Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 44 (then Dreamcast Weekly)
From Video Game Morgue File
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////// ~Issue #44 - www.DreamcastWeekly.com~ \\\\\\
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\\\\\\ Sega 2000 - http://www.sega2000.net //////
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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.net and
questions about this magazine by just clicking reply.
For the best import games, visit the shop we're proudly
sponsored by... www.extreme-imports.com
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 week issue includes 2 great features! The first is
an editorial on the future of arcades, the second an
interview with Yu Suzuki, from the X Gamely Magazine.
Very interesting indeed, and yes, he says if F335
would be possible to port onto Dreamcast or not.
We've also got news on Team Andromeda, Star Wars, Sonic
Adventure, Resident Evil and more. Finally, don't forget
to check out this weeks trivia, some hard questions in
there me and Glen at Ozisoft have been sending each other.
Until next week then, Happy Gaming!
~ Tails (Editor)
O Page 1 - Cover Story O
O Page 2 - The News O
O Page 3 - Rumors O
O Page 4 - Importing O
O Page 5 - Interview O
O Page 6 - Around The Web O
O Page 7 - Sega Trivia O
O Page 8 - Best Of The Web O
O Page 9 - Credits & More O
HOT QUOTE This Issue: "Do you think that this game can be
ported to the Dreamcast?"
-- Yu Suzuki Interview - Talking about F335.
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======| COVER STORY |=====================================
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>>>> Are Arcades On The Way Out?
>>>> Written By Steve
The arcades have been around forever. There's a good
chance you've played your first video game in the arcade.
However, the arcade situation looks somewhat bleak in
America, and with so many extremely successful conversions,
people are wondering if there even will be an arcade in
the coming years. Below, there's a history, some
information, and my opinion on the whole situation. Read on...
Arcades basically started the industry out. With simple
games such as Pong, the whole idea of playing games on a
screen basically sold itself. Games advanced more and more
in the arcades, offering colors, larger screen resolutions,
etc. However, by the late '70s, the next inevitable step
was taken, and you could bring a machine home that would
let you do the same thing as the arcade games did, and
the arcades took a blow from this.
The fact that you didn't have to go out anymore to play a
game was very convenient, and it made the first successful
system (the Atari 2600), sell quite well. However, in the
early '80s, the arcades still did fairly well, with games
like Frogger, Defender, and Pac-Man. And with all of
these successful arcade titles, the next step was taken
that would hurt the arcades, the arcade port.
This alone could probably have killed the arcade entirely.
You didn't even have to play the game in the arcade more
than once! You just had to wait a few months, and it
would be out on your home system. Things started going
steeper downhill; arcade games began costing 50 cents
instead of a quarter. The bigger games practically
didn't even pay for themselves! Arcades were closing
their doors. Things went from bad to worse. The crash
of the industry came, and practically destroyed the
industry, and I don't just mean the arcades.
After the crash, it seemed arcades were never the same.
Sure, arcades were still around, but they simply wern't
making the money they used to. Ports were great on the
NES and Genesis, especially with Altered Beast. The
arcades still had a certain social aspect to them,
and people still went, just never in the numbers that
they did in the later '70s and early '80s.
However, about a year ago, on the Playstation, a game
was released that was called Tekken 3, and also was
called the best arcade port ever. Yeah, if you wanted
to nit pick, you could, but all things considered, it
had great graphics, excellent sound, and all the arcade
gameplay intact. This made people once again doubt the
arcade.
What about the arcades now? Well, console systems still
make money more than arcades in about $50 for every $1
the arcade makes. Sega made the Naomi board mainly to
replace the very expensive Model 3, due to the fact
adcade owners would lose money on many Model 3 boards
due to their expense. Companies like Midway are using
off-the-shelf 3d accelerators and other things to cut
costs down, namely CD ROM drives and hard drives for
storage and no force-feedback. Many games still have
special cabinets, but they are dying. I know that
Crazy Taxi is made in a sit down cabinet, but a
stand up is also available. All to try to make things
cheaper because of declining revenues.
With all of what has been stated above, it seems like
the arcade really is on the way out. However, I think
as long as there are consoles, there will be arcades.
Why? There are so many things you get at an arcade
than at home. Special sit down cabinets, $5,000 force
feedback, better graphics than home, and the giant,
bass thumping speakers. True, these things are sort
of on the decline, but when they're there, you love it.
The crowd of people with their jaws dropping when you
are blowing the other guy's high score away is
probably the greatest things you simply don't get at
home. I remember when I was getting $4,000+ in Crazy
Taxi, people would just stare, try after I got up,
and look at me funny when they couldn't even beat
$1,000. This is an experience you don't get at home.
Also, the Sega Gameworks in America is doing fairly
well, possibly because it's an adult place, possibly
because of the things other than arcade games, (Like
the Vertical Reality, where you sit in a chair and
they send you up and down this long shaft at very
high speeds), and maybe because of the PC games where
they have high speed networks with cameras so you
can watch your opponent flinch. Even more things
the average person doesn't have. I love going to
arcades, even though the best on around here is 45
minutes away. Arcades are here to stay.
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======| NEWS |============================================
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>>>> Team Andromeda Lives On!
While it's true some of the members from Team Andromeda
have left, Sega has confirmed they live on. We're not sure
exactly how many of the original people are still there
however. But having said that, the fact the name still
exists can only be good news for Panzer Dragoon fans...
and I have to admit, I'm a big one myself! - Written by Tails
>>>> Sonic Adventure Nears 500,000
Easily the #1 selling game for Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure
is nearing the 500,000 mark. Here's the latest Top 10
Best Selling Dreamcast chart from Dreamcast Magazine...
Game / Sales / Total Sales
01. Street Fighter Zero 3 - 28,321 - 28,321
02. Shutokou Battle - 13,705 - 90,938
03. SONIC ADVENTURE - 8,723 - 440,751
04. The King of Fighters '99 - 6,702 - 61,132
05. Giant Gram 2 - 6,615 - 58,802
06. Virtua Fighter 3tb - 6,153 - 348,664
07. Buggy Heat - 4,489 - 4,489
08. The House Of The Dead 2 - 3,574 - 208,018
09. Pen Pen Tricelon - 3,259 - 66,778
10. July - 3,101 - 95,680
- Thanks to Mike Bess
>>>> Star Wars On Dreamcast
LucasArts was porting the N64 game, Star Wars Racer to
Playstation, but that quickly got canned for something
more interesting...
"While succeeding in both commercial and critical acclaim
for the PC and N64 versions of Star Wars: Episode I Racer,
LucasArts Entertainment Company will not proceed with the
extension of the game for the Sony PlayStation platform.
Instead, the company is refocusing its resources in
anticipation of new Star Wars Episode I titles, both for
current and emerging platforms."
LucasArts do have Dreamcast projects lined up, and there
may even be a title released before the end of this year.
A Star Wars game could really show off the Dreamcast's
force (excuse the pun). - Written by Tails
>>>> Resident Evil Being Developed By Sega!
It has been revealed that the first 128 bit installment
in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil: Code
Veronica, isn't being developed by Capcom themselves,
but by Sega's in house teams. Members of the Capcom
Resident Evil team, namely Yoshiki Okamoto, are breathing
down Sega's shoulder on this one -- But even still,
it will be interesting to see what type of fresh
perspective Sega will bring to the franchise.
It's not certain what Sega team is handling the
development, or why Capcom is lending their baby to
them. Resident Evil: Code Veronica is slated for a
November Japanese release with a US release shortly
after. - Written by Matt White
>>>> Bandai Merges With Mattel
Bandai, the sixth-largest Japanese game maker announced
today that they have an agreement with Mattel, the
largest toy maker of the United States, in adminstration
and capital support. And to establish solidarity, Bandai
will increase their investment in Mattel whereas the
latter will acquire more Bandai shares. From October
onwards, Bandai will begin taking charge of Mattel's
Japanese sales while Mattel, based in California and
heavily influential throughout North America, will be
handling Bandai's games, including the WonderSwan. The
spokesperson for Bandai expressed that this agreement
will pave way for their entry into the world market.
- Written by Leo Lee
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======[ RED HOT RUMORS ]==================================
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Welcome to the rumors section of Dreamcast Weekly, each
week we'll keep you upto-date with the latest RUMORS going
around. Written by Tails.
>>>> Big Announcement On September 9th
Rumors say Sega will make a big announcement of new games
on September 9th. There certainly isn't much to look at
for Sega's 2000 lineup just yet... but games like Daytona
USA 2, Spikeout, Virtua Fighter 4, Crazy Taxi, Dead Or
Alive 2 are probably hiding in there somewhere. To help
keep the Sega news rolling... some of these games are
expected to be announced on September 9th.
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======| IMPORT-ANT MATTERS |==============================
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w w w . e x t r e m e - i m p o r t s . c o m
_______ooo000ooo www.extreme-imports.com ooo000ooo______
|| ||
|| We'll keep you upto date with the latest news on the ||
|| importing scene - Tails. ||
|| ||
|| >>>> AUS$399 FOR A DREAMCAST - AROUND US$199 ||
|| ||
|| Now you can import a Dreamcast for the same price as ||
|| it will retail for... or if you live in Australia or ||
|| New Zealand, cheaper than it will retail for! All ||
|| the details are at www.extreme-imports.com ||
|| ||
|| >>>> IMPORTING A US DREAMCAST ||
|| ||
|| Extreme Imports will be stocking the US Dreamcast ||
|| early September this year. The system will come with ||
|| one controller, demo disk and 56k hardware modem. ||
|| We'll be selling the system for $499AUD - this ||
|| includes a step down converter (240~220V - 100~110V) ||
|| for European and Australian customers. Games will be ||
|| no more than $99AUD with a high possibility of ||
|| $89AUD or less. Pre-orders will commence as of ||
|| today. Due to limited numbers, a $50AUD deposit will ||
|| be required to secure a system. ||
|| ||
|| To pre-order, please visit our website. ||
|| ||
||_____ooo000ooo www.extreme-imports.com ooo000ooo____||
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======| INTERVIEW |=======================================
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>>>> Yu Suzuki Interviewed
>>>> Written by X Gamely
>>>> Translated by Aaron Lee
X Gamely, the Chinese version of Famitsu recently conducted
an interview with the man behind Ferrari 355 Challenge, Yu
Suzuki. Below we have extracted parts from this interview
for your viewing pleasure.
Q: When did you start to design this game?
A: About 2 and a 1/2 years ago
Q: Where did the development team come from?
A: They came from different departments, some from Virtua
Fighter 3, and some from Daytona.
Q: Why did you choose the Ferrari brand and not other
companies?
A: Because we did a survey and found that Ferrari is the
most popular racing car.
Q: What is the hardest thing that occurred to you while
developing this game?
A: I found that the development team has a lack of knowledge
with cars. It's hard for them to understand what I want,
because they have no experience in driving cars.
Q: So how exactly did you solve this problem?
A: I brought them to a racing stadium, and had them to
talk to Ferrari drivers, to understand what driving a
Ferrari is like. Besides this, I also rented a Ferrari
to let them have a test-ride.
Q: How many people can race at the same time?
A: Now it can only feature 1 player, we haven't started
the multi-player part yet.
Q: Which racing game do you think is F355's competitor?
A: F355 doesn't have a competitor. For instance, Sega Rally
and F355 is not the same type of game. F355 is a simulation
game. So it can't be compared to any other games. Just
like comparing French food and Japanese food, we can't
compare which is more delicious.
Q: Did the Ferrari company help while developing this game?
A: We went to Italy before, and collected information
related to the racing car, but the background music is
made in Japan.
Q: What did they say about your work?
A: They said the game is very good, they're happy and
satisfied.
Q: In the game there will be 8 cars on the track, how
is the computer's AI? Daytona's Al has been set very
low, will F355 be like that?
A: Well, the AL system will vary among different stages:
Novice, Intermediate and Simulator. In the Simulator
stage, the computer's driving skills will be the best,
while making the game hard to play. The player's car
ability will remain the same in all the 3 modes, only
the way of controlling and computer's Al will be different.
Q: Why is there only 8 cars in the race? Is it because
of the Naomi board's limit?
A: In real life racing, there won't be too many cars in
a race. I believe that it is possible to add more cars
in the game but I think that if there are less cars the
game would be better. Because too many cars will make the
players feel crowded, and will not be able to experience
the real fun of driving. I myself, like the free run mode
the most.
Q: Are you still interested in designing Racing games?
You've made a lot of racing games in the past.
A: The racing games that I have developed are: Hang On,
Power Drift, Virtual Racing, Out Run. F355 is my fifth
racing title, although, I'm still not tired of them yet.
[Smiles]
Note: Daytona is not on the list because the main director
was Nagoshi who used to be the vice president of AM2, now
head of SegaSoft 4 (AM11, Spike Out team)
Q: What do you think is the biggest difference for arcade
games and console games?
A: For arcade games, the game cannot be too long, it must
finish within 3 minutes, but console games don't have this
limit. Maybe you cannot design a cabinet for a console
game, but for arcade you can. I wish that I can play a
game which has no time limit and also has a special
cabinet. [Smiles]
Q: How did you develop Shen Mue and F355 at the same time?
A: Basically, I spent most of my time on Shen Mue. While
during free time, I directed F355's development.
Q: What's the special part of the background music for F355?
A: We used heavy metal music for this game. When I drive
my own Ferrari, I feel that this type of music is the most
suitable.
Q: What are your thoughts about racing games in the future?
A: I believe that the graphics will improve as time passes,
same for the background. This game, F355 is already a very
realistic game. As stronger boards appear, the CPU will
also be faster, thus, enabling more complicated effects,
raising the game's quality.
Q: What do you think is the difference between F355 and
other racing games?
A: On the game play side, F355 is a simulation game. But the
biggest difference is the effects. Until now, all racing
games were only using a small angle of view. Like using
a 35mm camera lens to take photos. But in real life,
human sees objects much wider, which is around the angle
of 50mm. Most racing games are only like 24mm or even 20mm.
This will lead to the lack of realism. In F355, we used a
vision very similar to a human's pair of eye's, which is
50mm, this will lead to heavy pressure to the CPU, that is
why we need 4 Naomi boards for this game. A Naomi board
itself can only make a 24mm angle. That means when humans
are closer to the object, the object will be bigger and clearer.
But in 24mm, the objects will become much bigger by only
moving a bit, which is not realistic. As this is a
simulation game, all the things have to be exactly the same
as in real life. Or else we can't call this a simulation game.
Q: Do you think that this game can be ported to the Dreamcast?
A: Yes, I do think so.
Famitsu (X Gamely): Besides F355, we believe that our
readers were interested in Shen Mue too, so we asked him
a few questions on Shen Mue.
Q: In E3, some visitors felt disappointed, as they didn't
know what Shen Mue was. What type of game is Shen Mue
really?
A: This will be a very special game. In the game, when
the player enters an arcade shop, he can play all the
games in there, you can even make telephone calls. The
content of Shen Mue is huge, while compared to F355,
F355 is a much simpler game. Shen Mue is like a movie
and adventure game, being based in China.
Q: How do you plan to make Shen Mue a successful game?
A: The fighting mode in Shen Mue will be very simple,
Virtua Fighter is too complicated, that's why I have to
make Shen Mue's fighting control much easier. The
game's theme is love, bravery and friendship. These
themes are very popular in movies and games and they
are the elements which make these movies/games
popular. Besides this, the main character can also
speak different languages in the game.
Q: How many people are there in the Shen Mue development
team?
A: I can't tell you how many, but it is very big. If
compared to Sonic Team, we're still a few times larger
than them. [Smiles] At the ending of the game the staff
list of Shen Mue will be very touching, it will be over
10 minutes long, in order to show all the names of the
people who worked on Shen Mue. [Laughter]
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======| AROUND THE WEB |==================================
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Please don't ask to be added to this section (I'm sure you
can imagine how many hundreds of requests I'd get every
week!). Sega sites will be selected.
>>>> Sega Search Engine
>>>> http://www.xmission.com/~jsnow/sega/
The world's first Sega Search Engine is now open. While
there news isn't the best, that isn't what you'd visit
them for. You can search for anything from Movies, Sounds,
Wallpaper, and Fan Art, to Screen savers and more.
>>>> Andy's Landmark Website
>>>> http://members.tripod.co.uk/andysingh/index.html
I really just wanted to point out the beautiful shot of
Dead Or Alive 2 in their previews section, check it out!
They also have a decent sized shot of Resident Evil: Code
Veronica, something which seems to be a little rare. The
site could do with some more content overall however.
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======| SEGA TRIVIA |=====================================
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>>>> Weekly Sega Trivia
>>>> Written by Glen & Andy
1: What is the 'Tornado 2'?
2: Which two companies are set to square their fighting
characters off in a new Beat 'em up?
3: What are the SG-1000, SC-3000, SP-700 and SD-8000?
4: On what Game-Gear or Mega drive game you can play as a
cat or a dog?
5: What did the Saturn´s CD player included that no other
system did?
>>>> Answers
1: Tails second plane in Sonic Adventure
2: Capcom and SNK
3: Ren & Stimpy
4: Very early Sega consoles... Sega Games-1000, Sega
Computer-3000 also SC3000H (Hard Keyboard), Sega Plotter
Printer-700, Sega Disk Drive-8000 (I think it was 8000
it could have been 9000).
5: Surround, Karaoke, Screen saver
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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.net
Sega 2000 is back, and with plenty of news. You have to join
in the interactive 10 Most Wanted section too.
>>>> 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.
>>>> 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.
>>>> 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!!
>>>> 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 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.net
O Co-editor: Steve - Steve@sega2000.net
O DC Questions: Please send to - Steve@sega2000.net
>>>> www.DreamcastWeekly.com - Official Website!
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Copyright, 1998-9 Graham Parker - Webmaster@sega2000.net
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...
-----------------
After watching it yesterday, I think the South Park movie
is KICK A$$, that's for sure! Imagine if it was on TV,
the whole thing would be one long beeeeeeeeeep... yikes!
