American McGee
Beautiful Pixels
Hideo Kojima
Hitachi Wasabe's Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Marketplace Updates: (MajorNelson.com)
Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)
Monday, August 30, 2004
Voice Acting updates, MK/UC crossover, Acclaim slips a little more
1. Voice acting updates in video games2. Other video game stars join BloodRayne in Playboy
3. Mortal Kombat/Unreal Championship 2 crossover?
4. Intec announces wireless arcade sticks
5. Empower distributing Spherex's Xbox 5.1 speaker set
6. Plantronics announces customized Halo 2 headset
7. Majesco names Carl Yankowski CEO
8. Acclaim stocks drop to $0.10, trading way up
9. New Releases
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NEWS:
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1. Voice acting updates in video games
* Big names are getting back into video game voice acting, with some recent notable announcements:
- Men of Valor (VU Games): Sean Astin (Rudy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy)
- Area 51 (Midway): Developed by Inevitable Entertainment in Austin, Midway recently announced the remake of Area 51 will sport David Duchovny as lead Ethan Cole, Texas-native-turned-character-actor Powers Boothe as Cole's commanding officer, and in the most surprising move, shock rocker Marilyn Manson as Edgar (the gray alien).
- NARC (Midway): Star power includes Bill Bellamy (Any Given Sunday), Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 2, Atari's recent and critically maligned Driv3r), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and Michael Wincott (The Crow). Midway stole Atari's marketing pipeline to the stars, Steve Allison, at the beginning of this year, and it seems to be paying off.
- The Punisher (THQ): Despite a poor showing at the box office, Punisher film star Thomas Jane will voice the video game likeness, which is thankfully based on the comic book, not the movie.
- X-Men: Legends (Activision): Patrick Stewart will reprise his movie role as Charles Xavier for the upcoming RPG incarnation of everyone's favorite mutie team.
- Brothers in Arms (Ubisoft): A little closer to home, I'll be auditioning for Plano-based Gearbox Software's entry to original WWII gaming. This is the game that allegedly gave Steve Spielberg pause at this year's E3, and is the only game (to my knowledge) endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation, so wish me luck.
2. Other video game stars join BloodRayne in Playboy
* In addition to the upcoming topless Rayne in October's issue of Playboy, the magazine confirmed the addition of Mileena (Mortal Kombat), Nina (Tekken), Luba Licious (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude), the Kurenai (Red Ninja: End of Honor), and Darkwatch's Tala. Other than Rayne and Luba Licious, the other game publishers have decided to not showcase their characters in the nude.
* Are we going backwards here as we put video game geeks that much further away from seeing an actual naked woman?
3. Mortal Kombat/Unreal Championship 2 crossover?
* Now that Midway is publishing the next entry into the Unreal universe with the XBox-Exclusive Unreal Champtionship 2: The Liandri Conflict, fans received a surprise in the latest game trailer. The movie finishes out with promises of "special guest appearances from another realm....", and the Mortal Kombat dragon symbol. I've got chills -- anyone else? No? Then you're probably reading the wrong newsletter ...
4. Intec announces wireless arcade sticks
* Wireless gear keeps getting better, with Intec , Inc. announcing 2.4Ghz full-on arcade tablet for XBox. The unit sports that all-important auto-shutoff after 5 minutes of inactivity.
5. Empower distributing Spherex's Xbox 5.1 speaker set
* At least Spherex now has a distributer! These bad boys look incredible, and OXM has been waiting to do a full review (coming in the October issue) so we can find out how they sound. Empower Technologies, Inc. says they'll ship the speakers to retailers in Q4 of this year.
6. Plantronics announces customized Halo 2 headset
* After announcing the GameCom X10 and X20 Xbox Live headsets a couple of weeks ago, Plantronics has announced a custom Halo 2 XBox Live headset. The unit is lightweight, fits over one ear, and for $49.95 MSRP you get the Halo Logo and green that'll match that Halo-branded Xbox you also paid too much for.
*http://media.teamxbox.com/dailyposts/hardware/halo2headset.jpg
7. Majesco names Carl Yankowski CEO
* Moving from prolific publishing nobody to publishing powerhouse, Majesco Games has some hot properties, and recently brought in big-gun Carl Yankowski to help them deliver. Yankowski brings with him 30+ years of experience with companies like 3Com/Palm, Sony Electronics, General Electric, Pepsi-Cola, and Procter & Gamble.
* Upcoming Majesco properties include BloodRayne 2, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Advent Rising, and the oft-orphaned and weirdly cool Psychonauts.
8. Acclaim stocks drop to $0.10, trading way up
* Still in imminent danger of being de-listed from NASDAQ, shares dropped from $0.19 a share to $0.10, while trading for the week jumped from 3 million shares Wednesday and Thursday to 20 million shares Friday.
9. New Releases
August 29
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* Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005 Season (Sports)
* Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums (Strategy)
* Digimon Rumble Arena 2 (Action)
* ESPN NHL 2K5 (Sports)
* The Guy Game (Puzzle)
* NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (Driving)
* Pro Fishing Challenge (Sports)
* Street Racing Syndicate (Driving)
* Vietcong: Purple Haze (Action)
* Wings of War
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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.
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