If you didn’t know, we here at SEGAbits are huge fans of the Official Dreamcast Magazine, so you know we totally geeked out knowing that Francesca Reyes (ODCM writer and OXM editor-in-chief) and Simon Cox (Editor-in-chief OCDM) were coming on the podcast. But that isn’t all, we also have a unique perspective coming from Ricardo Torres (working at CNET Gamecenter, coming from early online media compared to print at the time) who gets massive SEGA props for having more Samba de Amigo maraca sets than all the staff combined. I’m really happy with the way the podcast turned out this week, full of nostalgia and the perfect way to kick off the 14th anniversary of the Dreamcast.
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Swingin’ Report Show #50: Dreamcast Birthday Bash with Francesca Reyes, Simon Cox, & Ricardo Torres
Introductions:
- Francesca Reyes – Former writer for the Official Dreamcast Magazine and current editor-in-chief of the Official Xbox Magazine
- Simon Cox – Former editor-in-chief of the Official Dreamcast Magazine and a video game media veteran working on EDGE, GMR, Xbox Nation, 1UP.com, GameQ, and NVision
- Ricardo Torres – CNET Gamecenter, Former editor-in-chief of Gamespot
Round Table Discussion:
- What memorable moments do you have from the Dreamcast’s American launch?
- From a gaming media perspective, what was it like working with the SEGA of America of the Dreamcast era?
- How did you handle the Dreamcast’s demise, both as fans as as journalists?
- How do you think the Dreamcast impacted modern gaming, and how has modern gaming media changed since the Dreamcast days?
Questions:
- Barry the Nomad for Fran: “Using the ODCM review scale, what would you have rated Shenmue II and PSO?”
- David of Sonic Retro:“When Sonic Adventure 2 was announced, did SEGA let you in on the ground floor to write up your previews for the game, or were they secretive, forcing you to look towards other sources that gave information that you knew could turn out to be false?” http://i.imgur.com/Wen4kYB.png
- 8bit from Racketboy: “When exactly did you guys know the Dreamcast was going to be phased out and the magazine would be ending?”
- superyoda41 from Racketboy: “Did Sega ever interfere with the content of the magazine, in terms of reviews/opinions, especially in the waning days of the system?”
- CRTGAMER from Racketboy: “How did demo disc content, including exclusives like Toy Commander’s Christmas missions, come about?”
- George for Fran: ” Tell me more about these photos we posted on Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/NCfqLvx7Cw/ / http://instagram.com/p/M05qCER7If/ “
Big massive thanks to Francesca Reyes (@tomobiki and @OXM), Simon Cox (@_simon_cox and check out his awesome artwork here) and Ricardo Torres (@GS_RT)
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Swingin’ Report Show #63: Indie SEGA Dreamcast interview with the Elysian Shadows Team
Swingin’ Report Show #57: Interview with WaterMelon Video Games President Tulio Gonçalves
Swingin’ Report Show #70: SEGA Dreamcast 15th Anniversary Special with The Dreamcast Junkyard
When did the Saturn Magazine end? Shouldn’t the staff have moved on from that and be ready?
I own July, it is a text game with cut scenes. Can’t play it without knowing how to read Japanese.
Wow, 20 mins in and hearing these people talk about all the shit happening in Japan and behind the scenes. This is terrible. It is amazing the system is remembered so fondly after so many screw ups. I blame Stolar for this, he really forced Sega to release the console prematurely. I am sure somebody would say nobody asked Japan to launch the console earlier than America but that is simply not the case. The hardware and burning issues had to be tested in Japan first.
Time Stalker was the first Dreamcast RPG.
43:00… “Did Ricardo say “WARP”
RIP Kenji Eno. 🙁
48:00 Isao Okawa announced it before Dreamcast came out state side that Sega is done with Hardware.
You are welcomed to browse Gamespot’s history for the news post.
51:00 Indreama Dreamcast in a Dish receiver damn would’ve kicked XBLA’s ass.
52:00 ZD.Net bought CNET. You guys should read Ziff Davis history pretty crazy.
53:00 Charles Bellfield made the announcement alone. He talked about doing it in an interview.
I wonder what happened to Bellfield. He gave some great interviews… Maybe cause he was asked great questions by journalists.
I am going to stop listening now. This interview is sad, dark and depressing.
* So I wake up and decide to resume the podcast… all the discussions about Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Kenji Eno. Reminded me of good times. I am surprised none of you asked about the other dev teams and where are they now?
These people may have had some insights for us regarding the Japanese developers.
Also disappointed how indie games were not related to the current state of Dreamcast. I mean the Dreamcast is the first entirely indie supported console.
* The closing song, it is from the album uploaded on ihaveadreamcast.com right? I had that album on my desktop… probably still do.
I don’t know any of these people. Very interesting stories, though.
I really enjoyed George’s intro, where he said “hi” and left for the rest of the podcast. It was very insightful.
NEXT STEP
INTERVIEW WITH YU SUZUKI AND YUJI NAKA
Full interview:
Yuji Naka: (amazing story in Japanese)
Me: We don’t understand Japanese!!
Yu Suzuki: (laughs)
Both of them can speak English. I don’t know if they will clear Toefl, but they can speak.
Best episode ever. Really informative and I was never bored with the conversation.
Definitely the most enlightening podcast I’ve heard (not just SegaBits). Simon’s art reminded me of the Sega Summer of Art contest and I was wondering if that actually came to anything, seems to be lost to the mists.
How the hell did you guys pull this off?? Whatever, it was great to hear em! Was a great podcast, and really entertaining.
Really, really fun podcast.