Late Night Consoling

December 6, 2002 8:30 PM

So right after I post an editorial bitching about Sega's flat re-releases, it comes out that most, if not all of them, will actually be getting major facelifts. Here's a link to some comparison shots between the original and newfangled remake of Phantasy Star, and some 3D models from the new Space Harrier. I still question whether or not some of those games really need to be brought back at all (a prettier Alex Kidd is still just Alex Kidd), but at least they're not going to be flat ports or emulations.

	PS2 Rumors: GTA: Sin City? PS2.IGN has posted their latest Off the Record column, which contains four rumors this week...the first apparently comes from a CNN interview with a Rockstar representative, where references to GTA4 and GTA: Sin City were thrown out as the next games in the Grand Theft Auto series. There's also a hint that another pair of major Japanese publishers are merging (Konami Capcom? Koei Namco?), and the others are pretty tame by comparison, mentioning the inevitable SSX sequel and a Ratchet & Clank bundle in Japan.
	Japanese GC Ikaruga Site Live The official Japanese site for the GameCube port of Ikaruga is online. It looks like the game's challenge mode will include a password that allows you to log on to the website, where you can record your score for all to see in a world-wide ranking.
	GBA Quake Update Pocket.IGN has posted an update on the Quake tech demo Pocketeers has been working on. Like the last such update it's very impressive, although it sounds like they pitched it as a full port of the game to Activision and they passed on the idea.
	Jet Grind Radio GBA Here's some cool news...Vicarious Visions, the developers of the excellent Tony Hawk GBA games, has announced that they are working with THQ and Sega on a GBA Jet Grind Radio. Of course, why they're calling it that and not *Jet Set* Radio**, as the sequel was released with that title in this country, is beyond me. Alas, no screenshots are available as of yet.
	Zelda Q&A IGN's may still be for subscribers only (sorry about that!) but GameSpot has posted their own Q&A with Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, where the pair discuss The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
	Ura Zelda Hands-On Speaking of Zelda, the game's bonus disc has shipped in Japan, and Games Are Fun has some impressions online, complete with screenshots.
	Pokemon Advance Preview Also out in Japan this week are the two new Pokemon games, and GameSpot has a new preview of them online, based on their hands-on impressions.
	Rayman 3 Details and Shots Still more cool GBA news tonight...GameSpot has posted the first screenshots and details from Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havok, including info on how it connects to the GameCube version of the game.
	Game Sales UBS Warburg has released the latest sales figures, covering the all-important final week of November. Surprise! GTA: Vice City is #1, followed by Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Splinter Cell and Metroid Prime. These figures are sort of funky, since they count multiple platforms all at once, giving a game like Deadly Alliance a major advantage, since it's out for four platforms.

Console Game of the Evening: Obi-Wan for Xbox. What a steaming load of crap this was...I'm about as far from Scottish as you can get, but even I was offended by the lame accent of the main character.

jason bergman

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