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        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
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<p><a href="../2.3/mouth/index.html">&lt;&lt; Back to Normal View</a></p>
<p>URL: <a href="../2.3/mouth/index.html">http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.3/mouth/</a><br>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 3<br>
                November 22, 1999<br>
                </b>
              <b> 
                </b>
              
                <b><i>From 

                  the Mouth of Madness:</i></b></p>
                <b><i> 
                  That darn Playstation 2</i></b></p>
                by 
                  Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; 
                  Bergman</p>
              
              

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               Welcome 
                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. </p>
              </p>
             
              
               
              
              
                
                   
                     
                      
                    
                  
                   
                     
                       <i> 
                        </i></p>
                    
                  
                
                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 
                <b>Gran Turismo 2000</b> (Sony), <b>Tekken Tag Tournament </b>(Namco), 
                and <b>Street Fighter EX3</b> (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. 
               
              </p>
              And there 
                you have the dirt on the system.</p>
              </p>
              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 &quot;killer app&quot; as it were. 
                The Dreamcast had several that contributed to its phenomenal launch: 
                <b>Sonic Adventure</b> (for the kids), <b>House of the Dead 2 
                </b>(for us zombie fans), <b>Soul Calibur </b>(for pretty much 
                everyone), <b>Ready 2 Rumble</b> and <b>NFL 2K </b>(for sports 
                fans). The Nintendo 64 had <b>Mario 64</b>...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. </p>
              </p>
              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! </p>
              </p>
              
              
               
              
                
                   
                     
                      
                    
                  
                   
                     
                       <i> 
                        </i></p>
                    
                  
                
              
              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 <b>Munch's 
                Oddysee</b> 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.
               
              </p>
              Let's 
                look at what we've got:<b> Gran Turismo 2000</b>. 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 <b>Gran 
                Turismo 2</b> for the Playstation 1. And I don't plan on buying 
                that, either. What else do we have? There's T<b>ekken Tag Tournament</b>, 
                a game that I don't care for, but again, is very pretty. And of 
                course, <b>Street Fighter EX3</b>, 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. </p>
              </p>
              <br>  
              Let's 
                not forget the slew of really pretty dancing and musical titles 
                that are lined up for the system. Ladies and gentlemen, the most 
                powerful gaming machine on the planet is being used to power...<b>Drum 
                Mania</b>. Woo hoo! You laugh, but I'm not kidding. A number of 
                Playstation 2 titles are the kind of quirky Japanese games that 
                sell like hot-cakes over there, but likely won't make it to America. 
                An example: <b>Popolocrois</b>, one of those incredibly odd &quot;girlfriend 
                simulators&quot; that keep coming out in Japan (you may recall 
                that another game of this type accompanied the N64's Japanese 
                launch). </p>
              </p>
              Even Square's 
                <b>The Bouncer</b>, which has a lot of people talking, bores the 
                heck out of me. It's going to be at least a year before we get 
                our first <b>Final Fantasy </b>title on the system, and boy, until 
                then, I just can't help but think the system's going to be barren. 
                </p>
              </p>
              Where's 
                <b>Resident Evil</b>? <b>Wipeout</b>? Heck, there hasn't even 
                been a <b>Crash Bandicoot</b> title announced for the system yet. 
                Which is very surprising, considering that Crash is the closest 
                thing to a genuine Playstation mascot (unless you count Lara Croft, 
                of course) and one of the first PSX 2 technology demos featured 
                an uber-high resolution Crash. Supposedly Naughty Dog, the developers 
                of the first batch of Crash games has decided to move onto other 
                projects and characters, but there are more games coming...when, 
                is of course the question. </p>
              </p>
              What the 
                Playstation 2 announcement felt like to me was Sony jumping the 
                gun on their own product launch. These games could not have been 
                in development for more than a year, and the end result is that 
                the first run of games are going to be identical to PSX 1 titles, 
                only with more polygons. Since it's going to take that much more 
                time and money to make a good PS2 game, we could be looking at 
                a really long time before the decent games start to arrive. They'll 
                most certainly arrive, no question about that, but it's going 
                to just plain suck waiting for them.</p>
              </p>
              
              
              
               
              
              
                
                   
                     
                      
                    
                  
                   
                     
                       <i> 
                        </i></p>
                    
                  
                
                But of course, this doesn't really surprise me. 
                Sony has gotten really, really cocky lately. And admittedly, this 
                is for good reason, but that doesn't necessarily always mean the 
                best thing for us hardcore gamers. The executives at Sony know 
                that if they release the system with not a single game available, 
                it will sell very, very well based entirely on the brand name. 
                But, they also know that they've got some very stiff competition 
                on the way from Nintendo, and Sega's very successful US launch 
                with their Dreamcast. So what do they do? Rather than release 
                another game system, they're going to release a new entertainment 
                appliance. 
               
              </p>
              Sounds 
                like a stupid buzzword, doesn't it? Well, get used to it. Because 
                that's precisely what the Playstation 2 is. If you've read any 
                interviews with the Sony bigwigs, they almost never mention that 
                the Playstation 2 is supposed to be a game console, because it's 
                not in their eyes. It's the hub of everything in your living room. 
                </p>
              </p>
              Think 
                about it: the PSX 2 is a cheap DVD player. Give them credit for 
                that. It will soon have the ability to play movies downloaded 
                via cable modems (this is planned for 2001, but they made this 
                announcement alongside the console itself). It's Internet-ready 
                (with an additional PCMCIA card). Thanks to that FireWire port, 
                you can connect your video camera to the system (lord only knows 
                for what purpose, but they keep talking about it, so there is 
                definitely something planned). Oh, and it plays games, too.</p>
              </p>
              Sony is 
                going to try and sell the system to people who want a DVD player 
                and want to surf the web - not just gamers. Gamers will love it 
                because it's freaky-powerful, and eventually great games are coming. 
                But until they do, you'll be looking at one heck of an entertainment 
                appliance that plays some decent, if not great, games, and your 
                entire DVD movie library. Woo-hoo. </p>
              <i>- 
                Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman is hungry. Could somebody grab 
                him a sandwich?</i></p>
              </p>
              <i><br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
  &copy; 2000 <a href="http://www.square8.com">Square Eight</a>. Used with permission. 
  Article is &copy; 2000 its original author. All other content is &copy; 2000 
  loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. You got that??</font></i></p>
 