Steven L. Kent - The Japan Times

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Steven L. Kent

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Nov 13, 2003

Come to Disney, go to Mars

Mission: Space, a new ride/space flight simulator at Epcot Center, part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, takes Disney guests in a whole new direction -- straight up into space.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Oct 30, 2003

N-Gage fails to engage

It's no use beating around the bush, N-Gage, the new hand-held cellular telephone/video game system hybrid from Nokia, is quite probably the worst game system in video game history -- and that's counting such notable disasters as the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Bandai Pipin.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Oct 9, 2003

TV icons hit the road

What do you get when you cross America's favorite dysfunctional family with the video game "Grand Theft Auto III"? You get "The Simpsons: Hit & Run," a new game from Vivendi Universal Games for Xbox.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Sep 25, 2003

Worth fighting for

Most "greatest hits" games are too familiar. They were great when they came out last Christmas and everybody bought them, but now they're simply old.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Sep 11, 2003

Let's roll -- at 800 kph

If there was ever a litmus test for hardcore gamers, "F-Zero GX" (F-Zero), a new antigravity racing game by Nintendo for the GameCube, is that test.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Aug 28, 2003

A horror smorgasbord

With monsters in the hallways, blood on the wall and gross-outs lurking behind every corner, "Silent Hill 3" is an all-out assault on the player's sensibilities.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Aug 7, 2003

Lessons in rage control

"Hulk," a game that is ever so loosely based on the new Universal Studios movie, has an element missing from most superhero action games -- fun.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Jul 24, 2003

The pirate planner

It does not take money to make money, at least not when you're a pirate. In "Tropico 2: Pirate Cove," a new game for PCs from Take 2, you can gin up money from thin air. That is if you have a mighty ship and a blood-thirsty crew.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Jul 10, 2003

Dracula's open house

When you think of James Bond movies, gadgets and martinis come to mind. When you go to a "Matrix" movie, you expect a mixture of multiple realities and dark glasses. When video game players hear the name "Castlevania," they expect a castle, armies of ghouls and a hero with a whip.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Jun 19, 2003

Choose your weapons

"Soul Calibur 2," Namco's new fighting game for GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation2, has little new to recommend it. Thank goodness for that.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Jun 5, 2003

Back on the fast track

Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog, the video-gaming world's fastest little blue rodent in tennis shoes, has returned in style. After a string of games that have ranged from old hat to downright disappointing, "Sonic Advance 2" -- a new game created by Sega for Game Boy Advance -- serves as a good reminder of...

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

May 22, 2003

EA scores big time with 'MVP Baseball'

Who knows what burr got under Electronic Arts' saddle, but the biggest name in sports games is really sharpening its act. The publisher of such megahits as "John Madden NFL Football" and "FIFA Soccer," EA has always kind of stunk at baseball. Not anymore.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

May 8, 2003

Sony's own silver lining

With all of the big games that have come out lately, it's hard to keep up.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Apr 17, 2003

Pokemon still Nintendo gems

Having sold a combined 4 million copies of the games in Japanese, Nintendo has finally made English versions of "Pokemon Ruby" and "Pokemon Sapphire," the latest entries in the ongoing Pokemon craze.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Apr 3, 2003

Indy Jones excavates action

"Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb," LucasArts' new game for Xbox, PC and PlayStation2, marks the triumphant return of the world's most famous adventurer/archaeologist.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Mar 20, 2003

That's pride messing with you

I once attended a Mike Tyson fight. If you think his fights are vicious on television, you shouldn't see them in person. Tyson hit the other guy so hard that we could feel it in the bleachers.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Mar 6, 2003

The mayor's conundrum

"SimCity 4," a new and entertaining city-planning simulation for PC from the Maxis division of Electronic Arts, is a nightmare, and I mean that in the best possible way.

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Feb 20, 2003

Nokia fails to N-Gage Japan

Nokia's N-Gage mobile telephone/video game system, unveiled earlier this month, plays better than GameBoy Advance-quality games and has a built-in cellular telephone. So why aren't Nintendo executives shaking in their boots?

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Feb 6, 2003

Gimme that old-time religion

Koei has recreated warfare in the time of the hegemon Nobunaga, and Taito has been making Samurai games since the early 1980s. Over the last two decades game players have relived the naval battles of World War II and the dogfights of World War I.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME

Jan 30, 2003

Haven't I seen you somewhere?

Clones -- identical creatures built from the same DNA.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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