Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 122
From Video Game Morgue File
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S E G A W O R L D W E E K L Y
M A G A Z I N E
~~ Issue No. 122 Feb 25th 2001 ~~
Proudly sponsored by http://www.levelsix.com/
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-- Editors Comments Page 1 --
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> Sega World Weekly is best read in the Courier New font.
> LEVELSIX: PC Mouse or Keyboard on your Dreamcast?
Forget aiming with a controller in Quake 3 Arena, now you
can use your PC mouse! The Total Control 5 lets you use a
normal scroll wheel mouse, an optical mouse, or a keyboard!
Full details on the website here, http://www.levelsix.com/
- http://www.levelsix.com/
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-- Editors Comments Page 1 --
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If you can take your eyes off the unbelievable screens of
Virtua Fighter 4 for a few minutes, it's time to take a
look back to 1972 with the second part of our Videogame
History feature. Find out what classic machine is still
sold in stores to this day, what game was banned in 1976,
plus which title caused a mass coin shortage in Japan, and
much, much more!
Still in the past, if your after the Sega Smash Pack filled
with classic Genesis games, but don't want to buy a new
Dreamcast, we've got a possible date for a seperate release
direct from Sega in this weeks Q&A page.
Then back to the present, we have rumors on a certain home
version of VF4, and it's not Playstation 2. In the news
this week comes the nominees for the Game Developers Choice
Awards, something for every platform including PC, and
believe it or not, Sega is all over them!
If your looking for a job, we've got two chances on Page 5,
including a comic artist, and someone to devote their life
to new top secret web production :)
Sadly PrimaGames.com has been shut down this past week, due
to cut backs from Prima Publishing. So I'd like to take this
space to thank them for advertising with us for the past
year, to Dan Kassis for all his help, and to Steve at Level
Six for picking up Sega World Weekly on such short notice.
Please show your support for http://www.levelsix.com/
Finally if your desktop needs a little Sega wallpaper, this
personal webpage is a great source for wallpapers
http://website.lineone.net/~paulio/wall01.htm
Until next week then, Happy Gaming!
- Graham "Tails" Parker (Editor)
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|| C O N T E N T S ||
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|| 2 - Cover Story ||
|| 3 - Red Hot Rumors ||
|| 4 - News ||
|| 5 - Job Opening ||
|| 6 - PSO Clan - Update ||
|| 7 - Level Six Low-down ||
|| 8 - Question & Answer ||
|| 9 - Our Support Sites ||
|| 10 - Credits ||
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HOT QUOTE this issue: "Having just seen one of the videos,
anyone who compares VF4 to Tekken Tag is in for one painful
wake up call from Akira!"
-- Virtua Fighter 4 - Page 5
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-- Cover Story Page 2 --
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<<.>> The History Of Videogames: Part 2
-- Written by Graham Parker
In this new Millennium, with our 128-bit polygon pumping
online DVD playing monster consoles, it's time to take a
look back at how video games began, and how they grew into
what we know and play today. Last week we took discovered
how Nintendo traced it's roots back to 1889, what the real
first videogame was, and how one of the first major
companies, Atari began.
Now, and at last in 1972, comes the table tennis game we
all know, Pong. With an older game, Computer Space being
too hard to play, Nolan Bushnell the founder of Atari, re-
thought his concept of entertaining video games. He came up
with a simple ping-pong title that anyone can grasp, the
game was a huge success, and Pong was the first real big
boom of the industry. By the next year, 1973, there were a
whopping 25 companies producing video games. Big names like
Taito, Midway, and Namco were all born around this exciting
time.
Fuelled by Pong's success, Atari grew rapidly and was under
tremendous pressure to come up with something new to regain
their edge on the market. The result... a failure known as
Touch Me. Another simple concept, where 4 buttons randomly
light up, and the player must repeat the pattern by
pressing then in the correct order. Even the handheld
version of Touch Me was a failure. If only they had thought
to invent Dance Dance Revolution with that technology back
then. But Ralph Baer again saw the potential for more in a
device, and added sound effects to Touch Me. This resulted
in a winning game for Milton Bradley that's still sold
today, known as "Simon".
So Ralph had a hit, but Atari were still losing ground in
the battle field of videogames. Going back to the drawing
board, they ended up creating a home version of their
original game, Pong, and it was the hottest selling
Christmas item of 1975. Atari were back in the spotlight
once again.
The success of this new Pong game brought other companies
into people's homes, and more big brands like Coleco were
created around 1976.
But despite being great fun playing games at home, there
was still the huge drawback that you had a buy a brand new
machine for each different title. Fairchild Camera changed
all this, brining in the next level of technology, with the
worlds first real console. The "Channel F" as it with
named, let you insert cartridges into the machine to play
different games.
Naturally with the invention of multi-game consoles, the
quality of titles improved greatly. For those of you that
remember the mess Carmageddon had with it's R18 rating two
years back, this next game is where it all started. Death
Race 2000 was similar to Carmageddon in that the object was
to run people over. The more stick men you run down while
driving around, the more points you got. Today we would
just laugh at the stick figures, but for the people of 1976
this was fairly violent and a little too realistic. The
game was swiftly banned.
Atari trying to keep up with times, released their first
cartridge system in 1977, named the "Atari 2600", later to
spawn many sequel machines. The system was a success,
despite the rather high price tag. Sega started becoming a
well known brand through their games on the Atari 2600,
including Zaxxon and Frogger.
As more people get into games, new arcade titles keep come
out, Football from Atari being one of the most popular,
using a brand new trackball control system. Nintendo came
up with an arcade version of the popular board game,
Othello, but most importantly, the classic Space Invaders
was released.
Space Invaders was designed and programmed by Toshihiro
Nishikado for Taito in 1978, and remains one of the most
popular arcade games ever made. The game was the first
titles to be released in more public places than arcades,
such as ice cream stores, which brought even more people
into the habit of game playing. In fact the game was so
popular, that there was a mass coin shortage in Japan! The
supply of Yen had to be quadrupled just to let more people
play the game, and entire arcades opened up just for Space
Invaders. That type of addiction to a single game has
never been matched since.
Asteroids, as every good gamer should know, was also a huge
success for Atari. The game introduced a high score system,
which is the final big event in the video gaming history of
the 1970's. With high scores being recorded, gamers could
finally compete with other people to be the best.
With the success of Space Invaders and Asteroids at the end
of the 70's, the videogame industry was well under way.
Home consoles soon burst into action, thanks to the release
of Space Invaders at home in 1980.
Pac Man came up next, actually coming from Midway instead
of Namco. Two versions of the arcade machine were released,
an upright standing cabinet, and a cocktail table based
model. Another interesting yet trivial point is that Pac-
Man wasn't actually the original name. It was set to be
called Puck Man, only the developers realized if people
were to do a little vandalism on the title, it could easily
say something else a bit offensive.
Anyhow, Pac Man was another brilliant hit during this time,
later known by many as the golden years of gaming. What a
year it was, with the classic Defender, and then Sega's
Missile Command being released.
The first 3D game was also released in 1980, Battlezone, a
title recently updated and re-released by Activision. The
game used vectors to produce amazing 3D graphics, well
amazing for the time. It was popular, but meant nothing
against the big names of Pac Man and Space Invaders.
Battlezone was later used by the US government however, in
military training, so it's still part of the big picture.
Later that year, Nintendo of America opened it's doors,
thanks to the son-in-law of Hiroshi Yamauchi, their chief
in Japan. In 1981 some of the biggest video game characters
to date were born, Mario and Donkey Kong. Both starred in
the first Donkey Kong game, even though Mario was named
Jumpman until the sequel, DK Jr. The object was to save
Jumpman's girlfriend Pauline, from the big evil gorilla,
Donkey Kong, which actually means Stupid Monkey. The game
was an instant success, and sold over a whopping 65,000
units.
Atari kept churning out the hits too, most notably with
Tempest. The 3D vector graphics really made this space
shooter work, and as a result the game drew massive crowds
because of it's impressive graphics, similar to the
original Daytona USA later did in arcades.
Then the next year, in 1982, more home consoles were
released, including the Colecovision, Odyssey2, Vectrex,
and the 5200 from Atari. None of them however, lasted very
long.
So while the arcade market was rising to amazing new
heights, the home market was struggling to keep up. Next
week we find out how the arcade's continue to boom, which
game brings in an unbelievable $500 million, and of course
the console industry goes forward from machines like the
NES, to the Genesis, and early design for the Playstation.
To be continued...
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-- Red Hot Rumors Page 3 --
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<<.>> Virtua Fighter 4, you ain't seen nothing yet!
-- Written by Graham Parker
As the Virtua Fighter 4 screen shots and videos fly around
the net dropping the jaws of all who see them, rumors come
that we ain't seen nothing yet. The current shots are from
the arcade version, powered by Naomi 2, and it has been
confirmed a Playstation 2 port is on the way. But it's now
heavily rumored an X-Box version is in development, and
it's going to be superior to both the arcade and PS2 games.
Also both home versions of VF4 are said to include lots of
extras, as Sega work their hardest on a long lasting home
version of the arcade hit.
Having just seen one of the videos, anyone who compares VF4
to Tekken Tag is in for one painful wake up call from
Akira!
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-- News Page 4 --
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<<.>> Sega at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2001
Come March 23rd IGDA, the International Game Developers
Association, will hand out the Game Developers Choice
awards for 2001. Previously known as the Spotlight Awards,
this is one of the biggest events of the year for game
developers. The nominees are listed below, and feature a
large showing from Sega, including almost half the titles
nominated for the Game Spotlight Award, and two out of five
in the running for Game of the Year.
-- The Lifetime Achievement Award
(Recipient to be announced at awards ceremony)
-- The First Penguin Award
(Recipient to be announced at awards ceremony)
This award recognizes the courage and bravery of a developer
who tested the proverbial "waters", uncertain of success or
failure. The "first penguin" serves as a lesson, and
inspiration, to the rest of the community. The winner of
this award is determined by a committee of the IGDA.
-- Rookie Studio Award
> Counter-Strike team (Counter-Strike)
> Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters)
> Massive Entertainment (Ground Control)
> Nihilistic Software (Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption)
> Planet Moon Studios (Giants: Citizen Kabuto)
-- IGDA Award for Community Contribution
> Chris Crawford
> John Carmack
> Michael Abrash
> Robert Huebner
> Warren Spector
-- Original Game Character of the Year
> Seaman (Seaman)
> Ulala (Space Channel 5)
> Cate Archer (No One Lives Forever)
> Kabuto (Giants: Citizen Kabuto)
> Tamale Loco (Tamale Loco at shockwave.com)
-- Excellence in Audio
> Fumitaka Shibata - Samba de Amigo (music)
> Naofumi Hataya & Kenichi Tokoi - Space Channel 5 (music)
> Michael Sweet - BliX (music)
> Jason Hayes, Andrea Pessino, Glen Stafford & Matt Uelmen
- Diablo II (composition)
> Kaemal Amarasingham & Eric Brosius - Thief II: The Metal
Age (sound effects)
-- Excellence in Game Design
> Harvey Smith & Warren Spector - Deus Ex (game design)
> Sean Clark & Michael Stemmle - Escape from Monkey Island
(puzzles)
> Shigeru Miyamoto & Eiji Aonuma - Legend of Zelda:
Majora's Mask (gameplay)
> Ragnar Tornquist - The Longest Journey (story)
> Neversoft team - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (gameplay)
-- Excellence in Level Design
> Michel Ancel & team - Rayman 2: The Great Escape
> American McGee, Jim Molinets & team - American McGee's
Alice
> NOFL level design team - No One Lives Forever
> SSX level design team - SSX
> Christopher Foster, Tom Odell & team - Star Trek Voyager:
Elite Force
-- Excellence in Programming
> Yu Suzuki & team - F355 Challenge (physics)
> Visual Concepts dev team - NFL2K1 (networking)
> Scott Guest & Andy Astor - Giants: Citizen Kabuto
(graphics)
> Martin Brownlow - Sacrifice (graphics)
> Sims programming team - The Sims (AI)
-- Excellence in Visual Arts
> Tomonobu Itagaki, Hiroaki Matsui & team - Dead or Alive 2
(animation)
> Ryuta Ueda & Kazuki Hosokawa - Jet Grind Radio
(art direction)
> American McGee - American McGee's Alice (art direction)
> Joby Otero - Sacrifice (art direction)
> Insomniac art team - Spyro: Year of the Dragon
(art direction)
-- Game of the Year
> Jet Grind Radio (Smilebit)
> Shenmue (Sega AM2)
> Deus Ex (ION Storm Austin)
> No One Lives Forever (Monolith)
> The Sims (Maxis)
-- Game Spotlight Awards (Up to five winners)
> American McGee's Alice (Rogue/EA)
> Counter-Strike (Counter-Strike team)
> Crazy Taxi (Sega AM3)
> Deus Ex (ION Storm Austin)
> Jet Grind Radio (Smilebit)
> Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo)
> NFL2K1 (Visual Concepts)
> No One Lives Forever (Monolith)
> Sacrifice (Shiny)
> Samba de Amigo (Sega Sonic Team)
> Seaman (Vivarium)
> Shenmue (Sega AM2)
> SSX (EA Canada)
> The Sims (Maxis)
> Virtua Tennis (Sega)
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-- Job Openings Page 5 --
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<<.>> Super Top-Secret Project Requires New Staff Members
- Ross "ZOndaro" Fisher
Feeling like you could take on the empire all by yourself?
We want you! We're currently seeking people who feel that
they could lend time and energy to a top secret upcoming
project in the vein of Dreamcast Weekly. If you consider
yourself a gamer to the core, and you have LOTS of spare
time to throw around then send a short resume of your
skills to fish1266@students.sou.edu
We're looking for just one person who feels that they can
operate without someone looking over their shoulder. The
job would involve lots of web surfing and the ability to
write in proper English! HTML skills are also a plus, but
aren't required.
Please Email applications to fish1266@students.sou.edu
<<.>> Weekly Comic Wanted - Draw for 40,000 gamers!
As we work on an HTML design for Sega World Weekly, we're
also looking to add more original content to our magazine.
Hence now we're starting a search for someone who would
like to write a weekly comic, poking fun at videogames, and
getting a laugh out of the latest titles.
This is a chance to have your work read by 40,000 people
world wide, but there are some drawbacks. For starters this
isn't a paying job, but this is something you can put down
to experience and in your resume. Also you'll be expected
to meet weekly deadlines, coming up with an original and
funny comic to feature in each issue.
You'll need some experience in drawing, to play a wide
variety of games, and to keep up-to date with the latest
gaming topics and news. But most of all you need a sense
of humour!
Applicants should create three original videogame related
comics and attach them as .jpg or .gif files to an e-mail
including details about yourself. Try to keep them short,
three or so frames each would be best, and you don't have
to rush them...
You have two weeks left, until March 11th before we require
every application in. So it gives you chance to think of
some original and funny gaming comics. We suggest trying to
come up with a comic each week, as a sample of the
deadlines you'll face if you get the job.
Please Email applications to madcow@ihug.co.nz
Graham Parker
- Editor
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-- Phantasy Star Online Clan Page 6 --
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<<.>> Sega World Weekly: Phantasy Star Online Clan
-- Weekly Update #4
Well Phantasy Star Online Clan members it has been an
eventful two weeks for your leader, lets just say that
when walking down stairs its helpful to use all of them.
Not to much to report from the field, if members would
like to start sending in stories, I will post whatever
I can. The only major thing to announce this week is the
ability to take pictures of your PSO character within
the game, look to this web site for more information
http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/31497.html
If any readers want to jump through the hurdles and find
a way to take their photo, please send it to me as an
attachment. I'll promise some PSO money or items to
whoever sends in a picture.
Stick to the Ariel ship on blocks 1-5. Show your support!
All games with a DCW or SWW in the name will be havens for
members looking for fun and experience.
DCW_ZOndaro - zondaro@usa.net
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-- Level Six Lowdown Page 7 --
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<<.>> NEW Dreamcast Console Colors!
- http://www.levelsix.com/L6news.shtml
Board of your white Dreamcast? Then replace that console
case with a colored one! Personally I have the blue case,
but now there is even more colors to choose from, with
eight others. See a picture of them all right here:
http://www.levelsix.com/L6news.shtml
<<.>> No more switching cords with your VGA Box!
- http://www.levelsix.com/
Forget the hassles of switching cables every time you want
to play your Dreamcast games at the extra high VGA
resolution! Now you can have your PC and Dreamcast
connected both at the same time - and the box switches
between these two automatically.
<<.>> PC Mouse or Keyboard on your Dreamcast?
- http://www.levelsix.com/
Forget aiming with a controller in Quake 3 Arena, now you
can use your PC mouse! The Total Control 5 lets you use a
normal scroll wheel mouse, an optical mouse, or a keyboard.
Full details on the website here, http://www.levelsix.com/
<<.>> Light Gun - Small Size, Big Rumble
- http://www.levelsix.com/
This small light gun is the perfect solution for tired
arms, but that doesn't mean it's small on features. Packing
a built-in rumble feature, including recoil rumble (which
can be turned on/off with a switch), Auto-fire and
Auto-reload modes, a flashing LED light and four buttons
along with the D-pad. More details and pictures online.
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-- Question and Answer Page 8 --
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Do you have a question for your Sega know-it-all? Simply
e-mail in your questions to Ross at zondaro@usa.net and
look for the answers soon in an issue of Sega World Weekly.
We are unable to personally reply to all emails.
Next week: What is this thing called Sega?
>>>> Bad Console! No Cookie!
Q) Hi, I have a question about my console. Lately my
Dreamcast has been restarting on me in the middle of
games. It started a while ago with just not loading
properly and then it would work. Now it either resets
during the middle of a game or will not load up at all.
I don't know anyone who knows what to do.
Thanks. - Nathan Anderson
A) Call Sega tech support. I've never had to call so I
don't know what awaits you, but if they do things right
you should be able to get your Dreamcast repaired.
1-800-USA-SEGA (872-7342) Good luck.
>>>> ZOndaro Angry! ZOndaro Smash Puny Humans!
Q) Is there a way I can get the Sega Smash Pack without
buying a Dreamcast? - Tim Smith
Will the Sega Smash Pack come separate or only be
available with a console purchase? Please do tell. ]
Thanks. - Ben Mueller
A) After asking Catrina at Sega of America sales for you,
she stated, "at this time for the smash pack disc to be
sold separately is an estimated time which is around
March 23. We have no guaranteed time at this moment."
Also look out for a review of the pack very soon here
at Sega World Weekly.
>>>> Crystal Ball Sonic
Q) I've got a couple questions about the future of Sonic,
1) What do you think will happen to the series?
2) What are the chances of Sega doing a revival of
the old Sonic games? Releasing all of them on
one disk in their original format?
I'm sure many of us who miss the old days because our
Genesis' are broken would love that dream to come true.
Thanks. - Chris
A) Sonic is Sega's mascot. Look for Sonic games to appear
on a bunch of systems in the Next Generation, but if
recent statements are to be believed, Nintendo may be
getting a bit more action then others will.
>>>> Letting Go of Hopeless Balloons
Q) Will the heavily rumored Zip Drive and DVD add-on ever
show? Is there a chance that a third party manufacturer
will make any of the devices? The internet really sucks
if you can't download stuff! - Adel Abu Khajil
A) No. They are both dead, let them rest in peace. No
third party will be making any either. I may be wrong,
if I am... "e3 will reveal all".
>>>> Fat Pipe Adaptor
Q) Why is it that PSO is not compatible with broadband
adapter? I read that it would be compatible.
- Vince Boyd
A) At the 11th hour support was dropped. The problem is
that no two service providers work the exact same. There
is a way to get PSO to work with it, but it requires
a save file from a Japanese copy of PSO. I'll see if I
can find a web site that tells how to set it up.
>>>> Thought of the Week: System Loyalty
I am upset at what you guys saying. You actually support
those losers over at sucky kiddytendo? Traitors! I am
not saying this in jest, either! Don't you know, that
playing a Sega game on a Sony or Nintendo system is
SACRILIGE? Excuse me, as I am going in mourning.
Good Bye, traitors. - James Smuin
Well, we will miss the Dreamcast just the same as all
of our readers will. What surprises me though is that
while we were DreamcastWeekly.com no one figured out
what Tails meant by some people moving on. Oh well. If
that isn't the biggest hint ever. - ZOndaro
But we'll still continue to cover the Dreamcast till
the very, very end. - Tails
Running out of Quotes. - zondaro@usa.net
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-- Support Sites Page 9 --
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Sega World Weekly goes out to 40,000 gamers every week. How
did we get so many people signed up? With the help of these
websites, that's how.
<<.>> DC-United - http://dc-united.com
The Premiere Dreamcast Community, DC-United.com gives you
the ability to view members online, build your own
homepage, send messages, read in-depth reviews, and much
more. DCU Network Members are also eligible for various
monthly prizes.
<<.>> Absolute Sega - http://www.absolutesega.com
One of the first Sega sites out there with the most up to
date news every 24 hours, 7 days a week. Absolute Sega is
not jus famous for it's news, but also it's reviews and
previews. Want to talk about games, then go to our forums
or you can talk in our IRC chat room.
<<.>> PSY Online - http://www.consolereviews.net
PSY Online is a multiformat reviews website specialising in
the Sega Dreamcast console. With 24/7 updated news, forums
and chat, its a great place to hang out for Sega fans.
<<.>> System Zero - http://system-zero.com
As game music goes well beyond the beeps and bleeps of the
past and into the soundtrack quality tracks we hear today,
Perfect Zero becomes one of THE most important sites for
game fans. Hosting hundreds of MP3s from different games,
turn up those speakers and click that link.
<<.>> The Next Level - http://www.the-nextlevel.com
The Next Level is a multi-platform gaming magazine focused
on current and upcoming next-generation systems. We provide
up-to-date news, in-depth reviews, reader reviews,
intriguing editorials, and more.
<<.>> Future Gamez - http://www.futuregamez.net
What ever console your looking for, Future Gamez have them
all. From Dreamcast to GameCube, and X-Box to Playstation
2. So get your news, reviews, previews, and more at Future
Gamez, and stay on top of all systems.
<<.>> The Sonic Zone - http://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, and
even Fan Created Games, this is your one stop Sonic site.
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-- Credits Page 10 --
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O Editor: Graham "Tails" Parker - Madcow@ihug.co.nz
O Question & Answer: Ross Fisher - Zondaro@usa.net
O Staff Writer: Michael Monahan - Mikelad1@aol.com
O Staff Writer: Paulo Santos - Paulo@sega2000.net
<<.>> http://www.LevelSix.com - Our Sponsor
___________________________________________________________
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<<.>> LIGHT GUN - Small Size, Big Rumble !!
- http://www.levelsix.com/
This small light gun is the perfect solution for tired
arms, but that doesn't mean it's small on features. Packing
a built-in rumble feature, including recoil rumble (which
can be turned on/off with a switch), Auto-fire and
Auto-reload modes, a flashing LED light and four buttons
along with the D-pad. More details and pictures online.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Copyright 1998-2001 Graham Parker - Madcow@ihug.co.nz
No parts may be copied without prior permission or correct
credit where due. There should probably be a pile of other
legal lines here, but please just play nice and don't
steal, lol! Thanks for reading Sega World Weekly!
Previously known as the Sega 2000-X Magazine, and Dreamcast
Weekly.
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Please note the advert below is added on by our mailing
list, it's in no way connected to Sega World Weekly...
