Late Night Consoling

July 30, 2003 8:00 PM

I continue to make my way through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and I'm having a great time. Although I had originally expected to wind up being totally evil by this point, I somehow found myself earning more light points than dark, so now I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm going to be a Good Guy this time around. But I most certainly will play this again, and when I do, you can bet I'm going to be as evil as the game lets me be. And from what I can tell, you can really be quite evil. I was just afraid that I'd miss out on a lot of the core storyline if I always chose the evil route. By playing it twice I can make sure I get the whole picture (or at least more of it, anyway -- I suspect there are tons of different paths to take at varying points of the game). There aren't many RPGs I've played through twice...off the top of my head the only two I can think of are Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII, and in each of those cases, I didn't actually finish them the first time around (I got all the way to the end and wasn't strong enough to complete it) so the second time was really just to beat that last boss after losing my original save files. So clearly KOTOR is in good company among my list of console RPGs.

	These are not PSP pictures (but they are kinda cool nonetheless) I caught a link to these images while reading Gizmodo, which called them the first images of Sony's upcoming PSP handheld system, and since the site's not in English, it's easy to see how they made that error. But regardless, this is clearly not the first look at the PSP, but rather some well-made concept images. The creator clearly based this on Sony's recently announced Clie PDAs, and they incorporate the button layout from the other PlayStation systems, which Sony has confirmed will be in the final system. But again, these are not photos of the PSP.
	Sega's New Dev. Teams Named GamePro.com has posted a list of Sega's new development teams, which as was previously reported has been recompiled from their previous stable of studios. The only totally new name here is Cinematic Online Games, which is the name of Yu Suzuki's new studio, which will be making...cinematic online games. Whatever that means.
	More PS2 Rumor Squashing A second PS2 rumors article is up at IGN tonight, addressing some more of the most common rumors about PS2 games. As with the first one, this makes for a great read, as it contains a solid confirmation that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will not be coming to the PS2, a rumor about an exclusive Matrix massively multiplayer title for the PS2, a Star Wars game in which you get to play as Darth Vader (w00p), and details on the unlikely title NHL Street (how exactly does one play hockey in the street again?).
	BC Interview Also at IGN tonight is an interview with Ben Cousins, the lead designer on the upcoming prehistoric action title BC. Ben talks about how linear the game progresses among other things.
	Escape from Namco Namco announced today that they have acquired the rights to make games based on the films Escape from New York and its sequel Escape from L.A. While details on the game are unknown, what has already been confirmed is that Kurt Russel will be providing his voice for the game, which will probably be a disappointment for David Hayter, who has been the only English-language Snake in video games for the last few years (it's a good thing he's got that screenwriting career to fall back on).
	Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma Interview A new interview with Paradigm Entertainment's Steve Lotspeich is up at HomeLAN tonight, talking with the producer about their upcoming title Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has hands-on impressions of The Fast and the Furious (PS2, Xbox) and new screenshots from NFL GameDay 2004 (PS2), Spider-Man 2 (GC, PS2, Xbox), shots from the GBA, GC and PS2 versions of Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, impressions of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (PS2, Xbox), screenshots from True Crime: Streets of L.A. (GC, PS2, Xbox), Black 9 (GC, PS2, Xbox), Beyond Good & Evil (GC, PS2, Xbox), Freekstyle (GBA), Street Jam Basketball (GBA), Gekido: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA), new trailers from Tony Hawk's Underground and True Crime: Streets of L.A. (both GC, PS2, Xbox) and hands-on impressions of Kirby's Air Ride (GC). Elsewhere online, both IGN and GameSpy have new previews of Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (GC), and The Magic Box has two (one, two) separate pages with new shots from SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos (NeoGeo/Arcade).

Console Game of the Evening: River City Ransom for the NES. "It just owns... read books for skills, buy food for health and stamina, get a massage and get in the sauna... and kick everyone's ass for money!" (submitted by m4yhem).

jason bergman

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