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Master Gamer News- May 21, 1999
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
June 26, 1999
Sega and Hollywood Video have partnered to make the Dreamcast available
for rent at Hollywood Video starting sometime in July. It is not known how
many Dreamcasts will be available in the rental program, but it is
reportedly a five-digit number (between 10,000 and 99,999). These systems
are sitting in warehouses right now ready to be shipped to the over 1,400
Hollywood Video locations nationwide, and Sega will ship them just as soon
as the games they want to be a part of the rental program are 100% finished.
Sega wants to have Midway's Ready 2 Rumble, Namco's Soul Calibur, and their
own Sonic Adventure finished and available for rent when the system ships
to Hollywood Video.
If these games take longer than expected to be completed, the
introduction of the rental promotion could easily be pushed back to August.
However, Sega will undoubtedly push hard for the rental program to start in
July so that it starts around the same time as their national TV
advertising campaign (this way they can say right in the commercials,
"Available for rent now at Hollywood Video"). As more and more Dreamcast
launch games are finished, more games could also be added to the rental
promotion before the system's retail release on September 9.
Sega would not confirm this report, but a Sega spokesperson did say,
"We will soon be announcing a nationwide promotion with a major national
rental agent." In addition, some Hollywood Video locations have already
tipped their hat about the deal by distributing fliers which hype the
upcoming promotion. It is not known how much it will cost to rent the
system, but Hollywood Video's current rates for the PlayStation and the
Nintendo 64 are $15 for a five-day rental (with two controllers and an RF
cable also included). It is also not known how much the Dreamcast games
will cost to rent (or if they will be bundled with the system), but
Hollywood currently rents out their games at the rate of $5 for five days.
As a side note, Midway has been touting Ready 2 Rumble's ability to let
you box against other gamers using the Dreamcast's 56K modem, but if Ready
2 Rumble is part of the rental program, it is not known whether you'll be
able to do this right away, or if you'll have to wait until the formal
introduction of the Dreamcast's online gaming service on September 9.
Hollywood Video is the second-largest video game rental chain in the
country, behind only Blockbustter Video.
President Clinton has announced that the United States Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will spend $1 million of tax-
payers' money to investigate the marketing practices of the video game
industry. Specifically, they will be looking to see if video game
companies are targeting inappropriately violent games at young children.
Clinton said, "We can no longer ignore the well-documented connection
between violence in the media and the effects that it has on children's
behavior." Then again, Clinton once also said, "I did not have sex with
that woman, Miss Lewinsky," so nothing he says has any credibility. Even
if Bubba did a shred of credibility left after all the BS he fed the
American public ("I didn't have sex with her, she just got down on her
knees and..." well, you know the rest), the fact remains that the proof
behind the so-called "well-documented connection" does not actually exist
in the real world (as opposed to the "politicians saying whatever they can
to make themselves look good" world).
As always, the Interactive Digital Software Association's president Doug
Lowenstein spoke out in defense of the video game industry, using actual
facts to back up his claims instead of the other side's broad, un-proven
statements. Lowenstein pointed out that 90% of game purchases are made by
people 18 or older, so most of the time when a child owns a violent game,
it's because his mom or dad bought it for him.
Shortly after President Clinton ordered the investigation on the video
game industry's marketing practices, Senators Joseph Lieberman and John
McCain proposed a bill which would create a universal rating system for
violence in video games, movies, and music. If the proposal goes through,
retailers would be responsible for enforcing age restrictions based on a
product's violence ratings, and any retailers not cooperating could be
investigated by the Federal Trade Commission and fined.
All is not dark and dreary for the video game industry, though, as it
won two important votes in the House of Representatives recently.
Congressman Henry Hyde proposed that explicitly violent material in any
format (be it video game, movie, or book) could not be sold to anyone under
the age of 18. The House of Representatives rejected the bill by the vote
of 282 to 146 (a 2-to-1 margin), with many representatives saying that the
proposal was unconstitutional. Speaking of the Constitution, Henry Hyde
also proposed that First Amendment protection should be completely removed
for any kind of extremely violent or sexual material, including video games,
movies, magazines, pictures, sculptures, drawings, and music. The proposal
was batted down with the same 2-to-1 margin as the previous vote, 282 to
146. Thank you, Mr. Hyde. You may sit back down now.
Hang on to your wigs and keys, I've got a lot of Dreamcast news to
report...
Unlike the Nintendo 64's list of launch games in 1996 (which got smaller
and smaller until only two games, Super Mario 64 and Pilot Wings 64, were
left), the Dreamcast's list of launch games just keeps getting bigger and
bigger. As a matter of fact, the national video game retailer Electronics
Boutique reports that 18 games are now scheduled to be released with the
Dreamcast on September 9. Of those 18 games, about half of them are
looking extremely hot, and the other half aren't quite as anticipated (but
in many cases, that's just because very little information has been
released on them). Anyway, here's the list:
Hot
-NFL 2000 (tentative title)
-Sonic Adventure
-Ready 2 Rumble
-Soul Calibur
-Power Stone
-House of the Dead 2
-Rainbow Six
-Hydro Thunder
-NFL Blitz 2000
Not So Hot
-Mortal Kombat Gold
-Trick Style
-CART Racing
-Air Force Delta
-Aero Wings
-Monaco Grand Prix
-Tokyo Extreme Racer
-TNN Motor Sports 2
-Armada
One last claim that was made by Electronics Boutique is that Sega will
not have a Dreamcast light gun available at the system's launch, but
Interact and Mad Catz will. EB also reports that in addition to the
assumed RF cables, extra controllers, and Virtual Memory Units (VMUs), Sega
will also be selling a keyboard at the system's launch, which would make
web browsing, e-mail typing, and Quake-playing much easier. By the way,
the Dreamcast has already racked up over 100,000 pre-orders nationwide.
For the purposes of comparison, Sony hit its 100,000th pre-order just
before the PlayStation's release on September 9, 1995, and the PlayStation
has gone on to do pretty well...
The Dreamcast is shaping up to be a fighting game lover's dream, with
launch titles Soul Calibur and Power Stone both generating tremendous buzz
and anticipation. However, the Dreamcast will have one less fighting game
when it is released on September 9 than originally expected, as Virtua
Fighter 3 Team Battle has been delayed. The Japanese version of the game
did not have a Versus mode, and Sega of America is taking the extra time to
add the mode to the US version of the game. Sega claims that VF3tb will
still be released shortly after the Dreamcast's launch. In addition, three
more games have been pushed back from being launch games to being "shortly
after launch" games. Those three games are: NBA 2000 (tentative title),
Get Bass (which may be called Sega Bass Fishing in the US), and Sega Rally
2.
The business trade publication Asia Biztech is reporting that SegaSoft's
online gaming service for the Dreamcast, entitled Dreamcast HEAT, will be
up and running in the US when the system is released on September 9.
Dreamcast HEAT will allow Dreamcast owners to play against other owners of
the system from around the world in a variety of games, including NFL 2000,
Ready 2 Rumble, Sega Rally 2, Slave Zero, Baldur's Gate, Frontier, and many
more. Asia Biztech also claims that Dreamcast HEAT will have many outside-
the-game features, including video chat. In addition, the newest version
of the Dreamcast's web browser and e-mail program, Dream Passport, is about
to be released in Japan. The browser supports JavaScript, MIDI files, WAV
files, and parental lock-out features. The e-mail program lets you attach
pictures, sounds, and game files to e-mails and send them to others. It's
like WebTV, only it's free.
Sega is relying on Visual Concepts to make its football and basketball
games for the Dreamcast, and now it is turning to a small developer called
Black Box to make an NHL hockey game for the system. Black Box is based in
Canada and employs several people who used to work at Radical, where they
helped develop the brilliant NHL Powerplay '96 for the PlayStation and
Saturn. Black Box may also develop a NASCAR racing game for Sega, but the
company's primary focus right now is on the NHL game. Just as it owns
Visual Concepts, Sega owns Black Box as well. One list tidbit of Dreamcast
information: The main page of Sega's web site (www.sega.com) includes some
very subtle Sony-bashing. If you take a look at the source code for the
Dreamcast logo on the page, you'll find the words "Sony sucks" typed into
the code.
3dfx has filed a lawsuit against former partner Creative Labs. The
lawsuit revolves around Creative's development of its "Unified" technology,
which allows gamers to play games enhanced by 3dfx's custom programming
interface, Glide, even if they don't own a 3dfx-based graphics accelerator.
Specifically, anyone who buys Creative's 3D Blaster card (based on Nvidia's
TNT2 graphics technology) could play Glide-enhanced games. This would
eliminate one of 3Dfx's biggest weapons (the fact that Glide-only games can
only be played on 3dfx graphics chips), and would definitely give Creative
a major advantage over both 3dfx's Voodoo 3 products and TNT2 products from
other companies.
Is this fair or unfair? Legal or illegal? 3dfx believes it is illegal
because Creative allegedly used 3Dfx's source code to create the Unified
technology (Creative had access to the source code when they were partners
with 3dfx). Creative is being charged with copyright infringement and
breach of contract. Creative claims that the group that developed the
Unified technology had no access to 3dfx's source code, and they are
willing to submit the Unified technology's source code to a third party for
comparison. Creative says they were about to do so when 3dfx slapped them
with the lawsuit. Unless a judge forbids them from doing so, Creative
plans on bundling the Unified technology with all of its 3D Blaster TNT2
cards within a few weeks, and people who already own the 3D Blaster will be
able to download the technology off of Creative's web site for free by the
end of June.
3dfx must have been in a very lawsuit-happy mood, because they are also
suing Creative for back payments supposedly owed from Voodoo 2 sales. In
addition, 3dfx is suing Nvidia (makers of the Voodoo 3-butt-kicking TNT2
technology) for copyright infringement. 3dfx claims that Nvidia took
patented 3dfx graphics techniques and implemented them into the design of
the TNT2 chipset. With that kind of logic, Id Software should sue
every company that has ever made a first-person shooter since 1992 since
they all clearly use Id's "techniques."
With GT Interactive going through extensive corporate restructuring, a
move from New York to Los Angeles, and the financial woes that come when
your stock is trading at below $4, the critically acclaimed developer
Oddworld Inhabitants may be looking to find itself a new publisher for its
future Oddworld games. GT could simply sell the publishing rights to
future Oddworld games on a title-by-title basis, but the more likely
scenario is that GT will sell its 50% ownership stake in Oddworld
Inhabitants (and for a heck of a lot more than the $7 million it originally
paid for the 50% stake in 1996). With Oddworld making its next two games
(Munch's Oddysee and The Hand of Odd) for the PlayStation 2, which is
extremely expensive to develop for, they probably have more development
costs than the financially strapped GT can accommodate. If GT does end up
selling Oddworld Inhabitants, it will almost certainly be after a heated
bidding war involving at least a half-dozen companies takes place.
NEC, the creator and manufacturer of the Dreamcast's graphics chipset,
may also manufacture the graphics chipset for Nintendo's next system, code-
named Project Dolphin. The technology trade publication EE Times reports
that NEC will integrate between 8MB and 16MB of RAM onto the chip and
manufacture it for Nintendo and the chip's developer, ArtX. For the record,
the division of NEC working with Sega is not the same division that will
supposedly work with Nintendo. NEC would not comment on the EE Times
report.
KB Toys has broken the PlayStation and Nintendo 64's $130 suggested
retail price and is now selling the systems for $99 each. In addition, new
N64 owners will get a gift certificate which gives them $30 worth of free
peripherals for their new system. Both the PlayStation and the N64 are
still sold for $130 at other retailers, and KB is promoting their lower
prices by answering their phones, "KB Toys, where you can buy the
PlayStation and Nintendo 64 for $99."
The annual Game Critics' Awards have been handed out to the best games
of last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Thirty-two of the over
55,000 people attending E3, all of them video game magazine editors
(including Chris Charla and Mike Salmon), voted on their favorite games of
E3 in a variety of categories. The following is a listing of the award
winners:
Best Product of Show: Freelancer for PC
(runner-up: Giants: Citizen Kabuto for PC)
Most Original Game: Black and White for PC
(runner up: Giants: Citizen Kabuto for PC)
Best PC Game: Freelancer
(runner-up: Black and White)
Best Console Game: Perfect Dark for N64
(runner-up: Ready 2 Rumble for Dreamcast)
Best Action Game: Team Fortress 2 for PC
(runner-up: Giants: Citizen Kabuto for PC)
Best Action/Adventure Game: Oni for PC
(runner-up: Dino Crisis for PlayStation)
Best Action/Platform Game: Donkey Kong 64 for N64
(runner-up: Ape Escape for PlayStation)
Best Fighting Game: Soul Calibur for Dreamcast
(runner-up: Power Stone for Dreamcast)
Best RPG: Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption for PC
(runner-up: Deus Ex for PC)
Best Racing Game: Driver for PlayStation and PC
(runner-up: Gran Turismo 2 for PlayStation)
Best Simulation Game: Freelancer for PC
(runner-up: The Sims for PC)
Best Sports Game: NFL 2000 for Dreamcast
(runner-up: NBA Live 2000- PC version)
Best Strategy Game: Homeworld for PC
(runner-up: Black and White for PC)
Best Online Multi-Player Game: Team Fortress 2
(runner-up: Quake 3: Arena)
Best Graphics: Freelancer for PC
Best Sound: Um Jammer Lammy for PlayStation and Outcast for PC (tie)
Best New PC Hardware: Nvidia's Riva TNT2
(runner-up: 3Dfx's Voodoo 3 3500)
Best New Console Hardware: Sega Dreamcast
(runner-up: SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color)
Best Overall Booth of Show: Electronic Arts
(runner-up: Sony)
Overall, the top games of the show according to the 32 people polled
were clearly Freelancer, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Black and White, and Team
Fortress 2 (all of which are for the PC).
Here are the sales rankings of video game systems in Japan during the
four-week period between May 17 and June 13, followed by the approximate
number of units sold for each system in those four weeks:
1. Sony PocketStation: 111,000 units sold
2. Sony PlayStation: 87,000 units sold
3. Game Boy Color: 68,000 units sold
4. Bandai Wonder Swan: 46,000 units sold
5. Nintendo 64: 30,000 units sold
6. Sega Dreamcast: 12,000 units sold
7. Game Boy Pocket: 11,000 units sold
8. Neo Geo Pocket Color: 7,000 units sold
By the way, the reason Dreamcast sales are so low is because Sega
announced a big price drop for the system in Japan, but it didn't actually
go into effect for several weeks. Therefore, anybody in Japan who was
thinking about buying a Dreamcast would more than likely wait until the
price dropped to make the purchase. The Dreamcast's price cut has since
gone into effect and Dreamcast sales have gone up considerably, but sales
figures for that period are not yet available.
Here are the percentages of Top 30 software sold in Japan during the
four-week period between May 17 and June 13:
Sony PlayStation: 71%
Nintendo 64: 15%
Game Boy: 7%
Wonder Swan: 4%
Sega Dreamcast: 3%
Nintendo has clarified reports that it would limit the number of third-
party developers for Project Dolphin to just three. It was the business
trade publication Asia Biztech that made this claim, but Nintendo says it
is only partially true. While Nintendo is indeed limiting the number of
developers who have their hands on Dolphin development kits right now, it
will eventually allow many other companies to make games for the system.
Currently, Nintendo is dedicating most of its development resources to
Project Dolphin. The only other companies currently in possession of
Dolphin development kits are Rare, Retro Studios, and a couple other
companies with close ties to Nintendo. All this for a system that is
supposedly going to be released in the US by the end of next year...
The video game press has been doing it for months, but several
mainstream media outlets (most notably MSNBC) are now openly questioning
Sony's ability to manufacture the PlayStation 2 and sell it at a consumer-
level price. MSNBC estimated that the system's Emotion Engine alone could
cost $100 to produce, and the Graphics Synthesizer could cost another $100.
Sony could still sell the system at around $300 if it really wanted to, but
more than likely it would be at a big loss. Sony is expected to show
numerous PlayStation 2 demos (hopefully actual game demos instead of just
technology demos) at the Fall Tokyo Game Show this September, as well at
next year's E3 show.
In other PlayStation 2 news, the system's Emotion Engine is so powerful
that the United States Department of Commerce is thinking about classifying
it as a super-computer. If this were to happen, PSX 2 availability would
be severely limited in China given that they have all of our military
secrets and the US government doesn't want them to have access to our
"super-computers."
Sega has announced that for now at least, they are getting out of the
portable gaming market completely and will now make portable games for
Nintendo's Game Boy and Bandai's Wonder Swan. What about the Dreamcast's
Virtual Memory Unit (VMU), you ask? Plans for the VMU are still going full
steam ahead, but it's really more of a Dreamcast peripheral than a real
portable gaming system.
Square has revealed that Final Fantasy 8 for the PlayStation will ship
to retailers nationwide on September 7, and should be in stores by the 8th.
In addition, the game will be released for the PC this winter (maybe late
this year, maybe early next year). In other Final Fantasy news, Square's
Japanese retailer Digicube has stated that Final Fantasy 9 will be released
for the PlayStation 1, and it could ship in Japan as early as the second
quarter of next year (April-June). Square has yet to officially confirm
Digicube's claims, and even if the game is released for the PlayStation 1,
it could still be released for the PlayStation 2 as well.
Sony has confirmed the existence of Wild Arms 2, the sequel to the cult
hit 1997 RPG which was unfortunately swept up in the wave of Final Fantasy
7 hype. The game features a male, blue-haired character named Ashley who
looks a lot like Wild Arms 1's main character, as well as a female
character named Riruka and a male character named Brad who looks like Wild
Arms 1's Jack with some gray hair. Sony has not announced a US release
date for Wild Arms 2, but I would suspect that they might hold off until
next year to release it so that it isn't overshadowed by Final Fantasy 8
like its predecessor was overshadowed by FF7.
With all the new Resident Evil games on the horizon, you may be
wondering which one (if any) will be called Resident Evil 3. The answer is
Resident Evil: Nemesis for the PlayStation, which is now known as Resident
Evil 3: Nemesis. The game stars RE1's Jill Valentine and is due out this
November. Still no sign of Barry Burton.
Rare has revealed a few interesting gameplay details pertaining to
Perfect Dark, the unofficial sequel to Goldeneye 007. You will be able to
take pictures of yourself using the Game Boy Camera and then import the
pictures into the game and place them onto the heads of the various
characters in the game's multi-player modes. Also, Rare is trying to make
standing in one place much less attractive to would-be campers with a new
weapon that is extremely effective against enemies who are standing still,
but practically useless against enemies who are running. Perfect Dark is
still set for a December release.
Following the tragic death of Owen Hart at the WWF's pay-per-view last
month, Acclaim has taken the Blue Blazer character out of its upcoming
wrestling game, WWF Attitude. Acclaim also removed the Blue Blazer costume
from the Create A Wrestler screen, but they are keeping Owen Hart in the
game and may dedicate the game to his memory.
Nintendo's ten-year licensing agreement with LodgeNet is taking effect,
as approximately 11,000 Nintendo 64s are finding their way to hotel rooms
nationwide each month. Hotels who previously installed Super Nintendo
systems in their rooms are also being offered an upgrade to the newer N64.
Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Maxis have announced that Sim
City 3000 has sold over a million copies. In addition, the game's official
web site (www.simcity.com) is doing extremely well. Owners of the game can
go to the site and upload their cities onto it, and also download other
user-created cities. EA also announced that the Macintosh version of Sim
City 3000 is now set for a July 15 release. Lastly, Sim City creator Will
Wright has made Entertainment Weekly's "It List," their list of the 100
most creative people in the entertainment industry. PlayStation creator
Ken Kutaragi also made the list, as did Pikachu (how can a fictional
character be creative?).
The smash hit PC game Rainbow Six is on its way to the Sega Dreamcast.
Red Storm Entertainment, who developed and published the PC version of the
game, has licensed out the Dreamcast rights to the game to Majesco Sales.
Majesco says the game will be available at the Dreamcast's launch on
September 9.
In the least surprising story of the past few weeks, more Nintendo games
have been delayed. First of all, Pokemon Gold and Silver have been pushed
back in Japan. They were previously scheduled to be released sometime this
summer, and now they're supposedly due out in September. There is no word
yet on how this will affect the release dates of the US versions, but
Nintendo of America is currently focusing much more on finishing the Yellow
edition than the Gold and Silver editions. In addition, Rare's Jet Force
Gemini has been delayed and is now supposedly due out on September 27.
Nintendo has announced the newest games in its Player's Choice promotion
wherein old Nintendo 64 games sell at discounted rates. Starting on
August 23, Zelda 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, 1080 Degrees
Snowboarding, and Yoshi's Story will all cost just $40.
Video game soundtracks may be eligible for this year's Grammy awards.
The academy behind the awards show has added a new category called "Music
For Film, Television, and Other Visual Media." It has not yet been
officially confirmed, but many video game music composers are confident
that the "other visual media" in the category's title includes video games.
Plans could change in the future, but as of right now EA Sports has
canned the Nintendo 64 version of FIFA 2000. The latest edition in the
popular soccer series is due out on October 29 for the PlayStation and PC,
but poor sales of EA's N64 products and poor sales of soccer games in
general in the US prompted EA to ditch the N64 version.
Believe it or not, two new games are in development for the Atari Jaguar.
After Hasbro Interactive bought what was left of Atari Corp. for $5 million,
it gained the rights to all the classic Atari brands. One of the not-so-
classic brands it also acquired was the ill-fated Jaguar, and so at E3
Hasbro announced that it would release all rights to the Jaguar. This
means that anybody can make games for the system and they don't have to pay
any licensing fees or royalties to Hasbro. Now OMC Games is developing two
RPGs for the system, saying that "we have nothing to lose" (except, of
course, their time and money) and "we don't need state-of-the-art hardware
to do it" (apparently not). The first RPG is called The Assassin and is
due out in early 2000, and the second RPG is called Age of Darkness and is
due out later in 2000.
After buying Interactive Magic's CD-ROM division and all the games in
it, Ubi Soft has chosen not to publish the controversial first-person
shooter Mortyr. The game's gory cover features Nazi symbolism, which was
enough to make many retailers think twice about ordering the game (despite
the fact that you're killing Nazis in the game and there's no option to
play as them). The cover art was something the France-based Ubi Soft could
have easily changed as the holder of the game's publishing rights, but the
game's typical first-person shooter violence discouraged Ubi from
publishing it. An Ubi Soft spokesperson claimed that they didn't think
Mortyr was an "Ubi Soft type of game" (you know, games with bright,
Frenchie-looking graphics and crappy gameplay). Ubi is now selling the
publishing rights to Mortyr, and it's likely to be a hot seller when it is
eventually released because of all the free publicity this controversy is
giving it.
Westwood Studios' latest release date for Command & Conquer: Tiberian
Sun is August 27. In addition, anyone who pre-orders the game at Babbage's,
Electronics Boutique, or direct from its publisher Electronic Arts will get
a limited edition of the game. The special edition of the game will come
in silver, numbered boxes and will include a GDI or Nod action figure, as
well as a manual signed by the development team.
Crash Bandicoot 4 will not be developed by the series' creators at
Naughty Dog; instead, it will be created by Eurocom. Previously, Eurocom
brought Mortal Kombat 4 and War Gods to the Nintendo 64 for Midway. They
also developed Duke Nukem 64 for GT Interactive and Hercules for Disney
Interactive. Crash 4 will obviously be for the PlayStation, but there is
no word yet on its release date.
Square has announced six of the voice actors for its upcoming Final
Fantasy movie. The actors are Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Donald Sutherland,
Ming Na Wen (who was recently in Disney's Mulan), Ving Rhames, and Steve
Buscemi. The movie, which will be completely computer-generated, is due
out in the summer of 2001.
The latest major acquisition in the 3D graphics acceleration market is
S3's purchase of Diamond Multimedia for $165 million. S3 is the creator of
the pathetic Virge graphics chipset and the decent Savage chipset, and
Diamond makes 3D cards for a variety of companies (previously focusing on
3Dfx, currently focusing on Nvidia).
With almost three million Pokemon Red and Blue cartridges sold, it would
be an understatement to say that the Pokemon phenomenon has spread to the
US. The success of all things Pokemon will only increase when Pokemon The
Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back is released in the US. Now Warner Bros. has
purchased the exclusive worldwide rights (except in Asia) to release the
movie, and they plan to do so in the US on November 12.
Ion Storm's RPG Deus Ex turned its fair share of heads at last month's
E3 show, but the company's flagship game Daikatana was widely regarded as a
joke. Worse yet, John Romero is still not serious about getting off of his
butt and finishing the game, as it is now officially set for a "Christmas
'99" release (it was also once set for an "early 1997" release). In
addition, Ion Storm rumors continue to fly, as CEO Todd Porter and art
director Jerry O'Flaherty have supposedly been fired by the powers that be
at Eidos Interactive, who will publish Daikatana if and when it is ever
released. By the way, this would probably be a legitimate question at an
Eidos board meeting: "Do you think we should give more money to Ion Storm,
or just put it in the shredder?"
Here is a list of the top five best-selling PlayStation games from
May 30 to June 5:
1. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
2. Ridge Racer Type 4
3. Syphon Filter
4. Triple Play 2000
5. WWF War Zone
The top five best-selling Nintendo 64 games from May 30 to June 5 were:
1. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
2. Super Smash Bros.
3. Superman 64
4. Mario Party
5. Goldeneye 007
The top five best-selling PC games from May 30 to June 5 were:
1. MechWarrior 3
2. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
3. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
4. Aliens vs. Predator
5. Star Trek: Birth of the Federation
The best-selling games over one year of age right now are Goldeneye 007,
Namco Museum Volume 1, and Mario Kart 64. The hottest-renting game on the
market right now is Super Smash Bros., followed by Star Wars Episode I:
Racer.
This has nothing to do with video games, but it is thoroughly
disturbing and well worth sharing nonetheless. I was flipping channels the
other day when I came to PBS and witnessed an entire show which consisted
of lesbians sitting around, talking, eating dinner, and dancing. Here's
the problem: Almost of them were butt-ugly with short gray hair and over 60
years of age. The show was actually called "Old Lesbians Getting Together."
The mental images that popped into my brain when I thought about what these
people might do when the show went off the air will leave me with emotional
and mental scars for the rest of my life. What the heck was this event
doing on television? And what the heck was it doing on the Public
Broadcasting System, of all channels? If you've ever made a donation to
public TV, how does it make you feel to know that they're spending your
money on a bunch of old lesbians?
MASTER GAMER'S TOP TEN ALL-TIME MOST-ACCESSED REVIEWS
1. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee Review
2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review
3. Spyro the Dragon Review
4. Silent Hill Review
5. Time Crisis 2 Review
6. International Superstar Soccer Pro '98 Review
7. Tomb Raider 3 Review
8. Tomba Review
9. Monster Rancher Review
10. Xenogears Review
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation Online, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Happy
Puppy, 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 21, 1999
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
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