Propeller Arena - Sega's Lost Dreamcast Title? 51
Thanks to TNL for their new feature exploring the unreleased Dreamcast online-enabled flight title, Propeller Arena, which was cancelled in 2001 "at the last moment in the wake of the September 11th tragedy." The article points out: "Initially, Sega's pulling the plug on Propeller Arena might have seemed a bit of an overreaction to the events of 9/11. After all, what did a fantastical WWII-style arcade game have in common with modern day events?" However, the writer has had a chance to play a near-final Beta of the title, and suggests that "...once one actually plays the game Sega's decision seems much more understandable. One level is called 'Airport,' while another, 'Tower City,' is apparently patterned after Manhattan, the anchoring feature of the stage's city skyline being huge replicas of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers." But he finishes by praising it as "one of the most graphically pleasing ganes for the console", and arguing that the "fun factor of the online mode would have been through the roof."
Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:5, Insightful)
A bad thing happened and we are all trying to 'get over it'. However, I fail to see how a game based on a propeller plane flying around a big city in any way defames those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks.
There is a time to be somber and thoughtful, but there is also a time to realize that not everything revolves around you and your personal tragedies.
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:2, Informative)
As a reminder, remember when the DC (District of Columbia, not Dreamcast) sniper was running loose? Around the DC area (which I happen to live in) people were throwing a fit over the game Silent Scope. Even though you were sniping criminals, and you were a police officer (or bounty hunter, can't remember which), the fact of the matter was you were sniping people who half of the time wer
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:1)
Just a side note: when I turned on the local news to check the weather this morning, the sniper trial news came on (this trial is being held in the city where I work, the trial of the other guy involved was held nearby), I saw a nice sketch of the sniper as well as images labelled 'Matrix' and 'Ghost Recon'. Apparently now his defense is 'The Matrix made me do it and Ghost Recon showed me how, but really I'm
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:3, Insightful)
Now before you mod me down, hear me out. I still wish it had never happened. I'm still unhappy that 2,000 people died unnecessarily. But I'm finished with being unable to look at anything resembling two towers, complaining about any movie which shows the WTC in the skyline of New York. I was finished a long time ago. I'm mature, I can tell the difference between bad taste and geographical accuracy.
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:2, Insightful)
A few quick facts (Score:1, Funny)
Obecity - 30,000 dead EVERY YEAR.
Do people shed a tear when they drive past McDonalds?
Re:A few quick facts (Score:1, Flamebait)
Nobody really cares when 30,000 big, fat, lazy, disgusting people with no will power keel over while choking down their last Big Mac. Maybe they had reached the maximum size of stretch
Re:A few quick facts (Score:2)
The parent to my post was comparing people who died of obesity, to those who died in the World Trade Center disaster.
I don't think you can really compare those who killed themselves through self-hate and neglect, to those who were murdered.
I'm sorry if I think that people should take responsibility for their actions- and over-eating is something they should take responsibility for.
Going to work, and getting killed is not really their fault, and I do feel com
Re:A few quick facts (Score:1)
Many of those bastards deserved the firey death that they received. My initial reaction to the "disaster" was, "Hey, its about time someone did something like that..sweet." Then I spent the rest of the day laughing at the frequency of the use of the word "horrific" on all the news channels.
Re:A few quick facts (Score:2)
Yes - for poor old Grimace. His untimely death from morbid obesity is an omen for us all.
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, I'm more or less over the event, I've talked about it 1000s of times (literally, not figuratively), but there are some images I will have trouble with for years to come.
Regardless, I want to see this game get released some day :-)
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:2)
The Dreamcast was on its last legs anyway, and all that was trickling out were titles that had been in development and were close to completion (i.e. Ali
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:3, Insightful)
For those who haven't seen the one trailer of the scene that exists, some bad guys try to escape from a scene via helicopter, and suddenly they get stuck in the air... in a giant web Spidey put between the towers.
They should have left the scene in the picture. Instead of being upset, I think most people would cheer in the theat
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:2)
Re:Everyone may be just a little too sensitive (Score:2)
Well, that's a good point, I hadn't thought that the trailer might have lied about the movie. I googled "spiderman wtc scene" and got various conflicting reports, from a spokesperson who said it was only the trailer that had to be recalled to a lot of other people saying otherwise. I guess if it was just the trailer, I would be more inclined to agree, because it migh
Kinda makes me weep... (Score:1)
Oh, how the great ones have fallen...
That's a shame (Score:1)
Re:That's a shame (Score:1)
But the game takes place during the 30's, so there hasn't been a chance for everyone to lose WW2 yet.
Re:That's a shame (Score:1)
Watching a chain reaction of exploding Ragnaroks collapse tall builings in River City is a sight to behold.
Doing this from your sofa while playing with and talking to other players from around the country jacks up the "fun factor" off the scale.
Re:That's a shame (Score:1)
crimson skies is a nice medium between ghost recon's kill-ya-with-one-shot and mechassualt's beat-on-ya-for-10-minutes-till-ya-explode...
I like how you get in behind someone and and light them up with your guns (please no greased yoda doll replies) and they cannot shake you...
gamertag is peeweejd in case anyone wants to play crimson skies...
This game looks familiar.. (Score:1)
Probably just a coincedence..
Re:This game looks familiar.. (Score:1)
Hey, have you noticed that Quake III and Unreal Tournament look similar? First person, shooting guys in narrow corridors and outdoor terraces, online play...JESUS CHRIST! this conspiracy has gone unnoticed...
Wait a second, Daytona USA and Ridge Racer...cars, going around a track, WOW! How deep does this rabbit hole go?
Re:This game looks familiar.. (Score:2)
So if it looks a bit similar to Crimson Skies, that's the CS people's fault.
On top of that...Troll...all games nowadays look like some other game that's out nowadays. The trick for the Marketers is trying to act like that other game never existed.
Propeller Arena (Score:5, Informative)
I was working at Sega during the development of Propeller Arena.
At the time, the game was in its last stage of development. The game was debugged and on its way to being mass produced. The packaging had also been completed in the early days of September in 2001. It was simply days away from being released.
During the game, there was a powerup you could collect that would allow you to release a huge bomb. The explosion from the bomb created a large, mushroom cloud looking graphic. If your plane was destroyed in any way while carrying one of those bombs, the bomb would explode. The camera would zoom back to show a distant shot of the explosion. If your plane crashed into one of the buildings, it would do the same. The image was eerily similar to those we saw on 9/11.
To complicate the matter further, the packaging for Propeller Arena showed the City level on the cover. It also showed a plane crashing into one of the large buildings while carrying one of those big bombs.
With this in mind, Sega management decided to pull the game. I can't say I blame them at all. It was a shame that we all worked so hard on such a fun game but at the same time, the sinister acts that had occurred were on everyone's minds. Releasing such a game could easily reflect negatively on the company. It would have been real easy for a critic to say something like, "Sega is trying to capitalize on a national tragedy." So, the game was quietly put away.
Available for download anywhere? (Score:2)
it might just be me, but... (Score:1)
The only thing is, I wish sega would release server software for their discontinued games... I miss playing chu chu rocket online =(
Propeller arena (Score:1)