New Releases: NextGen Issues 68, 69, and 70

**marktrade** · February 25, 2016

Retromags Presents!

NextGen Issue 68

August 2000

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NextGen Issue 69

September 2000

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NextGen Issue 70

October 2000

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Thank you to aloram for donating this issue!

**aloram** · February 25, 2016

Awesome, thanks!

**marktrade** · February 25, 2016

I had a good laugh on issue 68 page 14 talking about Microsoft promising "full-scene anti-aliasing" in the Xbox. What a load of bull. Even ten years later there wasn't AA on consoles like what Microsoft showed in that infamous robot demo. Even funnier was the author of that article saying it wasn't impressive at all and that it should be considered standard, like having controller ports. If only.

**miketheratguy** · February 25, 2016

I don't know what's more ridiculous - that girl's figure, or that dude's afro. I also don't know which one is more awesome.

..."The Bouncer". *Snicker*. I remember when that was a thing, and people actually cared.

I had a good laugh on issue 68 page 14 talking about Microsoft promising "full-scene anti-aliasing" in the Xbox. What a load of bull. Even ten years later there wasn't AA on consoles like what Microsoft showed in that infamous robot demo. Even funnier was the author of that article saying it wasn't impressive at all and that it should be considered standard, like having controller ports. If only.

Ah, pre-launch hyperbole. Some of that crap is so entertaining to look back on after the fact.

Speaking of which, Microsoft's Fable. Ouch.

**marktrade** · February 25, 2016

..."The Bouncer". *Snicker*. I remember when that was a thing, and people actually cared.

This must have been around the time I let my subscription run out, after having subscribed to Official Dreamcast Magazine, because I don't remember The Bouncer being a thing at all. The first time I remember seeing it was when I found it in a bargain bin ten years later for a dollar and I thought, "Squaresoft? What the hell is this? How come I've never heard of it?" So I really am surprised to look at these issues.

I was trying to think of what I was doing around the time this issue was released. It was the Autumn during my senior year of high school, I was running cross country after school, and when I got home I would watch Toomani. There's a two-page Toonami ad for "The Intruder" in this very same issue, which I think is awesome. I was a Toonami fanatic and had quite a lot of recorded tapes so I made sure I wouldn't miss it.

I could tell that NextGen was on its way down. Scanning these later issues isn't very exciting, but I still find some worthwhile things in them.

**kitsunebi** · February 25, 2016

I had a good laugh on issue 68 page 14 talking about Microsoft promising "full-scene anti-aliasing" in the Xbox. What a load of bull. Even ten years later there wasn't AA on consoles like what Microsoft showed in that infamous robot demo. Even funnier was the author of that article saying it wasn't impressive at all and that it should be considered standard, like having controller ports. If only.

The funniest hype I remember was when somebody (don't remember the source or the magazine) claimed that the upcoming PS2 was capable of rendering the CGI of Star Wars Episode 1 in real time - and once developers got the hang of the system, we could look forward to games with graphics of the same quality.

Nothing made me angrier at the time than PS2 hype, since it seemed that so many people were buying into it and not giving the Dreamcast a chance, leading to its undeserved demise. "Hey kids - don't buy a Dreamcast - just wait for the PS2 -- its games will be indistinguishable from movies! And it will even do your homework and clear your acne!"

**marktrade** · February 25, 2016

The funniest hype I remember was when somebody (don't remember the source or the magazine) claimed that the upcoming PS2 was capable of rendering the CGI of Star Wars Episode 1 in real time - and once developers got the hang of the system, we could look forward to games with graphics of the same quality.

Nothing made me angrier at the time than PS2 hype, since it seemed that so many people were buying into it and not giving the Dreamcast a chance, leading to its undeserved demise. "Hey kids - don't buy a Dreamcast - just wait for the PS2 -- its games will be indistinguishable from movies! And it will even do your homework and clear your acne!"

I remember reading one developer saying, "It will be like lucid dreaming." I remember thinking he sounded really desperate to one-up the Dreamcast.

Incidentally one of the greatest lucid dreams I've ever had involved a Dreamcast.

**miketheratguy** · February 25, 2016

Nothing made me angrier at the time than PS2 hype, since it seemed that so many people were buying into it and not giving the Dreamcast a chance, leading to its undeserved demise. "Hey kids - don't buy a Dreamcast - just wait for the PS2 -- its games will be indistinguishable from movies! And it will even do your homework and clear your acne!"

As much as I loved the PS2, you're absolutely right: Like they did with just about everything back in those days, the video game magazines all rushed to speculate on whether the upcoming system would render the current product obsolete. I remember seeing the term "Dreamcast killer?" bandied about in much the same way that Mortal Kombat was a Street Fighter "killer" and Silent Hill was a Resident Evil "killer". It hyperbolically (and, some might argue, irresponsibly) signaled to fans that they might want to discard what they've already got because uh-oh, something SO MUCH BETTER might be just around the corner!!! Hell, I even remember EGM having a cover that raised the question "Should you buy a Dreamcast?" (though, to be fair, I don't remember when this issue was published so I can't say whether the question had anything to do with the PS2).

I have a soft spot for the Dreamcast. It was the little system that could - and maybe should have.

This must have been around the time I let my subscription run out, after having subscribed to Official Dreamcast Magazine, because I don't remember The Bouncer being a thing at all. The first time I remember seeing it was when I found it in a bargain bin ten years later for a dollar and I thought, "Squaresoft? What the hell is this? How come I've never heard of it?" So I really am surprised to look at these issues.

That must have been the case, yeah, because there was a time there when eeeeeeveryone who had anything at all to say about the PS2 was absolutely wetting their pants with anticipation for that game. I had no idea what the hell it was supposed to be about, even what kind of genre it was going to fall into. All I knew was that THE IMPECCABLE SQUARE!!!! was developing a game that had purty graphics of a big-busted girl with unicorn hair. That was literally it. I'm someone who DID follow PS2 news during that time and even now, to this day, all I know is that a company that had flung itself neck-deep into overrated territory was designing a game that had purty graphics of a big-busted girl with unicorn hair. The most that I remember about the game was that I decided the title "The Bouncer" referred to her boobs.

Areala should know more, I saw her mention her disappointment with the game. She must have been exposed to the same blinding, worshipful pre-release hype that I was.