Reflections of the Week

It makes me sad whenever I hear the story of the Dreamcast, Sega's last console, whose production was halted earlier this year. Ridiculed by many, I don't really think the Dreamcast ever was given much of a chance by anyone, even at the start. While I hate to point any fingers…*cough* Sony and Nintendo Fanboys beware *cough* Sega wasn't exactly the greatest in the eyes of many industry critics. I mean, who doesn't remember some of Sega's earlier projects like the Sega 32x and Sega Saturn? But still, looking back, I don't think everyone should've doomed the Dreamcast from the day it launched on 9/9/1999 up until the day it died last March. When those harsh words were being spoken, they weren't spoken out of knowledge of the facts or even an educated guess; most of them were simply spoken out of the biased mouths of ignorant people who either had some hidden vendetta against Sega or those who had no true knowledge of the industry.

When we all look back on things, hopefully some of us will realize that the Dreamcast wasn't really all that bad of a console after all. It brought us what is arguably the greatest console fighter of all-time, SoulCalibur (which many people also consider to be the greatest game of 1998, beating games such as Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy VIII), as well as the first online console RPG ever in North America, Phantasy Star Online. And who will ever forget the great sports games that were on the Dreamcast, ranging all the way from the thumb-killing Virtua Tennis/Tennis 2k2 to the excrutiatingly addictive NFL 2K series?

So when you're thinking about what you want for Christmas, and you don't want to ask for anything too costly, think about the Dreamcast. At $49.99 for the console and a controller, it's a real deal. Add the fact that you can find a first-party Memory Card (VMU) for about $6, and some really good games for $19.99 and under, and you have a true steal that may not be around for much longer.

This Week in RPG History

- I don't think anyone is currently surprised at how many copies Metal Gear Solid 2 sold. Then again, I think many people are surprised the GameCube outsold the Xbox, and Luigi's Mansion reportedly become the fastest selling game ever in North America. Just goes to show how often the unexpected does actually happen. Fortunately, RPGs still have a foothold when it comes to P.C. sales, as the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot took the #1 spot for the top-selling game of October.

- While we're on that topic anyway, what an end of the year it's going to be for Nintendo! December 5th will see the highly-anticipated releases of Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers Melee for the GameCube, and rumors abound that we may also see the release of Rune by year's end, which would be the console's first RPG.

- For the first time, Bioware will be releasing an RPG that isn't published by Interplay. You can read more about that by clicking here, as it involves a game we've covered quite a bit on this site, Neverwinter Nights. Too bad for Interplay though, because Bioware has everything to gain from this, and Interplay has everything to lose. Yet, we still have no concrete news on when exactly Neverwinter Nights will be released.

- Final Fantasy X is coming…soon. Before the end of this year even.

Price Watch

- You can find Dark Age of Camelot (PC) at most Best Buy retailers for only $29.99, which is a definite bargain. Some other great deals at the chain include Crazy Taxi 1 (DC) or Virtua Tennis (DC) for $9.99 each, and Crazy Taxi 2 for $19.99.

- CompUSA also has a great deal for the PS2 version of Max Payne: $39.99 after a $10 instant rebate. They also have Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty for $14.99, and are also taking reservations for the next shipment of GameCubes coming in.

Stuff

- For those of you who don't know, Oakland Athletics slugger Jason Giambi has said that there is a strong chance he'll sign with the New York Yankees in this current off-season. If that happens, then I motion that we just end next season before it begins, and hand the Yankees the championship, because it will be a given deal, much like some of the other sports are right now. Is there anyone that doesn't think the Detroit Red Wings are going to win the Stanley Cup, or the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship? Please, right now, professional sports suck majorly, and it's because there's one dominant team that will never, ever lose. Detroit just gave away money to sign every big free agent they could find, and Kobe and Shaq get more calls than some guy in the phone book named I.P. Freely.

- The new Rob Zombie CD isn't that bad. I've been downloading some of the tracks, and now I actually want to go buy the CD. I like "Never Gonna Stop" and "Dead Girl Superstar." "Feel So Numb" is good too. Now if only that new Limp Bizkit CD actually had the ability to hold someone's attention for more than 2 minutes…

- Harry Potter has now made well over $200,000,000, and is continuing to gross more money at an alarming rate. I think every record it has broken will probably stand for only a few months, because if you don't know, Episode II: Attack of the Clones is still set for a May release. So enjoy your records while you still can Potter.

Well, that's about all for the inagural column of "Reflections From The Dark Side." I hope you enjoyed it, but before I go, I have two things to ask of you guys. First off, for this column to survive and prosper, I'm going to need someone to make a nice looking banner for me. If you have a banner you would like to submit to me, e-mail it to Matt@allrpg.com. If yours just happens to be selected, not only will I give you proper credit, but I'll also be your bestest friend forever. Honest. And secondly, this column will die very soon if I don't get feedback from some of you who read this. I want to hear what you, the Gamer, has to say about some of the issues discussed in this column. Even if you think I'm wrong, and I suck, send an email too. I really want to hear it. I like to hear everything, really. You can send all of your emails to the above address too.