Nintendo truly has a great thing going with their Virtual Console service. You are able to get games from a wide variety of classic and retro systems such as the NES, Genesis, TurboGrafx, and Neo Geo. However, some systems are missing from the lineup. But don't you fear! Sega is here to save the day!
That's right, Sega has announced that they will soon be bringing over games from their 1986 system, the Sega Master System, to Nintendo's retro game download service. The first games from the system being ported over to the Wii are Fantasy Zone (500 Wii Points), and Fist of the North Star (600 Wii Points). Both games will be hitting the Virtual console this February in Japan. There has been no announced date for when these would be coming to America or Europe, but I imagine it will be fairly soon after, most likely in March or April. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Fist of the North Star stays in Japan due to licensing issues, but I'm sure Fantasy Zone will be coming to America/Europe.
But that's not all! Sega will also be bringing games for the Mark III and the Game Gear to Nintendo's Virtual Console as well! Alas, no game details have been announced yet.
So, kudos to Sega for keeping your retro systems alive through this new distribution channel! Hopefully this leads the way for 32x (and possibly Sega CD) games to be added to the Virtual Console repertoire.
If this YouTube clip is to be believed, then what we have is the first PC emulation of the Sega Naomi arcade board on a PC...
What you see in this video clip is a screen capture of the Naomi BIOS running on a Dreamcast emulator on the PC. The hack was done by a guy by the nickname of drkIIRaziel, and he has revealed nothing more about how he did it, nor has he released any of the files used in his experiments. As of the moment, no games are working on it, but that will likely change now that they have the BIOS running on the emulator.
Now, this video may look like a whole bunch of nothing to you, but in actuality, this is a huge breakthrough in the emulation community, and the "modern-classic" gaming community as a whole. If this video is accurate, this is the first step to being able to emulate the arcade versions of many Dreamcast classics, such as Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, Cosmic Smash, Crazy Taxi, Dead or Alive 2, Guilty Gear X, House of the Dead 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Both Power Stone games, and Samba De Amigo.
But, this news should excite fans of "shmups" the most, since these arcade games may be emulated on the PC in the very near future: Border Down, Cannon Spike (or Gun Spike if you're an elitist loser), Giga Wing 2, Ikaruga, Radilgy, Trigger Heart Exelica, and Under Defeat. Me, I'm not a fan of shumps (not even Ikaruga) and I really don't care what happens with them. But the fans of that genre are pretty hardcore about their fandom, and this will get them even closer to the original arcade experience of their favorite games.
This cracking of the bios could very well contribute to the death of the now aging Naomi hardware, which is still being used for niche shmup and fighting games in Japan, but Nintendo and Sega did recently use the hardware when they made Rhythm Tengoku back in 2006. Just so you get some idea of how long the Naomi hardware has been in use, Neo Geo MVS (the longest running arcade system) was discontinued after 14 years, the Naomi is just coming up on 10 years. Impressive lifespan for an arcade system.
The first glimpse at Rez HD for the Xbox 360 (distributed via Xbox Live Arcade) in action has been unleashed onto the internet by GameVideos. Rez HD looks like it will become the version of Rez to get due to its low price, and superior visuals to the PS2 and Dreamcast versions. Or, if you don't like downloadable titles or don't think they count as "having" the game, then go for the PS2 version as it runs much faster than the Dreamcast one and has better audio thanks to the PS2's optical audio output. Anyways, check out the footage of Rez HD for the Xbox 360 right here:
You can also check out these videos in high definition:
All you 360 owners out there who have never played Rez (damn near all of you I bet), you must buy this when it comes out. Rez is one of the most original and enjoyable games ever created, and your purchase may persuade Sega to make a sequel (at least I hope).
From Kotaku, here's Sega's rumored Tokyo Game Show lineup, with some entries bolded for my emphasis...
Alien Syndrome (Wii, PSP) After Burner: Black Falcon (PSP) Beijing 2008: the Official Videogame of the Olympic Games (PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PC) ChuChu Rocket! (XBLA, PC) Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars (PSP) Fighters Megamix 2 (Xbox 360, PS3) Ghost Squad (Wii) Happy Tree Friends False Alarm (XBLA, PC) JET SET RADIO NEXT (Xbox 360, PS3) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii, DS) Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms Visit (PC) Nights: Journey of Dreams (Wii) Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus (PS2, Xbox 360, PC) Samba De Amigo Fever (PSP) Sega Classics Collection 2 (PS2,PSP) Sega Rally Revo (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PC) Sega Superstar 2 (Wii) SHENMUE 3 (XBOX 360) SHENMUE I & II PLUS (Xbox 360) Skies of Arcadia 2 (Wii) Sonic Rivals 2 (PSP) Sonic Rush Adventure (DS) Sonic the RPG (Xbox 360, PS3) Space Channel 5 Part 3 (Xbox 360, PS3) Space Channel 5 Showtime (Wii, DS, PSP) The Club (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) The Golden Compass (PS2, PC, DS, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, Wii) The House of the Dead 4 (Xbox 360, PS3) Universe at War: Earth Assault (Xbox 360, PC) Virtua Fighter 5 (Xbox 360, PS3) Virtua Fighter Kids 2 (Wii) Worldwide Soccer Manager Live (Xbox 360, PC) Yakuza 3 (PS3)
OMFG! Next gen versions of Chu Chu Rocket, Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5, Samba De Amigo, and EFFING SHENMUE?! COULD IT BE?! Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this list is true. Why? We all know Sega hasn't been doing great lately, and they could be trying to resurrect some of their fan favorite Dreamcast franchises like Shenmue, JGR, and Space Channel 5.
Regardless, if Shenmue I and II Plus and Shenmue III are indeed real, that will push me over the edge and make me get a 360.
Don't worry, I'm still a Sony fanboy at heart, but I gots to have me my Shenmue
Probably reacting to the harsh response from Nintendo fans, Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for Sega of America, has taken back his comments made about the Wii's future. He stated:
"SEGA has fully supported the Wii since day one and we continue to do so â€" it's no secret that we are close partners. Nintendo has done a masterful job of selling its vision and expanding the market. That said, it's a shared responsibility and opportunity for the whole industry to take advantage of the possibilities of the Wii. If we don't realize its true potential, we will have missed a great opportunity to expand creatively and that is what I was cautioning against in the Reuters interview. I'm not just putting the responsibility of innovation on Nintendo. It's on SEGA and all the publishers and developers as well to carry that flag."
While he's right that it's the developer's fault that the Wii is not showing a whole lot of potential beyond minigames, he did not need to take back his comments. I'm sure that he only took the comments back because of crazy Nintendo fans sending death threats to him.
Nintendo truly has a great thing going with their Virtual Console service. You are able to get games from a wide variety of classic and retro systems such as the NES, Genesis, TurboGrafx, and Neo Geo. However, some systems are missing from the lineup. But don't you fear! Sega is here to save the day!