FEATURE: The inconsistenties of the PLAYSTATION3

Now I love my PS3, it’s probably the only god damn thing apart from Smash Bros. Brawl that has made me happy with gaming this generation because the majority of games that are available have hardly any appeal to me and people saying that the Xbox 360 being the best console ever makes me sick. Before saying that, take a good look at the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis or Super Nintendo and then come back and say that!

Despite loving my PS3, there are a few things that piss me off still with the console which really gets to me.

1. Game updates

This is the way forward! *Thumbs up*

Now, Gran Turismo is the reigning champion of this by a long shot. Most games now for the console that get a patch will prompt you to update when signed in and once you’ve booted the game. It further annoys me when games such as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue don’t follow suit and update within game and then take the long process of updating which takes ages and will occasionally fail to complete. Metal Gear Online is another example allowing you to update via P2P which is cool in a way but also irritating because it can take ages and it would be much easier to download for the user when they boot the game when they sign in, the normal way!

Oh for fu....WRONG!!!

2. Custom Soundtracks

Now I frankly don’t give a damn about some games not supporting this because some games need this feature and some games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance 2 don’t need them thanks to their epic stories and soundtracks. What annoys me is now that custom soundtracks are implemented into the PS3 firmware via the XMB so you know where to go when you fancy some Daft Punk, Pendulum or whatever your taste is but developers still add the feature within their games. Burnout Paradise does this, Stardust HD does and recently WipEout HD. Its inconsistent and it’s pretty irritating.

Time for an intermission, you may be thinking that I am moaning at Sony but recently I do have some positives to say for them.  They finally got rid of the browser style menu for the Account Management which is a blessing but more noticly the PlayStation Store. The case also goes for the sign up to the PlayStation Network which looks gorgeous but does its main purpose of making the process easier for anyone.

One of the main things that has put a smile on my face is news I read on PS3Fanboy which stated that Sony are working on a global approval process for the PlayStation Store which is fantastic news because the European Store was at a huge level of criticism from users because the lack of content compared to America and Japan was ridiculous but recently it has been getting loads of content which is a positive but it is getting delays when the multi-platform releases on Xbox Live Arcade are getting released in the European territories like Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Remix and Wolf of the Battlefield 3.

3. PlayStation©Network

Again, a private voice chat option wouldn’t hurt but my main issue is to do with LittleBigPlanet. LittleBigPlanet is the first PS3 game which allows you to log into multiple PSN accounts on the same console. Now I ask Sony and everyone else in general who develops for the PS3, “Why isn’t this available in every game or in the XMB?”. It would make sense now that trophies have been implemented into games that the option should be available, I mean afterall, who wants to do the same thing over and over again for the other accounts you have for your PS3? I request that this feature is added immediately!

If these problems were corrected, then the PS3 would piss off it’s install base a lot less.

FEATURE: Games I’d like to see in 2D rather than 3D

After the announcement of Mega Man 9 for PS3, 360 and Wii, I am really excited that Mega Man is finally getting a sequel but what makes this version so interesting is Capcom are going back to it’s retro roots for this version and the design is going to be from the NES / Famicom games which is pretty kick ass. I’ll be picking this up on PS3 as it is my main console I play and I hope I can get some trophies as I nearly have all the Super Stardust HD trophies!

Its really coming! Mega Man back at his roots!!

Now that Mega Man 9 is coming, I feel that there some franchises that have been around for a long time and I feel that their latest games are either mediocre, crappy or just don’t have the same impact as the fresh beginnings of the franchise. Here is 5 game franchises which should just go back to their gameplay roots!

1. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

Being one of the first games I played, Sonic the Hedgehog is the sole reason I got into Computer Games. I loved the fast 2D gameplay, the music was awesome and the graphics just looked gorgeous for a 2D game. Sadly that was in the 90’s and now where in the 2000’s, Sonic hasn’t been as good with Sonic Team making crappy, unplayable Sonic games such as SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis (Game Boy Advance). I would love to know whos stupid idea it was to introduce guns into a Sonic game (or should I say spinoff) then to simply get critizied for it and then include the same crappy game play in the sequel!

Shadow and guns were never going to work well in a relationship!

Sonic was great until loads of crappy characters came along and when it went 3D except for Sonic Adventure which I thought was an amazing game. I would suggest Sonic Team would just make a sequel in similar fashion to what CAPCOM are doing but use the engine which Sonic Team used to make the Mega Drive games and release on the console’s downloadable services!

2. Street Fighter and KIng of Fighters

I haven’t played Street Fighter IV yet but I shall let you know my opinion on this on the weekend as I am going to Battle of Destiny to try it out! Street Fighter has had 3D versions by the name of Street Fighter EX and that hasn’t really worked to be as good as its 2D counterparts. Street Fighter III is one of the best fighters if not games I have played in my life as it looks stunning, has a great fighting system and has such replay value.

SNK’s King of Fighters games have been great! So great that they re-released a fan favourite on the PS2 called King of Fighters ‘98 Ultimate Match. However I have played the 3D version called King of Fighters Maximum Impact and despite being better than Street Fighter EX, I still ain’t happy with the game play. This comes in when I can get my ass kicked still when I am on the floor.

I do prefer 2D fighters to 3D fighters but I usually don’t like the switch which is why I am looking forward to Super Street Fighter II HD Remix and King of Fighters XII which look beautiful.

3. Mega Man

Now I just mentioned about Mega Man 9 which is thankfully going to be in 2D but when Capcom released Mega Man X7 for the PlayStation 2, it was simply the ugly duckling of the series thanks to one of it’s game play modes which was in 3D.

It was a change from the usual Mega Man game play and just didn’t feel right. It felt terrible which led to Capcom making the game still using a 3D Game Engine but retaining the 2D game play in Mega Man X8 which got the thumbs up from me and haven’t gone to 3D ever since! They used the engine in the PSP games Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter and Mega Man: Powered Up and it worked like a charm! I like the 2D but difficult gameplay and I hope it stays that way!

4. Metal Slug

Metal Slug has been a favourite of mine. SNK amaze me with the amazing 2D graphics which pushed their veteran Neo Geo Hardware but it had a game released for PS2 which was in 3D. This wasn’t a very good move and it’s the only 3D version of Metal Slug in existance. Now looking forward to Metal Slug 7 on Nintendo DS.

5. Metroid

To put it quite simply, Super Metroid is one of the best video games available for the Super Nintendo. Even though the 2D outings can be completed in a very short time by masses of players who upload their times and show the world how fast they did, the game rocked and gave Castlevania some inspiration for some of the game play mechanics. Metroid Prime is a good game series but I miss the classic platform game play from the old days and using some of the items such as the Speed Boots which looks lame on the GBA games but fucking ace when you use it on Super Metroid.

I feel that Metroid is better as a platform game rather than a shooter. Metroid has never been the same since Gunpei departed the world.

FEATURE: Street Fighter III: Third Strike

This week, I’m going to cover another game that I have been playing for a long time but only started to play it competitively and that is Street Fighter III: Third Strike.

I first discovered this game in the UK Official Dreamcast Magazine when some of the editors went to E3 and I noticed this sequel to Street Fighter II and thought, “This looks crappy” Those words however I took back and regreted even saying that as I finally got to play it about a year later when the first home version arrived on Dreamcast. I then checked it out and as to my shock, I couldn’t believe how good it was! The animation was jaw dropping but fluid at the same time and I had no idea about the technical depth this game had so I then five minutes later bought it and learnt a valuable lesson,

“Never judge a book by it’s cover”

or in this case, Never judge a computer game by a screenshot. Street Fighter III wasn’t as popular as Street Fighter II because 3D fighters had appeared which gave the game trouble and 2D gaming was on a decline outside Japan. However, the sheer depth of game play in Street Fighter III makes it one of the most popular fighting games of today which is still played often and also in tournaments. Nearly ten years after it’s release and many people are still playing it which you can’t say about most games.

The original Street Fighter III, New Generation came out in Arcades in 1997 and Capcom discarded most of the Street Fighter II roster apart from Ryu and Ken hence the “New Generation” title for the game. It started off with 10 characters [11 if you add Yang who was identical to Yun in NG]. Those who were used to the Alpha series with multiple super combos were rescricted to one in SFIII but it was renamed to Super Art which is a better name and being able to only choose one Super Art made the fight more challenging. Whilst this version of SFIII was good, it didn’t feel complete and towards the end of 1997, 2nd Impact was released and it introduced more characters and new moves such as EX moves which were stronger versions of special moves, Personal Action which allowed the player to improve some attributes when taunting and Grab Defense which involves two fighters attempting to throw at the same time but it is negated into a Grab Defense which separates the two fighters.

2nd Impact saw the return of Gouki [Akuma outside Japan], Urien, Hugo and Yang was given a new movelist different to Yun’s.  However, 1999 was to be the year of which the final and the best Street Fighter III revision was to be released and that revision is called Third Strike: Fight for the Future. This revision brought four new characters into the fray and also brought back a Street Fighter II favorite, Chun Li. 3rd Strike allowed the player to choose who they fought and also introduced a grading system which awarded the player a grade for their fighting skills in 3rd Strike and introduced leaping attacks which were executed by pressing the medium punch and kick. Despite all these technical features which were added into Street Fighter III, there was one technical addition which really made Street Fighter III quite the game it is and that is Parrying.

Parrying [known as blocking in the Japanese Version] allowed gamers to counter moves with a block which wouldn’t cost anything on your stun bar. When using Parrying, it allows the player who parried to counter back quickly against the other opponent giving way for some epic battles. Many professionals at Street Fighter III can do some insane parrying and it is that insane because it is one of the main reasons why parrying wasn’t implemented in Street Fighter IV. The boss fight in 3rd Strike is a lot harder than M.Bison in Street Fighter II because the boss in Street Fighter III is very powerful, so powerful he is banned in tournaments and is a pain in the ass to defeat.

Gill = Asshole

Gill is the boss in Street Fighter III and persues in the SNK path of stupidly powerful boss fights. Gill is Urien only a hell lot faster and broken. He does a lot of damage and has very powerful Super Arts and just when you think you’ve won the fight, check his Super Art Bar at the bottom and make sure it isn’t full. Gill can resurrect and regain his health which is a pisstake considering how powerful he is. Saying all of that, Gill IS Beatable, he is playable in the home version once you complete the game with all characters!

Street Fighter III: Third Strike is one of my favorite games because of the sheer effort Capcom put into developing this game. It’s balanced, looks fantastic, plays very well, has a technical fighting system and is fun to play! I’ve started to play competitively now and I’ve made the transisition from DualShock 2 to Arcade Stick and the transistion isn’t going too well! I am play like an absolute n00b on an Arcade Stick and just to prove it, I got my ass kicked by Justin Wong who simply disposed of me easily!

Fight 1

Fight 2

Street Fighter III made it’s way onto Dreamcast. First with Double Impact which has the first two Street Fighter III revisions and then Third Strike. It then a few years later made it’s way onto the PlayStation 2 and Xbox as part of the Street Fighter Anniversary Edition which enabled Street Fighter III to be played on Xbox Live. Street Fighter III can also be played online via GGPO and 2DF Freeplay with minimal lag provided you have an internet connection and the 3rd Strike ROM. I recommend you do check this game out, despite the graphics being ten years old, it is a fun game and worth checking out! Capcom finally announced a sequel to the series, Street Fighter IV.

Street Fighter IV has gone back to the roots of Street Fighter II and added the EX Moves of SFIII and replaced the Parrying System with the Saving System. SFIV has many of the original SFII characters with 9 new characters [home version]. It plays like Super Turbo despite the 3D graphic engine and is due for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC next year.

FEATURE: Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Today I am going to be covering one of my favorite games of all time. Sonic CD? Why you ask Sonic CD is one of my favorite games of all time? Well, it all started off in 1991 when Sonic Team released the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive. That was happened to be one of the first games I played ever and jeez I never expected this game to get me hooked into Computer Games. Sonic brought something new to the home console and the speed was just kick ass. The music was awesome too and the gameplay is excellent. The sequel Sonic 2 was vastly better than the first game, it added so many new additions which improved on the core gameplay and much more but enough of that, now where going to talk about Sonic CD

Sonic CD was the only Sonic game released for the Mega CD and for the platform, this was the title. Many people didn’t get to try out this game because the Mega CD was very expensive and most of the console’s catalogue in games wasn’t very good and wasn’t enough to justify the purchase of the Mega CD. It had the supposedly Full Motion Video games which were horrible including Nighttrap which caused the console to die and eventually become a thing of the past. However, now that Sonic CD has been released on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube as part of Sonic Gems Collection, it is a great opportuinity to try out this excellent game.

You can pick this up at a cheap price, it is worth picking this up if you wish to check out Sonic CD

Sonic CD is pretty much the same deal in terms of story as the Mega Drive games. Sonic has got to stop Eggman, the simple conflict between this two is back again only this time it takes place on a place called Little Planet. Eggman wishes to control time with the Time Stones and it is up to Sonic to stop him and obtain the Time Stones. This is also the first game which Amy Rose appears before she was given an annoying voice and persued on marrying Sonic who is still underage! [well if you consider U.K law!]

Sonic CD is great. It’s too good! Even now that we have the graphics of the Xbox 360, PS3 and top end graphics cards this game still looks great 15 years after it’s release! [15 years as of Tuesday 23rd September 2008] It has a brilliant soundtrack too but the Japanese soundtrack is easily much better than the American Soundtrack and I don’t care what you say. The Japanese Soundtrack has more of a classic Sonic game feel so the music sounds similar in theme to the other Mega Drive counterparts! It’s my opinion and I am correct!

Why is there two soundtracks? Well this game was developed by a team in Japan so it has a soundtrack but when this game came to America, SEGA America decided to compose a new soundtrack for Sonic CD and it got some controversy over the whole deal. GameFan Magazine gave the Japanese version 100% in a review but when the game was released in America, they gave Sonic CD a lower rating based alone on the soundtrack despite there being no changes to the gameplay whatsoever.

You simply can’t match the awesome Boss music in the Japanese Sonic CD, it easily ranks as the best Boss Music in any Sonic Game, you can listen below!

Robotnik – Sonic CD Japanese

The Robotnik Theme in Sonic CD uses a sample from Xavier’s 1981 Hit single “Work That Sucker to Death” which literally has the line “Work That Sucker to Death COME ON NOW!” in various loops with some added extra nastyness about Robotnik thrown in and you’ve got a kick ass Boss Theme….well done Naofumi Hataya & Masafumi Ogata, that single handingly owned the investment Sega America made in the studio which composed the U.S Soundtrack and the U.S Sonic CD Soundtrack alone…well done =)

UPDATE: The Metallic Madness Future also wins too! It not only sounds like a kick ass re arrange of the original Metallic Madness but you have in this electric voice of Robotnik saying, “Sonic, Dead or Alive….is M-M-M-M-MINE!”

Metallic Madness Future

The other thing with Sonic CD in contrast to other Sonic games at the time that it is very psychedelic. It wasn’t no tripping on acid visuals but the colour in this game is in your face, very bright and vibrant. This made the levels look fantastic and the artists for this game clearly took advantage of the expanded colour palette which the Mega CD had taken on board in regards to the Mega Drive’s colour limitations but this is why the game looks so good 15 years after the game’s original release.

The one unique feature of this particular Sonic outing was Time Travel. This is what made the game excellent. You had the ability to go past Time Posts and speed as fast as you can into the Past or Future. When you made your journey in time, you would either find the Zone peaceful before Eggman took control of the area or succumb to Eggman’s terror with which ever time zone you chose a remix of the original Zone music would be played whilst in the Time Zone. This game play mechanic provided tons of levels, possibly the most levels in any Sonic game and the levels were huge! They are much bigger in this game and they also have exploration in mind for the levels taking longer in order to complete a zone.

My favorite level from the game is Collision Chaos as it has some pretty good music and Stardust Speedway! This great game play mechanic hasn’t appeared in any other Sonic game which is a shame as it makes this game so amazing.

The Special Stage is new and required you to destroy UFO’s in order to get the Time Stones which are pretty much the Chaos Emeralds of Little Planet. Like all Sonic games, it is criticial to obtain all of them in order to get the Good Ending which in Sonic CD’s case is just an animated extra showing flowers!

This game also saw the introduction of Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic is a robot designed to be superior to Sonic and from a design point of view, it works. It’s a great design and the red eyes make Metal Sonic look scary. Sonic would first see Metal Sonic in Collision Chaos when Metal Sonic kidnaps Amy and they would finally met in Stardust Speedway in a race which Sonic won and defeated Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic including Amy would develop deeper as characters and evolve in later Sonic games but this is the game they made their debut in.

Sonic CD was also released on PC but is only playable on Windows 95, 98 and Me. If you wish to play it on XP or Vista, there is a patch available but it is simply easier just to buy Sonic Gems Collection or use a Mega CD emulator in order to play Sonic CD.

I first played this game back in 2003 when my twin brother bought the very rare Multi-Mega and happened to get Sonic CD too. This was a time when Sonic went 3D and the games simply wern’t delivering the same magic as it’s 2D counterparts. I would easily recommend this game to anyone now that it is easily obtainable and playable for an affordable price.

FEATURE: Dreamcast is 9 Years Old Today (in America)

On this day nine years ago SEGA released the Dreamcast and although it had a short life on the video game market, this console had some amazing games for it’s time and is one of my favorite consoles of all time up with the Super Nintendo. When I got this console on Christmas 1999, it was the best Christmas ever! It was the last time I would be in the shoes of a kid on Christmas Morning when he got what he asked Santa for Christmas. I’m not saying I’m a scrooge at Christmas now but it is a fond memory of my childhood and probably one of the best days of my life. From that day on, my gaming experience would change forever and expand onto different genres and gaming experiences all thanks to this console.

The SEGA Dreamcast when first released had a pretty good line up and mainly better than the consoles released recently. Sonic Adventure was Sonic’s first 3D outing (Sonic 3D doesn’t count) on a SEGA Platform and it is up there with the great Sonic Games of the Mega Drive. It had all the Sonic characters revamped with awesome designs for the newest generation of gaming at the time and I gotta say when I was 11, I really badly wanted a SEGA Dreamcast. SEGA also had similar hardware in the form of NAOMI which was for the arcade market so the games that were usually made on the NAOMI would find their eventual release on Dreamcast.

That was probably the best thing about Dreamcast! Games such as Virtua Fighter 3tb, Capcom VS SNK, Soul Calibur, Sega Rally 2, Guilty Gear, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Power Stone,  Street Fighter III are all fucking amazing arcade titles and found their way onto the Dreamcast. Arcade Games are one of my favorite game genres as well as platform titles such as Sonic where all on this platform. Some say the console was released too early but there was a number of things which caused the Dreamcast to eventually exit from the market as well as SEGA dropping from the hardware market and becoming software developers for other platforms.

You’d think Sonic on Nintendo?! When you were probably really young in the 90’s and remember the sweet 16 bit war between Mega Drive and Super SNES, you would never think Sonic and Mario would ever be in the same game a decade later…well it’s happened with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and Super Smash Bros. Brawl! In this entry to my blog, I am going to highlight the best things about Dreamcast and also reasons why the Dreamcast made an early exit.

Good Points

1. Dreamcast had online gaming!

Sega was one of the first consoles worldwide to make a leap into online gaming. Everyone is well aware of Xbox Live and PLAYSTATION Network but SEGA’s Dreamcast had online gaming and one of the first to include an internet browser. Phantasy Star Online was one of the Dreamcast’s best games and enabling you to co-operate online in a party was good times indeed. However, not many games outside Japan supported this and there were pricing issues in several countries as Broadband wasn’t around yet so Dial Up cost money but eventually a Broadband Adaptor did come out for Dreamcast….in Japan which is very difficult to find if your a Dreamcast fan but SEGA do have something to be proud of…they were one of the first.

2. Many Arcade Ports to Dreamcast

Awesome game until you fight the final boss

Yes it is true, Dreamcast is literally THE Home Arcade Machine! The Dreamcast had a fairly decent official Arcade Controller and was just the start of the amazing flow of games to come. The Dreamcast being the most powerful console at the time and NAOMI packing similar specs, Dreamcast had many arcade releases such as Street Fighter III, Power Stone, SEGA Rally 2, Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, Samba De Amigo, Ferrari F355 Challenge and much more where that came from! The best thing about half these releases? They’re multiplayer! So everyone can relive the old times and kick some ass on Street Fighter……awesome! Even better was when they got released on Dreamcast, developers threw on tons of extras to feed the games replay value. That is undoubtably a sweet offering!

3. The Visual Memory Unit

SEGA provided it's Tamagotchi fix for it's fans

One of the unique features of the Dreamcast was it’s memory card. The VMU was pretty badass for it’s time and allowed gamers to experience unique mini games downloaded onto the VMU from retail games. The most notable game was Chao Garden from the Sonic Adventure games which gave the VMU a Tamagotchi style game which plays a major part in earning all emblems in the Adventure games. The only problem with this device is that it follows suit of the SEGA Game Gear with it’s battery life….it doesn’t last very long but you don’t have to change the battery if you don’t mind the VMU beeping everytime it’s inserted into the controller!

4. The awesome accessories

The SEGA Dreamcast had some pretty amazing kick ass accessories which were fucking awesome before the Wii came along with motion sensing. They released the Fishing Rod, odd as it seemed it was new and pretty awesome at the time. You could also use it on Soul Calibur and be a button bashing cheap ass and use the Rod! SEGA also ported Samba De Amigo to the Dreamcast with Maracas. You could say it was the Rock Band of the last generation as it was sadly were expensive but if the Dreamcast had a Hard Drive and a fully structured online service, they could have improved on that by releasing new content for the game.

Who ever saw this coming?? Mystic Meg?

There were more controllers where that came from but the one accessory that stands out is the VGA cable. Not many Dreamcast owners are aware of the benefits of VGA output. When used, the games looks stunning, sharper, more colourful, vivid but overall just brilliant. It wasn’t like the crappy third party VGA cables for PS2, Xbox or Gamecube at all! A fair amount of the Dreamcast’s software supported VGA output so it was designed to run in VGA and if you haven’t seen Dreamcast in VGA, get the cable and see the results for yourself.

5. Fanbase

The Dreamcast still has a respectable fanbase. Even after its demise in the video game market, developers were still releasing software for the Dreamcast in Japan for a few years before SEGA killed the GD-ROM. The Dreamcast also has a homebrew community which see emulators for older consoles and completly new projects for those who fancy showing their talents on Dreamcast.

Bad Times

Now that I’ve covered some of the positives of the Dreamcast, here is why it didn’t do so well in the market.

1. No support from EA

Most hardcore gamers criticize EA for some of the games they release. However, many people buy EA’s games such as FIFA, Madden, The Sims and many more games from Electronic Arts. The SEGA Dreamcast didn’t have backing from EA due to lackluster sales of EA’s Saturn titles which was a big blow for SEGA but their NBA 2K from Visual Concepts (Now 2K Sports) did fairly well against NBA Live but EA not supporting the Dreamcast was one of the console’s main weaknesses.

2. PSone Ports

Many ports such as Pro Skater didn't convince gamers to jump to the Dreamcast Ship

The SEGA Dreamcast does have fancy graphics and some real gems of exclusives for the platform but many of the games which were released on Dreamcast outside Japan were PlayStation games but with a fancy facelift….thats it. The PSone was a big seller and has masses of games at cheaper prices so why would you spend more money on a new console and for the same game with prettier graphics….doesn’t make any sense does it? If they had exclusive content then that may have pushed the console forward but sadly developers released a lot of rehashed updated crap which didn’t help.

3. Piracy

SEGA’s Dreamcast used a new format called GD-ROM. It stored more data than a CD ROM at the time but DVD was just around the corner so I didn’t think it was wise of SEGA to use GD-ROM. Whilst the Dreamcast was the only thing on the planet other than devkits that could read GD-ROMS, it was eventually cracked and the worst bit was that hackers managed to compress data by removing unneccessary data and boot pirate copys on CD-Rs WITHOUT a Modchip which was a big blow for Dreamcast as the console was so amazing.

4. SEGA

In the 90’s, SEGA released the Mega Drive (European Territory), Mega CD, 32X, Multi Mega, Saturn and Dreamcast all within a decade! Thats six consoles (well 2 addons and 4 consoles if you wanna be picky). SEGA had damaged their image by consistantly releasing new hardware which was expensive for the consumer and no offense….the addons were crap…apart from a few gems…but there was way too many consoles released from SEGA and that was some serious damage done. Consumers simply wern’t prepared to give money for platforms which wouldn’t last long and SEGA were facing serious competition from the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 which didn’t help the 32X or the Saturn.

Despite this being a fucking great game, it really didn

The Saturn however did well in Japan with a kickass marketing campaign which involved Segata Sanshiro beating up civilians including kids if they didn’t play Sega Saturn! I wasn’t aware of the Japanese market until I started importing but watching Segata Sanshiro had me in stitches. The marketing for the Dreamcast outside Japan wasn’t very impressive which really didn’t help the console move units which is a real shame!

5. Competition from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

You could say SEGA released the Dreamcast too early but Sony released the PlayStation 2 in 2000 which played a part in SEGA’s exit. It sold out in Japan very quickly the PS2 did but it also was a DVD player which was at the time one of the main selling points of the PS2. The PS2 was in the same situation as the PS3 was when released….it had shit games which were awful until eventually the big exclusives came along and sold the PS2 to masses of homes worldwide. Not only that, Nintendo announced the Gamecube and Microsoft entered the video game industry with XBOX which lead SEGA to eventually stop making Dreamcast & consoles but switch to developing hardware for the consoles which put them where they are today.

My favourite games on the Dreamcast are

• Street Fighter III 3rd Strike – this game is fantastic and set the standard for 2D fighters! This game was released when 3D fighters and 3D games invaded consoles and arcades but CAPCOM demostrated that you can have an amazing game which plays good, looks fantastic and still has many people playing this game almost ten years after its original release.
• Toy Commander – probably not as seen as most people’s favorite game but as one of the first games I got for the Dreamcast, I was just amazed by the creativity of this game. You had Andy who got new toys and neglected his childhood toy Huggy Bear. He would then take control of the whole house and you had to stop him…..with toys! Although the storyline is a part of Andy’s Dream, I throughly enjoyed this game and I feel it deserves a re-release as a download on PLAYSTATION Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade with the re-releases taking advantage of online services.
• Sonic Adventure – Sonic after SEGA went to software development became pretty mediocre but Sonic Adventure which is the best selling game on Dreamcast went on to sell 2.5 million copies worldwide and do you know why? This is the only Sonic Game in 3D you can play as of now which you can enjoy! Fast gameplay, different gameplay elements with the other Sonic characters and a great storyline makes this one of the finest Sonic games to date.
• SoulCalibur – I had played Soul Edge on PlayStation and couldn’t get into 3D fighters until this gem came along. For the home version, it included a Misson Battle mode, looked one of the best games graphically at the time of release and improved on many aspects of the arcade version. It also included in the Museum fan made art which was very good too. It is the only Dreamcast game in Famistu to get the perfect 40/40 score which lead to the game selling 1.3 million copies worldwide.
• Capcom VS SNK – It is another fighting game BUT this was the game that got me into fighting games on a regular basis and I played to death which caused the disc to be so stratched it was beyond repair. This game added two popular developer’s characters and threw them in together for one of the best Dreamcast fighters to date. It has long replay value, had unlockable music, art, characters and some pretty extras which made this a contender for the best fighting game on Dreamcast.
• Jet Set Radio – This game introduced me to Cell Shading which I think despite developers giving realistic looks for the lastest games if executed well, it looks fantastic but that wasn’t just why Jet Set Radio was good. Allowing the player to invade the city and spray graffiti everywhere….priceless! It also sported a fantastic soundtrack spanning different genres. You could also make your own graffiti and then use it later in game! I love this game and the sequel on Xbox is a great game too! If you ever get the chance, check it out!

Sorry for the masses of writing but I had to highlight the Dreamcast’s Highs and Lows as despite what happened to SEGA’s 128 bit console, it is a favorite of mine and I still play mine today. It has masses of good games and has a great fanbase who still play Dreamcast today. Games on eBay for Dreamcast have also shot up as the console is collectable and again as said, has a fantastic library of games available! So Happy 9th Birthday Dreamcast! It will be technically 10 years old in 79 days from today in Japan that is! Thanks for the memories SEGA!

Feature: PS3 firmware wishes

With the 2.40 update, it silenced the cries and request of fanboys and PS3 owners everywhere by implementing the Cross Media Bar within game play, they also for good measure threw in trophies which then allowed for the fanboys to cry at Sony again asking for them to patch loads of games.

The PS3 is starting to look the shit than shit which it was when first released back in 2006 but the PS3 needs more features to really kick off. The PlayStation Portable is also an amazing device. The recent addition of Skype has really made it quite an awesome package but I feel that Sony are concentrating their firmware efforts more on the PS3 than the PSP which is quite sad as the PSP could do with some amazing stuff too but for this post I am going to cover the PLAYSTATION3.

1. Game Collection – background downloads Game Updates

If you have Motorstorm, Resistance or Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, you would have noticed that updating the game enhances the experience but it comes at a price! Unfortunately, you have to play the waiting game! Which no one likes! So to make life and PS3 awesome and free from annoying waiting times, here is the idea in form of “Game Collection”

[Game Collection] is accessible in the Home Menu under [Game] and when you play a PLAYSTATION 3 Game, it stores the game in your “Game Collection”. This feature will make use of the online features and will detect automatically if there is a new update for your game. So if you have Warhawk, your current version is 1.40 and you log onto the PSN, Game Collection will notify the user of a new Update for their game and ask them if they wish to download it.

Quote:

e.g. “A new update is available for the following Game, “Warhawk v1.20, Go to [Game Collection] then [Download Update] to proceed]”

When the user proceeds with the update, the user has the option to background download the update but cannot play the game in which is being updated by [Game Collection] until the download and installation of the update is completed.

This is a feature in which will make the lifes of PS3 owners less fustrating and better as no one wishes to look at a bar slowly edging its way to completion. Background Downloading should also apply for Firmware Updates too.

2. Multiple Login into the PLAYSTATION NETWORK

I was reading a Warhawk FAQ on the PlayStation Blog and I was gutted to find out I couldn’t log in with my brother at the same time but only have him as a guest. We are both looking forward to Warhawk’s release and its annoying that only one user can log in.

XBOX Live allows 4 users on the XBOX 360 to log into the Live Service and allow them to play online in a party together. Its a great way for friends to gather up, kick some ass and have a good time. I would like Sony to allow multiple usernames which have PSN access on the same PS3 to be allowed to log in at the same time, with Controller 1 as the primary XMB background but allowing them to press a button on the controller to read their messages, invites etc.

Within the XMB when multiple users are logged in, the friends Category within the home menu mulitplies depending on users logged in at the same time. They will have the username under the Friends Icon or could have the number of the controller under Friends to identify the different users logged in.

With the recent addition of trophies, it would absolute sense in including this feature. It would improve the PSN, expand it with friends and family and besides, who really wants to collect a tough trophy multiple times especially any future local multiplayer trophies like in PixelJunk Eden.

3. PLAYSTATION Passport

XBOX LIVE allows 4 users on the XBOX 360 to log into the Live Service and allow them to play online in a party together. Its a great way for friends to gather up, kick some ass and have a good time. Another feature with the XBOX 360 is the ability to take your Gamertag onto a memory card, unfortunetly for PS3 you can’t do so but if Sony created a Passport Mode for PSN Users, it would allow PSN usernames to be stored on USB, Memory Stick or other removable storage media to be used on a friend’s PS3 without any fuss!

The PLAYSTATION Passport would allow PSN usernames to be copied onto a removable storage but also disable the user from accessing the PLAYSTATION Store if the Username is a Passport version on a foreign PLAYSTATION 3 (not different region PS3 but origin of Username). This saves time and effort into creating a username on a friend’s PS3 if you wish to multiple login to the PLAYSTATION Network and play together.

This again would be an awesome feature and a great way for groups of people using the same PLAYSTATION 3 to go online and work together in a team to prove themselves, please consider this feature.

4. Power Saving Features

The PS3 uses a lot of electricity and that is no lie! It is also capable of making the electricity bill quite expensive for the bill payer. Whilst the PLAYSTATION 3 has power saving features in forms of screensavers and the timers in Folding@Home, it needs the following power saving features to increase system life and for convenience as well. The PSP has Power Saving abilities so it wouldn’t be difficult to add for the PS3 right?

• Power off after Background Downloading has completed
• Power off Controllers after inactive use
• Power Off after inactive use in Home Menu
• On Low Power, download Firmware Updates and Background Downloads

5. Background Image for PlayStation / PlayStation 2 playback

If you have an HDTV and playing the good old library, you will notice that the screen has borders. Not a fan of borders? Well this feature will do the same job as other images do in other classics available on PSN and XBLA. Choose an image from [Photo] from the HDD or other storage and it will replace the borders or outside the game picture with an image that has been selected, giving it the Super Game Boy or Classic Games Homage feel to it.

Example

PLAYSTATION 3 Upscaler with Borders during PlayStation 2 Playback

PLAYSTATION 3 Upscaler with custom background from HDD during PlayStation Software playback (Tekken 3)

PLAYSTATION 3 Upscaler with custom background from HDD during PlayStation 2 Software playback (Guilty Gear XX Accent Core)

6. Private VOIP

One of my favourite features of XBOX Live is Private Chat. It allows you and a friend to chat whilst doing different tasks on your console at the same time. The PS3 should have this feature as it is a real gem to be able to chat whilst playing different games.

7. Date and Time fix

Not really a massive request but really for the sake of things being less annoying. When you press the PS Home button whilst game play, the XMB appears but for a few seconds the battery and controller status covers the time and its kinda annoying but would be great if it was fixed.

8. Skype and RSS Support

Again, its on the PSP and it would be cool to merge PSP and PS3 gamers together if the PS3 has Skype. RSS Support would also be a bonus

9. Background Installations

This is something I cannot understand with the PS3. When you download DLC, Demos or Games, they have to be installed?? Why make the pain worse for the player to wait ages for something to install! The 360 and Wii doesn’t have this problem so why is it only for PS3. The PS3 has some good exclusive content but this is far from a good exclusive to brag about! It should be either done in the background as part of the download process.

10. PSP playback on PS3

Although this would probably never happen but could you imagine having the PSP being connected to the PS3 to function like the Super Game Boy? How sweet would that be!?  You could have the game being played at it’s native resolution or bigger and have a PSP console surrounding the game screen on your TV! Imagine playing Patapon on a PS3!

It would be awesome if it ever happened! Maybe they could implement this feature for PSP Demos which are available on the PLAYSTATION Store to tease and convince people that they should buy a PSP!

There you go, here is some suggestions on what would make the PS3 kick even more ass!

Feature: Hideo Kojima @ HMV Oxford Street 02.06.2008

Last Monday, I met the man behind the Metal Gear Series Hideo Kojima. Visiting various cities around the world to celebrate the release of PLAYSTATION©3 exclusive METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS, Hideo Kojima, Lead Artist Yoji Shinkawa and Motion Capture & seiyu for Raging Raven in the Japanese Version Kimi Kikuchi.

Hideo Kojima

In order to meet them and get their autographs, you had to be down at HMV for 9am in order to get one of the 300 Limited Edition Sleeves and once they were gone, they’re all gone so if you didn’t have one then no Kojima. Luckily for me, I left at 3am and managed to get down to Oxford Street for 6am where there was a lengthy queue already but thankfully a friend counted and we looked fine so that was a relief. Add a £5 pre order for the LE Sleeve and then I had to go back at 12pm to meet them.

Yoji Shinkawa

A few hours later, needing the toilet really bad I waited again and eventually meet Kojima, Shinkawa and Kikuchi. Although I don’t know any Japanese whatsoever, it was a very good occasion and I was very happy to have met them. I couldn’t believe that Kojima is 44 years old! He doesn’t look 44 whatsoever!!

Kimi Kikuchi

Shinkawa made the Sleeve even more unique for everyone who got one by drawing a caricature of everyone on their sleeves and that put a huge smile on my face once I noticed! Meeting them three made my day and I lost a day’s sleep for it. It is now going in a frame!

Here are some photos of the Sleeve I got last Monday! I am so happy to have this Collector’s Item and I look forward to playing METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS in a weeks time!