Late Night Consoling
After noticing that Beyond Good & Evil has all but vanished from every store in the NYC area, I went ahead and ordered the game online, figuring I'd better do so before everyone decides the sale has been a rousing success and they can start charging full price again. This did indeed end my four month sabbatical from buying games, but I'm not going to start picking up all those games I've missed (like F-Zero GX, Crimson Skies, SSX 3 and so on) as I've still got a rather enormous pile of unplayed games to go through (+1 once BG&E arrives). Anyway, if you're planning on picking up BG&E for that low, low price of $20 ($10 for the PS2 version at Circuit City if you're lucky enough to find it) I'd really suggest doing it as soon as possible, since it really has sold out at most places already, and I can't see it staying at that price for much longer. But hey, it worked...I'll be very curious to see if it cracks the top ten or not for this past week.
    | Konami Konami Konami!!!!! Today was Konami's Gamers Day, and as a result there was a flurry of news. Newly announced games: NeoContra (PS2), WWX Rumble Rose (PS2), SilentHill 4: The Room (PS2, and yes, Xbox), Nanobreaker (PS2),Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (PS2), Shaman King (GBA), and a PS2 version of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim. GameSpot and1UP werenice enough to create indexes for their coverage, but more can be foundat PS2.IGN and GameInformer.At each you can find impressions and media from the various games that were ondisplay, which also included games like Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. |
| | Mary J. Blige vs. Marilyn Manson: FIGHT! If you've ever wondered who would win in a fight between Korn and Limp Bizkit,you might actually get the chance to find out. MTV.comis reporting that Korn'sJonathan Davis is working on a fighting game that will feature a wide range ofmusicians, including those two bands, plus Mary J. Blige, Marilyn Manson, Staindand lots more. Interestingly enough, Davis goes out of his way to distance thisproject from the recently released Def Jam Vendetta, by saying,"It's basically a celebrity fighting game, but in the context of a 'SoulCalibur'or 'Mortal Kombat,' where it's a real fighting game and it's not just a cheapfighting engine". Accompanying MTV's story is a piece of concept artwork of MarilynMansonbycartoonistand illustrator Martin Edmond that's very promising indeed. |
| | GTA: San Andreas? Okay, now this one definitely isn't based on an April Fool's gag...Computerand Video Games has noticed that Take Two has filed for trademarks for threenew titles: GTA5, GTA6 (OMG THERE"S GOIGN TO BE A 6TH GAME!!!1!!) and most interestingly GTA: San Andreas. That last one really might be the name of the next game in the series, since Take Two also owns the domain name for it. Naturally, Rockstar's staying mum on the subject, although we should find out for sure at E3 in May (even if the game isn't actually shown there, as Vice City was not in its year). |
| Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon Announced THQ has released the first details from their upcoming GBA Shining Force title, and sorry kids, it's not a remake of the first game as we thought it might be. Instead it's called Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, and will feature a story written by members of the original development team, a "more tactical" battle system, and something that's ominously referred to as a "Unique Card System" (insert groan here). |
| Multiplayer in Metroid Prime 2? Cube.IGN has posteda rumor suggesting that a multiplayer mode may in fact beincluded in Metroid Prime 2, and in it players might be ableto play as either Samus or a Metroid (which might be a bit strange). Even ifthere is a real multiplayer mode, I wouldn't hold out for built-in online support,although if it contains LAN play there's always theWarp Pipe Project. |
| Xbox Media Center Announced At CES this week, Microsoft's Chairman Bill announced the Xbox Media Center, a way to connect Xbox consoles with PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition. The software lets you access all the movies, pictures and music on your Media Center PC, but as GameInformer has confirmed you must be running XP Media Center Edition in order for it to work, which severely limits its usefulness, as only those willing to invest in a Media Center PC or upgrade their existing machine to the Media Center OS (which only some PCs can do anyway) will be able to take advantage of it. |
| | Konami Roundtable Transcript It's a little old (going all the way back to September) but GameSpy has posted a transcript from a roundtable of various Konami folk, including Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. It's a lengthy interview, but it covers a lot of ground, including the two upcoming Metal Gear Solid titles and whether or not we'll ever see a Metal Gear collection like the Zelda one that just came out (to quote Kojima, "I sort of want to bury those old games in the past"). |
| OMG XBOX HUG- Oh wait, no, no it's not. While fielding some questions about Microsoft's next Xbox system, Yoshihiro Maruyama, the head of Microsoft's Japanese Xbox unit confirmed that it probably won't hit store shelves until 2006, and furthermore, it will be smaller than the current Xbox, which has been the subject of jokes since its debut for its rather...ample frame (cue Cartman saying "I'm not fat, I'm big boned!"). |
 | Nintendo's Mystery System to Rely on Older Games? Hints dropped inthe current issue of the Japanese magazine Famitsu have ledpeople to believe that Nintendo's new mystery system, which will be unveiledat E3 in May, will be an outlet for Nintendo to re-release older titles. Thiswould seem to add more credence to the theory (which I currently believe to betrue) thatthenewsystemwillbederivedfrom the same technology that powers the iQue console that was released in China(and uses a combination of SNES and N64 tech under the hood). Oh, and uh...Nintendopresident Satoru Iwata says it will "enable fun and movement not seen before."Right on, man. |
| | Psi-Ops Interview Psi-Ops: The Interview is a name of an article at IGN tonight, in which they talk with Brian Eddy, the project lead and lead designer on Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. |
| Jak III Confirmed? PS2.IGN is reporting (by way of Swedish site SuperPLAY) that Naughty Dog is currently at work on a third Jak & Daxter,following on the heels of this year's Jak II. Although nothingis known about the game, it apparently features "desert environments" and willbe unveiled at E3 in May. |
| | Malice Lives! Computer and Video Games is reporting that Malice, which was the very first Xbox game ever shown to the public and has proven to be harderto kill than Rasputin, is still alive and may wind up being published by BethesdaSoftworks. |
| Xbox Live to Get Less Hardcore? No shockers here, really...at CES, Microsoft's Robbie Bach spokeabout the future of Xbox Live, and sorry guys, but even though us hardcoregamers are the lifeblood of the service right now, Microsoft wants to rope inour loved ones as well. That doesn't mean they'll be sissifying Xbox Live anytimesoon, mind you. When the video rolled, it was the blood soaked NinjaGaiden that was shown, and not Bejeweled or Solitaire. |
| | Misc. Interviews A new Q&A with Tad Horie, the producer of Activision's Tenchu games is up at GameSpy tonight, talking with him about the upcoming Xbox port of the third game, known as Tenchu 3: Return from Darkness. Also, GameSpot has a new MVP Baseball 2004 interview, CVG has a new Spyhunter 2 Q&A and Team Xbox talks with Raymond Herrera of the band Fear Factory, who has worked on a handful of games including the upcoming sequel to Dead to Rights. |
| Misc. Media/Previews |
| GameSpot has posted a new trailer from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, IGN has a hands-on look at Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and new shots from Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. |
| A hands-on preview of Seven Samurai 20XX is up at GameSpot (including a confirmation that the game's already-English dialogue will be re-dubbed for its North American release), The Magic Box has new shots from Dororo, CVG has new shots from Killzone and GameInformer has a new trailer from the North American release of Resident Evil Outbreak. |
| Apparently a new build of Ninja Gaiden is on display at CES at Microsoft's booth, so GameSpot, IGN and all have hands-on looks at the game. Also, GameSpot has new shots from Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. |
| | GameSpot has new shots from Fight Night 2004 (PS2, Xbox) and Mafia (PS2, Xbox), HomeLAN has a hands-on look at Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (PS2, Xbox) and we've got some new shots from 007: Everything or Nothing (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
Console Game of the Evening: Krusty's Super Fun House for the Super Nintendo. "This game was a serious trip. Take "Lemmings" and replace them with little mini Krusty dolls from "The Simpsons" all wandering to their deaths." (submitted by Shadore66).
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