Late Night Consoling

August 18, 2003 8:00 PM

I had a bit of a disappointment this evening, as I finally got around to hooking up my Saturn (I'm still recovering from the chaos inflicted when our floor was worked on) and my new S-Video cable didn't work. Actually, that's not true. It does work, but for some reason it only works when plugged directly into either my receiver or television. It doesn't seem to work when plugged into a switch box. Has anyone ever seen a problem like this before? It's a very, very cheap cable, so I suppose it's entirely possible that the signal it carries isn't strong enough to pass through both the switch box and receiver before getting to my television, but it's very strange nonetheless. Oh well. It cost me next to nothing, so I guess I got what I deserved. Fortunately I had better luck with my extension cable, which works like a charm with my standard gamepad, analog controller and arcade stick.

One last thing for those interested: as I promised yesterday, I really did play Super Ghouls n' Ghosts (the original SNES version, not the GBA re-release) and it was f#@$%king frustrating as all hell. I think I've atoned enough for my colossal mistake, and can put it back on a shelf somewhere to be pulled out the next time I do something unbelievably stupid.

	Sony Streamlining PS2 Production (Again) A report on Nikkei Net (relayed via GameSpot) has the news that Sony is drastically cutting back on its PS2 component suppliers from 4,700 to a mere 1,000. This is part of a cost-cutting measure, and may pave the way for further hardware price drops.
	New Brute Force Content Available at Midnight As of midnight tonight, the new multiplayer maps announced last week for Brute Force will be available for download over Xbox Live. If you missed the details on these you can find that over at Microsoft's official Xbox Live site and again, this is for offline multiplayer only, as Brute Force doesn't support Xbox Live gameplay.
	Fatal Frame 2 Interview IGN has conducted an interview with Keisuke Kikuchi, the producer at Tecmo on their upcoming horror title Fatal Frame 2. The interview is peppered with new screenshots.
	R-Type Final for North America? Ratchet 3? Also at IGN tonight is a new edition of their Off the Record PS2 column. In this installment they offer only two rumors. One, is the not-too-surprising tidbit that there is a second sequel to Ratchet & Clank in the works, and the other, and the one certainly of note for shmup fans, is that Eidos' Fresh Games label is currently eyeballing R-Type Final for a North American release.
	Donkey Konga Confirmed Import retailer Lik-Sang has a news item up reporting that Nintendo president Satoru Iawata has confirmed that Namco is indeed working on a new GameCube rhythm title under the working title Donkey Konga. It will naturally require (or nearly require, like Samba de Amigo and its maracas) a conga drum peripheral. Thanks PlanetGameCube for the tip.
	More Sega 3D Ages Announced The Magic Box has posted a confirmed list of the next round of Sega 3D Ages titles that will be released in Japan. In order they are Virtua Racing, Last Bronx, Phantasy Star 2 and Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium. Like the first batch, these are PS2 budget-priced remakes, and no North American release has been mentioned to date for any of these.
	e-Reader Canned in Europe Computer and Video Games is reporting that Nintendo has canceled the European release of the GBA e-Reader. No reason was given for this surprising decision.
	Viewtiful Joe, P.N.03 for PS2 Soon? As part of a larger post over at Video Fenky, the site relays reports from Europe that suggest PS2 ports of Capcom's Viewtiful Joe and P.N.03 are on the way, and may be announced in the very near future.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has new shots from Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (GC, PS2, Xbox) and ESPN NFL Football (PS2, Xbox) along with a new preview of Dungeons & Dragons Heroes (Xbox) and a first look at Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (PS2). Over at IGN they have a GameCube-specific preview of Freedom Fighters, new screenshots from XGRA (GC, PS2, Xbox), the first details and shots from Crash Nitro Kart (GBA), a new preview of Go! Go! Hypergrind (GC), new media from Tales of Symphonia (GC), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC), WWE Raw 2 (Xbox), Drakengard (PS2) and Champions of Norrath (PS2), as well as a hands-on look at Jak II and a first look at Monster Hunter (both PS2). Elsewhere online, GameSpy has a new preview of River City Ransom EX (GBA), The Magic Box has new shots from Gran Turismo 4 (PS2), Naruto: Narutimet Hero (PS2) and Front Mission 1st (PSOne), PlanetGameCube has impressions of Giftpia (GC), FiringSquad has a new preview of The Simpsons: Hit and Run (GC, PS2, Xbox) and GamerFeed has new impressions of SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos (NeoGeo/Arcade).

Console Game of the Evening: Vagrant Story for the PSOne. "Easily the best game Square ever made but never got the attention it deserved, with one of the most unique and innovative battle systems ever in a console RPG. Massively addictive. It's not a bad looker for a PSX game, either." (submitted by BrodieMan).

jason bergman

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