Quote:September 11, 2003 - THQ announced today that the company has entered into an exclusive multi-title Game Boy Advance co-publishing agreement with SEGA Europe Ltd., similar to the deal THQ previously had with Sega of America. In the deal, THQ will co-publish three titles based on the popular Sonic the HedgehogTM franchise, including Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Advance 3, as well as Shining Soul II and Shining Force, across Europe, Australia and other international territories beginning with Sonic Pinball Party in winter 2003.
This announcement confirms two previously unannounced GBA games: Sonic Advance 3 and Shining Force. It's clear what Sonic Advance 3 will be, but it's assumed that Shining Force will be a continuation or remake of the strategy RPG game produced by Camelot (then known as Sonic Software Planning) on the Sega Genesis. Camelot is the development studio currently known for its Golden Sun series on the Game Boy Advance. No announcement has been made regarding the development team handling Shining Force on the GBA.
Expect more on Sonic Advance 3 and Shining Force for the Game Boy Advance at the Tokyo Game Show, which begins September 26th.
-- Craig Harris
Sonic Advance 3 is great (albeit expected) news as the first two games were great, and Shining Soul 2 could be cool if it addresses the reported problems with the first game. The best news however is the announcement of Shining Force for the GBA! For any of you that haven't had the chance to play a Shining Force game, it's a really fantastic strategy RPG series that's long overdue for a sequel. Woohoo!!
Perhaps Sega will do us all a favor while they're at it and release all three parts of Shining Force III (only part one was released for the Saturn in the U.S.) over here.
Here's the thread to remember the only thing I could possibly BE asking us all to remember on today's date. To be honest it completely caught me off guard that today existed.
Quote:September 10, 2003 - Nintendo of America today told IGNcube that it has reached an agreement with America Online by which the Internet provider will become the official preferred ISP for GameCube.
According to the agreement, developers who choose to create online games for GameCube will be licensed AOL connectivity software that will enable their games to connect online through AOL. Nintendo stated that this same rule would apply to any potential online GameCube software it decided to create in the future.
The company reaffirmed that as of yet it is not developing any online games for GameCube. It stated: "To be clear, this does not indicate the unveiling of a new online gaming approach from Nintendo. Nor does it signify that we have changed our position on the current business viability in the online console gaming field."
Nintendo said that as part of the agreement many of its products would be spotlighted on key AOL and AOL Time Warner websites and that the two companies are discussing means of promoting AOL's new broadband service, including the possibility of bundling AOL demo discs with the GameCube.
IGNcube will follow up on this story throughout the day. Stay tuned for more details.
Oh now that's just great. I know it says "preferred" ISP, but it could very well mean that you'll need an AOL account to play future online Nintendo games. But not even Nintendo is that stupid, right?? .... Right???!
Quote:September 10, 2003 - Ubi Soft has today issued a press release detailed the multiplayer modes to be found in the Playstation II, Xbox, GameCube and PC versions of XIII, a cel-shaded action shooter based around an obscure French comic. Here's a nice hand-typed summary:
Playstation II
Four players online, two players offline
Deathmatch
Team deathmatch
Capture the flag
The Hunt - Chase a target, and shoot it for points
Power Up (PS2 Exclusive) - Deathmatch with wacky power-ups to kill people with. Best player gets the worst power up and vice versa.
Xbox
Eight players online, four players via splitscreen offline
Deathmatch
Team deathmatch
Capture the flag
The Hunt
Sabotage (Xbox Exclusive) - One team defends key areas, another team attempts to sabotage them
GameCube
Four players via splitscreen
Deathmatch
Team deathmatch
Capture the flag
The Hunt
PC
Eight players online
Deathmatch
Team deathmatch
Capture the flag
The Hunt
Map Editor (PC Exclusive)
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In my mind, the Xbox exclusive mode sounds the best, and is typically what's popular online. Whether the PC will get all the other exclusive modes is unknown as of yet, but one thing's for sure - the GameCube got screwed once again.
-- Andrew Burnes
Lovely. I've played the demo and it's a lot of fun, so it's sad to see that yet again the Gamecube version of a big third-party release gets the shaft. And of course, the GC version is the only one without online play. Good to see Nintendo trying to stay competitive!
I'll be getting the PC version for the level editor, of course.
Quote:The PI's over at Game Informer claim that Nintendo's planning on a Zelda compilation disc that will be available via a new GameCube bundle for this upcoming holiday. It includes several console releases (no Seasons and Ages, sadly); that's The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and a Zelda documentary. They don't know whether or not the games will be redone slightly (like Master Quest) or just straight-up ports.
On a new computer, nontheless. I'm guessing none you noticed me being gone over the summer....oh well. Computer broke right at the start of summer, so we got a new computer. It's all good. :)
I see I've dropped a few places in the Fantasy Baseball League...to 18 games back. Damn it.
