Late Night Consoling
Along with everyone else I got my first look at Final Fantasy XII this week, as I poured over the screenshots and details that were posted at various places around the web. When it comes to Final Fantasy games, I've pretty much learned not to trust my initial impressions, as for the last few years they've consistently steered me wrong (FFXI being the only exception, of course, but that's due to my dislike of MMORPGs). My initial impression of FFIX was overwhelmingly positive, but the game itself was (IMHO) the weakest of the PSOne games. FFX I didn't really care for when I saw it at E3, and in fact waited a remarkably long period of time before picking it up, but when I finally did bite the bullet and buy the thing I loved it. And FFX-2, well...I'm not even going to touch that one. People say it's good, so I'll take their word for it. Anyway, despite all of that, I keep having...issues with the things that I've read about FFXII. For one thing, I strongly disliked Vagrant Story. Okay, that's not quite right...I hated the game. Loathed, even, and to this day I don't quite see what so many people saw in the game. So the fact that the creator of that is the guy in charge of this one doesn't fill me with confidence. And then there's the fact that Nobuo Uematsu is only barely involved with the soundtrack, which ain't good (although to be honest, I'm much more upset that Mitsuda's not working on Xenosaga Episode II). I've thought about it a bit, and I guess I might just be the kind of person who doesn't think FF needs to change all that radically. When all is said and done, I probably just want to see a new game directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, with a score by Uematsu and characters by Tetsuya Nomura. Is that so much to ask?
| Xbox2 at GDC, PS3 at E3? The rumor du jour of the last 48 hours has been that Microsoft will show their Xbox2 console as early as GDC in March. Also setting the web abuzz is the suggestion that Sony may show their PlayStation 3 at E3 2004, which is just a few months later in May. While I've obviously never gotten any official word, I can say that I've heard both of these from various sources, however (and here's the rub, kids), it is my understanding that if either happens, neither will represent final hardware in any way, shape or form. For the Xbox2 this is a no-brainer, since its GPU is based on ATI technology, so basically they could claim an Xbox2 demonstration by showing a high-end PC with a 9800XT. As for Sony, don't forget their first PS2 "demo" which was all pre-rendered footage. Still, no matter what we may (hopefully) see some prototype hardware designs, and I'd also finally know what to call these things instead of my rough guesses (I'm sorry, but I'm anal about the proper spelling for these things). |
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| More FFXII Yep, there's still more Final Fantasy XII news to be had...PS2.IGN has posted a transcript of a Q&A session with the three Square Enix people who were at the game's official unveiling. It's a great read, because there are some nice, direct questions in here, including one about the somewhat effeminate male lead character. I'm not 100% sure, but I think these video clips at GameInformer were taken from the same session, so they should be worth a look for those too lazy to read the transcript. Also, Gamers.com is reporting that FFXII will be shown for the first time to the Japanese public at Jump Fiesta next month and The Magic Box has some new images that were scanned from an unnamed Japanese magazine. |
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| Microsoft (Finally!) Drops Halo Price It's not quite Platinum Hits-level yet, but it's a start...Microsoft announced yesterday that effective immediately, Halo for Xbox is now selling for a suggested retail price of $29.99. Incredibly, this was not a necessary move on their part, as the game has continued to sell two years later, even at its full price, while every other launch title (from Dead or Alive 3 to Project Gotham Racing) has long dropped down to the Platinum Hits price of $19.99. |
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| New PSX Details Some new details about Sony's PSX ubersystem are up at GameSpot tonight. There's nothing too thrilling here, but their article does confirm that the system uses the Gemstar guide for its TV listings, and that thanks to the use of the PS2 processor, the system can be upgraded via software to add new features in the future. One such feature that is suggested is CDDB support, which would seem to suggest that the system either has an on-board database for CD track names or doesn't auto-name tracks at all, which would be kind of teh suck if true (lord knows it's a pain with the Xbox). |
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| New Xenosaga Trailers Also at GameSpot tonight are two new trailers from Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose. These trailers were pulled from the "Reloaded" re-release of the first Xenosaga that's out in Japan, and you'll need to undergo their free registration process in order to view them. |
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| Vectorman Canned Well thank god for this one...IGN is reporting that Sega has canceled their god-awful Vectorman "remake" for PS2. I don't mean to take pleasure in another company's misfortune (the game was in development externally at Pseudo Interactive), but this game was truly one of the low points of E3 for me, and its grim and gritty atmosphere had absolutely nothing to do with the classic platform game it took its name from (hell Metal Arms looked more like Vectorman than this game did). |
| The Latest Famitsu Scores Games Are Fun has posted the latest review scores from the Japanese magazine Famitsu. Among the titles reviewed this week are Phantasy Star Online Episode III (8,8,8,8), Onimusha Buraiden (8,7,7,7), F-Zero: Legend of Falcon (7,7,7,8), R: Racing Evolution (8,8,8,8), Wild Arms Alter Code: F (8,9,8,8) and Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (8,8,8,9). |
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| MoH: Rising Sun in Japanese Press An interesting news item is up at GameSpot tonight, featuring some quotes from the Japanese gaming press as they cover the Japanese release of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. Any Western-developed FPS is going to get unusual press in Japan, but this is unique, because Rising Sun is the game that covers the Pacific theater of WWII, which of course, had the Allies fighting against a largely Japanese enemy. |
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| New Midtown Madness 3 Content Available |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| New shots from Donkey Konga are up at Cube.IGN, Planet GameCube has new shots from Pac-Man Vs, CVG has a new preview of 1080 Avalanche and new shots from Firefighter FD18, |
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| Games Are Fun has new shots from Wild Arms Alter Code: F, The Magic Box has new shots from Spy Fiction, GameInformer has a new trailer from Nightshade, |
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| GameSpot has posted Xbox-specific images from Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, IGN has new media from Dead or Alive Online (including, "a movie of Kasumi naked!") and Jade Empire, Team Xbox has new shots from Ninja Gaiden, |
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| GameInformer goes hands-on with Sword of Mana and GamerFeed goes hands-on with River City Ransom EX, while IGN has a look at the GBA Movie Adapter. |
| CVG has hands-on impressions and media from the N-Gage versions of FIFA 2004, Splinter Cell, Virtua Tennis and Red Faction. |
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| IGN has new shots from The Sims: Bustin' Out (GC, PS2, Xbox), along with new gameplay footage from R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox) and a new preview of Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2, Xbox), GameSpy has their own preview of Psi-Ops, CVG has new media from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (PS2, Xbox), |
Console Game of the Evening: Thunder Force 4 for the Sega Genesis. "This game was an amazingly fun side scrolling shooter that was overlooked by most. It had some really clever tactical aspects (weapon selections etc.) and wasn't stupidly difficult. (it also had cool music.)" (submitted by thevogts).
