April 21, 2004

Time for some random jibber-jabba. I got allot too spit out… not with flem, piss or shit but just in words.

I recently completed MGS:TTS as well as Sonic Heroes, both for the Cube. Bitchin'. Love them both. Reviews should be up in a few millennium. The recent departure of Silicon Knights has delayed my review for the Snake title due to frustration. Not that it affects the actual game play but left many questions for myself and many a Nintendo fan. It took well over 16 hours to complete the main game in Sonic Heroes, that’s about 200 times more gameplay than any MGS game in history. A very huge achievement in Sonic gaming that’s for sure.

Just got PSO: Episode III Card Revolution. My Naka-San guilt was growing. Damn did that game ever get friggin' bitichin' reviews! It beat out every game including MGS:TTS for Game of The Month in the last EGM issue. The game got glowing reviews right across the boards. Cool. I’ve only played it a bit so far and it’s quite a departure. It’s very well… card based (duh) but also very strategic and I love that shit! Rumours are afloatin’ that Sega is going to have some kind of PSO news at E3 so I hope we’re getting’ a big-ass cool RPG return type of sequel! But I gotta admit that card game is good.

Let's get movin' onto the DC.

Missing Sonic and PSO for the DC. No I didn't loose my discs or shit like that... I just miss that era of the DC. When Sega and 3rd parties were pumpin' out hit after hit after hit for the DC. No one bought the fuckin' system or software and that's why things are the way they are. I'll goto EB or another videogame store and mention the DC and the whole place will light up like Christmas. Gamers start to praise Sonic or Jet Grind Radio or Soul Calibur or Shenmue or Seaman or PSO ect. ect. ect. Today, I'll bump into people trying to track DC's down and find their beloved games once again. Ya, we'll thanks to nearly every friggin' gamer on the planet, the DC is extinct and Sega has seen better days. Not that it's all the gamers fault, 3rd party developers like EA were jackasses towards the system.

We'll I wouldn't say the DC is all that dead. There is one hell of a powerful worldwide, fan force for the console. Over at www.lik-sang.com the kick ass Hong Kong online retailer, Japanese DC developers are still pumping out games for it. The latest titles still storm the charts, arriving in the top 10 sales of the month. Impressive. Soon I'll have to order Sonic Team's DC version of PUYO POP FEVER. Possibly Sega's last goodbye present for the faithful. It's coming to the GBA and GC in North America but I owe Sonic Team and Sega a DC purchase of that version... I'll probably get the others as well too ;)

Besides the obvious emulation projects that keep growing in number for the system, homebrewed games are on the verge. One killer game that’s been developed is BEATS OF RAGE. It’s STREETS OF RAGE 4 but with cool SNK characters in it. Now that’s fandom! It plays fun and looks and sounds amazing. Kathy took a quick look at it when I got it runnin’ and she even mentioned it was even better than some of the titles we’ve purchased. Ain’t that the truth. Speaking of STREETS OF RAGE 4, ever hear about that one? We’ll let’s share. Ages ago when the DC was in it’s prime, a bunch of team members from the original Genesis Streets of Rage games got together and started work on their own 128-bit sequel. Progress went so far that a number of levels were completed along with the ability to… okay commence crying now… play online. A presentation was done for Sega of Japan(SOJ) who were very pleased with the project. SOJ wanted feed back from Sega of America(SOA) on the project for the greenlight to develop. Guess what? Well management from the Genesis to the DC days had changed so much in America that the powers that be didn’t even know a damned thing about Streets of Rage and they decided to can the project and go with Zombie Revenge instead. Now I love Zombie Revenge, it is Streets of Rage meets House of The Dead but sweet Baby Jesus… Come on SOA!!!! Bunch of retards! So there begins and ends a sequel to one of Sega’s most beloved franchises, put to death by all people… SOA. Assholes. It’s really damned funny because it’s one of those Sega franchises that sold the more copies in North America than anywhere else around the globe.

So what the fuck is up with SONY and SQUARESOFT? Up here in "The Great White North", FINAL FANTASY XI will cost you well over $200 with tax on your PS2. Wal-Mart is selling the FINAL FANTASY XI with HD for $130 then you gotta by the MODEM unit and that's $50. Oh yeah, you'll need a KEYBOARD to talk to anyone and that's $25. Can't forget the $15 a month service charge... Then you add tax and then... WHAM you’re hit in the head with a giant fuckin' broadsword. Fuck. I mean it's not like the fuckin' game is over 2 years old.

Sega did this shit ages ago with the original DC PSO and THEY DID IT RIGHT. You got the fuckin' modem with the console. All you had to do was buy the game and a keyboard. Done. You went online for free. A huge community grew. You and your buddies hooked up whenever the hell you wanted too. Ah, the joy and memories. Tyler explained the situation best. It’s like Sega gave you a great big hug, padded you on the back and said, “welcome to the game”. Sony on the other hand flips you the bird and says, “fuck you! Pay up baby!” It’s like Sega was The Giving Tree. From the DC’s launch to it’s timely death, Sega just gave but it wasn’t enough. Sony’s propaganda wagon was at full steam with their “emotion engine” and crap ass hardware.

Today in NA, all of the DC’s PSO servers have been shut down. The game has become a legend but it’s not the end of the story. A few homebrewed servers have been popping up on the net. If you’re patient, you’ll find them online along with the tools to get back adventuring. Sadly I haven’t had the time for such quests but hopefully I’ll do it soon. I’ll get around to playin’ online with PSO I, II and III on the Cube before that’ll happen. I mean you buy the newer Cube versions cause they have lots of new stuff including new downloadable quests and a growing community.

As I’m writing this, in-between breaks I'm playing my SMS emulator and Sega’s own Genesis Smash Pack on the DC. Awesome! Still finding use for it. Ryu still explores those beautiful Japanese towns in Shenmue. Power Stone battles still commence. The dirt is ripped from Sega Rally 2. Quake III still cracks the Internet. Mice barely escape the cats in Chu Chu Rocket and of course Sonic still races at incredible speeds from Sonic 1 to Sonic Adventure 2 on the final Sega console to grace him.

Long live the DC!

- Kelley