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Archived News:
The Empire Above All
announcement reveals development of this action/RTS game in the works at
IceHill to be published in Russia by Akella in fourth quarter of this year
(thanks Frans).
This page
offers info on the project, and there are some
screenshots here.
Also, Akella's Product Section
for the game is live, and though it speaks only Russian, is also offers
some screenshots.
No plans for other territories are evident at this time. Here's the
deal: «IceHill» announces the development
of an Action-RTS "Empire Above All". The game will be published in Russia by «Akella»
and is scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of 2006.
«Empire Above All» is an evolution of classic real time strategy, enriched with
tactical and arcade elements.
Player commands several squads with different specialization. Player and
officers receive experience in battles and get new abilities.
Expansion of Humanity into space finally began. A hundred light years of space,
dozens of systems, – posessions we can not even dream about today...
And then came an inevitable period of reaction, unstable alliances were broken,
governments fell... And soon from the ashes of the old world rose the new order,
an empire of man, destined to unite all worlds colonised by humanity and bring
the Golden Age of space conquest...
This Empire is called "The Fourth Reich".
Unusual, strange enemies await people in the vast, borderless space. Crystalline
life forms, creatures, that even if torn apart, can not be killed, swarms of
monsters resembling giant insects... Even the most experienced gamer will have a
hard time finding their weak points.
Project utilises an in-house engine, and integration of the revolutionary
PhysX physics engine by
Ageia allows creation of a fully interactive
environment.
A new Ares Online movie is available, showing off the upcoming western debut of
this Korean MMORPG from MGame. The clip is a 51.6 MB download, available on
3D Gamers and
FilePlanet (registration required). Also,
Making of The Witcher
vol. 4 - Combat, part 1 on The Witcher Official Website offers a look at how
film stuntmen are being used to create the combat in CD Projekt's upcoming
action/RPG.
Big Huge
Games Q&A on GamingExcellence talks with Brian Reynolds about Rise of
Nations: Rise of Legends, their upcoming real-time strategy game: "Oh plenty of
times. We come up with all sorts of game ideas that don't end up being enough to
do as a project. Although sometimes we can file them away and use them in other
ways later. For example at the time we were pitching Rise of Nations we also had
an idea to do a game based on the Arabian Nights... but we couldn't find enough
material to make a whole RTS about it. But it lingered in the back of our minds
and then when we started to do a fantasy game one of our early thoughts was
'hey, we could get some of that Arabian Nights stuff and do it in a fantasy
way'. Similarly the Vinci partially evolved out of the fact I'd always wanted to
do an Italian Renaissance game (but again not enough material to be a whole
game), partially out of an idea one of our friends had about the great
inventor's sketches coming to life, and partially out of my fascination with
those drawings (you probably saw them on the cover of the Civ2 box!)."
Toronto Indie Game Jam is
announced for May 5-7, 2006. Here's a
schedule of events.
Thanks Fantaz.
Blech. Cold, wet… just blech.
Buka
announces E3 Product Lineup is the press release doing just that, unveiling
the games to be shown at next month's expo. Included is first word on Stalin
Subway: Red Veil, a sequel to their Cold War shooter: THE
STALIN SUBWAY: RED VEIL
Genre: First Person Shooter
With the death of Stalin, all those who surrounded him in life, now fight for
the supreme power and control of the nation. Lena, has found that her husband
(the main character of the first part) has been kidnapped and possibly murdered.
She has no clue who has done it, but she knows who to ask.
The Stalin Subway: Red Veil brings an exciting continuation to the storyline of
this saga, with many new locations, all of them based on the Moscow of the 50s,
including an exact reproduction of the Red Square in which we’ll control Lena as
main character of the game, in her search for answers.
The Project Gray
Company Website is online, dedicated to an upcoming RPG to be published by
EA (thanks Shacknews).
Details like target platforms are a gray area preceding a more official announcement
at next month's E3 (even the name is described as a working title), but the
project is described as "next-generation," which is usually a
concession to the conceit of the current consoles. While there's not much else
about the game at this point, other than word it will use the same tech that
powered the Sims 2, there is an extensive profile of the game's development
team, and a video diary that seems maddeningly devoid of actual information
until you get to the point where they vaguely describe some completely
out-of-focus creatures and it becomes obvious that they are simply joking about
how cagy they are being with revelations at this point.
The
EA Forums Patch 1.03 Official BALANCE NOTES (thanks Proboscis) have details
on the promised ( story) version 1.03 patch for Battle for
Middle-earth II, the Lord of the Rings RTS sequel. In addition to details on
what the patch will offer, the update predicts it will be released on Tuesday,
April 25.
The X-Men: The Official Game is online
as the official home to the official game of the upcoming X-Men movie sequel.
The Flash site has newsletter sign-ups, pre-orders, and a countdown timer that
currently stands at 22 days+.
- Guild Wars Factions
The
Guild Wars: Factions Q&A on GameSpot talks with James Phinney and Eric
Flannum about the next installment in ArenaNet's MMORPG: "In order to play
the other new mission types you mentioned, players will need to own
Factions. Multiteam cooperative missions are very story driven and provide
players with an opportunity to coordinate with another team of eight players
to accomplish a goal, such as defeating a particularly nasty dragon.
Challenge missions are designed to be repeatable. You can think of them as
sort of like arcade games, where there really isn't an end to them but you
are trying to achieve the highest score possible. For example, one of the
missions has you trying to exterminate as many monsters as possible within a
time limit. Players will be able to compete with each other to see who can
get the best daily, monthly, and all-time scores."
- City of Villains
MMORPG.COM's City of Villains Patron Powers Q&A talks with Cryptic's
Matt Miller about one of the features of the upcoming Issue #7 of their
MMORPG: "Once you are in Grandville you can talk to Arbiter Rein who will
tell you all about the Patrons and what they can do for you, and once you
finish with him, you then choose a Patron as your next Contact in the chain.
The Patron that you choose will be the only one for your character. Doing
the first Story Arc for the Patron will unlock the Patron Power Pool for
your character, and the next time that you choose a power, you can select
from the Patron Pool."
- The Witcher
The
Witcher Q&A on FiringSquad talks with CDProjekt's Gary Keith about their
upcoming RPG: "The main objective we have as a first-time developer is to
create a game with an emotional benefit to the consumer. So story and
character were essential and our beautiful game world and combat are icing
on the cake. CD Projekt got its start in the business over 10 years ago and
enjoyed great success with localizing and publishing RPGs such as Baldur’s
Gate, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Diablo. We really enjoyed the
traditional-style RPGs and knew when our time came we would focus on really
trying to move this subset of the RPG genre forward."
- Take Command: 2nd Manassas
Tacticular
Cancer's Take Command: 2nd Manassas Q&A discusses the Civil War strategy
sequel with Mad Minute Games: "Sure, that happens all the time. RTS has
become a catch-all phrase that really doesn’t describe the way TC2M flows.
RTS games often are click-fests that test a player’s reflexes and
puzzle/memory skills. TC2M is like chess…more deliberate and mindful and
less like checkers. As developers, we have to be true to the spirit that
started MadMinute Games. We develop games that we would want to play and let
the public choose for themselves if it’s worthy. Our biggest hurdle is
exposure and publicity."
- Oblivion
The latest
PC Gamer Podcast offers a
conversation with Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard, executive producer on Elder Scrolls IV:
Oblivion. Also,
RPG Vault's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Team Q&A #5 wraps-up this
paradoxically massive five question Q&A series with the dev team, concluding
with the following query: "What are a couple of particularly memorable
moments or situations you encountered while playing or testing The Elder
Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and what made them special for you?"
The Control Monger Website
offers a new patch for the open beta of this free first-person shooter. The
version 1.007 update is only available as a patch for prior version 1.006.
The patch
notes outline what's new and different. Thanks Frans.
I actually slept in today... until about Noon! I bet I haven't done that more than
three times in the past ten years.
| Sleepy Links! |
Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant. |
| Link: |
Earth Day. |
| Stories: |
Bush marks Earth
Day with focus on alternative fuels.
The worst songs: What you've said.
Man tried to sell baby for home improvements, police say. |
| Science!: |
Fruits,
vegetables not as nutritious as 50 years ago. Thanks
Digg.
Doc's
diagnosis: Nail gun caused headache. "Better listen to him, Flounder,
he's in pre-med." |
| Image: |
Grr, Bark, Woof. Thanks Heather and Zathrus. |
| Media: |
Unreal Tournament Using PowerGlove Mouse.
Old Lady Punch. Holy
moly! |
| Auction: |
BODYGUARD,MECHANIC,WHEELMAN,HENCHMAN,BAGMAN. Thanks Curtis. |
| Teh Funny: |
FoxTrot. |
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