The Game Has Just Begun
By: Jimmy Clydesdale
.. come on down, you're the next publisher of Mortyr!
Somewhere hidden inside this week's edition of The Game Has Just Begun, the new publisher
of Mortyr will be revealed. It is your job to find where we've hidden this secret information. Oh
screw it, I'll just come out with it. The winner of this year's Oscar for best foreign film, err..
the winner of the Mortyr sweepstakes is... Take 2 Interactive!.
An announcement is expected in the next week as Mirage Media 'promises' that Mortyr will be
released in July. Remember, you heard it here first. If it turns out our source was wrong? Well,
blame it on Gilligan, he takes the rap for everything. Enjoy a little eye candy from Mortyr!
Speaking of Take 2 Interactive, they recently teamed up with Illusion Softworks to produce a World
War II squad based title for the PC entitled Hidden & Dangerous. Recently released in the UK, this
title is very similiar to Spec Ops or Rainbow Six. To sum this game up, it's one of the better crappy
games I've ever played. What do I mean by this? To quote a fellow crew member, it's buggier than
a horse's ass! We can only hope and pray that they manage to rid the game of it's numerous bugs
before it hits US soil. The game is actually quite good once you get past the first mission (the
buggiest first mission in the history of gaming). I'm sure UK gamers are familiar with some of the
bugs in the game, including the Warping bug. And multiplayer, oooooooh, don't get me started.
When you spend 3-4 hours trying to setup a 4-player Internet game, only to get 5 minutes of actual gameplay in, you
know something is wrong. 95% of the time it doesn't connect properly, and the 5% it does, you're
lucky if it runs for 2 minutes before it freezes. FUBAR! Allow me to make this clear though, LAN multiplayer works perfectly and it
appears that a 2-player Internet game plays pretty good too. Bottom line, this game has too much potential to
be wasted on bugs like this. Here's some eye candy from Hidden & Dangerous.
Hasbro Interactive is looking to spend some big bucks it looks like. With Microprose / Spectrum
Holybyte already in the mix, rumor has it they're looking to add Acclaim to the group. This would
certainly improve an already stellar portfolio. Besides the addition of titles like Shadowman,
Re-Volt and WWF Attitude, it would also mean the addition of the South Park series. We've managed
to score some advanced screenshots of some potential Hasbro Interactive titles featuring South
Park characters. Take a look!
 Clue III: South Park - This time Kenny gets to do the killing! |
 Cartman & Stan in "The Game of Life in South Park" |
All hail Hasbro Interactive - Part II
As if the rumor about Hasbro Interactive and Acclaim wasn't enough, it appears Hasbro Interactive
is also in the running to purchase GT Interactive.
"Toy giants Mattel and Hasbro have emerged as the early front runners to buy GT Interactive, with Infogrames also investigating the possibilities. United Kingdom-based trade publication CTW has reported that Mattel and Hasbro have already had a "heads up" on the firm, which was recently presented to a number of top analysts. Rumors about the sale of the company have abounded since late June, when the company announced it has retained Bear Stearns to pursue a financial recapitalization, merger or sale of the company after posting a $50 million revenue loss for fiscal 1999."
Where is Hasbro Interactive coming up with all this cash? Somebody better tell GT Interactive and Acclaim that Monopoly money isn't worth anything.
Militato? You can't make this stuff up!
Ok, maybe you think some of this stuff is to crazy to believe. Well, to quote one of my favorite
late night talk show hosts, You can't make this stuff up! Try this game on for size.
Militato: Militatos Rule the World. Multi Space and Dokebi Entertainment have teamed
up to bring us... umm... potatos at war? Now that's original! Too bad that's about all it is.
It's a Korean release that has made it's way overseas and was actually showcased at this year's
E3. For those of you who might have missed this title, here's some eye candy!
 Ooooww, that's gotta hurt a potato |
 Potato Down! Potato Down! |
 General Spuds Sir! |
Discworld Noir Litigation
Discworld Noir is the third title in the Discworld series. It was recently released in the UK
and is not scheduled to make an appearance in the US market. Based on Terry Pratchett's popular
book series, it's sure to be a hit with his fans as well as adventure gamers in general. However,
this title doesn't come without it's share of problems. Here's the scoop:
"Perfect Entertainment is perhaps best know for, and has certainly had the most success with, their Discworld graphic adventures, based on Terry Pratchett's ultra popular book series. Published by Psygnosis, a disagreement has sprung up between the two companies regarding royalties and contract breaking. Perfect claims that they haven't received all the royalties they are due from the sales of Discworld 1 & 2, and Pysgnosis in turn insist that Perfect have broken their contract by making a deal with GT Interactive to publish the third title, Discworld Noir. Perfect is rumoured to be suing for up to £3 million ($4.8m) in unpaid royalties and damages, but Psyggers insists that "Neither party will make unilateral payment until the dispute is resolved". Clearly one company is going to be very unhappy at the end of all this, and if its Perfect they'll be in serious financial trouble to boot."
Total Annihilation of the Competition
The Top 10 Selling US titles features Total Annihilation at the top of the hill. Surprisingly enough,
Dungeon Keeper 2 was kept off the board while the action game Tarzan managed to climb up into the
ranks. Another missing persons is Heavy Gear 2, which was apparently beat out by fellow Activision
title, Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2. Hey, it's PC Data's list, not mine. Here it is:
Europe loves their Aliens & Predators
According to ChartTrak, The Top 5 Selling UK titles features Aliens vs. Predator at the top. Total
Annihilation: Kingdoms is in fourth spot in the UK and Dungeon Keeper 2 couldn't be kept on this list,
nor could the recently released Hidden & Dangerous. Here's the list:
That's all she wrote for this week, but remember, The Game Has Just Begun!.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in the preceeding article are solely the views of the author,
and in no way express the views of Game Over Online Magazine or The Reviewers' Guild.