See Brian try to talk the head of Sega of America into launching Dreamcast 2 to take on the Wii.
Dreamcast 2? Seaman 2? Shenmue 3? Hear Simon Jeffery crush all of your Sega wet dreams.

"There are no plans for [Shenmue III] right now," Jeffery told us. Despite being one of the most requested Sega "fanboy" titles, it certainly didn't sound like the publisher has much interest in or resources dedicated to the project.

Jeffery was at least less final on Shenmue III's fate than he was on a North American release of Seaman 2. We asked about the still unpublished PlayStation 2 oddball's Western release, to which Jeffery flat-out said "No."

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]

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.

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]

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!

Exelica Close Up [Be(—Ichimonji)]

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]

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]

Sega is no good at marketing hardware anymore. Sorry, guys, it's true. The Saturn was a total flop outside Japan, and, while the Dreamcast did pretty good, it got trounced by Sony's PlayStation 2 marketing.

Old consoles had a lot of very custom hardware in them, and you really had to re-learn how to code in a lot of instances. Look at today's console lineup: basically, all PPC cell processors with various combinations of off-the-shelf video hardware and such. Modern arcade boards are more or less just a consumer console crammed into a JAMMA form factor.

So, in that sense, no, I don't expect nor would I like to see Sega return to the hardware scene. I like them doing what they did during the Dreamcast era: making fun games. Hardware is just not all that interesting anymore.

If you're nostalgic for the days of yore, it's worth a read through. It's certainly an interesting look at the pleasures and pitfalls of trying to keep a dead console alive.

Interview: Cryptic Allusion on Keeping the Dream(cast) Alive [The Escapist]

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!]

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.

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]

Nintendo DS 65.5 percent
PlayStation (any model) 61.5 percent
Super Famicom (SNES) 36.5 percent
Famicom (NES) 28.2 percent
GameBoy (including Micro) 25.5 percent
GameBoy Advance 17.8 percent
Wii 17.6 percent
PSP 14.2 percent
Nintendo 64 12.8 percent
Sega Saturn 5.0 percent
Xbox (doesn't specify) 4.5 percent
Dreamcast 4.5 percent
Other 2.9 percent

Popular games include study games, puzzle games and simulation titles. Though, 13 percent do like "action, shooting" games! And who do they game with? Almost half play by themselves, around 25 percent play with their children, and the rest with husbands, grandchildren, etc.
Granny Gamers [goo Research via What Japan Thinks]

Hit the jump for the shameful and embarrassing clips.

Topless Girl [Giz]
Topless/Bottomless DC [Giz]

PS: It can't be a picture you found on the internet...

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.

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.

"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."

home video game machines; player-operated electronic controllers for electronic video game machines; video game interactive controller, namely, hand held pads, and floor pads or mats; joysticks for video games; computer cursor control devices, namely, computer mouse; flash memory cards; video game software, computer game programs

As much as I wish this rumor were true, I don't believe it. More likely the company is updating the original trademark to cover additional items in order to make sure some enterprising company doesn't come out with a Dreamcast brand memory card or dance pad. Either that, or Sega is planning on getting into the peripheral market themselves - Dreamcast is still a pretty strong brand among fans after all. I just cannot see them jumping back in to the already crowded console market.

For one thing, Sega's software offerings haven't been all that stellar lately, in case you hadn't noticed. Sonic sells well to children, but most gamers can agree that their flagship franchise has been in a downward spiral since Sonic Adventure, and with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games they've managed to release the worst Mario game ever. They couldn't make a new console work on strength of software alone.

That leaves strength of hardware, and while the Dreamcast was an amazing little machine, I just can't imagine Sega pulling together the cash to manufacture something that could compete with the popularity of the Wii or the power of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Besides, many of us have already gotten our current gen machine picked, and with multi platform third party titles becoming the norm, we're right back at selling a hardware platform on first party titles, which again - not happening.

I'd love to be wrong here, really. I would really love to see Sega give hardware another go, and there will always be room in my heart and my entertainment center for my Dreamcast, but no.

Dreamcast [Trademork.com via Videogamer.com]

Hello from Czech republic. I like to read UKR so I decided to send you pics from book I found in niece's hands. It shows many common life things include electronics in form of drawn pictures. The author of book had to be very distinguished as Dreamcast was choosed as example of true video game system (and not the Sony crap) which should be recognized by kids

Dude Flips Out [BBtv]

Thanks muu!

Dynamite Dreams [Insert Credit]

• 80 percent play video games.
• 34.4 percent have five or more video game machines in their house
• In a multiple answer question, 82.2 percent usually play the DS and 39.8 play the GBA. The shocker? 4.8 percent still play the Dreamcast, and 5.1 still play the Saturn. Compare that to 10.5 percent who play the PSP and the 11.9 percent who play the Nintendo Famicom (NES). Yes, more Japanese kids play the NES than the PSP. Go ahead and say, "wow." Aloud, even!
• 70.3 percent play games alone.
• 20.2 percent are "forbidden" to play games by parents.

There's more data over at website What Japan Thinks. Check that out, it's fascinating.
NES to PSP [WJT]

A moment of silence, please — those are the last breaths of the SEGA Dreamcast support you hear.
DC's Time is Up Soon [SEGA]

While we know a little bit about how the game will play—the screen will scroll up and you'll shoot stuff—what we don't know are the specific genders of each of its main characters. In what's becoming a disturbing trend, we're unaware of the penis count in the above piece of artwork or whether its illegal for us to even think about the sex of any of these glossy eyed 'toons.

I just hope the game plays better than Senko no Ronde. Oh, and don't hold your breath for another "final" Dreamcast release.

Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta! [G.rev]

As for Shenmue, I would have to say at this stage, it is worth forgetting about... Suzuki's status is, once again, up in the air, which counts Shenmue III totally out of the picture right now. This is confirmed, it seems.

No More Shenmue [VGB]

To compete, the brothers created titles for new consoles such as the Atari Lynx that went on sale in 1989. ``It was the only way,'' Guillemot said. ``It was already a very crowded market.''

``Dreamcast was a big failure for us,'' Guillemot said. ``We invested quite a lot, we had quite a few games on the way. Then they didn't defend themselves well. Sony killed them.''

Alas, poor Dreamcast. We had such high hopes.

The article covers a lot of ground, from the company's beginnings in farm equipment sales to the large stock purchase made by rivals Electronic Arts back in 2005, providing an interesting look into the feelings about the hostile move from both sides of the table.

``I would not say it's fun to have a competitor among your shareholders,'' Guillemot said.

Electronic Arts spokeswoman Tiffany Steckler said the company hasn't decided what Electronic Arts will do with its holding. ``It's fair to say that we are very happy shareholders,'' she said.

Ubisoft's Guillemot Bets on Wii, Tops Electronic Arts [Bloomberg]

Which is why I am starting an entirely inappropriate internet campaign: bring back J. When the Xbox originally launched, the then chubby exec was everywhere. Jallard got thinner, cooler and more eXtreme as the Xbox 360 launch drew near, and then POOF, he was gone — off to work on the Zune or something. Right now, he's probably holed up, working on Microsoft's answer to the iPhone. A waste! We don't want a Microsoft iPhone. We want J saying stuff about the Xbox 360, riding mountain bikes and being eXtreme. Sure, Allard might be a phony or whatever, but he's quotable and wears hoodies! Best of all, we've actually creeped him out. Think we'll be able to creep out Moore's replacement? Ha! J's the Prodigal Son, Microsoft, and it's about friggin' time he came home.

Sign below to show you're support for The Return of Jallard:

In addition to his base pay, Moore will also receive a signing bonus of $1.5 million if he remains with EA for two years. However, that bonus will be paid out within 30 days of his employment, to be repaid if Moore moves on from the company before his two year anniversary.

Moore will also receive a stock grant of 50,000 restricted shares, half of which vest at two years into his EA employment with the other half vesting at the four year mark. At the current after hours value of EA stock, his shares would value $4.26 million, a figure sure to change before 2009. He's also been given a stock option grant to purchase 350,000 shares as part of the company's Equity Incentive Plan.

On top of all that Moore moolah, the former Sega Dreamcast exec will be granted $330,000 in moving expenses. Looks like Peter can finally afford that laser tattoo removal!

Electronic Arts Form 8-K [SEC, via sonycowboy @ NeoGAF]

SNK has decided to stop offering maintenance and repairs for the Neo Geo home hardware, accessories and game cartridges as well as Neo Geo CD, Neo Geo CDZ and the Neo Geo Pocket. SNK left the console business by the year 2000, but continued to support its hardware. Starting August 31st, it won't. The reason? Getting parts has become increasingly difficult. Sega, likewise, announced earlier this year that it would no longer service its consoles starting this fall. It's the end of an era. Officially. Brian Ashcraft

No More Neo Geo Service [SNK Playmore via Insert Credit]

Sure, we've all got our favorites. Via CNet UK comes a list of the five best controllers. Without adieu, they are:

• 1). Atari 2600 joystick: Featuring a simple stick mechanism for moving around and a red button for firing. It's not technically a gamepad, but it's so crucial to gaming history there's no way we couldn't mention it.
• 
  
• 2). SNES controller: This exercise in ergonomics is a curvy, multi-coloured, multi-buttoned evolution of the angular NES controller. This was the first controller to have shoulder buttons — a revolution that made an arcade staple like Street Fighter II a viable proposition in the home.
• 
  
• 3). Nintendo 64 controller: This is one of the most important joypads ever produced. Not only did the N64's controller feature an analogue joystick, which made playing games such as GoldenEye realistic and subtle, but it also featured a pistol-like trigger button underneath.
• 
  
• 4). PS2 controller: Nintendo may have started the analogue-stick-on-a-pad idea but Sony really took it to the bank. For many gamers, the DualShock gamepad is the best gamepad ever made... Having two analogue sticks meant you could play games in a completely different way to anything available before.
• 
  
• 5). Xbox 360 controller: It was the first wireless pad to come as standard. Its comfy, solid design offers dual analogue joysticks and two analogue trigger buttons underneath. There's also a built-in jack for connecting a headset.

Top Five [CNET UK via The Last Boss]

These days, everyone's all about the Unreal Engine 3. It seems we can't go a week without a new publisher licensing Epic Games' tech. Sega, Capcom, Activision, and Square-Enix are all on board. Even Electronic Arts is a licensee—odd because it owns Renderware. So what happened to dear old Renderware? EA's William "Bing" Gordon told Gamasutra:

Renderware didn't get the next-gen parts that we needed. We actually underestimated Epic early on. They told us, "We're going to do this, this, and this," and we thought, "Eh, it's going to be kind of hard." We also overestimated our team, then we looked up three months, six months, and nine months later and said, "Whoops, we underestimated Epic. Again. And overestimated our own team."

Epic delivers! For more from Bing Gordon, don't miss the rest of the interview. He answers questions on the potential purchase of Ubisoft, why EA passed on the Dreamcast, and taking a risk on Spore. Michael McWhertor

Bing There, Done That: EA's CCO Talks... Everything [Gamasutra]

Microsoft's Peter Moore is in attack mode. He is out for blood, comparing the current situation at Sony to his Dreamcast days at Sega, saying, "I've walked a mile in those shoes. I'm digging up my tortured past here, but remember Dreamcast? We thought we were doing right. All of a sudden it didn't pan out." The jabs at Sony don't end there. Oh, no. Besides Dreamcasting the PS3 console, Moore has it in for PlayStation Home. And not just Home, but hanging out in home:

Four years ago, we looked at the concept of a lounge where your avatar could wander around... But it was not something that we felt worth pursuing... The concept of hanging out was something that, while we looked at it, we just didn't think was something that our users wanted to do... We may be proven wrong. It may be proven that people want their 3D avatars to hang out with each other. But we made the decision that, right now, it's about navigation and communication. We just think people want to communicate, they want to play games, they want to download movies, they want to listen to music. We're not sure they want to hang around.

Bwah? Brian Ashcraft

Moore's Good Day [Next-Gen via Xbox 360 Rally Thanks, Paco DG!]

If you're the kind of gamer who likes to get your hands a little dirty, why not try out the simple, do-it-yourself region switching mod? It requires little more than a soldering iron, some wire and a CD-burner. I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but it's still worth mentioning if you're tired of disc swapping prior to sessions of Ikaruga or Shenmue II.

The process looks fairly straightforward, simple enough to warrant a back-up Dreamcast purchase and an hour of your time.

I'm off to find my rose-tinted glasses, play some Cosmic Smash and reminisce. Michael McWhertor

Convert the region of your Dreamcast! [Lyris Lite via Namako Team]