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Late Night Consoling

by jason bergman, May 09, 2003 8:00pm PDT
Related Topics – Sega, LucasArts, Bethesda, Konami, Capcom, Bungie, Tecmo, Rockstar, Namco, Games: Console

My quest for a GBA headphone adapter came to an end today, as after hunting unsuccessfully for one all over the NYC area I broke down and ordered one from Lik-Sang last week. It arrived today, just in the nick of time for me to take it with me to E3 next week, and I'm certainly relieved to have it, as I was afraid I was going to have to go GBA silent in my travels. I also picked up MadCatz's hand-grips, and while their ridged sides are a little on the strange side (why on earth do hardware manufacturers think that's comfortable, anyway?) it makes a big difference for my big, freaky hands. I usually pick up a new GBA game before traveling, and I'm leaning towards the new Castlevania. I skipped the last one, so I'm curious to know what those of you who have played both think of the two. Is one inherently better than the other? I've always liked Castlevania's music, and I've heard that Harmony of Dissonance was lacking in that area. Anyway, let's get on with the news. These pre-E3 updates are killing me, but there's lots of good stuff tonight.

PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3 Trailer Leaked I'll be damned if I know how they got a hold of it, but PS2.IGN has posted the E3 teaser from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which somehow leaked in advance of next week's press conference. It's available at their site in Quicktime format, in both high and low resolution sizes. So how does it look? It's tough to say, as it's just a short teaser. But it does show some serious potential, as it focuses exclusively on Rambo-style jungle combat. Also, analysis of the teaser image that Konami posted has revealed the map to be of Russia.
Xbox Halo 2 Update Bungie has revamped their official Halo website, and to go along with it, they have posted a pair of cool looking new shots from Halo 2, one of which shows a bit of the new warthog.
GameCube Mario Kart, F-Zero GX Footage Those clever kids at Planet GameCube have captured the footage from Mario Kart: Double Dash and F-Zero GX that was shown on CNN today, and posted it in Windows Media format. The Mario Kart footage is available by itself in DiVX format.
GameCube PS2 Xbox R: Racing Evolution Announced Namco had their pre-E3 press conference today, and there were indeed some surprises. First up is R: Racing Evolution, which marks a major turn for the Ridge Racer series. This game is much more like Gran Turismo, as it features licensed cars and tracks, and is in development for all three systems. More details at PS2.IGN.
GameCube PS2 Xbox More Namco Announcements Namco also announced several other games at that same press conference, details of which are up at IGN. There's I-Ninja, a goofy action game from Argonaut, Time Crisis 3 and Extreme Force: Grant City Anti-Crime, which is apparently a spin-off from Dead to Rights. Of the three, only Time Crisis 3 is a PS2 exclusive, as the other two will be released for GameCube and Xbox as well. They also announced that Tales of Symphonia, a GameCube-exclusive RPG will be released in North America at an unspecified date, and that a unique GBA/GameCube Pac-Man demo will be shown at E3, which was apparently designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. And finally, some minor details and new shots from the wacky first-person brawler Breakdown can be found at Xbox.IGN.
GameCube PS2 Xbox GameSpot's Pre-Show Reports GameSpot has posted a slew of "pre-show reports" with preliminary information and media from various games. Here's a rundown: there's a look at Extreme Force: Grant City Anti-Crime (GC, PS2 Xbox), Time Crisis 3 (PS2), I-Ninja (GC, PS2), kill.switch (PS2, Xbox), R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox), Spawn (GC, PS2, Xbox),Soul Calibur II (GC, PS2, Xbox), SSX 3 (GC, PS2, Xbox), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (GC, PS2, Xbox), Tales of Symphonia (GC) and Freedom: Soldiers of Liberty (Xbox). And while it's not labeled as such, there's a slightly more detailed pre-E3 report on Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter up as well.
Xbox Morrowind: GOTY Edition Announced Responding to the many requests from fans, Bethesda today announced the Morrowind Game of the Year Edition for Xbox. This new release serves two functions: for newcomers, it contains the full original game, plus the two expansion packs Tribunal and Bloodmoon. For owners of the original, it lets you use your existing save files to play both add-ons (and it's still cheaper than buying both expansions for PC). Note that this also includes all the gameplay tweaks PC users have enjoyed, including the enemy health bar and interface improvements.
GameCube PS2 Xbox EA Sports Bios? EA Sports has announced the "EA Sports Bio" system that will be built into their entire line of 2004 games. What this does is keep track of every minute you spend playing each game, and cumulatively increase your bio's level. The higher your bio level, the more extras you can unlock in each game. IGN's write-up explains this much better than I could ever hope to, and they have details and shots from NHL 2004, Tiger Woods 2004, FIFA 2004 and Madden 2004 (note that some of these may be insider-only at the moment, although that should be going away tonight).
Xbox MechAssault Updates Available Microsoft has announced that all kinds of good MechAssault updates are available now. Specifically there's the long-awaited CTF mode (yay!), new user interface tweaks, new 'mechs and more. Details are available on Microsoft's site, or just log-in to Xbox Live and get 'em. Update: apparently it's not available yet, and there's all kinds of confusion as to when it's coming. Hopefully it'll be out this weekend.
PS2 Vectorman Revealed IGN's hands-on look at Sega's new Vectorman is now available for the general public. If you're expecting the same kind of goofy look that the original had, you'll be sorely disappointed, as this is a much more gritty looking action game, and gone are the free-flowing balls that made up the main character's body.
GameCube Rebel Strike Footage Gamers.com has posted a trailer showing off LucasArts' Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike. The trailer is 37 MB and requires the use of the Gigex download system (it's exclusive, or else we'd mirror it here).
GameCube Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Details, Announcement After E3 New information from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is up at Games Are Fun tonight, culled from SquareEnix's pre-E3 press conference. Among the goodies is a confirmation of four-player gameplay (when used with three connected GBAs, although this sounds a little pointless), word that the soundtrack is by Tanioka Kumi, who did the score for FFXI, cut-scenes are in-engine and not CGI, and that it is a much more action-oriented title, resembling Secret of Mana more than a traditional Final Fantasy. On a somewhat related note, bucking the trend of everyone else, SquareEnix will be holding a post E3 announcement at the end of the month to announce somethingorother.
Xbox Hacking the Xbox After his publisher (which my wife actually works for) chickened out and decided not to publish his book, Andrew "bunnie" Huang decided to take things into his own hands, and so it is now possible to buy Hacking the Xbox in eBook format. Details on the book, which serves as an introduction to reverse-engineering, along with sample chapters can be found at its official site.
PS2 Xbox Fatal Frame 2 Confirmed Tecmo has confirmed that Fatal Frame 2 is in development. No information is available beyond that confirmation, but it is known that it will be released later this year in Japan. Whether it is a PS2 exclusive or will also be released for Xbox as the first one was, is also unknown.
PS2 Manhunt Teaser Rockstar has posted a teaser for Manhunt, about which absolutely nothing is known.
GameCube PS2 Xbox GameBoy Advance Misc. Media IGN has posted a first look at ESPionage (GC, PS2, Xbox) which features Midway's E3 trailer from the game. Also at IGN are new shots from Prince of Persia for GameCube, and first looks at Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, Justice League: Dark Reflections, LOTR: Return of the King, Static Shock and Madden 2004, all for GBA. Also, Capcom has posted their E3 2003 preview site, which has new stuff from many of the games they'll be showing, from Dino Crisis 3 (Xbox) to Viewtiful Joe (GC). But wait! There's more! Rockstar has posted a teaser for Manhunt, about which absolutely nothing is known, LucasArts has opened up their official Wrath Unleashed site, showing off this game from Buffy developers The Collective, and Gamers.com has new shots from Dynasty Tactics 2 and Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII.
Console Game of the Evening: Quake for the Sega Saturn. "One of two (officially licensed) Quake ports for consoles, Quake was golden on the Saturn. 'Dank and Scuz' cameo...who can ask for more?" (submitted by archon).


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