Late Night Consoling
This past Saturday we entertained some guests here at the loonyBin, and inevitably at a few times during the evening I was asked about my prodigious console collection (it's sort of difficult to miss). After my wife received the expected handful of comments about how good she is to put up with all of that (hey, it's true) I was asked, as I usually am, which of the entire lot is my favorite. My answer was the same it's been every time I'm asked this question: my Sega Saturn. Usually this gets a confused look, as even more-than-casual console gamers these days have never heard of the thing, so I explain that it's essentially a numbers game: there are more of my favorite games of all time available for the Saturn than any other system. And of course, it's home to what is my favorite console RPG ever made (that'd be Panzer Dragoon Saga in case you can't guess). Now admittedly I am a shameless Sega fanboi, but the Saturn library never gets the credit it deserves. Part of this is due to the relative obscurity of so many of these games. Panzer Dragoon Saga may be one of the best games ever made, but so few people have seen it, that it's hard to find other people (aside from fanatical Saturn fans) who can recognize that. I'd like to say that I expect Sega to re-release classics like the Saturn Panzer Dragoon games, NiGHTS Into Dreams and Burning Rangers, but I just don't see it happening. Because as good as they are, they're also totally not mainstream-ready games. So for the foreseeable future anyway, I guess I'm doomed to keep explaining why I love this failed system from a company that no longer makes hardware at every dinner party we host. But for the record, it's totally worth it.
| Nintendo Delaying N5? The whole Internet was abuzz today with rumors that Nintendo had decided to delay their planned GameCube successor until 2007 and instead focus on the current system, by releasing new hardware accessories. The source for all of this is the Japanese outlet Nihon Keizai Shimbun (summarized by GameSpot here), that quotes Nintendo's Satoru Iwata as saying, "Customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current model." As you would expect, Nintendo of America quickly rushed to correct these rumors, and you can find quotes from NOA at GameSpot and IGN and in them an attempt is made to point out that these quotes are taken out of context, and that any guesses at the N5 are "a lot of speculation." |
| Burnout 3 Announced It was rumored, but now it's official: Electronic Arts is going to be publishing Burnout 3, which is scheduled for release in September of this year for PS2 and Xbox. Sadly, that EA partnership puts the kibosh on any planned Xbox Live support, but hey, the PS2 one will at least be online-enabled. For more on the game, consult this Q&A at GameSpot with Alex Ward of developer Criterion Games. |
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| Miyamoto Interview Computer and Video Games has posted an interview with legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who talks about the past, present and (somewhat vaguely) future of gaming. The interview originally ran in the Official Nintendo Magazine of Europe. |
| More Sega on N-Gage Sega has announced two more N-Gage titles: Virtua Cop and Alien Front. Both games will support short-range multiplayer over Bluetooth, and the ability to share stats online with N-Gage Arena. |
| Fan-Created Phantasy Star Online Server Up This story at Slashdot Games has the very cool news that a fan-created and developed server for Phantasy Star Online Episode II has gone live. Considering that Sega has shut down their Dreamcast PSO servers, this is quite cool, although it is entirely possible that Sega will swoop in and shut down the project. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
| Both GameSpot and GameSpy have new previews and media from Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and GameInformer goes hands-on with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. |
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| GameSpot has a new preview of the very odd "voice action adventure" title LifeLine and new media from Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm and The Magic Box has new shots from Final Fantasy XII. |
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| New shots from Shadow Ops: Red Mercury are up at GameSpot and GameInformer has new media from Ninja Gaiden and Unreal II: The Awakening. |
| IGN has posted some new media from Sabre Wulf. |
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| GameSpot has a new preview of X-Men Legends (GC, PS2, Xbox), which offers some background information on the characters and locations in the game and has new media from NBA Ballers (GC, PS2, Xbox). |
