News

We've added a new topsites - we were the first member at the brand new topsites hosted by our friends at FFGurus.

You'll find the voting button at the bottom of every site page, nestled between our two W3C compliance buttons. It's also been added to all forum skins - look near the top of every page, on the right-hand side. The button looks like this:

I ask that if you like the site, please help us net some traffic by voting for us once a day when you come here to visit. As always, the more traffic we get, the happier the staff is to keep improving the site for you. Thank you!

EDIT: This is now confirmed. More details when I get home from Uni.

This is yet to be confirmed, but the next installment in the Earthbound series (which goes by the name of Mother in Japan) is again in development. This time it is for the Nintendo GameCube.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,24103,

For those who missed out on it,  Earthbound was quirky, comical RPG for the SNES that stared Ness, a boy on an adventure to save the universe (just your typical kid, right?).  It still remains a favorite of many RPG fans.

This installment of the series was originally in development for the Nintendo 64.  It was plagued by developmental problems and other issues though.  The game was canceled as a result.  There is no word on a release date in North America, but it is believed to be ready for gamers in Japan by August.

In other Earthbound news, Earthbound Zero and Earthbound (Mother 1 and Mother 2, respectively) are also planned for the GameBoy Advance.  Neither one is a straight ports; both are believed to have reworked graphics.

Source: Games Are Fun

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More Earthbound?  I think this is fantastic news.  I have neither a GameCube nor a GBA, but this makes me wish I had both.  I found Earthbound to be a breath of fresh air the first time I played it.  I was quite disappointed when I heard Mother 3 was cancelled for the N64.  I still don't think I'd get a GameCube because of this (it wouldn't change the fact that I can't justify spending money to buy a second console when I probably shouldn't have bought a PS2 to begin with),  but it is just another reason why the GBA would be a decent purchase.

This brings a good topic up for discussion.  Would anyone here buy a GameCube or GameBoy Advance solely on these games alone?  If not, would they help contribute to the purchase of either?  Or are you someone who just doesn't care about the Earthbound series?  As a bonus, you can substitute Zelda: The Wind Walker (with its release soon) for the new Earthbound game for the questions.

OPGaming.com reopened on March 1st, 2003, at around 5:00 PM Eastern time. The site was reworked since November by R51, Tiddles, and myself, along with my personal staff who helped fill in content. So what's new?

The Latest Gaming News & Media
Coverage for Gaming on ALL major Platforms, as well as old ones.
New Forums
An Extensive Games Database
Weekly polls
A huge, 64 character tournament, which is already underway.

Plus lots more to come. R51 told me to be a spammer, so yell at him, AFTER you check out the new OPGaming.com.

None of these really warrent an update in themselves, but some may be of interest to a few of you CoN-ers.

Starting off with some non-Final Fantasy or RPG news,  Konami has announced that Silent Hill 3 will be released in Europe first.  The tentative date is May 23.  Gamers in Japan and North America are the ones that will have to be waiting this time around.  European gamers usually have to wait months for PAL versions of their games.  Speaking of the North American version, though, its release is planned sometime in August.

For those that don't know,  Silent Hill 3 is popular action/horror series that is similar to the Resident Evil series (correct me if I'm wrong on this one guys.).
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Tidbit numero dos:  Final Fantasy Tatics Advance has already moved over 250,000 copies in Japan.  And it was only released on Valentine's Day.  One copy of FFTA was sold for every single GameBoy Advance SP (also released on that day) that was sold.  

Considering the popularity of the original FFT among North American gamers, it should be a hit here as well.
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Tidbit number three:  A new Zelda game is on the works for the GameBoy Advance.  Shigeru Miyamoto talked about in a recent interview.  The game will be developed for Nintendo by Capcom.  Besides being a developer of generally high regard, they have developed the three most recent Zelda GameBoy games (The two Oracale games for GB Color and the port of Link To Past for the GBA).  

The game has been actually development since 2001.

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Links to Tidbit source articles:
Tidbit 1: http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2911343,00.html
Tidbit 2: http://www.ffinsider.net/news/news.php?id=324
Tidbit 3: http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,29872,

Lamest headline ever.

Anyway, three new art packages make their debut on the site today. We have two from Narratorway, both featuring Palom and Porom from FF4, and a layout from current queen of the Fanart Hall of Fame, A-Chan, featuring Faris from FFV. I will be adding all of these pieces to the main fanart section just as soon as I can. About half are already up.

Bandai, the manufacturer of the SwanCyrstal, WonderSwan Color and WonderSwan, announced that they will stop mass production of the SwanCrystal (their latest version of the handheld device).  Furthermore, they have no future hardware plans as of now.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,30952,

While it was never brought over to the North American market, the WonderSwan was able to establish a nice little niche market over in Japan.  Sales have really sagged in recent weeks though.  Bandai is to the point where they are only moving 800 to 1,000 units weekly.  

The WonderSwan Color garnered much of its attention through ports of popular game made to the system, particularly those by Square and Capcom.  Square ported Final Fantasy I, II and IV, and Romancing SaGa to the system while Capcom brought its Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Pocket Fighter, and Mega Man and Bass.

Bandai handheld plans are now to develop software for the GameBoy Advance, hoping to release a game this coming fall in Japan.  

Source: GamesAreFun
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This is just one less competitor to Nintendo's dominance in the handheld market.  As already stated up above, it was never released in the North American market and only established a niche in Japan.  Every bit of competition against Nintendo helps it though.  On the positive side, this will result in the GameBoy Advance getting another quality developer in the form of Bandai.  

Next up for Nintendo (about a year or so away though): Nokia's N-Gage.