Vol.
2, Issue 3
November 22, 1999
From
the Mouth of Madness:
That darn Playstation 2
by
Jason "loonyboi"
Bergman
elcome
back to another fun-filled week of loonygames. This week is actually
one day shorter due to Thanksgiving, but don't worry, we'll still
give you four days of kick ass content that you won't find anywhere
else. Yeehaw! Because we update at Midnight, we'll actually have
content on Thanksgiving Day, just not on Friday the 26th. So enjoy
your holiday, and be sure to check back all week for some great
new stuff.
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Ladies & gentlemen, the world's most powerful
game system (25k).
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But enough about the site...I need to 'rant a little. Probably
the most significant thing to happen during our little (cough)
hiatus, was Sony's official unveiling of their Playstation 2.
If you missed all the fanfare (how could you?) here's a rundown
on the new system: it's called, as was expected, the Playstation
2. It plays DVD movies, is backwards compatible with the original
Playstation (including the controllers), it has no modem out of
the box, but it features a PCMCIA expansion slot, along with two
USB ports. Also announced were a bunch of launch titles, including
Gran Turismo 2000 (Sony),
Tekken Tag Tournament (Namco),
and
Street Fighter EX3 (Capcom). The system is expected
to sell for around $300 or so when it's released in the US at
the end of next year.
And there
you have the dirt on the system.
Sadly,
as excited as I am about the hardware, I was very disappointed
with the launch lineup. Sony is going to launch the new system,
with, as far as I can tell, no "killer app" as it were.
The Dreamcast had several that contributed to its phenomenal launch:
Sonic Adventure (for the kids), House of the Dead 2
(for us zombie fans), Soul Calibur (for pretty much
everyone), Ready 2 Rumble and NFL 2K (for sports
fans). The Nintendo 64 had Mario 64...the Playstation 1
had, well, nothing. Which, of course, is why I didn't buy a PSX
until a good year and a half after its release.
But now,
there's even less reason to buy the new system. It's backwards
compatible, which means if you own a PSX and don't care for the
new games, you'll probably hold off. Unless of course, you want
it for a DVD player, in which case you'll buy it. The system is
expensive, no doubt about it. If the system does get released
at $300, it may sell phenomenally just because it's a relatively
inexpensive DVD player (and Sony's marketing machine, of course).
I'll buy it, since I'm an obsessive console collector, but I need
games, people!
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Munch's Oddysee - now there's a game (65k).
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The most promising Playstation 2 games won't make the Japanese launch,
no question...but I'm holding out for the US one. Oddworld's
Munch's
Oddysee has serious potential, and assuming it makes the US
launch will be one of the first games I purchase - and even if
it doesn't make launch, it will likely be first game to genuinely
get me excited. Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but yawn
at the current lineup of titles.
Let's
look at what we've got: Gran Turismo 2000. This is the
game everyone's screaming about, and frankly...I just don't care.
Sure, it's pretty, heck, it may be the best looking game I've
ever seen. But who cares? Under the hood, it's identical to Gran
Turismo 2 for the Playstation 1. And I don't plan on buying
that, either. What else do we have? There's Tekken Tag Tournament,
a game that I don't care for, but again, is very pretty. And of
course, Street Fighter EX3, the latest attempt by Capcom
to make the transition to 3D, which if it's anything like its
predecessors will be full of sloppy gameplay.
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