July 31, 2002

An Interesting Twist on the Survival Genre [ N-Philes ]
Reality TV and Horror Survival Games are being blended in a new First-Person Horror title called Asylum being developed by DarkBlack and published by Octagon Entertainment. The plot consists of a local TV channel hosting a reality TV show in a haunted asylum where four contestants compete to win $10.
Matt Schraeder

Ziff Davis Media is Going to File for Bankruptcy [ N-Philes ]
Ziff Davis Media, the company behind GameSpot, The Official PlayStation Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and XBox Nation is going to file for bankruptcy at the end of the week. No word on how this will affect the magazines and sites.
Matt Schraeder

July 30, 2002

Australia Legalizes Region Modding [ BBC News ]
An Australian court ruling legalizes the modding of consoles to eliminate region encoding. The ruling found that region coding of games and DVDs limits customer's choices of products and their ability to find competitively priced goods. Sony recently received a ruling for copyright infringement cases in Britain and Canada for region modding. It is still illegal in Australia to mod a console for "back-up" purposes.
Matt Schraeder

UFC: Touchdown Ships for GameCube [ N-Philes ]
UFC: Touchdown has shipped, after going gold last Monday. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 in early June.
Matt Schraeder

Robotech Collectors Edition Announced [ N-Philes ]
TDK Announced that they are released a Collector's Edition of Robotech Battlecry for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and X-Box. The Edition will include the game, soundtrack, a t-shirt, concept art, a motion card, and dog tags. It will retail for 79.99 and ship for the GameCube sometime in October.
Matt Schraeder

July 28, 2002

Can Video Gaming Be a Religious Experience? [ BBC News ]
A study conducted by Dr Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University found evidence that a person playing a video game can achieve a level of concentration that is similar to that of religious meditation and of athletes playing at peak performance. The study found an increase in alpha brainwave activity, which is usually only associated with a state of complete rest, such as during meditation.
Matt Schraeder

July 26, 2002

Nintendo Systems are Top Smuggled Products in the EU [ CNET Tech News ]
Fake Nintendo products made up 48 percent of all the smuggled toys and games seized in the European Union during 2001. The number of toys and games, including Nintendo products, dropped by 77 percent last year. Neither Sony nor Microsoft had significant numbers of their consoles being smuggled. The smuggling of imitation CDs and DVDs grew 40 percent from last year and Nokia Products, which consisted of 52 percent of electronic products, nearly tripled.
Matt Schraeder

EA Announces First Quarter Revenues [ Yahoo! Finance ]
Electronic Arts announced that it's revenue for the quarter increased 82 percent from the same quarter last year to $331.9 Million. During this time the company released twelve games on six different platforms, only two of those being on the GameCube. Their top selling title was Medal of Honor: Frontline for the PS2.
Matt Schraeder

July 24, 2002

Blockbuster to Focus on More Sales of DVDs and Games [ Yahoo! Finance ]
We have all heard of Blockbuster attempting to increase their focus on game rentals, but now they want to increase their games sales. By 2006 Blockbuster would like to triple it's current 3% share of the dvd and game sales market.
Matt Schraeder

Wireless Gaming on the GameCube? [ Comms Design ]
Motorola is teaming up with Nintendo and Sony to bring wireless networking to the GameCube and PS2. The system will be able to handle streaming and near-real-time traffic and won't interfere with existing LANs based on 802.11 connections. No official date for when gamers will be able to use the technology but it should be ready by the end of the year
Matt Schraeder

N-Philes Reports GBA-GCN Link for Madden 2003 [ N-Philes ]
According to N-Philes, The GameCube version of EA Sports Madden NFL 2003 will have a GameCube-Only feature which gives the abuility to display a fully functioning scoreboard on the Gameboy Advance. Not only will the scoreboard display the score, clock, down and yard marker, but it will also display animations like you would see at a real game. Developers are finding new ways to use the GBA-GCN Link Cable everyday, and just keep getting more innovative.
Matt Schraeder

Platinum GameCube Available November 3rd [ N-Philes ]
Starting on November 3rd, 2002 gamers will be able to buy a Platinum GameCube complete with a Platinum controller. At this time Nintendo will also re-release the Platinum Gameboy Advance. The Platinum GameCube will be a limited edition and will retail for $149.95
Matt Schraeder

July 23, 2002

Tony Hawk With Activision Until 2015 [ N-Philes ]
Tony Hawk has signed with Activision to keep the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Franchise going for another 13 more years. Let's hope that Activision can keep the THPS games fresh and fun as the first 3 titles have been. To continue the series, THPS 4 is scheduled to come out this fall and is once again being developed by Neversoft Entertainment.
Matt Schraeder

Blood Omen is Coming! [ Planet Gamecube ]
Eidos is releasing Blood Omen 2 for the Gamecube and it will release just before Halloween. The title is being developed by Crystal Dynamics. No word on whether it will be a straight port or if it will be improved but either way it just shows how Nintendo is shedding their "kiddy" image.
Matt Schraeder

Activision's Net Earnings Highest in Company History [ Yahoo! Finance ]
Activision announced today that it has recieved record net earnings and net revenue during it's first fiscal quarter of 2002.  Net earnings were 73% higher this year then the same fiscal quarter last year.
Matt Schraeder

400,000 Copies of Mario Sunshine Solid in 4 Days [ N-Philes ]
Super Mario Sunshine has broken Japan's record for the fastest selling game in a six day period according to the latest numbers from Mega Create.
Matt Schraeder

Immersion Adds Intec As Licensee [ N-Philes ]
Immersion, the leading developer of haptic feedback technology, and Intec announced that Intec has licensed Immersion's haptic technology. Intec is the eighth company to license and use Immersion's patented technology.
Matt Haven

THQ Ranked #2 US Publisher For June [ N-Philes ]
THQ Inc. announced today that it was the #2 software publisher for the month of June, and the #1 third-party publisher of handheld videogames year-to-date, according to NPD Funworld.
Matt Haven

THQ COO Jeffrey Lapin Joins eUniverse Board of Directors [ Yahoo! Finance ]
eUniverse, the leading interactive entertainment network, today announced that Jeffrey Lapin, vice chairman and chief operating officer of THQ Inc., has joined eUniverse's Board of Directors.
Matt Haven

July 22, 2002

Hawk, Slater, Mirra Design Game Boy Advances [ N-Philes ]
Extreme sports stars Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, and Dave Mirra have joined Nintendo's "Play for America" sweepstakes. Each has donated a personally decorated GBA and fans have a chance to win. Through August 5, those 18 and over can enter the sweepstakes at www.stuffmagazine.com by voting for their favorite GBA. Nintendo is also contributing $3,000 to each athlete's charity of choice.

Take-Two Announces New Publishing Label [ N-Philes ]
Take-Two Interactive Software has announced its newest publishing label, Gothem Games. Take-Two also announced the it will publish games under three labels only: Gotham Games, Rockstar Games, and Gathering of Developers.

Spy Hunter The Movie Announced [ N-Philes ]
Universal won an auction for movie rights to the "Spy Hunter" video game franchise. The studio plans to star WWF star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

NCAA Football 2003 Ships [ Yahoo! Finance ]
Electronic Arts has announced the shipment of NCAA Football 2003 for GAMECUBE.

Super Mario Sunshine Bundle [ Planet GameCube ]
Nintendo's online store is offering a Super Mario Sunshine pre-order deal. For $69.95, you'll receive the SMS game, an SMS player's guide, one Memory Card 59, a coupon for $10 off a WaveBird, and a year-long subscription to Nintendo Power.

Activision Ranked #2 US Publisher for April [ Yahoo! Finance ]
Activision ranked as the #2 console and hand-held software publisher for the April - June 2002 quarter, according to NPD Funworld. The company's dollar sales increased 95% over last year's comparable period. During the month of June, Activision was the only publisher to have a top-five title on each of the next-generation console platforms.

Nintendo Promotes Big-Guys [ N-Philes ]
Nintendo of America announced three senior level executive promotions. Mike Fukuda has been named Senior Vice President, Business Development; Don James, Senior Vice President, Operations; and Elizabeth Aurelio, Vice President, Credit.

Nintendo Honors Community Workers [ N-Philes ]
Nintendo honored fourteen young adults for their community service efforts with GBA Platinum systems.

Questions About Elusive SSBM Trophies [ Planet GameCube ]
Planet GameCube is reporting that a Japanese Super Mario Sunshine save did not unlock any SSBM trophies.