The Weekly EuroGamer Digest - 1st May to 8th May 2002 ===================================================================== The EuroGamer Digest. Brought to you weekly by the tireless fingers of our editorial team, currently going through tissues at a rate of knots over an import copy of Winning Eleven 6 and Downforce preview code. For those of you new to the Digest, we've stripped out the lengthy introduction this week, but you can catch up on the contents of last week's Digest here: http://www.eurogamer.net/content/e_digest010502 This week we've been celebrating the launch of the GameCube by repelling naysayers and blowing things up in LucasArts' soon to be seminal Rogue Leader. Star Wars related excitement is reaching fever pitch with the impending global release of Episode II on 16th May, but you can rest assured we'll cut through the hype and deliver our verdict in the usual manner. No doubt lambasting the developer for the now widely reported crash bugs. Whether you bought a Cube or not, this Digest should fill in the gaming gaps of the last week, and we hope you enjoy it enough to continue subscribing to it. We are currently planning to introduce a compendium of former Digests on EuroGamer, which will allow you to catch up on older stories. A bit like a Back Issues page, if you like. Any feedback on this, and the Digest in general, will be warmly received, whether you like it or not! Have a good week. Tom Bramwell, Assistant Editor ===================================================================== Features This week Tom yapped about his experience with Wave Race: Blue Storm on the GameCube, before scampering into hiding to let John have at it with Xbox PR supremo Paul Fox. Then at the weekend John introduced us to Divine Divinity, an intriguing, enterprising and, by the sound of it, virtually endless hackandslash from Larian Studios and CDV. He also took the time to finish Broken Sword, a faithful adaptation of the popular PC point-and-clicker for the GameBoy Advance. So far this week, Tom has continued his footballing fetish, disseminating his thoughts on EA's World Cup cash-in, 2002 FIFA World Cup, Martin has sucked the blood from naked ladies' thighs in Mr. Moskeeto, and, popping up once again, Tom has summarised his thoughts on Downforce, an arcade-centric take on the once exciting motorsport of Formula 1. + Downforce (PS2) preview http://www.eurogamer.net/content/p_downforce_ps2 + Mr. Moskeeto (PS2) review http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_mrmoskeeto + 2002 FIFA World Cup (Xbox) review http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_2002fwc_x + Broken Sword (GBA) review http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_brokensword_gba + Divine Divinity (PC) preview http://www.eurogamer.net/content/p_divinecdv + Paul Fox of Microsoft interview http://www.eurogamer.net/content/i_paulfox + Wave Race: Blue Storm (GC) review http://www.eurogamer.net/content/r_waverace_gc ===================================================================== Industry News in Brief E3 continues to loom over everything like Christmas in December, with a number of surprise presents doubtless still to be unwrapped. Don't go into the next fortnight imagining you know what's coming up - E3 is often a first outing for paradigms of previously unimaginable significance, and while they may all be a ways off, E3 remains a festival of gaming delights unequalled the world over. The only thing more likely to prompt involuntary jaw-dropping around here is finding Kylie naked in the downstairs cabinet. Then there's the impending announcement of online gaming services from, with any luck, all three of the major format holders. All this excitement does mean a slightly lighter tray of morsels to pick through from the last week, but that's okay, because some of them have funny pictures. For a start, we got to see Nintendo's peculiar Clear Cube marketing scheme in action, and the Big N also had the good grace to take some snaps of the Thursday evening queues, including the eventual buyer of the first Cube, young Sarah Dodd from Clapham, unfortunately not a Digest subscriber as far as we know. Beyond that we had sales estimates for the young Cube, details of previously under-publicised problems with the hardware (no cause for concern unless you throw it about), details of Nintendo's purchase of Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios, and a token Xbox story, looking at the - currently inestimable - popularity of the machine down under since the Aussie price cut. + Cube problems cleared up http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20896 + Cube launch in pictures http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20886 + Cube sales estimates http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20885 + Nintendo gets Retro http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20882 + Europe is finally Cubed http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20881 + Aussies go mad for Xbox http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20880 + Clear Cubes take form http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20871 ===================================================================== Games Announcements Cube fans have much to celebrate this week, even if Namco's E3 line-up neglects them somewhat. Super Monkey Ball, one of the best simian party games of all time, is getting a sequel, and the company is also promising to show off volleyball sim Beach Spikers (boob content assured) and Phantasy Star Online Episodes I and II. For clarification's sake, the latter of those two is an entirely new PSO game, while the former is what Dreamcast owners will recognise as Phantasy Star Online Version 2. Meanwhile, PS2 owners are looking forward to a veritable bounty of goodies at E3, in the shape of Sega's ninja revamp, Shinobi, the American publisher's comic-inspired 3D shooter Gungrave and that's before we even get to Namco. Although Soul Calibur 2 will not be making an appearance (at least publicly), owners of Sony's black box can look forward to seeing Tekken 4, Ninja Assault and the pick of the litter, Xenosaga. Our mouths are genuinely watering over that one, if only because we buy too many games to afford food... Last, but definitely not least, Microsoft aims to put on a big show in its homeland this month, but at the moment it's leaving it to third parties to create an atmosphere of hype for the system. And this isn't too difficult with the likes of Dead To Rights from Namco and Sega's inimitable line-up of Sega GT 2002, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Crazy Taxi 3 High Roller, House of the Dead III and ToeJam & Earl III. It's definitely looking good for Xbox owners. PC fans get some loving, too, this week, and more immediate loving in one case. Although Stronghold developer Firefly is working on a follow-up, Stronghold: Crusader, which is good news in itself, RPG fans can pick up a demo of Divine Divinity, the game John has been enjoying so much lately. The only downside is the 400Mb file size, but for a suggested 10 hours worth of original content, it might be worth borrowing the office connection for an hour or so one evening. + Namco announces E3 line-up http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20893 + Divine Demo http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20890 + Stronghold goes on Crusade http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20879 + Cube goodies leaked http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20877 + Sega's E3 line-up http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20875 + Super Monkey Ball 2 in development http://www.eurogamer.net/news.php?id=20869 ===================================================================== Screenshots We love eye candy. Tom, for instance, is an absolute whore for all sorts of graphical chicanery. In fact, if any of you publishing or PR folk are ever placed in a situation where you need to get on his good side, mentioning transition animations and superior collision detection will usually floor him. Just a tip. And what a week it has been for eye candy. Xbox owners got a dose of lovely eye candy from Deathrow publisher Ubi Soft. The game is looking extremely sharp, despite the tenuous extreme futuristic sports premise, and we want to see it in action. Soon after, PC fans were buried under world maps and unit schematics by shots of Stronghold: Crusader, Age of Wonders II and latterly, Cultures 2 from publisher JoWood. On the more exciting side, Virgin and developer Digital Mayhem released some more shots of PS2 title Run Like Hell, which seems to blend Event Horizon-ish backgrounds with some scary beasties in the survival horror genre. Eidos has released a few shots of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PS2 and Xbox versions), which go some way to making up for the lack of interesting PC shots, and finally, EA released a number of stunning shots from Medal of Honor: Frontline. There's going to be a fight over that review copy, you can be assured. It seems likely that John will pull rank, at which point Tom may punch him brutally in the head and run off, clutching the game close to his chest and muttering "my precious". + Cultures 2 (PC) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_cultures2 + Deathrow (Xbox) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_deathrow_xbox + Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_moh_frontline_ps2 + Run Like Hell (PS2) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_runlikehell_ps2 + Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne (PC) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_aow2 + Stronghold: Crusader (PC) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_strongholdcrusader + Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (Xbox) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_hitman2_x + Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PS2) http://www.eurogamer.net/content/ss_hitman2_ps2 ===================================================================== You have been sent this email because you opted to receive it when you signed up to EuroGamer. 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