Latest Articles (Page 3378)

Despite Suikoden III's continued absence from any European release schedule, it seems Konami hasn't given up on us altogether. According to the publisher's latest press release, it has just signed a deal to develop and publish console versions of YS VI - The Arc of Napishtim, and plans to release the tweaked package worldwide in winter 2004.

There was no change at the top of the UK charts this week, with EA's Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun once again the nation's best selling game, with the publishing giant also occupying second, third and fourth positions for the second week running with FIFA 2004, Need For Speed: Underground and Return Of The King, respectively.

LucasArts has patched the PC version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was released in Europe last Friday, December 5th. The 19.5MB patch is available here.

It's unusual these days for a demo to clock in at less than 100MB, so kudos to GSC Game World for cramming a single-player level, multiplayer options and even a benchmark mode into one 64MB download for their FireStarter FPS demo this week.

A presentation from the SCEE Technology Group has revealed further details of how the PlayStation Portable will work, but developers claim that Sony is considering changing the spec of the device to add more memory.

Rockstar has confirmed reports from last month that the Xbox port of the GTA III/Vice City "Grand Theft Auto Double Pack" will be released on January 2nd 2004 - effectively the first possible release date in the New Year.

Toby Gard's insanely long-awaited Galleon has been signed up by UK publisher SCi, with an Xbox-exclusive release in Spring 2004.

Firaxis Games president and CEO Jeff Briggs has revealed that the developer has three projects in development, with a fourth "probably" starting soon, and that one of those titles is Civilization IV.

Adventure gamers not quite sold on Revolution Software's Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon are being offered the chance to take a few steps and make their minds up today, thanks to a 242MB demo featuring a section shortly after George has crash-landed in the Congo jungle at the start of the game. You can get your hands on the demo here, and you'll be pleased to hear that this one is in English, unlike the other one that wad flying around last week.

Chances are you've never played a Mario RPG before. This doesn't make you a bad person. You may not even know you're missing out. After all, this peculiar union of prototypical platform leads and the measured pace and heavy narration of a role-playing game almost never made it over the Atlantic in the first place. Super Mario RPG, an isometric title using ACM graphics techniques pioneered in games by Rare, was originally developed as a dream collaboration between Nintendo and Squaresoft, but despite glowing reviews in Japan and the US it was never released in the UK or Europe. Something I've been moaning about for years.

Tecmo has officially confirmed that Xbox exclusive third-person action title Ninja Gaiden has slipped to 2004, revealing that the Japanese version of the game will be released on February 26th and followed by its American (and presumably European) offspring in early 2004.

Nintendo has acknowledged a bug in the Japanese Game Boy Advance Pokemon titles, and is offering to fix existing cartridges through its network of service centres. "Nintendo is aware of a minor issue in the Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire Game Boy Advance games," a spokesman confirmed on Friday. "It affects only very minor areas of the game (such as growing berries) after one full calendar year of gameplay."

On Friday, Atari announced plans to release a spruced up version of last February's Unreal II: The Awakening, complete with long-awaited multiplayer component - dubbed XMP. Brains abound at Atari though, because they've realised that multiplayer components don't really strap too well to critically derided FPS games in retrospect. As a result, not only will XMP be released for free to existing Unreal II owners, but you can already download a standalone, playable demo here (148.68MB), giving you the chance to see how it stacks up with very little obligation.

Rockstar has announced plans to release a GameBoy Advance adaptation of cinematic shoot-'em-up Max Payne before the end of the year. Although this is the first we've heard of it, it sounds like Max's handheld debut has been in development for a while now, with Rockstar aiming for a December 16th release date in North America.

Fast-growing UK publisher SCi Games has revealed some interesting factoids in its annual financial report, including third and fourth Conflict titles, as well as a remake of the original pedestrian mowing driving classic Carmageddon.

However big or small, around here we always like to inject a little personality into a task or comment. After all, the best games are noted for the strength of the overall experience they offer, and that includes every little link, corridor texture and transition animation.

It may surprise those of you with real jobs to learn that even us gamey folk occasionally get a bit down in the dumps about things, and curse at the very prospect of having to get on with work. But, as recent studies show, Friday is a universal occurrence, and when networks randomly stop working overnight, your head itches, there's nothing to eat or drink in the house, and the outside world drops about fifty degrees by the time you step foot on the mounds of rotting leaves... everyone has this tendency to throw their arms up and say "[fluff] it". Even square brackets feel like a stretch!

Style. Elegance. Beauty. These are words that embody Ang Lee's masterpiece, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Imagine a game that captures those infamous tree-top skirmishes; the gravity defying melees that traversed walls and launched combatants into thin air; the enormous leaps across rooftops; the balletic swordplay. Just imagine it...

A strangely popular prize this one - we fielded more than a handful of enquiries this past fortnight from PRs and other industry folks demanding a sample of the de-ionising salt lamp from Oxygen Interactive's recent Time of Defiance competition. Shameless bastards! We pointed them all in the direction of the page and made them enter just like the rest of you, you'll be pleased to hear, and entertainingly enough, none of them won! Ha!

It was a difficult question, but many hundreds of you apparently had no difficulty cutting through the bullshit and identifying Splinter Shield Recon as the fictional Tom Clancy game. I mean, fictional as in "fake", as on some level all the Tom Clancy games are presumably fictional. Apart from that one about the plane crashing into Congress - that one was quite close to the bone.

Sega of America has filed a patent infringement suit against an entertainment division of Fox, Fox Interactive, Electronic Arts and game developer Radical Entertainment alleging that The Simpsons Road Rage, released in late 2001 and nowadays a million-selling title, is a deliberate imitation of arcade favourite Crazy Taxi.

Atari has announced plans to re-release Unreal II: The Awakening as a Special Edition package in the USA in time for Christmas.

CDV has released the final single-player demo for Breed, Brat Designs' science fiction based first-person shooter, which is now due out in February according to the latest release schedule we've seen after a succession of high profile slippages.

Publisher Light & Shadow Productions has revealed that UK-based developer The Bitmap Brothers will be handling the PC port of Namco's critically acclaimed blast-'em-up kill.switch, which is now on track for an early 2004 release.

Colin McRae Rally 04 is coming to the PC in March 2004 with LAN and online racing modes, Codemasters has announced this week, offering up to eight players the chance to race simultaneously through Championship or Stage races in co-operative or competitive team challenges.

Atari has been in touch to point out that Driver 3, or DRIV3R as we're being encouraged to refer to it, is still very much on its way to the PC, despite the slant of its recent "We've hired some voice actors" press release, which focused on the spring 2004 release date of the PS2 and Xbox versions. Although the PC version will not make it out alongside its console siblings, we're told it won't take more than a few more months to materialise.

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

Zone of the Enders is probably best referred to as Hideo Kojima's other game; the giant mecha and space battles title he works on as a snack between Metal Gear Solids. While the first game, released on the PS2 early last year, will certainly go down in most people's memories as "the free game you got when you bought the MGS2 demo", in Japan the franchise has been somewhat more successful, with a TV animation series based on it, a second PS2 title on the way - and this, the GBA game known as ZoE: 2174 Testament in Japan, but mysteriously renamed to ZoE: The Fist of Mars for its English-language release.

One of the great things about PC games is that the memorable ones almost always come back several times over. Sometimes this means an awkwardly packaged disc that looks crap on your games shelf, but sometimes this means a genuine bargain - and interesting bonus incentives. Think WarCraft Battlechests - who felt a bit thick buying the original games whenever they pitched up, eh?

With the possible exception of Kirby, Nintendo has always been good at guiding its most treasured franchises into three dimensions. Think Mario, think Zelda, think Metroid. But despite a number of efforts on the N64 and GameCube, Nintendo is yet to guide one of its epoch-defining 3D titles to the next level. 1080: Avalanche is yet another example of this - a fine and enjoyable game that only excites in fits and starts, and brings almost nothing new to the slopes.