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Blood and Gore

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SIREN

2. PlayStation.

‘Siren 2004 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association.

P COIS

Race for Cash and respect, or lay it all on the line

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pcom Co., Ltd. 2004 ©Сарсот U.S.A., Inc. 2004 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAP! LOGO are registered trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd. "PlayStation" and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The Online icon is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

contents: ©

issue 182 - september 2004

LETTERS РУ.

14 Tell us you love us at EGM@ziffdavis.com

PRESS START

The latest news, previews, i features, and gaming gossip Mf

20 MISSING IN ACTION Updates on a handful of games we haven't heard from in ages

24 МВА STREET 3 We call “next” in an exclusive look at EA's latest curbside court

26 FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN Fresh info on the full-length motion picture Fantasy 28 GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS Schedule a trip to the Vice City sequel's irreverently reimagined L.A. 32 ROBOTECH: INVASION

Take Robotech’s switcheroo superbikes out for a spin Just ‘cause the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is kaput doesn’t mean

36 TOUGH STUFF you should hang up your homemade chain mail. EA's Lord of the Rings,

Interactive T&A for the joystick jockey F а ў : $ is Se UNDA OE ROO The Third Age is likea fourth Rings film melded with Final Fantasy

An old war holds new surprises

40 RATINGS GAME How the ESRB decides whether your games are naughty or nice

48 CELEBRITY INTERVIEW Is the NFL ready for wasabi-snorting wild boy Steve-0?

50 ONLINE Xbox Live's new feature delivers fam- friendly board games via broadband

52 MONSTER HUNTER Capture prehistoric predators in BATTLE ROYALE UNDER THE RADAR Capcom's online park 42 We round up four of this fall's wrestling-ring masters 60 Without hype or hubbub, these games are sneaking

onto store shelves this fall. But are they any good? 54 HOT TEN The new Legend of Zelda's lankier

Link lights up the charts REVIEW CREW

Бб CIE SOON What to put on your shelf, what to leave on the store's September shopping made easy

70 NEXT BIG EVERYTHING

Tech and trends that will shape 94 ESPN NFL 2K5 vs. 100 Crimson Tears 106 Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow tomorrow's games Madden NFL 2005 102 Athens 2004 98 Spider-Man 2 102 Ghosthunter 108 Puyo Pop Fever TRICKS OF THE TRADE 99 Malice 104 Echo Night: Beyond 108 Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Game counseling, codes, 99 Showdown: Legends of Wrestling 104 McFarlane's Evil Prophecy | and cheats 100 Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers 105 Street Fighter Anniversary Collection 110 Astro Boy: Omega Factor | 114 Thief: Deadly Shadows 114 DRIV3R editorial г 116 Mega Man Anniversary Collection B д 116 Full Spectrum Warrior n its an old argument в T leal 116 Metal Slug 3 ; g for PC gamers:ls for games to be patched, then 117 шы с. vs. Action Repla «patching 2 ооой ог. wil start being lazy an à pay bad thing? These out the door before GAME OVER downloaded files ready, knowing they can J | automatically fix release dates and fix ev rything. later.

Funny reviews and funny pages T tiene in existing happens all the time with PC games. 118 REST OF THE CRAP games—but 119 CROSSWORD shouldn't games be multiplayer online | ones, are impossible to

released with a clean bill of health in the bug test for every gameplay situation.

Сатет. first place? Yes, but no. Developers can't know what every player

122 HSU & CHAN А! content copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. Reproduction, modification, or transmission, in whole or in part, by any means, without written permission from Ziff Davis Media Inc. is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

8 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

Hi

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ЕЗ FI DER- m Aan m N

T HE + GAM

NOWHERE YOU CAN'T GO. cC

N \ \ N

Take New c a spin.

www. activision.com/spidèg-man

Preview the game trailer on the Spider-Man Deluxe Edition DVD.

Available Now.

Do anything Spider-Man® can Go anywhere and interact. Pick your own path: battle ^ Swing through a living, highly Web swing for the first time

with breathtaking new moves with anyone and anything. - Doc Ock, bust street crimes detailed Manhattan. from street to rooftop across and amazing combos. or clash with classic villains. the entire city.

GAME BOY ADVANCE Violence X e i e A7 | MARVEL сее њее wan) PEH ERRORS weston) окин | PlayStation.c „| 20× | аә TURES |

Spider-Man and all related Marvel characters, TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. Spider-Man, the Movie, and Spider-Man 2, the Movie © 2004 Columbia Pictures Industries,

Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Activision Publishing, Inc. Game code © 2004 Activision, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. All rights reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are registered trademarks or (E (an SION. trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ©, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube NOKIA ESER

logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. PC CD-ROM logo TM and © IEMA 2003. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association, All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. activision.com

Meet UP (d 1UP.com

The all-new 1UP is here, and it's exploding with new features! Ue'ue still got all of that great daily content you've come to know and loue, but we're now the first-euer destination for gamers to meet, plau, get informed, and show off.

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Ue're all here. Join us at 1UP.com.

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DAN “SHOE” HSU, Editor-in-Chief

Online cheaters have ruined Shoe’s fun and pushed him over the edge. You can hear his muttering around the office: “Cheaters must die...cheaters must die...” We're not sure whether to support Shoe in his noble cause or call the FBI. Now Playing: Splinter Cell PT (Xbox Live), Puyo Pop Fever, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Star Wars Battlefront Fave Genres: Just about everything

MARK MACDONALD, Executive Editor

What Mark learned this month: Opera gets boring. Beards get itchy. Blogs get addictive. Calling Todd McFarlane “Todd McFar/ame” is not clever, even with the italics. Underwear that costs less than a dollar is never worth it. The plural of Spider- Man is Spider-Mans, not Spider-Mens. Cheetos and bacon? Yes. Now Playing: Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Ninja Gaiden Fave Genres: Action, Adventure, Shooters

JENNIFER TSAO, Managing Editor

The Olympics always seemed like such a majestic event when Jennifer was growing up, but somewhere down the line, things changed. Maybe it was when they staggered them to every two years. Maybe it was the drug scandals. Or maybe it was playing Athens 2004. After that, the magic was gone forever.

Now Playing: City of Heroes (PC), gangster movies

Fave Genres: RPG, Adventure, Action Sports, Rhythm-Action

CRISPIN BOYER, Senior Editor

Dizziness, blinding migraines, projectile vomiting—just an

er day at the office for Crispin, who can't figure out why his coworkers aren't coming down with the same mystery illness. Maybe he's not playing his games right.

Now Playing: Spider-Man 2, The Chronicles of Riddick, Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, SOCOM Il

Fave Genres: Action, Adventure, RPG

SHANE BETTENHAUSEN, Previews Editor

It was kind of a glum month for Shane. Working on the Under the Radar preview feature reminded him of all the cool niche titles that failed to ignite sales charts over the years...oh Cubivore, where have you gone? Enemy Zero, why have they forsaken you? Forever Kingdom, can you ever forgive us? Now Playing: Astro Boy (GBA), Street Fighter III, Silent Hill 4 Fave Genres: Action, Adventure, RPG, Fighting, Karaoke

DEMIAN LINN, Reviews Editor

Demian took a top-secret trip to an undisclosed location he can't talk about, though it had something to do with next month's cover story. When you see the on that

you аге gonna a ina — ... Moth- er____! Seriously. He can't even give out a hint, mang.

Now Playing: Burnout 3, Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, NFL Street Fave Genres: Action, Hockey, Racing, Fighting

BRYAN INTIHAR, News Editor

Playing this year's gridiron offerings reminded Bryan of his days growing up in a little place he calls Footballtown, U.S.A—where he learned the power of wearing a letterman's jack lat attending the Friday night ballgame was as important as going to church; and, of course, the proper way to pose for pics.

Now Playing: Madden NFL 2005, Ratchet & Clank: GC

Fave Genres: Action, Adventure, Sports

SHAWN ELLIOTT, Associate Editor

Damn dirty cheaters. They lie in wait and snap your neck the second you spawn until all your lives are gone. They exploit glitches to raise their rank. Shawn refuses to play Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow online for more than three hours at a time until publisher Ubisoft patches the game...again.

Now Playing: Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Psi-Ops Fave Genres: Fighting, Shooters, Sage Francis, Buck 65

12 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

Guest Reviewers

JON DUDLAK

If you can’t form an opinion of your own, Jon'd be happy to sell you one of his for just $19 a word.

GREG FORD What to do when faced with a dud like Combat Elite? Just keep blaspheming, like Mom always said.

KEVIN GIFFORD Seanbaby had “words” with Kev after his DRIV3R review last month. When's the rematch?

DAN LEAHY Sick and tired of the 18-hour days in game develop- ment, Dan's glad to be back in the review racket.

PATRICK MAURO This guy played so much video- game football the past two months that he's on the verge.

JOHN RICCIARDI John prefers 2D to 3D, Mario to Sonic, Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy, and Reggie to Kaz.

W The editorial staffs of GMR, OFFICIAL V.S. PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE, XBOX NATION, and 1UP.COM may not be the do-gooder selfless sorts devoted to pub- lic service and charity work, but they happily contribute their expert opinions to our magazine—for the right price.

The Contributors

I Who better to write our story on ESRB ratings than DAVID KUSHNER, author of Masters of Doom, a behind-the-gore look at the creation of one of the most contro- versial shooters ever...

@ Writer JUSTIN SPEER waged a war of the mind to steal an exclusive first look at the new Medal of Honor дате...

18 Freelancer SCOTT STEINBERG drank a manly elixir of 12 raw eggs, two shots of tequila, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce every morning while he was work- ing on our Tough Stuff feature...

18 Kushner, Steinberg, DEAN TAKAHASHI, GEOFF KEIGHLEY, MARC SALTZMAN, and SHAWN SMITH helped find out what's gonna be hot this year for our Next Big Everything featur

Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu Mark MacDonald

Jennifer T

ispin Boyer

or Shane Bettenhausen

DESIGN Art Director Monique Convertito

rt Director Stefan Belavy CONTRIBUTORS Chris Baker, Robert Coffe Dustin Amery Hostetler, Nich Andrew Pfister, Mi Seanbaby, Rey Serrano, Michael Sexton, Ju Sean Tiffany, Julie West, Terry Wong. Founder Steve Harris

а Orlando, itzman, Norm Scott, Scott Steinberg,

resident Dale Strang tor John Davison Simon Cox

Bill Daniher

COPY DESK Copy Chief Tom Edwards Copy Editors Greg Ford, Susie Ochs, Maritza Refuerzo

PRODUCTION Produ

‘Anne Marie Miguel

Group Publisher L Associate Group P Advertising Director

Territory Managers and Acct. Execs. Gaming Accounts 8

Accounts Manager Mat е Candace Droz

Callison

W E. Panken

iger Tom unt M

Manager Bill Young am Kennedy

dinator Tipler Ubbelohde tor Monet Whitaker

ong Jason Freidenfelds

To contact Sales and Advertising, please call 415-547-8000

Chairman & CEO Robert F Callahan

outs pu dene pror

«, 1UPcom)

tor, Manufacturing Carlos Lugo. Director, Corporate Communications Randy Zane. IT West Coast 5 nical An Specialist 8

Seni Technical

Subscri E-mail

vice 800-779-1174 Jegmmag com

ranting, raving, and a customer service curmudgeon

{гн 4

HEME

Fiending for Resident Evil 4? You'll have to get a GameCube or go without.

fan Resident Evil 4 Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi recently asked what he can do to “call gamers back again.” Fully 3D graphics, a fresh view of the action, and faster foes sound sweet, but if Capcom really wants the fans of its flagship series to return, the company will need to rethink its current course of action. Enough with the GameCube exclusives already. It’s as if they're going out of their way to slap those of us who first visited Raccoon City on the PlayStation in the face.

—Derek Oswald

customer My PS2 went kaput for the second time in two weeks, so | called the people at Sony for help. “Our records show you've complained about a disc-read error before,” the old guy who answered says, “so you must be doing something wrong.” | told him that | just bought the system, and that EGM has printed letters from readers complaining about the same problem. So he says, and | quote, “Do you believe everything you read? That isn't certified by Sony, and any ads not bearing the

POST OFFICE

of the month

PlayStation logo are probably false or, at best, only partially true.”

So, get this, | argued with the bozo for a bit, and then he goes, “Sir, | don’t get a lot of calls thanking us for making the PlayStation. In fact, | don’t get any. | only get calls about how it’s broken and needs to be fixed." I'm like,

"Dude, you work at the technical-support desk. I'm not gonna call you just to say how awesome | think my console is. Even then, I'm not gonna thank the guy who tells me it's broken—maybe the

guy who fixes it, but

not you."

After giving me the address to send my busted system to, he tells me I’m rude and says

EUN

something about not talking back to adults. —Jonny

We'd respond, Jonny, but we're not a Sony ad, so anything we say is probably false or, at best, only partially true.

Fantastic

Is it really necessary to restrict gay marriages in Final Fantasy XI's world of Vana'diel? My man pal and | went to the virtual chapel, only to discover that our union was invalid Species as diverse as the tarutaru and elvaan are allowed to interbreed, but we

s

Bull sessions from our message boards, boards.1UP.com (look for Electronic Gaming Monthly's forums)

E “So this is that Pokey Man kids love so.”

East vs. West

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima’s claim that game design in the West is “more passionate and energetic” than Japan sparked a pointed debate between our opinionated posters:

14 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY « www.1UP.com

Kilik: “It's true. Every hot title that doesn’t hail from the West is being aimed at it.” MyDingling: “Whatever. | smell nothing but s*** on these shores.”

Foulwing: “We come up with some real winners, all right: ghetto sims, World War Il shooters, beast women with counterfeit breasts..."

Neato Jinkins: *Hey, at least we didn't create the finger-up-the-ass genre." Roasted Locust: "Kojima's right. The Japanese market is too focused on too few genres, and to be honest, RPGs and dating sims just don't cut it anymore

High-scoring humor

Think Carrot Top is corny? Get a load of these gaming-related groaners. ArbTheRipper: “Yuna woke up one day

and saw that someone had written "Yuna's a skank’ in the snow. She called the authorities and they studied the scene. The detective told her the sad truth. It turns out the urine was Tidus’ and the handwriting was Rikku's." Disappeared: “Why did Centipede need tweaking? It was full of bugs.” Eightbitkid: “What do Mario and George W. Bush have in common? Mission accomplished, but princesses Peach and Osama are in another castle.

“What’s the difference between Duke Nukem Forever and Ellen DeGeneres? Ellen came out.”

ShawnElliott: “How many fanboys does it take to change a lightbulb? Ten. One to screw it in and nine to argue about how the old one was so much better.”

Congrats Jeff Rodny! For going to such great lengths to get your game on and writing our Letter of the Month, you’ve scored a gem from EGM's secret stash.

can't? If only heterosexual couples can wed, that means 99 percent of Vana'diel's other residents must remain bachelors, as all five female players have already tied the knot.

— Richard Apodaca

Square Enix declined to comment, but there's hope for you yet, Dick. Don't hold us to the number, but we'd say that some 90 percent of Final Fantasy XI's marriages are, in fact, of the gay variety. Of course, one of you will have to wear a dress, but that's a small price to pay for conjugal bliss.

song | recently broke out my Super Nintendo and, thanks to a sale at a nearby shop, picked up a bunch of games. While playing the classics, | came to the following conclusion: Contemporary

CONTACT EGM

So your li'l brother leans around the television hoping to get a better look while playing first-person shooters? Take a pic of the loser and tell us about it at EGM@ziffdavis.com or:

EGM Letters 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor

GOT BEEF?

Moving? Miss an issue? Contact our customer service department.

E-mail: subhelp@egmmag.com Website: http://service.egmmag.com Phone toll-free: (800) 779-1174 Old-fashioned way: P.0. Box 55722 Boulder, CO 80322-5722

REPRINTS?

Call (866) 879-9144 to order reprints.

Voices from the past

EGM answers old, old letters

I understand that there аге a lot of great doors being opened at Sega. The Sega CD has finally broken ice, and virtual reality is on everyone’s lips, but Sega is

gaming suffers from sequelitis. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was the last series | got excited about, and even that kind of killed itself by releasing an update every year. What happened to the days when Sega and Nintendo would make us wait five years for a follow-up? Where’s the innovation?

—Pat McLaughlin

Would you believe reader Tim Yanalunas bitched about the same thing back in *94 (EGM #65)? "Lately, people have been complaining about the number of unnecessary sequels on the market— games like Street Fighter Il, NHL Hockey, and John Madden Football," he wrote. "Companies release them year after year with minor changes, wasting our money and time." Just goes to show

forgetting one thing: the Menacer. What happened? Talk about limited software. So far | have only two games for it. This shortage of games is too bad because | love the light-gun gameplay that the Menacer provides. Is Sega ever going to

ya, Pat, one man’s classic era is another man’s collapsing empire.

Dawn of the | figured out what makes Resident Evil 4’s townsfolk so freaky: a mutated strain of mad cow disease! The game is set in the European countryside, and the infected are called ganado, which means “livestock” in Spanish. Remember that mad cow started in the old country when farmers began feeding cow parts to their cattle.

—Jared Thorbahn

Pat on the

Publisher ESPN Videogames’ decision to price ESPN NFL 2K5 at $19.99 could be the best thing to happen to the gaming industry in ages. If ESPN continues to improve upon its fine franchise, and if

GAME DESIGN-O-RAMA

Send your cockamamie concepts (with art) to EGM@2ziffdavis.com, subject: design-o-rama

make any new software that utilizes this unique and amazing peripheral? — Cloyd Griffin Jr, October 1993

Well Cloyd, while Sega was indeed home to several mahogany doors, icebreakers, and lip balms, our old staff lied to you. The company was not “taking its time to ensure that its Menacer games would be worth buying,” but had concluded that you were, in fact, the one consumer stupid enough to buy the miserable piece of crap. Considering how many dents Pa Cloyd probably had to bang out of Pacers and Pinto station wagons to pay for it, we say you owe him an apology.

consumers support the product, we should see a fall in software prices for other series, too. Madden, for example, would have to ship at a lower price to compete. Cheaper software could also bring new customers into the home-console market. Stand up and support ESPN's bold move, and other companies might see that it's possible to make a profit by giving gamers what we truly want: a great product at a low price.

—Gregory M. Hall

We follow you, but hefty price drops pose huge risks for any videogame company. Remember, development costs are only rising, and ESPN will have to sell many, many, many more copies than in years past to make up the difference. We wish them luck. #

oops! Danimation’s

fan pic of

Samurai

Shodown ninja Hanzo was so slick that we assumed it belonged to publisher SNK when we printed it in EGM #180. Our apologies to the top-notch designer—peep his talent at www.dandojo.com.

MSG: SALT OF LIBERTY Terrorist networks are waging an underground war, transforming fast-food chains into communistic, heart-friendly co-ops. As Salty Snake, you must restore America’s restaurants to their former trans- fatty glory. Force-feed run-of-the-mill terrorists massive doses of MSG in order to raise their blood pressure to lethal levels, then face off with more formidable foes like Tangy Ocelot and Grilled Octopus. — Cyril Coombs

16 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

ARCANE SYMBOL OF PERSIA Party like it’s 999 in this all-new, ambiguously dressed installment of the smash series! Guide the platformer formerly known as Prince through an imposing diamond-and-pearl-filled palace in search of his vaguely astrological Guitar of Time, and team up with Princess Vanity to take down any hater with balls big enough to bag on your 5-foot-tall hero and his buttless pants!

—Jorgeuva

ice your hobo: S d

CUSTOM HOBO Hell freezes over and Nintendo flies away on a pig with Custom Hobo, the company's first non-family- friendly fare. Maneuver your very own hobo on the mean streets of Manhattan, where you must fight for food, turf, and trash cans. Upgrade your bum with back-alley accessories and equipment including supersized change cups, swifter shopping carts, pit bull companions, and better panhandling props. —PanamaJack

©2004 Lionhead Studios Limited. Lionhead, the Lionhead logo and Fable are registered trademarks of Lionhead reserved. Microsoft; Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, and the Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or traden

FOR EVERY CHOICE, A CONSEQUENCE.

What if the choices you made had everlasting repercussions? Your every action would immediately affect your appearance and change the way people perceive you. Would you wield a sword in the name of virtue, create a path of evil with spells and treachery, or become something in between? Before you create your destiny, know this: no two

Fables are the same. What will yours be? xbox.com/fable

MATURE 17+ Blood 1 Sexual Themes хеох` Strong Language

Emme Violence 4 с;

ESRB gamexstudios: it's good to play together

|, Game designed by Lionhead Studios Ltd in conjunction with Big Blue Box Studios Lid, © 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights oft Corporation in the U.S. andior other countries. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association:

A Perilous Quest...

for Adventure and Survival.

> An action-packed, epic adventure where the storyline changes based on the characters’ relationships. > Exclusive real-time combat engine with hundreds of fierce attacks, spells, and combos.

> Fully customizable character growth system where the player can create the kind of character they want to fight with.

Suggestive Themes

ESRB CONTENT RATING _www.estb.org

SKE FUJISHIMA TALES OF SYMPHONY} 3 NAMCO LTD., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ТМ, ® and Nintendo б: are trademarks of Nintendo. ©2001 е ment Software Associa PU dad printed in the U.S.A.

press start

gaming news, previews, a gridiron Jackass, and other stuff

MISSING IN ACTION

OK, it’s been 24 hours— tume to file a report on these 13 MIA games

HALF-LIFE 2

* Xbox

Want to see an Xbox ‘screenshot of Half-Life 2? Yeah, so do we.

In terms of anticipation, this graphically stunning first-person shooter is the PC equivalent of Halo 2. The game was originally supposed to launch on computers last September with an Xbox port following shortly thereafter, but numerous obstacles, including a highly publicized theft of the game’s development code (the FBI even investigated the matter), have delayed the PC release time and time again. Gabe Newell, managing director of developer Valve Software, says the studio hopes to finish the PC version of Half-Life 2 this August.

Well, never really. We haven't seen so much as a single screenshot of the Xbox port, though the

>> BONUS GAME UPDATE: BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT HAS ONCE AGAIN DELAYED ITS STEALTHY ACTION GAME STARCRAFT: GHOST, THIS TIME INDEFINITELY. BLIZZARD HAS ALSO PULLED

PC version is reportedly in the final stages of development The Xbox version remains in the works. “We have [Half-Life 2] running on Xbox right now,” says Newell, noting that the console version “fits into the middle of our scalability goals for the PC product.” (Translation: the Xbox port should be on par with the PC version running on today’s average-powered comput- ers.) Still, don't expect the first- person shooter anytime soon; Valve is notorious for delaying its games, and publisher VU Games refused to comment on the console release date.

20 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

TRUE FANTASY LIVE ONLINE

* Xbox

Show and

Fantasy XI, for exam

would've put TFLO's release too close to th

adding that Level 5 is discussing internally

money, and that's considered fast. Numerous delays Xbox's life cycle to make sense financially for Microsoft. “TFLO took much more development time than we expected,” explains Level 5 President Akihiro Hino,

with the game and the assets created for it.

Description: Microsoft's first Xbox massively multiplay-

er online role-playing game, due this winter from devel- oper Level 5

Last Seen: Playable last September at the Tokyo Game

(makers of the Dark Cloud series).

looking very good.

Update: Cancelled in June. MMORPGs need plenty of time to turn a profit through monthly subscription fees—Final

ple, took a year and a half to start making

е end of

what to do

STAR WARS GALAXIES

Seen

Expo but were never shown publicly.

* PS2/XB

iption: A massively multiplayer online role-play- ing game set in lands where rancors, Wookiees, and whiny Jedi roam free. Star Wars Galaxies was initially billed as the next big thing in online gaming, but when the PC version hit last July, some referred to it as Star Bores. Our sister publication, Computer Gaming World, alled the bug-ridden game “fundamentally inaccessible," even for MMORPG vets.

Console versions were announced along with the PC game at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment

Update: The PS2 and Xbox versions have gone off to a galaxy far, far away—and they ain't coming back. "Star Wars Galaxies won't reach consoles in its current incar- nation," says a LucasArts representative.

KILL BILL

ture casts

was schedi

Games brand, back in

ties (surprise, surprise) killed the game even

real work was done on the project.

_ | Stage Debut

Stage Debut, the GameCube “game” that lets you take a digital picture of your face and map it onto a creepy body that could then sing and dance or...go to school, was officially removed from Nintendo's release li

The U.S. version of the Cube-exclusive RPG Giftpia was canned due to a poor reception at last year's trade show...

* PS2/XB/GC

Description: Based on Quentin Tarantino's two-part homage to Hong Kong action films, this action-adven-

Update: Dead as Bill and the rest of his assassins. “This game is not in development,” a VU Games rep tells us. Apparently, contract disputes between the par-

Tarantino decided to split his film into two parts, so no

players in Uma Thurman's role as

vengeance-seeking superassassin The Bride. The game

uled to launch this past spring and include

original movie footage, à la Enter the Matrix. Last Seen: Never. The only mention of it came courtesy of a press release from Black Label Games, a now-defunct VU

2002.

before

Yectorman, Sega's PS2 actioner, now rests six feet under...

Psychonauts, the mind-altering Xbox platformer, has found a new publisher (yet to be officially announced) and is on schedule for a February 2005 release...

Namco’s third-person shooter First Strike: Grant City Anti-Crime was official- ly struck down several months ago...

STRANGER

Microsoft

Inhabitants’ job-recruitment booth during Game Developers Conference.

Electronic Arts has snatched up the rights

Atlus will publish Tomb Raider cocre- ator Toby Gard’s long-delayed swashbuck- ling platformer Galleon this fall for Xbox, five years after it was first announced...

The Dynasty Warriors-esque Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders also heads to Xbox this fall, now courtesy of Microsoft...

Both Microsoft and Rare swear that Perfect Dark Zero is still in development,

* PS2/XB

son shooting set in an Oddworld version of the Old West (complete with chicken farmers...that is, farmers who are actually giant chickens). Stranger's (working title) main character is a half-lion and half-moose bounty hunter, complete with Dirty Harry personality. When

this year, it left this fourth game in the Oddworld series without a publisher. In a video running at developer Oddworld

Good news—publishing powerhouse

and will bring it to Xbox and PS2 some time next year.

A mix of third-person action and first-per-

reevaluated its first-party Xbox lineup earlier

the 2004

to Stranger

181 Joanna Dark likes to keep the boys waiting.

but

rumors

abound that

the first-per-

son shooter will

be an Xbox 2 title

by the time it is

released. dx —Kevin Gifford

THE GAME'S ORIGINAL DEVELOPER, NIHILISTIC, OFF THE PROJECT. STARCRAFT: GHOST WAS SCHEDULED TO SHIP ON PLAYSTATION 2, XBOX,

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 21

©) press start

c

SQUE MATES

Xbox and PC make sweet technological love?

ack when Xbox was maturing B inside Microsoft's womb, then