April Fool's Day has come and gone, but it brought little surprises to the gaming industry. "The Sims" continue to sell like hotcakes, there is an abundant information on new games thanks to the upcoming E3 conference, and more rumors continue to circulate about Microsoft. The following are news briefs since April 1, 2000:
Electronic Arts has shipped over one million copies of Maxis' "The Sims." In a statement by EA's president John Riccitello, "'The Sims' has quickly become a cultural phenomenon. Hard core gamers and casual computer users alike have become fans. In fact almost a quarter of the game's registrants are women." This may be the game to bring those with varying interests together. A 3:1 ratio of men to women is really good compared to the stereotypical group of gamers.
The following are some of the games released since we last left off: "Sony's EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark," an expansion pack to the original "EverQuest" will ship April 24; Infogrames' "Beetle Buggin'," a 60s Volkswagen racing game, has shipped; and Shrapnel Games' "Armies of Armageddon: WDK 2K" has also shipped.
Red Storm Entertainment continues to plug away at its "Rainbow Six" series. They have teamed up with Zombie Studios to work on game levels for their next title - "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Cover Operations Essentials." The game will combine the action of Rainbow Six and an interactive guide about counter-terrorism, and black-ops. This is the game for you if you ever feared being stuck in a hostage situation.
The decision in the suit against Microsoft by the United States government wasn't the only news involving Microsoft. Last weekend (April 15 and 16) rumors began that Microsoft had offered nearly $2 billion (200 billion yen) for a controlling interest in Square Japan. Microsoft denied the rumors. It seems like they have a little more to worry about then investing in a console software producer. Square is one of many producers that will develop software for Microsoft's upcoming console X-Box.
The end-of-the-month article will hopefully (cross your fingers) feature the potential (or lack of) sequel to LucasArts' "Outlaws." There will be more information then.
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