– To all those who were looking forward to the new Sam and Max sequel… I hope you have a box of tissues handy. Like many cool ideas before it, Sam and Max: Freelance Police, has been canceled, and only a few months before its planned spring 2004 release, too. Maybe this is a godsend, though. After all, the title was to be in 3D, and we all know what happened when Lucas Arts brought Monkey Island to the third dimension. Maybe it’s just better this way.
– The dubiously awarded “Best New Character” of 2002 (as deemed such by GameCola) is set to make his big console return in 2004, with Sly 2: Band of Thieves. That’s right, kiddies — Sly Cooper is back. Thankfully, this time around, he won’t be given the opportunity to cheat more deserving characters out of the “Best New Character” award (it should’ve been Sora!!!).
– This has got to be one of the oddest licenses since Yo! Noid… Evidently, game publisher Majesto has obtained the interactive rights to publish games based on the Mighty Beanz collectible toys in North America. For those unfamiliar, Mighty Beanz are what commonly go by the name “Mexican jumping beans”, except larger and colorfully decorated, sometimes with well-known characters such as Spiderman and The Hulk. Follow? Majesto wants to make games about Mexican jumping beans. It’s not like they actually do anything.. they just… jump. I don’t get it. Darn kids and their newfangled beans.
– Square-Enix really annoys me sometimes. They ship 1.3 million copies of their Japanese Dragon Warrior V remake in just two days, and yet, they don’t release it here in the united States. (That’s the news, btw — the hotcake-like selling of Dragon Warrior V. In case it’s not obvious.) The game is a PlayStation 2 remake of the original Super Nintendo title, with updated 3D graphics and some other minor additions. I really want to play this game. Oh Squeenix, why does thou continue to forsake me? Bah.
– Hey, remember that Famicom-styled Game Boy Advance SP that came out in Japan a while back? Well, Nintendo‘s actually listening to its fanbase, and releasing a similarly styled console in the US. Of course, this version of the G-BASP is fashioned like the NES instead of the Famicom; and unfortunately, due to this, the unit looks substantially less cool. But it’s okay, because with this portable console, Nintendo will also be releasing several budget-priced (i.e., $19.99) NES titles for the GBA, including Excitebike, The Legend of Zelda, and Bomberman. Don’t get your hopes up just yet, though; you never know when Nintendo’s going to do something dumb, like add annoying voices to its characters (ala the Super Mario Advance series), so we’ll just hafta wait and see how this one turns out.
