Newsletter: Sega World Weekly issue 61 (then Dreamcast Weekly)
From Video Game Morgue File
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o> Please SCROLL DOWN to Editors Comments for the start <o
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======| ABOUT DREAMCAST WEEKLY |==========================
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> For back issues please visit www.dreamcastweekly.com
> DREAMCAST QUESTIONS: Please note because of the huge
amount of mail I get personally, I regret that I can't
reply to all the Dreamcast questions. Please send your
DREAMCAST questions to...
Rob@Sega2000.net - http://www.Sega2000.net
> For the latest game news, reviews and previews visit the
Premier Video Games Site 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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3 weeks left of this Millennium! This issue includes the
first of our 3 part feature on the History Of Video Games,
as we look back on the major gaming points of the
millennium.
Our review this week is Soul Fighter, a 128-bit Golden Axe
if you will. It's highly recommended you check this out
before buying. All the good, and bad points are included.
We've got alternate outfit cheats and many more for the
new Zombie Revenge, and importing contains some
information every person thinking of importing should read.
Our new forum at www.dreamcastweekly.com/forum/ is going
great, if you haven't stopped by yet, what are you waiting
for? Everyone is joining in at "Dream Talk".
News this week begins with an amazing score for Virtual
On: Oratorio Tangram in the Weekly Famitsu review, and
Street Fighter Alpha 3 online. Oh and don't forget to
take a peek at the rumors covering Virtua Fighter 4.
Finally, look out for details on a contest next weekend.
Until then, Happy Gaming, and have a Merry Christmas!
~ Graham "Tails" Parker (Editor)
> Dreamcast Questions to Rob@Sega2000.net
.oO Page 1 - Cover Story Oo.
.oO Page 2 - The News Oo.
.oO Page 3 - Rumors Oo.
.oO Page 4 - Importing Oo.
.oO Page 5 - Review Oo.
.oO Page 6 - Cheats Oo.
.oO Page 7 - OUR SUPPORT SITES Oo.
.oO Page 8 - Credits Oo.
HOT QUOTE This Issue: "Which year is the Sega Master
System released?"
-- History Trivia at the end of the Cover Story.
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======| COVER STORY |=====================================
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>>>> The History Of Video Games - Part 1
>>>> Written by Tails
As the end of the Millennium comes, Dreamcast Weekly takes
a look back at how video games began, and grew to what we
know and play today. This is a start of a 3 week feature,
covering before 1980 this issue, the 1980's next week, and
finally, the 1990's. Finally, look out for a feature on
the future of video games in early January next year, and
don't forget to check out the History Trivia down the bottom
of this feature.
Well enough of the intro, let's get it on...
The history of video games starts all the way back in 1889,
yes 1889!
Fusajiro Yamauchi, who is the great-grandfather of the
current Nintendo president, decided to create a company
to destitute his Japanese, "Hanafuda" playing cards.
The cards quickly became popular, and later in 1933, he
created a partnership, called Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.
In 1950 (the years are flying by now), Hiroshi Yamauchi
became President, then a year later, he changed the name
to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd.
That's the history of Nintendo, but while they started
before everyone else, it doesn't mean they were first
on the video games scene...
Once upon a time (or in 1951 to be more exact), a man
named Ralph Baer was given the task to "build the best
TV set in the world." He thought about the idea, and as
modern cell-phone companies have done, wanted to add a
little game to the machine. Unfortunately (for that
company), the managers rejected the idea.
The next big name is David Rosen. An American, although
he lived in Japan (he was in the U.S Korean War). Big
Sega fans will recognize that name in a flash, as he
created a company named Service Games in 1954. 2 years
later, David began importing "mechanical coin-operated
games" which were popular on the US military bases in
Japan.
Well by now you're probably thinking, "Where's Pong??".
Not yet sorry, but this guy came very, very close...
Mr Willy Higinbotham, who worked at the Brookhaven
National Laboratories in New York wanted a way to stop
visitors to his labs from getting board. He created a
Pong style game displayed on an oscilloscope (A what?
An electronic instrument producing visible
representations of rapidly changing quantity... a
what? Sounds like some sort of screen - oh that was
helpful) Anyway...
After many improvements, he finally gets it running
on a 15 inch screen (ah, it is some sort of screen!),
only the poor guy never got a patent for it, not
knowing he had invented anything worthwhile getting one
for.
Then in 1961, something I certainly didn't know happened
before writing this, a video game called Spacewar was
created. So is Pong really the first game? Hmmmm...
Never the less, Steve Russell programmed this game on
one huge mainframe computer (the Digital Programmed
Data Processor-1). Obviously being in 1961 the graphics
were very limited, in fact they weren't even graphics,
they were ASCII characters.
When Nolan Bushnell saw this game however, he pictures
an arcade filled with computer games. It was nothing
more than a dream back then, but imagine what he would
of thought if he could look into the arcades of today.
Probably didn't imagine it quite so noisy actually, but
on we go...
Ralph Baer (for those who are getting mixed up with all
the names here, he's the guy with the task of making the
greatest TV ever) The company he works for now, Sanders
Associates, is very interested in his ideas for TV games,
and gives him the funding he needs in 1966.
He develops a chasing game first, followed by a table
tennis game. He patented his TV device, and builds an
arcade version of Spacewar (ah, it's all fitting together
now). By this point they have a device which people can
plug into a TV set, and play his version of Spacewar.
A big step in the history of video games.
It was 1966 that Sega had it's first hit too, with a
game called "Periscope". It became a worldwide hit,
and had "SEGA" (short for Service Games) stamped all
over the game. Around this time David Rosen, founder,
sold Sega to Gulf Western Industries. David was
continuing on as CEO.
Nolan Bushnell continued with his dream of arcades in
the 1970's, with Computer Space (another name for the
Spacewar game). The company he was with, Nutting, made
the futuristic arcade cabinet, packing a 13 inch black
& white screen. The public however didn't take very
well to the game, finding it too hard to play.
In 1972, Bushnell leaves Nutting, and starts Atari,
along with a man named Ted Dabney. Interestingly, the
original name for Atari was Syzygy (say what??),
but a roofing company already had taken that name (...ok).
Next comes Pong at long last. With Computer Space
being too hard to play, Bushnell re-thinks his
ideas of video games, and comes up with a simple
ping-pong game.
As everyone knows, the game was a huge success, and
the real start of the video game industry. By the
next year (1973 for those keeping count), there were
a whopping 25 companies producing video games. Big
names like Taito, Midway, and Namco were around now.
Fueled by Pong's success, Atari grew rapidly and was
under 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 press then in the correct order. Even the
handheld version of Touch Me was a failure however.
Ralph Baer uses the idea but add's sound effects,
and sells the product to Milton Bradley. It becomes
"Simon", and one huge seller. Not much help for Atari
however.
It was back to Pong for them, only this time a home
version. They manufactured 150,000 units, and it was
the hottest selling Christmas item of 1975. Atari
are back in the spotlight.
Again it wasn't long before other companies got onto
the idea of home gaming. More names like Coleco are
born around 1976.
Fairchild Camera brings in the next level of
technology with the worlds first real console. With
the "Channel F" console, you could insert cartridges
into the machine to play different games.
For those of you that remember the mess Carmageddon
had with it's R18 rating early this year, this next
bit will really interest you.
Death Race 2000 was another home game, and similar to
Carmageddon, the object is to run people over. The
more stick men you run down while driving around,
the more points you get. Today we would laugh at
stick figures, but for 1976 this was fairly violent.
The game was banned quickly.
Atari keeping up with times, release their cartridge
system in 1977, named the "Atari 2600", later to
spawn many sequel consoles. The system is a success,
despite a high price tag.
More arcade titles come out, Football from Atari,
which uses an new trackball control system. Nintendo
come up with a computer arcade version of the popular
board game, Othello, and most importantly, Space
Invaders is released.
Space Invaders was designed and programmed by
Toshihiro Nishikado for Taito, Japan in 1978
and remains one of the most popular arcade games ever
made. The game was the first arcade title to be
released in more public places than arcades, such
as ice cream stores.
The game was so popular in fact, that there was a
mass coin shortage in Japan. The supply of Yen had
to be quadrupled to let more people play the game.
Entire arcades opened up in Japan just for Space
Invaders.
Asteroids, as every good gamer should know, was also a
huge success for Atari. The game introduced a huge score
system, which is the final big event in the video
gaming history of the 1970's.
Look out for part 2 (the 1980's) in the next issue
of DC Weekly.
History Trivia:
---------------
In 1980 Sega released a F1 racing game, what's the
title's name?
Which year is the Sega Master System released?
Find out the answers in next weeks issue.
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======| NEWS |============================================
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>>>> Virtual On 2 39/40 In Famitsu
It was huge news when Soul Calibur got a perfect 40/40 in
the Weekly Famitsu magazine, only one other title ever had
achieved that score (Zelda 64). While Virtual On: Oratorio
Tangram, doesn't join those 2, it sure comes close.
In the latest issue it received 10,10,9,10. Virtual On goes
on sale from Thursday, December 9th in Japan.
Also on sale are arcade style twin-controllers, which comes
in at 5,800 yen, around US$54, and the link cable for 3000
yen (US$28).
>>>> $1 Genesis Games For Download
Sega Of Japan have found an excellent use for a Genesis
(Mega Drive) emulator. Starting next February, gamers will
be able to download Genesis games onto their Dreamcast,
for 100-300 yen each (around $1-$2).
The game will be saved into the Dreamcast's internal
memory, and the fee charged to your online account. After
turning off your Dreamcast, the game is cleaned, and your
welcome to try another. An online arcade of classic games
if you will.
There will be 300 different titles available to begin with,
from both Genesis and PC Engine consoles.
Here's hoping this catches on outside of Japan, I wouldn't
mind the chance to play Sonic, Gunstar Heroes, or Phantasy
Star again.
>>>> Street Fighter Alpha 3 Online
Last month news arrived that Street Fighter Alpha 3 had a
massive set back till January 2000. Bumped right out of
the Christmas season, and without a reason.
It turns out that Capcom are not only translating the
Japanese, but also the online modes. Not unlike Sonic
Adventure, you'll be able to take part in an online ranking
contest, but also you can upload characters created in the
World Tour mode.
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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.
>>>> Virtua Fighter 4
Sega X has been informed that Yu Suzuki, creator of Shen
Mue, said that his team is working on a new arcade fighting
gamewhich will have the number "4" in the title. Although
nothing has been confirmed, presumably this is Virtua
Fighter 4.
According to reports, the mastermind is planning to
implement the facial emotions and body movement techniques
from Shen Mue into the game.
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======| IMPORTant MATTERS |===============================
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>>>> Importers To Stay Well Away From
We've received an e-mail from a reader, along with news
from Lik-Sang about some importers to stay well away from
in Hong Kong. Our reader bought the mod-chipped Dreamcast
Bios from them, but got back the old version, which no
longer runs any games. Wouldn't be so bad if it was just
a mistake, but...
He hasn't received any reply's to e-mails asking about it
either, which I questioned Runpacific about myself. Their
reason for not replying to e-mails is "most people are
time wasters", interesting view towards their customers!
Funny too, because when I asked about buying something
from them a few days before hand, they e-mailed me back
pretty quickly.
Nicky Lee and Ellis Kwong are the guys to watch for, known
as Runpacific and Hong Kong Toys, but they also use
Nippon Games. We really do advise keeping away from them.
Dreamcast Weekly recommends checking out www.Lik-Sang.com
for importing, and have received great feedback from
our readers.
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======| REVIEW |==========================================
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>>>> Soul Fighter
>>>> Written by Paulo
Courtesy of the people at Piggyback and Red Orb is a Golden
Axe like action title dubbed Soul Fighter. After a long
time it was officially announced, the game was finally
released for Sega Dreamcast system. After a decent experience
playing Sega's Dynamite Cop I was wondering how good this
game could turn to be. Soul Fighter seems a 3D clone of the
classic Golden Axe( remember this game?) but it's not a
bad clone, it's a good one, but it can capture the allure
and essence of the Golden Axe lore?
The king of the land of Gormar, Valmek, in the game, even
spends the entire introduction narrating the story. His
voice over is accomplished surprisingly well, from an
actor trying to impersonate Sean Connery (or so it seems).
Overall, the premise deals with an internal struggle
within the royal family brought about by the loss of
a favored son. The mother and her young son, turn to the
forces of darkness to revive the elder who died in an
unexpected accident. Following the decision, the two
suffer an emotional transformation which ultimately
unleashes evil over the entire country, and destroy the
royal family and betrays the king. Your task is to save
the souls of these enemies by pounding and di cing their
furry, feathery or scaly hides into goo.
With that aside, the visual realm of Soul Fighter holds
up its end of the bargain very nicely. Many of the
screenshots seen in the on-line do not give it enough
credit. Piggyback should be commended for their fine
work on this aspect of the game. Levels are lush with
color and an attention to detail clearly shown off.
Rather than capture reality though, Piggyback opted for
more of a cartoonish inspiration. When I talk about
"lush with color" I mean lush with a capital "L".
Vibrance pervades the entire setting of the various
levels, even, as is the case with the following stage,
it happens to be in a darkened village. Explosions and
special effects have perfect transparency to them,
backgrounds are wonderfully textured and detailed,
and the shambling monsters look very good and creepy.
The game gives you an excellent feel of actually being
in the environment.
We can control Sayomi, Orin and Atlus in the world of
Gomar, and we can choose between 3 different adventures.
You choose from a male warrior, a female acrobat-thief,
or a male monk-wizard and make your way through dungeon,
alleyway, ship, lake or whatever environment lies ahead
to clear the various levels in the game. You can use
fists and feet or withdraw your weapon for limited time
periods to have at them with some decently designed combos.
There's also an interesting first-person mode that allows
you to fire long-range missiles at enemies if you catch
them unaware.
The music is very heroic, and the tunes are all excellent.
The voice effects (for example, the great Sean Connery
impostor doing the King's voice) are simply awesome.
The sound effects are very good too: The sword-clashing
effects, calls of pain, and bone-splitting punches all
take advantage of Dreamcast's fantastic sound card. Some
developers, even on this hot box, manage to still screw
up the audible qualities of the gaming experience.
The gameplay concept of Soul Fighter is simple, you punch,
kick and use a weapon on the enemies. The game plays very
good, the options are excellent and they are included a
lot of options and combos in the game, and the computer
Al is good too, it's not essential a Jump Pack here or
even a VMS, but they are still recommendable. The Dreamcast
Joypad rocks for this game, no need the Arcade Stick here.
Unfortunately, there are some major flaws in this title.
Most notably, the camera. It doesn't really seem to know
where to go a lot of the time. Now, it's not bad enough
that it ever gets caught behind a post or any such,
thankfully. But it is bad enough that one can easily be
attacked by an enemy who is completely off screen, and
this gets very frustrating very quickly. There is a chance
to reset the camera to the over-the-shoulder view by tapping
one of the triggers, but it just doesn't seem to work as
well in practice as it should in theory. Another critical
flaw is the game's penchant to knock you down in such a
way that you're facing away from your enemies, who then
attack from behind as you get up, allowing for no way to
block or respond in kind. But the major flaw is the lack
of 2-Player-Mode. Why can we fight the enemies with a
friend? Every classics games of this genre of game features
2-Player-Mode like Streets of Rage, Die Hard Arcade,
Golden Axe, and even Fighting Force!
There's a lot to like about Soul Fighter, depending on a
person's tolerance for the above listed problems. In
spite of the flaws, it is possible for a hard-working
somewhat masochistic player to progress through the
levels and get an eye ful of some great environments and
very interesting creatures. On the way there, some of
the battles will even turn out to be pretty entertaining.
It needs some improvements, but it is still a good buy for
fighting game owners. If you liked Dynamite Cop you
should check out this game. But if don't like the
previous titles named, SF isn't for you. But I will be
honest, wait for Fighting Force 2 (should be better than
the prequel, I hope!) or Import Zombie Revenge (this one
rocks!), but if you are one of people that are sad
because Sega decided to put the Golden Axe saga in
stand-by, Soul Fighter is your game.
>>>> Graphics - 95%
>>>> Sound - 93%
>>>> Gameplay - 82%
>>>> Lastability - 72%
>>>> OVERALL - 85%
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======| CHEATS |==========================================
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>>>> Zombie Revenge
O Alternate Outfit:
Select your character and hold START and press X, Y, or B
to begin the game. - Submitted by STaisen
O Cheat Select:
Play the VMU mini-game to open up the following cheats in
original mode: eternal life, area select, free continue
and free time limit. - Submitted by HOD2
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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, including a new IRC Java
chat room where you can chat about all the latest Sega
topics.
>>>> Sega 2000 - www.sega2000.net
Christmas Is Coming! Sega 2000 has some BIG things planned
for this month, be sure to come and check us out sometime.
For your Sega coverage, and a little extra. Oh and there's
a contest coming up soon too :)
>>>> The Next Level - www.the-nextlevel.com
The Next Level is a multi-platform gaming magazine focused on
all current and upcoming next-generation systems. We provide
up-to-date news, in-depth reviews, reader reviews, intriguing
editorials, and more.
>>>> Perfect Zero - http://www.perfect-zero.com
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.
>>>> 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.
>>>> Gaming Central Starpath - www.startpath.com/gamingcentral
Our newest support site and provides hundreds of links for
anything a gamer might be interested in.
>>>> DC Australia - www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/6831/
Now the Dreamcast is out in Australia, this should be your
first stop for news down under. Don't forget to check out
their interview with Sonic Team while your there too!
The official website for the Dreamcast Weekly is now open at
www.dreamcastweekly.com :) We've got the history of the
magazine, back issues, and more. 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 Editor: Graham Parker "Tails" - Webmaster@sega2000.net
O DC QUESTIONS: Please send to - Rob@sega2000.net
But please NO tips questions
>>>> 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. Otherwise I would be
forced to send out my group of goons... Ok so I don't have
any goons, but copying is just mean... very mean. There,
that should scare them off :)
