Late Night Consoling
As you might guess, this being Christmas week, things are going to be fairly slow around here between now and Monday, January 5th. Since I don't celebrate Christmas for any religious reasons (a day off from work doesn't count, right?), I'll be here to report on all the news, but of course there won't actually be any news, so at the very least there won't be an LNC on Thursday (not that there ever is), and probably Wednesday as well, since Christmas Eve will probably be just as dead. But I'll post something on Friday, even if it's just "Consoles...WOO!" so there's a place to dish about games you got as gifts. Next week I'll play it by ear. If I have to go out and make some news, I'm cool with that. I think Shacknews, LTD. can afford to buy a controlling stake in Sega, and if not I'm fully prepared to storm the Sony offices with a bunch of Armor hot dogs strapped to my chest. Or maybe I'll just post like five random CGoTEs for the heck of it. We'll see.
| Sony Delays Chinese PS2 Launch Citing a mysterious "unfavorable environment", Sony has delayed their planned PS2 launch in China. There are several possible explanations making the rounds: one is the inevitable piracy concerns, but the others include the possibility of the PS2's processor violating US export laws to China (due to possible military applications of the hardware) and the likely case that there may not have been enough Chinese-language games ready for the launch. Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip. |
| iQue Selling Well More news from the Chinese market...no numbers are available yet, but one source says that Nintendo's iQue player (their customized N64/SNES system for that territory) is "selling well," prompting Nintendo to continue a rollout into other major cities in China. |
| SOCOM, EverQuest on PSP? The Magic Box has a small notice up today, that says the current "PlayStation Magazine" (no word on which one they mean), reports a rumor that versions of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALS and EverQuest are in the works for Sony's PSP handheld system. These are two of Sony's biggest online properties, and you may recall that the PSP will have two means for wireless multiplayer: 802.11b for connecting to WiFi networks (and through them to the Internet), and Bluetooth for short-range gameplay. But again, this is just a rumor, so don't start talking smack just yet. |
| BattleBorne, Acclaim Announce Deal Acclaim announced today that they have signed BattleBorne Entertainment, a developer comprised of former members of the Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon development teams, for a new title for "next-generation gaming systems." While PlanetGameCube assumes this means the next generation of platforms, it's much more likely that this is referring to the current generation, as companies still insist on referring to them as next-generation despite their age (it's confusing, I know). Whatever generation they're talking about, the game will be announced early next year, and uses technology from SnowBlind Studios with their own custom-developed tools. |
| Jump Festival Report This weekend was the Jump Festival in Japan, and 1UP has posted a report from the show, complete with goofy photos and reports on the various games that were on display. The Jump Festival had a handful of Square titles on display, including playable versions of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Dragon Quest V, as well as videos of Final Fantasys XII and VII: Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts 2. IGN was also in attendance, and they have a report on Chain of Memories, with lots of details about its asinine card-based combat system (sorry, but I'm really sick of these). |
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| MVP Baseball Interview IGN Sports has conducted an interview with Brent Nielson, the producer of EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2004. The interview contains some new gameplay details among other various comments about the changes in EA's baseball franchise over the years. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| Games Are Fun has new media from Nightshade and Phantom Brave, GameSpy has a new preview of The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Magic Box has new shots from the PS2 port of SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. |
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| A new preview of Tenchi: Return from Darkness is up at GameSpy tonight. |
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| IGN goes hands-on with Astro Boy, the side-scrolling shooter from Treasure and Sega, and GameInformer has new shots from Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge. |
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| GameSpot has new shots from DRIV3R (PS2, Xbox), IGN has a look at the creatures in The Suffering (PS2, Xbox) and GameInformer has a hands-on look at NFL Street (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
