Pojo's Friday News Page
May 27th - 2005

Yu-Gi-Oh! comes to the DS.
KONAMI’S YU-GI-OH! NIGHTMARE TROUBADOUR DEBUTS ON NINTENDO DS THIS FALL

This September, Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour marks the first Yu-Gi-Oh! title for the Nintendo DS. The game takes full advantage of the Nintendo DS’ touch screen and wireless technologies. Players will use the touch screen to navigate a city map to find duel opponents. Once a duel is initiated, the touch screen becomes a 2D card playing field and the battle begins. The top screen becomes a 3D arena that shows monsters rising from their cards to battle for Yu-Gi-Oh! supremacy. FullStory

PAPERCUTZ SIGNS WITH HOLTZBRINCK PUBLISHERS FOR DISTRIBUTION

Papercutz has entered into an agreement with Holtzbrinck Publishers (which includes St. Martin’s Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux and distributees Rodale and Wizards of the Coast among others) to distribute their cutting edge graphic novels to the book trade in the US and worldwide beginning October1, 2005.

Papercutz launched its line of graphic novels for tweens this spring to great success, bringing Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys into comics for the first time in many years. Press coverage has included major pieces appearing in USA Today, The New York Times Magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, and Teen Newsweek. As a result, the first Nancy Drew graphic novel has already gone back to press.

The design for the Papercutz line takes its cue from successful manga books but expands the appeal to a more mainstream young audience. These pocket size full color 96 page books combine elements of the Japanese manga style with well-known licenses in all new comics and stories, not adaptations or screen captures. The publishing program will include 4 new titles per series each year in both paperback and hardcover. FullStory

E3 2005: A Visit with Turbine Part I – Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach

It’s day one of E3 and I have completed all of my scheduled appointments for the day. Still a few hours left in the day, so I head over to the Turbine booth to say “hi” and get a quick look at Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. David Eckelberry, Senior Game Designer of DDO, walks up to me and offers to give me a tour of the game. Quickly taking David up on this offer, I sit down and take the helm of one of the demo workstations and off we go. I select one of the pre-made characters they have set up for the demo and it’s into Stormreach we go. David explains to me that there are a few quests to complete, and if you complete them all, you win a slot in the upcoming beta. The trick was that a single player could not complete the quest, so you had to group with the other players in the booth. More on this quest later. The game was unbelievable fun. David continued talking about the game and the quest itself as I was walking around town talking with NPCs. After selecting my quest, it was off into the instance to complete the quest. Movement in the game is very smooth as well as the combat system. FullStory

Konami Announces A New Shaman King
Master of Spirits 2 is headed for the GBA.

The sequel to Shaman King�: Master of spirits, players return to the role of Yoh Asakura as they traverse multiple stages filled with perils, enemies and traps in order to stop a diabolical shaman from resurrecting the evil “Guardian of Demons.” To assist Yoh in his quest, players can collect the spirits of vanquished opponents and use these spirits to help him in battle. Additionally, they can summon old and new Guardian Ghosts in the battle to defeat the enemies. As players progress, they will build their skills and unlock special moves, combo systems and abilities. Adding to the excitement, gamers can upgrade their spirits and use the enhanced spirit system to negotiate treacherous levels filled with traps! FullStory

Tony Hawk Tourney for PS2
Online skate tournament offers cash purse.

Known to fans as THUG 2, the PlayStation 2 version of Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is gearing up for an online tournament that will award prizes to participants, including a $1000 cash prize and a skateboard deck autographed by Tony Hawk himself to the top winner.

The eight week tournament has been dubbed Tourney for the Homies 3!, and will feature trick attack, graffiti, and goal attack rounds. FullStory

The Playstation 3 is Not a Console

Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, stated that the PlayStation 3 is to be an “entertainment supercomputer” for the home. FullStory

“The PlayStation is not a game machine,” Kutaragi states, “We’ve never once called it a game machine.” FullStory

PS3 to have same launch price as PS2?

Report says Sony will price the PS3 under 40,000 yen, raising speculation that it might launch at the same price as its previous two consoles.
Last week, the Mainichi Daily News quoted Sony Computer Entertainment officials as saying the PlayStation 3 would be priced at under 50,000 yen ($465.58). Now it appears that the console may be even cheaper when it goes on sale next year.

Today, Japanese Web site Impress PC Watch reported that SCE has told its business partners that the PS3 will be under 40,000 yen ($370) at launch. The news has spurred speculation that the company might launch the machine with the same price it set for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Both machines were priced at 39,800 yen ($368) when they launched in 1994 and 2000, respectively. FullStory

Pokemon Crystal
Why did they even bother doing this?

Pokemon Crystal is probably the most pointless game the world will ever see. After the release of the phenomenal Gold and Silver, those people over in Japan were responsible for bringing out Crystal, the sixth instalment in the glittering franchise and the remake of Gold and Silver itself. FullStory

Nintendo DS rumours are rumbling

Probably the last morsel of information to finally wriggle out of the wasteland of E3-2005-that-was is an interesting rumour that there may soon be ‘rumble pak’ equivalent for the Nintendo DS. This speculation is fuelled by an early preview version of Metroid Prime: Pinball which on startup proclaimed an obscure message about a ‘GBA Option Pak’. FullStory

Feature: A Classic Revolution?

Welcome to my first feature for Cube-Europe. This is no doubt a hard time for many Nintendo writers, as so many people are disappointed - even disillusioned - after Nintendo's performance at E3. Nintendo gamers still don't know why they will want a Revolution in their homes next year, while Microsoft and Sony gamers have buckets full of hype to feed on. FullStory

Zelda DS will be all new, first-party effort.

It seems that DS owners may be able to look forward to an all-new Zelda experience on their handheld. It’s been reported in Game Informer magazine that the game will not be a conversion of the Zelda Four Swords games on GBA and Gamecube. Nor will the game be developed by Capcom, who were responsible for the still very good Zelda: The Minish Cap on GBA. The game will be 100% first-party, with an all-new story and new features. FullStory

E3 2005: Electroplankton Impressions

Though Nintendo has yet to announce a specific date for Electroplankton in the US, the company certainly wasted no opportunity to spotlight the unique sound generating Nintendo DS toy throughout the days of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Not only did Nintendo present the game during its press conference, but it also gave a portion of the project away to anyone who had their Nintendo DS system and walked past their booth. FullStory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WizKids Releases MechWarrior: Firepower

May 25, 2005 (SEATTLE) — WizKids Inc., makers of the popular Mage Knight®, HeroClix® and MechWarrior® collectable miniatures games (CMGs), is proud to announce the release of MechWarrior: Firepower, the most recent expansion for the MechWarrior CMG.

“MechWarrior: Firepower ramps up the action in the battle for the Inner Sphere,” said Mike Samora, vice president of Sales and Marketing at WizKids®. “This is a very attack-oriented set, and players will love the new levels of strategy and power it brings to the Age of Destruction.” Earlier in 2005, WizKids launched MechWarrior: Age of Destruction, a complete update to the MechWarrior CMG that introduced new mechanics and familiar factions from the more than 20 years of the universe’s fictional history.

Advancing the storyline with new alliances and conflicts, MechWarrior: Firepower brings the very best to the table for collectors and fans of the game. Players can now collect an entire set of MechWarrior: Firepower out of one case of Boosters (not including the super-rare game pieces), making it easier than ever to expand a collection and battle for supremacy in this exciting, tactical future.