Archived News:
Next-Generation
Online has posted a writeup from the $50,000 Descent 3 tournament that was
held recently in Las Vegas. It's definitely not plan old coverage, but it's
well worth the read just because of lines like, "I can't even beat the
other press guys and they suck. I can't even kill the guy from PC Accelerator
and he's drunk off his ass."
The newly redesigned I.AM Half-Life
has posted a bunch of new stuff for you to enjoy this evening, including
an updated list of console commands (they were updated to include version 1.0.1.3
commands), over 100 new DM maps, 50 new models and skins, and a whole bunch
more.
To follow-up on an earlier story, Microsoft has issued
a response to the allegations about an NSA backdoor being included in the
Windows operating system, which they claim are "inaccurate and unfounded."
You can read the whole thing on
Microsoft's site (thanks Ben White).
GameSpot has posted a
preview of Shiny's Messiah based on a hands-on demo they received (with
the first few complete levels). There are nine screenshots there as well, showing
off this oddball title. Also on GameSpot are the
first in game shots (at least to the best of my knowledge, anyway) from
KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child, a LithTech powered shooter in development
by Third Law Interactive.
According to GameSpot
news, Sierra's Homeworld has slipped its planned release date - but only
by a week. They're reporting that it should be released nationwide next week.
GameCenter
has posted a sneak peek at Terminal Reality's Nocturne, with a bunch of screenshots
from this third person title (thanks Frans).
For more Nocturne stuff, check out the AVI from earlier ( story),
although be warned - it's a slow download.
A new version of the Skout
demo has been released, as has a
new patch to bring the German retail edition up to version 1.01. Thanks Frans
at 3D Action Gamer's Archives, who's also posted a
mirror of both files for those of you not looking forward to downloading
a 20+ MB file from a German site.
GameSpot UK has posted two new previews for your reading enjoyment - one on
Nihilistic's
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and one
previewing Raven's Soldier of Fortune. Both are chock full of screenshots,
so check 'em out (thanks VE).
The official Nocturne home page has posted
part one of a four part AVI from this spooky game (thanks Poynter and Spookhouse).
The download is a big one at over 20MB, but if you're curious what the game
looks like, there's no better way to find out.
Doo, doo, doo, looking out my backdoor! Crypto expert Microsoft products leave door open to NSA
is a CNN article with a startling revelation
(thanks to the very many who wrote in on this): The chief scientist at an
Internet security company reported the flaw at a recent conference in Santa
Barbara where he discussed a "key" entrance into the cryptographic
standard used in Microsoft Windows products. That includes Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows NT4 and Windows2000.
"It turns out that there are really two keys used by Windows; the first
belongs to Microsoft, and it allows them to securely load (the cryptography
services)," said Andrew Fernandes in a press release. Fernandes works for
Cryptonym, a company based in Ontario.
The press release states "the second belongs to the NSA. That means that
the NSA can also securely load (the services) on your machine, and without your
authorization."
The discovery "highly suggests" that the NSA has a key it could use to
enter encrypted items on anybody's Windows operating system, said Ian Goldberg,
chief scientist at Zero-Knowledge Systems. Goldberg was among a few dozen people
in the audience at the conference when Fernandes dropped his bomb.
Buckling under pressure ( story),
I've gone and uploaded this
week's trivia questions. Be warned...since our last contest was way too
easy, it's possible that this one is way too hard (insert mad cackling here).
Oh, and there's some new Tiny Text™ in case you're too intimidated to actually
enter. Hop
over and check it out.
A new post to the Surreal Technology Page
has the latest status on the Drakan patch currently in beta testing, as well as
a clarification (thanks VE): Beta Testers
are reporting a massive Internet performance improvement with the new Drakan Winsock
patch! They say it is a whole new game experience! Kudos to Satish for his hard
work with this gem! Still on track for availability within the next 10 days.
I've seen several reviews lately implying that Drakan's multiplayer is through
Mplayer only (and then ripping on the Multiplayer game because they hate Mplayer).
Drakan IN NO WAY forces you to play through Mplayer, in fact, Mplayer is merely
a side option in the normal path to Drakan's own in-game server browser. Any reviewer
that states otherwise has obviously not even played multiplayer for more than
5 minutes.
Breezin Software has created a Half-Life
Skin and Map Installer that makes installation of maps and custom skins
simple. Amongst its features are a CRC check on all archives, the automatic
detection of player directories and more. Swing by and check it out.
The Wastelands, a new Kingpin editing
site is open for business, and aims to be a resource for map authors and mod
makers. There are two tutorials up at launch, including one on using the "Pawn
o' Matic" in your mods, and one on those cool sky brushes.
Version 2.08 RC 9 of Battlecruiser 3000
AD has been released and is available for download on its
official site. This version has a slew of enhancements, including ground
units with the ability to launch air and ground troops, which was actually ported
over from Battlecruiser 3020 AD. A full list of changes can be found on the
BC3K version control page.
The official 4DRulers page has posted
a new screenshot from the upcoming test demo of Gore, their first person shooter
currently in development, as well as word that it's, "coming along great."
As promised earlier today, the
Driver demo has been released (thanks Ryan). The demo is available Gigex
format for modem users, or as a 14MB download for network users. Don't forget, they've got "unlimited bandwidth" so go nuts. If the demo
is half as good as the PlayStation version, it's highly recommended.
MeccaWorld
has posted a new movie from TRIBES Extreme in both AVI and Quicktime formats,
with 45 seconds of new gameplay footage from this special edition of Starsiege:
TRIBES that's coming this November.
Jeez, first NVIDIA, now Blizzard. It would appear that Blizzard's
homepage now has a teaser image up that reads, "The World Will Change
- 9.5.99" (thanks Jonathan Bowling). You may recall that this is the date
they are planning on unveiling their new game on at ECTS ( story).
The Adrenaline Vault News
has posted 18 new screenshots from The Collective's upcoming Star Trek game that
uses the Unreal engine, Deep Space Nine.
As promised, DarkStoneNews has the
US release of the demo of DarkStone, the action/RPG that's often compared to
Diablo. The demo is about 26 MB, and if you get too badly stuck, believe it or
not, they've already got a Demo
Walkthrough up.
This page has been
added to the Rogue Spear site
to show what video cards will be supported in Red Storm Entertainment's upcoming
Sequel to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (the GeForce 256 is not yet listed if you are
mortgaging the house to bid on eBay). Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.
The folks over at SimHQ.com send word that they've
interviewed Wes Eckhart, a producer over at NovaLogic talking about Delta
Force 2, discussing, among other things, "how Voice over Net technology is
impacting the simulation gaming industry."
There are four new 10-six
Screenshots on Gamer's Alliance Strategy showing off a couple of scenes of
gameplay from this upcoming million player game (these shots each generally show
about 999,998 fewer players than that).
God Virus was the first of several to send along a snippet from an IRC
appearance by KillCreek and the Romero last night that talks of the status of
Daikatana. Some checking reveals the log was legit, actually part of an
interview with KillCreek by Sgt. Hulka, obviously discussing her plans to
show her stuff in Playboy ( story).
Here's the part about Daikatana that got the attention of the attendees: <Romero>
Daikatana's doing great. Things are going well; game's gonna have a big demo in
2 weeks for PRESS ONLY.
<KillCreek> Full game for xmas. yay!
That sounds at first like it might be another demo version released to the
press, but in writing back to confirm that it was really himself and KC saying
those things, John elaborated a bit more on what's up with that demo, which will
be a showing of the game for the press (the state of the game's development
evident in his signature): Yeah, i wrote that stuff. :)
We will have Gamespot, PC Gamer, CGW, Gamecenter, Computer Strategy Plus,
Incite, Next Gen, PC Accelerator, etc. coming at the end of Sept. for a press
PREVIEW of Daikatana. We're getting pretty close now.
John Romero
Ion Storm - Game Designer, Chairman
Daikatana: Whoa, it's almost finished!
Epic's Cliff Bleszinski made a post to the
official UT message board with an update on Unreal Tournament's current
status (thanks Unreal Universe):
Anyways, today we fixed a bit of bot funkiness in DM-Barricade and DM-Conveyor,
and reduced the amount of "A" bugs to only a few. We'll be building
a new version Thursday night and firing it off to the remote testers in Utah
while we test with remote people the net play some more.
Oooooh and demo recording/playback is smooth as silk now. Mek has banged on
it so it is Worthy. I like making demos of one on one Godlike bot stomping in
my levels, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Almost there.
Cavedog's Amen: The
Awakening Developer's Journal has been updated, with a complete account
of how the backstory was created. It's pretty interesting stuff, as they seem
to have done a great deal of work to ensure a solid story (thanks Frans).
Black & White Wire has posted four
new screenshots from Lionhead's Black & White (one of which appears to show
a giant cow beating up on a character from The Lion King. Or maybe that's just
what I'm seeing).
Part two of
MacGamer's Ledge's Mac Unreal Tournament preview is online, mostly
discussing Game Types based on hands-on play with a beta of the Mac version of
Unreal Tournament, accompanied by twenty four brand-new screenshots as
well as "peek at the narration of the Unreal Tournament flyby scene."
Pandemic Studios' Official Battlezone II Site
has a pair of "swift new scouting vehicles" on display, with new shots
of the ISDF
'Thunderbolt' and the Scion
'Sentry'. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.
The Adrenaline Vault News
has a post up with some shots and a discussion of the pre-rendered cinematics
from a recent build of Wheel of Time, the upcoming Unreal-engine game from
Legend Entertainment, stating a preference for the pre-rendered intros and
cutscenes (personally, I prefer game engine cutscenes, I imagine I'm not the only one). The article has several
screenshots of the cinematics, along with an explanation and shots showing how
they were made.
Kibbles and bits and bits and bits....
Computer Games Online
previews Neverwinter Nights looking at this upcoming RPG they describe as a
"single-player game with an incredible multiplayer twist. Now, creative
players will get to Dungeon Master (DM) their very own adventures."
PC.IGN.COMs Ground Control Interview
talks with Massive Entertainment President Martin Walfisz about his company's
first game, an upcoming 3D RTS called Ground Control. Thresh's FiringSquad's
Weekly Metal Fatigue Screenshots have been updated (I guess they are
serious about that weekly thing). GameFan
previews Imperium Galactica 2 calling it a 3D RTS space opera.
Datumplane::Starsiege has posted a few
new screenshots showing off action from Dynamix Starsiege TRIBES2, currently in
development. There are a pair of outdoor shots (including more cool lightning),
and one showing off an indoor area.
NovaLogic sends word that a gameplay trailer from their upcoming Delta Force 2
is available for download via the unique delivery system provided by click2send,
where users can get the files delivered to some sort of digital strongbox. Not
sure how it works other than this explanation they sent along: Under the
exclusive agreement, MusiCosm members will be advised via E-mail that the
trailer is waiting for them in a personalized click2send Digital Safe Deposit
Box™ for free. From there, recipients link directly to the box, where they are
able to either open the trailer or save it to disk locally. MusiCosm will be the
exclusive online source for the trailer.
A reminder that tonight is the monthly chat with the developers of Anachronox
over at ION Storm is tonight at 8:00 PM Central Time (9:00 PM EDT). To join,
just enter the ION Chat Lobby by clicking the Online on
their website, or connect via IRC to www.ionstorm.com, room #ion. Special
theme of the day is birthday noogies for Tom Hall.
GT Interactive sends news that they're releasing a playable demo of their
getaway driver game, Driver, today at 2:00 PM EDT. Word from loony is this is a
game to watch for (though it may be good in spite of his recommendation), and GT
is promising "unlimited bandwidth," of all things, for the downloads.
Intergraph to take $20 million charge, lay off 400
is an article on CNET News.com detailing troubles
at the workstation manufacturer. Thanks Dan at MeccaWorld.
Strange Company sends word that
they've released a fix for their patch for their strange Quake (1) movie
Eschaton: Darkening Twilight to fix a problem had with truncated filenames (a
full fixed installer is also available). In addition, they have released a Tech
Demo "from the upcoming fully-lipsynched Eschaton: Nightfall Special
Edition" of a new lip-synching tool for Quake II called "Lippy,"
that should help remove the Godzilla effect from Quake II movies when available.
Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers:
- The 4th Dimension Interactive
page has a new map pack for the Crush Depth submarine mod for Quake II
that has improved versions of all the previous C.D. maps...
- Cached.Net has a new service where players
in tournaments can have their own .plan files...
- There are some more KillCreek images over at The
Pr0nshack. Just kidding, no nudity (I'm sure nobody read the last part,
they all clicked already)...
I think the message boards have been holding up pretty well, furn is back from a
brief absence, and I'm hoping to iron out some of the esthetics there with
him today, and then we'll be able to turn our attention to some more things on
the site. BTW, some off-topic posts were moved to the proper boards, if you are looking for a missing post, it's probably been moved (nothing's been deleted). There are some more projects in the works, but that's all I'll say
right now, for the simple reason that I thought a few of them would be together
already, so if I announced them when I thought they were about to happen, it would have been premature (so I could announce them now, and still be making excuses for them a
month hence). Speaking of which, those disappointed at a lack of trivia today,
feel free to mail loony and complain.
I'm trying to find a way to make the schedule stick, and maybe some friendly
email to greet him in the morning will help (muwahahahah).
Link of the Day: AirToons.
Thanks Ant (who's a LoD machine).
Story of the Day: Online Bidders Offer Millions For Human Kidney
(thanks Brad Herman). No, really....
Next-Generation Online Microsoft's Secret Console
Revealed is a "world exclusive" scoop on Microsoft's entry in the
console gaming race taken from an upcoming edition of their print magazine.
Here's a bit on the decidedly PC-oriented hardware in the story, as well as
Microsoft's dismissal of the rumor, which Next-Gen still seems certain is a reality:
While a Microsoft spokesperson quoted in the article called the story
"wishful thinking," several independent sources have confirmed that
X-Box has been in development for several months. Contacted today, a Microsoft
spokesperson repeatedly stated, "This is a rumor. It is Microsoft's policy
not to comment on rumors."
According to the story, X-Box will feature a 500 MHz processor by Intel (note:
according to a follow up story in the forthcoming November issue of Next
Generation Magazine, an AMD Athlon powered version is also planned), nVidia's
NV-10 graphics technology (recently renamed GeForce), and a modified version of
the WinCE operating system. According to the story, this will make X-Box capable
of PlayStation 2-level performance.
id Software's John Carmack updated his .plan with his thoughts on the newly announced NVIDIA
GeForce 256 (formerly the NV10, or as he calls it, "Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card
with the funny name," which could stick), and Apple's new G4 systems. Here's the lowdown: I
have been getting a lot of requests for commentary on two subjects lately:
Nvidia's new geometry accelerated card with the funny name.
It is fast. Very, very fast. It has the highest fill rate of any card we have
ever tested, has improved image quality over TNT2, and it gives timedemo scores
40% faster than the next closest score with extremely raw beta drivers.
The throughput will definately improve even more as their drivers mature.
For max framerates in OpenGL games, this card is going to be very hard to beat.
Q3's target of about 10,000 triangles a frame doesn't stress this card at all.
If you want more polygons out of Q3, you can do:
r_lodBias -2 // don't use lower detail models
r_subdivisions 1 // lots more triangles in curves
r_lodCurveError 10000 // don't drop curve rows for a long time
I haven't looked at the stencil shadow stuff in a long time, but it gives the
largest increase in triangle use (and a lot of fill rate as well):
cg_shadows 2 // turn on stencil shadows
// (if you have a stencil buffer)
Apple's new G4 systems.
The initial systems are just G4 processors in basically the same systems as the
current G3. There will be some speedup in the normal C code from the faster
floating point unit, and the Apple OpenGL has AltiVec optimizations, so
framerates will improve somewhat. The limiting factor is going to be the fill
rate on the rage128 and the bandwidth of the 66mhz pci bus and processor to main
memory writes.
The later G4 systems with the new memory controller and AGP will have better
performance, but probably still limited by the new 3D card.
After Apple gets all their driver tuning done, it will be interesting to try
running timedemos at low resolution to factor the fill rate out. Apple has a
shot at having the best non-geometry accelerated throughput, but it will still
be tough to overcome a K7 with an extra hundred or so mhz.
On a purely technical note, AltiVec is more flexible for computation than intel
or AMD's extensions (trinary ops), but intel style write combining is better for
filling command buffers than the G4's memory streaming operations.
Apache sends word that he's posted twelve
new high res Wheel of Time screenshots on GameFan Online, taken with TNT2
in Direct 3D mode, showing off this Unreal engine title.
GameSpot
has posted a brief preview of Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation, with nine
screenshots from the sequel to Tomb Raider 3 (which of course was the sequel
to the sequel of Tomb Raider).
The Unrealty - VSMM'99 Demo
has been released (thanks Preacher at the unrelated Unreality).
This is a demo of the program that will use the Unreal engine to give virtual
reality walkthroughs of buildings for architects and realtors to be able to show
off ideas and properties more easily.
Planet Daikatana has posted three
new screenshots of the N64 version of Daikatana.
Speaking of games going gold, as we have a few times today, the gold-diggers at Gone Gold
send word that Legacy of Kain- Soul Reaver
has gone gold, set to bring its horror action to stores soon.
EA sends along this
new concept sketch from American McGee's Alice, a hybrid third person/first
person action game currently in development. Tomorrow a new gallery section
is due to be unveiled at the official Alice site,
complete with lots more concept art. Look for it around 5:00 PM PDT. In the meantime,
enjoy this truly demented piece of concept art (the thumbnail is a close-up):
Dynamix' Rick Overman updated
his .plan talking about ports to the "new engine" talking about
his early success with a Mac port, and his hopes to duplicate his Mac successes
on a Linux port. Since it wasn't 100% clear what the "new engine" part
referred to, we contacted Rick and got a clarification that he is talking about
TRIBES2. Here's the update: I'm finally full time on the new engine, ahhh...
and just to liven things up I decided to port the platform
dependant layer of the engine over to the Macintosh and see how things looked
before we made too much more progress. We were all pleasantly surprised when I
had the engine testbed app up and running after just 2 weeks time. (did I
mention this is the first time I've ever worked on a Mac?) I spent a few minutes
today testing OpenGL compatibility with Mesa OpenGL for the Mac and experienced
no problems (MacG3 with Voodoo3-2000 and Mesa OpenGL). I'm hoping the ease at
which the platform dependant layer ported to the Mac is an indication of how
simple the Linux port will be.
A new GameSpot's Designer Diary for Nocturne
has just been posted, talking quite a bit about the flexibility the
editor provides in creating the worlds in this upcoming spooky adventure game,
as well the game's "richer, more lavish universe" talking about
elements of dialog and back-story falling into place. Thanks Frans at 3D
Action Gamers.
Word on Planet Half-Life is that
the Ministry Of Development has posted
a new Opposing Force Screenshot. And yes, the screenshots posted yesterday to
make up for the set that preceded them weren't new either, they were from Thresh's FiringSquad's
Opposing Force interview, in case you are keeping score at home.
Planet RIVA sends word
they've posted still more shots of the Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens demo being
developed for the GeForce 256 by WXP
site.
Eidos' FTP site
has posted a 17.8 MB movie on the making of Omikron (here's a
local copy). The movie is almost six minutes long with high production values
(read: closing credits), a lot of game footage, some pre-rendered stuff, and
the obligatory quotes from the developers about how cool their game is going
to be (thanks Frans).
The Shugashack
has posted word that ION Storm Designer Stevie "KillCreek" Case,
currently working on Daikatana, will be appearing nude in a future issue of
Playboy in a piece "based around her being a female gamer and
developer." What can you do in a situation like this, but post the story,
and watch our news
messageboard (as well as sCary's)
with fascination.
The official Freespace 2 page has
been updated with two new ships in their ship
gallery, as well as another MP3 from the soundtrack (thanks Descent
Chronicles).
RedStorm has posted a
roster page for Rogue Spear, with details on the six new playable characters
that are in the game (in addition to the twenty in Rainbow Six). There's also
a little teaser up on the
RS downloads page, that says the demo is coming soon (thanks Frans at 3DGamers
for the scoop).
On the heels of the update sent along by Dynamix ( story),
comes another TRIBES Extreme update in Designer Scott
"Captain America" Rudi's .plan. The update covers a lot of bases,
so I'll excerpt the part about progress on the game: Tribes Extreme is
going well. We've got a ton of new missions in the works for new gameplay
online, and the campaign is really starting to shape up. Jesse R. is kicking
some ass getting the scoring and mission to mission issues working. Mitch is
also doing great with the training missions. They should be really informative
and pretty fun - the best thing about them is they'll cut down the number of
"How do I repair myself?" questions newbies ask in online games. Blah.
It seems our correction ( story)
to our report ( story)
that Sinistar: Unleashed is gold was incorrect. Yes, I guess I'm trying to be
difficult there, in other words, Sinistar Unleashed really is gold, and our
source can be officially declared reliable again. Here's the lowdown from S:U
project manager Rachel Silverstein: I am the product manager on Sinistar
Unleashed and I can promise you that it is, indeed, gold. In fact, I messengered
off the gold to manufacture myself. (<deleted> is definitely a very
reliable source).
Apparently, there was some confusion at the developer's and they wound up
sending you an old form e-mail. I really apologize for the conflicting
information, but we really, truly are Gold. Barring a huge natural disaster,
Sinistar Unleashed is on schedule to ship Sept. 15.
Move over Lara Croft...Duke Nukem's getting endorsement deals too. MonsterCable
and 3DRealms will be announcing that Duke
will be endorsing the Monster line of high end cabling. Here's the press release that will be going out to wire services tomorrow: Monster
Cable Products, Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of high-end, audio, video,
computer, gaming cables, and accessories, proudly announces that world-renowned
alien ass-kicker Duke Nukem is lending his name to their prestigious line-up
of Famous Monsters. In the past, Monster Cable has relied on a very select group
of top musicians and entertainment industry professionals who use and endorse
Monster Cable to complete the Famous Monsters roster. Today, Monster Cable adds
a man so elite, that he is in a field of one. As a many time world-saver, highly
successful entrepreneur, best-selling author (Why I'm So Great, ISBN: 0-7821-1869-0)
and famed babe-magnet, Nukem is clearly one of the most famous men on the planet-and
is pleased to team with Monster Cable.
"Hey--they asked. I'm the best. They're the best. Good fit," noted
Nukem. When pressed for more, Nukem rearranged the cigar in his teeth, adding,
"I got a call from Noel Lee, the boss over there, he actually goes by the
name 'The Head Monster,' clearly this guy knows what he likes-in addition to
making the best cables on the planet." Nukem grinned, "I can respect
that."
Not only is Monster Cable supplying their superlative cabling for Duke's computer
systems and home theaters, including full wiring for his new Las Vegas casino,
The LadyKiller, they're also wiring his award winning game studio, 3D Realms
Entertainment. 3D Realms is currently developing Nukem's much awaited PC game,
Duke Nukem Forever.
When asked for final words, Nukem snarled, "Monster Cable. Come Get Some."
Dynamix sent along this TRIBES
Extreme Update, with the latest word on the special edition of Starsiege:
TRIBES currently in development. The update has quotes from Dynamix folk, including
Scott Rudi, the lead designer, Lincoln Hutton, lead programmer,
and Jesse Russell, a mission scripter on the title. It's cool stuff, so
check it out.
Designer Graeme Devine at id Software updated
his .plan addressing the rumor of the day, saying that id is not
doing a Matrix game (which, if movie adaptation history serves as an indicator,
will be some crappy side-scrolling console game and port produced in 72 hours that will sell a
million units anyway). Here's the update:
I see a lot of people are playing with nude reptiles!
We are not doing a Matrix game. When we finish Q3A we'll start on the next
project. We will try and fit the words "welcome to my underground
lair" into the next game, mostly because we think Steed would be good at
making fembots.
Okay, that's more of a suggestion than a truth. We'll probably do something
completely different based on stories of the Quake 3 Bus and the Nevada desert.
The first release of Pinger
is now available on The Mod Shop.
Described as a simplified console game server browser for Linux, Pinger asks you
which game and mod you want to play, and goes out and finds the servers you are
looking for, and can (of course) join the server you select. Pinger currently
only supports Quake II, but more games will be added in the future.
GameStrategy.Com's Star Trek Voyager
Elite Force preview offers some hands-on impressions about the progress on
Star Trek Voyager - Elite Force after a recent visit to Raven's offices to check
it out. In addition to a paragraph-per-page preview of the upcoming Quake III-
engine Star Trek shooter, the piece also offers a bunch of screenshots that look
like they're new to me. Saw that on AGN3D.
Tomb Raider The Last Revelation interview on GA-Source talks with Adrian Smith and Mike Schmitt of CORE Design about their work on the upcoming fourth installment of the third-person,
two-breasted, single-player only Tomb Raider adventures: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
The seemingly inevitable follow-up on an early gold report has occurred, as my
"formerly"-reliable ( ![=]](/miscimages/smiley4.gif) ) source has been proven somewhat off the mark
on the report that Sinistar: Unleashed is gold ( story).
I received the following note from the development team, apparently unrelated to our previous report, that makes it
obvious that the game isn't actually gold: I'm pleased to be able to
inform you that Sinistar: Unleashed has gone beta. Over the next few weeks,
we'll be rushing around putting the last few bugs to rest, and generally
undergoing "Crunch Week."
The Nocturne Home has been updated
with new screenshots and information about this upcoming horror adventure
from TRI and Gathering of Developers. Nocturne is also being shown off at ECTS,
just getting set to unfold in London, and will also be on display at Ground ZERO
in New York City the following weekend ( story),
though as Mike
Wilson's .plan update mentions, the report about what's being shown at G.Z. is not
completely accurate: Just to clarify the info being posted on The
Gathering's presence at the upcoming Ground Zero event in NYC... we'll have a
couple of guys there giving demos and letting visitors play Nocturne and
Darkstone. The other games we'll be showing will be shown only on video... new,
cool ECTS videos for the most part. That includes Age of Wonders, KISS Psycho
Circus:The Nightmare Child, Heavy Metal:FAKK2, RUNE, and Max Payne.
Playable demos off all these games will be given by the developers at ECTS...
except Max Payne. The 3DRealms/Remedy boys continue to sit out trade shows to
try to make uninterrupted progress on getting Duke Forever and Max Payne to the
level that they want them for 2000. I don't think you'll see live demos of
either of those games until E3 2000, but on 3DRealms knows for sure.
MapZone's Q3Tourney guide
offers another strategy guide to the third Q3Test map. Q3Tourney, discussing
proper one-on-one tactics for the map in tongue-in-cheek style.
The Adrenaline Vault
Patch Downloads now has a new patch to update Spec Ops: Ranger Team Bravo.
The patch increases the spawning distance in multiplayer games, reworks how
satchels operate, and more.
Frans at 3D Action Gamers sends
word that Sierra has quietly posted a new version 1004 patch for Starsiege on
their FTP site (direct link), that looks to update the OEM version of the
game from 1002 to 1004, which is the latest version of the retail game. Frans
has also mirrored the file on 3D Action Gamers' Starsiege
page.
New
Game Consoles Blow Away PCs is the name of a new article on ZDNet that talks
about the next-generation of consoles, including the Dreamcast and Playstation
2. The article fails to mention the coming generation of PC graphics cards,
but does point out the production costs of Final Fantasy VIII, which at $30
million were more than six times that of an expensive PC title. But, they do
quote John Carmack, who brings the piece back down to earth: "The
impression that the PlayStation 2 will be light years ahead of the PC is really
incorrect," says John Carmack, the top programmer at "Quake"
developer Id Software Inc. in Mesquite, Texas. "We're going to continue
with the PC because it will move ahead of the consoles and it gives us complete
freedom to make the kind of games we want."
Stomped has posted an e-mail they received
from id's Paul Steed regarding the possibility of skeletal animation being added
to Quake III: Arena this late in the engine's development (as Carmack mentioned
it recently in his .plan), so you can head on over an see what id's animator
thinks of the prospect.
The official Messiah page has been updated
with some new character images, showing off a number of different (and strange
looking) creatures from this third person action title that's a mere 10 weeks
from shipping (if you believe their release date of November 15th). Thanks VE.
Also on VE, is the latest installment in their Experience
Development report, with The Whole Experience's Patrick Moynihan giving
you the latest on their two projects: the Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens demo
for the GeForce 256 and their 3D game Experience.
Saw on Stomped that the GameSpy
folks have come up with a workaround for the missing Q3Test servers ( story),
and Redwood says GameSpy now shows well over 400 servers available again. Okay,
just this once I suppose it's appropriate to say it: ROCK! Graeme
Devine's .plan says this is fixed in the next release of Q3Test.
The busy night owls at The Adrenaline Vault
have posted a few bits of computer role-playing games: EON
Designer Diary is the "first designer diary about the upcoming epic
fantasy CRPG, EON." Also, I see there that The Official Wizardry 8 Website
has been revamped with "all-new screenshots, a completely revised FAQ, new
sections on classes, combat and monsters, and a new design." Finally, Computer Games Online
Might and Magic VII tips are online (saw that last one on VE).
The Adrenaline Vault Previews Earth 2150 Escape from the Blue Planet
looking at this futuristic upcoming 3D accelerated RTS. In other strategy game news,
the AVault is also reporting: Warlords
4 Announced saying the sequel is "scheduled to ship Quarter 3
2000."
Some bits, including the possibility that Athlon 700's are on the way soon. Did
you know AM Tech Bits are part of a balanced breakfast?
The Adrenaline Vault News
has posted five new screenshots from Spellbinder, an upcoming first-person
shooter/ RPG from Mythic Entertainment that has just entered closed beta
testing. Spellbinder is an online game based on the pen and paper game
Rolemaster (Iron Crown Enterprises) that will feature four character classes and
will allow "thousands of participants to compete alongside and against each
other in an arena-based system."
GamePen's new "interviewer-at-large" RadPipe (who knew?) kicks off his
interviewing stint over there with a
Q&A with Jake Simpson of Raven Software talking about "life, death
and everything Star Trek: Voyager." Star Trek Voyager, is Raven's upcoming
Trekkie first-person shooter that uses the Quake III engine.
Word comes from a reliable source that Sinistar: Unleashed, the 3D Space Action
title from THQ went gold yesterday, and will be in stores later this month.
Some may consider New York City godless, but they won't be able to say that
during the Ground ZERO event, as the
Gathering of Developers has been added to the exhibitor page on the Ground ZERO
site, with word that they will be showing off a full slate of their titles,
including those currently available, as well as those in development. Here's the
list: Darkstone, F.A.K.K.2, Fly!, Nocturne, KISS Psycho Circus, Max Payne, Rune,
and Age of Wonders.
PC.IGN.COM previews Spec Ops II
giving a look ahead at the upcoming sequel to Zombie's tactical shooter, saying
they can't wait for its release.
Thanks again Frans at 3D Action Gamers:
- Nintendo Announces Game Boy
2 on Next-Generation Online:
"In addition to sporting a powerful 32-bit CPU, and 20 hours of battery
life, Game Boy Advance will be able to connect to a cellular phone to access
the Internet... (and) is slated for an August 2000 release in Japan and is
tentatively set to release before the end of 2000 in the US."...
- The BattleComm news page
has word of a price reduction on this real-time voice communication software,
as well as an apology for spotty responsiveness during their transition to Microsoft
ownership...
- The Adrenaline Vault News
is reporting that "Verant Interactive has announced that its online
combat game Tanarus will be opened to non-subscribers at no charge
during the Labor Day celebration"...
- The Habitat has an interview with
TheFatal, author of the Half-Life Jumbot (linked on their sidebar)...
- News of the death of legendary Thrustmaster programmer and founder of the
Thrustmaster User's group, William (Cowboy) Wilson can be found on SimHQ
(thanks Aslan the Furry), along with a message board where sympathies can be
expressed...
Huzzah and kudos to crezzy Tom Hall for surviving long enough to celebrate his
35th birthday! Happy birthday Tom, welcome to the realm of the ancients. In a
special ceremony, Tom will be awarded the badge of his advancing age by the
Levelord (the badge being a pair of tweezers for ear hair).
Link of the Day: Flatulence Filter.
Thanks Ant. They have their own
domain for goodness' sake..
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