Dear PGC

recently I discovered a web site titled www.dsrevolution.com. It has all these news reports saying things like: their going to be a resident evil game for the DS, to: a third party game called Possession is going to be for the revolution, to an announcement that Resident Evil 5 may come out for the revolution. As much as I want these stories to be true, I can't help wondering if this web site gives reliable information could you possibly check it out and give us your take on these stories? (Especially on this Possession game)

P.S. are you going to rename your web site once the next generation comes?

Sinisterly,

a nintendo fan

I'm not going to bash our competitors, but I will say that the three stories you mention have no basis in fact. As for RE5 on Revolution, supposedly some nameless Nintendo rep said the game may be announced for Revolution later. Yeah, and so might Metal Gear Solid 8. That means nothing. Capcom is not the kind of company to rule out cross-platform ports...actually, you might call them the kings of non-simultaneous cross-platform ports. I still think there's a very good chance that RE5 will appear on Revolution eventually, though it may not be available at the same time as the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

We'll have more to say about the future of PGC by the end of the year.

Regarding some stuff in previous mailbags:

Yes, the degree to which Sega has gone downhill in the past couple of years is appalling. I thought the first Super Monkey Ball was incredible; so much so that I picked it up again recently and finally unlocked the master levels. Immediately prior to that, they had Rez on the Dreamcast, another spectacular game (Mizuguchi is still doing great for himself, of course.. does anybody know the specifics of why he left Sega?).

Monkey Ball 2, however, seemed to lack nearly all of the brilliant level design of the original game, and the multiplayer games seemed to be about fifty percent improved and fifty percent worsened. AV redeemed themselves the following year with F-Zero GX - damn, do these guys know their stuff, I had thought, and they came out of nowhere, too - but what have they done since? Butcher the Shining Force franchise. Go figure.

Thanks for keeping the mailbag updated.

It's not too hard to guess at why Mizuguchi left Sega. Look at the games he's making and the games they're making. And you're welcome!

Ok so delays do make better games in the case of RE4....But as perfect as the game is Capcom can't and shouldn't complain that RE4 sales are lacking...It almost seems as it was their own design to sabotage their sales...When you miss your holiday deadline you obviously lose hype as the players spend their money on something they can enjoy on their days off...Earlier releases can outsell better games...Look at Devil May Cry 3 and God of War...Then theirs New Years where heavy drinking causes brain damage and erases memories of some more gamers looking forward to RE4's release...Then you cut your throat when you destroy impulse by denouncing exclusivity...Thats basically telling PS2 owners don't buy a Gamecube for this game...As an afterthought I offer the question of, "How are you?"

-niko

I haven't seen Capcom blaming anyone for low sales of RE4 on GameCube. In fact, they were celebrating the game's 500,000 unit sales milestone not long ago, though I'm sure they were expecting better sales than that. Part of the game's performance problems can be chalked up to the poor environment for M-rated games on GameCube, especially this late in the generation, but I agree that Capcom's holiday delay and PS2 version announcement both hurt the GC version's sales.

hello,

do you think nintendo will be able to release twilight princess before

christmas(including europe)?

their (german) website says it will release in november, but i'm not

quite sure as they haven't even finished it in japan..

I really do think Zelda will be out by Christmas, at least in Japan and the U.S. Probably Europe too, but if any region sees a slight delay, it will be Europe. The English translation for Zelda games is traditionally handled concurrent with the actual game development, so by the time the game goes gold (about a month before its release date), the English translation is mostly finished. It takes a lot of extra work and coordination to do translations this way, which is why Nintendo can't do it for every game from Japan, but it's worth it for them in the case of huge titles like Zelda. Europe is a greater challenge, of course, but there is some precedent for hope. The Minish Cap was released in Europe even before America (NOE wanted to get it out before Christmas), although the later American version's translation was more fully developed.

Do we know yet what other multi-media means the GBMicro is capable of i.e MP3/WMV playback MPEG4

Do you reckon any off this will be built in,or will it come in accessory form i.e play-yan etc.

Thanking you in advance

Cube59

On its own, the Micro can't play multimedia at all other than the GBA Video cartridges, which play on all GBA systems. With the separate Play-Yan media adaptor, the Micro (and any other GBA) can play MP3s, MP4 video, etc. Check out Windy's import review of the Play-Yan if you want to know more details.

I'd just like to see what you guys' opinions are no Miami Florida attorney

Jack Thompson, a very outspoken individual against video games. His most

recent outlash was to the Electronic Software Association (ESA) in the form

of an "open letter" that basically shouts for ESA's president Doug

Lowenstein's removal. After reading the letter, it would seem to me that

the only way that Jack can get heard is to shout mouthfulls of wrong and/or

exaggerated information. I have actually been semi successful with asking

him many questions through email. I say "successful" incredibly loosely as

he has only answered once, in a short sentence with bad punctuation, that I

am "behind the curve." I have written him two other times but have got

nothing; it would seem that he avoids hardhitting questions where ever

possible. But I just wanted to hear some input from you fellows while I

wait and see if he replies to the email I sent him last night.

-Garret

Right or wrong, Jack Thompson is an incredibly obnoxious personality who seems more interested in self promotion than in bringing about real progress in how games are rated and how ratings are enforced. He knows very well how to use angry rhetoric to get on the nightly news and anger parents who know just as little about gaming as he does.

Oh my, I'm still behind. I might have to do yet another mailbag tonight if questions keep coming in at this rate!