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What we hope to see in 2007

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With a new year comes new hope and a new opportunity to have our dreams crushed.

Stefan —
Saturn Games on the Virtual Console: I know, there are significant disk space problems – seeing as a single game could use up the entire internal memory of the Wii. But if a way can be found, I’m holding out hope for Shining Force III and a NiGHTS re-release with a _real_ 3D Controller.

Panzer Dragoon Saga with motion sensing controls Second coming of Christ

Sony opening the PS3 Graphics hardware to Linux users: This is another one that’s not likely to happen. And by not likely, I mean no way in hell. Allowing direct access to the graphics chipset would essentially let anyone circumvent the price of their dev kit – and would deprive them of licensing fees for game sales. →  God of War: Readnarok

HD-DVD is the Bob-omb!

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A few weeks ago, Joystiq ran an article that linked to an in-store flyer with an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive priced for only $99. The actual price is $200. That’s a steal if I ever saw one. In my warped little mind, I couldn’t afford not to buy it.

So, with a little underhanded deviousness, I lied my way into getting the HD-DVD drive for half the MSRP. Obviously I giggled like a little school girl the moment I walked out of the store. But was it still worth it?

First off, the drive is very easy to setup. You just connect it to the 360 through a USB cable. You then update the 360 with the driver that comes with it. →  Katamari Damaread

Can gaming magazines survive?

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Super corporation Ziff Davis has seen better days. Both Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1Up are being sold because they have been losing money, which the ZD accountants claim is bad for business. Forget that 1Up is also failing for a moment and think about the printed gaming magazine. Has the internet replaced the need for EGM and Game Informer much like literacy replaced the need for PSM?

It’s almost hard to believe that at one time EGM was popular enough to sell two magazines.

Once upon a time, game mags were the only place to get video game news. The concept of waiting for your mailman to bring you breaking news is comical today; speed of communication is the internet’s forte. →  Videolamer does what IGNotDoes.

Review – Onimusha Warlords

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Back where my folks live in Pennsylvania, local cable picks up Channel 63 of New Jersey. Despite being a local, American owned station, Channel 63 fills all of its time slots with shows and commercials from Japan and Korea. This, of course, means that at any given hour you can find all kinds of ridiculous Samurai drama.

These shows are always the same; the men are loud and gruff, the women soft and gentle. The costumes are cheap, flamboyant, or in the case in which a demon is present, both (this is most of the time). The plots are ridiculous, with characters running around in the most awkward and confused ways regardless of what is going on. And every episode of Samurai drama ends with coming attractions that are preceded by bold blocks of kanji with flames in the background. →  Hot Shots Post 3

Trace Memory: Worth the Effort

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After reading some of the reviews for Cing’s DS adventure game, I was a little hesitant about picking it up. I love adventure games, but the puzzles were cited as being a pain in the ass. So, I did the next best thing. I put it on my GameFly Game Q.

Having finished it, I’ve to come to the realization that reviewers have no idea what makes a game good. This was a great adventure game, and I easily recommend trying it. It is very short (it only took me 5 hours to beat), but for the low price of $15 at GameStop, you make out on the deal.

I won’t divulge any of the story, only because that’s the main reason for playing adventure games, and I won’t be the bad guy and spoil it for you. →  I regret learning to read.

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 1.5.07

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Crappy developer buys crappy developer
Traveler’s Tales, the awesome company behind such classics as Sonic 3D Blast, Crash Twinsanity and Muppet Race Mania has purchased Embryonic Studios, which is responsible for the all time great Looney Toons: Back in Action. Traveler’s Tales aren’t too bad, really, I’m just bitter over their multiple attempts at killing excellent franchises (Super Monkey Ball Adventure came from these guys).

I’d rather see a headline that reads, “Boring studios who make predominantly licensed crap go out of business due to the general public’s lack of interest in Disney for the past decade.” It’s always possible these companies are consolidating due to a shrinking market, much like the Great Abacus Consolidation of 1174.

Rare founders leave their company
The Stamper brothers, reportedly media shy partly due to their ugliness, have left Rare. →  Are you ready for some readball?

2007 Predictions With Some Sugar on Top

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2006 has come and gone, and it was one hell of a year. Nintendo raked in the dough like never before with the Wii and DS, Sony released the PS3 to somewhat lukewarm reviews, and the 360 started to come into its own with some stellar software. So what about 2007? What major stories are we going to be reporting this time?

For Nintendo, 2007 is going to be a hugely defining year. If the Wii can keep the momentum going, then it can truly be a comeback story. Wii Sports has done a great job at making the Wii an amazing experience, and it will probably keep the Wii’s popularity up for awhile.

Come this summer, however, and gamers are going to be asking for more. →  Onimusha 2: Samuread’s Destiny

Review – Trauma Center: Second Opinion

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After their small splash in the DS world with last year’s Under the Knife, Atlus has rolled out the operating table once again with Wii’s Trauma Center: Second Opinion. Atlus showed us a great way to use the touch-screened handheld with Under the Knife, but have they done the same for the Wii and its innovative wii-mote? Even without a medical license, I can easily prescribe Second Opinion.

If you’ve ever played the board game Operation, then you have a small inkling of what to expect from Trauma Center. You play as Derek Stiles, a rookie doctor that has just finished his residency at Hope Hospital, in fictitious Angeles Bay. At the beginning of the game, Derek acts a little lazy when dealing with the other doctors. →  The fuck does Cuno care about reading?

Rumor Rounds: PSP2 w/ HDD?

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This one comes from a recent Samsung convention, revealing some sort of memory unit for the device, either designed for the existing unit or a future revision. Even though it would be awesome to have an HDD, I’m inclined to think that it really won’t save the PSP.

Technically, the PSP isn’t a bad system. It has all the pieces to make it a great machine, but Sony has done a horrible job making it useful.

First, regarding its multimedia capabilities, you can’t really watch anything unless it’s been properly converted. They gave us the Media Manager (which isn’t free, by the way), and the online community has given us PSP Video 9, the ultimate converter for the PSP. But if you want to watch video on the PSP, you have to learn about it first. →  This better not be as bad as everything else here.

Wii Sells Like Wii-Cakes

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In little over a month, the Nintendo Wii has sold over 3.19 million units worldwide, according to VG Charts.org. For any console, that is a fantastic number, and Nintendo is deservedly riding on clouds lined with freshly printed Benjamins right now.

But how could this have happened? I mean, Nintendo is supposed to be dead last in the home console market, right? How can a company become so popular after being the most underrated console maker in the last generation? Am I taking crazy pills or something?

I guess the Wii really is all that and a bag of potato chips. We have reports that moms and sisters have been getting into the action, and people are getting so excited that they’re shattering their TV’s to show how excited they are. →  In all ages, hypocrites, called producers, have put crowns upon the heads of thieves, called publishers.