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War is hell - violent and bloody, Experient е the uncensored story of the Normandy inva sion.

Command 3-man AI squads in a battle of wits and skill in split-screen or online multiplayer.

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TEE SCG/ADI4S МАСЛЕ

Chaos has erupted throughout the galaxy. As leader of an elite squad of Republic Commandos, your mission is to infiltrate, dominate, and ultimately, : annihilate the enemy. Your squad will follow your orders and your lead, À. E й Я

working together as a team - instinctively, intelligently, instantly. You are their leader. They are your weapon. +. y У ж S

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STAR WAHR Ы) REPUBLIC _ GUMMIAINDU

"IMPRESSIVE VISUALS AND PERHAPS THE SMARTEST SQUAD Al EVER SEEN!”

- Gamelnformer Online

INNOVATIVE SQUAD CONTROLS With intuitive and smart squad commands, the simple touch of one button easily controls your squad to perform complex commands and strategic maneuvers.

BATTLE RELENTLESS ENEMIES

With a dozen weapons to choose from, battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies — from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries to the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.

MULTIPLE ENVIRONMENTS

& MISSIONS

Play over 15 levels of 8 varied alien environments for a selection of unique single/multiplayer modes.

PRELUDE TO EPISODE Ill

Encounter new vehicles, locations and enemies from the upcoming film.

www.lucasarts.com

Game Experience May m Change During Online Play №

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s of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks which are the exclusive property of World 9 Entertainment, inc. ©2005 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc, All Rights Reserved. ©2005 THO/JAKKS Pacific, LLC. Used under exclusive license by ТНО/ЗАКК$ Pacific, LLC. JAKKS Pacific and the JAKKS Pacific logo are trademarks of JAKKS Pacific, Inc. THQ and the THO fogo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THO Inc. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live logo, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license trom Microsoft. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners.

P^ ; i are yQu willing to take a leap of faith?

| Create and train your own Superstar. Develop his persona. Earn the

how WI II you chance to take on the biggest names at WrestleMania 21. Then, when you're ready to prove yourself to the world, create

be remem bered? your own championship and defend it online against

anyone, anywhere to determine how history will remember you.

www.thq.com

PlayStation.e

Reveal the unholy origins of the Mishima curse in the bonus action game, Tekken: Devil Within.

А completely rebuilt graphics engine delivers the most exquisite visuals yet to PlayStation*2.

How is Tekken” celebrating ten years of genre domination? With better graphics, more playable characters, all-new customization modes and over-the-top combos е MCA that will bring even the strongest fighters to their knees. Plus, a bonus action game, Hr ours ELLEN лік сб Tekken: Devil Within, reveals the secrets of Jin's past. Settle your differences on the with hundreds of caps, shades, costumes and other items. к š KK j PlayStation^2 computer entertainment system. DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

tekken5.namco.com

GIN FORCES AG; | NE. THE HORRORS OF HELL

PULSE POUNDING ACTION AND ovine sem

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©2005 Id Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. under license. DOOM and ID are registered trademarks of Id Software, Inc. in the U.S. Patent-and Trademark Office and/or some other countries. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Live Logos and the Xbox Logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

cover story

FROM RUSSIA

WITH LOVE

features

DEA fa

GAME INFARCER

Our yearly laugh-riot takes another jab

at your funny bone. Meet the new review crew, get caught up on the latest faux news,

and read about not-really upcoming titles,

Decades after leaving his trademark tuxedo and Walther PPK behind, Sean Connery finally returns to Her Majesty's secret service by reprising his legendary role as James Bond. Capturing the look and feel of Bond's early years, From Russia With

Love takes the gameplay that defined Electronic Arts' 2004 hit Everything or Nothing and moves it forward by taking a step

back in time.

departments

STAFF Read the team’s latest rants

GI SPY Silly pictures of our life and times

DEAR GI Your chance to fire back at us!

CONNECT Where news, talk, and technology collide

INTERVIEW Rob Garriott of NCsoft clues us in to the future of online enter- tainment and how big, exactly, MMOs are in Asia

10 GAME INFORMER

GEAR Geeky gadget stuff for the masses

OPINION Sega of America’s Ethan Einhorn talks about how public relations and the video game industry work together to educate the public

CALENDAR

| | іо ай

SOCOM 3 It's always been a huge PlayStation 2 multiplayer title, but the premiere Navy SEALs game hasn't really taken advantage of what their subject matter is truly capable of - until now. If Zipper Interactive has its way, the next super soldier title will feature а single-player experience robust enough to match its online play.

REVIEWS Game of the Month: God of War for PlayStation 2

CHARTS Retail Sales Data and the GI editors' Top 10 Games

SECRET ACCESS Codes, strategies, and passwords

Get hip to this month's happenings

PREVIEWS Next-gen titles are mixing it up

| with gems from this generation

and all are looking like "the next big thing"

CLASSIC GI Reliving gaming's greatest moments

GAME OVER The end...or is it?

GAME

Act of War - Direct Action .

Advent Rising

Arc the Lad: End of Darkness . Battlestations Midway

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Constantine

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AND THE VIDEO GAME ROLLER COASTER ` RIDES ON...

, ] ANDY McNAMARA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

It's a given that every holiday season in the wacky world of video games will be filled to the brim with some of the best gaming has to offer, but never in a million years would | have guessed that the beginning of 2005 would be this hot. And just when you think it couldn't get any better, it does.

It all started with Resident Evil 4 (which if you haven't gone out and played yet, you need to), but that was just the first salvo in a long line of impressive games that have hit this year - too many to list, in fact. This month continues the onslaught with God of War, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and the arrival of PSP just to name a few.

But the goal of this letter isn't to recall all the great things 2005 has brought. It's to remind you to make sure you get out there and enjoy it. One of the biggest knocks on our industry has always been that we ignore any month not related to holiday cheer, and we gamers need to make sure that we go out there and participate.

If we can prove to the game manufactur- ers that we want to game every day of any month in any year, it will ensure that we have great product year round, and not just during the last three months.

Next month, we will have a smorgasbord of PSP reviews and a slew of first looks at the products that will make the rest of this year as good as its start. Enjoy the issue.

Andy >>_andy@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Hombre Expertise: RPGs, Action/Platform, Driving, First-Person Shooters Interests: The Non-Stop Game-A-Thon That Is 2005, Collector's Editions, NASCAR Dislikes: The Randy Moss Trade, People On Forums Who Just Look At Scores Current Favorite Games: God Of War, World Of Warcraft, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Unreal Championship ІІ: The Liandri Conflict, Gran Turismo 4

12 GAME INFORMER

е Raging Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Fighting, Action/Platform, Strategy, Sports Interests: Battlestar Galactica (The Best Show On TV), Juiced By Jose Canseco (Perhaps The Most Important Literary Work Since Moby Dick), Meg: Primal Waters By Steve Alten, Hayao Miyazaki Films (Nausicaä, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) Dislikes: Sammy Sosa (Have Fun In Baltimore, Traitor!), The Fact That | Don't Blink While Playing СТА (My Eyes Have Crusted Over) Current Favorite Games: God Of War, Timesplitters Future Perfect, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Major League Baseball 2K5, Tekken 5, Gran Turismo 4

Matt >> matt@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Original Gamer Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Action/Platform, Action/

1 Adventure, Action/Sports Interests: Possible New Vikings Ownership (Resume - Shme- sume!), Minnesota's New Surprisingly Non-Sucky FM Rock Station The Current, Green Tea, Million Dollar Baby Dislikes: Saying Goodbye To Randy Moss, The Fact That The Current Has Apparently Never Heard A Boring Acoustic Song They Didn't Like (Electric Guitars Aren't Evil, Guys, And Neither Is Rap!), Not Having A PSP Current Favorite Games: MX Vs. ATV Unleashed, God Of War, Gyakuten Saiban, Midnight Club 5: DUB Edition

Kato >> kato@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Katana Expertise: Sports, Racing, Action/Adventure, Action/ Platform Interests: www.englishcut.com, Wendell Scott (Who's That? Google Him), Chavs (Morbidly Fascinating), | Am Kloot, Desperate Housewives, Philly Misery Dis- likes: Fanboys Of All Stripes, Matt's Feeling That He Should Own A Klaus Nomi Record, The Frito-Lay Chip Monopoly Current Favorite Games: Brothers In Arms: Road To Hill 30, Full Spectrum Warrior 2, God Of War, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition

Lisa >> lisa@gameinformer.com

Handle: La Game Nikita Expertise: Survival Horror, Adventure, RPGs, Action/Platform, Racing Interests: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Getting A PSP, Episode III And Clone Wars Toys, Andy Goldsworthy, The Current Dislikes: DVD Cases With Clips (I Swear, Bane Of My Existence), Music Ringtones, Exploding Home Hair Dye Current Favorite Games: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, Gran Turismo 4, Jade Empire, God Of War, The Sims 2 University, Resident Evil 4

Jeremy >> jeremy@gameinformer.com

Handle: Gamezilla Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Survival Horror, Action/Platform, Fighting, Strategy/RPGs Interests: Omeletarians And The Science Of Omeletology, Gaming Chainsaws, Fancy French Mustard, Antony And The Johnsons, Keeping My Crown As Reigning Oscar Samurai Dislikes: Movies With CG Dogs Or Babies, People Hatin’ On Jaws For NES, Adam, Defective DVDs Current Favorite Games: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Tekken 5, Project Snowblind, Mortal Kombat: Deception, Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, God Of War

Adam >> adam@gameinformer.com Handle: The Alpha Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Strategy, First-Person Shooters, Fighting Interests: My PC (It's So Fast!), Unseasonably Tolerable Weather, Apple Juice, Undead Space Zombie Ninjas, Owning Other Editors In Fighting Games Dislikes: People | Care wv About Leaving The Country For Two Years, L. Ron Hubbard, My Lack Of Certain Enzymes, V The Frequency With Which I Burn Popcorn Current Favorite Games: Tekken 5, World Of Warcraft, Act Of War: Direct Action, Freedom Force Vs. Whoever, Super Castlevania IV

JOE >> joe@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Real American Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Adventure, Strategy, Platform, Puzzle Interests: Francisco Scaramanga, wwwu.carolscookies.com, Crafting Lewd Tableaus With

$ Miller's Action Figures, Dagmar's Hijinx Dislikes: Nick Nack, Chamber Pots That Look

Like Soup Tureens, Skin Failure, Tara Reid's Cloven Hooves And “Science Face” Current Favorite Games: God Of War, From Russia With Love, The Sims 2 University, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing

Miller >> miller&gameinformer.com

Handle: The Once And Future Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Action/Adventure, Fighting, Platform, First-Person Shooters Interests: Goldendoodles, Transformers Alternators, The Overpowering Allure Of Cupcakes, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time Dislikes: How MTV Doesn't Play Music Anymore, Broken Water Heaters, Joe Touching My Toys Current Favorite Games: Jak 3, Gitaroo Man, Halo 2, World Of Warcraft, Timesplitters Future Perfect, Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, Freedom Force Vs. The Third Reich, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

UNLIMITED ENABLED

GAME INFORMER UNLIMITED |

When you see this logo on a game preview, review, or feature, you can learn more about it by heading to www.gameinformer.com and clicking on the Unlimited logo.

There are tons of other bonuses there (including movies, interviews, and screenshots) exclusively for Game Informer subscribers, so even if a game you like doesn't have the logo in the magazine, there is a good chance you can still learn more online.

GAMEINFORMER

APRIL 2005 Volume XV * Number 4 * Issue 144

PUBLISHER Cathy Preston

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andrew McNamara

EDITORS Executive Editor Andrew Reiner Senior Associate Editor Matt Helgeson Associate Editors Matthew Kato * Lisa Mason є Jeremy Zoss Adam Biessener • Joe Juba • Matt Miller Mascot Arthur

PRODUCTION Art Director Thomas Blustin Production Director Curtis Fung Production Assistant Rachel Nimerfroh CONTRIBUTORS

Photography Sara Kerver

GAME INFORMER ONLINE

Managing Online Editor Billy Berghammer Associate Online Editor Chris Cook

ADVERTISING SALES SAN FRANCISCO Doug Faust Vice President Advertising Sales (650) 728.5647 * Fax: (650) 7285648 doug@gameinformer.com

MINNEAPOLIS Rob Borm Director of Marketing and Midwest/East Coast Sales Manager (612) 486-6155 * Fax: (612) 486-6101 rob@gameinformer.com LOS ANGELES Mare Minasian Southwest Regional Sales Manager (818) 9919923 Fax: (818) 991-9923 marcégameinformer.com

EAST COAST. Suzanne Lang East Coast Consumer Sales Director (718) 832-5575 • Fax: (718) 832.5569 suzanne@gameinformer.com MINNEAPOLIS Amy Amold Advertising Coordinator and Online Sales (612) 4866154 * Fax: (612) 4866101 amy@gameinformer.com

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For change of address or subscription inquiry ONLY: Toll Free: 1 (866) 844-GAME (4263)

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Circulation Manager Paul Anderson * (612) 4866104 paul@gameinformer.com

Information Systems Manager Paul Hedgpeth paulhedgpeth@gameinformer.com

Manufactured and printed in the United States of America The Editor welcomes company product information for ай video games. Such materials should be addressed to: Editor, Game Informer® Magazine, 724 North First St, 4th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned or acknowledged. Entire contents copyright 2004. Game informer® Magazine. All rights reserved; reproduction іп whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Game Informer is a trademark of GameStop, Inc. Products named in these pages are trade names, or trademarks, of their respective companies. PUBLISHER LIABILITY FOR ERROR The publisher shall not be liable for sight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher's liability for other errors or ‘omissions in connection with an advertisement is limited to republication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. INDEMNIFICATION The advertiser andlor Advertising Agency agrees to defend and indemnity the publisher against any and ай iabilty, loss, or expense arising from claims of libel, unfair competition, unfair trade practices, infringement of trademarks, copyrights, trade names, patents, or proprietary rights or violation of rights of privacy, resulting from the publication ої the Advertiser's statement.

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Candid Photos From The Seedy Underbelly Of The Video Game Industry

| orous life like Sheila ой Cook, Matt Helgeson, and Andy McNamara convene | with the God of Comics: Stan Lee. He is

a million times cooler than you will ever

М GAME INFORMER

This is the Tip of ec "America, 5 Military EU

Cr

C to Fight — а US PSS on the front Iis. of urban combat in Beirut.

Lead a Ч-тап fire team that executes authentic Marine tactics. Moue aggressiuely, knouing your team gives you 360-degree security, and devastate your enemies with precise air and mortar attacks. Experience a first-person shooter so realistic, the Marines use it as a training tool.

Play single-player, 4-man co-op, or go

head-to-head in the Fire Team Arena. сіншегпомиИяАТ

FIRST TOF

THE REAL-LIFE COMBAT EXPERIENCES OF THE PROUD FEW.

| — BASED ON A TRAINING ` ' FOH THE UNITED

Live Gum ATOMIC ®© DESTINEER GAMES

Atomic Games, Inc. and is used under license, 2K Games, the 2k Games logo, Take-Two Interactive Software and the A Take? Co States and other countries. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. Mac and Macintosh are registered trademarks of

NEITHER THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS NOR ANY OTHER COMPONENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HAS APPROVED, ENDORSED, OR AUTHORIZED THIS PRODUCT

G ! The Readers Strike Back

POWER OVERWHELMING

| am alarmed by the increasing number of perfect tens you're giving out lately. When I first subscribed to this magazine | never saw a ten awarded and never expected to see one. The ten was just something to compare the other scores to. Now it seems like tens are being given out like candy. All the games you bestowed tens upon were admittedly awesome games, but they had their flaws. The sanctity of the almighty ten should be preserved. There were great games before you guys started handing out this опсе-гаге score - are they really that much better now? Anonymous Via aol.com

In a word, yes. In Game Informer's history, we have awarded only eleven games the prestigious 10 score (including this month's God of War). The reason we have a ten- point scale is so that we can use it; the 10 was not created to be an unattainable ideal by which games are judged. The fact that five of our eleven top scor- ers have been in the past several months is not a sign that we have lowered our standards. It is a sign that these developers independently redefined their respective genres, and it doesn't make sense to penalize that accomplishment because of the prox- imity of their titles” release dates. Or, if you prefer scientific evidence, according to a non-bogus study by the Institute of Totally Real Science, game devel- opers recently managed to distill pure Awesomium, and began injecting it into their games. The resulting crop of genetically modified supergames are stron- ger, faster, and guaranteed to make you more attrac- tive to the opposite sex...if you'd just comb those gummi bears out of your hair.

BEEKEEPERS BUZZ BACK

7 W Institute scientists distill (є Awesomium in the lab

| was surprised that you didn't write about the “I Love Bees" phenomenon in your Year in Review feature. | am by no means а Halo fanboy, but | think ilovebees.com was more important to gaming history than some of the other things you mentioned (like Tecmo's love pillow). Aniz Ansari Via gmail.com

How could you not mention “I Love Bees” when reviewing the year's important gaming events? The countdown left message boards all across the internet packed with threads and speculation, allowing for a new level of hype that went beyond anything ranting fanboys and aggressive marketing could have provided. Isn't that the least bit noteworthy? Matthew Grooms Via email

= I Love Bees, the document-decoding, payphone- answering web game that sprang up around Halo 2, actually belongs to a unique genre known as Alternate Reality Gaming. While it was used primar-

ily as a marketing tool for Halo 2, ILB's ties to our 2004 Game of the Year were somewhat tenuous. In fact, it wasn't even the first time an ARG had been used for promotional purposes; in 2001 a game called The Beast drew players into the universe of Steven Spielburg's film Al. Though we recognize that ILB captured the hearts of many, when it came down to selecting events for those months in our Year in Review, we decided that news headlines took prece- dence over marketing ploys. Don't worry - we got plenty of angry let- ters about our omission of the EA/Campbell's Soup "Warm and Chunky Games" joint ad cam- paign, too.

THE U.S. IS NOT ENOUGH

1 recently learned that not all games are created equal — some interesting titles never make it Stateside and only see a Japanese release. Although I сап find places to buy these games, | can't use them

on my North American Р52. | can understand that some games only have a market in certain parts of the world, but as a consumer, shouldn't | have the right to purchase and use the software privately without modifying my console?

Is it illegal to order/own imported titles, even if it has no American equivalent?

T. Garnett Via e-mail

s Ah, America's love affair with the hentai dating sim continues. As a consumer, you do have the right to spend your money as you see fit, but developers also have the right to region-encode their games to

COOLER THAN THOU

| love your magazine, but unfortunately it has come to my attention that it will not fit in a standard-sized

cooler. | would appreciate it if in upcoming issues, you could trim about half an inch off either the top or bot- tom. Thanks!

Ben Sobotka Via yahoo.com

= Is there anything worse than reaching into the cooler at a picnic to grab yourself a cold, frosty Game Informer only to find the pages misshapen and crumpled? It's

every gamer's worst nightmare. Unfortunately, the cooler

manufacturing fatcats have a crippling influence with cer-

tain special interest groups, who in turn prevent us from modifying our magazine size. Thankfully, there are other options; you will find that our magazine fits snugly in

several other oversized unconventional containers such as canoes, water softeners, and Kirstie Alley's underdrawers.

Just grab an issue and start cramming!

cut down on software piracy. If you want to avoid the murky waters of console modification, the best solution is to import a Japanese system along with any quirky overseas-only titles you desire (which is entirely legal). Just jump online and visit your favor- ite Japanese import site to get the ball rolling, but be warned that it runs a bit more expensive than just making a stop at the mall. Though importing a console is currently the most reliable way to play games that don’t make it to the U.S., the good news is that the regional encoding convention may be

on its way out. After all, PSP games are region free, which will allow Japanese and American gamers to swap UMDs and play them on the exact same hard- ware. The process may sound unsanitary, but trust us, it's a good thing.

WAVE OF THE FUTURE

| need to know if there is there ever going to be another sequel to Harmonix's games Frequency and Amplitude. Amplitude stands as one of the greatest games l've ever played - I've beaten it on every difficulty multiple times. So, do you guys know anything about a third Frequency game? I realize that the first two didn't sell as well as expected, but sometimes developers look beyond this (which explains the hundreds of Army Men games), and I'm hoping that's the case here.

John Via aol.com

While these unique rhythm games are great alter- natives to more dignity-compromising experiences like DDR and EyeToy: Groove, there's some question as to whether we'll ever see a sequel. As early as last year, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos claimed that there were no plans to produce another game in this often underrated series. However, that was before the world knew of the media capabilities of the new PSP. While the series may be done on the PS2, imagine the possibilities on Sony's new handheld. АП that great music and gameplay could go with you on the road. You could switch to a soundtrack mode and listen to your unlocked tunes while sitting on that long subway commute. And wouldn't it be cool if you could upload

(Actual reader photo)

Send your comments to Game Informer. Snail Mail: Game Informer Magazine е Attn: Dear GI е 724 North First St., 4th Floor е Minneapolis, MN 55401 Email: deargi@gameinformer.com

16 САМЕ INFORMER

Stealth with a sexy twist xen

COULDN'T BE DONE.

COMING SOON... X JL Ріаубгагіоп с Pe

xeox co СА

© Hip Interactive Corp . 2005. Each of STOLEN, HIP GAMES, HIP and HIP design are trade marks of Hip Interactive Corp.. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S, and! or other countries. Alienware, the Alienware logo are registerec trademarks or trademarks of Alienware Corporation. АЙ other trademarks are properties of thelr respective owners

your own songs and have the game turn them into aem playable levels? Not that we've heard anything defi- ú 3 ү nite, but don't go plugging in your requiem remix of T

Freezepop's "Super Sprode" just yet. Enter the Game Informer Envelope Art Contest. All you need to do is draw, paint,

Gl GOES TO THE MOVIES: PART lil scratch, spit, or carve the best dam envelope art you can

What is your professional opinion of Uwe Boll's lat- think of and send it to us.

est movie, Alone in the Dark? Please tell me he hasn't Please include your name,

befouled another one of my favorite franchises! phone number, and retum

у address on the back of the Sara Bradley envelope. If you're the monthly Via yahoo.com winner, we'll feature your work

in Gl and you'll receive a video WE game prize from the Game

s Whether you want to call it selfless, hard-nosed informer vault

journalism or cognitive malfunction, Jeremy and Joe А?

braved incredulous ticket-takers and an empty the- ae inerti

ater to bring you this assessment of the film. Envelope Art Contest 724 st St. М, 4th Floor Mpls, MN 55401

Jeremy: / only crapped blood for two hours after this movie, as opposed to four with House of the Dead. So / guess it's twice as good.

Joe: I wish І had seen House of the Dead so І could say that this monstrous sink-hole is better than something. Right now, 1 cannot make that assertion.

Jeremy: From now оп, I'm going to forget І saw this movie, and pretend 1 spent that time watch- ing nitro-burning funnycars at the monster truck rally. | paid for the whole seat, but 1 only needed the edge!

Joe: / tried that, but now I can only picture Truckasaurus making out with Christian Slater. Which is still better, since a diesel-fueled Robocar is a better actor than Tara Reid.

SURGICAL PRECISION

| am a 25-year old postgraduate specializing in medicine, and l believe | have set a new world record in Mario Party 6. | have been hard at work perfecting my technique in the minigame Full Tilt, and recently set an unbeatable record of 9.16 seconds. | know some people refer to Mario Party as a "baby game," but | am here to say that it definitely is not. It is true that anyone can play it, but it takes true skill to succeed. I challenge anyone to beat Full Tilt faster than me! Lawrence Yang Hicksville, NY

STEVEN VILLAGRANA Spidey Scrabble: The webslinger scores seven points for "Dips"

BILLY BROOKS The new "Slim Xbox" will be compact enough to fit in your trunk

s Ladies and gentlemen, we have just had a rare glimpse into the future of medicine:

Dr. Plau: Wave "

ausible: / need 5 mg of Mario Party and a bird, stat!

e: You mean scalpel, sir?

t. P: Nope. Now, hook up these component cables to the vital signs monitor.

Nurse: Um, we need that to keep this patient alive. Dr. P: Can he beat ту time in Full ТІН? [sigh] His records don't contain that information.

)r. P: Of course he can't! No one can! Now, — " au s — what's - Ше уу stuff? JEAN PIERRE ALBRIGHT DAN BIESEL SAKINAH STOKES Е З Before his big video game break, Sonic had mod- Nick Scryer telekinetically increas- Final Fantasy goes Hot erate success touring with Quiet Riot es sinus pressure to fatal levels Topic goth

18 GAME INFORMER

THE SWOR

Explore and conquer over 50 areas, including thrill-filled, non-linear side quests. —

Help your friends—or challenge them in the Arena. Up to 4-player action online or off with Multitap.

Q ; Š N E PlayStation.2 k 5$

ж 3 у E б 2 у RETURN TO ARMS H À “ A Ж а RW j ET ў, У = 0 Choose from 7 races and 7 classes, with updated hi ^ й weapons, armor, spells, skills and levels. ү "P ssl ^.

Pick your side, choose your deadliest arms, then slay your way to victory in Champions: Return to Arms —the powerful sequel to the must-have action-RPG

RETURN TO ARMS of 2004, Champions of Norrath: Rediscover all the action-packed, hack ^n' slash fun with up to 100 hours of gameplay per character, unlimited battles, deadly missions, horrific creatures and stunning environments.

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Blood and Gore olence

ESRB CONTENT RATING ТТТ 8 " epum o ЙУ studios

Game ехрегіе! change during online play. > ENTERTAINMENT

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SONY ONLINE

© 2004 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Champions: Return to Arms and Champions of Norrath are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. SOE and the SOE logo are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment Inc. "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. Online play requires internet connection, Network Adaptor (for PlayStation 2) and Memory Card (8MB){for PlayStation 2Xeach sold separately). The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. А! other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

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GAME INFORMER ANALYZES THE FACTS AND FICTION OF XENON, PLAYSTATION 3; AND NINTENDO'S REVOLUTION

here is just something so seductive about new hard- ware. The lure of gaming possibilities not yet realized or graphic wonders unseen are a draw that few gamers can ignore.

Game Informer is no different. The moment new hardware was in the hands of developers, we were there to see all we could see and gather every fact we could learn. And now, just two months shy of E3 2005 where all will be revealed, we are ready to tell you what we know.

The pieces on the chessboard are famil- iar — Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo — each

20 САМЕ INFORMER

with its own vision of the future of console entertainment.

As of press time, none of the players have made concrete announcements as to the true features and technical power of their respective systems, namely Microsoft's Xenon, Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 5, and Nintendo's Revolution. But the pieces are in motion. Developers are talking, and system specifications are being leaked almost daily.

Oddly enough, even though Microsoft was the first to get kits into developers hands, Sony Computer Entertainment drew first blood when engineers from Sony,

IBM, and Toshiba held a press conference

on February 7 to publicly discuss the Cell processor.

Sony wowed the crowd with tech specs that had Cell docking in at speeds greater than 4GHz. Some even suggested that the chip could run as fast as 4.6GHz. Compared to Intel's Pentium PC processors, the variation of Cell shown runs considerably faster than Intel's premier Pentium single- core design chip that currently tops out at 3.8GHz. This benchmark is even more awe-inspiring when compared to the current PlayStation 2 or Xbox CPUs, which run at 300MHz and 733MHz respectively.

While the clock speed of Cell is impres- Sive, it isn't always the best measure of CPU

Breaking News, Views, And Technology From The Cutting Edge Of Gaming

We first broke Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for next-generation consoles back in October 2004, and the game keeps looking better and better each time we see it

performance. Since Cell offers a multi-core design with a main processor capable of two operations per cycle - and eight other cores that can compute a single operation per суде — Cell is able to crunch ten operations per cycle, or in excess of 256 billion floating- point operations per second (or GFLOPS).

N'Gai Croal, technology editor at Newsweek, put it simply, “[Taking this data into account] a single-core Intel CPU would be 10 times less powerful than a Cell chip, to give an example" And that's not even tak- ing into account the Cell's clock speed.

However, it is important to note that the version of Cell shown emitted a fair amount of heat, so there are numerous logistical

issues (including cost and performance) that Sony will have to take into consideration when determining which iteration of the Cell processor finds its way into the PlayStation 3. In fact, one of the interesting aspects of Cell is that it is a scalable platform. Sony could increase or decrease the number of computing cores found in the final processor ict for PlayStation 3, which in У turn would reduce ће num- ber of operations per second the machine could compute, or increase it. V Game Informer has $

learned that sometime in late March, Sony will { hold a press conference | in Japan to further discuss | | the specifics of which ver- sion of Cell will find its way into the unit (check Game Informer Online for the lat- | ү

|

i

est updates). Technology demos created in conjunc- tion with a number of its partners, including NVIDIA (which is creating the GPU for PS3), will also make an appearance at this showing.

Which leaves us wonder- ing, why exactly is Sony — which isn’t expected to launch PS3 until sometime in 2006 — delivering more details on its hardware than Microsoft, despite the fact that Xbox 2 is scheduled to hit in late 2005?

To answer that question, we have to look at where Microsoft is with the next Xbox hardware.

Peter Moore, corporate vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing at Microsoft, sends his message loud and clear. “Our view is to talk about things when they are ready. Our competitor loves to talk about things, quite frankly, before they are ready. And in some instances, not having the correct amount of substance — in my estimation — behind their announce-

ments. One of the things that we want is to |

be very, very clear that when we do start talking in concrete terms...that we have something of substance that is based upon fact, credibility, and authenticity

in the market place and is not built just to drive hype”

Microsoft may not be talking, but numer- ous publishers and developers are openly discussing the hardware, and a landslide of details are finding their way into the open. The most interesting and perhaps telling is the name of the Xbox successor, the Xbox 360 — which at press time is planned as the Xenon project's official title, though don't be sur- prised if this changes before launch. The name, while slightly awkward to our ears, points to Microsoft's new direction in the console space.