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"Stand Back Jill, He's Insane!"
March 3, 2000
Microsoft has just about come right out and said that they're going to
unveil the X-Box soon. At a recent Microsoft press event, Microsoft's Ed
Fries teased journalists by saying, "If you want to hear about the X-Box
today, raise your hand." Everyone raised their hands, but Fries said that
nothing would be revealed about the X-Box on that day. It is widely
believed that Bill Gates will unveil the X-Box at the Game Developers
Conference next week.
Disney is preparing to release Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2 for the
PC in May. The original Millionaire game quickly became one of the
fastest-selling PC game in history (as opposed to slowly becoming the
fastest-selling PC game in history...). The game will cost $20, and it
will feature over 600 new questions. Disney should call the sequel Who
Still Wants To Be A Millionaire. They could follow the path of the horror
film series I Know What You Did Last Summer, which went something like
this:
-I Know What You Did Last Summer
-I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
-I Sort Of Remember What You Did Two Summers Ago, But To Be Honest It's
Getting A Bit Hazy
-I Couldn't Remember What You Did Three Summers Ago If My Life Depended On
It, But I'm Going To Disembowel You With This Rusty Hook
Terminal Reality's Jeff Smith recently told FGN that the company is
having trouble bringing their PC game Nocturne to the Dreamcast and
PlayStation 2. Smith says that as powerful as these systems are, "The
memory required to deliver certain effects is pushing it." Smith also said
that Terminal Reality's upcoming Blair Witch game will definitely be a PC
exclusive.
Electronic Arts has announced that Ultima Online now has 150,000
subscribers. The game has members in the US, Japan, Korea, Taiwan,
Australia, and throughout Europe. According to EA, the majority of Ultima
Online members play the game every single day, and the average time spent
online per week for each member is over 21 hours. Most of that time is
probably spent slumped over the keyboard unconscious as a result of playing
the game too much...
Koei is working on a version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the
Dreamcast. Based on screen shots, the turn-based strategy game still looks
like an NES or SNES game. However, if previous games in the series are any
indication, it will also be one of the deepest games on the market. In the
meantime, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 6 is scheduled to be released for
the PlayStation on March 31.
Ubi Soft has acquired the rights to make video games based on Pamela
Anderson Lee and her syndicated TV show, VIP. The VIP games are being
labeled as "action/adventure/humor games." They will hit the PC first in
October, followed by the Dreamcast and PlayStation in November. Versions
of the game for almost every other video game system will follow sometime
thereafter. Anderson became famous when she posed for Playboy on numerous
occasions, and she became infamous when she filmed hardcore porn videos
with rockers Tommy Lee and Bret Michaels. The words "Pamela Anderson" and
"porn" go together like "Core Design" and "crappy games." Nice going, Ubi
Soft! Why don't you make a video game about Jenna Jameson while you're at
it?
After Sega realized that its network code wasn't going to be ready in
time for the US release of Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, they decided that
they didn't want to publish the game in the US. They have been shopping
the game around to third-party publishers for months, and one of them has
finally picked up the publishing rights. It's not official yet, but
sources say that Activision is going to publish the game in the US sometime
this spring (without any network capabilities).
One of the companies that is being sued by Hasbro Interactive for
copyright infringement has spoken out. Xtreme Games' Andre LaMothe says
that Hasbro's lawsuit "attacks the very heart of the gaming industry- that
is, to improve upon ideas, to make games better, and to be creative."
Because we all know that (allegedly...) ripping off ancient games like
Pac-Man and Space Invaders is at the forefront of creativity...
As if it wasn't enough to re-hash Tomb Raider three times, Eidos
Interactive is going to releasing yet another Tomb Raider game for the
PlayStation and PC this fall. This news comes after Eidos reported a net
loss of $21 million in its latest financial quarter. Somebody's brain at
Eidos is working like this: "Hmm... re-hash Tomb Raider = losses. I know
what we should do to turn the company around! Re-hash Tomb Raider again!"
A group of former Bullfrog employees have formed a new company called
Lost Toys and have signed a publishing deal with Take-Two Interactive. The
founders of Lost Toys have worked on such classic games as Theme Hospital,
Populous, and Dungeon Keeper. Lost Toys' Glenn Corpes said, "Take-Two's
global approach to publishing and creative marketing ideas gel with our own
commitment to innovation and originality." Surprisingly, he did not say,
"This deal is a natural for both sides," as people almost always do when
they announce any kind of deal.
Sony has announced that the PlayStation 2 supports double-sided and
double-layered DVDs. This brings the system's maximum storage capacity up
from 4GB to 17GB. The catch is that users will have to manually flip
double-sided DVDs, but this won't be any more of a problem than switching
discs in Final Fantasy 7 and 8.
Firaxis Games co-founder Brian Reynolds recently left the company, and
he has already announced his new plans. He is starting a company based in
Hunt Valley, Maryland along with three other ex-Firaxis employees. The
name of the company is Big Huge Games, and it will focus exclusively on
real-time strategy games. Reynolds has co-designed many games with Sid
Meier, including Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. Reynolds hasn't said
why he left Firaxis, but I know I would be jealous if I co-designed a game
with someone and his name was plastered all over the box, but my name was
nowhere to be found.
Electronic Arts is actually releasing two different James Bond games
this fall based on The World Is Not Enough license. Both of the games are
first-person shooters, but they have different developers and they're for
different systems. The first game is for the PlayStation 1 and is being
developed by Black Ops, makers of Tomorrow Never Dies. The second game is
for the PlayStation 2 and PC. It's being developed internally by EA, and
it's based on the Quake 3 engine.
Hackers recently attempted to hack into Sony's Japanese PlayStation 2
web site. The hackers were apparently trying to access the personal
information of the site's members (possibly including their credit card
numbers). Sony claims that the hackers were only able to see people's
names and addresses, not their credit card numbers or phone numbers. Sony
also says that the hackers were only successful in accessing the names and
and addresses of 266 of the site's registered users. Those 266 people have
been contacted by Sony and made aware of this incident.
Namco is starting a training class in Japan that will give aspiring game
designers hands-on experience with PlayStation 2 development kits. Fifteen
students will be hand-picked by Namco and shown the ropes of game
development by some of Namco's own designers over a period of six months.
If Namco has its way, there could be a huge army of game designers out
there re-hashing fighting games with the only big improvements being in the
graphics...
Microsoft has formed the Virtual Golf Association (VGA), in which
thousands of gamers from across the world will compete in Links 2000. The
tournament will run from March 10 to November, with the top four players
meeting in Hawaii to determine the grand prize winner. The grand prize
winner will get $100,000, the biggest prize ever awarded for an online
sporting event. Players finishing between second place and 32nd place will
win between $500 and $20. If you're interested in competing in the VGA,
you can sign up at http://www.zone.com/vga. Microsoft is planning on
holding similar tournaments (with similarly big prizes) in the future with
other popular multi-player games.
When asked to compare Lara Croft to Mario, Eidos Interactive executive
Mike McGarvey actually said, "Nintendo's had this little fat puppet boy
called Mario who's lasted 10 years. I think our character's a little more
applicable to today's consumers." Translation: "Our character has breasts.
So please buy our games! Our profits are down!"
Asheron's Call is lagging behind it's online RPG competition in the area
of total subscribers. Asheron's Call has about 60,000 subscribers, while
EverQuest has 194,000 and Ultima Online has 150,000. All three games cost
$10 per month to play, but their suggested retail prices vary. EverQuest
costs $30, Ultima Online costs $20, and Asheron's Call costs $55. Also,
Asheron's Call has had a lot less time to build up a subscriber base.
Ultima Online has been on the market for about two and a half years, and
EverQuest has been on the market for about one year. Asheron's Call was
released in November of 1999.
The PlayStation 2 version of Tekken Tag Tournament will have a four-
player mode, but all four players won't be able to play at once. Only two
characters are able to be controlled at a time in this mode. The other two
characters stand in the background, and you can't control them while
they're in the background.
Lionhead is not going to rush Black & White out the door, so don't
expect it to be released for either the Dreamcast or PC until this fall at
the earliest. Some people are still hoping for a summer release of the
game, but a source within Lionhead told FGN that September is much more
likely.
Capcom has announced that they're bringing Dino Crisis to the PC, at
least in Japan. No US plans have been announced, but Capcom is definitely
releasing Dino Crisis for the PC in Japan on May 1. There will be an
"Operation Wipeout Internet Mode" in the game that lets you post your high
scores on the Internet, as well as an Arrange Mode (kind of like a
Director's Cut). Hey Capcom, since you're already adding new features to
Dino Crisis, do you think you could add one that makes the game scary?
You must have forgotten to include that in the original game...
ECW wrestler Tommy Dreamer (along with his manager, Francine) made
another appearance at a video game retailer on February 26 in order to
promote ECW Hardcore Revolution. For two hours at an Electronics Boutique
store in Cincinnati, Ohio, hundreds of fans got to meet the duo, get
autographs, and probably sneak glances at Francine's cleavage...
Microsoft has acquired the publishing rights to an upcoming game from
Relic Entertainment, the developers of Homeworld. Led by 24-year-old Alex
Garden, Relic has grown from 23 employees to 43 employees since the
completion of Homeworld last fall. The game being developed for Microsoft
is not Homeworld 2, which will be published by Sierra. The game being
developed for Microsoft will incorporate elements of many game genres,
including real-time strategy games. It will be released in 2001, and it
will probably (but not officially) be for the X-Box and PC.
3dfx posted company-record revenues of $361 million in 1999, but they
still posted a record $63 million net loss due to insanely high operating
expenses. 3dfx has laid off 20% of its employees and drastically cut down
on its advertising campaign in order to cut expesnes. 3dfx hopes that
things will finally turn around for the company when Voodoo 4 and 5 are
released in April. 3dfx's newly-appointed CEO Alex Leupp took the
opportunity to blame the company's previous management for the losses.
Leupp said that previous management had a "lack of accountability" as well
as "unclear roles and responsibilities."
Crave Entertainment is working on a unique action/platform game for the
PlayStation called Mort the Chicken. As you might have guessed from the
title, you play as a chicken named Mort. You have to try to save as many
chicks as possible while also pecking your enemies to death. You can tell
when you're getting close to an enemy or a chick because Mort starts
clucking much louder. Mort the Chicken might end up being nothing more
than a standard platform game, but at least it has a unique concept, which
is more than most games can say these days. Still, I wouldn't be surprised
if mass suicides take place at Crave when they realize that they've spent
over a year of their lives working on a game called Mort the Chicken...
NEWS BRIEFS
Sony is making the PlayStation 2 technology available to arcade game
developers, much in the same way that the PlayStation 1's technology was
used by Namco to make arcade games.
Crystal Dynamics is currently developing Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
for the Dreamcast. How about a real ending this time, guys?
Chris Roberts' graphically amazing PC game Freelancer has been delayed
until early 2001. Freelancer was widely regarded as one of the best games
of the 1999 E3 show, if for no other reason because of its amazing
graphics.
Sony has announced that PlayStation memory cards will not work on the
PlayStation 2, and vice-versa. D'oh!
The next games in the MechWarrior series have been announced.
MechWarrior 4 will be released this fall, and MechCommander 2 will be
released in early 2001.
Taito is working on a soccer game for the PlayStation 2 that uses voice
recognition technology. They should think about applying the same kind of
technology to a NASCAR game. All you would ever have to say is, "Turn
left... turn left... turn left..."
Atlus' strategy/RPG Ogre Battle 64 has been delayed yet again. It's now
scheduled to be released in August.
Tecmo has sold the US publishing rights to Dead or Alive 2. Acclaim is
now scheduled to release the game for the Dreamcast on May 26.
In addition to their online Star Trek game that's scheduled to be
released in 2002, the makers of EverQuest at Verant Interactive are also
believed to be working on an online Star Wars game.
The PlayStation 2 recently appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine.
The article in the magazine predicted that 100 million copies of the system
would be sold in its life cycle. Sony expects to sell 12 million copies of
the system worldwide this year.
The second Pokemon movie will debut in American theaters on July 21.
Japanese PlayStation 2s are already being sold on the online auction
site eBay. The minimum bid for all of them is over $600.
Naughty Dog's first PlayStation 2 game won't be released until late 2001.
Naughty Dog developed Crash Bandicoot 1-3 and Crash Team Racing, but they
won't be developing any more Crash games in the future. The next Crash
game is being developed by Eurocom.
SALES CHARTS
The following sales charts are based on unit sales at all retailers in
the week of February 13 to 19.
Dreamcast
1. Crazy Taxi (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the game)
2. NHL 2K
3. NBA 2K
4. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
5. NFL 2K
PlayStation
1. Gran Turismo 2
2. ECW Hardcore Revolution
3. The Dukes of Hazzard
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
5. NBA Live 2000
old games still in the top ten: Spyro the Dragon and Gran Turismo
Nintendo 64
1. Mario Party 2
2. A Bug's Life (selling at an average price of $12)
3. Donkey Kong 64
4. WWF Wrestlemania 2000
5. Super Smash Bros.
old games still in the top ten: Super Mario 64 and Zelda 64
PC
1. The Sims
2. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
3. RollerCoaster Tycoon
4. Nox
5. RollerCoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies
old game still in the top ten: Baldur's Gate
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Daily Radar,
Sega X, PSX 2 Online, Nintendorks, IGN, MCV, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku,
Gaming Age, The NPD Group, www.hamsterdance.com
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