Cosmic Smash Returns?

Sega's racquetball meets Tron meets Breakout oddity Cosmic Smash may be one more Dreamcast-era property headed for revival territory as the publisher has recently trademarked the title with the USPTO. The arcade title only saw release in Japan and didn't get much attention from gamers as a too late Dreamcast port, but it looks like Sega may be bringing us an update.

Cosmic Smash was developed by the team formerly known as Sega Rosso, probably better known for their Sega Rally and Star Wars arcade game releases. It's almost begging for a WiiWare re-release, as its rather simple in the mechanics and graphics department—perfect for a Wii-remote waggling short session game.

Cosmic Smash [USPTO]

Dreamcast Lives On (In New Jackie Chan Movie)

However, the best reference is also the most subtle. In the first five minutes of the movie, after Jason wakes up from his dream, you can see a Dreamcast on the left hand corner of the screen underneath his TV.

There are signs you're getting old: Baldness, yelling at people who play music too loud, that cummerbund of gut that's been piling up like credit card debt since your freshman 15. And then there are signs you are really old, which means you can't hack it as a serious gamer anymore. TechRadar has a list of 11, and, like, eight apply to me. Harsh.

Most hurtful was "You've pre-ordered GTA IV but don't mind if it doesn't turn up on launch day." Oh come on. I have a life, I have a job, I probably won't even have everything moved in by Tuesday ... why does that make me such a backslider?

So here's the list, and I'm curious what's the youngest applicable age for any of them? "You fondly remember a golden age of gaming ..." That qualifies Dreamcast fanboys, much less guys like me who loved ... oh never mind.

11 Signs You're No Longer a Hardcore Gamer [TechRadar]

A Clinical Look at Triggerheart Exelica

This Triggerheart Exelica figurine looks pretty pedestrian, no? It's just a $150, 26cm Exelica fig in her trademark armor. That's it, nothing to see, move along! So not MAXIMUM RISKY material. Or wait. Is it?

Yes, yes it is. Hit the jump to find out why. That is, unless you are offended by anatomically detailed, possibly NSFW plastic sculptures. You've been warned!

Dreamcast Rez Beta "K-Project" Released

Before there was Rez, there was K-Project. That was the early code name for Tetsuya Mizuguchi and United Game Artists' musical shooter, a project that evolved over time to be very different from its original concept. While the early versions of the game may only exist on someone's hard drive, a pre-release version, then known also as Project Eden and Vibes, has been released by an anonymous source as a bootable Dreamcast disc image.

The Dreamcast version of K-Project features a different soundtrack and a slew of other differences from the retail version. Collectors and Rez enthusiasts should put the Dreamcast back on the shelf and take a look.

K-Project (Rez Beta) Dumped [Lost Levels via Siliconera]

Sega Didn't Ask About Your Dreamcast, Some Dirty Rotten Scoundrel Did

We really hope you didn't bite when "Sega" asked if you still owned a Dreamcast, promising you a snazzy @dreamcast.com e-mail address in return. It might not have been worth it, as the Mainichi Shimbun is reporting that Sega has called the Dreamcast.com web site nothing but a "bogus" domain squatter, saying that whomever is currently using the site is using Sega's trademarks and logos without permission. At best, its just a fan site collecting Dreamcast serial numbers for an exhaustive database, but at worst it may be a phishing scam built on the foundation of nostalgia for September 9, 1999.

While you may already be on the receiving end of some fresh spam, I'd definitely recommend a quick password change to whatever e-mail address you used if you submitted your info.

Sega Calls Attention to Dreamcast Imposter Site [Yahoo Japan]

Keeping the Dream(cast) Alive

Sega of Japan has been sighted nosing around our Dreamcasts, asking all sorts of questions. Questions like, "Do you still own a Dreamcast?" and "What's its serial number?" They've just updated their Dreamcast.com website with the first question, and clicking on it takes you to a page where you can use your console's serial number to register for a user.dreamcast.com account. After snagging my trusty console from my entertainment center and plugging in the serial and some other pertinent info, I got a simple email confirmation thanking me for registering. What happens next? No clue, but they're planning something. First they update their Dreamcast trademark to include new terms back in August, and now this. With the tenth anniversary of the console coming up in August, one can't help but wonder what the hell is going on. Re-releasing old games perhaps? Offering really, really extended warranties? All I know is this thing they're doing now needs a massive response, to both show our love for the noisy little console and show Sega that we're ready for whatever Dreamcast lovin' they're willing to toss our way.

UPDATE - I just got my account approved, and now have a relatively useless (myserialnumber)@dreamcast.com Gmail account! Hooray!

SEGA of Japan to update www.Dreamcast.com for 2008! [Sega of America Forums via Sega Nerds - Thanks Sonic_Freak!]

Dreamcast Demo For You To Worship At

There is nothing more striking and impressive for a collector or gaming fan to have. In the dark it glows a beautiful neon blue colour when turned on, as you can see in the pictures. This really is the ultimate Dreamcast collector's item.

Sega Dreamcast - NIB!

Wow. You certainly don't run across these every day. Goodwill Industries is auctioning off a NIB Sega Dreamcast. The system comes with the system CDs and an extra controller. No games are included but those aren't too tough to find - even Amazon has a wide variety from third-parties.

My Dreamcast is still running beautifully and Soul Calibur still looks great on it so I can attest to the longevity of the system. I am curious however to know the story behind how this wound up at Goodwill in the first place. I hope that some college student doesn't go home at Spring Break to find that his collection of vintage gaming systems has been cleared out to make room for Christmas decorations by Mom.

Gamertell [Thanks to Jenni for the tip]

Learn About Japan's Gaming Grannies

It's numbers time! That's right, we've got a post full of data that provides insight into people who answered survey questions. Hooray. In this case, it's over a thousand old Japanese ladies between the ages of 50 and 69. Findings include: 41.3 percent have a game console. What's more, 12.4 percent play their game console "often," while 33.6 percent play it "sometimes" and 23.4 percent play it "occasionally." The most common consoles?

Buy Every Single Japanese Dreamcast Game At Once

Wii Boobs (So Old), Dreamcast Moobs (So New)

Know this: Hot Tears of Shame is equal opportunity. Hot Tears of Shame doesn't care if it's featuring jubblies or ding-dongs — just as long as it's embarrassing or shameful. We've got two HTOS clips to prove just that! One involves a fat dude in his underwear playing Samba De Amigo, and the other features a naked woman playing Wii Sports. But since we've already seen naked women playing Wii Sports (so old!), we recommend checking out the fat dude's man boobs first. What's more, the naked lady clip (starring Penthouse Pet Shay Laren) doesn't really feature that much gaming. We feel kinda ripped off. There is real bowling, though. Oh, both clips aren't sorta Not Safe For Work, they're TOTALLY Not Safe For Work.

Hit the jump for the shameful and embarrassing clips.

Thrift Store Treasures: The Ugliest Dreamcast You Will Ever See

Rez HD Gameplay Blowout

As some of you may well remember, the Kotaku Team got a chance to pay a visit to the Q Entertainment Studios whilst we were in Tokyo for TGS. After meeting the amazing Miziguchi we were treated to a glimpse of some of their upcoming games including Every Extend Extra Extreme and Rez HD. I had the good fortune to be the first person to check out Rez HD and it was awesome. If you never picked up this title on Dreamcast or PS2 and are curious what it's all about, GameTrailers has been kind enough to upload four gameplay videos for your perusal. Ok course, you can't see the full HD effect in these videos (unless you go to GameTrailers where they have HD versions), but it should be enough to whet your appetite until the game shows up on Xbox LIVE sometime in the coming weeks.

Make the jump for the other three videos.

Sega Totally into Brains

With our ThinkGear bio-sensor technology and innovative capacity of SEGA TOYS, our collaboration with SEGA TOYS will empower consumers to intimately interact with or control a toy, using their mind.

Dreamcast 2 Remains A Dream

Yesterday we reported on rumors swirling about regarding the possibility of a Dreamcast 2 somewhere in Sega's future, sparked by a recently updated trademark application. From there it really just became a race to see who Sega would respond to first with a statement. Sega of America PR Director Charlie Scibetta spoke to GameDaily for the win!

"We're very happy being a platform agnostic company and have moved up the ranks the past three years from #11, to #9, and now stand at #6 in terms of our market share by units among third-party publishers. We like our current strategy and have no plans to change in the middle of this outstanding growth."