Countdown to Metroid Prime. I'm bumping my review of Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance for this one. Can you blame me?

A couple of new reviews up this past weekend, including Mega Man Zero, marking the return of Dain Neater as a contributor to Gamebits. I'm still playing Shenmue II myself, along with some Resident Evil Zero, but I find the ink ribbon method of game-saving in the latter gives me an incentive to save as rarely as possible - so that when I die, I lose progress aplenty, frustrating me into playing something else. Vicious.

I understand there's been some commotion over demo discs; I wonder who has time to be playing incomplete products? Within a month I'll have been inundated with Contra: Shattered Soldier, Shenmue II, Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, Metroid Prime (and Fusion!), Rygar, and Bond: Nightfire. With so many great games, I consider myself fortunate to play more than the first level of each; who needs demoes?

Nokia's new cell phone looks to be crossdressing as a handheld gaming system. Granted, it does double as a cell phone, something the Game Boy has never done, but will it be enough? Has any competitor ever successfully contended with Nintendo for the handheld market? You can talk about your Game Gears and Neo*Geos and Lynxs and, yes, even game.com, and in response I'll wax the glories of the Sega Saturn. And therein lies the rub: it's more options for us gamers, hallelujah, but from a business perspective, it just doesn't add up. Granted, I may be forgetting to carry the one.