Late Night Consoling
So now that we've had the redesigned Misc. Section here for about a week, what's the verdict on it? Is it everything you hoped it would be and more? Got any tweaks to suggest? One person suggested a slight indentation of the whole section (which would look a bit like the Dalles design on this page, only with the header aligned with everything else). I also received a couple of comments suggesting I modify the new releases list to match the Misc. section, although I think that may not be necessary given the usual size of that weekly post. But let me know how I'm doing here. I aims to please.
| Xbox Sales Surge in UK, Cube Slides, N-Gage Fizzles It looks like Nintendo's sales recovery in the UK was short lived...gamesindustry.biz is reporting that thanks to Microsoft's new £139.99 bundle (which includes Halo, Midtown Madness 3 and two months of Xbox Live service), Xbox sales leapt up by 81%, and overtaking the GameCube in the process. GameCube sales haven't been hit too hard, with sales still at an average of seven times their numbers before the UK price drop. As for Nokia's N-Gage, at the 6,000 retailers covered by ChartTrack, less than 1,000 units have been sold since the phone/system went on sale. |
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| Dragon Quest V on PS2 As noted in this story at 1UP, Square Enix has confirmed that a PS2 remake of Dragon Quest V is in the works. DQ5 was never actually released in this country, and it marked the series' 16-bit debut. The remake is said to have polygonal graphics, although it's unknown if the game will be similar in appearance to Level 5's Dragon Quest VIII. |
| Quake/II Engine Games on GBA? Could Quake and Quake II engine games be ported to the GBA? That's exactly what developer Bobbee Tec is claiming to be able to do with their DRG 3D Engine, which they say runs Quake engine games using the same assets on GBA and select Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson phones (including the N-Gage). I doubt we'll see a handheld port of Half-Life come out of this...but gosh would that be great. Thanks GameSpy Daily for the tip. |
| The Suffering Canned for GameCube IGN is reporting that Midway has canceled the planned GameCube version of The Suffering. I've heard murmurs that this isn't the only GameCube title from Midway, and this joins a string of announcements from other publishers, including Gotham Games, Eidos and Acclaim, all of which have scaled back on their GameCube development. |
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| FFX-2 International Extras Not in US Release? Vincent Grayson posted a comment in last night's LNC in which he said he had read elsewhere online that the extra features from the Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission release will not be included in the upcoming localized version of the game. I haven't seen this story corroborated on either side anywhere online, which generally means the story's not true. |
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| Eidos Excited Over New Media Eidos Interactive, who clearly won't be satisfied until you can play a Tomb Raider game on every bit of electronic equipment you own, announced today that they have formed a new division of the company to produce games for new media platforms. Among these platforms, they include online gaming, as well as PDAs, interactive TVs and probably refrigerators. |
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| Legends of Wrestling: Showdown Announced Acclaim announced Legends of Wrestling: Showdown today, the latest wrestling game from the company. What makes this one different is that it marks the return of the Ultimate Warrior, which I guess is a big deal if you're into wrestling. The game will be released this April for "next generation systems" (by which I assume they mean current generation systems). |
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| Van Helsing, Tokyo Xtreme 3 Announced Elsewhere today, VU Games announced Van Helsing, a third person action game from Saffire Studios that's based on the upcoming movie starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsdale. Also announced today was Tokyo Xtreme Racing 3, a new PS2 racer from Crave that features cars from 15 different manufacturers and some 200 miles of tracks to race on. |
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| No GT4 Prologue Outside of Japan I sort of assumed as much, but nonetheless Computer and Video Games has confirmed it: the Gran Turismo 4 Prologue that was announced recently and will be released in Japan later this year, will not be released outside of that territory. |
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| Xbox Music Mixer to be Given Away with Famitsu Over in Japan, Microsoft announced today their latest bold move to increase the visibility of the Xbox over there...a January issue of the extremely popular magazine Famitsu will include the complete Xbox Music Mixer as a bonus. It's doubtful that the microphone that's needed to enable the karaoke functionality of the software will be included, because it's tough to squeeze that in between pages of a magazine, even one as large as Famitsu. |
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| Ratchet & Clank Q&A HomeLAN has posted a Q&A with several members of the Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando team at Insomniac games. This follow-up to the original Ratchet & Clank will be in stores next month. |
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| New Releases This Week There are some pretty big releases in this week's list (especially for Xbox). For GameCube there's DragonBall Z: Budokai, PS2 there's Monster Rancher 4, NBA Shootout 2004 and RPG Maker 2 and for Xbox there's Amped 2, Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer, SWAT: Global Strike Team, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, Top Spin and the Xbox Music Mixer. On the cross-platform scene this week are Gladius (PS2, Xbox), Harry Potter: Qudditch World Cup (GC, PS2, Xbox), kill.switch (PS2, Xbox), NFL Blitz Pro (PS2, Xbox), Rogue Ops (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Tony Hawk's Underground (GC, PS2, Xbox). And don't forget that this week sees the release of Final Fantasy XI for PC, which if you've already got a machine that can actually run the thing, is a lot cheaper than what you'll need to buy to get it to run on a PS2. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| Ten new shots from Manhunt can be found at GameSpot tonight, along with new shots from Fugitive Hunter: War on Terror, the game that lets you stick it to Osama, deathmatch style! |
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| GameSpot has a hands-on look at Wrath Unleashed, CVG goes hands-on with Sega GT Online and Team Xbox has new shots from Ninja Gaiden, including one featuring the Xbox prototype (?). |
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| IGN has a first look at Quest, a 2D/3D hybrid RPG in search of a publisher, as well as shots from Looney Toons: Back in Action. |
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| GameSpot has a new trailer from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (GC, PS2, Xbox), IGN has a new trailer from Beyond Good & Evil (GC, PS2, Xbox), HomeLAN has Xbox-specific impressions of Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (GC, PS2, Xbox), and GameInformer has new movies from Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
