Late Night Consoling
evil-cow sent along this news update at Mogusland that contains images from a mysterious Nintendo patent filing, that seems to hint at some kind of hardware capable of reading from various different media, including CDs, game cartridges, floppy discs and so on. Mogusland believes this to be something related to Nintendo's mystery system that's being unveiled at E3, but I don't buy it. For those curious, here's the actual patent filing (it's patent number 6,452,600 if that link doesn't work for you) which is actually for a graphics system, and was filed back in November of 2000. Considering that it's directly linked to other patents filed during that year and 1999, it seems pretty likely that this is in fact GameCube-related, and not any indication of a future hardware product. It was certainly worth investigating, of course. You may recall that Nintendo's wireless GBA adapter was revealed because of a patent filing, so it's possible that somewhere within the tangled web of patent filings lies some sort of hints about Nintendo's future. But I don't think there's anything here to suggest that we've found it just yet.
| Xbox2 CPU at 65-nm? Team Xbox has posted a report from an anonymous source that says the IBM-developed CPU for Microsoft's second-generation Xbox will be manufactured through a 65-nanometer process. The source says that the 65-nm process this will allow the CPU to "break the 3 Ghz barrier for sure and get closer to the 5 Ghz mark" although there's no way of knowing at this point just what the CPU speed will be. |
| GameCube at #2? It's been a few weeks since the last big of chest thumping from the big console publishers, so it was no surprise that Nintendo started up the trend again yesterday when they defiantly proclaimed themselves to be the #2 system in this country, with system sales surging over 70% worldwide. They also mention a 25% drop in sales for the PS2, and that Xbox sales were flat over the holiday season, although it should be kept in mind that these are Nintendo's figures, and will have to be verified by a third party source before they're considered official. |
| Core Breach Jeremy Heath and Adrian Smith, two of the creators of Tomb Raider announced today that they have formed Circle Studios, which will be manned by some 35 former employees of Core Design, otherwise known as the former house-of-Lara (before it was taken away by Eidos and given to Crystal Dynamics). The company hasn't announced any projects yet, but they are said to be prototyping two titles for PS2 and Xbox, as well as preparing for the next-generation platforms. |
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| Huge Metal Gear Solid: TTS Trailer Konami definitely takes the cake for the most insane gameplay trailer ever released, as yesterday they posted a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on their web site that's a whopping 27 minutes long (a 14 minute version is also available). The version available directly from Konami is in streaming media format only, but we've got the big one available for download over at FileShack. Spoiler Warning: this trailer should not be watched by anyone who hasn't played through the original MGS on either PC or PSOne, as it gives away virtually the entire storyline. Unless of course you don't care and just want to laugh at the ludicrous plot twists, in which case go nuts (it's still less silly than MGS2). |
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| Metal Gear GameCube Announced In other Metal Gear news, Nintendo and Konami have announced a special limited edition GameCube that will be released alongside The Twin Snakes over in Japan. The package includes the game, a special MGS variant of the GameCube, a bonus disc with video footage and the complete original NES Metal Gear and a 40 page art book. For the import-minded, this will set you back around $200. While it's doubtful we'll see the whole package over here, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the bonus disc became a pre-order bonus in this country. |
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| Latest PS2 Rumors After a long hiatus, PS2.IGN has posted a new edition of their Off the Record column, featuring new PS2-related rumors. In this latest installment is a new projected timeframe for Gran Turismo 4, word that the next Grand Theft Auto might use the PS2 HDD for custom soundtracks (like the PC and Xbox versions of the last two games) and a suggestion about future SOCOM II updates for HDD users. |
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| Weekly Halo Updates Return Today saw the posting of the first in what will hopefully be a long-running series of Halo 2 weekly updates from Frankie @ Bungie. This was Frankie's first week at the company, so there's nothing too juicy here about the game just yet, but it is worth reading if you're itching for more Halo 2 news. Thanks Team Xbox for the tip. |
| Shining Force in June Atlus announced today that they have secured the North American publishing rights to Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, the recently-revealed remake of the first Genesis Shining Force. The game will arrive here in June, and along with the announcement, IGN has posted some in-game screenshots. |
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| First Getaway 2 Shots Released Those scruffy brits over at Computer and Video Games have posted the first 13 screenshots to be released from The Getaway 2, the sequel to the much-hyped (but ultimately underwhelming) PS2 title from last year. |
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| "Michigan" Revealed Also at CVG tonight is a preliminary description for the next game from Gouichi Suda, the director of the upcoming Killer 7. Currently known only as "Michigan" (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if the game really does take place in Chicago), the game is an unusual survival horror title, where you play a cameraman who doesn't save anyone's life, he's merely there to capture as much exciting footage as possible. |
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| DRIV3R N3W5 IGN has posted Q&As with Michael Madsen and Michelle Rodriguez, who both provided voices for the upcoming DRIV3R. Also, 1UP has a Q&A online with Martin Edmondson, the game's producer. |
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| Breakdown Q&A HomeLAN has conducted a Q&A with Hirofumi Kami, the producer at Namco on the upcoming Xbox-exclusive FPS Breakdown. Among other things, the Q&A deals with Namco's decision to tackle the FPS genre, which has traditionally been nonexistent in Japan. |
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| Darkwatch Interview IGN's Darkwatch interview talks with a handful of people from the Darkwatch: Curse of the West development team at Sammy Studios. Accompanying the interview are new shots and a trailer. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
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| IGN has posted some wild new shots from Jeff Minter's Unity and a hands-on look at the GameCube version of Worms 3D and GamerFeed goes hands-on with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. |
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| IGN has hands-on looks at Maximo vs. the Army of Zin and Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest and has new media from AirForce Delta Strike and R-Type Final, The Magic Box has new shots from Crimson Sea 2, CVG has new media from Cy Girls, Headhunter: Redemption, Champions of Norrath and R-Type Final, GameInformer has new previews of Seven Samurai 20XX and MLB 2005 as well as new trailers for Final Fantasy XI and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and 1UP has a look at the North American Final Fantasy XI/HDD add-on packaging. |
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| GameSpot has posted updated impressions of Rallisport Challenge 2 and new shots from Tenchu: Return from Darkness, IGN and Team Xbox both have new shots from Ninja Gaiden, |
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| New shots from Static Shock are up at GameSpot and IGN has new shots from Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green. |
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| GameSpot, 1UP and Team Xbox all have new looks at 007: Everything or Nothing (GC, PS2, Xbox) and IGN has new shots from Mafia (PS2, Xbox) and a trailer from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow (GC, PS2, Xbox) that was posted in several parts over the last few days. |
