Archived News:
PC.IGN has posted an interview
with Dynamix' Scott Rudi, talking to the designer about their upcoming Starsiege
TRIBES special edition, TRIBES Extreme (thanks Hastur). It's an interesting
interview, and he talks quite a bit about the single player component, which
is in the game. Here's a bit on the new AI: First off, I'll have to say
that no AI created with today's technology can be as smart or as effective as
a human player. Sure, computer AI can do a lot of things faster and more accurately
than a person, but overall the human brain is just plain incredible. That's
why I love multiplayer games.
That being said, the chores that the AI will be asked to perform aren't really
all that difficult. I expect that the AI will be more effective at things like
repairing damaged stations or defending your base than human players. Mostly
because of the AI can focus on these things and cover the fundamentals - something
that frequently falls apart in a multiplayer game - how many times have you
been in a game and asked, "Enemies in the base? Who in the heck is covering
the roof?"
GameFan has
posted eight new screenshots from ASC Games' upcoming Unreal engine title, Werewolf:
The Apocalypse - Heart of Gaia. There's even two shots of the main character
in the game in human form (the first, to the best of my knowledge).
An update to John
Carmack's .plan has the latest version of the id software lead programmer's
worklog detailing the latest programming changes to Quake III Arena. It's all
Greek to me, but it may make sense to some of you.
FGNOnline has posted
several quotes from an interview that's set to be published in Games Business
magazine, which features id Software's Graeme Devine talking about how feedback
from Q3Test is impacting the full version of the game (thanks Shane McAllen).
Here's a brief excerpt: He added, "We have listened to their concerns
on network play, for example. We've addressed their issues and we're trying
to balance a hell of a lot more; trying to give players the gameplay that they
want. We try and listen to the new consumers and the old faithful consumers
as well."
Devine said, "It’s always an issue trying to reconcile the two camps.
The new camp wants instant death. They want to get the railgun and shoot someone
who has just appeared on the map and never played before and kill him right
away. The old school camp wants health and armour to begin with, and then they
want even more. They want their machine gun to be super powerful. In one camp
they are dying fast and in the other camp they are dying too slow. So the balance
is half way between."
AVault
has posted details on Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation's training level, complete
with screenshots (thanks Frans). The training
level, which has become somewhat of a staple in the series, features a sixteen
year old Lara (complete with pig-tails), and in addition to training new players,
features a race with another character, and sets up an important plot point
as well. Update: due to embargo issues, the story has been pulled by AVault. Expect it to return soon.
The Rogue Spear Database
has posted an interview with Greg Stelmack, talking to the programmer about
his duties on Rogue Spear, and what users can expect from the forthcoming patch.
The European version of the Darkstone 1.0.3 patch has been released by Delphine
Software (thanks VE). This patch is identical
to the North American version that was already released.
E-tailer Checkout.com
has posted an interview with Dave Walls, the creative director and designer
of Hasbro's Unreal engine title of foam carnage (or lack thereof) Nerf Arena
Blast. According to the interview, the game is set for a November release.
According to this
story on ZDNet, Microsoft's long-awaited (and apparently appropriately titled) operating system Windows 2000,
their formal successor to both Windows 9x and NT, has been delayed, yet again
to Febuary of 2000. This comes, oddly enough, in the wake of their announcement
that they are readying their "final" beta version of the OS for release.
A new full client install (3.0) of The
Heretic Fortress, a class-based mod for Heretic II, has been released, and
is available for download on its official
site. It's a big download, at almost 17 MB, but it contains everything you
need to get up and running. A server update to fix some lingering bugs is promised
next week.
Raven's Jake Simpson updated his
.plan with an update on their Quake III: Arena title, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force,
including word that the level design is almost complete (which is not to be
taken to mean the game is finished - they still have to fill up those levels),
some kind words for Epic, and even a request for feedback about weapons in FPS
titles (for the record, loonygames is no more than three weeks away from relaunch,
Jake): We've started working on getting all the weapons into Voyager
now. There was a very interesting conversation here regarding the type of weapons
in an FPS game, their genre and game play effects. I have some definite views
on all this, but I'm more interested in hearing what you, - the game playing
public, - think about some of the weapons you've seen.
So I'm asking that if
you have a moment, drop me a line with your favorite weapon you've seen in a
FPS, (or a 3rd Person for that matter) game. Don't just say "I liked this
one, cos the others sucked" or "This weapon rocked" without giving
some reasons for why you liked what you did, or disliked what you didn't. If
I get enough replies on this, I was thinking of knocking up a little article
for LoonyBoi, or something like that - assuming LoonyBoi's pages ever return
that is:) They still have my article on Fighters for the PC which I'm waiting
to see put up:))
NGNetwork has
posted an interview with Shiny frontman Dave Perry, talking about their close-to-completion
action title Messiah (which, to quote a colleague, looks, "dialed").
Here's an excerpt where he mentioned a just-added feature to the game: We
just added protection bots, like the ones in R-TYPE that protect your ship.
They are pretty lethal and so after testing we might have to take them out,
but they are a cool feature.
Eidos
Interactive has posted a new movie from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
This new movie is a combination of cut-scene and in-game footage, and is over
two minutes long. It's available in a large (39 MB) or small (14 MB) download,
although both have the same footage. Thanks Frans, who has the larger of the
two movies ZIPed and mirrored at 3DGamers.
Well-Rounded
Games has posted an interview with Toby Ragaini, Turbine's lead designer
on Asheron's Call (a massively multiplayer RPG). The interview deals with several
gameplay issues, including dealing with player killers, "heritage"
groups, and the possibility of free or retail add-ons.
This week's screenshot
is now up on the Official Pandemic
Studios Battlezone II Site. As the caption states: "the Scions charge
in fast and furious." Thanks PlanetBattlezone.
BZ2 is Pandemic's upcoming sequel to Battlezone, their cult-hit first-person
strategy game.
The Adrenaline Vault
previews Tachyon: The Fringe, an upcoming space sim from Novalogic
that puts you in the role of Jake Logan, space mercenary, whose voice is depicted by
cult-favorite actor Bruce Campbell. Here's a bit from the hands-on preview on
how that all comes together: Dropped into the middle of this conflict is
Jake Logan, your standard loner and mercenary-for-hire. As the game begins, he's
doing small-time security work out of a starbase orbiting Jupiter. He's not a
soldier, nor does he take orders from anyone other than himself. His motivation
is profit, and as such he's always on the lookout for jobs that will bring on
the excitement and large amounts of cash. Over the course of the story, Logan's
pursuit of these goals will put him smack into the middle of the growing
GalSpan/Bora conflict, and he'll be forced to make a choice as to which side to
support. The personal tale of Jake Logan and the epic battle between the mighty
corporation and the Fringe-dwellers will be told through both in-game scripted
events and cutscenes, most of which are rendered in the flight engine in order
to ensure continuity. Of particular notice is that voice-over work for the
protagonist is being done by none other than Bruce Campbell, cult hero and
veteran of the Evil Dead movies and various episodes of Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys. In the build that I played, there were several instances
in which Logan's words were used to advance the story or generate atmosphere,
and I was decently impressed with the way in which Campbell's voice fit the
image of the grizzled spacer.
A reminder that the chat session with Nihilistic mentioned yesterday ( story)
to talk about Vampire: The Masquerade--The Redemption, their upcoming third-person
action/RPG, will take place today at 3:00 PM EDT/Noon PDT. Details on how to
join are on this page.
The first demo release of Blast Chamber
for Quake II is now available (If I hear that damn T2 midi on another website,
I'm going to pull my soundcard). The demo has full CTF play, limited DM and Teamplay,
and four DM/Teamplay maps. Also included is everything required to make your own
Blast Chamber maps. In Blast Chamber players search the level for a BlastKey,
which activates the Blast Detonator, which counts down from ten before
unleashing a nuclear explosion, killing anyone not in a "Blast Chamber."
A few of these: Gameguides.com's
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver guide is online (thanks Voodoo Extreme),
the inevitable (if a bit late) PlanetAvP
offers walkthroughs for all three of the game's classes, Gamecenter's
Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun strategy guide is up (thanks Frans),
and GameProWorld's
Age of Empires II Map Guide offers map-specific strategies.
Cyberathlete Professional League has announced that the first 100 attendees to arrive at the FRAG3 will receive a free EverGlide mousepad (coincidentally, more on these in today's Out of the Blue). Also, Aus3D interviews FragZone 2000's Phoenix and Assassin about FragZone 2000, an upcoming big gaming fest down under.
Delta-Force2.com is
holding a giveaway with a copy of F22 Lightning 3 as the prize.
I made a bad typo yesterday in the story
about the signed Doom II box I originally typed Doom III (a reflexive side
effect of typing Quake III Arena so often, for a long time I had the reverse
problem from Quake II that caused me to repeatedly type Quake II Arena). Sorry
to anyone who got their hopes raised at the idea that this was a new sequel in
the works, and thanks to all who wrote in pointing out the error.
Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers:
- Gamesiege
interviews Alex Saint John talking about the former MS evangelist and
boot columnist's current project, Wild Tangent,
an upcoming technology that's supposed to revolutionize both gaming and the
web...
- The Loki's Missions page has
word of the featured treatment this Quake II mod team gets in the cover mount
CD with the November issue of PC Gamer Europe, which highlights their two
single-player missions Escape
for Quake II and The Xeno Project
for Half-Life...
- To settle any possible doubts, a post to Smitty's News
confirms yesterday's report that Nocturne is gold (story).
Thanks Gone Gold...
- Cached.Net has interviews up on the
main page with a couple of famed European players, IV Griff and Hakeem,
about their attendance at the FRAG 3, Q3Test, and more...
Been a while since this space has seen a mini-review, so here goes: As has been
noted here before, one of the things I take most seriously about my action
gaming is the care and feeding of my mouse, having gone on at length in the past
about such things as the PMS mouse pad, the wheel doohickey, and the joys of
USB. I was therefore very curious when word of EverGlide's mousepads first
started popping up a while back, since the description makes them sound like
they've got a lot going for them. I finally got a hold of one, and have been
using it for the last several weeks, and I have to say, it's easily my favorite
mouse pad. Made from what seems to be a similar material to those plastic
knife-friendly cutting boards, the surface provides a good grip for the mouse,
and the construction prevents it from many of the downsides associated with our
former-favorite PMS (3M's Precise Mousing Surface) such as curling, slippage,
and wear. I'll expand on this write-up and add it to our Mouse Resources
department, but for now let this suffice as an editor's choice award (or
whatever the Blue's News equivalent is) for the EverGlide
mousepad, a great product for gamers.
Link of the Day: Riskable's Page
which has details on his totally badass-sounding car computer. Thanks
[A3D]V'alien.
Story of the Day: Dwindling supply spurs import of sperm.
Thanks Julian Owens.
Bonus Story: Maine Gets Taste of Y2K Glitch.
Horseless carriages? Thanks Scott March.
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