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This guy is just another one of those whiners with nothing worthwhile to say. And while Burnout 2 is a very good racing game, to call it innovative is a total joke.

Personally, I prefer a steady balance of new and old ideas. Innovation at the sake of entertainment is not a good idea, and I do not buy games just because they're the next big thing.

If you're looking for something innovative on the 'Cube, get yourself a copy of the preview disc (supposedly, it's not for sale, but tell that to GameStop) and try Viewtiful Joe. It's like a classic side-scrolling brawler, but better. Plus it's got bullet time, and it works really well. The look of it will surely turn off people such as our dear author, but playing the demo catapulted it to near the top of my list.

Plus you get a demo of Wario Ware that's pretty cool too (haven't played the real thing yet).

This guy is just another one of those whiners with nothing worthwhile to say. And while Burnout 2 is a very good racing game, to call it innovative is a total joke.

Personally, I prefer a steady balance of new and old ideas. Innovation at the sake of entertainment is not a good idea, and I do not buy games just because they're the next big thing.

If you're looking for something innovative on the 'Cube, get yourself a copy of the preview disc (supposedly, it's not for sale, but tell that to GameStop) and try Viewtiful Joe. It's like a classic side-scrolling brawler, but better. Plus it's got bullet time, and it works really well. The look of it will surely turn off people such as our dear author, but playing the demo catapulted it to near the top of my list.

Plus you get a demo of Wario Ware that's pretty cool too (haven't played the real thing yet).

Laser Turn Table and a review

or Make CD sound like vinyl

I was going to make a snarky Dreamcast comment too but I got beaten to it at least twice. ;-) On the other hand it looks like I can be the first to say...

Perhaps what Nintendo really needs is to come out early while being as developer friendly as possible. ... that that didn't work for the Dreamcast either. The DC was (and is) developer friendly, esp. compared to the whacked-out architecture of the PS2, and, well, it still didn't win.

On a related note, I'll be intrigued to see how much more power Nintendo gets out of the unit vs. the current Gamecube. Something a lot of fanboys don't understand is that improvement in real graphics quality and CPU performance aren't anything like linear (FPS and pixels/second are somewhat closer to linear). Once you get to Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube levels, and you get artists who know what they are doing, you need a lot more power to improve the actual quality of the picture. That's why, if you're willing to be honest about it, a latest-generation PS2 game may only look 40-50% better then a last-generation DC game, rather then the 300-400% you might be led to believe from the raw processing power difference.

There's a danger that by coming out so soon, the last-generation GameCube games and the first games out of the new Nintendo machine might not look as different as Nintendo might like, whereas PS2 was an instant winner over the old PS due to the time span. (The new hardware would of course look better in the last generation, but it has to have people buying it to get that far.)

I'd say this is a desparation move, and they really need to make sure they bring developers up to speed as quickly as possible, and make the first few games stunners.

That wasn't enough for the Dreamcast either, but hey, the alternative is certain failure.

Is there still room for side-scrollers, in this age of incredible 3D worlds with incredibly realistic world physics?

Not if they seem to be as badly done as this one. But looking at the praise that 'Viewtiful Joe' seems to get from those that have seen it, I think that the genre is not dead yet. As everywhere else developers still need to innovate, but provided they do I don't need incredible realistic world physics. Let me run faster and jump higher than I can do in the even more realistic world I live in. Otherwise I wouldn't need to play games.

If you guys are wondering about Square Enix's other big software title, Dragon Quest VIII, this IGN article explains their commitment to the series in North America and now Europe. They are planning to market the Dragon Quest/Warrior series towards Dragon Ball Z and Akira Toriyama fans.

For further information on events as they happen, check The Shadowbane Scorn Server Board and Shadowbane Main Boards on IGN.

I think this will remind a lot of people of the last time a player had a truly drastic and unpredictable effect on an MMORPG gameworld, when Rainz, an Ultima Online Player, killed Lord British, character of Richard Garriott, when this was supposed to be impossible.

Rainz threw a firewall scroll at Lord British. Seemingly, Lord British's invulnverability flag was not on, and Rainz killed him.

If we ever figure out exactly who did this, he'll be in the running with Rainz for most notorious MMORPGer of all time.

For further information on events as they happen, check The Shadowbane Scorn Server Board and Shadowbane Main Boards on IGN.

I think this will remind a lot of people of the last time a player had a truly drastic and unpredictable effect on an MMORPG gameworld, when Rainz, an Ultima Online Player, killed Lord British, character of Richard Garriott, when this was supposed to be impossible.

Rainz threw a firewall scroll at Lord British. Seemingly, Lord British's invulnverability flag was not on, and Rainz killed him.

If we ever figure out exactly who did this, he'll be in the running with Rainz for most notorious MMORPGer of all time.

Beautiful...

Maybe you should read this about that Pac-Man ..

(if you haven't got IGN Insider - here's a teaser: "But then I actually played Pac-Man and was left thinking: I went to the E3 this year where Miyamoto re-invented multi-player gaming. Where did everyone else go?")

ico was a nice little gem of a game. Sure, there was running and jumping, but with a twist - not only did you have to find your way out of the castle, but you have to lead a princess out by the hand, as well. The game also had one of the weirdest storylines ever. Perhaps not the most original game, but definitely one of a kind. When was the last time you played a game starring a viking-helmet clad child who beat back shadow-beasts with a large stick?

Mr. Mosquito was another game that defied conventions. You play the game as a mosquito, who must feed on the blood of a Japanese family without being detected.

ico was a nice little gem of a game. Sure, there was running and jumping, but with a twist - not only did you have to find your way out of the castle, but you have to lead a princess out by the hand, as well. The game also had one of the weirdest storylines ever. Perhaps not the most original game, but definitely one of a kind. When was the last time you played a game starring a viking-helmet clad child who beat back shadow-beasts with a large stick?

Mr. Mosquito was another game that defied conventions. You play the game as a mosquito, who must feed on the blood of a Japanese family without being detected.

River City Ransom remake coming to Gameboy Advance

What about N.U.D.E@ for XBox? Apparently it is supposed to be similar to Seaman , but much more visually appealing. Doesn't sound very interesting to me though. Innovative yes, but I'm not going to shell out my hard earned cash for it unless it is fun and enjoyable to play.

controversial? huh?

I'm confused, because a patch is released for a game and there is very little press about the game, that makes it controversial? the game was released right during the heart of E3, most websites more than likely had their hands full with E3.

reviews are now plentiful now that E3 is over, you can find just a few of them here, here and here.

Mike

You're right. I mistook number of units ordered by retailers with pre-orders. Retailers ordered four million copies (beware: Splash advertising page when you follow the link). According to your link three million still have to be sold.

For game reviews, gamefaqs. The FAQs are great, but it is also a great place for reading user reviews. If I need more reviews, I head to Amazon.

For screenshots/video, I refer to the "biggies": gamespot and ign.

For Game Boy Advance, I go to: gbacentral.

For Dance Dance Revolution: DDRFreak

However, my favorite site at the moment is for the ol' Atari 2600: Atari Age

AtariAge is amazing: screenshots of almost every Atari 2600 game, very active forums, store that sells cartridges for new "homebrews", etc.

--
jason

Acclaim released All-Star Baseball 2004 on just 28 February of this year. Unless Reggie Jackson was "Mr. January" and not "Mr. October", the World Series will be played this fall, in 2003. 989 Studios (PS2) has a current title: MLB 2004. 3Do's "High Heat 2004" is due out soon. Midway publishes MLB 20-04 for the GBA.

Contrarily, EA Sports' current offering is "MVP Baseball 2003".

Gamecube or Gamecube

vs

Gentoogames

Davak

- Gotcha Force was an interesting Gamecube title, reminding us a lot of Virtual On with flying ninjas and dynamic lock-on action. It has a 2 on 2 team battle mode, and was clearly designed mainly for arena-based multiplayer tussles.

It reminds me more "Power Stone" (Dreamcast), because it's full of action and weapons, but here the mainly characters are robots. Here is a link to the trailer.

Go cube ;)

It's not only been announced, it's been out since last October. Trouble is, only one game currently supports it. The broadband adapter came out with Phantasy Star Online, the same time the modem came out. You could use either one with PSO. They didn't make that many, and they are hard to find. I assume they will make more available before Mario Kart DD comes out. Info here.

Amazon shows some
details, but it is out of stock and discontinued.

Get the Half-Life 2 teaser here as well! It's not as good as the Doom III vid, but it still looks wicked. Half-Life was probably the best FPS I've every played, and a lot of my friends agree, so my fingers are crossed for HL2 to rock just as much.

Well, it doesn't have 2Pac, Snoop or Biggie, but Def Jam Vendetta has other big names from the Def Jam lineup.

Or what about Wu-Tang Shaolin Style. Not specific to gang wars, but it does have Wu-Tang members fighting each other. Also, Method Man wields a big fucking hammer in this game. Crappy fighting game, but loads of fun on drunken nights.

Well, it doesn't have 2Pac, Snoop or Biggie, but Def Jam Vendetta has other big names from the Def Jam lineup.

Or what about Wu-Tang Shaolin Style. Not specific to gang wars, but it does have Wu-Tang members fighting each other. Also, Method Man wields a big fucking hammer in this game. Crappy fighting game, but loads of fun on drunken nights.

looks like billy and his boys are hear to play Has anyone seen the new footage of Halo2 and Doom III. My god they are freaking awesome. Halo 2 Doom III

looks like billy and his boys are hear to play Has anyone seen the new footage of Halo2 and Doom III. My god they are freaking awesome. Halo 2 Doom III

paying for an online subscription when the game requires persistant servers, as most MMORPGS do. It takes money to buy the servers, and there's a significant cost to maintain them. Not to mention bandwidth costs.

What I find interesting is the recent emerging trend of games charging for online-play that require only minimal hardware company-side. For example, the forthcoming Settlers of Catan PS2 is rumored to use such a pricing scheme (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/391/391005p1.html). In that case, you're basically paying for someone to match you up with another human player, as all the games are transitory, and the PS2's can do all the requisite processing themselves. Somehow, that doesn't seem as compelling a reason for me to be spending $7 a month or more per month to play.

But I suspect we'll see more and more of that -- it's obvious consumers will be more willing to try a game that they can get for free and pay a small monthly fee if they like it as opposed to paying a large up-front cost and then getting the online-time for free. And companies will like it too, as it means potentially wider exposure for a game, and a more steady revenue flow. Not to mention they still get their money when used copies of the game trade hands over eBay or people figure out how to copy it.

he'll base the new episodes off the fantastic (and much better written than his scripts) books that spawned after return of the jedi. Heck it'll probably even increase profits from his videogame division by increasing sales of the excellent Jedi Knight II game because it would create interest in the post ROTJ world. You guys DON'T think it would be cool to see Thrawn in a movie?

When I get off of work, the last thing that I want to do is troubleshoot a game for christ's sake. And all of my large expenditures have a great half life (HDTV, 5.1 reciever, etc).

However, there can be little debate that despite my revulsion to complex gaming that I'm not serious about it. My last purchase was a second pair of Dreamcast maracas. [/hardcore_geekdom]

Lord of the Rings MMORPG. Roleplay server log!

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Baby Mario
• Baby Luigi
• Yoshi
• Donkey Kong
• Diddy Kong
• Koopa
• Koopa Jr.
• Koopa Troopa
• Paratroopa
• Daisy
• Birdo
• Walugi
• Wario

• Mario
• Luigi
• Peach
• Baby Mario
• Baby Luigi
• Yoshi
• Donkey Kong
• Diddy Kong
• Koopa
• Koopa Jr.
• Koopa Troopa
• Paratroopa
• Daisy
• Birdo
• Walugi
• Wario

I didn't mention Homeworld, but I sure as heck should have mentioned Homeworld 2. That looks like it may have to go hunting in search of more butt to kick, as current supplies are simply too limited. *grin*

I've always wanted a good multiplayer console RPG


Don't tell me you've forgotten about The Secret of Mana!?

Noe that was an awesome game!

Nintendo is definetly planning to stick to their own consoles, at least according to this link

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to first say "nice job" to Microsoft for not trying to gouge its users by charging something more along the lines of $10 a month for the service. I would also like to thank them for finally revealing this so that Xbox Live proponents like myself can answer what is a very basic question about the service: "How much does it cost after the first year?"

As a snippy aside, I'll close by saying "I told you so" to the many folks who kept insisting that I was an idiot when I suggested that Microsoft probably wasn't going to significantly increase the price of the service after the first year. There's no telling where it will go in future years - especially if their next console meets with quick success and they have not only the incentive but the ability to gouge XBL users - but Microsoft is demonstrating that they understand how to grow this service instead of turning its users off.

Interview (search on page for "recompose").

IGN WS-vs.-P&S examples

Google for "bug's life recompose" for more citations.

Here's the first screenshot. The game's developed by Firefly, who are made of ex-Impressions developers - the Impressions people's resume includes Zeus, Pharoah, Caesar, and Great Cthulhu. OK, all except that last one.

I highly recommend the Shadowlords series, followed by it's sequel Dreamcatcher.

Penultima is also quite fun.

And when you're done with them, Neverwinter Vault is the place to look for more modules.

The new iPod is a great (if evolutionary) development, and a 60Gb Zen has me drooling, but the player I've really been lusting after is the fate-unknown Pearl from now-defunct SonicBlue. It's smaller than the iPod, and includes an Ethernet-enabled docking station. All the early reports were good.

Alas, SonicBlue went bankrupt and sold its Rio assets to Denon, a major high-end home audio manufacturer. It's starting to look like the Pearl might never actually ship.

Between the two (Apple and Creative), for my money, I'd take an iPod. It has a dock, supports FireWire AND USB2, is quite a bit smaller and lighter, is Mac-friendly (if you're into that sort of thing) and is truly a brilliant piece of interface work. Also: when Apple ships the Windows version of its online music store later this year, you can be sure that iPod-for-Windows will be nicely supported.

The new Zen is bigger, but I listen to a LOT of music, and I've ripped every CD I've ever owned, plus years of Naptering and eMusic subscription, and my collection's only a little larger than 20Gb. It'll be a LONG time before I hit even the 40Gb barrier of the iPod--I can't imagine that I'd ever fill up a 60 gig drive. If you plan to use the player to shuffle around a lot of big files (graphics professionals?) in addition to using it as an audio player, then I might recommend the Zen, but 60 Gb is a LOT for just music.

The new iPod is a great (if evolutionary) development, and a 60Gb Zen has me drooling, but the player I've really been lusting after is the fate-unknown Pearl from now-defunct SonicBlue. It's smaller than the iPod, and includes an Ethernet-enabled docking station. All the early reports were good.

Alas, SonicBlue went bankrupt and sold its Rio assets to Denon, a major high-end home audio manufacturer. It's starting to look like the Pearl might never actually ship.

Between the two (Apple and Creative), for my money, I'd take an iPod. It has a dock, supports FireWire AND USB2, is quite a bit smaller and lighter, is Mac-friendly (if you're into that sort of thing) and is truly a brilliant piece of interface work. Also: when Apple ships the Windows version of its online music store later this year, you can be sure that iPod-for-Windows will be nicely supported.

The new Zen is bigger, but I listen to a LOT of music, and I've ripped every CD I've ever owned, plus years of Naptering and eMusic subscription, and my collection's only a little larger than 20Gb. It'll be a LONG time before I hit even the 40Gb barrier of the iPod--I can't imagine that I'd ever fill up a 60 gig drive. If you plan to use the player to shuffle around a lot of big files (graphics professionals?) in addition to using it as an audio player, then I might recommend the Zen, but 60 Gb is a LOT for just music.

Quite possibly the most original, enthralling, beautiful, and unique game I've ever come accross would have to be ICO. Seriously, you've got to go rent this one. It's one of those games that will suck you in and latch on to you until you beat it. It's a puzzle game, but ... it's *much* more than that, you've just got to play it. Another oldie-but-goodie that will take to to another world would have to be Sony's little heard of but very interesting game "Onyx". It came out many moons ago for Win/Mac but is a trip to play. Google for it, it's a hard one to find and very little known but very fun.

Ico is a bit of a difficult study. Well, honestly, why beat around the bush? This is the damnedest game to come down the pike in a long while, and not just in the Buchigire Kongou/Drum Mania "ain't that goofy?" sense. In gameplay terms, it is an extremely simple piece of work. On the most basic level, the challenge is just to move from point A to point B, overcoming the inanimate obstacles in between. As an experience, though, it's almost impossible to describe.

Ico is short, Ico is quiet, and Ico is in fact nearly incomprehensible. It has an action quotient very close to zero. It has a story, but you see and hear only tiny hints and snatches, spending most of the game on one side of an impenetrable language barrier. So what is there to actually recommend this game, given that I do recommend it almost without reservation? The experience.

The feeling of simply being in the world that Ico creates is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen in a videogame. The visuals, sound, and original puzzle design come together to make something that is almost, if not quite, completely unlike anything else on the market, and feels wonderful because of it. The sensation is like a very strange dream -- a little frightening, a little beautiful, intriguing throughout -- and its only main problem is the same one all dreams suffer from. It's over a good deal sooner than you might like.

Ico is a bit of a difficult study. Well, honestly, why beat around the bush? This is the damnedest game to come down the pike in a long while, and not just in the Buchigire Kongou/Drum Mania "ain't that goofy?" sense. In gameplay terms, it is an extremely simple piece of work. On the most basic level, the challenge is just to move from point A to point B, overcoming the inanimate obstacles in between. As an experience, though, it's almost impossible to describe.

Ico is short, Ico is quiet, and Ico is in fact nearly incomprehensible. It has an action quotient very close to zero. It has a story, but you see and hear only tiny hints and snatches, spending most of the game on one side of an impenetrable language barrier. So what is there to actually recommend this game, given that I do recommend it almost without reservation? The experience.

The feeling of simply being in the world that Ico creates is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen in a videogame. The visuals, sound, and original puzzle design come together to make something that is almost, if not quite, completely unlike anything else on the market, and feels wonderful because of it. The sensation is like a very strange dream -- a little frightening, a little beautiful, intriguing throughout -- and its only main problem is the same one all dreams suffer from. It's over a good deal sooner than you might like.

IGN is doing something similar just these past few days. Here's their list, which they haven't completely revealed yet (as of this writing): Top 100 Games.

Blah blah blah everyone has an opinion blah blah blah no one can agree on best games blah blah blah it's all subjective.

"April 19, 2002 Payneful Movie

The Shield's creator signs deal to adapt Max Payne into a major motion picture."

Maybe, but this review on IGN says the game sucks anyways.

Actually, King's Quest VIII came out in 1999. It was called King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity. IGN has a review.

RPGVault over at IGN has been doing this for a while now. I find it less painful than anything that forces you to wait...like Gamespot.

These types of ads are very effective at killing the number of visitors to a web site. I know when a web site that I visit starts using click though ads I stop visiting it. IGN lost me that way.