Kathunter's Personal Space

Not too much happened today.
Justin dropped me off at the GamerFeed guys hotel in Bum-Fuck-Egypt with my overstuffed suitcase prepared for a month in LA in case the "big earthquake" hits and I have no way to leave town.

A girl need options.

Two things really happened today in my world. Sega announced they were publishing Matrix Online (formally UBISOFT - need to iron out what those details are). While it is a great departure from the Sega of the Dreamcast days (first MMO, and possibly PC title if I am correct), it was not the HUGE EXPLOSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT they touted in a genius Press Release last week. They must have some damn smart guys in PR over there ;)

Tonight was the XBox press conference. Top things you might want to know?

• EA Sports announced XBox LIVE users will be able to play their titles online (and a special appearance from Muhammad Ali).


• Halo 2 (with multilplayer option) ships November 9, 2004 - with a promise the date shall not slip (he had it tattooed on his arm.


• They are freakin siked about XNA. What is XNA. You know, I should be able to answer that question, but I need to do more research. It is a combined Xbox and Windows development platform, and the first title to ship using XNA will be Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a massively multiplayer role-playing game from Sigil (founded by the Everquest guys). As it was described, you will be able to play the game on a PC with an XBox controller.


• Xbox LIVE will eventually include video chat, video mail, MP3 sharing capabilities, match making, "tickles" as well as the current friend requests, and other features. He called it the "next step in online social community". Honestly - I can see FOAF working into this strategy if 33% household console penetration fact is accurate. What was missing from this "announcement"? The necessary peripheral. Will there be an EyeToy-ish for XBox. Well they have to go there somehow, but how is left to be seen.


• XBox Arcade: They are taking some classic old-school as well as current java based hits that hopefully will bring these casual crack addicts onto LIVE. Where do the new stats reporting a huge female gaming audience come from? They include these online games such as bejeweled. Women gamer executives can get pissed at me if you want, but the fact is, that is where a lot of these stats are padded. XBox has the right idea.


• "Forza Motorsport"? I might have that name wrong. My handwriting in the dark is not the best. But it features REAL car destruction. Cool ass shit. None of this, 'oh, my bumper is dragging after I crashed into the concrete wall' crap.


• "Jade Empire" from Bioware looks awesome. More after I play it.


• "Star Wars: Republic Commando" is the single best trailer I have seen in a while. The game aside, props to whoever put together the trailer. It was the single best job I have seen of combining CGI, gameplay, suspense, and movie-style story telling into a 30 second clip.


• If they said the word "software" one more time.... We all know this year is about hardware. E32K is about handhelds: DS, PSP, Nokia2, Tapwave. Every other sentence nailed home the message, "We ain't gonna tell you jack shit about the specs for XB2". Come on, any good screen writer would have left us with a tease. If the developer kits are out there, why not let us all split a piece of gum. We didn't need the whole pack.

Tomorrow is the Sony and Nintendo Press Conference. More later.