That would have been a restful, relaxing two weeks without a column if it hadn't tried to kill me. Sorry about that people, it's been a bit insane lately. Anyway...

With Black Friday over the release lists are shrinking down to manageable sizes again. There are still noteworthy releases every week, but at least now it's not 12 a day, every day. Notable for last week was the release of Pac Man World 2, with Pac Man Vs getting full cover credit on it. Nintendo's ultimate linkup game is now available to the apathetic public at last. Also of note were the new Deus Ex and Planet Moon's Armed & Dangerous, which as of current count I've tried to type in as Hidden & Dangerous about 5 times now. Lousy near-identical titles...

Next week should mark SNK's triumphant return to the US market with The King of Fighters 2000 & 2001. Metal Slug 3, unfortunately, will have to wait another month or two. Add in the last version of Beyond Good and Evil on Gamecube (Xbox version having just hit this week), Fatal Frame 2, and Arx Fatalis and it looks like an overall quality week. Of course, who's got money to buy games for themselves when there's Christmas presents to be buying?

Products Shipped Week of December 1, 2003

Tuesday, December 2