Vanishing Point online Possibilities

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Strik3r91
letterbomb
Posts: 158
Dreamcast Games you play Online: PSO, Q3A, Toy Racer, Starlancer, AFO
Location: Russia
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Vanishing Point online Possibilities

Post by Strik3r91 »

What you guys think about online possibilities of Vanishing Point?
Is there a chance to get the online back? Like they did with Toy Racer?

using the search on this forum i found topic with VP Review, so i just copy and paste the online information of the VP here:
You may have noticed an option for Internet on the menu screen. Now most people wouldn't give this a second thought nowadays as the Vanishing Point server has been dead and buried for over a decade. However older reviews alluded to special challenges that could only be accessed online. Basically the game was programmed to accept special code direct from an Acclaim server allowing players to compete in a particular challenge with a set course and car. Although most of these challenges were simply a straight race or time attack affair, you could take part in something normally reserved for two players: namely Balloon Buster. Here you race through a course popping red balloons for extra points and avoiding the blue balloons that deduct your points (or vica versa). Once the challenge was over, points were converted in seconds that were deducted from your overall course time. Now I've mentioned racing in Vanishing Point is fun enough but spoilt somewhat by the restrained and sim-like handling. If Clockwork Games had incorporated the essence of Stunt Mode within the main Tournament mode, this would have alleviated that issue somewhat. Heats could consist of straight races and a stunt races where you perform specific tasks throughtout. For example, getting points for the hill jump in South Riviera, passing heavy traffic without touching anything, popping balloons, tagging certain areas of the road, drifting in certain spots...the possibilities are endless. If Vanishing Point is to be revived for a sequel or make a return via LIVE/PSN, this is something they should consider.
From love, with Russia :)

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Aleron Ives
Outrun
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Dreamcast Games you play Online: Phantasy Star Online
Phantasy Star Online Ver.2
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Re: Vanishing Point online Possibilities

Post by Aleron Ives »

The only reason Toy Racer got back online is that it was developed by an indie company that had all the rights to the original software and no reason not to release it. Big companies like Acclaim never behave that way, which is why most online games no longer run with the original software.
"Fear the HUnewearl."
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rjay63
MicroMidget
Posts: 436

Re: Vanishing Point Online Possibilities

Post by rjay63 »

Hi Strik3r91, thanks for checking out my review. I think it's wise to make the following points:

* Vanishing Point never had online racing capabilities (like Toy Racer or Daytona USA 2001)

* Vanishing Point did allow you to download challenges from a special website to the Dreamcast's RAM (not the VMU). When you switched the game off, the challenge would also disappear. The only noteworthy thing about these challenges today is that they allowed you to access a mode in single player that was otherwise a multiplayer only feature (Balloon Buster).

* Acclaim used a system called "Netspine" that allowed the game to access special code from the website and place it into the Dreamcast's RAM. When Acclaim went bankrupt a few years back somebody at the assemblergame forums bought some assets at auction and recently made a dump at archive.org. I note from the file names listed that quite a few documents relating to the "Netspine" system are available to view. Maybe there's a chance someone could replicate these challenges but it would be a lot of effort for very little in return.
My Metropolis Street Racer Blog: http://www.msrdreamcast.blogspot.com
MSR ghosts/time trials and official DLC: https://www.dreamcastlive.net/metropoli ... r-dlc.html

rjay63
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Posts: 436

Re: Vanishing Point online Possibilities

Post by rjay63 »

I checked out the Netspine documents from the Acclaim dump at archive.og and sadly there was nothing of note. Most of them were just presentations about how Acclaim would implement online gaming. Nothing about how the system worked with Vanishing Point :(
My Metropolis Street Racer Blog: http://www.msrdreamcast.blogspot.com
MSR ghosts/time trials and official DLC: https://www.dreamcastlive.net/metropoli ... r-dlc.html

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