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Last week we talked with Lionhead's Peter Molyneux about some of the inspirations which helped to form Black & White, from the basic idea of being able to choose between good and evil, to the two hundred foot tall animals which help to carry out your wishes in the world. This week we look at the other end of the game's development, finding out more about why the game has taken so long to finish and what the future has in store.

JVC. Not a company one might associate with the publishing of PSOne and PlayStation 2 games, but they've actually been in it for as long as anyone. Thanks to a close relationship with Sony, JVC have a fairly strong line up of titles to release this year, and after visiting their London-based headquarters this morning, we'd back quite a few of their titles to do well. The first game we were shown was a Japanese title awaiting translation called "Power Diggerz". As the title suggests you control a JCB look-alike and smash things up. The game is surprisingly addictive, with some interesting challenges to overcome, generally either against the clock or hot-seating with a friend. For instance, during one game our host demonstrated a section where you smash up an expensive limosine, and spoke of another where you race against a clock to dig a trench. Slightly more amusing are ten-pin bowling with a huge beach ball that you bounce around with your digger's claw, and a take on the old fairground game of moving the loop around the wire, only this time with the jaws of a digger. Another game on the JVC agenda is "Panzer Front", an action-strategy tank game from Japan. Unlike other titles of its class (ho ho), Panzer casts you as any of several major nations with no discernible "evil" to stave off. With plenty of campaigns based on real-life tank battles and hundreds of the big hulks to choose from, the game should be quite a force to be reckoned with, and one of the PSOne's final full-priced games. Quite a swansong. Elsewhere, we were shown a couple of SNK games picked up in light of the company's fall from power; "Samurai Shodown" and a new "Fatal Fury" title, and finally footage of "Wing Over III", a PS2 title in development, again in Japan. WO3 features a half-and-half mix of commercial aircraft and fight planes, with some astonishingly intricate detail in the cockpit and on the outside. Although the ground could yet do with some work, Wing Over III will be a very interesting prospect when we finally play it in September.

Novalogic today announced that they have signed a deal with the famous fantasy artist Brom to contribute characters and artwork to their bizarrely named gothic-tinged first person shooter "Necrocide : The Dead Must Die", which features the exploits of a vampire battling the undead. Brom's characters will apparently be used as the inspiration for many of the shambling creatures of the night which you are destroying, and he is also designing four necromancers for the game.

Virgin Interactive today confirmed our worst fears with the official unveiling of Daily Sport Football Strip, which has been cropping up on their release schedules for a while now under various titles. As the name suggests, Football Strip is a soccer themed quiz game "officially endorsed by the UK's brightest tabloid newspaper", in which "the idea is to lose it all" with "four fabulous fillies" just waiting to "get their kits off for the lads". As the press release so succintly puts it -

If there's one thing I love about the Dreamcast it's the over-abundance of atypical Japanese beat 'em ups that make no real sense. Playing them almost makes you feel like you're part of some bizarre cult; the cult of the obscure fighter, perhaps, and there are a lot to play. Some of them even make it to the West. The PowerStone series did a sterling job, for instance, and now Sega are having another crack, with AM2's Fighting Vipers 2. The original Fighting Vipers was quite a typical Sega fighter. Enclosed arenas, cutesy models and refreshing gameplay. All right so it was mildly obscure, but after the success of Virtua Fighter 3 it deserved a rehash. The game, Fighting Vipers 2, developed by arcade heroes AM2 hit Japanese arcades in 1997. It flopped, big style. When it turned up in Western arcades nobody even raised an eyebrow in its direction. Despite proving something of a non-starter for AM2 (which is quite rare), FV2 was duly converted to the Dreamcast and released to Japan, where it did tolerably well. Well enough even, to spawn a translation for the West. Unfortunately, it hasn't been worth the wait.

As we reported this morning, ATI have just launched a budget graphics chipset to rival nVidia's GeForce 2 MX line. Is it any surprise then, that nVidia has chosen just thise opportunity to launch its MX-200 and MX-400 chips? Shyeah. The GeForce 2 MX features TwinView display modes for multiple monitors, but lacks the onboard DVD playback functionality of its competitor. It performs somewhere in-between the GeForce SDR and DDR levels, and the new MX-200 and MX-400 should raise the bar a little in that respect. Stripping the GeForce 2 MX down even further (and presumably therefore the price), the MX-200 features a rather pitiful and performance-choking memory bandwidth of 1.3Gb/second, but matches the original MX for fill rate and includes 32Mb of onboard memory. The MX-400 operates at 2.7Gb/second memory bandwidth wise, the same as the original MX, and beats it for fill rate by 50 pixels/second and 100 texels/second. It ships in 32Mb and 64Mb flavours. Certainly not as feature-laden as the Radeon VE, the MX line does address plenty of price pockets, and should wage a costly war on ATI in that department. One should fully expect to see the Radeon VE beating the MX-400 on the testbed but perhaps failing to beat it off the shelves. After all, ATI has not long been associated with ground-breaking 3D performance. Thanks to nVidia's Interactive website, you can see the GeForce 2 MX in action, so to speak. The site also offers you the chance to learn more about the company's Shading Rasterizer (or NSR). Related Feature - Hercules Prophet 2 MX

ATI have shipped the first models in their Radeon "VE" range to retail in Europe, the company announced in a press release yesterday. The VE range, which will compete directly with the nVidia GeForce 2 MX range, includes two integrated DACs and CRT controllers, integrated support for DVI (Digital Flat Panel) resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 and integrated TV-Out. The new Radeon VE graphics processor is a smaller scale version of the full-blown Radeon, but with only one rendering pipeline instead of two. Costing less to produce, the Radeon VE also paves the way for ATI's new HydraVision multi-monitor support, which is a pretty similar technology to Matrox's Dual-Head and nVidia's TwinView. It supports traditional CRT monitors, flat panel displays and TVs, allowing users to maximise their desktop space by using two monitors simultaneously. This feature has been enormously popular on other cards, and the visual quality and performance of the Radeon VE should help to endear it to hardware nuts and the average consumer alike. Another feature that ships with the Radeon VE is "MultiDesk". Similar to the Linux KDE2.0, it allows users to control up to nine separate desktop "configurations". In other words, virtual desktops upon which to arrange icons, windows and such. In this sense, you're not just multi-tasking, you're multi-desking, hence the name. You can set applications to automatically open on whichever desk you choose and so on, making it a pretty versatile feature. Elsewhere, the Radeon VE also includes ATI's industry-leading DVD playback. We're not just quoting a press release here either - the DVD playback on the Radeon line has been second to none, speaking from experience. Whatever ATI's "Video Immersion" software actually does, it does it very well. The software features motion compensation amongst other things, and even includes perfect multi-tasking during DVD playback. Having tested this on even the lowliest of PCs, we can confirm that it does exactly as it says on the box. The built-in MPEG2 decoding takes the strain off your processor too, making the Radeon VE the perfect card for that PIII-450 that's you have been suffering along with since the summer before last. As with all Radeon cards, the GPU also features ATI's HyperZ technology. Although unproven in its effectiveness, the theory goes that every 3D scene that has to be displayed has a number of areas that you cannot see. On older cards, these were rendered anyway, but with HyperZ, only the pixels in view are accepted and rendered. HyperZ also deals with the Z Buffer (the third dimension, so to speak) in a different way too, by compressing it to improve speed, and flushing its contents quickly to keep throughput going. Lastly, 16, 32 and 64Mb versions are being made available. At the time of writing, industry favourite Dabs.com lists the 32Mb Radeon VE in OEM and Retail packagings at £63 and £72 ex VAT respectively. In the past, Radeons shipping as retail boxed units have included faster memory, so bear that in mind.

On Monday we reported that UbiSoft had confirmed rumours that they were in talks with Gores Technology Group to buy the entertainment division of The Learning Company from them. At the time all we had to go on was a very short (one sentence!) press release, but now we have the full details of the deal, which will give UbiSoft publishing rights to well over 80 titles past, present and future, including Myst III : Exile, Earth 2150 : The Moon Project and Pool of Radiance.

Webgames experts WildTangent today announced that they will be showing off their Web Driver™ system's new multiplayer capabilities at the Game Developers Conference later this month, claiming that it is "opening the door to a new level of immersive media content". As the company was co-founded by Microsoft's former DirectX evangelist Alex St John, it's perhaps no surprise that Web Driver uses DirectX and "takes full advantage of hardware acceleration, scaling content to an optimal level for each user's machine".

As with all good war-games, you have the choice of a peace-loving force, fighting for freedom, and a slightly more malevolent one. The "International Corps for Peace" (ICP) are as good as it gets - a body formed by the peace-loving nations of the world to try and preserve the status quo. In strict contrast, ICP's shadow organisation, GHOST, have risen from the insatiable thirst for wealth of a malicious minority. Economic interests drive GHOST, who want to disrupt world peace and plunge us all into a third world war, the primary beneficiary of which would be them. As the ICP, you have to pursue military and political goals. And as with most modern conflicts, your image with the media is more important than anything. There are no resources to be harvested in the traditional sense in Conflict Zone. Your funding comes directly from the pockets of the general public, and as such your war chest increases depending on your level of popularity. This creates an interesting paradox; the ICP does have weaponry capable of flattening GHOST, but using it might incense the media, which is of paramount importance. Your funding is directly proportional to your popularity rating, so good deeds like airlifting casualties to facilities outside the conflict are rewarded. Treatment of civilians is also a factor in your popularity. GHOST could very well have captured and brainwashed a whole village of pitchfork-wielders to do their bidding, but if you chuck in a few mortars and count the teeth, you will have taken the initiative and killed hundreds of innocents in the eyes of Joe Public. You have to wait for the civilians to make the first move and treat them accordingly!

Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodger has summarised his report on the Xbox for Microsoft, and explained how soon one should expect the unit to start showing profit. In a summary of his report, he said that although it is thought that the Xbox represents a big opportunity, "we do not believe it will become a major contributor to operating profit in the next five years." Microsoft's fiscal year starts on July 1st, and Mr. Blodger said that "near-term, we believe it will require substantial investment. We estimate $2 billion in losses before break-even in FY2005." The report, on which Microsoft had no comment to make, explains in great detail how Henry Blodger and his associate Justin Baldauf believe the Xbox will impact the world's top software maker. The report comes only a couple of days after rumours started of a possible delay to the Japanese release of the console. Whether this had any effect on the report is unknown. With strong competition from Sony and Nintendo this year though, Microsoft will have to pull a lot of financial muscle to shift units. Related Feature - Xbox to be delayed in Japan?

Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, Pokemon get everywhere. The popular franchise is now set to be extended as Nintendo joins forces with camera maker Olympus Optical to develop a system for the GameBoy Advance that will allow people to play games using their own characters, including Pokemon, downloaded from electronic data cards.

GameBoy fans who have been patiently gnawing their finger nails down to the bone have finally discovered which games Nintendo has chosen to release with the GameBoy Advance. Of the 15 titles confirmed, only two are first-party titles, and one comes by way of the newly liberated third party publisher Sega. Before we list the games, we ought to mention the pricing. The system itself will cost $99.95 when it launches on June 11th, and the games should cost from between $29.95 and $39.95. We reckon that should boil down to a retail cost of approximately £99 in this country and games at around £25 to £30, which is pretty much what top-spec GameBoy games used to cost. Nintendo have also told us that they intend to launch more than 60 titles before the end of the year, but anyway, onto the list!

While its single player campaigns didn't particularly impress us and the graphics look decidely antiquated, the saving grace for real-time strategy / role-playing hybrid Kingdom Under Fire is undoubtedly its excellent multiplayer support. Now Korean publisher Phantagram are taking full advantage of that, with the announcement of a World Championship for the game. The first preliminary online competition here in the UK will be taking place towards the end of March, and if you want to take part in this contest you must register by Thursday March 15th. Simply send an e-mail with your name, address and phone number to kuf.europe@phantagram.com - you must be over 15, own a copy of the game, and live in the UK to take part in the UK Championship.

European publisher UbiSoft have announced that they will be releasing Everquest : Deluxe Edition later this month, giving those of us who haven't already bought the game another chance to get hooked on what users lovingly refer to as Evercrack. The pack will include a new improved version of the original game, featuring improved graphics with more detailed textures and three times the polygons, as well as both of the official add-on packs - Ruins of Kunark and Scars of Velious. You will also get some extra Everquest goodies for your hard-earned Euros, including a poster, strategy guide, map of the world and a lizardman figurine. And all of this for the princely sum of £29.99 here in the UK. If you want to find out why upwards of a hundred thousand people around the world play this game every night, this could be just what you were looking for...

, which covers everything from music and wrestling to video games and movies, seems to be the latest company to face the pinch as the online advertising market continues to collapse around their ears. UGO hosts or supplies ad banners to many of the biggest gaming sites on the net, including Blue's News, Shack News and the extensive Telefragged network, as well as many smaller fan sites dedicated to particular games or console systems.

Although it's bound to receive criticism from some corners, we view Sega's latest anti-cheating measure as an act of heroism. The system that controls access to their new RPG Phantasy Star Online is very clever. It gives you a serial number and an access key, which are saved to the internal memory of your Dreamcast, creating a unique login that cannot be "borrowed" by anyone or overwritten. This system is brilliant, because it allows you to log on and be assured that your character can't be perverted by joyriders, so to speak. It's also equally good at keeping people out. And Sega are apparently doing just that to people who dare cheat. Owners of the Action Replay device have apparently been using codes to gain an unfair advantage, and Sega don't like that one bit. So if you've bought PSO and fancy making things a bit easier for yourself - don't. You won't enjoy it as much anyway, and Sega might just cut you off, something which they reserve the right to do.

Our friends at The Register have been analysing a transcription of BT Openworld chief Andy Green's address during a Parliamentary IT Committee debate on the White Paper on the Regulation of Telecommunications. Choosing his words carefully, Mr. Green announced that "Only 30 per cent of the population is on the Net, of which only a tiny proportion are using it for anything other than a passive and sometimes rather weird kind of entertainment." Thanks Andy, we love you too! As The Reg points out, this confusing insult targets not only BT's staple diet of residential consumers, but its business clients as well. Not to mention everybody else in the country who uses the Internet in any way, shape or form. Even more perverse though were his claims that broadband Internet connections should be market-driven. In other words, BT will provide them to people when people are really demanding them, and have applications that can take advantage of them. Talk about the chicken and the egg... This announcement comes just hours after developers in America trialled a 54Mbit VDSL Internet connection up to 3.8Km from its source. Frankly we're a bit lost for words, and also a touch confused as to why Mr. Green is (allegedly) robbing competing service providers of their ADSL installations when the market isn't there yet? You can read The Register's thoughts on the subject here. Related Feature - BT faces legal action over ADSL

We've got a lot of time for Datel. Their Action Replay peripherals have long been a staple requirement in our collective gaming diet. Ever since the Super Nintendo in fact (and no doubt before), they have unlocked tricks and easter eggs in all our favourite games, and allowed our imported games to run flawlessly. Today sees the announcement of Datel's new "X-Port" for PlayStation 2, which is set to complement the powerful Action Replay 2 device, allowing gamers to store game saves on their PC's hard-drive (via a USB interface). The device also allows players to exchange any PS2 media, including Yabasic files, and game saves can now be exchanged at Datel's portal site, www.codejunkies.com. The system supports Windows 98 or above, and of course you must have a memory card to attach to the device. The X-Port's PC software allows you to load, save, delete, edit and exchange game saves using the hard-drive as the storage facility. You can even send saves to other X-Port users as email attachments, or back them up on other media like CDRs and floppy disks. Datel's marketing manager Grant Hughes points out the potential for the device, citing MTV Music Generator as an example. "Just think," he says, "soon you'll be able to exchange entire songs you've created". X-Port, which is a completely separate utility to the Action Replay 2, costs £29.99, which incidentally is the same price as an 8Mb memory card, and can be purchased at stores up and down the country or at www.d3world.com, Datel's online facility. Also due out from Datel this month are a USB keyboard and USB radio, both for PlayStation 2. Related Feature - Cheat!

- PhantagramSystem Requirements -   Pentium 200 MMX or equivalent   64Mb RAM   900Mb hard drive space   8x CD-Rom drive   2Mb DirectX graphics card

Westwood have jumped on the massively multiplayer bandwagon, today confirming the long-standing rumours that they were working on a new game titled "Earth And Beyond". Due out later this year, the game will allow you to be "a feared fighter pilot, an intrepid explorer or a savvy trader" as you fly around the galaxy in your own fully customisable spacecraft. You will also be able to land your ship and explore strange new planets in full 3D, with "hundreds of areas to explore, including planets, moons, nebulas, starports, Star Gates, black holes, [and] capital ships". It certainly sounds ambitious...

The Cyberathlete Professional League today announced that they have "acquired a significant interest" in the Domain of Games League in the USA, and will be rebadging it as the Cyberathlete Amateur League, or CAL for short. The CPL has organised a series of computer gaming events in the USA in recent years, with prize money reaching $100,000 at some of their tournaments last year, as well as having franchises in Europe and Asia. The CAL's first season is due to start on Sunday 22nd April, with both Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament leagues, as well as "an upcoming Quake III division". Exact details seem to be rather sketchy at the moment, but no doubt more information will be available on the CAL website soon.

Former Sega.com CEO Brad Huang and CTO Lynn MacConnell have today announced the launch of New Millennium Entertainment, LLC, a company dedicated to providing "Gaming At the Speed of Light", or thereabouts, through an elaborate online network with support for the PC as well as all Internet-ready gaming consoles. According to the press release, "New Millennium Entertainment was created to feature a dedicated online gaming infrastructure to deliver a high-speed, low-latency experience for all gaming platforms." Apart from its founders, the company also boasts a widespread presence of former Sega.com employees, hung out to dry by the Dreamcast's rapid-approaching extinction. The new service sounds remarkably similar to the original vision for Wireplay, which had customers dialing in at 2.5p per minute to experience incredibly low-latency online gaming. The service bred some of the most impressive Quakeworld teams in the country. "New Millennium is the antidote to generic Internet connections plagued with network lags that make online gaming nearly impossible," said Brad Huang. Thanks to the wealth of industry knowledge that the former Sega.com employees bring to the fold, the company stands a good chance of outlasting its competition. The company will start testing its systems mid-March, and should be available to consumers in the US and Canada soon. Related Feature - Broadband Consoles - A Pipe Dream?

Core Design are probably always going to be best known as the brains behind the Tomb Raider phenomenon and sculptors of Lara's expansive chest. But there is a lot more to Core than that, and we have just received an update on some of the other titles which are currently under development at the British-based company. First up is third person action-adventure game Project Eden, which has been pushed back to a September release for both PC and PlayStation 2. This was done because Core wanted "to give it a bit more development time", and also to allow the PlayStation 2 to gain a wider installed base.

About 8 months ago we took a look at Windows 2000, the (then) new Windows NT-based operating system from Microsoft, and tried to work out just why gamers already entrenched in heavily personalized Windows 98 installations should expend time and resources installing and maintaining this bloated mass of incompatibility and user-unfriendliness. Since then, circumstances have changed, twofold: firstly, drivers are now available for practically every device under the sun, and secondly, that every game released since last year now has in-built support for the operating system, making it a very viable alternative for both the casual and hardcore gamer alike, not to mention the hardware junkie. So if you're hanging onto Windows Millenium, Windows 98 or (God forbid) Windows 95, join us on a journey into the updated Windows 2000 and learn why you should give it more than just the time of day this on this occasion.

Plenty of companies have now gone public with press releases about their new GeForce 3 lines, including Hercules (Guillemot), ELSA and now ASUS. Currently it looks like the card will cost $549 in the USA (that's the recommended price at any rate), and £449 in the UK, based on Hercules' British and North American press releases. In both cases, the information is that the "[Hercules GeForce 3 design] will be available in March for" ... "£449.99 inc VAT" and "$549.99." Although the data is subject to change, it does match up with what we've just heard from ASUS too. ELSA have also confirmed their North American pricing of $549 in this release. ASUS' release says that the V8200 Pure and the V8200 Deluxe (which will include TV-out, video-input, video editing, and 3D VR glasses), will cost $549 and $598 respectively. We reckon that conservatively speaking if you want to secure a GeForce 3 at launch the cheapest you can expect to find it is £400, which is about the price Dabs.com are offering the Gladiac 920 at, but prices may well go up to about £450 as the Hercules release estimates. Prices are subject to change of course. Related Feature - GeForce 3 Preview

Probably the most bizarre webgame that we have ever come across, and purveyor of quite possibly the funkiest dub soundtrack ever to grace a computer game, Banja casts you in the role of the eponymous rasta as you explore the constantly evolving island of Itland.This month's event sees the opening of the new Itland cinema, and to celebrate the French techno star Laurent Garnier will be playing a virtual DJ set tomorrow night. There is also a new episode of the storyline to work your way through, as well as more surreal sub-games to enjoy and a casino to waste your virtual money in. Well worth a look if you fancy something completely different.

Having purchased German publisher Blue Byte (the company behind the popular Settlers and Battle Isle series) just a few weeks ago, French company Ubi Soft today confirmed that it is continuing its spending spree by buying GAME Studios (the recently renamed entertainment division of The Learning Company) from Gores Technology Group. Gores bought TLC from owner Mattel just last October, but have been focusing on its range of productivity and educational software. Gores revealed that they had received "a number of offers for the company's Entertainment Division" over the last few months, and that they had "identified the Entertainment Division as a non-core part of the company" early on.

Microsoft's Xbox is due out late this year in the States, and in Europe in early 2002. The system had been expected to hit Japanese shores about the same time as it arrived in Northern America, but according to analysts, the big M is having to rethink its strategy due to a lack of interest from developers. So far, Microsoft boasts support from all corners of the globe... except the far East. Studios like Lionhead and publishing giants like Electronic Arts practically offer an excuse for the Seattle-based firm to start their own mint, but so far only Konami have hesitantly signed up for the next generation system. Speaking to Bloomberg, Capcom's general manager of R&D Keiji Inafune said that "Japanese video-game developers cannot afford to invest aggressively in making Xbox games because Microsoft has yet to show its specific intentions, such as what age demographic it is targeting." As is widely known, Japanese console game demographics are very different to the West. The level of interest in popular Western titles like FIFA 2001 is nothing when compared to the interest in, say, a game about helping a schoolgirl to get a date for the dance on Friday. Although industry observers are now plotting the Xbox's arrival in Japan for early next year along with its arrival in Europe, Microsoft are standing firm to their release estimates. The Tokyo Game Show at the end of this month is expected to showcase an announcement from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, and an announcement about rollout may well be forthcoming. What have Microsoft to lose by confirming the delay? Why, market share with Nintendo of course. The GameCube is expected to signal a return to fortune for Nintendo after the relative failure of its N64 console. Although the Xbox boasts an impressive hardware makeup, including the latest GeForce 3 -based XGPU from nVidia and more, Nintendo is being praised for going back to basics and focusing on the games. The GameCube's relationship with the GameBoy Advance will also be dangerous for Xbox, and with both products now expected to hit Japanese shores first, Microsoft's ability to gain a foothold will rely on extensive developer support, something which they have up until now been neglecting. Related Feature - Thinking About the Box

Just over a month ago we took a look at VIA's KT133A motherboard chipset, and spoke of its outstanding performance with the old and new Athlons alike. Last week though, and under shady circumstances, manufacturer VIA announced that they intend to revise the KT133A and produce a new KT133E, which will address the requirements of the new AMD Palomino's "PowerNow!" power conservation systems. Palomino and its little brother Morgan are enhanced versions of current Athlon and Duron technology. "PowerNow!" is a feature previously seen at last year's Comdex in AMD's new line of K6 laptops, which monitors the voltage and CPU frequency requirements of the processor and increases / decreases them when needed. The Tech Report's Comdex coverage features a video demonstration of "PowerNow!", which can be found at the bottom of this page. Back to the KT133E though, and does this mean that owners of KT133A motherboards are out of luck when it comes to Palomino? Thankfully, no it does not. Palomino and Morgan should both be able to adjust multiplier and frequency on the fly without the aid of a "PowerNow! aware" chipset, which the KT133E purports to be. The upshot of the KT133E's refinements though is the ability to vary the voltage supplied to the CPU, which will make it more attractive to new buyers. Whether motherboard giants ABit, ASUS, Gigabyte and co. from Taiwan will bother to repackage their KT133A lines to take advantage of the new revision is currently unknown. Of course, the other question is, does anybody really care about KT133-whatever, when PC2100 DDR memory is now shipping at $60 for 128Mb from the USA? Related Feature - KT133A - Performance for Less?