Retro news too small for its own thread

[Colin]

Moves at a fair ol click but just doesn't gel to my eyes, car looks like it's on ice?

[Brad]

I never knew of the existence of this. I'd love to get one but it sounds like they're one of the rarest things in earth:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/02/fans-preserve-and-emulate-segas-extremely-rare-80s-ai-computer/

[hudson]

Moves at a fair ol click but just doesn't gel to my eyes, car looks like it's on ice?

Damn you for pointing out that the wheels dont even move

[Colin]

Sorry man, I couldn't not see it.

[dataDave]

Ah, I see.
I know Sega Power from back in the 80s. It was a pretty poor Sega Magazine that would have very blocky screen shots. I remember in one issue they mentioned that they use video capture software that gives a true look of the game while other magazines just point a camera at the screen.
I'm not sure what capture device they were using in the late 80s / early 90s but it sure made games look like ass.

Oh god, I remember those! Didn't they also have a Nintendo counterpart? That was the first time I'd ever seen raw, blocky pixels before - as it wouldn't be until about 5/6 years later that I'd get around to trying out emulation on a PC. You're right anyway, their shots looked like total ****e. I'm actually still pretty dismayed that RetroGamer never had a PVM and DSLR combo for taking genuine photos of screens. It's a ton more work, but so much more authentic.

[Tobal]

I ran into this footage on YouTube, not entirely sure what's going on. A retro shader modding of Turbo Outrun or something. I really like the way it looks.

https://sk1ds.itch.io/outrun-clone

Ground up port made in Unity, free to get off itch io. Very much in a early state but very playable and looks the part already from what i've played of it.

[QualityChimp]

Super Sprint reboot!

[Tobal]

"Walk up Honey, Pannenkoek posted a new long Mario 64 mathematics video"

[fuse]

TL DR - I fell down a rabbit hole looking into a new coffee table book about the Sega Saturn today. I am the first idiot in line to be parted from his money when it comes to these things, but I am fairly sure this is AI generated, or at the very least I think it might not be very good. It's going around on social media currently - buyer beware?

---

Have seen a few articles now about AI generated books starting to flood Amazon - some being particularly insidious, with cookbooks targeting folks with specific dietary requirements that of course an LLM has absolutely no regard for. While I'm not 100% confident in saying that this is what I've found today, I'm certainly asking some questions about the "Unofficial Sega Saturn Collection". First I saw a tweet about someone buying a copy, then I came across a post on RetroRGB about it that's mirrored by the same guy at a different site. It was this bit that got my attention at first -

“The Unofficial Sega Saturn Collection” is a 290-page paperback that released on Amazon earlier this month. It features large color screenshots of some of the games in the Saturn’s library along with writeups about each one composed by David Cameron, manager of One Up Gaming, a U.K. video game review website.

Firstly there was pure amusement of David Cameron moving on from Bullingdon vandalism, bothering farmyard animals, and selling out an entire nation's economy to pursue his one true love of the Sega Saturn. Moving past that, I looked in some more detail and got a bit concerned. The first tweets mentioning the book are from the last couple of weeks, and the single 'verified purchase' review on Amazon UK to date reads:

Amazing to have a look back to the mid 90's and relive all the fun of the Sega Saturn A+.

... just it's a shame that it's from the site that the author also runs - Oneup Gaming. Looking at that site isn't exactly inspiring confidence either - while there seem to be some recent podcasts, there's more links to merch and a Patreon, whereas the reviews and features are slightly more infrequent.

Back to the book though, it's when you go to the Kindle listing and start reading the sample. that my eyebrows really began to rise. I mean, where do we start here...

• Not even getting its own title right on the first page
• A page full of text that begins by calling it a "coffee table tribute" (despite the blurb specifically saying it was "more than just a coffee table book")
• Lots of bold claims; "you'll discover the story behind the Saturn's creation", "it's a celebration of community", "a reminder of the friendships forged" etc...
• Absolutely none of which is then mentioned in the index, which isn't even labelled as such - you're instead just presented with a list of contents
• The forward (sic) listed here doesn't even happen!
• Then it's just lots of large images of games and the most basic descriptions of some games...

These just read like very bland content lifts from other sites, but then I got to this one for Burning Rangers -

Burning Rangers was one of the first games to feature real-time voice communication between the player and in-game characters. Players could use the Sega NetLink peripheral to communicate with NPCs and fellow players, enhancing the immersive experience of firefighting in futuristic environments. This innovative feature showcased Sega's early experimentation with online gaming and interactive storytelling.

Uh.... where do we want to start with this?

My honest feeling coming away from losing a couple of hours on this is that a) it ****ing sucks and b) we should do more to highlight and share gaming books that people have taken the time to research, write and edit themselves.

[Yakumo]

I really should publish a Saturn book. After all, I have reviews of ever Saturn game released in Japan and scans of the covers and backs from when I had a complete Saturn set.
Maybe I could use Ai to fix the grammar so it reads more professionally?

[Nu-Eclipse]

The Zilog Z80 Processor, originally used to help power the earlier generations of home consoles, home computers and arcade coin-ops, has finally been retired after nearly five decades.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/04/the-processor-used-in-pac-man-is-being-discontinued-48-years-after-it-launched

[wakka]

I really should publish a Saturn book. After all, I have reviews of ever Saturn game released in Japan and scans of the covers and backs from when I had a complete Saturn set.
Maybe I could use Ai to fix the grammar so it reads more professionally?

Wow, you've played and written a review of 100% of Japanese Saturn games?

[Wools]

I really should publish a Saturn book. After all, I have reviews of ever Saturn game released in Japan and scans of the covers and backs from when I had a complete Saturn set.
Maybe I could use Ai to fix the grammar so it reads more professionally?

Please don't use AI but I would love to see you write a book around the Saturn!

Have you still got close to a complete JAP Saturn collection?

[Yakumo]

Wow, you've played and written a review of 100% of Japanese Saturn games?

Yep, I used to run a site called Segagaga Domain. I still have the site stored on my PC. It's been off-line for years now though but it can be seen via the Way Back Machine.

[Yakumo]

Please don't use AI but I would love to see you write a book around the Saturn!

Have you still got close to a complete JAP Saturn collection?

I'd only ask Ai to fix the grammar. The actual content would be 100% my own words.
Sadly I don't own close to a full Japanese set any more. There were about 1300 games in total. Most of the crap and Japanese dating Sims and the like I sold. Also sold a lot of the rare stuff too such as the Sekushi House discs and that Soba game where you ride a bike. Of course I made back ups before selling them 👍
Stuff like the Sekushi House disc have never been made public on rom sites from what I know.

These days I have about 500 Japanese Saturn games.