Slashdot Mirror

Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."

Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."

Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."

Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."

Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article interviewing Microsoft executives about the Xbox's popularity in Japan. According to the article, 400,000 is the 'magic number': "...the number of Xbox consoles Microsoft has sold in Japan since launching the system in February, 2002. It is roughly the number of copies of Grand Theft Auto that Capcom has sold into the Japanese market. And, historically speaking, it is the approximate number of 3DO consoles in Japan as well." Apparently, "'That is the yogei-acceptable number in Japan'. [The term "yogei" refers to foreign or Western.]" However, Mike Fischer of Microsoft suggests that "game developers are tired of Sony's dominance in the market, and that that more Japanese-appropriate hardware will lead to better sales in Japan which will lead support from companies like Square/Enix which will then lead even greater acceptance in Japan."

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with CESA executive managing director Kazuya Watanabe, as the head of the "game industry's trade organization" in Japan discusses issues such as the Japanese games industry's dislike of the used videogame market: "Used software sales are now legal and covered by the law. Despite the fact that the court has passed judgment, the software manufacturers are still not satisfied with the outcome because of the high percentage of used sales in overall Japanese game sales." He also addresses the perception that many Japanese PC titles are adult-oriented: "They stand out. They do not have a large market, but they catch your eyes. If you look at that, you may think, 'Boy, these Japanese are very strange.' It is not the case."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article interviewing Hideo Kojima and Scott Dolph of Konami about the continuation of the Metal Gear Solid series. Notable sections include Kojima's comments about the programming difficulties of Sony hardware: "People on my team are masochistic. They enjoy the difficulty of working with PlayStation 2 and we assume that PlayStation 3 will be even more difficult. We know nothing about the system; but it's from Sony, so we assume so", as well as Dolph discussing Metal Gear Solid's regional popularity: "You know, it sells better in the United States. There are more people who buy the game and are waiting for the game. Also, the hype from the U.S. travels and that helps sales in Japan. If the game is big in the U.S., it will do better in Japan. And I do not think that the hype works for you the other way around."

Thanks to GameSpy for its in-depth interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata regarding "what's gone wrong, what's gone right, and why Nintendo will end up on top." Iwata admits that "the competition is tougher than ever before; and in the short run, we have seen declining profitability", but makes it clear that the next-gen GameCube (which he calls "GCNext or GCN") isn't about raw processing power - rather, Nintendo are "discussing... what should be done to entertain people in a new way; and in order to achieve this, what functionality must be added to our current technology."

Ant writes "GameSpy has an article discussing their favorite ideas for licenses that should be made into games, but haven't made the transition yet." The piece, thankfully, notes that we "often get slammed with hideously inappropriate or just badly implemented and misbegotten licensed creations", but also argues: "For every Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Superman for the N64, we'll occasionally get a Tron 2.0, or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic", before picking The Road Warrior, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Ender's Game, among others, as licenses they'd like to see made into games. Which licenses do you think could survive the transition to games intact?

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Ion Storm's Harvey Smith, announcing his departure from the Deus Ex developer. Smith was "project director of Deus Ex: Invisible War and lead designer on the award winning Deus Ex", and says of his departure: "I am super excited about the possibility of creating a new studio. I've wanted to do this for years. I need a change of pace." The interview also confirms a story relayed yesterday via Blue's News, that the (unrelated) Randy Smith "is no longer the lead designer on Thief: Deadly Shadows, Ion Storm's upcoming installment in the stealthy series", somewhat surprising considering the proximity of the release date, set for mid-May.

Thanks to GameSpy for its column discussing some of the choicest 2D side-scrolling games of all time, as discussed in a lecture at the recent Game Developer's Conference in San Jose. Some of the "ten games from the past that have something to teach the aspiring platform game designer" listed included "Batman (1989, NES): Best wall jump ever (and game over music, he noted)", as well as "Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988, AC/Gen/etc.): 'If your game is harder than this, you're in trouble.'", and even "Super Mario All-Stars (1993, SNES): Everything you need to know in one cart." What are your favorite 2D side-scrolling platformers of all time?

Thanks to Evil Avatar for pointing to the Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes speed demo archive, which is storing a massive 294MB DIVX video showing the recently released GameCube title completed perfectly on Extreme mode in 1 hour and 10 minutes - the record holder 'Karma Hunter' explains: "I decided to help those I knew by making a video of a no-save game. Nothing fancy--a perfect run. So, I turned GOID (Game Over If Discovered) on, and made a video. Imagine my utter shock when I achieved a World Record at the end of the video." Elsewhere 1UP has a few more details regarding the PS2's Metal Gear Solid 3, after last week's voice casting call revealed possible new character names, also noting much more complex combat for the sequel, with moves "...developed by MGS military advisor Motosada Mori, himself a teacher of self-defense and close combat techniques."

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Pile On!' feature discussing Beta impressions so far on Blizzard's long-awaited MMO title, World Of Warcraft. Reactions range from the effusive ("I'm more convinced than ever that this game may finally be the first truly mass-market MMO") through the delighted ("I'm... completely in love with World of Warcraft"), to the ecstatic ("World of Warcraft delivers just what people are expecting: a tight, fun MMOG from a trusted developer.") Elsewhere, a WorldOfWarcraft.com forum discussion has a Blizzard representative mentioning release estimates of early this summer are likely wrong: "Definitely not July. As you know, we never set release dates, but you can expect the beta to run for another 5+ months." But, more importantly, does anyone _not_ like World Of Warcraft?

madopal writes "Well, it's no secret that Microsoft has been slashing internal development (Mythica, anyone?). Now, they've announced that they're cancelling their entire 2004 line-up of XSN Sports games for Xbox. Wow, with Ed Fries gone, it sure is a different place over there." The article quotes Kevin Browne of Microsoft as saying: "We need to be making great games, and the marketplace told us that we're just not at that level."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article covering the "Iron Chef"-like Game Designer's Challenge at last week's GDC 2004 in San Jose, in which "three famous game gurus were pitted against one another to tackle one of the thorniest of game design problems: creating a love story." According to the piece: "The three 'contestants' were Will Wright from Maxis (creator of The Sims and Sim City), Warren Spector from Ion Storm (visionary behind Deus Ex and Thief), and Raph Koster the Creative Director of Sony Online Entertainment (who was instrumental in creating Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies.)" The eventual winner was Will Wright, who "created a war-time romance game that he called a 'First-Person Kisser'", in which "...a man and a woman, chosen by the computer for having similar interests and romantic possibilities, would start on opposite ends of a raging battlefield. They'd have to arrange for a place to meet and they'd try to get there without being killed."

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to the Game Developer's Conference index at 1UP, further coverage at GameSpot, more coverage via GameSpy, and yet more coverage at IGN, as GDC finally wraps up. Highlights of newly posted articles include confirmation of Metal Slug Online from Mega Enterprises and SNK, a preview of BioWare's Xbox RPG Jade Empire, a post-mortem of Elixir's disappointing strategy title, Republic, and new information on much-awaited Xbox RPG Fable.

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to the Game Developer's Conference index at 1UP, further coverage at GameSpot, more coverage via GameSpy, and yet more coverage at IGN, as GDC finally wraps up. Highlights of newly posted articles include confirmation of Metal Slug Online from Mega Enterprises and SNK, a preview of BioWare's Xbox RPG Jade Empire, a post-mortem of Elixir's disappointing strategy title, Republic, and new information on much-awaited Xbox RPG Fable.

Thanks to GameSpy for its coverage of id co-founder John Carmack's keynote speech at Game Developer's Conference. Ideas discussed include the now-dismissed concept to do a 'Quake 2 remix' - "to rebuild the game using all-new assets and technology", as Carmack pointed out: "...even the idea of just reskinning an old game brings with it the problems that as we have newer graphics technology, media creation demands get worse and worse." Of follow-ups to DOOM 3, Carmack also mentioned that "they were hoping to re-use some of the assets created for DOOM 3 to help speed up development of whatever they do next, but even that would have a tradeoff."

ack154 writes "Reuters has a good article from the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, explaining how Sony is planning to milk PS2 sales until 2010. They see a lot of potential still down the road. Also mentioned at the conference was that Sony has no plans to speed up PS3 development based on the next Xbox system. There was also an emulated demo of a game for the upcoming PSP handheld." Elsewhere, GameSpy has a more detailed write-up of the same GDC keynote, and 1UP.com has in-depth information on programming the PSP from another GDC lecture. Update: 03/26 14:31 GMT by S : 1UP has added a streaming movie of Death Jr., the PSP game demonstrated, to its coverage of the keynote.

Thanks to GameSpot for its article covering a lecture by Pac Man creator Toru Iwatani at Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, during which the long-time Namco employee discussed his role in the company's Incubation Center, and "cited Namco's travel photography site NamcoPolo and Counter-Strike LAN cafe LEDZone as two examples of past projects" from the department he heads. Elsewhere, GameSpy has coverage of a lecture by the creators of Sony's ICO, in which its revealed that the PlayStation 2 game "was originally developed as a PS1 title" - however: "When a question was posed concerning the oft-rumored sequel to ICO -- commonly referred to as Nico -- Ueda gave an expected 'no comment' response." Update: 03/25 22:39 GMT by S : There's more comprehensive coverage of the ICO lecture over at 1UP.

Thanks to Frictionless Insight for its article recounting the proceedings of the 2004 Game Developers Choice and Independent Games Festival Awards, which were held last night in San Jose. Multiple GDC Award winners included Call Of Duty and Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, and Savage: The Battle for Newerth won the IGF independent game award, with Oasis triumphing in the Web/downloadable category. Among the highlights: "When the Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates team moved to the stage to accept the [IGF Web/Downloadable Audience Choice] award, dressed as buccaneers, they basked in the most thunderous applause of the night", and the piece also notes that "...the audience was [almost equally] vocal when HK-47 (from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) took the award for [GDC] Original Game Character of the Year." There's further coverage of the events over at GameSpy.

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with the lead designer of The Matrix Online, featuring new details regarding the PC MMO which recently parted ways with original co-developer UbiSoft, meaning the newly rejuvenated Warner Bros. Interactive "...is now the sole publisher of the title." According to the article, the developers Monolith are utilizing a combat system called Interlock, where "...players have the opportunity to optimize their fighting technique by managing their move-by-move combat tactics, and performing combos and other special maneuvers. This is definitely not 'click and watch.'" There's more information at the official Matrix Online FAQ.

Thanks to GameSpy for its article discussing a variety of possible ways to store an extensive videogame collection. The author points out: "The more video games you buy, the more storage space you need to keep them all. You'd think this goes without saying, but a lot of people don't give it much thought until their bedroom's paved in CD cases, piles of NES carts have transformed into makeshift tables, and ... is that an Intellivision peeking from the fridge?" He goes on to suggest that "...the ability to maximize vertical space and the ability to adjust the height of individual shelves" is most important for game storage, and "a more modular approach: stacking plastic drawers" is advisable for "boxes of controllers, cables and lightguns."

Thanks to GameSpy for its three-part article discussing the 'long and storied history' of PC-based MMO Star Wars Galaxies, noting: "Regarded as one of the most ambitious MMOGs ever launched and greeted with hype spawned from decades of movies, no other game has had a more difficult road than Galaxies." The piece goes on to argue: "The most conservative estimates of Galaxies' stable player base estimates approximately 100,000 active players", although Sony Online's chief creative officer Raph Koster disagrees with that figure on Waterthread.org, countering: "GameSpy is way off. We get more uniques in a day than that, much less subscribers." The article concludes: "Star Wars: Galaxies attracted many, many people to MMOGs who had never tried one before. Many were put off by the initial lack of content. Despite the oft-stated fantasy of 'living in the Star Wars galaxy,' what many players truly want is to have a Star Wars adventure." Update: 03/16 16:49 GMT by S : John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, has mailed us with official comment: "Star Wars Galaxies has much more than double the number of subscribers quoted on GameSpy. For the record, the title is doing very, very well and is the second largest MMO in the North American market."

Thanks to GameSpy for its first impressions of the PC remake, Sid Meier's Pirates!, an updating of the seminal Civilization designer's late '80s game of the same name. Meier notes: "We've learned quite a bit about gameplay... we learned how to build on a classic game without destroying it", and the preview reveals: "The game world is a 'fully fleshed-out sandbox' where you'll have your own ship (or fleet of ships) and free reign to do as you please." However, Meier also mentions: "There's a little more of a stronger story pull", since apparently, this Q4 2004-due title has, like other piratical titles, "an über-villain, a pirate captain responsible for killing your parents, forcing you to leave the old world, and scattering your family all over the Caribbean."

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Lionhead boss and Populous creator Peter Molyneux, part of a talk held at the DICE Conference in Las Vegas. While admitting that "this industry tends to bumble through innovation", Molyneux noted freeform games could be less interesting than they looked, lamenting that "he always dreamed about making games that give people total freedom, but what he discovered is that complete freedom in a game world is boring after about ten minutes." He concluded by suggesting alternatives to the 'sandbox' approach, arguing: "People like to have challenges, goals, and something to struggle toward."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article covering Naughty Dog's president Jason Rubin discussing why gaming needs to do more for its talent. Rubin explained the strange title of his lecture by referencing to Sony's E3 2003 party: "After several calls, lots of hassle, waiting in a long line, and a trip through the metal detector, Rubin was able to get in. Meanwhile, Hollywood darling Tara Reid simply strolled into the party. This got Rubin thinking about how much money and attention publishers garnish celebrities with. By contrast, the business does a really poor job of promoting its own talent." He went on to note: "Very rarely do you see a developer's name on the box, and sometimes you don't even see the developer's logo", and urged a change of attitude: "Developers should look at publishers as people they hire to sell the game they made."

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Ion Storm's studio director Warren Spector, discussing "design, his excitement over the new Thief title, and past mistakes." He comments on the optional third-person mode in the forthcoming Thief: Deadly Shadows, suggesting: "It really does provide a kind of tactical awareness you don't get in a first-person mode", and goes on to further discuss the controversial fan reaction to Deus Ex: Invisible War, admitting: "We made a really bad, bad decision... by not supporting drag and drop in the interface on the PC version of Invisible War, and that was unforgivable." However, he doesn't comment on recent rumors that have him "aiding in the design of the next Tomb Raider game", currently in development at fellow Eidos-owned studio Crystal Dynamics.

XtremeLeader writes "Just days after GameSpy releases its Best All-Time Game competition, GameFAQs answers with a much more interactive Spring 2004 Contest to vote for the best games (you need a GameFAQs account to view the page). Unlike the GameSpy awards, however, this is completely gamer controlled. It begins by a registered user submitting their choices for favorite games (one per system, with more than a few systems), of which any game you want can be nominated. Voting ends at the beginning of March, and the polls are slated to begin late March/early April. The top 64 nominations will be accepted and placed into a series of polls that we get to vote on. Hopefully, this one doesn't have great games like Chrono Trigger thrown into the potpourri category."

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "This week, GameSpy is serving up a variety of articles regarding Cryptic Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer superhero PC roleplaying game, City of Heroes (following up on its December 2003 preview). The preview offers hands-on impressions of the game, a look at the origin and ongoing adventures of Kingblade (an in-game character created by one of the editors), a roundtable with the developers, several screenshot galleries, and more. City of Heroes is currently in beta and scheduled for released on April 27, 2004. Will it join the ranks of Freedom Force in breaking the legendary superhero game curse? Only time will tell, true believers!" There's more info on this NCSoft-published game at COH Stratics and the official site.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "Title Fight: The Ultimate Gaming Grudge -- a tournament in which gamers can vote to determine the greatest game of all time -- is underway at GameSpy. The rules for the tournament are simple: '64 games enter, one game leaves.' Polls are now open for the qualifying round, allowing gamers to choose titles from a wide range of genres that will eventually comprise approximately half of the 64-game final bracket. Qualifying will last until February 22, and first-round voting will begin on February 23." This is somewhat reminiscent of the GameFAQs Character Battle tournaments, but featuring entire games, not just videogame characters - predictions for the finalists and overall winner are welcome.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted a timeline charting the history Sony's PlayStation 2, the third part in a series previously covered on Slashdot that includes similar retrospectives for the Xbox and for GameCube. The timeline traces the PlayStation 2's history from its initial boom, through its period as 'a repository for bad sports games, giant robot games, and other disappointing releases,' and up to the console's revitalization by such games as Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, and Grand Theft Auto III." How has the PlayStation 2 measured up to your expectations?

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted a timeline charting the history Sony's PlayStation 2, the third part in a series previously covered on Slashdot that includes similar retrospectives for the Xbox and for GameCube. The timeline traces the PlayStation 2's history from its initial boom, through its period as 'a repository for bad sports games, giant robot games, and other disappointing releases,' and up to the console's revitalization by such games as Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, and Grand Theft Auto III." How has the PlayStation 2 measured up to your expectations?

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted a timeline charting the history Sony's PlayStation 2, the third part in a series previously covered on Slashdot that includes similar retrospectives for the Xbox and for GameCube. The timeline traces the PlayStation 2's history from its initial boom, through its period as 'a repository for bad sports games, giant robot games, and other disappointing releases,' and up to the console's revitalization by such games as Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, and Grand Theft Auto III." How has the PlayStation 2 measured up to your expectations?

Thanks to GameSpy for its article charting the progress of Nintendo's GameCube console from launch to the present day, as part of an ongoing series that has also included the Xbox. The piece starts with the bold statement: "Despite being the wrong product at the wrong time, Nintendo's durable GameCube game console has demonstrated lasting power in a market for which it was not well targeted", and ends by noting: "GameCube will certainly end this generation in second place internationally -- the virtual shutout that Xbox received in Japan settles that part of the race, and it may yet challenge Microsoft in the U.S. and European markets." What's your view of the success of the GameCube and its software titles in the current console generation?

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted an interesting article examining the so-called Seven Deadly Sins of the N-Gage. The 'sins' of Nokia's mobile phone/portable gaming unit cited in the article include problems with inserting and removing games, the less-than-intuitive interface, and the relatively high price. In all fairness, however, GameSpy also looked at the Seven Virtues of the N-Gage in an editorial from December 2003."

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted an interesting article examining the so-called Seven Deadly Sins of the N-Gage. The 'sins' of Nokia's mobile phone/portable gaming unit cited in the article include problems with inserting and removing games, the less-than-intuitive interface, and the relatively high price. In all fairness, however, GameSpy also looked at the Seven Virtues of the N-Gage in an editorial from December 2003."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article charting the progression of the Xbox from its launch to the present day, with the author's introduction suggesting: "For Microsoft, the video-game industry has been a whiplash rollercoaster ride with lucrative peaks, costly valleys, and a changing list of passengers going along for the ride." After charting a timeline for Xbox's history so far, he concludes: "Xbox has not lived up to all of the predictions, but Microsoft has more than made its point. After two years and two months on the market, the numbers speak for themselves." Has the Xbox been all you expected and wanted it to be?

Thanks to GameSpy for its preview of forthcoming action-RPG The Bard's Tale for PS2/PC, as the latest in the classic series, whose announcement was previously covered on Slashdot Games, promises an "irreverent tone" in a game that's claimed to be "...part Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, part Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and part Curb Your Enthusiasm." Elsewhere in the article, it's noted that this inXile Entertainment developed title is due out in Q4 2004, and features a main character in the form of "a jaded adventurer that has seen and done it all, but is somewhat the worse for wear from all of it", in a story that "pokes fun at numerous RPG clichés".

Thanks to IGN PC for its article discussing hints from Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games regarding a possible follow-up to seminal RTS Total Annihilation. Apparently, at a recent gaming career day, Taylor, the original designer of TA, informally confirmed "...that Gas Powered Games was working on 'an RTS follow-up to Total Annihilation'", but IGN note "it's not exactly clear yet [from his brief comment] on whether or not the game will be a true sequel... or simply a new RTS in the vein of Total Annihilation." Although Gas Powered Games are currently working on a sequel to Dungeon Siege for Microsoft, their jobs page confirms they're also looking for RTS genre artists, and an earlier GameSpy interview discusses this long-under-wraps strategy title. Taylor also mentioned the publisher of this new title is "a big one... one that doesn't also publish operating systems [like Microsoft]" - it seems Atari own the rights to Total Annihilation 2, and previously asked Korean developers Phantagram to develop a sequel before that deal allegedly fell through, though Taylor's game could still be a sequel in concept only.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy is running a feature looking at the editors' picks for the top real-time strategy games of all time. Included on the list are such classics as StarCraft, Command and Conquer: Red Alert, and Age of Empires. The article looks at each game's significance to the genre as a whole, as well as offering some reader feedback on the editors' choices. Why not grunt rush their server, have a look at their picks, and share some of your own RTS favorites here?"

Thanks to GameSpot for reprinting news of UbiSoft's improved financials, but disappointing specifics, as the company noted in particular: "In a very competitive year-end market, sales of new brands such as Beyond Good and Evil and XIII, products which had been heavily marketed, were lower than the early-December forecasts... this had an impact of 10 million euros ($12.5 million)." Coincidentally, GameSpy has an editorial discussing the allegedly disappointing sales of UbiSoft titles, and notes: "Many of my peers felt that BG&E's style was too eccentric and didn't convey what type of game it was." Although Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has "sold 2 million units worldwide", UbiSoft's welcome announcement of a Prince Of Persia sequel with reference to "improved marketing positioning" implies some dissatisfaction with the initial sales, and GameSpy argue "the [U.S.] advertisements for both [BG&E and PoP] were horrendous", but overall, this didn't stop UbiSoft becoming "the second largest publisher in France, the third largest in Germany, and the sixth largest in the UK" over the holiday period.

Thanks to GamesAreFun for its round-up of updated news relating to Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'. According to the piece: "Inconsistent sales in some areas have prompted GameStop to shift their [U.S.-based] N-Gage inventory; while the N-Gage is being pulled from 450 GameStop locations, this inventory will be moved to locations where sales have been stronger for Nokia's unit." However, it seems Nokia "remains positive about their future in the game industry", and Nokia's Ilkka Raiskinen argues: "We are getting invaluable feedback... Our hardware cycles are different to what the games business is used to and our strategy is clearly to have more devices." This has led some to believe more N-Gage-like hardware may debut soon, and in the interim, GameSpy has previews of Ashen and of Operation Shadow, two original, first-party published N-Gage titles.