Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

[Image] Issue 16 of Paragon Publishing's unofficial Dreamcast Magazine hit shelves on the 30th November 2000 and was stuffed full of the latest Dreamcast previews and reviews. The cover featured first person shooter Unreal Tournament - a game that was billed as an online multi-player showcase...but which eventually launched in PAL territories with all of the online components removed.
[Image] Issue 16 is notable in that it was amongst the first of the magazines at the time to report on a Dreamcast port of PlayStation and PC favourite Driver 2, but alas that never materialised. Other non-released games to be featured in issue 16 include Commandos 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell Conspiracies and Woody Woodpecker Racing.
[Image] Interestingly, there are several reports in this issue that point towards an upturn in fortunes for Sega's little white box, with sales in both Europe and the US being touted as looking very healthy. In Europe Sega announce over 1 million systems sold and a Dreamarena user base of 400,000; while in the US a $50 price cut leads to monthly sales in October 2000 to double those of September 2000.

Issue 16 also reports on the infamous decision by Sega Europe to bundle the Dreamcast with an Encore Direct 450 DVD player for a combined package price of £299.99, with head of Sega Europe JF Cecillon quipping: "I'm sure this deal will encourage many more consumers to pick up a Dreamcast for Christmas...unlike other games companies, Sega's timing is spot on to take advantage of the Christmas rush." Spot on JF, spot on.
[Image] Further random snippets of news include Sega's sponsoring of Limp Bizkit and the continued Mobile Assault Tour in the US, and a look at a SNES emulator, which incidentally isn't DreamSNES even though the title of the article suggests it may be (it's called Sintendo apparently...no, me neither).
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] The reviews section covers no less than 15 games, and gives full PAL reviews to titles such as Shenmue and Samba de Amigo. Other highlights include Le Mans 24hrs, Quake III Arena, Looney Tunes Space Race, Ready 2 Rumble Round 2, UEFA Dream Soccer, Sega GT and MoHo. Enough waffle from me in text form though - here's 15 minutes more waffle in audio/visual form by way of a lovely YouTube video. Enjoy!