Back To News
News Archives
"Missing Simon Adebisi For Over A Week" September 8, 2000 In the same week that SegaNet successfully launched, Sega officially dropped the price of the Dreamcast to $150 on a national level. Sega has also made some changes to its SegaNet rebate offer. The previous offer was a $200 rebate if you signed up for 24 months of SegaNet, and the current offer is a $150 rebate if you sign up for 18 months of SegaNet. You can also get a $100 rebate if you sign up for 12 months of SegaNet. NFL 2K1 comes with 50 free hours of SegaNet gameplay. After those 50 hours have expired, you will have to either dial into your own ISP or pay $22 per month to use SegaNet as your ISP. The Sega Sports package (which includes a black Dreamcast, one black controller, NFL 2K, and NBA 2K) will now be sold for $170. In a related story, JCPenney.com is currently charging $160 for a Dreamcast with one controller, Sonic Adventure, and the original NFL 2K. To go directly to the order page for this item, click here. Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios has formed a spin-off company called Black & White Studios. The first priority for Lionhead is to finish Black & White for the PC and Dreamcast. After the game is released for the PC and Dreamcast, Lionhead itself will work on an original game that will be completely separate from the Black & White universe. Since Lionhead itself will be working on something completely different, the future of the Black & White franchise will lie in the hands of Black & White Studios. Black & White Studios will be responsible for releasing add-ons and extras for the original game, porting the original game to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and eventually, developing a full-fledged sequel to the game. In a related story, a PlayStation 1 version of Black & White is being developed by a third-party company, although it will be a very stripped- down version of the game. Below are the release dates for all the different versions of Black & White. Black & White for the PC: December 2000 Black & White for the Dreamcast: sometime in 2001 Black & White for the PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and Xbox: unknown, but presumably not until after the Dreamcast version is released Havas Interactive has announced that it will publish the fourth game in the Spyro the Dragon series, which is owned by Universal Interactive Studios and will also be developed by Universal. This deal comes as no surprise because Havas' parent company (Vivendi) is currently in the process of buying Universal's parent company (Seagram). The fourth Spyro game will be released in the spring of 2002 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, and Game Boy Advance. Meanwhile, this fall's Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon for the PlayStation 1 will mark the end of an era for the Spyro franchise. It will be the third and final Spyro game developed by Insomniac Games, and it will also be the third and final Spyro game published by Sony. Spyro 1 and 2 have sold a combined five million copies worldwide. Insomniac's president Ted Price declined to comment on what's next for Insomniac after Spyro 3. Microsoft has acquired the publishing rights to all upcoming products from Big Huge Games, which is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland and was founded by Brian Reynolds. Before founding Big Huge Games, Reynolds co- designed Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri along with Sid Meier. Reynolds and his co-workers are currently developing a strategy game for the PC (not the Xbox) which is scheduled for a 2002 release. Microsoft Games' VP of marketing Ed Fries was quick to point out that this deal won't take away any of Big Huge Games' freedom. Fries says, "This is Brian's company. He's in charge. He's running it. We're just helping him get it going." Fries also joked, "We liked the company's name. It sounded important." The Federal Trade Commission has released a report which claims that video game publishers are marketing violent games to kids. The FTC cites the purchase of ads for M-rated games in magazines aimed at kids as proof of its claims. A Senate hearing regarding the report is scheduled for October, with (surprise!) vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman as one of the speakers. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and K-Mart have announced that all future purchases of Mature-rated video games will require the buyer to present ID proving that they over 17 or older. This will go into effect at K-Mart stores nationwide on October 15, and at an undisclosed date in Wal-Mart's case. Employees at both stores will be reminded of this new rule on their computerized cash registers. While they're at it, they should also remind Wal-Mart and K-Mart employees where they are, what they're doing there, and what their names are... Nvidia has filed a lawsuit against 3dfx due to alleged patent infringement. In addition to an undisclosed sum of money, Nvidia is also seeking an injunction which would block the sale of 3dfx's Voodoo 3, Voodoo 4, and Voodoo 5 graphics cards. Two years ago, 3dfx filed a lawsuit against Nvidia which is still pending. 3dfx's president and CEO Alex Leupp says that Nvidia's lawsuit "is clearly an attempt to force a settlement of our existing lawsuit against Nvidia, which demonstrates that Nvidia isn't confident in their defense." Just like any other company that has ever been sued in the history of mankind, 3dfx also said, "We intend to vigorously defend ourselves." What is it with lawsuit-related press releases and the words "vigorously defend"? Hasbro Interactive and eGames have settled their legal disputes out of court. Hasbro filed a lawsuit against eGames earlier this year which alleged that many of eGames' products are rip-offs of Hasbro's trademarks (specifically, old Atari games that Hasbro owns). eGames has now agreed to stop selling all of the games in question, and also pay Hasbro $205,000 in damages. Normally in a press release that announces a lawsuit settlement, the company that came out on the losing side of the settlement is subservient with what they have to say. However, this wasn't the case with this settlement, suggesting that perhaps eGames had to be dragged kicking and screaming every step of the way before a settlement was reached. eGames' president and CEO Jerry Klein said, "We believe that we had substantial defenses to the claims in the lawsuit and that the claims were ultimately without merit." Sony executive Phil Harrison is moving to Europe to become the new VP of product development at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. My fondest memories of Phil are from when he was known as the "Artful Question Dodger," carefully and skillfully dodging any and all questions related to the PlayStation 2 back when the PS1 was in its prime. Sony has announced that Gran Turismo 2000 will not be released on the same day as the PlayStation 2 (October 26). Beyond that, Sony isn't saying anything about Gran Turismo 2000's release, not even if it will take place before Christmas. For what it's worth, both Electronics Boutique and Babbage's currently list Gran Turismo 2000 as a January 2001 release. Microsoft's J. Allard has revealed that the Xbox's external design has been finalized. Allard told CVG, "It's going to be bigger than the other consoles in order to house the hard drive. If you want big features, you have to have a big box." Allard also said that Microsoft is "likely" to publicly unveil the design of the game before next year's E3 show (rather than waiting for E3). The remains of what used to be the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) have been purchased by Excite. The company formerly known as TEN used to be a hardcore online gaming service, which failed because the company insisted on charging gamers large monthly fees. The company then transformed into the casual-games-oriented pogo.com, which is actually a very successful web site in the realm of casual gaming. Bandai has announced that it will be releasing a new portable gaming system called the WonderSwan Color in the US in late 2001. The system will cost $65 in Japan, but its US price has not yet been revealed. Square has signed on to bring the first three Final Fantasy games to the system. Final Fantasy 2 and 3 have never been released in the US. The games that many US gamers know as FF2 and FF3 are actually FF4 and FF6, respectively. In addition to Tomb Raider Chronicles for the PlayStation 1, Core Design is also working on Tomb Raider: The Next Generation for the PlayStation 2 and PC, which is due out in 2001. After this product is released, Core Design plans on releasing new Tomb Raider games at a rate of 3-5 per year. No, this isn't another one of my Core Design jokes, it's true. Namco is working on an arcade sequel to Soul Calibur, and it will be based on a PS2-compatible arcade board, not the Dreamcast-compatible Naomi board. This would seem to indicate that a PlayStation 2 version of Soul Calibur 2 is more likely than a Dreamcast version, but of course, Namco isn't talking... Sony is hoping to increase its worldwide production of the PlayStation 2 to one million systems per month starting with the month of September, which is more than double the previous mark of 400,000 systems per month. Sony's hardware forecasts for the US have not changed. Sony will ship one million PS2s on October 26, with two million additional systems to be spread out between October 27, 2000 and March 31, 2001. NEWS BRIEFS Dragon Quest 7 has finally been released for the Japanese PlayStation. The game was originally scheduled to be released before Final Fantasy 7, but Square ended up releasing FF7, FF8, and FF9 in Japan before Dragon Quest 7 was released. Ecco the Dolphin's music composer, Tim Follin, has let it slip on his web site that he is working on the music for Ecco 2. Sega has yet to officially confirm that Ecco 2 is in development, but it's a pretty safe bet unless Follin is working on music for a game that doesn't exist... Codemasters has announced a puzzling name change for one of its upcoming products. Severance: Blade of Darkness will only be called Blade of Darkness in the US "due to the implications of the word severance." It's been well-known for several months, but Capcom has just now made the official announcement that Resident Evil Zero is coming to the Game Cube. Capcom also confirmed that the N64 version of the game has been cancelled. Infogrames has announced that the Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament will be released this fall, not in early 2001 as previously announced. The game will feature online gameplay for up to eight players per game, plus a two-player split-screen option. Nintendo has announced that the Game Boy Advance will be simultaneously released in the US and Europe in July 2001. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Gran Turismo 2 are now part of Sony's Greatest Hits line of games, which means that they have been given new suggested retail prices of $20. Titus has lost the Superman license to Infogrames, whose future Superman games couldn't possibly be worse than Titus's. The developers of the excellent Dreamcast game Toy Commander are working on a sequel. The sequel will be a racing game called Toy Racer. Nintendo is still officially claiming that Banjo-Tooie will be released for the N64 on November 20. Then again, Nintendo is also still officially claiming that Dinosaur Planet will be released this fall, which has about a five percent chance of being true. Sierra has officially confirmed that the Dreamcast version of Half-Life will not feature online gameplay. THQ has purchased Volition, the developers of the upcoming Summoner and Red Faction for the PlayStation 2 and PC. Nintendo has already begun to air TV commercials hyping the October 15 release of Pokemon Gold and Silver. Nintendo expects the games to sell a combined ten million copies in the US by April 2001. Sega is working on a Dreamcast VMU that is identical to the current VMU in every way, except for the fact that it has four times the storage capacity. Pyro Studios has announced that its strategy game Commandos 2 will be released for the PlayStation 2 in addition the previously announced Dreamcast and PC versions. Matsushita has the rights to release a more expensive version of Nintendo's Game Cube that is capable of playing DVD movies (unlike the standard version), but Matsushita may or may not ever do this. Sega has officially announced that a Dreamcast sequel to Daytona USA is in development. Gamers across the world will soon be able to skid around on oval to their heart's content. Red Storm Entertainment (the company behind the Rainbow Six line of games) has officially confirmed that it has agreed to be purchased by France-based Ubi Soft. Eidos Interactive's financial problems show no signs of going away at any time in the near future. The company posted another loss in the latest financial quarter, this time a $34 million loss. Eidos still hasn't been purchased by Infogrames or any other company. The newest Dreamcast commercials (which debuted during the incredibly over-hyped MTV Video Music Awards) bring back the trademark screaming of the word "Sega!" at the end of every commercial. Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon has revealed that Mortal Kombat 5 is currently in development. The four people in the world who still give a damn about Mortal Kombat were said to be excited about this news... Despite the fact that the original game isn't out in the US yet, Koei has already announced a sequel to its promising PlayStation 2 strategy game, Kessen. Intel has released its second computer processor with major bugs in recent memory. The company's 1.1GHz Pentium 3 chip has a defective circuit that causes the entire chip to malfunction, which has caused Intel to issue a recall of all 1.1GHz Pentium 3 chips. Mattel Interactive has acquired the rights to publish a PC version of Sega Rally 2. Any deal between Mattel and Sega is newsworthy because former Sega president Bernie Stolar is now the president of Mattel Interactive. Nintendo's principal owner Hiroshi Yamauchi has said in the past that Nintendo will place a greater focus on the Game Boy Advance than on the Game Cube. However, Nintendo's lead designer Shigeru Miyamoto will focus on the Game Cube more than the GBA. SALES CHARTS The following sales charts are based on unit sales for the week of August 13 to 19. Dreamcast 1. WWF Royal Rumble 2. World Series Baseball 2K1 3. Virtua Tennis (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the game) 4. Ecco the Dolphin 5. Seaman old games still in the top ten: none PlayStation 1. Chrono Cross 2. Madden NFL 2001 3. Tenchu 2 4. NFL GameDay 2001 5. NCAA Football 2001 old game still in the top ten: Driver Nintendo 64 1. Perfect Dark 2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Star Wars Episode I: Racer 4. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards 5. Pokemon Stadium old games still in the top ten: Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Mario Kart 64, Jet Force Gemini, and Super Smash Bros. PC 1. Diablo 2 2. The Sims 3. RollerCoaster Tycoon 4. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: 2nd Edition 5. Frogger (now selling at an average price of $7) old games still in the top ten: RollerCoaster Tycoon, Frogger, StarCraft, and RollerCoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies Notes: -Deus Ex has fallen out of the PC top ten. Poor Ion Storm finally realizes a good game, only to have to get lost in the shuffle... -Sales of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are finally starting to decline. While the game is still #2 on the N64, it has fallen to #8 on the Dreamcast, and it's no longer in the PlayStation's top ten. -Pokemon's sales are also declining. At the height of Pokemon's popularity, four of the top five selling games were Pokemon games. There is now only one game in the overall top ten list (Pokemon Yellow), and it's #10. 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
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com