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... is it going to come with your choice of 4 toppings? And freaky toppings at that, like corn!

The xbox's buzzfactor, I think is as high as it can go. While observing Microsoft's moves, I've noted that they've done PC like stuff for the console. So basically they did things such as gamespatches that had never been done before by companies such as Nintendo. Think about that 20 years 1988-2004, no patching games, and then Microsoft comes along and starts patching games that have major bugs (granted, online games don't count, but think morrowind...etc.)

First off, your example is bad because Morrowind was released prior to XBox Live, had no capability to download patches, and didn't get any fixes applied to it until it was re-released in the GOTY version (it also wasn't Microsoft's game, and Bethesda is pretty much known for relatively buggy open-ended RPGs like Sea Dogs and the whole Elder Scrolls series). Second, games on the XBox are hardly the first console games to have major bugs or problems that could do with a patch. However, they are the first games on a console with the possibility of getting a patch. What's the problem with that? Nobody's perfect, and even with stringent testing for console games bugs do occassionally slip through. Would you rather throw away a good game that's ruined by one or two minor issues, or get a patch for it and keep going?

Elsewhere, 1UP are reporting that EA's first Xbox Live title could be on the way, as they relay an as yet unconfirmed rumor that "three different Battlefield titles are in the works, one each for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC", each online-enabled and "built around a modern warfare setting instead of the historical settings of Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam."

Could their decision to throw Battlefield on Xbox Live have anything to do with the fact that a competitor might do it first ?

Gladiatorial combat was never so much fun. It's your basic boy-meets-rocket, boy-loses-rocket, boy-gets-dragged-along-the-ground-and-crushed-agai nst-wall story.

Great, now we have to listen to computers do karaoke too?

I guess cheating at Karaoke Revolution is a cynch now, though. Just hold the mic up to your speaker. And a plus - I don't have to hear people wailing in the next room! Well, not as much, anyway.

However, the good reviews still pour in from GameZone and Ferrago.

I heard about this game about a month ago. Since that time, I can't fathom how much this game has endeared itself to me. As soon as I saw the lack of a good community website, I began to build one with the help of another community member with the same idea. Then I built a non-profit card store to help further the game, using osCommerce, located at scfans.net, though there are other resellers on the books, such as Gameguys and IBK, to be completely fair.

The bottom line is, in terms of pure gameplay fun, excitement, and community involvement (the developer, Paul aka Merakon, is on almost every evening, and his support in getting SCWatch.net up and running has been stellar to say the least.

If you dig a good strategy game, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

• Pitfall
• Spy Hunter
• Tron

the remake of Pirates! is currently under development by Firaxis Games. It should see a release later this year.

You might want to contact Toys for Bob for an update for Archon as well as the (mentioned below) Mail Order Monsters as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III may be able to help there. They were the ones who released their Star Control II to us as the somewhat updated Ur Quan Masters.

Rez did this to a certain extent.

Essentially, the difficulty of the boss at the end of the level was determined by how well you;d done leading up to it. It was kind of like a reward for doing well, and added some replayability, because the enhancements the boss would get going from normal to hard were somewhat obvious. Once I knew this was happening, I got a charge from knowing that I had earned the 'super' boss.

It also meant that if you weren't that good yet, you'd stand a better chance of getting to see the next level anyway, plus have some incentive to try again.

This is the only game I know of off hand that does this, but I'm sure there are others.

Soon all games will be 3rd person action adventures. Why? Beats me - people keep buying them. They're the cinematic equivalent of 2 hours explosions. I hate them with a passion.

Gamers: Stop buying them... please.
Developers: You're hurting your games by following everyone else.

I can tell this from a single screenshot. This is an absolutely useless perspective and completely unimmersive (as that's supposed to be me - but I can't see what I'm supposed to). See the knife in the player's hand? What happens when you throw it? Yeah, exactly - how the hell are you supposed to aim when you don't have a straight line of sight?

Don't give me a retarded answer like: "You'll get used to it" or "the game will aim for you".

Thanks for making Mario 64 again - the gaming world needed it. No, really.. way to keep your fanbase. I know the article says that you can play in 1st person.. but just to be completely clear to the devs (if they're reading this) understand this:

I NEVER WANT TO SEE A 3RD PERSON PERSPECTIVE WHEN I AM PLAYING YOUR GAME. OH, AND STOP MAKING CUTSCENES - THEY'RE SHIT. K? THX, BYE!

I want to bring a group of developers from the early 80's into the present and see what they could come up with. Deliberately not showing them the games that have been made since then so they wouldn't follow everyone's retarded cliches.

I wonder if this news will affect the production on Fear Effect 3 (aka Fear Effect: Inferno)? For awhile, I heard it had been cancelled... though now that I look it up, it was just put "on hold" (link).

The ethernet port appears to be part of the power supply - quite obvious, really. :)

A slightly suspicious feature is how the ports are labelled. 'USB 2.0', 'CABLE MODEM' and '10/100 LAN' - instead of just plain 'USB', 'NETWORK' etc, it looks like boasting about the potential features. Vapourware, anyone?

Page views must've pushed it up. After GameSpot ranked it 1.0 and Slashdot linked to it, this games shows up #2 on the overall GameSpot Most Popular list and #1 on the PC list.

Check it out at the bottom.

Gamespot has some hi-res photos.

However, the number and types of ports on the back of this box ring alarm bells with me. How many PC-based consoles have:

Composite and S-Video and component video?

RCA and optical and "coax" audio?

Other little signs:

Power adapter plug has changed from previous regular PC style to circular multi-pin.

There is a coax connector for an optional internal cable modem (according to the proposed specs but an internal ADSL modem is also an option. How do you choose which?

This reminds me of the Moller SkyCar where they produce just enough prototypes to keep the investors happy but never actually produce anything.

If they didn't turn the thing on then this is probably just an empty box with some ports stuck on the back.

It was announced, and there had been several updates about it at Gamespot.com prior to the game's cancellation.

Phantom Game Console isn't exactly vaporware. Photos of it are here. Not sure if this is a working model though.

But... you can pre-order the game:

Duke Nukem Forever Preorder

Only one more year! =P

As far as big-name failures, don't forget Trespasser. Oh, and who was the genius that brought us this one-handed pain?

Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley, architect of the X-Box. 'Nuff said.

this review praises the game.

Now don't get me wrong, that looks like a horrible game and they made a lot of mistakes graphically, but it doesn't look THAT bad. The terrain textures and lighting effects, though not implemented too well, look at least current especially for budget. This goes in the other direction too. If it's a really good game but with horrible graphics, it gets a 10. Let's take Vice City. Graphics scores same as gameplay? 'Fraid not. I'm personally a fan of high draw distance, high polys, and good lighting effects, which I'm afraid you won't find in Vice City.

Gamespot's "Worst of 2003" included Gods and Generals...the "See it in action" video on that page is worth checking out.

And the interesting part is that I'm straight, but I always found it funny that Luigi had a hot-pink outfit in Smash Brothers. All speculation is tossed right out the window with Mario and Luigi where Luigi and the unbelievably bishounen Prince flirt with each other and exchange tokens of affection. It's done in such a comical way (and doesn't seem remotely out of character for Luigi) and done in such a way that Nintendo can deny everything. Classic.

Maybe during that era they produced some of the best box art, but also some of the ugliest. Oh god, does anyone remember the Mega Man cartridge?

Hehe...well I've got it open right now and I see lots of custom maps! I was referring to this when I was talking about Valve upgrading their networks. I don't think I'll be paying a monthly fee to play HL2, since it will be available for purchase in stores as well as through steam. I don't know anyone who deludes themselves to belief Steam stops cheating, but it does have a significantly improved interface which I like. Sorry if I sounded angry, I'm just a peaceful stoner.

Oh come on, the Silver Surfer shooter for the NES was GREAT. The Operation: Wolf-style Punisher game on the NES that didn't have Light Gun support? Classic. And don't get me started on how the NES X-men game was a milestone in comic-book licensed video games. (I hope this is coming off as sarcastic as I'm intending it to be)

Seriously though, you may look into X-Men Legends, it's been in development now for awhile, (Should probably be coming out soon, I'd think, unless it's been cancelled) and it's an RPG that looks like it'll be somewhat interesting. The character designs at least look more based on the Ultimate universe than the traditional, I don't know what direction the story is going in though.

Actually, sir, that game already came out. Albeit without the Star Wars license.

Didn't DNF have pre-orders at one point?

Yup, and by the looks of it, it's due out the end of this year too!

:-)

(hey, I didn't write it, I'm only reporting it...)

The first real life model of the phantom game console was also show at CES. There are pictures of it at gamespot . Not sure if this is a working model or not.

To the best of my knowledge, only Gamespot and DDRFreak have covered this, but Konami also unveiled the next DDR game for the U.S. region, DDR Extreme. Here's the official site, and GameSpot's coverage. I first saw the news on DDRFreak.

For those of you about to lament the unfortunate use of "Extreme", it should be noted that this is more of a "greatest hits" collection of the best, most challenging, or most popular DDR tracks throughout the series' seven-game lifespan, as well as imports from other Bemani series such as Guitar Freaks and Pop'n Music. The game should also introduce new gameplay mechanics such as "mission mode", but details are as of yet unknown.

Don't look at me like that, somebody here must want to know this.

Next thing you know, people are going to file lawsuits against the creators of GTA because their car got damaged in an earthquake...

CPU Bach was my favorite simulation from Sid Meier. I'm not sure why algorithmic random music generation never really took off. My version is the 3DO version, which I still have. After listening to it repeatedly, there were several movements you kept hearing over and over. Still, and excellent non-game program in a genre that never really got off the ground.

For a complete listing of Meier's accomplishments, Gamespot has The Sid Meier Legacy.

I'm surprised this even happened. I live playing Civilization, and I'm looking forward to the pirates remake, but Civilization was basically stolen from Avalon Hill. Their Advanced Civilization board game is easily one of the best table games ever made. It will probably never be printed again.

If you don't see it, you've probably not played both. I will never forgive Microprose.

American cars don't sell well here because they (historically) are huge, have bad mileage, and break down a lot.

The Xbox is huge, and from my personal experience breaks down a lot. As far as mileage goes, my Gamecube travels with me to my casual gaming friends because it is smaller with a handle, and it has better multi player games.

I checked on Gamefaqs for Japanese release dates and found nearly all of my favorite Xbox games have been released in Japan. Unfortunately, most of them didn't sell well in the US either.

You may be referring to Gamespot's Xbox game of the year Star Wars: KOTOR which hasn't been released there, but this topic is about top selling games of 2003 and both of Gamespot's GC and PS2 games of the year came out in Japan in 2002.

Sure, its easy to point out the growing importance of music on the continental side of things. Some how though I think the person who wrote this thinks that all games are either made for America or made to suit Americas need.

The quote:"Once an afterthought in the production process, video game soundtracks increasingly use original music to reach new listeners who blur traditional entertainment boundaries", followed directly by "Record companies are realizing that this is the new radio," and the use of sales figures for GTA vice city, a game who's precursor has semi-recently seen light of day in Japan are all figures in this line of thought. Also, all the companies mentioned are American. Well, not Namco, but even then consider Namco's (dwindling)arcades.

I will grant that the entire article isn't writen from the slant that I noticed, but focusing on how this is a 'starting' trend is an sign of ignorance. We're catching up to Asia if anything.

An interesting note is that digicube , Sqaure-Enix's own Sam Goody, went bankrupt. Or whatever the hell chain died over here recently. Goes to show that one markets up is anothers down. I'm just surprised that more people arn't reporting that.

You can't have enough of these, and if you have either a PS2, an XBox, or even just a plain-old DVD player, you do not need to have a separate karaoke machine in your house too.

That said, the PS2 Karaoke Revolution game received the biggest raves and participation from my crowd when compared to the XBox Music Mixer. I think it had to do more with the concept of giving people a reason to grab the microphone and sing -- people weren't trying to sing well, they were just trying to sing to match the scoring indicator (although those who DID sing well scored higher in the game). The fun part was that the game could still be played and be fun (that is, score points) even if you were a really, really bad singer. This, along with the interesting background graphics truly made this a game environment rather than a "who wants to sing" piece. And while the headset microphone is a bit flimsy and not really geared to a human adult head, it served its purpose and didn't really get in the way of the singing-as-game process.

When we switched to the Xbox Music Mixer, it was more of a generic karaoke experience, and therefore a bit of a turnoff for those people who were more shy or uninterested in actually singing. Of course, with the ability to add any number of relatively new XMM songs to the system for $2-a-pop via the Internet, the XMM makes for a valid karaoke machine for those people who don't currently have one.

So what's my plan now?

• I'm certainly going to get any Konami expansion packs for Karaoke Revolution that get released. Yes, the crowd loved this game that much for me to do this.
• I'm going to look into the Code Junkie karaoke package for the PS2 available at my local discount software shop for around $30, featuring 3 CDs of music.
• I'm going to evaluate the concept that some people have of creating their own WMA+G files from their existing karaoke collections for downloading onto the XBox, while shelling out $2/per current song that I can't find on a current karaoke CD.
• And for those times when I don't feel like firing up the PS2 or the XBox to sing karaoke, I'll plop a karaoke DVD in and let people sing along with those -- no karaoke machine is necessary. Now if only I could figure out the best way to pump the DVD audio and a vocal mic through my standard A/V receiver, then I'll have all my bases covered -- suggestions appreciated, although I was just going to hook up my tape deck and plug mics into that, then pressing REC-PAUSE to activate the mics and hope the audio feeds through. Unless I should buy this nifty gadget which seems to address the problem.

Gamespot voted it Best Strategy Game of 2003, and I heartily agree. Some call it derivative of AoE, Empire Earth and their ilk, but it is really only superficially similar. Brian Reynolds' take on epic RTS is epic RTS done right.

Just squeaking in under the wire, the recent Star Chamber, a 4X/board/card game for the PC, is one of the more unique releases this year. Furthermore, it's a free, and has free online play with ladder rankings. (The card booster packs are what costs you).

So go to their web site and check it out. There is no excuse not to. Or at least read this glowing review from Gamespot.

You're wrong. Have you seen: Grand Theft Auto 3 & Vice City? Grab a helicoptor then fly around -- amazing graphics and how they can draw huge landscapes.

Sorry dude, I love my PS2, but almost any multiplatform game out there will look better on the XBOX. It's simply a more powerful system.

Grand theft auto is a great example of this. From the Gamespot review of the XBOX version:
"The PlayStation 2 versions looked fantastic, given the relatively underpowered PS2 hardware, and the ports that appeared on the PC did a nice job of cleaning up and improving upon the original PS2 games. But the Xbox versions of the games go one step further than that. You'll immediately notice reflections coming off the cars, and the lighting in general is better. The texture quality and character models have been improved. The draw distance seems a little further out. And the frame rate remains pretty stable throughout. The games take advantage of the Xbox's audio prowess by playing in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and offering support for the custom soundtrack feature."

Just in case you missed it, there was a version of Ghost In The Shell for Playstation (PSX). It's a good game and worth checking out. For some reason, it didn't get much attention so you'll have to check your local used video game store or pay the premium to get a copy on eBay.

Postal 2 was nominated to be one of the Most Embarrassing Games of the Year by GameSpot...

OTOH, it DOES have Gary Coleman in it!

For $99 now, it's a good deal. My younger brother just got one for Christmas, and it game with a game, well many games when you think about it, The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition(Original Zelda, through Majora's Mask, and the demo of the newest one). For the price it beats both X-BOX and PS2, and you won't find SuperMario or Zelda on either of those, and those are two characters, I grew up with playing as. It's very unlikely that Nintendo will be going away anytime soon. Nintendo's sales have increased since the price cut, and their marketshare is about 37 percent of the market for consoles(atleast that's what they claim).

I haven't read the book quite yet, but the whole "Jesus' child" thing is simply just some monstrously trendy philosophy, which has been done in a Gabriel Knight computer game. It seems that Dan Brown has all but stolen the premise from the game (which, I'm sure, had been lifted from certain other things). The game I thought was fun. Dan Brown and the fashionable furor over this book I find irritating.

1. What genre of game *would* be more suitable for adapting Fight Club?

MMPORPG? Just because there is no suitable genre for a movie to game transition doesn't mean you randomly pick one. "Hey Jim, all the kids love this new 'Bowling for Columbine' movie." "That's great Bob, let's make an FPS!"

2. Why is it assumed that an action game can't have a narrative component?

Because they used the magical word "fighting game." Shenmue was not a fighting game. Deus Ex was not a fighting game. Tekken was a fighting game. This game resembles Tekken.

I don't recall the trailers for the movie focussing on the anti-capitalism message.

No, and that's a valid point. However, there is a long history of very bad licensed games, games that totally missed the point, and games that did both. Without evidence that the creators have any clue about how to translate the material they are working with into, say, an FPRTS, it is pretty safe to assume they will fudge it up.

Really, when releasing a licensed game, it is the responsibility of the development team to prove that the game isn't total junk. So far, with the design that has been shown they appear to be either totally clueless, or have been cornered into making a game that's the anthesis of the source material. Either way, anyone who likes the movie is going to be sorely disappointed.

1. What genre of game *would* be more suitable for adapting Fight Club?

MMPORPG? Just because there is no suitable genre for a movie to game transition doesn't mean you randomly pick one. "Hey Jim, all the kids love this new 'Bowling for Columbine' movie." "That's great Bob, let's make an FPS!"

2. Why is it assumed that an action game can't have a narrative component?

Because they used the magical word "fighting game." Shenmue was not a fighting game. Deus Ex was not a fighting game. Tekken was a fighting game. This game resembles Tekken.

I don't recall the trailers for the movie focussing on the anti-capitalism message.

No, and that's a valid point. However, there is a long history of very bad licensed games, games that totally missed the point, and games that did both. Without evidence that the creators have any clue about how to translate the material they are working with into, say, an FPRTS, it is pretty safe to assume they will fudge it up.

Really, when releasing a licensed game, it is the responsibility of the development team to prove that the game isn't total junk. So far, with the design that has been shown they appear to be either totally clueless, or have been cornered into making a game that's the anthesis of the source material. Either way, anyone who likes the movie is going to be sorely disappointed.

1. What genre of game *would* be more suitable for adapting Fight Club?

MMPORPG? Just because there is no suitable genre for a movie to game transition doesn't mean you randomly pick one. "Hey Jim, all the kids love this new 'Bowling for Columbine' movie." "That's great Bob, let's make an FPS!"

2. Why is it assumed that an action game can't have a narrative component?

Because they used the magical word "fighting game." Shenmue was not a fighting game. Deus Ex was not a fighting game. Tekken was a fighting game. This game resembles Tekken.

I don't recall the trailers for the movie focussing on the anti-capitalism message.

No, and that's a valid point. However, there is a long history of very bad licensed games, games that totally missed the point, and games that did both. Without evidence that the creators have any clue about how to translate the material they are working with into, say, an FPRTS, it is pretty safe to assume they will fudge it up.

Really, when releasing a licensed game, it is the responsibility of the development team to prove that the game isn't total junk. So far, with the design that has been shown they appear to be either totally clueless, or have been cornered into making a game that's the anthesis of the source material. Either way, anyone who likes the movie is going to be sorely disappointed.

According to the NPD console game sales chart for November, MK:DD was the number one selling title.

You can't base numbers on one stores sales.

Notice this robot is 60cm tall ? Back when I was young I played a lot with Playmobil figures, and in fact I had never thought I could have *them* play with me... until now.

Sure I remember looking at cartoons on TV, and thinking I would like to play with them, at a time it was impossible (I am that old). Then videogames came along. In their time Pitfall and Keystone Kapers on the Atari 2600 were close enough to controlling a cartoon. Since then things have gotten better).

It's a good time to be alive, sit and watch.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/colorquestten tativetitle/

Sure... click here. Looks just like DKC, except perhaps rendered in-game as opposed to pre-rendered sprites. Which is alright, but the interface is pretty ugly.

You're confusing vaporware with open source :)

The source to half life 2 was leaked remeber?