Late Night Consoling

November 20, 2002 8:30 PM

It's a bit too late to make my PS2 Online Article, but my copy of Twisted Metal: Black Online arrived today. The funny thing is that it showed up a few days after my EverQuest Online Adventures beta, which likewise is too late to make my article. Or at least, my initial one, anyway. My next piece will deal with my adventures with the GameCube's network adapter and Phantasy Star Online (hopefully I'll be able to polish that one off this weekend so it'll run next week) and my third article will of course deal with Xbox Live. The last one is my three-way shoot-out, and if I manage to find the time, I'll try out these two games and include them in my final evaluation of the PS2. I am doing my best to get a good feel for each system's online experience, but as I mentioned repeatedly in my PS2 article, I am many shades away from a sports person, so understand that my experience will always be slightly less than even a casual sports fan's. There's not a whole lot I can do about that. I could go rent Madden or NFL 2k3 and give them a whirl, but I think it'd be wasted on me, and not worth my time. I'd much rather spend that time playing more Mech Assault, PSO or SOCOM so I can present a more well-rounded view of every other type of game than spend my time playing something that can never appeal to me as much as other people.

	Did Someone Say Price Drops?? Are $50 price drops in the works for GameCube, PS2 and Xbox? Gamers.com and EGM certainly seem to think so. I haven't heard anything remotely concrete, so I'm not saying anything either way...but I'm sure we'll know soon enough if it's in the cards. One thing we do know, is that there won't be a European PS2 price-cut before the holiday season.
	Sega Makes Money...But Not All That Much Sega today announced their financials for the first half of their fiscal year, and the good news is that they have returned to fiscal solvency. The bad news, is that as has already been reported, their sales, particularly of their sports lineup, have been nowhere near as high as originally projected. Although in fairness, that's due more to unreasonable expectations than anything else.
	No More GameCube Sports Games from Sega On a related note to the story above, Sega announced today that they have decided to discontinue development of their sports franchises for the GameCube. Don't take this to mean they're not committed to Nintendo's console, as some of you may recall that Sonic Adventure 2 was among Sega's highest selling titles for the year. This is just a response to their tepid sports sales, due to formidable competition from EA Sports.
	FFXI Expansion Announced While it's not entirely clear how it will be distributed (or whether it will be free or not), Square has announced Final Fantasy XI: Vision of Girade, an expansion disc for FFXI that adds a ton of new content. Images from the new stuff can be found at Games Are Fun.
	Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Reviews IGN's reviews are still for subscribers only, but GameSpot has posted their reviews of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The individual reviews for GameCube, PS2 and Xbox are all the same, and give the game an 8.1, while remaining largely positive.
	Pokemarch Nintendo has confirmed to CvG that Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire will ship in the US in March. This is a few months ahead of the GameCube GBA Player, so any prospective players will likely suffer from GBA-related eyestrain.
	FFTA Details New details on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are up at Games Are Fun tonight, taken from the Japanese mag Dorimaga. The game is definitely sounding like much more than a sequel or remake, and it will feature some 300 missions. Did I mention that I can't wait for the GameCube GBA Player?
	Misc. Media Blizzard has posted a new screenshot from StarCraft: Ghost, while GameSpot has inexplicably posted new screenshots from the original Panzer Dragoon. It's not clear if these are shots from the Xbox port of the game that is included with Panzer Dragoon Orta or not.

Console Game of the Evening: Electro Cop for the Atari Lynx. This game had a lot of potential, but was ultimately quite mediocre. It was very impressive visually though, especially when compared to the monochrome Game Boy titles it was competing with.