There's a Gothic 3 Q&A on Gameplay Monthly, asking Blaine Christine of US publisher Aspyr Media about the RPG sequel. Topics include standout features, increasing the franchise's exposure in the US, graphics engine, gameplay hours, and tracking your quests.

The US Gothic 3 website has been updated with an-house Q&A with Aspyr executive producer Blaine Christine, who is asked about the game's US release, the game world, combat, NPCs and the development team.

Aspyr Media let us know that they have launched their Gothic 3 website and though it doesn't contain much now, it will soon feature 'exclusive content' and contest announcements. They also sent along several new screenshots from the game.

Aspyr Media sent out a press release announcing that it will be publishing the strategy games 1701 A.D. and ParaWorld in North America. Both games are expected to be released this fall.

FiringSquad has a combined SpellForce 2 and Gothic 3 preview, offering impressions of both games after checking them out at the Aspyr Media booth at GDC.

Aspyr Media sends along a SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars demo, giving you the chance to try out this RPG/RTS hybrid game sequel. Though the demo is a 563mb download, the email didn't mention anything beyond it containing a tutorial. SpellForce 2 is due out this spring.

JoWood issued a press release today, announcing that the Piranha Bytes RPG sequel Gothic 3 is now due in September. In North America, Aspyr Media will be publishing the game. Thanks SlamDunk.

Publisher Aspyr Media today announced that it will bring the Piranha Bytes RPG Gothic 3 to North American stores late next year at a cost of $39.99. For people interested in the previous installment, Aspyr released Gothic II Gold to stores yesterday. It includes the original Gothic 2 and its expansion pack Night of the Raven,

Aspyr Media sends along word that they plan to distribute the RTS/RPG hybrid game SpellForce 2 - Shadow Wars in North America. The game is planned for an early 2006 release, and will carry an MSRP of $39.99.

This Aspyr Media press release announces that Rebel without a Pulse is the game in development at Wideload Games (headed by ex-Bungie founder Alex Seropian). In the Halo engine powered third person action game, you play as Stubbs, who goes on a journey for "love, justice...and brains".

On his quest, Stubbs lurches his way through numerous large and visually captivating indoor/outdoor environments in and around the gleaming city of Punchbowl, PA, a city built during the Eisenhower administration to show off the ultra-futuristic technology of the 21st century. Stubbs' brain-eating adventure brings him through bustling shopping districts and verdant farmlands to battle mad scientists, rural militiamen and the world's deadliest barbershop quartet. His enemies have shotguns, tanks, and all manner of futuristic weaponry. All Stubbs has is his own rotting corpse, a distinct lack of pain or conscience, and the ability to turn foes into zombie allies.

Rebel without a Pulse is scheduled for a summer 2005 release on PC, Xbox and Mac. Thanks HLF. Update: you can find some screenshots at GameSpot.

Inside Mac Games has a Q&A with Alexander Seropian posted, asking the Bungie founder about his new company Wideload. The company is currently working on an unannounced Halo engine powered action game which Aspyr Media will be publishing late 2005.

PC.IGN is reporting that Wideload Games, headed by Bungie founder Alex Seropian, has signed a publishing deal with Aspyr Media. Mostly a Mac dev/publishing house, Aspyr has also dabbled in the PC market. Wideload's first game (which uses the Halo engine) will be released on PC, Mac, and Xbox late 2005.

This one is for all the Apple fans here on the Shack: Battlefield 1942 is coming to the Mac. Aspyr Media will be publishing the port, which will include the original game and Road To Rome expansion pack for $49.99. Look for it in June.

One of the things that I've been attempting to do lately is to modernize my console collection. Basically this means moving as many systems as I can away from the archaic technology that was RF (which significantly degrades in quality when daisy-chained) over to the much nicer and more reliable composite or s-video. This has been remarkably easy for the most part, as stores like Lik-Sang carry inexpensive cables for hooking up older systems like the SNES and Genesis via composite video, and while I've been at it, I've also been picking up extension cables as well, since in the old days us console gamers liked to sit much closer to our televisions when playing these things (or something). Like I said, it's been fairly easy for the most part, but today I ran into a brick wall when attempting to modernize my TurboGrafx 16. The TG16 was not a particularly pretty piece of console technology. It has a single gamepad port, and its controllers have what has got to be the most pathetically short cable I've ever seen. But the worst thing has to be the fact that NEC made it so the only way to get A/V outputs from the system was with the Turbo Booster, a cumbersome bit of hardware that also contains the ability to save games to the hardware (something that is sorely lacking from most TG games). Now the Turbo Booster isn't particularly difficult to come by -- it's on eBay all the time -- but it would be so much easier (not to mention cheaper) if all it needed was a simple cable. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this thing yet. I may just put it aside completely for the time being and wait until I feel like plunking down the cash for a TurboDuo, which was an infinitely better designed system (and is easier to find than the TurboCD add-on that I also don't have).

	Team Ninja Interview Over the weekend, GameSpy posted a new interview with Tomonobu Itagaki, the head of Tecmo's Team Ninja and one of my favorite industry personalities. As always, Itagaki-san makes for an excellent interview subject, and here he comments on his favorite game (Wizardry), why he'll never make an RPG ("for business reasons"), his thoughts on Soul Calibur II ("I personally feel sympathy toward the people who made the game") and what he thinks of those people who hacked nude skins into Dead or Alive 3 ("I think that those hackers should spend their time on something more productive") among many other topics.
	Paper Mario Confirmed, Mario 64 on the Way? According to IGN, Nintendo of Europe has confirmed the rumor that popped up last Friday, and it looks like Paper Mario will indeed be coming out for GameCube next year in the first half of 2004. In other GameCube/N64 news, a new rumor started making the rounds today (care of the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly) that says a bonus disc that will ship with Mario Kart: Double Dash will contain a port of Mario Kart 64. Note that this is still very much a rumor at this point.
	Sega Q&A Video Fenky has translated a Q&A with Hisao Oguchi, the newly promoted president of Sega. Oguchi comes to the corporate side as a former game producer, so this is a much more interesting interview than most you'll find with the heads of major companies.
	LAN Play in Star Fox 2, GameSpy Support Committed A post on Nintendojo confirms that both 1080: Avalanche and Star Fox 2 will support LAN play when used with the GameCube's broadband adapter. A second post confirms that Mario Kart: Double Dash will support up to 16 players over a LAN, and reminds us that GameSpy has already committed to supporting GameCube games via their tunneling software. Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip.
	Battlestar Galactica Q&A A new Q&A with well-known british comic writer Grant Morrison is up at GameSpot tonight, talking with him about his work on the upcoming Battlestar Galactica game.
	Activision Anthology Games List IGN has posted a list of confirmed games for Aspyr's upcoming Activision Anthology for GBA. Included are some 50 classic (and not-so-classic) 2600 games, as well as a handful of community developed titles that were created after the system was designated an open platform.
	GBA Unlockables in Billy Hatcher Sega has announced that Billy Hatcher & the Giant Egg will contain several unlockable games that can be downloaded to a connected GBA. Three games that have been announced so far as NiGHTS: Into Dreams, Puyo Pop and Chu Chu Rocket, with at least one more still to be revealed.
	Kingdom Hearts 2 at TGS? Hudson's Mystery Game? Rumors have started circulating over the last few days that SquareSoft will unveil Kingdom Hearts 2 at the Tokyo Game Show next month in Japan. The original source for this news seems to be a presentation by the president of Disney Consumer Products, who mentioned this in a presentation at the GC2003 event in Germany, along with the news that an animated series based on the game(s) is also in the works. Also making the rounds is word that Hudson Soft (who hasn't really had a whole lot to be excited about lately) will be announcing a new "big" title at the show.
	Rainbow Six 3 Q&A HomeLAN has conducted a Q&A with Mike McCoy, the producer at Ubi Soft on their upcoming Xbox title Rainbow Six 3, which is no simple port, but rather what is basically an entirely new game for the Xbox.
	Soul Calibur II Stick Q&A Also at HomeLAN is a Q&A with an unnamed representative for Nuby, talking about their universal Soul Calibur II stick, which is the official SC2 controller for North America.
	Cube/GBA Connection List Updated IGN has updated their master list of games that utilize the connection between the GameCube and GBA. As always, they make note of whether or not the game takes advantage of the e-Reader device, and mention whether it's a miniscule, minor or major feature.
	Misc. Media/Previews Thanks to the GC2003 event and Atari's press event, this is extra-specially big tonight...starting over at GameSpot, where they have new shots from Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (GC, PS2, Xbox), Hunter: The Reckoning Wayward (PS2), Dungeons & Dragons Heroes (Xbox), and The Simpsons: Hit and Run (GC, PS2, Xbox), a new section devoted to the N-Gage, and impressions of Kya: Dark Lineage (PS2), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (GC, PS2, Xbox), Dead Man's Hand (Xbox), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (PS2), Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon (PS2), Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (GBA) and Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma (PS2, Xbox). IGN has a progress report on Pikmin 2 (GC), and GC2003 booth reports on Acclaim, Activision, Codemasters, Konami, Nintendo, Microsoft, Eidos, THQ and Ubi Soft, along with impressions of Mario Kart: Double Dash (GC), Tony Hawk's Underground (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Ghosthunter (PS2), new shots and info from Driver 3 (GC, PS2, Xbox), new shots from Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PS2, Xbox), Sonic Heroes (GC, PS2, Xbox), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Medal of Honor: Infiltration (GBA) and new movies from Jak II (PS2). Elsewhere online, GamePro has a list of Ferarris that will be featured in OutRun 2 (Arcade/Xbox), Games Are Fun has some nice images of the Final Fantasy X-2 figures, GameSpy thankfully has a full list of their Atari Editor's Day content (so I don't have to make my own), The Magic Box has new shots from Fatal Frame 2 (PS2) and Otogi: Hyakki Toubatsu Emaki (Xbox) and Gamers.com has new details and shots from Resident Evil: Outbreak (PS2) and links to a newly-localized song from the Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) soundtrack.

Console Game of the Evening: Strider for the Turbo Grafx-16. "(For SuperGrafx) I drooled heavily over the first screenshots I saw of this in EGM back in the day. Never was released, unfortunately: apparently the programmer had to be hospitalized!" (submitted by funkatron).

My quest to get s-video out of my Saturn took another strange turn this evening, as I decided to attempt to attach an s-video adapter that I had lying around to my existing composite cable. Incredibly, it didn't work at all. While the audio worked fine (those cables weren't touched, so that was expected) I wasn't able to get any video whatsoever out of my Saturn once the adapter was put on, which was very strange indeed. Clearly this just wasn't meant to be. But I'm not out of the woods with my Saturn yet anyway, as I still need to replace the on-board battery which seems to have died on me yet again. Actually, my Saturn is completely falling apart, and it's started doing some pretty strange things (like always giving me the CD player screen regardless of what disc is put in the drive...I don't remember it ever doing that before) so if I can find one cheap enough (that's still in decent shape itself) I might just replace the whole damn thing. I love my Saturn, but it is most definitely not a well-made piece of hardware. Of all the consoles I own (okay, maybe not my X'Eye, which is functional but really clunky) my Saturn is probably the most poorly made of the lot. Whereas even my Jaguar (complete with toilet seat CD-ROM drive) feels nice and sturdy, my Saturn is loose and in terrible shape. I know it's silly to chastise Sega for a console that died off years and years and years ago, but I've got systems that are ten years older that are in much better condition. To say nothing of my original wood paneled Atari 2600 which looks positively brand new next to my dilapidated Saturn.

	Nokia Announces N-Gage Arena Just one day after announcing that they have purchased Sega's online technology, Nokia has announced N-Gage Arena, a new (free) online service for N-Gage users. The service will contain cheats, strategy guides, and rankings along with two-player matchmaking for multiplayer games.
	Ninja Gaiden Impressions Both IGN and GameSpot have posted hands-on impressions of Ninja Gaiden, the long-in-development Xbox title from the aptly named Team Ninja. While most games don't deserve their own story like this, the rarity of actual hands-on looks at this game more than warrants one.
	F-Zero: The Anime Nintendo of Japan has announced F-Zero: Legend of Falcon, a new anime series that will be airing overseas later this year. The series starts airing on October 7th, and revolves around a pilot who's cryogenically frozen after being injured and is woken up 150 years later to stop corruption in the F-Zero racing circuit. Oh those wacky anime storylines. I love 'em, but let's face it...Strong Bad was right about some of the wackier aspects of anime.
	Madden Bug Acknowledged, Replacement Offered As noted in this story at Xbox.IGN, EA Sports has acknowledged a bug in the Xbox version of Madden NFL 2004. Apparently there are issues when importing draft classes from NCAA Football 2004. If you've encountered this problem, EA is offering to replace it. Details are up at IGN.
	e-Reader Back on European Schedule Computer and Video Games is reporting that Nintendo has reversed their original decision to yoink the GBA e-Reader from their European schedule. It won't be out this year, but CvG was told the peripheral is now set for release in the first half of 2004. Apparently a European release of Animal Crossing (which utilizes the e-Reader) is being hinted at as well.
	New Famitsu Scores Games Are Fun has posted a roundup of scores from a few Japanese magazines, including the well-known Famitsu. A few of the notable scores this week are Tales of Symphonia (GC) which garners a 34/40 (9,8,8,9) from Famitsu, Sega Ages: Phantasy Star Generation 1 (PS2) which scored 26/40 (7,6,7,6) and Sword of Mana (GBA) with a 30/40 (8,7,7,8).
	Activision Classics Announced Despite being primarily a Mac OS publisher, Aspyr has announced Activision Anthology, a GBA title that contains more than 55 Atari 2600 games from Activision, including the genuine classics Pitfall and River Raid along with a whole lot of others.
	The Suffering Q&A The Armchair Empire has conducted a Q&A with Richard Rouse III, the lead designer at Surreal Software on their upcoming survival horror title The Suffering.
	Real Life Getaway How's this for cool...a new site called The Real Getaway Tour has screenshots side-by-side with actual photos from the game's locations in London, and it does this for every mission in the game. Someone told me recently that after playing the game, his son knew his way around London perfectly when they went there on vacation. I guess he wasn't kidding? Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip.
	Crazy Space Invaders Controller Get a load of this crazy 25th anniversary controller that ships with the special edition re-release of Space Invaders in Japan...it's basically a table-top cabinet, and intended to emulate the joy of parlor-style arcade games from way back when. Presumably you'll have to provide your own beer and cigarette stains for that extra touch of authenticity.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot new previews of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2) and Dragon Drive (GC), while IGN has new media from SSX 3 (GC, PS2, Xbox), Magic: The Gathering Battle Grounds (Xbox), Boktai (GBA) and Killer 7 (GC), as well as new details and images from Metal Slug Advance (GBA). Elsewhere online, GameSpy has a new preview of Mega Man X7 (PS2), The Magic Box has new shots from Sonic-N, Puyo Pop, Super Monkey Ball, Pandemonium, MotoGP, MLB Slam, Virtua Tennis, Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (all for N-Gage), Planet GameCube has new impressions of Mario Kart: Double Dash (GC), CvG has new shots from Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Xbox) and HomeLAN has new impressions of Freedom Fighters and The Simpsons Hit and Run (both Xbox).

Console Game of the Evening: Ninja Gaiden II for the NES. "The best ninja game ever created! Awesome storyline, engaging characterization and terrific gameplay! Best of the trilogy" (submitted by dr`Slayah).

Aspyr Media has released a playable demo of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, allowing you to check out the PC version of the game which should be released soon. Thanks VE3D.

HomeLAN Fed has posted a Q&A with Amy Torres of Aspyr Media, asking her about the upcoming PC and Mac ports of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. These ports should be out next month.

Aspyr has issued another press release with further details on the upcoming PC/Mac ports of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. While Aspyr is publishing, development actually takes place at a company called Beenox. The ports will be released in May.

According to this news story on GameSpy Daily, PC and Mac gamers will finally get to play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 later this year. Aspyr Media (also working on PC/Mac version of the Spyhunter remake) will be porting the game. GameSpy mentions there should be more details tomorrow.