I've been on something of a retro-kick lately, and so last week for no real reason I fired up and played completely through Panzer Dragoon Zwei. Actually, I had really intended to start my annual Panzer Dragoon Saga pilgrimage, but I accidentally reached for Zwei instead, and before I knew it I had already gotten two missions into the game. I've posted a full review of the game (after adding it to the database, as it wasn't already in there), so I won't bother with any more comments here. The gist is this: it's still a great game, even seven (!) years later. Besides PDZ, I've also been playing the original Shining Force, which is one of those games I missed back in the Genesis days. I started playing it using Sega's Smash Pack for Dreamcast, but after suffering through the terrible emulated audio and a really frustrating experience attempting to save my game (I was a good hour into it before I discovered my VMU was full) I decided to go ahead and download a real emulator and play it on my Mac (I paid money for the game so I don't feel guilty in the slightest doing this). If you've never seen the first Shining Force, it was one of the very first (if not the first) strategy RPGs, and it's a great deal of fun. The only problem I have with it is its extremely clunky and unnecessarily complicated interface, but I've adapted to it. I started playing this shortly after purchasing Shining Force III for Saturn over eBay, and it's really got me looking forward to playing that. Well, that and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which Nintendo is offering in an excellent bundle, especially if you don't already own a GBA SP (thanks NatioN for sending that one my way).

	NVIDIA in PS3?? Crazy as it may sound, apparently NVIDIA is in talks with Sony to provide a GPU for the PlayStation 3. Before you start the flames and other related screams, keep in mind that this is a long shot at best, and one analyst aptly says that there is "less than a 50 percent chance" of NVIDIA actually working with Sony on the PlayStation 3. But it is interesting that the idea is even being bandied about.
	New Metal Gear Solid 3 Trailer The ECTS trailer for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has already found its way online (albeit in shakyCam format). Separate versions of the movie can be found at GameSpot (free registration required) and Computer and Video Games.
	Dreamcast PSO Servers Go Offline This isn't particularly surprising, but nonetheless the last shoe has dropped for the Dreamcast, as Sega has announced that they will be shutting down the servers for the DC version of Phantasy Star Online at the end of next month. Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip.
	GameSpy Not Committed to GameCube Tunneling After running the story the other night where one site claimed to have confirmed GameSpy's committed support for GameCube tunneling through GameSpy Arcade, I was contacted by a representative for the company who said that this is definitely not the case. The confusion comes from an earlier announcement where GameSpy had signed on to provide middleware tech for the system, and they have no plans to provide tunneling software for the GameCube at this time. Don't worry there's already another project well underway to do just this.
	New Wild Arms Game Announced GameSpot reports that in the latest issue of the Japanese magazine two new Wild Arms games are previewed: the already-announced Wild Arms - Alter Code: F, which is a remake of the first game in the series, and Wild Arms - Another Code: F, which is an entirely new game.
	Xbox Live Updates Microsoft has launched their all new Xbox.com, which among other things, contains a totally reworked Xbox Live section that allows you to completely manage your account (including your friends list) from a web browser. Also new today for Xbox Live users are the promised downloadable levels for Brute Force.
	EA Developing for N-Gage The big, big announcement from Nokia today turned out to be actually pretty big indeed, as they announced that Electronic Arts has signed on to make games for the N-Gage phone/game system. No specific games were mentioned, but they did say that games from both the EA Games and EA Sports brands would be released. Also, the system is set for a October 7th launch in the UK.
	Bring out your dead! Namco today announced Plague of Darkness (tentative title), an action/adventure that takes place in medieval Europe during the age of the black plague. Players take the role of a knight battling demons and quite possibly plague-infested rats and smelly peasants (okay, I made those up).
	Shinsengumi Announced Also announced today was Shinsengumi, a new action game based on the eponymous samurai group from Japan's Edo period. The PS2 game is in development at Konami, and is said to be 30 percent complete and will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show next month.
	Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer Q&A A new Q&A with an unnamed representative from High Voltage Software is up at HomeLAN tonight, talking about their upcoming PS2 title Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer.
	ECTS Coverage ECTS got underway today, and so there's lots of coverage all over the place. GameSpot has a crapload of new images n' stuff (far more for me to list here, so here's a page with today's updates), as well as hands-on impressions of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (PS2, Xbox), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GC, PS2, Xbox), WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain (PS2), FIFA Soccer 2004 (GC, PS2, Xbox), Beyond Good & Evil (GC, PS2, Xbox), Pro Evolution Soccer 3/Winning Eleven 7 (PS2), Worms 3D (GC, PS2, Xbox), XIII (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (PS2). IGN has some ECTS media at their PS2 site, but surprisingly no hands-on impressions. Elsewhere, gamesindustry.biz has started their coverage, as has PlanetGameCube and Eurogamer, and a crapload of new screenshots have been posted over at Gamer's Hell. And if their news engine ever comes back online you'll be able to find all kinds of ECTS stuff at Computer and Video Games.
	Misc. Media/Previews With so much of tonight's media already mentioned above, this here section is going to be quite small...IGN has a new preview of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (GC) and new media from R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Gran Turismo 4 (PS2), The Magic Box has new shots from Onmiusha Buraiden (PS2) and Gamers.com has new shots from Sega Ages: Phantasy Star Generation 1 (PS2).