Late Night Consoling
Over the weekend I finished up a couple of games. The first (and the one of the pair that I really completed) was Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. While I didn't hate the game by any means, I have very mixed feelings about it. It's the start of a great franchise, but the game hasn't held up well at all. Here's my full review, in which I obviously go into much greater detail about this than I can here. I think there's a great batch of source material for a remake in Blood Omen, and with Sony's PSP handheld, I could really see a great game coming out of it. The other game I finished yesterday was Ikaruga, by which I mean I finally unlocked enough continues to get past that fourth level with enough lives to finish the game. Completing Ikaruga isn't a very satisfying experience, especially not when you've got unlimited continues. So I definitely intend to keep at it. My next goal is to unlock the Practice and Conquest modes for that troublesome fourth level, which will definitely be a challenge. I've been able to get past the first two levels without continuing, but that third one has some really sticky parts that I keep getting hammered by.
| Acclaim, Dave Mirra Settle Dispute The headline says it all...Acclaim and pro biker Dave Mirra have settled the suit Mirra filed against the company after Acclaim, desperate for attention to their sagging extreme sports lineup, produced the raunchy BMX XXX (which was originally Dave Mirra's BMX XXX). No money has changed hands over the dispute, and the pair have renegotiated their contract. |
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| Sony Pulls Canadian Terrorists from Syphon Filter Responding to increasing backlash from up north, Sony has made the surprising decision to remove a portion of the game that had players being called in to stop a band of Quebec separatist terrorists who have taken control of one of Toronto's subway lines. Thanks GameSpy Daily for the tip. |
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| FFX-2 International Additions in US Version? Games Are Fun is reporting (by way of GameFront) that the upcoming release of Final Fantasy X-2 here in the US will include the "Creature Create" feature that was added to the Japanese Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission release. It's not clear if we'll be getting the rest of the extras in that release, but if you're curious about the "Creature Create" stuff, The Magic Box has some new images up showing it off. |
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| FFX "Eternal Calm" in Stores This Week Speaking of Japanese extras coming out over here, this week marks the long-awaited availability of Final Fantasy X: Eternal Calm, the epilogue to FFX that was previously only available as part of the International Edition overseas, and sets up the storyline (or at least hints at it) that continues in FFX-2. As previously reported here, it's going to be included on the bonus disc with this month's issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine, so if you want it, be sure to pick it up before some yutz steals all the discs (something that's happened all too often here in NYC). The movie has been dubbed in English using the cast from FFX. |
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| Warp Pipe 0.1.2 for Windows Released Version 0.1.2 Alpha of the Warp Pipe project for Windows has been released. You may recall that Warp Pipe is a tunneling software for GameCube, and the only game currently supported is Kirby's Air Ride, although the plan is to support Mario Kart: Double Dash as soon as it's available. Thanks Planet GameCube for the tip. |
| Kingdom Hearts II Q&A GamerFeed has posted a few scattered excerpts from tonight's interview with Tetsuya Nomura, the man behind the Kingdom Hearts games at SquareEnix. If you'd like to see the whole thing, Tech TV is airing it tonight at 11:00 (which means it's on right now if you're reading this post when it goes live) as well as at 2:00 AM and 4:00 PM tomorrow. All times are in EDT. |
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| XSN Interviews A pair of Xbox sports interviews are up at GameSpot tonight. The first is with Brenner Adams, the product planner on the snowboarding title Amped 2, while the second is with Matthew Seymour, the program manager on the tennis game Top Spin. |
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| True Crizzizle. Activision has officially announced that not only has Snoop Dog contributed to the soundtrack for True Crime: Streets of L.A., but in fact he's a fully playable hidden character as well, complete with his own hidden mini-game. The first screenshots of his digital counterpart are up at IGN, along with a brief Q&A with the game's producer about Snoop's involvement. |
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| Super Mario Advance 5: Super Mario Bros? Now here's a bit of wacky news...along with the complete list of bonuses for Club Nintendo members in Japan, IGN spotted a Game Boy Advance version of the original Super Mario Bros. It's unknown if this is a freebie for members only or the next entry in Nintendo's increasingly bizarrely numbered series of GBA remakes of Mario titles. |
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| Ratchet & Clank 2 Interview Computer and Video Games has conducted an interview with members of the Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando team at Insomniac Games (or as it's known over there, Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked & Loaded). |
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| New Splinter Cell Mission Available 1UP is reporting that Xbox Live members can log on with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell today to download a new playable mission. This is the second half of the Vselka Infiltration scenario, and it is also available on the Rainbow Six 3 preview disc. |
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| Ys Online Announced This is actually a PC-only title, but since Ys has always been a console game in this country I figured it deserved a mention...Falcom, the creators of the Ys series announced today that they have teamed up with two South Korean companies to produce a massively multiplayer PC game to be set in the Ys universe. Like every other game in the series, a localized release is doubtful. |
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| Sphinx Q&A HomeLAN has posted a Q&A with Rob Loftos, the creative manager at THQ on their upcoming title Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. The game is mere weeks away, and is set to be released for all three platforms on November 10th. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| GameSpot has posted a first look at the GameCube version of Top Angler, while IGN has a look at the characters in Go! Go! Hypergrind and images from Pokemon Coliseum, GameInformer has a hands-on look at Crash: Nitro Kart and GamerFeed has impressions of 1080: Avalanche. |
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| IGN goes hands-on with SOCOM II and Naruto: Narutimate Hero, Games Are Fun links to a new trailer from Airforce Delta: Blue Wing Knights, The Magic Box has new shots from the PS2 remake of Star Soldier, CVG has new footage from Resident Evil: Outbreak and new shots from Siren and IGN has a first look at Online Pro Wrestling. |
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| GameSpot has new shots from the Xbox port of Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and HomeLAN has a hands-on look at Wrath Unleashed. |
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| IGN has new media from Tony Hawk's Underground (GC, PS2, Xbox) and The Hobbit (GC, PS2, Xbox), The Magic Box has new shots from Dream Mix TV World Fighters (GC, PS2), Planet GameCube has shots and impressions of True Crime: Streets of L.A. (GC, PS2, Xbox), GameInformer has new movies from R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox), GamerFeed goes hands-on with Need for Speed Underground (GC, PS2, Xbox), and we've got a new trailer from Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PS2, Xbox) here on FileShack. |
