Late Night Consoling
Tonight's update nearly didn't happen at all, as my Internet connection here at the loonybin has been going insane for the last week, and really started acting up full-force in the last 24 hours. Basically I find myself intermittently being thrown offline for unknown periods of time, which needless to say makes compiling this update quite frustrating. Fortunately Time Warner was able to keep the gerbil occupied on its wheel long enough for me to get everything I need for this update, so here you go. Unfortunately at the moment the connection is offline again, although if you're reading this it means I managed to post this using my cell phone, Bluetooth, two coconuts and a giant bottle of tequila.
| First Glimpse at the PSP At their corporate strategy meeting held today here in NYC, Sony showed off a couple of concept images of a PSP prototype. You can check them out here at GameSpot, and if you're anything like me, you'll be wondering "where the heck is the joystick?" It's entirely possible that the system will utilize a pressure-sensitive gamepad that sits flush with the unit, although that would seem to contradict their claims of an analogue controller. It would also be an ergonomic nightmare, so let's hope that's not the case. |
| Zelda Bonus Disc Announced After weeks of everyone already knowing about its existence, Nintendo of America finally announced today their new Zelda GameCube bundle. As previously reported here, starting November 17th, you'll be able to pick up a GameCube which will come with a special Zelda bonus disc that features four classic games and a playable demo of The Wind Waker. But what is news today is that this won't be the only way to get the disc: you can also get it by registering a GameCube and two of their holiday games, or by subscribing (or even renewing!) to Nintendo Power (details on that here). |
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| GameCube Market Share Doubles Proof that lower prices can actually spur on hardware sales, Nintendo of America today announced that in the 35 days since dropping the price of the GameCube to $99, their sales rate has quadrupled and doubled their market share. That market share isn't too reliable, as that only accounts for sales in October, not the install base or annual sales. Still, it's good news for Nintendo. |
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| Square Brings Back the Love Tired of scrounging through eBay listings to get your hands on some of SquareSoft's best PlayStation titles? Well throw out that sniping software, because they're about to make your day...Square Enix today announced plans to re-release four of their best titles for $20. So what's in the lineup? Final Fantasy Anthology (that's FFV and FFVI), Final Fantasy Chronicles (FFIV and Chrono Trigger), Vagrant Story and Xenogears. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't say this often, but every single console RPG fan should own at least two of these (the whole lot's a better idea), so when they hit the streets in December, snatch 'em up. And that's an order. |
| PStwo Will Materialize...eventually. Following up on a previous story about Sony's registering the trademark PStwo, Computer and Video Games managed to get a statement out of Sony of Europe. The gist is that we will eventually see a compact PS2 like the PSOne, but it won't be for a while. They also have an off-the-record source who claims we'll see something from the PlayStation 3 at next year's E3, but I'll believe that when I see it (and even then, not until I'm sober, which is pretty rare at E3). |
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| PStwo - er, PS2 Price Drop in Japan Over in Japan, Sony today announced a price drop for their PS2 hardware bundles. The standard one drops from 25,000 yen (roughly $227) to 19,800 yen (roughly $180), while the broadband adapter version drops to 29,800 yen (about $271). They also announced a couple of limited edition bundles, including one tied to Mobile Suit Gundam Z: AEUG vs. Titans that's in a particularly ugly shade of gold, and a ceramic white system that comes with Gran Turismo 4: Prologue Edition. |
| SiS in Xbox 2 Here's a story for the hardware geeks who were wondering about some of the other chips in Microsoft's next Xbox console...following yesterday's news that IBM will be providing the CPU, Silicon Integrated Systems announced today that they have landed the contract to provide the I/O chips. In other Xbox 2 news, The New York Times ran a great article on yesterday's announcement today, which points out that while IBM will be providing the technology, it's not clear at this point who's actually going to be doing the manufacturing (which is a big, big job indeed). |
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| Kill Bill Game Canned GameSpot is reporting that VU Games, which picked up the rights to the two-part kung fu epic Kill Bill last year, has canceled the project. Given the fact that we haven't heard a peep out of VU Games on the subject since the announcement, this isn't too surprising, but fans looking forward to playing with Uma Thurman will just have to wait for the Dangerous Liaisons game to be made. |
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| Virtua Fighter Quest Still in Development According to Cube.IGN, Hiroshi Kataoka, the new president of Sega-AM2 has reassured fans that Virtua Fighter Quest is still in development at the studio. VF Quest is the GameCube exclusive RPG that was announced an eternity ago, and he says "we're currently putting all our strength into Quest. Please look forward to it." |
| Classic Prince of Persia in The Sands of Time Hey neato...IGN is reporting that the original Prince of Persia is being included with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It's not clear if this will be available on all versions or just the GameCube one, but the game will be unlockable by finding "a super secret area" on the big version or by finding all the switches on the GBA version and connecting it to your GameCube. Connecting the GBA to the GameCube also enables health regeneration, which will no doubt come in handy. |
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| NFS Underground Interview A new interview with Justin Wiebe, the assistant producer at EA Canada on Need for Speed: Underground is up at GameSpy tonight. The interview deals specifically with the online gameplay that's exclusive the PS2 and PC versions of the game. |
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| New Releases this Week The holiday release deluge continues this week. Here's what's new: for GameCube there's Gladius and Yu-Gi-Oh: Falsebound Kingdom, for PS2 there's Bloody Roar 4, Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends, EyeToy Play, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, for Xbox is Curse: The Eye of Isis, Drake, the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack, Maximum Chase and NFL Blitz pro, and for GBA is Fire Emblem, Spirits & Spells, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards. On the multi-platform front are FIFA Soccer 2004 (PS2, Xbox, GBA, PSX), Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance (PS2, Xbox), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (GC, PS2, Xbox, GBA) and True Crime: Streets of L.A. (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| IGN has posted new media from Wario Ware, while GameInformer has all kinds of stuff from Gotcha Force. |
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| GameSpot has new shots from Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain and 1UP links to a new trailer for Ace Combat 5, which is actually the TGS trailer that shows pretty much nothing from the game. |
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| New shots from Sudeki and Dead Man's Hand are up at GameSpot, |
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| GameSpot has a new preview of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and new shots from Mission: Impossible: Operation Surma (both GC, PS2, Xbox). |
