I had quite a vacation...I went to San Francisco (it rained the whole time but was still fun), I got an Xbox and Halo (bundle free's the way to be) and I even got engaged on New Year's Eve. Hope all of you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did!

• PS2.IGN has posted what they call "one big ass trailer movie" from Blood Omen 2 as well as a whole lot of screenshots from Gran Turismo Concept.
• New shots from the finished version of Virtua Fighter 4 for the PS2 are up at Core Magazine tonight. On a related note, Core has another story up about a recent public showing of the game in Japan.
• Still more from Core Magazine tonight, as they have posted details on the storyline in Soul Calibur 2.
• GameSpot has new shots and movies from Resident Evil and Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube, as well as an early look at Shayde: Monsters vs. Humans, an upcoming online FPS for the Xbox.
• New details from Final Fantasy XI are up at The GIA, along with lots of new shots from the PS2 RPG Xenosaga, and their look back at the original Metroid.
• Remember the PowerGlove for the NES? Well guess what? It's baaack (actually, the game demos are kinda cool).
• Release dates are out for the Xbox releases for the first quarter of 2002 (good news for Tony Hawk fans - THPS3 will be out soon), and a list of Q1 GameCube titles has been released as well.
• Apparently Sony's considering buying an ISP to expand the PS2's Internet reach. Let's hope they have better luck than Sega...
• A Giants: Citizen Kabuto for PS2 review is up at GameSpot (8.3).

Console Game of the Evening: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for the GameBoy Advance. It took me a loooong time to get into this game, but playing it on the airplane back from San Francisco (where the light is just perfect) I got totally sucked in. Now if only it weren't so dark...

I see on /. that EDN Access has an article up about the tech powering the three consoles, PS2, Xbox and GameCube. Pretty informative if you care about knowing this sort of thing.

Though a bit on the late side, CNet has an article about the legacy videogame systems out there which can be a good alternative buy to the more expensive PS2/Xbox/GameCube. The Playstation and Dreamcast are still good buys at their current price, with new games for the PSX still being released.

There really isn't any console news tonight, but I figured I should post one of these since it'll be my last one until the new year. Tomorrow I'm off to see LOTR, and I'm flying out next week to see my sister in California. So in case I don't get a chance to say it before I go, happy holidays to everyone!

• Yahoo Japan, Softbank and Sony have announced a partnership to bring the PS2 online via broadband.
• Is Rare working on games for other platforms? Their Christmas card seems to suggest that they might have Xbox and PS2 projects in the pipeline. Or they could just be screwing with our heads (which is pretty likely).
• PS2.IGN and Xbox.IGN have each posted their predictions for 2002 articles. Nothing too exciting to be found here, but speculation is always fun.
• I'm all out of news! Here's a great look at one of the weirdest games ever made.

Console Game of the Evening: Strider for the Sega Genesis. This game rocks. Anyone play the recently-released PSOne sequel/remake? It sort of came and went.

After last night's Neo Geo confession, I received a few letters pointing me towards some emulators. I appreciate the thought, but I'm not a big fan of emulators beyond admiration for the technical prowess involved in their creation. When I do eventually get a Neo Geo (and rest assured it will happen someday), I'll want to play those games the way they were meant to be played. Just like I can't imagine playing Mario 64 without the N64 gamepad or NiGHTS without the Saturn's analog controller, those games were made to be played with those awesome enormous joysticks.

• With the releases of Sonic Advance and Super Mario Advance 2 so close to each other, Mario and Sonic are appearing on Japanese television together.
• Pocket.IGN's hands-on look at the GBATV adapter is now open to the public (has been for a few days, but I missed it).
• Good news for PS2 owners, EA has announced two more games that will feature their real-time DTS surround sound technology.
• Don't be too surprised: the next Dragon Quest/Warrior game is going to take two to three years to complete. Compared to Dragon Warrior VII, that's downright speedy. That means by the time it's out, we'll be playing Final Fantasy XIII.
• The full interview with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii referenced above can be found (translated into English) at Video-Senki. Note that he says VIII will be, "like nothing you've seen before." That's a pretty dramatic difference from VII, which is everything we've seen before, but really, really long.
• Here's November's NPD software sales charts...Metal Gear Solid 2 is #1, followed by Grand Theft Auto III in second, with Luigi's Mansion and Halo at #3 and #4 respectively.
• Nintendo has announced ten new GameCube and GBA developers. Among the notables are NovaLogic, Big Ape and Cyberlore Studios.
• GameSpot has a new preview of State of Emergency online tonight.
• Reviews: GameSpot has new reviews of Shadow Hearts (7.9) and The Legend of Alon D'ar f(3.5 - yikes!) for the PS2 and Driven for the GBA (7.1), and The GIA has a new review up of Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth (2 out of 5).

Console Game of the Evening: Gangster Town for the Sega Master System. A solid, fun light shooter, and one of the few for the SMS that were two player capable.

There was a comment last night that I don't use any Neo Geo games as console games of the evening...there's a simple reason for that, really - I don't own one! And for that matter, I never knew anyone that did. I have played a few games in the arcade, but beyond the most popular fighting titles, I'm pretty sad when it comes to this stuff. The Neo Geo Pocket is a whole other thing, of course.

• PS2.IGN has a new preview of Final Fantasy XI tonight, which among other things, confirms that the game is a real massively multiplayer RPG, not a pseudo MMORPG like Phantasy Star Online. And while you're there, check out their review of Final Fantasy X (9.5) which is now open to the public.
• The final part of Cube.IGN's interview with the Gekko development team at IBM is online this evening.
• Also at Cube.IGN tonight is a whole lot of media from Animal Forest +, including a look at the game's version of Punch Out!.
• Speaking of Punch Out, Xbox.IGN has a preview of Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing, the game that marks the man's return to consoles.
• Over at Pocket.IGN, they have posted their impressions of Super Mario Advance 2, better known as Super Mario World.
• Nintendo has announced plans to use the Game Boy Advance as a "digital broadcasting remote control." No, I don't get it either. Chances are that this won't make it over here.
• According to one report, the number of online console gamers will be directly proportional to the number of households with a broadband connection. I can dig that.
• More chest beating tonight, this time from Sony...
• And finally, GameSpot has posted their review of Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, the extra long title of Silent Hill 2 for the Xbox.

Console Game of the Evening: Samurai Shodown for the Neo Geo. Had the system not been ridiculously expensive this game would have been a system-seller for me (it still would be, if the damn thing wasn't so much on eBay).

For those that are interested, my Shenmue II import guide will run here on Shacknews tomorrow. The guide has directions for running the PAL game on an NTSC Dreamcast (it's really very easy, actually) but more importantly, it has clear directions for hacking your American Shenmue save file to work with the import sequel.

• PS2.IGN has a preview of State of Emergency online this evening. SoA is the next major title from Rockstar Games, and it seems a lot like Grand Theft Auto III meets Dynasty Warriors 2 (if that makes any sense).
• Thinking of importing Q, that cool DVD/GameCube hybrid? Well good news - it's been modded to play US games (thanks PlanetGameCube).
• Bungie has posted their own directions for playing Halo online using the two available tunneling utilities (GameSpy and Xbox Gateway).
• Konami has announced a collection of classic arcade games for the Game Boy Advance. It should be pointed out that Konami had nothing to do with the original Frogger, and in fact didn't even have the rights to it until very recently.
• The amazing Arc the Lad collection won't be out over here until early next year, but Japanese gamers can look forward to two new Arc games in the future, one for the WonderSwan and one for the PS2.
• Look out Square, Sega's getting into the CGI movie business (although not nearly as huge as Square's blunder).

Console Game of the Evening: Bionic Commando for the NES. This game came out during the age of great side scrollers, and it's not quite as good as Mario or Metroid, but damn if it isn't fun (hard as heck, too).

So Nintendo's talking again about their stellar GameCube and GBA sales this holiday season. With all this chest-beating going on, it's easy to forget that every platform is doing spectacularly (well, except the Dreamcast, but that's only because the reserves are quickly disappearing). Let's face it, there won't be a clear winner this year. Next year is going to be the real test, as second generation GC and Xbox titles (with the later hopefully being online) compete with third generation PS2 games.

• Oh boy, they're at it again...someone want to tell these politicians that kids can't just walk into a store and buy a $50 game without their parents knowing about it? Where do you think they get the money from? Yeesh.
• Is this the first shot from Final Fantasy XII? I hope so...I can't wait for Final Fantasy XI to come out and be forgotten already so the series can move on (thanks Ghost in my Shell).
• GameSpot has posted a preview of Grandia Xtreme, the unfortunately titled RPG from developers Enix and Game Arts.
• GameGizmo is now taking pre-orders for the Game Boy Advance TV adapter (thanks geedeck). This is that hardware hack that was revealed a little while ago, and unless it's changed since then it requires you to remove the back of your system in order to work.
• Reviews: GameSpot has separate video and text reviews of Final Fantasy X (9.3), Xbox.IGN has their review of Nightcaster online (7.3), and The GIA has a review of Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (4 out of 5), the latest in this series of agrarian RPGs.

Console Game of the Evening: Fighters Megamix one of the best fighting games ever made, this takes characters from Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers and a few other random Sega games and throws them all together for a really fun experience. There's something great about seeing Jacky from VF2 get his ass wooped by the car from Daytona USA.

With MGS2 behind me, I'm slowly progressing through Grand Theft Auto III, although I'm planning on putting it aside this weekend to jump into Shenmue II. GTA3 is really the perfect game to play between other games. It's so free-form that weeks can go by and I'll still be able to remember exactly where I was when I left off. At this rate it'll be a year before I actually finish it, but who cares? I'm having a blast nonetheless.

• Speaking of GTA3, it looks like the game's officially been banned in Australia. Take Two has said that they're going to modify it to pass the country's ratings board, but can anyone imagine a less-violent version of the game?
• This story at GameSpot suggests that Microsoft is planning a slow rollout of their Xbox online network, and will launch with puzzle games and little else (hopefully it'll at least be Bejeweled). More important than that is the news that Unreal Championship is undergoing a massive rehaul and may not be released until late next year.
• Jack's probably sick of looking at the thing by now, but nonetheless here's a look at a GameCube debug unit. Check out the funky hard drive. In other GC news, Panasonic's Q DVD/GameCube unit has shipped in Japan and is retailing for around $300.
• This was pretty much known already, but Agent Under Fire is headed to both the GameCube and Xbox.
• Xbox.IGN has posted some new movies from the Xbox port of Silent Hill 2. The game looks exactly the same as its PS2 counterpart, which certainly isn't a bad thing considering how good it looks already.
• Good news for Microsoft, I suppose: Yamaha is using the Xbox to demonstrate their home theater systems in Japan.
• More on the continuing saga of Square...Square Pictures, their movie studio that was built to make The Spirits Within is being sold.

Console Game of the Evening: Fighting Vipers for the Sega Saturn. It's got cheezy music, some of the biggest hair seen since the 80's (which never actually ended in Japan, apparently) and it still manages to be a really fun fighting game. Go fig.

Thanks to Maarten for this morning's Console news round-up. I'm afraid I got back to late last night for even a late, late night consoling story, so the help is much appreciated.

• So the question that has suddenly arisen, is SNK dead or not? According to Madman's Cafe, the company is going to be revived under the name "SNK NEOGEO" (thanks Sideways Bob). It sounds like this may have something to due to the influx of pirated SNK material since the company shut down, but that may only be a part of a much larger company.
• The good news keeps coming tonight...EBGames is now taking pre-orders for the UK version of Shenmue II, which will come bundled with a boot CD or converter of some kind. On a related note, I have successfully hacked my Shenmue save file to work with the imported sequel. More info to come once I've verified that everything's still there.
• Here's an interesting possibility...the extra features that are being added to the Japanese version of Dead or Alive 3 might just make it out over here by way of an add-on disc. According to GameSpot, "a more detailed announcement is forthcoming."
• Speaking of the Japanese Xbox release, Microsoft is denying that the Japanese launch has been delayed from its February 22nd release date (see Video-Senki for the reason for this rumor). Of course, they did that before it was delayed in the US as well...
• Here are some "fairly reliable" details on the gameplay modes in the PS2 version of Virtua Fighter 4. It's been confirmed: the game will have versus and arcade modes! We can all rest easy now.
• The first part of Cube.IGN's interview with two of the designers of the "Gekko" processor is online this evening.
• I keep forgetting to mention this: GameSpot has a great History of Square article up, which covers the company's entire saga (or is that SaGa?), from Rad Racer to Final Fantasy XI.

Console Game of the Evening: Tobal no. 1 for the Playstation. SquareSoft's quirky fighter never got the respect it deserved, but it's a whole ton of fun, as is its sequel, which was never released in North America.

Looks like Jason was unable to do console news last night. Instead of letting you wait until tonight though, here's some news that I saw. Of course I'm no match for the console king Jason, but hey something is better than nothing :)

The big news is that Sony finally announced some online gaming plans. At this time they are only working on a plan in Japan along with NTT but they are looking for partners in Europe in the U.S.

There are some first details and screenshots of a new Tasmanian Devil game on Gamespot. "Taz Wanted" is a 3D action platform game appearing on the PS2, Xbox and PC.

Also on Gamespot is the news that James Pond - Codename Robocod will be brought back on the GBA. This game originally appeared on the Sega Genesis and SNES and this new Game Boy Advance version will have enhanced graphics and should be out by late 2002.

PS2.IGN has a preview of the new Test Drive game with new screenshots from this street racing game.

More Max Payne console reviews. PS2.IGN gave it a 8.1 while Xbox.IGN gave the Xbox port a 8.9.

Some sad news tonight...VM Labs, makers of NUON, the system that, well...had no chance in hell, has declared bankruptcy. The system was all but dead on arrival, but I still had some small hopes that it would find a niche among DVD players because it featured some of the old Atari Jaguar developers. Hopefully someone will make a PC or Xbox NUON emulator, so I can eventually play Tempest 3000. Anyone else remember when VM Labs had an image of Mario's crushed hat on their website underneath their logo? This was back when the system was only known as "Project X."

• GameSpot has a Fahrenheit Q&A online,talking with members of the development team from Quantic Dream, whose previous title was the bizarre (but pretty fun in small doses) Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
• Cube.IGN has conducted an interview with Mark Lefebvre of IBM, who fields questions about their partnership with Nintendo to manufacture the GameCube's Gekko chip.
• Three new movies from Genma Onimusha are up at Xbox.IGN, while eight new shots from Jedi Starfighter can be found at PS2.IGN, along with "great wodges" of Tekken 4 shots.
• Pocket.IGN has a preview of the Pokemon E-Card Reader, which is now available in Japan.
• Despite rumors that it had been delayed into next year, Giants: Citizen Kabuto for the PS2 has gone gold and is off to manufacturing.
• In an interesting contrast, GameSpot has new reviews up for the PS2 and Xbox ports of Max Payne. The Xbox version garnered a 9.2, while its PS2 counterpart received an 8.0.

Console Game of the Evening: Ninja Gaiden for the NES. This game doesn't hold up all that well, but it's still a reasonably fun side scroller. The Atari Lynx version's worth a look as well.

IEMag got a hold of some sales figures for the three big console machines out there, looks like the Playstation2 / GTA3 combo is leading the way ahead of both Microsoft and Nintendo.

- PlayStation 2 seems to have taken the next-gen console hardware crown for the post-Thanksgiving week—moving 241,000 units to bring its total U.S. installed base to 5.2 million units
- Grand Theft Auto 3, with 137,000 units sold in its sixth full week at retail
- Microsoft moved an estimated 182,000 more Xbox units in this time
- GameCube sales dropped dramatically, reporting 65,000 units sold for the week

Oh, of course there wasnt much doubt of this one, but the GameBoy Advance lead the way past everyone with 260,000 units sold.

Warning: potential minor Metal Gear Solid 2 spoiler ahead. Nothing too serious, but I wanted to get that out of the way so nobody claims I didn't warn them. I finished the game this evening, and while I think it's a great game, the fact is that the plot is laughably complex. It's basically the equivalent of either buying a cup of coffee, or training an elite team of CIA agents to slowly infiltrate the Colombian government, stage a coup, institute a countrywide coffee factory, genetically engineering a specific new strain of coffee bean, carefully creating a single cup of coffee and then creating a clone of Juan Valdez to personally deliver it to you. That's a problem I have with a lot of action movies, so I guess it's only fitting that it be a problem here. But anyone who thinks the Final Fantasy games have silly plots with hokey new age philosophy (let's face it - they do) is going to have a field day with this one.

• As expected, while Nintendo and Microsoft fight over who sold the most consoles, Sony's raking it in. On a similar note, MGS2 is doing very well in Japan. Which is a little surprising, since the series has traditionally done far better here in the US than overseas.
• Here are some great new shots from Soul Calibur 2.
• Here's a pleasant surprise: Nintendo of America is going to be releasing Super Mario Advance 2 under its real name, Super Mario World (with SMA2 as a subtitle). Look for it in February.
• Delta Force is coming to the PS2 in Europe. No word on an American release yet.
• Yes! Another train simulator for the PS2! This genre, along with equestrian RPGs and roommate/girlfriend simulators thankfully will never leave the shores of Japan.
  
• It's not entirely clear when exactly, but Silent Hill 2 for the Xbox will be out a lot sooner than I thought. Z.O.E. for GBA, too.
• Good lord, could Microsoft really be considering a buyout of Take Two?
• GameSpot has a Final Fantasy X Q&A online tonight. Also, they are reporting that the game may ship before Christmas after all.

Console Game of the Evening (concluding Good Licensed Games Week): Super Star Wars for the SNES. Okay, so it's no Rogue Leader or nearly as good as the old vector-graphics arcade game, but this was still a really fun side scroller at a time when licensed side scrollers were horrible beyond belief (thanks mainly to Acclaim's piles of shovelware).

I received a ShackMessage from -=Kodiak=-, who says his Xbox system doesn't have any subwoofer audio support. This is the first that I've heard of it...Can anyone confirm that this is a defect with the system? It's possible that this is a cabling issue, not a sound chip problem, but really your guess is as good as mine. I'll see what I can dig up.

• Video-Senki has translated a Q&A with Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Imanishi of Nintendo, who talk about the GameCube's moderate success in Japan, the chances of a Pikmin sequel and more.
• Hey, go fig. Apparently Rogue Leader is LucasArts' fastest-selling game ever.
• More Star Wars fun...PS2.IGN has a hands-on preview of Racer Revenge, the upcoming sequel to Episode 1 Racer.
  
• GameSpot has posted new details on the Playstation 2 version of Tekken 4, which will be an "arcade-perfect" conversion.
• New screenshots and voice-over out-takes from Azurik can be found at Team Xbox tonight.
• It's definitely a slow night...here are some reviews: GameSpot has new reviews of SSX Tricky (8.8) and Pikmin for the GameCube, while Xbox.IGN has a review of Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition (7.8).

Console Game of the Evening (continuing Good Licensed Games Week): Spiderman for the PSOne, Dreamcast, PC and N64. The old Genesis one's pretty good, but this one's a great deal of fun, and it's from the same developer who brought you Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Ok, the big N has put out a press release claiming victory a day after Microsoft did. So who's really winning? Well, that's quite hard to tell as the two companies seem to be comparing different sets of numbers to put them on top. Microsoft is using numbers from the NPD Group, which happens not to track Wal-Mart, Nintendo's biggest GameCube outlet. Nintendo is claiming numbers from directly talking to retailers, but there's no telling the sources or accuracy of these numbers. Here are parts of the press release:

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001--Nintendo of America reported today that, based on direct communications with its retailers, its new NINTENDO GAMECUBE(TM) home video game console has reached sales of nearly 600,000 units in America in 15 days, or an average of 27 per minute -- nonstop -- since its November 18th introduction.

Because Microsoft has declined to estimate its actual consumer sales numbers, no fully accurate picture of comparative market activity is yet available. That data won't be available until The NPD Group releases its full projected sales report for the month of November in the next few weeks. For example, NPD's sample does not reflect system sales at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, and also the largest retail outlet for NINTENDO GAMECUBE.

The current available TRSTS retail data is just a snapshot. Only when NPD can project sales from all retailers -- even those outside their store sample -- can they reach an accurate picture of what's really happening in the market.

So who's winning this "war" then? Sony of course! :-)

So Next-Generation is dead. Sigh. I've been a fan of Next-Generation since their second or third issue (whichever one had Mario on the cover) and while it's dropped in quality (not to mention page count) lately, it's still the only magazine I read on a regular basis. Longtime community members may remember that at one point I ran a site whose full name was "Next-Generation Online Presents: loonygames - a blue's news publication" and that I contributed some content to NGO before it became Daily Radar. I will miss Next-Gen dearly. Anyone know what the rest of my 2002 subscription is going to be filed with? (My guess is PC Gamer).

• Well here's a surprise...it looks like The Matrix may wind up on the GameCube after all. If memory serves correctly, it can't be released for some time after the Xbox one, so this is a loong way off.
• Cube.IGN has posted a review of the Mobile Monitor 5.4, Interact's monitor for the GameCube that's very similar to their PSOne product, as well as a look at Kirby's Tilt n' Tumble, which is the first GC game to feature the ability to use the GameBoy Advance as a controller.
• Meanwhile, over at Xbox.IGN there's a new hands-on preview of Nightcaster, as well as new media from Unreal Championship.
  
• GameSpot has a new preview of the truly bizarre Herdy Gerdy for the PS2 tonight, as well as a Blood Omen 2 Q&A.
• Here it is, Sony's PS2 release calendar for the next few months. Note the new release date for Drakkan and Parappa the Rapper 2.
• Some reviews for you: PS2.IGN has a review of Jak and Dexter: The Precursor Legacy (9.4), which is also at at GameSpot in separate text and video reviews (8.8), and GameSpot also has a review of the import version of Shenmue II (8.7).

Console Game of the Evening (continuing Good Licensed Games Week): Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1/2/2x/3 for PSOne, PS2, N64, GBA, Xbox and GameCube. The licensed game to end all licensed games, this one not only proved an "extreme" sports title doesn't have to suck, it wound up being one of the best games released for nearly every platform it was released on (and it's certainly been on lots of them).

"Best Console Launch Ever". That's what Microsoft is shouting about their Xbox console anyway. Microsoft isn't making up their own numbers though, but using preliminary numbers from the NPD Group. But wait a minute, didn't Nintendo just recently say "best console launch ever" too? (another press release here) Thing is apparently that the NPD Group doesn't track Walmart, which just happens to be the biggest retail outlet for the Cube. Guess we won't really know for sure until a little while longer which console actually sold better.

Most importantly, Xbox purchasers can't get enough of the Xbox launch games. According to The NPD Group, gamers are buying 2.4 Xbox games with every Xbox, resulting in the highest game attach rate ever recorded for a console at launch. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. sold 1.9 games with every PlayStation 2 during the first two weeks of its launch last year, and Nintendo Company Ltd. has sold 1.9 games with every GameCube to date.

I had so much fun with last week's Bad Licensed Games list, that I decided to make this week Good Licensed Games Week, spotlighting those rare, great games that are based on licensed properties (they do exist!). Strap yourselves in boys, she's a big one tonight...

• Let's start things off with another Sony rumor, shall we? According to CoreMagazine, Sony is considering releasing a new PS2 bundle for 39,800 yen ($321) that includes the HDD and ethernet add-ons. No shockers there, although they'll have to drop that price if they seriously want to compete with Microsoft.
• New shots from SWAT: Global Strike Team are up at Xbox.IGN tonight.
  
• After their recent problems, Square is making some high projections for their PlayOnline service. Speaking of their financial woes, here's a look at the latest figures on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Yikes!
• GameSpot has posted separate text and video previews of Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, as well as a preview of Magical Vacation the upcoming GameBoy Advance RPG from the ridiculously titled developer Brownie Brown.
• Short but sweet: Shining Soul, the GBA revival of Sega's RPG franchise will be out in Japan on March 28th, 2002.
• A nice batch of new shots from Star Wars: Obi-Wan (note that they dropped the "Episode 1" from the title) can be found at Team Xbox.
• Well, the TRSTS numbers are in, and Luigi's Mansion outsold everything else during the week of November 18 - 24th, but these figures do not reflect Nintendo's own reports on the GameCube console sales (that doesn't mean Nintendo's lying, but that these don't back them up).
• Some random goodies at CoreMagazine: they have new shots up from King of Fighters EX, a look at Q, the Japan-only GameCube DVD hybrid, and here's a look at the GameCube port of Phantasy Star Online.
• GameSpot has discovered that Shiny is looking to hire employees to work on an unannounced future GameCube project. My guess is that this is something totally separate from their Matrix game, as Microsoft's footing the bill for that one.
• Tonight's reviews roundup: Pocket.IGN has a review of Super Bust-A-Move (8.8), GameSpot has a review of Azurik: Rise of Perathia (5.0), PS2.IGN reviews Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (9.4), Xbox.IGN reviews Kabuki Warriors (2.0 - yikes!), and Cube.IGN has a review of Pikmin (9.1).

Console Game of the Evening (Kicking off Good Licensed Games Week): GoldenEye for the N64. That this is one of only a few decent console FPS titles ever made is amazing, but when you throw in the license it's a rare gem indeed. It doesn't hold up as well as some other titles, but it's still a solid, fun game.

Carried over from last night...Well here "IT" is, a little earlier than expected...Segway, the mystery invention also known as "Ginger" (thanks Aizaz Akram and everyone else who sent this in). Time magazine's story on Segway shows that the personal vehicle is intended for intra-city transportation (meaning you won't use it on a highway, but to get to work it's a gem), and features no steering wheel, a super-rechargable battery and an engine that has no harmful emissions of any kind. Initially it will be available for industrial use, but the plan is to have a consumer model out shortly thereafter (with a price tag of around $2,000).