Created & Written by: Jerry Bonner; Animation & Design by: Matt Garafalo; Technical Wizardry by: Joel Young; Narration by: George Filip; Music by: Blitz

This animated short was originally created back in March to be part of our “family” gaming show, GAME TIME! The basic idea behind the “‘Great Moments in Video Gaming” segment was to take a fun and/or historical glance back at the people, technology and ideas that shaped the interactive entertainment industry into what it is today. Important lessons are proffered during the course of these segment(s) but nothing is forced – everything is presented in an entertaining manner, much like “Sesame Street” or “The Electric Company,” so the viewers are learning without really knowing it…and (hopefully) having a good time doing it! The last thing we want to do is to be heavy handed or hit people over the head with what we are doing.

Initially, the Dreamcast wasn’t going to be the topic of our “pilot” piece. Since this was our debut show I, naturally, wanted to start at the beginning, so the 1961, MIT developed SPACEWAR! (considered by many to be the first, “true” video game) was my original choice of topic. But, after knocking it about for a bit, SPACEWAR! seemed somewhat obscure and not “sexy” enough of a subject for the pilot episode. So, after some additional thought on the matter, Sega’s Dreamcast was ultimately chosen as the topic for the big, GAME TIME! kickoff. And, with the help of my talented co-conspirators, I think the final result turned out to be a more than fitting “Swan Song” for Sega’s last hurrah in the console hardware market.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since 9/9/99. So much has happened to us as a nation, and to me personally, since that day. I won’t get into a laundry list of everything here, as it isn’t really pertinent, but I do vividly recall all the hype and hubbub surrounding the DC’s numerically savvy launch date. I wasn’t silly (or brave…) enough to get my Dreamcast on that first day, as I’m not a huge fan of sleeping outside on cold concrete or waiting in deathly looooong lines. I did, however, manage to score one about month later at a KB Toy store of all places. And I fell in love with that little, white machine as soon as I unboxed it and fired up my first gridiron battles of NFL 2K, then handed out several, chop-sockey beatdowns in Soul Calibur and topped my evening off by collecting an overabundance of gold rings in Sonic Adventure. Good, good times.

Since I was the defacto gamer in my family AND just dropped a pretty substantial amount of cash on the system (plus the games), my initial opinion of the Dreamcast was somewhat biased. I mean, I HAD to love it, right? I couldn’t justify the purchase otherwise. So, I took my alabaster baby (with that adorable, red curly-Q) over to my brother’s house that weekend to gauge his reaction and (tried) to get an unprejudiced estimation of the system as a whole. It was at this moment when I fully understood the power of the Dreamcast and the true “generational leap” that this system was.

As the intro/demo of Soul Calibur played on my brother’s TV, his eyes widened to almost comical proportions and his jaw grew slack. The only awestruck words he could manage were, “Holy shit, this is better than the arcades…”

True dat, my brother. True dat.

Please enjoy the video. I can truthfully say that it was a labor of love and a blast to make. Hopefully, we’ll get to do more at some point…

VIVA LA DREAMCAST!

~ Jerry Bonner

Jerry Bonner is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in GQ, EGM, 1UP, What They Play, Yahoo!, Ars Technica, Game Focus Canada, Geeks of Doom and Game Stooge. He also worked for the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) for a time as the Senior Game Content Rater. He currently lives in Southern New Jersey with his wife and four children.

Along with the announcement of Tekken 6 coming to the PSP, another one of our favorite fighting titles will be headed to the PSP. 

In the long shadow of Soulcalibur IV, it seems that its developer is planning the PSP treatment for the game called Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. According to many scores, the game would not feature Darth Vader and Yoda like in the console versions. However, it well feature a new fighter named Dampierre. 

In addition, it was revealed by GameSpot that the game would included characters like Ivy, Cassandra, Voldo, Siegfried, Mitsurugi, Tira, Taki, Astaroth, and Hilde. And the final list will feature about 20 characters. Anyway, even if the list is shorter then the console version, players can expect an improved character creation system and a changing clock, meaning you won’t be limited to seeing stages at a single point in time.

Unlike Tekken, the PSP incarnation of Soul Calibur, will not be a port and is scheduled for release this summer.

In a scan from a Japanese magazine revealed that Star War’s R2-D2 will be a playable character in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV, which will release on PS3 and Xbox 360 on July 29.

At this time we are not sure if this is a console specific character that will be added to the game seeing the Xbox and PlayStation are very different from each other featuring two different character’s from the Star War’s Universe.

Here’s a Translation of the Profile of R2-D2 according to the scan.
Age: Unknown
Race: Astromech Droid
Place of Birth: Industrial Automation
Height: 96cm
Weight: Depends on add on gear
Birth Date: Unknown
Blood Type: None
Weapon: Stun Arm, Saber Launcher
Style: J Type Defense Program

[CNG4U] [N4G]

What can’t they do these days. According to this photo, the people over at Media Molecule are making a Kratos Sackboy that should appear, and will be playable, in LittleBIGPlanet. This will most likely be true since they already confirmed that Killzone Sackboys will be playable in the game.

Kratos was also recently rumored to appear in the latest PlayStation 3 version of Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur IV. The rumor was then shot down by a message in a 1up podcast.

There was a rumor going around that Kratos would be testing his blade against Darth Vader and his secret apprentice from the Star Wars universe in the upcoming PlayStation 3 version of Soul Calibur IV. The rumor wasn’t so far fetched, mainly because in other Soul Calibur games featured players for different universe’s like Link on the GameCube version and Heihachi on the PS2 version.  However thanks to a podcast made by 1UP the rumor was quickly smashed , stating that Kratos will be absent from Namco’s upcoming game. But, there still is the strong possible that he could be included in future planned downloadable content.

Let’s just hope that they do included Kratos in upcoming downloadable content for the game because i know there alot of people who can’t wait too play as him.

Namco Bandai  has revealed new screenshots of there newest character for Soulcalibur IV, Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice. The Secret Apprentice will join other character from the star wars like Yoda and Darth Vader in the upcoming Soulcalibur game. You will be able to play as the Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice on the PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, Nintendo DS and Wii.