<HTML>

  <title>loonygames' Pad Happy</title>
<body bgcolor="#FEFFEC" link="#0000CC" vlink="#000000">
<div align="CENTER">
  <div align="CENTER">
    <center>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2373963192914918";
/* 468x60 */
google_ad_slot = "3417104156";
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</center>
  </div>
  <div align="CENTER">
    <table border="0" width="100%">
      <tr> 
        <td width="261" height="105"><img src="../../images/next_logo_sml.jpg" width="251" height="94" usemap="#map" border="0"> 
        </td>
        <td width="92" height="105" align="LEFT" valign="MIDDLE"> 
          <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">- <a href="../index.html">Contents</a><br>
- <a href="../../../about.1">About</a><br>
            - <a href="../../../submissions/index.html">Submissions</a><br>
            - <a href="../../../feedback.1">Feedback</a><br>
            - <a href="../../archives/index.html">Archives</a></font></p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </div>
  <table border="0" width="100%" align="CENTER">
    <tr> 
      <td width="32%" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="1030"> 
        <table border="0" width="190">
          <tr> 
            <td height="1194" align="LEFT" valign="TOP"> 
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 38</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../2.15/feat/index.html" target="">Livin' 
  With The Sims</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: 
  theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's <b>The Sims</b>, 
  asking the inevitable quesiton, &quot;is <b>The Sims</b> the first step toward a virtual 
  life where everyone is Swedish?&quot;</font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../2.15/pixel/index.html" target="">Pixel 
  Obscura</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: Josh 
  Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../rl/index.html" target="">Real 
  Life</a></font>: <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <font size="-1">Check 
  out our newest comic strip, Real Life! Updated daily!</font></font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../uf.1" target="">User 
  Friendly</a></font>: <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <font size="-1">Updated 
  daily!</font></font></p>


</p>
              
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Related 
                Links:</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.19/ph/index.html">Solid 
                Gameplay</a>:<b> </b>Nick F's look at <b>Metal Gear Solid</b>.</font></p>
              <p><a href="../../1.2/pixel/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">Anthropophagi 
                Sunt</font></a><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">: 
                Josh Vasquez's look at <b>Resident Evil 2</b>.</font></p>
              
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><a href="http://www.berda.com/loonygam.htm">T-Shirts</a>: 
                </b>Stylin' loonygames t-shirts from Berda Compugrafix!</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><a href="../../../artwork.1">Artwork</a>: 
                </b>Hey, dig the artwork on <b>loonygames</b>? We're selling some 
                of the original art.</font></p>
              <p><!--#include virtual="/includes/shooters.htm" --></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Feedback:</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">You've got 
                an opinion...voice it! Drop a line to our <a href="../../../feedback.1">Feedback</a> 
                column...you could end up with a free T-Shirt!</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Random 
                Feature :</font></b></font></p>
               
<p align="CENTER"><img src="../../images/thumbs/mouth.jpg" width="89" height="110" align="MIDDLE" border="0"></p><p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../2.15/mouth/index.html">From the Mouth of Madness</a>: Our loony editor's take on all the latest news.</font></p>

              <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" name="">
                <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Search 
                the Archives!</font></b></font> 
               
                 <INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=12 maxlength=255 value="">
 <INPUT type=submit name=sa VALUE="Google Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=cof 
VALUE="LW:216;L:http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/images/logo1.jpg;LH:55;AH:center;S:http://www.loonygames.com;AWFID:13a298c7abe84fd0;">
<input type=hidden name=domains value="loonygames.com"> 
<input type=hidden name=sitesearch value="loonygames.com">               
</div>
              </form>

            </td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </td>
      <td width="62%" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" height="1030"> 
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../columns.1"><font size="-1">Pad 
          Happy</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          The Consoles Strike Back</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1" color="#0022A8"></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          </font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <a href="mailto:nickf@saqnet.co.uk">Nick 
          Ferguson</a></font></font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp; </p>
        <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Aaah, Project 
          Dolphin. Rumors were circulating the week before E3 that certain companies 
          were already underway developing games for Nintendo’s N64 follow-up, 
          and it seems likely that these were true – Rare’s Mickey Mouse license 
          provides the first confirmed title for the machine. Nintendo surprised 
          everyone at their conference last week by announcing Project Dolphin 
          would launch near-simultaneously worldwide (hmmm, where have we heard 
          that before?) in the closing stages of 2000 – just in time for the Western 
          release of PlayStation 2. Recent reports would suggest that Nintendo’s 
          hardware may not be finalised (disputing rumors that the Dolphin hardware 
          was being shown under wraps at the show) – it seems that IBM have not 

          even completed their design of the CPU just yet! So why the announcement? 
          Whether Nintendo felt pressure to finally respond to the threat posed 
          by PlayStation 2 or really are on a fast-track approach to launch this 
          thing remains to be seen. Claims that Dolphin will match – and perhaps 
          even exceed – PlayStation 2 performance are encouraging, as is the decision 
          to rely on pirate-resistant DVD as the storage media. But at this early 
          stage speculation about Project Dolphin is just that – speculation.</font></p>
        <p></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What sure as hell wasn’t 
          speculation was the intriguing array of features available for the best 
          N64 games at the show. The news that the 4MB expansion pack would come 
          bundled with <b>Donkey Kong 64</b> was excellent (although what if you 
          already have it?), as was the feature in <b>Perfect Dark</b> that enables 
          Game Boy Camera owners to map their face onto multi-player characters 
          (via an N64 – GB connection pack). <b>Perfect Dark</b> will also support 
          the expansion pack, and it seems likely the <b>Jet Force Gemini</b> 
          will, too. The inclusion of co-op modes and/or extensive multi-player 
          options on many N64 games were also most promising. All very exciting, 
          but the abundance of peripherals required will make gaming an expensive 
          prospect for N64 owners this Christmas. Still, not as bad as Dreamcast 
          in Japan where – worryingly true to its Windows CE roots – owners of 
          the current model are being promised an &quot;upgrade&quot; to their 
          existing machine should an improved version be launched with a DVD drive, 
          more RAM and a more efficient CPU. Oh my God, is this what Sega think 
          the future of console gaming is all about? Upgrades? How about not making 
          your older hardware redundant, guys? The most interesting prospect of 
          the Dolphin announcement (to me) is the possible compatibility between 
          Nintendo’s spiffy new hardware and the oft-rumored 32-bit handheld, 
          Project Atlantis. Hmmm, &quot;Dolphin&quot;? &quot;Atlantis&quot;? Sure 
          sounds fishy to me! OK, apologies for the bad joke - and yes, I know 
          dolphins aren’t fish. Just lie back and imagine the possibilities (you’re 
          going to have to because I’m too lazy to think of any)…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I suppose I really should 
          mention the most popular console on the planet – the Game Boy. Game 
          Boy Color games are beginning to flood in – <b>Resident Evil GB</b> 
          was on show (complete with 3D sections!) and it looks like Color-only 
          is increasingly the way to go. Hell, the technology may be getting on 
          a bit, but there’s no substitute for a Game Boy when you’re far from 
          your console / PC / civilization. If you haven’t got one, buy one. As 
          for NUON, what can I say? I know one person who was blown away by <b>Tempest 
          3000</b>, but he works for VM Labs so take that as you will. I’m curious 
          to see what NUON’s non-polygon-obsessed hardware looks like in action, 
          but it increasingly seems that I probably never will. VM Labs’ recent 
          announcement that they aren’t targeting the ‘traditional gamer’ could 
          be read as a sign of brave innovation in business strategy and marketing, 
          but it sounds like an admission of failure to me. I mean, I bet this 
          isn’t what they had in mind for themselves two years ago…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So, what would my take-home 
          message be? I think this E3 gave us the first glimpse of the impending 
          death of the original PlayStation (and, to a much lesser extent, the 
          N64). Although the games will get better and better, we’re definitely 
          past the giddy heights of Sony’s market dominance – for now. Sega have 
          their one and only chance to regain anything like their old market share 
          later this year, and they proved that although they’re not out of it 
          yet, they face an uphill struggle. Nintendo showcased some of the most 
          impressive N64 games yet, titles which could well go down in history 
          as some of the finest to grace the machine; I’ll be surprised if there’s 
          anything quite so impressive on N64 – from anyone other than Rare or 
          Nintendo, anyway - at next year’s E3. Hopefully, I’ll be there to find 
          out.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I’d like to thank the Imagine 
          Games Network for excellent E3 updates throughout the weekend, and special 
          mention to the guys at Nintendojo for some excellent coverage. Thanks 
          also to everyone who mailed me their thoughts on the event.</font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font size="-1">- 
          Nick Ferguson is a regular <b>loonygames</b> correspondant (i.e. hates 
          exams, loves pizza)</font></i></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i></i></font></p>
        </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  </div>
<map name="map">
  <area shape="rect" coords="32,38,226,76" href="../../../index.html" target="_self">
  <area shape="rect" coords="12,79,125,94" href="http://www.bluesnews.com" target="_self">
 
</map>
<table border="0" width="100%" align="CENTER">
  <tr> 
    <td> 
      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> </font></i><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
        Pad Happy logo illustrated and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Pad Happy is 
        &copy; 1999 Nick Ferguson. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so 
        don't try it, or you'll get some real force feedback.</font></i></p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
</HTML>
