Shenmue Again?

Can it be? Shenmue returns, but only as a sidestory on a mobile device.
Via joystiq.

Daylight Savings

A few days ago, I received an e-mail asking if I wanted to put some maps to the I ’76 levels on the site. After checking them out, the answer was a definite, “Yes,” so those are up on the site in the I ’76 Downloads and through the I ’76 walkthrough.

I went and cleaned up some the of I ’76 links last week and it seemed like I should do the same for the other sections of the site. So, the Battlezone and BZII sections have had all of the broken external links removed.

There are a few small changes to some pages on the SEGA section, but I can’t even recall what they are.

As usual, there’s some behind-the-scenes stuff as well, most of which isn’t noticeable.

Updates:
Battlezone Links – Old links removed
Battlezone II Links – Old links removed
Interstate ’76 Downloads – I ’76 Maps added
Interstate ’76 Walkthrough – New maps for maze levels

Cornucopia

Another set of updates has been added to the site. With the turkey-fuel provided over the weekend, I’ve been given the energy for a rather large update.

As promised, for Interstate ’76, I’ve added in a scanned version of its quick reference card. If you need it, at least there’s a place out there on the web that has it. While I was at it, I figured I’d add up the key card for Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries as well.

The Battle Zone site gets a quick update. At the bottom of each page is a link to the other pages. In case you find your way here through a search engine, you can still navigate around without the frame on the left hand side.

One of the links in the Mech 2 FAQ was old, so it’s been pointed to the right spot.

Speaking of FAQs, the I ’76 FAQ is updated with some new and refined info. In case you’re tired of setting down the hardware acceleration on your computer just for a game of I ’76, there’s a fix for that.

The Q&A has been brought up to date, so the three e-mails I’ve received in the last two years are up.

On the Sega side, the Rez section has some more info/screenshots about its pre-release versions and I’ve got some pictures up of the real-world Shenmue locations.

Behind the scenes, I’ve installed Google Analytics. The stats about the site are fascinating – where traffic comes from, how long people browse the site, what pages are looked at, which aren’t. In case you’re wondering, this site is most popular in Germany (I have no idea why) and the least visited portions are BZII and Deus Ex. Most popular? You guessed it, Interstate ’76, Battle Zone, and Mechwarrior.

It seems like I’m leaving some things off, so look around.

Updates:
Battle Zone – Navigation all around
I ’76 Downloads – Key Card
Interstate ’76 FAQ – New info
Mechwarrior 2 FAQ – Link is corrected
Mercenaries Downloads – Key Card
Q&A – Three new questions almost answered
Rez – K-Project and Vibes Info
Shenmue – Real-world Locations

Steady She Goes

More updates for the Club Sega part of the site. As usual, there’s an assortment of small html tweaks and several page updates.

Don’t worry, I’ve got some non-Sega updates coming soon. If you’ve ever found yourself looking for the I ’76 quick reference card, it’ll be up shortly, and so will the year’s round-up of reader mail/Q&As.

Updates:
Rez
VO ads
VO:OT screenshots
New reviews
VF3 Saturn update

More Clubbin’

Tripod.co.uk is getting on my nerves. Despite tweaking my code to get it looking just right, their shitty advertisements are screwing up my text and layout. If anyone wants to point me to a better server, please let me know.

The Club Sega section is updated all over the place. New reviews, more text, more general tweaking. There’s a lot of little things, so check out the dates on the bottom of the pages. They list the last time that page has had an update.

Updates:
Club Sega

New Stuff

There’s a huge update to the Sega section. The site has been revamped. Looks-wise, it’s probably more of an evolution than anything else. It has been looking stale for about the last six years and I’ve been planning to get the Sega blog stuff on there for a while, so it seemed like now was the time to update it.

That particular section of the site has been through a lot. And by that, I mean periods of time in Notepad, then Frontpage Express, then Frontpage, then Dreamweaver, and now finally… back to Notepad. To use a pad pun (or two?), the pages were in htm hell.

I’ve been out of the web game for a bit, so it was nice to catch up on the new css/html updates. That being said, everything on the new pages is strict xhtml 4.0 and things are a lot less messy behind the scenes. Is it perfect? No, but at least I can just play around with the stylesheet to get it right. I won’t deny it, I am proud that it’s all done in notepad. Not proud enough to put up an image of it, but still proud nonetheless.

So, some quick answers to a few questions: Yes, I’m still using the background that I ripped off of Sega’s official site ten years ago. Yes, I think it “makes the page.” No, the content hasn’t really been changed.

And yes, it looks much nicer. And possibly more like Wikipedia. Granted, my site has been around longer and looked like the Wiki before the Wiki existed, so take that for what it’s worth.

In the words of some semi-famous guy, “We took all our favorite parts and threw them into one big pile of shit.” Or something to that effect.

And by the way, check out famous guy’s new album Death Magnetic; it’s not too shabby.

Enough rambling, go take a look.

Updates:
Club Sega

Assorted Shorts

I’ve been attempting to catch in on some good deals with my newly-acquired PS2 (and hopefully soon some SEGA Ages titles…). With no particular criteria, here are some rankings.

Guitar Hero III – 9.5/10. Does it feel like playing a guitar? Well, not really, but that’s alright, that’s what a real guitar is for. It’s fun – and that’s all that matters.

Lego Star Wars – 8.5/10. I played this one a few years ago on the X-Box and a had a good time, but there were a couple of frustrating parts, such as the Pod racer level. Improved upon in the second game.

Lego Stars II – 9/10. Yes that’s right, I thought it was a pretty damn good game. It’s easy to get into, fun to play with a friend, and you can play for 10 minutes or an hour.

Outrun2006: Coast2Coast – 8.5/10. Outrun2006 feels like a 1980s arcade game with beefed-up graphics, and essentially that’s what it is. Drifting and sliding is good fun in itself, but all of the additional features make this game worthy of owning at home.

Pride FC – 7/10. The game does a good job incorporating the various moves and positions of MMA into a fighting system. The problem is that there is no career mode, unlockables, or rewards of any sort for playing the game.

Resident Evil 4 – 8/10. I don’t have a good history with RE games. In fact, this is the only one I’ve managed to finish. Ultimately, the game feels like a good chase scene in a movie – lots of action and excitement, but not much else. With the Pro Logic on, this surround is pretty killer.

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution 10/10. Balance and depth have always been associated with the VF series and it’s no different here. The big addition is the training mode. Since VF4:Evo has been around and many of the strategies and techniques have been figured out, they’re presented here to get you up to speed in some of the finer points of Virtua Fighting.

Virtual On Marz – 5.5/10. It’s not the worst game in the world, but after playing the other games in the series, it doesn’t compare. The speed has been slowed and the areas opened up to more like Armored Core. It doesn’t work too well with the VO play mechanics, though.