I have updated the Coming Soon page which now contains all the PAL games due out on Dreamcast. Surprising absentees from this list include Get Bass, Incoming, MDK2, Dyanmite Deka 2, and Pen Pen Triathalon have been removed from an earlier list. Just goes to show the depth of titles if these games are deemed good enough, although they may appear later on.
Just remember that there is only a couple of days to go in the poll on the front page. If you haven't voted, go do it now.
Sega have revealed Red Lemon's first Dreamcast title, Take The Bullet. The game is set in America in the 1960's with the players taking on the roll of Jack Travis, a bodyguard. The game has both first and third person perspectives throught 12 levels. The game will be compatable with the Dreamcast light gun and a 4 player mode. The game will be released before the end of this year.
Sega have released a list of European titles to be launched this year. Expect the Australian release list to be very similar. I has to be said that I don't think I have ever seen a stronger 3 month initial lineup then what the Dreamcast has here. The list is as follows;
Maken X from Atlus has been rescheduled for release in late September in Japan and in the United States around Christmas time.
Namco have scheduled Soul Calibur for release on August 26th. Unfortunately in other Namco news it seems as if they only have this single game planned for the Dreamcast at this stage. for the
Dreamcast game sales are depressingly slow the top seller is HOTD2 with only 3,725 sales. Other titles are much lower in sales then this with Get Bass only selling 3,186 units and Blue Stinger with only 2,567 sales.
Reports are surfacing from America that Geist Force has been canned. It's possible the game may be re-worked for release much later in the Dreamcast's life.
SNK has delayed the release of King of Fighters: Dream Match 99 from June 10 to June 24 in Japan. Early reports from Japan are that Namco have delayed Soul Calibur by a month or so.
Panther Software has delayed the release date of their 3D shooter Space Griffon for Dreamcast from June 24 to July 22.
Look out RPG fans. Game Arts have officially announced thatthe Lunar series of games will be heading to Dreamcast in the 3rd incarnation.
It's a major week coming up for Dreamcast releases. Two highly anticipated titles are about to be released on the 27th. Firstly the much delayed Elemental Gimmick Gear from Hudson should be released and although it probably won'tmake it outside Japan it will be a major boost for the systems RPG lineup. Dynamite Deka 2 is also due for release from Sega and should keep beat 'em up fans happy until SFZ3, KOF 99 and Soul Calibur come out later this year.
How are Dreamcast game sales going in Japan? Well, not to well at all really. Last week's top 3 Dreamcast games were HOTD2, Get Bass and Blue Stinger with no game selling more then 9,000 units in total.
Keep an eye in you local game shops for Dreamcast's appearing soon. My local Electronic Boutique told me a that they will be getting a demo Dreamcast in a couple of weeks.
Sega-Ozisoft have updated their web site at last. But don't get too excited, it only tells us to keep an eye out for the new web site coming soon.
Well I have to say that although I like World Cup Cricket on PC, EA are beginning to piss me off, to say the least. On the box it clearly states that "'Live' Team & Player Stats Downloadable during World Cup on www.easports.com.au". Well buggered if I can find it. This is looking like another unfulfilled promise from EA and I'll be returning the game soon. Another annoying factor, you can't control the fielders, this was a last minute removal from the game as well.
Well after playing Cricket World Cup on my computer for several hours I can safely say that for cricket fans, this is a must have game. On one provision, you have a beast of a computer. On my P200MMX with 64MB RAM and 16MB Banshee Video Card the game is only just playable with the lowest detail levels.
First of some very important site news. I am considering a major overhaul of the site which may happen in June. I am thinking of making this a PAL Dreamcast site. This means the release schedule will cover PAL territories with little coverage of obscure Japanese titles. Seriously, how many of you want to know about titles that will never come here anyway (Mah Jong and Horse Racing for example). Major US and Jap releases that are likely to be converted to PAL will still be covered. As well as that the Q & A section will be updated and games will be reviewed in full only when the PAL version is available. Let me know what you think, and if you have any other ideas E-Mail me at : phantom@winshop.com.au.
Sega have been copping a bit of flack over their demos of Shen Mue at E3, especially from Next-Generation Online. Sega are only showing very small sections of the game, with little gameplay available for attendees. Still with the game not due out until August in Japan, and 2000 in the US and Europe, there is plenty of time to refine the gameplay and finish the game.
One of the big shocks at the E3 show is that House Of The Dead 2 is present, but not the light gun. The official reason for this? Because of the media hype around the Colorado shooting incident. The gun will still be available when the systems launches in September.
Sega have confirmed that Climax's Climax Landers will be released in the US in late 1999. A Europian/Australian release seems likely, especially if the game plays as well as it looks.
One major disappointment from the E3 show is that Capcom have only got Resident Evil : Code Veronica in video form. Apparently the video is also rather average quality still showing that the Dreamcast version of the top selling series still has it's work cut out for it.
Not Dreamcast news, but congratulations for EA eventually getting the PC version of Cricket World Cup onto the store shelves, the day the World Cup starts. Talk about leaving it to the last second. On a brighter note, the game retails for only $49.95 and in my few minutes of playing it, CWC looks pretty damn good.
Well the E3 show have begun in the Unites States ad there have been a few surprises for the Dreamcast. Onto the show news.
The biggest surprise of the first couple of days at the show was the announcement of Ecco The Dolphin for the Dreamcast. The game is being developed by Appaloosa and Sega have promised over 30 hours of gameplay.
Sega of Europe, BT and ICL have jointly announced that they are planning to offer free internet access to Dreamcast users in Europe. It is still unknown if this will apply in Australia in any way as we usually fall under Europe's plans but have different phone companies and charges.
According to CVG magazine from England Virtua Cop 3 is in development for the Naomi board. Better still is that they are reporting the game will be four player.
Konami have announced their Dreamcast Castlevania game will be called Castlevania Resurrection when it is released late this year.
We all know that Sega have NBA and NFL games for the launch of the system in September well they have also announced that they will be making NHL and MLB games as well. The are due a little later however with NHL 2000 (Ice Hockey) due in Q1 2000, and MLB 2000 (Baseball) due in Q2 2000.
A lot of people have been asking me what No Cliché are up to on the Dreamcast. Well their first game has been unveiled at E3 and it is and action/adventure game called Toy Commander.
Sega have finally confirmed that the Dreamcast will ship in the US with a 56k modem built in and will be release for $199.
Sega have also announced the list of US launch titles. Surprisingly Sega Rally 2 has been delayed until "soon after launch". Here's the list of launch titles : Sonic Adventure, Virtua Fighter 3TB, NFL 2000(working title), NBA 2000(working title), The House of The Dead 2, CART Racing, Airforce Delta (Konami), Armada (Metropolis Digital), Hydro Thunder (Midway), Monaco Grand Prix (Ubi Soft), Mortal Kombat Gold (Midway), NFL Blitz 2000 (Midway), Power Stone(TM) (Capcom), Ready 2 Rumble (Midway) , Soul Calibur (Namco).
Well the E3 show is just about to begin in the United States so there are sure to be a lot of new articles over the coming week. But already contraversey is growing about violence in video games. Many major news companies have stated that they are going to the E3 show not for the games, but to cover the violence in games. As a result several companies are looking at toning down any violence in their games for the expo.
A couple more Dreamcast games have been delayed. The most notable of these is Climax Landers which has been delayed from June 10th, until July the 15th. Hopefully this will be the final delay for this impressive look RPG. Sega have confirmed that Let's Make A Pro Baseball Team is also scheduled for July 15th and their cartoon adventure game Akihabara Denno-Gumi Pata Pies until July 29th.
Rumours are abound in Japan that Sega have a DVD and Graphics Add-On ready for Dreamcast. If the rumours are to be believed the upgraded Dreamcast will bee as powerful as the Playstation 2. A release date of Spring 2000 is also rumoured. According to Sega X, Sega are refusing to confirm or deny the rumour.
Martian Successor Nadesico: The Mission has been given a release date of late August in Japan.
An announcement that is sure to please my girlfriend a Mickey Mouse game is in the works for the Dreamcast. The game is being made by, Activision, the makers of the Dreamcast version of Toy Story 2.
Interplay have announced their second Dreamcast game. Wild Water World Championships is a cartoon racing game. It will feature 6 stages with over 25 characters with weapons to use while racing. No release date has been announced.
Sega of America have apparently confirmed that Namco will release a racing game, possibly a Ridge Racer game on the Dreamcast. Other rumours are that the racing game will be a joint development between Sega and Namco. More details may be announced at the E3 show.
Jugemu magazine are reporting that Konami is working on a fighting game for Dreamcast. No other details are known at this stage.
Two games have been confirmed for release on July 8th in Japan. The first and biggest one is CRI's Buggy Heat. The other game is Hudson's Super Producers.
Konami's Air Force Delta has been given a release date of 29th July 1999.
Well, I now have my Star Wars tickets which went on sale a couple of days ago. There were quite a few people waiting at Pacific Fair on Thursday morning and with a limit of 6 tickets per person I was lucky I took my girlfriend along. Unfortunately I now have to wait until 6:30pm on June the 3rd. Sigh.
Sonic Team have split up. Before you start getting upset at this read on. Indeed there is now 3 groups in the company. One group is concentrating on fixing the bugs in Sonic Adventure for release outside Japan, the second group is planning Nights 2 and the third groups is working on a top secret project.
Rumours from Japan are hinting that Psikyo are planning on converting their top down shooter Gunbird 2 to Dreamcast.
Soul Calibur is now slated for release on the 29th July in Japan.
Capcom have confirmed that a version of Street Fighter 3 is on the way. No mention of which version however.
Rumours are mounting that Virtua Striker '99 will run on the Naomi board to ensure a perfect translation to Dreamcast in future. Test versionsare rumoured for Japanese arcades in July.
Over the last 3 days the Network Jungle show was held in Japan. The main purpose of this show was to show off Shen Mue. The game is looking better and better all the time with the characters facial expressions recieving special tratment of late to combat Square's facial demo's on the PSX2.
A big day for movie goers here in Australia. Greater Union and BC&C have The Phantom Menace tickets for sale. The movie is due out On June 3rd here and will be phenominal. I'll be lining up for my tickets in a few short hours.
Well I'm back from my holiday to Melbourne and had a great time. I saw the Bombers win their two matches in front to 71,000 and 60,000 people which was a blast. There hasn't been a great deal of Dreamcast news in the last 10 days but here's a recap of the major points.
Keep an eye out for Dreamcast advertising to begin in Australia soon. In Britain the eXistenZ movie had the blue Dreamcast logo appear for 5 seconds and then disappear. No Sega logo or other details were contained in the 5 seconds. Be prepared.
With the release of Climax Landers due on June 10th Climax have announced a special promotion between May 22 - June 10. Gamers accross Japan can freely download the 3 VMS mini games for Climax Landers from game retailers across Japan.
It looks as if Sega of Japan are in financial trouble. The arcade departments have lost 45 billion yen or $US378 million dollars (around $AU600 million). As a result 25% of the AM workforce will be cut, or around 1,000 people.
Shen Mue : Chapter 2 has been given a release date of December 9th, 1999 in Japan.
Hitachi are working on a new version of the SH-4 processer, the one used in Dreamcast. It is unknown if this new version will be used in Dreamcast's in future but it will likely remain a lot cooler and solve some overheating problems in the Dreamcast.
NEC-HE are planning to release Seventh Cross Fighting Integration Disc for Dreamcast. The CD will allow internet battles for the characters which you have developed in the game. No word on a release date yet.
The free Internet for Dreamcast owners will end in July this year.
Next Generation Online have indicated that Eidos will show a 50% complete version of Fighting Force 2 at the upcoming E3 show.