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A tribute album to the ‘90s aesthetic of SEGA’s most-loved games

Recently, the SEGA Dreamcast saw its 17th anniversary in North America. Released in 1999 as the last SEGA console in the company’s history, its birthday is a bittersweet event. Despite the company’s shortcomings, SEGA has a place in the hearts of those who, like me, grew up with games such as Sonic Adventure (1999) and NiGHTS Into Dreams… (1996). It’s the style, the aesthetic, even the background music of these classic Dreamcast titles that fosters such love among fans. Composer Christa Lee’s album Welcome to the Fantasy Zone is a tribute to that kind of love. Released in late August, Lee’s…

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This is what Jet Grind Radio would look like if made by the French

Hover is like Jet Grind Radio without the rollerblades. It is plainly Jet Grind Radio Frenchified with the urban sport of parkour. They have replaced the inline skates with a grind-rail riding pair of feet. It’s all good because the cartoonish, purple and black city traced with pink electricity scintillating from your sneaks simply looks to die for as you leap and spin and do impossible flips. In the rivalry between traceurs and bladers, if there is such a thing, count this as a win for freestyle running. The Kickstarter is just getting warmed up and already the goal is in…

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Shenmue gets GDC postmortem, continues Dreamcast’s jolly stroll into immortality

Yu Suzuki is scheduled to give a postmortem of Shenmue at the next Game Developers Conference in March. PlayStation 4 mastermind Mark Cerny will be translating for Suzuki. These postmortems are normally fascinating: developers cut like a flaming hot sword through the typical piles of marketing bullshit and speak really candidly about why they made the decisions they did. It’s the sort of insight almost never offered before a game actually comes out.  What’s really interesting about the Shenmue postmortem in general is how nicely it slots alongside the ongoing reevaluation of the Dreamcast. Shenmue was intended as the system’s crowning achievement but it…