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Here's an amusing little fact for you - my first tentative steps into the world of videogame journalism came at the tender age of nine, when I wrote a fictionalized walkthrough of the first level of Repton for my school magazine. Flash forward some sixteen years and Superior Software's classic BBC Micro platform puzzler is being brought back to life on PDAs and the next generation of Java-compatible mobile phones, courtesy of Masabi. Once again players will take control of the reptile-like hero Repton as he wanders around colourful mazes clearing soil, hoarding diamonds, opening safes, defusing bombs, escaping ghosts and shoving rocks over ledges to crush monsters. A massive 144 levels from the original Repton series will be included in the new mobile version of the game, along with several exclusive new levels designed for the re-release by Repton veterans. Mobile Repton will even include a modern web-based equivalent of the revolutionary editor that shipped with the original BBC Repton games, allowing players to create their own sprites and levels for the game and share them with other users. And you thought mod-making began with Doom. Shame on you. "Repton is Superior Software's highest-selling game series, and gamers continue to contact us asking if any new Repton sequels or conversions are under development", according to Superior Software founder Richard Hanson. "The game is as enjoyable and well-loved today as it has always been, and we are delighted to have made this licensing deal with Masabi to bring Repton to fans new and old, wherever they may wish to play." Expect to see Repton emerging from hibernation this summer. Now all we need is a GameBoy Advance version of Repton to put that upstart Mario in his place...

Konami has released a short video demonstrating Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. Distributed as a 10Mb ASF file, the footage is taken directly from E3 and begins humorously, with a montage of audio lines from the game set to one of the game's haunting low-key themes. "Why are you repeating the same mistake?" and "I knew he had the real thing up his sleeve" were my favourites, but overall the humour is self-deprecating, and it put me in the mood to learn more about the game - the video's ending is also pretty funny. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was announced in a Konami financial report before the trade Expo, and looks set to let players do just about anything they want to do within the confines of the Metal Gear Solid universe. If you fancy playing through the tanker section of the game as Raiden (god help you) then you can, and if you fancy playing through as Snake wearing a tuxedo, that's also an option. In fact, MGS2: Substance is like a toy chest full of action figures and the game's locations are bits of carpet, painted cereal boxes and stacked CD cases - you're making your own game now. Hundreds more VR Missions are promised besides the complement of regular alternate missions (including the option to go back through the game using a ninja sword like a lightsaber, or to play through Snake's bomb-disposal section), and the VR simulator and effects it employs look great. It even appears as though you will be able to play VR-simulated versions of the original MGS single player game. In fact, it looks like someone has hotwired the VR simulator and is using it to teach our poor heroes a lesson, with mountainous soldiers marching about at several hundred metres in height. And of course the highly anticipated skateboarding sections look… interesting. Very Tony Hawk, but then that was to be expected. The skateboarding sections are meant to act as an advert for Konami's new skating title, in which you can also find a playable Solid Snake. Substance is definitely looking less like a cash-in and more like a fairly well thought out expansion and reinvention of this year's most impressive seller to date. If Konami can deliver a game with enough surprises and fanboy-tastic extras then it might even be worth picking up. Either way, you should download the video, particularly if you're a fan. Be warned though, it does contain a few minor spoilers. For those of you already dying to play it, we hear it will be out before the end of the year in Japan and the USA, on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Related Feature - Metal Gear Solid 2 review

British developer and publisher Rage is in trouble again this week, with the Royal Bank Of Scotland threatening to call in the company's £6.2m overdraft if they can't get more funding in the near future, according to a report from the Financial Times yesterday. As a result the company will be holding a shareholders' meeting next month to approve the issuing of around 445,000,000 new shares. Given that these shares are worth just over 1p each at the moment that's not quite as impressive as it may sound, but it will provide enough loose change to cover the company's expenses for the next year and stop their bank from demanding their cash back. If for some reason shareholders refuse to back the move though, Rage could be put into adminstration this summer. Luckily this seems somewhat unlikely. Rage is now banking on one or more of its big releases finding success, with licensed games based on the Rocky movies and SAS veteran turned novellist Andy McNab expected on shelves by the end of the year, along with actioneer Twin Caliber and inline skating sim Rolling. In the more immediate future, an Xbox version of the previously unsuccessful David Beckham Soccer is being timed to tie in with World Cup fever, Transformers-inspired action game Gun Metal is due to arrive on the Xbox early in the summer, and online shooter Mobile Forces should be out this week for the PC. "If we don't have a big winner it is going to be a hard slog", Rage's managing director Paul Finnegan admitted, adding that "we have our fingers crossed". Related Feature - Rage losses grow

Back in the mists of time, before the likes of Diablo and Baldur's Gate resurrected the role-playing genre, SSI were the lord of the dice. Although they're best known for the classic Gold Box series of the late 1980's that included the original Pool Of Radiance, SSI were also one of the first companies to introduce a first person viewpoint to computer role-playing games with 1991's Eye Of The Beholder. Now this piece of Dungeons & Dragons history is being brought back from the beyond, with a new interpretation due out on the GameBoy Advance this autumn courtesy of Pronto Games and Infogrames. Once again players will be called upon to deal with an evil afflicting the city of Waterdeep, but with revamped dungeons to explore, additional side quests to complete and an update to bring the game's character development and combat in line with the latest Third Edition AD&D rule set, it's much more than just a straight port. Time to start polishing those d20's... Related Feature - D&D Heroes on the way

Budding game designers will want to check out Agetec's RPG Maker 2 when it materialises in the fourth quarter of 2002. It's already out in Japan, but interest will obviously hinge on the English-language release, announced at E3. The second release in the RPG Maker series will allow 'players' to create a turn-based 3D fantasy RPG with help from a variety of tools, which will allow the user to generate or design their own characters and monsters, edit backgrounds, special effects and the very shape of the world, as well as script events and dialogue. And of course, once created players can play their way through to their heart's content. With only an 8Mb memory card upon which to store data, RPG Maker 2 will presumably be quite restrictive, and is much less of a bedroom-developer tool than the original Net Yaroze, but it's something different, and if you've ever sat through a sequence of dialogue in an RPG and wondered if you could do any better, now's your chance. Related Feature - Modern games are rubbish

Square has confirmed that apart from a PlayStation 2 version, Final Fantasy XI, the much-vaunted online evolution of the series, will be released on the PC during calendar year 2003. Related Feature - Final Fantasy XI preview

John Carpenter's The Thing has taken new shape at this year's E3. After a slew of less than impressive PlayStation 2 shots, mostly from the less than impressive PlayStation 2 video of the game released at last year's ECTS, punters looking forward to the film adaptation will be able to look upon the new PC screenshots with a smile. Locations reminiscent of those from Silent Hill 2 and graphics approaching those seen in the Cube version of Resident Evil look set to do the film's eerie, often sickening visuals justice. This is in stark contrast to the PlayStation 2 footage and screenshots of the game. In the ECTS video, characters slid along the ground unrealistically and the various incarnations of The Thing were blocky and not scary in the slightest. If anything, they were scarily simple models. In these latest screenshots characters appear to be much more detailed, and there are clear signs of the vaunted relationship-based gameplay falling apart in spectacular fashion, with one shot of a showdown between three would-be conspirators and a fourth, slightly puzzled member of the salvage expedition. Other shots show enormous flamethrowers and dank and dirty sections of the snow-buried research post. The question of how well The Thing can work as a game remains, but these are encouraging signs. One has to wonder why Vivendi were so keen to show it off at ECTS. Related Feature - The Thing PC screenshots

I've wanted to play console games online since the summer holidays of the 16-bit era. I didn't even have an Internet connection back then, something completely unthinkable to me now, and the thought of growing up with game playing friends on-tap 24 hours a day seemed wondrous.

For Ang Lee's seminal Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to do so well at the box office is a testament to the average consumer's open-mindedness. Admittedly there were a lot of snickering kids in the audience when I saw it, and people to whom the concept of reading subtitles is taboo, but the film, described as the most beautiful film ever made by some, and its subsequent DVD release, may have already helped to elevate the traditional martial arts film to a position of high regard in the West. Starring Chow Yun-Fat (Li Mu Bai), Michelle Yeoh (Yu Shu Lien) and the delectable Ziyi Zhang (Jen Yu), the film made an instant impression, and license holders Ubi Soft chose E3 to demonstrate the early traits of the software reincarnation. Armed with screenshots from the PlayStation 2 version, the firm announced that players can play as any of the three main characters, and the screenshots confirm that the early character modelling is very impressive. The premise is the same as the film, with the overall objective to bring about the downfall of Jade Fox, the killer of Mu Bai's master and Shu Lien's fiancé. Ubi Soft says that each character will have a different story, but Jen Yu's has not be elaborated upon at this stage. Each of the main characters is armed with an assortment of weapons including the Green Destiny sword itself, and each will have a number of staple 'special moves', which will hopefully bear a lot of resemblance to their big screen counterparts. Translating the frenetic, often dizzyingly fast-paced action of the film into a game format will be quite a challenge. The game will be released on PS2 and GBA in November of 2002, with a Cube version following in the first quarter of 2003. Cube owners shouldn't fret though - we understand that a bonus character (Chen Chang's Lo, or Dark Cloud) will be included for players to get to grips with. Related Feature - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon PlayStation 2 screenshots

If you're just catching up on the tail end of E3, so are we! With so much on display at this year's Expo there will be a fresh E3 info to serve for many days to come. At the weekend we learnt that Koei has announced that unreleased GameCube fantasy action game Mystic Heroes will be released on PlayStation 2 later this year. The game is considered a Chinese mythology version of Dynasty Warriors 3, so fans of that will do well to keep their eye on Mystic Heroes. As we understand it, the PS2 version will feature more multiplayer options for cooperative and versus play, and four new hidden characters. PlayStation 2 owners will also get to try out the developer's popular war simulation RPG Sangokushi Senki, which will be released as Dynasty Tactics in the US later this year. Hopefully the game won't suffer the same fate as many similar games have done, and particularly games with 'Tactics' in the title. In other Koei-related news, the company has confirmed that Crimon Sea is progressing nicely for the Xbox. This is effectively a sci-fi version of Dynasty Warriors, with the same gameplay dynamic, but a setting far in the future and hordes of aliens to destroy. A neat addition to this game is the Enemy Detection System, which allows you to detect the position of enemies around you by vibration and sound. Dolby Digital surround sound looks to be a pre-requisite for this one. If aliens and quasi-future sci-fi nonsense doesn't rock your boat though, Dynasty Warriors 3 itself will be released in the US on Xbox this summer. We hope to speak to THQ (publishers of the PS2 version of the game) about the game's European release date when they all recover from their E3 hangovers. Related Feature - Dynasty Warriors II review

Do you own a PlayStation 2? Do you live in Europe, Africa or the Middle East? Then you can finally purchase the PlayStation 2 Linux Kit, suitable for use with PAL hardware. But only online. For the princely sum of €249 / £155 plus VAT (€292.58 / £182.13), you will receive a 40Gb hard disk drive, a 10/100Mbit network adapter, a USB keyboard and three-button mouse, a monitor cable adapter with two phono audio jacks for stereo speakers and a two-DVD disc set including Linux installation, RTE and hardware manuals. It isn't all fun and it absolutely isn't games, however. The 40Gb hard disk drive is not compatible with PS2 software, and will not work in the same way as the broadband kit will when that becomes available. Although a network adapter is provided, no modem is included so unless you have access to a network and you use suitable connection sharing, you have no real Internet options with the Linux kit. The monitor cable provided is also less than it seems. For a start you need a monitor with sync-on-green capabilities, and worse than that, you can't actually play games through it, because of the way the VGA output works on PlayStation 2. Or doesn't, as it would seem. The package also requires that you own an 8Mb memory card, although that does seem likely, and of course the PlayStation 2 console. Rumours doing the rounds on the web at the moment also suggest that the Linux kit will not function correctly with modified, or 'chipped' PlayStation 2 consoles. It seems that we were a little harsh on Sony about the kit at first, as it turns out that having ordered the kit from the Linuxplay.com website, you can turn to the excellent and comprehensive official FAQ, on the official website. Which is official, contradicting what we said before. Although Sony seems reluctant to put any marketing weight behind the product, and although it doesn't seem that this "niche product" will ever appear on retailers' shelves, those behind the Linux kit within Sony have contacted us outside the traditional boundaries of PR back-and-forth, and we hope to actually get to play with a kit shortly. If it's as good as they are enthusiastic about it, then it will be difficult not to recommend. Needless to say, we would be very interested to hear from people who have the kit. Sony claims that the Linux kit will be on display at selected exhibitions and conferences, and that the PS2 Linux community website is the place to go for information on those. Related Feature - SCE to release Linux kit in Europe

A high-end graphics chip from ATI was used to power the demo of Doom III at this year's E3, the two companies have confirmed. With so many people selling the farm to upgrade for this game, it now seems certain that ATI's latest graphics card, scheduled for release before the end of 2002, will fly off the shelves. "ATI's next generation hardware has an ideal feature set for the Doom III engine," said John Carmack, a man who needs no introduction, "and at the moment is the fastest platform to run the game on." John's comments through his popular .plan file are used by many to judge the quality of new graphics hardware. His intricate knowledge of graphics card architecture and his position at Id Software mean that many follow his advice almost blindly. Although he has previously backed GeForce 3 as the card for Doom III, he has recently been openly scathing of ATI's biggest competitor, and this latest recommendation undoubtedly still carries a lot of weight. Related Feature - We're All Doomed!

TimeSplitters 2 bowled us over when we managed to get our hands on it before E3. Free Radical's follow-up to the finest action game at the PS2's launch has been praised because of its improved single player game, but as with the original the multiplayer options are the most interesting part of the equation. Unfortunately, speaking to Gaming Age at this year's E3, Free Radical confirmed that although PlayStation 2 online support is happening, Xbox Live support is not currently planned. The different versions are being timed to launch simultaneously, and because the Xbox conversion only began development three months prior to E3, the Xbox version could not feasibly include Live support. A blow for the service? Or one less competitor for the inevitable Halo 2 and Counter-Strike? Related Feature - TimeSplitters 2 hands-on preview

One E3 announcement which has slipped through the fingers of many is Nintendo's reduction in pricing for GBA cartridges. Developers and publishers will pay three dollars less per (64Mbit, 4k EEPROM) cartridge, which means that more new games will cost $29.99 in North America. Because Nintendo serves everything out of its Japanese facilities, it's a safe bet that this applies globally. We should start to see cheaper GBA games in Europe before the end of the summer.

More bad news for those betting their futures on the internet emerged during E3 last week, with American's Interactive Digital Software Association releasing the results of their latest survey on the state of the gaming industry in the USA. According to their research, although 31% of regular games players now play online, only a third of those people prefer playing online to traditional single player games. Hopefully this statistic means that single player games still have a future, and we're not heading towards a nightmare world where every big new release is an online game, as Microsoft's J Allard recently suggested. It's also worth noting that only one of the top twenty selling games in the US last year featured online support (Tony Hawk 3 on the PS2), and only around half of them included even split-screen or link cable multiplayer options. The good news for publishers and manufacturers touting online gaming as the wave of the future is that 30% of those who don't play online at the moment said that this was at least partly because they weren't interested in any of the games currently on offer. This is something that a new wave of online titles might help to solve, as long as they're not all Counter-Strike and EverQuest clones. The downside is that only 6% of these people would be willing to pay to play games online. Meanwhile a slowdown in broadband take-up in the US threatens to "be a drag on the prospects for online games", according to IDSA head Doug Lowenstein. So is online gaming really the future, as people have been claiming for the best part of a decade now? Is the revolution just around the corner, as it has been for the best part of a decade now? And will anyone actually pay to take part in it once it arrives? Related Feature - Online gaming overhyped

Another story that got lost in the E3 rush was EA's unveiling of The Sims on the PlayStation 2. The announcement that the best-selling PC game of all time is being brought to the world's most popular console by its biggest third party publisher is only surprising in that it took so long to happen. Work is already underway at Maxis on putting right this oversight though, with the game expected to ship towards the end of the year. Rather than simply porting the game over to Sony's console, Maxis and Texan developers Edge of Reality are giving The Sims a 3D make-over and adding a new two player mode to allow you to battle it out with your mates for popularity points. Obviously the interface has been given an overhaul to make it better suit a gamepad, but the game has also been given a more structured campaign mode in addition to the traditional freeform gameplay of the original. Exclusive new characters, artwork and items have been added to spice things up, including stylish hats and an .. er .. strip poker game. Don't ask. If the success of the multi-million selling PC version is anything to go by, expect The Sims to be completely dominating the PlayStation 2 charts in the run up to the all-important festive season this year. Related Feature - Sim Best Seller

One of the stories we missed during the frenetic build-up to E3 earlier in the week was Microsoft's first official confirmation of sales figures for the Xbox in Europe. A disappointing debut saw Microsoft falling back on the excuse that "we typically don't provide sales breakdowns on a regional basis", but following a dramatic price cut and the arrival of some more Euro-centric software (namely soccer games), things are apparently starting to look up. Unsurprisingly Microsoft have abandoned their vow of silence now they have something positive to report... At a news conference on the eve of E3, Xbox supremo Robbie Bach revealed that over half a million Xboxes have been sold in Europe during its first two months on sale here. While this is certainly an impressive turn-around in fortunes, it bears remembering that the GameCube sold around 400,000 units during its first weekend in Europe, and has probably already overtaken the Xbox in terms of total sales. Still, the console war on our side of the pond is at least beginning to look more like a three horse race than a three legged pub crawl. Meanwhile, back in America, the Xbox shifted 1.8m units during its first five months (that's through to mid-April) and is no doubt hovering somewhere around the two million mark by now. Things remain tough in Japan, with Bach admitting that "a year ago people said Japan would be a tough market for us, and they were right". But on the bright side, coming off the back of a strong showing at E3 which was in stark contrast to last year's disappointing outing, things have arguably never looked so good for the Xbox. A worldwide installed base of over 2.5m just six months into its life, a solid line-up of exclusive and ported titles on the horizon and competitive pricing in all territories should ensure its future, even though it's highly unlikely ever to catch up with Sony's gargantuan headstart. Related Feature - Xbox delivers at E3

Leading American publishers Electronic Arts and Activision have downplayed the importance of online gaming to the current generation of consoles. Speaking at E3, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suggested that it would only really come into its own four or five years from now. "There's not enough of a broadband infrastructure in the US today to support it", he added, which doesn't bode well for Europe, as America has generally been seen to be a year or two ahead in terms of broadband take-up. Even more scathing was the prognosis on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, which has run into criticism from some publishers due to its closed nature, with Microsoft apparently insisting that everything is handled through their own pay-to-play servers. It doesn't help that Microsoft only has a fraction of the installed base that PlayStation 2 currently has, leading EA marketing VP Frank Gibeau to comment that this "just did not make it an opportunity we wanted to chase". EA recently revealed that they wouldn't be releasing any Xbox Live games this year, with negotiations on possible future support still on-going. "There's a whole slate of issues we're working with Microsoft on", according to Gibeau. For his part, Bobby Kotick suggested that "nobody's signed up for Xbox Live", although that's something of an exaggeration. Aside from their own first party titles, Microsoft already have support from Ubi Soft (Splinter Cell), Lucas Arts (Star Wars Galaxies), Sega (Phantasy Star Online) and Take 2 (Serious Sam) amongst others, and even Activision have at least one title (the uninspiring Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder 2) heading to the service, according to Microsoft's press release. Is online gaming really the future, and can any of the current generation of consoles make it take off in a big way? It's going to be an interesting few years... Related Feature - You Suck

Motor racing games usually fall into one of three categories. First of all you have the simulations, heavy on statistics and accurate driving models, often with fancy graphics to lace it all together and endless tweaking potential. The more challenging and comprehensive of these are practically timeless - Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix III springs to mind. Secondly you have games which simulate and speculate, which, when done well as with Gran Turismo can be a real pleasure to play, tickling your chin with both simulation and arcade racing modes.

Over the last six months Halo has practically single-handedly sold the Xbox, particularly in the USA, with over 80% of Xbox owners buying a copy of the game. It's no great surprise then that Bungie have been awful quiet about the long promised PC and Macintosh versions of the game since the Xbox's launch. So what's the story - is the game ever going to make it on to the beige and translucent boxes, or is it being confined to the Xbox? "We do see it happening, but when it is happening is still up in the air" is about as close to a firm answer as Microsoft PR bod Chris DiCesar came in an expert display of question dodging with Shacknews writer Jason Bergman at E3. Apparently PC and Mac versions are still "on the board" but not in development as yet. "We do have the whole team there, but they are obviously occupied with a major title for the console, a platform driver... They are really focused around that but still look at supporting the PC and/or Mac." In other words, don't get your hopes up. Related Feature - Halo review

Rebellion's Delta Force: Urban Warfare is a peculiar application of the UK's foremost first person shooter developer. It seems strange, to us at least, that a company whose products are synonymous with high quality would be working on a PSone action game. We caught up with publisher Novalogic's Wes Eckhart to find out what the hell is going on.

The single player demo for Soldier of Fortune II : Double Helix is now available, offering two maps for would-be John Mullins look-a-likes to try out. The first sees you infiltrating a Columbian rebel base deep in the jungles of South America, while the second tasks you with sneaking aboard a cargo ship in Tampa Bay. Several weapons are available for you to try out, while those of a nervous disposition can tone down the game's infamous excess of gore. Weighing in at a hefty 140Mb, give or take, the demo is available from the following sites -

Capcom's Breath of Fire is set to return, this time on PlayStation 2, the company announced at E3 earlier this week. Yesterday they issued a press release explaining the story behind the game, and briefly detailing the various systems which make up this presumably turn-based RPG. The story is as typical an RPG ramble as you might expect. An ecological catastrophe has forced mankind deep into the planet's interior, and led to the creation of the underground city, Shelter. Our main man is once again called Ryu, and he is a Ranger for the underground civilisation, who has a sudden awakening one day and decides to go off in search of what lies above. Capcom claims the game will introduce a "survival" style of gameplay, but the description is a little lacking. Players will be challenged with an abundance of enemies, it says 'ere, and a large variety of strategic elements such as deciding whether to fight or avoid enemies, or timing when to attack. The game will also feature PETS (Positive Encounter and Tactics System), which enables players to set up traps and decoys in the environment to make monster-battling a simpler proposition. Kinda like Mel Gibson did in Braveheart with flammable substances. Knowing Capcom's penchant for brutality and explosive visuals, the game will surely use this now vaunted feature to impress the graphics crowd. Breath of Fire is also said to be more dynamic, with dungeons and other in-game events changing as your characters perform different tasks, in stark contrast with the likes of Final Fantasy. It sounds like Chrono Cross to us, which is a pretty ringing endorsement. We hope to learn more about Breath of Fire as the game's development progresses, and we will be sure to inquire about things like control and camera systems... The game is due out this winter.

Ubi Soft has announced that hot new Clancy action title Splinter Cell will be exclusive to Xbox for the critical Christmas 2002 period, with a PC version to launch shortly afterward. Although it's not hard to imagine the publisher's motives in this, it is fun guessing how much money Microsoft threw at them. Furthermore, it's another coup for the Redmond-based platform holder, and it's no surprise to see Ubi Soft jabbering on about Xbox Live support amongst other things. Related Feature - Ubi Soft announces Splinter Cell

Satoru Iwata will become President of Nintendo at the end of the month, replacing Hiroshi Yamauchi who has occupied the position for more than half a century. Yamauchi is credited with turning Nintendo into the hugely profitable creative monstrosity it currently is, so Iwata has a lot to live up to.

Three days ago, we were finally introduced to Microsoft's ambitious plans for Xbox Live, and one of the defining aspects of that system is the company's pledge to provide wholesome, family focused entertainment above all else, and to give parents the power to choose where their kids play. Of course, rounding up children into their own area where they can play without supervision would be fine, if it were not for the fact that just about anybody can play there. I'm sure the staff of the Daily Mail will have an absolute blast when someone sets the geriatric cogs turning in their blinkered little heads. Microsoft the family company, eh? It's not exactly something they go all out to project, is it? If Microsoft were a family, there would be constant squabbling, rows with the neighbours and hogging of all the rubbish bins out back, and the kids would manage to argue their way out of doing chores on the basis that they could just bankrupt somebody else and then buy all their staff for a pittance. So in a way, I suppose the contradiction that is Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (or just XBV) is not altogether surprising. The three-minute video released to the net by those fellows at IGN yesterday is more erotically charged than a Kylie stage show at a nudist beach, under a sea of laughing gas and in sweltering heat exactly nine months prior to New Year's Eve 2000, and from those camera angles it looks completely unpl..ay..able. Bear with us, we're still thinking about Kylie. Ah, in other words, it's a teaser video. A teaser video which just happens to show that you can buy bikinis, watches, sunglasses and other accessories for your voluptuous contemporary Barbie dolls, and that one of the ladies likes to read the morning paper with her blouse completely unbuttoned. It's a rousing thought. But sex sells, and it's no surprise to see it attempted here. And it's not necessarily a bad thing either. Attracting a more "mature" audience to the system in a way that the ageing and rundown Lara Croft never could, the DOA girls look set to push back the boundaries and push up the [yes alright - Ed]. I was going to say demographic. The Xbox is the most powerful gaming system ever conceived, and although CG is hardly lifelike just yet, Tecmo has the creation and manipulation of attractive virtual starlets down to a fine art. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is going to sell the Xbox, and it stands to net Microsoft and Tecmo a handsome profit, which is something they doubtless both feel they deserve at this point. With a completely ludicrous plot and no sign of actual gameplay as yet, it seems odd that so many people are running around with their jaws scraping along the floor like a busted limb. It appears now that Sega's rival Beach Spikers game will have to make its name on gameplay rather than visuals, but ultimately Tecmo has struck gold with the hardware / software balance, and if they want to make soft porn videogames for the rest of their lives they are welcome to. But we still want stuff like Ninja Gaiden and DOA4. Ah, if only Sega and Tecmo were to join forces. Anyway, sex sells, so, with apologies to the ladies, go forth and patronise! Related Feature - Dead or Alive 3 review

Mech Assault might be bringing the Battletech universe to the Xbox for the first time, but that doesn't mean the end of the more traditional PC Mechwarrior series. The latest installment in the long-running franchise was unveiled at E3 this week, in the form of Mechwarrior 4 : Mercenaries, a stand-alone spin-off based on the Mechwarrior 4 engine. Developed by Cyberlore Studios, it adds ten new mechs to pilot in more than forty new missions spread across ten worlds, with players able to fight for any of four mercenary groups. "MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries takes fans back to one of the most popular gaming themes in the 'Mech universe: playing for cold hard cash", producer TJ Wagner pronounced. "By combining the soldier-of-fortune gameplay of Mercenaries and the stunning MechWarrior 4 game engine, we've created the ultimate 'Mech game that fans have been asking for." Expect Mercenaries to be stomping their way on to store shelves this autumn. Related Feature - Mechwarrior 4 : Mercenaries screenshots

Ubi Soft officially announced today that Myst Online is on the way, with a launch planned for some time next year. Yes, everybody's favourite point-and-click adventure game series (eleven million copies sold, and counting) is going massively multiplayer. I think we can safely assume that slaughtering hordes of monsters and power-levelling isn't likely to be a big part of this one, and developers Cyan are promising "a journey that will never end", with rich storylines, constant updates and fresh content on the cards. "Myst Online uses our proprietary technology to build a place that is so responsive and immersive, people will feel impelled to share their adventure, both in the game, and the next day at work or school", Cyan World founder Rand Miller declared. "This is the culmination of years of world building. Everything we've learned from our earliest worlds we've poured into Myst Online, building a universe that is growing, breathing, and alive. It's a massive undertaking, and we're excited about working with Ubi Soft to make it a reality." A novel concept for a massively multiplayer game, or just another cash-in on the fading Myst franchise? We should know soon. Related Feature - Myst : The Mini-Series

The long-awaited public unveiling of Doom III is already being referred to as one of the highlights of E3 this year, with screenshots of id Software's next game and engine passing around the Internet like wildfire. There may be only three certain things in life - death, taxes… and the fact that even the slightest titbit of information about a new graphics engine from id Software will have techies and fanboys alike setting the 'net on fire with wild speculation, critical analysis and - more often than not - rapturous praise-singing of John Carmack, perhaps the most unlikely-looking chap ever to receive the description of "kick ass" from thousands of American teenagers. So it's no surprise that no matter what else was announced at E3 this year, Doom III was what set the 'net on fire. Those four screenshots (if you haven't seen them already, then you might want to click here) have ended up being dissected on every web-board in the world, and everyone from skilled graphics programmers down to 14 year old Quake fanboys with a gore-lust has passed comment upon them. There's even a 90mb movie floating around, although given the amount of PR puff interviews it features and the appalling framerate it's encoded at, you probably won't glean a great deal from that even if you manage to find a download site for it which isn't maxed out. Ultimately though what more do we know about Doom III now that we didn't know last week? Well, from a gameplay perspective, not a lot. We know that the plot is vintage Doom - scientists play with Things They Don't Understand and teleport hideous abominations into this world, which of course proceed to wreak havoc and turn everyone into zombies. This being Doom (and judging from some of the character art sketches which have popped up), you can be pretty sure that the full-scale forces of Hell aren't far behind, either. The game looks a lot less like a frantic blast-fest and more like a survival horror title, however, which is likely to upset some fans. Although comparisons with Resident Evil are inevitable due to the shambling-zombie nature of the characters in the screenshots, they may be more than slightly fair; id Software is keen to emphasise the "fear" element of the game, and it's certain that given the high detail of many of the models and the level of effects being employed in the game, we won't be seeing them throwing hundreds of enemies at you at once. A more suspenseful, moody experience than anything id have done previously seems like a fair expectation - although given the standard of their singleplayer games since, well, Doom II, it'll be interesting to see if they manage to pull it off. More interesting, at the end of the day, is the graphics engine. The Quake III engine is currently the de facto choice of engine for anyone who's serious about writing a decent first person shooter on the PC, and many of the games created using it are a lot better than Quake III itself. Doom III is likely to go down a similar path, with the real money for id coming from licensing the engine to third parties. So, what does this new engine appear to offer developers? Well, for a start, the lighting effects are superb, certainly surpassing almost anything we've seen previously. Although it probably won't seem such a giant leap ahead in a year's time when we finally see Doom III in its finished form, this lighting is certainly astounding, allowing for subtleties of light and shadow previously unseen in real-time graphics. Particularly impressive is the system which Carmack is employing which seems to allow objects to cast shadows on themselves, as well as handling coloured lights and specular highlighting (er, that's "shinyness" to you and I). There's also plenty of bumpmapping in evidence all over the place, and while the actual polygon counts aren't that astonishingly high, every special effect in the modern graphics card book is being used to enhance the visuals and make things look as detailed as possible. Look at the edges of faces, where the detail is considerably less than the areas facing directly at the camera, for evidence of this. Of course, at this early stage in development there are some glitches. Shadows don't look right just yet, and the shadows in the rooms don't always match up with shadows on creatures; there are even some ugly self-shadowing glitches, if you look closely enough. There's even a hint in some of the screenshots that they may have been touched up in Photoshop prior to release - although that's understandable, given that the finished product is still a year off. One thing is certain though; while other games in the near future may try some of the same tricks, Doom III is the engine to watch, and will set the new benchmark for graphics in PC games, just as every other id game since Wolfenstein 3D has. And of course, the other certain thing is that many of us will need to invest in new hardware in order to run the damn thing. Related Feature - Doom III screenshots

Take 2 have confirmed that "Serious" Sam Stone is on his way to the Xbox. One of the most frenetic, funny and downright entertaining first person shooters of recent years, if hardly the most intelligent, Serious Sam is perhaps a perfect match for console gaming. Rather than simply rehashing the first two episodes of the PC series for a console audience though, the Xbox version of the game will instead take Sam to an all-new cyberpunk world to battle it out against hordes of bizarre looking aliens and crack corny one liners. Xbox Live online multiplayer support will also be included, which could prove to be a blast. Certainly Take 2 are confident they have a hit on their hands. "We think our partners at Croteam have outdone themselves on the newest version", Take 2 CEO Kelly Sumner declared. "Console gamers will be blown away by Serious Sam on the Xbox." Sam should be blasting aliens on the Xbox before the end of the year.