Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 14 (then Sega 2000-X)
From Video Game Morgue File
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/ > > > SEGA 2000 - X MAGAZINE < < < \
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/ Issue #14 of "The Original Dreamcast Magazine" \
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\ Sega 2000 - http://www.dchq.com /
\ Sega X - http://www.segadreamcast.net /
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======[ EDITOR'S COMMENTS ]===============================
This week the magazine gets even better! I had lots of
suggestions on how to improve, many people wished to pictures
and HTML in the magazine. I would like to create a HTML magazine
some time, but would I be able to get an idea of how many people
wouldn't like that? Well for this issue, along with many small
changes, here are some of the bigger ones...
First up we gain a new editoral writer (Stan - sonic999@juno.com).
Each week we'll print his editoral, and there is more information
about him in this weeks section. Secondly I'm proud to present
the next level to the Sega 2000-X Magazine. Here is the Sega Fan
Chat Mailing List...
There is currently a Sega Dreamcast mailing list on the net (see
mailing list section in this issue) but after being on it for a
week I've seen could be improved and changed. To make it easier
there are 3 different mailing lists each with a different topic.
That way your mail box isn't flooded with things your not so
intrested in, also these lists are exlusive to Sega 2000 visitors!
All you have to do to join is send a blank e-mail to any of these...
----> Dreamcast Tech Talk
sega2000-1-subscribe@egroups.com
----> General Dreamcast List
sega2000-2-subscribe@egroups.com
----> Super Sonic List
sega2000-3-subscribe@egroups.com
I'm also awaiting the reply from my tempory webmaster, so maybe this
week the daily updates to Sega 2000 might start again. This week I'm
also looking for a Japanese Corispondent. If you live in Japan, why
not give me an e-mail on Elijah@dchq.com and have your work read by
thousands each week? Well if you are intrested feel free to contact
me for more details, and of course this is something you could put
on your CV.
Well I hope you enjoy this issue...
From Elijah (Editor)
----> Page 1 - News <----
----> Page 2 - Coming Soon <----
----> Page 3 - Editoral <----
----> Page 4 - Surveys <----
----> Page 5 - On Your Mind <----
----> Page 6 - Tech Talk <----
----> Page 7 - Mail Lists <----
----> Page 8 - Web Sites <----
======[ NEWS ]============================================
----> SEGA'S STILL BURNING
With Sonic Adventure to be completed in a few months, Sonic Team
have there next project all planned. This does raise a quesion as
to wether Nights 2 is coming or not though. Here's a quote from
IGN, "According to the development group, they’re going to push
the Dreamcast hardware to create very realistic fire effects, and
thanks to the machine’s impressive texture memory potential, scenery
will be fully-combustible and will burn very realistically as the
conflagration spreads."
Also I know Sonic Team have always planned to create a sequal,
thats why there are some numbers missing from the Burning Rangers
Team. They talked to Sega Saturn Magazine about it and confirmed
there will be a sequal some time in the future.
----> DRIVING YOU CRAZY! - F1 & SEGA RALLY 2...
There are so many driving games coming out for the Dreamcast now,
and being a big fan of them (I still play Sega Rally regulary!) I
think thats excellent news! Well first on the racing scene we
have excellent news for Sega Rally 2 fans. There is going to be
many improvements over the arcade game, including a 40 stage
championship!
Next is from Ubi Soft. This week they annouced the development
of Monaco Grand Prix for the Dreamcast. It features very detailed
graphics, excellent sound (from the real cars), many courses and
different modes. There will be single race, time attack, championship,
vs mode (split screen and probably over the net) and also a
Retro Mode. In Retro Mode you race around with cars from the 1950's!
----> PHANTASY STAR 5
The latest rumours about this game are very exciting! Phantasy Star
was a epid series of RPG's on the Mega Drive, and Sega look set to
continue on this tradition...
First up the rumour is that Sega are spending a huge 100 million yen
on this game, the same as Sonic Adventure. Secondly the game is in
its early planning stage, with a late 1999 - 2000 release. Although
please remember those are just the rumours around the net at the
moment.
----> MORE AM DEPARTMENTS
Thanks to Sega Net...
There are now 8 AM departments, but what do they all do? Well...
AM1, AM2 and AM3 are arcade software development teams.
AM4 is arcade game hardware development; they make the cabinets.
AM5 is coin operation machine development.
AM6 is amusement-theme-park development.
AM11 and AM12 are new arcade game software sections; AM11 is made
up of ex-AM2 members. They are currently working on Spike Out.
----> SONIC ADVENTURE SCOOP
Ok so the news did break out before we sent out this magazine, but
we have an excellent address for you. This requires a Real Player
but it basily 14 minutes of actual game action!!!
Enter this on your Real Player location...
http://www1.stream.co.jp/sega/ga_64.ram
======[ COMING SOON! ]====================================
There is heaps of games coming to the Dreamcast, but which
ones are offical? Its become quite hard to tell. So in this
part of the magazine each week we will give you an update on
which games are coming officaly. Thanks to IGN for this first
list...
Akolyte - Ionos
Burning Rangers 2 - Sega
Crimson - Eidos
D2 - Warp
Daytona USA 2 - Sega
Drakan - Psygnosis
Elemental Gimmick Gear - Hudson
Fighting Vipers 2 - Sega
Godzilla Generations - Sega
Half Life - Eidos
Harley Davidson - Sega
Looney Toons - Infogrames
The Lost World: Jurassic Park - Sega
Marvel vs Capcom - Capcom
Mercurius Pretty - NEC
Messiah - Interplay
Metropolis - Bizarre Creations
Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation - Ubi Soft
NBA Action 2000 - Sega
NFL Blitz - Midway
Monster Breed - Sega
Rampage World Tour - Midway
Resident Evil 4 - Capcom
Sega Rally 2 - Sega
Senguko Turb - NEC
Seventh Cross - NEC
Street Fighter III: Second Impact - Capcom
Sonic Adventure - Sega
Sonic/Knuckles RPG - Sega
Unreal - GT Interactive
Virtua Fighter 3: Team Battle - Sega
Yu Suzuki's Dreamcast Game - Sega
Also its highly rumoured a Wipeout game is coming to Dreamcast!
======[ EDITORAL ]========================================
Hello everyone! Since this is my first editorial, I thought I probably
should say a little about myself. I'm a Sega Freak (obviously) and I am
currently working on a PC title, but I don't know if it will ever make it
to the shelves (if it ever does, look for a game called Fallen Star).
The game I'm making is a 2.5D RPG, and it will use the VERGE 2 RPG
engine. I hope some one wants to port it to DC when it's done, but
nothing but the story is really under development.
I play my Saturn more than my N64, making it the dominant console in my
household. I'm REALLY looking forward to Sonic Adventure, Super GT, VF3,
& VC3. I also hope Sega takes measures to keep DC better than PSX2,
keeping them ahead in the console industry. I like ZZ Top, C+C Music
Factory, Will Smith, Todd Rundgren, Technotronic, etc. I'm always open
to suggestions, requests, questions, & comments. My email is
sonic999@juno.com. That's all for today, so send me what you want to
hear about, because if you do, you'll probably hear about it. Here is
my editoral for this week...
THE FUTURE OF GAMING
Dreamcast is the beginning of the future. We all know that. But what
about the rest of the gaming world? What about N64, PSX, & PC? What
about Square, Konami, & Capcom? Read on, friend.
Next year, we'll see more of the same, no doubt, but even though
it's sequels & clones we'll see, they'll be good. We'll see single- &
multi-player games, along with -gag- interactive movies. Nintendo &
Sony will release new systems or add-ons, but they will not be able
to cope with Dreamcast. Big-names like Square will develop for
Dreamcast exclusively, and they will profit immensely.
So far, we've covered the next two years of video games. During the
next year, we'll see some failed attempts at Virtual Reality, but
the 3 consoles will dominate the market for a few more years, until
new consoles are released. We'll see original games, but they'll be
very boring. The best games will be on DC, 64DD, & PC. Sony will get
some good games, but may die off.
In conclusion, the future looks [mostly] good. I'm looking foreward
to it. I hope everyone who has read this is too.
======[ SURVEYS ]=========================================
Here is a info survey... the more people that enter the better.
Thanks...
http://www.videogameheaven.com/userinfo.htm
Also on Sega 2000 I'm running a survey on the feature you like
best about the Dreamcast. Is it the Modem? The VMS? The 1 gig
CD's? The amazing graphics? That is uses Windows CE or maybe the
huge number of games?
You can vote or see the results easily at Sega 2000 (www.dchq.com)
======[ ON YOUR MIND! ]===================================
Here is the section where you can ask questions, write letters,
or tell us anything else thats on your mind. For the next issue
please send your e-mails to...
----> Letters: Elijah@dchq.com
----> Q & A: SegaSlave@dchq.com
----------------------------------------------------------
This week I'll put the most intresting Q&A from Sega 2000 here...
1) Hi.. im loyal to sega all the way.. If i buy the Japanese VMS could
I use that in the american dreamcast huh? That would be phat!!!
SEGA 2000: I havent herd anything about this yet, it could go
either way, but most likely SEGA won't make them compatible
to discourage people from importing the DC.
2) Hello I email u guys all the time ... Good work people... My
question is if I get the Japanese dreamcast will I be able to
play over the internet with the Japanese?. So i could show them
who better. Thanx for your time.
SEGA 2000: Well, its doughtfull for a few reasons, 1 you would
have to call long distance all the way to Japan($$$$) 2 if SOJ
is gone to be setting up the online game network like SOA is
doing here, I dont think you would be able to subscribe to it.
3) How about a Tomb Raider or Namco game coming to the Dreamcast?
SEGA 2000: Neither Namco or Eidos is a confirmed developer for
the DC but a Tomb Raider or a Namco game is very possible. Edios's
licence with Sony runs out at the year 2000 anyway, so from them
they can do what ever they like with Lara Croft...
======[ TECH TALK ]=======================================
Here is an article on one of the Dreamcast's features,
Bump Mapping...
Bump mapping is one of the major buzzwords for second-generation
3D hardware, but what does it actually do? OK, imagine a two-dimensional,
flat, smooth, orange square. Now imagine an orange. I'll explain how
to get from one to the other using bump mapping.
What bump mapping essentially does, is make a 2D surface look like a
3D one. By cleverly using light and shade, it gives the impression of
(for example) a surface having lettering embossed on it. There are two
main ways of doing this. Either by using multiple textures and combining
them (like Voodoo2 does) or by using some nifty maths when calculating
the colour and intensity of each pixel on a surface (like PowerVR Second
Generation does).
With the first case, you'd have two textures. One orange square and
one square of "light and shade" square. When you overlay one on top
of the other, you'll get an orange square which is textured with small
areas of light and dark highlights. If you get the "light and shade" map
right, you can make it look just like an orange peel! The Voodoo2 can do
this in a single pass due to its multiple texture units.
With the second technique, you store the main texture (the orange
square) and a "bump map". The bump map differs from the previous
example in that it is more a table of numbers used in the mathematical
calculations rather than simply a texture used for combination with
the primary graphic. Before the orange texture is applied, the 3D hardware
will use the bump map to process it and alter the intensity of the
designated regions. The advantage of this is that a bump map can be
easily updated by software to give the impression of a moving light
source (imagine a light swinging around the orange). This is a bit more
time consuming and difficult using the multi-texturing approach. Neither
approach is right or wrong, but the mathematical approach is more
traditional and a bit more flexible.
So, having combined either your "light and shade" or "bump map" with
the orange square, you now have a two dimensional, bumped, orange
texture. This can then easily be mapped on to a spherical object to
give an orange.
However, hopefully, you'll have figured out that the bumps are not
true 3D. If you were to take the orange square before it was mapped
on to the sphere, and turned it side-on, you would not actually see any
realy bumps protruding from the surface. This is because the bumps are
simply light and shade that have been added to the texture. Nothing
more, nothing less. Bump mapping is an excellent, effective way of
achieving complex texturing effects and makes it possible to increase
the perceived complexity of an object without having to add further
polygons. So, for a small investment in hardware complexity you can make
a 3D scene much more interesting and realistic.
======[ MAILING LISTS ]===================================
There are now 2 mailing lists running for Sega...
----> #1 - SEGA FAN CHAT LIST
Sega Fan Chat was a huge success, and until the next one
this November, this is a way you can fan chat all you want!
There is 3 different lists, so you can talk just about what
your intrested in. Have fun, but please don't flame or
insult others, also any anti-sega people will be removed
right away. Ok here it is everyone, to subcribe is really
easy, just send a blank e-mail to which ever topic your
intrested in... you can enter as many as you like. This is
exclusive to Sega 2000 vistors aswell!
- Dreamcast Tech Talk:
sega2000-1-subscribe@egroups.com
- General Dreamcast List:
sega2000-2-subscribe@egroups.com
- Sonic Adventure Zone:
sega2000-3-subscribe@egroups.com
----> #2 - ORIGINAL SEGA LIST
"This list was started so that Sega and Dreamcast fans could
have a place to talk about the world's most powerful console
system. Any topics are welcome here as long as they relate to
the Sega Dreamcast console in some way or another. Have fun but
please don't start any flame wars. I also ask that once you
become a member of the list, you should send out an initial
email telling everyone a little about yourself and a few of
your favorite Sega games. This helps to make the list a
little bit more personable."
The URL for the list is:
http://home.earthlink.net/~s_frost/dreamcast.html
To subcribe just send an empty e-mail to:
dreamcast-subscribe@makelist.com
======[ WEB SITES ]=======================================
If you have a web site you want here, just e-mail me on
Elijah@dchq.com
----> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/3375/
Shining Force III Petition
----> http://www.segaweb.com/
Sega Web
----> http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Ring/8339/
Dreamcast Zone
----> http://sgs.newsninja.com/DreamCast/index.htm
Dream Cast Net
----> http://www.gamepost.com/sega/
Sega Post
----> http://www.angelfire.com/ms/elijahparker/
Elijah Net
----------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, 1998 Elijah Parker - ELIJAH@DCHQ.COM
----> http://www.dchq.com - Sega 2000
----> http://www.segadreamcast.net - Sega X
Written and edited by Elijah Parker (just so you know who
to blame for the terrible spelling... he he) The magazine
is owned by Sega 2000 / Sega X and no parts may be copied
without prior permission. It would be very mean and I will
tell my mummy about you! (he he, kidding!) If you have any
friends that might be intrested in this magazine, it would
be excellent if you could let them know about it. Thanks!
p.s SOUTH PARK RULES!!!!!!!!!!
