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August 25, 2000
Nintendo has unveiled its next video game system, which has been given
the official name of Game Cube. The US launch of the system has been
delayed until October of 2001. No price has been officially announced, but
Nintendo has strongly hinted at $200 in the past.
Included in Nintendo's Game Cube video presentation were Mario, Zelda,
Pokemon, Luigi, Wave Race, Star Wars, and yes, Metroid. However, Nintendo
still won't officially confirm that Metroid's appearance was anything more
than a tech demo. Despite reports that Texas-based Retro Studios is
working on Metroid for the Game Cube, Nintendo's VP of marketing George
Harrison says, "We're not in a position yet to say that's a game... it was
a demonstration to show what is possible." On behalf of Metroid fans
everywhere, I say "Bastards!"
You will not be able to play DVD movies on the Game Cube because its
storage format does not support traditional DVDs. Instead, the system will
play mini-DVD discs that are small both in physical size (eight centimeters
in diameter) and storage capacity (1.5GB instead of the standard DVD
capacity of 4.7GB).
Other Game Cube news:
-The Game Cube will not come packaged with a modem of any kind, but two
different modems will be available as add-ons. One of the modems will be
56K, and the other will be a broadband modem. Nintendo has not yet
announced the price of either modem.
-The Game Cube and its controller will come in a variety of colors. Purple
is the standard color for both the system and the controller. Other colors
that will be available include pink, black, silver, and copper.
-You can't insert anything into the Game Cube controller like you can the
N64 controller. The memory cards will plug directly into the system, and
the force feedback will be built into the controller.
-Nintendo will release a wireless version of the Game Cube's controller
called Wavebird. The standard controller is pictured below along with the
system itself.
(click for a bigger image)
Meanwhile, the Game Boy Advance is scheduled for a US release in July of
2001, at a price around $100. In addition to being a stand-alone portable
gaming system, the Game Boy Advance will be able to connect to the Game
Cube's controller ports. The GBA will give you the option of choosing your
plays in sports games on the privacy of your own GBA screen, much like the
Dreamcast's VMU. So if you're playing with a friend, he or she won't be
able to see what play you have chosen.
WEB Corp. has announced that it has acquired the rights to release a
Duke Nukem game on the Internet. In the press release announcing this deal,
WEB Corp. was very vague in terms of what it actually encompasses. It just
said "a Duke Nukem game," which might lead some gamers to believe that it's
3D Realms' highly-anticipated Duke Nukem Forever.
3D Realms' co-owner Scott Miller tells Master Gamer that this is not the
case. Miller says, "WEB Corp. has purchased the right to recreate the
original two Duke Nukem side-scrolling games using updated tech, but this
will not impact our internal development of Duke Nukem Forever in the
least." Miller also said that as far as he knows, WEB Corp. has not yet
contracted a third-party developer to do the games.
Nintendo has signed a settlement with the makers of Songboy, a device
that allows MP3 sound files to be played on the Game Boy Color. Nintendo's
reason for filing a lawsuit against the creators of Songboy was not because
of the product itself, but the name Songboy, which Nintendo deems too
similar to Game Boy. As a result, Nintendo has no problems with letting
Songboy continue to exist and function, but it will now be called Song-Pro
instead of Songboy.
Ritual Entertainment's recent PC release Heavy Metal FAKK 2 has been
plagued with bugs that cause it to crash on many gamers' machines. It took
Ritual several weeks to correct these problems through patches because it
had problems duplicating the problems on any of its machines. Ritual's
Mark Dochtermann says, "Ritual is dedicated to shipping products that are
bug-free, and we thought Heavy Metal FAKK 2 was bug-free. We shipped a
product that had no known major issues at launch time according to our
testing."
Nintendo is a distant second to Sony in the US, Japan, and Europe, but
it's still the market leader in Canada. A recent report by independent
research firm ACNeilson says that Nintendo is responsible for a whopping
86% of all video game sales in Canada. However, the Canadian video game
market as a whole is much smaller than the US market. The market-leading
system in the US (PlayStation) has sold over 20 million units, while the
market-leading system in Canada (N64) has sold only 1.7 million units.
On June 20, Eidos Interactive issued a statement which claimed that
another video game publisher was interested in purchasing Eidos.
Unsurprisingly, this has caused slumping Eidos' stock price to increase
over the past two months, but Eidos still hasn't been purchased by any
other company. This scenario has led England-based financial authorities
to beleive that the entire scenario was fabricated by Eidos in order to
boost its stock. An investigation into the matter is currently underway in
London. A spokesperson for the London Stock Exchange may or may not have
said, "D-Von... get the table!"
Elixir Studios' extremely ambitious PC game Republic will also be
released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Elixir president Demis Hassabis
was designing games alongside industry legend Peter Molyneux when he was 16
years old, and he's now leading the development of Republic. Hassabis says
that the game will be released for the Xbox and PC in late 2001, with the
PlayStation 2 version to follow in the spring of 2002.
Dreamcast owners who were disappointed by Virtua Striker 2 will also be
disappointed to hear that Sega of Japan's Worldwide Soccer 2001 will not be
released in the US. A Sega spokesperson told FGN, "There is no US
publisher that is willing to take soccer onboard as a product," and
apparently, that now includes Sega.
Just a few short weeks after many Wal-Mart stores began selling
Dreamcasts for $150 rather than the suggested retail price of $200,
JCPenney.com is now selling Dreamcasts for $160. If you buy a Dreamcast
from JCPenney before August 31, you will still be eligible to receive
Sega's $50 rebate, bringing the total cost of the system down to $110.
New laws regarding arcade games are scheduled to go into effect next
week in Indianapolis, Indiana. The new laws will force arcade owners to
keep violent games separate from non-violent ones, and also make it illegal
for anyone under 18 to play a violent arcade game. Two arcade game
organizations have filed a request for a temporary blockage of the new laws,
claiming that they violate the First Amendment of the Constitution. Unless
a judge grants this request in the next week, the new laws will go into
effect on September 1.
Phantasy Star Online could be released this year after all. Sega
previously delayed the game until early 2001, but a Sega source recently
told GameWeek that the game is "back on track" and the possibility remains
that it could be released in the US before Christmas. A Sega spokesperson
didn't outright deny GameWeek's report, but did say, "We find that any
surprises released after the Thanksgiving holiday are problematic for
retailers since there isn't ample time to prepare them."
DELAYS
Evil Twin for Dreamcast
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: early 2001
Game Boy Advance
old release date: spring 2001
new release date: July 2001
Game Cube
old release date: spring 2001
new release date: October 2001
Onimusha for PlayStation 2
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: January, February, or March 2001
Pokemon Puzzle League for Game Boy Color
old release date: Fall 2000
new release date: February 2001 (it was delayed so that it won't cut into
sales of Pokemon Gold & Silver)
X-Com: Alliance for PC
old release date: November 2000
new release date: early 2001
NEWS BRIEFS
Ubi Soft and Red Storm Entertainment have signed a letter of intent for
Ubi to buy Red Storm, but the deal has not yet been finalized.
Sega of Japan has announced that Dreamcast sales in the US and Europe
are falling short of its expectations.
Titus has made Carmageddon 64 a rental-only game, meaning that you won't
be able to buy it retailers (as if you would want to). The next two N64
games from Titus, Blues Brothers 2000 and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,
will also be rental-only.
When questioned about the status of any console versions of Command &
Conquer: Red Alert 2, a Westwood spokesperson said, "There is no status.
There are no plans to bring Red Alert 2 to any consoles."
Take-Two Interactive's strategy of selling $10 PlayStation games has
resulted in the company posting a $3.4 million profit in the latest
financial quarter, which is more than a 25% increase over the same period
last year.
Id Software has announced that a PlayStation 2 version of Quake 3: Arena
is in development at UK-based Bullfrog. However, the game is only in the
"start-up phase" of development, according to Id's Todd Hollenshead.
Working Designs has revealed that it will be releasing Gun Griffon Blaze
and Slipheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation 2 on October 26.
Due to Acclaim's financial problems, the company has dropped the
expensive Ferrari license. Acclaim's last Ferrari-branded game will be
Ferrari F355 for the Dreamcast, which was developed by Sega of Japan.
The budget of Final Fantasy: The Movie has been increased from $70
million to $115 million. Square and Columbia Pictures will raise the extra
$45 million in a jointly-run stock offering. Final Fantasy: The Movie is
still due out in the summer of 2001.
Nintendo has cancelled Earthbound 64 (known as Mother 3 in Japan) after
over six years of development.
Tecmo has confirmed that Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore will be a PS2 launch
game in the US.
Nvidia's revenues have skyrocketed from $78 million to $170 million in
the past year. Supplying Microsoft with two chips for the Xbox certainly
won't hurt Nvidia's chances of keeping that momentum going in 2001 and
beyond.
In addition to Thief 3, Ion Storm is also working on Deus Ex 2 for the
PC.
Star Wars Demolition will be released for the Dreamcast this fall in
addition to the previously announced PlayStation version. Demolition is a
vehicular combat game being developed by Luxoflux, the creators of
Vigilante 8.
Space Channel 5's Ulala will make an appearance at the MTV Video Music
Awards on September 7. A computer-generated image of Ulala will present
the category of Best Dance Video.
SALES CHARTS
The following sales charts are based on unit sales from August 6 to 12.
Dreamcast
1. World Series Baseball 2K1
2. Virtua Tennis (click on the blue text for Master Gamer's review of the
game)
3. Seaman
4. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
5. Hidden & Dangerous
launch game still in the top ten: Soul Calibur
PlayStation
1. Tenchu 2
2. NCAA Football 2001
3. Digimon World
4. X-Men: Mutant Academy
5. Legend of Dragoon
old games still in the top ten: Driver, Tony Hawk, and Tekken 3
Nintendo 64
1. Star Wars Episode I: Racer (now selling at an average price of $10)
2. Jet Force Gemini (now selling at an average price of $15)
3. Perfect Dark
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
5. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
old games still in the top ten: Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Jet Force
Gemini, and Mario Kart 64
PC
1. Diablo 2
2. The Sims
3. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: 2nd Edition
4. RollerCoaster Tycoon
5. Age of Empires 2
old games still in the top ten: RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster
Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies
Sources for news: Fastest Game News Online, GameSpot, GameFan, Blue's News,
GI News, Next Generation, Adrenaline Vault, The Magic Box, Daily Radar,
Sega X, PSX 2 Online, Nintendorks, IGN, The Sega Zone, Sega Otaku, Gaming
Age, The NPD Group, PC Data, www.cowdance.com
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