Just moments ago at a Sony Press Conference the console giant announced they were finally cutting the PS2 price to $149. SCEA President Kaz Hiari made mention that the “The health of console market depends on us” and “Competitors [are] entering the market–and fading away”. I hardly see anyone fading away and the huge margains of market share that the Xbox seems to be gaining suggest that nobody is in fact fading away, but chipping away at the massive market share that Sony currently has.
Source: Gamespot
Thanks to Alley Cat for hooking me up with this news. Late last night Bungie.net featured a news post stating November 9, 2004 we would be playing Halo 2. They also mention a Limited Collectors Edition in a sweet looking metal case with an additional DVD full of features. You seriously have to see the pictures of this case, it is totally sweet.
So is anyone else excited that we finally have a date?
[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/fuzionfrenzy/cover.jpg[/floatleft]I am fully aware that Fuzion Frenzy was a launch title for the Xbox and everyone under the sun has either seen or played FF, I just made it around to picking this game up. For the few of you out there that may be new to the Xbox, Fuzion Frenzy is a party game much like Kung Fu Chaos or Super Smash Bros. Instead of a four player fighting game, Fuzion Frenzy is centered around a whole slew of different minigames. To try and describe all of the different games would take an entire page.
Fuzion Frenzy has 4 different characters with unique traits. Each player selects one character and then you select one of the games from the vast list. While the game is loading you are given a short summary of the goals of this game as well as a summary of what buttons do what. Typically you only use A and B since most of the games are very simple.
[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/fuzionfrenzy/ss05_thumb.jpg[/floatright]At the end of each game, points are awarded in order of rank and you select the next game. Not much fun? Yeah well, when you get some friends over it becomes a ton of fun. Party games typically don’t have a huge single player experience and I don’t think Fuzion Frenzy breaks that pattern, but it could be fun for some short gaming sessions in between chores by yourself. The addition of CPU controlled players to fill any remaining spots makes this possible.
Fuzion Frenzy may lack a solid single player experience, but in the land of party games where the moto is short, fast, and fun it packs a real punch. Fuzion Frenzy delivers a simple game experience with enough variety to satisfy even the pickiest gamer.
The tournament mode of Fuzion Frenzy randomly selects a set of games from the 45 available games. The tournaments can consist of 8, 12, or 24 games with every 4th game being the Fuzion Frenzy game where players are able to “bet” orbs based on the number of points they have at that point in the tournament. They then battle it out with the other players in an attempt to collect all their orbs and steal orbs away from the other players. While it may be less than thrilling to play 2 to 4 times in a tournament, it is definitely a good way to catch up in points if you seem to be trailing behind.
[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/fuzionfrenzy/ss12_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]Fuzion Frenzy is a Platinum Hit so it weighs in at a hefty $19.99, hardly a strain on the wallet. I wouldn’t say that Fuzion Frenzy is a must own, but if you frequently have guests over and need something to keep everyone busy for a while it is worth the bargain price. Don’t expect to play Fuzion Frenzy with any regularity, but it is definitely one of those games you want to have around just in case the mood of a party switches to fast paced mini game action.
E3 is in fact the biggest event of the year in the gaming industry. Everyone saves the big announcements and the juiciest details for E3. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to make the proper arrangements to attend E3 this year, but we do have someone going that is going to be getting us all the wonderful information you can possibly devour on all the games that you have been waiting for.
After reading a recent edition of Night Call from Gone Gold, Bill Harris discussed that he wasn’t attending E3 since it was basically going to be a show of all the games we saw last year that still hadn’t hit store shelves. That kind of got me down until I started reading the list of games we were going to see that were going to be new.
Obviously I am waiting like the rest of the gaming world to see some in game footage of Halo 2 and Fable. In addition, we get to see more info about the wonderful platformers Jak 3, RC 3, and Sly 2. Kingdom Hearts 2, Gradius V, and then you the PSP, Nintendo DS, and any next generation console info and I am sure this E3 will shape up to be as good as ever.
Even before the show has opened, we have had a flood of information and announcements start to come from everywhere. We will keep you up to date with all the latest info as Sniperseye is on the floor of E3. He will be equipped with a still and video camera and will be shooting us all the information he can each day, so look for the daily E3 updates coming straight from LA.
If you are interested in catching live video of E3, the E3 Insider site will have a live video feed online from the floor of the show. The FanCam should be online sometime today and will give everyone a glimpse into the biggest expo of the year.
It’s been a while since our artist for Snackbar got some props but here we go again! Royce Stewart just gave us some new avatars for our on site at E3 reporter Sniperseye, and they look great. The guy not only does amazing illustration work but he does it fast as well. His website is posted on the bottom of the main page, if you want ask him about the Rat Series, good stuff.
