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Duel Masters

Pojo's Friday News Page
for August 21st, 2004

Atari Stacks the Deck and Readies Second 'Duel Masters' Game Boy Advance Title; Sequel to Popular Franchise to Hit Stores in November

BEVERLY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2004--The second wave of exciting new Duel Masters(TM) interactive entertainment is on its way as Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) and Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc., today announced Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown will launch on Nintendo's Game Boy(R) Advance in November. The highly anticipated sequel to Duel Masters: Sempai Legends, which shipped for Game Boy Advance in June, Duel Masters: Kaijudo Showdown reunites fans with their favorite characters from the TV show as they battle in tournaments and embark on a mysterious mission in which the fate of the world is jeopardy.

"Duel Masters: Sempai Legends is a fan favorite because they allow devotees to enter the world of their favorite trading card game and TV show and Kaijudo Shodown is the next exciting chapter to the Duel Masters story," said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of Marketing and Public Relations, Atari's Beverly studio. "The Game Boy Advance is a perfect platform for Duel Masters because it allows both new fans and veterans a chance to build and tweak their decks, and then link systems together to battle it out to determine who will be the greatest Kaijudo master."  Full Story

Dungeons & Dragons Online First Impressions

Turbine's Ken Troop explains how Dungeons & Dragons will go online. Double-click on the video window for a full-screen view.
At a recent press event, publisher Atari and developer Turbine showed off a working version of Dungeons & Dragons Online, the upcoming massively multiplayer online game that will take place in the officially licensed fantasy world of Eberron. Like other such games, you'll be able to create a single character of a fantasy role-playing-game profession so that you can go on adventures with other like-minded players in search of treasure, experience points, and levels that will increase your character's power. As of press time, there were only four character classes available to show--the fighter, the rogue, the cleric, and the sorcerer--but the final game will have a total of nine playable classes, and it will also give you the option to "multiclass," which allows you to take on a different, additional character profession. Full Story

She's game
Women discover the magic of fantasy role-playing games.

Beth Pintal is a 37-year-old librarian who works five days a week at the reference desk of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library's Warren branch.

But on weekends, and even some weeknights, Pintal is Ariadne, an elf who moves through forests on horseback, battling monsters, seeking treasure and, when the need arises, healing injured warriors. Pintal describes Ariadne as "tall, pale, slender, with long black hair," and "very caring." Full Story

Fans, creators discuss their favorite games and up-coming releases

August 19, 2004 — The mists fall low over the mountainside as an elf enters town. He was sure trouble was afoot, but he had a brave halfling by his side.

In a nearby tavern, a gnome enjoys a pleasant swig of ale as she overhears a discussion about a dragon-guarded treasure.

This is the world of role-playing games.

“It’s like creating a world inside your head,” said Jesse Trujillo, a 25-year-old that has been playing games like Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and Vampire: The Masquerade for over 10 years.

His wife, Mary Trujillo, only started playing recently.

“I started seeing how they’d hang out with each other, laughing and having fun,” the 23-year-old said. “After a while I wanted to join in too.” Full Story

Killzone 2 planned

Whilst nothing is official at this stage, it appears Dutch developer Guerrilla are already working on a sequel to the Sony PS2 exclusive shooter Killzone, despite the original not being due until the final quarter of this year. Confidence is clearly high then that the supposed 'Halo-beater' will do just that, and Sony must be impressed thus far if numero two has already been agreed. Full Story

TV Goes High(er) Tech
Sony unveils new, pricey PS2-powered television sets.

August 19, 2004 - Following reports last month of Sony's intention to incorporate its PlayStation 2 chipset into television sets, the company today revealed solid details on when we can expect these high tech sets to appear.

The company revealed plans to release eight PS2-powered televisions under the Wega and Qualia brands to Japan this Fall. Like the company's PSX digital video recorder device, the televisions will include the PS2's Emotion Engine and Graphic Synthesizer chips. As with the PSX, these chips will give the televisions a more advanced menu system over other televisions. In fact, the televisions will make use of the same "Xcross Media Bar" system featured in the PSX.
Full Story

Majesco announces Jaws (Xbox)

Majesco today announced that it has signed a deal to develop a game based on one of the most enduring action-suspense films of all time, Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
"Without a doubt, Jaws is one of the most revered classics of all time. The film's mixture of action, adventure and suspense terrified the masses," said Jesse Sutton, chief executive officer of Majesco. "The game will capture that same action and excitement as the movie, but this time, the shark enjoys some pay-back."  Full Story

Spiderman 2 (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC)

THE BLOCKBUSTER hit of the summer (how many times have we heard that?) has come to the consoles and, surprisingly, it’s actually rather good.

Placing you in the webbed boots of Peter Parker aka Spiderman, the game loosely follows the plot of the film and sees Spidey tangle with Doc Ock while trying to live a normal life.

Cleverly, the game incorporates a free-roaming mode through the frankly huge city and lets you do pretty much anything you want – solve mini-crimes, race around the city or simply explore. Full Story

Four New Pokémon Episodes Join The Game Boy Advance Video Lineup

Pokémon fans have four new video episodes to watch anytime, anywhere using their Game Boy Advance.
The new Pokémon episodes (two per video pak) for Game Boy Advance include "Pokémon I Choose You" and "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad" on one video pak and "Beach Blank-out Blastoise" and "Go West Young Meowth" on another. The Pokémon titles, available on Sept. 27, will be offered at an MSRP of $19.99 for each video pak. Full Story

Newton, Wisconsin boy plays Pokemon to win

Micah Hammond never thought playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game would result in a chance to go to Florida to battle for the title of world champion.

The 11-year-old from Newton plays the popular game because it’s fun and a chance to make money by selling the popular cards.

Hammond will be one of more than 300 players from around the world vying for the title of 2004 Pokemon TCG World Champion in Orlando. Micah and his mom, Jill, leave Friday for the weekend competition. Full Story

Pokemon Games Receive Huge Pre-Order Numbers
FireRed and LeafGreen are red hot.

August 20, 2004 - You Pokemon fans are a dedicated bunch, I tell ya. During the first half of August, more than 150,000 copies of Pokemon FireRed or Pokemon LeafGreen were reserved. This total shatters the Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire pre-sell by over 200 percent. Full Story

Nokia extras enliven first 'fun and phone'

The N-Gage is Nokia's first effort to merge mobile communications with gaming, and internals of the design highlight the company's platform strategy and component reuse over a range of end-product models.

Released late last year as a response to the success of Nintendo's GameBoy, the N-Gage drew a mix of media skepticism and enthusiastic accolades. Suffering from a limited set of titles vs. its competition, the N-Gage has the advantage — for now — of enabling wireless game play via both cellular and built-in Bluetooth capability. Full Story

Details of Rare's Pants puzzler

No, it's not a joke. Rare's GBA team is planning to turn out a puzzle game based on its Mr. Pants mascot at some point this year, with THQ on board to publish. Dubbed "It's Mr Pants", it's basically a retooled version of a game called DK Coconut Crackers, which appeared on Nintendo's E3 stand as long ago as 2001, then disappeared. Only now it has squiggly animations, crayon backgrounds and, er, Mr Pants sings the odd song between levels. Although it's an odd project to be sure, it does sound like it could be quite good fun.
Full Story

Nintendo Register Device Patent

Nintendo have registered a device that upgrades "an existing video game system [with] communication and storage capability via a modem and hard disk drive".

Nintendo have registered a patent for a new device, while it is not known what exactly the device is it states that it will upgrade an existing video game system with "communication and storage capability via a modem and hard disk drive". Full Story