So last night I started playing ICO...I didn't get too far though, since I had other stuff to do. I'm hoping to get to it again later this evening. As I wait for Final Fantasy X to arrive, I've been reading the Shackreviews of the game as they come in...while most have been positive, one new review says it's the shortest game in the series. Is this really the case? I had heard the exact opposite from everyone else. It's entirely possible that his gameplay experience was dramatically different from that of the other reviewers out there...that's why we have Shackreviews, I suppose.

• Not one to be left by the wayside, Sony's standing up and beating its chest again about the spectacular sales of the PS2 over the holidays.
• Pocket.IGN has posted their hands-on impressions of the Sonic Advance/Sonic Adventure 2 GC/GBA link-up.
• Microsoft's starting to get serious about their Japanese launch, since no Japanese system is complete without a weird commercial. Can dating sims and combat dancing be far behind? (There are already equestrian and pachinko games in the works).
• As was rumored, Nintendo's planning on reviving their classic Game & Watch titles, but they'll only be available for use with the GBA card scanner (which can't hold more than a few k anyway).
• Working Designs' planned port of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was canceled, but they have announced that the game will be coming back into print for the PSOne, complete with new CD artwork. Unfortunately all the swanky extras (like the hardcover manual) won't be included this time around, but it will cost about $20 less.
• Tecmo has announced that Zero, their upcoming PS2 horror title, will be released in the US under the name Fatal Frame.