Welcome to the 8/25/2004 edition of Fact or Fiction. We`re going to make this a regular feature and speak on five topics. This week we have Charles Husemann, Charlie Sinhaseni, and John Yan on the panel.

1) Half-Life 2 is now gold.. but because of the lateness the impact of the game will be a lot less than what it would’ve been a year ago.

Charlie Sinhaseni: Fact. Since the delay the market has seen titles like Far Cry and Doom III come and go. One of the biggest lures of Half-Life 2 was its groundbreaking technology, but now that trump card is gone. We’ll have to see how the gameplay holds up but the screenshots alone won’t be able to carry it.

Charles Husemann: Fiction. This game is still going to be one of the biggest releases of the year. It might have had a slightly bigger impact last year but remember that the Half Life series is about story telling and not graphics. Besides, didn’t I cover this already?

John Yan: Fiction. It`s not hard to see that the game`s still going to have a huge impact just by the fact that our articles with Half-Life 2 content are big traffic collectors. I will say the physics engine will not get the attention it would`ve if it was released last year and before Max Payne 2. The online community still clamours for Half-Life 2 information and are eagerly anticipating the November release like a pack of hungry dogs awaiting to be fed.


2) The GameCube deserves more respect and more support.

Charlie Sinhaseni: Fiction. Nintendo made a bevy of poor design choices when the GameCube was still on the drawing board and its paying for them right now. Regarded, Microsoft made the same kind of mistakes but it atoned for them by providing gamers with a more functional controller. Not only is the GameCube controller god-awful, but the games are sub-par as well. It’s no coincidence that the GameCube version of multi-player titles is consistently outperformed by its counterparts.

Charles Husemann: Fiction. Look at the release schedules and top selling numbers. Do you see any Nintendo games up there? I didn’t think so. Where’s the online service? Where are all of the games? At this pace, Mac users may have more high quality games than the Gamecube…

John Yan: Fiction. I personally think Nintendo should take the Sega route and just produce games for other consoles. The GameCube has a few followers but most of the people I know own either a PlayStation 2 or Xbox. The lack of some titles appearing on the GameCube while appearing on the other two show that some companies just don`t see a viable market in producing games for that console.


3) The PSP will be the next big thing and take away the handheld lead from Nintendo.

Charlie Sinhaseni: Fact. You truly have to see this thing in order to grasp just how amazing it is. Screenshots will never do the system justice because it’s truly an experience that has to be seen to be believed. Some people are arguing that PSP games will simply be dummed down PS2 ports, but guess what? Many GBA games were beefed up Game Boy ports. Does the name Pokemon ring a bell? The DS has a chance but Nintendo will really need to come out guns ablazing for this one. But until I see a true killer app that can match the graphics, sound and video quality of the PSP, I’ll change my mind.

Charles Husemann: Fiction. Not with this release and a proprietary movie format. It’s going to cut in a litt...