Hey all. Welcome to this week’s edition of the Thank God It’s Thursday News Report. I’m Bryan Berg.
You may be wondering what happened to TGIT last week. Basically, it was E3 week, and who would have better perspective on E3 than our two guys there, Joseph Stanley and Chris Pankonin? With that in mind, I decided to stay out of the way and let them do their thing. So I’m back now, and hopefully the absence won’t hurt the quality any. Enjoy!
Eminem
It’s obvious that Eminem is the star White America has been waiting for. The guy is everywhere, and that includes the DVD charts for his 8-Mile movie. Now, everyone’s favorite white boy is ready to call your Playstation his home.
That’s right, folks. Conspiracy Entertainment has acquired rights that will allow it to create a game based on Eminem. The game is going to be called Mix TV: Eminem and, according to gamespot.com, gamers will “reassemble mixed up Eminem videos before they end.”
If Eminem had any street credibility left after 8-Mile, it’ll be gone once this game is released. This sounds like the kind of game where you could plug anybody in and it’d be the same exact thing. Why Eminem would want to get involved with a company called Conspiracy Entertainment is beyond me, and why he’d agree to be in this game is incomprehensible.
That said, this game is guaranteed to sell like wildfire.
Nintendo
Nintendo will be coming out with yet another GameCube bundle. Starting in June, you can get a GameCube, along with a Game Boy Advance Player, for $149. The GBA Player enables gamers to play GBA games on their TV.
You know Nintendo’s getting desperate for GC sales when it has to constantly promote the GC-GBA connection. Still, this is a pretty cool deal. If you don’t own a GBA yet, this is your chance to check out some of the games while getting another new system in the GameCube. It’s almost like two systems in one, if you think about it. Then again, if you think about it, Nintendo can’t sell the GameCube on its own to save its life.
More Nintendo
Speaking of the Cube, Nintendo has compiled a GC Demo Disc that’s being issued to retailers. The disc contains playable demos of Sonic Adventure DX, Splinter Cell, Soul Calibur II, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, and Viewtiful Joe. In addition, the disc features videos of Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, NCAA Football 2004, Madden 2004, and Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike.
Reports have the disc on sale at game retailers for $10. However, ign.com reports that the disc isn’t intended for individual resale. The disc will probably be included in future GameCube packages to showcase the system’s stronger material.
Disney
Electronic Arts has announced a GameCube game called “Disney’s Party”. Already, you can imagine what the game’s going to involve.
And if you couldn’t figure it out, that’s a ton of mini-games with a placeholder gameboard to coordinate it all.
Disney’s Party is scheduled to come out this fall, which means it will be out before Mario Party 5. This doesn’t do much for Nintendo’s attempts to market the GameCube as a system that’s not considered “kiddie”, but will still sell well because of the Disney license and the fact that kids will buy anything Disney puts out.
PSP
Sony made waves at E3 with its announcement of the PSP. PSP sounds for “PlayStation Portable” and it will be available in Fall 2004. The system will have small, 6-centimeter discs as its medium for storage, will be able to play music and movies, and may even be able to connect to the Internet.
Sony claimed that its goal for the PSP is to move ten million units in its first year. One can only assume that this is a worldwide figure, though it is still a very lofty goal. Sony should have no problem selling systems, but its true test will be gaining market share from Nintendo. Whether it can accomplish this feat will depend on the games developed for the PSP and their prices. If both of these are agreeable to the public, the PSP can be very successful.
Plugs
Well, there hasn’t been much to plug aside from the excellent E3 coverage Chris and Joseph have provided 411. So the two of them get the Gold this week. Great job, guys! It’s hard to plug just one thing that they’ve come up with, so check out every part of the 411 Games Zone and give their E3 stuff a peek!
Next up, for the Silver, we have Lee Baxley. Lee was a trooper and actually posted a news report last week, which was (as usual) better than Lee gave himself credit for. This week, he returns with some good stuff. He needs a swift kick in the ass, you know.
This week’s Bronze goes to fellow Bad Religion devotee Frederick Badlissi. He correctly pointed out that the BR track I referred to in the last TGIT was a track most people won’t know. “The Dichotomy” was a track off of BR’s “Lost Album”, Into The Unknown. Instead of punk rhythms, Into the Unknown featured slow tempos and heavy synthesizer work. In short, it’s awesome. And so is Fred’s column!
And yes, that’s been it for the past fortnight. Again, I strongly urge you to hit the stuff regarding E3, as I’m trying to stay away from that stuff in this column. The guys from The Next Level also contributed a great deal to 411’s E3 coverage, and they are to be commended for that.
Non-411 Link of the Week
If you’re a Fantasy Baseball buff (and if you’re not, you should be), you should check out fanball.com. Those playing Yahoo games probably know this site pretty well already. It’s got a lot of great Fantasy info, including breaking news on your players and Fanball’s “Take” on the situation (i.e. Bench him, dump him now, etc.). They also do football and basketball, so don’t hesitate to hop over there.
CD of the Week
This week’s honor goes to Metallica – Master of Puppets. This CD has been in my car so much, I know exactly when the skips are coming – around 4 minutes into “Sanitarium”, it becomes unplayable, and that lasts until 4:49 into “Disposable Heroes”. The clean intro to the middle part of “Master of Puppets” skips at exactly double time and later skips briefly at 5:44. But enough about the skips. This is, by far, the greatest heavy metal album ever recorded. Metallica was at their creative peak and have never sounded better on anything else they’ve done. You should already own this album. If you don’t, BUY IT NOW.
Commentary of the Week
There isn’t a real Commentary this week. There hasn’t been much time for anything besides finals and the post-exams laziness that follows. So instead, there were a couple of points I wanted to hit, so I’ll do that instead.
First, I’m taking a trip to Veterans Stadium for a Phillies-Mets game next Thursday, the 29th. (Don’t worry, TGIT will be here) If anyone has any pointers about the Vet that a first-timer like myself might want to know (I’ve already taken the foresight of removing the Mets license plate holder from my car), please send them in. Good places to eat, places to stop, and easy ways to get to the Vet are the sort of things I’m looking for. Any help would be truly appreciated.
Next, allow me to plug something that’s REALLY important. On Friday, May 30, there’s a big show out at L’Amour in Brooklyn. It’s the debut of a band called Gotham Road. It’s the new band of Michale Graves, former singer of the Misfits. We have the honor of opening up for this new band. It’s going to be a huge deal and we want to draw as many people as possible. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to send them in contact me and I’ll give you more info.
I bitched enough about final projects and final exams, so I suppose I should devote at least some space to how everything turned out. Here’s how I did:
Sales Management: B
International Business: A-
Retail Management: B-
Operations Management: B+
Corporate Finance: B+
Market Research: A-
When you consider that my midterms were almost all in the 55-70 range, these aren’t bad. Still, for the first time, I didn’t get an A in any of my classes, so that bothers me. Just one more semester to go, and then no more school – EVER.
Bye
Well, that’s all for this week. Short, but sweet (I hope). Feel free to send in e-mail if you’re so inclined. Have a great week!