__________________________________________________ / \ / ___> > > DREAMCAST WEEKLY MAGAZINE < < <____ \ / / \ \ / / ~Issue #32 - www.DreamcastWeekly.com~ \ \ \ \ / / \ \ Sega 2000 - http://www.sega2000.com / / \ \ Sega X - http://www.segadreamcast.net / / \ \ Dreamcast.net - www.dreamcast.net / / \ \______________________________________/ / \______________________________________________/ ** Please scroll down to Editors Comments for the start ** ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| ABOUT THE MAGAZINE |============================== ---------------------------------------------------------- Dreamcast Weekly is proudly sponsored by Extreme Imports. Why are they our sponsor? I went to them because they have THE best service I've ever received from an import store. - Tails (editor). If you have any Dreamcast questions please e-mail Steve at Steve@sega2000.com. However, if it's anything about missing an issue or un-subscribing please just click reply. ------------------Total Video Games----------------------- For the latest game news, reviews and previews visit the Premier Video Games Site Total Video Games (http://www.totalvideogames.com) With over 300 archived News Articles and the greatest game reviews. Up-dated throughout the day with everything! ----------------- www.totalvideogames.com ---------------- The domain name www.DreamcastWeekly.com is provided thanks to Total Video Games, the UK's premier video games magazine up-dated daily, and The Junction, the best place for Teens to chat. www.the-junction.net & www.totalvideogames.com ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| EDITORS COMMENTS |================================ ---------------------------------------------------------- This week we start with a feature to answer a common worry among gamers at the moment... with Playstation 2 coming, will developers support Dreamcast? Also we have plenty of Sega Trivia, news, rumors and more. A slow week really, but as we get closer to the E3 show, expect the excitement to shoot up. Just over a month to go now... ~ Tails (Editor) O Page 1 - Cover Story O O Page 2 - Importing O O Page 3 - The News O O Page 4 - Red Hot Rumors O O Page 5 - Sega Trivia O O Page 6 - Tips & Cheats O O Page 7 - Best Of The Web O O Page 8 - Credits & More O O Page 9 - Finally... O ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| COVER STORY |===================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Will developers work with Dreamcast? >>>> By Tails With companies now being able to develop games for the upcoming Sony "Playstation 2", what will happen to all of Dreamcast's 3rd party support? Sega had almost every 3rd party, with the exception of Square, on it's bandwagon, and I for one believe most will stay on board. But now with the Playstation 2, why on earth would they do that?!? First of course, the Dreamcast is a reality, I'm not bashing Playstation 2 here, but for example the size of the chips it uses are so small, not even Intel (who you can guess how much they spent on research), are able to produce them. This and the large price tag it currently holds could mean many delays for the Playstation 2. So while that's going on, Dreamcast is sure to get a huge amount of support from 3rd parties. The only company who has cancelled Dreamcast production because of the Playstation 2 is, and this isn't 100% official yet, EA. At very least, for a year, the Dreamcast will be by far the most powerful machine on the market. Remember how Final Fantasy 7 was originally being developed on the N64 instead of the Playstation? Square got tired of Nintendo's delays, and swapped over to Sony. Could the same happen with games being developed for the Playstation 2 as well? Maybe. But then, once Sony releases it's console, will all the developers leave Sega behind in the dust? I don't think so! As Square themselves said, only a few developers around the world will actually be able to make full use of the Playstation 2's mega powerful hardware. For most companies, the Dreamcast is perfect. It's has brilliant graphics, but doesn't require a huge team of artists to create, and of course not forgetting how easy it is to develop for. This may mean the biggest companies such as Square, EA, and maybe Namco will be giving full and undivided support to Sony, but Dreamcast may well end up with a good deal more games. Infact, just recently (late March) Weekly Famitsu (a multi platform magazine) did a survey of the developers in Japan, and only 27% of them are planning games for the Playstation 2. The reasons are that Sony hasn't confirmed a retail price, and others seem to worry about astronomical development costs. Leaving the real big companies aside for a moment, many developers wouldn't have enough money to spend on producing Playstation 2 games. Because it has such high specs, people except games that will fill DVD's, and graphics that will blow everything, including Dreamcast, waaaaaaaaaay out of the water. But that requires a budget of a full blown movie, not an average video game. You'd have to be sure it was going to be a best seller too, because if it wasn't, you'd lose more than a little money. So will the industry split into two different sides, with Playstation 2 and Dreamcast on either side? Or will the smaller companies just get washed away along with Sega? In my opinion, the Dreamcast could be the answer they are looking for. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| IMPORTANT MATTERS |=============================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Get Bass Released I went to Time Out (the arcades here) last night, and Get Bass was there. Since I've been thinking about buying it, how lucky was that? Anyway, there was plenty of people playing it (who were all better than me, but we'll ignore that I think, heh) and I have to say, I'm very impressed! The water effects specially got to me, and the little details like the dust from the sea floor coming up when a fish hits it. The crowd around the game alone says this is another hit arcade game from Sega. - Tails *********************************** * http://www.extreme-imports.com/ * *********************************** >>>> New Video's Exclusive HI-QUALITY video and screen shots from games like Marvel Vs Capcom, Blue Stinger, House Of The Dead 2, and Super Speed Racing have been added to www.extreme-imports.com All in MPEG format too ofcourse to save on Download times. Why are they our sponsor I went to them because they have THE best service I've ever received from an import store. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| NEWS |============================================ ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> The Story Of Thor Continues On Dreamcast Thanks to Magic Box: Sega of Japan is working on a Dreamcast sequel of their popular Mega Drive and Saturn (called Legend Of Oasis) action RPG The Story of Thor. >>>> Hitachi To Cut 6,500 Jobs Sadly, Hitachi announced overnight that they're planning to cut 6,500 jobs by March 2000. This announcement comes after a steady stream of layoff confirmations from other gaming related companies including NEC and Sony. The 6,500 employee's represent approximately 10% of Hitachi's workforce. Tough times folks. - Dennis >>>> New Controller Reportedly Ascii has plans to release their first Dreamcast peripheral on April 22nd in Japan. All that we've been told so far is that the device is expected to retail for approximately 7800 yen. The controller is expected to be compatible with two future titles; Geist Force and Flight Shooter (Air Force Delta). ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ RED HOT RUMORS ]================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to a new section of Dreamcast Weekly, each week we'll keep you upto-date with the latest rumors going around. >>>> New Shenmue Details Rumor has it Sega is planning to release new Shenmue details on April 4th in Japan. While little is known, rumors across the internet claim Sega plans to showcase some new scenes and possibly a new character from the game shortly. We should stress however, that this information remains unconfirmed for the moment. >>>> Hard Drive Or Zip Drive? Sega are currently either working on a 1GB hard drive for the Dreamcast, or a Zip Drive. For ease of use reasons, I would imagine Sega would go with the Hard Drive, but that's just my thoughts. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| SEGA TRIVIA |===================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- >>>> Weekly Sega Trivia >>>> By Alex 1: What game came packaged with the Megadrive/Genesis in 1989? 2: What was the name of the dragon in Panzer Dragoon Zwei? 3: Which Virtua Fighter character appeared in the opening sequence of Virtua Cop 2? 4: Which crime syndicate made Dural? 5: What animals are seen grazing on the first track of Sega Rally? 6: What console did Phantasy Star originally debut on? 7: What is the name of the Sega handheld unit that plays 16-bit Genesis titles? 8: How many characters were there in Guardian Heroes? 9: What does RPG stand for? >>>> Answers 1: Altered Beast 2: Lagi 3: Sarah 4: J6 5: Zebras 6: Master System 7: The Sega Nomad 8: 45 9: Role Playing Game ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ TIPS & CHEATS ]=================================== ---------------------------------------------------------- O If you've discovered a secret on a Dreamcast or O O Arcade game, and would like to share it with the O O world, please e-mail me on Webmaster@sega2000.com O >>>> Blue Stinger >>>> Written by Galford For Elliot's Bankcard... After Elliot says it's the 25 (Christmas) go and use his ESER ID of 3532 - Get $2020 For the Kimura Bankcard, Use the date Oct 8 and get 1008 and get $4800 For the Bermuda Bankcard Translate ACID using A=1,B=2,C=3, etc...for 1394 - Get $6000 For the Yucatan Bankcard (this one was hard)... On the back of the card it says Nanboku Sensou. This is Japan's Civil War. Enter the start date which is 1861. - Get $5700 When you go to the bank it will first ask for Elliot's Card, then the Kimura Card, Yucatan Card and finally the Bermuda Card. Choose the right option to skip the card and the left to choose it and enter the password. ---------------------------------------------------------- ======| BEST OF THE WEB |================================= ---------------------------------------------------------- There are sooooo many Sega sites across the web, wouldn't it be great if one place listed the most interesting bits?? Presenting the "Best Of The Web" section... >>>> Sega 2000 - www.Sega2000.com A slow month for Dreamcast, but we're working hard to setup our E3 coverage. Until then though, look out for plenty of editorials, previews of games like Dead Or Alive 2, and ofcourse your regular dose of Sega news. >>>> Sega X - www.SegaDreamcast.net Daily updates continue with news, previews and more. >>>> Dreamcast.net - www.Dreamcast.net Looking for a review of House Of The Dead 2? Dreamcast.net has one online now. >>>> Gaming Central Starpath - www.startpath.com/gamingcentral Our newest support site and provides hundreds of links for anything a gamer might be interested in. >>>> SegaDC - www.segadc.co.nz Updated daily with lots of news, a forum and more, this is a must see site for any Sega fan. >>>> Dreamcast Australia - www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/6831/ The Sega Ozisoft interview is up! With some excellent questions from the readers this interview must not be missed. Of course there is also news, reviews, cheats, previews and the Q&A section with well over 70 questions answered. >>>> The Sonic Zone - www.suneet.com/soniczone/ Updated daily with a HUGE amount of Sonic content that is sure to blow you away! From Fan Fiction to Chatting to Cheats and even Fan Created Games this is your one stop Sonic site. You can now send online postcards too!! The official website for the Dreamcast Weekly is now open at www.dreamcastweekly.com :) We've got the history of the magazine, daily news and plenty more. Specially if your a webmaster, there is lots of great information about how you can be involved as well! Then in the future... who knows, hopefully we'll be a print magazine one day :) ---------------------------------------------------------- ======[ CREDITS ]========================================= ---------------------------------------------------------- O Editor: Graham Parker "Tails" - webmaster@sega2000.com O Assistant Editor: Mike - melbess@adelphia.net O DC Questions: Please send to - Steve@sega2000.com >>>> www.DreamcastWeekly.com - Official Website! ---------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, 1998-9 Graham Parker - WEBMASTER@SEGA2000.COM Written and edited by Graham Parker. The Dreamcast Weekly website is hosted thanks to www.totalvideogames.com and the magazine is owned by... me :) No parts may be copied without prior permission. I would have to send out my group of highly trained thugs otherwise, who will have a tea party with you until you crack and your mind turns into jello... MMmmmmm.... Sweet Sweet Jello.... hehe, anyway... If you have any friends that might be interested in this magazine, it would be excellent if you could let them know about it. Thanks! Oh and finally... ----------------- Will our House Of The Dead story finally start next week? :)