Awesome Scud Race Magazine Article!!!

This I found on Blue Skies Daily.  I had never seen this before.  It's always good to discover new Sega racing material.  But this is extra-special--this is NEXT GENERATION Magazine, the "World's #1 computer and videogame authority," so Sega put on a good show to the entire gaming audience, not just some Sega nerds.  Oh BTW, Scud Race is also known as "Super GT" just in case you didn't know already.

"From the makers of Virtua Fighter 3 comes Super GT, the best auto-racing game of all time."

"Sega's Model 3 arcade technology boasts twin Lockheed Martin R3D/Pro-1000 custom graphics chips, each capable of rendering over 750,000 polygons per second.  Super GT pushes this hardware to the max--and refines the racing genre.  Page 60."

"Are you a psychopath?  Senator Lieberman thinks you might have a problem.  Page 8."

I won't post the rest of the pages (six in total) because I didn't scan them and I don't want to take credit for that.  Again, go to this site to see the other five pages.  If that site goes down in the future (I hope not), I got the pages saved to my computer.  I'm just going to quote important stuff that I read from it.


PAGE 1: "The race is on.  Nobody pushes the envelope as hard and as fast as Sega's AM2 coin-op division.  Led by the incomparable Yu Suzuki, the AM2 division is perhaps most famous for its Virtua Fighter series.  But experienced arcade gamers know that AM2's real strength is in its driving games.  Forget Namco, Sega AM2 is responsible for arcade racing's finest hours: Hang On, OutRun, Virtua Racing, Daytona USA--and now Super GT.  In the world of videogames, Sega AM2's racing pedigree earns it the mantle of gaming's Ferrari.

Based on the same Model 3 technology that powers the 1.5 million polygons-per-second Virtua Fighter 3, Super GT is as near to taking a real Porche (sp?) around a hairpin bend at 120 miles per hour as any civilian is likely to get.

This, truly, is state of the art."

I'm gonna tell you this.  I'M STOKED!!!  I think I've been waiting YEARS for someone (besides me) to eloquently express something as positive and uplifting as this.  I mean, holy cow.  Gaming's Ferrari?  Forget Namco?  Sega AM2 responsible for arcade racing's finest hours?  Lest you forget, this is a magazine for ALL games, not just Sega, so they really went out of their way to write this (and put it on the cover too)!

Oh, and while we're at it, we should  consider adding a Hang-On pic to the side bar over there...I didn't want to put a pic for EVERY game but we've been ignoring that AM2 classic for too long it seems...


PAGE 2: Love this quote:

"AM2 is the best arcade developer in the world, and it's current ambition is to create the definitive driving game."

Oops, don't tell that to Midway!  There's a picture of a much younger & more normal Toshihiro Nagoshi.  Even with the same team from Daytona USA, Nagoshi intended to and eventually made a completely different game. Super GT would be the first game to showcase the Model 3 board.  AM2 had an in-house rivalry with Tetsuya Misuguchi at AM Annex (Sega Rally/Touring Car).  You're right--forget about Namco, forget about Midway, forget about everyone else.  The only way to keep up with a Sega racer is with...another Sega racer.  ~*MIND BLOWN!!!*~


PAGE 3: Super GT car models consists of roughly 3,000 polygons each--three times that of Daytona USA.  Better graphics, Model 3 board is at least three times more powerful than the Model 2 board and was able to utilize Gouraud shading.  Tires are nearly round and the glass are transparent.  Sega programmers were experienced enough to cut out drawing needless geometry, hence speeding up the game.  Here's a quote:

"Toshihiro Nagoshi studied film in school, and his eye for detail has not been wasted at Sega which he describes as 'much more fun than movies.' "

Well, we already know Nagoshi was interested in film beforehand.  So maybe he has more know-how about these games than we think.  A damn shame he's working on this Binary Domain crap...


PAGE 4: Nagoshi said:

"Daytona was based on an American sport.  I wanted to make a game that would be accepted worldwide." 

Regardless, Daytona still has international appeal (played from Japan, US, UK, Brazil, Signapore, etc.) but still, the more diverse appeal of Super GT is greatly welcomed.  Later, Nagoshi went to the Ferrari factory in Modena, Italy.  Somehow, Sega's big budget granted them the license to use big-name cars.  He also said:

"I didn't want Super GT to be a circuit game because they are visually boring.  I wanted to make a game that was visually attractive.  We needed to make some course that would have character and be easily identified by the public--to avoid over-complicating things.  For example, we decided to make a course influenced by the Indiana Jones movies--something that can identified by the player, with relatively simple imagery."

I'm glad he got the colorful environment portion down.  But that's not all for this page!  He knows the basic principle of any game is to make it accessible.  He said: 

"The feeling of actually driving is very strong.  I didn't want to make a difficult racing game.  It may sound strange, but I'm very bad at playing games.  I used to spend a lot of money in arcades, just to see the end-game sequences and I know how bad players can feel if the game is too hard, too early.  So when I came to design Super GT, I tried to make a game that could be enjoyed by beginners."

Gee, I guess this is why Scud Race *ahem* Super GT has been in all of these Chuck E. Cheese's...


PAGE 5: Interesting quote from the article!

"Experienced gamers shouldn't lose out, however, if AM2's previous efforts are anything to go by.  Virtua Fighter was instantly accessible, requiring only a few moves to progress through the initial stages, but weeks of constant playing to master.  Super GT, for all its initial simplicity, will no doubt turn out to be as rich a driving experience as the original Daytona USA, which many regarded as superior to Ridge Racer thanks to its extended learning curve."

Sorry Cruis'n, FnF nubs, you're not off the hook just yet.

Now here we read about Yu Suzuki's involvement with this game from Nagoshi himself:

"When I joined Sega, Yu Suzuki had made some outstanding racing games.  He made the Virtua Fighter series a success, but he still prefers making racing games.  We are different, our ideas and views are different, but I got some advice from Yu Suzuki on the drift handling.  For Daytona, the handling was a bit heavy.  With Super GT, when you turn, the handling becomes steadily heavier, but does so smoothly.  When entering a drift, the tail will slide slowly and you'll feel the power of the engine.  He also recommended that I do some sampling on the Fuji freeway, which I did.  He's very supportive."

Su Suzuki took Nagoshi out for a drift cruise out on Fuji Circuit?  That's boss.  Well, I never really knew Suzuki's involvement from this game, but with him as a mentor (not as a member of the team), Nagoshi could do no wrong.  Didn't know Suzuki liked making racing games THAT much, a damn shame he couldn't have made more during his tenure at Sega.  Now that Suzuki has left, Nagoshi...uh, you get the picture.

Also here, it mentions multiplayer.  This I'm curious about since I really don't know if Super GT is capable of more than 4 players...  Article says something interesting about this:


"At the moment, there are only plans for two-player and four-player link-ups--such is the cost of combining such an advanced cabinet, with the expensive Model 3 board.  The code is there, however, and it would be possible to link eight cabinets, but the cost of such a system would make it a rare sight indeed in all but the major theme parks."

And while the fanfare of this game is stellar, these people have yet to play Daytona 2 which'll come out in the next year.  Mentions that Nagoshi & his team may have begun work on such a game.  Also mentions a possible Saturn port of Super GT (one which we never got).  Let me just end my with the following excerpt:


"With Super GT, the team has rasied the bar once again, stealing a march not only on its in-house peers [talking about AM Annex], but arch rivals Namco, which may find itself in the unevitable position of runner-up in the race for the next generation of driving games."

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Reading this, you could only feel enthusiastic for the future.  However, after Daytona 2, the series was dropped on its head.  Then there was Crazy Taxi, OutRun 2, and F-Zero GX (if you care about Nintendo IP's) and then that's it.  Everything else they've made has nothing to do with racing or are incredibly obscure.  Sure there's more like Toshihiro Nagoshi was a film major so now he would probably prefer to make movie-based games (Yakuza, Binary Domain) rather than racing games so that's just plain sad.

I'm also surprised that I didn't see Makoto Osaki around since he appeared in all sorts of Daytona USA 2 media such as in another magazine article and the official guide book.

Please come back, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yu Suzuki, Makoto Osaki...SAVE US FROM THIS TRAVESTY IN GAMES TODAY.  IT'S NOT TOO LATE!!!  Also, while you're at it, a new Shenmue wouldn't be too bad either...

BTW, Next Generation Magazine ran from January '95 to January '02.  So it really sucks when anything that promotes Sega goes away, what a let-down.

If somehow you find any new Sega racer-related material that I may have missed, post it in a comment and I'll surely notice it (and give you some attribution).  If I already saw it, that's ok; I'm just looking for new stuff...

See tons of personal Scud Race emulator pics here and here.

Video Game Meltdown Continues: It's Nintendo's Turn!

EDIT: Screwed up my Sega analysis

At first, it was Capcom with their laundry list of idiotic decisions, but at least they aren't losing tons of cash (to my knowledge).  But Nintendo, well...things aren't looking so good for them.  Found this stuff out from Kotaku and the Nonstop Gaming Board on GFAQs.

Remember back in March there was this "Wii/3DS: It Prints Money!" meme?  Well, congrats guys, the exact opposite has happened.

In the past three months (worldwide), Wii and DS sales have dropped about 50%.  Also in that time, the 3DS only sold 710,0000 units.

Nintendo's stock has dropped 20% (that's TWENTY PERCENT) in ONE DAY.  They also posted a $324 million quarterly LOSS.

Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi’s wealth may have plunged more than $300 million today after the flop of the 3DS player forced the company to slash its profit forecast.  

Satoru Iwata (Nintendo CEO) has taken a 50% pay cut and other execs have taken a 30% cut.

The 3DS price has dropped from $250 to $170, a 32% decrease.  Anyone who bought the 3DS before this price drop is entitled to 20 (that's TWENTY) free downloadable games for the device.  At this point in time, Nintendo is simply abandoning the 3D gimmick and going for DLC (games from NES, GBA, etc.).

There's a litany of problems with the 3DS.  The 3D aspect has worn thin (and made some people sick as well).  Not enough unique games.  Expensive.  Low battery life.  In direct competition with the regular DS and other handheld/mobile games.  Also, you can't play some games without a patch (see Ridge Racer).  EDIT: And check out this dude's link about Nintendo tracking your information among other things...pretty shady stuff, thanks Mr. Anonymous.

Also, throw in there that the Wii hasn't received many good titles recently, both first, second, third party.  Nintendo has abandoned that too in favor of the Wii U.  So basically, Nintendo better pray that the Wii U doesn't suck too or else they're in serious trouble.

I know I'm reporting facts instead of ideas again, but you should never forget about this.  This is history in the making.

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You know this is going to shake up Nintendo big-time.  It's probably their biggest down-time since 2000 when they were hurrying to release the Gamecube.  There's a tradition is Japan that if a company man makes a poor decision, he's not outright fired but forced to step down for a period of time.  Like putting someone in the dog house.  Hey, it happened to Gunpei Yokoi (Virtual Boy, the biggest bomb ever) and possibly Yu Suzuki (Shenmue didn't sell so Sega basically stopped him from making any more games).  Now someone at Nintendo's gonna get punished for this.  Who, I don't know.  Nintendo just shot themselves in the foot.



Hey Nintendo, sell the Seattle Mariners to make some money.  Besides, the Mariners are sucking right now (they recently snapped a 17-losing streak) so who cares, lol.

But really, this proves the point I've been saying for years.  You know what we want first and foremost?  GOOD GAMES!!!  Gimmicks won't cut it for me.  You can say, "Oh look, we made a 3D game!" but if the game sucks, no one cares.  Nintendo, learn this.

The Sega fan inside of me can't help but be a little bit jovial that Nintendo is getting jacked up over this.  I mean, Sega got roasted when it come to the Dreamcast--great console but Sega's soul was lost in the process.  Now Nintendo got a little arrogant here and thought "Hell, anything we produce is gold," and now they're paying the price for it.  Of course, the Japanese quake in March may have helped contribute to their hit, perhaps.  It just sucks ass that Microsoft is pushing this gimmicky Kinect crap and they have yet to take a major hit for it.  Oh their day of reckoning will come soon...

But otherwise, this sucks for Japanese gaming.  It's almost like Keiji Inafune put a curse on Japan in order to look like some sort of Nostradamus of gaming.  Now think about this--all Japanese game publishers as of late have done some stupid things recently (Nintendo, Capcom) or were already mediocre (Namco, Square, maybe Konami).  But I wouldn't be too worried about these companies--they'll hopefully learn from their mistakes.  The PS3 had a slow start, maybe the 3DS will follow suit.  EDIT: Or it could go the way of the N-Gage and PSP UMD's!!

But I'll tell you who's staying above the fray.  SEGA.  Yes, that's right.  They are doing okay.  Not producing any stellar games, but at least they're not "sucking" as usual.  For instance, they posted the highest revenue in Japan for the month of June, beating out Nintendo by 33%.  They also made an assload of money last fiscal year ($513 mil profit).

EDIT: Dammit, this came out a day after I posted this, Sega-Sammy posts a quarterly loss of up to $50 million.  Well, this is embarassing.  I only hope that in the long run, Sega has lost the least of all the other devs.  I apologize, I was wrong.  Well, that's why we have to step up and save Sega...

But anyway, if Sega suddenly does good....:

THE PIECES HAVE FALLEN INTO PLACE.  NOW IS THE TIME FOR SEGA TO DROP THE HAMMER* AND OVERTAKE THESE OVERRATED GAME DEVS!!!  BRING HOME THE GOLD MEDAL FROM THESE LOUSY AMERICAN DEVS LIKE ACTIVISION, ELECTRONIC ARTS, MICROSOFT, AND ROCKSTAR!!!  IT CAN BE DONE!!!



* - When I say "Drop the hammer," I mean the racing term to slingshot ahead of the competition (change gears), don't know if people picked up on that right away...

Sega Rally Online Arcade Tips To Win

Keeping in tradition with the "shout-out" theme, Shenmue Stare put in a good word for me so thanks very much.  Not only that, but I found this Blue Skies Daily blog which actually linked to me (see the right pane) so let's throw that link up on my blog list.  Get a little 90's webring going here...

Anyhooooo.....now for your feature presentation.

I feel that this thread is too late...WAY TOO LATE as Sega Rally Online Arcade came out over two months ago, but since the leaderboards were erased a few weeks ago (due to cheaters), now would be a better time than ever to post my tips for this game.  I'm looking at the Sega Rally Online Arcade GameFAQs board for what I and my friend F40 posted since I'm too lazy to retype anything.

* Use manual transmission. I go with the second controller config so that X and B shift. It's really not THAT hard and the speed bonus pays off.

* For Desert, Tropical, and Canyon, just hold the gas the whole way. Once you get to 6th gear, you shouldn't have to drop it any lower than 4th.

* If you want to slide, just shove the wheel one way. If you want to slow down a little, try shifting to 5th, then back to 6th. Try to hug the apex but don't touch the walls (duh).

* For the hairpins on Alpine, the first one I drop to 5th and let it sit, then on the second, drop it 4th and leave it. Then for most of the medium/90-degree turns, I do a little 6-5-wait-6 6-5-4-wait-5-6.

* Lakeside is a b**** but just use more 6-5-4-5-6's.  When you get to that hard hairpin on Lakeside, I shift to 3rd gear to drop my speed...

* Always try to drive on tire tracks on the road because you go faster through them.

* Oh, and I recommend using the first-person view (no hood). Yes, I like playing with the 3rd person chase views in other racing games, but here it doesn't help much.

* Just play all the tracks, especially Alpine and Lakeside, until you get used to it. All the cars handle pretty much the same. I'd prefer not to use the Dune Buggy or the McRae Racers because of their tall ride height which usually interferes with the POV...

* One more.  Sliding is good but if you slide too far, you'll start to "punch" the dirt (hear a chugging sound) and will lose a lot of speed.  So if you can take a turn with minimal sliding as opposed to heavy sliding, do it.

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And I may be good, but F40 (yes, that's his username) is a Sega racing veteran...he's mastered OutRun 2 and participated in a contest that gives the driver with the fastest time a trip to the Ferrari museum in Modena, Italy.  Here's one of his pics, DO NOT DOUBT HIM.

Nice guy, so here's some good tips from this F40 guy:

If your suffering it is only your techniques of playing the game that let you down. (Much to learn).

* DO NOT run before you can walk. It's a waste of time using outside views until you master the game because outside view is HARDCORE and takes skill to push the cars as fast as bumper view.
Bumper view is the way to get into the game and get the best out of it as the cars will drive straighter leaving less room for mistakes. Only then can you enjoy outside view as you may look at it right now. Trust me I know...

* Fast starts. Hold the rev counter on the first RED bar, second one from max revs and hold the trigger at this very point as the car pulls away. As the car pulls away watch the rev counter drop and then bite, at this point press full gas and your away.

* Keep to the road tracks you and the AI have leave on the course as your car will accelerate quicker in these tracks/grooves than it will on a untouched surface.

* Always watch your speeds, unlike ALL racers Sega Rally 360 features different surfaces either side of the road meaning the shortest route may not be that fastest. One side could be softer while the other harder allowing for quicker acceleration on the harder stuff. Keep out of water where you can unless it really is quicker, one such corner of Safari 1 is quicker going wide left and keeping to the stones & mud as you take it then it is to swim through the puddles - and the game also shifts water from the puddles into the mud making these tracks/grooves even slower when you return. There is more to Sega Rally 360 than meets the eye.

* Learn how to force steer the cars at the right time. It may feel nice going around a corner, but unexpectedly the car may sway in the wrong direction, know these corners and when to force steer into them can save time. Practice makes perfect. You really have to look at what the car is doing all the time from speed to the road surface it's self.

* Hand brake turns. Normal Break & Steer into a corner, at that point while steering it let go of the normal break and then tap the ebrake for a split second. Once the car is coasting around the corner keep tapping the gas OFF & ON to maintain traction as you go around. Gassing OFF & ON is a good trick for maintaining traction on corners.

* A simple gas OFF can correct steering lines.

* Yes Sega Rally 360 features SIM related driving styles that are required with-in an arcade environment to get the best out of it.

* (Pertaining to Sega Rally Revo) Forget using Road Cars, the whole championship can be completed with Off Road Cars. In fact there are only 2 course that require Road tires & unless your on the ball one of these tracks will make no difference to you.
The 1st is Apline 3 - you can achieve faster times with Road Cars.
2nd is Alpine 1, unless your in the zone you will not see the difference between Off Road & Road tires.
So that leaves the rest of the game requiring Off Road cars.

* Practice makes perfect. You put the time and effort in and you will get the rewards for your work. You never learned to play OutRun over night so why should Sega Rally 360 be treated any different???

* One last tip: Let off the gas before going over jumps. You will find the cars do not jump as high and as soon as you land it will pick up speed quicker than a full gas jump and ALSO it allow full control of the car once landed to get around corners that are close to jumps.

* Full gas over jumps you may find you lack control over the car to do the things you want once it lands and it may even lead to crashes.

TLDR: One tip is that there's only five tracks in the game so practice them over and over again and figure out what works and what didn't.  Have fun and hope you enjoy Sega Rally Online Arcade!  Go buy this game if you haven't already.  $10 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

EDIT: One more thing.  If you need some tips on how to unlock the cars and get 200/200, read this topic (too lazy to elaborate in my words).

ComicCon Needs OUTRUN 2 Cosplayers!!!

GameSpot's ComicCon pics.

If there's one thing about ComicCon that I'm slightly interested in, it's the cosplaying (no, not for the hundred Slave Leias...sheesus).  I mean, just pick a pop culture icon and there you go.  I know some people find cosplaying nerdy and stupid, but I dunno...give 'em a break.  Better that than sitting at home playing World of Warcraft.

But I swear to God, I really REALLY REALLY want to see some people go to ComicCon (or any of these lame-o conventions, but you'll get the most face-time there) cosplaying as Alberto, the two girlfriends, and the Flagman from OutRun 2.  I'm almost willing to PAY someone to do it.  And it has to look good too.  I'm serious about this cause I'm sick and tired of the media attention that everything else gets.  Go there and piss off all the little Nintendo/Star Wars cosplayers, make then wonder "Who are you supposed to be????" and then be like "BAM, OutRun 2 guy, b****es."  Besides, with two babes, you'll look like a pimp, can't go wrong with that.

And for the record, I don't resemble Alberto or the Flagman so don't urge me to do it instead.  Besides, where am I gonna get the two girls?

Of course, with OutRun 2 reaching 8-years-old, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant...  Still gotta do it anyway FOR SEGA JUSTICE.  EDIT: Even Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, anything Sega related is good.  Geez...at least Duke Nukem cosplays will do for me in the meantime.  Also would be cool to see the Seinfeld crew, Old Spice Guy, and the Most Interesting Man in the World.

"I'm an equal-opportunity ass kicker..."

Sitting Is Unhealthy For You? YEAH RIGHT

I've read this "study" a couple of times before.  Basically, if you sit down more than six hours a day, regardless of your diet or workout routine, you're more likely to die.  From what?  Uh, heart attacks and stuff.  About as absurd of a story as that "eat less calories, live longer" rumor.

But even if it's true, you don't want to stand up.  Why?  To truly live, you gotta sit down behind the wheels of a fine automobile and go for a cruise...that does more wonders for you than standing up ever did!!!

Really, that's what I wanna do, just go driving.  Doesn't matter what car, let's rip s*** up!!!  EDIT: Or you can ride a motorcycle, that's cool too.



On the other hand, if you insist on standing up, then you can get around like this at 6 mph/13 kph...have fun, people.

Still Got It, Eric, Still Got It...

Damn, been playing Black Ops again because I'm trying to hurry towards Level 50 15th Prestige...I mean, why not?  I'm that close.  I'm 14th Prestige, Level 31 and I've been cruisin lately...so good to get my skills back man.  And no, I'm not doing this just in time for MW3, I have no plans unless some convo pops up like this:

ME: "I'm not playing MW3, I'm just fine with Black Ops."

GUY: "But in MW3, with the Bling Perk you can put as many attachments on your gun you want INCLUDING laser sights PLUS you can customize your character and have him wear shades!"

ME: "WHAT YOU SAY THERE???"  Interchangeable Holo/ACOG/infrared sight, silencer, noob tube, laser sight, heartbeat sensor, full metal jacket, dual/extended mags combo... *head explodes*

GUY: We're also bringing back Stopping Power!

ME: AW HELL NAW.........!!!!!! *hopes dashed*

But really, I gotta draw the line on Black Ops since all the noobs and annoying commentators will ship off to MW3, leaving BO for us diehards...for us, Happy Hour is the hour after everyone from Happy Hour has left...

Anyway, about Black Ops, nothing like going on a Mac11 rampage (use Rapid Fire and IT OWNS) while listening to songs like this.



I'm using the AWP (aka the L96A1) because it's a tribute to Counter-Strike...we still remember out roots.  We love CS.  We also don't put red dot/reflex scopes on our M16s and AK-47s, that's trash.  The first few vids here are crap (I disabled the HUD) but after that it gets good (vids have to be under 30 seconds which sucks).



"You may need a hundred bullets to kill me, but all I need is one."

Probably gonna talk more about Black Ops strats later, I "suck" remember?  Why listen to me, lol.

Video Game Industry In Full Meltdown Mode! (Capcom, Activision)

Occasionally, I skim over GameFAQs Nonstop Gaming Board to see what people are talking about.  One thing that's going on is that there's an increasing animosity towards Capcom.  Now I haven't been paying any attention to them (no racing games certainly doesn't help) recently other than Keiji Inafune's recent departure and shellacking of the Japanese game industry and the occasional Dead Rising news.  I would venture a guess that Capcom is Japan's second-biggest game publisher behind Nintendo because they have so many hits (Street Fighter, Megaman, Resident Evil, etc.) and don't even mention Square since they suck now.

What has Capcom done lately, you ask?  Bam, read this:

To rehash: No Megaman in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  MvC3 is basically a demo of Ultimate MvC3.  Dead Rising 2 is basically a demo of DR2: Off the Record.  Canceled Megaman Legends 3 and Megaman Universe.  Can't erase save files from Resident Evil 5/Mercenaries 3D.  Devil May Cry is trash now.  Too many Street Fighter games.  And I could go on but DAMN it is bad.

IT'S HIS FAULT!!!  HE PUT A CURSE ON CAPCOM!!!  YOU SINISTER BASTARD!!!

Heh, and I thought Sega had problems.  Well, no, Sega's doing okay as far as I'm concerned.  I guess Inafune was right--Japanese companies have their heads up their asses right now.  OH WAIT, NOT NINTENDO, THEY ARE GODS AMONG MEN, THEY CAN DO NO WRONG.  Well the Wii U and 3DS are questionable at this stage so there you go.

EDIT a few days later: I also heard that Capcom has revealed Hello Kitty x Street Fighter merchandise at some point in the future.  So basically, Capcom is hiring 4chan users now?  Dammit man, stick a fork in Capcom, they've drank the Kool-aid...

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BUT WAIT.  It doesn't end there.  America, you're not off the hook yet.  Oh, we can't forget about our good friend Bobby Kotick over there at Activision.  He has plans to reboot the Guitar Hero franchise.  As you can tell, it's gonna suck big time.  Here's what he had to say:

...But we created this critically acclaimed, highly rated game –and these are the hardest failures, when you put your heart and soul into it and you deliver an extraordinarily well received game, and nobody shows up to buy it. So that’s what happened with DJ Hero. At the same time we were so excited about going down this new direction with DJ Hero, I think we abandoned a bit of the innovation that was required in the Guitar Hero franchise.

And so it was the double whammy of DJ Hero was unsuccessful, and then Guitar Hero became unsuccessful because it didn’t have any nourishment and care. So we made what I think was exactly the right decision last year. We said you know what, we need to regain our audience interest, and we really need to deliver inspired innovation. So we’re going to take the products out of the market, and we’re not going to tell anybody what we’re doing for awhile, but we’re going to stop selling Guitar Hero altogether. And then we’re going to go back to the studios and we’re going to use new studios and reinvent Guitar Hero. And so that’s what we’re doing with it now.

Oh Good Lord.  What he's trying to say is that they pooled all their effort into DJ Hero at the expense of Guitar Hero.  And DJ Hero didn't sell (and to a certain extent, neither did the latest GH) so Activision just wasted their time on nothing.  And now the new Guitar Hero will inexplicably rip off aspects of Rock Band and I don't know what to say anymore.  Oh, and DJ Hero?  That's gone forever, kiss it goodbye.

Got this from some Kotaku photoshop contest long ago...you find it yourself.

As an aside, if Activision REALLY wants to "save" Guitar Hero, follow the name--JUST INCLUDE GUITARS, that's it.  Drums and vocals just didn't work out for GH--you'll NEVER outclass Rock Band at this rate, they got you beat there.  Pick songs that include the best guitar charts so that people don't have to sit through songs that are lousy in guitar but good on other instruments.  Really, people just want to go back to the old GH style (GH3 grossed over a BILLION dollars in sales), but you know they ain't doing that.

EDIT: And Activision will find a way to nickel-and-dime you with Call of Duty.  Complaining about the $15/1200 MSP map packs?  Pssh, I admit that's steep for some but we play enough Call of Duty get our money's worth.  But they're gonna whore out CoD to the end...just like Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero.  You heard about this "Elite" service for paying members?  MW3 has train-wreck written all over it.  Then maybe WoW and Starcraft too...

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And ultimately, this ends with a GameFAQs poll taken today.  EDIT: These are the final results of the poll out of 56,256 votes.  "Which video game publisher do you like the least (or hate the most) right now?"  Rounded percentages: 

Activision Blizzard 23%
Capcom 22%
Electronic Arts 18%
Microsoft 9%
Square Enix 9% 
Nintendo 8%
Sony 6%
Ubisoft 4%

Actually, at one point in this poll, Capcom had 26% & Activision had 22% but you can see that this is not the case anymore.  Wow, Microsoft in 4th place--who would've thunk it?  Thankfully, there's no Sega here because they're pathetic enough as it is.  The antipathy towards Capcom may wear out after a while--I can't see them outclassing Activision in the long run...

I really can't talk about this anymore.  If you want to know more "bad" things the industry has done, read what I posted before.  I've never seen the industry and its fans on edge before.  Everyone's at each others' throats, crappy business practices, tons of shouting at the devs to do this and do that, making all sorts of demands, it just never ends.  Maybe I ought to just step back and let the chips fall as they may since I don't want to join the angry mobs and get blasted with the hoses & tear gas, so to speak.

Random Google image search to the rescue!

Sega's Got A New Console, Baby (And More)

Yes, it's true.  Despite the FGNOnline rumors, you can get the new Sega console RIGHT NOW.  The Sega Sega.

Found just outside an everyday Wal-Mart supercenter.  Speaking of which, I would like to know who's waiting for the midnight release of Captain America...ESPECIALLY outside a Wal-Mart...

Oh, whatcha know Joe about 3D Pixel Racing?  From the only review I've seen so far, IGN gives it a 6.0, citing three problems: mandatory overly-sensitive motion controls, invisible walls, and lack of online play.  It's a very brief review and it's also IGN so screw the reviews, just play the game anyway.

Here's some more gameplay footage.  The audio (especially the voice-overs) are rather off-base.  You see that there's a couple of spots where normally you could cut a corner but the game wouldn't allow it.  Why they couldn't just lay down a barrier is beyond me (such as at 2:38).  About the controls, remember when everyone bickered about Days of Thunder when the controls had a slight learning curve?  You come up with your own conclusion.  It's a bit underwhelming looking at the full game but it's a small-budget game so I wasn't expecting much.



Also I did not know this at the time of my Segata Sanshiro post way back, but the man has a Saturn game based around him...nuts I tell you.  A collection of simplistic mini-games, can't go wrong with that.  Thanks Kotaku for having the bravado to mention the man as well as refer to this video game footage.



Also, the Goldeneye Wii remake that I chewed out many times in the past year is actually coming to Xbox 360 and PS3...ha, I might actually take a look.  Can't be that much worse than Call of Duty--I mean it IS supposed to be CoD but with a Bond theme.  There's all this Comic-Con crap this week which means more games will be leaked (despite the fact that this is a convention about COMICS, not video games).  Oops, there I go posting lousy news again!

Hey wait, a Goldeneye game without Pierce Brosnan?  Hold the phone--so let's put Daniel Craig in a game based on a movie he didn't appear in?  And get rid of the main actor of said movie game?  Like making an Indiana Jones game with Nick Cage instead of Harrison Ford (they were both in hokey action/thriller flicks so it counts).  Makes a whole lotta sense.  Congrats Captain Obvious for mentioning what everyone said six months ago.

But this funny picture makes up for it.

Blog's One-Year Anniversary

AW HELL YES, LET'S GET JUMPY IN HERE.  Now that baby's smokin a cigarette...that boy ain't right.

Hey, check it out.  I got a space walk for the party.  Now we can really jump!

Actually, I am really tired right now (which explains the lame jump joke I just made) so I'll make this quick.  I made my first blog post a year ago.  What happened was GameFAQs put the brakes on my "blog" on the Daytona USA 2: Power Edition board which in fact is a blessing since this blog is a much better means of communicating my thoughts.  GameFAQs still sucks though.

I didn't expect to post on this blog so much.  Just trying to get my thoughts out there to the public.  To show that there's still someone that's enthusiastic about games like Daytona USA and OutRun.

I try to make my previous posts as coherent and relevant as possible in the future by not talking about stupid news stories.  Like for instance, I said "oh lookie here, it's the Dead Rising 2 map" or "Rock Band finally got Bed Intruder as DLC."  I do add insight to most things I post anyway.  Hey, I'm tryin, I guess.  I do have good old posts like this and this.  You live and learn I guess (HANGIN' ON THE EDGE OF TOMORROW...).

"Great minds talk about Ideas. Mediocre minds talk about Events. Weak minds talk about People." - Eleanor Roosevelt.

Anyway, I'm just some guy with some free time.  Like I said, everyone has a story to tell and this is just mine.  You may not agree with me on most things but I still appreciate readers anyway.

Anyway, thank God, thank Jesus, thank my friends and family, thank Sega, thank Blogspot, so good night...