News Hound: This Week In Gaming Issue 4 Page 1

News Hound
One man and his dog, went to mow a meadow. The dog got bored, ran back home and became a journo...

What's Hot...
Yes my friends its that time of the week when we have to take a look at what's great in the ever changing world of videogaming. So, prepare yourselves as I delve deep into the news and forage out the best bits...

E3 This is becoming a bit of a recurring them now, but that doesn't really matter now does it. The biggest gaming event on the planet is bound to be the best place for hype, and this year is like every other. We have had announcement after announcement and they have all just raised excitement levels to unbelievable levels. Not much excites this old dog, but I will admit that I started to tingle when I saw all the E3 news start to flood in. It is a time for companies to show off, and you just know they will. One thing that has particularly grabbed my attention has been the small squeaks and grumbles coming from Nintendo. Those of you with their finger on the pulse, or with eyes, whichever suits, will have noticed a rumour floating about a number of reputable sites. So, are Nintendo going to unveil a first party title that focuses on mature gaming called Fear and are they also going to make another game that is even more shrouded in mystery called Ground Zero well, I'm not going to put my head on the line, I do that too much. So for once in a lifetime you will hear me simply say; we will find out soon enough...

Zelda Sells! Now this was nice. Sitting with little to do on a Thursday afternoon I pointed my 56K modem at the Chart-Track website to see what was going on in the world of numbers, and low and behold I had a juvenile accident...again. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is sitting very pretty at number one, and the GameCube is sitting even prettier at number one in the hardware charts, but is it just the profile of Zelda doing all this? Being a bit of a television addict [I will just leave the bloody thing on for company] I see a good amount of television. Sitting there doing nothing in particular and Zelda is blazed across my screen, what ensued made my jaw hit the floor and my eyes do a few cartwheels before settling into there usual position. In one day I had seen six Zelda adverts! In the shops there are posters galore and in magazines you will more than likely come across a page big Zelda picture informing you that the 'The Legend Continues'. All good stuff and proof that Nintendo do know how to press the advertise button.

Metroid Prime In Record Time I'm a poet and I don't know it...ha ha! Well, I like something to smile at, or simply a reason to slap myself, and the perfect one appeared earlier this week. Henru Wang from Berkeley, California USA completed Metroid Prime on GameCube in 1 hour and 46 minutes, not too bad. Of course the idea of this may seem just seem preposterous, and judging by your slightly dumbstruck responses to the news piece we ran on it none of you are good enough to beat this score. Of course you are more than welcome to prove me wrong. Gaming may be a form of entertainment, but it is also a life form, and yes, for some people playing games is a job, and this
person seems to have made it his duty to complete games in annoyingly fast times, my tail wags for you sir.

What's Not...
Of course not all news is good news, and an old saying is very much the case with this
bunch of stinkers; 'No news, is good news...'

SEGA: Still not safe Just the idea of this is pretty ludicrous, but the future of SEGA as a standalone company is still in severe danger, after reports suggest that all merger talks between them and both Namco and Sammy. How they ever got into this mess is anyone's guess, and I don't really want to think about it. To see a company fall from grace in such dramatic and painful fashion is a horrible thing to see. Whilst the games output is yet to suffer, something must give. SEGA can't keep on carrying on as if things are normal, the situtation is getting desperate and you hope that they make the best choice possible in this difficult time. Here's hoping.

Mundane, but does anyone care? Looking at the 'Top 40 All Format Charts' it is clear that the industry still finds it difficult to defrenciate between utter crap, and something with some substance. Games seem to be selling purely on the merit of them getting some shelfspace. Now I can fully understand that this is good for the industry, but it is becoming quite annoying when games that owe something to the word quality are consistently ignored in favour of another title simply because it looks cooler. Its been trying to for the last few years and finally it has: gaming has turned into the interactive version of a poorly made cheesy American teen movie, can't see what I mean, well allow me to explain....

If you watch more than one teen movie it becomes apparent that they all seem to follow the same storyboard: boy/girl meets boy/girl, boy/girl doesn't like boy/girl, in the end they both love each other and the whole thing drains into one great big pile of predictable and unwanted trash. The same is happening with games, you can see the pattern. Now I'm not going to single out any games in particular but many are guilty. Not wanting to develop their own ideas they simply plug into a proven area and leech of it. What we are left with are games that reek of any sense of care and magic, something that leaves you se uninspired that you could just cry, even on the most simple elements that could of improved them, they (the developers) have chosen to divert from any reasonable care and simply chuck out any old trash.

Visual flare and gameplay innovation have been thrown out of the window along with numerous other things and what we are left with is not even a game. Sorry, I'll have to mention one, Minority Report. It may not follow the same plot but it follows the same standards of games like it. Thus before it is even conceived the idea is bad.

Phantom of the Opera! Whilst the actual idea may not be the worst thing ever created, the mentality of someone who decides to release a new console into a market so saturated not even Bounty could soak it up it rather laughable. The games industry is perfectly full, and at the time of writing there is little to no place for a succesfull format based around the ideas that Infinium Labs have put forward. Perhaps in a few years the idea will seem better, but for now I think this should be put in the 'nice idea, shame about the practicalities' pile.

In the Kennel: The Weekly Analysis
Right, with E3 coming along, and companies announcing their plans for the event, there is something of a recurring theme, franchises. Now these are all well an good, but to purely rely on the name on the box is shameful, and there is little place for it in the industry, take a bow EA...

Looking at the E3 lists for a number of companies it becomes apparent that an awful lot of them are pinning there hopes of success on a number of w
ell known franchises. Be it the latest movie, sport, or hobby, most companies are making a game that you know will be crap before it is even shown. It would not be so much of a problem if they didn't just sit there and except what they have as being a nit. The fact is they should be striving to make something special.

Companies can go one of two ways. They can make good, solid games that are fun and constructive, or they can get the licence to a massive name, say Harry Potter, and suck every inch of life out of it, not making on e good game in the process. It is shameful, and it isn't fun for the poor gamer that goes and buys it hoping for a good game. It's a bit of a sad affair, and games companies really should be looking to rectify it, but as they say, 'if it aint broke, don't fix it...'

Happy gaming one and all and I'll see you next week.
News Hound

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News Hound: This Week In Gaming Issue 4

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