PlanetDreamcast | Community | Mailbag | 5/26/00

Community - Mailbag 5/26/00 - Don't forget to Salt the Fries. - by BenT Hey. Some really sad news this week, even if it's not directly Dreamcast-related. As reported on GameSpy.com, Looking Glass Studios has closed their doors. Looking Glass was responsible for some of the best and most revolutionary games in PC history, including Ultima Underworld 1+2, System Shock, Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, the Flight Unlimited series, and Thief 1+2. Great games all. In fact, just last week System Shock was inducted into the GameSpy Hall of Fame by yours truly. This was really a shock (pardon the pun) to everyone, and we're sad to seem them go. At least System Shock 2 is headed to the Dreamcast, courtesy of Vatical. Let's hope it does Looking Glass' considerable legacy justice. Anyway, on a more upbeat note, tonight is Movie Night at GameSpy, the first in a while. The film? Caddyshack. No, I don't know why either. Frags and Radium are nuts about it though, so whatever. I'll try not to get my hopes up. So, excuse me if I'm a bit terse, but I'm writing under deadline here. :) So um... ahoy, letters! To start, we got a lot of feedback on Subskin's Rainbow Six review (which I personally thought was pretty accurate)... From: Paul Silverstein Subject: Rainbox Six Review I do not believe this game is bad enough for a 3.5 rating. I have the PC edition and love it. I have been running the Dreamcast version in my store, and after hours of playing around with it a little at a time, many of us have become quite good at the controls. I agree, they are insane at first. But once you stop your griping, and get on with playing with what you have, you realize the game is still a lot of fun. Not as good as the PC version, but damn close...I'd give it about a 70%. Paul Silverstein It wasn't JUST the controls... the whole game felt rather half-assed, IMO. From: WHOAMI? Subject: rainbow six great game!for real gamers like me! YOU gave rainbow six a 3.5 out of 10 you are one dumb idiot.I'm never coming back to this dumb web site,you must really suck in games.did you know you could change all the weapons and items with you keyboard!,The control is perfect you grt use to it,i'm a pro with it,no prob.stop writing reviews because you don't know much about great games,Look at ign and totalvideogames.com/they gave it a good review.I know that your mad that it took so long to come out,but your pethetic man! Graphics are good but there not 128 bits,remember it's a direct pc port!Anyways I love the game and I also love the pc game,all my friends love the game.3.5 you must be really a bad gamer,it's so easy and the control is perfect,it takes a fiew days to know by hard,but I know it all now.PLEASE QUIT WRITING REVIEWS I give it a 8.5 out of 10 you need to be a good gamer to plan this great game,it's no kidy game...DUMBO! I'm speechless. That last insult is priceless. :) From: Ken Walser Subject: Rainbow Six Review Note, you can change the movement controls so that Y moves forward and A back in the OPTIONS screen. It took me a while of playing before I realized this and I totally agree the default is idiotic. Ken Walser Bottomline Technologies That is true. From: Scoo Guy Subject: caca I think you're just mad because you don't know how to play the game. And I also think you're mad because you lick em (which your mommy taught you). Surgery? What kind? Did you get your testies taken out? Humping too many animals? What kind of a sick bastard are you? Maybe its not the game thats slow, but you, yeah, you might be a retard. You never know, but everyone around you does. I think that you're just an old wrinkled man or woman. Woman?!? Hey baby, hows it goin? Ewwwwwwww!!!! Your boobs are wrinkled!!! And saggy!!!! Get away!! If I throw a stick, will you leave? Anyway. Back to insulting you. I think you are the worst critic. The game may have some problems like: The blood, it looks like spray paint, the voices don't really bother me, on pc it doesn't take a long time to load either, when you come around the corner you die, but you have to be quick, which, you aren't. That makes the game MORE exciting. The actions actually HELP the players. Wouldn't it be stupid if you were disarming a bomb or security and it didn't show your progress? You're disarming a bomb, you think you're finished, then BOOM!!!!! You're dead because you thought you were finished, but you had a few seconds. DAMN!!! Damn apes! Damn the day, damn the night. I don't brag, damn i'm good. Leroy Brown, fattest man in the whole DAMN town. Now this I can almost appreciate. Very creative. 7/10. From: Andy Sinesio Subject: DC Content on your site Hi - I'm a big GameSpy network freak (PlanetUnreal, PlanetDreamcast, PlanetQuake.. etc..) and honestly the one and only thing your site is missing is.... reader ratings of games. Sure, the reviews are great, but it would be quite a bit better if each game had a little "rate this game" box, and users could rate it, give comments, whatever (not unlike http://cgi.resourceindex.com/). Honestly, having one person write a full, in-depth review is great; but often people disagree. For instance, I think Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage is one of the most fun, engrossing, and visually stunning games out there right now for DC and I hated 4x4 Thunder, which is just boring (which would seem to go against your reviews.) You can control access by making people register, and then, of course, you can make them fill out surveys in order to register and you can get a good handle on the exact demographic your site caters to. You'll also get a full list of email addresses that you could sell to the local spam company for a little dough on the side. (just kidding!) It would make your reviews infinitely more accurate. Or, at the very least, you could have every staff member rate a game in the box at the bottom, as opposed to just one person.... that way you won't need to set up extensive CGI scripts and the like. Anyway, I still love your site, so keep up the good work! This was actually talked about when PDC was first being built, but the infrastructure and resources to implement it weren't available at the time. Whenever we get around to doing PDC 2.0, rest assured that your suggestion will be considered. From: Leslie Subject: Summary of games? Got a little suggestion.... I'm fairly new to console games and just myself a dreamcast after having spent several years on PC games. Anyway, I thought it would be nice if you guys could include the top 3 games in each genre.... I like playing all sorts of games and find it difficult sifting through all you reviews to look for my ideal games. Having said that, your site is now permanently bookmarked in my computer.... Thanks. Leslie Tay You know what? We thought exactly the same thing. I'm currently in the process of creating this new section (which will replace Top Ten), so just wait a few more days and your wish will be granted. :) From: Matthew Minarik Subject: (no subject) Quick question for you guys, as I know you'll have the answers. A guy on Ebay is selling Evolution 2 by Ubisoft. And from all my research, I cannot even find that it was realeased. He says they are sealed and the amercian version. I see that retail sites like Ebworld and gamestop have them to be pre-ordered for July. Any ideas? http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330677608 And keep up the good work on the site. It's my favorite dreamcast site out there. M&M Regardless of whether or not they have it (which is highly suspect in itself), I make it a point to never, ever do a transaction with anyone who has zero or negative feedback. I have good reason -- back in my early eBay days, I was ripped off to the tune of $270. Ouch. Anyway, Evolution 2 is headed our way in July, so you don't have long to wait. From: Morgywn Subject: Big trouble in little Dreamcast... I have here a Dreamcast ( DU964137002 ), and am having trouble connecting to my T.V. Do I need a VMU? all i have is a contoller, power cord, the main unit, PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!! You need an A/V cable or RF Switch to connect the system to your television. Inquire at your local software store. From: Daffy Duck Subject: Concerns on Games I was wondering if the DC was coming out with a boxing game like "Knockout Kings?" A more realistic game, yeah Ready 2 Rumble is fun, but is there going to be a better one? And will there be a bowling game? Do you know of other games that DC will be releasing? Thanks, Ducc AFAIK, there are none planned on either count, so far. That's not counting Bleem!cast, of course. :) From: Jeff Subject: Hidden n Dangerous About three months ago I read an article about Hidden n Dangerous coming to Dreamcast. I haven't heard anything about it since. I wanted to know if it's still being programmed, in the works, or what? Are the camera views being fixed, and the graphics being improved? The PC version had a lot of problems and I wondered if the Dreamcast version will be better. Thanks for any info. Jeff We haven't heard anything about it since pre-launch. Was it quietly canceled? We'll see if we can find anything on it. From: OBayBee Subject: Soul Calibur VMU I am getting quite angry now, why the hell is it when every time i get all the characters and weapons and special stuff in that game it erases!!! This is the most annoying thing ever. I have had to beat the game 10 times to only be erased every time in a month or so. Is there something wrong with my VMU or something wrong with my Soul Calibar game???? I DUNNO!! HELP!!! Try another VMU. Seriously. From: Rosco Pico Subject: Concerning Tony Hawk for DC Just one simple question i called software etc and babbagges and the told me that Tony Hawk for DC got pushed back to june 4 or 6 but u guys are the most accueatre source for releases and info much mrops too all u guys but if ull a=have time can ull ge =t back to me cause if it did get pushed that would kill me ii have n oplaystation just pc and dc so the sooner it comes out better. Thanks planetdreamcast ull r the BESTTTTTTTTTTT NO QUESTION!!!!!! Tony Hawk has been out for a few days now. You can look forward to our review shortly. From: Todd Myrick Subject: any word on the NHL2K1 I hope that Sega reassigns the project to a better team. Todd Yep. Hopefully it won't be a weak link in the sports lineup this year. From: Tallant Subject: Dino Crisis Well let me start off by saying I love your site and you guys are doing a woderful job. I read recently that Dino Crisis was coming to the Dreamcast, and I was wondering if you can confirm that for me! Thanks Tallant I'm afraid that was just a rumor. Dino Crisis 2 is headed to PSX, FWIW. From: fingas2 Subject: John Yoon's letter about Japanese cars Okay, I wasn't going to get involved in the Planet Dreamcast mailbag any time soon (not having a DC yet is a bit of an obstacle), but Mr. Yoon's comments on Japanese cars forced me into action! Part of the whole problem with the North American car market is that we lust after Mustangs, Corvettes, 911s, etc. not because of their merits, but because that's ALL we ever see! Complaining that Sega GT is dominated by nothing but "rice-rockets" (now there's something the Japanese would love to hear) only shows that you don't really know what they can do. Yes, not too many people fall asleep with visions of Skylines dancing in their heads, but that's only because you can't get one in the US without paying through the nose ($85K). But I wouldn't say that this thing isn't as much of an object of desire as some European maker's car. There's a good reason why a Skyline is one of the top cars in Gran Turismo 1/2 and Sega GT - it's because many people consider it one the best-handling performance cars on the planet. 0-60 in a bit over 5 seconds is nothing to sneeze at. And how many other exotics do you know have a colour LCD screen which tells you more about your car than you'd probably ever need to know? It's not just the Skyline, either, it's practically every car made in Japan that isn't a cheap economy car, like the Impreza or Lancer Evo. Many of these cars have RWD or AWD. And since there's a horsepower limit in Japan (about the Skyline's point), these companies actually have to - gasp! - improve the guts of the engines, instead of just adding more bulk. That tiny "underpowered" car can beat out most of its rivals just because it isn't hauling a huge load. Okay, this is getting too long, so I'll cut it off now. Just one last question for those who think they need more Western cars in racers: do you really think you need a couple extra makers like Ferrari or Porsche to make for a good racing game... or can you accept a driving game for what it has and how it actually plays? This is all Greek to me. From: Cyber Freaky Subject: Cable modem solutions Hey you guys. I got me a cable modem the same day dreamcast came out. I bought the dreamcast the same day it came out. I lost dial up 2 days after I got it. So I was wondering if you can tell me how to hook my dreamcast to the internet through my cable modem. Cyberfreaky (your new favorite site loyalist) You'll need to wait for the adapter that Sega will be releasing this fall. A Sega rep whom I spoke to at E3 assured me that the device will support both Cable and DSL, but I got the feeling she was in a little over her head. All will be known when Sega makes official announcements about these peripherals. From: Jeff Subject: The PS2 swarm... and something that has bugged my mind The Black box is coming to Black box is coming! don't play till you see the crap of the games! hehe, there's a lot to compare between these two great moments in history. There's a Huge multi-national corporation that owns many other sub companies, and there's the "smaller", "weaker" company that is fighting for justice. ok, so Sega wasn't at one time owned by Sony, nor were they ever being oppressed by taxes and religon, but cut me some slack. When Sony releases their super weapon of consoles, it will be a hard after-math. So many people brainwashed to sony's will. But some of us are still individualized, and we like it. We know the truth behind all corparations (and yes, I mean sega too). They are all fighting each other, its the American, (and Uk-eian..err..yeah..) way. But sega is a strong company, and they will survive. they will fight on. But everything Dreamcast has, Sony has a way to make people believe that it is all crap. The irony in that is amazing. here is an easy-to-port system with many arcade titles just waiting to be polished and get a new engine (im talking about dreamcast). And then there is this Slightly technologically advanced Harder-to-program-than-saturn System with not many bright titles out, and not many i've seen coming out. only GT 2000 really gets my attention. Sega has many qaulity games coming out. A list, Ahem: Phantasy Star, Half-Life, Grandia II, Sega GT, MSR, QIII, Sonic adventure 2, Eternal Arcadia...ext. Anyways what Im trying to say is I think Dreamcast will survive this ironically "superior" machine. here's something funny, Sony uses Propoganda and publicity to get the public's liking, and that sounds eerily similar to Hitlor's techniques to cover up what happened in the holocaust. Im not saying that Sony is secretly killing all of the people who like sega... . . . uh anyways, I hope History repeats it's self (read the first paragraph if you forgot). First half done... J/k Actually, one last thing, =). I was cruisin IGN's territory and saw E3 vids of MSR and Sega GT combined. (you might have too) just a little thing I noticed, but Metallica's song "fuel" was playing in the background with no words. I was just wondering if there was any chance that Sega or Bizarre (i think thats whos making MSR) got a deal with metallica and if Fuel is gonna be a sound track...I know that its a slim chance, but it would be cool, dont you think? "give me Fuel Give me Fire give me that which I desire!" sorry. so, in case you just skipped reading what I took A half hour out of my LA project time to write,(i understand), summary: Me think DC succeed. Thanks for your time, PS. this letter never stops does it. just wanted to know how old do you think I am? Based on my writing quality I mean. Oh yeah and One other thing... J/k No idea about Metallica. I think they're too busy making fools of themselves in the MP3 arena to record for a game... From: Andy Sinesio Subject: Sony, Sega, Momentum "Sony Juggernaut". Hah. Sure, the PS2 may have superior graphics power. Sure, it may come with a DVD player. Sure, it may have Firewire and USB. It doesn't have any good games, though; aside from Tekken Tag. Not to mention that -every- PS2 game has a serious problem with anti-aliasing. Sony's online strategy is completely backwards (first broadband, now modem? wtf?) and the first series of games just doesn't seem impressive to me. The only one worth it is Oni, and I can play that on my Mac. Madden 2001 should be good, but NFL2k1 looks as good if not better. Dreamcast has no anti-aliasing issues, a big library of awesome games (Soul Calibur puts TTT to shame, Crazy Taxi), a better online strategy (modems -now-), 1/2 the price, and, oh, did I mention the games? Sony will carve a market for the PS2, but it will take awhile (just like it did for DC). Sure, there'll be lots of people with PS2's, but when I have to wait until spring 2001 for Gran Turismo 2000 and FALL 2001 for MGS2, there really isn't a reason to dump my dreamcast! It's good to see you guys are so optimistic. It helps to counter-balance me, a natural pessimist. :) I do think the Dreamcast will survive well into the PS2's release, though. At E3 Sega proved that it has one of its strongest and most diverse line-ups ever, a crucial weapon in the upcoming "war". From: Pete Subject: any word on the NHL2K1 I just got the best package ever......a slightly used DC, 2 controllers, a MadCatz fighter pad, 2 VMU's, 6 ft. extension cord for the controller, 8 kickass games and 2 store-credit builders, and....the carrying case. Mother LOAD. All for $500 on an eBay auction. Now with that out of the way, here is my little thought's on this whole PS2 vs. DC debate: A good friend of mine is trying to convince me that PS2 is the Second Coming of Jebus or something. I tell him that PS2's 1st gen. titles basically suck, he says they will be better in the future. He may be right, but who buys such an expensive system because "it will get better"? A fool. That's like buying fresh cheese because in 10 years, it will be delicious. I tell him that Sony was completely blown away at E3. He tells me that E3 does not matter at all. Can you make any sense of that? E3 is THE gaming conference, which makes or breaks a company's year with their products. Sega will do alot better because of their stellar performance at the holy conference. Although the normal media won't bat an eye at it, the gaming community will. Hell, it will turn heads. More developer's will probably walk to the DC's direction now, seeing as how there are titles in the works that really show off what Sega and the DC are capable of. And so will gaming news sites. The casual gamer may not pay attention to say, Penny-Arcade's banter on games, but they will go onto something like DailyRadar, or some gaming site they may have heard of, and when they see what glowing reviews something like the DC gets with it's next gen. of titles, and then read what PS2 is doing in it's first gen., take one wild guess at what they will end up choosing. I tell him that PS2's aliasing makes it's games look like the child of Rush Limbaugh and Delta Burke (only not as good looking, and more conservative). He tells me that it won't last, as on paper, the PS2 is the best system ever. Once again. Do casual gamers read system specs? No. They look at screenshots. And 16 quadrillion-billion polygons per second don't mean horse doo-doo. I mean, for fun, I'd rather play Duke Nukem 3D instead of Unreal. Why? Because even though games have yet to really surpass Unreal in the "oh-ah" factor on the PC, it lacks one crucial thing that Duke3D has in spades: fun and interactivity (I think I just made a new word....). Liken this to the PS2 and DC. And he tells me that the add-ons for the DC (i.e. Ethernet card, DVD player, zip drive) will be extremely expensive, and they are built in to the PS2 and are a bargain. Well, only the hardcore gamers would get those. They are options on the DC. So it's more of a bargain there. And hell, if the DVD add-on costs as much as a normal DVD player, then get a freakin' DVD player. Anyone who gets a DC to WATCH MOVIES should be brought to Kansas, hung upside down, then beaten like it's carpet cleaning day. A GD-ROM is just as good, in my mind. It gets the games on it, and fits more information than a CD-ROM. There. All I need. The game. if I want extras, I'll wait until the company puts them on a VMU file to download. In closing, just one question: What would you liken Phantasy Star Online to? Diablo or something like Everquest (a persistant-world RPG)? Cause I'm interested. Great site, and try never to kiss ass like *********.*** does. Just find their E3 article on Bleem!cast and you'll see what I mean. Can't wait for that package to arrive.....counting the days. Good points. However, note that a DVD add-on is merely a rumor, and it looks like the Zip Drive is dead too. On first glance (which is all anyone's had so far), Phantasy Star Online is somewhat reminiscent of EverQuest. The environments and player models are far more lush, though. From: Andrew Maclachlan Subject: DC vs PSX Is dreamcast losing the battle against PSX2? coz i saw the article on your site about the Japanese boss of sega leaving to work on 'another console'. Also the UK release dates have been awful we dont even have RE:CV yet!!!! I HATE PSX2's and i dont want the sega to lose out AGAIN! Please reassure me. A loyal British Sega Fan, The Dreamcast is doing well in the States. Sega sold their 2 millionth unit recently, so you can rest assured that the Dreamcast will be around for a while. It is underperforming in Japan, however. From: Lovem241 Subject: What's this supposed to be??!! do u have any infinite ammo for resident evil :code veronica thats not a dome virsoin if u do can u send the to me please and if u know if they are makeing that cheat for the full version can u tell me to *Sigh* From: alfredo Subject: MY QUESTION IS?............... CAN I PLAY CD GAMES FOR PC IN MY DREAMCAST? OF COURSE. Crap, I'm late for the movie. Anyway, keep the letters coming, we love to hear what you think! Now, I gotta run. Ta!