Rumour Monkey #3

By Contributor

The Monkey is back and he's going all local in this latest edition of his sweaty

Yes, we know, once again the Monkey has taken his sweet time with this latest update. This time however he has a legitimate excuse. See, Monkey makes some bad choices, and it seems that when he snorted half a kilo of Lithium that one night he made a very bad choice. He's been in hospital ever since. But yesterday I decided those quacks were getting too much money out of me for his treatment so I dragged him out of the clinic. They told me forcibly removing him from hospital early could result in him suffering from fits, but hey, that happens anyway. When it does we just put him in the cupboard of shame. Currently he's doing fine, tapping away at his typewriter. He seems to have adapted to those handcuffs.

Rumour: Rugby 2005 to ship first in North America.

Background Info: IGN recently listed Rugby 2005 as having a North American release date of March the 8th, more than a week earlier than the March 17th local release date announced by Electronic Arts NZ last month. A quick visit to a few other major US websites displays the same release date. Officially Electronic Arts in the United States currently have a 'no shipping date announced' banner slapped beside the game.

Monkey Says: Normally people would have no grounds for feeling a bit suspicious or upset about a title being slated for a US release before us, but this is one game where that rule doesn?t really apply. Rugby Union in North America is a purely amateur sport and has a dedicated but extremely small following. New Zealand, Australia and the UK (or in other words all the main PAL territories) is where the game is at its most popular, so why not have a PAL release first? Next time I see their CEO I'll ask. That aside despite EA not making an official announcement on the US release date yet large gaming sites like IGN get handed ridiculous amounts of info that the public, or basic press do not. If it was one site displaying the March 8 date then this could be possibly put down as false, but there is simply too many of them for this to not have any truth to it. Keep in mind also that the game was developed in Canada, meaning the NTSC version would be finished first, and localisation would have to be done afterwards, which may explain the delay. North America will see the Rugby 2005 slightly before the home of the game does.

Monkeys Confidence: 7/10 Bananas - Monkey is content with his choice.

Rumour: Sony PSP to be released locally in late March.

Background Info: The result of 8 year old fan boys and downright stupidity this rumour seems to have popped up around the country side, both online and otherwise. People are drawn into it to some extent under the belief that Sony will try and best Microsoft's recent blitz of worldwide simultaneous software releases by doing the same with their latest piece of hardware, releasing the PSP not only in the US on the 24th of March, but the entire western market.

Monkey Says: Not a chance in hell this is true. Sony has no need to release the PSP simultaneously over the world, the brand name gives them the ability to stagger the releases as much as they like, within reason, and still reel in the profits. Educated guesses are currently pointed at Sony releasing the PSP in New Zealand either in late April or early May. Sony NZ is expected to make an official PSP statement soon, while it's unknown what the announcement is about there's a high chance it will be about the systems launch.

Monkey's Confidence: 9/10 Bananas - Monkey stands by his words.

Rumour: New Zealand PSP Launch Line up Leaked.

Background Info: Origins are unknown however the rumour seems to have spread rather quickly on the street, minus specifics of course. Not that the street has ever been a place for anything remotely correct. However, on one of my dumpster runs (maggots are no excuse for throwing out food) I came across some of Sony's old papers outside their offices. It seems someone broke the document shredder that day!

Rumoured PSP Lineup

Splinter Cell

Monkey Says: My source on this here rumour is very close, in fact, it's me! Surely I can trust myself? oh yeah, the Lithium incident. Bah, those Mormon gnomes made me do it. The list in itself is short, especially compared to what has been lined up for the North American release, but overall it does not appear overly unbelievable. Monkey gives this one a thumbs up. Now where did that can of tuna go?

Monkeys Confidence: 9.5/10 - Monkey stands by his words

Rumour: Resident Evil Chainsaw controller to make its way to NZ.

Background Info: Tuesdays announcement by Wild Things that the Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller is being released in the United Kingdom soon has sparked off speculation among the Nintendo few that it might make its way to Australasia. Created by Nuby Tech the chainsaw controller is a hefty wee beast, weighing in at just under 2kgs, and has proven quite popular in the Asian and American markets where pre-orders have begun for the product.

Monkey Says: The simple fact of the matter is this: the New Zealand GameCube market, or the Australian GameCube market for that matter is too small for something like this to be released here. Couple that with Nuby Tech having no offices in Australasia, meaning they would have to sign a distribution deal with a company that does e.g. (JoyTech, Tru Blue) making it even more unlikely that the effort would be gone into to release a product which is somewhat of a niche peripheral in the GameCube's smallest market. Anyone holding their breath for an announcement is going to be taking a trip to the mortuary.

Monkey?s Confidence: 10/10 Bananas - If you don't believe Monkey he'll make you believe.

Rumour: Xbox Live Subscriptions to be raised.

Background Info: Rumours surrounding the increase of Xbox Live rates have been floating around for a while, but seem to have upped in frequency as of late. Currently a starter kit costs $109.95 and a yearly renewal costs $89.99. The word is that Microsoft will increase the price of both subscriptions by 20 dollars or so. Microsoft has made no statement on the issue, nor does appear to be making any moves to do so.

Monkey Says: Isn't going to happen. Not in the near future anyway. Microsoft have to keep up the 'cool n' hip' and user friendly image until the Xbox 2 gets released at the very least if they want to keep their army of Sony converts. Unnecessary increasing the prices of one of their services is bound to annoy people and possibly turn them off Live even if it is only a relatively small increase. Further proof that we won't be seeing costs have a jump is that Microsoft is releasing a new Xbox Live kit on Monday, and guess what, it?s still at $109.95.

Monkeys Confidence: 7/10 Bananas - Monkey is content with his choice.

Well the Monkey probably needs a rest now; his fingers seem to be excreting some sort of red liquid. But if there's any rumour that you have a burning desire to be exposed feel free to send through an email.

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