Late Night Consoling

58

Can you believe there's just three weeks to go until Sony's online network goes live? Three weeks, and I still haven't gotten any clear picture from Sony as to what exactly their plans for this network in America are. Sony hasn't given any indication when or if we'll see the HDD add-on, which is absolutely necessary for the PS2's biggest online titles in Japan (Final Fantasy XI, Nobunaga's Ambition Online, etc.) or what the status of their online network in general is. I recently complained about Nintendo's lack of promotion for Super Mario Sunshine, but at least they've started up the hype machine. Where's Sony's? Do they consider this to be their big thing for the holiday season, or is it sort of a nifty thing for a niche audience? And has anyone confirmed whether or not Tony Hawk 3 will recognize the network adapter?

PS2 PS2 Rumor Mongering PS2.IGN posted a new edition of their rumors column late last week. In this column are hints about a new PS2 platform title from Sonic Team, news that Criterion is working on a new FPS for the system, and the pleasantly surprising news that owners of FreQuency will be able to play all the songs from the original game online using the FreQuency 2 demo CD that ships with Sony's network adapter.
GameCube PS2 Xbox Mortal Kombat Hands-On A hands-on look at Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is up at PS2.IGN (although the same article's on the various IGN sites due to the game's cross-platform nature). Aside from hands-on impressions, this preview is notable as it's the first time anyone has seen fatalities in the game, and they sound mighty impressive indeed.
Xbox Sega GT 2002 A new preview of Sega GT 2002 is up at GameSpot tonight.
GameCube GameCube Shots Also new at GameSpot are new shots from Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda, while Games Are Fun has new shots from Wario World and Star Fox Adventures.
Xbox Xbox Shots New shots from SWAT: Global Strike Team are up at GameSpot, while CvG has some new shots from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
Xbox Widescreen Panzer Dragoon Shots Gameforms has posted 24 screenshots from Panzer Dragoon Orta, which are particularly impressive, as they're in the 16:9 widescreen format without the "black bars" that are common for shots of this kind. Now if only I had a 16:9 television to play it on...
GameCube Perfect Dark 0 Debunked, but... Apparently the latest issue of Nintendo Power has a blurb confirming that the long-rumored Perfect Dark 0 is not in development, although they are working on a new action game, which may or may not be a Perfect Dark sequel.
Dreamcast NFL 2k3 Online Preview GameSpot has posted their impressions of playing NFL 2k3 over Microsoft's Xbox Live network. Their impressions are limited to just the game, as Xbox Live isn't well, live yet, but they do report on lag (not a problem, since the Xbox is broadband-only) and the voice chat functionality.
GameCube Eternal Darkness Interview An in-depth interview with Denis Dyak, the president of Silicon Knights and the director of Eternal Darkness is up at Gamers.com. This interview originally ran in Electronic Gaming Monthly, and is definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the game.
PS2 Red Faction 2 Preview A new preview of Red Faction 2 can be found at Computer and Video Games, featuring hands-on impressions of the game.
Console Game of the Evening: Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram for the Dreamcast. Like its Saturn sibling, this game's not worth playing without the dual stick controller. But if you've got it (or the excellent Saturn adapter to use the original) it's all kinds of fun.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 5, 2002 8:32 PM

    I can't believe the PS2 online network goes live that's real butter!

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