Late Night Consoling

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As mentioned earlier today by Maarten, there's a preview of GTA: Vice City in the current issue of Game Informer magazine. As is to be expected, the details and screenshots from that preview have found their way online already. It sounds like they're working on improving some of the rougher parts of the original game (*cough* aiming *cough*), but I'm not sure what to make of the whole 80's thing. Ten hours of 80's music sounds like fun, don't get me wrong (although if there's no Safety Dance, Sister Christian or Jesse's Girl, you can count me out) but I liked the weird mishmash of different thug clichés from GTA3, and hope that hasn't been ditched in order to concentrate on a more 80's feel. Oh, and Ray Liotta? Sounds good to me.

PS2 ESPN on Madden 2003 This oddball column over at ESPN.com takes a look at the PlayStation 2 version of Madden 2003. It's written in a very laid back style, and is certainly worth a read whether you're into sports games or not. Although...being the console geek that I am, I must bring up his reference to the "Genesis 2." Yes, there was such a system (there was a Genesis 3 also), but it wasn't what he thinks it was, it was just a repackaged version of the regular console.
Xbox Shenmue II to include Shenmue: The Movie Microsoft announced today that the Xbox port of Shenmue II will include Shenmue: The Movie on a second DVD. Shenmue: The Movie was released in theaters and on DVD in Japan, and is a compilation of the cut-scenes from the first game. While the movie's kind of pointless, it will serve as a good way of recapping the story from the original game for those that missed the Dreamcast one (although being 90 minutes, I would hope they also include the excellent recap trailer from the Dreamcast version of Shenmue II).
GameCube Dreamcast Ikaruga Coming to GameCube Worried that you won't be able to get your hands on Ikaruga when it comes out for Dreamcast in Japan? Don't worry, because Infogrames Japan has announced plans to port the game to the GameCube. The port will also include some special features, including a training mode. If you're not familiar with the Dreamcast version, XenGamers has posted some new shots from it.
Xbox GameBoy Advance DOOM III on Xbox Confirmed, DOOM II Preview While attending QuakeCon, GameSpot had a chance to play the GBA port of DOOM II, and so they have posted their impressions of the game, and they also have a news item up that says Carmack announced that id is "completely committed" to porting DOOM III to the Xbox, and it will have the "full graphics fidelity" of its PC counterpart.
GameBoy Advance Final Fantasy III On GBA Apparently in the Japanese magazine V-Jump, Square confirmed that their MIA port of Final Fantasy III for the WonderSwan will now be released for the Game Boy Advance. No word as to whether or not FF I, II and IV, all of which were released for the WonderSwan in Japan, will be ported as well.
GameBoy Advance AGB GBA 3D Engine Update AGB Games has released the latest info on their developing 3D engine for the Game Boy Advance, details of which can be found at Pocket.IGN. The latest addition to the engine is a 3D character system, which looks pretty darn impressive, considering the hardware it's running on.
PS2 PS2 Network Walk-Through PS2.IGN has posted a walk-through of the setup process for the PS2 Network Adapter. The process is a little complicated, so if you're curious, click through to check it out. They also have hands-on online impressions of SOCOM: Navy Seals.
PS2 Xbox Miscellaneous Media Also at PS2.IGN tonight are some gameplay movies from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and screenshots from the PS2 port of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Shots from the Xbox port of the game are up at GameSpy.
Console Game of the Evening: Mega Man for the NES. I long lost track of the incredible number of sequels to this game, but this game sure was fun (even if it made no sense).

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