Late Night Consoling
My review copy of Counter-Strike for Xbox arrived yesterday, literally just 24 hours before my Xbox Live subscription was going to run out. It's been a while since I played CS, and that shiny box was just too much for me to fight, so I decided to renew my subscription after all. So how did the Xbox port turn out? Well, I guess I'm a little disappointed by the total lack of a single player game (it's just the multiplayer with bots -- right down to the death cam after you die) but the multiplayer is so good that it's really not an issue here. Over Xbox Live, Counter-Strike rocks. It's all but identical to the PC version (albeit with slightly better character models, a great console-specific purchase menu and a couple of new maps) but the worst part of CS for me was always finding a decent server, and Xbox Live has made that a non-issue. My wait-time to play on Xbox Live is about 30 seconds, versus as much as five minutes with the PC version (as I usually have to download the full server list). There's even custom-soundtrack support, and some handy menus for adding recent players to your friends list. All of my favorite maps are here (Dust! Aztec! Militia!!) but the promise of downloadable content in the future means we could see some really cool console-specific ones in the future. Even with all of that it's a very bare bones release, and there's no question that you get more for your money with something like Rainbow Six 3, but if you want an awesome multiplayer experience (that isn't overly complex like some games in this genre), CS is perfect. I'll post a full, in-depth review at some point in the near future.
| Paid MechAssault Content Relea$ed Microsoft has posted two new multiplayer game modes and three new maps for MechAssault on Xbox Live, although there's a catch: you'll need to plunk down $4.99 for the privilege of grabbing them. A few people are up in arms about this, but Microsoft's been saying all along that this sort of thing was going to be commonplace (remember that "premium purchases" box in your account preferences?), and it's not the first time this has been done (both DDR Ultramix and the Xbox Music Mixer have for-pay content available). |
| Dynasty Warriors Japan Details The first details from Sengoku Musou -- the offshoot of the Dynasty Warriors franchise that's set in Japan -- were released today. IGN was in attendance, and they've got a report up, complete with some of the impressive sounding improvements on the Dynasty Warriors formula (which include day/night cycles, randomly generated castles and more) along with screenshots and movies. |
| The Mean Ol' Man Returns You can't keep a grumpy man down...GameSpot is reporting that Hiroshi Yamauchi, the stubborn-as-a-donkey former head of Nintendo is set to become the president of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Project foundation. The foundation is producing an anthology of 100 short poems by Japanese poets from the 7th to 13th century, which will be used as the basis for a traditional card game, which is sort of a return to Nintendo's roots, as that's what the company did for the first century of its existence. |
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| New GameCube Bundle for Europe Nintendo of Europe announced today their new GameCube bundle, which just like its North American counterpart contains the swanky new Zelda bonus disc. The set retails for £79, and will go on sale on the 1st of December. |
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| Unreal II Multiplayer Interview Computer and Video Games has conducted an interview with Scott Dalton of Legend Entertainment, talking with him about their upcoming Xbox port of Unreal II. Specifically this interview focuses on the Xbox Live multiplayer, with Scott providing information on its class-based combat. |
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| VF Quest Details Soon? According to CVG, the latest issue of the Japanese magazine Dorimaga says that in their next issue they'll reveal the first details about Virtua Fighter Quest, the RPG spin-off of the Virtua Fighter franchise which was first announced way back in early 2002 and hasn't been heard from since. Before getting too excited, keep in mind how unreliable these Japanese mag teasers have been lately. |
| The Four Swords Japanese Release Info Apparently the latest issue of the Japanese mag Famitsu reports that Nintendo will release The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords for GameCube in February in Japan. The current plan is to release the game as-is, with no bundle of any kind, which is kind of a shame, since the game is very bare-bones. No word on a US release, but I would hope they won't release it for full-price over here, as it's really just the multiplayer side of A Link to the Past ported to GameCube. |
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| Terminator 3: Redemption Announced Yeah, it's playable in the already-available Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines games, but nonetheless Atari today decided to finally announce Terminator 3: Redemption. The third-person action game lets you play as Arnold himself, and will be released next summer for all three platforms. |
| Samurai Shodown Zero for PS2? According to GameSpot, online retailers are taking pre-orders for Samurai Shodown 5 for PS2. The logical guess is that this is a port of Samurai Spirits Zero, although SNK has never announced a port of the game. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| A new trailer from the GameCube port of WarioWare is up at GameSpot. |
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| GameSpot has new movies from AirForce Delta Strike and Resident Evil: Outbreak. |
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| Nobody knows if it's been delayed yet, but regardless GameSpot has a new preview of Ninja Gaiden, along with a trailer from Carve. |
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| New shots from River City Ransom EX and The Sims Bustin' Out are up at GameSpot, while IGN has new shots from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and CVG has shots from Sonic Battle. |
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| GameSpot has a trailer from Powerdrome (PS2, Xbox) and GameInformer has new media from Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2, Xbox). |
