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##### 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.

Ladies & gentlemen, the world's most powerful game system (25k).

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!

Munch's Oddysee - now there's a game (65k).

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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Credits: Illustration © 1999 Dan Zalkus. From the Mouth of Madness is © 1999 Jason Bergman. All other content is © 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, you cartoonish villian, you.