Late Night Consoling
As I mentioned yesterday, I finished up Legacy of Kain: Defiance the other day (review here), so last night I went back to Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. I tried it once before and opted to go with XIII after getting quickly frustrated by its difficulty, but playing it last night I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me that first time around, as this time I took to it immediately and haven't had any problems yet. I guess I just wasn't in the right mood or something, as this time I hit the ground running and never looked back. I do hear that it's going to get freaky-hard later on, but so far anyway I'm enjoying it quite a bit with no problems of any kind. Wacky how that kind of thing happens.
| VIA's New Console Our friends over at [H]ard|OCP have posted a definite scoop: the first look at VIA's new ApeXtreme Personal Gaming Console and DVD Player (that's quite a mouthful...it's PGC for short). It's quite impressive, boasting six USB2 ports, DVI/RCA/component video/S-Video out ports, a 10/100 ethernet jack and modem and a 40 gig HD. But until someone from VIA calls me and explains why I should think otherwise, I'm considering this to be a nice home theater PC (like Shuttle's 'cubes, but cooler) and not an actual game console that requires coverage here. |
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| Rainbow SiXXX The latest Game Over column over at CNN/Money reveals an entertaining goof in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3...apparently at one point there's a URL on a wall in the background, and typing it into your web browser takes you to a page with links to porn sites. That's no coincidence: apparently the URL was unregistered when it was put in the game, and an enterprising person decided to buy it and throw some porn ads up there. |
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| Rainbow Six 3 for PS2 With the Xbox Live exclusivity of 2003 behind them, Ubisoft announced today that they will be releasing Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 for PS2 in March. The PS2 port will feature online play, including support for USB headsets, and it also has a new split-screen co-op mode, extra multiplayer maps and more. |
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| Zelda for All (In the UK) Nintendo of Europe announced today plans to massively upgrade their Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition promotion in the UK. Although it was previously only available via an extremely harsh points system (which required you to buy a system and a slew of games), gamers in the UK will now get the disc free when they purchase one of Nintendo's recently released titles or two of the games in the Player's Choice lineup. That's a great deal, by the way, so if you live in the UK this is certainly worth considering. |
| Nintendo Rumors The Magic Box relays some rumors from the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, in which they speculate that we'll see a new Legend of Zelda for both GameCube and GBA this year (one of which we already knew about) as well as a new Mario title for GameCube. Between those and their new mystery system, this could be an interesting E3 in May for Nintendo (assuming they're not buried under early hype for the PSP/PS3/Xbox2). |
| History of Final Fantasy Teaser IGN has posted a teaser for a new 30 minute documentary on the history of Square's Final Fantasy series that will run on the cable network G4 on January 15th. I've never watched G4 (and don't think I get it for that matter) so I can't say if it's worth your time to tune in (anyone care to comment?). |
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| EA CEO on Xbox Live Games Are Fun has posted some quotes from Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst in which he addresses Xbox Live, and more specifically why you won't see them supporting it any time soon. There's nothing here we haven't heard a million times, but he does lay it all out pretty plainly for those who aren't clear on things. |
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| Getaway 2 Details Some early details from The Getaway 2 can be found at Computer and Video Games tonight. As this game hasn't even been formally announced yet (as far as I know), there's nothing official here, but according to CVG, the "visuals have been greatly enhanced" with " a greater sense of scale in the locations" among other things. |
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| RE4, SH4 Rumors Also at CVG tonight are a pair of survival horror rumors. The first retreads the rumor we've heard more than a few times already, which is that Resident Evil 4 will break Capcom's exclusivity with the GameCube for the core series (Outbreak apparently doesn't count), and their second rumor is that Silent Hill 4 will be announced this week. |
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| Xbox 2 Article IGN has posted an article featuring a rundown of features they'd like to see in the Xbox 2 as well as what they know will actually be in the thing. All of it is pure speculation, but it's worth a read nonetheless. Rumbles are still strongly suggesting that we'll see this formally announced in March, so keep your fingers crossed for that. |
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| Good, Evil & Cheap If you've been holding out for Beyond Good & Evil, you might be surprised to learn that it's already discounted for $20 or less at some places. The PS2 version goes for a jaw-droppingly low $10 at Circuit City stores (it's long sold out online), and the other versions are around $20 at various online retailers. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| Capcom of Japan has opened up their official Killer 7 site, offering an interactive game in Flash among other things. |
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| GameSpot has posted their impressions of Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition, GameInformer has a hands-on look at Naval Ops: Commander and IGN has new shots from Front Mission 4. Also, new previews of the just-announced Rainbow Six 3 are up at GameSpot, IGN and 1UP. |
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| Team Xbox has a new preview of Conan and the first image released of the new official Xbox 5.1 speakers, while their sister site Xbox.IGN has new shots from Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. |
| A new preview of Sega's Astro Boy game can be found at GameSpot tonight and The Magic Box has new shots from Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green. |
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| IGN has posted new shots from DRIV3R (PS2, Xbox) and Surreal Software has updated their official site with a new trailer from The Suffering (PS2, Xbox) |
