Q&A with another Sega Vet (SegaNet etc) No more Geist talk PLEASE!

What happened to all the online servers and software for them? Did they just disappear, archive them or just let the rented servers delete them...

 

Hello and thanks for doing this, it means a lot to us Sega fans!

I have a question actually, Worlds Scariest Police chases, did you see anything about that, was it close to being finished, and when using the microphone, could you really call for squad backups and roadblocks?

I wanted that game for over 10 years now, and I just found out what the name of the game was last year after forgetting it.

Also, were there any plans to have a microphone and headset for the Dreamcast for online gaming like the ones that come with the 360 are now? I know about one that looks like them, but it has no headphone.

 

Wow, welcome aboard monkfish! Glad to see more people interested on sharing their knowledge with gamers! Thanks for your time!

I haven't got a question but I am hitting F5 like crazy.

 

Hey monkfish

I don't think it has but am not 100% sure if Dee Dee Planet has already been leaked/released into the internet ether but wanted to ask

Is your friend who has the game a collector or just someone who happens to have a copy of it because they used to work at Sega?

Do you think he/she would consider allowing the game be released into the community?

Maybe I am missing something about the game as no else seems to have mentioned it

Thanks

Rob

 

PSO Emulation
That is something that we (Sega.com) were involved in - I dont think it was considered too of a big deal to us but Naka-san was pretty anal so I am willing to bet it bugged him.

Online servers
To my knowledge we owned our stack(s) or most of them. We partnered with co-los but I think we racked our own servers. Code, etc. was probably deleted off of them when retired. I know the guy who knows *all* about this (he ran the network). I will shoot him a question and ask details. Remind me to tell you an interesting (and sad) story about why Daytona shutdown.

Scariest Police Chases
Dont know about that game

Headphone / Microphone
Only microphone to my knowledge. It was used in the Alien Tank Game (which was awesome btw) and that fishman game (which was also pretty cool).

Dee Dee Planet
I am not sure if it has been released, I havent checked. I will say that if released the value of the game (as I recall) was only multiplayer (could be wrong). He might consider releasing it to the community. I am poking him about getting rid of it (as he didnt seem too attached to it), but if he is up for letting go of it he might just donate it. Does the community at least know details about the game? I am certain I can get that.

Me Being Here
Happy to be here - keep the questions coming!

 

Really looking forward to hearing about the Daytona server (and any of the others (budget issues, technical issues, or was cheating causing a problem?).

Dee Dee Planet:
There is a video showing what it was going to be like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv5qGfl-b9s

 

So hypothetically would it be possible to contact that person and retrieve back some software of those games, or a few, or even only one to bring some games back online?

 

OK!

My question: Why did Daytona shut down?

 

+1

 

Someone probably messed up the servers by accident and they decided to keep it down.

 

Dee Planet
Thanks for the video! Yep that was it - its been a long time since I've seen it.

Server
Doubtful that any one person (aside from someone at Sega) could be contacted and have it released. If that person was employed there they would definitely be released. I do have a friend who has extensive knowledge about games built on KAGE though and another (I mentioned) who was responsible for racking / build-out.

Daytona USA
Here is the true story. Daytona USA was rocking, everyone loved it. Our contract (with whomever was hosting us) went out or we moved. It was discovered at that point that the temporary IP addresses meant only for temporary use in the alpha code hadn't been replaced with DNS named sub-domain / domain. So when we moved the game turned off.

It was something we never did - giving out direct IP addresses (specifically for that reason), but the domain wasn't ready yet and access was needed immediately. At the point the address was given I understand it was made very clear that the switch needed to happen at a later point but something got lost in translation / transition. So... very sad. Everyone @ Sega loved that game.

Options obviously might've been a VMU upload (patch) or worse a re-issue of all Dreamcast discs (an impossibility at the time). I am not sure if a VMU patch would've worked. As I know a bit about VMU and Dreamcast innards, boot, etc. I think it could've, but I wasn't there when this happened so I am not sure if it was considered.

This is the absolute 100% reason why Daytona USA was turned off. Now it can be told?

 

x

 

What are the chances of gettng the online game server-side software for privat hosting?

I'm sure people could hack Daytona etc to be downloadable with private server IP etc to give it a new lease of life if the ability to host games was there

 

You should ask someone that worked at Ubisoft, really.

 

Thanks for the reply thats a very exciting possibility! well it is to me at least...I don't get out much!

Even if it is online only I am sure some technical whizz-kid would knock up some servers or something. People still play Dreamcast games online that had servers shut down long ago.

even if they didn't still a wonderful curio.

Thanks again

Rob

 

It can but it's still rather painful. Then again, SEGA Europe didn't even bother with the game's online fuctions..

My questions:
-What happened to the DC versions of Baldur's Gate & Age of Empires 2?
-Why didn't SEGA offer to publish Black & White?

 

Maybe they didn't have a temporary IP address to permanently code into it?

 

This UK:R update always pops up in my mind when the subject is Daytona 2001..

 

Thanks for answering about the microphone, I know online voice capabilities were also going to work with Propeller Arena, but they never released the game.

I would reckon that game had no online software for servers set up yet by sega due to them pulling the game because of 9/11 but I am going to ask anyway. Do you know if they had an internal server for testing the game or if software exsisted for it to go online and would it be possible to ever get that working online with said software?