Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo X. Gameplay-wise, it is pretty much the same as OTL's game; players choose two characters to switch between during races, each of which comes with their own special items. However, the game is enhanced ITTL due to the power of the Nintendo X and the higher capacity storage that DVDs possess over minidisks, and the online capabilities of the X allow for a fully-dedicated online mode to be added, butterflying away the need for LAN adapters. Graphically it boasts an edge over the graphics of OTL's game, being closer to
Mario Kart Wii's graphics than it is to
Double Dash's, and races feature ten different racers instead of the standard eight. The roster of racers, while mostly the same, does not include Paratroopa or Toadette ITTL (Toadette instead debuts in a later
Mario title), leaving Toad and Koopa to be the other's partner. There are also six unlockable character ITTL's game rather than four, with two of those being Petey Piranha and King Boo, both of which were in OTL's game. The other four are Toadsworth and Professor E. Gadd making up one pair, and Banjo and Kazooie from the
Banjo-Kazooie games making up another pair, which amounts to a grand total of twenty-four characters to choose from.
ITTL's game also features twenty tracks as supposed to only sixteen, consisting of five cups of four tracks. The Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special Cups remain the same as OTL, with the Lightning Cup from
Super Circuit being brought back, still placed in-between the Flower and Star Cups. The four tracks in the Lightning Cup are:
- Banjo's Barnyard - A barnyard/farmland-themed course featuring lots of Banjo-Kazooie motifs, and notably boasting a theme composed by Grant Kirkhope.
- Koopa Carnival - A carnival track based around Koopa Troopas, having racers drive on sections of rollercoasters and through other carnival attractions.
- Bob-Omb Factory - A factory course that heavily features Bob-Ombs. It is essentially a harder version of OTL's Toad's Factory from Wii, with Bob-Ombs replacing the Item Boxes and the course itself being more windy and longer.
- Haunted Woods - The last course of the Lightning Cup, taken directly from Diddy Kong Racing on the N64. It is longer than the version in the latter game, but features pretty much the same layout and motifs.
Double Dash is released on November 7th, 2003 for Japan, and November 14th, 2003 in all other regions. It is positively received critically, and while some fans are divided over the two racers per player mechanic like in OTL, it's still positively received, with the additions of Banjo and Kazooie, as well as Haunted Woods being very positively received by both fans of
Mario Kart and of Rareware, and the online mode becomes a big boon for the game. Commercially, the game is an even bigger success, as
Double Dash sells four million copies by the end of 2003, mainly due to Nintendo pushing it as their big holiday title, and would go on to sell over 14 million units in lifetime sales, and strengthening the series' position as a moneymaker for Nintendo.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Underground
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Underground is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It bares many of the same aspects with OTL's game, such as a diverse soundtrack, a heavy emphasis on customization for the player character and their board, and the ability to dismount from skateboards and explore the world on foot. However, the game ITTL receives a heavily-coveted feature not present in OTL's game: online connectivity. The disappointment from fans over
Pro Skater 3 not having full online play in wake of the popularity of games like
Halo and
Battlefield 1942 made Neversoft resolve to add it in
Underground. The online mode in question ends up being rather extensive; players can share customizations with each other, while also competing against each other in competitions and challenges.
In terms of skateboarders available,
Underground features most of OTL's cast, with include real-life skateboarders such as Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Paul Rodriguez, and Mike Vallely, among others, as well as the usual assortment of guest characters, this time featuring the return of Spider-Man from
Pro Skater 2 (with Iron Man's inclusion butterflied away), the band Green Day, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, B.J. Blazkowicz from
Wolfenstein, specifically using his appearance from
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Anakin Skywalker from
Attack of the Clones, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine from the
X-Men series, and exclusive to the PlayStation 2 version of the game, Cloud from
Final Fantasy VII and Ratchet from the
Ratchet & Clank games.
Pro Skater Underground is released on October 24th, 2003 for the PlayStation 2, with the Nintendo X, PC, and Game Boy Advance versions coming out on December 5th, 2003. This is attributed to the fact that Sony payed for exclusivity on
Underground, with Cloud and Ratchet's additions likely also meant to boost sales for the PlayStation 2 version. It works, as the PlayStation 2 version sells the most out of any version (a whopping 5 million units compared to the Nintendo X's 800,000 units) and gives people to pick up a PlayStation 2 during the 2003 holiday season.
Nintendo and Level-5's MMORPG Gold Empire to launch in April of 2004, Level-5 parts ways with Enix on Dragon Quest VIII
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Level-5 (creators of Sony's Dark Cloud series) have announced that they have parted ways with Enix on developing the highly-anticipated Dragon Quest VIII, with the intent of prioritizing Gold Empire, their upcoming MMORPG published by Nintendo exclusively for the Nintendo X. When asked about this split, both Level-5 and Enix maintained that it was an amicable one, as Gold Empire was Level-5's first online game and presumably needed all hands on deck. Enix also confirmed that this would not affect their exclusivity agreement with Nintendo, stating that Dragon Quest VIII will launch first on Nintendo platforms, even if the game currently has no scheduled release date. In the meantime, Gold Empire is finally confirmed to be launching in 2004 for the Nintendo X, and will presumably be Nintendo's answer to their rival Sony's Final Fantasy Online, and former rival Sega's Phantasy Star Online."
Eidos Interactive sells off Ion Storm, Deus Ex series, and Thief to Acclaim, reject buyout offers from Microsoft, Sony, and Vivendi
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Eidos Interactive, in wake of the financial failure of Lionheard Studio's Fable, has been selling off numerous assets, with the latest being Ion Storm and the popular Deus Ex series, which will now be settled under the umbrella of Acclaim Entertainment, along with related properties, such as the Thief series. Previously it was reported that they have sold off their star studio Crystal Dynamics to Sony Computer Entertainment, along with the Legacy of Kain and Gex intellectual properties. However, it seems that Sony has offered to wholly buy out Eidos, and if reports are to be believed, they weren't the only ones who offered to do so, as tech company and Nintendo partner Microsoft also put out an offer to acquire Eidos, as did Vivendi, the French conglomerate who owns Universal Interactive. However, Eidos rejected all of these offers and still looking for a buyer. Whoever this may be, it's hard to think anyone bigger than Sony or Microsoft in this case."