Slashdot Mirror

An anonymous reader writes "RPGamer has posted an interview with Atlus USA's Tomm Hulett, who has played pivotal roles in bringing various RPGs to North America, as well as the recently-released Trauma Center: Under the Knife. The interview, however, revolves around Tomm's experiences and the advice he would give to those looking to make a living off of the video game industry. From the article: '...You don't get to make games by sitting around playing RPGs and dreaming (unfortunately)--you have to get out there and work hard. I've known a lot of really smart people who just never applied themselves. So, now they're just playing FFXI and talking about how they're going to make games someday.'"

Thanks to GameSpy for its article analyzing Banc Of America's in-depth report on videogame prospects for Christmas 2004. The report, previously referenced on Slashdot earlier this month, is now available for download [PDF link], and GameSpy explains the report "[isn't] trying to predict what the best games of the holiday are going to be. They're predicting what the best selling games are going to be, and which ones will meet expectations set by company leaders." The Banc analysts predict that Halo 2 "will be the second-best seller of the holiday season, just behind GTA: San Andreas", and suggest that certain titles, specifically "Bloodrayne 2, Terminator 3: The Redemption, The Red Star, 100 Bullets, Crash n' Burn, Predator: Concrete Jungle, and Shadow Hearts 2", should be moved beyond the holiday season entirely, to "avoid big-name products coming out on the same time-frame."

nixon66 writes "You may have seen the 'lost' Final Fantasy game, the Japanese Final Fantasy II for NES, debut in the U.S. as part of the recent Final Fantasy Origins PlayStation re-release, but interestingly, Square did try to localize the game much earlier. Lost Levels has a new feature up about the abandoned translation of Final Fantasy II for the NES back in 1991. They talk with the translators, Kaoru Moriyama and Ted Woolsey, about the factors that led to Final Fantasy IV for SNES being called Final Fantasy II in the States." Elsewhere, RPGamer reports that four SquareEnix PlayStation 1 titles have just been re-released as Greatest Hits for a $19.99 price point, including Final Fantasy Chronicles, Final Fantasy Anthology, Vagrant Story and Xenogears, and they clarify: "Final Fantasy Anthology includes Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI (originally released in North America as Final Fantasy III), while Final Fantasy Chronicles contains Final Fantasy IV (originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II) and Chrono Trigger."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the GameSpy preview of LucasArts' Gladius, a PS2/GameCube/Xbox "epic tactical RPG that'll have you building an army of gladiators, one axe swing at a time." There's also a new Gladius preview at RPGamer giving a combat overview: ".. [it] takes place on a standard, tactical-RPG square grid, but the graphics do a good job of hiding it... combat is turn-based, but.. using certain attacks on a foe necessitates the use of several action/arcade elements, such as combo attacks strung together by timed button-presses." They also comment on the unexpected genre choice: "American-developed as it may be, Gladius is a tactical RPG that takes its cue from the old favorites, while at the same time trying to expand the genre." Might this title improve on LucasArts' recent efforts?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the GameSpy preview of LucasArts' Gladius, a PS2/GameCube/Xbox "epic tactical RPG that'll have you building an army of gladiators, one axe swing at a time." There's also a new Gladius preview at RPGamer giving a combat overview: ".. [it] takes place on a standard, tactical-RPG square grid, but the graphics do a good job of hiding it... combat is turn-based, but.. using certain attacks on a foe necessitates the use of several action/arcade elements, such as combo attacks strung together by timed button-presses." They also comment on the unexpected genre choice: "American-developed as it may be, Gladius is a tactical RPG that takes its cue from the old favorites, while at the same time trying to expand the genre." Might this title improve on LucasArts' recent efforts?

Daetrin writes "Originally reported on The Magic Box and relayed (and edited) at Games Are Fun: 'Square Enix is currently pondering the possibility of porting their [unreleased] Wonderswan remake of Final Fantasy III to Nintendo's Gameboy Advance.' This is the only FF that hasn't been released in the US yet." However, this rumor last surfaced 10 months ago, so should probably be viewed warily - but the WonderSwan remakes of FF1 and FF2 were ported and enhanced further for Final Fantasy Origins on Playstation, so if FF3 is done, it might make sense for it to be re-appropriated as well.

Catgut sent us a collection of early screenshots from the playstation 2. Another generation forward... remember intellivision? Wow we've come a ways. Update: 03/02 07:28 by S : RPGamer is reporting that the development OS for the PSX2 will be Linux. That doesn't mean the PSX will run Linux though, just that the tools will run on Linux.

Ryan Amos wrote in to let us know that IBM has announced succesful research into plastic transistors. These transistors, if used, will require less power and be less fragile then current ones-but I'm sure they're still years out as the researcher interviewed declined to comment on how soon they will enter the market. In other IBM news, the company announced an initiative to build a talking web browser for the blind. Projects like that give me some modicum of hope for civilization.