ChuChu due
Dreamcast owners can forget about saving up for ChuChu Rocket!, a Japanese puzzler that has been touted as the first multiplayer, online console game. Sega has decided to give it away to promote Dreamarena, its games portal. ChuChu Rocket! will be released on June 9, with online versions of Lionhead's Black & White, id's Quake III and a Dreamarena-exclusive, Phantasy Star Online, to follow. Dreamarena will aim to cater for other platforms, too, not just the Dreamcast.
PC games players may also find something to do on June 9. That's when Ion Storm's long-delayed Daikatana - the game John Romero wrote after leaving the Quake team - should finally reach UK shops, according to an Eidos spokesman.
Walkie talkie
Game Boys could work as walkie-talkies if Wireless-Imaging's LookAbout cartridge finds a manufacturer. US- based website Pocket.IGN says the system will have a range of about 150m (400ft), and provide real-time, two-way video conferencing with a dual picture display. See www.wireless-imaging.com.
Dark nigh
A game written in the UK for a Japanese games console will naturally appear first in the US, and that's what has happened with Rare's follow up to Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark. It's a first-person shooter (FPS) for the Nintendo 64, with two- and four-player modes for people with big TV sets where there's some chance of spotting targets in the moody, atmospheric gloom. Still, at least British players have time to save their pennies for the publication date, June 30.
Sims alive
The next version of The Sims will cater to a slightly older audience, says Maxis's chief designer, Will Wright. New features in The Sims: Livin' Large will apparently include a coin-operated vibrating bed, though you still won't be able to see what's shaking under the sheets.
Freeloading
Freeloader, the online games site that goes live on May 31, will offer Grand Theft Auto and Hidden & Dangerous among its line-up of about 50 games. The games site will be "funded like an independent television channel through advertising", with users being targeted using a "patent pending profiling engine". See www.pure-ent.co.uk and www.freeloader.com.
