Latest Articles (Page 3477)

THQ is set to publish versions of Microsoft's Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and Monster Truck Madness 2.0 on GameBoy Advance, thanks to an agreement with the Big M to do so. Amidst much backslapping on both sides, the two companies mentioned that the games will be released sometime in 2003, but no further details about either title were discussed. Related Feature - Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee Xbox review

Bandai releases videogame in Europe shocker! That's right - for some reason that we haven't quite fathomed, the hilariously named Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors is on its way to Europe on the GameBoy Color, and publisher Infogrames claims that you can pick it up at your local gaming emporium from this Friday. We weren't going to detail the entire plot, but it's almost as peculiar as releasing a European conversion of a game called "Legendary Super Warriors" on the GameBoy Color in this day and age, so here we go. Gohan, son of Goku (victor of the World-Class Tournament, obviously), was told by a chap called Radditz that he wasn't actually human and instead belonged to a warrior-race called the Saiyan. Radditz (whose job it is to conquer star systems and sell them) kidnapped Gohan only to succumb to Goku's calming influence, and both of them shuffled off the mortal coil. Now Gohan is training intensively for the battle of his life as an even stronger Saiyan approaches, and he must use his punishing card technique to prevent Vegeta and Frieza from obtaining the seven scattered Dragon Balls and achieving immortality. Yep, it's another world beater. The mechanics of this… unwieldy mission involve playing through a Story Mode and collecting the most powerful of up to five types of card to win battles, before pitting his or her deck against friends in a multiplayer link-up mode. Related Feature - Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors screenshots

Described by yours truly as "the pinnacle thus far" in terms of handheld RPGs upon its release earlier this year, Golden Sun was a big hit with GameBoy Advance owners the world over, and with the highly anticipated sequel The Lost Time due out in Japan later this month, developer Camelot has revealed a number of details about the sequel. Golden Sun: The Lost Time focuses on an area of the story previously left unexplored. The game stars the hostile Garcia, who was absent on the day of the storm that began the original game, and the sequel charts the three-year spell of his absence to help you understand his character better. The game world should be about three times as large as the original, appearing as more of a "world" than its predecessor did, and the player's progress through the original Golden Sun will impact their experience in The Lost time. Camelot recommends that those interested in getting off to a good start with The Lost Time have a trundle through Golden Sun and capture as many enemies as possible. Gameplay should remain quite traditional, but Camelot believes that players will find the game sufficiently different and enjoyable. Golden Sun: The Lost Time is not currently due out in Europe this year, but we will let you know if that changes. In the meantime, one expects to see it appear about a year after the original, in February 2003. Related Feature - Golden Sun review

Cambridge-based Nicely Crafted Entertainment have formally announced their first project, Time Of Defiance. The game marks something of a departure for the company's co-founders Tony and Ben Simpson, who made their name working on the painfully cute Creatures artificial life games. By contrast, Time Of Defiance is a massively multiplayer real-time strategy game which looks like a mixture of Project Nomads and Homeworld, with up to a thousand players on each server squabbling over the shattered remnants of a planet. "We've come up with a game so flexible in structure and tactics that there is an almost limitless strategy for victory", Toby boasted. "To date, we've run a dozen full games with a fairly small number of players with every player emerging with a different strategy. The winners of each game will be those that demonstrate the most skill, cunning, treachery and bravado. It is a strategy game unlike any other." NiCE also claim that the game's efficient networking system means that you can play the game from a laptop using a mobile phone, if you're a glutton for punishment, while a lowly 56k modem should be more than adequate. Obviously you can't be online all the time though, so automated defences will hold the fort for you while you're away from the game, and optional e-mail and SMS alerts can let you know if you're attacked. There's also the promise of over 14 million square kilometres of territory to control, with "lavish 3D visuals" throughout. Revolution in online strategy gaming or meaningless hype? Judge for yourselves - a 400 player demo version of the game is already available to download for free from NiCE's website, with a low monthly fee of just £5. The full thousand player version of the game will launch some time in August. Related Feature - Time Of Defiance screenshots

Gamers will soon be able to experience THX sound, although quite how is currently up for debate. Lucasfilm's 20-year-old subsidiary is breaking off from its Daddy to form an independent company, and a division of that enterprise will be THX Games. THX Games will target PC and console systems as an area for expansion (unless you have a better suggestion… Palm Pilot perhaps?). THX (named after George Lucas' first movie, THX 1138) is often mistaken for another sound format, like Dolby Digital, but in actual fact it's a set of standards which cinemas must be able to live up to in order that they become THX-certified. To begin with, THX certification requires that uncomfortable or obstructed viewing angles, outside noise, distortion, reverb and unequalised audio be limited, and that Lucasfilm's THX division certify the auditorium in person. The reason that THX is so popular (and the reason why cinema owners waste time and money in the pursuit of certification) is that it is weighted entirely in favour of cinema goers. The aim is for you to have a good time; in comfort, engaged and entertained without hindrance. If THX Games can provide that sort of experience to gamers at a reasonable price, and we'll be interested to see how they go about it ourselves, then it could become as de facto for games as it is a standard for movies.

The Sci-Fi Channel has revealed that it will be airing a new videogames TV series in the UK this summer as part of their Saiko-Exciting Saturday morning programming. The half hour show, imaginatively titled Sci-Fi Gamer, will debut on July 6th and appear at 10am every Saturday morning. Hosted by former BITS co-presenter Emily Newton-Dunn, the show will include everything from news and reviews to cheat codes, and won't be limiting itself to sci-fi games - the press release even makes mention of (brace yourself) Britney's Dance Beat. "Gaming is now the key entertainment source for the youth market and yet, with so much choice available no one is delivering the required standard of honesty when scrutinising gaming content", Tor McLaren of Sci-Fi Channel owners USN pontificated. "Sci·Fi aims to redress the balance with the attitude of SFG. Having Emily on board is a huge boost for the show. She is well known within the gaming industry and her expert knowledge will ensure SFG is topical, interesting and at times, brutally honest. She is not scared to speak her own mind." Whether this latest attempt at a videogames TV series will prove to be a resounding success or another Blam-like disaster remains to be seen, but all should become clear in a couple of weeks when the show makes its first appearance. Related Feature - Myst : The Mini-Series

Norwegian developers Funcom have cut more staff this week, according to a company statement quoted on American news site Blue's News. An undisclosed number of workers at their US offices have been laid off, while more staff in Scandinavia have been put on "forced temporary leave", an oddity of the Norwegian welfare system whereby the staff remain employees of the company but most of their salary is paid by the government. Similar steps were taken back in December, when about 30 staff were put on leave as Funcom tried to turn around their business after the relatively disappointing launch of their bug-afflicted massively multiplayer game Anarchy Online. Once again Funcom are saying that it's business as usual for Anarchy Online itself, with future patches and a planned add-on pack for the game still on schedule despite the latest round of job cuts. "Subscription numbers for Anarchy Online have been steadily climbing" this year, according to Funcom's statement, and the company is optimistic that they will be able to re-hire most of the staff they've put on leave. The news wasn't so good for the company's Java games division though, with the website (which offered a range of free games) shut down earlier this month after talks aimed at selling the site as a going concern fell through. Meanwhile the company's other massively multiplayer project, the highly promising Midgard, still appears to be on hold as all hands focus on turning around Anarchy Online. Related Feature - Midgard put on hold

Stuttgart's purveyors of musical software eJay have announced that the PlayStation 2 will be stretching its sonic capabilities this summer with the release of eJay Clubworld. Although not strictly speaking a game, it will give PS2 owners a chance to mix it up in eight clubs around the world, including the likes of The End and Amnesia, with top DJ Carl Cox introducing you to the various venues. Over ten thousand sounds and loops will be included to let would-be musos roll their own, complete with the ability to have up to four people jamming together live through a multi-tap. And because the sounds are all stored on the eJay CD, over a hundred songs can apparently be crammed on to a single PS2 memory card, allowing you to easily transport your musical compositions from A to B with the minimum of effort. Everything from hip hop, 2-step and R&B to trance, trip hop and chill-out will be included, and players can even use the analogue sticks on their Dual Shock to scratch and mix their tracks. Throw in a jukebox mode and a 3D visualizer to produce the appropriate trippy visuals, and eJay are presumably hoping that it will also be perfect for those pre-club build-ups and late night relaxation. Expect to see eJay Clubworld appearing on shelves some time this summer. Air horn and neon clothing optional.

Cenega's forthcoming horror adventure game Nefandus has undergone a name change "due to copyright reasons". We're not entirely sure what lies behind this, as the only other Nefanduses we've managed to find are an obscure Swedish black metal band and a deity from a homemade Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Whatever the reasons though, the game will now go by the name of Shade : Wrath of Angels. Oh, the excitement. Related Feature - Nefandus Shade screenshots

Obviously nobody sets out to develop a bad game, but somehow dozens of them still find their way on to shelves each year. Explaining why bad games get made requires a long and very arduous chinwag though, if you actually want to emerge from the conversation with anything of consequence. In fact, you could theorise about it for weeks, but unless you're talking to the people directly involved, it would be difficult to come up with anything of substance. Which is why we spoke to a number of developers both in the UK and overseas about their experiences across the years to find out exactly what makes a game turn out bad.

Red Storm's tactical combat game The Sum Of All Fears is already available in the USA, along with the film on which it's based, but thanks to the vagaries of movie distribution it won't be appearing in Europe for some time yet. Bizarrely the film will first surface in Belgium and France at the end of July, with the rest of Europe getting it during August. Except for poor Sweden, who apparently have to wait until September. As a result, the game is being held back by publishers Ubi Soft to tie in with the movie's launch here in Europe. Today they have confirmed that the PC and GameBoy Advance versions will debut in August at a modest £19.99, with a PlayStation 2 port following in September at £29.99 and a GameCube release also planned before the end of the year, but with a relatively hefty £39.99 price tag. Expect a full review of the game closer to its European release, but in the meantime you'll have to make do with the latest screenshots of the game in action. Related Feature - Sum Of All Fears screenshots

For some time now our readers have been asking when Microsoft's miniaturised Xbox joypad, known as Controller S in the USA, would be released here in Europe. Designed for people with smaller hands who find the current pad cumbersome, the Controller S sports a new improved D-pad (the primary cause of complaints against the standard Xbox controller) and a more traditional diamond lay-out for the primary coloured buttons. With the new pad already available in the US and no sign of a European release, we caught up with Microsoft UK's Xbox PR manager Nick Grange to find out what was going on. Sadly he confirmed our fears, telling us that "there's no current plans to release the controller in Europe". Why not? Apparently we don't want it enough. "Our research has found that people like the standard Xbox controller in Europe, so at this time we are not planning to offer an alternative", Nick explained. "If it becomes clear that the same preferences for a smaller controller as in the US are seen in Europe, then we will look to meet that need." So there you have it - if enough people ask for one, it might just get released in Europe. For the moment though, it looks like the only way European gamers will be able to get hold of a Controller S in the short term is by importing one from the US. Related Feature - Microsoft explains Controller S

Deus Ex is one of the finest games to ever grace the PC. A triumph of the Ion Storm "Design Is Law" philosophy (and perhaps the only one to date), the gritty urban tale of conspiratorial government schemes and shady corporate nastiness won the hearts of gamers aching for something different to quench their thirst for originality in the first person genre. Some two years after Warren Spector's masterpiece first hit the shelves, it's now the turn of PS2 gamers to get a taste of the action.

Gore has been in development for something in the region of four years now, designed by a talented team of mostly internet-based amateurs, including a couple of guys I used to work with back in my Quake 2 mod making days. But after countless delays and an extended design cycle which developers 4D Rulers admit had its "highs and lows", last month the game was finally completed. Gore should be out in the USA soon through Dreamcatcher, while Cryo are expected to be publishing the game in Europe some time in July, with Mindscape distributing in the UK. To celebrate, a final demo version is now available to replace the previous "Gore Test" releases. Included in the sizeable 100Mb download is the early stages of the single player campaign, along with a pair of multiplayer maps and support for deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and tactical gameplay modes. You can grab the demo from all the usual suspects -

Not content with having the west's biggest massively multiplayer role-playing game, Sony Online Entertainment are setting out this summer to bring a whole new audience to the joys of EverQuest. Prepare yourselves for the EQ Invasion Tour! The weapon of choice is a 26 foot long (that's just short of 8m in real units) EverQuest trailer fitted with a dozen VAIO PCs with all the latest bells and whistles, offering punters the chance to sample the game before parting with their credit card details and entering a squalid life of addiction in which every hour is spent either playing the game or earning the money needed to keep their account open. Probably. Sadly (?) the invasion is limited to the USA for now, with the tour truck starting out from San Diego today before travelling around the country, taking in the likes of San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. Venues will range from county fairs to college campuses, giving existing players a chance to meet up and worship the game's designers in person, as well as allowing Sony to demonstrate the game to newcomers. Full details of the three month, ten thousand mile tour can be found at the EQ Invasion website. Related Feature - Everquest, Everquest, Everquest

Amongst the hordes of massively multiplayer role-playing games currently in development, one title stands out from the crowd - Shining Lore. Developed by Korea's rising star Phantagram, it is, in a word, barmy. Features include anime inspired character graphics, a wide range of mini-games to master, machinegun-toting pandas, and the arcane art of .. er .. offensive cooking. And no, we're not talking about Jamie Oliver. While Shining Lore has been undergoing beta testing in the far east for some time now, the game's western beta cycle will be kicking off in July, with testing expected to last about two months. If you fancy being one of the 20,000 pioneers in this strange land, head over to the Shining Lore website and fill out the beta sign-up form. Related Feature - Shining Lore preview

The Japanese gaming press is reporting that the popular manga Captain Tsubasa is set to appear on GameCube. Captain Tsubasa was created in 1981 by Yoichi Takahashi, and follows the story of a young Japanese football player as he works his way through the ranks and - in the current iteration of the series - comes up against supreme international opposition in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. Tsubasa's popularity at the moment is particularly understandable. The Japanese response to the World Cup has driven the likes of million-selling Winning Eleven 6 to the top of the sales charts, but it seems unlikely that the spirited performance of the Japanese national team - who went out to an on-form Turkish side in the second round of the tournament - will lead to the game's release outside of the country, and a Konami representative we spoke to this afternoon echoed that sentiment. Captain Tsubasa has already appeared as a peculiar card battle / football hybrid on the GameBoy Advance as Captain Tsubasa Advance: Road to 2002, released last November, and the Cube version is currently pencilled in for a September 2002 release in Japan. Related Feature - Winning Eleven 6 preview

When the American Army announced its own videogame project, to be released for free via the Internet, it wasn't the first time that the military had taken an interest in the potential benefits of videogames, and it wasn't to be the last. Back in the day we remember several page spreads in Wired with military consultants waxing lyrical about their Doom-based simulators, but on this side of the pond things are now a little more up to date, with the British Army resorting to a Counter-Strike clone from technology firm QinetiQ. Although admittedly several years old, Half-Life is still considered one of the pivotal moments in gaming history, and Counter-Strike is undeniably the most popular first person shooter modification of all time, so the boys from the Ministry of Defence obviously knew how to pick 'em. None of that fancy graphics palaver - just meaty gameplay. Like CS, the specially developed Half-Life modification from QinetiQ is primarily keyboard and mouse controlled, and troops work as a unit to track down and confront the enemy, dropping from the action should they take a bullet at any point. The hope is that soldiers can try out new weapons and new tactics and gauge their capabilities and effectiveness without encountering real bullets and bombs. The MOD hopes that this will reinforce the vital lessons taught during more traditional exercises. It's good to see that the military is wise to the dangers of battle simulators. Speaking to the BBC, Major Bruce Pennell of the army's Logistics Corp, said that "obviously, being killed in the virtual world isn't quite so serious. We don't have virtual officers writing letters to the dead soldiers' virtual parents, but we'd hope the games are authentic enough to reinforce good teaching." The MOD, currently evaluating the system, has explained that one possible application would be to allow troops to practice real life missions ahead of actual engagement. Musing over the idea, Major Pennell was cautious. "You would have to make sure the environment you are modelling is as accurate as possible," he said. "What you don't want to happen is for a soldier in a real situation to run around a corner to find the door that existed in the virtual environment, only to find in the real world the door is not there." It is not clear whether terrorists in this unnamed simulation are being played by other soldiers or whether they are AI-controlled, but one would hope that the MOD is not relying on poor aim and enemies getting snagged on scenery. Solid Snake had a point about VR, you know. Related Feature - Operation Patriotic Video Game

Eidos have officially announced the existence of Commandos 3, the latest episode in the million selling tactical combat series from Spanish developer Pyro Studios. Once again you'll be taking control of an elite team of commandos battling against Axis forces behind enemy lines during World War II, but this time a stronger storyline is being promised to push the action along to replace the simple mission-based dynamic of previous games. Pyro are also promising to make the sequel more accessible for new players, while series veterans can look forward to improved AI and a wider variety of equipment and enemies. "We want Commandos 3 to be the definitive game in the Commandos series", Pyro CEO Ignacio Perez declared. "Our intention is to take the best of the previous games and introduce several new improvements. We are confident that the millions of Commandos fans will be very impressed." We'll be even more impressed if Pyro actually manage to deliver the game on schedule for a change... The current target is summer 2003, but we'd take that with a recommended daily allowance sized grain of salt for now. Related Feature - Commandos 3 screenshots

Do you remember the 5th of June? I remember it as the day that Ireland clawed their way back in the dying seconds of their fixture against Germany; the day that Mick McCarthy dragged his team out of Roy Keane's shadow and installed them in the top tiers of world football. But meanwhile, somewhat closer to home, Staggan Ltd. chose the 5th of June to announce their own entrance into world football, thanks to the massively multiplayer United Soccer. We caught up with their gaffer Martyn Hughes last week to talk ball tricks.

Liverpool-based developer and publisher Rage Software got a cash lifeline today as shareholders voted through a proposal to issue new shares in the company. Around 117m new shares were applied for by existing shareholders, with another 280m issued to investors. The only remaining hurdle now is getting approval for the trading of the new shares from the UK Listing Authority and stock exchange. All told the move should raise around £5m minus expenses for Rage, which should be enough to stave off the threat of having their overdraft called in by the Royal Bank Of Scotland. "Rage is very pleased to have successfully secured .. the working capital needed to help restore stability into the company's balance sheet", Rage MD Paul Finnegan commented, adding that "the Board of Directors believe that the company has its strongest line up of game titles ever due for release during the next 12-18 months across all of the leading console platforms. Further, through several strategic partnerships recently entered into in mainland Europe and in the United States, we believe that the Company has the opportunity to realise the significant investment we have made within our product development area during the past 18-24 months and successfully take the Company forward as a leading games publisher and developer." Related Feature - Rage looks for cash injection

British developers Headfirst Productions have put out a brief statement regarding the publishing status of their much anticipated Lovecraftian horror game, Call of Cthulhu. Originally the game was signed to Ravensburger Interactive to be released under their Fishtank label, but since then the company's line-up has been sold to Austria's JoWooD. When the deal was announced we assumed that Call of Cthulhu would now be published by JoWooD, along with other Fishtank games such as Arx Fatalis, but apparently that's not the case. According to Headfirst MD Mike Woodroffe, the developer has terminated its publishing deal with Ravensburger Interactive due to alleged breach of contract by the defunct German publisher, a breach presumably relating to the company's recent sale. Whatever the cause of the split though, the end result is that the game is now up for grabs once again, with Headfirst looking for a new publisher for their highly promising game. Meanwhile development work continues, with Call of Cthulhu now expected to emerge menacingly from its aeons long slumber some time early next year. Related Feature - Call Of Cthulhu preview

Introduced by Episode II, the Jedi Starfighter is a nimble craft with the ability to symbiotically harness the powers of the Force with the help of its pilot. In the videogame of the same name - now available on Xbox - it's piloted by a librarian of a Jedi Master named Adi Gallia. Adi's tale begins with an assignment from the Jedi Council to investigate a disturbing trend of unrest in the Karthakk system, a system under the suspected leadership of Count Dooku and teeming with Trade Federation types. Something odd is going on there, and Adi has to go and find out what, allying with tentacled space pirate Nym, the only surviving playable character from Jedi's predecessor Star Wars Starfighter.

Word has emerged from Korea that Phantagram are working on a massively multiplayer game based on the Oscar-winning Chinese movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Due for release towards the end of 2004 on unspecified platforms, the game is being billed as a revolution for the genre, replacing the normal slow hack and slash of most titles with the kind of fast-paced over-the-top kung fu fighting seen in the film. Phantagram are also promising a "deep cinematic storyline" to immerse players in the game, and if nothing else the oriental setting should make Crouching Tiger stand out from the horde of 'me too' fantasy epics looming on the horizon. Other details are thin on the ground at this early stage in development, but an official website is expected to launch within the next few months.

Some consoles might not need leading characters, but Nintendo's GameCube could do with one at the moment. Although sales in its homeland have rallied following a price drop, it's bound to slip further off the pace the world over in the absence of new releases. Which is where Mario comes in, nearly twenty years after his Japanese arcade debut. We have been waiting with bated breath for Mario Sunshine ever since Super Mario 64, and now, with barely a month left, the anticipation has reached fever pitch. The packshot on the right is the official Japanese packaging for Super Mario Sunshine - as it is evidently to be called in Japan as well as the States - leaked by the Japanese Toys R Us and reposted across the Internet. If you are not prepared to wait until Christmas for the PAL version, you can get your hands on your own Japanese copy of Super Mario Sunshine soon after July 19th with the help of importers. If you have a Japanese Cube, or a US Cube modded to accept Japanese games, then our recommendations are Tronix, National Console Support and Lik-Sang. Those of you willing to wait until August 29th can have it in English courtesy of the US release, but where's the fun in that? Related Feature - Super Mario Sunshine preview

A three-level PC demo of Spider-Man: The Movie has been made available by an Australian file network - AusGamers. The 175Mb demo purportedly found its way onto the net via a magazine coverdisk, and to run it you will need a Pentium III in excess of 500MHz or an Athlon processor, 128Mb of RAM, 350Mb of hard disk space, DirectX 8.1 and a 32Mb video card supporting T&L. Spidey fans eager to see their hero in action could do worse than to give this a go, but you might want to go off and make a cup, no, pot… no, oil tanker's worth of coffee, because if our 1.5Kb/s download rate from the Aussie file source is anything to go by, it's going to take a while. Related Feature - Spider-Man: The Movie Xbox review

Gameforms reports that following the sale of the Ogre Battle series to Squaresoft, former developer Quest has now sold its game development resources to the Japanese gaming giant. Ogre Battle creator Yasumi Matsuno already works for Squaresoft, having left Quest after the release of Tactics Ogre in 1997, and is currently working on the GameBoy Advance remake of Final Fantasy Tactics (another game he is largely responsible for) whilst co-directing Final Fantasy XII. He is tipped to resume development of the Ogre Battle series in the near future, although nothing concrete has been announced to date.

Konami of Europe has confirmed that Silent Hill 2: Inner Fears, formerly subtitled Restless Dreams, an enhanced version of last year's PlayStation 2 survival horror spectacle, will be released on Xbox in October.

Ubi Soft have confirmed that a new game in the popular Settlers series is on the way, with both PC and console versions in the works. Details are scarce at this point and there's still no word on when the game will be released or which of the three major console platforms it will be available for. What we do know is that the developers are aiming to "create a truly innovative leap inside the Settlers' gameplay", with the promise of new strategic elements and 3D graphics. "This new game from the cult series will undoubtedly widen The Settlers' audience", according to Blue Byte's Odile Limpach. "Our production team is currently focusing on innovative 3D-technology and absolutely new game features." No doubt more solid information on what these new game features are will emerge as the sequel gets further into development.

With Neverwinter Nights finally on its way to stores in the US, the game's Canadian developers BioWare have auctioned off two autographed copies of the game for charity. In all some $10,000 was raised for the BioWare Kids' Fund, with the money going to the Children's Mental Health Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. Perhaps appropriate, given that the company's co-founders were originally doctors. BioWare's joint CEO Dr Ray Muzyka is reported to be "incredibly happy with the response this auction has drawn", with the money set to sponsor educational, recreational and sporting events at the unit. Related Feature - A Neverwinter Night's Dream