Bing Gordon is the executive vice president of marketing at Electronic Arts and he is apparently "surprised" by the success of Nintendo's N64 at Christmas. Surprised or not, he has reaffirmed EA's commitment to developing almost exclusively for CD (PlayStation and Saturn) and PC formats.
Although EA will release FIFA for N64 later this year, Bing Gordon was quick to point out that CD was to remain its main format, saying, "We're pretty strongly in the camp that low manufacturing cost in media is important to the overall growth of interactive entertainment," Gordon said. "I doubt we'll ever ship as many products for the Nintendo 64 in any year as we do on the PC or the Sony PlayStation".
Bing Gordon so announced the expansion of the new Seattle-based EA was likely to become "one of the top five worldwide centers of interactive entertainment creativity," along with Japan, Britain, northern California and possibly Los Angeles."
2/28/97
The long awaited Macross Digital Missions VF-X from Bandai will be hitting Japanese store shelves tomorrow.
Macross, a title based on the whole Macross anime continuity will place players in all sorts of flying convertible mechs ranging from the old Valkyries to the stealthy VF-21. The game was originally scheduled to be released last April, but problems with the quality of the gameplay arose and the game underwent a major transformation.
Upgrade may be more than just a rumor. There has been much speculation online recently about the PlayStation C, a rumored new version of the current machine.
The rumored PlayStation C will not be so much of a "brand new" machine, as it will an upgrade. It will have 4 megs of RAM, upgraded from the current 2, and will most likely have a 4X CD-ROM. It is unknown whether the housing will be any different, but it is speculated that it will look just like the current one.
It was not made clear when the model C would be released, or whether there would be a separate add-on for the current model.
2/28/97
Rumors are rumors...but if you ask me..i think Nintendo should release 64DD in 1998 with a built-in modem and, possibly, a Zelda expansion disk (with the cart hitting retail stores separately this fall) for around $150. By then, the company will have had more time to solidify its software lineup and put some kind of network in place. Games that were announced were. Sim City, Mario RPG , Mario Paint 64, Pocket Monsters, Fire Emblem and, of course Mother 3. A possible all-in-one N64/64DD combo unit should follow soon after. Other than that Nintendo isn't going to make it with the Games it has announced for the DD64. What does this have to do with news....well its something you should know
Want to know about upcoming imports from Square...here they are. Dates for the US are unknown..but you know Sony. I'm sure maybe translations are being done already.
Bushido Blade: 3/14
Final Fantasy IV: 3/21 (only 4,800 yen)
Tobal 2: 4/25
Final Fantasy Tactics: 5/23
SaGa Frontier: 7/11 Click for Pic
Wild Arms, Sony's next major RPG, will be hitting stores on May 15. What makes Wild Arms so special?
Besides possessing a strong storyline and great music, this RPG has one hell of a cool looking battle system. Full
of camera shifts and impressive spells and effects, these polygonal battles are only visually surpassed by those
found in Final Fantasy VII. In fact, if you've never seen FFVII in motion, prepare to be quite stimulated...
Wild 9 Pic
2/28/97
It seems the entire Ocean team has been working hard on this title so that they can have it out no later than the third quarter. The game will make its debut at this years E3 show in June
On another note, N64 owners should be happy to hear that Ocean has also picked up another title for release in the fourth quarter. Ocean isn't willing to divulge the title of the game, but it isn't being developed internally.
Robotech: Crystal Dreams for the Nintendo 64 has been in development for quite some time. Well today, GameTek proudly announced that the game is coming along nicely and that they are looking for a fall release. GameTek has been moving this title around, but at the moment no contracts have been signed, and GameTek plans to finish the game before it is sold to whoever will publish the title.
Click here for A more detailed look at Robotech 64
The game that's been in the works for nearly three years will finally be making its way to the Saturn and Playstation platforms on April 25th. The Samurai Shodown RPG is a mixture of the traditional Japanese RPG and Samurai Shodown fighting action. The Saturn version will be sold in two versions: either with the RAM Cart or without it. Japanese Samurai Shodown RPG Preview
Namco's Soul Blade has been shipped to retailers and should be available this evening or tomorrow. Selected retailers will
have limited edition collector's cards available with purchase. Each card features artwork and six moves for each character.
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Capcom has released their Updated release schedulle. I mentioned earlier of a sample. This is more of what Capcom has confirmed.
PlayStation
Mega Man 8 - 3/12/97
Buster Bros - 4/15/97
Marvel Super Heroes - June '97
Mega Man X4 - June '97
Street Fighter Fighter Collection - June '97
Dungeons & Dragons Arcade Collection - August '97
Mega Man Battle & Chase - 2nd Quarter
Breath of Fire 3 -3rd Quarter
Resident Evil 2 - 4th Quarter
Mega Man Neo - 4th Quarter
X-Men VS Street Fighter - 4th Quarter (I have NO Idea HOW This will work on PSX)
Darkstalkers 3 - 4th Quarter
Saturn
Mega Man 8 - 3/12/97
Buster Brothers - March '97
Mega Man X4 - June '97
Street Fighter Collection - June '97
Marvel Super Heroes - June '97 (wasn't this game not happening till late 97)
Resident Evil - August '97
Dungeons & Dragons Arcade Collection - August '97
Resident Evil 2 - 4th Quarter
X-Men VS Street Fighter - 4th Quarter
Darkstalkers 3 - 4th quarter
No word on N64 Titles although rumor was that DarkStalkers was to appear on a Cart. And SF3 is STILL up in the air for any system at this time.
The game is just like it was on the PlayStation, but it is in high res and includes portions and details in the game that have have been originally removed (the head falls off of a corpse at the end of a certain FMV clip where in the PlayStation version it had been cut).
As a port it is superior to the PlayStation version graphically, but is in all other respects nearly identical.
More and more games are starting to appear on PC. Could the fact that PC's are catching up to Consoles in terms of power. PC's have to handle quite a lot before even atempting to run a game. Now 200mhz even 300mhz PC's are appearing. I'll keep my Console systems for games and my PC for work.
2/26/97
Sega Soft's Scud: The Disposable Assassin has once again been delayed. Originally, Sega Soft intended for this product to be released last November, but before long an announcement was made stating that Scud's release date had been pushed back to February. This was all well and good since the game wasn't done yet. Then, in early February, Sega Soft once again bumped up the release date, this time announcing a late March release. At the moment, that appeared to be the last delay, but once again there is yet another date.
The time frame to remember now is the first week of April. The game is completely finished, and the delay occurs in the marketing, promotions, and advertising department of Sega Soft. Starting in a couple of weeks we should start to hear radio promos being hyped by a "huge" celebrity, store promotions featuring Scud stuff, and cards coming in the mail to everyone one on Sega Soft's mailing list announcing the release of Scud with the possibility of a Scud contest on this card. Sega Soft sources have confirmed that the game "will" ship and be in stores the first week of April.
If you don't know about Scud: The Disposable Assassin already. Its a Very popular comic book and rumor has it that a movie would be directed by Oliver Stone. More and More about Scud: The Disposable Assassin, will pop up in the weeks to come.
Sega has announced that the release date of the US version of Saturn Bomberman will be pushed back to Fall '97. It was previously sheduled to be released this April.
You can expect these titles soon.
March:
Scorcher - End of Feb
Summer '97:
Manx TT
Quake - Good chance of being NetLinkable
Duke Nukem 3D - Will be Saturn's first NetLinkable and will be on Saturn as a First platform
Lost World - The Jurassic Park II game (Was only thought on PSX)
Activision has obtained the distribution rights for Hexen II. This is a big change from previous Id title distribution, which was previously handled by GT Interactive. Although GTI was thinking on having others publish some titles due to finiancial reasons.
Hexen II will utilize the QUAKE engine, which uses full 3D environments, fluid 3D movement with look up, look down, and swimming abilities. There are now four character classes (Paladin, Crusader, Necromancer, and Assassin), each with five weapons, which can be enhanced using the "Tome of Power." Oooh. Look for Hexin II for PSX and Saturn.
According to sources close to Capcom of Japan, Darkstalkers 3 or Vampire Hunter 3 will be hitting the N64 later this year in cartridge format, instead of the DD format. Capcom will be unveiling Dalkstalkers 3 for the N64 at this year's E3. ANd I'll be there to report it.
In other 64DD News. Super Mario 64DD is now going into developement. Super Mario 64DD will feature multiple control characters when it arrives in 1998. That though is about as far as Nintendo will go when it comes to dishing out the information.
Other games on the list include Sim City, Mario RPG , Mario Paint 64, Pocket Monsters, Fire Emblem and, of course Mother 3. The 64DD is not expected to make an appearance in the US until late next year. Another Possible E3 showing.
2/25/97
Lovers of Warp's D should be excited about the forthcoming stateside release of Atlus' FMV game Lunacy for the Saturn.
In Lunacy, you control the traveler, Fred, a man who has no memory and an odd crescent tattoo on his forehead. Your goal is to find the City of Moons and regain your memory.
Like D, you have limited control over the on screen action, but are nicely compensated by a wonderfully atmospheric environment. The world is nicely rendered and lit, with the first disc taking place in a lovely amber dusk. From the environment to the supremely excellent music score, Lunacy is dripping with atmosphere.
Y's Eternal, the latest installment in what many consider one of the greatest series ever made, was just announced by Falcom. Unfortunately, it was announced as a Win95 title on the Japanese NEC PC98 series. That's right, it's coming for a platform most people wouldn't associate with games. And although there is a chance Y's Eternal could be ported to a console system, it currently seems unlikely.
Street Fighter III, the game many of us have been waiting years to play, finally has a Japanese arcade release date. February 28. That's right, in less than a week arcades across Japan will have Capcom's latest fighter in stock. Why does this matter to us? Within a few days of the Japanese release date, you can expect to see import versions popping up in arcades across America. In fact, the Southeast Asian version has been available for nearly a week.
While Capcom has yet to comment on an official release date, the American Street Fighter III arcade machine should be out sometime in March.
Earlier this week Nintendo revised their list of upcoming 64DD titles, and mentioned details about one of the newly announced games. Mario 64DD is now on the list, and it's been revealed that the game will feature multiple controllable characters. Other titles on the list include Zelda 64DD (rumored to include a town building mode, and other elements that won't be in the unconfirmed cart version), Mother 3 (we'll have new shots next week!), Mario RPG 2, Fire Emblem 64, Pocket Monsters 64, Mario Paint 64, and Sim City 64.
Of course, most of these games won't see the light of day for at least a year. Mother 3 is currently one of the 64DD launch titles, and it's not expected until December/January.
Square has finally announced an exact release date for Tobal 2, and it should now hit store shelves in Japan on April 25.
