The Year in Games 2006 - February
We take a look back at the highlights, lowlights and things we'd rather just forget about the past year.
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There were more jibes in early February as Microsoft dismissed the Wii - then still the Revolution - as company spokespeople mentioned Nintendo only in passing, choosing to focus their attention instead on Sony as a hardware rival.
Nintendo would probably have agreed. Instead of talking speed and power with the specialist press, the company was talking to the mainstream media about creativity and passion - Blue Ocean gaming that goes where nobody has been yet, according to Perrin Kaplan.
Sticking with the ocean theme, Titanic director James Cameron revealed that the was working on something called Project 880, which could even spill over into the massively multiplayer online game realm. We're still waiting to hear more on this.
Valve started releasing pressure on its Half-Life series, putting together the first details of Half-Life 2: Episode One. It was meant to be a bold foray into episodic gaming that came not with the maddening lulls of expansions and full releases but a metronomic regularity that would ease us into bite-sized updates. The wait for Episode Two is a fine example of how difficult this is.
February brought cruel news for Nintendo fans too, as Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that Link's latest adventures in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would be delayed again, and the rumours were then swirling that this was being done so that the developers would have time to shoe-horn in Wii controls.
Equally dystopian but more by design was the announcement of Huxley, a MMO game set in an ugly future, seemingly ripped from the mind of novelist Aldous Huxley. The Unreal 3 engine and the 5,000 shooters inhabiting the same world sounded promising, but WebZen has since gone quiet on the subject.
Halo 3 also made the news when Microsoft's Shane Kim sort-of-confirmed that it would be out in 2006. Perhaps he was being too vague.
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Satoru Iwata Video Interview - the late Nintendo president spoke with Kikizo in 2004 as 'Nintendo Revolution' loomed.
Kaz Hirai Video Interview - the first of Kikizo's interviews with the man who went on to become global head of Sony.
Ed Fries Video Interview - one of Xbox's founders discusses an epic journey from Excel to Xbox.
Yu Suzuki, the Kikizo Interview - we spend time with one of gaming's most revered creators.
Tetris - The Making of an Icon: Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers reveal the fascinating story behind Tetris
Rare founders, Chris and Tim Stamper - their only interview? Genuinely 'rare' sit down with founders of the legendary studio.
The History of First-Person Shooters - a retrospective, from Maze War to Modern Warfare