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The Dreamcast 7 Years Old and Still Marching

Posted by Zonk on from the i-love-that-little-white-box dept.

Craig writes "The Dreamcast turned 7 only a few days ago but still the amateur developers and fans keep the Dream alive, only a week ago was the final of the DreamOn Coding Competition and today the announcement of a new Commercial Shootemup. The Scene centres around DCEmu with multinational support from French & Spanish sites with the majority of releases stored at Dreamcast Homebrew."

44 comments

  1. Dreamcast Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This makes me wonder how ol' Dreamcast Linux is coming along...

    1. Re:Dreamcast Linux by the_humeister · · Score: 1

      NetBSD for Dreamcast is still around. Someone was able to get 3.0 BETA to boot. The only problem is that the ethernet adaptor (aka "broad-band adaptor") costs more than the game machine itself and can only be easily found on ebay.

  2. Dreamcast was seriously wounded... by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dreamcast was seriously wounded, but the soul still burns!

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  3. dreamcast r00lz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    omfg first post!

    i play my dreamcast more than my ps2 :(

    1. Re:dreamcast r00lz by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

      You're not the only one who plays his DC more than the PS2. It's a classic system.

  4. Of course it's still around by kramthegram · · Score: 1

    I just bought a new RF unit for my system last week. The dreamcast was the best all around console ever. It gave excellent graphics for the time at a fare price. The games were innovative and the online play was fun! With some great launch titles they easily had one of the best launches ever. If only they hadn't had such a hard time with the Saturn Sega would still be an industry leader instead of a digital pimp for a pachinko company!

    1. Re:Of course it's still around by Seumas · · Score: 1

      Except for the fucktarded controller. What kind of crack were they smoking when they designed THAT?!

    2. Re:Of course it's still around by Threni · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > If only they hadn't had such a hard time with the Saturn Sega

      You make it sound like the failure of the Saturn was someone elses fault! They got what they deserved. If they'd produced the PSX then things would have been different.

    3. Re:Of course it's still around by kramthegram · · Score: 2, Funny

      Apparently the same people who used the basic design again for the Xbox.

    4. Re:Of course it's still around by kramthegram · · Score: 1

      No, it was their fault. They thought the industry wasn't ready for 3d, neither did Nintendo... who actually gave Sony their gaming ambitions in the first place. Sega screwed up with the 32x and then again with the Saturn, although a good system, development was horrible.

    5. Re:Of course it's still around by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

      What did you think was wrong with it? IMHO it had one of the best analogue sticks ever on a joypad, the analogue triggers were a great innovation (and were much nicer than the huge ones on the GC and the stiff ones on the Xbox), and the d-pad was great for fighters. I've never really understood why people hated it so much, as I've always thought it was great.

    6. Re:Of course it's still around by Seumas · · Score: 1

      I might be thinking of the wrong console (I didn't really start gaming until I was an adult, which is when the N64 was out - though I never played a console until the last couple years) -- however, wasn't the DreamCast controller massive? It had like - a huge forehead with an enormous LCD jammed into it?

    7. Re:Of course it's still around by November+1,+2005 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Ha! Sega screwed up with the Master System, the Sega CD, the Game Gear, and the Nomad as well. Giving Sega credit where credit is due - they got the middle stages of the Genesis life-cycle right. (Recall that the time period between when the Genesis came out and it was competing against the aging NES and when Sega finally got Sonic the Hedgehog to actually move a few units was not that brief) Other than that, Sega has never marketed hardware well.

    8. Re:Of course it's still around by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In response to what's already been raised, in my opinion:

      - The analog stick is too loose, but comfortably placed and with less of a dead spot than Sony's analog sticks.
      - The triggers have been surpassed by the GameCube's analog + click buttons in resistance, functionlity, and comfort.
      - The d-pad is HORRIBLE for 2D fighters (which is why so many Dreamcast owners have joysticks, third-party controllers, or controller adapters). It is raised too high and is almost nothing like any d-pad before it from Nintendo or Sega.

      Also:

      - If you have both a VMU and a jump pack in it, the controller feels very heavy.
      - The cable points towards the gamer and has to be wedged into a notch on the bottom of the controller just to get it to face the right way.
      - The locator bumps on the buttons are too pronounced and sharp, irritating to the thumbs for many people.
      - The curvature on the bottom of the controller (to accommodate the dual VMU slots) restricts finger placement, which can lead to cramping.

      Needless to say, I didn't like the controller very much. Still, the Dreamcast's software lineup and hardware capabilities place it in my top five favorite consoles of all time, ahead of any Sony or Microsoft system.

    9. Re:Of course it's still around by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The LCD was part of the memory card (VRM), not the controller itself. And it was hardly huge.

    10. Re:Of course it's still around by bedouin · · Score: 1

      Sega screwed up with the Master System . . .

      The Master System was only a 'failure' in the US.

    11. Re:Of course it's still around by November+1,+2005 · · Score: 1

      You think anywhere else counts? Piss off tosser.

  5. Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by Stormwatch · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This is coming to you from Aviation Radio Station. The year is 2045. Who thought of this? I don't know! But it's a crazy tournament of cool battles in the sky. Aviation Battle Championships begin! Proud warriors of the world's skies gather in hopes of winning the prize!

    All Dreamcast fanatics out there, check out my PROPELLER ARENA FAN SITE . I've amassed quite a nice bit of info and media on this lost (but also found) Dreamcast masterpiece by Sega/AM2.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
    1. Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by r3m0 · · Score: 1

      dreamcast really was a great console, keyboard and mouse on a console on quake 3 arena really was special back in the day, give it a few n itll be retro!

      --
      -r3m0
    2. Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by PhotoBoy · · Score: 1

      Cool site! I've got a copy of Propeller Arena, it's one of the many classic Dreamcast games, it's a real pity it never got released. Multiplayer was great fun, it's a shame we'll probably never get a sequel. :(

    3. Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by OneFix · · Score: 1

      This looks like a great game. I haven't picked up my DC in a while and would love to play this game, but it looks like everyones links to the images no longer work.

    4. Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Try to find some "backup game" seller. =P

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
    5. Re:Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship by th3space · · Score: 1

      Oh Shitses! The soundtrack for that game had some decent songs...I haven't heard those Rise Against tracks in a good, long while. I think I'll have to try and track this down.

      --
      "How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
  6. NES games by Eightyford · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The best thing about the dreamcast was the ability to run NesterDC on it. You could burn your own disc with 100 nintendo games on it and play them without a mod chip or even a boot disk. NesterDC even supports save states and game genie codes.

    Who needs the Nintendo Revolution for that?

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    1. Re:NES games by XizerX · · Score: 1

      Psst. You can do that on your Xbox without modding it, too. And you can have the entire NES library.

    2. Re:NES games by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      Anybody who wants to play N64 and GameCube games as well. Don't get me wrong, it's neat you can do that with a DC (may even dust mine off and tinker with that) but the Rev still has value in that arena.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:NES games by miyako · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, this brings up one of the things that I think might hurt the Revolutions backwards compatibility. I have a pretty large collection of NES, SNES and N64 roms. The main reason I use emulators for these systems is that I simply do not have room to have all of them hooked up to my TV along with a Game Cube, PS2, DVD player, etc.
      The other thing though, is that a lot of these emulators offer a lot of additional features, cheat finders being a big one. Being able to use game genie or PAR replay codes, and modify the memory of the game as it's running to create cheats can add a lot of life to older games.
      While nintendo has said that some of the older games might get graphical improvements- presumably though the use of video filters that modern emulators user- I find it dubious that they will include some of the features like cheat finders that are available in modern emulators.

      --
      Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    4. Re:NES games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's illegal unless you own licenses for (physical copies of) all those games AND (in the U.S.) dump all those ROMs yourself.

      Nintendo and other game developers, as the original content creators, have the right to sell those same games in whatever format they chose. Revolution owners will be able to download and play - LEGALLY - any game purchased on Nintendo's network. So the answer to your question of "who needs Revolution for that" is simple: Non-criminals who want to play these games but don't have access to older means of doing so.

      Or are you one of those people who would like to abolish copyright, the very principle that makes the GPL and various other open source licenses enforcable?

  7. pffft! by Rs_Conqueror · · Score: 1, Funny

    Uhg, you guys are SO behind the times. EVERYONE knows that the 360 is the new dreamcast, duh!

    --
    Behold, another webcomic!
  8. US dreamcast is 6 years old as of september 05 by sknja · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    wasnt the dreamcast US released on 9.9.1999?

    Which by my calcualtions makes it only 6 years old.

  9. Sorrow by bhive01 · · Score: 1

    I miss my dreamcast. I bought one when it first came out and got all the neat toys. It looked so good with the VGA adapter. Soul Caliber II was awesome. I even liked Shenmue. Sold it to get a XBOX. Missed it ever since. Been seriously considering getting a used one though, ever since the 360 came out. Might just do it for christmas...

  10. That is the US release date. by Traegorn · · Score: 2, Informative

    The DreamCast debuted in Japan back in November of 1998.

    --
    TRHOnline - Staggering Towards Brilliance
  11. 7 years? Pah... by LocalH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Commodore 64 is over 20 years old and there is still a demoscene.

    --
    FC Closer
  12. Dreamcast - Best Money I ever spent! by sharopolis · · Score: 1

    I bought a MIB Dreamcast on Ebay a couple of years ago for £22 (aprox. $38) and frankly it has been one of the best bargains I ever bought. There's tons of classic software available for very little money (REZ anyone) but best of all so much great homebrew stuff. Emulators, media players, orginal games, apps, loads of fun stuff. Instead of dropping some cash on a new PS2 or PC title buy a Dreamcast and some CDRs you wont regret it.

  13. I love my DC! by supabeast! · · Score: 1

    I currently own a Dreamcast, Gamecube, and and Xbox. I used to own a Playstation 2, but I got rid of it after I got sick of Sony strongarming game manufacturers away from making 2D games. Of all those systems, the Dreamcast is still the one I use the one most often. Even if a new game pulls me to my computers or another console for a while, I eventually go back to the Dreamcast for the original releases of Street Fighter Zero 3, Ikaruga, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. It is definately my favorite system of the current generation of consoles, and I regularly finding myself wishing that those morons at Sega had been willing not only to hire Bernie Stolar and pay him the big bucks, but to listen to him and not screw up the Dreamcast launch in every single region they introduced it.

  14. Another new homebrew/commercial release by Man+In+Black · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned, but the Goat Store is also releasing Cool Herders really soon, which would be the 4th title they've published for the system (The others being Feet of Fury, Inhabitants, and Maqiupai). I have my copy on pre-order and am very much looking forward to it. These releases may not be as extravagant as "regular" commercial releases, but they're still plenty of fun.

    --
    -"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
  15. Quake 3 made the DC rule so much by Spitfire15 · · Score: 1

    Quake 3 has to be the best console port on the DC. The DC has to be the best console that man created.

  16. One of the BEST systems by Ka+D'Argo · · Score: 1
    Aside from my NES and SNES, the DC was the best system I ever owned. It was the first system I took a chance with buying used games for and never regretted it. From games like the addictive as hell Crazy Taxi to Ikaruga, KoF 99', Marvel vs Capcom 1 and 2, Soul Calibur, Sonic, you name it this little beast had it. I logged more hours into playing it then I ever did my N64, or even my Sega Saturn (god what a mistake asking for it one christmas was, in hindsight).

    I've still got my DC but I think it's broken. I had spilt some iced tea on the floor one time and some got inside the top where the cd drive was. It powers up but it won't read any discs anymore :( They're dirt cheap these days. Sadly I don't expect any new consoles (360, PS2 or Rev) to be like the old days of the DC.

    --
    Aw Frell this
  17. Xbox soft modding? by tepples · · Score: 1

    You can do that on your Xbox without modding it, too.

    Nope. The new version of MechAssault has had that buffer overflow fixed, and it's not always possible to tell the difference without opening the box. In addition, the Xbox 1.6's dashboard no longer has the soft-modding bug.

  18. Limitations of the Revolution store by tepples · · Score: 1

    So the answer to your question of "who needs Revolution for that" is simple: Non-criminals who want to play these games but don't have access to older means of doing so.

    Only select games will be available in the Revolution store in a given region. For instance, Mother (the prequel to Earthbound) was produced and finished in Japanese and English, released in Japan in the Japanese language, but never released in the United States and Canada because Nintendo didn't feel that North American sales would make up for the replication costs of a 4 Mbit game. The Earthbound 0 Prototype ROM circulates freely around the Internet, but it's not likely to be in the Revolution store because it was never officially published. In addition, Nintendo may have a hard time getting other publishers of classic NES games to opt-in to the Revolution store.

    Or are you one of those people who would like to abolish copyright, the very principle that makes the GPL and various other open source licenses enforcable?

    Without copyright, it would be entirely lawful to make and distribute commented disassemblies of proprietary software.

  19. I'm still holding out hope by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 1

    For a DC revival. I always thought consumers gave up to easy with Sega, they should have been more vocal and even if SEGA would still have bowed out of hardware there could have still been life.

    Now, however, is the perfect time for a comeback. people disillusioned with the 360 and PS3, high costs, complex controls, and unoriginal games are clamoring for something to fill the void. If people played their cards right, the DC could see a massive revival. News such as this keep my personal hope alive that the true spirit of gaming is not totally lost to greed, hollywood, and hooker beating "mature" games.

    --
    http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    1. Re:I'm still holding out hope by leland242 · · Score: 1

      Your sentiment is touching, but don't hold your breath dude. :)

  20. 20 years? Pah... by Rico_Suave · · Score: 1

    People are still making (and marketing) games for the Atari 2600...

    http://atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=793 95

  21. Seaman by Sorcerer13 · · Score: 1

    I fondly remember the days when my Gillmen used to put me down and make fun of me. The Dreamcast had some of the most innovative and engaging quality software. It definitely wasn't given enough time to reach its potential, I'm sure devlopers could have really wowed us with its capabilities. I remember DOA2 looked far better on the Dreamcast than the PS2 version. I just don't think peeople gave it a fair chance.