Electronic Gaming Monthly articles from February 2006

Electronic Gaming Monthly archives from February 2006

Moore's Law.(conversation with Microsoft Corp.'s Peter Moore)(Interview)
February 1, 2006... Peter Moore should be tired. Today, the Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Retail Sales and Marketing for Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division (translation: He has to make Xbox 360 the No. 1 console in the world) woke up early...

And Then There's This Guy...(conversation with Bill Gates )(Interview)
February 1, 2006... Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates makes an OK living selling computer software. But the geek from Redmond, WA, thinks he can finally score some real cash with this Xbox 360 thingy.... EGM: You told Time magazine, "The day Sony launches the...

The Da Vinci Code.(2K Games launches new video game)
February 1, 2006... The best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code is one of those books you hear about long before you read it. You might pick it up with some initial skepticism--will it lead to a slippery slope of Oprah-approved literature that ends with Tuesdays...

NBA Ballers: Phenom.
February 1, 2006... OK, so the mature nature of the Grand Theft Auto franchise has ticked off plenty of parents, politicians, and one loony lawyer from Florida. But once you look past the controversy, you'll see a series that helped raise our expectations for...

Coming Soon.
February 1, 2006... February 2006 24: The Game 2K Games * PS2 -- As CTU agent Jack Bauer, you defend freedom in real time while stoically avoiding bathroom breaks. Bounty Hounds Namco * PSP -- Guns, aliens, guns, and more guns. These are...

Fight Night Round 3.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Believe It We've played Round 3 and, yes, it actually looks like these screenshots. "We're trying to build a more emotionally immersive experience through the characters' facial expressions," says Producer Kudo Tsunoda. The lifelike...

Final Fantasy Xi.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Already in Progress The online Final Fantasy XI community is already home to over 1.5 million characters, and the Xbox 360 release will be fully compatible with the PlayStation 2 and PC versions. Cross-console romance...now a reality....

Saint's Row.
February 1, 2006... Callin' for Backup On tougher shooting missions, you can bring two of your A.I.-controlled boys along to even the odds. Gunplay With Gameplay "Unlike GTA, our shooting gameplay is based on traditional first-person-shooter style...

Full Auto.(product launch)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Controlled Chaos You are racing in Full Auto, but it's easy to lose sight of that simple goal when you're busy firing missiles, laying mines, destroying roadside attractions, boosting over mad jumps, and using the unique "unwreck"...

Xbox 360: Late Launch.
February 1, 2006... Dead Rising Publisher: Capcom * Release Date: May 2006 Mall Mauling This gory brawler pays homage to the classic Dawn of the Dead flick with its zombie-infested shopping mall. Let's hope that six extra months of development pays...

Xbox 360: Port City.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... Burnout Revenge Publisher: EA Games * Release Date: March 2006 The Sickest Crash Yet Burnout developer Criterion is doing more than simply polishing up the visuals for this next-gen port: Revenge will sport a number of new Xbox...

The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time.
February 1, 2006... The top 200 games? Surely that many games don't even exist. But what do I know--I'm just the intern, and I suppose EGM must have reviewed at least 200 titles over its 16-year history. (Actually, we've reviewed 4,562, for everything from the...

The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time.
February 1, 2006... 100 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Xbox * 2003 -- "What I remember most about the final few months of [developing] KOTOR was the huge amount of water-cooler talk surrounding the game. At BioWare we all finish our games...

The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time.
February 1, 2006... 1 Super Mario Bros. NES * 1985 Brick-breaking Nintendo mascot Mario was huge even before he broke out in this seminal side-scroller. Too huge, in fact. "So we shrank him," creator Shigeru Miyamoto said in a BusinessWeek...

Perfect Dark Zero.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Shoe: I'm not sure what upsets me more: the horrendous mess that is Perfect Dark Zero's single-player game or all the glowing reviews out there (including Che's). Are these crazies playing the same game as me? This first-person shooter...

Project Gotham Racing 3.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Demian: Now that's some goooood lookin' driving game right there. For me, Project Gotham Racing 3 is the best of 360's launch titles; it grafts the series' appealing mix of sorta realistic (much more so than Ridge Racer) but still forgiving...

Quake 4.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Fast online deathmatch, solid gameplay Bad: Same story, enemies, and levels you've seen before Don't Look Down: Where are your legs? Mark: Besides the visual choppiness whenever you turn, it's hard to isolate specific...

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... G. Ford: For many fans, the simple fact that the "rockin'" guitar riffs from last year's Warrior Within are gone is reason enough to consider The Two Thrones a superior game--but that's just the start of a long list of substantial...

MVP 06 NCAA Baseball.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Right analog stick batting and throwing, the concept Bad: Right analog stick batting and throwing, the execution When Online: You'll get ESPN Radio SportsCenter updates Bryan: Poor MVP. Publisher 2K Sports and the console...

50 Cent: Bulletproof.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Cut-scene direction, voice acting, unlockable music and videos Bad: Shooting, moving, jumping... Hilarious: Watching Tony Yayo blow himself up in an A.I. stupor Robert: How much street cred can nine bullet wounds buy? This...

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Another solid, if mindless, round of elf clear-cutting Bad: Too short for such a simple game Nonsense: Cheese is worth more health than a turkey leg? Robert: Sometimes you just want to lean back in your chair, slice through...

America's Army: Rise of a Soldier.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Specialized trooper types, skill-building system Bad: Canned missions, robotic A.I. We Couldn't Try: The supposedly identical PS2 version Crispin: In the first-person-shooter arms race, America's Army coulda been the new...

Ape Escape 3.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Inventive and enjoyable monkey-netting action Bad: Camera and controls wonk out from time to time Warning: Some monkeys not wearing pants Justin: I admit I was happy to hear that the monkeys from Ape Escape were running...

Wild Arms 4.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Great battle system, healthy dose of action Bad: Idealistic teens save the postapocalyptic Wild West? Varmints Include: Goblins, dragons, Gatling-gun bandit Justin: Spurs no longer rattling, Wild Arms 4 moseys into town with...

Samurai Shodown V.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Choose from tons of characters, play SamSho online! Bad: Probably the one SamSho you'd least like to play online Newbie Mina's Annoying Sidekick: Encourages the quick K.O. Jon D: You've probably just asked one of the...

Crime Life: Gang Wars.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: (This category left intentionally blank) Bad: Graphics, fundamentally flawed gameplay E-mail Us: If you can figure out main guy Tre's ethnicity Demian: This one time? I was rounding up some hookers for a rich guy in...

Tokobot.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Creative blend of puzzle solving and platforming Bad: Sluggish control, unresponsive robots Wishes It Were: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PS1) Christian: Explaining Tokobot's story would be an insult to your...

Ape Escape Academy.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: A WarioWare-inspired title for PSP Bad: Not even close to WarioWare in quality But Like WarioWare: Cut-scenes feature creepy characters Jennifer: As a perennial reviewer of Mario Party and a committed follower of WarioWare,...

Electroplankton.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Fantastically innovative Bad: No gameplay Guess It Was Too Hard: To add that save feature Jennifer: Electroplankton really threw me for a loop. I'd seen the demos of this music-maker and assumed they were early versions of...

Final Fantasy IV Advance.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Good: Classic role-playing game made even better Bad: Frustrating bits of slowdown New to You: Two huge dungeons Shane: When this revered fantasy epic first hit the Super NES (as Final Fantasy II) in 1991, it made an astonishing...

Wrap-Up.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 1, 2006... Oh man, we wanted to review these games so bad! But they showed up late. Or we ran out of room. Or our dog ate them. Peter Jackson's King Kong XB360 * Ubisoft * ESRB: T We ran a full review of King Kong's PS2 and XB outings in...