Late Night Consoling
Although I had originally planned to publish a full review of the Tapwave Zodiac, I've since changed my mind on that. The unit I was sent is not final hardware, and the software, while much of it seems to be feature complete, is likewise not 100% indicative of the shipping product. Tapwave has let me know that I'll be getting a full review unit in the near future, and once that arrives I'll post my review. But until then, just to keep you all satisfied, here's my hands-on preview of the PDA/game system. This isn't nearly as in-depth as my review will be, but it does contain plenty of details, and even some photos of it in action. Head over and take a look.
| Sony Profits Plummet Yesterday Sony announced a whopping 25% drop in their quarterly profits across the board, due largely to a 37% plummet in sales of their games division. The latest Game Over column at CNN/Money analyzes the situation, and places the blame squarely on Sony's decision not to drop the PS2 price back at E3. While I don't think Sony's about to crumble, the sheer hubris we're seeing here can be directly paralleled to a few other companies that were once on top of the industry, and have since fallen (some more than others). On a related note, Sony announced plans to increase spending in their games unit by 50% as they move forward with their next-generation hardware. |
| Xbox Revenues Up In a strange sort of counterpoint to the story above, Microsoft announced yesterday that revenues in its games division (which is made up of both the PC and Xbox games units) were up significantly, and Xbox revenues alone were up by a full 20%. Of course it helps to keep in mind that Sony's coming from a different place financially -- they've been flying high on game revenues for years, whereas Microsoft's coming in from nothing, so of course they're going to get better. Still, it is unusual to read such positive results from the Xbox on the same day as dismal ones from the PS2. |
| N-Gage Price Drop (Already?) After just two weeks, the N-Gage has lowered its price. According to GameSpot, retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique are now running a Halloween promotion, where you can pick up the handheld system/phone for $199, a full 30% cheaper than its original price. This has to be the fastest price drop in the history of the industry, even if it is technically just a promotion. In other N-Gage news, techie blog Gizmodo has posted a report from a "renegade member of the N-Gage special forces" which is pretty entertaining (or sad, depending on your point of view). |
| Kain Defies Original Release Date In a surprise announcement, Eidos announced today that Legacy of Kain: Defiance has actually been bumped up and will now ship on November 11th, a full week before its original release date. In other Legacy of Kain news, GameSpot has posted a designer's diary about the game. |
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| "Shock" Resident Evil Announcement Next Week Yes, it's another one of those imminent announcement stories I know you all love so much...Computer and Video Games is reporting that the latest issue of the Japanese magazine Famitsu promises a "shock" announcement about the Resident Evil franchise will be coming in next week's issue. If I had to guess I'd put my money on an announcement that Capcom's ditching their GameCube exclusivity, but I have to admit, an N-Gage announcement would indeed be shocking. |
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| Auto Modellista Announced for Xbox It's already appeared on the GameCube and PS2, so it's not too surprising that Capcom has announced an Xbox port of Auto Modellista, their cel-shaded racing title. Just like the PS2 version, this port will be online-enabled, and will support up to eight players over Xbox Live. |
| Nintendo Interview GMR Magazine has posted an interview with Perrin Kaplan and Tom Harlin, the VP of Marketing and PR Manager for Nintendo of America respectively. These two aren't exactly the heads of the company, but nonetheless the interview does touch on a number of important issues, such as online gaming ("I don't know how long Microsoft or Sony can continue doing online"). Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip. |
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| Jordan Mechner Interview A transcript of a moderated chat with Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia and creative consultant on the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is up at IGN tonight. It's a lengthy read, but a very good one if you're interested in the title. IGN also has some new media from the game. |
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| Medal of Honor: Infiltrator Interview Also at IGN tonight is an interview with Jon Galvan, the producer at Electronic Arts on Medal of Honor: Infiltrator, the first original MoH title for the GBA. |
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| New Mega Man GBA Title Announced Capcom has announced Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge, a strange mixture of Pokemon-style card battling, characters from the Mega Man Battle Network series and basic programming. Don't ask me what that means...I just report this stuff, I don't attempt to make any sense out of it. |
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| Sony, Toshiba Sued Over Emotion Engine In a surprising turn of events, the University of Wisconsin has filed a patent infringement suit against Sony and Toshiba over the Emotion Engine that is at the heart of the PlayStation 2. The University claims that the PS2 uses technology they patented back in 1986. |
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| New PSO, MM3 Content on the Way 1UP has posted details on some new quests that will be available for the Xbox version of Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2. The quests have only been announced for Japan, but these have always (as far as I know) made it over here within a relatively short period of time. In other content download news, GameSpot has details and images from a bunch of new content for Midtown Madness 3 that's going to be rolled out (hah! I'm hilarious) in the near future. |
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| From Atari to Sammy GameSpot is reporting that four people have resigned from Atari with the intention of joining up with Sammy Studios, which recently announced a major expansion out on the west coast. Among those jumping ship are the producer and brand manager for the Unreal franchise. |
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| kill.switch Interview IGN has conducted an interview with Kevin Manthei, the composer of the score to Namco's kill.switch, which should be arriving in stores next week. |
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| Full THUG Soundtrack List Released Activision has updated their official Tony Hawk's Underground site with a full listing of the game's soundtrack. Featuring over 75 songs, it's a big one, and contains an appropriately eclectic batch of songs, featuring such artists as KISS, The Clash and Nas. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| IGN has new shots from Go! Go! Hypergrind, CVG has a handful of shots from the GameCube version of Dredd vs. Death, |
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| New shots from Monster Rancher 4 are up at GameSpot, along with a hands-on preview of Lowrider, while IGN has a hands-on look at Macross Super Dimensional Fortress, GamePro has a new trailer from Sega's Dororo, Games Are Fun has shots from Siren and The Magic Box has new shots from Neon Genesis Evangelion 2: Shinseiki Evangelions and Wild Arms Alter Code: F. |
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| GameSpot has a new preview of the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack and new media from NHL Rivals 2004, IGN has their own hands-on preview of the GTA Double Pack as well as a hands-on preview of Group S Challenge and some new movies from True Fantasy Live Online, GameSpy has a new preview of Maximum Chase, The Magic Box has shots from EXA-Skeleton, CVG goes hands-on with Project Gotham Racing 2, GameInformer goes hands-on with Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer and Team Xbox has a new trailer from Curse: Eye of Isis. |
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| GameSpot has a preview of The Sims: Bustin' Out, Games Are Fun has new shots from Metal Slug Advance and The Magic Box has new shots from F-Zero: Legend of Falcon, |
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| GameSpot has a new hands-on preview of True Crime: Streets of L.A. (GC, PS2, Xbox) and new media from Spy Hunter 2 (GC, PS2, Xbox), The Suffering (GC, PS2, Xbox), SWAT: Global Strike Team (PS2, Xbox), Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance (PS2, Xbox). Over at IGN they have a hands-on look at Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PS2, Xbox) and new media from Whiplash (PS2, Xbox) and True Crime: Streets of L.A. (GC, PS2, Xbox). Elsewhere online, GameSpy has a new preview of Need for Speed: Underground, The Magic Box has new shots from R: Racing Evolution and GameInformer has details and media from Spy Hunter 2, |
