7 days of Game Boy Advance news and screens in one article.

I admit, it has been a while since the last edition of Advance Weekly. Christmas, holidays, the start of 2004... All of these made sure there was almost no news for 3 weeks. But the developers and publishers have gone back to work, and so did I. We're back!

Let's go through the news of the past 3 weeks in chronological order. We go back to a week before Christmas. Konami announced a new game based on a popular anime series: Shaman King. A sideview-actiongame in which you (the player) will take on your enemies while absorbing the powers of their lost souls and ghosts. The game is expected to be released during Summer 2004.

The very same day, EA Games rewarded our waiting for Need for Speed: Underground with a movie. Make sure you've installed Quicktime to view this movie taken straight from the intro of the game (including the music).

Though these two items seemed very nice, Rockstar decided to take the headlines for that particular day (if not: week). In a nice report on their fourth Quarter results and 'Fiscal 2003 Financial Results', there was a nice summary of their current plans for 2004: "Rockstar also plans to release Manhunt for Xbox(TM) and the PC as well as an extension of the Grand Theft Auto franchise for the Game Boy(R) Advance during fiscal 2004." There we have it. Solid evidence that GTA is planned for 2004. However, there has been absolutely no information about the game itself (yet).

Then I received some information about Super Collapse II. The popular browser game will come to the GBA screen. Select the colored block that is directly adjacent to two or more blocks of the same color to remove them from the board. Watch the bar at the bottom to see what blocks will be on the board next. The game is over if the blocks reach the top of the board. With 4 different game-modes (classic, puzzle, relapse and strategy), this game can keep the puzzle/action fanatics between us busy for a while.

Just before Christmas, I received a new release schedule from Ubi Soft. Remember that last time the GBA version Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow was cancelled according to the list... This time the game had a normal releasedate again! For now, we may assume that Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is scheduled for March 25, 2004.

Saint Nick came along an the industry became quiet...

December 29, 2003. Majesco sends out a press release about their upcoming Video Cartridges. Currently, Majesco is capable of showing approximately 45 minutes of quality color video and is working on 90 minutes of color video (all in a normal cartridge). Approximately 12 video titles are scheduled to launch at retail in time for spring 2004. The video technology incorporates standard 'DVD-style' player controls and features color video across 100 percent of the screen, a significant advantage over most current competitive technologies that limit viewing to black & white video and/or a reduced portion of the screen. Though we haven't seen really good samples of Majesco's technology, I think this might be a nice alternatice to AM3's.

It became quiet again...

2004 started and Japan flooded us with Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green information, screens and a movie. We already knew that the Japanese version of the game will be accompanied by a wireless adapter, which will be used by the game. All players within range of the adapter will be shown in a 'Union Room' in the game. Here, players can battle each other, trade Pokémon or chat. Nintendo also said that arriving in a new place will show an image (or short movie) of the territory, as seen by the hero (that's you). The pokédex has also undergone a few changes compared to the original games. For example, there are many ways to sort the list of Pokémon. For those of you who want to see Pikachu getting caught once more, just click the link.

For all the other images (including some of the chatfunction and cutscenes), I'd like to invite you to check out the links below this article.

Next up: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. A darkness is gathering in the sprawling port town of Baldur's Gate. Members of the city watch have been found dead, people are afraid to leave their homes, and there are rumors of a thieves' guild civil war brewing beneath the streets of the city. Into this deteriorating situation comes the player, the hero of the game, fresh to Baldur's Gate and fresh to the world of adventuring. Down on his luck and carrying little else except a sword strapped to his back, he has come to the big city to earn a few coins. Before his adventures in the city are through, he'll be all that stands in the way of one of the greatest threats ever to strike Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast. Though this all sounds very interesting, the game looks even better.

At this moment, Bandai had almost 3 weeks to think of a countermeasure for Konami's Shaman King. The solution? Take out a manga-series and create an RPG out of it: Beet the Vandal Buster: Busters Road was announced without further explaination.

But it's not all Japanese work nowadays. BBC Multimedia yesterday announced FightBox. Taking the best FightBox warriors, created by members of the public for the first televised tournament, plus the 'in-house' Sentient characters, the computer games offer players the opportunity to recreate the FightBox experience.

Players will design and build their personalized humanoid Warrior, enter the FightBox arena to face a variety of challenges of strength, endurance and dexterity and face the power of the immortal Sentients (Vesuvius, Kodiak, Banshi, Pearl, Big George and Nail). Dave Lee, BBC Worldwide's Director of Multimedia, said: "FightBox is unique. There's nothing like it on television, and it also represents a unique gaming concept. We hope that these products will not only enhance the experience for fans of the TV show, but also entertain the wider, growing, gaming community." Though I don't really know FightBox, this all sounds to me like a new 'Robot Wars'-game.

Like every week, I'll end with a small list of interesting screenshots, movies and info:

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (screens & movie)
• Franklin (screens & info)
• Metroid: Zero Mission (info)
• Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green (screens 1, screens 2 & movie)
• Shaman King (screen)
• Super Collapse II (screens)

And that's it for this again. Next issue is expected next week already. Comments are (as usual) welcome (especially positive ones) and can be send to [email protected].

Dennis Stam

(aka Blackbird on the boards)