Gaming News Round-Up: September 10th, 2004

Author: by Simon Carless, Brandon Sheffield

Friday's round-up includes news of the Woz's new interest in gaming, a Nintendo peripheral that helps Mario party down, information on the Elder Scrolls series getting a little more elderly, and Sonic Team's apparently gender-balanced look at DS relationship simulators. - Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined the advisory board of Eye Games, a PC entertainment company which markets an EyeToy-like webcam game for PC, also called Eye Games. Wozniak is not generally known for his interest in the games market, though he did help create Breakout for Atari in the late 1970s. - Reports from Japan indicates that Nintendo's latest iteration of the popular GameCube Mario Party series will include a new, packed-in peripheral, the GameCube microphone. According to Famitsu Magazine's reports, Mario Party 6's mini-games using the peripheral include trivia challenges where players shout the answers to questions. More details are likely later this month at the Tokyo Game Show. - Developer and publisher Bethesda Softworks has announced The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the latest in its long-running epic RPG series. In development since 2002, Oblivion is being created for PC and next-gen consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 2), and is, therefore, not likely to debut for some time. - Sega has announced a new Japanese title for Nintendo DS named I Would Die for You. The premise of the Sonic Team-developed, distinctly unconventional game involves caring for, protecting, and keeping up with your high-maintenance and accident-prone girlfriend, whom you only see in silhouette form. The game has been created under the directorial guidance of Takumi Yoshinaga, designer for Space Channel 5, and the planning direction of Emiko Suenaga, and the co-ed team of developers is intended to assure that this innovative title, yet to be announced for the West, is not just a testosterone-driven experience, but a complex relationship scenario simulator.