I spent some time over the weekend performing some routine maintenance on my console collection. Just a bit of rubbing alcohol, paper towels, cotton balls and q-tips are all you need to keep 'em looking great, and I try to do that at every six months or so to keep the dust in my apartment from swallowing them whole. Anyway, one of the systems that needed this cleaning the most was my X'Eye, the JVC hybrid Genesis/SegaCD unit that I picked up a few years back for a song, and as I was cleaning it, I noticed a full set of A/V ports on the back of the unit that I had either completely forgotten were there or somehow missed entirely. The X'Eye wasn't a particularly well-made system, and its RF connection is probably the worst I've ever seen, and because of this I haven't hooked it up in some time. But once I saw the standard A/V ports on there, I plugged it into my switch box (#2) and I'll be damned if it didn't work like a charm. Relatively speaking that is. This still isn't a great piece of hardware by any means, and it still produces some signal noise that's pretty annoying even with an A/V connection. Actually I've noticed that is more pronounced with SegaCD games than Genesis carts, so there may be some internal problem there I haven't been able to pinpoint. Unfortunately I seem to have lost all of my SegaCD games except Ecco the Dolphin, which sort of put a kibosh on any celebratory gaming I would have gotten done. Which is a real shame, because while I didn't have a large collection of SCD games, I did have Sonic CD and the Sega Classics Collection, and was looking forward to firing up at least one of those. Oh well. I'll replace those eventually, or at least Sonic CD anyway, since I never played through that one entirely (I only barely scratched the surface of it, actually). But at least I've got it set up with a real connection. That leaves only a couple of consoles left with an RF connection: my 2600, which will always use one, there's no way around that, my NES and my Sega Master System. Those last two I'm sure I can figure out a way to modernize, I just haven't gotten around to 'em yet.

	Square's TGS Mystery SquareEnix unveiled their full lineup for the Tokyo Game Show, and as expected, they're saying that in addition to the seven games they've already announced, one more mystery game will be on display as well. Unfortunately, as Games Are Fun aptly points out, Front Mission 4, which was revealed last week, isn't listed here, so it's the most likely unlisted game. Still, if you want to hold out for Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy VII-2, knock yourself out.
	Consoles in '06, PS2 Price Cut Unlikely? During a presentation at a financial conference here in NYC, Activision president Ron Doornink reportedly told the crowd that the next generation of home console systems may not be out until late 2006, and said that, "It's still awfully early and we're getting very little confirmed". In other bummer news, Doornink and THQ's Brian Farrell both expressed their disappointment at Sony's E3 bundle deals in lieu of an actual price drop, and gave little hope that an actual price drop would be coming this year.
	GTA Still Sony Exclusive During a financial conference call, Take Two confirmed to those on the line that despite the upcoming Grand Theft Auto two pack that's on the way for both PS2 and Xbox, the series is still a Sony exclusive. Apparently their contract was amended to allow for this product, and the next game in the series will be a PlayStation 2 exclusive for an unspecified period of time (note that's the PS2, not the PS3). Regarding a possible GameCube GTA, they apparently haven't ruled it out, and would consider it for the next game if doing so would be considered "financially prudent" when the exclusivity period ends. Me, I'd love to see a GameCube Grand Theft Auto outsell everything on the GameCube just to see Nintendo's reaction.
	ICO 2 Anti-News The author of a Japanese adaptation of ICO that's set to be released next year has confirmed that a sequel to the game is indeed underway, although it won't be released before her novel is released in February. Why do I bother mentioning such a minor story? Because I know if I don't I'll never stop hearing about it from the rabid ICO fans out there (hey, I feel your pain).
	Grand Theft Lawsuits Speaking of GTA, two lawsuits sprung up today. The first is on behalf of the family of a deceased victim of a recent attack by teenagers who were reportedly inspired by the game, who have sued Take Two. Quoth their lawyer, "They need to stop pushing adult-rated products to kids. These products are deadly." And in an unrelated second suit, Graffiti artist Christopher Ellis claims his work was scanned in and featured in GTA3 without his permission. Thanks GameSpot for the pair.
	Naughty Dog Interview Computer and Video Games has conducted an interview with Jason Rubin of Naughty Dog, talking about their upcoming title Jak II, the game in which Daxter apparently no longer deserves a title credit.
	TV on PSP? Apparently Sony has announced a new television in Japan that can record content to Memory Stick media, which can then be played back on Clie PDAs. Since the PSP will feature a Memory Stick slot, GameSpot asks the inevitable question of whether or not this will be playable on Sony's do-it-all handheld system. Only time will tell.
	King of Fighters 2000/2001 Announced SNK Playmore, the recently corporate owner of all things SNK, will reportedly announce tomorrow King of Fighters 2000/2001, a two-pack of NeoGeo fighting action for PS2.
	ESPN Snubs Sega Despite their high-profile partnership with Sega, ESPN today announced the EA Sports NFL Matchup Show, which will air prior to football games on Sundays, and will have commentators illustrating their points using EA's Madden NFL 2004 instead of Sega's ESPN NFL Football. Also pointed out by this Yahoo Story on the subject is that ESPN's new gaming site rates EA's game above Sega's, which probably means they're either paranoid about being labeled biased towards their own products, or simply that they like EA's game better than Sega's.
	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Q&A A new Q&A with Frank Horn of Ubi Soft is up at HomeLAN tonight, talking with the producer about the upcoming Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon game for PS2 and Xbox.
	Hope for Eidos on GameCube? Although Eidos' CEO totally slammed the GameCube last week, Robert Dyer of subsidiary Eidos Interactive is quoted on GameSpot saying that, "As of today, we haven't announced anything coming up, but that isn't to say we wouldn't do something in the future."
	P.N.03 Q&A A quick Q&A with Hiroyuki Kobayashi of Capcom is up at Cube.IGN tonight, talking about P.N.03. Unfortunately, while at one point I felt this game had lots of potential, playing it at E3 was a major let down, and the reviews I've read have not been favorable in the slightest (case in point).
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has new impressions of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (PS2) and Counter-Strike (Xbox), new shots from Battlebots: Design and Destroy (GBA), and shots from the PS2 and Xbox versions of Curse: The Eye of Isis. IGN has new shots and details from the GameCube version of WarioWare, hands-on impressions of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PS2) and a Full Spectrum Warrior update (Xbox). Elsewhere online, Games Are Fun links to an enthusiastic Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg commercial (GC) and a Time Crisis 3 trailer (PS2), The Magic Box has new shots from Killer 7 (GC), GameInformer has posted their hands-on impressions of Spawn (GC, PS2, Xbox), and CvG has shots from Cy Girls (PS2) and The Simpsons: Hit and Run (GC, PS2, Xbox), as well as footage from Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (PS2), and over at Gamers.com are some new shots from Baten Kaitos (GC).