July 11, 1999 Square has finally confirmed existence of the game that we've all been waiting years to play: Chrono Trigger 2. Called Chrono Cross, the long- overdue follow-up to Square's classic 1995 RPG is for the PlayStation, not the PlayStation 2. Chrono Cross is due out this winter in Japan, but no US release date has been set. As a matter of fact, Square has yet to confirm that the game will ever be brought to the US, and a very real possibility exists that never will be. Of course, if this actually happens, you may one day read the following headline in reference to me: "Enraged Gamer Goes Ballistic Outside Square's World Headquarters, Accidentally Shoots Self In Foot." Nintendo of America president Howard Lincoln has revealed that Project Dolphin will launch at an extremely aggressive, mass-market price point. Lincoln would not say exactly how much the upcoming system will cost when it is released, but it could be as little as $150 or possibly even $99. How can Nintendo sell the system so cheaply without going broke when it's supposedly "just as powerful, or more powerful" than the PlayStation 2? Well, the system's PowerPC-based architecture will be much, much cheaper to produce than the PlayStation 2's revolutionary Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer. To make the system even more cheap, Nintendo is also cutting out all the extra stuff like the ability to play DVD movies on the system, the ability to play music CDs on the system, and maybe even the ability to connect to the Internet using the system. If you want to do anything with the system besides play games, you will have to buy a more expensive version of the system which will be manufactured and sold by Panasonic and perhaps other electronics companies as well. All versions of Project Dolphin (whether they're manufactured by Nintendo, Panasonic, or other companies) will be able to play all Project Dolphin games, the only difference is whether or not they will be able to perform additional tasks like playing DVD movies and connecting to the Internet. Project Dolphin is scheduled for a worldwide release in late 2000, although it could (and probably will) be delayed. Sega and Hollywood Video have confirmed the Dreamcast rental promotion, which is about to begin at over 1,000 Hollywood Video locations nationwide. Starting on July 15, gamers will be able to rent a Dreamcast system, Sonic Adventure, two controllers, and an RF cable all for $20. However, the system will be due back just two days later (as opposed to Hollywood's usual five days), and extra days cost an additional $20. In addition, you have to give the store a large sum of money ($350 at most locations) before you can rent the system, and you get the money back when you return it (this way they know you're not planning to keep it). Sonic Adventure will initially be the only game available in the rental promotion, and Ready 2 Rumble will be the next game to follow when it becomes available for rent sometime in August. More Dreamcast games could also be made available for rent before the system's retail release on September 9. Sega and Hollywood Video are also letting the video game retailer Electronics Boutique in on the promotion. Everyone who rents the Dreamcast at Hollywood Video will receive a coupon good for $10 off any Dreamcast product at any EB location. It was widely expected that the Dreamcast's slumping sales in Japan would increase when the hardware price cut of over 30% went into effect, but the Dreamcast's recent sales have surpassed all expectations. The latest sales figures available are for the week of June 21 to June 27, and in that week the Dreamcast was the #1-selling system in Japan. Dreamcast sales in this week were up over 1,000% (11 times greater) than the previous week. Here are the approximate hardware sales figures for the aforementioned week: 1. Dreamcast: 45,000 units sold 2. Sony PocketStation: 30,000 units sold 3. Sony PlayStation: 26,000 units sold 4. Game Boy Color: 15,000 units sold 5. Nintendo 64: 9,000 units sold 6. Bandai Wonder Swan: 7,000 units sold 7. Neo Geo Pocket Color: 2,000 units sold 8. Game Boy Pocket: 2,000 units sold In the category of Top 30 software sales, the PlayStation still dominated with a 68% share of the software market, thanks largely to the sheer number of PlayStation games available for purchase in Japan. The Dreamcast came in second place with 21%, followed by the Nintendo 64 with 9% and the Game Boy with 2%. No other systems had any games in the Top 30. Sega has acquired the services of Digital River to handle the Dreamcast's online store. The web site will let you pre-order or purchase Dreamcast games, hardware, merchandise, and peripherals. In addition to creating and maintaining the online store, Digital River will process all orders made through the store and will be responsible for customer service. In other Dreamcast news, Sega has begun to ship American Dreamcast systems to retailers nationwide for demo purposes. Many of the demo stations will feature playable demos of Sonic Adventure. Electronic Arts has revealed that Chris Jericho will remain in WCW Mayhem despite his recent signing of a multi-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation. Considering that The Big Show's signing with the WWF was considered too recent for Acclaim to add him into WWF Attitude (despite the fact that he debuted with the company in February and agreed to join the company months earlier), it is extremely unlikely that Jericho will appear in WWF Attitude. By the way, Chris Jericho could appear on WWF television as early as the August 9 Raw. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) has signed a national television deal with The Nashville Network (TNN). Starting on August 13, ECW will broadcast a nationally televised show every Friday at 8:00 Eastern Time on TNN. The signing of this deal is significant to the video game industry because it greatly increases the chances of Acclaim signing ECW to a video game deal. With or without the ECW license, Acclaim will continue to make wrestling games after it releases its last WWF wrestling game, WWF Attitude. Sony has announced that Final Fantasy 7 has joined the PlayStation's Greatest Hits promotion. The smash hit RPG now comes with a suggested retail price of $25, and many retailers are currently selling it for $20 or less. If you haven't already purchased this classic game, here's your chance to finally do it. Capcom has set a US release date for Dino Crisis, which is from the creators of Resident Evil 1 and 2. The highly anticipated survival horror game will be released Stateside on September 9. Hmm... let me think... what else is due for release on September 9? In the least surprising story of the week, more Nintendo games have been delayed. The US version of Pokemon Stadium (for the N64) has been delayed from its previously scheduled October 25 release date to March of next year. Pokemon Yellow (for the Game Boy, and starring Pikachu) has also been delayed and is now set for an October 25 release. In addition, Mario Artist and Mario Camera, which had previously been the only two games scheduled to be released for the dead 64DD, are now set to be released on regular N64 cartridges. Former industry giant GT Interactive is up for sale. In the most full of crap press release quote in recent memory, GT's CEO Thomas Heymann said, "While we have successfully initiated management action, the company is seeking a re-capitalization, merger, or sale because management believes that in this consolidating industry, GT would benefit from greater capital resources to achieve our long-term strategic objectives and to maximize shareholder value." In other words, "We ain't got no money! Somebody give us some money!" Heymann also announced that GT is shutting down One Zero Media, which was led by Heymann's predecessor as GT's CEO, Ron Chaimowitz. It took place many years too late for anyone to really care, but someone has finally recorded a perfect score (3,333,360) in Pac-Man. The person who did it is 33-year-old Billy Mitchell of Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. Mitchell is also the world record holder in Donkey Kong. Microsoft has announced that Windows 2000 will allow parents to easily control what kinds of games their kids can and cannot play on their PCs. The Windows Game Manager will allow parents to block out games with violence, strong language, or anything else they deem inappropriate. Fortunately for mature teenagers everywhere, the Game Manager can only block out games which include the required source code. What this means is that any developer who chooses not to support the Game Manager can make all their games immune to it. It is not yet known whether anyone has come up with a program to block out buggy, unstable, over-priced operating systems... USA Weekend, a magazine packaged in with over 500 newspapers nationwide, recently polled 1,005 adults on the topic of video game violence. A whopping 89% of respondents said that parents (not the government) should be responsible for shielding their children from violence. However, 67% of respondents said that the amount of violence allowed in video games should be limited. Eccentric billionaire Richard Branson is set to set sail on a ship named "PlayStation" this October. Branson, who has failed on five occasions to be the first person to circle the world in a balloon, will depart on the PlayStation from New York as he attempts to break the world record time for sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. The current record is about six and a half days. Square has struck a deal with Toyota to promote Final Fantasy 8 and Toyota cars. Everyone who pre-orders Final Fantasy 8 between July 30 and August 31 will have a chance at winning a 2000 Toyota Echo. In total, four of the vehicles will be given away. Final Fantasy 8 is scheduled to ship to retailers on September 7. The commercial PlayStation emulator Bleem has been shipped to over 500 retail stores across the country, the biggest of which are Electronics Boutique and CompUSA. The device lets you play most PlayStation games on your PC, and it is attractively priced at $30. Sony's efforts to block the release of the emulator have been unsuccessful thus far, but then again so were their attempts to kill Connectix's Virtual Game Station at first. Sony finally got a court order for Connectix to stop shipping the PlayStation emulators for the Mac to retailers, and they could still end up winning in court against the makers of Bleem. After some concern that its sale would be blocked due to its classification as a "super computer," it turns out that the PlayStation 2 will be sold in China, Russia, India, Israel and other countries with potential nuclear-bombing capabilities. The Clinton administration has decided that computer companies are allowed to sell any device to these countries without giving any notification to the US government, just as long as the devices being sold cannot perform over 6.5 billion floating point operations per second (the PlayStation 2 cannot). Previously, any device which could perform over two billion floating point operations per second had to be cleared by the US government before it could be sold to these countries. Delphine Software has filed a lawsuit against Electronic Arts. Delphine is the developer of Moto Racer 1 and 2, both of which were published by EA. Delphine claims that EA took knowledge gained during the development of the Moto Racer series and put it to work in EA's own motocross game, SuperCross 2000. Delphine also claims that EA has and is continuing to systematically destroy the Moto Racer series by shipping a pathetically low number of copies of Moto Racer 2 in Europe, and by dedicating minimal marketing resources to the series worldwide. On game CDs for Star Ocean: The Second Story, Sony's 1-900 hint line is listed as being 1-900-993-SONY, but in fact, the number is 1-900-933-SONY. As a result, those who call the number listed on the CD will come across a phone-sex line, not Sony's hint line. Regarding the typo on the CD, a Sony spokesperson reportedly stated, "D'oh!" The top-selling video games from June 13 to 19 were: PlayStation 1. Star Ocean: The Second Story 2. WWF War Zone 3. Syphon Filter 4. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete 5. Triple Play 2000 Nintendo 64 (same exact rankings the past three weeks) 1. Star Wars Episode I: Racer 2. Super Smash Bros. 3. Superman 64 4. Mario Party 5. Goldeneye 007 PC 1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 2. MechWarrior 3 3. Star Wars Episode I: Racer 4. Might and Magic 7 5. RollerCoaster Tycoon The best-selling games that are over a year of age were (in random order): WWF War Zone, Namco Museum Volume 1, Frogger (PlayStation version), Goldeneye 007, Super Mario 64, and Mario Kart 64. The most-rented game was Star Wars Episode I: Racer, with Super Smash Bros. coming in second place. After the French publisher Titus bought controlling interest in Interplay, they chose to sell Kingpin's publishing rights to Activision. Developed by Xatrix (best known for Redneck Rampage), Kingpin is an ultra- violent game with very graphic language. A game retailer in my area is ruffling some feathers by refusing to sell the game unless you have an ID to prove that you're 17 or over. When asked whether this was the retailer's own doing or the publisher's decision, a sales clerk at the retailer told me that Activision is instructing all retailers not to sell the game to anyone under 17. Eidos Interactive is getting a quite a bit of free publicity for its biggest franchise, as the Tomb Raider logo is prominently displayed on the cover of this month's Playboy magazine. The issue features a pictorial of Nell McAndrew, who until recently was employed by Eidos to appear publicly as Lara Croft. Electronic Arts is negotiating with sports agent David Falk to land one of the most prized sports licenses of all: Michael Jordan. If the deal is signed, EA will be able to feature Jordan's name and likeness in a series of games focusing either on basketball or golf, which is currently Jordan's favorite hobby. At the recent International Advertising Festival in England, the advertising agency TWBA won first place in the print and poster award category for their creative PlayStation ad. The ad depicts a teenage boy and a teenage girl wearing tight shirts, and they have PlayStation controllers where their nipples should be. This is not a joke. 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 Back To The Main Page Master Gamer News- June 26, 1999 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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