LET THE GAMES BEGIN; SOFTWARE FOR PLAYSTATION, N64 AND PCS GETS READY FOR PRIME TIME.Byline: David Bloom David Bloom (May 22, 1963 – April 6, 2003) was an NBC journalist (co-anchor of Weekend Today and reporter) until his sudden death in 2003 at the age of 39. Early life Daily News Staff Writer Got game? Well, if you don't, this is a good year to get game. Both the Sony PlayStation Sony Playstation - Playstation and Nintendo 64 video-game consoles are hitting the sweet spot in their life cycles, with dozens of excellent titles available, many for as little as $20, even as the machines' prices have dropped to $129.Meanwhile, more and more companies are creating compelling titles for the personal computer, whose power and expandability make truly eye- and ear-popping experiences possible. ``This is going to be the best year for games ever, that much is already clear,'' said Jennifer Pahlka, director of the Game Developers Conference. ``(PlayStation and Nintendo 64) both are hitting the biggest installed base ever.'' And we're talking big indeed. Industry estimates say Americans will spend more than $6.3 billion this year on video games See video game console. , a record total that outstrips the domestic gross at movie box offices. Seema Williams, an analyst who follows the video-game industry for Forrester Research Forrester Research is an independent technology and market research company that provides its clients with advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. Corporate facts
``Nintendo is finally coming into its own,'' Williams said. ``The No. 1 complaint for several years has been that there were not enough N64 games. For the first time, they're on fairly reasonable footing in terms of hot games.'' More power N64 is newer and more powerful, with better graphics capabilities that will be further augmented by this week's release of the Expansion Pak For content expansions for computer and video games, see . The Expansion Pak is a RAM add-on for the Nintendo 64 game console, released in 1998. It gives the Nintendo 64 an extra 4MB of RDRAM, for a total of twice the original (4MB) of on-board RAM. , which doubles a console's memory, allowing it to display more and smarter enemies, in better-looking backgrounds. Nintendo games List of Nintendo games can refer to:
But the season's hottest game, on any platform, likely will be N64's The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina ocarina (ŏkərē`nə), musical wind instrument with eight finger holes and two thumb holes, rather egg-shaped, and made of metal, terra-cotta or plastic. Unlike other wind instuments, it produces pure tones that lack overtones. of Time. Crafted by gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto  This article needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. - also responsible for such huge-selling franchises as Donkey Kong Donkey Kong may refer to:
``Zelda'' was released this week, and Nintendo company spokespeople say they've had more than 400,000 preorders and expect to sell more than 2.5 million copies by Christmas. ``It's the game for the holiday season,'' Williams said. ``The first shipment is sold out, and some people will be lucky to get one for the holidays. I don't hear enough buzz about a similar title for the PlayStation to give it a similar pickup in sales.'' Lots of titles Which isn't to say there aren't plenty of choices on the 3-year-old PlayStation machine. Roughly 500 PSX PSX Sony Playstation PSX Playstation X (name of the CD add-on unit for the pre-production NES) PSX Professional Services Expo PSX Play Station games are available in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , and the mix of titles is changing, said Sony Computer Entertainment America spokeswoman Molly Smith Molly Smith is the artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington D.C.. She has been a focused on new play development for the past 30 years while at Arena Stage as well as Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, the theater she founded and led for 19 years[1]. . The PlayStation has always had plenty of titles that appeal to the twitchy twitch·y adj. twitch·i·er, twitch·i·est 1. Characterized by jerky or spasmodic motion: the twitchy whiskers of a cat. 2. Nervous; jittery. , gore-minded older teens in the household. Now it finally is getting games anyone can play, including Spyro the Dragon This article is about the first game in the Spyro series. For information about the character, see Spyro the Dragon (character). For other contexts, see Spiro (disambiguation). Spyro the Dragon is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation. , Crash Bandicoot This article is about the first game in the series. For other uses, see Crash Bandicoot (disambiguation). Crash Bandicoot is a platform game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation in 1996, featuring the : Warped, and upcoming titles based on the animated movies ``A Bug's Life'' and ``Rugrats.'' Those help fill out a bulging portfolio that includes such much-awaited new releases as Metal Gear Solid  This article is about the original Metal Gear Solid released for the PlayStation. For the Game Boy Color spin-off of the same name, see . , Tomb Raider III, Twisted Metal III Twisted Metal III is a vehicular combat game released in 1998. The events in Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal 4 are considered noncanon. Combatants
abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga Gameday '99. ``PlayStation is the leader in the industry, with more than 12.5 million units installed,'' said Smith. ``The best reason people are going to buy it is purely for the entertainment experience that our system offers that no one else can offer.'' On the computer side, the arrival of Apple Computer's iMac is starting to make the Mac gaming market more attractive finally, Williams said. With about 500,000 of the low-cost, slickly designed, simple-to-set-up machines expected to be sold by year's end, ``some of those (gaming) companies will be looking to move their titles over to this mass market,'' Williams said. ``It's low-hanging fruit.'' But hyped-up IBM-compatible PCs loaded with two fast graphics accelerator cards, screaming processors, big screens, high-end stereo sound and joystick controllers remain the machine of the gaming ubergeek. ``You can't pry those guys off their PCs,'' Williams said. Beyond the nerds Fortunately for the housewife in Pacoima who enjoys simpler gaming pleasures, the PC game market is diversifying, moving away from a hard-core audience of twitchy teens. ``The industry is now convinced there are people who are casual gamers who will go out and buy different games, like Deer Hunter, Barbie Nail Designer, You Don't Know Jack You Don't Know Jack is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision and Berkeley Systems. YDKJ, promoted as the games "where high culture and pop culture collide," combine trivia with comedy. , and Parappa the Rapper, Pahlka said. ``This is somebody who's not going to spend 20 hours a week playing a game. They want to play an entertaining game for maybe a shorter period.'' So increasingly there are trivia games, hunting games, digital versions of board games and TV game shows, music games, games that combine education and entertainment, games that allow you to create something on the computer and print it out and assemble it. And next year, everything will change again, in part because of Sega's Dreamcast console, being unveiled today in Japan. A strange and powerful hybrid that includes a built-in 33.6 Kbps modem, a tiny personal digital assistant that plugs into the Nintendo-like bat-shaped game controller, and a high-performance processor tweaked to provide graphics performance as much as four times better than a Pentium II computer. A Sega spokeswoman said the machine is expected to debut in the United States next fall, accompanied initially by 12 to 15 titles. Its arrival will begin the eclipse of the PlayStation and N64, though both platforms should be sources of enjoyable games for years to come. The two warring consoles remain the best gaming alternative for many families, especially in households where access to a PC is nonexistent non·ex·is·tence n. 1. The condition of not existing. 2. Something that does not exist. non or limited. Some families may wait until Dreamcast debuts next year, but the cheap prices and broad selection of this generation of consoles likely will be hard to resist for many. Looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. games and gear for your tech fiend or family? These suggestions should get you through the holiday season and beyond. Gear Apple iMac - The coolest computer in world history, and fastest-selling in Apple's history. Its all-in-one form, brilliant design, excellent technology and Macintosh operating system (operating system) Macintosh Operating System - (Mac OS) Apple Computer, Inc.'s proprietary operating system for their Macintosh family of personal computers. The part of the operating system that simulates the desktop is called "Finder. make it a snap to set up and connect to the universe. Overcome its downsides with a Superdrive from Imation and Virtual PC emulator software from Connectix (about $200 total). For about $1,300. Sony DVP-S300 - A good, highly rated midrange DVD player that will give you razor-sharp pictures, great sound and lots of cool extras. For about $400. Escient TuneBase 2000i music library system - Uses a dedicated PC to control up to three 200-disc CD changers. Choose the sounds of your life by mood, tempo, artist, style or album. Download album art and track information from the company's Web site. The ultimate party machine. About $2,500, plus the CD changer Changer The name given to a clearing member that is willing to assume the opposite position of a futures contract within a larger alternative exchange, of which it also is a clearing member. (another $200). Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 computer speakers - Terrific-sounding 80-watt speakers and subwoofer A speaker that reproduces the lower end of the audio spectrum. A subwoofer system may include a crossover circuit which switches frequencies at approximately 100Hz and under to the subwoofer, while passing the rest of the signal to the main speakers. connect through USB port or sound card. Software creates a built-in 10-band graphic equalizer. Also sounds great with televisions, personal stereos, even Power Macs. Around $260. Compaq 2015c hand-held computer - Windows CE 2.0-based computer about the size of a paperback comes stuffed with goodies. Pocket versions of Microsoft's Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer and Powerpoint, built-in modem, PCMCIA card slot and software for your desktop computer. About $650. Philips Nino 320 - Slick-looking personal digital assistant using Windows CE, includes voice memo ability, flash memory slot, 8 Megabytes of RAM and a great display for around $500. Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera - A terrific creative tool for kids, and only about $75. Take up to 20 pictures at a time, drop them into preset Barbie photo frames in your computer, and dress them up with simple editing and special-effects tools. Create scrapbooks and digital flipbooks, even pick the music. Color Game Boy - Nintendo has sold 65 million Game Boys, and now has finally added a color screen. Only about 15 new color titles will be available by Christmas, but even the 500 black-and-white Game Boy titles will show up to 10 colors on the new machines.Now that's a technological marvel. About $65. Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro game controller - The combination joystick and gamepad offers plenty of basics, but best of all is how internal positional sensors translate your body English into commands for a game. Cool. Comes bundled with a very good game, Motocross Madness. Even cooler. About $75. My Design dolls - Dial up Mattel's Web site at www.Barbie.com and order a Barbie companion doll of your own design, pick hair color and style, name, outfit, accessories and even ``personality.'' Beware, however. With a six- to eight-week wait for delivery, this may be best for January birthdays. Around $40. Furby - The pint-size interactive plush toy has already become a collectible. Speaks its own language, knows when other Furbys are in the room, and learns your speech too. About $30. Playstation Parasite Eve - The ``cinematic role-playing game,'' is a gorgeously rendered and engaging sci-fi detective adventure, though briefer than you might want. Great sound too. Xenogears - Beautifully hand-drawn animations bring alive this sci-fi role-playing game that's one of this year's best in the genre. Metal Gear Solid - This adventure game already is drawing high praise and higher expectations. Early looks are impressive, so it's likely to be a big hit. Better for older youths and adults. Twisted Metal III - The crazed car combat series returns for more, with eight new battlegrounds, 12 new vehicles and numerous new weapons. Apocalypse - Bruce Willis' digital doppelganger doppelgänger Psychiatry A delusion that a double of a person or place exists elsewhere; it is related to other defects in recognition and suggests organic disease in the nondominant parietal lobe. See Depersonalization disorder, Schizophrenia. stars in this well-done action adventure shooter set in the future. For older teens. Street Fighter Collection Street Fighter Collection is a compilation of three 2D fighting games: Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and a special home version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 titled Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, which contained various features not found in the 2 - Capcom packaged three of its arcade hits into a single PSX disk, so you, too, can punch out Balrog and Vega. Definitely for older players. Tomb Raider III - Every gamer's favorite busty bust·y adj. bust·i·er, bust·i·est Full-bosomed. Adj. 1. busty - (of a woman's body) having a large bosom and pleasing curves; "Hollywood seems full of curvaceous blondes"; "a curvy young woman in a tight adventurer, Lara Croft, returns to the screen. For teens and up. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - Drive some of the world's fastest cars along challenging, detailed courses at excessive speeds. You can even drive the police cars in pursuit. MediEvil - A fun, tricky, goofily ghoulish ghoul n. 1. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome. 2. A grave robber. 3. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses. 3-D action-adventure, with odd but engaging animation and terrific production values. Highly recommended. Small Soldiers - Based on the summer movie, Archer has to free his friends and fight Chip Hazard and his Globotech goons. Crash Bandicoot: Warped - This terrific sequel sends Crash and his sister back in time, under and over water, along the Great Wall and more. For a cheap alternative, the first two Crash titles can be had for $20 each. Asteroids This is a list of numbered minor planets, nearly all of them asteroids, in sequential order. As of late September 2007 there are 164,612 numbered minor planets, and many more not yet numbered. Most asteroids are ordinary and not particularly noteworthy. - The early arcade classic has received a nicely done 3-D update. Simple and fun for the nostalgic older gamer, or a younger new one. Blasting space rocks can be so satisfying. Spyro the Dragon - A sweet-natured adventure game involving a young dragon who must gather jewels, rescue his elders and beat the goofy villains. Terrific for younger gamers. Nintendo 64 Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - This long-awaited and sprawling title has already been dubbed game of the century by one magazine. Will keep kids (and adults) entranced for weeks. Maybe the console's best-ever title. Buck Bumble - A cyberbee must protect the hive. Great 3-D graphics, a bug's-eye view and multiplayer matches. Tell your kin to buzz off. F Zero X - A fluid and fast hovercraft Hovercraft: see air-cushion vehicle. racing game that is a terrific demonstration of the N64's graphic capabilities. Gex 64 Enter the Gecko gecko (gĕk`ō), small or medium-sized lizard of the family Gekkonidae. The more than 300 species are distributed throughout the warm regions of the world, mostly in the Old World. Despite folklore to the contrary, their bite is not poisonous. - A witty update of the franchise, with dozens of gecko moves and fun spoofs of television and movie plots. Milo's AstroLanes - A futuristic and fun bowling game. Best feature is the ability to sabotage an opponent's ball as it rolls toward the pins. Virtual Pool 64 - Strikingly lifelike and feature laden. Set up trick shots, learn the rules, play a variety of opponents and games. Might even make you a better pool player. Body Harvest - Pitched for a much older crowd than is common on the N64, you play a human who's sent back in time to hunt down alien invaders before they eradicate mankind. NFL Blitz - The arcade hit, still with ``no rules, no substitutions and nowhere to hide.'' Play all this season's games, and even store favorite plays on a Controller Pak. Nintendo Game Boy Pokemon - A massive craze in Japan, now winning over America. Tamagotchi Tamagotchi [Japanese; cute little egg] space-age cyberpet; a solely electronic state; indigenous to Japan, appearing as an egg on a liquid-crystal screen. Life history, consisting of hatching, feeding, beeping when not fed, sleeping in 12 hour snatches, growing, dying times role-playing adventure times collectibles times head-to-head competition. Comes in two versions. Get the version your child's best friend doesn't have, and buy the linking cable so they can swap pokemon and challenge one another. Men in Black: MIB (1) (Management Information Base) The hierarchical database used by the simple network management protocol (SNMP) to describe the particular device being monitored. MIB objects are identified using ASN.1 syntax. See SNMP, RMON, OID and ASN.1. the Series - A fun side-scroller based on the cartoon series, not the movie. Great color graphics, but also runs in black and white. Pitfall pit·fall n. 1. An unapparent source of trouble or danger; a hidden hazard: "potential pitfalls stemming from their optimistic inflation assumptions" New York Times. : Beyond the Jungle - A challenging Color Game Boy update to the durable franchise is tough from the first swinging vine. PC/Mac Trespasser - You're on an island they overlooked in cleaning out Site B from ``The Lost World'' movie. Way too many hungry dinosaurs want to turn you into a Jurassic bon bon. Good luck, buddy. You'll need it. James Cameron's Titanic Explorer - This disk he did for love. An hour of film footage evokes life on board, as do tons of photos, 1,200 pages of Senate testimony, and much, much more for the family Titanic freak. But sorry girls, no Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. . Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator Combat flight simulators are video games similar to flight simulator software used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These video games are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for military flight training which are far more complex and consist of - Flight Simulator with guns, finally. Good game, too. Endlessly expandable and compatible with planes from Flight Simulator 5.0 and 98. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy - The TV game shows come to the PC, with plenty of stumpers for your own home's fan. I'll take a ``T'' and Presidents for $500, Vanna and Alex. A Bug's Life Adventure - Collect grain, fight off birds and bad bugs, explore 15 levels. A good game for all ages. Dance Studio - Create your own animated music videos, choreographing moves, mixing music, choosing performers, camera angles, lighting and backdrops. Cool, and very different. Planetarium planetarium, optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device. A modern planetarium consists of as many as 150 motor-driven projectors mounted on an axis. Gold Complete Guide to the Universe - Telescopic views of planets and stars, a starfinder, animation of celestial movements, screen savers, guides to constellations, an astronomical calendar, dictionary and trivia. Ultimate Family Tree Platinum - A dizzying array of functions for people seeking their past. Create family albums, calendars, trees, Web pages and much more. If someone in the family is into family, this makes a nice present. Star Trek Starship Creator - Build, outfit and crew your own Starship Enterprise, then boldly go where no software has ventured before on a series of missions. Great details for Trekkers, but graphically not that engaging. Sports titles Remington Top Shot - Forget Quake II. This is the real shooter game for both Windows and Mac. Ten games, 20 weapons, safety tips, gun profiles. Deer Hunter 2 - A dirt-cheap sequel to the surprise smash hit. It features 3-D graphics, new weapons and smarter prey. Cabela's Big Game Hunter II Cabela's Big Game Hunter II is the first sequel to Cabela's Big Game Hunter. It was published and developed by HeadGames Publishing, Inc. External links Cabela's Big Game Hunter II at MobyGames - The dirt-cheap sequel to the smash-hit knock-off to the surprise smash hit. Bass Masters Classic Bass Masters Classic is a fishing video game, released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995 by Malibu Games. Tournament Edition - Everything the family angler might want: tips from experts, 3-D renderings of real lakes, thousands of lures, even multiplayer tournaments over the Internet. NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Football 99 - Play all Division I schools, and their stadiums, and replay 80 classic matches from history. Even recruit over multiple seasons in ``dynasty mode.'' Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf - Get Tiger tips, play as one of eight other pros, even join an online golf tour for money. Comes with several add-on courses, for more variety. For the blaster crowd Klingon Honor Guard - A less cerebral Trekkie title that uses Quake II's graphics engine to power a bloody 3-D combat game set in seven Klingon worlds. Quake the Reckoning - If your teen somehow missed this smash-hit shooter the first time, this is a great deal, providing not only the game itself, but two ``mission packs'' that nearly double the number of levels and add more weapons and monsters to bump off. Total Annihilation Commander Pack - The award-winning robot battle strategy game returns, bundled with two expansion sets and a strategy guide. Interstate '76 Arsenal - Another fun older hit repackaged expansion sets, and in this case souped up for hardware accelerator cards. Road Warrior meets '70s muscle cars in post-apocalyptic demolition derby. Way fun. MechCommander: The recent best seller remains a hot choice for game fans who like the challenge of real-time strategy games. Outfit, repair and shepherd your corps of robotic fighting devices through a campaign of missions. Shogo Mobile Armor Division - Pilot a big ol' fighting robot through a series of adventures in the far future. Sin - This first-person shooter lets you blast armies of genetically altered mutants. Violent, needs hardware accelerator card. For the younger set Rugrats Adventure Game and Rugrats Activity Challenge - Based on the hit animated program and movie, these games include some educational skill-building, plus plenty of nice touches. For children 6 to 10. Dr. Brain Thinking Games Puzzle Madness: Make your noggin nog·gin n. 1. A small mug or cup. 2. A unit of liquid measure equal to one quarter of a pint. 3. Slang The human head. [Origin unknown. work a little harder. Best feature: Dozens of puzzles reconfigure in hundreds of variations, so it won't get boring anytime fast. Lego Creator - Virtual Lego, with cool extra tricks and exclusive real Lego sets. Features fluid control of 3-D bricks, the power to animate your creations, and even save and swap them on Lego's own Web site. Blue's Birthday Adventure and Blue's ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Time Activities - Two CD-ROMS based on ``Blue's Clues,'' the Nickelodeon show about a blue animated dog that preschoolers love. Good for little ones. My Disney Kitchen - Better than an E-Z E-Z Engdahl-Zigangirov (bound) Bake Oven and quicker to clean, with lots of fun projects and even kid-friendly real-world recipes. Richard Scarry's Busytown Best Christmas Ever and Richard Scarry's Best Activity Center Ever - Based on work of the veteran children's author, with nice features. Young fans of Huckle the Rabbit should love it. Barbie Jewelry Designer and Barbie Nail Designer - Design jewelry or decorative fingernail fin·ger·nail n. The nail on a finger. coverings with the computer, then print them out using provided special materials. Great creativity inducers with a real world payoff. Lisa Frank Forever Fun Works and Lisa Frank Paper Play! Studio - Lots of templates for fun projects, plus beads and bags of decorative stuff, all with the distinctive Frank look. Dino Sticker Time and Tattoo Time - Two titles that let you create stickers or temporary tattoos. Lots of images, extras, special printable materials. Barbie Adventure Riding Club and My Little Pony Friendship Gardens - Two virtual horse pet titles, for slightly different age groups. My Little Pony is better for the younger ones. Disney's Active Play A Bug's Life - Lets kids make their own paper ``Bug's Life'' board game and puppets, includes a ``camera'' to create bug scrapbooks. For younger children. CAPTION(S): 7 Photos Photo: (1) Crash Bandicoot: Warped is available for Sony PlayStation. (2) no caption (Compaq 2015c hand-held computer) (3) no caption (James Cameron's Titanic Explorer) (4) no caption (Rugrats Adventure Game and Rugrats Activity Challenge) (5) no caption (Lego Creator - Virtual Lego) (6) no caption (My Disney Kitchen) (7) no caption (Barbie Adventure Riding Club) |
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