As I mentioned in passing last night, Capcom's decision to release Steel Battalion for $250 puts it out of my price range (by at least $100, at that). It's a shame, because I was really starting to consider getting this game. It's understandable why the thing costs so darn much, but at the same time, it kinda sucks that there's no other option for getting the game. Even if the rumors about a game-only version costing $50, it won't be the same, not by a long shot. The game, like Dance Dance Revolution or Virtual On is totally tied to that peripheral, and without it the experience just falls apart. Ah, well. I'm still hoping that when an official price comes out it'll be lower (at least lower than the cost of the Xbox!) but I'm not holding my breath.

	Xbox Live == Extras for Games According to Computer and Video Games, Microsoft and other Xbox Live developers are planning on using the Xbox Live network to distribute freebie add-ons for games. Aside from the obvious sports titles, Unreal Championship is mentioned as a game that will support this.
	Malice Previews Both IGN and GameSpot have posted new previews of Malice, based on their hands-on impressions of the PS2 version of the game.
	MonkeyStone Interview Pocket.IGN has conducted an interview with several people from MonkeyStone games (who sound oddly familiar), talking with them about their upcoming Pocket PC-turned GBA title Hyperspace Delivery Boy.
	Dead or Alive Xtreme Volleyball Uses DOA3 Saves It was rumored, but now it's been confirmed...Dead or Alive Xtreme Volleyball will access your Dead or Alive 3 save file (if you have one) and unlock extra features. What features exactly is still a mystery though.
	GameCube Media Cube.IGN has posted new shots from Star Fox Adventures, which show off a previously unseen area of the game, as well as new shots from Resident Evil 0.
	Wolfenstein on Xbox Live Activision announced today that the Xbox port of Return to Castle Wolfenstein will support multiplayer via the Xbox Live network. This includes both co-op and squad based multiplayer, and there is still a split-screen mode for those who haven't signed up for Xbox Live.
	Sega's 5.1 Lineup Sega announced today that several of their upcoming games will support Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on the Xbox. Considering that most Xbox games support 5.1 this is hardly news, but what can I say...I'm a sucker for any press release that mentions Panzer Dragoon.
	House of the Dead III News New movies from House of the Dead III are up at Xbox.IGN tonight. On a related note, Games Are Fun is reporting that the arcade version of the game will run on the Chihiro board, which uses Xbox technology.
	More PS2 Mega Hits Sony Japan has announced a new batch of Mega Hits titles to have their prices reduced. This time around are Metal Gear Solid 2, Kessen and ICO among others. This is only for Japan now, although SCEA tends to follow shortly after their Japanese counterpart with this stuff.

Console Game of the Evening: Resident Evil 2 for the PSOne. While I prefer the cornball live-action stuff from the first game, this was a more well-rounded experience than its predecessor, and ultimately a much better game.

The official Battlefield 1942 has been updated with eight new screenshots from the game. Haven't downloaded that multiplayer demo yet? You're missing out. Thanks Blue.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday the other day. I'm still wandering around in my 20's enjoying being stupid. When I hit 30 though a few more years from now.. well then people are really gonna give me funny looks when I tell them what a friend and I do for a living. Plus I'm funny looking. Looks like we're getting close to the back to school rush again followed shortly by the holiday game rush. Should be lots of fun, or at least kind of fun.

- Palm sold the m130 handhelds under false advertising
- Earthlink is the latest company to jump on the "for the people" anti-pop-up campaign
- In a shocker, beer goggles are in fact beer goggles. Thanks Fark
- Dude, a camera that can capture bullets in flight, wack!
- Scary telco ISP stuff
- Internet phones are on the rise

Lastly, the latest product of our proud American culture, a crime fighting stripper

Sierra Entertainment sends along word that a demo for No One Lives Forever 2 will be released in September. The demo will contain three levels from the full game which should ship in October. Here are a few new screenshots, showing levels we're becoming pretty familiar with by now.

GameSpot's preview of Hegemonia: Legions of Iron is online, offering us a look at this upcoming 3D space strategy title. Sixteen new screenshots are included.

According to a CNET story, videocard maker VisionTek hasn't gone out of business quite yet (story). Creditors have appointed a trustee, but the company will remain in business for the time being while the trustee tries to determine if the company can be sold. Tech support should continue as well, however CNET mentions that "Telephone calls made Monday and Tuesday to VisionTek's main number and tech-support line went unanswered".

Six new screenshots from the FPS Vietcong are up at GameSpy Daily, showing us more from the game in development at Illusion Softworks (Mafia).

Although it seems as though the whole video games making kids psycho killers being untrue point is slowly being made (recent story), we've still got a few people out there hanging on to that whole thing. Here's a really interesting article by Henry Jenkins who has testified in front of the Senate Commerce Committee and FCC among other places about media influence (or lack of) on younger kids. He pretty much blew it recently on a Donahue showing, but here's what he feels he should have said..

I was ready to tear them apart on the evidence. Despite all of the publicity about school shootings, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is currently at a 30-year low. When researchers interview people serving time for violent crimes, they find that they typically consume less media than the general population, not more. A 2001 surgeon general's report concluded that the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered around the quality of the child's home life and their mental stability, not their media exposure.

It's one of the better collections of information about the topic I've seen in quite a while.

Also on Action Trip today is this Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Q&A. Ubi Soft's Mathieu Ferland answers a few questions about this third person stealth action game coming out on PC and Xbox.

New on Action Trip today is this interview with Clayton Palma, producer of Hitman 2. Questions and answers are about the storyline, AI enhancements, new weapons and items, improvements to the Glacier engine and a few other things.

The fourth beta version of Neocron has been released, allowing people to test out this sci-fi MMORPG. Now, this is like the biggest download ever. No less than 1.1GB in download size. Thanks STELTH.

Laszlo Peller on Hegemonia is GameSpy's Q&A with the project manager of this 3D space strategy title. Laszlo is asked about the the story, the technology of the aliens, the max amount of ships you can control, what battles are like, the level of micromanagement, the game engine and more.

Well that certainly was surprising news about Battlefield 1942 already going gold, especially with the several issues (some big, some not so much) that the demo has. However after that news came out I was informed EA is actually still testing the gold submission, though I doubt many changes will be made. It's sad that we have to wait for a patch yet again.

In some sad news this morning, here is the obituary of William A. Scarboro, former programmer of 3D Realms. At 3DR he worked on Rise of the Triad and the Prey renderer. id Software's Jim Dose and 3DR's Joe Siegler have .plan updates about this.

GameSpy Daily has a Q&A with Garage Games' Jeff Tunnell. Jeff mostly answers questions about the Torque game engine but is asked about the Tribes 2 patch as well as Garage Games is in charge of that.

Gamers Click has a quick Q&A with Bo Andersson of GRIN, developers of the vehicular action game Bandits. Bo is asked about the engine powering Bandits, status of the game, the storyline, cars we'll see in the game and a few other things.

The official City of Heroes forums have a message from a moderator saying that an open beta testing period for this superheroes MMORPG game is scheduled for January - March 2003. Internally, testing has already begun. Thanks Gamers Click.

There is a Freedom: Battle For Liberty Island Q&A on HomeLAN Fed, where JCal talks to IO Interactive's Martin Guldbaek about this action game with strategy elements. Computer & Video Games has a brief preview of the game.

- Operation Flashpoint: Resistance on C&VG.
- The Watchmaker on Gamers Pulse.
- Industry Giant 2 on C&VG.
- Defender of the Crown on Games Hell.
- Zoo Tycoon: Dino Digs on UK Gamer.
- Syberia on Games Pulse.
- Enclave (Xbox) on NetJak.
- Enclave (Xbox) on EntDepot.

- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro on Gamers Depot.
- ThermalRight SLK-800 heatsink on OCIA.
- Vantec Iceberq Chipset/VGA cooler on Overclocked Cafe.
- 40x CD burner shootout on Techware Labs.
- Nexland Pro800 turbo internet security box on Review Nation.
- ChiefTec silver ATX case on The Tech Zone.
- Alpha Novatech PAL8942 heatsink on Frosty Tech.
- Altec Lansing XA3021 speaker system on Dans Data.
- eVGA Geforce 4 Ti4600 videocard video review on 3dGameMan.

A playable demo of the third person assassin game Hitman 2 has been released, and you can download it from FileShack. Thanks for the tip Gamers Hell. A single level is included with the 48mb demo.

important note: A couple of possible bug fixes for those of you having troubles. Some guys having video issues may try rolling back their NVidia drivers to v28.32, or Audigy sound cards try turning off hardware sound acceleration. This demo is sitting on a couple month old code so you can be pretty sure these issues have since been resolved in the final code base btw.