– TDK Mediactive and Disney Interactive are teaming up to bring you video games based on upcoming Disney flicks, based on the “Haunted House” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” rides located within Disney theme parks. Sayeth TDK Mediactive CEO Vincent Bitetti, “As we look to 2003 and beyond to be the ‘sweet spot’ for our industry, ‘Haunted Mansion’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ theatrical releases will be incredible events with which to launch the game titles on a world wide basis.” Hopefully at least one of the games won’t suck.
– Sources at both GameStop and a house down the road from the GameCola headquarters indicate that a new Grand Theft Auto is in the making for Playstation, subtitled “Vice City”. Expanding upon the third game in the series’ use of prostitutes, speculation is that you will now be able to force yourself upon unwilling women. It is a sick, sick world we live in.
– Word out on the ‘net is that an unlicensed, unnamed Asian manufacturer has created a device that allows you to accept television airwaves on your GameBoy Advance. Whether this will actually work well or not is to be seen, but it sounds spiffy just the same.
– In what can also be considered a spiffy idea, third party peripheral developer Nyko has set for release in August the “Air Flo” gaming controller, for GameCube, Xbox, and Playstation 2. The Air Flo controller uses “Patented Air Flo Technology” to end “sweaty hands”, which is basically just a fancy schmancy way of saying it uses a fan to blow air onto your palm. Sources at GameStop believe it to be garbage, but GameCola deems the Air Flo controller worthy of a try.
– A small company known as ZForm, who recently launched a poker video game for those lacking in sight, are now at work converting Quake with the same target audience in mind. Visual signals are being replaced by audio signals; the sound of rushing air indicates a turn in the hallway, the games volume increases as your character nears an item, etc. If this works, it could become a tremendous breakthrough in solving the massive problem of gaming for the blind, and could also provide a unique challenge for those looking for a new way to defeat their favorite game.
– Another attachment for the GameBoy Advance is being readied for release, this time by Santa Monica-based company SongPro, and this time an MP3 player. Why you would want to use a GameBoy Advance to display the song, artist, and album titles instead of just purchasing an MP3 player with such capabilities, so that you could both play GameBoy and listen to music at the same time, is debatable.
– Originally released in 1980, Atari 2600’s Warlords has received a makeover by Creature Labs, much like Missile Command and Combat have before. Warlords is known for its fast and furious four-player gaming, one of the first of its kind. The game was simple enough; try and destroy enemy forts with a bouncing, Arkanoidish ball, and keep your own fort alive in the process. Warlords is one of the more addicting multiplayer games for this ancient system, and hopefully the newly rehashed version for the personal computer is up to par.
– Fans of NES classic River City Ransom, take heed. A copyright has been issued by developers Technos on the name “Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari”, the Japanese title for RCR. While this does not 100% guarantee a sequel in the future, nor even a GameBoy Advance port, it is at least something to note.
– Twenty-five year old “obsessive queuer” Jason Reed began a valiant effort on July 15th to break the world’s record for longest time anyone has ever waited for the release of a computer game. He is currently staked out in front of an Electronics Boutique in London, England, and will remain there until the release of Turok Evolution n September 6th. Reed is not doing this without assistance, however, as Turok’s developer Acclaim Entertainment has supplied him with a state of the art tent, with a TV and games console, powered by a generator.
