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Master Gamer News- May 9, 1999
Master Gamer News- April 27, 1999
Master Gamer News- April 10, 1999
Master Gamer News- March 29, 1999
Master Gamer News- March 17, 1999
May 21, 1999
All of the News Coming Out of E3, and None of the Hype
In order to steal some thunder from all the Dreamcast games and
PlayStation 2 tech demos on display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo
(E3), Nintendo announced their next video game system, codenamed Project
Dolphin. Nintendo is developing the system with the help of IBM,
Matsushita, and ArtX. IBM will be supplying the system's CPU (codenamed
Gekko), which is a variation of the PowerPC chipset and will be much more
mass-market and cheaper than Sony's Emotion Engine, while still just as
powerful according to Nintendo. Nintendo of America's president Howard
Lincoln (who will retire in February), said, "Nobody else in the world can
do what IBM does, and quite frankly, anything less is simply not state of
the art technology." Lincoln went on, "It will be the fastest and most
powerful CPU in any home video game system... period."
ArtX, formed by a number of former Silicon Graphics, Inc. employees,
will be supplying the system's graphics chipset. "We are absolutely
confident that Dolphin's graphics will equal or exceed anything our friends
at Sony can come up with for PlayStation 2," Lincoln said.
Matsushita, the largest consumer electronics company in the world, will
be supplying the system's DVD drive. Yes, you read that right: much like
the PlayStation 2, Project Dolphin will have a DVD drive. But unlike Sony,
Nintendo is willing to confirm that you will indeed be able to watch DVD
movies on Project Dolphin. Sony still won't officially comment on whether
or not you will be able to watch DVD movies on the PlayStation 2. Project
Dolphin's DVD drive will feature enhanced protection against piracy.
Clearly, Nintendo chose to go with DVD over CD-ROM as Project Dolphin's
storage format because DVDs are much harder to pirate. Nintendo's owner
Hiroshi Yamauchi recently stated, "Nintendo had its doubts about CD-ROM
from the very beginning. CD-ROMs are very difficult to copy protect, and
that is no small concern from a business standpoint. On the contrary, DVD
has the potential for copy protection, and we will be implementing a very
strong copy-protection mechanism in the new console." Matsushita will also
assist Nintendo with Project Dolphin's digital networking functions, but
what exactly those functions will be is not known. Matsushita owns dozens
of electronics companies, including Panasonic, and is probably known by
gamers primarily for purchasing the M2 technology from The 3DO Company for
$100 million and then never releasing it as a gaming system (but they did
eventually put it in toaster ovens; now there's an effective way to use
technology you paid $100 million for).
Currently, no third-party developers are working on Project Dolphin
games, only Nintendo and the group of companies it owns (Rare, Retro
Studios, and Left Field Productions). As a matter of fact, the Asian
publication Asia Biztech is reporting that Nintendo will only allow three
third-party developers to make games for the system, but it didn't mention
(or didn't know) who those three companies might be. Nintendo has yet to
comment on Asia Biztech's report, but if it's true, one has to question the
logic behind Nintendo's bold decision. You would think that the N64 would
have shown Nintendo that if there aren't enough games for a system, it will
fail.
Regardless of how accurate or in-accurate Asia Biztech's report is,
many at E3 were skeptical about Project Dolphin since very little was
revealed, and what was revealed was mostly broad statements instead of hard
facts or technical specs. Many people think that Nintendo is just jealous
of all the attention Sega and Sony are getting for their upcoming systems,
and wanted in on the "we've got a powerful new system coming out!" action.
Regarding the fact that PlayStation 2 specs have been released but Project
Dolphin specs have not been released, Howard Lincoln stated, "We're going
to continue to be very circumspect in revealing all of Dolphin's specs for
a very simple reason: there are more technological surprises to come, and
we'd like to keep them just that- surprises- for you and especially for our
competitors."
Project Dolphin is not the system's final name; it's a codename just
like Project Reality, PSX, Black Belt, Katana, Dural, and so on. Nintendo
is planning to release the system worldwide in late 2000, but that's a very
questionable release date considering that IBM and ArtX aren't even done
with the hardware, and you can only do so much significant game development
without finished hardware and development kits. One last tidbit of
information regarding Project Dolphin is that it will not be backwards-
compatible with the Nintendo 64, although honestly, I don't think anyone is
going to be shedding any tears over the lack of backwards-compatibility...
I sent out my annual e-mail to my list of contacts in the industry
(which has over 50 people on it) asking them what the best games and the
biggest disappointments of E3 were. Surprisingly, the game with the most
praise was Sega Sports' NFL 2000 for the Dreamcast, which was cited by 50%
of respondents as a game that blew their socks off. Only six other games
were mentioned by 1/3 or more of respondents, and those games were:
-Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast
-Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast
-Dino Crisis for the PlayStation
-Team Fortress 2 for the PC
-Freelancer for the PC
-Starsiege Tribes 2 for the PC
-Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64
The three products cited by 1/3 or more of all respondents as major
disappointments were:
-Daikatana, Ion Storm's oft-delayed first-person shooter, which still looks
like crap after three years in development
-Perfect Dark, which got a very mixed reaction at E3 as evidenced by 1/3 of
respondents saying it was one of the best games at the show and another
1/3 saying it was one of the biggest disappointments
-The PlayStation 2 tech demos, although to be fair, they're just tech demos
Many people were expecting a Nintendo 64 and/or PlayStation price drop
at the show, but none happened. Instead, Sony and Nintendo opted to try to
take away steam from the Dreamcast not by dropping the prices of their
existing consoles, but by announcing their next-generation consoles. Sony
and Nintendo are going to wait until closer to September 9 to hurt Sega
with price drops. Nintendo would seem to be more likely to make the first
move because they are the ones who need a sales boost right now. But if
the N64 still costs $130 come September, Sony may go ahead and drop the
PlayStation's price to $100 on its own. At any time that Sony or Nintendo
drops the price of their respective system, it is very likely, but not 100%,
that the other company will match the competition's price very quickly.
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences held its second annual
Interactive Achievement awards after the first day of the show. The awards
were dominated by Zelda 64. Shigeru Miyamoto came to the stage (without a
translator) each time Zelda won, and he spoke limited, but understandable
English. Seeing a blushing Miyamoto on the stage saying "Thank you very
much" was the most common sight of the two-hour event. One award presenter,
before opening up the envelope which would reveal that Zelda won in yet
another category, wondered aloud, "Do I need to open this envelope?" One
award winner said she was thankful that Miyamoto didn't have any titles in
her company's category. When Miyamoto presented Civilization and Alpha
Centauri designer Sid Meier with the second annual Hall of Fame award,
Meier said he was lucky that the same person can't win the award two years
in a row (implying that if they could, Miyamoto would have won again).
Other notable happenings included Coolio requesting that somebody give him
a free game, Peter Molyneux saying that he's losing his voice and that he
suspects lots of people are happy about it, and the designer of National
Geographic Maps joking that it was originally going to be a first-person
shooter, but it just didn't work out. Also, a great speech defending video
games against mainstream media vultures came from an unexpected source: Ben
Stein of Comedy Central's Win Ben Stein's Money. Stein came up to the
stage like all the other presenters to read the award category description,
but before he did he made the following speech off the top of his head with
no notes:
"Before I begin with the (tele)prompter, let me just tell you a little
story. My very best friend in the whole world passed away in a rafting
tragedy about three years ago and he left behind a 12-year-old son. He
(the friend) was not at all well-to-do. He was divorced, and the little
boy lived pretty much by himself. I think his life would have been
completely ruined after his father died, but he did have a computer, and he
did have several video game consoles, and he played them all the time.
They were his friends. And he plugged into them and he plugged into people
all over the country playing video games and computer games. He had a
little circle of friends in his small town, San Point in north Idaho, and
they talked about their video games, and his whole life became video games,
and the connection to the community came through video games. And he
decided he was going to become an engineer, and he has now become the best
student he ever was in his life because of his video games."
"And I think of this often when I read the criticisms of video games.
I'm much older than most of the people in this room, so I remember when the
culprit for every social ill (according to the mainstream press) was
television. Then the culprit for every social ill was rock and roll music.
And now the culprit for every social ill is video games and computer games,
and what I keep thinking is, 'There's no evidence whatsoever, of any
documented, reputable form from any medical source that video games are
really harming young Americans.' On the other hand, there is clear
evidence before the eyes of any person who cares to look that video games
provide sources of amusement, sources of stimulation, sources of connection
with a larger community, a source of a subject that binds a child to
another child and provides a community of shared interest, which I can see
from my 11-year-old son's group of friends is their primary shared
community in the whole world."
"I keep thinking, 'How many children live for their video games, which
in the best sense, gives them something to think about, gives them a goal
to work for, gives them something to wake up for in the morning, makes
their lives happier and more fulfilled. I cringe when I see people from
the interactive game industry acting defensive about computer and video
games. I feel that the evidence is entirely in favor of the proposition
that these games have a pro-social and healthy influence, and I wish people
from the interactive games industry would stop apologizing for it."
Stein's speech got a huge ovation from the crowd, and rightfully so.
Now, here are the award winners:
Game of the Year: Zelda 64 (the six other finalists for the Game of the
Year award were Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Metal Gear Solid, Banjo-Kazooie,
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)
Console Game of the Year: Zelda 64
Adventure Game of the Year: Zelda 64
Role Playing Game of the Year: Zelda 64 (despite the fact that it is not
a true RPG)
Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design: Zelda 64
Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering: Zelda 64
Computer Game of the Year: Half-Life
PC Action Game of the Year: Half-Life
Console Action Game of the Year: Banjo-Kazooie
Outstanding Achievement in Art and Graphics: Banjo-Kazooie
Strategy Game of the Year: Alpha Centauri
Online Action/Strategy Game of the Year: Starsiege Tribes
Best Use of Characters: Pokemon
Best Use of Sound: Road Rash 3D (how could this piece of crap have won
anything?)
Console Sports Game of the Year: 1080 Degrees Snowboarding (NFL Blitz and
NFL Quarterback Club '99 were nominated for this award, Madden NFL '99 was
not)
PC Sports Game of the Year: FIFA '99
Best Simulation Game: The Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit (this isn't a
simulation of any kind, and Chris Charla said it best when he said, "I
guess it's a simulation if you drive at 300 miles per hour while being
chased by the cops")
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game company, is getting into
the lucrative hunting game market with a game tentatively being called
Master Big Game Hunter (which mixes the titles of "Cabela's Big Game
Hunter" and "Master Gamer"). The game will be released under the new EA
Sports Outdoors label. Hunting games are typically considered to be aimed
at casual gamers, but that's just because there has never been a really
good hunting game that appeals to hardcore gamers. Hopefully, this will
be that game, but either way it's going to sell a heck of a lot of copies.
Master Big Game Hunter will be released for the PC this fall and will offer
Internet play and support for a wide variety of 3D graphics accelerators.
Game design legend Peter Molyneux recently revealed a unique
distribution strategy for his highly-anticipated PC game Black and White.
Molyneux said, "I've had the idea of selling two versions of the game; one
in a white box and one in black. The two boxes will both contain the same
game contents, but the white box will cost $5 more. The reason for this
will be that the extra $5 you pay for the white box will go to charity,
meaning that you are making a good versus bad decision before you even play
the game." The extremely innovative Black and White will be published for
the PC this fall by Electronic Arts, with Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Game
Boy Color versions to follow.
Scott Orr, the man who has been in charge of the John Madden Football
series since 1992, has stepped down from his position as the Madden team's
leader in order to oversee some new EA Sports properties. Senior producer
Steve Sims is also stepping away from Madden's every-day development team,
but both he and Orr will still act as consultants for Madden NFL 2000 and
future Madden games. Madden NFL 2000 will face some stiff competition from
Sega's NFL 2000 for the Dreamcast, whose sensational graphics and
supposedly solid gameplay were wowing the crowds at E3. The first, most
obvious new feature that has been announced for Madden 2000 is the ability
to play through a Franchise Mode with multiple players instead of just one.
According to a report published in the industry trade publication MCV,
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace is on its way to the Dreamcast.
It is has been well-known for quite some time that Sega signed a contract
with LucasArts to make three Star Wars games. They've already made two of
them (a Star Wars pinball game and the crappy Star Wars Trilogy arcade
game), and they've apparently picked The Phantom Menace to be Game 3 of 3.
While there were plenty of awesome Dreamcast games as there were on
display at E3, there were also plenty of not-so-awesome Dreamcast games at
the show as well. Sega is doing its best to either improve or not release
these not-so-impressive games, and one such victim of Sega's quality
control was their own Geist Force. Geist Force is a space shooter
developed internally at Sega of America whose gameplay apparently does not
live up to the standard set by its excellent graphics. One of the game's
producers has been fired and the game has been put on hold. Whether or not
it will ever be released s questionable (the word "cancelled" has not been
used, but then again it was never used when Sonic X-Treme for the Saturn
was cancelled, only "put on indefinite hold"). While the story of Geist
Force isn't the most encouraging for Dreamcast fans, it's far from the
worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario would be Sega releasing it
while knowing full well that it sucks. Thankfully, that's not going to
happen.
When casual game specialist Hasbro Interactive bought MicroProse for $70
million, it gained access to all of MicroProse's popular franchises,
including the sacred Civilization. How could such a great series end up in
the hands of Frogger-making Hasbro, you ask? Fear not, Civilization
loyalists, Hasbro has struck a deal with the original designer of the
series, Sid Meier. Sid Meier and his co-workers at Firaxis Games, makers
of the recently-released Alpha Centauri, will develop Civilization 3, and
Hasbro will publish it. Meier is not one to re-hash a game and re-release
it nine months later, so don't expect Civ 3 until Christmas 2000 at the
earliest. Meier was recently inducted into the video game development Hall
of Fame, an elite bunch currently consisting only of Meier and Shigeru
Miyamoto.
Microsoft Games has cancelled Pseudo Interactive's vehicular combat game
Full Auto. Pseudo is now working on another game for Microsoft, this one
a first-person shooter. And now, it's time for another addition of Let's
Translate Full of Crap Press Release Quotes! Here's Pseudo's president
David Wu on Full Auto getting axed:
The Quote: "We are fortunate to be working on another high-profile project
for Microsoft that will have a lot of support and backing behind it, in a
very well chosen theme and genre... they (Microsoft) know how to market
games, and they are in touch with their consumers. I trust their
judgment."
The Translation: "Microsoft is still paying our bills, so I can't say
anything bad about them."
Sega's $100 million North American marketing campaign for the Dreamcast
has kicked off with print advertisements in numerous video game magazines.
The ads are currently in the "Teaser" phase, in which the ads feature
cleverly-placed Dreamcast logos and the only text is "sega.com." The ads
will become a lot more revealing over the summer when Sega's TV commercial
campaign begins in July. Sega's marketing is targeted at 14-to-24 year
olds, and the "Super Bowl" for that age demographic is the MTV Video Music
Awards. Sega will be the primary sponsor of the event, which takes place
on September 9, the day of the Dreamcast's North American launch (and the
four-year anniversary of the PlayStation's North American launch). Besides
MTV, five other TV networks Sega is known to be targeting are Fox, WB, UPN,
ESPN and ESPN2. Also at E3, Sega confirmed what many already assumed: the
Dreamcast will come packaged with a 56K modem built-in at no extra cost.
If I weren't already planning to buy a Dreamcast on September 9, I would
be now.
Sega's highly-anticipated Dreamcast game Shenmue was at E3, but all that
was shown of the supposedly "brilliant" and "revolutionary" game were a few
worthless demos. The graphics were phenomenal, and those who have seen
more of the gameplay than what was shown at E3 swear that the game has the
potential to be ground-breaking. But rather than showing the supposedly
earth-shattering gameplay, Sega chose to display some unimpressive mini-
games and tech demos instead. Shenmue is being designed by Yu Suzuki of
Virtua Fighter fame, and it is scheduled to be released in two parts in
Japan (the first in August, and the second in December). We'll find out
whether or not the game lives up to the hype when it's released in the US
next year.
In the period of April 11-17, the best-selling video games for all
systems were:
1. Pokemon Red for Game Boy
2. Pokemon Blue for Game Boy
3. The Need For Speed: High Stakes for PlayStation
4. Triple Play 2000 for PlayStation
5. Syphon Filter for PlayStation
6. Mario Party for Nintendo 64
7. MLB 2000 for PlayStation
8. Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome for PC
9. Civilization 2 Gold for PC
10. Army Men 3D for PlayStation
On a points basis (in which the first-place game earns its system ten
points, the second place game earns its system nine points, and so on), the
PlayStation won with 26 points. The Game Boy came in second place with 19
points, followed by the Nintendo 64 and PC with five points apiece. I
don't have all the sales figures for the following week yet, but I do know
that Syphon Filter surpassed The Need For Speed: High Stakes as the best-
selling PlayStation game, and Mario Party was still the best-selling N64
game (although that's not saying much anymore). The best PC game for the
week of April 18-24 was, surprisingly enough, Top Gun Hornet's Nest.
Below is a list of old games that are still among the best selling for
their respective system, with their average retail price in parenthesis:
Tomb Raider 2 for PlayStation ($19)
Frogger for PlayStation ($20)
Namco Museum Volume 1 for PlayStation ($21)
Namco Museum Volume 3 for PlayStation ($20)
Tomb Raider for PC ($11)
Goldeneye 007 for Nintendo 64 ($40)
Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64 ($40)
Mario Kart 64 for Nintendo 64 ($40)
Here is how the four recently-released baseball games stack up with each
other sales-wise:
1. Triple Play 2000 for PlayStation
2. MLB 2000 for PlayStation
3. All Star Baseball 2000 for Nintendo 64
4. Triple Play 2000 for Nintendo 64 (doesn't exactly motivate EA to keep
making N64 games, does it?)
In the financial quarter ending April 30, 1999, 3Dfx posted a net loss
of $2.2 million, which is much worse than the $7.5 million profit it
reported in the same quarter in 1998. Maybe 3Dfx is losing money because
they abandoned the companies that took them to the top and they keep re-
hashing old technology that now sucks compared to TNT 2... just a thought.
Acclaim has announced a South Park racing game entitled South Park Rally,
which will be released for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 this fall.
Finally, the video game-buying public will get what they have been
demanding for years: a game featuring Chef's salty, chocolate balls as a
weapon.
More good news for Macintosh owners: Blizzard's highly-anticipated PC
game Diablo 2 is coming to the Mac in the first half of next year. The
game development community as a whole is taking Apple very seriously right
now, and Blizzard in particular is "excited about what Apple is doing to
make gaming easy and enjoyable for their users."
In a recent interview with the casual gamer publication EGM, Nintendo's
Shigeru Miyamoto made the following statement when asked about a possible
sequel to Super Mario 64: "Yes, I think I have to. Every three or four
years, Mario's sequel appears, utilizing the new form of digital
entertainment. I think I would be wishing to make some new Mario game
making use of new digital technology. Yes, it is going to the N64, but I
cannot guarantee if it will be called a sequel to Mario 64."
Acclaim has renamed the group of companies it owns in order to shove the
word "Acclaim" down the public's throat as much as possible. Iguana
Entertainment will now be known as Acclaim Studios Austin, Iguana West will
now be known as Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City, and Probe will now be known
as Acclaim Studios London. In other Acclaim news, the company has delayed
its wrestling game WWF Attitude. Attitude is now due out in late June for
the PlayStation and July 2 for the Nintendo 64. Acclaim has openly
admitted that Attitude's gameplay will be virtually identical to WWF War
Zone's gameplay. In other words, it will suck.
Sony originally announced that Gran Turismo 2 would be released in both
Japan and the US over the summer, but then the US version slipped to
September. Now the Japanese version's release date has also slipped to
September. There is no word yet as to whether or not the US version is
still due out in September.
The following sales figures are from the period of April 12 to April 18
in Japan:
Sony PocketStation: 67,000 units sold (good God!)
Sony PlayStation: 29,000 units sold
Game Boy Color: 22,000 units sold
Nintendo 64: 10,000 units sold
Bandai Wonder Swan: 10,000 units sold
Sega Dreamcast: 7,000 units sold
Game Boy Pocket: 5,000 units sold
Neo Geo Pocket Color: 4,000 units sold
Also, based on the top 30 selling games from April 12-18, here are the
software market percentages:
PlayStation: 63%
Game Boy: 30%
Nintendo 64: 6%
Dreamcast: 1%
all other systems: no games in the top 30
The Game Boy Color is selling well in Japan, but it is currently getting
its butt kicked by the PocketStation in hardware sales. In order to try to
change this, Nintendo has dropped the price of the system from $70 to $55.
Titus Interactive (makers of... uh, Virtual Chess 64) has purchased
controlling interest in Interplay. The 57% of Interplay combined with the
49% of Virgin Interactive it already owned gives Titus an extensive
distribution network in the US and throughout Europe. Titus will begin the
re-organization of the three combined companies on July 1. In other Titus
news, the company is now working full steam ahead on Superman 64 (which
Nintendo rejected last year), and in order to concentrate all of their
energy on the N64 version, they have cancelled the PlayStation version, or
put it on indefinite hold at the very least.
7 Studios has signed a publishing deal with Midway. Midway will publish
all of 7 Studios' games, which will all be for the PlayStation 2 in the
foreseeable future. 7 Studios is the start-up company recently founded by
Command & Conquer designer Erik Yeo and six other designers. Another
start-up company founded several former Westwood employees is Liquid
Entertainment, which was founded by Command & Conquer developer Ed Del
Castillo. The newly-formed Liquid is currently working on a multi-player
real-time strategy game for the PC, to be published by Crave Entertainment.
Activision has signed a deal with Japanese developer Climax Graphics to
bring Blue Stinger to the US. Blue Stinger is a Resident Evil-style game
for the Dreamcast, and the buzz about the game in Japan is that it would be
awesome if it weren't for its putrid camera. Activision will undoubtedly
tweak the camera and other areas of the game before it is released in the
US. The only other Dreamcast game Activision is known to be working on is
Vigilante 8: Second Offense. There is still no confirmation of any version
of Quake coming to the Dreamcast. D'oh!
Sony has quietly killed the US version of its portable gaming system,
the PocketStation. The PocketStation is a tiny system with a screen about
the size of a Tamagotchi's screen, and it is more useful as a memory card
utility than as a real gaming system. The only function it can really
serve is to play the mini-games found in such popular PlayStation games as
Final Fantasy 8, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Ridge Racer Type 4. Despite
manufacturing difficulties, Sony released the device in Japan last January
and it has been selling extremely well ever since. Why Sony chose to
cancel the US version of the PocketStation is unknown, but it could have
been that they wouldn't have been able to meet the huge demand for the
system in Japan if they were manufacturing it for other countries as well.
While the PocketStation will never be released in the US, a PocketStation-
like device will probably make its way into Sony's PlayStation 2 launch
plans at some point...
THQ wrestling games have always been a mixed bag. The games developed
by Inland Productions (WCW Nitro, WCW/NWO Thunder) have always sucked.
On the other hand, the games developed by Asmik and Aki (WCW Vs. NWO: World
Tour, WCW/NWO Revenge) have always rocked. Now that THQ has the much more
lucrative WWF license, they are thankfully sticking with Asmik/Aki and
dumping Inland (who will now make WCW wrestling games for Electronic Arts).
THQ has signed Asmik/Aki to develop a WWF wrestling game for the Nintendo
64 due for release this winter (which could mean late this year, or it
could mean early next year). For their PlayStation WWF game, THQ has
signed the Japanese developer Yukes, who will develop the game using the
engine behind their critically acclaimed Japanese wrestling series Toukon
Retsuden. This game is due out for the PlayStation in January, February,
or March of 2000. Finally, the right companies have gotten their hands on
the right license, and the result will more than likely be the best
wrestling games we've ever seen.
The latest word on Acclaim's negotiations with Extreme Championship
Wrestling is that the odds of the deal going through are 50-50 at the most.
The Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter reports that The Nashville Network (TNN)
wants to get in on the wrestling boom and have a wrestling show on their
network, and Acclaim is interested in striking a deal with whatever
promotion gets the TNN clearance. Negotiations between TNN and ECW are
said to be near dead, which greatly decreases Acclaim's interest in ECW
since they don't have a national TV clearance (although Acclaim can't be
too picky because no wrestling promotion has a national TV clearance except
for the WWF and WCW, and they're both locked up with other video game
companies). It's doubtful that ECW is demanding too much from Acclaim
because without the Acclaim deal or the TNN clearance, ECW will probably
have to go out of business within a matter of months. The company has been
losing money for well over a year and wrestlers' paychecks have been
bouncing with regularity.
Electronic Arts is aiming to release WCW Mayhem for both the PlayStation
and the Nintendo 64 this fall. EA has released a preliminary list of 30
wrestlers that will be in the game. Here's the list, with the wrestlers
listed in alphabetical order:
-Bam Bam Bigelow
-Booker T (despite his name, he's not actually the booker, Kevin Nash is)
-Bret Hart
-Buff Bagwell
-Chavo Guererro, Jr.
-Chris Benoit
-Chris Jericho (who will probably go to the WWF when his WCW contract
expires on July 27)
-Curt Hennig
-Dean Malenko
-Diamond Dallas Page
-Disco Inferno
-Eddie Guerrero
-Goldberg
-Hollywood Hogan
-Juventud Guerrera
-Kevin "I Push My Friends And Bury My Enemies Regardless Of How Much Talent
Any Of Them Have" Nash (also known as Kevin "I Couldn't Work A Decent Match
If My Life Depended On It" Nash and Kevin "I'm An Un-Athletic Lug Who
Doesn't Take Bumps" Nash)
-Kidman
-Konnan
-Lex Luger
-Psicosis
-Randy Savage
-Raven
-Rey Mysterio, Jr.
-Ric Flair
-Saturn
-Scott Hall (who hasn't been on TV for a while due to problems with drugs,
alcohol, and his marriage)
-Steve McMichael (who hasn't been on TV for a while because he sucks)
-Sting
-Wrath
Sega of America sometimes contradicts itself on the subject of PC-to-
Dreamcast ports. The Windows CE Operating System that Dreamcast developers
can work with makes it very easy to port PC games to the Dreamcast, and yet
Sega's Bernie Stolar and other Sega executives have repeatedly stated that
no PC ports will be allowed on the system unless they feature significant
improvements. So is Sega just saying that, or will they really enforce the
policy? Even if they don't enforce the policy, straight PC ports (PC
conversions with no improvements whatsoever) aren't all that bad. While
obviously it wouldn't help Sega's business if every crappy PC game under
the sun was ported to the Dreamcast, I wouldn't mind straight conversions
of such hit PC games as Quake 2. As long as they don't over-do it, there's
nothing wrong with straight PC-to-Dreamcast conversions in my opinion. It
may or may not offer significant improvements over the PC version, but the
latest confirmed PC-to-Dreamcast port is Baldur's Gate, the popular RPG.
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace for the PlayStation has been
delayed and is now due for an August release. LucasArts claims that they
delayed the game "to make it the best it can be," which is often just a
fancy way of saying "it sucks." Then again, it can also mean that it's an
awesome game that just needs a few months more polishing. Let's hope it
just needs a little more polishing and it doesn't suck like most of
LucasArts' other games. While the PlayStation version was delayed, the
PC version of the game was released as scheduled to coincide with the
launch of the movie.
In other Episode I game news, LucasArts has announced a new Episode I
game entitled Star Wars: Episode I: Obi Wan, which puts gamers in the role
of Obi Wan in a third-person adventure game very similar to Tomb Raider in
style. LucasArts would not reveal an exact release date for this game, but
they did say that the earliest it could be released is August. By the way,
my nickname is Obi Wan Jobronie.
The talented game designers at Oddworld Inhabitants, the makers of
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, are currently working
on two games for the PlayStation 2. The first game is titled Munch's
Oddysee, which has been in development for two years and may have another
two years before it's finished, according to Oddworld Inhabitants'
president Lorne Lanning. The game will feature a radically expanded social
structure that will hopefully offer a different kind of game that is just
as revolutionary as Abe's Oddysee was back in 1997. The game will be
completely 3D, but with none of the camera troubles typically associated
with 3D games, and GameSpeak has been expanded to allow users to form
complete sentences and hold more in-depth conversations. The second
upcoming Oddworld game is a strategy game titled The Hand of Odd. Besides
the fact that it will feature full-3D, photo-realistic landscapes, not much
information has been released about The Hand of Odd, I'm sure it will rock
given Oddworld Inhabitants' track record. The Hand of Odd is currently set
for a late 2000 release. Oddworld Inhabitants is also taking on one other
project at the moment: a full-length feature film based on the Oddworld
universe. The computer-generated movie features Abe, his friends, and his
enemies, and is currently in pre-production.
The popular PC strategy game Rainbow Six is being ported to the
PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Color. The PlayStation version will
differ the most from the original PC version, with 14 all-new levels and a
general less-characters, more-action theme (in other words, it's yet
another dumbed-down console port). The Nintendo 64 version features 12
missions from the original PC game and its add-on pack, with some minor
adjustments to the graphics and gameplay. The Game Boy Color version is
very limited in scope, but it's still fairly impressive for a Game Boy
game. The biggest question now (which wasn't really answered at E3) is:
What about multi-player modes? Rainbow Six was widely praised by the video
game press as a great single-player game, but the multi-player modes were
even better. It would be a shame if console gamers finally got to play
Rainbow Six on their system, but only got half the game.
Konami and Microsoft have signed a cross-platform publishing deal. In a
nutshell, the deal says that Microsoft can publish Metal Gear Solid for the
PC, and Konami can publish Microsoft's nice-looking racing game Midtown
Madness for the Nintendo 64. In other Konami news, whispers of Metal Gear
Solid being ported to the Nintendo 64 and/or Dreamcast have been
circulating for a long time, but Konami has never publicly acknowledged the
rumors... until now. Konami has publicly stated that Metal Gear Solid will
NOT be brought to the Dreamcast or the Nintendo 64.
EA Sports has signed up-and-coming basketball superstar Kevin Garnett to
endorse NBA Live 2000. Garnett will fulfill the duties previously held by
Antoine Walker for NBA Live '99, which include appearing in advertisements
for the game, making personal appearances to promote the game, and being
prominently featured on the game's packaging. In addition to all of
today's players and teams, Live 2000 will feature all the great teams and
players from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and you will be able to pit
any player in the game (old or young) against each other in the new 1-on-1
mode. The 1-on-1 mode features playground-style street basketball, but
just how fully-featured this mode will be remains in to be seen. Will you
be able to hold 1-on-1 tournaments? Will you be able to watch and/or
simulate computer-controlled matches? Will you be able to do a random-
select of all the game's players? If the answers to all of these questions
are no, then the 1-on-1 mode might get old fairly quickly. But if the
answers to these questions are yes, then I'm likely to dedicate several
years of my life to it. The madness begins this fall when NBA Live 2000 is
released for the PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo 64.
In addition being released for the PlayStation in October, Final Fantasy
8 will be released for the PC this winter, possibly in time for the
Christmas buying rush. Final Fantasy 8 seems like the most obvious
candidate for Game of the Year in my mind, but it hasn't been getting much
hype and it wasn't one of the showstoppers at E3. Now the question
becomes: Why the heck not? Maybe Square is not planning much hype at all
and are instead planning to quietly release the game and let word of mouth
work its magic, but more likely, they are just planning to cram a larger
amount of hype into a smaller amount of time, and they're waiting until the
summer to kick off their marketing campaign.
Capcom has revealed more details regarding Resident Evil: Nemesis for
the PlayStation. Jill's co-star in the game will be Carlos Olivereira, who
is described by Capcom as a "21-year-old, hot-blooded tough guy from South
America." I hate to say it, but Carlos's presence greatly decreases the
chances of Barry Burton appearing in the game. Also, the game will no
longer feature static backgrounds, and you'll be able to use objects in the
backgrounds to defend yourself. Plus, you're now able to dodge enemy
attacks instead of slowly rotating before eventually running away from
life-threatening situations. The game will also be less linear than
previous Resident Evil games, with the choices you make during gameplay
having a greater affect on what's happening in the game. Nemesis and the
awesome-looking Dino Crisis will be the staples of Capcom's PlayStation
lineup this fall, and Resident Evil 2 is the only game the company has in
store for N64 owners this fall. The Dreamcast is where Capcom is currently
spending most of its energy, with a trio of fighting games (Power Stone,
Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Marvel Vs. Capcom) as well as Resident Evil:
Code Veronica. The trio of fighting games should be on store shelves
before Christmas, with Resident Evil: Code Veronica to follow sometime next
year. Capcom's Yoshiki Okamoto recently hinted at a Resident Evil game
being in development for the PlayStation 2 as well.
Tiger Electronics' portable gaming system game.com has been re-launched
in a wide variety of new colors, in a smaller size, and with an attractive
$30 price tag. There's just one small problem: There still aren't any good
games for it!
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation Online, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Happy
Puppy, GameCenter, PlanetQuake, PSM Online, IGN 64, Nintendorks, The Sega
Zone, Sega Otaku, Gaming Age, Weekly Famistu, www.hamsterdance.com
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Master Gamer News- May 9, 1999
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