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Dreamcast News - The Latest in Emulation and Homebrew is a News and downloads site for Sega Dreamcast, Sega Saturn and Vintage Sega Consoles like the Megadrive, Master System and 32X, We have all the latest emulators, hack, homebrew, commercial games and all the downloads on this site, the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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October 3rd, 2008, 22:18 Posted By: wraggster
Damon Caskey has released a new version of Openbor the Beats of Rage fighting game engine for the Dreamcast, gP2X and PSP, heres whast new:
Release 2.2017
New features:
continuescore{1/2}
Goes in levels.txt on a per set basis.
1 = score is reset to 0 when you continue.
2 = 1 point is added to your score when you continue!
subject_to_minz {int} - Model header command. Toggles minimum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_minz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current minimum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current minium Z boundry.
subject_to_maxz {int} - Model header command. Toggles maximum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_maxz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current maximum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current maximum Z boundry.
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October 3rd, 2008, 21:28 Posted By: wraggster
Console collectors know good and well that Sega dished out a few less-than-easily-attainable versions of the Dreamcast back in the day, but only the hardest of hardcore fanatics are apt to have one this bad boy. Just 1,800 of these limited edition bundles were made, which feature an atypical Code: Veronica box, a translucent red version of the Japanese console, a matching controller, a copy of Biohazard Code: Veronica (Japan's version of Resident Evil Code: Veronica), all the traditional connection cables and a huge dose of bragging rights. Number 280 out of the 1,800 units can be yours right now for the low, low asking price of $800, and believe us, we don't foresee this one hanging around sans an owner for too much longer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sega-Dreamcast-B...d=p3286.c0.m14
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/03/l...dreamcast-sho/
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October 1st, 2008, 00:28 Posted By: wraggster
News from Dreamcast ES
I think it is time to be releasing all those things that I have saved around here.
The first is a kind of console commands or type CMD TERMINAL in linux, programmed using the SDL libraries that can utlizar options for basic input / output as well as many other things that I'll add, this is an alpha version.
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September 28th, 2008, 12:03 Posted By: wraggster
Had some time this weekend and finally got the releases all linked to on site, also fixed the forum feeds on the right hand side and added the 60 latest items of Dreamcast News, so even if you miss an item it will always be easy to find again 
also added a new sticky for Dreamcast Links, lots of dead sites in old topic so if you can please post dreamcast related sites in that thread.
bye for now (more work to do)
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September 28th, 2008, 11:55 Posted By: wraggster
To help all users who visit our Sites we are asking for the DCEmu Public to help us gather as many links for each console and a little bit of info about the site in question.
It Should start like this, for example heres our site that covers Dreamcast
Url = http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/
Description - DCEmus Site that covers all things Dreamcast such as Emulators, Homebrew, Development, Hacking, Gaming and Hardware News with discussion forums too.
Please add as many Dreamcast sites to the list as you know
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September 28th, 2008, 10:59 Posted By: wraggster
To help all users who visit our Sites we are asking for the DCEmu Public to help us gather as many links for each console and a little bit of info about the site in question.
It Should start like this, for example heres our site that covers Sega Saturn
Url = http://sega-saturn.dcemu.co.uk/
Description - DCEmus Site that covers all things Sega Saturn such as Emulators, Homebrew, Development, Hacking, Gaming and Hardware News with discussion forums too.
Please add as many Sega Saturn sites to the list as you know
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September 25th, 2008, 22:19 Posted By: wraggster
Damon Caskey has released a new version of OpenBor otherwise known as Open Beats of Rage for the PSP, Windows, Dreamcast and GP2X
Heres whats new:
Release 2.2003
New features:
subject_to_minz {int} - Model header command. Toggles minimum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_minz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current minimum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current minium Z boundry.
subject_to_maxz {int} - Model header command. Toggles maximum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_maxz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current maximum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current maximum Z boundry.
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September 23rd, 2008, 15:40 Posted By: Christuserloeser
via http://www.blog.hucast.net/
The latest entry on the hucast dev blog explains the scoring system of the upcoming Dreamcast shmup DUX:
This game features a Risk & Reward scoring system based on enemy and bullet chaining. To chain means to hit an row of enemy and likewise soaking up bullets within a short time frame. You can use all your power to chain enemies, but be carefully with bombs and rockets as they might break your chain.
The power pod in front of the ship is able to soak up enemy bullets when blocking them directly and when Hyper Soaking is active, bullets even accalerate to fly to your pod like it was magnetic. You can use this feature to let bullets - which aren't very reachable and/or more on screen then you can handle at a time - heading to your pod to gain more score.
To activate Hyper Soaking just press R, then your soaking bar decreases to the minimum while soaking up bullets - mind, the more bullets you soak the longer the hyper soaking stays active. Furthermore, you can collect Soak Up items to increase your soak bar.
While hyper soaking, enemy bullets are harmless to you, so you can also use this feature as a bullet shield when playing for survival instead scoring. But be warned, enemies themselves and their lasers can still defeat you.
Sometimes you have multiple ways to destroy certains enemy types such as Bullies. This enemy just flies up and down and has its hitzone in the middle. Now you can just shoot the Bully up or fly behind it and shoot at it from there. The hitzone on its back is weaker and gives you more score to gain. To do this is pretty dangerous, but if you risk it you can get your reward.
Source: http://www.blog.hucast.net/
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September 23rd, 2008, 01:19 Posted By: wraggster
Damon Caskey has today released a new version of the Open Bor (Beats of Rage) Engine for the PSP, GP2X and Dreamcast.
Heres whats new
Release 2.2002
New features:
subject_to_minz {int} - Model header command. Toggles minimum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_minz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current minimum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current minium Z boundry.
subject_to_maxz {int} - Model header command. Toggles maximum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_maxz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current maximum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current maximum Z boundry.
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September 21st, 2008, 17:56 Posted By: wraggster
Another release from Indiket, heres the translation:
I remember the port of DeathChase 3d? Yeah man, he pursued the motorcycle to other motorists on a stage entirely generated vector.
Well, the author of that game (Paul Robson) had done enough in SDL games that are portable to the DC, and this is one of them
Foosball DC takes you back to the world of table football. Battle against your friend or the CPU in a vibrant party. Choose training and the number of goals and win!
License: GPL.
Author: Paul Robson
Has no active website, but their works can be found using Google (DeathChase 3D, OpenGoal ...).
Controls:
Analog: the mouse pointer on the menu
D-PAD: Move up / down players
A: Shoot strong
B: Shoot with control
L: Quit
As a curiosity, this game does not use a single image or sound file, absolutely everything is generated using only video. Mola eh?
Download and Give Feedback Via Comments (and if you speak spanish im sure dreamcast es would love to hear from you)
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September 21st, 2008, 17:52 Posted By: wraggster
Ron and Indiket have released an updated version of ApricotsDC.
Heres the google translated release info:
ApricotsDC is a play written by Mark Snellgrove using the SDL libraries. Despite the name, has nothing to do with apricots. It is a game where you have to fly a plane around the screen and shoot targets and drop bombs on enemy targets, it is fast and fun.
Based on the versions of Amiga, Planegame and Planegame2 was rewritten for Linux and this is the result. The website of the game it is.
The Dreamcast version is already finished using the audio on SDL_mixer instead of Open Audio Library (OpenAL, do not have to DC).
The controls as always, with the pad, is viciante. Meanwhile you can go and we are trying comentáis who find bugs.
Downloads: The binary is available here: ApricotsDC by Ron & Indiket
And the source code for the Dreamcast version here: Source ApricotsDC by Ron & Indiket
UPDATE: The sound is already operating and gunfire and bombs are already ringing!
Project Leader: Mark Snellgrove (original game concept and coding)
Co-author: Mark Harman (First Windows port and SDL conversion)
Additional contributor: Judebert (Configuration file)
Freely distribute under the terms of the GPL.
Download and Give Feedback Via Comments (and if you speak spanish im sure dreamcast es would love to hear from you)
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September 18th, 2008, 02:09 Posted By: Christuserloeser
via http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The second part of Keith Stuart's interview with Peter Moore:
Peter Moore thought he could win the console war with Dreamcast. He was wrong. Sony's ingenious PR foiled his plans, but for Moore, this was just the beginning. Part Two of our interview, takes him from the collapse of Dreamcast to the heights of Microsoft's ambitions for Xbox - ambitions that could well have destroyed the Nintendo we know today...
Keith Stuart: What was the key lesson you took out of the failure of Dreamcast?
Peter Moore: You know, failure's a tough word! It didn't quite get there. I was angry with Sony at the time, but in their shoes I probably would have done the same thing. They did a tremendous job – and it's a story they repeated in 2005 with Killzone – where they promised the consumer something they probably believed they were going to deliver, but they never did. PlayStation 2 - it was the emotion engine it was games coming to life, Real Player was going to be on there, a full network browser… and they just never delivered.
But what they did was place doubt in the consumers' mind. It was pre-emptive guerrilla PR, in the same way that three E3s ago I got lambasted for what I did with Xbox for 360, because I was determined we were going to show real footage even if it was alpha or beta. And then Sony came up with that Killzone video – and they still haven't shipped the game! Have you seen the video?! The game will never be the video! But what they did again was they placed doubt. I mean it's a classic PR tactic.
Stuart: So going back to Dreamcast vs PS2, you felt the impetus slipping away…
Moore: It was a horrible period because, all of a sudden, you could sense consumers thinking twice about Dreamcast. I was $199, it was the first online console, we had some great games – SoulCalibur, Sonic Adventure, Trickstyle, Ready 2 Rumble. When you look at them today, you chuckle, but they were on the cutting edge graphically at that time…
But [Sony] were brilliant at FUD – you know, fear uncertainty and doubt. It was a massive FUD campaign. The consumer thought twice and they started to read, 'can the Dreamcast make it?' It had a tough time in Europe, it had a really disastrous time in Japan. My job was… my personality was such that I'll go up and start being a little more on the front foot… It was like, 'well, what do you do?' You just do it yourself. You start talking, you don't wait for the Japanese to give you messaging – because PR is something they don't do very well, they just don't do that concept of messaging and having passion around the message – the only thing we could do was be passionate. But it was too little too late unfortunately.
Stuart: So you were at Sega for another two years after that…
Moore: Yeah, my job was to transition the company from being a hardware company, which it had been for two decades, and off I go to Nintendo and Sony…
Stuart: Was that a difficult time?
Moore: It was not optimistic. We had developers, Yuji Naka, Yu Suzuki, all these people who had never worked on anything other than first-party hardware. And now we're saying you need to go multi-platform, and it was just not comfortable for them whatsoever. You don't just one day say 'well we're just going to go from our Dreamcast dev kits to our PS2 or Xbox.' Microsoft set up a deal for us and we started to work on things like Crazy Taxi and bringing them over to Xbox – we did I think an 11 title deal.
Stuart: And in the end you fell out with your bosses in Japan, because they were still relying on arcade conversions when the rest of the world was playing GTA. But how did this lead to your arrival at Microsoft?
Moore: Robbie Bach called me to wish me a merry Christmas and asked how I was doing. I said I'm not too good, I'm fed up of trying to convince Japan that we need to either go off and hire western developers or really change what we're publishing and developing in Japan, because the western world is really starting to take over, and the Japanese developers were being marginalized. And Robbie said well if you would ever consider coming here, there's a home for you at Microsoft.
So in January (2003) I flew up there and had lunch with Steve Ballmer and you don't say no to Ballmer. We had a great lunch and he convinced me that Microsoft was going to take on Sony; so I get to put on my suit of armour, get on my horse and take on Sony again – but with a little bit more money this time! And I said yes.
Read the full article at guardian.co.uk
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September 15th, 2008, 22:32 Posted By: Christuserloeser
This episode is dedicated to Sega's Dreamcast, whose U.S. launch was nine years ago -- the famous 9/9/99. While the system didn't last long, its brief life didn't prevent it from building a loyal fan base of users who still regard it as the finest system ever. That could well account for why this Retronauts is the longest ever, featuring a prodigious length of more than two and a half hours.
All in all, it's a pretty long episode! You may want to take it in pieces. For your convenience, here are the major divisions:
- Opening segment: Virtual Console and WiiWare (0:00 - 38:05)
- Dreamcast segment 1: The Fan's-Eye View (39:00 - 1:38:27)
- Dreamcast segment 2: The Industry View (1:39:17 - 2:21:18)
- B-Side: Contra III vs. Gunstar Heroes (2:22:10 - 2:41:54)
Thanks again to our guests, and to Sega for making a fine system that really deserved better.
Download the episode and read the full introduction here: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169755
lordnikon of OnlineConsoles.com posted a great review of the show, and highlights some errors which definitely deserve to be corrected:
I waited a bit to give others a chance to maybe reply about this before I give it the "nikon" treatment. Since nobody else has replied yet, I decided to just go ahead and post. Though instead of just hanging on the negative points only, I will also give its positives to be fair.
Notable Positives about the broadcast:
- This broadcast is long and probobly one of the few Dreamcast specific ones that you may ever hear that goes this indepth on so many facets of the Dreamcast. So, at the very least you get to hear a bunch of people talk about your favorite console for well over an hour and a half. (Which can be entertaining or enraging depending on your state of mind - see comments later on in my post...)
- Zombie Revenge - This game gets ragged on by a lot of people because they don't understand it is supposed to be a beatemup arcade game, and not Resident Evil. Jerry Holkins was quick to point out this point. This was good because more people need to learn to appreciate this great Sega arcade game.
- Skies of Arcadia Barai Edition - I was very proud that they brought this up, even though I don't think they ever referred to it as its true name "Barai Edition". Barai games were full games, that had only the first part of the game available to play. The rest was locked off. They were often included in magazines, or could be purchased for a few dollars. To play the full game you signed onto the Internet and purchase an unlock key that would make the entire game available.
- They were able to notice just how many creative titles were released on the DC and pointed this out numerous times throughout the broadcast.
- They noted there was a creative collapse after death of Dreamcast by Sega.
- They point out the Dreameye and the DC's connectivity with NGPC.
ok and here we go...
Notable Negatives about the broadcast:
- While talking about Skies of Arcadia Barai Edition, they start talking nonsense about what would happen if the VMU battery dies out and the unlock key was stored in the Game Save. They were all under the impression that the Dreamcast's VMU somehow gets whiped out after its CR2032 battery dies. This was red flag number 1 for, "I am just here for nostalgia and have no damn idea what I talking about because I havn't played a Dreamcast since 2002." Of course the saves are not eliminated once the battery runs dry. You simply cannot use the VMU as a standalone device, and have to put up with an annoying beep whenever it is accessed in game.
- Okay so they realise to some extent that the Dreamcast had large library of unique and original games. However the problem here is that they didn't come into the broadcast trying to prove this point. It was something they sort of "realised" while discussing it right there in the podcast.
- They noted the creative collapse after the Dreamcast faded from the commmercial market. This was true, to an extent. It didn't happen right after Sega went multiplatform. Remember Sega took all of their projects currently in development, and for much of 2003 they released these games across other systems. All of those games embodied everything the Dreamcast stood for. The real creative downfall at Sega didn't happen until the corporate restructuring of the Sega Sammy merger.
- At two points in the broadcast you hear people talking about how "they need to re-release this game so I can play it". For Zombie Revenge, and later on Shenmue. At first when I heard him bring it up for Zombie Revenge I blurted out "Just buy the ****ing thing." Then they say during Shenmue that they need to re-release it because the Dreamcast is technically no longer compatible with his TV. Yea. Yet another case of people buying HDTV's rendering 95% of the game consoles ever released, including the Dreamcast, as virtually unusable on such a setup. I swear people like this should be cast out of being Dreamcast Fans. If you aren't going to find ways to still play a console like the Dreamcast, then what the hell are you doing talking about how great it is. Nostalgia is an affliction or a virus that needs to be obliterated.
And now for the bombshell quote of the entire thing. I had to type this out verbatim just so you guys could see how braindead they are:
Quote:
GUY #1: Another way that Sega kind of lined up its ducks, that we havn't even mentioned, is the NAOMI arcade hardware architecture. The arcade board that was basically a Dreamcast with extra RAM. That supposedly should have made arcade ports super easy, but all it really did was uhh create this sad little trickle of Cave and uh Goo Rev shooters, long after the system was dead. You'd have these limited Prints of Border Down and uh Over Rev or whatever it was called. There'd be like 10,000 copies of the game that would sell out immediatly, and become suddenly super valuable collectors items, but that was the Sega Dreamcast Legacy after its Death, was like this stream of super niche, super hardcore shooters that had been developed on NAOMI and therefore were like no brainer ports over to Dreamcast.
GUY #2: Didn't one just come out recently?
GUY #1: Yea, umm, I can't remember which one it was, but yea there was one that came out this year. And you know, every time one these comes out they are like "this is the last Dreamcast game".
They said: "Cave and Goo Rev shooters". WHAT?! Cave games are not released on the NAOMI. Plus they probobly couldn't even run on it due to the RAM compression schemes on the NAOMI or Dreamcast. What is a Goo Rev shooter? (cue sarcasm meter) They mean "G" Rev shooter, but making this type of pronounciation error isn't cute or excusable. It is embarrasing and makes the speaker sound like a Class A doofus.
It gets worse when in the next sentance they say "Border Down and Over Rev or whatever it was called". Over Rev? I am sorry when was that game released? I sure don't remember any game named... oh wait yea thats right, there is no shooter on the Dreamcast named Over Rev, or one that even comes close to that name. The only guess I would have is that they meant "Under" Defeat, which was developed G."Rev". They flipped Under into the word Over and added Rev to it. Do you see the cryptic dislexia I am having to use to rationalize their thought process?!
The thing that really ticked me off was when they said the NAOMI, " supposedly should have made arcade ports super easy, but all it really did was uhh create this sad little trickle of Cave and uh Goo Rev shooters".
Each of the shooters released in recent years on the Dreamcast were a unique case of circumstances. A symbiotic relationship between fans and the companies. These developers were able to directly reach their target audience across the entire world. Shooter fans all own Dreamcast's and still play them. Shooter fans still play shooters, because they are active fans of the genre! While not supporting the ability of cross region play right out of the box, imports can be played on the Dreamcast with the help of boot discs. Players all over the world were able to buy and play them with very little difficulty. ALL of the shooter development companies realised this, and knew it all along. This was one of the purest commercial videogame moments in video game history. No press releases, or commercials, or magazine spreads, or jargon chocked marketing ploys. It was the fans, and the developers working together to make NAOMI arcade ports happen on the Dreamcast for as long as they possibly could. The developers were able to keep making the games they loved to make, and we were able to play the games we love to play. This is anything but sad.
Also, I am not sure what this guy is talking about by trying to downplay the NAOMI's importance with regards to Dreamcast ports. The NAOMI was one of the most impactful arcade platforms ever. While people love to beat up on the DC as a "failiure", the NAOMI was the PS2 of the Arcade industry. It dominated. Contrary to what the person in the broadcast would lead you to believe, porting from the NAOMI to the Dreamcast was incredibly easy. This allowed over 60 NAOMI arcade games to find their way to the Dreamcast console, with many more games being ported to other game systems following Sega's decision to publish titles across multiple game consoles.
Reading stuff like this litterly makes me want to start Hulk Smashing chairs left and right. Why you say? Because these people are covering the video game industry as their PROFESSION! How is it that people with full time jobs in entirely unrelated fields, are able to know more about games than these court jesters?
They even are confused about when the last Dreamcast game was released, and think one came out this year. No. The last game to even see a commercial release was Karous in March of 2007. This was well over a year ago!
Either their ego's are so big they felt they could just wing it and get by on their random knowledge of the platform, or video game journalism is in such a state of dissrepair that proper research and fact checking is not longer a job requirement in these days of "brogging" and "flogcasting".
Source: http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/...pic.php?t=8748
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September 15th, 2008, 21:21 Posted By: wraggster
Peter Moore spills the beans about the launch of Dreamcast and More;
The Dreamcast was an interesting beast. Sega was so financially strapped, and it had already launched in Japan to a sort of tepid, luke-warm reaction. These are big stakes games. I mean, when you're launching a games console, you need hundreds of millions of dollars to get it off the ground… and so the North American launch was the last best chance – Europe was going to be launching but there wasn't enough there to salvage what was going to be a tough situation with the PS2 looming 12 months out … The US was the last best chance of getting the Dreamcast up and running.
We amassed a very strong line up of titles, but unfortunately, EA - God bless 'em – decided they weren't going to publish on Dreamcast. That forced me to build my own sports brand, called 2K – we came up with the name one night, because it was the Y2K period, we needed to get the packaging done and we couldn't come up with a name. So we just said, 'let's call it 2K sports'. It was the best we could come up with.
Dreamcast was a phenomenal 18 months of pain, heartache, euphoria… We thought we had it, but then Playstation came out, that infamous issue of Newsweek with the Emotion Engine on the cover… and of course, EA didn't publish which left a big hole, not only in sports but in other genres. We ended up that Christmas period not being able to get to where we needed to be – we weren't far short, we just couldn't get that critical mass…
It seemed that the European office weren't as confident as the American office…
We [Sega of America] knew we could win. It was just indicative of the complete lack of integration – the Dreamcast logo was blue in Europe instead of orange, the concept of a globalised brand, which we're now building here at EA Sports, just evaded the Japanese completely. And JF, who was the general manager in Europe, went his own way, had his own positioning. We had a very different positioning, we were very aggressive in the US – and it was a little challenging in Europe. There wasn't that, 'let's go and get them, we can win this battle'.
You know, I loved the console wars and still do even though I'm no longer in the console business… the idea of being upfront, getting after Phil Harrison, getting after Kaz Hirai and then later getting after John Riccitiello… I think the consumer loves it, it adds publicity and it adds fire around the industry. And in those days we needed to because we didn't have the money …
In the end it didn't work out. It was tough, but those were great days and I've never met anybody who regretted buying a Dreamcast. Soul Calibur anyone? We had a lot of content, a lot of fun and we had tremendous PR, and we got after it in a unique way – the 'Its thinking' campaign was a great campaign, we had these wacky 15-second spots on MTV, we launched on 9.9.99 at the MTV Music Awards, we hit the road with Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit of all people; the Family Values and Anger Management tours – we were a big brand.
But then it all went pear-shaped in Christmas 2000.
Okay, but let's go back to the hopeful years. You said you didn't have much money or much time, but you certainly seemed to make an impact.
Oh yeah. I mean, I arrived in February and we were launching in September, so I had seven months to figure out, a) what the industry was and b) what the console and software were, and then build a marketing campaign. Which we did by April. In 60 days we came up with 'It's Thinking'. We filmed a huge ad spot in Vancouver, we went ten nights and did Apocalypse, a multimillion dollar TV spot (by ad firm Foote, Cone and Belding). It was this idea that the console was actually thinking, and it was bringing 747s down, it had this Black Rain-style look. We only ran that spot once on 9.9.99 during the video music awards and it became very viral - this is obviously a long time before YouTube.
We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire – we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said – and I can't remember the exact figures – but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn't sustain the business.
So on January 31 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware – somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day.
We were selling 50,000 units a day, then 60,000, then 100,000, but it was just not going to be enough to get the critical mass to take on the launch of PS2. It was a big stakes game. Sega had the option of pouring in more money and going bankrupt and they decided they wanted to live to fight another day. So we licked our wounds, ate some humble pie and went to Sony and Nintendo to ask for dev kits.
Actually, the only company that ever called was Microsoft and that became my link with the company, because of the respect I had for Robbie Bach. Xbox had launched, I was onstage with Robbie, I was the only third-party who'd go on stage with Microsoft at E3 - at that time people were saying Microsoft couldn't get it done, but I believed they could, because I believed in online. I always thought that online was going to be the key. And the line I came up with was, 'we're taking games where gaming is going'. Everybody laughed because we had Seganet going with just 50,000 people online… but I always think Dreamcast was the precursor to the next-gen consoles, because we then brought out a broadband adaptor – remember playing Quake 3 through Broadband? Only 5% of people had broadband in those days – it sounds like it was a hundred years ago, but it was 2001!
The first real multiplayer console game was NBA 2K1. I always remember when we launched Seganet. We were in some nightclub in Hollywood, and we'd just had the band Filter onstage, which brought the house down. I played against Ice Cube. I was crapping myself because we had to dial the frickin' modem to connect to San Francisco. And it worked. Those were seat of the pants moments, the fact that you had to get a dial-up telephone modem to work, and then we were doing a satellite video feed down from Visual Concepts… it was a wild night, I don't remember much after that. That was the first time anyone had seen an online console game.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...eed=technology
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September 15th, 2008, 21:02 Posted By: wraggster
Damon Caskey and the guys over at Lavalit the Openbor Community (Massive Community of gaming modders of the game Beats of Rage/OpenBor) a few days ago (i am the very first outside of their site to find and post this) released a new version of Openbor for Windows, GP2X, Dreamcast and PSP
Heres whats new
Release 2.2000!
New features:
subject_to_minz {int} - Model header command. Toggles minimum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_minz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current minimum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current minium Z boundry.
subject_to_maxz {int} - Model header command. Toggles maximum Z bounding for model on playfield. Available to script methods getentityproperty and changeentityproperty as "subject_to_maxz".
{int} - Default 1 for all except panel type models.
1: Entity cannot move beyond current maximum Z boundry.
0: Entity can move freely beyond current maximum Z boundry.
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September 15th, 2008, 20:51 Posted By: wraggster
Ron & Indiket have posted a new release for the Dreamcast Scene.
ApricotsDC is a game written by Mark Snellgrove using the SDL libraries. Despite the name, has nothing to do with apricots. It is a game where you have to fly an airplane across the screen and shoot targets and drop bombs on enemy targets, is fast and fun.
Based on versions of Amiga, Planegame and Planegame2 was rewritten for Linux and this is the result. The website of the game is it.
The Dreamcast version is not yet finished, we are implementing audio in SDL, now comes in Open Audio Library (OpenAL) and it does not have the DC.
The controls as always, with the pad, is viciante and will soon be completely finished, meanwhile We can start testing and told us that bugs encontráis.
The downloads are available at the usual section. ApricotsDC by Ron & Indiket
Update: The sound and begins running and shooting and bombs are already sounding very soon the full version.
Project Leader: Mark Snellgrove (Original concept and game coding)
Co-author: Mark Harman (First Windows port and SDL conversion)
Additional contributor: Judebert (Configuration file)
Freely distributed under the terms of the GPL.
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September 14th, 2008, 16:57 Posted By: Christuserloeser
via http://www.redspotgames.com/
The Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig is over. Months of pre arragements and an intense week of buildup, organization, business talks, negotiations and of course deconstruction, were completely worth it. Of course there were also a couple of business parties we mustn’t miss.
Here’s the roundup of everything, that happened at our booth in hall 2, booth H22.
Games
“Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles”: People were able to play the 95 % finished exhibition version on two Dreamcast store displays with VMU save option in the middle of our booth. For the first time people could have a first look at the VMU character, which is new for the Dreamcast release. In the left corner of our booth we had the preview build of the game, which was already available on the “Retro Magazin” issue #6. The issue #9, which containted a Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles review was on display as well.
“Last Hope for Dreamcast”: A playable Last Hope, a couch for two persons as well as a bowl of sweets could be found in the right corner.
There's also a video of Les Trucs' gig at Youtube. Les Trucs were one of two groups that performed on invitation by redspotgames:
Bands
Les Trucs are from Frankfurt am Main and combine electro with hardcore, without actually being put in musical genres. Many people call it “Nintendocore” or “Post Hardcore”, when you ask them to describe the band. But at least it’s a fact, that Les Trucs have the same D.I.Y. spirit in their hearts, like we from redspotgames do and they either thrilled the audience or unsettled them. A combination of both is very likely, as well. Official website: http://www.myspace.com/lestruc
Gtuk from Berlin is actually a “one man show”. He sees himself as an artist, who’s producing hektik Grindcore made out of 8-bit sounds and a children’s cassetterecorder. A self destructive live performance and interaction with the audience that left mostly irritated viewers behind. After his first performance on Friday he even had to give a lot of autographs. And on Saturday more and more people came to his performances. Official website: http://www.myspace.com/gtuk
Read the full article at http://www.redspotgames.com/rsg-at-g...-2008-summary/
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September 13th, 2008, 17:56 Posted By: Maturion
Hallo und Willkommen an alle!
I am proud to announce that SEGA-DC.DE and Dreamcast-Germany.de have finally merged, after a month of work. We are now the number one Dreamcast scene website in the German speaking world with around 600 registered users, around 300 page visits a day, an active community, a few developers on our board and daily updates. If you speak German and are interested in Dreamcast then check out our site!
At the moment we're preparing a lot of interesting, new content for our site. We hope you enjoy our site!
http://www.dreamcast-germany.de - http://www.sega-dc.de (Both sites redirect to the same page)
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