Hey everyone...sorry I haven't been around for a little while. But know that from here on out, I'm going to do my best to keep this up on a week-to-week basis--at least until consoles start launching, and I'm up to my eardrums in PS3 and Wii ports of sports games I reviewed earlier in the year. Oh, the fun! Also, props to Andrew Park for his help with the last mailbag. Remind me to turn down his next dinner invitation, though.

In this week's mailbag, questions about assorted small details of the Wii's launch, the reality of Twilight Princess' GameCube debut, wireless Guitar Hero controllers, and Japanese 360 games are on hand, as well as a bunch of other stuff. Sit back, relax, and bask in the somewhat limited glow of knowledge that shall wash over you, like a flashlight with a battery that's just about to die or a really, really low-level tanning bed setting.

Chatty Cathy

Hey Alex,

I actually have two questions.

The first is what are the chances that the original Goldeneye and Perfect Dark will appear on the 360, courtesy of Xbox Live Arcade or on Nintendo's Virtual Console? I've loved those games since the good old N64 days and would love to play them again, in some way shape or form on a new console.

The second is why you refuse to chat on Xbox Live. I am on your friends list and want to chat with you, but you never except my chat invites. I'm sure there's an interesting story behind this...

Thanks in Advance,

Chris aka ScreamingPickle on Live
St. Petersburg, Florida

So you're the crazy dude who sends me chat invites every time I log into Live. OK, here's the thing. It's not that I don't like you; it's that I don't like anybody. I find the idea of jumping into non-game-related chat sessions with people I don't know deeply disquieting. It's like getting a wrong-number phone call from someone, and then after you tell him he's got the wrong guy, he just keeps talking to you. I don't mind chatting in a game, because there is a common thread among those playing, in that they are playing a game. Otherwise, it just kind of creeps me out. No offense directed at you. I'm just that way with everything. Feel free to send text messages, though. I reply to those...sometimes.

As for the original question, no and maybe. GoldenEye isn't going to happen unless Nintendo or Microsoft works out some kind of deal with Activision, who currently owns the rights to the Bond license. Not to mention that there's probably some question as to who currently owns the rights to the game itself, either Nintendo or Microsoft, who bought Rare. Perfect Dark is a better possibility for Live Arcade, since MS at least owns that franchise now, and it seems to have a decent competitive relationship with Nintendo. It might also work as a Virtual Console download. I'm not betting the farm on either one of those, though. -- A.N.

To Deny Nature's Perfect GameCube is Evil

Lately, I've noticed some doubt in the forums as to whether Twilight Princess will actually hit the Gamecube on December 11th. I honestly have to say that I have my doubts as well.

If Twilight Princess was not the only launch game that was from the "holy trinity"; in other words, if Metriod Prime 3: Corruption or Super Mario Galaxy were ready to ship on day 1, I wouldn't be to concerned about the Gamecube version of Twilight Princess. On launch day, without Twilight Princess, are there really any compelling reasons to buy a Wii for the hardcore gamer? Wii Sports, Excite Truck and Call of Duty 3 are not going to fill that void. Unless Nintendo Wii's and Wii copies of Twilight princess are selling on 1:1 ratio, I fear for the Gamecube version's existence.

It would be an incredible mistake not to release Twilight Princess on the Gamecube in my opinion. Out of the 15 million or so Gamecubes out there worldwide, I'll bet 5 million of them are still being played. At least 1 million of them in the states alone are probably Nintendo loyalists. Canning the Gamecube version would be a wound that would not easily heal even among the hardcore Nintendo fans. Overall trust with Nintendo would fall with their fanbase.

More importantly, is the effect it would have on retailers. Retailers have been taking preorders on Twilight Princess on the Gamecube for almost 2 years now. Having to refund or redirect all of those preorders would definitely cost these retailers alot of time and money. Making retailers annoyed is not a good idea when you're launching a new system up against a hype machine such as Sony's Playstation 3. It's just bad business.

Nintendo can't afford to not launch Twilight Princess on the Gamecube in my opinion, looking at Sega's history with a list of similar events leading up to the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was an excellent gaming machine, way ahead of it's time, with some truly excellent games and 3rd party support. It was ultimately Sega's own reputation that killed the Dreamcast. Gamers and retailers couldn't get over the SegaCD, 32X and Saturn fiasco. A little of good faith towards your fanbase can go a long way, and the release of Twilight Princess on the Gamecube would most definitely make up for Nintendo dropping support of their console in early 2005.

Even without Twilight Princess, I'll be getting Baiten Kaitos Origins and Tomb Raider Legends in order to finish my Gamecube collection this winter. If Twilight Princess is not available for my Gamecube, my relationship as a loyal customer with Nintendo will end as well.

Lordel X
Tochigi City, Japan

Frankly, I have no idea if The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will hit its December 11 date, but I'd bet half my chip stack that the GameCube version absolutely, positively will come out. Nintendo has spent way, way, way too much time and money developing that game for the Cube to opt not to put it out on that platform. Obviously, the Wii edition is coming out first, and pretty much the only reason that appears to be happening is that Nintendo wants to make the Wii launch more attractive. For all intents and purposes, the Cube version ought to be done now, so it's not like Nintendo would have to spend months on end finishing up that version after the Wii version comes out.

Twilight Princess will come out for the GameCube. I believe it wholeheartedly. And it will also probably be the last Nintendo-developed game for that system. -- A.N.

If This Question Doesn't Confuse You, You Should Probably Be Writing This Column Instead of Me

Hi Andrew!

I'm back from TGS 2006, which was very reassuring about the PS3 line up, capabilities etc. Still, even reading all the great news from gamespot, I don't find anything about region free specifications: let me explain.

PS3 is region free for games, right? but as PS3 is also a PS2 AND a PSone, will it be able to read any PS2 or PSone games from any continents?

Let's use my example: I'm living in Japan. I'm gonna buy a Japanese PS3. I'm fed up playing great games in japanese, especially metal gears and RPG in japanese, as I understand 5% of what they're saying. for fighting games and racing it's alright. So It would be great I can enjoy US games, or even better Euro games (as I'm French) when available translated in my language (Play US or Euro Okami on my Jap PS3!!).

But then, Do a NTSC console read PAL PS1/PS2 game? does it convert them in NTSC? No one has given any answer yet.

Then sony said: DVD ad Blue Ray are region coded. Ok. But DVDs are Zone 2 in Japan, and Zone 2 in Europe. Then there's still this PAL/ NTSC issue. will the japanese PS3 read the PAL discs? then Blue Ray movies: region coding seem to change too right? they still didn't clearly tell what it will be!

Then once logged in on Playstation network, will I be able to use my log in France too on a Euro PS3? will I be able to keep my purchases from japanese network on my French PS3? This is a real mess!!!

Still, giving the PS3 games the opportunity to feature different languages at the same time and even play weird japanese games is a wonderful feature that is truly next gen to me. Imagine a world without horrible dubbing in English or French, subtitled in your language, like any DVD movie? great!

Thanx for answering!!! and keep up your excellent work!

Willy Kyu
Japan

Willy, you seem to be mistaken--my name is Alex, not And...OK, no, I'm not going to go through that whole routine. No sir. Not gonna happen. Not gonna do it.

You said a mouthful there, but I'm afraid the best answer I can offer up at this point is: "Dunno." We don't know any of this yet because Sony hasn't given these kinds of details. All Sony has said thus far is that PS3 games will be region free and movies won't. How that relates to backward-compatible games, cross-region profiles, or anything to that effect is a mystery. If you want me to take a wild theoretical stab that has no basis in fact or reality, I suppose I could say that if Sony isn't including region locking of any kind for games, then backward-compatible games should work. But "should" and "will" are two different things, so take this with a shaker full of salt. -- A.N.

Do We Really Need All That Storage Space?

Alright Andrew Park,

Hey Alex, whats up. I just got a quick question/comment about if the blu-ray player in the ps3 is really as next-gen as we would all like to believe. I am just a console gamer but i know that computer games are most always just a step ahead of the consoles, as far as graphics are concerned. If it was absolutely necessary for the next generation of games to have huge amounts of space in order to fit the entire game on to the disc, why is no one from the pc gaming camp talking about this? Is sony just trying to get its blu-ray player out by all means necessary?

Michael E.
Los Lunas, New Mexico

Indeed, some of this is bound to be Sony posturing for the sake of making its new format look deathly important. But that's not to say that storage space for games isn't going to need to increase exponentially in the future. What was the final gig count on Resistance: Fall of Man? Something like 20? Daaaaaamn, that's a lot of gigs.

It's also not like PC games haven't been getting bigger and bigger lately. Certainly nothing quite that insane has come up yet, but really, serious high-definition gaming hasn't become the thing with PC games yet. It will at some point, but it's all this HD nonsense that's ratcheting up space requirements, supposedly. Give it time. Soon enough you'll be buying PC games that come with 11 DVD install discs. That'll be awesome. Not. -- A.N.

Rocking the Aftermarket

Alex,

What's shakin' brotha?

First I'd like to say how much I love this feature (in a platonic way, not the same way that Pee-Wee loved the potato salad). As the resident Guitar Hero deity of the GS offices my question to you is: Have you had any experience with aftermarket Guitar Hero Controllers? I've seen the wireless flying V on guitarmania and they look friggin sweet. It's a Flying V for duck's sake! But I'm hesitant to shell out the 60 bones if it's going to play like poo. I've also seen the "Rock Guitar" at ddrgame but have the same reservations. Plus, it's not all that cool looking. Guitar Hero II is just around the corner and I'm definitely going to need a new axe by then. So hopefully you have a few "wisdom nuggets" on this subject that you can drop from your throne of skulls or whatever you park your keister in when it's BQ time.

Donaghy
San Francisco, California

I actually own one of those wireless flying V guitars. I keep meaning to write up some kind of review-ish thing in my blog about it, but various things have conspired to make me forget I even own one.

So, instead, I'll make my thoughts known here. It kind of sucks. The wireless aspect of it is the biggest benefit. You might notice the slightest, teensiest, most miniscule amount of button lag when playing, but it never screwed me up while I was trying to play. However, everything else about that stupid thing did. The strap design, for one thing, is garbage. There's no comfortable strap setting with that guitar. The strap holders are placed in such a way that not only does the thing kind of twist up real rotten, but it also has a bad tendency to slip off the holders with more animated use. The buttons also pretty much suck. The nice thing is that you don't have to press as hard on them as you do with the RedOctane guitar to get the press to register, but I kept finding myself getting my fingers trapped when trying to move between buttons. I also contend that neither the tilt sensor nor the whammy bar is as good or responsive as the RedOctane guitar.

So, yeah, don't buy that thing, at least not this version of it. Apparently RedOctane is working on some kind of official wireless guitar controller to come out around the time Guitar Hero II does, so maybe that one will be better and eliminate the need for that aftermarket crap. -- A.N.

As If Microsoft's Japan Presence Weren't Bad Enough...

: Microsoft has mentioned, that they're developing games exclusively for Japanese gamers. Does this mean we'll be getting very little Japanese games like the previous xbox? I ask this as an 360 owner who loves Japanese games. I've seen a great deal of Japanese titles coming to the 360 and hope to god they make it here over seas. Please put my heart at ease.

Dwayne Simon
Phoenix, AZ

I don't know if you've played any of the Japanese-market games that are on the 360 currently, but from what I can gather by watching Jeff Gerstmann play them for points, the majority of them are real, real bad. Whether it be the silly anime shooter/fighting game hybrid Senko No Ronde Rev.X, the completely incomprehensible board game/party game Every Party, or what is quite possibly the most atrocious 360 game I've seen in motion (next to Bomberman: Act Zero), Zoids Infinity EX Neo, the Japanese-exclusive 360 landscape looks pretty lame right now.

Maybe Japan will get a few cool things that we don't (like Yie Ar Kung Fu for Live Arcade, for example), but I get the feeling that anything legitimately good that comes out of Japan will find its way to North American 360s at some point or another. And probably some of the bad stuff too. *cough*Import Tuner Challenge*cough*. -- A.N.

Two Years Too Late

Hey Alex/Andy or Automated Reply Service,

In response to your response to "The Ratings Game", I clicked on the link to the "GameSpot Review Guidelines" and read some of the FAQs. Especially the one regarding review dates.

Here's the excerpt:

"When should I expect to see a particular game reviewed on GameSpot?"

We review most games on or around the day on which they ship to retail channels. However, in some cases, we need extra time. This can be for a variety of different reasons, such as to extensively test multiplayer features under realistic gameplay conditions, or because we were not given access to final review code from a game's publisher and needed to purchase the game at retail to begin our testing. We appreciate your patience in these instances, but our stance on review timeliness is simple: We do not rush reviews. The timeliness of our coverage is extremely important to us, but a review is never rushed at the expense of its accuracy. Our editors are always given extra time on assignments should they require it.

Well it's been almost 2 years since Counter-Strike: Source was released and still no review. I know it says in the reply that sometimes extra time is needed. But 2 YEARS? Come on, you've hosted CS:S tournaments, and there's even one on now.

When will somebody review CS: Source?

Abir C
Down Under

Never, because we already covered it in our review of Half-Life 2, since it came out as a pack-in with that game. Besides, it's mostly a graphical update to a game we reviewed back in 2000. I'm well aware we've reviewed plenty of updates in our day, but with the game already covered in our HL2 review, it didn't seem necessary to write a full, new review of Source. -- A.N.

Unnecessary Use of Greek Alphabet

Welcome Back Alex(not Andrew),

A recent scan in Famitsu magizine shows the next game in the Ninja Gaiden series called Ninja Gaiden Sigma is coming to PS3.I was bewildered becuase most signs pointed to Xbox 360 for the next NG.I then read that it will be basicly Ninja Gaiden with Next-Gen graphics and more content. So I was wondering, Is it very possible the NG2 could be still be on Xbox 360 or even be multiplatform? Could this just be a way for Playstation owners to play NG that they most likely wouldn't have ran out and bought an Xbox for?

Matt T.br/> Newport, Rhode Island

Since it has been like two weeks since I even looked at the mailbag, I'll assume you've all seen the official announcement of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. It's the Xbox version of Ninja Gaiden with prettier graphics and some new content, I guess.

This whole thing smacks of a "we like money" move from Tecmo, if you ask me. It's just one of those things where you can't envision a particularly good reason to port that game to the PS3, except to have a Ninja Gaiden game that Sony can call its own (even though it's kind of, sort of not). As for Ninja Gaiden 2, who knows? Considering how much Itagaki loves the Xbox 360, my guess is that it would probably end up on that system first, before coming to the PS3, if it were to come to the PS3 at all. Just speculation, mind you, but it seems logical. -- A.N.

Emerging Early

Hey Alex,

Quick question I would like clarification on. On the site's Gears of War gamespace it states a release date of November 7th, yet it also has posted an official statement where Microsoft states the release date is November 12th?!? please clarify!

Jeff Barbieri
Lincoln, Rhode Island

As far as we're concerned, Gears of War is coming out on November 7 until we hear otherwise. That's based on retailer data, and I've also read some comments (I can't recall where, exactly) from Epic that the 7th is the ship date. I think this November 12 thing is just a big PR blitz from Microsoft to try to subvert the upcoming system launches. After all, by November 12, pretty much everybody will be able to get a copy of the game, so it makes a bit of sense to promote a date shortly after it initially ships, so as to not lead people to stores when copies aren't readily available to everybody yet. Also, games just don't come out on Sundays. It is not the way of things. -- A.N.

Finally, An Honest Reader

Hey Alex. Your mailbag is stupid, you aren't funny (which is OBVIOUSLY part of your job description) and your writing is sub-par.

Well not really, but aren't you sick of compliments in these questions? Print my letter.

Though I'm much more informed about the Wii than I was a few days ago, there are still some lingering questions. Answer them if you can:

1. What is the pricing for Genesis and Turbo Graphix games? The same as SNES? Will every game conform to Nintendo's pricing, or will some games cost more?

2. When are the original games for Virtual Console coming? Will they be running on emulated SNES and N64 hardware, or they run off of Wii hardware?

3. Is it possible to use a Gamecube controller in place of a classic controller? Same basic functionality, as far as I can tell....

4. Which of Nintendo's first party games can we expect within either the launch window or the first quarter of 2007? Metroid Prime 3 or Wario Ware, maybe?

5. Are we getting Wii Play, and if so, when?

6. I believe it was mentioned that Red Steel may go online later with a patch. Can we anticipate Nintendo doing something similar with, say, Excite Truck?

I'm rather excited about the Wii. If all goes well, it will be the first console I get on day one. But these lingering questions, especially with two months to go to the launch, are troublesome. Why on earth would Nintendo keep these details close to their chest? Or worse, if they don't know, how could they not with only two months until their new system debuts?

David "Oilers99" Supina
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

For the record, I'm pretty much running this question only because of the first sentence.

1. Nintendo hasn't said yet, but my guess is that they would be on the same pricing wavelength as the SNES games, so $8 a pop.

2. No one knows at this point. All Nintendo has really talked up thus far is the old stuff coming. I imagine we'll find out more about original content postlaunch.

3. I think the system has controller ports built into the top, so yes, you should be able to use a GameCube controller.

4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves is supposed to hit the Q1 2007 window, but all we know about how Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is "2007." I have to imagine it'll be early in the year, though.

5. Last I heard, yeah, we are, though I don't know a thing about when. The last date I heard was a rather nondescript "2006," which doesn't seem likely at this point.

6. No idea, and I hadn't even heard about that Red Steel thing. I'm sure Nintendo could if it wanted to with something like Excite Truck, but the question is: Does it want to? My guess: no.

You'd be amazed how many things get decided at the last minute with console launches. I have a feeling some of this data is known internally, but it's probably just not at a place yet where Nintendo feels comfortable announcing it, since not enough of it is set in stone. That's just how these things tend to go.