Record Of The Lodoss War (Dreamcast) GUTTED
Record of Lodoss War is best known to long time anime fans as a Japanese high fantasy series that is often mistaken as fodder to capitalize on Japan’s obsession with dragons and elves that was partially stemmed from the intense popularity of the DragonQuest franchise. What many people, even some older anime fans that got their start on Robotech in the 80’s, probably aren’t aware of is that Lodoss War didn’t originate as an anime or manga series, or even novels. Believe it or not, the series originated as a transcript of actual Dungeons & Dragons sessions that were published in a popular computer magazine. The printed log of some group of computer programmers’ and novelists’ D&D campaign grew to become its own traditional RPG series, and would venture out into other mediums. To put it short, Lodoss War’s origins were that of the truest form of RPG; the kind that requires some dice and paper.
Schthack: Free Phantasy Star Online Server
While it’s not really news, I haven’t really had a chance to play here to write a full blown article on, but this is some info Dreamcast owners should know.
So you have a Dreamcast-GD copy of Phantasy Star Online V.2, but it’s just sitting in its case gathering dust since Sega pulled the plug on the servers to make room for newer Diablo clones with the Phantasy Star name? And you really want to just kick it online with friends, same as back in the day? Not a problem! Schthack may just be what you’re looking for. Schthack is a private PSO server supports not only both versions of Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast, but also its PC ports of Ver. 2 and Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst, and the GameCube’s PSO Episodes I & II, I & II Plus, and Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution.
1 comment | Tags: Dreamcast, Free, Free server, GameCube, MMORPG, PC, Phantasy Star Online, Schtack, Sega
Dreamcast Fisticuffs Mini-Gutted Set
Getting back to our belated Dreamcast 10th birthday tribute, we’ll start with a quick glance at some of its semi-exclusive brawlers. Note that there are probably a lot of other fighting games that are more worthy to mention as major staples in the DC library, but with a good chunk of its fighting games being ported to other systems (or having at least one decent sequel), the ones we’ve chosen are a few that can, as of now, only be found on the Dreamcast, with the exception of the last freeware title, which just had the old gray box in mind. Time to break out some CD-R's, and engage in some good old fashioned fisticuffs, by jove!
Dragon*Con and Dreamcast: Still More To Discuss!
For those of you wondering, the Dragon*Con two-part special was written/uploaded no less than a few hours after news broke out about the swine flu incident at the Penny Arcade expo. And to those of you that might have caught it, or another nasty flu that seemed to be spreading around (I understand one of the Penny Arcade chaps caught a rather nasty bug which resulted in some big name guest comics), you guys are definitely in my thoughts. My wife/assistant/proofreader (yeah, the one spanking my ass with the Necronomicon ) also fell victim to a nasty bug of some sort that may or may not have been the flu, and I had to take care of her for the rest of the week.
Rush Rush Rally Racing for Dreamcast now available for Pre-Order
Told you the Dreamcast wasn't dead! Today, redspotgames has officially announced, in collaboration with Senile Games, a new Dreamcast racer that appears to play like a very souped-up Super Sprint or RC Pro AM. Anticipated for release next month, Rush Rush Rally Racing boasts no frills, no licensed cars, but a buttload of features for a commercial-homebrew. "R^4" is now available for pre-order on redspotgames' website for US$22.00/15,00 EUR. In the meantime, check out the footage that was posted today.
My Dreamcast memorial.
Short, sweet, and to the point. Firefox ate the original blog post and I have to go to bed soon.
This is what I remember about the dreamcast. I had written a longer blog post concerning fighting games, ports, the Dreamcast itself. Yes, this was sold by Agetec in the US, but it was built by Sega themselves.
But this is what I really remember about the Dreamcast. The arcade stick. Games like Capcom vs SNK 2 and Garou: Mark of the Wolves came out on other consoles, but this peripheral speaks volumes about Sega catering to the arcade gaming community. It's got generic buttons and joystick, but it's leaps and bounds better than the crap they put into the NES Advantage. No company before or since has put out a first party arcade peripheral THIS good in America. In Japan? Take it back a generation with the Saturn Virtua Stick and Virtua Stick Pro. Not Sony, not Microsoft, and definitely not Nintendo. Sega.
A Guttergamer’s Memoir of the Dreamcast
To be honest with you, I didn’t own a Dreamcast until after its retail death. Like many people, I only picked one system during console wars, and unlike that era and the 16-bit generation, the wars tend to be short-lived, or more like skirmishes. I was a PlayStation2 owner, as the double provided more games that were suited to my tastes. Even if Sega’s final console climbed to the top with the largest library of games instead of dying young, I probably would have still stuck by the PS2, if the library offered the same genres and titles I still play today.
That is not to say that I disliked, or disrespect, Sega’s swirl-halo angel back then, and this is especially not the case today. In a lot of ways, it was ahead of its time. Before “Xbox Live” became a household name, the little gray unit had a 56k modem attached to the back, making it the first mainstream console with built-in online connectivity. While the controllers tend to be awkward for the many 2D fighting games released, it made revisions on the one-stick analog model introduced by the N64’s own industry-revolutionizing controller with a somewhat sleeker feel. The Visual Memory Unit, a crossbreed between the N64’s controller-attached memory cards and Sony’s ill-fated PocketStation that never saw release outside of Japan, was a little weird in design but actually provided some very fun games.