Sega's B-Club

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25 Mar 2003, 03:38 PM
The Ampersand

Sega's B-Club

I was reading the frontpage on the Magic Box, and I came across this announcement:

Quote:

Sega announced a new game rental system called B-CLUB, which allows boardband Internet users to download Sega Saturn and Mega Drive (Genesis) games and play on their PC using Sega's own emulation systems. Sega Saturn and Mega Drive games will be available for download on Sega's game server, and the price of the games varies from 300 to 500 yen, or you can subscribe to the entire game library in a monthly basis. The first titles Sega offers will be Sonic X, NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon II, Dynamic Deka, Sonic the Hedgehog 5, Jongfon 5, Densha de Go, Ultra Shanghai, Shining Force III Scenario 1 - 3, Puyo Puyo and many more.

So, was Sonic X the incomplete game that Sega was going to release on the Saturn? What about Sonic 5? I'm a bit confused as to what these games are. . .
25 Mar 2003, 03:41 PM
Diff-chan

Yea, I assume Sonic X was the incomplete 3D game... they called it Sonic L33T XTR3MEZ0R!!!1111 though. Dunno what Sonic The Hedgehog 5 is.

This is a cool idea, they should do it for here, too, instead of just giving their games to Real so they can put it on their satanic RealArcade system.
25 Mar 2003, 04:26 PM
Dyne

sonic 5 mebbe being sonic crackers?
25 Mar 2003, 04:28 PM
Tracer

Will this be available to North America/Europe or should I stop caring?

ºTracer
25 Mar 2003, 04:47 PM
Aurora

This is a good because someone will crack the emulators and we'll finally have a good Saturn emu :)
25 Mar 2003, 04:53 PM
Tain

Saturn emulation on a PC?

I hope it'll run at more than five frames a second.
25 Mar 2003, 05:13 PM
OmegaFlareX

Very neat, but I'm certain that I'll never be able to use it.
25 Mar 2003, 05:15 PM
Aurora

Never underestimate pirates....
25 Mar 2003, 05:19 PM
Shinobi128

Sonic X = Sonic Xtreme?
Sonic 5 = Sonic Crackers?
25 Mar 2003, 05:19 PM
raystorm

Actually I think the emulator Sega is using is from a saturn emulator that was sold a few month ago. I dont remember the name of it (Giri Giri? SSF??). I hope the saturn is emulated one day on pc. I still play my saturn occasionally, but to have the chance to play it in high res with filtering effects to clean up the pixels would be oh so very nice.
25 Mar 2003, 05:53 PM
japtor

from http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/g...ws/28616.shtml :

The Saturn emulator used in the B-Club service is the first one that runs commercial titles flawlessly on the PC platform, something that amazed Naka as he played Nights on one of the terminals. "There are around five processors on the Saturn; two CPUs, a digital signal processor, and a few more," Naka said. "Porting late-era Saturn games that used all these processors to their fullest over to other platforms would have been very difficult... If Nights can run on this, then I bet Burning Rangers could run on this, too." Nights is just one of the several dozen Saturn titles, including Clockwork Night and the entire Panzer Dragoon series, that'll be made available for download over the next few weeks.
25 Mar 2003, 06:04 PM
Satsuki

It's the Sega Channel all over again!!!!!
.........okay not really. But i Really miss the Sega Channel.
25 Mar 2003, 06:12 PM
jiji

I hope this means we'll see more "Sega Smash Pack" PC releases in the US, only this time with Saturn titles that were never ported to PC. Sega had a similar service in Japan that allowed Genesis and PC Engine games to be downloaded and played on Dreamcast. They eventually used the Genesis emulator from this service in their Smash Pack for DC. It would make sense for them to reuse the new B-Club technology in the same way in the US.

Edit: what a garbled mess that was... :confused:
25 Mar 2003, 06:15 PM
Aurora

Yeah, Sega Channel kicked ass, Satsuki. The excitement over waking up the day when new games/the theme changed is unbeatable...
25 Mar 2003, 06:20 PM
Satsuki

Oh my god, that was the best. Gah I miss that channel. Why the hell doesn't someone else do that idea......With all this online BS now, I'm sure it would fly.

*dreams of a Nintendo channel.....*
25 Mar 2003, 06:22 PM
Josh

Quote:

Originally posted by Aurora
This is a good because someone will crack the emulators and we'll finally have a good Saturn emu :)

Hoo-Fucking-Rah!

I can't wait.

Quote:

Originally posted by Aurora
Never underestimate pirates....

No shit... :)
25 Mar 2003, 06:23 PM
Aurora

Quote:

Originally posted by Satsuki
Oh my god, that was the best. Gah I miss that channel. Why the hell doesn't someone else do that idea......With all this online BS now, I'm sure it would fly.

*dreams of a Nintendo channel.....*

I'd pay a pretty good monthly fee for something similar. But, since game production costs a lot more these days, it might not be so plausible anymore to have something tooooooo similar Sega Channel :( Instead of 50 games it would be more like 10 or such. If even that.. :(
25 Mar 2003, 06:32 PM
Satsuki

yes, true. Also because everyone is so ridiculously closed mouthed about the "NEW UPCOMING GAMES!" blah blah.
I don't care, i still want a Nintendo Channel. :D
We must band together, and create out own pirated video game channel!
25 Mar 2003, 06:51 PM
Chemist

hahaha :)
That would rawk. . . . .
. . . ?!! (Leaves to play his Nintendo Entertainment System)
25 Mar 2003, 06:53 PM
Tain

Quote:

...we'll finally have a good Saturn emu

Quote:

Hoo-Fucking-Rah!

I can't wait.
25 Mar 2003, 06:58 PM
Josh

Quote:

Originally posted by Satsuki
We must band together, and create out own pirated video game channel!

Someone beat you to it... its called IRC.