Gaming News Archive
September 2003

30/9/03

iQue
Nintendo are releasing a new version of the N64 in China, called iQue. The new machine uses special flash-rom carts with security encoding to try to combat the piracy in the territory.
Game Central move over!
Game Central (teletext, Channel 4, UK) has moved to page 375 from today.
PS2 price drop confirmed
Sony has finally confirmed that the price of the Playstation 2 will be Ł139 from October.
Gran Turismo 4 demo
Whilst Gran Turismo 3 may be delayed til after Christmas here in the UK, Playstation 2 owners in Japan should be able to get hold of a demo version of Gran Turismo 4 in Decemebr. The demo version has one track which you can race on in Time Attack mode or take on a driving test.
Game Boy users link up without cable!
A new wireless adaptor, designed by Motorola, is to be released in Japan soon. The adaptor will cost 4,800 Yen (approx. Ł25) and will allow Game Boy users to play link up games without the need of clumsy cables. It comes as no real surprise that 2 new Pokemon games will be the first to make use of this new peripheral.

29/9/03

Lara's future looking up?
Eidos and Vodafone have signed a deal that will allow Vodafone Live! users to download exclusive Lara Croft/Tomb Raider themed games, wallpaper, ringtones and screensavers.
SF Anniversay Edition
Capcoms upcoming Street Fighter Anniversary Edition won;t be a compilation as such, but will allow you to access the various different incarnations of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and co. throughout all the Street Fighter 2 games.
Microsoft desperate in Japan
The land of the rising sun is still proving a problem for Microsoft so in a desperate attempt to get the XBox on its feet in Japan they have recruited Yoshihiro Maruyama, senior VP and COO at SquareSoft, to head all XBox operations in Asia.

27/9/03

GC gets cheaper in USA
Amazon.com and Toys 'R' Us (in the states) are now selling the GameCube for $99.99 (Ł65).
UK Universities get GameCube dev kits
SN Systems, who produce the GameCubes development hardware, and Nintendo have signed a deal that will allow 5 UK Universities access to GameCube development software and hardware dubbed SN-TDEV. Those Universities are:
University Of Hull
University Of Abertay
University Of Northumbria
Liverpool John Moores University
Bolton Institute Of Higher Education
Normally costing thousands of pounds, SN Systems (a UK based company) have managed to reduce production costs by 60% thus making it accessible to UK Universities at a time when UK developers seem to be disappearing off the map.
Another UK developer vanishes...
According to reports, Lost Toys, the developer behind games such as Battle Engine Aquila has called it a day.
Lost Toys was founded by ex-employess of Bullfrog (creators of Theme Park amongst others), who left when gaming giant Electronic Arts swallowed up the company (another words, bought it).

24/9/03

GameCube price cut
Various reports have suggested that Nintendo will cut the price of the GameCube down to Ł70 on October 1st, in the UK, with GameCube games dropping to as little as Ł15 (though some GameCube games are already that low in HMV).
GameCube in 2nd place...just!
Recent worldwide sales figures reveal that the GameCube and XBox are nearing the 10 million sales mark, with Nintendo's GameCube having sold 150,000 units more than Microsoft's XBox. The exact figures are 9,555,000 GameCube's sold to 9,405,000 XBox's sold... though theres no doubt that Microsoft will try to put it the other way around.
PS2 Harddrive
Though reports vary, many people think that a 4MB harddrive is too small and that the original figure that I stated (of 40GB) is much more likely.

23/9/03

GameCentral and Gamestation move!
Gamestation (BBC 1 & 2 Ceefax (aka Teletext), UK) has moved to page 550 while GameCentral (Channel 4 Teletext, UK) is moving to page 375 on Sept. 30th.
PS2 harddrive update
I forgot to mention something important: The only way to acquire the PS2 harddrive is to buy the Final Fantasy XI (online only) game, as they are bundled together.

22/9/03

Silent Hill movie
Konami's Silent Hill videogame series is set to be turned into a film.
Perfect Dark Zero
Rare have denied rumours that the sequel to Perfect Dark (N64), entitled Perfect Dark Zero, won't be out for the XBox until 2006, however they haven't even hinted as to when its likely to be released.
PS2 harddrive..
As revealed several days ago, Sony will be releasing a harddrive for the PS2 in America around Easter next year, but it seems it only is 4MB in size instead of the 40GB as originally stated.
O2 selling N-Gage for Ł99!
O2 is selling pre-ordered N-Gage machines for just Ł99 if you sign up for the monthly subscription for Ł20 a month! The offer is only on until 6th October, 1 day before Nokia's N-Gage handheld games/mobile phone system goes on sale and then it goes up to the RRP of Ł230.
For more info visit:
www.n-gage.com

21/9/03

Square-Enix news
Square-Enix have been talking about what their 10 development teams are doing at the moment (8 teams were from Square and the other 2 are from Enix).
Team 1, headed by Yoshinori Kituse, are working on a new project.
Team 2, headed by Akitoshi Kawasiu, are also working on a new project.
Team 3 , headed by Hiromichi Tonaku, are implementing an emergency phone system into Final Fantasy XI.
Team 4, headed by Yasumi Matsuno, are working on Final Fanstasy XII.
Team 5, headed by Yusuke Hirata, have released no information as to what they are up to at the moment.
Team 6, headed by Toshirou Tsuchida, are working on Front Mission 1st (a PSone remake) and Front Mission 4.
Team 7, headed by Takashi Tokita, are working on an unknown game with a 2004 release date as the current target for the Japanese release.
Team 8, headed by Konichi Ishii, have released no information has to what they are up to at the moment.
Team 9, headed by Ari Miyake, are working on several Dragon Quest games, with more in the pipeline.
Team 10, headed by Yousuke Saitou, only consists of Producers, with Yousuke Saitou helping with Final Fantasy XI at the moment.

19/9/03

Microsoft X03 event
Microsoft held their own event called X03 recently where they managed to impress people with Ninja Gaiden, by Tecmo (creators of the Dead Or Alive franchise), Halo 2, Fable, Breakdown, by Namco (creators of Soul Calibur and Tekken), and Grabbed By The Ghoulies by Rare (creators of Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye amongst others).
PS2 Harddrive...better late than never
Sega's Dreamcast had an add-on (zip) drive which was never released, but Sony have finally decided to release the Playstation 2's harddrive with a US launch in March 2004. The 40GB harddrive will go on sale for $99 (Ł65) and will be used to download new levels, music ad video entertainment eventually.
No news on a European release date yet, but I'm sure it will be out other here in the UK within 6 months providing it proves popular in the states.
LCD Animator for DC VMS's!
The owner of a cool website has just added a tool that will allow you to create your own animations for the Dreamcast LCD screen on the VMS's (Visual Memory System) and animate them by loading them up with your Dreamcast Browser. Here's the URL of his site:
www.blueswirl.fr.st

17/9/03

New Street Fighter game
Capcom are creating a new Street Fighter game called Hyper Street Fighter 2 X which will see the return of Blanka, Ken, Ryu and Chun-Li back together to mark the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter.
The game will also feature bonus material which may include artwork, just as they did on Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the Saturn.
Another Persian Princes website
Ubi Soft have created a new website for the Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time game, which will include artwork and other stuff.
www.princeofpersiagame.com ...and here's the link to the Prince Of Persia 3D website...
www.pop3d.com
Animal Crossing gets PAL release...in Australia
Are Nintendo doing this deliberately to annoy us European gamers... if so its working. From October 7th Australians will be able to buy Animal Crossing in their local videogame stores.
Someone to cheer you up
Feeling down at the previous article? Then why not visit www.sofiavergara.com to see a beautiful Colombian women who is becoming rather famous in the US at the moment.
Nintendo at Stuff Live 2003
Nintendo is concentrating on promoting the Game Boy Advance and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising at Stuff Live 2003, which will be held at London's Olympia from 26th September to 28th September.

16/9/03

Megaman Anniversary Collection
Capcom are working on Megaman Anniversary Collection for the GameCube which will feature the first 8 Megaman games plus conversions of 2 Japanese arcade games featuring Megaman (aka Rockman in Japan).
EA game news
Need For Speed Underground and Medal Of The Rising Sun are 2 games that Electronic Arts (EA) are bringing to the Playstation 2 with online features, shortly after EA announced that any future XBox games won't contain any online features.

15/9/03

GBA as a videophone?!
A Japanese company, Digital Act Co, has created a device that when plugged into the cartridge slot on the Game Boy Advance turns it into a videophone!
However, you can only use it to call other users of the product which is entitled Campho Advance and is currently retailing for around 13,000 Yen (approx. Ł70) in Japan.
XIII not online on GC
XIII, the forthcoming game from Ubi Soft, will only allow online play on the PC, Playstation 2 and XBox, but not on the GameCube version. GameCube owners can still play it multiplayer.... offline.
Ebay UK great for Amiga fans
I visited www.ebay.co.uk last night and discovered over 1,600 Amiga related items up for auction. So if you want to get some Amiga demo discs for as little as 99p (if you lucky) then hop along to eBay.

14/9/03

Great GameCube games coming soon!

Great GameCube games such as Pikmin 2, Mario Kart Double Dash and F-Zero will be released on the GameCube in Europe very soon. Perhaps helping to increase pre-Christmas GameCube sales.

13/9/03

Too cool to miss!
Here are 2 links I urge you to click on..
http://angelfire.com/oz/oz16/xdc.jpg
www.magickcupboard.com/Skankhair/limited.html

The first one takes you to an image of a Dreamcast that looks like an XBox! While the second one takes you to a page full of limited edition machines including the limited edition Resident Evil Dreamcasts, Sonic Dreamcast, the Panzer Dragoon XBox and many more.

12/9/03

House Of The Dead movie update
Filming was finished months ago and it has recently come to my attention that they have used clips from the game in the movie. Could be interesting to see how they add to the movies overall feel.
Mario Kart: Double Dash bonus disc
The bonus disc with Mario Kart: Double Dash will contain a number of demos and video footage of forthcoming GameCube games and not a revamped version of Mario Kart 64 as previously stated.
Demo game on movie DVD?!
For the first time ever, a playable version of the XBox Hulk game will be included amongst the extras on the Hulk movie DVD.
Nintendo and AOL sign a deal
Nintendo has signed a deal with AOL so that video game developers can go to AOL for help with making the online networks and/or software for GameCube games.

10/9/03

Ubi Soft celebrations..
The french gaming giant Ubi Soft, that brought us Street Racer on the MegaDrive amongst other games, is celebrating selling over 100 million videogames.
More PS2 sales news
Sony is now happily boasting that they have sold over 60 million Playstation 2's worldwide.
Gods returns
Gods, the classic MegaDrive (aka Genesis) game, is heading to the Game Boy Advance. For the latest screenshots visit the Bitmap Brothers official site at www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk.

9/9/03

Ebay UK great for Dreamcast
When I went on www.ebay.co.uk the other day I was astonished to find over 1,500 Dreamcast related items on there which included several rare Dreamcast items such as the Segagaga VMS, which is shaped like the Mega Drive (aka Genesis) and has lots of cool stuff on it including images for the Dreamcast browser/s screensavers.
AOL no good for online gaming
Apparently, due to the way AOL (America Online) have their network set up it is impossible to play online games on your games console/s.

8/9/03

Pre-Xmas price drops
In the start of the pre-Xmas price wars, Sony are expected to drop the price of the Playstation 2 to Ł129.99 while Microsoft are believed to be dropping the price of the XBox to Ł99.99. Some XBox games will also see a reduction in price with Dead Or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball down to Ł29.99 and the excellent Shenmue 2 for Ł19.99.
As if that wasn't enough Microsoft are also offering 2 months free subscription to XBox Live to those who buy certain XBox Live compatible games, starting from October.
GameCube sales soar in Japan
In the week that saw Namco's Tales Of Symphoria released in Japan also saw GameCube sales rise above the Playstation 2's, with 35,600 GC's sold compared to 35,300 PS2's!
US PSO Servers closing
An increasing number of people are starting to believe what I said days ago about only the US Dreamcast servers closing for Phanstasy Star Online (PSO). However, we still have to wait until October to see if it really is just the US servers closing or whether all Dreamcast PSO servers are cosing.

5/9/03

PS3 update
Ken Kutaragi has announced that the Playstation 3 will be compatible with Playstation 1 games, but what about Playstation 2 games?
More Sega games for GameCube
Sega have revealed that Puyo Puyo Fever, which is a revamp of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, is heading to the Playstation 2, XBox, GameCube and the Dreamcast!
Sega are also releasing a new PSO on the GameCube called Episode 1 & 2 Plus which will be out in Japan on 27th November. The game will include more new items and an all new challenge mode.
If that wasn't enough then Sega are also releasing an entirely new game, which is a GameCube exclusive, called Island Of Monsters.
False PS3 rumours
After false reports spread across the 'net of NVIDIA providing the graphics behind the Playstation 3, Sony stated that no such deal has been signed.

3/9/03

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance downloads
You can download wallpaper and other bits and pieces from http://ffta.nintendo.com which is the official site for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance due out on the GBA soon.
New XBox Adaptor
Microsoft have created a wireless adaptor for the XBox which will allow users to connect to a LAN set-up. It will also allow you to connect 2 XBoxes together for multiplayer madness. The adaptors official name is the MN-470 Wireless XBox Adaptor.
Okamoto resigns from Sony
Shinichi Okamoto, Sony Computer Entertainments Chief Technical Officer, has resigned after nearly 14 years with the company. He was involved in the development of the Playstation, Playstation 2 and the forthcoming Playstation 3.

2/9/03

Core Design collapses?
One of the founder members of Core Design has quit the company! Adrian Smith quit after the mess surrounding the latest Tomb Raider game and is joining his brother Jeremy in setting up a new development company.
Adrian has also managed to get several key Core Design staff members to follow suit. Could Core Design go the way of Rage Software and Looking Glass Studios amongst other developers to go under recently?
Pro Evo League
Konami is marking the launch of Pro Evolution Soccer 3 by trying to find the UK's best Playstation2 football players and creating a national league.
To enter the league you will have to pick up a demo of Pro Evolution Soccer 3 from your local GAME store from 19th Sept. for a cool Ł1.99. For more information visit:
www.pesleague.co.uk

1/9/03

ECTS Awards highlights
Some of this years ECTS Awards are as follows:
XIII won Overall Best Game and Best Console Game
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising won Best Handheld Game Of The Show
XBox won Console Of The Year, as voted by ECTS visitors
Nintendo won Publisher Of The Year
Viewtiful Joe won an award from Edge magazine
Resident Evil Outbreak offline?!
Resident Evil Outbreak may not be an online game in Europe thanks to the Playstation 2's online set-up which is causing Capcom's programmers some headaches.
Thus the game may be released in 2 phases, the first one being offline only and the second one, released at a later date, having the online option.
Viewtiful Joe trailer...
There is a Viewtiful Joe trailer in the options of PN03, which was released on Saturday 30th August here in the UK.

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Gaming News ArchiveSeptember 2003

30/9/03

29/9/03

27/9/03

24/9/03

23/9/03

22/9/03

21/9/03

19/9/03

17/9/03

16/9/03

15/9/03

14/9/03

13/9/03

12/9/03

10/9/03

9/9/03

8/9/03

5/9/03

3/9/03

2/9/03

1/9/03

Gaming News Archive
September 2003