The SUNDAY News Report 04.25.04

The Casual Gamers Corner
The Wednesday Sunday News Report 04.25.04

So how late is fashionably late? Due to computer problems I wasn’t able to do this the right way earlier this week but I was finally able to get my stuff together. Short this time because I was one a time limit when I wrote this, but I’ll try to make up for it this Wednesday.


Jak 3 will be the final Jak game

Sony has announced that the next Jak and Daxter game will be the final title in the series. NOOOOOOOOOO! As long as it goes at with a bang I’ll be happy. I liked the first and completely schoolgirl love the second game. I already have to break out the baby oil and Kleenex from just looking at the screenshots for the next game. Sad that it will be all over after the next one but I’d rather the series go gracefully rather than be dragged through multiple rehashes.

(credit goes to the-magicbox.com)


Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal goes online

That’s right Sony’s other major platform game is going online with a variety of multiplayer deathmatch modes similar to those you would see in a FPS. In fact Gamespot.com reports that you’ll be able to play the single player game in first person view. Is this game even a platform game anymore? Whatever genre it is it’s sounding like one kick ass game. The online portion will support up to 8 players with with a selection of five weapons and different vehicles to use in the game. If you can’t get online don’t worry, you can still play a 4-player splitscreen deathmatch mode too.(credit goes to Spong)


Another week another news article about Midway

Midway has teamed up with Geffen Records to have the band Cold do a song and music video for their upcoming game Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. The song is called With My Mind go check out the music video for yourself if you are curious over at www.midway.com.

Wednesday never seems like a very busy news day. Something happen!


Christian’s 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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Apr 18-24

Apr 19
Daredevil (P2, XB)

Apr 20
Eye Toy: Groove (P2)
Hitman Contracts (P2, XB)
Judge Dred (GC, P2, XB)
Manhunt (XB)
Mighty Beanz (GC)
Shining Soul 2 (GBA)
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Buy your new system at Game Crazy and get 12 Free Rentals at Hollywood Video. New, Used or Refurbished, buy your Gamecube, Gameboy Advance
SP, Playstation 2, or Xbox and rent your favorite games or movies.
Head to Gamecrazy.com to find the store nearest you today!

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Christian-Things definitely pick up this week with a hot new release in Hitman Contracts. The first one on the consoles was really well received, and the sequel looks to break that too. RPG gamers will like Shining Soul 2, and I know Lucard will have a review up soon. Other items include the Eyetoy: Groove and Manhunt on the Xbox.
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Matt- I thought there was a UFC game that was supposed to be released this week? Nope it got pushed back. What is it with this month and titles getting their release dates bumped? Didn’t like the first Hitman game and this one doesn’t look much different to me. Never played Manhunt for the PS2 but I might try the Xbox version. Looking forward to see if Shining Soul 2 is any good.
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No Hype Machine this week, I think it’s broken. What does it mean when I get an error message telling me my CD Rom isn’t functioning? Seriously.


The Corner

The mailbag edition! Here are some of the responses(well the only responses) to last weeks report:
Good column it got me thinkin. I miss the arcades. When i was 12 or 13 there used to be 5 or 6 arcades around the city centre where i’m from(Perth, Australia) but now i think there might be two left. The locales of my misspent youth seem to be slipping away.

You’re right about shooting games, i love them as well and physically can’t walk past a Point Blank machine without dropping a few bucks. Your also right about shooting games at home, ive tried playing games like time crisis and point blank on PS and it just doesn’t feel right. In fact the only light gun game i really liked was Duck Hunt (stupid dog).

On a more obscure note did you ever see a strange neo geo arcade game called twinkle tar sprites. I remember i loved it and me and my friends went and played nearly every day after school, but i only ever saw it one place and that place closed soon after. I can’t even really remember how it played just that i loved it. Now you got me thinking about (which means good column), damn i used to spend alot of time and money in the arcades.
Later
Luke

I feel the same about Duck Hunt being the only light gun game that I have really enjoyed out of all of them that I’ve played on a home console. Maybe because it was never in the arcade? I’m not sure, but Duck Hunt is still fun. Except that damn dog. Never heard of Twinkle Star Sprites, but I hate how some of these places are just fading out. Luckily, I went to see a movie over the weekend and you know what game the theater had? Area 51! Still not the same as the arcade but hell if I didn’t drop some quarters into that sucker.

Street Fighter II was one of those that had to be in the arcade. Yea it was fun playing it at home but nothing beat that feeling of challenging someone and beating the tar out of them. Then the guy puts more quarters and more quarters in and gets whooped each time, finally seeing the steam coming out of his ears was the ultimate! Sometimes he might be impressed and tell his friends and there’d be a whole group around you watching your skills! That was the best for the ego man!

Matt

Another Matt, rock on. What you’re talking about is part of one of the reasons online gaming just doesn’t do it for me. It’s not the same. Street Fighter II caused me to get my ass kicked in all sorts of ways, but I used to kill other people at Marvel vs Capcom. Nothing was better than knowing you’d be the next one up and watching to see who’d win than stepping up to the challenge. Even if you lost is was still fun(well, most of the time at least) It was a social thing that you just can’t find much of anymore.

Had another email that my computer ate! I remember the gist of it though and hell yeah I played with two guns! I liked to try to see what my accuracy rating was for each hand. I averaged around 74% for my left hand and about 52% for my right (I’m a lefty). That’s why I bought to guncons when I got the game! Sorry my POS computer lost your email otherwise I would’ve thrown it in here as well.


Pimps Up, Links Down
Obligatory Pimp goes to Eric S. He pimped me, I pimp him back thus the cycle continues. I forgot staff was exempt; can I talk about how Bush is great now? Just kidding!


News Reports
The Hitchhikers Guide to Video Games– Misha is back with us this week after letting Marvin man the helm. He talks about Conventions and the differences between UK and US Cons. I’ve only ever been to one called MiniCon and it was a lot like how he describes the UK Cons.

Guess who else is back? Lee Baxley is with the End Week, End Boss News Report! He talks about how expectations effect the enjoyment from a game and makes a good point.

Thank God It’s Thursday News Report and he check in with some reader responses to the feature he’s been doing over the last month. I have probably said it already but if you missed it, go read it!


Columns
Alex Lucard check in twice with the next part of the super ultra awesome Top 30 RPG games list and Mailbag of reader response to it so far. Watch out with this part of the feature folks, the water may look calm but it’s deep. He talks about a game that makes some religious cults look shallow by comparison. I really think this latest effort is also the best part of the countdown so far. Plus he gets to talk about his favorite game.

The Angry Gamer is not that angry this week? He’s right too, that netspeak shit is really annoying. He also mentions several other games that should have been available here with the Sony HDD, and while I don’t know about any of those, anything to me is preferable over the Everquest rehash with a coat of FF paint.


Reviews

Pitfall: The Lost Expidition from Bebito who also posted a bunch of news, rumors, and previews lately.

ESPN Major League Baseball Review is up from Chris Pankonin. It’s been ages since I’ve last played a baseball game (or for that matter watched a baseball game). I played a demo of one recently and it was a lot of fun, can’t remember which one though.

Resident Evil: Outbreak which I had the misfortune to play.


Sorry if this feels rushed, because it was. I’ll have some more time next week though, so till then zip it up and zip it out


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