Over on Kotaku I saw the news break and wanted to break it here before anyone else did.
Since I've established I'm a sega freak so here it be.

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/03/08/sega-japan-still-showing-dreamcast-support-in-2008/#more-3816

I have 2 dreamcasts 1 dead and universal 1 half working and not quite region free. Hmmmmm. I loveith my Dreamcast and I can't belive it's been 10 years since the stupidly named console was unleashed. Seems that consoles with Dumb names are the ones people belove the most. Dreamcast XBOX 360 (pretty stupid name if you think about it) Wii, Wonderswan (it does have a following right?

Yeah.

Well 10 years of one of the greatest consoles ever made.

FINALLY I can enjoy all my consoles in the best resolution possible...or so I thought. I have Monster cables for 3 consoles, S Video for the SNES. A component for the PS2 and the one that came in Today for my original XBOX I have the standard cables for Gamecube and 360 though at some point I'd like to upgrade the 360 to a monster cable too.

Now also I got the PS2 nights but I couldn't play right off the bat becuase of the mess in my room. See I had trouble fitting the cable into my switch box so I had to disassemble everything while I was at it I figured I'd take care of the cord tangle as well so I took EVERYTHING out and also rearranged my set up. An hour later everything was neat now time to hook everything up. Signal for 360, Fine XBOX nothing, PS2, Nothing Gamecube, Nothing I checked the cables again nothing....then I put each cable in 1 by 1 and I set up my XBOX for HD. PS2 is fine cube is fine....my selector box was dead.

now the moral to be learned from all this. RCA and Pelican switch boxes are garbage. For now I'm confined to just my 360 becuase I don't want to risk damage to my TV or the cables by yanking them in and out when ever I want to play something.

So my Nights Dreampack sits and waits. Waits for me to get a switch box that doesn't suck.

Suggestions?

Ok this entry is taking you into an alternate universe. One where the Playstation failed, Everybody hated pokemon and as a result Nintendo almost goes bankrupt. The XBOX still existed but nobody cared.

Now you might get confused the Playstation failed in this timeline so many games for it never game out or made it stateside also since Mega Man X5 and X6 were on PS1 they never existed either so in this time X5 is X7 and X8 is X6. Also Final Fantasy VII never made it stateside in this timeline either so X is IV. and so on.

Also hard as it is to accept the Dreamcast doesn't exist in this timeline either.

Ok step through the portal and enjoy.


Looking back on The Saturn 2
March 7th AC 15




Many people thought with the iffy launch of the Saturn. Every one thought that walkman maker Sony was going to be the new king of Gaming. However with high falure rates and few games at launch the Playstation failed. Sony soon pulled out of the Market. It was Nintendo VS Sega All over again. The Saturn flourished as Gamers were intrigued by Games like Nights and the AMAZING Sonic Xtreme. The Virtua Fighter Series took over the world and Pai and Lau Cosplays became common place as Anime Conventions grew in popularity. Meenwhile Nintendo Struggled Nintendo thought they could create a new Franchise, Called Pokemon these extremely boring RPGs Had your trainer wander around aimlessly collecting these ulgy creatures and then having them battle. It was a stupid premise and Nintendo pushing it as the next big thing led to their downfall. Who really throught an RPG about collecting "Pocket Monsters" was going to catch on. The tie in Anime was silly as well and bombed in the raitings. Coupled with multiple versions of it's Gameboy and an Uninspired 3d Mario Game Nintendo Lost tons of money and the follow up the Gamecube only helped to shape Nintendo as a 3rd party developer. Microsoft Also tried it's hands at console making. But few found a generic Sci Fi FPS about Relgious fanatic Aliens
and some boring ass green armored space marine to be all the endearing. With Halo a falure and DOA fans begging tecmo to bring it back to Sega. Microsoft had nothing and even the bottomless pit of money had to pull the plug. What with all the pressure on them trying to Make Windows ME the most stable OS ever created and all they couldn't afford to make a console and Maintain the greatness that was Windows ME.

So with that the Saturn 2 Reigned supreme Ken Kutaragi from Sony jumped to Sega after the Playstation Failed and helped Sega build the Saturn 2. Like the Saturn it was quite difficult to develop for but developers decided it was best to stick with Sega as by now they saw Nintendo as a sinking ship. Soon the Games would Trinkle in. Virtua Fighter 4 wowed gamers and 4 Evolution it's follow up amazed. Fighting Fans were in for a bigger treat when Guilty Gear X and X2 hit the system as well as a collection from one of the Saturn's best
the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology. Street Fighter III never got a Home port but 3rd strike
the 3rd arcade version hit the Saturn 2 with some degree of success as well as Hyper Street Fighter II. SNK also started to port most of

Fighters weren't all Sega had up their sleeves. Final Fantasy the obscure yet popular RPG series which has 12 installments in Japan finally returned to the US with Final Fantasy IV (Number 10 in Japan) and Final Fantasy V (which in Japan was 12) Star Ocean also made it's US debut along with Persona which was actually the 3rd installment in that series.

Mega Man Fans were shocked to see X in 3d with Mega Man X5 A strange Hybird 2d and 3d Game. It's Sequel X8 went 3d but stuck with 2d Gameplay. Sonic's 2nd 3d Romp since Sonic Xtreme hit with Sonic Heroes it's unique gameplay dynamic went overwell but it's Follow up a Game starring secondary character Shadow didn't do as well. Shinobi returned with a decent but Flawed 3d romp and it's follow up Kunoichi fared a little better. Sega Also reissued an enhanced Virtual On and a Sequel Virtual on Mars also made it out. A very unique Brawler/RPG Hybird came out as well called Yakuza it was a very interesting look into the Japanese Underworld.

God Of War and it's Sequel also hit Sega's monster as finally video games had nudity to go with all that blood. Though Breif the Sex scenes in the 2 God of War games changed the way games were made.

The Music Game Fad came and went. Konami's Dance Dance Revolution was fun at first but leg cramps and a few heart attacks later Konami stopped the music. Frequency and Amplitude were far more successful however the follow up Guitar Hero was a miserable MISERABLE falure. Soon developers realized if we want to make music we'll just actually buy insturments and do it our selves and the Music Game fad fadded away.

Another huge Falure was Rockstar Games' confusing Grand Theft Auto III. Players felt that GTA III for short took away everything that made the original 2d top down games fun. The Freeform gameplay and cartoony shock value didn't go over very well.

The Saturn 3 has been out for about a year now and it's had a slow start with games final starting to trinkle in. However Sega hasn't forgotten about it's fans who haven't made the switch and Many remake titles are hitting the system, Nights Deluxe, Black Belt 2, Virtua Fighter 2 Plus and many other under the Sega ages label. It's a good time to be a Sega fan and keep an Eye on the Saturn 3, It's going to do some amazing things.

This might be a trend I don't know we'll see how this goes over. But based on your feed back from last night's Boss battle entry I complied


Kefka Final Fantasy VI

Hey wanna see something somebody pointed out on Game FAQs?

Ok

Kefka




Jansen (far right for those who haven't played LO)



Hmmmmmmm

and Pretty much every battle in Lost Oddessy is Epic. Since they take so freakin long and they're random Still love that game.


Deus in Xenogears

YAY for music from the FINAL BATTLE RPG BIN. I Freakin Love Xenogears' soundtrack in fact I own it. But not the Game. I want it God knows I want it. My Cousin and I played through most of disc one back when it came out 9 years ago. I used to know the story inside and out and it's by far one of the best RPG stories ever. Not this Emo shit that's in the Majority of RPGs (including my currant fave Lost Oddessy)

System shock 2



Hmmm I sure can see why many people talk about how Bioshock is the successor to System Shock. I wish I had known about System shock back in the day. Becuase
Cyber Punk>whatever punk Bioshock is. I love Bioshock and all but Like I said I'm a huge
dork when it comes to Cyber Punk. Anywho I guess Glados is like SHODAN on prozac. From what I've gathered about both. I still need to play Portal and now I gotta try out system shock 1 and 2.

Mega man 3




Every Wily Boss battle from 4 on would pretty much just be him doing the reappear disappear act. Whoever made this videos.....DID IT WRONG XD. For the first Wily
I get on the Rush Jets and blast the shit out of him. Then for the 2nd form Shadow Blade then I go for the 1 hit kill with the Top Spin.

Mega man 3 is the only Original series game I can beat with out the aid of an Emulator or cheats. I went back to the old MM games a few weeks ago when I had nothing else to play and it was like I was 9 again. I really miss the original series and I wish Capcom would learn that the Original Series needs closure. We know Dr Wily built Zero and X wasn't finished until after Zero was. But what happened then Did Zero kill Mega Man and Bass did Zero Rebel against his creator like Bass did? We want some answers dammit.

Castlevania III

As a Kid I remember the 3 forms of Dracula being quite Epic and Wow inducing. To this day I still look back in awe of it.


Mega Man X4

2 bosses at once and this is only the 2nd half! One of the best mega man boss fights of all time.

About an Hour Ago I posted part 1. Due to some BB Code Errors I had to cut it short

Anyways here's part 2 and this is where I really get into the meat of why the 360 is the Dreamcast 2.

Case 7
Senko No Ronde



G Rev had 2 post Mortem Dreamcast games Both being quite rare and expensive now. Border Down and the Zero Gunner rip-off Under Defeat. Senko no Ronde isn't your typical shmup. It's as though Free whare shmup warning forever had sex with Virtual on. The Result is a fantasically different genre bending game that has the True Sega outside the box feel.
In arcades this was released on the Naomi board which makes it even clearer this would've
been bound for Sega Hardware. One of the best 360 games you're not playing.

[b]Case 8
Virtua Fighter 5[/b]



VF 5 is probably the best looking and Animated 3d fighter out now. On the 360 it's online and lag free too (what's that AM2 said about VF not being doable online) I called for it MONTHS MONTHS before it was official. This is based on the most recent version of the Arcade game so you get all the extras plus some DLC as well. The Game is right at home on 360 I always felt dirty playing VF4 on my PS2. Very Dirty

[b]Case 9
Guilty Gear XX #reload[/b]



Ahhhhhh Backwards compatibility the best case in helping me explain the 360's Dreamcast 2ness. Word has it this will soon be downloadable as an XBOX original. #reload is the best and most refined install ment of the Guilty Gear X series Before Arc Sys messed too much with a good thing. As many of you know Guilty Gear X was on Dreamcast and that was the best version. #reload is a real 2d Fighter fan's treat.

[b]Case 10
Soul Calibur II and IV[/b]




It's pretty much required of you to have Soul Calibur if you have a Dreamcast. Now Soul Calibur II is BC on 360 (with UGH Spawn yeah cube version had the cool exclusive) With everything intact It is truely more refined than the original Soul Calibur and brings the extra weapon feature back from Soul Edge.

Soul Calibur III was a Rush Job and probably the worst in the Series. IV looks to go back to what worked. The only good Part about III the Create a character mode will return (and hopefully be more customizeable) Yoda for some reason joins the Frey as well. It's too early to tell if IV will be as good as I and II but I'm pretty sure it'll be better than III

[b]Case 11
Panzer Dragoon Orta[/b]



Orta was a truely stunning game. Easly one of if not THE BEST looking game on the Original XBOX. It's a No brainer THIS would've been on the Dreamcast or a sega made follow up. One warning. SOME OF the extra content doesn't work on the 360. I have yet to unlock said content so I can't confirm this. Also, This will be heading to a 360 near you in the form of an XBOX originals download.

[b]Case 12
JSRF[/b]



Another XBOX Original that's BC on 360. An amazing game as well. With it's funky vibe from the music to the cast. Some really colorful and stylish back drops... Hell the whole game is style it's like Shibuya in game form. Same Deal as the Dreamcast game. Tag everything run from the Popo. Tag other gangs and compete in random races for no real reason then take down the MAN.

[b]Case 13
Shenmue 2[/b]



AM2's unfinished Symphony. They refuse to throw us a Bone. I mean can we at least have the Chiumin and Ryo show up in Virtua Fighter or something COME ON! Either way unresolved ending (spolier Shenmue is a Tree and we get some Indiana Jones shit before the game ends abruptly) aside it's a great play and there are some classic Sega games within as well.

[b]Case 14
Outrun 2 and OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast [/b]



Pure sega goodness. Sega's oldest Arcade Racer's sequel is playable on the 360 (and I THINK it's upgrade as well) I might even go so far to say it plays BETTER than it did on XBOX. All the classic Outrun tunes are there Splash wave, Magical Sound Shower and
Passing Breeze are all there plus the new Classic Life was a bore and a few others. Add in online and bam, another Sega experience for your 360.

[b]Case 15
Downloadable Sega Classics.[/b]

I confess I was grasping for straws here. Sega Soccer slam, The DOA Series, Sega GT are all on or BC with the 360 as well as Sonic Mega Collection. But I cose the Sega Museum series on XBLA because it's just a nice nostoga trip and you're forced to play some Sega classics with out those cheats you grew up with some might be like "To well with that. But I don't mind a good challenge.

Other points I could include are how the Dreamcast and 360 Dpads both suck, how both consoles Came in White and Black with limited edition varients as well. How the system before it was black and friggin huge. And so on.

BUT Sega fans. The 360 isn't the ONLY system that you should have as a Sega fan. Next time I'll look at a system that might as well be called Saturn 2......