Wired Magazine’s April Issue feature has a guest editor in Will Wright of SimCity, Sims, and soon to be Spore fame.

His editorial is already online, and 5 more article studying the culture, economics, and fun of video games will be online in the coming weeks for those that want to read for free. Where’s my subscription copy?

Yeah, I know I’m late, but I’m dealing with a crippling bout of Pharynghitis, (in other words, I’m under the weather) so don’t sue me. Anyway, Gamecube owners craving some serious M-rated action have very few venues to turn to, (including rare’s Eternal Darkness and Midway’s Mortal Kombat Deception) and even fewer that are exclusive to the system. THis is also on PS2, but it once began life as a member of the ‘Capcom 5’, 5 gamecube games from Capcom that would hopefully breathe life into the system. SInce the announcement, the first game flopped miserably, the second did quite well, even spawning a sequel and a few spinoffs…also ported to PS2, the third was cancelled altogether, and the fourth was one of 2005’s top games, if not the top game of 2005 (and was also ported to PS2). This is the fifth, and not only does it succeed at being one of the more grown up games available for the system, it’s also one of the most outright weirdest games available, from it’s unconventional control scheme, to it’s oddball plot, involving a man with an afro, an elementary school, a child organ harvester, a power rangers-esqe superhero team, and crazy, even if somewhat predictable plot twist. Although there is little replay value, the zany plot alone makes it’s worth the $20 dollars. For kicks, there is an excellent plot analysis available on gamefaqs.com.

If you got 2 hours to kill, why not watch a video from The “Mario & Zelda Big Band Live” concert, from September 14th, 2003, at the Nihon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Koji Kondo and Shigeru Miyamoto make appearances, and theres a bit of (Japanese) talking between the songs.

thanks 4cr!

Bungie carefully sidestepped any game rumors in the weekly update by unleashing the news of a big Halo Graphic Novel from Marvel. In typical fashion, Bungie has all the creative control over the book, Marvel is just ditributing it. They signed on some big names from the world of comic to illustrate and write the stories within, as well as showcasing original art from Bungie’s own art team.
I’ve stayed away from the Halo novels thus far (I read FX Nine’s infamous “Ninja Gaiden” novel when I was 10 and its kept me off gamebooks for life), but I can’t not get excited about a comic exploring one of my favorites. Its due out in July, and by then we should have real Halo 3 or Halo movie news. Or at least I hope. God, I hope.

Xbox.com Forum has a member with the new issue of Game Informer with apparently a huge article on Halo 3… which is apparently currently called “Forerunner” Why the name change? Because theres isn’t a Halo in the game. First one was destroyed, and all the action takes place off Delta Halo. Master Chief is still our man, though it remains to be see about the future of the Arbiter or any other playable characters.
They bulletpoint some neat stuff, like 4 player co-op online, but honestly the chances are 50/50 of this being purely made up. We’ll know for sure when the new GI hits the news stands, but it should be noted that GI broke Spartan 458 in Dead Or Alive 4 well in advance of Bungie.net.
Its a well known fact that whatever Bungie’s next project is, it’ll help drive the 360 more than anything currently out. I’ll be unable to resist the white box if it means finding out what the heck happened at the end of Halo 2.

This is important. I want you all to hold hands and thank whatever higher power you hold dear.
Jeuxpo, which is some kind of french game site, is revealing that Micheal Ancel is going forward with a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil.
Isn’t this great news?? What? You never played this game? Are you out of your mind? Its available on all 3 current consoles. Go buy it or rent it or something. Its fun, has a great story, and is one of the most creative non-Nintendo games I can think of. Ubisoft made a game for anyone who was disappointed by Windwaker, and too many people didn’t play it.
Now because of Ancel’s great success on King Kong, it looks like we’ll find out what happens to Jade & Pey’j and whats really going on in outer space.

I woke up early enough this morning to read the annuncements, but not early enough to post it to the site, so here’s the round up.
PS3 is coming in November, PSP is getting a price drop
While some look at the PS3 launch as a delay, I was skeptical it would even come out this year so it looks to me like things are going better than I thought.
There is the very likely possibility that Sony wouldn’t let Microsoft and Nintendo have a holiday season without them and no matter what kind of loss they might take selling the machine in November, it better than losing the market to the competition.

In 2001, the last thing anyone would even think of is Squaresoft collaborating with Disney. A year later however, Square would shatter all of our expectations. This action RPG teams up Disney’s superstars such as Aladdin and Ariel with Final fantasy heroes such as Squall and Cloud in a cross company extravaganza rivaled only by the Marvel vs Capcom games. Playing as a young boy names Sora, you meet Donald, Goofy, and tons of other famous Disney characters in your quest to save your friends from a strange group of creatures called the Heartless. Your journey will take you to worlds based on several different Disney films, such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Alice in Wonderland. The attacks and magic are easy to use, and the Final Fantasy-style summon attacks cleverly make use of Disney characters such as Simba, Dumbo, and Mushu. This game is a hit for RPG fans of all ages, regardless of weather or not you’re a fan of Disney movies. A sequel is due any day now, and it will feature even more Final Fantasy and Disney mash-ups. Also a sequel is out on the Gameboy advance as well. If you haven’t picked this up by now, you need to go do it.