July 23, 1999 There hasn't been much news to speak of in the past couple of weeks, so this edition of Master Gamer News is a bit smaller than usual. Sure, there were plenty of fluff-filled press releases over the past two weeks, but there was very little real, relevant news. If you want the fluff, you could go to any of a countless number of other video game web sites. If you want the actual news, read on. Square has announced that Chrono Cross will be released in the US sometime next year, squashing initial concerns that the game might never be brought to the US. The sequel to the classic SNES RPG Chrono Trigger does not have a more specific release date, just "sometime next year." Two other Square RPGs that have been confirmed for a 2000 US release are Legend of Mana (Secret of Mana's sequel) and Dew Prism. Just in case it wasn't already clear, The NPD Group has the sales figures to prove that sales of wrestling games have gone through the roof. Sales of wrestling games were over five times greater in 1998 than they were in 1997, and sales went up an additional 23% in the first five months of 1999. According to NPD, a whopping 70% of wrestling games are purchased by gamers under the age of 18. The wrestling game scene will see somewhat of a shake-up in the near future as each of the major wrestling brands finds a new home (the WWF with THQ, WCW with Electronic Arts, and perhaps ECW with Acclaim). In the meantime, expect Acclaim's WWF Attitude to fly off store shelves regardless of how good or bad it ends up being. You should expect THQ to ultimately come out on top in the wrestling game sales war, because it's not wrestling in general that's booming, it's the WWF. The WWF's Raw is War has been the highest-rated show on all of cable television for some time now. In addition, Raw recently shattered the all-time average rating for a weekly cable series, averaging a 6.5 rating in the second quarter of this year (no cable show had over broken the 6.0 barrier over an entire quarter). Meanwhile, WCW's revenues have actually gone down in every single category over the past year, from TV ratings to pay-per-view buys to house show attendance. Rockstar Games has announced that WCW wrestler Kevin "I Haven't Wrestled A Decent Match Since April 1996" Nash will appear in commercials for the company's upcoming game Monster Truck Madness 64. The deal with Kevin "Stupidest Booker of All Time" Nash was a natural because a licensing deal with WCW had already been struck in the game (there are several monster trucks branded with the WCW and NWO logos). No word yet on what Kevin "I Push My Friends and Bury My Enemies Regardless of How Much Talent Any of Them Have" Nash will say or do in the commercials, but if it's anything like his matches, he won't take any bumps, but he will dish out repetitive and weak-looking knees and elbows in the corner... Acclaim's CEO Gregory Fischbach has revealed that the first game in the company's new wrestling franchise will be for the PlayStation 2. Fischbach also revealed that: -Acclaim will have its new wrestling game available at the system's launch. The PlayStation 2 is currently scheduled for a late 2000 release in the US, but it could easily slip into 2001. -Acclaim is fully supporting not only the PlayStation 2, but also the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo's Project Dolphin. However, Acclaim says it will not have any games ready for Nintendo's system until August or September of 2001, which goes to show you that Acclaim (like the rest of the industry) does not believe that Nintendo will release the system in late 2000 like they claim they will. -Just to recap, WWF Attitude (now set for an August release on both the PlayStation and N64) will be Acclaim's last WWF game. It has not yet been decided what license Acclaim's future wrestling games will carry, if any. Acclaim is in serious negotiations with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), but no deal has been signed yet. Master Gamer's sales charts will be top ten lists instead of top five lists from now on, and included in parenthesis next to each game will be its average retail price, rounded to the nearest five dollars ($40, $45, $50, etc.) The top ten selling PlayStation games between June 27 and July 3 were: 1. Driver (average retail price: $45) 2. Star Ocean: The Second Story ($40) 3. Syphon Filter ($40) 4. Ape Escape ($40) 5. WWF War Zone ($20) 6. The Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit ($20) 7. Triple Play 2000 ($40) 8. MLB 2000 ($40) 9. The Need For Speed: High Stakes ($40) 10. Lunar: Silver Star Story ($55) The top ten selling Nintendo 64 games between June 27 and July 3 were: 1. Super Smash Bros. (average retail price: $50) 2. Star Wars Episode I: Racer ($60) 3. Command & Conquer ($50) 4. Mario Party ($50) 5. Superman ($60) 6. Goldeneye 007 ($40) 7. Super Mario 64 ($40) 8. Mario Kart 64 ($40) 9. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ($60) 10. Quake 2 ($55) The top ten selling PC games between June 27 and July 3 were: 1. Total Annihilation: Kingdoms (average retail price: $30) 2. Kingpin: Life of Crime ($50) 3. Dungeon Keeper 2 ($40) 4. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace ($45) 5. Star Wars Episode I: Racer ($45) 6. Star Wars Millennium Falcon ($20) 7. RollerCoaster Tycoon ($30) 8. MechWarrior 3 ($45) 9. Sim City 3000 ($40) 10. Aliens vs. Predator ($40) The #1-renting game on the market was Super Smash Bros., followed by Star Wars Episode I: Racer. Sega Sports has chosen Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss to appear on the cover of their upcoming football Dreamcast game NFL 2K (formerly known as NFL 2000). The game was developed by Visual Concepts and will be released along with the Dreamcast on September 9. In his first NFL season last year, Moss was named Rookie of the Year and quickly emerged as one of the best players in the sport. Speaking of Sega Sports, their upcoming Dreamcast basketball game NBA 2K has been delayed. Also developed by Visual Concepts, NBA 2K is now due for a November release. Capcom has announced that Resident Evil: Code Veronica for the Dreamcast will be released in the US sometime in November. This is earlier than the date Capcom previously gave retailers, December 16. Capcom also announced that both of its Dreamcast launch games will be available for rental at Hollywood Video prior to the Dreamcast's release on September 9. The two games that Capcom will have ready for the Dreamcast's launch are Power Stone and Marvel vs. Capcom. Power Stone will be available for rental at Hollywood Video on August 1, with Marvel vs. Capcom to follow on August 30. In addition, Capcom is preparing to ship a Dreamcast version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 to retailers in October. Gran Turismo continues to sell well worldwide and is now closing in on seven million units sold. Of those seven million units, 2.5 million have been sold in Europe, 2.4 million in Japan, and 2.0 million in the US (for a total of 6.9 million units sold worldwide). Gran Turismo is also the best- selling game ever to be published by Sony Computer Entertainment America, and it was the PlayStation's best-selling game in the US last year. One week after the Dreamcast's massive price cut went into effect in Japan, the PlayStation once again overtook the Dreamcast as the best- selling video game console in Japan, out-sold only by Sony's own PocketStation The PlayStation's comeback was largely due to the release of Dino Crisis (Capcom's newest survival horror game), which sold 400,000 copies in its first week on store shelves. Without further ado, here are the Japanese sales figures for the period of June 28 to July 4: 1. Sony PocketStation: 38,000 units sold 2. Sony PlayStation: 34,000 units sold 3. Sega Dreamcast: 25,000 units sold 4. Game Boy Color: 17,000 units sold 5. Bandai's Wonder Swan: 10,000 units sold 6. Nintendo 64: 9,000 units sold 7. Game Boy Pocket: 2,000 units sold 8. Neo Geo Pocket Color: 1,000 units sold Top 30 Software Sales PlayStation: 86% Dreamcast: 8% Nintendo 64: 6% all other systems: no games in the top 30 SNK has announced that the Neo Geo Pocket Color will be released to retailers nationwide on August 6. The company's portable gaming system has been for sale on SNK's web site for weeks. The system will cost $70, and its games will range in price from $25 to $35. Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) has dropped its lawsuit against Nvidia and is now working together with Nvidia on new graphics technologies. SGI was suing Nvidia for patent infringement, but that lawsuit (and apparently the two companies' contempt for one another) has been thrown out the window. SGI's chairman and CEO Rick Belluzzo said, "Nvidia has an impressive team of 3D technologists, an intense focus on delivering industry-leading technology, and the strongest product roadmap for the high-volume 3D graphics industry." One could easily mis-interpret this statement as being, "Our lawsuit was a joke, and it looks a lot better to 'form a partnership' than it does to get embarrassed in court. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to think of more non-existent words to use in press releases. Technologists was only the beginning..." 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, IGNPSX, IGN 64, Nintendorks, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku, Gaming Age, Weekly Famistu, www.hamsterdance.comBack To The Main Page
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