Busy Gamer News

3DRealms has been a laughingstock for years, largely based on its record-setting delays for Duke Nukem Forever - first announced in 1997. Now it's showing an inability to grasp the concepts of fan service and viral marketing by shutting down an innocuous mod developer hoping to port 1996's Duke Nukem 3D shareware edition to the Half-Life 2 Source engine. That's right, the mod only featured free, publicly playable levels - albeit with greatly improved graphics. It might have made a nice ad for the next Duke Nukem game, bringing in a new generation of fans. Perhaps 3DRealms was concerned it would outshine its eventual sequel, rumored to be making an appearance at E3 in May...

After numerous delays, Gran Turismo 4 will be released on Feb. 22. The game will include 700+ vehicles, 50+ courses and 200+ championship races in career mode. There's also a new Photo mode but, alas, online racing remains cut...

Bioware's long-awaited followup to the original KOTOR is Jade Empire, a role-playing fighter due to hit stores on April 15. Published by Microsoft, it keeps with their recent tradition of offering spruced-up limited editions. This one is priced the same as the regular retail version ($50) but includes a bonus character, Monk Zeng, complete with his own fighting style - plus the obligatory making-of DVD...

Sony thinks it's found a way to have its cake (a low price point) and eat it too (or at least a bigger chunk of your wallet). The PlayStation Portable (PSP), rumored to be around $200, has been priced at $249.99 for a PSP Value Pack - with no system-only option in sight. The package does include a 32MB memory stick, headphones with remote control plus a case, cleaning cloth and the usual battery pack and AC adaptor. There will also be a non-interactive movie/music/game demo disc and, for the first million sold, a copy of the Sony Pictures movie Spider-Man 2 for PSP. To date, most retailers taking preorders have only offered multiple game bundles, similar to the last round of console launches, pricing it up to $400. We'll see what actually happens when the PSP launches on Thursday, March 24, but gamers wanting a cool cheap portable are going to get sticker shock...

If you're interested in trying a massively multiplayer RPG set in a sci-fi universe, it's your lucky day. Face of Mankind is currently in open beta, which means you can sign up and play for free while the developers work out the kinks in the system. The game breaks with tradition by merging a first-person shooter with an evolving game world where high-ranking players create missions for the up-and-comers. Give it a whirl at fomportal.com...

The big gaming demo this week is Star Wars: Republic Commando, which offers up a taste of the squad-based shooter - if you aren't afraid of a measly 421MB download. Get it at fileshack.com/file.x?fi d=6217 or, if you have an Xbox, you can play it on the February Official Xbox Magazine disc...

The PSP will launch with a killer lineup of 24 titles spanning several genres (though emphasizing sports and racing): Ape Escape: On the Loose, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, Dynasty Warriors, FIFA 2005, Gretzky NHL, Lumines, Metal Gear Acid, MLB, MVP Baseball, NBA, NBA Street Showdown, Need for Speed Underground: Rivals, NFL Street 2: Unleashed, Rengoku, Ridge Racer, Smartbomb, Spider-Man 2, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Twisted Metal: Head On, Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade, Wipeout Pure and World Tour Soccer. As predicted, the systems will be sold as bundles priced at $400 and up. Gamestop is offering Metal Gear Acid, Spider-Man 2 and Untold Legends in its cheapest package, while EB and GameCrazy are taking a choose your titles approach...

Taking a page from Ninja Gaiden (which, admittedly, was a platformer long before DOA), Namco is hoping to build a similar franchise with Death By Degrees starring Nine Williams from its Tekken fighting series. Expect lots of gadgets and, naturally, fighting. One noteworthy new twist: an x-ray animation shows bone-cracking damage on enemies. The game actually has a similar feel to the Jet Li brawler Rise to Honor (which isn't necessarily a good thing) and explores Nina's pre-Tekken days. Only fans of the series and games that feature, ahem, gravity-defying blondes need apply...

Bungie has been notoriously tight-fisted with its intellectual property, refusing all Hollywood suitors interested in making a Halo movie. Instead, they're developing the project themselves and plan to offer it to a studio while retaining some creative control. To this end, they've hired screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later) to pen the script. No doubt guards have been posted to keep director Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark) as far away from it as possible...

Rumor has it that the next-gen Xbox will be named Xbox 360, a crass marketing attempt to combat the possible perception that an Xbox 2 is somehow a full generation behind the PlayStation 3. It's already kicked off some obvious jokes, such as Microsoft setting off in a new direction by turning around in a circle. The name was apparently tested last year and did well. We'll know soon enough if it's true since Microsoft is known to be targeting an October or November release and will have to formally announce it at or before E3 in May...

If you're already planning to get Unreal Championship 2 on April 12, preorder it from a bricks-and-mortar store and pick up an Xbox Live multiplayer demo to play right away. It has three characters, three maps and your choice of deathmatch or capture the flag game modes. You'll also get three collectible trading cards. If you're still unconvinced, you could wait for the March Official Xbox Magazine demo disc, due in about a week...

LucasArts has some cool unlockable player skins in Mercenaries. The right combination of game progress and codes (entered on the Factions screen) will unlock Han Solo and Indiana Jones. On the Xbox, you'll need 20 national treasures and the code Left, Left, Right, Right, Up, Down, Up, Up to play as Han and 110 blueprints and the code Left, Left, Right, Right, Up, Up, Down, Down to play as Indy. The unlockables are reversed in the PS2 version...

Grown-up gamers are buying up kids meals at Burger King to collect handheld adaptations of some classic Atari 2600 titles from Activision: Kaboom!, Grand Prix, Barnstorming and Tennis. They may only be cheap monochrome LCD knockoffs but they're also icons of our mispent youth. Not to mention a great excuse to indulge in fatty food...

Taking a page from City of Heroes, Sega is offering some preorder bonuses for its massively multiplayer The Matrix Online, due to release on March 22. First, you'll get the code for a special ability - the Hyper-Jump - from the first day of play. You can also play now in the beta-test and start the final release three days early. Details at thematrixonline.warnerbros.com/preorder.html...

Guild Wars, the massively multiplayer game that promises a seamless international gameplay experience without monthly fees or server shards, is being released April 28. But you won't have to wait that long to play it. Pre-order now and you can play in a series of three Beta Weekend Events, starting Feb. 18 with a special tour of the world of Ascalon before a devastating event destroys much of it...

Konami's answer to the GT series, Enthusia: Professional Racing, is due out May 3. The PS2 racing title features more than 200 vehicles and 50 courses - including a randomly generated desert track to keep you guessing - but, alas, no online mode. Ranks are earned by using cars with low odds to beat out better vehicles, unlocking new sets of wheels. Attendees at the Chicago and New York auto shows in February and March can sample the realistic racer early with a virtual test drive of the 2005 Ford GT and Ford Mustang GT at kiosks in the Ford exhibition area...

Microsoft is recalling all power cords for Xbox consoles manufactured before Oct. 23, 2003 due to about 30 reports of skin burns and scorched carpets. You can order your free replacement at replacements.webprogram.com - be sure to have the serial number and manufacture date off the bottom of your Xbox...

The folks at Valve just keep cranking out Half-Life 2 updates. The latest Steam release includes new deathmatch goodies: a map (steamlab) plus some weapons: a crowbar, a stun stick and the SLAM (sort of remote/trip mine)...

Tecmo's breathing new life into Dead or Alive Ultimate with an online tournament where you play against a bad-ass mystery gamer from the Team Ninja development group. Starting Monday, Feb. 21 (and lasting a month), Xbox Live gamers will get just one chance each to beat this fighting master. Those who succeed proceed to round two, where they'll fight each other. The top two win a trip to E3 in May, where they'll go up against the best in the world...

Bored? Try the new Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich demo with a single-player mission and multiplayer tag mode at fileshack.com. Or the America's Army Special Forces v2.3 update, with two new multiplayer missions, at americasarmy.com. Maybe the new Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne multiplayer bonus maps Cherryville and Highperch are more your speed; get them at battle.net. There's also a v1.01 patch fo r The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth with three new multiplayer maps at fileshack.com...

Much has been made of Pizza Hut's appearance in EverQuest II. It hardly seems worth mentioning, but typing /pizza in the game now spawns a Web browser so you can have a pie delivered. You could simply open your own browser and go where you want - or even better, take a break and cook up something nutritious... The folks running World of Warcraft continue to be hardnosed, this time banning gambling for in-game items (though formal auctions are still OK as long as they don't use real money). The reason? "Casino" owners hawked their activities with the Yell command, annoying gamers who just want to kill orcs, gather treasure and stuff their faces with pizza...

Good grief

Gamestay is designed for grownup gamers but no doubt some of you are parents too - so the two Microsoft guides that are making the rounds should be helpful.

I can also reveal that my wife, GrrlGotGame, had a hand in creating both of them. No, she didn't write them (a talented scribe named Chris did), but they were her original ideas, she helped develop them and ultimately she pushed to get them done. They almost got spiked because nobody thought anyone would ever look at them, which is funny now considering how much attention they've gotten.

The first is the griefer's guide, which explains about online bullying. No parent wants to see their kid beat up on the playground, even if it's a virtual one.

The second is a guide to leetspeak, which is gamer slang. The idea is that if you sit with your kids when they're online, or take the stealth approach and poke through their e-mails and log their IM sessions or keyboard strokes, you might still not know what they're really talking about.

They're both good reads, especially if you've ever wondered what 1337 or rox0rs meant.

--Gamewatcher

BLOG: Good grief - Gamestay is designed for grownups but no doubt some of you are parents too - so the two Microsoft guides making the rounds should be helpful. I can also reveal that my wife, GrrlGotGame, had a hand in creating both of them.

[Read full Blog entry]

If you're itching to try the refined stealth action of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, get the 590MB demo at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6391 or pick up the March issue of Offical Xbox Magazine. Either way, you'll get the Lighthouse single-player level...

Tekken 5 for PS2 includes bonus ports of the first three games. These are the original arcade versions, so all characters are unlocked and you won't have any of the PS1 variations. If you're in the market for an arcade stick, there's a $100 Collector's Edition with a Hori controller and 6-disc DVD case, all branded with Tekken art...

Yet another Steam update. This one offers improvements to bots and radar display in Counter-Strike: Source, plus two maps: hostage rescue in Compound and the deathmatch Train. There's also a fix for Half-Life 2's deathmatch mode that prevents players from selecting invalid models. Some people had been disguising themselves as filing cabinets, among other things...

Two maps for MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf originally offered as exclusives in the limited edition of the game are now available for free download on Xbox Live. Mountain High is approved for games of Team Destruction, Check It, Snatch it, Base War and Grinder. Troubled Waters is ideal for online Destruction and offline Grinder. This free release kind of negates the added value of the limited edition but at least maybe now you'll find people to play on these maps...

The packaging for the new The Sims 2: University expansion reveals that the next add-on pack will be called Nightlife. Due in the fall, all we know is that it will feature dating and dancing - and, from the accompanying art, vampire chicks...