With the news that Seta will be developing on the Dreamcast, comes news from Sega X of their first game. What is it? Well a chess game. Not too exciting, but if memory serves me correctly nearly all platforms they develop on have a chess game to begin with.
Redline Racer will undergo a name change in Europe and the States. UbiSoft have renamed it to Suzuki Alstare Racing. The game should be released in October.
Recent reports out of Japan are stating that Capcom's Street Fighter 3 will in fact be Street Fighter 3 : Third Strike, the latest arcade version of the game. The game will be released on July 8th in Japan.
Sega are giving away a video showing off Shen Mue. The video was given to those who pre-ordered their Dreamcast at the new 19,900 yen pricepoint.
Apparently Sega are set to release a new hi-memory VMS cartridge in Japan. Rumours have also been circulating that the new VMS will be able to hold MP3 music files. Seems doubtful to me though.
Top Skater is an innovative a successful arcade title in Australian arcades and now comes the news that a sequel is in the works on the Naomi arcade system. A Dreamcast release would seem likely but AM3, who produced the original game, have passed the sequel onto another development team. Thanks to Sega X for that bit of news.
Capcom have set a release date for Star Gladiator 2 on the Dreamcast for September 2nd in Japan.
CompUSA have announced they will sell the Sega Dreamcast. The American chain of stores usually focuses on Computer Technology and not games.
Game Center has released quite a few Resident Evil : Code Veronica pictures. I will post them soon but if you can't wait head on over to :
http://www.gamecenter.com/Peeks/Gamegrab/Revilcode/
Only a couple more days to vote on the main page before a new POLL is put up. If you haven't voted do so now.
FGN Online has put up an interesting article in relation to EA developing on the Dreamcast. The main portions were as follows :
According to sources close to Sega, Electronic Arts is secretly developing games for Dreamcast, despite an official "wait and see policy" on the platform. ... Our source claims the company is quietly creating Dreamcast versions of its sports franchises, while bigwigs negotiate for a better deal. A separate, highly placed industry source offered, "EA Canada has the kits. They're working on all major franchises - FIFA, Madden, NBA: they're really going for it."
Sales of Dreamcast games have experienced a fall in the lead up to this weeks big releases. Dynamite Deka 2 dropped to the 20th position with sales of only 6,671 units. Expect a lot of Dreamcast games in the next chart with 4 new releases and price drops.
Speaking of price drops I must point out that the Dreamcast is now priced at 19,900 yen in Japan, a drop of almost 10,000 yen. Several launch titles for the system have also dropped in price.
Seta, one of Japan's largest developers for the Nintendo 64 may be developing on the Dreamcast. It's only rumours at this stage but would be great if it's true.
Konami have confirmed that they will be releasing Dancing Blade on the Dreamcast. No other details or release dates have been mentioned at this stage.
Japanese Dreamcast Magazine will be packaging a demo of Soul Calibur on the August issue. It is believed that several characters will be playable in the demo.
According to Electronics Boutique in America the pre-orders for the Dreamcast have already surpassed any other console in history. This is a great sign with over 2 months until the launch.
Dreamcast.IGN are reporting that Activision are planning to update Space Invaders for the Dreamcast. This will supplement their Toy Story title which they have in development at the moment.
Square, the creators of the Final Fantasy series held a shareholders meeting recently. Unfortunately they denied working on any Dreamcast games but indicated that they will develop for multiple platforms in the future. Most people believe this to be PSX2 and Nintendo's Dolphin. Fingers crossed then.
Dream Passport 2, the Dreamcast's internet software, has been delayed again. Originally scheduled for May, then June it now looks like it will be late August before we see the DP2.
SOA may be delaying the American release of the Puru Puru pack. The reason, to make slight enhancements. Why they couldn't get this done before the launch is beyond me.
Titus have been pretty quiet of late but may get more publicity with upcoming games based on the Robocop movies. A Dreamcast version has been assured.
Dreamcast magazine has rated the 4 big releases this week. Giant Gram 2 received a massive 27/30 (90%), Shutokou Battle a very healthy 24/30 (80%), Expendable a decent 23/30 (76.7%) and King Of Fighters 99 22/30 (73.3%).
Running With Scissors are probably one of the most notorious developers at the moment. Why? Because their biggest game so far Postal is one of the most violent and controversial games ever. And they have announced their first Dreamcast game, Flesh And Wire. Expect more mayhem when this title is released as they have stated it is also for a "mature" audience.
Sega of Japan recently mentioned that a lot of elements in the Phantasy Star series will be in their newest Dreamcast RPG Project Ares.
Sorry about the lack of updates. I would have liked to have done more but my days are spend looking for a car. I've almost settled on a 1996 Holden VS Commodore Executive. Nice car with power steering, ABS brakes, air bag, cruise control, etc. Should have it in a few days hopefully.
As most of you would have noticed the main page has undergone a slight structural alteration. Believe it or not by removing the past updates junk on the page and re-organising the code a bit the HTML file dropped in size by about 30%. Should make it slightly faster on slow connections.
Famitsu in Japan has reviewed a few games due out in the next week. Genki's driving game Shutoko Battle received a very respectable 32/40 (80%). Sega wrestling game Giant Gram 2 also received 32/40. SNK's 2D fighter King Of Fighters : Dream Match received 30/40 (75%) while Expendable, a shooter from the creators of Incoming managed a disappointing 26/40 (62.5%). All in all this will be a good week coming up with the Dreamcast, some strong titles and a price drop should see strong sales.
The biggest rumours from the United States this week is that Sega Rally 2 may be a surprise pack in game. These rumours are from Electronics Boutique so they may have some merit. It could also explain why the game isn't on some older release lists. Being an in-house title Sega wouldn't loose too much money if it was packed in and the long term benefits would be huge.
Lufia III on Dreamcast? It's possible. Developers Natsume recently put the Playstation version of the gam on hold stating they are now considering a next generation system for the game. It is now known that Natsume are planning to bring an "unannounced title" to Dreamcast later this year.
Apparently Acclaim have confirmed that WWF Attitude will be released on the Dreamcast. Not only that but the game will be a launch title in Japan.
Rune Caster has been given a release date of October 17th in Japan.
Sega and Microsoft have updated their WinCE development tools for the Dreamcast. The new tools called "version 1.1" improves the compatibility between the Dreamcast and PC and has improved networking features.
I have the next 2 weeks of work (school holidays) and am hoping to get a lot of the site done, when I'm not looking for a new car that is.
With a Demo CD to be packed in with the US Dreamcast, comes the news that Ready 2 Rumble, from Midway, will be one of the demo's on the CD. No other game demo's have been announced yet.
Several Dreamcast games have undergone delays in Japan. They are as follows;
Climax Landers from July 15th to July 29th,
Seaman from July 22nd to July 29th,
Lets Make A Pro Baseball Team from July 15th to August 5th, and
Toukon Retsuden 4: from July 22nd to August 5th.
Sega X has had an interview with Sega UK's marketing manager, Alan Jones. A couple of interesting things were mentioned including the fact that Sega Rally 2 won't have the 4 player support from Japan. Instead 12, yes 12, people will be able to race at one time.
Sega of Japan have begun a new TV campaign to empahasise the new 19,800 yen price point. Expect Dreamcast sales to slow to a crawl over the next week until the price drop.
Inforgrames have announced their Dreamcast lineup for the next year. Test Drive 6 ad Slave Zero are due out in Fall (Q'3 99), Supreme Snowboarding and Outcast are due in Spring 2000 (Q'1 2000) and Alone in the Dark 4 is due in Fall 2000. (Q'3 2000)
GameFan are reporting that Sega may include SNK's King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999 as a launch title in the United States.
The latest sales figures are in for Japan and it's been a moderately successful week for Sega. Dynamite Deka 2 managed to sell another 12,612 copies (57,741 total) to hold the number 9 position in the charts. Hudson Soft's Elemental Gimmick Gear sold 7,164 copies (27,697 total) to be in the 19th position.
Namco are almost working on a second Dreamcast title. When queried Yas Noguchi stated "We might be working on something, but one thing for sure is that it isn't anything people have been speculating about so far on the net".
Capcom have confirmed that they are including internet features into their upcoming Resident Evil : Code Veronica. No other details are known at this stage.
DCHQ are reporting that the Puru Puru pack will be renamed to the Jump Pack. What happened to the Vibra Pack? Who knows what's going on.
Want the latest news from the mouth of Sega Ozisoft. The latest details are here including information about demo CD's, Get Bass, free internet, advertising and more. For all the latest info go to the Ozisoft Interview now. Older interviews can be found on the Odd Bits page.
Weekly Famitsu, a well respected Japanese publication, are reporting that Konami are planning on developing Pop 'n' Music 2 on the Dreamcast. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.
A few more details have been released about Warp's D2. The game will take 15 hours to complete, five times longer then the sequel. However Kenji Eno is promising hidden secrets that will keep gamers returning. The game is scheduled for release on 18th November 1999. Yes, this year (hopefully).
Red Storm have confirmed they are converting their hit PC game Rainbow Six to the Dreamcast. The game should be ready to be a lunch title in the United States.
Woo Hoo! One of my all time favourite games, Rock N' Roll Racing will be coming to the Dreamcast. No release date has been set yet.
Sega of America have sent out Dreamcast video's to retailers across America. The video has demonstrations of CART Racing, HOTD2, NBA 2000, NFL 2000, Ready 2 Rumble, Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, NHL 2000 and many more.
The Puru Puru pack will be renamed the Vibra Pack in America. Sounds pleasing. No word on the PAL name yet but let's hope it's a little better then the American name.
Climax Graphics have a new game in the workd for Dreamcast. Currently titled Project Viking the game is rumoured to be a sequel to Blue Stinger and is scheduled for release in mid 2000.
A couple of UbiSoft's games habe been delayed in the US. Redline Racer has peen pushed back to the end of 1999 to improve the sound and music in the game while Speed Devils has been delayed until sometime in 2000, possibly to include multiplayer mode via the internet.
Although not yet confirmed rumours are mounting that NEC are considering releasing a Dreamcast unit under their own name. It will probably be the same configuration as the current Dreamcast, however, the DVD version Dreamcast which has been mentioned by Sega can't be ruled out.
So much for the security on Dreamcast's. Sega X are reporting that the Dreamcast can use a swap technique to play games. Head on over to www.segadreamcast.net for the full details.
For all those people that live on the Gold Coast head on over to Electronic Boutique at Pacific Fair where they have a Dreamcast on display with Virtua Fighter 3 running. I was rushed at the time, but I saw a cover there for Sonic Adventure which means they probably have that game as well. The only problem, EB's are still using the orange swirl everywhere... oh well. Everyone go tell them that Dreamcast Australia says it's meant to be blue.
There is some good news from America that the Dreamacast shortages that were mentioned a few days ago aren't true. Sega will be able to ship the 2.4 million units as expected and by the looks of it they will be needed. According to Babbages, an American retailer, they already have over 60,000 pre-orders.
The US rental system for Dreamcast's is gathering momentum. It has been revealed that the system can be rented from Hollywood Video and the rumoured three games that can be rented are Sonic Adventure, Sega Rally 2 and Ready 2 Rumble. I personally believe that VF3:TB will be rented instead of Sega Rally 2 seeing that SR2 won't be a launch title due to enhancements and online play.
Dreamcast Headquarters is reporting that Yu Suzuki's Ferrari F355 will be heading to Dreamcast. How this will be done is unknown considering the arcade version will use 4 Naomi boards when it is released later this year.
Some Dreamcast games have entered the top 10 charts in Japan. Dynamite Deka 2 is in the number 3 position with around 46,000 sales while Hudson Soft's RPG, Elemental Gimmick Gear is in 8th place with just over 20,000 units sold.
Rumours from Japan are that Sega will dump the 33.6k modem for a 56k version when the price drops on 24th June. This can only raise hopes that the Dreamcast in Australia will come with the faster version, not the go-slow modem which they currently plan for.
Deepest sympathies must go out to the family and friends of DeForest Kelley who sadly passed away last friday from a long illness. For those who don't remember this fine actor played Dr "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek.
Notice anything different? No. Well you probably won't see too much different but I have swung over to the new design which will make updating much easier for me, hence more rapid updates to you. You might notice on this page that the links to the old news are on the left (just scroll down a little). The Coming Soon page now has the full PAL release schedule, the Jap/US schedule can still be reached via a link, but a lot of game previews have been removed, temporarily from the Jap list. The previews will return shortly. Another major part of the upgrade was to ensure the left menu appeared on all pages. There are a tonne of other features that will be added shortly (results of old polls, another Ozisoft Interview, editorials, and much more).Let me know what you think at the usual e-mail address. Enjoy.
It looks as if South Park Rally may not be headed to Dreamcast after all. A spokesperson for Acclaim has stated that at this stage there is no plans for a Dreamcast version.
Delays already for USA? Well we all know Sega Rally 2 won't be a launch title, and now there are two more. Firstly NBA 2000 has been delayed by a month to October to tweak the gameplay. In a major shock, Virtua Fighter 3:TB has been delayed by a month to add new gameplay modes and much better backgrounds.
According to Gamespot, Fox Interactive are developing a game based on their Die Hard license. Fox are refusing to confirm the existence of any Dreamcast based Die Hard game.
Who wants a Dreamcast in July? Well in America at least you will be able to rent a system and any of three unnamed games from July this year, two months before release.
It looks as if Microsoft's first Dreamcast title will be MS Combat Flight Simulator. Microsoft are refusing to comment, but several retailers expect the title on Japanese shelves late this year.
If you want a Dreamcast in the United Stated you better get your order in. Sega have apparently stated they can not fill the 2.4 million orders received from retailers already and will only have 1.5 million units by March 2000. Expect the shortages in Australia/Europe as well.
Warp's D2 which was shown at the Dreamcast exhibition show in Osaka recently, will now ship on 4 GD-ROM's. The release date is now set for December this year, but with the number of delays suffered already expect more delays. On a more positive note the game is always improving in quality.
The release date of Shen Mue : Mainland China for DC has been pushed back from December 1999 to Early 2000.
UEP Systems have set a release date for Coolboarders ~ Burrrn at August 26th in Japan.
Why the lack of updates lately? Well I'm building a better web site for you all. Although it may not appear too much different it will make it a lot easier to update the game information and everything. The releases are being updated with information for the PAL games and some slight modifications are being made on all pages to include the menu on the side.
On a VITAL note I need to know who wants frames on the site. The only reason is so the side menu bar will be permanently fixed on the left hand side of the page so when you scroll down on the main text part the menu doesn't move. E-mail me at : phantom@winshop.com.au to let me know ASAP.
Price drops are on the way in Japan. On June 24th the Dreamcast will be reduced by around 10,000 yen to only 19,900 yen ($AU 250 approx). Several older games will be reduced in price to only 1980 yen ($AU 25 approx) including VF3:TB and Sonic Adventure.
A couple more date changes for you all to remember. Shen Mue : Yokosuka has been delayed from August 5th to October 28th in Japan. To make up for this Namco will be releasing Soul Calibur on August 5th instead of August 26th.
If rumours are anything to go by then Acclaim may very well be proting South Park Rally to Dreamcast. The game features 15 characters with different cars and a 4 player mode.
Capcom have announced that Rival Schools 2 : Justice Academy will be coming to Dreamcast. The game is due in arcades late this year.
After years of waiting Star Wars finally hit Australian cinema's. And I loved it. I was surprised that the cinema wasn't full on opening day at 6:30pm but make sure you get in the line early to get the good seats. Make sure you sees this movie ASAP you won't be disappointed.
Visual Concepts Flogian Brothers, and advencture platform game, has been delayed from 1999 in the US to an unspecified 2000 date.
A while ago Capcom announced they are making a game based on Spawn. It can now be revieled that the game uses the Naomi arcade system and a Dreamcast port is highly likely.
I will be having another interview with Sega-Ozisoft late next week and I need as many questions as possible. Send them to the ususal address at : phantom@winshop.com.au.
2 Days until The Phantom Menace!!!
I am in the process of re-building a lot of the site so make sure you check back in a week or so. It probably won't look too diffreent, but will be aimed at the PAL Dreamcast with the full PAL release list in the horzon section.