Master Gamer News

October 6, 2000
   What does it sound like when hundreds of thousands of gamers 
simultaneously declare, "Damn you, Sony!"?  The answer to this question was 
revealed last week when Sony reduced the number of PlayStation 2 systems 
that are scheduled to be available on Thursday, October 26.  The previous 
number was one million, and the current number is 500,000.  
   The reason for the cutback was a component shortage, but Sony wouldn't 
specify.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony and Toshiba are not 
behind schedule with production of the PS2's Emotion Engine, so it's likely 
that the manufacturing problem is with the system's Graphics Synthesizer.
   Well over one million gamers have pre-ordered a PlayStation 2, meaning 
that over 50% of the people who pre-ordered the system will be left out in 
the cold on the 26th.  After those 500,000 units arrive at retailers 
nationwide on October 26, Sony will ship 100,000 systems per week until the 
end of the year.  Sony estimates that after New Year's, it will be able to 
ship 225,000 systems per week on a national level.
   In response to this story, Sega of America's president Peter Moore says, 
"We never believed that they would be able to ship a million units at 
launch, and we've been stockpiling inventory in anticipation of that.  
Sony's announcement has created ripples of panic throughout the retail 
community, and we are positioned to take advantage."

   Microsoft's Alex Kotowitz has revealed that a device similar to the 
television industry's V-Chip will be built into every Xbox.  This will allow 
parents to create password-protected limits on what kinds of games their 
children can play.  For example, a parent could say "no Mature-rated games" 
or "no Teen-rated games."  
   In addition, developers of Xbox games with Mature or Teen ratings will be
able to create toned-down versions of their games.  So if a parent has 
blocked access to Mature-rated games, a child will still be able to play the
toned down, Teen-rated version of the game.  In much the same way, if a 
parent has blocked access to Teen-rated games, a child will still be able to
play the toned down, Everyone-rated version of the game.  
     
   Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman has clarified his stance on 
violent video games.  Lieberman wishes that retailers would stop selling 
Mature-rated games to children under 17, and he will continue to encourage 
and pressure companies to stop making violent games.  However, Lieberman 
does acknowledge that the First Amendment prohibits anyone from banning 
violent games or regulating their content.  
   Lieberman said, "I have never proposed having the government ban games or
regulate game content.  I am a devout believer in the First Amendment and 
have consistently opposed resorting to censorship to address the growing 
public concern about media violence and indecency."  Lieberman continued, 
"While I won't ban violent games, I do urge game makers to draw lines that 
they will not cross.  I also urge game makers to stop making grotesquely 
violent games that celebrate and reward murder and mayhem, and games which 
teach kids that killing is cool."

   Sony has released the official list of PlayStation 2 launch games.  Even 
with all of the recent delays, there are still over 30 games scheduled to be
released alongside the system on October 26.  Here is the list in 
alphabetical order:

Armored Core 2
Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore
Dynasty Warriors 2
ESPN International Track & Field
ESPN X-Games Snowboarding
Eternal Ring
Evergrace
Fantavision
Gun Griffon Blaze
Kessen
Madden NFL 2001
Midnight Club Street Racing
Moto GP
NHL 2001
Orphen
Q-Ball Billiards Master
Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2
Real Pool 
Ridge Racer 5
SSX Snowboarding
Silent Scope
Silpheed: The Lost Planet
Smuggler's Run
Street Fighter EX3
Surfing H3O
Summoner
Swing Away Golf
Tekken Tag Tournament
TimeSplitters
Top Gear Daredevil
Unreal Tournament
Wild Wild Racing
X-Squad

   A new patch has been generating quite a bit of controversy in the Quake 3
community.  The new patch tweaks the physics and other little things about 
the game, like how explosive damage works and how one can control a player 
while jumping.  Reaction to the patch has been mixed across the board, with 
many people professing to love it and many others hating it.
   The people who love the patch are generally pleased that it evens out the
playing field between newbies and experienced players.  It also makes the 
game more realistic by not allowing you to change direction in mid-air.  On 
the other hand, a lot of hardcore gamers are complaining (and some are even 
boycotting the game) because they believe that the patch changes the game 
for the worse.
     
   After months of going back and forth on the issue internally, Sierra has 
finally decided the fate of Half-Life for the Dreamcast.  The single-player 
version of the game will be released for the system in November of this 
year.  January will see the release of a separate version of the game that 
offers online gameplay.  This version will also include Opposing Force (the 
add-on pack), Team Fortress 1.5, and possibly Counter-Strike.

   The Federal Trade Commission has ruled that Intel has not been involved 
in any illegal business practices.  The FTC has been investigating Intel's 
business practices since September of 1997.  The FTC's Richard Parker said, 
"Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action 
is warranted by the commission at this time.  Accordingly, the investigation
has been closed."

   Creature Labs, the developer of the popular Creatures series of 
Artificial Life games, has signed a publishing deal with Encore Software.  
Encore is best known for educational programs like Math Advantage and Test 
Prep, which unfortunately means that the de-evolution of the Creatures 
series is likely to continue in the future.  Creatures has gone from a 
revolutionary Artificial Life game to a simple series of kids' games.  The 
first Encore-published Creatures game will be Creatures Playground, a game 
whose title certainly suggests that it will be aimed at kids.

   Sony's marketing campaign for the PlayStation 2 will include the slogan, 
"You can turn it on, but you can't turn it off."  Sony is also purchasing 
billboard advertisements throughout the country which will contain 
absolutely nothing except a big question mark in the PS2 font.  In addition,
Sony recently showed the PS2's first TV commercials to select members of the
video game press, and the early word from those people is that the 
commercials are below expectations.

   Put another nail in the coffin: Sony's lawsuit against Connectix has been
thrown out of more court rooms than than that drunk guy who was on Judge 
Judy last week.  Sony filed the suit last year in response to the release of
the Virtual Game Station, which enables PlayStation games to run on PCs and 
Macs.  Several months ago, a San Francisco judge threw out seven of the nine
charges Sony had pending against Connectix.  Sony then tried to take the 
case all the way to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court has now 
declined to hear the case.  Just drop the freakin' lawsuit already, Sony, 
you're clearly not going to win.

   City officials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have publicly spoken out against 
Sega's Jet Grind Radio, in which players spray-paint (or "tag") public 
property.  The city of Milwaukee spends over $1 million per year to prevent 
and clean up graffiti, and requests that Sega doesn't release the game in 
the US.  Of course, Sega is still going to release the game in the US, and 
it's actually running a contest which will give $5,000 to the person who can
come up with the best graffiti design.

   Rage Software has posted a $4 million net loss for the last year, which 
is much worse than the $5 million profit reported last year.  To get an idea
of what this company is all about, go play Incoming for the Dreamcast or PC.
It's one of the many, many games from Rage that has great graphics and 
horrible gameplay.

   Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against numerous companies who have 
registered Pokemon-related Internet domain names.  Nintendo is seeking 
financial damages from these companies, and the company also wants to 
acquire the rights to all 55 of the Pokemon domain names in question.  
Nintendo's top lawyer Richard Flamm says, "These web sites are an obvious 
attempt to illegally profit from the success of Pokemon.  Nintendo is intent
on protecting its brands and properties against any attempt of 
cybersquatting."

   Resident Evil: The Movie is scheduled to finally begin filming in 
January.  The movie will be filmed in London, England and will have a budget
of $40 million.  Horror film legend George Romero is no longer involved with
the project because his script was rejected by the producers.  The movie 
will now be written and directed by Paul Anderson, who previously directed 
Event Horizon and Mortal Kombat: The Movie.  No solid release date has been 
established for Resident Evil: The Movie, but the producers are hopeful that
it will be ready for Halloween 2001.

   Activision has announced that over one million copies of Tony Hawk's Pro 
Skater 2 have already been shipped to retailers worldwide.  Over 3.5 million
copies of the original Tony Hawk have been shipped worldwide for multiple 
systems.  In a similar type of announcement, over 20 million Crash Bandicoot
games have been sold worldwide since the franchise's debut in 1996.

   On the October 4th season premiere of The Drew Carey Show, the four main 
characters spoke in the language of The Sims during the opening scene.  The 
Sims developer Maxis claims that Carey and other members of the show's cast 
are huge fans of The Sims.  In a related story, lead designer Will Wright 
has won yet another award for his work on The Sims.  The latest award 
bestowed upon Wright is the annual "Invisionary" award, which is presented 
to "people who have revolutionized and pushed the limits of digital media."

   Verant Interactive's Brad McQuaid recently told PC Gamer, "We are working
on an Everquest game for the PlayStation 2, and there are definitely a lot
of questions.  How do you patch?  How do you communicate with others without
a keyboard?  I think it will end up being a very different game."

   There still haven't been any official announcements from third-party 
developers regarding the Game Cube, but the Japanese web site "64 World" has
released a list of seven companies that will supposedly be supporting the 
Game Cube.  These companies are Namco, Capcom, Konami, Koei, Atlus, Hudson, 
and Kemco. 

   A gamer by the name of Cannibal Harry is being billed $30,000 by his ISP 
for hosting a video of Halo on his web site.  In July, Harry used his 
camcorder to capture footage of the game, which was on display at the Bungie
Fan Fest.  Harry than uploaded these video clips onto his EarthLink-hosted 
web site, where they went on to get over 100,000 downloads.  Now EarthLink 
has billed Harry $30,000 for "excessive bandwidth usage," while Harry is 
protesting and trying to get the bill reduced.

   Sierra is using a special version of You Don't Know Jack on radio 
stations in the top 20 US markets.  Listeners can call in and play a new 
political version of the popular trivia game.  In addition, Sierra has 
challenged George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Al Gore, and Joe Lieberman to 
participate in the game to see how much they really know about politics.  
The truth of the matter is probably that Sierra doesn't really expect the 
four candidates to accept the challenge; it's just a clever way to get free 
publicity.

   When Nintendo unveiled the Game Cube, LucasArts was showing off a video 
of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2.  LucasArts' official stance on the video is 
that it was "just a tech demo" and does not represent an actual game in 
development.  Nintendo is saying the same thing about the Metroid video 
shown at the Game Cube unveiling, despite the fact that a Game Cube version 
of Metroid is well-known to be in development at Retro Studios in Austin, 
Texas.

DELAYS
Dark Cloud for PlayStation 2
old release date: October 26, 2000
new release date: January 2001

Gran Turismo 3 for PlayStation 2 (formerly known as Gran Turismo 2000)
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: January, February, or March 2001

NBA Live 2001 for PlayStation 2
old release date: November 2000
new release date: not yet decided, will either be December 2000 or January 
2001

Oni for PlayStation 2 and PC
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: January 2001

Paper Mario for Nintendo 64
old release date: December 26, 2000
new release date: January, February, or March 2001
note: Nintendo openly admits that Paper Mario could be ready to go in 
December and that they're delaying the game for "marketing reasons"

Quake 3: Arena for Dreamcast
old release date: October 10, 2000
new release date: October 17, 2000

Sega Dreamcast Broadband Adapter
old release date: at the same time as Quake 3
new release date: late November or early December

Star Wars Episode I: Starfighter for PlayStation 2
old release date: November 2000
new release date: December 2000

The Bouncer for PlayStation 2
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: Spring 2001

Tribes 2 for PC
old release date: October 23, 2000
new release date: December 20, 2000, but Sierra says that it might slip to 
as late as March 2001

NEWS BRIEFS
   Activision has announced two X-Men games for the PlayStation 2.  One of 
these is a fighting game, and the other is loosely described as an 
action/RPG (which can mean a lot of different things).

   Now that the Olympics are over, Eidos Interactive has cut the price of 
its official Olympic video game, Sydney 2000.  The game now costs $30 on the
Dreamcast and PlayStation, and $25 for the PC.  Anyone who has actually 
played Sydney 2000 knows that it's not worth $5.

   The long-planned re-launch of ea.com has finally taken place.  The site 
is now home to dozens of free games aimed at casual players.

   Sega of America claims that Dreamcast sales were up 92% in September 
compared to August.

   The Game Boy Advance will allow four GBA owners to play a game together 
using only one game cartridge.  You'll still need multiple cartridges for 
things like transferring saved games among multiple systems, but the basic 
link mode only requires one cartridge.

   After months of release date vagueness, Final Fantasy 9 has been given a 
relatively solid US release date of November 24.  The English version of the
Final Fantasy 9 soundtrack CD will be sold separately, starting on November 
23.

   Snowball, the company behind IGN, has laid off 50 of its employees in a
cost-cutting measure.  Snowball's CEO Mark Jung says, "This will help assure
that our $45 million in cash lasts as we progress towards profitability."

   Microsoft has revealed that Metal Gear Solid X will be an Xbox launch 
game.  It is believed, but not officially confirmed, that Metal Gear Solid X
will be nearly identical to Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2.

   Crave will release a PlayStation 2 version of Ultimate Fighting 
Championship in January, February, or March of 2001.

   With Eidos Interactive still nowhere near being profitable, the company's
Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Lewis has left the company.

   Sony's reduction of US PlayStation 2 shipments will not affect the United
Kingdom.  Sony is still on pace to ship 200,000 units on the first day of 
the system's availability in the UK.

   The GameWorks chain of arcades has decided that it will no longer allow
anyone under 17 to play Mature-rated games.  The exception to this rule is
if a parent or guardian buys a special patch.  GameWorks also has a "no one
under 18" policy after 10:00 PM.

   Eurocom has been ahead of schedule with development of The World Is Not 
Enough for the Nintendo 64.  As a result, the game will now be released on 
October 17, not the previously scheduled date of late November.

   Lionhead Studios' Peter Molyneux has confirmed that Black & White 2 will 
be released for the PC and at least one next-generation console.

   Activision fully intends to support the Game Boy Advance, with versions 
of Tony Hawk, X-Men, and Spider-Man in development for the system.  The GBA 
is scheduled to be released in the US in July 2001.

   John Voight will play the role of Lara Croft's father in Tomb Raider: The
Movie, which is still scheduled to be released next summer.  Voight is the 
real-life father of Angelina Jolie, who will play the role of Lara Croft in 
the movie.

   Sega of America has announced that Samba de Amigo will be sold separately
from its optional maraca peripheral.  The suggested retail price of the 
maracas will be $80 (no, that's not a typo).

   Sony has announced that there will be no demo disc packaged with the 
PlayStation 2.  In addition, Sony revealed that not a single PS2 game is in 
development that will support broadband Internet features because the 
infrastructure for such games is not yet ready.
    
SALES CHARTS
   The following sales charts are based on unit sales for the week of 
September 24 to 30.

Dreamcast
1. NFL 2K1 (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the game)
2. Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2
3. Ultimate Fighting Championship
4. Virtua Tennis
5. Sega GT
old game still in the top ten: Sonic Adventure

PlayStation
1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
2. Madden NFL 2001
3. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
4. Parasite Eve 2
5. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
old games still in the top ten: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Gran Turismo 2

Nintendo 64
1. Madden NFL 2001
2. Mario Tennis
3. Pokemon Puzzle League
4. Star Wars Episode I: Racer
5. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
old games still in the top ten: none other than Star Wars Episode I: Racer 

PC
1. The Sims: Livin' Large (add-on pack)
2. The Sims
3. Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors (add-on pack)
4. Baldur's Gate 2
5. Diablo 2
old games still in the top ten: The Sims, RollerCoaster Tycoon, and Rainbow 
Six

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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