My long-awaited (okay, it was just a few days, but they were long ones, okay?) TurboDuo extension cable arrived over the weekend, and so the first thing I did was dive head first into Ys Book I & II. I've actually played the game before, but only in passing, and it's quite a different experience entirely to actually sit down and play it for several hours, knowing that you actually own it and you'll be able to save and pick it up again later. Sure enough, this is one seriously great game. It's very strange and very much unlike any RPG you're likely to play (with the exception being the games that were remade for this release, I suppose). But the really amazing thing about this game is the soundtrack, which is among the best I've ever heard, and this is one of those very rare games where finding a new area is a treat just so you can hear the new music. Since this is a first-generation CD game, the music is all redbook audio, which means I should be able to pop this into any music CD player and listen to the music any time I want. I haven't tried that yet, as I want to experience the game all the way through without spoiling any musical surprises, but that's something I definitely intend to do down the line.

	Shining Force on GBA? Last week THQ announced that they had reached a co-publishing agreement with Sega of Europe, and the first titles to be released from this new agreement would be Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Battle, Shining Soul II and the previously unannouncedSonic Advance 3 and Shining Force. It's that last one that raised a few eyebrows, and it's unknown at this point if this is a Phantasy Star Collection-style roundup of the two Genesis games in the series, or a collection of the two Game Gear titles (which were previously re-released as Shining Force CD for the Sega CD). No matter what, this should be welcome news for anyone scared by the less-than-enthusiastic reviews the first Shining Soul received in Japan.
	Pokemon Returns on GBA It looks like those rumors about a million-selling GBA title in Japan this year were true...Nintendo has announced Pokemon: Leaf Green Version and Pokemon: Fire Red Version, minor updates to Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire which were released last year. Whee.
	It's baaaaack... To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Street Fighter franchise, Capcom has announced that they will be releasing a new version of Street Fighter II, which will be known as Hyper Street Fighter II X when it's released for PS2 this December in Japan. No details are available yet, but you gotta admire Capcom's ability to create ever-more-rediculous Street Fighter names (although personally my favorite is still Street Fighter EX 2 + Alpha).
	New Xbox Bundle Announced Major retailers already started taking orders for this last week, but Microsoft nonetheless announced today a new holiday Xbox bundle. For $179.99 you get the console, a two-month Xbox Live trial subscription, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Tetris Worlds. This is only marginally better than last year's bundle with two Sega games (and that's only because of the addition of the Xbox Live trial, not the quality of the games).
	New Xbox Live Dashboard Now Available As anyone who's fired up Xbox Live recently will tell you, Microsoft has started rolling out their new dashboard software, complete with all the enhancements they previously announced. One previously unannounced "feature" of this update is apparently that it fixes the bug that allowed for Linux to be installed without the installation of a mod chip. Don't worry...I'm sure those Linux hackers are already hard at work on another workaround. That's what they do best.
	Jeff Minter Interview GameSpy has conducted an interview with Jeff Minter, the master of the trip-o-tron and creator of Tempest 2000 and the upcoming GameCube title Unity. Minter answers a slew of questions about his latest project, and even says that Unity will ship with a third-generation Virtual Light Machine, although obviously it's going to be largely useless without any way to get new music onto the GameCube (which is possible with Panasonic's Q system, I suppose).
	New GBA F-Zero? Pocket.IGN is reporting that "strong rumors" have started circulating that Nintendo is working on a new GBA F-Zero title to tie-in with the upcoming F-Zero anime series.
	EA Sports Nation Live Electronic Arts has taken the wraps off EA Sports Nation, a new online portal for all things EA Sports. Currently on the site you can view the world stats for NCAA Football 2004 and Madden NFL 2004, and this will obviously expand as more online-enabled games are released.
	More PS2 Greatest Hits Three new games have been added to Sony's Greatest Hits lineup of lower-priced PS2 games: SOCOM: US Navy SEALs, Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper and the Thievus Racconus.
	Arx Fatalis Interview GameShark.com has conducted a new interview with Raphael Colantonio and Julien Roby, the game director and associate producer respectively on the upcoming Xbox port of Arx Fatalis.
	Watch Belmont Kick Bomberman's Ass It's been rumored for a while, but Konami of Japan has announced Dream-Mix World Fighters, a new fighting game for GameCube and PS2 that features characters from Hudson and Konami's various games (but sadly nothing as of yet from Metal Gear). In other crossover craziness, Sammy announced last week that they are working on Sammy vs. Capcom.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has a new preview of Freedom Fighters (GC, PS2, Xbox), shots from Karaoke Revolution (PS2), a new preview of Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2) and new shots from Blackthorne (GBA) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GC, PS2, Xbox). Over at McIGN they have new previews of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (GC), FIFA Soccer 2004 (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Mega Man Zero 2 (GBA) as well as new media from Viewtiful Joe and The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords (both GC) and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Spiro the Dragon: Attack of the Rhynocs (both GBA). Elsewhere online, The Magic Box has new shots from Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, Gran Turismo 4, Front Mission 4 and Fullmetal Alchemist (all PS2) and R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox), Computer and Video Games has a hands-on look at Project Gotham 2 (Xbox) and GameInformer.com has a hands-on look at Final Fantasy X-2 and new media from Counter-Strike (Xbox).