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According to one of our spies at Sony, the console giant's controversial court case against the makers of the Messiah mod chip is at an end. Channel Technology's Messiah was given a right royal roasting by Judge Jacob Dean yesterday, before he went on to make some interesting (and potentially devastating) comments. The Judge commented that under the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988 the upgrade was not 'specifically' designed to circumvent the console's copy-protection mechanism, but also dealt with defeating the region control aspect of the same protection, and thus allowed arguably legal functions such as the use of imported games. After a gargantuan effort however, Sony's representing barrister Adrian Speck fought the flow and eventually forced the following ruling. According to Judge Jacob, the Messiah defeated the copy-protection mechanism, and this part of the design specifically (his emphasis) dealt with the use of backup material as a function. Acknowledging that indeed it may be useful to have a backup as permitted under the aforementioned Act, and there could possibly be cases of 'where necessary', the Judge pointed out that the practice of 'swapping' backup disks between people would be uncontrollable, and would do enormous damage to Sony, depriving them of £25-45 on average. Piracy therefore becomes the main factor for consideration above all other, and on this basis alone the Judge awarded Sony the Summary Judgement. Further comments stated that Sony licensed games for the territory that they were issued in, and the licensing did not allow for exportation and sales in foreign countries. Therefore whether intended for private domestic use or not, they were not allowed by Sony to be played outside of the licensed territory. This is important, the Judge stated, because the technical reason for that decision is based upon the fact that a game run without permission makes a copy of copyright material in memory, and this copy is 'infringing' because it is an unauthorized copy. This statement is both shocking and controversial, because it effectively says that purchasing games abroad or importing them is illegal. The region-dodging Messiah chip also allowed for multiregion DVD playback, and this ruling could have implications for the DVD market. The Sony Vs. Channel Technology case could be even more damning in the future, because it sets a worrying precedent. The other defendant in the case was Neo Technologies (first and second), but they submitted to Summary Judgement and as such they were not an issue to be dealt with by the court. The outcome of the Summary Judgement against Channel Technology was an order of various limitations of which an affidavit must be made, and also Sony's legal costs (£45,000 after discount) and damages (£15,000 on the basis of supplied upgrades). We find the latter ruling somewhat harsh, because as far as we know Channel never actually sold any, although Neo patently did. This judgement does mean that in future companies will have to think more carefully about whether or not to make modifications to equipment that plays licensed regional and copy-protected material in digital form and produces a copy in memory. The repercussions on the mod chip industry will certainly be interesting to watch, but the ruling does mean that in future, we may have even more trouble getting hold of region-free consoles. Bah. Related Feature - Messiah to the rescue

At first sight Shadow of Zorro looks like a promising swashbuckling action-adventure game, putting you in control of the legendary masked swordsman as you sneak, slice and skewer your way through 1820's California. The game begins with the arrival of a new police chief, who Zorro's father quickly recognises as a Spanish collaborator who helped Napoleon's armies a decade earlier and took part in a notorious massacre. Before long Capitan Montero is up to his old tricks again, and it's up to you to uncover his evildoing. A competent, if slightly long-winded, tutorial introduces you to the game's simple controls using what amounts to an underground assault course. Movement is achieved using the left analogue pad, while the camera angle can (theoretically) be adjusted with the right pad. With a couple of button presses Zorro can clamber over obstacles, leap across gaps, edge his way along precarious ledges, lurk in the shadows and swing from chandeliers. Probably. I never got that far, because the tutorial appears to be broken towards the end, with a seemingly impassable barrier that I can't get over, round or through. Once you get into the game itself things soon take a turn for the worse. Probably the biggest problem is your view of the world, which varies between Resident Evil style dramatic camera angles and a Tomb Raiderish third person chase cam. Sometimes you can't even see Zorro because he's far off in the distance or hidden round a corner, and in one particularly bad case (which I can only put down to shoddy level design) he vanished behind a large building and the camera failed to switch perspectives at all. In another spot the camera had a tendency to try and show you the action through the ceiling of the room below. This makes your average horror survival tripe look like a masterpiece of game design by comparison...

With such a resourceful competitor as Microsoft, Nintendo must be finding it hard to keep schtum on the subject of the GameCube launch. Generally when panicked by a handlebarred stag, companies leap to and kick the wraps off their retail schedule, but not the Big N. According to a number of rumours, Milia is no longer the launching point of the GameCube in Europe. Nor will the Nuremburg Toy Fair on the 30th of January be. MCV reported last week that April 5 is the retail target, whilst other sources point to May 3rd. Let's not forget however that these rumours often have little basis in fact. Still doing the rounds are rumours of a November date, for instance. If Nintendo is aiming for April 5th, we can only surmise that this must be the earliest possible launch date. There is little reason to delay the already much-delayed console with increasingly ferocious Microsoft and Sony advertising campaigns threatening to engulf any GameCube promotion like napalm. Strong word has it that Nintendo will announce the GameCube's European release date on Monday. Update - Nintendo will make an announcement concerning the GameCube's European release date in a webcast at 9AM GMT on Monday the 28th of January, a company spokesperson has told EuroGamer. The webcast will be made available from NintendoGameCube-Europe.com. That website will go live on Friday the 25th January from 8AM GMT. To view the webcast, you will need Windows Media or Real Player, or Quicktime if you prefer. Related Feature - Nintendo President retires

Squaresoft has announced that the European release of Final Fantasy X will be delayed until Summer 2002 due to the extraordinary task of localising the game for non-English language versions. Although obviously an English language version of the game exists - and very nice it is too - us Brits won't be treated to it in lieu of the extensive localisation period. Bah. However, Spong.com is reporting that a demo of Final Fantasy X will accompany the Springtime release of the Final Fantasy Anthology in Europe. Don't get your hopes too high though, Final Fantasy Anthology isn't a complete collection of existing FF games; it's the combination of Final Fantasy V and VI, two of the best pre-PlayStation Fantasies in the series. Remade and mastered for PSone owners in the States and Japan, the games will be available in the UK shortly as a two-piece bundle. Whether a soundtrack CD will be included as per the American release, we cannot say. Either way, fans of Final Fantasy will have something to look forward to shortly. Our only wish beyond Anthology is for Final Fantasy Chronicles to be released. Chronicles consists of Final Fantasy IV as well as the remastered version of Chrono Trigger, neither of which were released in Europe. Whatever Square's plans, Anthology should do extremely well on its release. Expect to see a myriad gushing reviews streaking through the specialist press. Old-school Final Fantasy is irresistible. Related Feature - Final Fantasy X preview

Unfortunately for you, I have been instructed to stop opining on the subject of the European Xbox advertising campaign. This means no more handlebarred stag jokes, and even fewer pube-covered bars of soap. And no green squiggles. That said, I am permitted to report on "Mice Day", a new Xbox game from Mediaquest and Microsoft previewed by select journalists in Tokyo recently. Along with several speeches from company representatives, the press was treated to footage and a television advertisement for Mice Day. The advert apparently concerns a group of martial artists on the beach. According to Core Magazine's photo diary of the event, there were cute Japanese singers, bustling executives and even more. As far as we can make out, it's a Commandos 2-style strategy / action game set in a house with four mice to control. The challenge is to get hold of some cheese. Although completely unhinged to the popular Western rodent, Stuart Little fans might like the look of this.

Ever wondered what the product of a 500-million-dollar advertising campaign would look like? Microsoft has the answer! The slogan for its new Xbox advertisements is simply "play more", dreamt up by Harvey Eagle and those working under Europe's Xbox's advertising manager. Four one-page adverts have been produced and can be found at C&VG online. In a short interview with Harvey Eagle, C&VG do pose the question, are you not just trying to out-weird The Third Place, Mr. Eagle? Far from it, he responded. Images of an ocean ray with what look like footholds, a hairy bar of soap, a stag with handlebars and a glass of false teeth with a straw and lemon are entirely symbolic. They embody the experience of using Xbox. The adverts may aim to shock and appal, but the minimalist playmore.com website (shouldn't that be playmore.eu.com or something?) is even more of an enigma. The cryptic front page offers little explanation, although it does describe the site as "the online experience for Xbox". "Create your own artificial life form, release it into the pool and play," the site continues. Once created, my little slithery Mugwum line appeared, floating in a Flash animation. After a second or two I realised his direction corresponded to that of my cursor, and that I could make him do silly movements all over the screen. Amongst the various other creatures in the pool were some very big ones. Hovering over one, I discovered that it was named "Office Olympics". Office Olympics is a little minigame where you have to hit the left or right cursor key to stamp pieces of paper with "playmore.com". Based on your proficiency with the stamper, the game gives you a rating. I was a "Loser". It's extremely weird to say the least! And green. There are also some green-squiggle-wallpapers to be found, as well as a screensaver. Like Nintendo, Microsoft has built its advertising campaign on an idea. Instead of "Gaming 24:7" though, Eagle says they "want to champion play". With green squiggles and deformed animals, no less. All I can say is, is this why we're paying two-hundred-and-ninety-nine-&*$%ing quid? Related Feature - Europe foots the bill for Microsoft

Following our recent editorial about the lack of innovation in the massively multiplayer role-playing genre, we were bombarded with e-mails (well, two of them to be precise) recommending that we take a look at A Tale In The Desert. Sure enough, it proved to be a major departure from the usual hack 'n' slash treadmills. Set in ancient Egypt, it focuses on co-operation and construction rather than slaughtering innocent monsters and looting their still warm corpses. While we would be the first to admit that this might not be everyone's cup of tea, it is nice to see somebody at least trying to do something radically different. Now the developers are giving you a chance to try the game out, with a 56 hour beta test due to kick off at noon Eastern Standard Time (5pm GMT) on Friday 25th January. Once the game gets underway your task will be to build the biggest monument you can in the alloted time. This isn't as straightforward as it may sound though, as you will need to pass a number of tests first, and then assemble a group of disciples of lower levels to aid you in the construction. At the end of the test though, the leader with the biggest monument will win a season pass to the game, while his disciples will each get a solid chocolate pyramid. Mmm... Time to guzzle Giza. There's also going to be a fireworks competition, an award for the best role-player, and a "mentorship award" for the player who has the most shrines built in their honour. The prize for the latter will be your immortalisation as an in-game character. You can already download the client software to get yourself set up in advance of the beta test, and more details are available on the game's official website. Related Feature - Mostly Pointless

Six months after confirming rumours that they had snagged the valuable Terminator license, French publishing behemoth Infogrames have today released new details of the first game to emerge from the deal. Titled "Terminator : Dawn of Fate", the game will apparently act as a prequel to the movies, taking place during the two years before Kyle Reese was sent back in time by resistance leader John Connor to save his mother from a lethal robotic killing machine. As a result you'll be battling against the backdrop of a ravaged post-apocalyptic Earth, fighting a range of specially designed Skynet Hunter/Killer machines in "no-holds-barred, metal stomping cyborg warfare", according to the over-excited marketing director quoted in the press release. Eventually you will catch up with the events of the first movie, with the finale expected to involve guiding Kyle into the heavily defended Skynet facility ready to follow Arnie through their time machine, back to 1984. Along the way you will get to control three different characters, including Kyle Reese himself, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Terminator : Dawn of Fate is now being limited to the PS2 and Xbox, and the game will be released in the second half of the year, a few months later than originally intended. More details and fresh screenshots are expected to emerge soon. Related Feature - Infogrames will be back

Volition are working on a PlayStation 2 exclusive sequel to their role-playing game Summoner, publisher THQ announced today. The follow-up is due out in the autumn and will feature an enhanced graphics engine, a "compelling" new storyline, a new cast of characters and fresh settings on the opposite side of the world to those seen in the original Summoner. Indeed, Volition seem to be going down the Final Fantasy route, with few obvious similarities between the two games apart from the background mythology and some flashy 3D graphics. The developers have even ditched the phased combat of the original in favour of a new fully real-time battle system. More details of the game and its characters, settings and mythology can be found on the game's freshly launched (whatever its news page says) official website, while half a dozen screenshots have also been released to give players a taste of what to expect. More lashings of eye candy, by the looks of things... Related Feature - Summoner review

Lucas Arts last night announced that they have signed The Collective to develop a new Indiana Jones action-adventure game for the PC and "a variety of next generation console platforms". Following in the footsteps of the excellent Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the as-yet untitled new game will feature an original storyline involving some kind of ancient McGuffin and a range of exotic locations, with gameplay included a blend of action and puzzle elements. The whole thing should be released this autumn, so expect more details to emerge soon. For those of you with a five minute attention span, The Collective is the company behind the highly entertaining Star Trek Deep Space Nine : The Fallen, and they are currently working on an impressive looking Buffy The Vampire Slayer game for the Xbox. Related Feature - Infernal Machine review

Whether we hold cel-shading against the little blighter or not, it can't be denied that Smilebit is one of the few companies doing interesting things with the technique. One look at Jet Set Radio Future tells you that. Apart from cleaning and sharpening the whole game up for the Xbox, Smilebit have added some clever visual trickery including motion blur, which comes into play when you dart off in any direction at high speed. As you move faster and faster, a small trace sidles along an inch behind you. It's one of the neatest effects this writer has ever seen and makes JSRF even more anime-esque in its presentation. Thanks to the Xbox's sterling hardware setup, JSRF croons along without so much as a jolt. Unlike the Dreamcast, the Xbox can give us a fully cel-shaded JSR with motion blur and not a whiff of slowdown. Although the demo version we witnessed on the recent Microsoft Xperience tour was a little worse for wear, we were encouraged to learn that this was somewhat anomalous, with many other Xperience-goers in other parts of the country commenting on the sheer smoothness of the game. As the name suggests, Jet Set Radio Future is set after the original game in 2024. The setting is still Tokyoto - the demo version of the game featured an enhanced version of the original Tokyoto station level - and the various characters have all been given a futuristic tweak. Beat looks like something out of the Jetsons, and we can't wait to see what Smilebit have in store for the other crews. Obviously animation has been improved, and coupled with the new visual tweaks we were utterly floored by some of the JSRF footage we saw recently. This is going to be a very pretty game.

Nyko today announce the latest in a growing line of Nintendo GameCube peripherals. "PlayCube" allows consumers to use PlayStation or PlayStation 2 pads and other controllers with their new console. The device will retail for under $10. Amongst Nyko's other GameCube products are a small box for all those tiny GC discs, GameSafe, and memory cards in 4Mb, 8Mb and 16Mb varieties. For reference, the official memory card - labelled Memory Card 59 because of its capacity for save blocks - is 4Mb, and being third party, Nyko's stuff should come out cheaper.

Although Sony is issuing no comment on the subject, C&VG is reporting that Nana On-Sha's PSone musical rabbit Vib Ribbon is set to return this year, to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California in March. Vib Ribbon is a very simple game where wacky Japanese music (or another selection of your choice - the game is happy for you to insert your own CDs after loading) accompanies the sight of a small white, wireframe bunny dancing merrily along in a straight line. With the camera rotating all over the shop and the music pounding, small obstacles start appearing and gradually increase in regularity and complexity along this unidirectional bunny's path. Only by manipulating the right buttons at the right time can the player get the bunny through his ordeal. Think of it as Samba De Amigo the assault course. Of course, unlike Samba De Amigo, Vib Ribbon's eccentric style wasn't patronized into obscurity and up until a few months ago copies of the game were still available for sale. Hell, even your humble correspondent bought a couple of copies to distribute amongst his more style conscious relatives. Due to a distinct lack of the game at retail now however (even decent PSone games are hard to find these days), eBay is one of the last remaining hopes for budding Vibbers. Or at least, that was true. Until today. Blessed art thou, Sony.

The Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver 2 is one of the most disturbingly elaborate sequels I've ever encountered. After the events of the first game, Raziel has emerged from the Chronoplast time portal in his relentless pursuit of Kain, and returns to various eras of Nosgoth's past, confronting the mysteries of Nosgoth's ancient races and the secrets behind the corruption of the Pillars and the vampire genocide. Dimly lit memories of his past egg Raziel on and, as the game's literature puts it, his destiny comes full circle as his personal vendetta is transformed into a hero's journey, with the fate of Nosgoth hanging in the balance. Melodramatic to say the least. For those who don't know, Raziel is an ancient vampire, one of Kain's first brood. A former lieutenant to the mighty Kain, Raziel was eventually condemned after he dared to commit an unforgiveable transgression. For sprouting wings - a step which took him further up the evolutionary ladder than Kain - Raziel was punished with eternal damnation and all that, and dumped into Nosgoth's deepest lake by the wrath of Kain's remaining lieutenants. With much of his flesh burnt away and blue fire shooting from his eyes and mouth, Raziel found himself in the seat of the Underworld, where a mysterious god revived him. After being transformed into the Soul Reaver, Raziel emerged as an angel of death, galvanized by a hunger for revenge and the treacherous souls of his fellow vampires. And so on.

It's no great secret that most of the gaming industry views Europe as something of an afterthought, despite the fact that we're already the world's second biggest market for video games and still growing fast. The latest company to catch flak over this attitude is Microsoft, whose Xbox is (finally) launching in our neck of the woods on March 14th at a price of £299 / €479, compared to the US list price of $299 (£210 / €340) and the recently announced Japanese launch at ¥34,800 (£185 / €300). This means that Europeans will be paying significantly more for their Xboxes, despite the fact that Microsoft have a dedicated factory pumping out the consoles in Hungary, a country hardly renowned for its high labour costs. "There are additional costs, such as shipping and taxes, which are reflected in the price", Microsoft PR reps on this side of the pond told us when we quizzed them about the discrepancy. But while we understand that sales taxes (which are in the 10-20% range in most European countries) do make a significant difference, this still doesn't really explain why European gamers will be paying 40-50% more for an Xbox than their American and Japanese counterparts. And if distribution costs are such a big factor, surely the Japanese pricing should be much higher? Microsoft insist that "the price represents tremendous value" despite the hefty mark-up, but it does leave the Xbox at a distinct disadvantage in the coming European console war. The PlayStation 2 is already down to a mainstream friendly £199 and is widely expected to shed a few more pounds before March, while the GameCube should also cost significantly less than £299 if / when it eventually arrives in Europe. By comparison, in America the Xbox went head-to-head with the PS2 on price, and was still marginally outsold by Sony's year old veteran over the festive season, probably thanks to the arrival of eagerly anticipated games like Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 2. Both games are expected to arrive in Europe just before the Xbox. The Xbox's saving grace is that you get more bang for your extra bucks, including a couple of features which are relatively expensive optional extras on the PS2. "Xbox is the ultimate games console", our PR contact swooned. "Advanced features such as the Nvidia graphics card, online readiness out of the box, and the in-built hard drive mean that €479 / £299 is an extremely competitive price for Xbox. We've been aggressive with the introductory pricing for Xbox since we want to grow the market and make retail, publishers and gamers happy. This is a price that meets all those criteria." Despite Microsoft's protests of innocence though, we have already heard of at least one online petition complaining about the console's European pricing, and at the time of writing some two thousand people had signed it. Although this won't have any impact on Microsoft's plans for the Xbox, it does show that there is some discontent amongst hardcore Euro gamers, who are once again getting the feeling (whether or not it is justified) that they are being ripped off... Related Feature - Europe - The Third Place

Russian companies Russobit-M and Revolt Games have announced that they are working on a new space combat sim with the working title HomePlanet (not to be confused with Homeworld). Set some time in the not-too-distant future, the game follows the Troiden clan as they search for a new home having been forced off their old planet during a conflict with rival human settlers. Naturally it's up to you to help them reach their destination in one piece, flying a variety of spacecraft against a plethora of enemy factions in a non-linear campaign featuring upwards of twenty missions. Somewhat unusually the game will feature Newtonian physics, although presumably this won't be as painfully realistic as in the notorious Elite : Frontier, where ships had stopping distances measured in light years. Instead we would hazard a guess that Babylon 5 style dogfights will be the order of the day. The game will also ship with a full editor, allowing you to add not only new missions to the game but also different weapons and ships. With the game due out as early as May 2002, we should know more soon. In the meantime, you can download a two minute trailer (in Russian) from Revolt's website. Related Feature - HomePlanet screenshots

Award-winning online real-time strategy game Shattered Galaxy is getting a major revamp this year, with improved graphics and various gameplay tweaks and new features on the way. And the best part is, developers Nexon want you to help test the changes. Sign-ups for the next round of beta testing are now open, and you have until Tuesday 22nd January to fill out the form on the official Shattered Galaxy website for your chance to get a sneak peek at the latest version of the game and help to play test it. If you're not familiar with the game, you can download a 14 day trial version to find out what all the fuss is about. Related Feature - Another planet gets Shattered

Samsung Semiconductor plans to announce later today that it has renewed its contract with Microsoft to supply memory chips for the Xbox game console. At the console's current rate of sale, the deal puts Samsung in a very healthy position, and it draws attention away from the dire state of the PC DRAM industry, where manufacturers sold memory below cost for much of last year just to keep factories open. "The long-term contracts present a number of benefits in that suppliers can plan much more efficiently," VLSI Research analyst Risto Puhakka told News.com. With Japanese and European launches on the horizon, this contract cements the state of the Xbox for the time being. The rumoured Xbox revision (which may or may not include a small aesthetic change ala the transition from PlayStation to PSone, if indeed it comes about at all) will obviously continue to use Samsung chips. Related Feature - Xperience

Wolfenstein could be on the verge of another return, this time to Xbox and PlayStation 2. Having recently purchased developer Gray Matter, Activision has set the wheels in motion on the console versions of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Due out later this year in America, the console re-releases will feature all the action, excitement and adventure of the PC version, although Activision has released precious little information so far. It looks as though the developer in this case will be Raster, the team responsible for the successful Dreamcast version of Quake III Arena. Also, CEO of id Software Todd Hollenshead commented on his company's involvement. "We're working with Raster on a number of technical and design modifications that will provide Xbox and PlayStation 2 owners a definitive gaming experience that is designed and built for their systems." Whether either or both of the conversions will ship with multiplayer support - arguably the meat and gravy of the game - is as-yet unconfirmed, but given that both will fall well on the other side of Sony and Microsoft's broadband network deployments, we can only assume options will be included. If not, we fully expect to see split-screen and LAN compatibility as an absolute minimum. Related Feature - Return to Castle Wolfenstein review

Computer Trade Weekly has linked industry veteran Ian Stewart to a possible buy back of Sheffield House from Infogrames. The development studio at Sheffield House is the meat of what used to be Gremlin, the company that Stewart built over the course of 16 years. Amongst Gremlin's triumphs are the inimitable Actua Sports games, but since Infogrames' acquisition of the firm in March of 1999, the twenty-three-million-pound studio has failed to capitalize on its position, with a string of ducks including UEFA Striker, Wacky Races and Hogs of War. Stewart's current company, Zoo Digital Media, is looking for content partners in an attempt to break into the console market. Said Stewart to CTW, "At the moment we're a company that produces entertainment products across a number of digital platforms [but] we're going a little more traditional and will be looking to go into the console market." Infogrames has offered no comment on Stewart's comeback or the state of Sheffield House, and the man himself was unwilling to be drawn on the topic by CTW.

It's only a snippet, but as a grizzled veteran of the series I couldn't resist. Metal Slug 4 is currently in development from Japanese developers Noise Factory and Mega Enterprises according to Core Magazine. The latest instalment in the 2D shooter series will begin testing in Japanese arcades later this week according to the website, which makes it sound less 'in development' and more 'practically ready', although specifics remain undisclosed. Metal Slug First and Second Missions were two of the best games released on SNK's ill-fated Neo Geo Pocket Color platform, and enjoyed a brief bout of success in the scramble to buy up NGPC games at the end of its term in Europe and the USA. Related Feature - Metal Slug : First Mission review

If we can abandon the 'Euro' premise for a moment, we can see that in Japan the console war is starting to shape up interestingly. The homeland of Nintendo and Sony, market share is firmly weighted in Sony's favour. However, continuing to dominate the Japanese market in 2002 won't be so easy. On February 22nd, Microsoft will introduce a new contender.

Advance Wars is an extremely tardy young videogame, thanks to its European release being delayed by Nintendo following the September 11th terrorist attacks. With no handheld adversaries to speak of though, the game's actual release date has always been something of a misnomer. So unlike the Dukes and Daiks of this world, Advance Wars will be a timeless classic for many years to come. Advance Wars is the product of one of Nintendo's cluster of first party developers, Intelligent Systems. Although it sounds bizarre for a GBA title, it's a turn-based strategy game with an original storyline, more than one hundred battle maps and inestimable replay value. To give you some idea of its addictive qualities, I bought the American version of the game a few months ago. The last time I fired it up was this morning. Before that it was last night, and so on. The game also boasts a splendid multiplayer mode and one of the most involved tutorial systems I've ever encountered. Literally clutching you by the paw as you nervously embark on a campaign, your tightly-uniformed anime instructor babe Nell guides you through a long list of tutorial missions. Through the Field Training section of the game you will learn about simple gameplay mechanics like moving troops and gaining terrain intelligence. Beyond that there's Base Capture, Unit Repair, APCs and Tank Ops, and then you have to learn about air and sea-based units, such as Copters, before completing the training regime with a couple of tutorials on Climate Status and the Fog of War.

It's something of a long-running joke that there are remarkably few famous Belgians, and certainly when it comes to Belgian game developers we got as far as Appeal (of Outcast fame) and then drew a blank. With any luck Larian Studios' latest project will earn them a place on this most exclusive of lists...

A new global publisher is emerging from the wastelands of northern Wales, if the press release is to be believed anyway. Jester Interactive, the brains behind the award-winning Music Creation series and MTV Music Generator, have announced that they will be publishing their own range of games for the PC, PS2 and GBA. First past the post will be Super Trucks for the PS2 this easter, with the Official Isle Of Man T.T. motorbike racing game following close behind. This year should see the release of a new Music "game" as well, this time for the more discerning PC crowd. Details are scarce at the moment, but apparently it will involve a tie-in with one of the UK's leading clubs and "continue Jester's quest to deliver studio-quality music-creation software within an easy-to-use package". Jester have also acquired rights to Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and the entire back catalogue of veteran developer Graftgold, the company behind a host of 1980s titles such as Paradroid, Avalon, Dragontorc and Rainbow Islands. A remake of Manic Miner for the GameBoy Advance has already been confirmed, and will feature recreations of all 20 stages from the original ZX Spectrum version with graphics revamped for the new millenium, along with several new stages. "Good gameplay is something that never dates", according to Jester CEO Gavin Morgan. "We are looking forward to reinventing the likes of Manic Miner for today's games players."

Last October saw the American launch of Dark Age Of Camelot, the latest chart-topping addition to the massively multiplayer role-playing genre. But although the game is based on European mythology, three months later we are still waiting for it to go live on this side of the pond. We spoke to Dark Age's developers Mythic and French online gaming company GOA, who have been entrusted with running the European servers, to find out what we can look forward to when the game finally comes out of beta in the land that inspired it.

I awoke just now from a reader-induced slumber only to realise that my PC was pinging at me. After locating the cause of the disturbance - MSN Messenger - I promptly eliminated it. However, as soon as my head hit the keyboard it sprang up again. At this point, I knew it was serious. Do you remember Typing of the Dead? It was a clever reworking of Sega's seminal lightgun shoot 'em up, House of the Dead. Players killed on-screen enemies by quickly typing the words that appeared in boxes above the characters' heads. Or in the case of characters already relieved of their heads, the uppermost area of the torso… You no doubt remember that message I received. Whatever could it concern!? Well, obviously it's new games in the Typing series, but I'm still being pretty elusive. The contents of this website concern a certain "Typing Space Harrier", currently scheduled for release in Japan on February 28th. However, the untrained eye might have missed the other promised title, found on the main Sega PC website. It appears one placing under Typing Space Harrier, but without any helpful screenshots or anything of the sort to translate. We have zero details on it, but, uhm… Typing Outrun, anyone?

Aging Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi has been interviewed by Japanese industry website Mainichi Interactive. A translation appears at Cloudchaser. Mr. Yamauchi often speaks his mind, and it was none too different on this occasion. After quoting a Stateside sales figure of some 1.3 million GameCube systems, Yamauchi argues that all three consoles were probably "at nearly equal footing" by the end of the Western year. His picture of the Japanese market is not quite so inspiring however. Despite shipping 1.3 million GameCubes in September, "and while sales aren't below expectations, I can't say it's been selling incredibly well." The interviewer responds to this by further prompting Yamauchi about the Japanese market, and how gamers are drifting away from games. Yamauchi admits that only two GameCube titles are expected to sell a million copies now: Pikmin and Super Smash Brothers Meleee, and claims that "Japanese users aren't buying the same old rehashed games anymore." "Every game developer is shooting for nothing but realism and flashiness, so we're seeing an overflow of games that look exactly the same," the 74-year-old president argues. "If more games with new types of gameplay and fun come on the market, the market will expand, companies will have more support and there'd be a business to work with." As if to back up his point of view, the two then discuss Yamauchi's privately backed 20-billion-yen game development fund. When asked about Microsoft's Xbox, Yamauchi falls back on his previous comment. "I don't think the Xbox will do very well in Japan," he argues. "The same old genres and development methods still work in American, but they won't interest the more discriminating gamers of Japan." Ultimately, Yamauchi believes the GameCube will win, but not in time for his retirement. Unfortunately, the interviewer didn't opt to quiz him about the importance of features such as broadband connectivity and hard disk access. In fact, he was pretty soft on the venerable pres. Several years ago, Nintendo chose not to use CD media for its 64-bit console to avoid becoming a bastion of multimedia. This stubborn view led to the alienation of Squaresoft and others. Is Nintendo's denial of hard disk-based storage and onboard networking another unnecessary way of stressing the Cube's gamey origins? Related Feature - Hip to be Cube!

Novalogic have teamed up with the Virtual Gaming Alliance to launch a Comanche 4 tournament for the UK. Taking place on the afternoon of Sunday 24th February at a variety of LAN gaming centers across the country, the contest will give players a chance to win an Athlon-based 1.4GHz PC (which may just about run the game at a playable framerate .. if you're lucky), "cutting edge" ELSA graphics cards and old Novalogic games amongst other prizes. Full details can be found here. For those of you with a short attention span, Comanche 4 is the latest in Novalogic's million-selling series of helicopter action games, with the emphasis firmly on stealth combat and gorgeous graphics this time round rather than painstakingly accurate simulation. Related Feature - Comanche 4 review

It's less than a year since Serious Sam : The First Encounter was unleashed on to an unsuspecting public, and the arrival so soon of a second game in the series may have left you suspicious that this would be a tacky Tomb Raider style cash-in. Fear not though, for the imaginatively titled Second Encounter is bigger, better, harder than ever and utterly, utterly insane. Once again you take on the role of "Serious" Sam Stone, a marine with a bad attitude sent into the distant past to save the world from hostile aliens. Or something. The storyline isn't really important, serving merely to give Sam an excuse to rampage his way through the ancient world slaughtering outlandish monsters, and if you haven't played the first game you won't have missed anything that you can't pick up from the short intro cutscene. But what the game lacks in plot it more than makes up for with character. Sam is more vocal than ever and is always ready with a sarcastic one-liner or an in-joke, from whining about how much he hates crates to complaining about the quality of his script. The whole game is decidely tongue-in-cheek with a refreshingly self-deprecating sense of humour, constantly poking fun at itself and its rivals.