there will be no hardware announcements whatsoever. This comes after recent speculation of a Dreamcast revival, sparked by ThinkGeek's Dreamcast sell-out and Sega's major company restructuring.

Here is Sega's (rather boring) confirmed software:

• Alpha Protocol
• Bayonetta
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
• Planet 51
• The Conduit
• Vancouver 2010

These details were confirmed on Sega's Twitter page, as was the statement outlining no future hardware plans. Here is what they said:

"We're a 3rd Party publisher now; as much as people would like a Dreamcast 2 we won't be returning to the hardware market."

There are more rumours about Sega's hardware future, stemming from their latest arcade hardware being applicable to home consoles according to the trademark application.

A return to the hardware market is what most Sega fans, including me, desperately want. If there is an announcement, expect it on 09/09/09!

[Source: Sega's Twitter]

New Japanese console can play Dreamcast games

This is almost certainly an April Fools' joke, but it's interesting nonetheless. A new (previously unheard of) Japanese console, apparently announced at last year's Tokyo Games Show, will be able to play any game from the current generation of consoles. A future firmware update will allow the console, named the "Koitoy", to play games from older consoles such as the Dreamcast.

This "universal ISO player" is completely legal in Japan according to Akihabara News, as it is hardware rather than software. The console can play blu-rays and DVDs, as well as ISO files. Wow, this really does sound too good to be true...

So why would Sega, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo allow this? Plus, how would it play Wii games without the necessary controllers? It must magically convert all TVs into touch-screens to play DS games.


Strangely, the console hailed as "Japan's answer to the Zeebo" shares its name with a light-up fish toy. Adverts posted up around the Akihabara District suggest that the console, regardless of the fishy name, will be released soon.

Wow, I simply can't wait to play old Sega games on this console! I bet it'll be cheaper than all the consoles it can emulate as well!

[Source: Akihabara News]

Anyone for a Dreamcast bag?

DO WANT!

The lucky people over at Sega of America have received something that they could only describe as "The Awesome Box". What is in the awesome box? Random Sega goodies, one item being revealed each day of this week.

At the top of the box is this amazing Dreamcast bag, and is the first item to be featured. The bag looks rather small, and has been described as a "man bag" - just the right size to carry your Dreamcast around in. As you do.

Sega probably sold more Dreamcast bags than actual Dreamcasts. Or not.

One feature that turns this ordinary bag into an awesome bag is the Dreamcast logo on the front. Unfortunately for us PAL gamers it's the orange swirl rather than our native blue. Sniff.

We'll just have to wait and see what else lies in Sega of America's Awesome Box. Probably some more awesome.

Which game had the best graphics on a Sega console?

Another day, another list from IGN! Today, they are finding out which games had the best graphics on each console, including the Saturn and Dreamcast.

The awards are split up into categories, including "Technical Excellence" and "Worst Visuals". Let's get to the awards!

Saturn

• Most Memorable Graphical Jump: NiGHTS into Dreams "a defining moment on Saturn... [it gave you] the feeling of being in immense space".
• Technical Excellence: Virtua Fighter 2 "very close to arcade perfect and the technical highlight of the Saturn era".
• Creative Vision: Panzer Dragoon "it was really the art direction that made it such a standout".
• Worst Visuals: Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game "poorly digitised, poorly animated frames of the actors from the absolutely awful film... Fail".

Dreamcast

• Most Memorable Graphical Jump: Shenmue "a big step forward".
• Technical Excellence: SoulCalibur "was so far visually beyond every other fighting game (and its own arcade progenitor) when it came out on Dreamcast that it was almost laughable".
• Creative Vision: Jet Set Radio "it was pure style and pure attitude... effortlessly cool visuals".
• Worst Visuals: South Park Rally "this game takes the word 'bland' to a whole new level. Soulless".

So there you have it. I would probably agree with most of that list, although I would give special mention to the Sonic Adventure series and Hydro Thunder on the Dreamcast. These games may not have had the most detailed graphics, but their intense colour and smoothness really made them stand out at the time. The same can be said for many other Dreamcast games.

As for Saturn games, I don't really know - I haven't played very many with outstanding graphics. The Virtua series and Sega Sports series had good graphics, though.

See more pictures of the games in question via the links above.

[Source: IGN]

9% of Japanese console owners still play Sega

In a survey conducted by RealWorld RealResearch, it was found that 9.3% of the those polled still played a Sega console. Nearly 68% of these Japanese console owners had not gone next-gen, instead relying on their old models.

When asked "which older consoles do you still play with?", 4.4% replied with Sega Saturn, 3.5% with Dreamcast and 1.4% with Mega Drive. Unsurprisingly, almost 56% of people still played old Sony consoles and nearly 42% played old Nintendo consoles.

I was surprised that the Saturn was more popular than the Dreamcast in the poll, as the Dreamcast is more recent and is still supported. I for one still play my Mega Drive and Mega CD, Master System and Game Gear. Unfortunately the Dreamcast and Saturn aren't set up, so I don't play them!

[Source: Kotaku]

Dreamcast spotted in deleted Night of the Werehog scene

TSSZ News has posted concept art of the short CG movie Night of the Werehog. It seems one of the deleted scenes was to feature Sonic and Chip playing the Dreamcast!

Two women who worked on Sonic Unleashed, known as Matsubara (level designer) and Yoshino (character designer), posted on Sonic Team's Japanese blog with information on the making of both Sonic Unleashed and Night of the Werehog.

It was revealed that there was a deleted scene in Night of the Werehog that featured Sonic and Chip playing on a Dreamcast. Here's what they said, talking to someone at Sega's VE Animation Studio:

Kinoshita: Sega products were included in our CGI scenes simply because we had fun making them, and we wanted to convey that sense of fun to our viewers.

Matsubara: I understand. I saw a Sega Dreamcast hidden in there…

Kinoshita: I’m glad you noticed!

Yoshino: Matsubara, don’t be a fool. I didn’t see anything!

Matsubara: You had to be quick in order to spot their secret locations!

Kinoshita: There are these images…

Yoshino: Hey, wait a minute! What was that image just then? Go back.

Matsubara: Sonic and Chip are playing a Dreamcast! I’m feeling a rush of emotion!

Yoshino: But there’s no scene like this in Night of the Werehog.

Kinoshita: This was a story concept that had to be left on the cutting room floor. As you can see, it was never finished. We simply did not have time to include it.

Yoshino: Awww.

Matsubara: What a waste!

It's a shame the scene didn't make it into the film, but at least we can see Robotnik's Dreamcast in the opening sequence of Sonic Unleashed!

New Dreamcast mod branded the iCast

Some clever modder has managed to fit a Dreamcast into an iMac G3, branding it the "iCast". It has an LCD monitor, with the modder playing a spot of Cannon Spike. Delicious.

But can he still use it as a computer? Don't know. Completely pointless if you can't!



[Source: G4TV]

Famitsu confirms Virtual-On for Xbox 360

Yesterday's discovery of Virtual-On's classification provided us more speculation about Sega's re-trademarking of Dreamcast games. Now we finally know why they are doing it, thanks to a scan in Famitsu.

One of the rumours was true - Virtual-On is indeed coming to new consoles as a download. So far there has only been an announcement regarding an Xbox Live release, but the "multiformat" listing from the classification suggests that it will get a PlayStation Network release as well.

My wish for added features has turned into reality, as the game will be in widescreen, have online capabilities and include three new fighters. It will cost 1200 Points, which I think is around £10.

Hopefully Sega's other re-trademarked games will receive similar treatment. Expect more Famitsu news here this week!

[Source: Sega Nerds]

Sega's Dreamcast trademarks explained?

VOIP!

There have been many Dreamcast games re-trademarked over the past few months, with no explanation from Sega. We have been speculating as to why Sega have been doing this, with theories such as property protection and compilation discs popping up. Well, we may just be closer to explaining the whole thing!

It seems that yesterday the ever-reliable Australian Classification Board rated Virtual-On, one of the Dreamcast games recently re-trademarked. It has been given a PG rating, citing "mild violence". Also interesting is the game's listing as "multi-platform".

This new information makes it likely that these titles (others include ChuChu Rocket, Sonic Shuffle, Jet Set Radio and Cosmic Smash) are going to make their way onto the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade as downloadable titles. Hopefully they will include new features, such as online play and leaderboards. Even some trophies would be nice.

This mystery is getting ever-closer to being solved. Finally.

[Source: Sega Nerds]

Remember the Dreamcast?

Someone over on the IGN forums has posted a delightful little comic strip entitled "The Console War is Officially Over", depicting all the consoles being friendly and having fun together. And what is one of their favourite pastimes? Looking through photo albums and remembering old friends.


Yes, the consoles remember the Dreamcast well, and are sad that it's gone. Just like the rest of us.

Look at this scary Dreamcast Famitsu cover!

You may remember a while back I found some Sega-related Famitsu covers. One of them featured Father Christmas holding up a new wondrous creation: the Dreamcast.

It turns out that this never appeared on the cover of Famitsu, instead being turned into a real 3D model. This was then photographed and appeared on the cover instead! Some other Susumu Matsushita illustrations received this treatment as well.


On a side note, I also found a cover featuring many consoles having their picture taken. The Saturn makes an appearance right at the back! Unfortunately most of the scans I have found are tiny, victims of '90s decompression. Oh well.

More Dreamcast games re-trademarked

Sega is continuing to re-trademark its old Dreamcast games, furthering the rumours and speculation. This time, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker and Rez have been re-trademarked, joining the ever-growing list of games recently renewed.

Dreamcast games previously renewed are ChuChu Rocket, Sonic Shuffle, Virtual-On, Jet Set Radio and Cosmic Smash. Many Mega Drive games have received the same treatment, despite some appearing on the upcoming compilation disc Mega Drive Ultimate Collection.

As with every other time a Sega game is re-trademarked, rumours have been flying about suggesting a Dreamcast compilation or downloadable versions for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. The latter is becoming increasingly unlikely as Rez is all ready available as a download title.

There is of course the boring explanation of protecting intellectual property, but let's just hope the game are going to be part of a compilation. Along with some Saturn and 32X games. And arcade games. Yes.

[Source: Sega Nerds]

Necky the Fox weirdness

Seeing Necky the Fox in that scan of Famitsu has left me intrigued. Who is he? What is his purpose? It seems that he is a character from Susumu Matsushita, a Japanese cartoon company, and features regularly in Famitsu magazine alongside other video game characters. And that can only mean one thing.

Yes, there are some Sega-related ones! Unfortunately there are only two that I could find, but at least they have Dreamcasts in them!


This first one has Necky piloting a Dreamcast controller towards the Dreamcast mothership (?). It reminds me of those '80s Oliver Frey covers whereby ZX Spectrums would be flying in space.


Next is a picture of Father Christmas, with lots of Necky elves helping make Dreamcasts for all the little boys and girls. Clearly not enough people ordered one for Christmas then, as we all know where the Dreamcast eventually went.

As Famitsu is weekly, and there are no cover archives anywhere, there are probably countless more Sega-related ones. These were the only ones I could find off the Susumu Matsushita website, so if I find any more, I'll post them!

SEGAtastic is 3D-compatible!

With the latest 3D technology being used in cinema and 3D games being showcased at CES, I thought it was my turn to follow the recent revival! I have purchased some 3D glasses and made some anaglyph pictures for viewing with them. Can you guess what the main subject of them is?

Why of course, I have taken some 3D Sega-based images! I arranged some of my consoles so that they overlapped to create more depth, and the effect is brilliant. They are black-and-white as they are more effective, and because all Sega consoles are those colours!

If you want to view them you will need some red-cyan 3D glasses, otherwise they will look like modern art. Missing from the pictures are my Mega Drive II and Mega CD II, as they are always set up. Click the images for larger versions.

If only more pictures had 3D versions, then I could make a 3D version of this blog. Maybe one day...

Front of Samba de Amigo iPod revealed!

Remember that Samba de Amigo iPod prize I mentioned a few months ago? Well, someone who won it has revealed what it actually looks like to the whole internet.

When I reported on it, the only known picture was of the back of the iPod, featuring the Samba de Amigo logo. The new pictures of it show the front, which has a delicious colourful maraca on it. It has been kept in the case, never to be opened.

Apparently, the iPod comes loaded with Samba de Amigo music and videos, but no-one is actually sure. Kotaku said that the back of the iPod will forever remain a mystery, but with that one solved, maybe someone can verify what music really is on the iPod...

Dreamcast VMU was to have its own RPG

Ex-Sega employee Marc Cellucci has been talking to Siliconera about his time at the company. It turns out that he was developing an RPG for the Dreamcast's VMU, or its memory card for you PS2 owners. Your fault.

Anyway, it would was quite an ambitious project, featuring scrolling and a whole world map! This is what he said:

"There were plenty of cancelled projects, but very few I can talk about! The one I think I can mention is one I was working on in the Sega.com days — it was an RPG for the VMU. It was a side project being done by about three of us, and we had a full world map, scrolling engine, and game design all fleshed out, when the plug got pulled from on high. In retrospect, they were probably right… I don’t see a VMU RPG changing the fate of the Dreamcast! We still wanted to make it, though."

A VMU RPG would have been great. Apart from saving games, the most impressive thing the VMU did with our games was display a flashy logo. Yum!

2000 DC: Your Dreamcast Future Starts Here

Sega Nerds has uploaded an interesting article taken from the March 2000 issue of the Official Dreamcast Magazine (US). It is about what the Year 2000 holds for the Dreamcast, as well as plans for the future.

Apparently, 2000 was going to be a good year for the Dreamcast (according to the people being interviewed), but unfortunately it was the year that Sony's PS2 destroyed it. Oh well.

I just love past graphic design, and this article impresses me greatly. Looking back at my old games magazines, such as the Official PlayStation Magazine, graphic design was much better. The current PlayStation Magazine has such boring design, which puts me off reading it.

Most of the questions in the interviews show just how obsessed we were with "Y2K". They go along the lines of:

• "What does the Year 2000 hold for the Dreamcast?"
• "What does the Year 2000 mean to you?"
• "What will be different about games in the Year 2000?"
• "Will the Year 2000 be a good year for Sega?"

Here is one interesting quote from Yuji Naka:
DM: Do you believe in extra-terrestrials?
Naka: Aliens? Yes, I want to see them. I want to do something together with them.
You can decide what that "something" is.

Oh, how I miss those years. If only things had been different, then maybe the games industry would be completely different (for the better, of course).