The Casual Gamers Corner

The Casual Gamers Corner
The Wednesday News Report 05.12.04

Holy Humpday Batman! There is just E3 news coming out of the woodworks. Let’s roll with The News!


EA and Microsoft kiss and make up

I can’t confirm the kissing part but in HUGE news for sport game fans and Xbox Live subscribers, EA and Microsoft worked out their differences and some of the next batch of EA Games will be on Live. This includes FIFA 2005, NCAA Football 2005, NHL 2005, NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup, NBA Live 2005, Madden NFL 2005, NCAA Football 2005, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, NFSU2, Burnout 3, Timesplitters 3 and Battlefield: Modern Combat.

About time they got their heads out of their asses. I don’t know the full details of the dispute that kept the last batch of EA games exclusive to the PS2, but this can only mean good things for Microsoft and the Live service as well as EA. The questions remain if this was part of the reason XSN was given a year off, and how this will effect EA’s competition in the sports market from SEGA’s ESPN games. The ESPN games were the only other sports games available on Live other than the XSN games, and it will be interesting to see if their sales are effected from this move.

On a personal level, I’m glad for this deal because I like using Xbox Live to play games online than having to set up an account for every PS2 game I play online.


You say you want a Revolution?

Then get ready for Nintendo to give you one. Yesterday Nintendo announced the successor to the Gamecube which has been codenamed Revolution. No word yet on when Nintendo plans on releasing this next system other than that the work on it is well underway. Here’s hoping the next system is something revolutionary, I love my Gamecube and want to see Nintendo do well in the next ‘console wars’.


PS2 Price Drops!

Matching the current price of the Xbox, the Playstation 2 will now be available for $149, which is less than half of what I paid for mine, d’oh! So if you’ve been waiting for the PS2 to drop in price before getting on, run out and grab a piece of console love. As an explanation for the price drop COO Kaz Harai stated that the health of the console market depends on Sony. I’m sure they’re more about the console markets health than the increase of Gamecube and Xbox sales when they made similar price cuts. That’s like me saying I’m worried about the Porn industry in light of the recent HIV fiasco and going out and buying a lot of porn. Well not exactly like that, but it does give me a good excuse to go out and buy some porn, thanks Sony!


The Nintendo DS is Ugly

See it for yourself

Honestly, I’ve been trying to be optimistic about the whole dual screen thing but this thing is ugly. I know the real test will be the games on the system and how the two screens work out for the games, and the games announced so far look fantastic.

They also need to stop being in denial about how it’s not meant to take the place of the GBA.

Games were announced as well for the DS including Mario64x4, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Animal Crossing, and a bunch of others listed here. No matter how ugly the handheld might be, the games so far look great, especially Mario Kart. If all the games look that good then I wont be spending much time thinking about how the system looks.

Know what does look good? The price looks like it will be around $150. If you think that’s bad read below.


The PSP doesn’t look ugly

See it here

I know it’s not how cool the system looks, it’s how well it plays, but the PSP looks damn cool. The handheld will not be available till next spring, to see some of the PSP’s specs and a list of some of the games planned for it go here.

I was hoping to hear more about the Death JR game in development for the PSP that was announced earlier this year when they were showing off what the PSP could do.

The price is sure ugly, most likely to range around $299. Check out GameIndustry.biz for more details. Goddamn that’s a hefty price for a handheld. I don’t care how the DS looks, I’d rather buy two of them for $150 each than a PSP at $299. But that’s just me.


Next Zelda game to look more realistic?

Nintendo showed new footage of the next Legend of Zelda game yesterday, which will take a major change from the cell shading art style that was used in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The clip that was shown had a far more realistic style to it in which Link looked close to the Soul Caliber version of him.

Find the clip if you can, it’s jaw dropping. At least my jaw dropped. The game looks amazing with awesome looking backgrounds and fighting from horseback! I didn’t mind the cell shaded style from Wind Waker at all, I thought it looked great, but I’m happy with the change.


There is waaaaay to much news out there to keep track of, keep your eyes on the news for the constant coverage from our people who are reporting from there live!


Christians Crazy Game Releases
Please note that the dates listed below are the ship dates and are subject to change. Call your local gamestore ahead of time to double check that the game is in stock as it can be several days from the release date till they get the game. In fact call them over and over again, I heard they like that ;)
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May 9-15

May 10
Custom Robo (GC)
Thunder Alley (GBA)
XS Moto (GBA)

May 11
Mega Man Anniversary Collection (GBA)

May 12
Dora the Explorer Vol 1 (Movie) (GBA)
Fairly Odd Parents Vol 1 (Movie) (GBA)
Sponge Bob Vol 1 & 2 (GBA)

May 15
Knight’s Apprentice (XB)
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Right now, Buy 2, Get 1 Free! MVP Members save big with our May MVP Event. Buy 2 Used Games get the third one free! Does not include Gameboy and Gameboy Advance games, free game of equal or lesser value. See your local Game Crazy for Details!

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Christian:Another slow week. The majors look to be Custom Robo, one of the few Cube games getting released this quarter, and the Mega Man Anniversary Collection on the GBA. That could be decent with the collection of Mega Man handheld titles on one cart. Otherwise, unless you want the new GBA movies, take advantage of the May MVP Event or pick up Red Dead Revolver or Van Helsing.
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Matt: Custom Robo looks interesting, and Mega Man should be worth checking out. Not interested in any of those movies for the GBA. What in the hell is Knight’s Apprentice? *google”¦searching”¦ah!* An action/adventure game like Zelda with a bastardized Arthurian plot? Why haven’t I heard about that one before, hmmm, might be worth a rental, the game videos make it look like a collection fest though.


Cheap Cheap Sweep

Rainbow Six 3 for the PS2 for $24 available here

EBgames is having a sale on select game sequels here

Want to get a pre-owned PS2 with a free game for $119? Check out the Gamestop deal Here.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy(PS2) for $10 at Circuit City here.

Turok Evolution, Starsky and Hutch, Rogue Ops, and XIII for the Xbox at Cuircut City Here.

Roadkill(PS2) for $14 at Best Buy as well as some other deals here.


Pimps Up, Links Down

Pimps out to EVERYONE doing The News and to the damned lucky bastards who got to go to E3.

News Report

Bryan Berg talks about the newest drop out in sporting games: 989 Studios, and how even the underdogs are important. Someone has to come up with the new ideas.

Cory Laflin may not have done MST3K this week, but for a good reason. Matt Wong can breath a little easier this week. Now excuse me while I put on more eyeliner :)

Misha and Marvin also have lots of E3 news and talks about blogging addiction. I’ll admit it, I’m hooked.

Columns

Alex Lucard lets us in on the #6 game in the top 30 list. Where now moving into the Top 5!


That’s it for me today folks, I’ll try and add a game to preview and more next week, till then, zip it up and zip it out!


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