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Nintendo has taken the unprecedented step of responding to demand, announcing plans to bundle the infamous Japanese Zelda bonus disc, which accompanied The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's release, in the US.

Reports from the US suggest that Volition/THQ have once again renamed the GameCube version of Summoner 2. Not content with the sequestration of the '2' and installing the uninspired 'Prophecy' subtitle, the powers that be have once again waved their wands and renamed it Summoner: A Goddess Reborn. Although we're surprised, because consulting our gamey handbooks for witticisms, we found this:

Eidos is clearly very pleased with the success of its ruthless, bald-headed assassin stereotype, Mr. 47, because in a bizarre move they are trotting out another playable demo - this time charting 47's exploits in St. Petersburg on the "Invitation to a party" level. Your objective is to take out a General at all costs, but it won't be easy on such difficult, barren terrain packed with enemy guards. Nevertheless, for fans of the previous Hitman 2 demo who have yet to pick up the full game (you call yourself hitmen?), and for the uninitiated, this is another compelling reason to pick up Io Interactive's superb stalk 'em up. Don we now our slaying apparel, and head to FilePlanet, where the 58.5MB demo can be, ahem, retired.

Although the Super Nintendo arguably felt like more of a home to serious Japanese RPG-heads, Sega's Mega Drive did enjoy its fair share of gems, too. And in 1992, Shining Force reminded us that Sega knows its way around a development kit as the Tamaki-designed characters waltzed their way through an expansive adventure. Ten years on and Shining Soul aims to make another name for the venerable former platform-holder, brushing shoulders with a field of GBA RPGs generally ported directly from the SNES. There is definitely room on this block for a new kid.

Sega Sports will make a big impact in the UK and Europe next year, the Japanese publisher/developer hopes. Starting with NBA 2K3 in February, Sega will challenge EA's dominant series one by one. On April 4th, it makes a play for the American football crown with NFL 2K3. Admittedly, this shouldn't be difficult, as not even EA's NFL franchise sells like any recognised form of hotcake - with the 2003 edition amassing less than 10,000 sales across several platforms.

Sony's long awaited The Getaway stormed to the top of the charts this week, becoming the second fastest selling game of all time (in a seven day period), and dethroning GTA: Vice City in the process.

Next February 7th, Sega will make a play for the title of most authentic basketball sim ever produced. Despite poor sales of its 2K2 franchise iterations, the Japanese publisher/developer is applying itself to improving the game no end, and focusing on including all the intricacies of a real basketball game - graphically and in terms of control - rather like Konami's Pro Evo series does for football.

Jango Fett is unquestionably the coolest Star Wars baddy ever. He looks like the sci-fi equivalent of King Arthur, packs more weaponry than Saddam's so-called palaces and knows all the tricks of the trade - and his trade is bounty hunting, which is, like the man himself, staggeringly cool. By way of a comparison, Darth Vader was a chamber pot-wearing bin liner with a glowstick.

Gamers with a fat pipe to the net and a willingness to take a punt on unknown PC games have three new titles to choose from at GarageGames' website, where it has recently dipped its toe into the murky world of games publishing with the launch of its "Play Games" section.

Czech Republic-based developer Pterodon (in association with Hidden & Dangerous developer Illusion Softworks) has finished work on the multiplayer demo version of Take-Two's forthcoming FPS, Vietcong. The 72MB multiplayer-only demo (for up to 32 players) features traditional deathmatch and CTF modes along with a new one; Protect The Pilot. Weapons range from M-16s and AK-47s to shotguns and more, and the demo has so far proved quite popular - if the swamping of Take-Two's official download site is anything to go by - and a cursory evaluation suggests that it's very richly detailed, with nice weapon and character design, lush environments and crisp sound effects. Fodder for your sub-woofer.

This month, the DVD covermount from the Norwegian issue of PCG magazine was the happy host of a brand new Broken Sword 3 trailer. This being the internet, it only took a few days before someone had it ripped, zipped and hosted somewhere - and that someone was unofficial fansite BrokenSword3.net.

RPG fans thirsty for some news might want to check out the newly released 46 second trailer of Black Isle Studios' forthcoming Lionheart at Interplay's FTP site here, which despite featuring scant gameplay footage promises "cooperative action packed multiplayer" where you can "explore, conquer and save". Like, no way.

Hitman 2's Agent 47 is back in an all new adventure, just in time for Christmas - but don't get too excited. It's just Eidos' way of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas by knocking up a flash game starring the gun toting baldie in a fun-for-30-seconds blast as you take out a horde of evil looking elves.

Summoner 2 looks like it might be quite good. It certainly appears to have all the credentials of an accomplished adventure game, it's got some RPG staples in its armoury and real-time combat to boot. An intriguing, exciting and entertaining sequel to "one of the PS2's biggest selling role-playing adventures" then? Weeeell...

Infogrames has been busy this month updating its release date to give us a better idea of what it's planning for 2003, and it seems that the publisher will miss Sega when they revert to a self-publishing model early next year, because the majority of the exciting games on their schedule are Sega-developed or, in Japan, Sega-published.

Minor UK-based gaming ISP Jolt is to take up hosting duties for HTML-based massively multiplayer box-checker Planetarion, providing network infrastructure, subscription management and maintenance for the game, which was previously hosted by gaming site Barrysworld.

TOCA Race Driver appeared on PS2 to critical acclaim earlier this year, and Codemasters is currently upping the number of simultaneous racers and improving the game's visuals ahead of its launch of PC and Xbox versions in March 2003.

For the first time in ages, virtually nothing is out this week. We've already had Sony's high profile mid-week launch of The Getaway so this Friday's pickings are extremely slim.

Steven Spielberg's Minority Report was one of this year's better action movies, so it was of no surprise to discover that the enterprising Activision had snapped up the rights to make videogames based on the futuristic tale of pre crime operatives and elaborate stitch ups.

Publisher Simon & Schuster Interactive has elaborated on some of the more interesting aspects of Hypnotix' forthcoming Outlaw Volleyball: Spike or Die - the most exciting of which is clearly the confirmation of Xbox Live support. Assuming nobody pips it to the post, it should be the first volleyball game to support the service, even ahead of Tecmo's DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Players of simulation games thrive on order and neatness. Certainly, my experiences over the years have taught me to be precise (RollerCoaster Tycoon), attentive (Sim City) and to hit Alt-F4 regularly (Sim Tower). Lewdness, conflict and disaster aren't generally selling points, as perhaps evidenced by poor sales of Beach Life, although it helps to inject a bit of each into a simulation game, just to keep people happy during their 27th hour at the PC screen. Usually with some form of spider-legged flying saucer or volcanic eruption.

Of the two Lord Of The Rings titles, EA's may be a fairly basic slasher with some very pretty visuals, but compared to Vivendi's shoddy book-based Fellowship codswallop it's like inheriting Rivendell and Arwen dumping that Balrog look-alike Aragorn in your favour.

On May 16th, just under seven months ago, Square started flogging Final Fantasy XI for the first time. Since then the EverQuest-style MMORPG has sold steadily but poorly compared to expectations, mainly due to a shortage in Sony's prerequisite PS2 network adapter - something Square had hoped to overcome to a small extent with the PC release of the game last month.

Publisher Codemasters has launched a number of careers guides aimed at providing practical advice to people trying to make a start in the games industry, with current guides being focused on programming, art and testing positions.

We haven't seen much of Primal since its demo debut at the PlayStation Experience alongside ECTS in August, but Sony has stated publicly that the game forms a significant part of the platform holder's Q1 2003 software push. With this in mind, we tracked down Chris Sorrell, Creative Director at Sony's Cambridge Studios, and picked his brains on the subject.

"Mario 128" and "Pikmin 2" are both in development, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has reportedly confirmed in the most peculiar of oracles, Japan's weekly Playboy magazine. According to a story on IGN, the famous videogame producer namechecked both titles as currently in development, also reportedly stating that "I believe that with this game you'll be able to feel the 'newness' that was missing from Mario Sunshine."

Resident Evil 4 won't appear until at least early 2004, the US branch of Capcom has told journalists. The GameCube-exclusive title will be the first in the series to run in full 3D and stars Leon S. Kennedy as he attempts to uncover an evil Umbrella Corporation conspiracy - whilst unhappily also becoming infected with the dreaded T-virus.

Retailers are officially flogging The Getaway for the first time this morning, as the game makes its long-awaited PlayStation 2 debut, although many retailers (even online) broke the street date and shipped early, late last week and early this. Opinion seems to be split almost down the middle about the game, with the unhelpfully unkempt demo doing little to settle your nerves. Kristan believes it's an investment worth making, as noted at great length in his comprehensive review, but others on comment threads and forums both here and all over the net are having their say too.

You're either into football or you're not. And if you are, and you're reading this, the chances are you'll have played Championship Manager at some point over the last decade - so no need for us to tediously go over old ground explaining what a football manager is. The chances are you'll have already guided your bunch of no-hopers to multiple Champions League titles, as well as lost your girlfriend/job/mind to the insanely addictive nature of the seemingly innocuous statistic filled nature of the game.

The Central American state of Honduras (population: 6.5 million) has issued a blanket ban on all violent videogames and toys, which is set to come into effect next June - giving retailers in the country a six month grace period to clear stocks of the games from their inventories. Among the banned games named are Resident Evil, Shadowman [quite right - Ed], Street Fighter, Turok, Perfect Dark, Quake and the old stalwart of the moral moronity, Doom.