Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 23 (then Dreamcast Weekly)
From Video Game Morgue File
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/ ___> > > DREAMCAST WEEKLY MAGAZINE < < <____ \
/ / \ \
/ / ~Issue #23 - www.DreamcastWeekly.com~ \ \
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\ \ Sega 2000 - http://www.sega2000.com / /
\ \ Sega X - http://www.segadreamcast.net / /
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* Website made possible by Total Video Games *
======| EDITORS COMMENTS |================================
Happy New Year! So what was your new years resolutions eh?
My first one would be never to let my studying get in the
way of my gaming again (hehe), oh and... hmmm... ok so
that's the only one so far. Anyway... With the new year,
we've improved just about every part of Dreamcast Weekly.
There's new sections, interviews, features and plenty more!
(I won't list them all since the contents page is just
below this).
I was going to have a review of Sonic Adventure here, but
unfortunately because of holidays, UPS can't deliver it until
the start of next week (doh!). So next issue we'll have our
official review of Sonic Adventure.
Now it's 1999, and with Sega back in the running the burning
question is, what will this year hold in store? In this
issue we focus a lot on the future of Sega, and what Sony
might do to fight back. Until next issue, Happy Gaming
everyone!
~ Elijah (Editor)
---~> Page 1 - Cover Story <~---
---~> Page 2 - The News <~---
---~> Page 3 - Review <~---
---~> Page 4 - Stuck??? <~---
---~> Page 5 - Editorial <~---
---~> Page 6 - Interview <~---
---~> Page 7 - Best Of The Web <~---
---~> Page 8 - On Your Mind <~---
---~> Page 9 - Credits & More <~---
======| COVER STORY |=====================================
---~> PREDICTIONS FOR 1999
Looking into my good old crystal ball again I see... everyone
trading in their Playstations for Dreamcast's!! ... Ok ok, so
there's a difference between predictions and wishful
thinking. However, even though I have a top quality crystal
ball, these are still just predictions and aren't fact. But
having said that, I'm first going to print some laughable
(and annoying) predictions from MSNBC...
"Though Sega officials insist that there will be 10 to 12
games available at launch, I am expecting only about five —
“Sonic Adventure,” “Virtua Fighter 3tb,” “Sega Rally 2,”
“Incoming” (ported from the PC) and “Blue Stinger.” None
will present a compelling argument for consumers to abandon
their current systems and spend $200 for something new."
Talking about a new programming technique that will be
discovered that... "will probably be something that sharpens
the look of games on the Nintendo 64 and makes them competitive
with the best art on the Dreamcast." LOL! Yeah Right!!
Anyway, onto some more realistic predictions...
EARLY 99: Over in Japan, the Dreamcast gets over it's
shortage of consoles, and with no sign of a Playstation 2000
on the horizon sales get better and better every day. Sega
has the whole of Japan playing Sega Rally 2 over the modem,
and with other ace games such as Blue Stinger, House Of The
Dead 2 and of course, Shen Mue, Sega shoots past Sony and
Nintendo leaving them puffing to keep up. All seems a little
quiet on the Sony front though... rumours start to form...
TGS: As the Playstation 2000 rumours grow, everyone is
expecting an announcement at the first Tokyo Game Show.
Not wanting to totally disappoint, Sony release the name and
a few details like 128-bits, but keep almost everything else
under wraps. There's more revealed behind closed doors
of course though, and yes, of course it's the start of a whole
new batch of rumours. So Sega take the show again, and with
gamers loving modem play, along comes Virtual On 2! The
little information Sony gave out didn't have the impact they
hoped, and with a pile of Dreamcast games, the future has
never looked brighter for Sega.
MID 99: As Sega start to settle into their leading position
over in Japan, Sony take a step back, preparing for a world
announcement...
DREAMCAST LAUNCH: Bernie Stolar will keep the release date
a little loose at "September 1999" for awhile, hoping to
avoid any delays being made public (like SOJ's 1 week delay).
However they'll definately let the public know what's coming...
the $100 million advertising will be put to good use starting
just after the E3 show. Adverts will probably show small
clips of Sonic Adventure and other big games (If Namco do
indeed come up with Time Crisis 2 or Tekken 4 on Dreamcast,
you can be sure Sega will shout about this!). As the launch
comes closer Sega will have advertising floods similar to
Sony. Except that familiar orange swirl to pop up all over
the place, and some adverts will focus or more technical things
like the Modem, and of course, the VMS (VMU in America).
But unfortunately, despite heavy advertising and an amazing
machine, sales won't be as huge as Sega had hoped for. While
everyone is impressed, they'll wait until other people start
buying them before they invest their $200 on Sega.
SONY'S NEXT STEP: This is where Sony will step in. While
people are on the verge of diving into the Dreamcast games,
Sony will reveal the Playstation 2000 with an early 2000
release. Stealing the excitement from Sega, and giving gamers
a reason to hold onto their cash, Sega steps up advertising
for 3rd party games, showing other companies are going with
Sega, so you should too.
CHRISTMAS: For the first time in 4 years, Sony is worried
about a "Sega Christmas". But revealing another set of
PSX2000 games, they try to get the publics attention back.
Happily though, Santa has a high order for Dreamcasts on
your wish lists. Thanks to the second bunch of games as well,
and the advertising of games to come such as "Shen Mue",
the holiday season goes to Sega. :)
After a slow start, many people unsure of weather or not to
trust Sega, they're back in the running. OUR SPIKY BLUE
FRIEND IS COOL AGAIN!
NINTENDO: So, was there something missing in there? Yes,
Nintendo... facing more and more problems as they go along,
all add-ons to the N64 are canceled (people won't want to
buy the N64 and an add-on, it just costs too much and is too
messy). So the "Big N" slumps into where Sega was with the
32X, only with no clear light in the future like the
Saturn was. Using the Game Boy Color to scrape by, they
put there brains to work on the next step.
======| NEWS |============================================
---~> ROLE PLAYING GAME OF THE YEAR...
At Videogamespot's recent "Games Of The Year" awards I was
really pleased to see Panzer Dragoon Saga won RPG of the
year and Saturn game of the year! Also Import Of The Year,
Radiant Silvergun (only includes games not coming to the
US) was released on Saturn by Treasure. While I won't
mention the other categories (there are plenty of them)
Zelda: Ocarina of Time took Overall Game Of The Year, with
Panzer Dragoon Saga being in the "Honorable Mentions" for
it.
---~> PREPARE TO DREAM... AGAIN!
Now Sonic Team has completed Sonic Adventure, what's next?
Well according to Game Weekly, one of China's hottest and
more reliable game magazines, it's Nights 2. Imagine what
it will look like in hi-res, with the power of the Dreamcast!
At the moment we can only dream, but except more details
later this month. Dreamcast Weekly will keep you up to date.
---~> SEGA 2000 UPDATE:
As you know Sega 2000 is on holiday till Jan 4th, and because
of changing servers this week might bit a little messy. Very
sorry about all this, but while some other sections might
not get updated because of problems, we'll be sure to keep
you up to date with the latest news every day.
---~> GET ON-LINE WITH YOUR IMPORT DREAMCAST!
Yes it's true, the guys at Console Domain have cracked the
problem every importer is asking about... how to get on-line.
Ken Comeforo has been experimenting with his newly imported
Dreamcast modem. Until now, nobody had figured out how to
get the 'Passport' software to work from outside of Japan.
However, Ken can now reveal exactly how to get your Dreamcast's
on-line capabilities up and running…
'I used a phone line that has two jacks in my house. One
jack hooked to my Dreamcast while the other went to a regular
phone. After telling the Dreamcast to attempt to connect to
the server in Japan, I immediately picked up my other phone.
When the Dreamcast stopped dialing, I pulled the phone line
out of the back of it. Surprisingly, it does not detect this
has happened and sits there waiting! Then I simply dialed
the number with the correct country codes, etc., for the US
to Tokyo: 011-81-3-5953-3012 and plugged back in the Dreamcast.
Then I hung up the regular phone. Voila, the Dreamcast
negotiates and connects!'
'There are a bunch of Japanese menus at this point. I didn't
take the time to write everything down, because I wasn't sure
if I was still connected to Japan or not, and I didn't want
to rack up a big phone bill.'
'Basically, I just kept hitting A. If you start seeing some
of the same screens over again, look to see if there is
another option to select and then hit A on that. Eventually
you get to some big English words that say "Dricas" or
"User ISP". Choose "User ISP" and you'll enter the following
three configuration screens:'
1st screen:
Phone number 1
Phone number 2
2nd screen:
Logon ID
Logon Password
Email address
Email account ID
Email account password
3rd screen:
DNS 1
DNS 2
SMTP email server
POP3 email server
Proxy server (may be left blank)
'When you're done with entering those three screens worth of
data, there are three choices at the bottom of the screen. I
chose the leftmost one, but I don't really know what any of
them stand for. I was able to get on-line, so I guess it was
an OK choice!'
There you have it! Follow the above instructions and you can
register your Dreamcast's on-line capabilities with a local
ISP.
Some other tips:
There are 3 screens to go through before you even get to dial:
1) Dialing info: probably want to leave everything blank, but
the fields are:
Pulse/Tone
# for outside line
I think # for long distance
Extra AT commands
2) Personal info. You must fill in all fields, but I put in
a lot of garbage and had no problems.
3) Hmm, I am drawing a complete blank here. I'm pretty sure
there were 3 screens, though.... Once you get into the web
software itself, the icons are fairly obvious. From here,
use the L and R buttons to get menus. The left menu
contains options from the main menu, an option to hang up,
and some other stuff. The right menu is:
Back
Forward
Refresh
Stop
Zoom in
SEGA 2000 NOTE: Currently people are working on translating
the menus, when they're complete, we'll be sure to let you
know. Thanks for your patience.
---~> HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2... IN MARCH!!
Nights 2, now House Of The Dead 2, the line up of Sega games
in '99 is looking better and better every day. The first Naomi
port, House Of The Dead 2 is coming to Dreamcast on the 18th
of March. This just goes to show how quick ports can be
achieved. Like Virtua Cop, 2 different versions will go on sale.
A "game & gun" pack, and just the stand alone game.
======| REVIEW |==========================================
---~> SONIC MUSIC CD
---~> Written By Mike
Where would a big-budget game, like Sonic Adventure, be
without it's own great soundtrack? Realizing the need to
cash into the lucrative music business, Sega has present
gamers with an album complimenting their newest installment
in the popular series. From cover presentation to the
powerful songs inside, "Sonic Adventure: Songs With
Attitude" is a non-stop joyride.
The compilation of selections in Sonic Team's special
presentation shows the many types of music liked by the
group. From the electrifying hard-rock verses of Sonic's
theme, "It Doesn't Matter" to the smoother rap beat of
Knuckles, "Unknown from M.E." everything is here and makes
for good listening. Six songs are included in the album,
ranging from four to five minutes and written and each
character's own point of view. What makes this great title
even better is that all the songs are performed in English.
Not only does this bring some familiarity to the CD, but it
also allows English-speaking gamers to understand what is
going on with each song. Briefly, here is a small rating
of each song and their music type:
1. "It Doesn't Matter," theme of Sonic: hard-rock, 5/5.
2. "My Sweet Passion," theme of Amy: pop, 5/5.
3. "Lazy Days Livin' in Paradise" theme of Big: rock (ska?), 4/5.
4. "Believe In Myself," theme of Tails: pop, 5/5.
5. "Unknown from M.E.," theme of Knuckles: rap, 5/5.
6. "Open Your Heart," theme of Sonic Adventure: hard-rock, 5/5.
Presentation is also very important to a music album. It
must showcase the featured music through cover images and
the insert-booklet. How a publisher treats a jacket sends
important signs to listeners, both good and bad. "Sonic
Adventure: Songs With Attitude," does not disappoint in
this aspect, either. The cover includes the updated looks of
all the characters featured, along with a good booklet.
Lyrics are written in Japanese for the sake of the Eastern
listeners along with comments from the musicians. What is
most surprising about the booklet, is that it includes an
English-lyrics insert. One last comment about presentation?
I need that Sonic doll ---and the guitar?--- yeah, that too!!
There are few complaints with this awesome mini-album. It is
a great way to experience apart of Sonic Adventure, for those
who will not be buying a Dreamcast to the end of this year.
Produced by Yuji Naka himself, it capture the soul of his
masterpiece and deserves to be on the want-list of every
gamer worth his salt. Rating: 5/5, definitely make this
your next import item.
======| STUCK??? |========================================
---~> NEED HELP WITH A GAME?
If your stuck on a game or just want some tips / secrets,
please e-mail our tipster... me, on madcow@ihug.co.nz and
we'll print them in the very next issue.
======| INTERVIEW |=======================================
Aaron, Sega X's top Asian correspondent tells us about
gaming over in Hong Kong...
Dreamcast Weekly: Tell us a little bit about yourself. How
long you have lived in Hong Kong and what you do at SegaX?
Aaron Lee: I'm born in Hong Kong and lived in here till I'm
5 years old. Then I followed my father to go to Singapore
for his work. I lived there for 7 years(where I got my
primarily education). By the time I was 12, I had to leave
Singapore because if I stayed there longer, I will have to
be in the Army. This doesn't make since I'm a Chinese and
not a Singaporean. So I left Singapore and came back to Hong
Kong, now I have stayed here for another 5 years....Basically,
I am a News Editor in Sega X and my main job is to translate
news from the magazines in Hong Kong(like translate
interviews..etc.) and sometimes I have to scan pictures of
up coming games. But once in a while I would like to write
an editorial or impression of an arcade game.
DCW: Saturn failed poorly with gamers in the West. Do you
believe this will carry over with most people in the
East?
Aaron: No, I don't think so. The market of the East and West
is very different. In fact, the Saturn did a good job in
Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to the survey carried out by
Game Weekly(best selling game magazine in Hong Kong) 31.6%
of the interviewees own a PS, 26.6% own a Saturn and 11.7%
own N64. This shows Saturn is just behind Playstation and
miles away from N64. And 74% of the people who own a PS,
also own a Saturn. This result shows there aren't any real
winner in the Asia market, PS is only the best selling
console. So I believe that the Saturn have the best results
in South East Asia, compared to other regions of the world,
including Japan.
DCW: How well do you feel the Dreamcast launch went over
in Hong Kong as compared to Japan and other Asian
countries?
Aaron: I had always believed that Hong Kong is the 3rd best
place to live in, for playing computer games. The 1st of
course is Japan, the 2nd is Taiwan and the 3rd is Hong Kong.
Actually the difference between Hong Kong and Taiwan isn't
big, the main difference is its market. The population of
Taiwan is far more than Hong Kong as Hong Kong is only a
city. The gamers in these 3 places doesn't treat computer
games as children's toys anymore, they treat it like a kind
of hobby. As for other Asia countries like Singapore and
Malaysia, computer games aren't taking a very important
position. Even people living in Malaysia have to import
Hong Kong magazines to read!:) Since gaming has such a
important position in Hong Kong and Taiwan, of course the
launch in these two places are larger than in other Asia
ountries(except Japan). If compared to the launch of Saturn,
4 years ago, the Dreamcast's launch also have better
advertising, just that there wasn't enough Dreamcast consoles.
DCW: What games do you feel will help Sega win the Asian
markets next year, in 1999?
Aaron: Arcade ports like Spike Out, Virtual Striker 2,
VOOT..etc. can't be lack of, these games have made SEGA the
leading arcade company in the world, no matter which place,
these ported arcade games will sure be a big push on the
Dreamcast's sales. Besides arcade games, home consoles games
like RPG is another important affector to the success of a
console. Luckily, unlike the N64, Dreamcast has lots of
great RPG titles waiting to be released, Grandia 2, Climax
Landers..etc. this shows SEGA have already prepared for a
long time before they launched their Dreamcast. Since there
aren't lack of RPGs the only matter is whether there is an
RPG which could take Dreamcast to a higher level. In this
situation, I can't think of a reason why SEGA is not
developing Phantasy Star 5 now. Shen Mue alone is
not enough, there must be lots of 'must play games' on your
console in order to get people to buy your system.
DCW: Sonic Adventures and Shen Mu are shaping up very
nicely. What level of anticipation have these games
reached in Hong Kong?
Aaron: The popularity of Sonic Adventure and Shen Mue is
very different. Let's talk about Sonic first. I can ensure
you that Sonic Adventure is going to be a breakthrough of
all the games that have ever been released since the times
of SFC. Since Sonic Adventure has been announced, it had
been the 1st in the 'Want to get' chart. And I mean even
before the Sonic Adventure conference. After the conference,
it got more and more votes. Leaving from the rest of the
list, which includes Final Fantasy 8(3rd), Dragon Quest
7(5th) and Zelda 64(9th). There is no game on the list which
could threaten its 1st position. As for Shen Mue, its not
even on the chart...this shows how Virtual Fighter 3 isn't
popular in Hong Kong. But its funny, because Virtual Fighter
2 was a great hit in Hong Kong for a long time just like in
Japan, but I don't why it just doesn't get heated in Hong
Kong. So Shen Mue just happens to be a ordinary game in Hong
Kong.
DCW: There are many great games in production for the
Dreamcast. With 1998 coming to a close, give us your
pick of the top five games slated next year.
Aaron: Announced 1.Shen Mue 2.Grandia 2 3.Sega Rally 2
4.J League Pro Soccer Club 5.Virtual On Oratorio Tangram
Rumored 1.Phantasy Star 5 2.Spike Out 3.Daytona 2 4.Burning
Rangers 2 5.Langrisser 6
DCW: With an aging Playstation and the utter failure of
N64, how do you feel Sega's major rivals, Sony and
Nintendo will address the new Dreamcast threat to their
empires?
Aaron: The president of Nintendo has already said they are
developing on a new 'thing'. Which could either be a add-on
or new console. And on the Sony's side, they are surely
developing Playstation 2. Let's talk about Nintendo first,
if the 'thing' Nintendo is developing is an add-on to the
N64, then there is nothing Dreamcast has to be afraid of.
First of all, N64 itself is not popular at all, secondly,
gamers have to pay another sum of money to play the games,
which I think most people aren't willing to. Anyway, the
more add-ons a console has, the more its shows the weakness
of the console. If the console itself is good, then would it
need an add-on? Add-ons only shows the weakness of the
console. Just like the Genesis, the more add-ons appeared,
the worse Genesis became. If Nintendo is developing a new
console, it will take them quiet some time to finish the
console up, which earliest could be at year 2000. But by
that time, Dreamcast will already be 'mature'. Its hard for
the new console to get a portion in the market. I think it
will just end up like N64. So no matter which road Nintendo
chooses, its also a dead end. They are kind of like doing
the wrong thing at the wrong time. As for Sony, Playstation
2 has 3 main points that will attract people to buy it.
1.It can play PS's games(rumored) 2.it uses DVD(rumored) 3.
Its a product of Sony. Whenever people think of PS, who will
think of SCEI? Every thinks PS is a product Sony instead of
SCEI. Sony itself is a very famous company which could
attract people to buy their products. Then what can SEGA do?
There's a lot SEGA could do, and I think SEGA has already
done them. 1.Change the image of SEGA-SEGA had always gave
a impression of expert gamer's company. Due to their arcade
games. They need to change their image to attract non-gamers
to buy Dreamcast. 2. Make use of time-SEGA should sell as
much DC as they can before PS2 comes out. But due to the
Power VR2 chips problem, this is a hard task for SEGA to
reach...... 3.Make use of Sony's weakness-Sony's weakness
is that it can't make games on its own. Many games released
by SCEI are only distributed by them and not made by them.
SCEI itself has only games like GT and Rapper, which is no
way compared to SEGA's. SEGA shouldn't only release their
own titles, try to get 3rd parties titles as well. FF? DQ?
======| 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 new design in well on it's way, a HUGE thanks to everyone
who is filling out the survey, it's a great help! I'll
hopefully have a sample front page ready for you all later
this week (well, ok so they'll be some "technical delays"
when Sonic Adventure arrives, hehe, nah, I'll keep on it)
---~> Sega X - www.SegaDreamcast.net
Gearing up for another great week, expect some big
updates at Sega X. Through-out the week, start looking
for a Tails walkthrough, along with more reviews of Sonic,
Godzilla, PenPen Incoming and Seventh Cross!! All this
and more great editorials, news, and a brand-new story
based on the original (and best) Resident Evil!!
---~> Dreamcast Life - www.DreamcastLife.com
Dreamcast Life starts updating again this Monday, with a few
new sections and of course, the best news from around the
web.
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 :)
======[ ON YOUR MIND! ]===================================
---~> GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?
If you would like to express opinions, get some questions
answered, or just feel that you need some light and wisdom,
why don't you drop us some lines of text? Please e-mail
Andreas, our letters guy on tuna@ebox.tninet.se.
---~> SATURN GAMES WORTH BUYING
In a letter from a while back, the one to Viagra-man, you
asked if there was anything you could do to make people
realize it's mastering a game and it's fun factor that
makes it great. I say no. There will always be some
people who rush through a game as fast as possible. Metal
Gear Solid comes to mind. Of course it's short if you
rush through it, but there are so many intricate details
in this game that make you wonder why you'd rush through
it. I would mention Sega games, but I am unfamiliar with
Saturn games (but willing to learn!). It's great
adventure games like MGS that keep you wondering if
you've seen it ALL, if you've done everything, gotten
every secret, crawled into the deepest complexities of
the game and mastered it in and out, even memorized some
things about the game (guard locations and timing are
great examples). I haven't seen too many PS fighting
games keep me going for a long time because of load
times (Tobal No. 1 is a strong exception). If the
Saturn is re-released along with a "Greatest Hits"-
like deal, I know that there are plenty of new games
to master. Can you list a few of your favorite Saturn
games, ones you would like re-released for everyone
to enjoy? Thanks in advance! - Geoff
REPLY: http://www.sega2000.com/features/topten.htm is
my new feature on the top 10 Saturn games, some
choices will be very obvious, but others might be
more on the fringe. - Andreas
---~> WHERE IS ALPHABET MAN?!! (NO SARCASM INTENDED)
I have played VF3 in just about every way possible (even
naked while eating jello) but I still can't get Alphabet man.
I have beaten it on the hardest difficulty with default
settings and still no "alphy".... Is there something special
you have to do? Can he only be chosen at the Practice mode?
Do you have to hold START on AKIRA and LION for 2 or 3
seconds? What's the trick? Please help me oh exhalted one..
- Ben
REPLY: You can play as "Alphabet Man" by pressing the top
two buttons on your Dreamcast controller 600 times. After
that, you'll hear a short beep. Then go into the character
menu, and there he'll be! Alphabet Man has all the moves
of every other VF fighter, and even has a few taken from
Tekken. It's funny that they call him Alphabet Man though,
because he's actually a woman. Is it a Transsexual?? Oh,
and in Sonic Adventures, you can play as Mario by
completing the game 1000 times. :) - Matt
----------------------------------------------------------
---~> CREDITS
Editor: Elijah - madcow@ihug.co.nz
Assistant Editor: Mike - melbess@adelphia.net
Letters: Andreas - tuna@ebox.tninet.se
Website Host: Steve - angela.dixon@btinternet.com
For more information please visit our official site (URL
just below) :)
----------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, 1998-9 Elijah Parker - ELIJAH@SEGA2000.COM
---~> www.DreamcastWeekly.com - Official Website!
Written and edited by Elijah Parker. (Who's real name,
is interestingly Graham Parker, and who has a pile of
74 game magazines) 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 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!
P.S. My extra controller arrived yesterday, but with no DC
until Monday, it's not too much use just yet. Still, it
didn't stop me from having a play around (just hope no one
was watching!) and the controller is VERY well designed. :)
