Rampancy

If you thought that PlanetXbox was drooling over the graphic detail in Halo, think again; epic science fiction isn't apparently really their bag. Today they've reviewed Dead Or Alive 3, and here's what they have to say:

Developed by Team Ninja exclusively for the Xbox, Dead or Alive 3 is the single most technically (read: graphically) impressive game in the system's initial lineup. Madden 2002? Whatever. Halo? Please. In the arena of graphical prowess Dead or Alive 3 blows everything else away. In fact, I'm not exaggerating when I say that DoA3 has the best real-time graphics yet seen in a video game.

Well, everybody has to have priorities, I suppose. And it's just the nature of escapism to want to act out virtually activities you'll never have an opportunity to enjoy in real life. I'm sure I'll never have a chance to single-handedly wage war against an alien race on an ancient artifact in deep space, and, well... the PlanetXbox staff prefers to admire the female form through the lens of their television sets.

IGN PC has reviewed Myth III and gave it a score of 8.7 out of 10. To put things in perspective, IGN gave Myth II a score of 8.9 out of 10 back in 1999.

Bugs didn't play too big of a role in the review, though some were mentioned. I was particularly disturbed by the apparent lack of veterans in the single player mission:

One sad fact that seems to have been taken away, or maybe there's a bug, is that unit experience doesn't look to carry over from level to level. I'm actually hoping this is a bug, because that feature was a big plus to my experiences in the last two games. Originally, units build experience and get quicker and more accurate every time they kill an enemy. But unfortunately I began most missions with totally fresh units even if the same type of units were used in the previous mission. Without having units carry over, the fear of losing important and experienced units goes away and so does your fear of losing them and sacrificing units becomes less of a tough decision. Sorry little archer guy, but you need to be fed to the mean old Trow now to buy some time for my demolitionists... sad little archer. I didn't even bother naming any of them this time around even though that feature is still there.

As far as the single player missions go, IGN had a hard time deciding whether it was solid or not:

The difficulty level is still right up there (and harder if you have the same unit advancement problems that I did) and you'll have to do some serious thinking and unit management with formations and placement if you want to get through some of these tough missions. I'm actually a little mixed on some this. There were some really great missions in the game that I had some trouble with and had to rethink a few times, but there were some that just... seemed a little less thought out. I'm talking particularly about some of the hero missions when you take control of Connacht, Dumas, Ravanna, and Myrdred. These missions basically required you to rush every enemy you came across with the exception of a couple of basic puzzles that need to be solved. The hero missions in the last games took more planning and thought to use the heroes wisely. I only lost one of the heroes once and that was because I was a complete dumbass. But there are also some wonderfully fun maps that challenge you to attack and defend against great numbers of creatures causing some wonderful chaos.

It doesn't sound like IGN even tried multiplayer at all, only suggesting that the new units should add to the experience.

A few points got knocked off for slow load times for saved games, which have plagued the series since TFL. This aside, IGN really enjoyed the game and feels Myth III is a worthy continuation of the series.

Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 will compete on even terms this holiday season; at least in terms of price.

GameSpot is reporting that in an interview with Reuters, Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Kaz Harai said that Sony will increase production but not drop prices. We're very comfortable with the [$299] price point, Harai said. That puts two of this year's console competitors on an even financial footing, although the advantage for installed base and number of game titles goes to Sony, even if the Xbox has more powerful hardware.

Sony plans to increase production of the console to meet holiday season demand, from about 1.8M units per month to 2M units per month. When Microsoft posted the official list of launch titles, Ed Fries of Microsoft commented that Flextronics last Friday produced 27,000 units in one day. Operating at six days per week for about a month, that translates to about 648,000 units per month, about one-third of Sony's current production level. All in all, it may be much easier to find the PS2 this year than the Xbox-- and when you do find it, it will be at the same price and have more games to choose from. In order for customers to choose the Xbox over the PS2, there will have to be other factors involved-- like an overriding desire to play Halo.

Only Nintendo is attempting to compete on price this season, undercutting their competitors by $100 by pricing their upcoming GameCube at $199.

Worldwide, Sony has shipped 19M PlayStation 2 consoles, and it expects that by March of next year it will have shipped 10M in the United States.

As part of their Xbox coverage this week, which included reviews of Halo, DoA3, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Cel Damage, NFL Fever 2002, and Project Gotham Racing, TechTV has also posted a short article about the future of broadband gaming on the Xbox, with quotes from J Allard and Seamus Blackley. Blackley in particular made an interesting remark:

We are really focusing on a hard-core online experience around games, stuff you can only do with a gaming community. We're talking about massive multiplayer games with [a] new level every week. We are open to every new idea.

That truly is the kind of idea that, at least in the console world, could most easily be done by the Xbox, because its hard drive and ethernet capabilities are standard, rather than optional. But users will still be restricted to broadband; there is no supported way of using the Xbox with a modem.