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"Alienating Potential PR Contacts Since 1994" March 17, 2000 X-BOX NEWS Microsoft's decision to dump AMD in favor of Intel was made at the last minute. For months, the plan had been for AMD to supply the X-Box's CPU, but Microsoft changed their minds at the last minute and went with Intel. Intel is a huge company that has deeper pockets than AMD, so they were able to reach a more financially pleasing agreement with Microsoft than AMD possibly could. Many AMD employees were just as surprised as everyone else when Bill Gates announced that Intel would be supplying the X-Box's CPU. AMD employees have since told the LA Times, "We were never prepared to get into a scorched-earth war with Intel" and "We're not going to get into a price war to try and get into the video game business." The decision to go with Intel was so last-minute that the demo units of the X-Box that ran during the presentation had AMD-created chips in them. Not only that, but Microsoft of Australia's marketing director told Australian press on the day of the announcement that Microsoft was going with AMD (before anyone from the US told him that they had switched to Intel). Microsoft chose Intel over AMD despite the fact that AMD's Athlon processor has been widely proven to be more powerful than Intel's Pentium 3 chip. The CPU that Intel creates for the X-Box will be a souped-up version of the Pentium 3 processor. It will run at 600MHz, which is twice of the speed of the 300MHz CPU in the PlayStation 2. However, the PlayStation 2's Emotion Engine is still much more powerful than the Pentium 3 processor, even at half the speed. Microsoft has revealed that you will be able to rent X-Box games without ever having to leave your house. Rather than going to a store and renting a game, you will be able to use the X-Box's fast Ethernet connection to download games onto the system's built-in 8GB hard drive. The downloaded software will disable itself after a certain period of time (otherwise lots of people would just "rent" games and never pay for them). Microsoft says that the X-Box will be much easier to make games for than the PlayStation 2. As a result, Microsoft says that developers will be able to spend more time concentrating on design and art instead of programming. Developing games for the X-Box will be particularly painless for people who have experience developing PC games. Many third-party developers were initially concerned that the X-Box would be an unstable platform like the PC, but Microsoft is assuring everyone that this is not the case. Unlike the PC, the X-Box hardware will remain stable and unchanged (with no expensive upgrades) for a solid four years. The X-Box will also support the higher screen resolutions offered by HDTV. Actually, the X-Box is capable of displaying graphics at resolutions higher than HDTV is capable of. Microsoft says that it's "likely," but not certain that the X-Box will remain the final name of the system. So, is the X-Box more powerful than the PlayStation 2? In most areas, yes. But considering the fact that it's coming out over a full year after the PlayStation 2, it damn well better be. Also, just because one system is more powerful than another doesn't necessarily mean that the more powerful system will have better games. A Sega spokesperson recently said that Microsoft and Sega are "still in discussions." Microsoft has been negotiating in recent weeks to buy Sega (or parts of Sega), or at least enter into some sort of major partnership with Sega. Such a deal would be to Microsoft's advantage because they are without an exclusive game developer for the X-Box. Sony has Square, Nintendo has Rare, and Sega has its own arcade divisions. Sega's vice president of marketing Peter Moore recently acknowledged Microsoft's weakness in this area, saying that "The one key ingredient that Microsoft is missing is the magic dust of a Suzuki or a Miyamoto." Considering the negotiations going on between Microsoft and Sega, some recent comments made by Sega executives are surprising. Peter Moore recently said, "The challenge that Microsoft will soon realize is that you can throw a lot of money at something, but if you don't have a compelling story, there'll be no reason for them to buy it... the difference of what talent and creativity brings is vastly different to what money brings." Moore also said, "If they truly intend to launch the system in the fall of 2001, they cannot expect their developers to start a game today and have great games ready when the system launches." Sega's Charles Bellfield referred to the unveiling of the X-Box as "another great marketing presentation for a product that's a good two years out." Bellfield also said, "Microsoft has a graveyard of failed products." In the meantime, Sony is showing no fear in the face of its big new competitor. A Sony spokesperson recently said that Sony is "embracing the competition from Microsoft." THQ's president and CEO Brian Farrell recently said, "Microsoft knows that wrestling sells hardware. It's one of the biggest categories on the planet, and while we haven't announced anything formally, we're certainly looking a lot more aggressively as to the viability of having a title at or near launch based on that franchise." Translation: THQ is working on a WWF game for the X-Box. THQ also plans to release another WWF game for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 before the end of this year. Microsoft recently sent a video tape to members of the mainstream press in which two Microsoft employees were supposedly playing an X-Box game. The so-called game was actually a non-interactive cut scene, and the two "gamers" looked ridiculous as they pretended that they were controlling a cut scene. Infogrames has pledged its support of the X-Box. Infogrames' CEO Bruno Bonnell recently said, "The X-Box will allow us to continue creating the imaginative worlds for which we are known." Bonnell failed to mention whether he was referring to the company's Looney Tunes, Test Drive, or V-Rally games... OTHER NEWS Sega won't be releasing an actual cable modem for the Dreamcast; they will be releasing an Ethernet adapter that allows the Dreamcast to work with any cable modem, DSL, or LAN-based Internet connection. So those of you out there that already have broadband Internet access on your PC will be able to use your connection on the Dreamcast as well, presumably with no additional costs (other than the one-time fee of buying the adapter). The Dreamcast's Ethernet adapter will be shown at the E3 show in May and released in the US this fall. Sega will reveal the price of the adapter in May, possibly at E3. Sega now has one big advantage over Sony in that the Dreamcast will have broadband Internet access this year, and the PlayStation 2 won't have any Internet access at all this year. To drive home this point and rub it in Sony's face a little bit, Sega recently sent out a promotional post-card to members of the press. On the front of the post-card, there are a bunch of pictures and it says "Find The Modem," but there is no modem to be found. On the back of the post-card, it says, "You'll find a lot of things in this picture, but a modem isn't one of them. It's just like a certain big new game system that's about to come out- no modem. With online gaming about to explode, it's hard to believe that a game console could be launched without a modem these days- how very last millennium of them." Computer game developer Blizzard Entertainment is thinking about expanding into the console market. Blizzard's president Mike Morhaime recently said, "I am really excited about the X-Box, and we are looking at all of the new console platforms. We are seriously looking at developing console titles." However, right now Blizzard isn't concentrating on console games, they're concentrating on Diablo 2 and WarCraft 3 for the PC. Morhaime says that Blizzard is taking a wait-and-see approach with the X-Box. He said, "Microsoft is making some big promises, and we are standing back and watching and hoping that they will be able to pull it off." As previously reported in Master Gamer News, the makers of EverQuest at Verant Interactive are working on an online RPG set in the Star Wars universe (in addition to the Star Trek online RPG they're developing for Activision). Verant's Star Wars game will be for the PC, it will published by LucasArts, and it will be playable exclusively on Sony's free online gaming service (station.sony.com). It's scheduled to be released sometime in 2001. Verant's CEO John Smedly said, "We couldn't possibly ask for a better universe in which to create a massively multi-player game." He might have added, "Plus, it increases our chances of getting info about Star Wars Episode II before everyone else!" Sega executive Peter Moore recently said that Nintendo's Dolphin "isn't being talked about" because Nintendo is "probably too busy driving to the bank." Moore continued, "Nintendo owns portable gaming, and they might want to explore that further." This could be perceived as Moore taking a shot at Nintendo, but he also said, "Whatever Nintendo intends to do, no one should count them out." Epic Games has joined the PlayStation 2's middleware program by allowing other developers to use their Unreal Tournament engine when creating PlayStation 2 games. However, Epic says that while Unreal Tournament's engine is coming to the PlayStation 2, the game itself isn't. Epic executive Mark Rein recently said, "Everyone is reporting that we are making Unreal Tournament for the PlayStation 2, and that isn't the case. We have this up as a demo." If the game is brought to the PlayStation 2 despite Rein's claims, it might be single-player-only since there won't be any online gaming on the PlayStation 2 until sometime in 2001. A level designer at Ion Storm recently said, "We have plane tickets to go to Hawaii on this coming Sunday, and we are not looking to reschedule." This statement has led many people to believe that Ion Storm is finally done with the eternally delayed first-person shooter Daikatana. The more likely scenario is that as usual, Ion Storm employees are doing something other than working on Daikatana... A mistake in the Japanese PlayStation 2's Utilities Disc allows American DVD movies to be viewed on the system. All future production runs of the PS2 will fix this error, but there are already over a million Utility Discs out there that let you watch American DVD movies on Japanese systems. A Sony spokesperson says that Sony is so concerned about this that they might recall the faulty Utility Discs. Why? Because if they don't, Sony could be sued for copyright infringement by American film producers, who usually release their movies in the US first and other countries later. The Sony spokesperson continued, "D'oh!" Bungie Software's action/adventure game Oni is headed to the PS2. The game was previously scheduled to be exclusive to the PC and Macintosh, but it will now be brought to the PS2 by Bungie and Rockstar Games. Oni will be released for all three platforms this fall. Blockbuster Video is planning to eventually offer delivery of movies and video games right to your door. Blockbuster will be partnering with food.com and using their delivery resources to test a delivery program for movies and video games in some parts of the country this summer. If the testing phase proves to be successful, the service could be offered nationwide. Sony Pictures, a division of Sony completely separate from Sony Computer Entertainment, is setting up a new division called Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment. The new division will produce PlayStation 2 games, among other things. Previously, Sony Music Entertainment developed Tenchu for the PlayStation. The recently-released Syphon Filter 2 will be the last game released under the 989 Studios brand. All future 989-owned franchises will be released under the Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) brand. Syphon Filter 3 is currently in development for the PlayStation 2, and it could be released as soon as this fall. There is no word yet as to whether 989 president Kelly Flock has said, "Liquid Snake is the crap that ran down Konami's leg when they saw Syphon Filter..." Astronaut Daniel Barry recently orbited the Earth 153 times in the US space shuttle Discovery, and for some reason he took a copy of StarCraft with him and then gave it to Blizzard after he landed. Blizzard is now touting on their web site that they are in possession of the only video game that has ever traveled 3.5 million miles. Blizzard's beta test of Diablo 2 is set to begin soon. Starting on Monday, March 30 at 12:01 AM, gamers in the US and Canada will be able to apply to be a beta tester for the highly-anticipated game on blizzard.com. Only 1,000 people will be accepted, though, and they won't necessarily be the first 1,000 people to register. If Blizzard had business tactics similar to Origin's, they would release Diablo 2 in a virtually unplayable state and let paying customers be glorified beta testers... NEWS BRIEFS The US version of Resident Evil: Code Veronica is done; now it just has to be manufactured and shipped to retailers. Capcom previously delayed the game until April 15 due to problems in translating the game's script, but they have now moved the game up to a March 29 release date. Medal of Honor's soundtrack is now available for purchase at amazon.com Pumpkin Studios, the company that created Warzone 2100, has been shut down. Pumpkin had been working on a PlayStation game for Eidos called Saboteur, but Eidos cancelled it because of "its projected release date and the dwindling PlayStation 1 market." Mattel Interactive, now led by former Sony and Sega executive Bernie Stolar, has begun its massive lay-offs in an attempt to cut costs. As many as 500 employees could be laid off, most of them based in the company's Learning Company division. For what it's worth, Resident Evil producer Shinji Mikami recently told a Japanese magazine, "I think it would be interesting for the next Resident Evil game to develop the Umbrella side." Fox Interactive's Buffy the Vampire Slayer game finally has a release date, or at least a release season. The third-person action/adventure game is scheduled to be released this fall for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and PC. The Dreamcast version of the PC game Omikron: Nomad Soul isn't too far away from being complete. It's scheduled to be released sometime in April, May, or June. SALES CHARTS The following sales charts are based on unit sales at all retailers in the week of February 27 to March 4. Dreamcast 1. Crazy Taxi (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the game) 2. Carrier 3. NHL 2K 4. NBA 2K 5. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver PlayStation 1. WWF Smackdown 2. Gran Turismo 2 3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. The Dukes of Hazzard 5. Fear Effect old games still in the top ten: Sled Storm, Spyro the Dragon, and Gran Turismo Nintendo 64 1. Mario Party 2 2. WWF Wrestlemania 2000 3. Donkey Kong 64 4. Super Smash Bros. 5. Super Mario 64 (same exact top five list as last week) old games still in the top ten: Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Goldeneye 007 PC 1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? 2. The Sims 3. RollerCoaster Tycoon 4. Rainbow Six 5. Might and Magic 8 Surprisingly, Quake 3 still isn't in the PC top ten, and it only was for a very brief time after its release. ECW Hardcore Revolution is the top ten for all three console systems, but it's not in the top five for any of them. 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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