HedgehogNetwork: XBOX 2 You Seek Yes?
Posted: 2003-06-09 17:13:54
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There are two times during the year that are usually extremely slow for gaming news. The first one is during late winter and early spring prior to GDC; and the second would be well, right now! From June till about mid July everyone is holding there cards close to their chests in preparation for the fall and Christmas rush. Lucky for you XBOXActive the Hedgehog has eyes everywhere, and always manages to see the other guy’s gameplan! This week’s Network is HUGE, chock full of news from Japan, rumor follow-ups and best of all News on Project-Xenon!
How Many Times Must I Repeat Myself!
OK, I have nothing but respect for the hard working men and women of OXM; but sometimes they do have a tendency to jump to conclusions and hence, sow confusion. So one more time, I have to clear this little mixup, um up! In the July Issue, OXM talks about how DOA: Code Kronus was revealed at E3 to be DOA: Online! This is not TRUE! From the horses mouth, I.E. Tomonobu’s, DOA: Online and Code Kronus are two completely separate projects!
The Hedgehog’s Take- You Know Itagaki, this kind of Sh*t wouldn’t happen if you just weren’t so protective over the girls!
Rumor Follow-Up: TFLO Beta
True Fantasy Live Online was indeed shown at E3, but my much hyped Beta wasn’t anywhere to be found? OK, second mistake I ever made! Anyways it appears that my source simply misjudged the game’s progression, thus the mix up! Level 5 has been working on TFLO for over 2 years, but the game is only about 50-60% complete! I do have good news for Beta Testers however. Word out of Japan is that the Beta will begin this October! Just be advised that I’m pretty sure this is just for Japan, but if they’re going Live in 4 months, the rest of the world can’t be far behind!
The Hedgehog’s Take - Better hurry up! I want to quest for that famous Butt Cushion Gamespy was raving about!
Just Don’t Break The Tree!
Japanese titles are a real rarity on XBOX, especially during Christmas! So when I heard from Dorimaga that Namco would have the mysterious XBOX Xclusive Breakdown ready for a winter release I was very interested! Reading further I saw that not only was the game set for release in Japan this year but also the States and Europe! Are we looking at Namco doing a simultaneous worldwide release, we’ll know more at TGS!
The Hedgehog’s Take- Raise your hand if you’re still trying to figure out exactly what this title is??
Pandora Struck From The Shadows?
With the unveiling of Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow many Fisher fans are wondering where Shadow Strike slipped off to? Well the truth is, the games been in front of us the whole time, Pandora Tomorrow is Shadow Strike! The name change was apparently the reason the title wasn’t announced at E3, though I still haven’t been able to determine why the name was changed in the first place. I’ve also been getting a few requests for this bit of info, most likely from XBOX fans wanting to rub something in the face of the competition. While Pandora Tomorrow will launch on all consoles simultaneously, only the XBOX version will sport online play!
One last thing, apparently that lighting engine of Ubisoft’s is really getting around, as it will also be used in Ghost Recon 2!
The Hedgehog’s Take- Makes sense, Everything in America’s Military these days strikes from the darkness!
Soul Calibur Live, FOR REAL!?
I’m sure everyone remembers this little article from XBOX Live’s Mainpage entitled, It's Raining Games!
"Soul Calibur II is what fighting game fans have been hankering for. And they won't be disappointed. We saw this one in action at E3 and it looks phenomenal!"
Sure like the rest of you I laughed at an obvious error on Microsoft’s part; but after the little exert remained uncorrected for over a week I really started to wonder. Now it looks like the fighter of the year will indeed support XBOX Live, to a limited degree! Sorry, no online play, but the game may have online stat trackings and conquest mode competition! Sure it’s not the full deal, but it’s more than the competition is getting!
The Hedgehog’s Take- I have a buddy up at Redmond checking on this so expect a Follow-Up soon! Fingers crossed gamers!
Not Found On the Periodic Table
Project-Xenon, get used to hearing that name gamers; because that’s XBOX 2’s official codename! While Nintendo and Sony have been causing quite a raucous about their Next-Gen systems Microsoft has been strangely silent. The Hedgehog recently broke through the Neon barrier however to bring you the first details on Microsoft’s next system!
First, know that Xenon has been in the works since almost immediately after the XBOX launched. As such it won’t need to scrounge for off the shelf computer components like the original did! No chipset has been finalized yet but my sources say that Nvidia and ATI are in a fierce competition for the privilege!
Xenon is being designed to have a more global appeal so expect this machine to be smaller and appeal more to the fickle Japanese Market! Xenon may also make use of wireless internet technologies, XBOX Live anywhere!
While Sony’s PSX may have it, don’t expect the Xenon to sport DVD RW capabilities. Unless you want your console to make the Saturn at launch look like a bargain priced console! Special features at the moment still aren’t known, other than the fact that the machine will be backwards compatible and that it will be Live ready at launch. Still, judging from this recent move by Microsoft, I think we can surmise that Xenon will be far more than a game console!
The Hedgehog’s Take XBOX redefined gaming as we know it! Will Xenon continue the tradition!
The Hedgehog is getting ready to wrap up College and head back to Mobius for the Summer! As such I’ll be a little out of the loop, you know the internet connections on that island are horrendous! Don’t fret though XBA, this console war is getting to dam entertaining for me to not keep my eyes glued to the news wires; so you should keep your eyes glued to the Network. After all, you never know what will happen next in this industry!
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