Late Night Consoling
| New PS2 Bundle (Sorta) Sony announced today that they have added ATV Offroad Fury 2 to their $199 PS2 bundle, which also includes a network adapter pre-installed. The system is still available for $179 without either the adapter or game, and apparently this is in response to the fact that despite the only marginally higher price tag, 80% of PS2 sales have continued to be for the $179 model. Assuming this fails to spur on further sales, one would hope Sony would lower the price of both bundles and get it over with already. |
| Nokia Buys Sega.com In one of the most poorly written and confusing press releases I've ever read, Nokia and Sega announced today that Nokia has purchased the assets comprising Sega.com and the SNAP online gaming system, with the intention of using it to power online gaming for the N-Gage. Assuming that's really the case here (and Reuters says it is, so I guess it is) this raises all kinds of questions regarding Sega's PS2 online network, and specifically what they're using to power it. You may also recall that the SNAP system was licensed to Capcom, who used it for the PS2 version of Auto Modelista. This does not affect Sega's online GameCube titles, as those use the NetFront networking system, which was licensed from ACCESS. |
| 3DO Picked Clean Well the rest of the buyers for 3DO's assets have come forward...we've already reported here that Ubi Soft is now the owner of Might & Magic, Namco now owns Street Racing Syndicate and Microsoft High Heat, but according to GamePro to that to that list you can now add JoWood, which is the proud owner of Jacked and Crave, who god help us all now owns the rights to the Army Men franchise. In a slightly positive bit of news, 3DO founder Trip Hawkins purchased the rights to what his lawyer called a "backlist" of games released by 3DO from before 2001. |
| New UMD, PSP Details Some new tidbits on Sony's upcoming handheld hit the web today...first up are some new details about the UMD media format that powers the PSP. As noted in this story at IGN, while the technology itself theoretically allows for writable media, Sony has no plans on doing so for the time being, which means any music on the device will either have to be purchased or added via the system's on-board Memory Stick slot. A second brief story at IGN reports that like the PSOne, the PSP will not allow developers to get right down to the metal with their game engines. Inevitably this will make the development process easier for some, and frustrating for others. |
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| Internet-enabled Action Replay Announced As noted in this story at GameSpy, Datel has announced the Action Replay Max, a new version of their all purpose PS2 device. Like the previous model this incorporates all-region DVD playback and cheats, but this new version has the added benefit of being able to connect to the Internet to download new cheats and hacks using the broadband adapter. |
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| New Nintendo Accessories + a Big GBA Game? Two new Nintendo rumors are circulating tonight...Pocket.IGN has a news item up reporting that the Japanese magazine Dengeki GC claims a major new GBA title will be released this year and is "assured" to sell one to two million copies in Japan. And more fun speculation is up at GamerFeed, which reports that Dengeki also claims that new accessories for Nintendo systems will be revealed in an upcoming issue, and will come as a major surprise for their readers. I think I smell a "mega ton" in the air... |
| New Releases This Week This week is a rough one indeed. New this week are Alter Echo (PS2, Xbox) and Big Mutha Truckers (GC), and little else. Also: don't forget that the new Neo Geo Pocket Color packs are available at GameStop stores while supplies last, and hunterkiller let me know that Jakks Pacific's Namco 5-in-1 TV Games is available in EB stores as of today. Next week will be much, much, much better, as we'll finally see Soul Calibur II (GC, PS2, Xbox) on our shores, along with F-Zero GX (GC) and Buffy: Chaos Bleeds (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
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| Misc. Media/Previews |
Console Game of the Evening: Blast Corps for the Nintendo 64. "This game was just so unbelievably challenging. You knew it was possible to beat a level, so you kept trying and trying. The satisfaction after beating one was quite nice." (submitted by jigstah).
