Playback: The Week in Review

Yes. Playback took a vacation for a week while GameSpot shifted its home base from the ocean side of San Francisco to the bay side. Sure, the parking is a little tighter, the seats are a little stiff, and the new desks aren't as messy as they usually are, but we're sure to shake up the neighborhood soon.

The big news from last week and leading into this one concerns the situation at ION Storm. The news hasn't let up, and it looks a lot like an approaching iceberg casting dark clouds on ION's hull.

On Thursday of last week, the Dallas Observer featured an article that alleged troubled internal affairs at ION Storm, botched money deals with Eidos, and an ebony-colored cloud following Todd Porter's each and every move. Considering much of the information was obtained through undisclosed sources, private interviews with ex-IONers, and Todd's own e-mail, ION hasn't exactly been happy about the information now swirling around the company. While rumors fly, ION has apparently chosen an "eye of the storm" approach - lying low and hoping the whole mess will blow over soon. Most public relations folk would have probably urged Todd to stand up, face the music, and talk about the problems. Instead, it's been John Romero in the spotlight praising Daikatana. And then there's that subpoena that landed on the Observer writer's doorstep on Sunday.

We're just as sick of the problems at ION as most gamers. We just want Daikatana - we've waited long enough. As gamers, we want to make sure Daikatana still lives and that Romero gets the recognition that he deserves as the game's visionary - but with all the problems in the company, most gamers are extremely worried about Daikatana and other ION titles as well. We know that Romero is beginning to react to the allegations now and is spinning good things about the company, but we'd like to hear Todd defend himself as well. Maybe sometime soon we'll hear his voice and get his side of the story. In the meantime, ION's COO just took off. More questions on the way....

The third addition to the popular SimCity series, SimCity 3000, went gold this week and should be showing up in stores sometime around January 26. While the title gains more complexity in its look - with new buildings, transportation methods, and bigger city building areas - it definitely retains the city-building simplicity and level of addiction that made the first two SimCity games popular.

In the oops department this week, Sierra made a Super Bowl-sized fumble when it recalled all copies of NFL Football Pro '99 because of errors in the program's code. Considering Sierra Sports' previous problems with titles, it may come as no surprise. Will it affect the title's success? Undeniably. Would you want to release a buggy football game just before the biggest football event of the year? You can guarantee someone at Sierra Sports is going to get punted in the butt for this one. Sierra Sports is offering owners of the title a full refund, a US$20 gift certificate for Sierra's next football title, a T-shirt, and notifications regarding beta patches to fix the problems with the game's erroneous code. We've already thought up some great slogans for the T-shirt, "I bought NFL Football Pro '99 and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." We're sure you have others.

In other sports title news, EA shipped Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour for the PlayStation. While it wasn't even built for the PC, after placing the disc into your PC's CD-ROM drive, you could get a full unedited copy of the original Spirit of Christmas - the same video that made the South Park crew so popular that Comedy Central signed the artists to an ongoing TV deal. While the mix-up isn't all that surprising to hard-core gamers, parents who are adamant about not allowing their kids to see R-rated movies do care. About 100,000 discs shipped to retailers. No word on how many people actually sent the discs back for a swap or refund. We have a feeling it will be pretty low.

Game makers are making their usual rounds again. Activision, Acclaim, and GT Interactive have shown us what their newest titles look like in their early form. So far it looks like a '99 is going to be a great year for gaming. Activision was first to show up in the new GameSpot. The company showed off Wages of Sin, a new add-on pack for its FPS title, Sin. The add-on definitely embodies the same evil rock 'n' roll appeal of the first title but with the addition of new scripted events and some pretty cool new weapons. Then Acclaim came by to show off the latest build of Shadowman. While we've heard about the title before, I hadn't seen it in person. The game should appeal to FPS junkies with a taste for X-Files and the occult. Our first reaction to the game was that it had a very cinema-like feel that could set it apart from other FPS titles. When we asked about movies that may have inspired the game, the title's producer at Iguana UK said Seven, Angel Heart, and especially Jacob's Ladder. We'll have a story detailing what we saw of the title later today or early Monday.

Next, we walked over to GT Interactive's San Francisco office to check out the latest builds of Unreal Tournament and The Wheel of Time. Every gamer knows about Unreal's problems in the beginning, and the next title in the Unreal universe appears to have none of those - even in its beta form. Playing Unreal just isn't as good as tournament....We can't wait to play the final. On the FPS/strategy side, we have a glimpse into the world of The Wheel of Time. Rather than stick to the standard FPS formula, Legend Entertainment (yes, the folks in charge of building Unreal II) have chosen to make a more complex title on top of the Unreal engine - and use the popular Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan as its setting. Those millions of fans are bound to be interested in this title no matter what. Players get an FPS experience by running around shooting enemies. But at the same time, players build citadels, fortresses, and hide magical objects. Right now, a short sitting with the title doesn't seem to do it justice since there is quite a bit going on. Level designs in the game are amazingly beautiful with stained-glass windows and a cold-castle feel.