Master Gamer News

"Elian Gonzalez's Number One Source For Video Game News"
April 28, 2000
   Two psychologists have issued a report claiming that "even brief 
exposure to violent video games can increase aggressive thoughts, feelings, 
and behavior."  The psychologists, Craig Anderson and Karen Dill, asked 227 
college students to rate their level of aggression, and they found that 
"students who reported playing more violent video games in junior and high 
school engaged in more aggressive behavior."  The report continues, "We 
also found that amount of time spent playing video games in the past was 
associated with lower academic grades in college."  The games that were 
cited in the survey were Mortal Kombat, Doom, and Wolfenstein 3D.  
   Other psychologists have already spoken out against the report by 
Anderson and Dill.  Psychologist and media violence expert Guy Cumberbatch 
said, "You cannot simulate in a laboratory the complex social problems that 
people are concerned about, and overall the actual evidence supporting a 
link between media violence and real violence is very weak."  Another 
psychologist named Jeffrey Goldstein recently revealed the alarming flaws 
in the way video game violence studies are conducted.  You can read about 
Goldstein's findings (as well as my take on all of this), in Master Gamer's 
feature Games And Politics Don't Mix. 

   Sega's Greg Thomas insists that the Dreamcast's online sports games will 
run at 60 frames per second on Sega's ISP, SegaNet.  Thomas is Sega's vice 
president of product development, as well as the president of Visual 
Concepts (the company that developed NFL 2K and NBA 2K).  Thomas said, 
"Obviously, there's a difference between playing over the server versus 
head-to-head on the same console, but people will enjoy playing the game 
online.  At the Sega retail summit, we had people playing over the server 
who didn't even know they were playing on the Internet."  
   NFL 2K1, NBA 2K1, and NHL 2K1 are all being developed by Visual Concepts, 
they will also feature Internet play, and they will all feature Franchise 
Modes that let you go through up to 30 seasons.  It remains to be seen 
whether Visual Concepts' Franchise Mode will have a level of depth 
comparable to EA's, or whether it will offer more depth or less depth.  No 
matter how deep or shallow it ends up being, any Franchise Mode is better 
than none at all for the sake of the games' long-term depth.  This year's 
World Series Baseball game will not feature Internet play, but next year's 
will.
   When asked who he considers to be Visual Concepts' competition, Thomas 
said, "We compete with everyone.  If Madden on the PlayStation 2 kicks our 
ass, people will buy a PlayStation 2.  We look at every company and every 
platform as our competition.  Our motto here is always be paranoid.  After 
all, we came out of nowhere last year."  He went on to say, "I don't care 
how many polygons the X-Box can put out.  It's all about who can deliver 
the next great gameplay experience.  I'm not nervous about the X-Box or 
PlayStation 2 because we think we can make better games.  No one will have 
head-to-head Internet play but us."

   After well over three years in development, Daikatana is finally done.  
Ion Storm's first-person shooter has been the laughing stock of the video 
game industry for years, and the laughing probably isn't going to stop 
anytime soon.  A new demo of the game is now available for download on the 
Internet, and many people say that it sucks.  Daikatana is now being 
manufactured by Eidos Interactive, and it will be on store shelves as soon 
as Eidos can get it there.  
   Daikatana's figurehead lead designer John Romero said, "My god, it's 
finally finished.  And I thought working on a game for 1.5 years was long... 
wow.  I wish everyone would take a nice, objective look at the game and not 
base their criticisms on hype, but on play value and what we've worked to 
achieve: a really fun single-player experience.  We did not develop 
Daikatana to take on Quake 3 or UT, but we put multi-player in the game 
because I really like my single-player games multiplayerable."  
   In other words: "The multi-player mode sucks, but we never intended for 
it to be that good in the first place."  It's ironic that Romero would ask 
people not to base their criticisms on hope considering the fact that much 
of the hype surrounding Daikatana came from Romero himself.

   Sega's worldwide president Shoichiro Irimajiri recently acknowledged the 
ongoing discussions between Sega and Microsoft in an interview with MSNBC.  
While Irimajiri said that Sega would definitely not be making games for the 
PlayStation 2, he replied with a more mild, "For now, probably not" when 
asked about making games for the X-Box.  When asked if Sega is in talks 
with Microsoft, Irimajiri said, "Yes.  As you know, we have had a very good 
relationship in the past, so we have been discussing how to collaborate 
with each other in terms of the X-Box."  He also said that Sega will 
"definitely" be making PC games in the future.  
   Discussions are also ongoing regarding Microsoft's possible purchase of 
Sega.  The deal seems unlikely at this point because there are some 
sticking points that neither side will budge on (yes, dammit, I ended a 
sentence with the word on).

   The creators of EverQuest at Verant Interactive told their subscriber 
base that they would be receiving the EverQuest expansion pack, Ruins of 
Kunark, in the mail before it was available at retailers.  Unfortunately, 
processing and shipping problems have caused thousands of consumers to be 
empty-handed even now that the expansion pack is available at retailers.  
Verant hopes to make things up to these consumers by refunding all of their 
shipping charges, as well as giving them a month of free play in the game.
   The release of EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark was also infected by a virus.  
Verant says that it's a relatively small and harmless virus, but it's a 
virus nonetheless.  The only files infected are two Word files that are 
installed on your computer when you install Ruins of Kunark.  Opening 
either of these files could result in other Word files on your computer 
being infected.  A downloadable patch that eliminates this virus is now 
available.
   In other Verant news, the company has set up a new studio in Austin, 
Texas made up of former Ultima Online developers.

   Activision has shown mixed feelings about the Dreamcast in the past.  
They brought Blue Stinger and Vigilante 8: Second Offense to the system, 
but they licensed out the rights to Quake 3 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 
rather than publishing those games themselves.  Activision's vice president 
Mitch Lasky has gone on record with the company's official stance on the 
Dreamcast.  Lasky said, "Our current strategy with the Dreamcast is that it 
is a viable, but secondary, platform."  
   Lasky also said that Activision would like to publish Tony Hawk on the 
Dreamcast themselves rather than letting Crave do it.  Lasky said, "If we 
had to make that decision again, we probably would not have licensed Tony 
Hawk for the Dreamcast to Crave.  Still, Crave will make a lot of money for 
themselves and, as their licenser, we're going to get a piece of that."  
Regarding the PlayStation 2, Lasky said, "It's a fairly difficult platform 
to program for," but he also called it "a slam dunk."  Insert your own joke 
about someone calling something "a slam dunk."

   THQ is the latest publisher to speak out against the new $10 PlayStation 
games coming from Take-Two Interactive.  THQ's president Brian Farrell said, 
"I've seen a few of the $9.99 games.  Those are hard for me to even call 
secondary games.  I don't think that will impact the market terribly, and 
even our retail partners are not overly enthused about confusing the 
customer with such low prices."
   Take-Two's chief operating officer Terry Donovan has spoken out in 
defense of Take-Two's strategy.  Donovan said, "We have arguably the best 
budget distribution operation in the US.  They do not f--- around."  
Donovan also said that for a $40 PlayStation game to sell well after the 
PlayStation 2's release, "I would imagine that game would have to be pretty 
f---ing staggering."  In response to the many companies that are against 
Take-Two's strategy, Donovan said, "I don't want to give these guys the 
math to allow them to say, 'Actually that's not a bad idea.'  I don't 
particularly care what they think."  Donovan concluded, "If we weren't 
planning to make more money this way than we would at full or $29.99 price 
points, we wouldn't be doing it."

   Midway posted a $12 million net loss in their latest financial quarter.  
Sales for all Midway products were down in early 2000, particularly on the 
Dreamcast.  Midway's Dreamcast games (Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Hydro Thunder, 
NFL Blitz, NBA Showtime, and Mortal Kombat Gold) generated $60 million in 
the last three months of 1999, but only $400,000 in the first three months 
of 2000.  
   Part of Midway's problem (besides their overall mediocrity as a game 
developer) is the fact that they still derive a significant portion of 
their revenue from the dying arcade business.  The ratio was almost 50/50 
in the latest financial quarter, with $28 million coming from arcade games 
and $27 million coming from home games.

   Ripcord Games has changed the developer of Fading Suns: Noble Armada.  
The game was previously being developed by Holistic Design, and it's now 
being developed by a different (undisclosed) company.  Ripcord's John 
Peterson said, "In order for us to feel fully confident that the game will 
be released for the second quarter, we had to take a more aggressive stance 
with the development process."
   In other words: "Holistic was taking too damn long, so we switched the 
game over to a different developer that won't mind having the game rushed 
out the door whether it's done or not."  Holistic's Andrew Greenberg said, 
"We do not believe Ripcord has the legal authority to assign this project 
to another developer.  We are continuing development on the game."  
Previously, Ripcord tried to put the game on hold, only to have Holistic 
respond with an announcement that the game was still in development.

   In addition to the previously announced PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and 
PC games, Electronic Arts is also going to publish a new James Bond game 
for the Nintendo 64 this fall.  EA is actually going to publish three 
different games, all based on The World Is Not Enough and all due out this 
fall.

-A PlayStation 2 and PC game based on the Quake 3 engine, being developed 
internally by EA.

-A PlayStation game being developed by Black Ops, the developers of 
Tomorrow Never Dies for the PlayStation.

-A Nintendo 64 game being developed by Eurocom, the developers of many 
arcade-to-console conversions of Midway games.

   The Gathering of Developers is planning on releasing three different 
Blair Witch games in a four-month span.  Sales of the games should be 
fueled by the release of the movie sequel on Halloween.  The movie sequel 
has a budget of $10 million (as opposed to the original's $30,000), and it 
will be followed by a prequel at some point.  All three Blair Witch games 
will be for the PC, they are all based on the Nocturne engine, and they 
will all sell for $30.  Each of the games focuses on a different side of 
the story in the Blair Witch universe.  Here is a brief rundown of each of 
the games:

Blair Witch Volume 1: The Rustin Parr Investigation
-Developed by Terminal Reality
-Due out in August
-Gameplay similar to Nocturne

Blair Witch Volume 2: The Legend of Coffin Rock
-Developed by Human Head Studios
-Due out in October
-Gameplay similar to Resident Evil

Blair Witch Volume 3: Elly Kedward's Tale
-Developed by Ritual Entertainment
-Due out in November
-Gameplay much more action-based than the other two games

   Sony has come up with a way to force more Japanese consumers to exchange 
their PlayStation 2 utility discs for the new version.  The original 
version of the utility disc allows American DVD movies to be played on 
Japanese PS2s, which could lead to Sony getting sued by American movie 
companies.  All new PlayStation 2 memory cards being produced will only 
work with the new version of the utility disc.  Why don't Japanese 
consumers just stick with their old memory cards, you ask?  Because many of 
them are defective and stop working after a while.  So if Japanese 
consumers want to save their progress in PlayStation 2 games, they will 
have to trade in their old utility discs for the new version.

   Word of the game's existence leaked out in February, but Rare has 
finally announced Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64.  The game is like 
Zelda in many ways, but its cast of characters is unique.  The two main 
playable characters in the game are cats named Sabre and Krystal, and they 
both have dinosaur sidekicks who can complete various tasks for them.  The 
dinosaur sidekicks also have to be taken care of in a virtual pet sort of 
way.  Dinosaur Planet will require an N64 Expansion Pak to run.  It will 
come on a 64MB cartridge, which is huge for a cartridge but still nothing 
compared to a 650MB PlayStation CD-ROM or a 1.2GB Dreamcast GD-ROM.

   Infogrames has released Rage Software's latest horrible shooter, 
Expendable, for the PlayStation.  Infogrames marketing executive David 
Riley said, "Expendable brings 80's reminiscent action/shooter excitement 
to an audience that's thirsty for explosions, intensity, and two-player 
head-to-head mayhem."  When asked if he's thirsty for explosions, intensity, 
and two-player head-to-head mayhem, Master Gamer Contributing Writer Jimmy 
Payne said, "No, not really.  I'm fine."

   The bidding war over Funcoland continues.  Electronics Boutique 
originally offered $120 million to buy Funco.  Barnes & Noble (the parent 
company of Babbage's) then offered $135 million for the company, only to 
have Electronics Boutique match that offer.  Now Barnes & Noble has 
increased the stakes again with an offer somewhere between $160 million and 
$170 million.  Funco has accepted Barnes & Noble's offer, and Electronics 
Boutique has until May 5 to respond to it.

   MSNBC recently contacted many third-party developers in the video game 
industry, and what they found wasn't too surprising: No one has Dolphin 
development kits.  The only companies that have Dolphin development kits 
are Nintendo itself and Nintendo's close partners (Rare, Retro Studios, and 
Left Field Productions).  However, most third-party developers do currently 
have Game Boy Advance development kits.

   Infogrames revealed its E3 line-up this week.  As expected, it's mostly 
crap, but one game stood out: Unreal Tournament for the PlayStation 2.  
After sending mixed signals for months, Epic Games' Mark Rein has now 
confirmed that the game will be released for the PlayStation 2 at the 
system's launch or shortly thereafter.  The PS2 version of the game will 
have online multi-player capabilities, but not until Sony releases a modem 
for the system.  That's not going to happen until 2001 at the earliest 
unless Sony decides to package a 56K modem with the system.

   Hasbro Interactive continues to struggle.  The company's total revenues 
were only $22 million in the latest financial quarter, down from $38 
million in the same quarter last year.  The only bright spots in the 
company's video game line-up have been RollerCoaster Tycoon and its add-on 
pack, Corkscrew Follies.

   Sierra Sports has announced its upcoming game line-up.  Games set to be 
released by the company this year include PGA Championship Golf 2000, 
Sierra Sports Game Room, Field & Stream Trophy Big Game Hunting, Field & 
Stream Trophy Bass 4, Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 4, Maximum Pool, and 
Professional Bull Riding 2.  It may be in a different way, but this
collection of games is much more scary than Capcom's survival horror 
line-up.

   PlayStation software revenues were down five percent in the first three 
months of 2000 (as compared to the first quarter of 1999), while N64 
software revenues grew one percent.  While this news has caused a small 
amount of celebration within Nintendo, the N64 still "only" generated $220 
million, as opposed to the PlayStation's $363 million.

   The May 1 issue of Forbes magazine features an interview with Nintendo's 
72-year-old owner, Hiroshi Yamauchi.  In the article, Forbes actually 
refers to Yamauchi as "Nintendo's crusty president."  The only thing in the 
interview that is newsworthy is Yamauchi shooting down rumors that he's 
going to retire soon.  He said, "I will still be around a year from now."  
Yamauchi recently said in a different interview, "Microsoft is an 
incredible company, but it doesn't know anything about games.  Microsoft 
promised to turn the PC into the ultimate game platform, something that 
never even came close to happening."

   Blockbuster Video recently sent its members a brochure that advertises 
the Dreamcast, which Blockbuster just recently began to stock on a 
widespread, national level.  The brochure advertises 29 Dreamcast games, 
but oddly enough, it excludes three of the system's top five selling games 
to date (NFL 2K, Soul Calibur, and Ready 2 Rumble).  Also, the brochure's 
Adventure Game section mistakenly lists three non-adventure games: Chu Chu 
Rocket (puzzle), Star Wars Racer (racing), and Crazy Taxi (action).

   Square has announced that a demo disc will be packaged with the US 
release of Vagrant Story, which is set for May 16.  The disc will contain 
playable demos of Front Mission 3, Threads of Fate, and Chocobo Racing, as 
well as non-interactive videos of Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana, and 
Chocobo's Dungeon 2.

   Sega of America has promoted Peter Moore to the position of president 
and chief operating officer.  Moore previously served as the company's vice 
president of marketing, and he has done all of the company's major 
interviews since Bernie Stolar was fired by Sega of Japan last August.  
Moore called the promotion "a testament to the fact that Sega of Japan 
believes in the team that's here right now and believes in our ability to 
get it done."  On a worldwide level, Sega hopes to cut costs by over $280 
million in the next year in order to return to profitability.

   Not only is Microsoft's Age of Empires 2 coming to the PlayStation 2 (as 
reported in last week's issue of Master Gamer News), but it's also coming 
to the Dreamcast.  The game is being brought to these systems by Konami, 
not Microsoft.  Still, it's surprising that Microsoft would allow Konami to 
do this considering that Sony and Sega are now two of Microsoft's 
competitors.  The PlayStation 2 version of Age of Empires 2 has not been 
confirmed for a US release, but the Dreamcast version is scheduled to be 
released in the US this fall.

   Third-party peripheral companies Guillemot and ThrustMaster are working 
on wireless keyboards and mice for the Dreamcast.  The products will use 
infrared rays to send data from up to 15 feet away without the use of any 
wires.  Both products will come in colorful, translucent designs when 
they're released this September.

   3DO has announced yet another Army Men game, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 
for the Nintendo 64.  It's due out this fall, not long after the summer 
release of Army Men: Air Combat for the N64.  With these and several other 
Army Men games currently in development, it looks like 3DO will continue 
their streak of releasing a new Army Men game every couple of months for 
the rest of mankind's existence.

   Activision has signed seven professional BMX racers to appear in their 
upcoming game Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX.  Activision's Mitch Lasky said, "We 
expect that Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX will bolster Activision's leading 
position in the fast-growing extreme sports games genre."  Because we all 
know that if there's one genre you can count on for quality games, it's 
extreme sports.  I don't know about you, but 3Xtreme is all the joy I can 
handle...

   The Pokemon franchise is going to appear in future "milk mustache" 
advertisements with the text, "Want to grow?  Drinking milk helps your 
bones grow so you can evolve to the next level."  That's almost as funny as 
1-800-CALL-ATT's David Arquette being the new WCW champion.

   Nintendo and Rare are bringing the original Donkey Kong Country to the 
Game Boy Color this fall.  This classic action/platform game was originally 
released for the Super Nintendo in 1994.  Nintendo says that not only will 
the Game Boy Color version of the game not be scaled down, but it will 
actually be expanded in some ways.  Hopefully, Donkey Kong Country 2 will 
also be brought to the Game Boy Color at some point.

   A recent survey of retailers conducted by Fairfield Research found that 
55% of retailers cited Pokemon Gold as the Game Boy game with the most pre-
orders, while only 8% of retailers said the same about Pokemon Silver. 
Presumably, the reason for this is that many consumers are saying, "Gold is 
better than silver, so I'll buy the Gold version."  This is an interesting
development considering that the Red and Blue versions of Pokemon have had
similar sales throughout their existence.

   Microsoft is trying to change its public image by focusing on the 
company itself rather than the company's products in upcoming TV
commercials and print advertisements.  Microsoft's general manager Mike 
Delman said, "Microsoft is perceived as successful, effective, and 
efficient, but not perceived as warm and approachable.  We are trying to 
make the brand more approachable."  Microsoft is actually trying to force 
one of its insurance companies to pay for its legal fees, as well as any 
fines that the US government may levy on them after a federal judge ruled 
that Microsoft is a "predatory monopolist."

   Sierra owns the rights to make video games based on the upcoming Lord of 
the Rings movie trilogy.  The first movie in the trilogy is due out in the 
holiday season of 2001, with the second movie to follow around the same 
time in 2002 and the third movie to follow around the same time in 2003.

   The top three console game publishers in the first three months of 2000 
(based on total revenue) were Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Sega.  The top 
three PC game publishers were Electronic Arts, Havas Interactive (comprised 
of Sierra and Blizzard), and Hasbro Interactive.  The highest growth rate 
went to Sega, whose software generated $900,000 in the first three months 
of 1999 and $60 million in the first three months of 2000 (a growth rate of 
6,555 percent).

   Infogrames has cancelled the Dreamcast version of Test Drive Off-Road 3, 
thus protecting Dreamcast owners from yet another crappy racing game.  The 
game was cancelled because developer Player One wasn't going to have it 
ready for release until this fall, a full year after its original release 
on the PlayStation and PC.  Infogrames' PR manager Tom Richardson offers 
Player One consolation by calling the company "a good, high-quality 
developer."

   Believe it or not, a huge game of Tetris was recently up and 
running one of Brown University's walls.  Some of the university's students 
created the ten-story game using circuit boards, cables, and Christmas 
lights hung from a wooden frame.  The game could be controlled through a 
computer on the building's steps, which ran an Internet connection through 
the cables.  The university claims that the entire project cost only $750.  
Check out the project's web site for photos of this bizarre innovation. 
Speaking of Tetris, a version of the game with online multi-player 
capabilities is currently being developed for the Dreamcast.

NEWS BRIEFS
   Sony recently announced that two million PlayStation 2 systems had been 
sold in Japan, only to take back their statement several days later.  Sony 
is now claiming that 1.4 million PlayStation 2s have been sold in Japan.

   Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has revealed the release date of
Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2.  Kojima says that it's due out in
the fall of 2001.

   LucasArts has announced the continuation of their cult hit Monkey Island 
series.  A new game in the series, Escape From Monkey Island, will be 
released for the PC this fall.

   Sega has opted to remove two Ricky Martin songs (Living La Vida Loca and 
The Cup of Life) from the Dreamcast version of their music game Samba De 
Amigo.  I've got two words for you, Sega: Thank you.

   Namco Museum is coming to the Dreamcast this summer.  The Dreamcast 
version will feature the same classic games as the N64 version (Pac-Man, 
Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Galaga, and Dig Dug).

   Many video game companies have reported losses in recent financial 
reports, but 3DO and THQ are not among them.  3DO reported a net profit of 
$10 million in their latest financial quarter, while THQ posted a net 
profit of $5 million.

SALES CHARTS
   The following sales charts are based on unit sales at all retailers in 
the week of April 9 to 15.

Dreamcast
1. Resident Evil: Code Veronica (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's 
review of the game)
2. Crazy Taxi
3. Dead or Alive 2
4. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
5. NBA 2K

PlayStation
1. WWF Smackdown
2. Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles
3. Syphon Filter 2
4. Syphon Filter
5. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
old games still in the top ten: Syphon Filter, Army Men 3D, and Spyro the
Dragon

Nintendo 64
1. Pokemon Stadium (also the most-rented game on the market)
2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
3. Mario Party 2
4. WWF Wrestlemania 2000
5. Namco Museum 64
(same exact top five list as last week)
old games still in the top ten: Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 64

PC
1. The Sims
2. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
3. Lego Island (selling at an average price of $7)
4. Fly
5. RollerCoaster Tycoon
old games still in the top ten: RollerCoaster Tycoon and Sim City 3000 

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.cowdance.com

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