Rod Maher
BleemCast Creator
Hi, I'm Rod and I worked at bleem programming the DC version with Rand. I haven't posted here before but I thought it was important to clarify a few things about the beta that has been doing the rounds.

The beta is an extremely early version of bleemcast. Nothing has been modified by whoever has distributed the image, this is simply bleemcast at 30% completion.

This beta in fact predates the E3 show where bleemcast was first announced. For those doubters keep in mind we demo'd Ridge Racer 4, Omega Boost and Gran Turismo 2 at E3 in May 2000. These were selected because at this stage of development the ingame graphics were perfect for these games. Certainly there were no texture problems (grey polys), or rearview mirrors drawing crap everywhere. Otherwise you'd have heard it reported by those who attended at the time :)

A full year of development continued on after E3, with the first bleempak released in May 2001. A significant amount was acheived in this time with speed, compatibility and features.

I can understand why people like seeing a whole range of stuff running. It gives you a glimpse of the promise we saw in the emulator, and why we decided to invest the time to push the DC hardware to its limit. It's a shame however that people are now seeing something that differs so much from the final product. An emu where GT2 chokes as soon as multiple cars are on screen, and where cars run into walls in the replay theatre. MGS doesn't boot, and Tekken 3 gets nowhere close to the 60fps of the bleempak.

If you haven't yet seen the GT2, TK3 or MGS paks do us a favour and check them out to see how good emulation can get. I know you can't buy the bleempaks anymore but maybe you can find a friend who has them and is willing to lend them for a while.

Our definition of perfect is a lot different to those who are posting to the compatibility listings ;)


Rand Linden
BleemCast Creator
Warmtoe wrote:
"OK - my question is, was there ever a better beta (!) of bleem!cast released than the one that's been cracked?"

There were *NEVER* any beta versions that were released -- this one was an early version that was NOT released, but was leaked by an internal beta tester almost a year ago.

This build was from May 2000 ... which makes it almost three years old now, and a full year difference from the actual released product.

Warmtoe wrote:
"If that one was so old, did another one ever get distributed and do we now expect to see that one turn up?"

No versions were ever "distributed" -- they were sent, under NDA, to beta testers for testing.

Warmtoe wrote:
"One other rumour, doing the rounds, is that bleem!cast is 100% SH4 ASM - is that true?"

Yes.

Warmtoe wrote:
"By the way - I hope, whilst it might be annoying, that you see the cracked beta as an excellent advertisement for both of your's skills - from what I've heard, even this early version runs quite a few things well."

Considering that it's the result of a total of roughly four months' work (including a move to LA, Comdex, and figuring out the DC) it's not too bad.

Timewise, the build is only 25% of the final MGS and TK3 builds, and 30% of the GT2 build.

It isn't a "port", and nothing was reused from the PC version, save for the knowledge gained during its development -- for a whole variety of obvious reasons.

I agree with Rod completely: So many things are missing, unimplemented or buggy, it's a shame that people are seeing it in this state.

BTW, some mod should fix Rod's "banner" ... his should match mine.

Rand Linden
BleemCast Creator
DcSteve wrote:
"I agree with you that it is a shame that people leaked this, but the fact that in 4 months work, you were able to accomplish more than anyone has ever done for dreamcast, gives people a sense of confidence in the system overall :)"

It was an immense amount of work that was quite difficult -- the DC certainly didn't make things easy... nor did a whole host of other "issues".


Rod Maher
BleemCast Creator
Firstly thanks to those who have enjoyed the bleempaks and offered kind words!

btrboyev wrote:
"my question is why you guys just don't release your last beta of it, or release the source code. I mean, the dreamcast is a dead system, asking for money for it is pointless. I appreciate the hard work that was done on it, but why not share this great product?"

Yeah, bleem is dead. DC too. But just because it would be provided free would not prevent any legal consequences.... which is a pretty good reason to start with :)

mariobro wrote:
"The thing is, distribution was the key problem regarding Bleemcast, even in its heyday."

I agree that distribution was far from ideal, but it wasn't realliy impossible to get ahold of. EB and other stores were selling online.

Warmtoe wrote:
"OK - my question is, was there ever a better beta (!) of bleem!cast released than the one that's been cracked? If that one was so old, did another one ever get distributed and do we now expect to see that one turn up?"

These betas were used for internal testing right throughout development. Obviously there were a lot of them, but none are meant for the public. As far as I know this is the only leak.

Xylene wrote:
"Rand, and Rod, if you dont mind being asked, how do you feel about the leaked/cracked beta?
Are you angry? sad? mad? happy?"

bleem has been dead for so long that it really doesn't matter now. I'd say the word is disappointed, but this is directed more to the staff member who leaked it in the first place. bleem was a small company, so everyone knew everyone. It's a shame one of our own was willing to screw over the rest of us, but you get that in life.