Dreamcast: Gaming's New
Darling
by Joseph
Szadkowski
Without
a new video gaming system on the market since 1996, Sega decided
it was time to unleash its Dreamcast as the $7 billion industry
gears up for the holiday madness. By early estimates, the company
made a correct decision. Initial presells reached 300,000 with 18
games available at the September 9 launch date leading to Dreamcast
collecting US $97 million in the first 24 hours of its availability.
In comparison Star
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace made a paltry $28 million.
However, mention that Sega has a new system out and prepare for
a couple of expletives. After abandoning support of their 32-bit
Saturn system almost a year ago, the company was branded as a has-been,
unable to compete with Sony and Nintendo for gamers' dollars. Well,
not any longer. The great news is that Sega has returned and the
Dreamcast delivers a mind boggling experience.
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No, not
a top secret military weapon. It's Sega's Dreamcast.
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The System
No one can dispute the superiority of the machine against today's
systems. This temporarily -- Sony's PlayStation II and Nintendo's
Dolphin should be ready by the fall of 2000 -- state of the art
console blows away the current competition with a 128-bit processor
which makes it at least 10 to 15 times more powerful than its rivals.
For the game designers, this means an entirely new playing field
on which to let their imaginations run wild.
"The Dreamcast is the first in a new line of next generation
systems and offers graphics capabilities that no system, including
arcade machines, has ever seen before," said Emmanuel Valdez,
co-creator, co-designer, and lead artist of Midway Games' Ready
2 Rumble. "It's pretty easy to work with and we really
pushed the hardware but it still stood the test."
Valdez and his team now have substantially more room and polygons
to work with which means less blockiness and much smoother looking
images. And just saying "more polygons" is an understatement.
A Ready to Rumble character boasts 3,500 polygons to the
minuscule 800 used for a PlayStation game. "Actual teeth, swiveling
eyeballs, a full range of expressions, lip synching to audio tracks
and even sweat particles really give our game a hyper-realistic
look," Valdez says.
The $199.00 Dreamcast has a 56k modem on board with which to link
to the Sega Gaming Network (an Internet connection is necessary)
and comes complete with one, finger-knotting controller. In addition,
a slick memory card can be purchased (VMU: Visual Memory Unit; $24.95)
which allows players to do everything from swapping files to secretly
choosing plays to enjoying self-contained games.
New Titles
Here's a quick look at some of the impressive titles for the
Dreamcast:
Sonic Adventure by Sega (for Sega Dreamcast, $49.95)
Sega's charming blue hedgehog is back and has plenty to boast about.
His newest adventure offers a sensory shaking, 3-D explosion of
sight and sound. Sonic's arch-enemy Dr. Robotnick has harnessed
the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds and our hero with friends,
including the cute Amy Rose, must battle through 50 massive levels
to stop him. Just to make things a bit more interesting, anyone
who has a VMU gets the ability to breed and train a Pokémon-like
character, a chao, which they can eventually download back into
the Sonic adventure. Smaller children might feel a bit overwhelmed
by the quick game play but the entire family should be exhaustively
mesmerized by the beautiful graphics and expansive environments.
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NFL
2K by Sega Sports.
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NFL 2K by Sega Sports ($49.95)
I have melded with my television and am one with the National Football
League. Sega has put forth a mega-monster sports title that will
give gaming fanatics an eye-watering experience. The key to this
NFL simulation is the amazing visuals. For example, the players
look frighteningly realistic. Using 20 humans put through 1,500
motion-captured moves and running at 60 frames per second, NFL 2K
boasts the most accurate action of any sports game. Emotions, lifelike
facial renderings even breath strips on player's noses exist --
all while bodies crumble based on the direction and force of tackles.
Forty teams (31 NFL, three all pro and six alumni) plus 1,400 plays
to choose from greet gamers with the obligatory player creation
mode, Maximum Control Passing, a fantasy draft, slow motion replays
and an impressive play creator thrown in for good measure.
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Ready
2 Rumble by Midway.
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Ready 2 Rumble by Midway ($49.95)
The moment players hear the booming pipes of announcer Michael Buffer
and his trademark phrase, they will be blown away by the intensity
and animated imagery of this boxing extravaganza. Sort of based
on the old Nintendo game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (although
no recognizable names are associated with this game), players work
their way to the top by pummeling each another. One mode, Arcade,
allows the choice of boxers and the battle begins. The Championship
mode requires the player to pick a contender and prepare him to
become a champion. The game features 16 distinct characters, over
the top styles, a wide-range of punches and customizable boxers.
The developers also cut down the amount of finger-blistering combination
moves so, children of every age, can enjoy the violent simplicity
of destroying another being.
Joseph Szadkowski writes on various aspects of popular culture
and is a columnist for The Washington Times.