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The EuroGamer Digest 2002 05 01
The Weekly EuroGamer Digest - 1st May to 8th May 2002
=====================================================================
The EuroGamer Digest. Brought to you weekly by the tireless fingers of
our editorial team, currently going through tissues at a rate of knots
over an import copy of Winning Eleven 6 and Downforce preview code.
For those of you new to the Digest, we've stripped out the lengthy
introduction this week, but you can catch up on the contents of last
week's Digest here: http://www.eurogamer.net/content/e_digest010502
This week we've been celebrating the launch of the GameCube by
repelling naysayers and blowing things up in LucasArts' soon to be
seminal Rogue Leader. Star Wars related excitement is reaching fever
pitch with the impending global release of Episode II on 16th May, but
you can rest assured we'll cut through the hype and deliver our
verdict in the usual manner. No doubt lambasting the developer for the
now widely reported crash bugs.
Whether you bought a Cube or not, this Digest should fill in the
gaming gaps of the last week, and we hope you enjoy it enough to
continue subscribing to it. We are currently planning to introduce a
compendium of former Digests on EuroGamer, which will allow you to
catch up on older stories. A bit like a Back Issues page, if you like.
Any feedback on this, and the Digest in general, will be warmly
received, whether you like it or not!
Have a good week.
Tom Bramwell, Assistant Editor
=====================================================================
Features
This week Tom yapped about his experience with Wave Race: Blue Storm
on the GameCube, before scampering into hiding to let John have at it
with Xbox PR supremo Paul Fox. Then at the weekend John introduced us
to Divine Divinity, an intriguing, enterprising and, by the sound of
it, virtually endless hackandslash from Larian Studios and CDV. He
also took the time to finish Broken Sword, a faithful adaptation of
the popular PC point-and-clicker for the GameBoy Advance. So far this
week, Tom has continued his footballing fetish, disseminating his
thoughts on EA's World Cup cash-in, 2002 FIFA World Cup, Martin has
sucked the blood from naked ladies' thighs in Mr. Moskeeto, and,
popping up once again, Tom has summarised his thoughts on Downforce,
an arcade-centric take on the once exciting motorsport of Formula 1.
+ Downforce (PS2) preview
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/p_downforce_ps2
+ Mr. Moskeeto (PS2) review
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_mrmoskeeto
+ 2002 FIFA World Cup (Xbox) review
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_2002fwc_x
+ Broken Sword (GBA) review
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_brokensword_gba
+ Divine Divinity (PC) preview
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/p_divinecdv
+ Paul Fox of Microsoft interview
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/i_paulfox
+ Wave Race: Blue Storm (GC) review
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_waverace_gc
=====================================================================
Industry News in Brief
E3 continues to loom over everything like Christmas in December, with
a number of surprise presents doubtless still to be unwrapped. Don't
go into the next fortnight imagining you know what's coming up - E3 is
often a first outing for paradigms of previously unimaginable
significance, and while they may all be a ways off, E3 remains a
festival of gaming delights unequalled the world over. The only thing
more likely to prompt involuntary jaw-dropping around here is finding
Kylie naked in the downstairs cabinet. Then there's the impending
announcement of online gaming services from, with any luck, all three
of the major format holders.
All this excitement does mean a slightly lighter tray of morsels to
pick through from the last week, but that's okay, because some of them
have funny pictures. For a start, we got to see Nintendo's peculiar
Clear Cube marketing scheme in action, and the Big N also had the good
grace to take some snaps of the Thursday evening queues, including the
eventual buyer of the first Cube, young Sarah Dodd from Clapham,
unfortunately not a Digest subscriber as far as we know.
Beyond that we had sales estimates for the young Cube, details of
previously under-publicised problems with the hardware (no cause for
concern unless you throw it about), details of Nintendo's purchase of
Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios, and a token Xbox story, looking
at the - currently inestimable - popularity of the machine down under
since the Aussie price cut.
+ Cube problems cleared up
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20896
+ Cube launch in pictures
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20886
+ Cube sales estimates
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20885
+ Nintendo gets Retro
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20882
+ Europe is finally Cubed
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20881
+ Aussies go mad for Xbox
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20880
+ Clear Cubes take form
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20871
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Games Announcements
Cube fans have much to celebrate this week, even if Namco's E3 line-up
neglects them somewhat. Super Monkey Ball, one of the best simian
party games of all time, is getting a sequel, and the company is also
promising to show off volleyball sim Beach Spikers (boob content
assured) and Phantasy Star Online Episodes I and II. For
clarification's sake, the latter of those two is an entirely new PSO
game, while the former is what Dreamcast owners will recognise as
Phantasy Star Online Version 2.
Meanwhile, PS2 owners are looking forward to a veritable bounty of
goodies at E3, in the shape of Sega's ninja revamp, Shinobi, the
American publisher's comic-inspired 3D shooter Gungrave and that's
before we even get to Namco. Although Soul Calibur 2 will not be
making an appearance (at least publicly), owners of Sony's black box
can look forward to seeing Tekken 4, Ninja Assault and the pick of the
litter, Xenosaga. Our mouths are genuinely watering over that one, if
only because we buy too many games to afford food...
Last, but definitely not least, Microsoft aims to put on a big show in
its homeland this month, but at the moment it's leaving it to third
parties to create an atmosphere of hype for the system. And this isn't
too difficult with the likes of Dead To Rights from Namco and Sega's
inimitable line-up of Sega GT 2002, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Crazy Taxi 3
High Roller, House of the Dead III and ToeJam & Earl III. It's
definitely looking good for Xbox owners.
PC fans get some loving, too, this week, and more immediate loving in
one case. Although Stronghold developer Firefly is working on a
follow-up, Stronghold: Crusader, which is good news in itself, RPG
fans can pick up a demo of Divine Divinity, the game John has been
enjoying so much lately. The only downside is the 400Mb file size, but
for a suggested 10 hours worth of original content, it might be worth
borrowing the office connection for an hour or so one evening.
+ Namco announces E3 line-up
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20893
+ Divine Demo
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20890
+ Stronghold goes on Crusade
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20879
+ Cube goodies leaked
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20877
+ Sega's E3 line-up
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20875
+ Super Monkey Ball 2 in development
http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20869
=====================================================================
Screenshots
We love eye candy. Tom, for instance, is an absolute whore for all
sorts of graphical chicanery. In fact, if any of you publishing or PR
folk are ever placed in a situation where you need to get on his good
side, mentioning transition animations and superior collision
detection will usually floor him. Just a tip.
And what a week it has been for eye candy. Xbox owners got a dose of
lovely eye candy from Deathrow publisher Ubi Soft. The game is looking
extremely sharp, despite the tenuous extreme futuristic sports
premise, and we want to see it in action. Soon after, PC fans were
buried under world maps and unit schematics by shots of Stronghold:
Crusader, Age of Wonders II and latterly, Cultures 2 from publisher
JoWood.
On the more exciting side, Virgin and developer Digital Mayhem
released some more shots of PS2 title Run Like Hell, which seems to
blend Event Horizon-ish backgrounds with some scary beasties in the
survival horror genre.
Eidos has released a few shots of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PS2 and
Xbox versions), which go some way to making up for the lack of
interesting PC shots, and finally, EA released a number of stunning
shots from Medal of Honor: Frontline. There's going to be a fight over
that review copy, you can be assured. It seems likely that John will
pull rank, at which point Tom may punch him brutally in the head and
run off, clutching the game close to his chest and muttering "my
precious".
+ Cultures 2 (PC)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_cultures2
+ Deathrow (Xbox)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_deathrow_xbox
+ Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_moh_frontline_ps2
+ Run Like Hell (PS2)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_runlikehell_ps2
+ Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne (PC)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_aow2
+ Stronghold: Crusader (PC)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_strongholdcrusader
+ Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (Xbox)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_hitman2_x
+ Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PS2)
http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_hitman2_ps2
=====================================================================
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