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Velocity Vector
Personally, I loathe Japanese RPGs. The linearity and lack of creativity drive me nuts.
Some of you, however, will be very interested to know that Microsoft has teamed up with "Final Fantasy" creator Hironobu Sakaguchi for XBox Next RPGs.
Two titles are currently planned, but specifics aren't available yet.
Sony has halted production of the PSX media center:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7006
XBox 2 News has an interview with one of the more evil people in the video game industry, Trip Hawkins of EA (and formerly 3D-Uh-Oh):
http://xbox2news.com/hawkins.php
Andre Lamothe, author of a series of game programming books (such as "Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus"), has written a new one: "Retro Game Programming: Unleashed for the Masses". The book covers the eight bit Atari computers (400/800/XL/XE), Commodore 64, Apple II, and TRS-80 Color Computer 2.
The book will be available March 8 on Amazon and March 22 in bookstores.
Previous reports have indicated that the XBox Next (or whatever the final name ends up being) will be available with and without a hard drive. New indications are that it will have a removable hard drive, possibly capable of functioning as an MP3 player:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=6980
The mergers and acquisitions activity continues in the video game industry, as a News Corp. purchase of Eidos is rumored to be imminent:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=6959
For those of you living in a cave, News Corp. is the company that owns the various Fox properties.
I ran across iwannaplay.com, and I'm not totally sure what it is:
"I Wanna Play.com is a project of independent game developers, which aims at supporting talented young producers, who create high-quality independent computer games. The objective of this server is to offer games suitable for the whole family."
It's not clear from that how they acquire publication rights to the games, but if you're an indie developer with a game, you might want to contact them:
<a href="http://www.cornutopia.net">Cornutopia Software</a> have released a new version of the space trading game Flatspace, now available on <a href="http://www.lostinflatspace.com">www.lostinflatspace.com</a>. As well as fixes to some rare bugs, the new version also includes a few gameplay updates. Later this year work is scheduled to begin on a sequel.
Flatspace is a vast adventure game. As commander of a space ship of your choice, you the player decide how to play, survive and prosper. You can hunt space pirates, trade cargo between space stations, mine asteroids for minerals, join the Flatspace police or become a renegade outlaw. Game influences include Elite, and rogue-like role playing games such as Nethack. For more information visit <a href="http://www.lostinflatspace.com">www.lostinflatspace.com</a>.
What's wrong with Nintendo? The folks at Tom's Hardware Guide think they know:
http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20050210/index.html
Nintendo has turned into the Michael Jackson of video game console manufacturers. They have some kind of unhealthy obsession with kids.
Sports Illustrated to do a swimsuit edition video game? SI raises an interesting possibility:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/15/news/fortune500/swimsuit/index.htm?cnn=yes
Square Enix president Youichi Wada has indicated that Final Fantasy XII will likely miss its planned Spring 2005 release date:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/02/16/news_6118661.html
The Xbox 2/XBox Next will ship with wireless controllers standard:
http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=6879
Eugene Jarvis will be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the IGDA next month:
http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0217.htm
Here's another odd one. A puzzle game named Ms. Match has been released in order to promote Kotex:
So what's next? A "Mesothelioma Lawyer" game in which we file an asbestos class-action lawsuit? OK, maybe it's not *that* bad, but the casual game marketing phenomenon is getting a little weird.
On Tuesday, February 22, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, Sony will be giving out free gasoline to celebrate the launch of Gran Turismo 4. Here's the address:
Conoco Phillips 76 Station 1402 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA