Late Night Consoling
Over the weekend I finally had a chance to sit down and really attempt to fiddle with that problematic Misc. Media section down there, and here are my preliminary results. This is my first crack at this, so there's still a lot of work to be done, but I think I'm headed in the right direction. On that page you'll find seven different attempts (along with a current example, for reference). I posted this over the weekend for anyone who was around to give me some feedback, and it seemed like there wasn't a clear consensus. So when you comment on this tonight, please don't just give me the version you like the best, but rather try and explain briefly why that's your choice. And actually, while you're at it, be sure to mention if any of these would be a step in the wrong direction. I want to make everyone happy here, so any and all feedback is helpful. As I've done with previous things like this, each one has a console-related name. Give yourself +5 geek points if you can name each game they're all from (and add a few more if you can spot the theme that ties 'em together).
| THQ Starts Work on Next-Gen Consoles, PSP While freely admitting that they expect the next generation to hit in '06, THQ's Brian Farrell told a conference call with investors today that they have begun early development work on games for the next round of platforms. In other forward-thinking on their part, the company is getting ready to jump head-first into PSP development as well. |
| N-Gage Sales Comparable to Jaguar? This story at 1UP reports that at all retail locations (including both specialty shops and mobile phone carriers), the N-Gage sold just 5,000 units in its first week of release. To give some kind of reference, 1UP points out that in its first week of release, Atari's Jaguar sold roughly the same, although that was primarily in the New York area where it was test-marketed, and also at a slightly lower price ($250 to the N-Gage's $300). And just for the heck of it, they point out that the GBA sold more than 100 times as much in its first week on the street, with 540,000 units sold. |
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| P.Diddy's Down with the 'box Microsoft announced today that they have enlisted musician, fashionista and participant in the upcoming New York City Marathon (seriously) Sean "P. Diddy" Combs for some of their holiday commercials. Reportedly Diddy will tell gamers that they can "laugh at gravity" in Amped 2. Word. In other Xbox marketing news, Microsoft Europe announced today that they're sparing no expense in Europe over the next few months, laying out some £3 million in their new campaign. |
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| GameCube Zelda Pack on 11/18? According to some Slashdot Games readers (who apparently gained this info from EB Games), Nintendo will be releasing their new Zelda GameCube package on November 18th. The new set is priced at $99, and includes the system and that new Zelda disc, which has four classic games and a demo of The Wind Waker. |
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| Warp Pipe 0.1 Released The Warp Pipe project has released version 0.1 alpha of their GameCube tunneling software (thanks Planet GameCube). As this is the very first alpha release, it's somewhat restricted, and in order to use it you'll need a GameCube with broadband adapter, a PC running Linux, and a copy of Kirby's Air Ride. They are in the process of porting their code to other platforms of course, and the next release is expected to be available for Linux, Mac OS X and of course, Windows. |
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| Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Interview GameSpy has conducted an interview with Chuck Cuevas and Chris Pasetto, the producer and lead designer respectively on the upcoming PS2 and Xbox title Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Among other things, the interview addresses the game's subtitle (which is nearly identical to the PC release Fallout Tactics) and the reaction from fans of the series. |
| A Solid Candidate for Headline of the Year The actual headline for Midway's announcement about Super Duper Sumos shipping for GBA: "Midway's Super Duper Sumos is First Game Boy Advance Title to Deliver Giant Buttocks." Who says Tom Hall won't fit right in there? |
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| Project Gotham 2 Pre-order Bonus Announced It's not quite as exciting as some other pre-order bonuses I've reported about here, but nonetheless, Microsoft has announced a bonus disc that will be given to those who pre-order Projecct Gotham Racing 2. The disc contains a handful of tracks from the game's soundtrack, as well as a Windows Media Player skin and screenshots and a trailer from the game. |
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| Return of the King Interview As the first part of their weekly series of articles about The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, IGN has posted an interview with Nina Dobner, EA's director of partner relations, talking with her about the company's relationship with the filmmakers at New Line Studios. |
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| Donkey Konga Soundtrack Revealed Nintendo has revealed the list of songs that will be featured in the upcoming Namco-developed rythym title Donkey Konga. Alongside expected drum-centric songs like La Bamba are some songs from games, including the theme from Super Mario Bros. and the Monkey Rap from Donkey Kong 64 (which I always thought was cringe-worthy, but I know some people love). In other Konga news, IGN has some new media from the game. |
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| Legacy of Kain: Defiance Q&A HomeLAN has posted a new Q&A with Riley Cooper, the lead designer at Crystal Dynamics on their upcoming action title Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Among the various topics discussed is how cool it is to have both Kain and Raziel in a single game (as playable characters, that is). |
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| Misc. Media/Previews |
Console Game of the Evening: RC Pro-AM for the NES. "Addictive gameplay (gotta spell NINTENDO!), and even better with two players. And it has missiles and bombs!" (submitted by suqur).
