Late Night Consoling
This evening I decided it was about time I try exploiting the custom-soundtrack feature of my shiny new Xbox. Of course, that's easier said than done, as I quickly discovered that getting my music from my desktop PC to my Xbox wasn't going to be a simple process by any means. I briefly considered picking up Microsoft's Xbox Music Mixer which does let you transfer MP3s directly to the Xbox, but I decided against it since it has that whole karaoke thing that I'm not into and also that transferring files requires using a separate program for Windows XP, which you know, kinda sucks for us Mac users (not that I don't have an XP machine mind you, but I'd rather not transfer my music to that just to transfer it to my Xbox). So instead I've been forced to do things the really hard way: CD-RWs. Fortunately I worked out a nice system: my desktop machine has two optical drives, so I've got one burning songs to a CD (via iTunes for super-easy use) while the other erases another disc for recycling and I've got the Xbox ripping songs off a third disc. Sadly, even with this assembly-line system it's taking a lifetime to get the music over there, and that's before I attempt to put track tags on all of these. If anyone's figured out an easier way, I'd love to hear it.
| Sega 3D Ages Coming to America Well gosh, here's a pleasantly surprising bit of news...according to 1UP, Conspiracy Games has announced plans to release the first five games in the Sega 3D Ages line here in America. The games are: Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, Monaco GP, Space Harrier and Phantasy Star. 1UP had mixed reactions to the Japanese versions of these games, but I for one can't wait to see Opa Opa on my PS2. |
| New Lion & Lamb Report Out Consumer watchdog group The Lion & Lamb Project has released their "dirty dozen" list for 2003 - 2004, and as you would guess, a few video games are on the list. Notable games on this list include Jak II, as it's a T-rated sequel to an E-rated game, and Manhunt, for being...well Manhunt. Although I hate most anti-gaming groups, I have no problem with L&L, as they're simply alerting parents, rather than lambasting the industry. Still, I'm not too comfortable being referenced in their Manhunt criticism. That gives me the willies. Thanks Slashdot Games for the tip. |
| iQue Hands-on Nintendo has launched their new iQue system in China, and as you would expect, it didn't take very long for Lik-Sang to get their hands-on one. The e-tailer has posted an in-depth look at the system, including a fairly detailed look at the insides of the thing. If you're at all interested in this uniquely-Chinese system, it's definitely worth a read. |
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| New Xbox Exhibition Disc Shipping As noted in this story at GameSpy Daily, Microsoft has begun shipping Xbox Exhibition Vol. 4 to retailers. Like the previous Exhibition discs, this has a crapload of demos, and among the notable ones this time around are Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Like the others, this will retail for about $8, although it should be slightly cheaper than that in most places. |
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| Warp Pipe Update The Warp Pipe Project has updated their site with a new status report, on this tunneling software for GameCube (thanks Planet GameCube). The good news is that they've gotten Mario Kart: Double Dash to work, and they've posted a movie of it in action. Optimizations are still ongoing of course, but it's great to hear they've got it working already (albeit only over a small distance at the moment). |
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| Atari Yoinks Ad in UK gamesindustry.biz is reporting that after coming under fire from the UK Advertising Standards Authority, Atari has pulled an ad for House of the Dead 3 (which apparently they published over there). The ad featured a tied-up corpse with two bullet holes in its head and the words "the only good zombie is a dead zombie" scrawled in "childish writing." Sounds like family fare to me. I wonder what they found so offensive? |
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| New Secret Weapons Over Normandy Content Available LucasArts, who apparently must have forgotten that you can actually wait a month or two after a game's release to start with the extra downloadable content, has put up some new Secret Weapons Over Normandy stuff for Xbox Live subscribers. Log-on now and grab two new planes you can use in all three gameplay modes. |
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| Final Fantasy X-2 Interview To celebrate the North American release of Final Fantasy X-2, IGN has posted a new interview with several members of the FFX-2 team at Square Enix. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| New media from Pokemon Colosseum is up at GameSpot tonight, while IGN goes hands-on with Gotcha Force and has a new ad for Baten Kaitos. |
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| GameSpot has posted a new preview of Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest and new movies from Mojib-Ribbon, CVG has new media from Resident Evil: Outbreak and GameInformer goes hands-on with Maximo vs. The Army of Zin. |
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| New shots from The Sims Bustin' Out are up at GameSpot. |
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| GameSpot has new shots from the PS2 and Xbox versions of Legends of Wrestling, the PS2 and Xbox versions of Alias and the PS2 and Xbox versions of All-Star Baseball 2005 and GameSpy has a new preview of R: Racing Evolution (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
