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Here are a few quick Gamespot coverage links. They contain much more information than the Nintendo links and provide screenshots.

Metroid Prime hands-on
Super Mario Sunshine hands-on
The Zelda title gamespace

Here are a few quick Gamespot coverage links. They contain much more information than the Nintendo links and provide screenshots.

Metroid Prime hands-on
Super Mario Sunshine hands-on
The Zelda title gamespace

What you really want is the Gamespot impressions from guys who have actually played these games:

Impressions

Perhaps its best the Zelda comes out next year. More time for Metroid and Mario.

You mean like the four player linked GBA Zelda shown in Nintendo's press conference?

Cause that might just hit the spot.

Metroid Prime is decidedly NOT 2D. It's an FPS w/3rd person for the ball sections.

The new Contra is 2D! Just look!

"Microsoft has committed to assisting publishers in the hosting, networking, security, and billing for their online games."

That seems to suggest that there will be the possibility of additional fees for some games. Online RPGs for instance are now expected to be updated regularly with new items, quests, etc., and I imagine that a static world would mean the death of the game. Yes, people would love to not download patches that fixes features that should have been in the game in the first place. However, people also love the dynamics of the game where the weapon you had last week may have been the best, but the new weapon drops on such and such mob is even better.

Back to the original point, who is going to pay for those updates, as these updates will certainly not be developed for free? That $10 a month will probably cover the bandwidth and matchmaking services, but it's doubtful it will help cover developer expenses, and if it doesn't cover their expenses, why bother making an online game? Sports games are suppose to update their statistics and rosters (injuries) as the real life season progresses for a more "realistic" game, so it's not only RPGs that would require developer maintaince. Let's say MS is generous and gives a portion of that $10 to developers. But what if gamers play more than one online RPG with more than one sports game? Then that $10 is split so many different ways that it becomes insignificant. And if developers have to pay for hosting at MS's datacenters, that is a recurring monthly fee for the developers possibly, and I doubt that the $50 you paid for the initial game can pay not only for the development costs of the game, but also the recurring monthly costs to be hosted by MS. I just don't think people should get their hopes up that this is a $10 flat fee.

Carmacks's Gamespot interview at QuakeCon is here.

You can be a cook ;)

The Gamespot review is here. It is linked from the Gamespot article, so obviously this posting is just blatant karma whoring.

It wasn't mentioned in the article but I am curious as to how MP options will work? One of the downfalls of DS is that characters are stored clientside and games are hosted by individuals. This leads to massive cheating and laggy games for my 56k using friends. Does anyone know if NWN is going to be any different? I sure hope so.
Also, incase anyone doesn't know, Gamespot is running their own review/preview of NWN here.

It wasn't mentioned in the article but I am curious as to how MP options will work? One of the downfalls of DS is that characters are stored clientside and games are hosted by individuals. This leads to massive cheating and laggy games for my 56k using friends. Does anyone know if NWN is going to be any different? I sure hope so.
Also, incase anyone doesn't know, Gamespot is running their own review/preview of NWN here.

It wasn't mentioned in the article but I am curious as to how MP options will work? One of the downfalls of DS is that characters are stored clientside and games are hosted by individuals. This leads to massive cheating and laggy games for my 56k using friends. Does anyone know if NWN is going to be any different? I sure hope so.
Also, incase anyone doesn't know, Gamespot is running their own review/preview of NWN here.

All of the articles talking about Blackley's departure as being a sign of XBox's fall are mostly just hype. Blackley did this interview with Gamespot and said that his departure had to do with the coming of E3 and the formation of his own game company.

• AnandTech
  
• GameSpot
  

I dont want to waste my time telling you how stupid that comment is however I will point you to this link.

Xbox has plenty of good games and many good games to come. Including THPS3,NFL2k2,Max Payne,Rallisport challenge, Wrecless and the list goes on. Just wait for E3 and we'll see even more games coming out for the xbox.

Bravo

Screens
screens 1
screens 2
gamespot article
screens 3
screens 4
screens 5

Weapons
http://www.unrealops.com/ut2-weapons-preview.htm

Hope this makes someone as happy as it did me when I first got it. :)

-Vic

The publisher, Shrapnel Games, has a few other interesting titles. Particularly good is Space Empires IV, a Reach for the Stars or Masters of Orion II-like galactic conquest strategy game. There's a good review of it on GameSpot.

The publisher, Shrapnel Games, has a few other interesting titles. Particularly good is Space Empires IV, a Reach for the Stars or Masters of Orion II-like galactic conquest strategy game. There's a good review of it on GameSpot.

It was a disaster. The physics (which Blackley tried to write personally) didn't work, the inverse kinematics was flakey, the gameplay was terrible, and the AI was a dud. And that's according to one of the developers. Reviews were harsh. ("Trespasser is a frustrating game, filled with boring gameplay and annoying bugs.") Sales were poor.

After that debacle, it's not surprising that the XBox contains nothing at all technically risky. The XBox is an Pentium 3 PC with 64MB, an NVidia GeForce 2, a stripped-down Windows 2000, and manufactured by Flextronics. No risk there.

oops I was wrong, Sony has indeed releassed a release date for PS2 Everquest of sometime in 2003. PlanetPS2 and gamespot both have new articles on it. The game will be all new for the system. However their ethernet card is still being released in August so I conclude that FFXI will still be the first MMORPG for the system.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

How about Max Payne (PS2) and Max Payne (XBox)? Hit the reviews, compare the screenies side by side, rent the games. The XBox version blows the PS2 one away (the PS2 can hardly keep up a 25-30 fps rate even with scaled back graphics, while the XBox chugs along nicely at around 60fps).

Then there's Blood Omen 2 (PS2) and Blood Omen 2 (XBox), again do the comparisons. Just to round things out, how about Onimousha: Warlords (PS2) v. Genma Onimousha.

In other words, had you actually done what the original poster suggested and compared the same game on the PS2 and the XBox, you would notice that in general things look better and play better on the XBox. Yes, there are some ports where no effort is made (SSX Tricky (PS2) v. SSX Tricky (XBox), but then again I prefer Amped, but ignore Gamespot's review score -- they were pretty biased against the XBox for the first few months), but in general when the same game appears on both platforms, the XBox version is better.

Umm no.

Go here

Its a review of Tony 3 for the box. Its not some kind of hybrid between 2 and 1. Check your sources before you starting pulling stuff like this out of your ass.

BTW THPS 2x was just like the other versions also. BUt it had a few extra levels for the xbox version

Bravo

BTW Tactics is coming to the Game Boy Advanced.

I feel your comments seem very Xbox biased.
I have an Xbox and I trade it frequently
back and forth with a friends PS2. The
selection and quality of games for the PS2
seems to blow away the meager offerings
of the Xbox. A quick glance through
gamespot
seems to bear that out.

And as for GTA3 vs Rallisport Challenge, I
really feel they are two completly differnt
games. Yes, they both involve driving cars,
but I would venture to say the similarity
ends there. GTA3 is a semi-open ended adventure,
and Rallisport is just a race around the track
competition.

> As for Halo not being a GTA3, you're right. These
> are two wholy different genres of game. Halo is a
> FPS whild GTA3 is a racing game. However,
> Rallisport Challenge was just released and this
> game competes with GTA3 quite nicely, and in fact
> has been praised by some game reviewers as being
> better than GTA3 (though only slightly by some).

How about Crash Bandicoot? Wrath of Cortex is coming out relatively soon, and should be enough of a platformer to attract more kids. I personally prefer the smart action of Oddworld though to jumping on enemies' heads to kill them.

Warlords Battlecry I Review
Warlords Battlecry II Review

IGN PC seemed suitably impressed.

Warlords Battlecry I Review
Warlords Battlecry II Review

So does Gamespot...

Soul Caliber 2 is coming out some time this year hopefully,

Cool! I may have to find an arcade :-)

and for all 3 systems to boot, so no whining from any particular system's audience.

Oh, sure, now I actually have to figure out which system is better, I can't just automagically buy whichever game system SC2 comes out for... (whine whine whine....)

In the meantime, check out Virtua Fighter 4.

Yeah, I have seen a comercial for it (I may have a TiVo, but sometimes I back up to catch video game comercials). I'm not sure, I didn't really like the previous VF games. Maybe in part because of some bad blood between the CoinOp company I worded for long ago, and the first VF...but more likely, there is just something in it that I don't like that much. Too keep on topic I could accuse it of being too realistic :-)

Still, I haven't bought a new game console because I haven't seen a new kick-fu game I like. I hope there is a sequel to Soul Caliber (which I think is a sequel to Soul Edge on the PlayStation).

Because strangely enough it's the best all time seller of video games. Until the Sims came along that is... Why Not Myst? Here's another article from gamespot that discusses the Myst miniseries on SciFi.

Link here, btw.

Hey, let's post some sites that actually have funny jokes this year.
I liked the one on www.gamespot.com about the Duke Nukem developers trying to fit the game in the box :)

...its going to be the best thing to hit the PS2 since, well, Final Fantasy X

Excluding Metal Gear Solid 2 and GTA 3 which, if I remember correctly, were much better received critically and sold more than FFX.

Final Fantasy has basically become watching a DVD with a broken pause feature: you have to intermittantly hit a button to get the movie started again.

Freedom Force, on the other hand, is as close to a pen-n-paper RPG experience you can get. Exciting, personal, and thrilling. Oh and replayable. Another classic from Crave/Looking Glass.

BTW Kingdome Hearts does look cool though. It seems Sony is going to try and take the demographic they don't have: the kids from Nintendo.

...its going to be the best thing to hit the PS2 since, well, Final Fantasy X

Excluding Metal Gear Solid 2 and GTA 3 which, if I remember correctly, were much better received critically and sold more than FFX.

Final Fantasy has basically become watching a DVD with a broken pause feature: you have to intermittantly hit a button to get the movie started again.

Freedom Force, on the other hand, is as close to a pen-n-paper RPG experience you can get. Exciting, personal, and thrilling. Oh and replayable. Another classic from Crave/Looking Glass.

BTW Kingdome Hearts does look cool though. It seems Sony is going to try and take the demographic they don't have: the kids from Nintendo.

The story behind Daikatana is actually pretty interesting to read, Knee Deep in a dream: The story of Daikatana.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10 869,2854500,00.html

I'm surprised to read quite a few posts from people saying "What's Nethack?" ... well, here's some information to get you started on an answer:

Unsung Heros: NetHack : "NetHack is a spectacular dungeon crawl that has been in development for more than 15 years. It's the only game in this feature that we can refer to in the present tense, because it is the only game still being actively worked on. It features random dungeons, enough monsters to fill an AD&D menagerie, and enough commands to create a programming language."

The Gamespy Hall of Fame : "Here's a game that's been under continuous development for over 15 years. It has no graphics, unless you count the primitive patterns made of ascii characters. And yet is has a huge following -- a very active newsgroup, fans all over the globe, and many instances of major media coverage. There's some kind of magic in NetHack, a world so huge and complex that every game is completely different, where each new item can twist the gameplay in new directions. Mostly we love it for the surprises -- the number of times you try some amazingly obscure action and find out that it works, leaving slump back in your chair and exclaim, 'They thought of everything!'"

Salon: The Best Game Ever : "But as any hacker worth the title will tell you, Nethack is still one of the best games ever made. What's more, it's one of the best open-source games ever made -- meaning anyone who cares can grab ahold of the game's source code and make changes and improvements. The player's guide is even authored by none other than open-source ontologist Eric S. Raymond..."

The Nethack Homepage : "Nethack is a single player, ASCII graphics-based adventure game, similar to the lines of Dungeons & Dragons and similar fantasy games. It is commonly classified in the larger group of Rogue-like Games, which generally are all text-based, solo adventures. Within the game, your character is after the infamous Wizard of Yendor, who has stolen the Amulet of Yendor and plans to use it for his evil purposes. You, a young member of your chosen class, have been blessed by your people and your god to retrieve the Amulet, and to save the world from the Wizard's evil plans."

Variants and Utilities : "One of the most impressive features of Nethack is the amount of 3rd party developed material that either is a varient of the Nethack game, or can be used to enhance your Nethack gaming experience. You'll find both variants and utilites for Nethack listed on this page."

But this one may be (in my biased opinion) the coolest project of all...

Nethack-Palm Porting Project : "The Nethack-Palm porting project is a loosely-knit group of Nethack and Palm enthusiasts who are working to port the classic game Nethack to the Palm platform. The project is well underway, but still far from complete so we welcome any new contributors." (See also Roguelikes for PalmOS)

Not really. Sony has already announced their online strategy. Nintendo still refuses to answer questions about it. It's not like all they have to do is make the modem. They've done that. They have to give people someplace to connect to. As we've seen with a lot of the online PC games over the past two years, this isn't as easy as it sounds. If Nintendo hasn't even mentioned it yet, it's a long way off. We probably won't see the official FF line on the GC until at least 12. I guess it's possible they could surprise everyone at E3, but I'm guessing not. But what do I know?

Another reason XI probably won't come to the GC is the lack of hard drive. From what I hear, the PS2 version will require the hard drive add on for one reason or another. Probably because Sony sees it as a good way to get people to buy the thing.

Not really. Sony has already announced their online strategy. Nintendo still refuses to answer questions about it. It's not like all they have to do is make the modem. They've done that. They have to give people someplace to connect to. As we've seen with a lot of the online PC games over the past two years, this isn't as easy as it sounds. If Nintendo hasn't even mentioned it yet, it's a long way off. We probably won't see the official FF line on the GC until at least 12. I guess it's possible they could surprise everyone at E3, but I'm guessing not. But what do I know?

Another reason XI probably won't come to the GC is the lack of hard drive. From what I hear, the PS2 version will require the hard drive add on for one reason or another. Probably because Sony sees it as a good way to get people to buy the thing.

Pics like this one show off the great HO-looking gameplay. This is actualy why I did a little model train stuff as a kid (never got into it seriously). It was so I could pretend to blow things up, fight wars, etc.

This feud started with The Secret of Mana . Square, Nintendo, and Sony were teaming up to release the Secret of Mana as the killer app for the SNES CD. Sony then decided that they wanted to also release their own "playstation," which would play SNES CD's, and their own proprietary format. History can be found here. The contract did not forbid this, but forbid Nintendo from breaking out of the agreement. So, Nintendo started working with Phillips on another CD rom (compatible with the also doomed CDI), and announced that it would be the dominant CD format for the SNES. (See SCEE's Official Version. Also visible on www.scee.com, if you have IE and a patience with slow scrolling scripting. More history here.)

The history of that feud is probably only truly understood by lawyers, but it is clear that Square took a major hit in terms of profit when Nintendo abandoned the platform that Square had just geared up to and had developed their largest game to date for. I don't know who bore the brunt of costs for translating SOM to the SNES, but I'm sure it wasn't a happy meeting.

Let's also not forget that Nintendo decided not to release FF2 in the US thinking that it would be unprofitable, and made this decision after A: it had been translated and B: they had run an 8-page spread in Nintendo Power (check your backissues folks! There was a contest and everything.).

From there, Square naturally decided to follow the evolution of the SNES CD the Playstation, and break ties with the company that they had established an intimate relationship with. Ugliness followed.

That ugliness can be found elsewhere, I'm not here to tell you how it ends. I'm only here to show you the beginning.

Maybe they want to integrate it with some of these games. Surely there's lots of money to be made sometime in the future.