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November 26, 1999 It has been assumed for quite some time that Sega will get out of the hardware business and become a software-only company if the Dreamcast fails. According to Sega's chairman Isao Okawa, this could very well happen even if the Dreamcast succeeds. Okawa said that Sega's primary focus in the future will be on online games and technology, not on video game consoles. In response to Okawa's statements, Sega of America said, "Global networking is an interest, but this does not eclipse possible plans to release future hardware should that be necessary." But realistically, who do you think has more authority on these matters? The chairman of Sega Enterprises (Sega of America's parent company), or a Sega of America spokesperson? Sega of America's damage control notwithstanding, here are some notable quotes from Okawa: "I think in the future, there is the possibility of Sega becoming a software-only company." "Even if we meet our target numbers for the Dreamcast, a change in focus may be necessary." "It really doesn't matter how much we sell or don't sell... even if the Dreamcast does sell, we will make that shift (to become a software-only company)." "Online and networked entertainment is the future, and that is how we will compete in the future." "The bottom line is that in the future, we will be shifting over our console expertise to network entertainment." Before the post-Thanksgiving holiday buying rush began, Sega had already sold over one million Dreamcast systems in the US. The Dreamcast's software sales have been just as impressive as the hardware sales. Sales figures show that the average person who buys a Dreamcast buys three games along with it. As successful as the Dreamcast's launch has been, make no mistake about it: Sony is still dominating the industry. The PlayStation out-sold its nearest competitor (the Dreamcast) by a ratio of over 2 to 1 in October. Since the system's US release on September 9, 1995, there have been over 22 million PlayStation systems sold in the US alone. On a worldwide basis, there have been 55 million PlayStations sold, as opposed to 20 million N64s sold. There have also been over 510 million PlayStation games sold worldwide, which means that the average PlayStation owner has over nine PlayStation games. Infogrames has purchased GT Interactive for $135 million. Several years ago, GT was the #2 third-party publisher in the entire industry (behind only EA), but in the last two years they have lost hundreds of millions of dollars. In GT's last financial quarter before being bought by Infogrames, the company posted a $57 million loss despite strong sales of Deer Hunter 3, Driver, and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. GT's CEO is still Thomas Heymann, but Heymann can opt out of his contract in February (and still get lots of money from GT's stock) if GT doesn't re-locate their headquarters from New York to Los Angeles before February. Far more attractive than GT itself is the group of developers that Infogrames acquired in the deal, namely: -Oddworld Inhabitants (creators of the Oddworld series) -SingleTrac (creators of Twisted Metal 1-2 and Jet Moto 1-2) -Reflections (creators of the original Destruction Derby and Driver) -Cavedog (creators of the Total Annihilation series) -WizardWorks (creators of the Deer Hunter series) -Humongous (a company that makes children's software) Just one week after delaying the Japanese release of Shenmue to spring 2000, Sega has moved the game's release date back up to December 29 of this year. This could mean that Yu Suzuki and the rest of the development team at Sega finished the remaining work quicker than they thought they would, or it could mean that they decided to forget about the remaining work and release the game in its current state. Either way, the sooner the game is released in Japan, the sooner it will be released in the US. But given the massive amount of translating that needs to be done before the game can be released in the US, I'm not expecting to see Shenmue on US store shelves until late 2000. Sony has struck a deal with Sun Microsystems, the company that created Java. However, the two companies would not reveal any details about their partnership other than to say that they will "unleash the power of the Internet in networked consumer electronics devices." It's safe to assume that when they say "networked consumer electronics devices," they are referring to the PlayStation 2. Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering trading card games, has acquired the rights to make a WCW trading card game. In the press release that announced the deal, a Wizards of the Coast representative said that WCW is "a natural to be developed into a trading card game," thus not breaking the un-written rule that every single press release in existence has to say that something was "a natural." Hypothetically speaking, if there were a press release about an Eidos executive breaking John Romero's legs, you can rest assured that somewhere in the press release there would be a quote that goes something like this: "Given Eidos' desire to make money and John Romero's desire to do as little work as possible on Daikatana, we feel that it was a natural decision to break John Romero's legs." In a related news story, THQ is making a similar card/strategy game based on the WWF license, only their game will be played online instead of in the form of actual cards. As Vince McMahon could tell you, real strategy is what you have to use when your top two TV writers quit to join your biggest competitor without giving notice... The Gathering of Developers has acquired the exclusive rights to make video games based on The Blair Witch Project. The Gathering plans on releasing multiple PC games based on the license, plus at least one console game. The PC games will use the same engine as The Gathering's recently- released Nocturne. The first video game based on The Blair Witch Project will be released next summer. In the meantime, the creators of the movie are working on two more Blair Witch movies. One of them is a prequel that will be released in 2000, the other is a sequel that will be released in 2001. A recent poll of hundreds of Japanese gamers does not bode well for the PlayStation 2. A surprisingly large 34% said that the main draw of the system is the ability to play PlayStation 1 games on it, while only 8% said that the ability to play PlayStation 2 games is the main draw of the system. In addition, only 18% of those surveyed said that the hardware specs are impressive, only 17% think that the $390 Japanese launch price is reasonable, and only 3% think that the design of the system is its most appealing feature. Electronic Arts has enlisted the service of college basketball commentator Dick Vitale to help them create NCAA March Madness 2000 for the PlayStation. Dickie V will act as a consultant and color commentator for the game, marking his first video game appearance since Dick Vitale's "Awesome, Baby!" College Hoops for the Sega Genesis. As Dickie V himself would say regarding just about any situation in any basketball game, "It's unbelievable, baby!" Sega has announced that they are going to make an announcement in March 2000. Normally, this wouldn't be newsworthy, but the announcement that will be made in March concerns the Dreamcast's DVD upgrade. Right now, all Sega is saying is that the DVD upgrade will make it possible to play games in the DVD format on the Dreamcast, as well as watch DVD movies on the system. Presumably, the announcement in March will reveal the upgrade's price, release date, and compatibility information. The most important question that needs to be answered is this: Will all Dreamcast games work on all versions of the Dreamcast hardware? If games start to emerge that only work on a certain configuration of Dreamcast hardware, we're almost certainly going to see the 32X situation unfold all over again. Hopefully Sega won't be stupid enough to repeat their past mistakes. The day after their contract with the WWF expired, Acclaim officially confirmed that they have struck a deal with ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling). The first game to be released under the deal will be called ECW Hardcore Revolution. It will be released on February 17, 2000 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, with a Dreamcast version to follow sometime thereafter. The game will feature nearly 50 of ECW's wrestlers, as well as all the modes and options of WWF Attitude (plus some new ones like barbed- wire matches). On the game's official web site (www.hardcorerevolution.com), it says that the game will be rated Mature due to adult language and content. As part of the deal between Acclaim and ECW, Acclaim has also purchased a 15% stake in ECW. ECW owner Paul Heyman will use the profits generated from the Acclaim deal to pay off debt and upgrade the company's production values. ECW has a weekly TV show on TNN which can be seen on Friday nights at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Activision executives hinted at a Dreamcast version of Quake 3: Arena in recent media interviews. Rumor has it that the Dreamcast version of the game will be released in July or August of next year. It is not currently known whether the game will be playable over the Dreamcast Network, but let's hope so. The tough times continue for 989 Studios' NBA Shootout series. First Shootout '98 got its ass kicked by Live '98 in both sales and quality, then Shootout '99 was cancelled, and now Shootout 2000 has been delayed until February 2000. Fans of the series will undoubtedly be expecting a lot from Shootout 2000 when it is finally released since it will have been in development for two years (as opposed to the typical development cycle of one year for sports games). For those of you who haven't watched any TV in the past two months, Sony and Nintendo have both begun promotions with major restaurants. Sony's promotion with Pizza Hut involves five million PlayStation demo discs being handed out, as well as a huge contest whose prizes include PlayStation systems, PlayStation games, and a grand prize of $500,000. In addition to a really annoying commercial, Nintendo's promotion with Burger King features lots of Pokemon toys, cards, and other propaganda, some of which is currently selling on the online auction site eBay for over $50. Sony is preparing to release a development tool that will allow PlayStation developers to make a very interesting addition to their games. Third-party developers will be able to input data into their future PlayStation games that will allow the games to load faster on the PlayStation 2. By taking advantage of the PS2's 24x CD-ROM drive instead of the PlayStation 1's 2x drive, such games will load considerably faster when played on the PlayStation 2. This will only work with PlayStation 1 games that are specifically programmed to take advantage of the PlayStation 2's faster CD-ROM drive. Ultimate Video Game Accessories (www.ultimatevga.com) is currently selling modified Dreamcasts that let you play Japanese and European games on American systems. Unfortunately, you can't just add a mod chip to your current system, you have to buy a whole new system that comes with a mod chip pre-installed. Blockbuster Video is currently testing PC game rentals in 175 of its many locations nationwide. At the low rate of $5 for five nights, gamers in the following cities can now rent PC games at their local Blockbusters: Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, San Antonio, Denver, Miami, Charlotte, San Francisco, Phoenix, and New York. Electronic Arts has struck a deal with America Online wherein AOL's 20 million members will be able to play lots of EA games on AOL. The list of EA games that will be playable on AOL includes Knockout Kings, NASCAR Racing, Java Golf, WCW Wrestling, The Need For Speed, Ultima Online, Sim City, Alpha Centauri, and Command & Conquer. When told that none of these games will actually be playable at decent speeds due to the fact that AOL is the slowest, least reliable ISP in the country by far, an EA spokesperson reportedly said, "D'oh!" Tony Hawk's Pro Skater will be released for the Nintendo 64 in early 2000. The N64 version is not being developed by the creators of the original game at Neversoft, but by a different company called Edge of Reality. Neversoft is busy working on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, as well as a Spider-Man game for the PlayStation. Enix has delayed their 2D RPG Dragon Quest 7 (again). The game was previously scheduled to be released in Japan on December 29, and it is now scheduled for a February release. A gamer on the streets of Japan reportedly said, "This 12th delay of Dragon Quest 7 is almost as stunning as the 11th delay was! I'm still in shock!" Electronic Arts and MGM Interactive are extending their video game partnership, which began with the recently-released Tomorrow Never Dies. Just as they did with Tomorrow Never Dies, EA will also publish the video game version of the newest James Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough. The video game based on The World Is Not Enough will be released sometime next year. So basically, MGM doesn't have to publish the game (EA will), MGM doesn't have to develop the game (Eurocom will), but MGM will still get a big cut of the profits. Life must be sweet when your parent company owns the James Bond franchise. 3DO will be bringing BattleTanx: Global Assault to the PlayStation in March 2000. The TV commercial for the original BattleTanx featured a tank running down a bear who resembled Snuggles the Bear, the fabric-softening fruitcake that most of the country has wanted to see get killed for years. Unfortunately, 3DO pulled the commercial from the air after Unilevers (the company that makes the Snuggles fabric-softener) threatened to sue 3DO. In the commercial for Global Assault, the bear was being nursed back to health by a team of doctors and seemed to be doing well before he was abruptly and hilariously run over by a tank once again. Unilevers quickly filed an injunction against 3DO and demanded that the commercial be pulled from the air. After being shown the offending ad, a federal judge granted Unilevers' request and pulled the ad from the air, although he probably laughed for a good 30 seconds before doing so... NEWS BRIEFS In addition to the X-Box video game console, Microsoft is working on a portable gaming system. The currently un-named system will be compatible with both the X-Box and Microsoft's DirectX format, which will make developing games for the system fairly easy. Sega recently announced a baseball game for the Japanese Dreamcast called Let's Play In The Professional Baseball Team. I think Sega needs a new translator... Eidos Interactive has announced that Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver will be released for the Dreamcast in January. And if they're in a bad mood, they might cut the size of the game in half like they did with the PlayStation version... Believe it or not, two Nintendo 64 games are currently selling for an average price of under $20. Hasbro Interactive's Glover is now selling for an average price of $11, and Activision's Nightmare Creatures is now selling for an average price of $18. The Dreamcast was recently named Time Magazine's Machine of the Year. Rumor has it that Fox Interactive is working on a bowling game featuring the characters of The Simpsons. The game will supposedly be released for the PlayStation in March 2000. A Dreamcast version of Grand Theft Auto 2 will be released in April 2000, making the Genesis-like graphics all the more un-impressive since the game will be on a more powerful system. Take-Two Interactive recently snagged the rights to two very lucrative licenses. Take-Two now has the rights to publish Austin Powers games for all systems, and a Duke Nukem game for the PlayStation 2. SALES CHARTS In the week of October 31-November 6, the top ten best-selling games for all systems were: 1. Pokemon Yellow for Game Boy Color 2. Pokemon Red for Game Boy 3. Pokemon Blue for Game Boy 4. Pokemon Pinball for Game Boy Color 5. Pokemon Snap for Nintendo 64 (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the game) 6. Knockout Kings 2000 for PlayStation 7. Crash Team Racing for PlayStation 8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for PlayStation 9. Driver for PlayStation 10.Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for Game Boy Color On a points basis (with the first-place game earning its system ten points, the second-place game earning its system nine points, and so on), the Game Boy Color won with 18 points, followed by the Game Boy with 17 points, the PlayStation with 14 points, and the Nintendo 64 with six points. You can see the top-selling PlayStation games in the list above, and here are the top-sellers for the Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, and PC (in order from #1 to #3). Dreamcast: NFL 2K, Sonic Adventure, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Nintendo 64: Pokemon Snap, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes, and Jet Force Gemini PC: Age of Empires 2, Asheron's Call, and Deer Hunter 3 The following are old games that are still among the top ten best-sellers for their respective systems: Spyro the Dragon, Gran Turismo, Zelda 64, and Mario Kart 64 Other Notes: -Final Fantasy 8 has slipped to #9 on the PlayStation chart. -Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun has slipped to #9 on the PC chart. -The only wrestling game on any system's top ten list is WCW Mayhem, which is #8 on the N64 chart. -For the first time in recent memory, Goldeneye 007 is not one of the N64's top ten best-selling games. Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News, GI News, Next Generation, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Happy Puppy, PSX 2 Online, IGNPSX, IGN 64, Nintendorks, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku, Gaming Age, The NPD Group, www.hamsterdance.com
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com