Gaming News Archive
January 2002

31/1/02

When the XBox is released on 14th March it is expected to have atleast 18 games at launch. Many of these titles are XBox exclusives. Some of the games at launch are:
Dead Or Alive 3
Jet Set Radio
Halo (best seller in US in December)
Knockout Kings
Championship Manager 2001/2002
Project Gotham Racing
The rights to publish Worms 2 under Sold Outs Ł4.99 budget range of titles is going ahead due to them recieving the rights to do so. The original Worms was oeof Sold Outs biggest sellers.
Chessmaster, one of Ubi Soft's best selling games,is out on the GBA on 29th March.
Jester, who made MTV Music Generator 2 for Codemasters, has announced that it will develop and publish its own games.
The first game will be Super Trucks, out in April, a truck racing exclusively for the PS2.
Isle of Man TT and retro game Manic Miner are also on there way.
Just a reminder that Metal Gear Solid 2 is out on te 8th March.
The price of the GBA is to drop to Ł60 (if it hasnt already).
Nintendo have confirmed that the GameCube (GC) will launch on May 3rd priced at Ł150 with 20 games available at launch. The GC games can also run at 60Hz (providing you have a TV that is 60Hz compatible)
Nintendo promise to have 1 million GC's in Europe from launch day. Games available at launch include:
Batman Dark Tomorrow
Batman Vengeance
Burnout
Crazy Taxi
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
Donald Duck Quack Attack
FIFA 2002
ESPN Winter Sports
ISS2
NHL Hitz
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
Luigi's Mansion
Spiderman
Sonic Adventure 2
Tetris Worlds
Super Monkey Ball
Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Wave Race Blue Storm

24/1/02

Games haeding our way in July 2002 include:
Turok Revolution on XBox, PS2 & GC
Smash Court Tennis: Pro Tournament on PS2 only
V-Rally 3
....and in August:
Good Cop Bad Cop for PC, PS2 & XBox
......and in September:
Colin McRae Rally 3, by Codemasters, will feature 13,000 polygons per car and each car has fully moving destructible parts. The game will be on XBox, PS2 & PC
..and in October:
Mission Impossible 2 for PS2 & XBox
Onimusha for PS3!(presumably Japan!)
Star Wars Galaxies on PC
Championship Manager 4
....November:
Rocky game on GBA, PS2 & XBox
Electronic Arts will bring us more NHL, Madden and FIFA games.
...December:
Warhammer on GBA, XBox, PS2 & GC
A new Ridge Racer game for PS2
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 for GC & XBox.
HMV in Oxford Street will have the very first XBox running demo's on a 40 inch (or bigger!) screen, before anyone else in the UK. Games running will include Halo and many more.
Rez, the ace new shoot'em up, is OUT NOW. Get your copy before they run out. GAME in Cambridge had 1 copy!! Now I can't find it :( Get yours while you can.
Official Rez website (not up yet!) http://score.sega.com/games/rez/dc

18/1/02

Nintendo may announce a possible revise in the launch of the GameCube (!), which would put it ahead of the XBox (!), at the forthcoming Milia show in France on 5^th February. Nintendo are expected to have 20 titles on display at the event.
Sony, IBM and Toshiba have announced a partnership which could deliver the most powerful chip ever!
In a 5 year project they hope to deliver a supercomputer on a chip which they call CELL. Research is expected to cost atleast $400 million, but the chip isnt going in to production until 2007!
This means is could very well be the main CPU for Sony's PS4/5!!
Electronic Arts had its best Christmas ever and they intend to continue to dominate the market by releasing another 21 titles by April!
They include Black & White Creature Isles (PC), Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (Xbox launch game) and Knockout Kings 2002 (PS2).
Over Christmas Electronic Arts profits rose 50%, they claimed 22% of the market and sold nearly Ł60 million worth of games!!
Nintendo's Advance Wars (GBA) game is out now and should be priced Ł29.99. This long-awaited game received acclaim for its excellent gameplay.
Disney Interactive are adding 5 more titles to their Classic range of budget games which will be out on 1^stMarch and should be priced at Ł9.99 each.
Ubi Soft are going to release The Elder Scrolls 3, Sea Dogs, Morrowmind and 6 other games after signing a deal with US firm Bethesda.

16/1/02

Sony says it sold more than 5 million (!) PS2's in the run up to Christmas.
THQ has made a special WWF game for Java enabled mobile phones!! It contains 21 wrestling stars (taken from the sky?!! [ I thought that was funny - Andrew])
Virtua Tennis 2 is out on the PS2 in March.
Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 is out on the PS2 on 28^th March.

14/1/02

There's a new website up that has the history of videogames and consoles going back to the 70's! Check it out at:
www.GamerLand.com
Konami are to release Rayman Rush exclusively for the PSOne. Another gaming character gets his own racing game.

13/1/02

XBox and PC owners can look forward to 160,000 player games next year when an internet games service gets launched.
Bandai are developing an online game of Mobile Suit Gundam for the XBox. Sammy, Bandai's partner, will provide the servers so thousands of people are able to play the game simultaneously. The storyline is said to develop depending on peoples reactions in the game.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is heading for the GBA next year.
Soul Calibur 2 is coming to an arcade near you soon. Don't worry if your not an arcade junky as console versions are planned for the PS2, GC and XBox (No DC?).
James Bond: Agent Under Fire, the PS2 game, is now heading for the XBox and GC.
Microsoft plan to have online gaming for the XBox up and running within 6 months after launch. Japan and the US are expected to be online in May.
PC game Delta Force is heading for the PS2.
Check out the Resident Evil Movie website at:
www.Resident-Evil-The-Movie.com

11/1/02

Last year the US games industry saw $9 billion in sales (!), however the figure is expected to be bigger for 2002!! Why? Because the XBox and GC are competing with the PS2 in the US now.
Christmas sales of the XBox in the US has allegedly caused a flood of hardware complaints from consumers which overwhelmed Microsofts complaints department.
Despite this Microsoft still hail the XBox launch a success in the US.
Metal Gear Solid 2, for the PS2, has been delayed for 2 weeks while Konami prepare the bonus behind-the-scenes DVD.
Minora Arakawa is to retire from his duties as the President of Nintendo of America. Tatsumi Kimishima is to take his place.
Minora Arakawa along with Howard Lincoln set up Nintendo of America back in the early 80's.
Thompson Multimedia has designed a TV specifically for the XBox. The TV features a special connection port which will offer an advanced picture quality.
Watch out for the album Nanoloop 1.0
Why?
It features avant garde dance music composed using Nintendo's Game Boy!! Students at a Hamburg art school contributed by developing a Game Boy sequencer package which the composers used to make the album.

10/1/02

Jackie Chan adventures game is exclusive to the GBA.
Tyson Heavy Weight Boxing out on PS2 & XBox in April.
Ubi Soft will release Ice Ages, a game based on 20th Century Fox's film, for the GBA.
Jez San from Argonaut and creator of great games such as Croc and the Harry Potter game, is to recieve an O.B.E.
Argonaut also created and designed the FX chip for the SNES (for games like StarFox and Yoshi's Island).
The only PSOne game to be published by Sony this year is Monsters Inc., out Jan 25th, as Sony concentrate on the PS2 (and PS3!)
Electronic Arts say they had their best ever Christmas in the UK yet. They had games in the No. 1 chart slots for the PC, PSOne and GBC.

7/1/02

Dont forget to order your copy of Dreamkey 3.0 from DreamArena before the end of January.

4/1/02

The Getaway (a game based on you being a criminal) is to be published by Sony and will be out on the PS2 this Spring.
Grand Theft Auto 3 knocks off Harry Potter from the No. 1 slot in the gaming charts.
Telewest and BT Openworld are working with Sony to get the PS2's online (broadband) network ready for te first batch of PS2 online games due out this Spring.
Visual Concepts to make Sega Soccer Slam for the GC in early 2002.
Rez out January 11th (I know I want a copy!) on the DC.
Sonic Adventure 2 was out on the GC before Christmas in Japan.
New Xmen game coming to all formats (DC?).
Evil Twin for DC cancelled thanks to Ubi Soft ;( [although still released thanks to Big Ben Interactive, I have the UK version and its a good game - Andrew 15/6/02]

2/1/02

A new terminator game is heading for the PS2 and will be a 3rd person action game.
Codemasters are boasting that its next TOCA game - TOCA Race Driver - will be the most detailed track-based racing game ever when it is launched over here in June 2002.
Salt Lake 2002, by Eidos, will be out on PC and PS2. Its an official game based on the Winter Olympics and will feature full commentary and weather conditions.
UK games sales topped the Ł50 million mark for the first time this year during the run up to Christmas.
Harry Potter took the No. 1 spot over Christmas with Gran Theft Auto 3 2nd despite only being released 8 weeks before Christmas.
Sony sold 100,000 PS2's a week in the run up to Christmas and will reach its target of 2 million PS2 sales by December 31st.
After the GameCube's successful launch in the US, it looks as though we will be short on GC units (as predicted) for the European launch when its launched in a few months time. We may get as little as 60,000 units in the UK!
Nintendo have sold over 1.1 million GC's in the US and continue to supply US stores with 100,000 GC's a week!

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Gaming News ArchiveJanuary 2002

31/1/02

24/1/02

18/1/02

16/1/02

14/1/02

13/1/02

11/1/02

10/1/02

7/1/02

4/1/02

2/1/02

Gaming News Archive
January 2002