Sony are set to wow the Japanese public in February with a two-day showing of PlayStation 2 and a whole slew of games. And talking of new machines, VM Labs have been showing off their NUON technology at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You can read all about it inside. I hope you're enjoying our development diary on RISK II - it's amazing the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of games development, isn't it? If for some reason you're not enjoying it, or any other part of Future Gamer, drop me a line and let me know what kind of things you'd rather be reading about. In fact, drop me a line anyway - I'm always happy to read your feedback. I don't usually have the time to answer each and every email, but I can guarantee you they all get read and considered. Enjoy the magazine and see you next week. Andy Smith - Editor

News headlines:

Amen Totally Annihilated ... Colin McRae Rally 2 ... Tyrannosaurus Tex ... NUON Unveiled at CES ... Songboy ... Donkey Kong Back on the Boy ... Hoops Mon! ... Neo Geo Release Schedule ... Cold Shoulder from Acclaim ... New Power Stone 2 Details ... Two-Day PlayStation2 Event ... Half-Life Generations ... Random Games Discover Strange Talisman ... PC Developers Unveil PowerPlay ... PlayStation Festival 2000 Exhibition List ... First Fighter Ace II Event Announced ... Omikron Confirmed For Dreamcast ... Toy Story 2 Hits Dreamcast ... Tentacle Sex Scenes Cut ... Soul Calibur 2 Confirmed For Naomi? ... Nibbles ...

In this issue:
Preview: Colin McRae Rally 2 (PC) The man himself may have swapped teams but he hasn't stopped helping Codemasters update and improve their seminal rally game. We've taken an early version out for a test drive and ripped the bumpers off.
Review: SWAT 3 (PC) Get ready to join the LAPD's SWAT team for some high-tension, squad-based tactical combat. Ben Morris, our expert in all things high-tension, squad-based and tactical gives us his considered opinion on Sierra's latest.
Feature: The Importance of Marketing Today's games are big-budget extravaganzas that need to sell in large volumes if they're to be commercially successful, and that means a big marketing push. Michael Foster ponders the effect of ever-increasing marketing spends.

Future Gamer was brought to you by: Andy Smith [editor], Mark Wheatley [deputy editor], Andy Ashwin [news editor] and Gideon Kibblewhite [staff writer]. Contributors: Ben Morris, Andy Butcher, Maria Sanchez, Dale Bradford, Martin Kitts
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