Ok, this game needs to be a tv series. It has the potential to be this timelinr's Ben 10: Alien force or right up there with avatar.
Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
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Whoa, that's some high praise right there! Thanks, I'm glad to hear you liked it!
Interesting to see the difference in Marvel Comics in this TL - I wonder if this means a lot of the talent they poached from DC during this era, like Garth Ennis, stuck around with DC in ITTL.
Summer 2004 (Part 11) - Pushing The Limits Of The Nova
Tomb Raider: Out Of The Past
Tomb Raider: Out Of The Past is a Game Boy Nova title and the second Nova-exclusive Tomb Raider game. It serves as a sequel to 2001's The Ancient Library, and features significantly improved graphics and presentation from that title (which was already one of the better looking Nova games). It also features more voice acting, and in terms of size, the game is one of the biggest Nova cartridges overall. The gameplay is fairly similar to that of The Ancient Library, but more action-based, in contrast to the puzzle heavy gameplay of that game. In Out Of The Past, Lara discovers a diary that her parents wrote when she was a child, a diary that conceals secrets and mysteries that Lara must now unravel. Once again, Lara is hounded by fellow tomb raider Melissa Zanzair, who wants to reach the ancient treasure first. Rather than play rival to Lara in this game, Melissa ends up stumbling into trouble more than once, and Lara must rescue her while continuing to explore for the treasure. Eventually, Melissa realizes she's in over her head and concedes defeat to Lara, though Lara encourages Melissa not to give up on her dream and asks her to try safer expeditions in the future. Lara's pursuit of the treasure is impeded by an ancient order of knights that are possessed by a powerful curse, this curse was the reason Lara's parents stopped hunting for the treasure and tried to hide the diary away. Eventually, Lara is able to stop the knights and claim the treasure, though she's only able to claim a small bit of it before the rest is buried forever. Lara presents a piece of her spoils to Melissa, who has taken Lara's advice and has become an archeological research assistant. Out Of The Past is released in July 2004, and while considered a very technically impressive game for the hardware, is considered a fairly mediocre Tomb Raider game, with a predictable plot and fairly repetitive missions, and not quite as innovative or unique as The Ancient Library. Sales are decent, but the game isn't a blockbuster.
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Velvet Dark: Cyber Wars
A portable spinoff of the Velvet Dark game series, Cyber Wars is a first-person shooter that takes place between the first two games and sees Joanna and Velvet teaming up to stop a gang of rogue hackers from taking down the world financial and electrical system. Players play as Joanna most of the time, but occasionally get to play as Velvet during certain missions. The game plays like a stripped-down version of the Ultra Nintendo games, with graphics surprisingly close to those of the original 2000 game (Rare uses a number of graphical tricks to make the game look good on Nova, and uses a 128MB cartridge, the biggest available for the system and twice as large as the largest OTL Nintendo 64 carts). The gameplay is also a bit simplified but still plays like players remember Velvet Dark playing, some of the melee and auxillary systems are reduced in scope, but the shooting is identical to that of the Ultra Nintendo games. Overall, it's probably the best looking first person shooter ever to appear on a handheld (at least as of the time of its release), and the game features a good amount of voice acting as well. While the plot starts out as the typical "stop the hackers from crashing the grid" type of game, things begin to get complicated, as Joanna comes to realize that these hackers are themselves being targeted, and that their original plot was in reality a play to get Velvet's attention. The game ultimately becomes an exploration of Velvet's true nature and her relation to the human race, one of the male hackers has fallen deeply in love with her, and though Velvet doesn't reciprocate those feelings, as an AI, she spends a lot of time musing on if she could reciprocate them. The game explores the nature of fear, love, and sacrifice, in a plot arguably deeper than the plot of either of the two console games, despite being about a third shorter than either of them. Upon release, Cyber Wars is proclaimed as an outstanding title, the best FPS on the Nova, perhaps the best game on the Nova, and even perhaps the best of the three Velvet Dark games, as well as a dark horse Game of the Year candidate. The game is released in July 2004, just a day before Tomb Raider: Out Of The Past, and sells far, far better.
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Fires Of Mana
Fires Of Mana is the first original Mana title created on the Game Boy Nova (Birth Of Mana, despite its updates and differences, was a port of the original Seiken Densetsu). Developed by Squaresoft, Fires Of Mana is an action RPG similar to previous Mana games, in which the protagonist explores a vast world, fighting enemies and seeking to defeat a great evil. Unlike previous titles in the series where the player controlled a three-person party, Fires of Mana involves a single character, with the ability to have up to two guest characters at certain parts of the game, but for most of the game, the player will only control a single protagonist: Hiro. Hiro is called into action after the world's fires begin to die away, leaving homes without heat and energy and people without a way to cook their food. In addition, the diminishing of flames makes it difficult to forge and refine weapons, leaving Hiro's newly found Mana Sword in a rusted, damaged state. The blacksmith Watts, who can forge Hiro's weapons despite the dying out of the world's flames, is a major character in the game and one whom Hiro must visit to strengthen his weapons, including his powerful Mana Sword. Eventually, Hiro also learns to use magic from the eight Spirits inhabiting the world. Hiro comes to learn that the world's flames have been stolen by the Dark Witch, who thrives on the cold world that will rise without them. Hiro must reforge the Mana Sword and pursue the Dark Witch, while restoring what little flames he can to the world's people. The game is a fairly straightforward RPG, featuring most of the familiar Mana tropes and the series' charm, with a soundtrack by Hiroki Kikuta. The game is generally more well received than OTL's Sword Of Mana, but slightly less so than Birth Of Mana, which also featured a single protagonist but stuck a bit more closely to the classic formula. The emphasis on weapon forging was seen as a welcome difference from previous games, but the somewhat disjointed narrative, the fairly forgettable guest characters, and the predictable plot were all criticized. However, the game is still seen as one of the Nova's best RPGs of the year. The game is released on August 2, 2004 in North America, and sales are good for the genre, about on pace with Birth Of Mana in North America.
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Metroid Zero
Metroid Zero is a remake of the original Metroid game, very similar to Metroid: Zero Mission IOTL, though with slightly better graphics reminiscent of Metroid: Revenant. The game contains much of the same items and bosses as Zero Mission, and also features extended gameplay segments with the Zero Suit. In fact, there are even more of these segments, due to the popularity of the Zero Suit segments from Metroid: Darkness. Metroid Zero is released on August 2, 2004, the same day as Metroid: Homecoming, and people who own both games have the ability to link them with one another to unlock special features in both games, including database entries and an alternate costume in Homecoming and an extra boss fight and a few upgrades in Zero. Sales are quite strong, due to the connection and shared advertising and hype for Metroid at the time, and many people buy both Homecoming and Zero at the same time (some stores even have discount promotions for buying them both). The release of Metroid Zero somewhat overshadows Fires Of Mana, which still manages to carve out a sales niche regardless (in fact, it might benefit a bit from the residual Metroid sales, as some folks buying Zero go ahead and buy both games).
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Nintendo Expected To Reveal Nova Successor At Upcoming Spaceworld
Nintendo's Spaceworld 2004 has been in the works for months now, and though the company refuses to acknowledge any rumors at the moment, it's almost a certainty that a successor to their popular Game Boy Nova handheld will be the centerpiece at this year's show. A number of rumors have floated that Nintendo and Sony are working in concert on some sort of brand new handheld device, and that Sony has patented a new type of miniature disc capable of storing up to 2 GB of data. The Game Boy Nova has been an enormous sales success for Nintendo, with over 60 million units sold worldwide, and the popular Nova S model has kept sales strong for the past two years. However, the console is clearly showing its age, and with hype building for Apple's iPod Play, a variant of the popular iPod music player with the ability to play games exceeding Katana titles in graphical prowess, Nintendo may be looking to steal some of the thunder from Apple's new device. Nintendo's previous Spaceworld show back in the spring of 2002 was focused on showing off the Nintendo Wave, and generated a large amount of buzz for the release of the console. We're not sure when the Nova successor will actually be released or how far along in development the handheld is, but expect a summer 2005 release date at the absolute earliest, which would give the iPod Play nearly a year's head start.
Nintendo's Spaceworld show is set to begin on October 11th.
-from an article posted on Gamespot on September 21, 2004
Tomb Raider: Out Of The Past is a Game Boy Nova title and the second Nova-exclusive Tomb Raider game. It serves as a sequel to 2001's The Ancient Library, and features significantly improved graphics and presentation from that title (which was already one of the better looking Nova games). It also features more voice acting, and in terms of size, the game is one of the biggest Nova cartridges overall. The gameplay is fairly similar to that of The Ancient Library, but more action-based, in contrast to the puzzle heavy gameplay of that game. In Out Of The Past, Lara discovers a diary that her parents wrote when she was a child, a diary that conceals secrets and mysteries that Lara must now unravel. Once again, Lara is hounded by fellow tomb raider Melissa Zanzair, who wants to reach the ancient treasure first. Rather than play rival to Lara in this game, Melissa ends up stumbling into trouble more than once, and Lara must rescue her while continuing to explore for the treasure. Eventually, Melissa realizes she's in over her head and concedes defeat to Lara, though Lara encourages Melissa not to give up on her dream and asks her to try safer expeditions in the future. Lara's pursuit of the treasure is impeded by an ancient order of knights that are possessed by a powerful curse, this curse was the reason Lara's parents stopped hunting for the treasure and tried to hide the diary away. Eventually, Lara is able to stop the knights and claim the treasure, though she's only able to claim a small bit of it before the rest is buried forever. Lara presents a piece of her spoils to Melissa, who has taken Lara's advice and has become an archeological research assistant. Out Of The Past is released in July 2004, and while considered a very technically impressive game for the hardware, is considered a fairly mediocre Tomb Raider game, with a predictable plot and fairly repetitive missions, and not quite as innovative or unique as The Ancient Library. Sales are decent, but the game isn't a blockbuster.
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Velvet Dark: Cyber Wars
A portable spinoff of the Velvet Dark game series, Cyber Wars is a first-person shooter that takes place between the first two games and sees Joanna and Velvet teaming up to stop a gang of rogue hackers from taking down the world financial and electrical system. Players play as Joanna most of the time, but occasionally get to play as Velvet during certain missions. The game plays like a stripped-down version of the Ultra Nintendo games, with graphics surprisingly close to those of the original 2000 game (Rare uses a number of graphical tricks to make the game look good on Nova, and uses a 128MB cartridge, the biggest available for the system and twice as large as the largest OTL Nintendo 64 carts). The gameplay is also a bit simplified but still plays like players remember Velvet Dark playing, some of the melee and auxillary systems are reduced in scope, but the shooting is identical to that of the Ultra Nintendo games. Overall, it's probably the best looking first person shooter ever to appear on a handheld (at least as of the time of its release), and the game features a good amount of voice acting as well. While the plot starts out as the typical "stop the hackers from crashing the grid" type of game, things begin to get complicated, as Joanna comes to realize that these hackers are themselves being targeted, and that their original plot was in reality a play to get Velvet's attention. The game ultimately becomes an exploration of Velvet's true nature and her relation to the human race, one of the male hackers has fallen deeply in love with her, and though Velvet doesn't reciprocate those feelings, as an AI, she spends a lot of time musing on if she could reciprocate them. The game explores the nature of fear, love, and sacrifice, in a plot arguably deeper than the plot of either of the two console games, despite being about a third shorter than either of them. Upon release, Cyber Wars is proclaimed as an outstanding title, the best FPS on the Nova, perhaps the best game on the Nova, and even perhaps the best of the three Velvet Dark games, as well as a dark horse Game of the Year candidate. The game is released in July 2004, just a day before Tomb Raider: Out Of The Past, and sells far, far better.
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Fires Of Mana
Fires Of Mana is the first original Mana title created on the Game Boy Nova (Birth Of Mana, despite its updates and differences, was a port of the original Seiken Densetsu). Developed by Squaresoft, Fires Of Mana is an action RPG similar to previous Mana games, in which the protagonist explores a vast world, fighting enemies and seeking to defeat a great evil. Unlike previous titles in the series where the player controlled a three-person party, Fires of Mana involves a single character, with the ability to have up to two guest characters at certain parts of the game, but for most of the game, the player will only control a single protagonist: Hiro. Hiro is called into action after the world's fires begin to die away, leaving homes without heat and energy and people without a way to cook their food. In addition, the diminishing of flames makes it difficult to forge and refine weapons, leaving Hiro's newly found Mana Sword in a rusted, damaged state. The blacksmith Watts, who can forge Hiro's weapons despite the dying out of the world's flames, is a major character in the game and one whom Hiro must visit to strengthen his weapons, including his powerful Mana Sword. Eventually, Hiro also learns to use magic from the eight Spirits inhabiting the world. Hiro comes to learn that the world's flames have been stolen by the Dark Witch, who thrives on the cold world that will rise without them. Hiro must reforge the Mana Sword and pursue the Dark Witch, while restoring what little flames he can to the world's people. The game is a fairly straightforward RPG, featuring most of the familiar Mana tropes and the series' charm, with a soundtrack by Hiroki Kikuta. The game is generally more well received than OTL's Sword Of Mana, but slightly less so than Birth Of Mana, which also featured a single protagonist but stuck a bit more closely to the classic formula. The emphasis on weapon forging was seen as a welcome difference from previous games, but the somewhat disjointed narrative, the fairly forgettable guest characters, and the predictable plot were all criticized. However, the game is still seen as one of the Nova's best RPGs of the year. The game is released on August 2, 2004 in North America, and sales are good for the genre, about on pace with Birth Of Mana in North America.
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Metroid Zero
Metroid Zero is a remake of the original Metroid game, very similar to Metroid: Zero Mission IOTL, though with slightly better graphics reminiscent of Metroid: Revenant. The game contains much of the same items and bosses as Zero Mission, and also features extended gameplay segments with the Zero Suit. In fact, there are even more of these segments, due to the popularity of the Zero Suit segments from Metroid: Darkness. Metroid Zero is released on August 2, 2004, the same day as Metroid: Homecoming, and people who own both games have the ability to link them with one another to unlock special features in both games, including database entries and an alternate costume in Homecoming and an extra boss fight and a few upgrades in Zero. Sales are quite strong, due to the connection and shared advertising and hype for Metroid at the time, and many people buy both Homecoming and Zero at the same time (some stores even have discount promotions for buying them both). The release of Metroid Zero somewhat overshadows Fires Of Mana, which still manages to carve out a sales niche regardless (in fact, it might benefit a bit from the residual Metroid sales, as some folks buying Zero go ahead and buy both games).
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Nintendo Expected To Reveal Nova Successor At Upcoming Spaceworld
Nintendo's Spaceworld 2004 has been in the works for months now, and though the company refuses to acknowledge any rumors at the moment, it's almost a certainty that a successor to their popular Game Boy Nova handheld will be the centerpiece at this year's show. A number of rumors have floated that Nintendo and Sony are working in concert on some sort of brand new handheld device, and that Sony has patented a new type of miniature disc capable of storing up to 2 GB of data. The Game Boy Nova has been an enormous sales success for Nintendo, with over 60 million units sold worldwide, and the popular Nova S model has kept sales strong for the past two years. However, the console is clearly showing its age, and with hype building for Apple's iPod Play, a variant of the popular iPod music player with the ability to play games exceeding Katana titles in graphical prowess, Nintendo may be looking to steal some of the thunder from Apple's new device. Nintendo's previous Spaceworld show back in the spring of 2002 was focused on showing off the Nintendo Wave, and generated a large amount of buzz for the release of the console. We're not sure when the Nova successor will actually be released or how far along in development the handheld is, but expect a summer 2005 release date at the absolute earliest, which would give the iPod Play nearly a year's head start.
Nintendo's Spaceworld show is set to begin on October 11th.
-from an article posted on Gamespot on September 21, 2004
On the subject of the Rugrats movie (I'm assuming it's still made ITTL), guess who was going to voice Dil? None other than...Madonna. Yeah, Madonna. However, when Tara Strong auditioned to play Dil, her impression of a baby crying was reportedly so dead-on that a woman who just had a baby began lactating in the recording studio. Obviously, she got the part (even many people who didn't like Dil's character on Rugrats thought Tara Strong was good)...
Does she still get the role of Dil here?
Does she still get the role of Dil here?
Looks like Apple is going to kill its Japanese games division, They are probally going to Xbone levels of Japanese support.
Cant wait to see how both handhelds compare.
Cant wait to see how both handhelds compare.
Nope in the search function it failed as otl, even the 'he hate me' guy got injured ITTL. so nothing major change
Summer 2004 (Part 12) - XRPGs Can't Stop The Wave
Seedlings Of Echo
Seedlings Of Echo is an RPG released exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox. At its core, the game is a JRPG, despite being designed by a Western studio. It does feature a lot of open world exploration and character customization, features usually typical of WRPGs, and can be considered somewhat of a proto-Xenoblade type game, with massive environments and enemies fought directly on the battlefield with computer-controlled party members and a player controlled leader. Characters attack primarily with melee strikes, though they also have special attacks that can be utilized by entering certain button combinations or navigating to a pre-selected attack. The game's aesthetic is steampunk, with characters navigating through large cities connected by highways and open plains, with many battles and a lot of the game's exploration taking place either within cities or their outskirts. The game's graphics are comparable to the OTL Xenoblade, with detailed character animations and a variety of well designed environments (the cities and locales are considered some of the most beautiful aspects of the game, no two cities look alike, even though the game remains consistently steampunk throughout). The game features a decent amount of voice acting, and the characters, though often times sticking to familiar RPG tropes, are still well developed and for the most part interesting. The game takes place in the world of Armatia, a world where industry has reached to every corner of the planet, encroaching on the natural environments where people once called home. Most native peoples gave up and moved to the cities, but others stayed behind, protecting their land as best they could. The game's main protagonist is Koll, a member of a native civilization which has become city-dwelling, forming a large settlement in the smoke-filled city of Parcherta. Koll is a thoroughly modern young man who prefers the technology and bustle of the city to the old ways of life his elders muse about. One day, the Parcherta security teams begin a crackdown on the native neighborhoods, and Koll learns why: seedlings have formed into vines and dangerous plants inside one of Parcherta's modern buildings, and Koll's people are blamed. Similar events are happening all over, with the seedlings sprouting into a variety of things: some beneficial, but many dangerous. Koll must learn the mystery of the seedlings before their arrival leads to war between the native peoples and the city dwellers. Eventually, it's learned that these seedlings are the reincarnation of the planet's old gods, who died when industry overtook the land. Koll must find a way to calm the old gods while preserving the balance between nature and technology.
Seedlings Of Echo is released in July 2004. It's an extremely ambitious RPG, with a massive, 70+ hour quest. It's one of the Xbox's most popular RPGs to date, though on a system that doesn't have many RPGs to speak of, that's not a huge accomplishment. Reviews praise the game's huge world, though they're a bit critical of the somewhat stunted combat system and the fairly lackluster musical soundtrack, which doesn't quite convey the grand majesty of the game. Still, it's considered to be a very good, if flawed, game, and despite being on the Xbox, it achieves a level of sales that can be considered a success.
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Beyond The End
Beyond The End is an Xbox exclusive WRPG that plays most similarly to the Ultima titles but has a number of unique elements, including elements of survival games. The game is about a 13-year-old girl named Ashana who finds herself awakening on a desolate, post-apocalyptic world where nature has consumed all, leaving her alone to forage and survive and discover what remains of civilization. While the premise sounds similar to the OTL PS4 game Horizon: Zero Dawn, Beyond The End has a somewhat less complex story and a good deal more solo exploration, with less of an emphasis on combat as well. Ashana spends about a third of the game wandering alone before finding the first human survivors of the apocalypse, and these survivors begin to define her role in the world and rebuilding the civilization that once thrived. The civilization that collapsed ten years before the events of the game is based on a high medieval/Renaissance-era civilization with just a bit of steampunk tech, and it's learned that it was a great plague that wiped out Ashana's civilization, leaving much of the old infrastructure intact. Ashana starts out by finding just isolated pockets of survivors, but eventually stumbles upon fiefdoms and walled cities containing much larger pockets of civilization. Ashana can hunt and forage for food and resources, and once she starts finding other people, can choose who to help and who to ignore. The game is like Ultima in that events hinge heavily on the moral qualities that Ashana values. It's the player who ultimately decides Ashana's morality (Ashana is a "silent" protagonist, speaking only the dialogue choices picked by the player, and even then, her responses aren't voice acted). Ashana can choose to value kindness and bravery, hard working survivors, or even survivors who rely on strength and force of will. The things that Ashana values shape the world that rises from the ashes of the old. Eventually, Ashana aligns herself with a group of humans, and engages in two final battles: one against the leader of the human group most opposed to Ashana's ideals, and the other against the Plague Wraith, the supernatural evil force that caused the plague that wiped out humanity. Whatever faction Ashana sides with, the Plague Wraith must be fought and defeated. Afterwards, Ashana gets one of six ending variants depending on which type of world she chose to create.
Beyond The End is a beautiful, if at times gritty and very difficult game, with some of the best graphics and one of the biggest open worlds yet seen on the Xbox. While the game isn't universally praised, reviews are good and it has a strong sales performance, finishing behind Splinter Cell: Shadow Strike as the console's biggest new release of August 2004. It falls a bit short of the tremendous hype it was receiving from certain news sources, but nonetheless is a fine game that continues the console's reputation for excellent WRPGs.
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Panspermia
Panspermia is a Microsoft-developed title that has similarities to the old Enix game E.V.O.: The Search For Eden, though rather than playing as the evolving creatures, you play as a human soldier who must protect them. In Panspermia, the human race is searching for a new planet to call home after Earth has been rendered uninhabitable. The ship that the protagonist, a young soldier, is traveling aboard, is equipped with a huge store of DNA with which new life forms can be created. The player's job is to construct a creature using this DNA and then use that DNA to "seed" a prospective planet. Once the life forms grow and thrive, humans can come down to the planet to live. There are five different planets in the game, each one favorable to certain kinds of life and hostile to others. Once a suitable creature is grown, the human soldier must accompany that DNA to the planet and protect it from the hostile creatures, which themselves take many different forms and have many different abilities. As the human soldier explores planets, he acquires new DNA samples that can be used to create even more exotic and resilient creatures. As each planet is made safe for humanity, it is considered fully colonized if the soldier and a squad of created lifeforms can defeat the "queen" creature of that world, usually a large, mutated version of that planet's most dangerous species. If the player has done a good job protecting and creating their creature, the "queen" can be defeated, and once that happens, humans can safely move in. The five planets feature a variety of environments: the first planet is a jungle world, the second planet is a desert world, the third is a dark mud world, the fourth is a hostile ice world, and the fifth is a Venus-like planet completely unsuitable for life but rich with resources that will help humanity get back on its feet very quickly. In order to conquer this fifth and final planet, players must use their ingenuity to create creatures that can withstand this incredibly harsh environment and defeat the most powerful queen monster in the game. Once the monster is defeated, the planet can be terraformed and humans will have finally achieved a new golden age as they colonize a world rich with amazing resources.
Panspermia is another Xbox game that gets a great deal of hype prior to its release, similar to the kind of hype that the game Spore got IOTL, though Panspermia was never quite that ambitious. The game has a number of flaws, including somewhat lacking detail in its graphics, an over-reliance on certain archetypical creatures, and long segments of boring walking and exploration, but the game, despite its flaws, is considered to be decent nonetheless. It's released in September 2004, and sales, while not great, are still enough to have the game be considered a decent success.
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Mindy Kaling: And despite a strong lineup of exclusives, including hits like Beyond The End and Panspermia, Microsoft's Xbox has fallen behind the Nintendo Wave in North American sales during the month of August.
Patrick Clark: The console had led in North America for the past several months, but the Wave has seen a surge in sales, due to the recent release of blockbuster games Metroid: Homecoming and Thrillseekers. Thrillseekers in particular has driven sales of the Wave heavily among female buyers, a demographic that the Xbox hasn't done well with.
Kaling: And in terms of worldwide sales, the Wave's lead looks a lot bigger: it more than doubled the sales of the Microsoft Xbox during the month of August. This, despite a $50 higher price tag, has led many industry analysts to conclude that Microsoft's Xbox has peaked. The Xbox's sales chart, seen here, actually resembles more of a plateau: sales aren't dropping, but they also haven't been going up. The system's growth has slowed, and it's likely that Microsoft has Nintendo's surging Wave console to blame.
Clark: Things may be looking up for the system with the impending release of mega-blockbuster exclusive The Covenant 2, but Nintendo's still got numerous hits on the way as well, including brand new titles in the Mario and Zelda franchises, the new cutesy town simulator game Animal Crossing, and Squaresoft and Disney's dream crossover game Kingdom Hearts.
Kaling: And now we have an exclusive: our newest reporter Olivia Munn went to talk games and consoles with Microsoft's J Allard, who gave up some key insights on the company's business strategies going forward.
(...)
Olivia Munn: So what kinds of games do you see Microsoft pushing in the months ahead?
J Allard: Well, as you know we've recently come out with Seedlings Of Echo, an RPG much like the Final Fantasy series. We actually think RPGs could be a big growth area for the Xbox, not just games like Elder Scrolls or even our new Star Wars title, but more traditional Eastern-styled RPGs, which I think have played a big role in our competitors' success.
Munn: So in a way, it's "monkey see, monkey do"?
Allard: *laughing* Well, we're not going to imitate our competitors 100 percent, of course, but we're also not blind, we're trying to see what works for other players in the industry and see how we can apply their success to our success, but in a unique Microsoft way.
Munn: Speaking of imitation: Apple's got the iPod Play and Nintendo's rumored to be showing off a new handheld soon. Is there any chance that Microsoft could jump into the portable arena?
Allard: Right now we're focused on creating big, cinematic experiences for players' living rooms, which doesn't leave us a lot of room for a handheld in our plans. We'll certainly never say never, but I think right now we're very competitive in the console arena and we're going to keep pushing ahead with that and see where that takes us. If you want to play Xbox games on the go, it might be prudent to find a good gaming laptop and play some of our Windows offerings, of which The Covenant is one and, you know, Half-Life 2 is going to be on Windows only, not Mac, so there you go. And we're also proud to say that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the computer version, will also be coming exclusively to Windows, so you can play that on the go too, on your laptop.
Munn: I like being able to hold the games in my hand!
Allard: Well, if you have big enough hands, I mean...
Munn: *laughing*
-from the September 20, 2004 episode of the G4 Weekly News
Seedlings Of Echo is an RPG released exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox. At its core, the game is a JRPG, despite being designed by a Western studio. It does feature a lot of open world exploration and character customization, features usually typical of WRPGs, and can be considered somewhat of a proto-Xenoblade type game, with massive environments and enemies fought directly on the battlefield with computer-controlled party members and a player controlled leader. Characters attack primarily with melee strikes, though they also have special attacks that can be utilized by entering certain button combinations or navigating to a pre-selected attack. The game's aesthetic is steampunk, with characters navigating through large cities connected by highways and open plains, with many battles and a lot of the game's exploration taking place either within cities or their outskirts. The game's graphics are comparable to the OTL Xenoblade, with detailed character animations and a variety of well designed environments (the cities and locales are considered some of the most beautiful aspects of the game, no two cities look alike, even though the game remains consistently steampunk throughout). The game features a decent amount of voice acting, and the characters, though often times sticking to familiar RPG tropes, are still well developed and for the most part interesting. The game takes place in the world of Armatia, a world where industry has reached to every corner of the planet, encroaching on the natural environments where people once called home. Most native peoples gave up and moved to the cities, but others stayed behind, protecting their land as best they could. The game's main protagonist is Koll, a member of a native civilization which has become city-dwelling, forming a large settlement in the smoke-filled city of Parcherta. Koll is a thoroughly modern young man who prefers the technology and bustle of the city to the old ways of life his elders muse about. One day, the Parcherta security teams begin a crackdown on the native neighborhoods, and Koll learns why: seedlings have formed into vines and dangerous plants inside one of Parcherta's modern buildings, and Koll's people are blamed. Similar events are happening all over, with the seedlings sprouting into a variety of things: some beneficial, but many dangerous. Koll must learn the mystery of the seedlings before their arrival leads to war between the native peoples and the city dwellers. Eventually, it's learned that these seedlings are the reincarnation of the planet's old gods, who died when industry overtook the land. Koll must find a way to calm the old gods while preserving the balance between nature and technology.
Seedlings Of Echo is released in July 2004. It's an extremely ambitious RPG, with a massive, 70+ hour quest. It's one of the Xbox's most popular RPGs to date, though on a system that doesn't have many RPGs to speak of, that's not a huge accomplishment. Reviews praise the game's huge world, though they're a bit critical of the somewhat stunted combat system and the fairly lackluster musical soundtrack, which doesn't quite convey the grand majesty of the game. Still, it's considered to be a very good, if flawed, game, and despite being on the Xbox, it achieves a level of sales that can be considered a success.
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Beyond The End
Beyond The End is an Xbox exclusive WRPG that plays most similarly to the Ultima titles but has a number of unique elements, including elements of survival games. The game is about a 13-year-old girl named Ashana who finds herself awakening on a desolate, post-apocalyptic world where nature has consumed all, leaving her alone to forage and survive and discover what remains of civilization. While the premise sounds similar to the OTL PS4 game Horizon: Zero Dawn, Beyond The End has a somewhat less complex story and a good deal more solo exploration, with less of an emphasis on combat as well. Ashana spends about a third of the game wandering alone before finding the first human survivors of the apocalypse, and these survivors begin to define her role in the world and rebuilding the civilization that once thrived. The civilization that collapsed ten years before the events of the game is based on a high medieval/Renaissance-era civilization with just a bit of steampunk tech, and it's learned that it was a great plague that wiped out Ashana's civilization, leaving much of the old infrastructure intact. Ashana starts out by finding just isolated pockets of survivors, but eventually stumbles upon fiefdoms and walled cities containing much larger pockets of civilization. Ashana can hunt and forage for food and resources, and once she starts finding other people, can choose who to help and who to ignore. The game is like Ultima in that events hinge heavily on the moral qualities that Ashana values. It's the player who ultimately decides Ashana's morality (Ashana is a "silent" protagonist, speaking only the dialogue choices picked by the player, and even then, her responses aren't voice acted). Ashana can choose to value kindness and bravery, hard working survivors, or even survivors who rely on strength and force of will. The things that Ashana values shape the world that rises from the ashes of the old. Eventually, Ashana aligns herself with a group of humans, and engages in two final battles: one against the leader of the human group most opposed to Ashana's ideals, and the other against the Plague Wraith, the supernatural evil force that caused the plague that wiped out humanity. Whatever faction Ashana sides with, the Plague Wraith must be fought and defeated. Afterwards, Ashana gets one of six ending variants depending on which type of world she chose to create.
Beyond The End is a beautiful, if at times gritty and very difficult game, with some of the best graphics and one of the biggest open worlds yet seen on the Xbox. While the game isn't universally praised, reviews are good and it has a strong sales performance, finishing behind Splinter Cell: Shadow Strike as the console's biggest new release of August 2004. It falls a bit short of the tremendous hype it was receiving from certain news sources, but nonetheless is a fine game that continues the console's reputation for excellent WRPGs.
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Panspermia
Panspermia is a Microsoft-developed title that has similarities to the old Enix game E.V.O.: The Search For Eden, though rather than playing as the evolving creatures, you play as a human soldier who must protect them. In Panspermia, the human race is searching for a new planet to call home after Earth has been rendered uninhabitable. The ship that the protagonist, a young soldier, is traveling aboard, is equipped with a huge store of DNA with which new life forms can be created. The player's job is to construct a creature using this DNA and then use that DNA to "seed" a prospective planet. Once the life forms grow and thrive, humans can come down to the planet to live. There are five different planets in the game, each one favorable to certain kinds of life and hostile to others. Once a suitable creature is grown, the human soldier must accompany that DNA to the planet and protect it from the hostile creatures, which themselves take many different forms and have many different abilities. As the human soldier explores planets, he acquires new DNA samples that can be used to create even more exotic and resilient creatures. As each planet is made safe for humanity, it is considered fully colonized if the soldier and a squad of created lifeforms can defeat the "queen" creature of that world, usually a large, mutated version of that planet's most dangerous species. If the player has done a good job protecting and creating their creature, the "queen" can be defeated, and once that happens, humans can safely move in. The five planets feature a variety of environments: the first planet is a jungle world, the second planet is a desert world, the third is a dark mud world, the fourth is a hostile ice world, and the fifth is a Venus-like planet completely unsuitable for life but rich with resources that will help humanity get back on its feet very quickly. In order to conquer this fifth and final planet, players must use their ingenuity to create creatures that can withstand this incredibly harsh environment and defeat the most powerful queen monster in the game. Once the monster is defeated, the planet can be terraformed and humans will have finally achieved a new golden age as they colonize a world rich with amazing resources.
Panspermia is another Xbox game that gets a great deal of hype prior to its release, similar to the kind of hype that the game Spore got IOTL, though Panspermia was never quite that ambitious. The game has a number of flaws, including somewhat lacking detail in its graphics, an over-reliance on certain archetypical creatures, and long segments of boring walking and exploration, but the game, despite its flaws, is considered to be decent nonetheless. It's released in September 2004, and sales, while not great, are still enough to have the game be considered a decent success.
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Mindy Kaling: And despite a strong lineup of exclusives, including hits like Beyond The End and Panspermia, Microsoft's Xbox has fallen behind the Nintendo Wave in North American sales during the month of August.
Patrick Clark: The console had led in North America for the past several months, but the Wave has seen a surge in sales, due to the recent release of blockbuster games Metroid: Homecoming and Thrillseekers. Thrillseekers in particular has driven sales of the Wave heavily among female buyers, a demographic that the Xbox hasn't done well with.
Kaling: And in terms of worldwide sales, the Wave's lead looks a lot bigger: it more than doubled the sales of the Microsoft Xbox during the month of August. This, despite a $50 higher price tag, has led many industry analysts to conclude that Microsoft's Xbox has peaked. The Xbox's sales chart, seen here, actually resembles more of a plateau: sales aren't dropping, but they also haven't been going up. The system's growth has slowed, and it's likely that Microsoft has Nintendo's surging Wave console to blame.
Clark: Things may be looking up for the system with the impending release of mega-blockbuster exclusive The Covenant 2, but Nintendo's still got numerous hits on the way as well, including brand new titles in the Mario and Zelda franchises, the new cutesy town simulator game Animal Crossing, and Squaresoft and Disney's dream crossover game Kingdom Hearts.
Kaling: And now we have an exclusive: our newest reporter Olivia Munn went to talk games and consoles with Microsoft's J Allard, who gave up some key insights on the company's business strategies going forward.
(...)
Olivia Munn: So what kinds of games do you see Microsoft pushing in the months ahead?
J Allard: Well, as you know we've recently come out with Seedlings Of Echo, an RPG much like the Final Fantasy series. We actually think RPGs could be a big growth area for the Xbox, not just games like Elder Scrolls or even our new Star Wars title, but more traditional Eastern-styled RPGs, which I think have played a big role in our competitors' success.
Munn: So in a way, it's "monkey see, monkey do"?
Allard: *laughing* Well, we're not going to imitate our competitors 100 percent, of course, but we're also not blind, we're trying to see what works for other players in the industry and see how we can apply their success to our success, but in a unique Microsoft way.
Munn: Speaking of imitation: Apple's got the iPod Play and Nintendo's rumored to be showing off a new handheld soon. Is there any chance that Microsoft could jump into the portable arena?
Allard: Right now we're focused on creating big, cinematic experiences for players' living rooms, which doesn't leave us a lot of room for a handheld in our plans. We'll certainly never say never, but I think right now we're very competitive in the console arena and we're going to keep pushing ahead with that and see where that takes us. If you want to play Xbox games on the go, it might be prudent to find a good gaming laptop and play some of our Windows offerings, of which The Covenant is one and, you know, Half-Life 2 is going to be on Windows only, not Mac, so there you go. And we're also proud to say that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the computer version, will also be coming exclusively to Windows, so you can play that on the go too, on your laptop.
Munn: I like being able to hold the games in my hand!
Allard: Well, if you have big enough hands, I mean...
Munn: *laughing*
-from the September 20, 2004 episode of the G4 Weekly News
The Billboard #1 Hits Of 2004
It's about that time for 2004's list of Billboard #1 hits...
January 3: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 10: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 17: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 24: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 31: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 7: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 14: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 21: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
February 28: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 7: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 14: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 21: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 28: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 4: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 11: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 18: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
April 25: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 2: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 9: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 16: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 23: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 30: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
June 6: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
June 13: “This Love” by Maroon 5
June 20: “This Love” by Maroon 5
June 27: “The Gentle Way” by Christina Aguilera
July 4: “Back To School” by Aaliyah
July 11: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
July 18: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
July 25: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 1: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 8: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 15: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 22: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 29: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
September 5: “I Don't Want To Break Up” by Ciara
September 12: “I Don't Want To Break Up” by Ciara
September 19: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
September 26: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 3: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 10: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 17: “Out” by Finger Eleven
October 24: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
October 31: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 7: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 14: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 21: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 28: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 5: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 12: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 19: “Surge” by Nina Sky
December 26: “Surge” by Nina Sky
(Authors' Note: By now, pretty much every #1 song is a song that doesn't exist IOTL. Only "Hey Ya!" and "This Love" are songs that existed IOTL. Music is more susceptible to butterflies than games, TV, and movies, so this trend will largely continue, including more artists original TTL as well.)
January 3: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 10: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 17: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 24: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
January 31: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 7: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 14: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast
February 21: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
February 28: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 7: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 14: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 21: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
March 28: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 4: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 11: “Comin' In Hard” by Aggro
April 18: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
April 25: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 2: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 9: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 16: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 23: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
May 30: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
June 6: “Laser Focus” by Usher ft. Aggro
June 13: “This Love” by Maroon 5
June 20: “This Love” by Maroon 5
June 27: “The Gentle Way” by Christina Aguilera
July 4: “Back To School” by Aaliyah
July 11: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
July 18: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
July 25: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 1: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 8: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 15: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 22: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
August 29: “Gon Rip It” by The Grifter ft. Snoop Dogg
September 5: “I Don't Want To Break Up” by Ciara
September 12: “I Don't Want To Break Up” by Ciara
September 19: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
September 26: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 3: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 10: “Hell If I Know” by No Doubt
October 17: “Out” by Finger Eleven
October 24: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
October 31: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 7: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 14: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 21: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
November 28: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 5: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 12: “I Won't Shed A Tear” by The Dixie Chicks
December 19: “Surge” by Nina Sky
December 26: “Surge” by Nina Sky
(Authors' Note: By now, pretty much every #1 song is a song that doesn't exist IOTL. Only "Hey Ya!" and "This Love" are songs that existed IOTL. Music is more susceptible to butterflies than games, TV, and movies, so this trend will largely continue, including more artists original TTL as well.)
She done a servicable job OTL so would be the sameSpeaking of Olivia Munn, would anyone want to see her play Psylocke TTL?
Speaking of Olivia Munn, would anyone want to see her play Psylocke TTL?
At some point yeah, but not for a while, she's set to replace Mindy Kaling as G4 Weekly News co-anchor after Mindy leaves in early 2005.
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