– Squaresoft has arrived on Nintendo. Along with the already announced Final Fantasy Tactics release for the GameBoy Advance is coming a revamp of the original Secret of Mana, aka Final Fantasy Adventure in the US, aka Seiken Densetsu in Japan, also for the GameBoy Advance. In addition, Square has a Final Fantasy game slated for the GameCube, entitled “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle”, which will be playable only in conjunction with a GameBoy Advance system.
– In an era where there simply is not enough poorly made professional wrestling games available, it seems only logical that DefJam Wrestling should come to fruitation. Now we can all live out our fantasies to enter the squared circle as angry men paid to shout expletives into microphones with electronically produced beats being played in the background, some of which include Jay Z, DMX, and Ludacris. First Britney’s Dance Beat, now DefJam Wrestling — this trend sucks major ass-mar.
– Acclaim has received an overwhelming response to its new marketing campaign, with 20-30 applicants being submitted to their website per hour. The reason, you ask? Acclaim is testing out a new advertising project called “Identity Marketing”, in which they will select five people to have their name legally changed to Turok for one year, to promote the release of Turok: Evolution. For helping out in this campaign, the five wanna-be dinosaur hunters will receive £500 ($766 in real money) and an X-Box console unit. If you live in the United Kingdom and wish to apply, visit www.mynameisturok.co.uk and drop your name into Acclaim’s hat by Sept. 2.
– The first ever video game career guide has been published by Game Developer’s magazine, and is currently available at most major newsstands. Game Developer’s 2002 Game Career Guide, as it is known, will help aspiring developers to get a helpful to this career choice education, develop and write an attention-garnering resume, create a demo reel that stands out from the rest, and more. This fist in a series of annual guides will prove invaluable to those seeking a career in the gaming industry.
– SimCity 2000 is slated for a GameBoy Advance release. That’s all we know.
– On August 22nd, Nintendo held a launch party for GameCube’s Mario Sunshine in which six crazed Mario fans dressed as the plumber himself to become “human meatballs” (eh??) in what was to become the record-setting 2,700 pound bowl of pasta, breaking the previous record by a substantial 700 pounds. Word.
– Some good news for the RPG fans/Japanese among us: On October 31st, a re-release of Final Fantasy I and II for Playstation One will be hitting store shelves in the land of the rising sun. Each game will be available by itself for 3,800 yen ($32), or both could be purchased in a collector’s edition that comes with action figures and spiffy disc art by famed artist Yoshitaka Amano for 8,800 yen ($73).
– We do not usually cover PC related news, but this just has to be said: Announced quite recently was a sequel to the mid-nineties hit Sam and Max Hit the Road, a LucasArts graphical adventure in the vein of Monkey Island and Grim Fanango. Details are scant at the moment, but with original director Michael Stemmle at the helm, things are looking promising. The yet unnamed sequel is slated for a first quarter 2004 release.
