Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 37 (then Dreamcast Weekly)
From Video Game Morgue File
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////// ~Issue #37 - www.DreamcastWeekly.com~ \\\\\\
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\\\\\\ Sega X - http://www.segadreamcast.net //////
\\\\\\ Sega 2000 - http://www.sega2000.com //////
\\\\\\ Media Site - http://media.seganet.com //////
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o> Please scroll down to Editors Comments for the start <o
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======| ABOUT THE MAGAZINE |==============================
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Any DC questions can be sent to Steve@sega2000.com and
questions about this magazine by just clicking reply.
For the latest game news, reviews and previews visit the
Premier Video Games Site 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 ----------------
Our domain name for DC Weekly 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.com ------------------
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======| EDITORS COMMENTS |================================
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This weeks issue brings you a preview of the brand new
Ecco game, an editorial or different types of gamers,
plenty of trivia, news (FREE unlimited net access from
Sega Of Europe!), red hot rumors, cheats for games like
Hydro Thunder, and plenty more.
Also, this week we get our own forum. A place where DC
Weekly readers can go to talk about anything Sega. You
can check out here...
http://sega.shoptok.com/boards/695
Until next week, Happy Gaming everyone!
~ Tails (Editor)
O Page 1 - Cover Story O
O Page 2 - The News O
O Page 3 - Red Hot Rumors O
O Page 4 - Importing O
O Page 5 - This Weeks Letter O
O Page 6 - Feature O
O Page 7 - Tips & Cheats O
O Page 8 - Sega Trivia O
O Page 9 - Best Of The Web O
O Page 10 - Credits & More O
HOT QUOTE This Issue: "Wait until you see Ecco, and
everything changes!"
-- Ecco The Dolphin preview, written by Tails.
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======| COVER STORY |=====================================
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>>>> Ecco The Dolphin Preview
>>>> Developer: Appaloosa
>>>> Written By Tails
Over a year ago, I read in my trusty UK Sega Saturn Magazine,
that Ecco The Dolphin is making a come back, on Dreamcast.
Since then I've been waiting eagerly for the first pictures,
knowing this would be something big. But believe me, I wasn't
expecting something this amazing! If you were blown away
seeing Sonic's hi-speed 3D graphics, found it almost
impossible to believe Shenmue is indeed real time, and
thought you were in heaven looking at Metropolis... wait
until you see Ecco, and everything changes!
For those that can't take a hint... Ecco looks DAMN good! :)
There was a rolling demo at the E3 show last week, and while
the game was only 20% complete, I'll go over what's in so far.
Firstly, the animation. Who knows how they did it, maybe they
even motion captured a real life dolphin, but believe me,
this IS as good as a real life dolphin your seeing. Dubbed
"ReactoFlex" animation, there's no blocky edges what so ever,
and the way he swims through the water, and turns... well I
could go on and on about it, but no matter what I say, you
just have to see it to get the effect. It's just perfect,
and there's over 100 different moves for Ecco to show off
with.
Other creatures, such as an Octopus, and more dolphins are
already in the game, and of course have equally stunning
animation. As in the original, you can talk to other dolphins,
and collect tips. I can't wait to see how the killer whales
look!
Of interesting note, Sega mentioned this as a feature in Ecco,
"Sophisticated communication thru VoiceAccord technology".
Does this mean we'll talk with characters using a microphone,
similar to "Seaman: The Forbidden Pet" (an upcoming Dreamcast
game in Japan, where you talk to a fish, with a human head.
Heh, don't ask why!) ? Well hopefully more details will leak
out soon.
But with all this detail being pumped into the characters,
is there any left for the scenery? Just take a quick look
at this shot thanks to IGN...
http://www.sega2000.com/ecco.jpg
With plenty of lighting effects, and detail that just gets
better as you swim in closer! I mean, picture that shot on
full screen, hi-resolution, with super smooth animation, and
real time lighting effects coming down through the water
above. Wow. Then picture an entire huge level, where you can
swim inside the buildings, through caves, explore ship
wrecks, and of course plenty more. All with that stunning
level of detail.
There is quite a bit of fogging in, but at just 20% complete,
I don't think it's fair to be complaining about that too
much.
Well I've ranted on about the graphics for long enough, but
what's the aim of this game?
You take on the role of Ecco (obviously), who has lost his
family and friends to an evil vortex. You must search the
oceans for them, using your sonar to get clues from other
dolphins, and killer whales. Sega promises at least 30 hours
of gameplay, which is bound to keep you immersed in Ecco's
beautiful underwater world for ages!
Your adventure will include solving puzzles, as in the past
16-bit games (and one hit on the Mega CD), finding secrets,
exploring wrecks, and even travelling backwards in time to
battle pre-historic sea creatures.
So when does this quest begin? Well at the moment,
unfortunately it's anyone's guess... but I'd have to say
late 2000. Awhile away... but I loved the previous Ecco
games, and this looks like being well worth the wait.
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======| NEWS |============================================
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>>>> Free, Unlimited Net Access For Europe
Teaming up with major European supplier, British
Telecommunications, SOE will offer free unlimited internet
access to all European Dreamcast owners. All Dreamcast
owners will be able to get online straight away by dailing
a local number, with no access fee.
"This is a ground breaking development for both SEGA and
our customers. Today’s news signals SEGA’s emergency as an
aggressive Internet network business as we enter the new
millennium. Dreamcast will become the home entertainment
product for the whole family," said JF Cecillon, CEO of
Sega of Europe. "This is a new strategic move for SEGA
Enterprises. As one of the one world’s leading consumer
electronics companies, we again lead the industry - from
home gaming into the Internet age."
It will be interesting to see if Ozisoft here have a similar
deal in the making, and if so, that would certainly help
sell Dreamcast's wouldn't you think? The cheapest way to get
on the net, by far!!
>>>> Arcade News
More details on AM1's latest Naomi arcade title, 'Brave Fire
Fighters', have been released. You play as a fire fighter
(well duh Tails!), and use a vibrating (force feedback) nozzle
controller to spraying water at the fire. Think of it as a
very advanced light gun. You aim the nozzle around the screen,
and it fires water into the game. The object being to
extinguish the fires, and rescue the trapped people.
Thanks to Magic Box for this report on F355 Challenge... Sega
is beta testing their new multi-Naomi racing game Ferrari F355
Challenge, this game features 3 different screen displays and
brake lights at the back of the arcade cabinet, there is even
a printer attached to the machine, which is supposedly used to
print out your ratings after you finished the game. There are 3
levels of difficulties, at each level the cars will have
different equipment, like the beginner level will give you the
ABS and auto brake system. There are more than 5 tracks in the
game, with life like graphics, the gameplay is gearing more
toward a real driving simulation than just an arcade style
racing game.
>>>> News Shorts - Geist Force, Shenmue & Crazy Taxi
Geist Force, has officially been canned by SOA this week. The
3D engine may be used in another game at some stage, but so far
there are no new details.
Yu Suzuki from Sega is planning to add modem support for Shenmue
Chapter 2 for DC, however, the modem support may only apply to
the mini games inside Shen Mue, to allow people to compete over
the network.
Crazy Taxi, AM3's Naomi driving game, is coming to Dreamcast. No
release date has been announced as of yet.
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======[ RED HOT RUMORS ]==================================
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Welcome to a new section of Dreamcast Weekly, each week
we'll keep you upto-date with the latest RUMORS going around.
Written by Tails - webmaster@sega2000.com
>>>> Lunar III Coming On DC
This week, rumors about a Dreamcast version of the popular
RPG series, Lunar 3 have popped up everywhere. Actually,
they all came from one original post on a forum in Japan.
It seems Lunar 3 appeared on a retailers release list, as
coming to Dreamcast. Hmmm... I'd have to say, make what
you like with this one.
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======| IMPORT-ANT MATTERS |==============================
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>>>> Redline Racer For An Amazing Price
We've managed to source new copies of Redline Racer at an
amazing price so we can pass the saving onto you. We'll
now be selling this arcade style motorbike racer for
$59AUD! That's under $40US!
>>>> Special May Deal - Last Week!!
o SEGA RALLY 2 - Save $20
o MONACO GRAND PRIX 2 - Save $20
OR BOTH FOR $149AUD - Save $50AUD ($33US)
You can pick up those games for $79AUD each (the normal
price is $99AUD), which comes out at about $50US. Or BOTH
games for $149AUD, which means you save about $50!
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* http://www.extreme-imports.com/ *
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======| LETTERS |=========================================
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>>>> Help With Your VMS
>>>> Written by Mendon
Hello
New to your site and wanted to let you know that I'm
enjoying every page of it. Congrats on putting together a
fantastic site.
I noticed several letters in your Tech Mailbag section
dealing with the VMS, beeping, and battery life. Thought I
would mention something that happened to me and maybe it
will help others:
I've had my Dreamcast & VMS for two months and everything
has been fine with it. One day I went to turn the system
on to play a game and noticed that the VMS was on (maybe
two days had passed since the last time I had played the
system). I couldn't figure out why as I thought that it had
a built-in "Shut Off" feature but for some reason it didn't
go into "Sleep Mode" automatically. Needless to say, when I
shut the system down after playing it the VMS started
beeping at me and showed no display when out of the
controller. I called my friendly import dealer and explained
the problem and he said that it was beeping because of low
battery level. He also said that mine wasn't the first time
that someone had mentioned to him that their VMS had not
gone into sleep mode automatically.
So, my suggestion is that if you want to preserve the
battery life of your VMS, make sure you remove it from the
controller and put it into "Sleep" mode yourself rather
than trust that the VMS will do it itself.
I had to buy a second VMS so that I can transfer my Save
Files over to it (almost done with Blue Stinger and don't
want to start over!!) because I'm afraid that there is no
flash RAM in the VMS and if I open it up to install new
batteries I will lose all my data. Don't know if this is
true but like I said I don't want to lose my data files.
Again, Congrats on a GREAT site.
- Mendon
NEILS REPLY: Thanks for the information. In relation the
Flash RAM in the VMS, I've been told that even if you
remove the battery, the contents will stay. If anyone
else could confirm this, I'd like to hear from them.
TAILS REPLY: Ok, I've checked out, and the VMS does have
Flash RAM. So taking your batteries out, won't result in
any lost files.
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======| FEATURE |=========================================
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>>>> What kind of person are you? - Editorial
>>>> Written by Steve
I was talking with my friend Butch (name changed) recently,
and I brought up Vigilante 8, and how the sequel was going
to be great on Dreamcast. This started him off on a rage
about how Dreamcast "sucked" and "will die when Playstation
2 comes out." This bothered me very much, but the thing
that bothered me the most was when he said that the old
Sonic games were terrible, and most of all, when he said
Super Mario and Zelda 64 were bad games. This blew me
away. After thinking about it, someone like this hardly
deserves to be in the industry. Why not? Read on...
First of all, to make my point, it must be understood that
there are two types of consumers in the gaming industry;
the informed, and the uninformed. The informed crew are
people that know about the industry, read reviews before
buying games, and visit this and other sites. They lead
the way. Then, there's the uninformed. They are the ones
who ask, "Is this game any good?" before purchase, don't know
what they are talking about, and don't even know what the
Dreamcast logo looks like. Sometimes not that severe, but
you can make a judgment.
Now, we informed gamers (some more than others) have
arguments. We have lots of arguments. Uninformed people
usually don't because they don't have anything to argue
about. I'm sorry if this sounds like a forensics class,
but it must be said. Now in these arguments, some people
get a little rowdy. An intelligent argument should never
have anything such as, "Shut up!" or, "Just Because" in it.
It shows that they other person doesn't know what they're
talking about. Second of all, you shouldn't have a bias.
This is extremely important! See why in the next paragraph.
Butch is a Playstation lover, as you probably have guessed.
He said that three of the biggest games/series to hit the
industry were horrible, even going so far as to say Crash
Bandicoot was better. Any unbiased person would not say
this. Mario and Zelda are some of the best games that
ever will come to the industry, regardless of what system
they're on. A bias person would also say things like
"Dreamcast sucks." They are very ignorant; their opinions
should not be trusted.
Now, since you're reading this, that makes you an informed
gamer, which is good. However, if anything in the paragraphs
about being biased apply to you, even if you have a Sega bias,
try not to be. See in shades of grey. Give other companies
a chance, even if it's Nintendo. Agree with someone if they
bring up a good game, even if it's not on our system of choice.
I hope everyone gained a little bit of an understanding from
this editorial, and as usual, any comments can be sent to me
at Steve@Sega2000.com
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======[ TIPS & CHEATS ]===================================
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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
>>>> Hydro Thunder - Arcade
To access the hidden track, highlight 'Lake Powell' and
press Pilot, 3 times - 'Hydro Speedway' is now available.
To access a few secret boats, highlight either TidalBlade,
Thresher, Rad Hazard or Razorback then press Pilot 3 times.
In almost every level there is a waterfall. Don't be afraid
to go in it, you won't crash. When you go into the
waterfall there will be a secret tunnel that you can go
through. Not only is it faster, you also get a lot of
boosts along the way. Submitted by Chris Sullivan.
Before the race begins, keep the throttle in the STOP
position. As the "3" begins to fade, throttle to full.
As the "2" begins to fade, throttle to stop, and when the
"1" begins to fade, throttle to full again. You will get
a turbo start as well as a +4 second boost of fuel.
Submitted by Quarters.
>>>> Daytona USA 2 - Arcade
While selecting your track, hold down Start, for a secret
mirror mode.
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======| SEGA TRIVIA |=====================================
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>>>> Weekly Sega Trivia
>>>> By Alex
O If you have any questions you think could be printed, O
O feel free to e-mail Alex on Alex@sega2000.com. Thanks. O
1: 'The marks on your forehead are like the stars in the
sky'. Who's forehead?
2: In what game does raising the sugar level increase the
profits?
3: There is a fish tank simulator for the Saturn in Japan.
True or False.
4: What animal can you race as in Daytona?
5: What other game do characters from 'Bust A Move 2' also
appear in?
6: 'Dr Egghead', is known to us as who?
7: It was called Deadalus in Japan. What was this Saturn
Doom style game called here?
>>>> Answers
1: Ecco the Dolphin's
2: Theme Park
3: True
4: A horse
5: Bubble Bobble
6: Dr Robotnik
7: Robotika
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======| BEST OF THE WEB |=================================
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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 X - www.SegaDreamcast.net
Plenty of news added every day, and the best coverage of
the US Launch details you'll find anywhere.
>>>> Sega 2000 - www.Sega2000.com
Sega 2000's new news system means our staff can put news
online any time of the day, and from anywhere in the world.
>>>> Media Site - http://media.seganet.com
A brand new design, and what a design!! You have to see this!
They have the biggest collection of video game mp3's, video's
(including some Saturn video's you've probably never seen
before) and more. Also don't forget to vote for your favorite
staff member.
>>>> Dreamcast.net - www.Dreamcast.net
Updates daily, to keep you up with the latest on all things
Sega.
>>>> 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.
>>>> www.videogames.au.com
The newest supporter of Dreamcast Weekly, and a site with
a great design. Be sure not to miss this site!
>>>> DC Australia - www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/6831/
Dreamcast Australia has gone undercover to find out the
latest in release dates, prices and titles for the
Australian Dreamcast launch. Add in some of the best
previews, reviews, news and other info and this is one
hell of a site. Have a look.
>>>> 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 :)
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======[ CREDITS ]=========================================
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O Writer: Graham Parker "Tails" - webmaster@sega2000.com
O Co-editor: Steve - steve@sega2000.com
O DC Questions: Please send to - Steve@sega2000.com
>>>> www.DreamcastWeekly.com - Official Website!
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Copyright, 1998-9 Graham Parker - WEBMASTER@SEGA2000.COM
Written and edited by Graham Parker. 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.
Oh and finally...
-----------------
I would kill for a Dreamcast right now... please ask me to
kill for one... please...
