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July 28, 2000
Nintendo continues to change its story about the release dates of Rare's
upcoming N64 line-up, namely Banjo-Tooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Dinosaur
Planet, and Mickey's Speedway USA. Here is an overview of these games'
ever-changing release dates:
1. About one month ago, Nintendo informed retailers such as Babbage's and
Electronics Boutique that all four games would all be delayed until 2001.
2. Rare publicly denied that any of the games had been delayed.
3. Nintendo added all four games to a list of games with the heading, "We
do not yet have solid release dates for these games. Some of these games
may in fact never be released."
4. Nintendo has now given all four games new "official" release dates,
which may or may not be accurate.
Mickey's Speedway USA: November 13
Banjo-Tooie: November 20
Dinosaur Planet: Fall 2000 (despite the fact it's only about 50% done)
Conker's Bad Fur Day: January 22, 2001
The video game industry is going through a sales slump right now, and
even the market-leading Electronic Arts is not immune to it. EA's bottom
line has gone from a $4 million profit to a $39 million loss. Less
surprising are the poor fortunes of Acclaim and 3DO, who regularly release
crap and seem to have no qualms about doing so.
Acclaim's quarterly revenues have gone from $80 million to $5 million in
the past year, and the company's bottom line has gone from breaking even to
posting a net loss of $50 million. Meanwhile, 3DO posted a $26 million
loss in the latest financial quarter, which is worse than the $7 million
loss 3DO posted in the same quarter last year.
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that Nintendo's next video game
system will be less powerful than Microsoft's Xbox. Miyamoto told Gamers'
Republic, "The Dolphin will be following the PlayStation 2 launch, and in
terms of the hardware, it's going to have better performance, and by the
same token, the Xbox should have better performance than the Dolphin."
Miyamoto also took the opportunity to state that he's not terribly
excited about online gaming. He said, "There is a tendency to say that
networking and online games are the future, and some companies feel that
they may be regarded as cool or hip to say such things. But they are all
illusions, they are all lies, and Nintendo must retain a critical attitude.
We won't jump into online gaming blindly."
The mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana has passed a strict law regarding
violent arcade games. Starting on September 1, all arcade operators within
the Indianapolis city limits will be required to put warning labels on
games that feature "graphic violence or strong sexual content." No one
under 18 years of age will be able to play these games unless they are
under the supervision of a parent or guardian.
In addition, all "inappropriate" games have to be at least 10 feet away
from the appropriate ones, and the two kinds of games must be separated by
a wall or curtain. Any arcade owner who violates these new laws could have
all their violent games removed, or the establishment could be shut down
altogether. Congratulations, Indianapolis! With the help of your mayor,
our country is now one step closer to communism...
Eidos Interactive is planning on continuing its streak of one Tomb
Raider game every single year for at least the next two years. Tomb Raider
Chronicles is scheduled to be released for the original PlayStation this
fall, and a separate Tomb Raider game is scheduled to be released for the
PlayStation 2 in late 2001. The story line of Chronicles will play out in
the form of flashbacks, and will feature many of the same levels as
previous Tomb Raider games.
While Tomb Raider 2-4 could be accused of being the same basic game with
new levels, Chronicles looks to be the same basic game with the same
levels. The diminishing sales of the Tomb Raider series have apparently
not bothered Eidos. Tomb Raider 2 sold fewer copies than Tomb Raider 1,
TR3 sold less than TR2, TR4 sold less than TR3, and TR5 will probably sell
less than TR4. The beacon of quality that is Eidos doesn't seem to care,
just as long as they're able to squeeze every last possible dollar out of
the franchise while they still can.
Sega of Japan and Sega of America continue to squabble with one another,
both privately and publicly. Sega of Japan's Yuke Saito, who created
Seaman, recently had this to say about Sega of America: "Sega of America
thinks that they are doing great in this industry right now because the
Dreamcast is doing so much better in the States than in Japan, but this is
very dangerous."
Saito elaborated, "Rather than taking risks by creating new markets,
they are concentrating on conventional genres like RPGs and sports games,
and they are going to have a problem within a year or two. What Sega of
America needs to do is create new markets before the PlayStation 2 is
released. Hopefully, Seaman will help bring something unique."
Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios has delayed the highly-anticipated
Black & White for both the Dreamcast and PC. The game was previously
scheduled to be released for both systems in September. It's now set to be
released for the PC in November, and for the Dreamcast sometime in 2001.
Sierra has struck a deal with Hershey to include several Hershey Park
rides in the upcoming PC game, 3D Ultra Pinball: Thrill Ride. If Sierra's
business practices were anything like Fox Interactive's, you would have to
collect special chocolate power-ups in Team Fortress 2. All right, that's
an outdated joke, but Fox still deserves to be made fun of for making
gamers collect Gummi Savers power-ups in Croc 2. Regarding the deal,
Sierra's Ted Mandelkorn says, "This is truly an exclusive experience, and
this is what true partnerships are all about: Both sides leveraging their
respective strengths in compelling and creative ways for the benefit of
both parties and more importantly, the consumer." Gee Ted, don't you think
you're getting just a little bit carried away?
Diablo 2 has become the fastest-selling PC game of all time by selling
over one million copies in its first few weeks on store shelves. Diablo 2
is the fourth consecutive game from Blizzard Entertainment to launch at #1
on the PC charts and sell over a million copies, following WarCraft 2,
Diablo, and StarCraft. WarCraft 3 is scheduled to be released for the PC
in the first half of 2001.
Production of the first Tomb Raider movie is not going smoothly, largely
because Paramount has drastically cut back the film's special effects
budget. An employee of the special effects company told movie web site
Dark Horizons, "Over the last week, the suits at Paramount have been
slashing the budget to the point that there are hardly any effects. We
designed loads of creatures and effects for sequences, and most have now
been scrapped. This has caused major script changes and scaled-down action
sequences. There has also been arguments between the film's production
staff, which have caused a number of people to leave production."
The Keep America Beautiful organization has expressed concern that
Sega's Jet Grind Radio (in which players must spray-paint urban
environments) will lead to increased vandalism in the United States. The
game's US marketing director, Rob Alvarez, responds, "It's a misconception
that graffiti must have something to do with gangs and drugs... we're not
trying to glamorize deviant behavior." The US version of the game will
feature music from Jurassic 5 and Rob Zombie, who seems to do the
soundtrack for every game these days.
Sega has officially confirmed that it's working on sequels to Crazy Taxi
and Virtua Tennis. Speaking of Virtua Tennis, the Japanese version of the
game will have online multi-player capabilities when it's released this
fall. Sega of America says that the chances of online support being added
to the recently-released US version are "very slim." Fortunately for
gamers worldwide, Virtua Tennis 2 will have online capabilities in both the
US and Japan.
LucasArts has struck a deal which will lead to BioWare (the makers of
Baldur's Gate and MDK 2) developing an RPG set in the Star Wars universe.
The currently un-titled game will be released in 2002 for the PC and "next-
gen systems," although LucasArts and BioWare wouldn't say which systems.
The game will have an original story line that takes place 4,000 years
before any of the Star Wars movies, and it will be an off-line game since
an online RPG set in the Star Wars universe is already in development at
Verant Interactive.
Infogrames has confirmed that Unreal Tournament is being brought to the
Dreamcast in addition to the PlayStation 2. The Dreamcast version of the
game will be released in early 2001 and will be playable over SegaNet. It
will be compatible with the Dreamcast's mouse and keyboard, but unlike the
DC version of Quake 3: Arena, you won't be able to go head-to-head with PC
owners of the game.
Shortly after the establishment of the piracy@sega.com e-mail address,
Sega announced that they have already shut down over 60 piracy web sites.
In addition, Sega has been working with many auction web sites like eBay
and Yahoo Auctions and to shut down over 125 auctions of pirated video
games.
GameSpy has signed a $7 million deal with GameLoft that will extend all
of GameSpy's web sites into numerous languages. GameLoft will localize
GameSpy's sites for the Canadian, Chinese, Australian, and European
markets. GameLoft's president and CEO Girard Guillemot says, "By
leveraging GameSpy's content, GameLoft will be able to deliver rich
localized community sites to a worldwide gaming audience." GameSpy may or
may not have added, "Woo-hoo! We got $7 million!"
Sales of the PlayStation 2 itself have been great in Japan, but software
sales have been disappointing, with the average PS2 user only owning two
games for the system. As a result of these poor software sales and the
cost of producing the hardware, Sony posted a net loss of $810 million in
the latest financial quarter.
The developers of The Sims are working on an add-on pack called The
Sims: Livin' Large. Livin' Large is scheduled to be released this
September for the price of $30. The next full-fledged game from Sims
mastermind Will Wright is SimsVille, which is due out in 2001 and will
combine elements of Sim City and The Sims.
MCV UK reports that Final Fantasy 10 will be sold in Japan for under $10,
and that gamers will be charged a monthly fee to play the game through
Square's Play Online network. It's clear that Final Fantasy 9 is strictly
single-player and Final Fantasy 11 is strictly multi-player, but Square has
been sending mixed signals about Final Fantasy 10. It could be a primarily
single-player game that offers online tips and strategies, or it could be a
primarily multi-player game that you can play by yourself at times. Only
Square knows for sure, and they're not talking.
BioWare's upcoming PC game Neverwinter Nights might be brought to the
Dreamcast. The company's CEO Greg Zeschuck recently told GameSpot,
"Neverwinter Nights is primarily online, which the Dreamcast supports. Put
two and two together." Zeschuck also hints in the newest issue of the
Official Dreamcast Magazine that Neverwinter Nights will be brought to the
Dreamcast. The PC version of Neverwinter Nights is set for a 2001 release.
PC Format recently claimed Eidos Interactive had cut Ion Storm's
Anachronox in half so that it could be released this year. The game's lead
programmer Brian Eiserloh responds, "No, Eidos did not cut Anachronox in
half. We did. And it was over a year ago." Eiserloh claims that Ion
Storm willingly cut the length of the game's story in half so that they
could make the story as deep as possible. He continues, "I assume this is
just a case of some uninformed folks picking up some very old news and,
true to form, not bothering to check it out before publishing it."
NEWS BRIEFS
Nintendo has moved up the release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
The game was previously scheduled to be released for the N64 on November 20,
and it will now be released on October 26. Hmm... what else is being
released on October 26? I can't remember...
A source close to Capcom has revealed that the Nintendo 64 version of
Resident Evil Zero has indeed been cancelled. The game may or may not be
released for Nintendo's next video game system.
Fox Interactive has cancelled the video game version of Titan AE due to
the fact that the movie bombed at theaters. Hey, that never stopped
Acclaim from releasing anything...
Microsoft has announced that the Xbox will be "the biggest launch
Microsoft has ever done." The company has allocated $500 million in
marketing for the system's first 18 months of availability.
There has been some confusion on some web sites in the past couple of
weeks about whether or not the PlayStation 2 version of Madden NFL 2001
will have a Franchise Mode. EA Sports has confirmed that the game will
indeed have a Franchise Mode.
Games Business has revealed the amount of money that Microsoft to spent
buy Bungie: $50 million. I honestly expected a higher number given
Bungie's reputation for quality and the sheer potential of Halo.
The Dreamcast version of Quake 3: Arena has been delayed. It was
previously scheduled for late August, and it's now scheduled for October.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 for the PC is now complete, but EA still
doesn't plan on releasing it until September.
The consolidation of the video game industry continues with Take-Two
Interactive's purchase of PopTop Software for an undisclosed amount of
money. PopTop previously developed Railroad Tycoon 2, and they are now
working on the highly-anticipated Dreamcast and PC game, Tropico.
Bloomberg has released US sales figures for the Dreamcast hardware from
February to May. The system sold 80,000 units in February; 60,000 in March;
43,000 in April; and 34,000 in May.
Ziff-Davis Publishing has announced that it's being purchased by CNET
Networks in a stock deal worth $1.6 billion. Ziff-Davis is the company
behind Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameSpot, PC Magazine, and other
publications that are inferior to Imagine Media's publications.
Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, has announced
that a video game based on Futurama is in development at Fox Interactive.
Groening didn't mention which systems the game will be for, or when it will
be released.
British Columbia, Canada is going to have North America's first
government-controlled, enforced rating system for video games. Starting
sometime in the near future, it will be illegal for retailers to sell Teen-
rated games to 12-year-olds or Mature-rated games to 16-year-olds.
Sony and Sega are two of the five parties that have formed a new
Japanese developer called Sokkia. Both Sony and Sega have 10% ownership
stakes in Sokkia, which will make games for the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast
beginning in March of 2001 at the latest.
Nintendo has announced that it's developing a sequel to Waverace for the
Star Cube/Dolphin, which "should be ready for the system's launch."
Sega has announced the first four games will be part of the All Star
line of $20 Dreamcast games. These games are NFL 2K, NBA 2K, Sonic
Adventure, and Sega Bass Fishing.
Square has announced that anyone who purchases Chrono Cross at
participating retailers will get a free battery-powered Chrono Cross desk
clock. Consumer reaction to this promotion will determine whether or not
Square runs similar promotions in the US in the future.
Sega has announced The Hundred Swords, a real-time strategy game for the
Dreamcast with online multi-player capabilities. The game will support up
to four players at once, all of whom can control up to 100 soldiers.
Nintendo's official Swedish web site recently stated that Nintendo's
next video game system will indeed be called "Star Cube," and that the
system's online network will be called "Star Road."
SALES CHARTS
The following sales charts are based on unit sales for the week of
July 2 to 8.
Dreamcast
1. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
3. Silver
4. Street Fighter 3: Double Impact
5. Gauntlet Legends
PlayStation
1. Legend of Dragoon (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of
the game)
2. Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol
3. Digimon World
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
5. Tekken 3
old games still in the top ten: Tekken 3, Syphon Filter, and Driver
Nintendo 64
1. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
2. Perfect Dark
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
4. Pokemon Stadium
5. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
old game still in the top ten: Mario Kart 64
PC
1. Diablo 2
2. Diablo 2: Collector's Edition
3. The Sims
4. Icewind Dale
5. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: 2nd Edition
old games still in the top ten: RollerCoaster Tycoon, Centipede, and
RollerCoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Daily Radar,
Sega X, PSX 2 Online, Nintendorks, IGN, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku, Gaming
Age, The NPD Group, PC Data, www.cowdance.com
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