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New Game Added: WinSock Chess
A small, fast, friendly network chess program that lets you connect over any TCP/IP connection. It has fully customizable colors and runs fine online or over a LAN. Quick to download, quick to e-mail, it's a great way to play chess against anybody in the world.
You can get it at our Free Games page. Enjoy!
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bleem! fecking bleems!
 The plotz thickens.
As you may well be aware (see the February 12 post below: bleem! is a lemon and I want my money back), bleem! just really sucks. This is official and is based in solid fact. It will go down in religious tomes as being a truth officially recognized by the gods. Enough ranting. ^_^*
In addition to we people who were screwed out of about $30 for bleem! and their false promise of frequent updates, the bleem!cast project they said they were shafting the PC version users in favor of (See the official letter from bleem! here) has turned out to be just as big a piece of poop. Here's the scoop on the poop.
Their boisterous claims were that each bleem! pack which would be released for the Dreamcast would support around 100 PSX games. Funny. Now that it's here, it only supports ONE FECKING GAME.
The paying buyer who believed the very same people when they said bleem! wouldn't be released until it was perfect... the folks who gave bleem! as a gift only to make enemies as a result... the tolerant consumers that have waited over a year and a half.... have been screwed long and slow over one game. Now anyone who's been eagerly waiting to be able to play only Gran Turismo 2 on their Dreamcast will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. As for the rest of us....
I humbly propose that either bleem! releases a significant update to the PC version -- NOW! -- or refunds the money to each person who has a bleem! key CD and give an official apology to the emulation community as a whole. Failing this, I see no reason why they should be spared from a class-action lawsuit by the consumer public to pay back every penny they ripped out of people's hands with their lies, false claims, and boasts about what they would do in the future. The future for bleem! has come and gone. It's now time for something to be done in the present.
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Argh!
Nothing relevant to report at this time, just piping up so you'll know the site isn't abandoned or anything.
Putting in long hours at the domain of evil. Bear with me and I'll have more good stuff.
BallsQuest! version 1.2
For those who enjoy multiplayer DarkStone, the latest version of BallsQuest! is available for download at the DarkStone Server Portal.
Your object is to defeat the Seven Generals and take their Balls (which contain their souls)! Mini-bosses and multi-language support added. More action than puzzle, a great and smooth multiplayer rumble! Have a Ball!
The upcoming version will have overland bosses, new shops, optional side-quests, and MORE BALLS!
HEAT.NET... is toast
Yesterday HEAT.NET officially announced that as of the end of March is is closing all of its operations. Go, Sega. :( Of course, you can still go to
the pay version of HEAT, 10SIX. That seems to be working just fine. Just as I was about to Dukematch Gunner Jake, too. Damn.
In addition to and because of that...
Because of the necessity for one to exist (especially now), I've put up a Guide to Multiplayer DarkStone to help new players get into games and to give everyone a place to meet and run DarkStone games from. Feel free to check it out.
New Codes Added
Added codes to autokill up to 3 enemies in
Elnard
/ 7th Saga.
The opponents die as their action instead of attacking, and you get full gold and experience.
You can get them on the Pro Action Replay codes page.
New Codes Added
I've made some new Pro Action Replay codes for Elnard
/ 7th Saga
as well as Pretty Soldier Sailormoon R.
Go get 'em.
New Stuff
Added a new Cheats & Codes section with Pro Action Replay codes for
Area 88, Devil Castle Dracula XX, Final Fight Guy, Final Fight Tough,
Gradius III, and
Super Valis.
Final Burn back on track
Great news! As you probably already know (which makes me wonder why I bother to put up a news section), Dave has put the CPS2 support
back into Final Burn. Sure, you can run a lot of these on MAME, but man, is that ever a processor hog!
Anyway, a thank you to Dave for saving us from this last resort. Great job as usual. :)
bleem! is a lemon and I want my money back
Everyone's favorite piece of $30 vaporware, now also unavailable for Dreamcast. Info from possibly within the bleem! project indicates that the bleemcast is only going to be able to run one game per pack, not 100 as they had promised! Also, it also seems the PC version of the original bleem! has been up to 1.6, but they never bothered to release it. Long-time owners and followers of the fictitious bleem! story remember their claim that even the PC version would not be released until the games it supported ran perfectly, and would run fine on what are now lower-end systems, and that there would be constant updates and support. Funny. Didn't run too hot on our 500Mhz machine here at the office, and that when it would even start up to begin with. Since there hasn't been an update in two years, organisms everywhere are wondering what these dweebs' definition of the word "constant" is. It's about high time the team of the money pit called bleem! step up to bat and take a swing, or they're going to get batted themselves.
Dave of Final Burn... Finally Burned Out?
Dave, author of DTMNT and the lovely DGen (my favorite Genesis/Mega Drive emu), has just removed the Capcom Play System 2 support from his latest emu, Final Burn. While many people wondered why he put CPS2 emulation into a primarily Sega arcade emulator, he did largely do a good job of implementing the support for the long-awaited system. Now after putting in all that effort, he's dropped it like a rotten fish. He blames it on people who kept nagging him about unsupported games and the fact that people made batch programs to run games not officially supported. First, we'd like to congratulate Dave on a fine program. People only jump to action like contructing workaround programs when the object of it shows true promise. Also, people wouldn't care about a shoddy piece of software, so the "nagging" is testament unto itself. Second, we have to say, what was he thinking? If you leave a way to be contacted, expect to be. If you are working on a high-profile project (and little was more high-profile
than Final Burn) that many people enjoy, it's natural that they will contact you. Death threats and crapola like that are unwarranted, agreed, but it is a sad fact that comes with the territory and must be expected. We feel that the complete and total removal of the CPS2 support of FB was a bit immature. Kind of like dumping the entire class into boiling lava because one kid was chewing gum. I guess the point here is if it's worth starting, it's worth finishing. But even if FB doesn't pick it back up, someone else will. Dave may take this as a challenge, and the odds go to him if so, but perhaps someone can do it better.
Sony admits some PlayStation 2s 'not up to standard'
Overheats, dying video connectors, game-disc-eating, heavy, black, and pendulous, the PlayStation 2 keeps delivering surprise after surprise. A memo leaked to the Sun from within Sony admits that "[They] know a lot of [their] units are not up to consumer standards," and yet they keep throwing them out there as quick as they can without taking a pause to get the machines working first. Ah, well. Head on over to The Register for the full story.
Not that Sega's doing too much better....
Despite the rather surprising popularity of the Dreamcast as it still continues madly to outsell the PS2, strong rumors indicate that Sega's planning to quit while they can and get out of the game console business altogether. Even if this turns out not to be true, Sega has enough of a like reputation to make it sound real, having dropped the Genesis and Saturn like hot potatoes on the US market at the first sign of trouble. We'll have more as the facts present themselves.
Works in progress
Illusion of Gaia
New music added
 Added 4 tracks from Appleseed: Prometheus. Stage 1, intro, mission briefing, continue?,Why Appleseed? I don't know. It was a popular manga back in the day before all these evil companies started mainstreaming and bastardizing literally nearly everything in the world. I just chose a random game to pick on. A couple of these are a little repetitive, but also there's some pretty good stuff if you like a strong and steady beat. I'll put in the excellent boss track when I can get the @#$% door at the end of the first stage to open again. ^_^* Check out these new rips on our music page.
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WinDepth
WinDepth is a fun but small Japanese game for Windows. You control a battleship bombing nine kinds of hells out of submarines, attack subs, and eventually, sea monsters! The music is good, and you can check out the world's highest scores right from the game and send yours in as well! Definitely worth checking out at a meagre 336K. Get it from our Free Games page!
One small step for Rockman
Well, our original translation of Rockboard had unfortunately been lost in a hard drive crash. So being the stubborn person I am, I've started over again. The only thing I've gotten done tonight are the character names, but they're all done throughout the game. Next will come the game intro menu, then the in-game menus, and then the event text. It is interesting that while translating, the closer you get to finishing, the more utter gibberish you produce. :)
Here's a peek at what little we've got back together. It looks much better this time, believe me. Not much to look at? Give us some time....
Bleemcast delayed again...
That's right. Our favorite piece of vaporware from our favorite vaporware authors, bleem!, has been set back yet again. For those of you it is unknown to, bleemcast is an emulator that would theoretically allow you to play your PlayStation games on a Dreamcast. That is, if the lazy buggers ever finish the program they announced they had ignored their promises to update the PC bleem! in favor of.
It has been said that an infinite number of monkeys at a typewriter could eventually through sheer odds hammer out a copy of Hamlet. It's evident that an equal number of monkeys may be required if we ever want to see a bleem update again.
Translations vs. conversions
Another thing, just a point of note for all time, is the wonderful number of pure video game translations out there, some of which we will be bringing you soon. However, some people do not understand the term "translation". To translate something is to change it from one language to another while still retaining its original meaning. Companies such as Squaresoft's US division twist and alter games so much they hardly resemble the original game anymore. Most of the fan-built translations of games are pretty much pure and genuine, but you do run into some such as CTC's conversion of Phantasy Star Gaiden which are little more than home-brewed bastardizations. Dr. Cossack is beginning a project to "translate" Wily & Light's RockBoard, a super-fun RockMan multiplayer board game for Famicom, but he has not gotten to work on it. If you want a true translation, we are working on one, but our work is going very slowly as this is our first translation. If you'd like to keep the authentic RockMan experience, why not e-mail the chap and let him know you'd rather see the characters with their original names? You can contact him at dr_cossack@interordi.com. He is also looking for assistence with the translation itself, so if you can lend a hand, you get to be a hero. :)
 Speaking of bastardizations, here's a funny one done in good humor. Extremely cool is Detonation.net's fraggin' nut-bustingly hilarious bastardization of The Matrix.
There are two versions... the first reads a bit faster and the comedy hits a little harder. The second one goes a bit more smoothly. It's a definite must-see, and you can check it out here!
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Music section is in! We've got 5 tracks from Elnard, 5 from Final Fight Guy, and 15 tracks from Super Street Fighter II. Check it out from the main menu or just click here. Don't have an SPC player? Click here to get one. Any requests, please let us know! :)
Music rips brewing! We'll be adding a game soundtrack section coming up soon. Currently we've got rips from Elnard / 7th Saga
as well as Final Fight Guy and Final Fight Tough / Final Fight 3. If you've got any Super Famicom or SNES games you'd like music from, just let us know and we'll get to ripping it. :)
Apologies for the slight delay in updating. Just got Resident Evil 2 Platinum and I have to admit it's taking a fair portion of my non-work time. Unfortunately, the game package claimed to contain both the US and Japanese versions of the game, but the Japanese version is nowhere to be found. Hmph.
As part of our spiffy upcoming updates, we've got a nice font you may want to download. Totally optional, but the site looks really nice with it.
 Well, looks like Metal Gear is getting the red carpet treatment on the PC. After the phenomenal Metal Gear Solid upgrade, Metal Gear Solid Integral
was received so well a few months ago, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and Microsoft are collaborating on a PC-only project using the MGSI engine, Metal Gear Solid X. Also, it's official that Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty will be coming out on the PC platform, upgraded and with extra options over the PS2 version. So much for that PlayStation 2 I was gonna buy. ;-) |
Greetings! No news to report today, I just wanted to wish everyone a pleasant All Hallow's Eve. Enjoy yourself. :)
Welcome. PlayStation 2 has finally come out in the US, to a moderate turnout. Sony had originally said no more units would ship until March, but it seems that more units will miraculously be available by christmas. Whoda thought it?
IGN has lined up, pound for pound and ounce for ounce, all of the PS2's US launch titles against similar Dreamcast titles. If you just got chumped out of $300 or more, or are plain curious, you might want to check it out!
Fans of the NES 8 Eye's, check out our new patch which brings the US version closer to the original release. Please take a look at it here
Okay, things have reached a new height of stupidity. On E-Bay there's currently a US PlayStation 2 going for over $3000. People are still bidding on this, too. Be the first on your block to sell out to the hype! Do I hear $4000? Incidentally, I've got an Atari 800 sitting up in my closet with the FULL 64K of optional memory upgrade... not one, but TWO cartridge ports! A tape drive! More joysticks than you can shake a stick at! A library of about ten games! All for the amazing price of $1000. Contact me immediately if the previous hype really worked on you and I'll be glad to take your money.
Seriously, if people want the PlayStation 2 that badly, I'll be glad to get the authentic original Japanese PlayStation 2 which will play the pure, uncut versions of all the games, include the mod chip to play CDR backups and US games with a disc-swapping trick, and sell 'em for $650 a pop. Might get lucky and end up with one of the cool ones that will play DVD discs from any region on Earth, which the US systems will certainly not do. >:) Any takers?
Friday the 13th. Games Index is up! Use it to quickly locate info on games that were bastardized when they hit your country. Currently they point to ones that were already here, but of course more will be added and this is the way to get to 'em when they're done. In the works now are Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun (Famicom) vs. Renegade (NES) and
Devil Castle Dracula XX (Super Famicom) vs. Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES). New games that are added will be reported here.
According to The History Channel in their little review of the history of video games, texture-mapped polygons were responsible for the great leap from monochrome games on a CRT. This is pretty odd, considering a great many people remember over a decade of 2-D color games (some people may recall an obscure gem called Pac-Man) and also 3-D vector games like Battlezone existed before texture-mapped polygons, then non-polygon 3-D color games like Doom, which some people have heard of, too. Of course, this was all built up to hype the PlayStation 2, a show supposedly reporting facts hyping it as "the next generation of video gaming". Some very good systems have made similar claims in the past, and did what they did on their own merits without having to pay off people to goodmouth them. Welcome to the next level.
People are gearing up for the main event at their local Circuit City where on October 26th, hundreds of folks will be eagerly awaiting the US release of the PlayStation 2, of which the stores will reportedly receive less than a half-dozen units. Tickets for the massive battle royale rumble which will inevitably ensue in the parking lot are on sale for $5, or $10 at the door. Other stores are also in the same boat, with many of the people who have fully prepaid for their PS2 units not being able to get one after all. With the upcoming release of the first bleemcast! packs in a week or so (which allows play of PlayStation titles on the Dreamcast), Sony's failure to deliver could be an early and serious blow to their success.
Death to Tyranny! Sony finally loses the big enchilada in Supreme Court in a massive strike against Connectix. In case you've been out of the scene or under a rock, Sony has been picking on companies which have made emulators for their PlayStation game console, dragging them to court over and over again and trying to make them give up from having to pay attourneys and such. Hopefully, we have seen the last of such selfish, bullying behavior. There is not yet an emulator which runs games nearly as well as the PlayStation itself, so quit whining, Sony! You've got your heap of cash. Read the full story here!
It seems Hasbro Interactive hasn't been doing its market research on one of the titles they're trying to crib off of. Just hitting stores is "Frogger 2 - Swampy's Revenge" for the Playstation. Of course, as any Frogger fan will likely know, Frogger II was released back in the 80's and was called "Three Deep". A good indication that the original creators are nowhere to be seen, yes? Needless to say, it's another 3D game not resembling the original. Quoth a co-worker, "I've played Frogger II, and this is not it."
Well, looks like Sega is still at it. In case you've not heard, Sega of America is systematically shutting down news
sites which are doing nothing remotely illegal or threatening to their business at all! I suppose when you're a multinational company with a ton of money, you can purchase a waiver to any constitutional right you please, including freedom of speech.
Got a game review you'd like to submit? Doesn't matter what game for what system, just give it a fair go and we'll gladly have it. Doesn't matter if it's Atari 2600 or Saturn or arcade, whatever. We're shooting for diversity here. :) Screen shots are greatly desired, but not required. Just drop us a line and let us know what you have in mind!
Okay, this doesn't really qualify as news, but I had the good fortune to see a demo of Metal Gear Solid 2 yesterday. Looks like I'll be doing the same as I did for the original PlayStation -- buying the system for one game. Well, myself as well as other die-hard Metal Gear fans still have until May 2, 2001 to scrape our pennies together. (Hopefully I will have a real job by then and won't have blown all my cash on an early Cinco De Mayo bash the day before or something.)
As soon as we have five of each thing ready, such as freeware ROM images and reviews, we'll be opening up the upcoming sections. Patience, my friend, but not much more.
Also, I'd like to welcome Darkechilde to the project as an official member. Not only does she have great information, she also wears really cool clothes and that's always a bonus at the office. :) It's looking like things are just going to continue to go uphill from here, folks!
On a sadder note, the community takes a collective, respectful bow to Zophar, now hanging up his mantle. I'm sure I speak for most everyone when I say that no matter where things go from this point, you still the man. :)
Welcome to System Shock, dear visitor! Here we hope to spread some truth on the dimly-illuminated world of video gaming.
We have changed our layout a bit, as you can no doubt see. We did this so that we could put up new info faster, as opposed to having to wait until we had an entire issue's worth of stuff. Hope you like it. :) Soon we'll put up a games index where you can easily look up and see changes to any game we examine, including those in our back issues, which are still accessible. We're also working on some game reviews, and will open up that section as soon as we have a handful done. As promised, we're also gathering some of the worst-treated characters of all time as poster boys in the fight against bastardization and videogame censorship.
In the meantime, feel free to take a look around. All of the traditional stuff is here, and we'll have more to come, such as translations for games and public domain ROM images.
Most importantly, have fun!
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(c)MM Chaotic Fox Press - Maintained by Kitsune
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