Although we skimmed a little bit on this week's Ask Joystiq, we'll be back in full force next Friday!

If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).

Q: In January of 2007 you reported that three new games would be coming out for the Dreamcast: Last Hope, Trigger Heart Excelica and Karous. What is the status of these games? Are there any more Dreamcast games coming our way?
-Wonderflex

A: In short, the status of these games is: they're out in Japan. Last Hope hit on Jan. 31, Trigger Heart Excelica came in on Feb. 22, and Karous was released on March 8. Dreamcast owners can search for the limited-run games through importers, but non-Dreamcast owners have options too -- Trigger Heart Excelica recently hit Xbox Live Arcade, and Karous is now available for the Wii in Japan (Wikipedia currently lists a PS2 version of Last Hope, but we couldn't find any other evidence that it's even planned).

We couldn't find any evidence of new retail Dreamcast games being planned, but Dreamcast Scene and DCEmu continue to update with plenty of homebrew games and apps. Sure, most of these freebie releases don't have the polish or appeal of a retail release, but some are good enough to get ported to the DS. Good hunting.

"Do you still own a Dreamcast?" asks dreamcast.com. By all appearances, the supposed official site of Sega's cherished console has received a legitimate update, exciting loyalists that have been anticipating the system's 10-year anniversary later this year. By clicking on the question, visitors are prompted to accept a user agreement for an @user.dreamcast.com email account (apparently tied to Gmail). Applicants must supply a console serial number, email address, and password before being granted a [serial number]@dreamcast.com Gmail address.

The thing is ... Sega no longer owns dreamcast.com. Oh dear. While we have yet to obtain an English language statement from Sega, Japanese news site Mainichi has confirmed that dreamcast.com is no longer owned by Sega and is using the official Dreamcast and company logos illegally. Additionally, the current dreamcast.com domain registration information is also fraudulent. Engadget Japanese reached out to Sega for further clarification, and a representative stated that Sega is considering "appropriate measures." As we wait for further information, please (please!) do not submit any personal information to dreamcast.com. You've been warned.

Read - Mainichi.jp [Japanese]

Having sported a host of unique games and out-of-the-box online connectivity way back in 1999, the ill-fated Sega Dreamcast is unsurprisingly placed on many a gamer's pedestal. Of course, such praise is purely figurative and easily topped by the actual pedestal of sorts found in a Dreamcast demo unit. No longer standing proudly in a store, just such a full-sized stand (complete with two controllers and region-free console) is now was up for grabs in an eBay auction.

You'll need a van to do the grabbing, mind you, as seller "no_effects84" is only entertaining pick-ups from his Leicestershire home in the UK. If you're in the area and have at least £230 ($456) to spare, the stand should make for an excellent conversation piece in your living room -- more so if you have Seaman running on it. Heck, the only thing holding us back is the bidding war with UK Resistance that's sure to ensue.

Update: It has since been sold for £300!

[Via Engadget]

Triggerheart Exelica, everyone's favorite debris-flinging, vertical scrolling shooter, will finally make a move onto a console that hasn't been dead for seven years next Wednesday, when a translated and updated port will go on sale on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points, according to developer WARASHI Inc.. The above video gives a pretty good idea of what to expect -- It's one part Ikaruga, one part Olympic Hammer Throw, with just a dash of the near-constant screaming of generic Anime cyborg/heroines. Sounds like a winning combination to us!

Between Nights and the upcoming Samba de Amigo, Sega seems pretty committed to remaking their classic franchises on the Wii. Soon there might be a third series to add to the list, as Japanese news site The Magic Box is reporting that Sega has announced Space Channel 5.0. The Wii remake of the stylish, rhythmic original will feature licensed songs from series fan Michael Jackson, according to the extremely brief report. The lack of detailed information and a Sega denial via IGN make us less than certain on the validity of this information, but we wouldn't be surprised (or sad) if this turns out to be true.

Don't own a Wii? Don't lose hope! In an interview with Wired, SC5 creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi hinted that he might be interested in bringing the Dreamcast game to modern download services, a la the upcoming Rez HD. "If I had a reason to remake Space Channel 5 on the new platforms, I will do that," Mizuguchi said. Of course, for that to work, he'd have to get the rights for the game back from Sega. Maybe if we all sing in unison the company will be convinced to make it happen.

The internet has been all a-titter recently over the rumor that Sega might be getting back into the console manufacturing business. The source of this rumor is an updated trademark application for "Dreamcast," which overlaps with the current trademark filing for the title, set to expire in December 2009.

At best, this rumor is a stretch. Renewing trademarks is a common practice for companies, and any overlap between previous filings and updates can be attributed to the indeterminable amount of time between filing and proper registration of those trademarks.

To either confirm or deny the speculation, GameDaily contacted Sega for an official response, and while PR rep Charlie Scibetta was unsure of why the trademark was updated, he did state that Sega has no intentions of re-entering the console business. According to Scibetta, Sega's quite content with their current platform-agnostic status, and it would be unwise to shift their business strategy during a period of "outstanding growth." Sadly, it seems like this rumor might be little more than smoke and mirrors. Of course, we're always happy to be proven wrong.

While some of our fondest memories growing up are of lazily casting lures from the bank of some nearby pond, we're much bigger fans of soaking up the fishing experience vicariously without having to deal with the so-called 'great outdoors.' To this end, Hudson's Fishing Master for the Wii was a tame recreation of the sport, and to be honest it left us wanting, reason enough to be excited that Sega plans to release a port of its Dreamcast favorite Sega Bass Fishing for the Wii sometime next spring.

As previously rumored, the title looks to have gotten little by way of a cosmetic makeover since players first grappled with the Dreamcast's optional fishing rod controller nearly a decade ago, so those quick to call out the Wii for its failure to keep up the high-def Joneses will find plenty to balk at here.

However, Sega points out that this latest version will include 'content developed exclusively for the Wii,' though the company has not been forthcoming with what exactly has been added, only to note that Sega Bass Fishing will feature more than 20 different types of lures to entice the the game's four different kinds of freshwater bass. In addition, players will also be able to select the season and time of day, as well as choose from 15 different lakes, giving us plenty of reason to stay indoors as we try to reel in that elusive whopper from the comfort of our easy chair.

Coming up on its eight birthday, the Sega Dreamcast continues to prove that it's worthy of attention, with two new independent titles announced for the aging system. Publisher RedSpotGames will be debuting these titles at this year's Leipzig Games Convention, starting this Wednesday.

The first game, Dalforce, is a vertical-scrolling "bullet hell" shooter title which allows for up to four players. The second, Wind and Water Puzzle Battles, is an action puzzle game being ported from the GP2X. According to Arcade Renaissance, both games are scheduled for first-quarter 2008 releases, although RedSpotGames' website is currently down for maintenance, and we can not confirm this. Both titles will, however, be shown off at Leipzig this week, so stay frosty as we bring you more details once the conference gets under way.

If the recently rumored $100 price cut for the PS3 turns out to be true, it will end the era of one of the most controversial pricing moves in the history of consumer electronics.

The writing was on the wall early on, with former SCE President Ken Kutaragi hinting way back in July 2005 that he hoped gamers would "work more hours to buy [a PS3]." When the price was officially announced at Sony's E3 2006 press conference the first wave of ridicule was practically immediate. Kutaragi's comment that the price was "too cheap" for what consumers were getting just stoked the fires, leading at least one Joystiq blogger to call the company "out of touch." Hey, $599 is pretty cheap if the thing is made of uranium.

Yet by launch time there were some signs that the high price wasn't really a deterrent. Despite some launch window reviews saying the system "just isn't worth it yet," the initial stock of PS3s sold out to mobs of fans who waited in the November cold to drop up to six Benjamins on a game console. Many of those who managed to get one of the limited initial allotment put them up on eBay, where some fetched ridiculously inflated prices. Maybe $600 was a bargain after all.

The developer of the Raiden series of arcade shooters, Moss, recently posted a poll that suggests the console that's died a dozen deaths may not be out of life just yet. The "Which system should Raiden IV be ported to?" section features the usual suspects -- PS2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, etc. -- but curiously the Dreamcast is also an option. Sega officially killed the console a few months ago, but it seems the Dreamcast just won't go away. The system has been a sanctuary for Japanese shmups even after production halted, so perhaps our grandchildren will enjoy Raiden IX on an antique jury rigged Dreamcast someday.

[Via insert credit]

When the topic of sluggish PlayStation 3 sales is brought up, Peter Moore recalls his previous corporate life and asks, "Remember the Dreamcast?" Speaking to Next-Generation's Colin Campbell, the Microsoft exec compares Sony's current difficulties with those he experienced with Sega on its final console. "We thought we were doing right," he says. "All of a sudden it didn't pan out."

Though we're not privy to the same lucid and possibly prophetic dreams Mr. Moore is, lumping Sony's latest effort into the same category as the Dreamcast brings with it many sticky implications, intended or not. Is Moore saying the PlayStation 3 is failing to "pan out" for Sony, less than a year into its supposed ten-year life? Sega came out of the gate strongly and promptly drove off a financial cliff like Thelma and Louise, whereas Sony is off to a slow start and has every chance of picking up the pace. Moore goes on to say that Sony's focus on the Cell processor and the Blu-ray drive was a mistake, that it "miscalculated the global consumer's appetite for the experience the offered at the price point they offered it at." But wasn't the PS2's "Emotion Engine" and DVD drive instrumental in its triumph over Moore's ex-box?

We remember when the Xbox 360 was given the Dreamcast treatment as a means to highlight impending failure, and it was as odd then as it is now. Despite the system's commercial demise under the watch of a struggling manufacturer, it enjoyed amazing first-party support and is still remembered for hosting some remarkable games and innovations. When did being compared to the Dreamcast become such a bad thing?

[Via Xbox 360 Rally]

Where were you on 9/9/99? It's been almost 8 years since the Sega Dreamcast was launched in the United States, ushering in the "next" (and now previous) generation of gaming with the likes of Sonic Adventure, Power Stone and Soul "Is that intro in real-time?" Calibur. Despite a strong lineup, online gameplay (thanks, 56K modem!) and quirky memory unit minigames, the Dreamcast's momentum wasn't strong enough to halt the PS2's avalanche of hype. A few years into the system's lifetime saw Sega running out of steam and, more importantly, out of money.

Those still clinging to their Dreamcasts are advised to take good care of them now, with Sega's Japanese website announcing that malfunctioning systems will no longer be accepted for repair after 28 September 2007. The hilarious machine translation of the page also points out that the Sega Saturn will suffer a similar fate, shortly before spewing forth an incomprehensible "understanding it receives, the fish you say to ask." Fish? Is that like a "fix a man's system and he plays for a day, but teach him how to fix it and he'll play for years" sort of thing?

Though it's tempting to lapse into eulogy at this point, the Dreamcast will be around (and thinking) for as long as people still enjoy it. Sega might be hammering the final nail into the coffin, but the system inside is still alive and kicking... and screaming.

[Via CVG]

Alten8 has just announced it will publish Harmless Lion's homebrew Dreamcast game Cool Herders on the Nintendo DS. That's right, it's called Cool Herders. And yes, the sheep is wearing neo-retro sunglasses. The game was originally packed on the DC Tonic demo CD passed out at E3 2001. Later, a full commercial version of the game was released for the Dreamcast.

Cool Herders is an action/party game where players must use power-ups to herd sheep and compete against their friends. It may sound simple, but the game has been remarkably well-received in its various iterations. The Nintendo DS version of the game will contain a handful of extras and support wireless multiplayer.

Alten8 reportedly has ten mystery projects in production for the DS. More obscure, awkwardly-named indie Dreamcast titles? Perhaps. We'll hold our excitement until after playing Cool Herders.

[Via Digg]

CVG has the scoop: Treasure's hypnotic, crushingly difficult and strikingly beautiful shoot-em-up, Ikaruga, is headed for Xbox Live Arcade. An early build of the game was spotted on the debug version of Xbox Live, which is only accessable through an Xbox 360 debug unit. Though the code wasn't functional yet, we imagine that Live co-op would make for an excellent addition to this particular version.

For those who missed out on Ikaruga's previous console ports on the Dreamcast and Gamecube, know that the game is one of the genre's best -- at least if you're willing to accept the irremediable psychological damage caused by the game's never-ending sea of pulsating bullets. Let the torturous wait for further details begin!

According to sources speaking to Dreamcast-Scene, Sega may cease production of the GD-ROM disc format this February. The GD-ROM is the Dreamcast's only official format, so this revelation would essentially be Sega pulling the life support from its final console, which has managed to retain developer interest even six years after Sega declared it dead.

However, we know of a handful of Dreamcast games coming out in the next few months, so what's to become of them? If all else fails, they could release them as unlicensed CD-ROM titles.

[Thanks, fyreblazer]