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Since the massively multiplayer role-playing genre hit the big time, companies like Verant, Microsoft and Origin have largely relied on volunteer helpers to police their worlds. In exchange for funky robes, prestige, or simply that warm glowing feeling you get from knowing you have helped somebody, hundreds of players became combination bug hunters, agony aunts and secret police.

It's the best news we've heard since the first time SNK invented it. Indications in the far east this morning are that SNK's Asian branch will resume operations from March. That does not mean that SNK USA or UK will necessarily spring back to life, but it's a step in the right direction. The company is expected to resume manufacture and distribution of the Neo Geo Pocket Color and future SNK arcade games. Amongst its return titles will be King of the Fighters 2001!

- Satoshi Kon Screenplay - Sadayuki Murai / Yoshikazu Takeuchi Filmed - Japan, 1997 DVD by - Manga Video

Several interesting facts regarding the new KT133A motherboards and the most recent versions of the Socket A Athlons came to light this week. For starters, many people are reporting that the new KT133A motherboards misreport core voltage figures. If you select 1.5V for your shiny new processor, the 'board actually goes ahead and gives it an extra 0.08V for good measure. Nobody is really sure why just yet. This is of course relatively harmless to the majority of users, but if you overclock above and beyond the level of most folk, you may want to take note of this.

Sony have forged a new alliance with Vodafone to allow customers to link their mobile phones to the PSOne. Sony have already announced similar agreements with NTT DoCoMo, described by FT.com as the leading Japanese mobile carrier, and NTT's six overseas partners, AT&T Wireless, KPN Mobile, Telecom Italia Mobile, Hutchinson 3G, Hutchinson Telecom and KG Telecom. The move is described as strategic partnership (aren't they all?) and will initially allow users to receive tips and the like via SMS. Something which we are at pains to point out doesn't require this much fanfare. Still, where there are purse strings there's a way. Both companies are looking to explore ways of "extending the PlayStation experience into the Vodafone mobile phone environment," which apparently means the company is talking about serving games over mobiles. Both companies are excited about the deal at any rate, and if you're yearning for more there's an unecessarily chirpy write up at FT.com. We can only assume the company intend to extend this relationship beyond the boundaries of the simple telephone, because in its current format we don't rate it. Perhaps they will opt for a system similar to that of the Neo Geo Pocket Color title Dive Alert, which allowed Japanese users to multiplay against anybody within a certain distance radius. Considering the amount of equipment both companies own, we wouldn't think it that unreasonable. Related Feature - Broadband Consoles - A Pipe Dream?

As if the industry wasn't in enough trouble already, a small British company called meltingpoint is apparently hell bent on destroying the entire internet economy as we know it, thanks to a little program with the unlikely name of "Fotino". This promises to allow "businesses with control over user access to the internet [to] extend their control of advertising beyond the boundaries of their home page". In other words, it allows ISPs and cyber-cafés to insert banner ads, pop-up windows and other annoyances wherever they like while you are browsing the web using their service.

Electronic Arts finally confirmed last week that they are working on a PlayStation 2 version of Quake III Arena, but exactly how they were going to bring the graphically intensive multiplayer-only game to Sony's console remained unclear. Now we know a little more thanks to id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead, who has confirmed that "[while] Quake III fans will see some familiar levels and characters from the PC version, [Quake III : Revolution] is a new game".

PC Gaming Online have announced that they will be running an official competition here in the UK for UbiSoft's "Pro Rally 2001", taking place over the next twelve weeks. Despite the organisers' name, most of the competition will in fact be offline, with every fourth stage involving a head-to-head online race. Kicking off on February 18th, "the championship will test drivers over a wide range of different surfaces and conditions until at the end, there is a winner who will take away a fantastic set of prizes", according to PC Gaming Online. Those "fantastic" prizes are a Thrustmaster 360 Modena Pro racing wheel, Peugeot 206 WRC team tool kit, t-shirt and cigarette lighter. Well, it's better than a kick in the teeth anyway. If you fancy your chances, head over to the contest website to find out more and sign-up.

Australian hardware company Ferraro Design have announced that they will be releasing an upgraded version of their "Claw" controller. Ergonomically designed to sit under your left hand and providing you with nine fingertip buttons, it was intended to replace the keyboard as a computer games control device. The Claw was certainly a nice idea, but it fell rather short of expectations here at EuroGamer, being declared "rather frivolous" and "a missed opportunity".

Ever since the announcement a couple of weeks ago that Sega were abandoning their roots in the console development business and syndicating their technology to set-top box firm Pace, we've been anxiously waiting to see an actual image of the device. Broad comments were made that the box would be seen at trade shows soon, and MCV ran a mockup image in their issue for that week, but it is for the first time this Monday lunchtime that the world has glimpsed the future of Dreamcast. And "glimpsed" really is the operative word here, because the press image provided is hideously obscured. The box will be unveiled properly at a London press conference next week, but until then all we have is this rather limited PR glossy, borrowed from our friends at MCVUK.com. We doubt the screen has anything to do with it. The set-top box, in case you missed it, will include Dreamcast functionality, and a hard-disk for storing game data downloaded from an outside source. Related Feature - Sega to become platform-neutral, Team up with Palm

With the imminent arrival of "Myst III : Exile", the latest installment in the multi-million selling adventure game series, publishers GAME Studios have launched a new official mailing list and newsletter dedicated to the game. "Updated every fortnight, the Official Myst III : Exile Newsletter will enable the 10 million owners of the previous Myst games - Myst and Riven - to get the inside track on the latest addition to the record-breaking series", according to the press release. To find out more, head over to the newsletter website.

This week's MCV trade magazine includes an interview with David Gosen, Managing Director of Nintendo Europe, who takes time out of his busy schedule ramping up for the release of an unprecedented two major consoles in one year to discuss matters with the general public. The interview includes an amusing exchange between Gosen and rival SCEE number Chris Deering, who fishes for information on just where Nintendo are trying to pitch the consoles. Gosen's last word is that "yes Chris, consumers will be buying both."

Despite a long history of fantastic RPG titles including the likes of the Final Fantasy series, Vagrant Story, the two Parasite Eve titles, Chrono Trigger and Cross, the Mana games and even more, Squaresoft are, at least according to some of the more pessimistic industry analysts, on the rocks. On the 8th February, three senior members of the management team submitted their resignations in answer to the recent slump on sales and general financial performance. Long-standing chairman of the board and MD Tomoyuki Takeichi, MD and VP Hironobu Sakaguchi and also director Masatsugu Hiramatsu have started a chain reaction within the company that will lead to massive changes both on the board and in general. The three executives' resignations have led to Square reorganising its management structure to include one MD/President/CEO and on MD/CFO, with several outside board members. Within minutes of clearing his desk and heading for the exit, Hironobu Sakaguchi was spun around and shifted into the job of executive producer, so that Square can retain the rights to develop his series, including Final Fantasy. With a reported figure of more than $150m spent on the series film already Mr. Sakaguchi is probably quite safe from the dole for the time being. The two other former executives, Mr. Takeichi and Mr. Hiramatsu, will return as a contracted advisor and executive official respectively. Although this move marks quite a shake-up for the worldwide games developer, the only effects are expected to be a failure to pay share dividends for this year to public stockholders, something that the company's bad performance is blamed for anyway. Late last week, Sega's president and chairman Isao Owaka, no doubt fearing for the future of his company in light of the recent Dreamcast announcements, donated £500m worth of stock in order to help make up for the losses. At this time, it's thought that Squaresoft aren't in quite such dire need of cash injection. Nonetheless, the movie budget alone is stretching them by now. Related Feature - Sega president goes potty

A few months ago we got our first look at Bohemia Interactive's "Operation Flashpoint", which at the time had just been picked up by British publisher Codemasters and undergone a name change from the rather unfortunate former title "Flashpoint 1985 : Status Quo". We were happy to report that the game had nothing to do with the dodgy rock outfit after all, and was instead an ambitous all-arms combat game set during a fictitious outbreak of hostilities between east and west at the tail end of the Cold War.

One story that we missed in the recent spate of doom 'n' gloom revelations from various gaming-related dot coms and publishers was the announcement last week that Dennis "Thresh" Fong's self-styled first gaming web portal Gamers.com has laid off over half of its staff. Bizarrely CEO Geoffrey Mulligan declared that the sacked personnel were luxuries that the company could do without. I'm sure that comes as a great comfort to the 50 people who have been added to the great dot com junk pile as a result of this move, although the revelation that the next victims of the cut-backs could be "senior management" might help to bring a faint smile back to their faces as they exit the building. And in an ironic twist, the last story in the "computer gaming news" section on Gamers.com (which hadn't been updated since last Tuesday at the time of writing) was a report on the closure of Gamecenter, starting with the fateful words "the dot-bombs just keep stacking up".

Having now played every game in the esteemed Blair Witch series, I can quite confidently state that only Terminal Reality really has a clue how to drive the Nocturne engine and its development tools, and I can also proclaim that like so many ill-thought-out trilogies, Blair Witch ends on a farce. The first thing I should do as a fan of the Nocturne engine is distance this game as far as possible from either Nocturne itself or Rustin Parr, TRI's other title, which for me marked the high point of the series, comparable to such trilogic openers as Die Hard. I would compare it to The Legend of Coffin Rock, which lacked flair, but even that doesn't really sinkt his low. The third Blair Witch title, entitled "The Elly Kedward Tale", pretty much abandons any real relevance to the facts and figures movie fans will care about, and casts you as Jonathan Prye, a witch-hunter from the 18th Century, who has gone and lost his faith in the Lord above. In order to overcome this droopy disposition, he travels to Blair, only to discover that it has been abandoned, with only a priest, constable and prisoners remaining, including a charismatic witch. It pretty soon becomes your job to investigate what became of Elly Kedward, who was banished from the town for witchcraft and who, rumour has it, is responsible for the sudden disappearance of the town's children. Of course, this is the least of the town's worries. Cue buckets of atmosphere. Now where are those dang buckets?

Crates have become something of a cliche in first person shooters over the years, with pretty much every title since "Doom" featuring crates at some point in the game. Whenever developers run out of inspiration when working on a new level, the first thing that pops into their mind seems to be "put a crate in it", leading to a terrifying proliferation of warehouses, factories and other crate-friendly locations in action games.

When reviewing the seminal figures in the history of PC games, it would be hard to find anyone who has been more in the middle of the action than Scott Miller. As head of Apogee Software he is credited as inventing the episodic game demo when he originated the use of demos to sell shareware side-scrollers.

It's a quiet day for PC gamers in the UK today, with just two new releases confirmed for this week. First up is "Theme Park Inc.", the latest installment in the long-running series from Electronic Arts which (as the title suggests) puts you in control of running a theme park. Also available is Codemasters' "World Championship Snooker", which is fairly self-explanatory as well. Slim pickings indeed, and next Friday looks even more spartan, with nothing at all showing up on our release date list here at EuroGamer. February should end with a bang though, with the release of gory fantasy action game "Severance : Blade of Darkness" currently expected on February 23rd.

Over the years the computer game cutscene has taken on a variety of forms, from the lavish FX-laden movies of the "Wing Commander" series to the grimy cartoons of "Thief", by way of the stunning CG movies of recent "Final Fantasy" games and the real-time rendered cinematics of "Metal Gear Solid", using the game's own engine to produce the required effect. Now the Bitmap Brothers are branching out into new territory with real-time strategy sequel "Z : Steel Soldiers", which will be one of the few games we can think of to use comic book style cutscenes.

Gameplay chairman Mark Strachan is quoted in this week's issue of MCV as saying that "there isn't a For Sale sign on Gameplay," despite claims from technology tabloids that Cisco is in talks to take up to 20% of the company. After cutting its losses last week and serving 275 employees P45s with their morning tea, the article explains that the company has restructured to focus on two key areas; Technology and Boxed Games. The reports that Cisco is interested in a stake in the retailer stem from an article in the Sunday Telegraph last week. The article stated that Cisco were at "an advanced stage" in negotiations, despite missing their financial forecasts for the second half of last year. The company's acquisitions have been plentifold recently though, so many felt the story would bear fruit. Nonetheless, Strachan insists that the company has received "no bids," and that although they talk to a lot of people, the matter is not one under consideration. Related Feature - Gameplay cut 275 jobs

AOL and Freeserve have continued their campaign to right the wrongs of BT's wholesale ADSL business, after it was suggested earlier this week that BT's own ISP Openworld may have been receiving preferential treatment. As we reported yesterday, the ADSL installation arm of the telco, "BTIgnite," handles nearly 500 Openworld customers a day, but a meagre 20 or so between AOL and Freeserve. According to AOL, BT's alleged cross department bias could be cause for some form of legal action. Speaking to ZDNet, AOL's chief counsel Clare Gilbert said that "Openworld is not the largest [ISP] player in the country, yet it seems it is being allocated more installations than its competitors". Continuing, she said that "Only BT or Oftel can provide the information on whether this is true. If so, it's a serious breach of BT's obligations as a former monopoly to act in a fair way to ensure competition for consumers." ADSL and other forms of Digital Subscriber Line are a hot topic at the moment, what with Verizon's troubles in the USA (particularly in New York), and the German telecoms watchdog probing Deutsche Telecom over its high-speed Net access. It seems that the rollout of broadband internet connectivity is difficult to achieve whoever or wherever you are. Related Feature - AOL and Freeserve lambast BTOpenworld

The Japanese get all the breaks when it comes to console goodies. Even though the Dreamcast is set to cease production on the 31st of March, it still retails for a staggering £150 in many places, while our Japanese friends can now pick up the console for an absolutely horrifying £50. Yes, fifty notes, half a ton, fifty squid. Some games cost nearly that in certain quarters around here. Daily Radar reckon we should buy an imported Jap console for a pittance and then use an adapter to play UK games, of which many now retail at less than £20, including classics like Soul Calibur and Crazy Taxi. We contacted Sega's UK press officer regarding the price cuts, but all we could get out of them was a standardized "We have not made an announcement regarding price drop" response. Hopefully this is set to change, but we're not holding our breath. And frankly, if you don't own a Dreamcast now, you might as well wait six months until they are really cheap and pick one up then. That said, we'll all be buying them in our DVD players and VCRs this time next year, so who's counting? Related Feature - Sega Confirms New Business Strategy

Development/publishing giants Electronic Arts have teamed up with Quake III: Arena developers id software to produce a PlayStation 2 version of the game, titled Quake III Revolution, as we reported last year. EA intend to release the game early this year under their new "EA Games" publishing brand. The press release is mostly fluff, with no real information on new additions and the like, but it does include some jolly comments from both EA's European managing director Bruce McMillan and id's CEO Todd Hollenshead. Related Feature - Console Quake III Wars

Half-Life creators Valve have issued the following statement regarding the forthcoming 1.1.0.6 release of the seminal first person shooter. "A new update (v1.1.0.6) for all Half-Life games is in final testing and expected to be released later this month. In addition to various fixes, this release will include new player models for all Team Fortress Classic classes. The new models feature higher resolution textures, increased polygon counts, and enhanced animation technology. This update will also include the winning entry from Planet Half-Life's January 2001 mapping contest." The new TFC models can already be seen in action at Blue's News. Valve also recently issued a server side fix for the infamous speed cheat that has been doing the rounds. Related Feature - The OGA's "speed cheat" statement

Now you know your president loves you when he does this. Isao Owaka, president and chairman of Sega, has donated 85 billion yen's worth of stock to Sega in order to keep it solvent. The company's shock announcement that it was pulling out of Dreamcast production has apparently severed an important source of income, and the donation, which includes 32.7 billion yen of Sega stock alone, will help keep the company moving until such time as it starts pulling in cash again. Mr. Owaka's decision to donate the shares means that he is no longer chairman of Sega, no longer the owner. Sega themselves are reeling and uncertain of what to do with the shares, according to Famitsu they say that any decision will be made once the effect on Japan's market is known. The stock, which is worth over £500m at current exchange rates, is reported to include shareholdings in NextCom, CSK and Ascii amongst others. According to The Register, the losses Sega expected to see after dropping the Dreamcast would have been in the region of 80 billion yen. Obviously this donation covers that. Related Feature - Sega Kill off Dreamcast

Sony's relationship with its publishing allies is now stretched to breaking point according to Reuters. The company has been more difficult to work with than it was with the PlayStation, mainly because of the tight schedule it opted to maintain and the problems it was itself experiencing with the manufacture and distribution of the console. This report at Yahoo states that one of the key reasons Sony were able to break into the then Nintendo-dominated console market was its third party development support. The costs associated with using the SNES for development of new games were enough to lure publishers and development houses away. The problem is, according to Yahoo, the positions are now reversed, and companies need Sony more than Sony need them. Apparently this has led to a bit of neglect from the console giant. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) disagrees. "It's clear that companies that have invested a lot of money in development understand that our business model is long term," said spokeswoman Molly Smith. Part of the problem for potential buyers now is that once again we are on the verge of new console releases. The GameBoy Advance while aiming for a different market could do damage to PS2 sales, and looking further ahead both Nintendo and Microsoft are developing next generation consoles to compete with Sony. Now more than ever it would seem the company needs the help of third parties. Microsoft are in a very strong position with the Xbox because major developers are flocking to them despite the absence of a strong history in the console market. Any history at all in fact. The Redmond-based PC giant has already acquired companies like Bungie (Halo), and boasts support from Lionhead and other key development studios. Buying their own in-house talent has cunningly sidestepped the trap of not having enough pre-branded games to use at launch, either. Outsiders (including Electronic Arts President John Riccitiello) criticized Sony for their poor array of launch titles, including games like Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament, which failed to live up their initial promise. Sales of the PS2 are thought to have suffered due to the lack of high quality Sony-branded games, despite success stories from both EA (SSX) and Eidos (TimeSplitters). Sony's recent show-boating over the capabilities of its next next-generation technology have less helped more hindered, too. The only positive step the company has been seen to take is financial interest in companies like Naughty Dog. By all accounts, Sony should be vying for the support of third parties and not shunning them, if indeed it is, by restricting development kits (SDKs) and other necessary tools as the reports indicate. Doing so would be almost suicidal at this point in the PlayStation 2's growth. Related Feature - Sony Buys Developers

According to a report on movie rumour site Dark Horizons, yet another computer game may be coming to the big screen - step up "Crusader : No Remorse". Yes, we'll admit that when we first heard this one we thought it seemed rather unlikely as well. After all, this isometric action game was released way back in the dark mists of time (1995 to be precise) and it wasn't that good - Dark Horizon's description of the by now largely forgotten title as "[still] one of the most popular computer games out there" is rather wide of the mark to say the least.

Sony have disclosed technical details of their latest graphics rendering engine, which is said to make the emotion engine in the PlayStation 2 look like "child's play". The chip is 462-mm squared, with 256Mbit of on-chip embedded DRAM and 2,000 bit internal buses, giving it some serious bandwidth. The company claims that the chip can process 75m polygons in a second and boasts a fill rate of 1.2 to 2.6 gigapixels a second. That said, these figures are pretty close to the initial claims for the PlayStation 2. The chip is said to contain some 287.5 million transistors, and is as big as the manufacturing process is ever likely to allow. Despite its size and complexity however, the chip is yielding within reasonable parameters. The "yield" in this case refers to the percentage of chips produced in bulk that work. Related Feature - PlayStation 3 up, PlayStation 2 down

March 4th, 2000 was the day the first PlayStation 2 units were sold in Japan. To mark the coming anniversary of this date, Sony have decided to throw a big party, held from February 24th to 25th at their building in Tokyo. Games on show and playable will include the highly anticipated Z.O.E., Gran Turismo 3, Code: Veronica and more as-yet unconfirmed titles. If you're in the area (hey, someone's bound to be) and fancy swinging by, let us know how you get on! If Sony's area at ECTS was anything to go by, free drinks and plenty of high-class food will be the order of the day. Now you know why we got up to so little reporting.