Archived News:
A day earlier than previously announced, Daily Radar has posted They Hunger, a new level set for Half-Life by Neil Manke (author of USS Darkstar), along with some raving comments. Said to be only the first episode of They Hunger, it's yours for the price of a 16 MB download, but it has also been available for some time already on the cover CD-ROM of the February issue of PC Gamer.
In a bizarre bit of news (spotted on AVault),
the LithTech 2 engine title No One Lives Forever has been renamed...No One Lives
Forever. Until now that was simply a working title, but Fox Interactive, the
game's new publisher, apparently likes the name enough to keep it.
According to Gone Gold (by way of the
game's publisher, Interplay, so it has been confirmed) Messiah has been pushed
back to mid March from its mid February release date.
Raven's Eric Biessman has kicked off a second Soldier of Fortune designer diary, this time on GameSpot. This first installment discusses the choice for, and adaptation of, the Quake II engine to the needs of their mercenary shooter.
GameSpot has posted a
new, hands-on preview of Allegiance, Microsoft's massively multiplayer space
sim. In addition to the usual text and screenshots, the preview features quotes
from Joel Dehlin, the game's producer.
Three new programming tutorials
have been posted at Tectonic: one explaining how bits and "# commands"
work, one on creating a basic mod, and one that teaches you how to make your
own Rail Arena-style mod.
GameProWorld has posted some twenty new screenshots of Star Trek: Klingon Academy, Interplay's space-combat sim that pits the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Tholian, Gorn, and Sha'kurian races against eachother.
The Soldier of Fortune Center has posted
a movie (available in your choice of Real Video or AVI format) showing the ACT
Labs Gun System in action with Soldier of Fortune.
The ICQ downloads page has posted
ICQ v.3.19 Build #2569 (Revision A). There's absolutely no details on what's
new in this version besides the words, "bug fix" but at least it's
a small download (thanks Ant for
the tip). Also of note is a new version
of mIRC which features over 130 changes since the last release (thanks to
everyone that sent this in).
Hunter, a new mod for Unreal Tournament has been released, and is available
for download at Eavy's
UT Mods page. The mod originally started as an extra game type from the
UT version of Rocket Arena currently in development, but the author decided
to spin it off into its own mod.
Monolith has announced that the latest licensee of their LithTech engine is none
other than 3DO and their subsidiary New World Computing, who will be using the
engine to make "multiple titles" in the Might and Magic series of
games. Here's the announcement: (Kirkland, WA, February 3 2000 ) LithTech
Inc. today announced the licensing of the powerful LithTech 3D Game Operating
System to New World Computing, a division of The 3DO Company (Nasdaq: THDO).
LithTech will be used to power multiple titles in the critically acclaimed Might
and Magic game brand.
"We are thrilled that 3DO and New World Computing have chosen the LithTech
3D Game OS for use in the highly acclaimed Might and Magic brand," comments
Jason Hall, CEO for LithTech Inc. "LithTech's ability to handle huge outdoor
environments combined with state-of-the-art special effects will insure the
talented Might and Magic teams can build the most beautiful worlds yet seen
in the fantasy genre."
LithTech is a licensable technology for multiple platforms that functions as
a complete 3D Game Operating System which allows developers to easily design,
develop and focus on content without reinventing new technology for each project.
The development environment includes all world and model building tools, newly
designed rendering capability and complete source code necessary to bring a
game team's concepts and production schedule to completion quickly.
"The flexibility of this engine lets us do what we do best, which is creating
vast, entertaining gaming worlds," says Jon Van Caneghem, president of
New World Computing. "The LithTech technology allows us to concentrate
on the immersive game play and in-depth storytelling that the Might and Magic
brand is known for."
GameSpy.com has posted a
Q&A with Monolith's Jason Hall, asking him a few questions about the
recently formed LithTech company, and the future of the engine.
The newly opened MonolithNews.com
has posted four
new screenshots from Monolith's LithTech 2 engine. These aren't from any
game in development, but rather come from various different technology demos.
GameSpot UK has posted an
interview with BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, talking about their
almost complete title MDK 2. The interview deals with the Dreamcast version
of the game, but both the console and PC versions are being made simultaneously, so it's still of interest if you can't stand console titles.
And if you want to skip the interview altogether, they've got some
new screenshots from the PC version up as well. MDK, as everyone knows,
stands for Mamoun's Downtown Knishes.
Also on GameSpot UK is a
brief preview of the full version of Messiah, featuring a bunch of new screenshots
from Shiny's third person action game of diaper-clad glory.
Publisher Cryo Interactive has recently opened their official Devil Inside site, sporting information and five new screenshots for this 3D action adventure that is being developed by GameSquad.
RPOV has posted an article
on the world of game engines, featuring quotes from game several developers. Some
of the quotes are from older interviews, but there are some great quotes, including
3D Realms' Scott Miller on the Prey engine and former id employee Brian Hook
on the advantages of licensing an engine.
Meccaworld has posted a
hands-on preview of Westwood Studios' Nox, their soon-to-be-released isometric
action game, featuring a good description of the gameplay and a few images.
Also, PCFan has posted a
brief interview with Westwood's PR man Aaron Cohen, who further describes
the gameplay, including a summary of the plot.
Dark Horse Interactive's official
Hellboy site has been updated with no less than ten
new screenshots. Hellboy is being developed by Cryo Interactive, and is
based on the comic books of the same name by Mike Mignola (which are published
by Dark Horse Comics).
Daily Radar has posted a hands-on preview of Evolva, examining the organic-looking action/strategy game by Computer Artworks that puts you in control of a team of "genohunters" battling for survival, Starship Troopers-style.
The official Messiah site has been updated with a new screenshot on its frontpage, showing off a little action from Shiny's presumably imminent possess-em-up.
Dopplegangers has conducted an interview with Tim Gift, Dynamix' lead programmer on TRIBES 2, discussing the scripting language employed in the game (thanks Voodoo Extreme). Most of the article is rather technical in nature, and it includes a pair of example code excerpts.
The Ranger Gone Bad 3 preview has been released, and is available for download
on Stomped and
Machinima.com.
The 7.7 MB download requires Quake 1, and is not the same as the version that
was shown at QuakeCon '97, but rather a more polished version.
Computer Games Online's
Building a starship, Part 2 offers more of their Q&A with Raven's Brian
Pelletier on Starship design in their upcoming Quake III-engine game, Star Trek:
Voyager-Elite Force. If this is only wets your appetite for skinny on this
space first-person shooter, you're in luck, as today continues the ongoing daily
chat session marathon at The Omega Project
where they are holding a chat for Elite Force on IRC Server omegaproject.net in
the channel #lobby. The festivities kick off at 7:00 PM EST, which is 4:00 PST,
or 00:00 GMT (sorry, no Star Date translations off the top of my head).
The latest informing being done by the ION
Storm Daily Informant is that tonight is that time of the month for the
Anachronox crew, when they whip out the chatting sticks to do battle in the
monthly AnachroChat, to discuss
progress on this Quake II-engine RPG. The live chat session will take place on
the IRC server www.ionstorm.com, in the channel #ion at 9:00 PM EST (8:00 PM
Central), or you can also join in simply by hitting the Online button on their
website.
Westlake Interactive has released the Mac version 405B patch for Unreal Tournament, bringing the game in line with the PC version. The patch is available from several download mirrors, and includes the following Mac specific fixes:
- Fixed a bug that caused custom skins & maps to not auto-download when joining a server.
- Added an option to disable command key shortcuts (like Cmd-Q)
- Added some extra code to the RAVE driver to boost performance on newer AGP Rage 128 cards.
- Added an option for dedicated servers that will detect if the server has stopped accepting connections (which can happen after 2 to 10 hours of running). If the server sees this has happened, it will relauch itself with all settings entact.
- Fixed remote web administration code, you can now change settings, kick/ban players, and even type directly into the server console of a Mac server all from a standard web
browser.
There are eight new Earth 2150 screenshots
on PC.IGN.Com, showing off action from TopWare's European 3D RTS, soon to
appear in North America.
The Shogun Total War Interview, pt. 1
on PC.IGN.Com looks at Shogun: Total War, an upcoming real-time/turn-based
strategy game from Creative Assembly. Rather than being based on all three million
pages of the James Clavell novel (Infocom already did that one), the game is
"Based on the Sengoku Jidai (that's Age of the Country at War to you)
period of Japanese history, Shogun: Total War follows feudal warlords battling
it out for supremacy."
The Servarena page has a new
version 2.01 of this Quake III Arena dedicated server launcher, a quick bug fix,
hot on the heels of the release of version 2.0. The new version is available as
both a full installer as well as a patch for the previous version.
The Australian Rudimentary Skinning Enclave
(ARSE) is a Quick Guide to skinning in Quake III Arena by Snafu, author of a
pair of Q3A skin packs featuring characters from Marvel comics ( marvelskinpak.zip
and marvelskinpak2.zip).
Also, loonygames presents Painting on Polygons - 2D Art and videogames
answers reader-submitted questions on the tools best suited to working in the
industry as a 2D artist, from Vicarious Visions' artist Rick
"Flatness" Grossenbacher. One of the answers also offers advice to
those interested in getting into the industry.
Microsoft's
Windows 2000 Readiness Analyzer attempts to gauge your system's
Win2K-worthiness, though they point out "Microsoft did not focus on testing
games or entertainment software." Also, So you're thinking about upgrading to Windows 2000
is written by a computer technician who has spent the last five months playing
with the new MS OS, currently due February 17.
- Unreality's interview with Vito
Miliano talks with this member of the Unrealty project, which looks to
provide virtual tours of buildings and other architectural structures using
the power of the Unreal engine...
- A couple of updates to the Prospect Vector
website reveal that the future of the Tread level editor has been up in
the air, though the latest update indicates that every effort is being made
to prevent the project from just dying. Thanks Nathan...
- PS2 Final Fantasy Movie
Mayhem on Daily Radar offers some "bootleg" movies of Final
Fantasy IX, X, and XI(!), none of which apparently is actually ever destined
to be ported to the PC. Thanks Bre@k...
Woops, I lost a bunch of email sent to the news@bluesnews.com
when Norton Antivirus ate a good chunk of a mailbox. If you sent along something
to news yesterday that was overlooked this morning, please feel free to send it along again,
in case it was lost (this should not really be too big a problem since Frans and
loony both should have these mails as well). This is the first time NAV has
thrown the baby out with the bathwater on me like this (although it is a new
version)... I just ran live update, and there's an addition since yesterday
offering an "update to email scanning," though no mention of a fix for
the "mail being eaten problem."
Hmmm... throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in addition to being a cliché,
was a song title... I wonder if there are any other old Tenpole Tudor fans out
there? I just inspired myself and found one of their CDs on Amazon along with a
Doug and the Slugs reissue (oh joy!) I had all but given up on long ago. Anyone
familiar with either of these terribly quirky bands (whose heydays were back in
the last days of vinyl LPs) now probably has extra insight into what an
especially odd duck I am (as if that bizarre segue from email to obscure bands
doesn't serve that same purpose just as well).
Link of the Day: Demotivate.com.
For those days you're just feeling too good about everything. Thanks Neil.
Story of the Day: New research explains why the tipsy topple.
Thanks Mike Martinez. Kind of seems to go with the recent one about how incompetents
are too incompetent to realize it.
Image of the Day: A Lunar Eclipse in Three Exposures,
an Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Thanks brother 19.
GameProWorld has posted a brief preview of MDK2, BioWare's sequel to MDK, along with a bunch of new screenshots. MDK, as everyone knows, stands for My Darling Klementine.
Also online at GameProWorld is a new gallery of Evolva, featuring an even dozen screenshots from the action/strategy game that will see you dipping your toes in the gene pool.
As promised, Dynamix has released version 1.10 patches for Starsiege: TRIBES. Here are local copies with a few mirrors of the patch to upgrade version 1.0, the patch to upgrade version 1.9, and, for those who already have the Map Updates installed, even the patch to upgrade version 1.9.1. Thanks Ryan Stotts (who must have been watching Sierra's ftp server like a hawk). Here is the list of changes for this version:
- Fixed a health kit bug/cheat issue.
- Fixed armor/damage level bug.
- Fixed a server crash bug issue.
- Fixed OpenGL "black bug" with new maps.
InciteGames has posted a
bunch of new screenshots from Raven's Quake III Arena engine title Star
Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. The shots show off a few different areas, and even
a borg or three. Update: the same eight shots, and seven more, are available on GameProWorld.
There is a new preview of Ground Control on Gamecenter, consisting of a short interview with Massive Entertainment lead designer Martin Walfisz, and seven new screenshots of their 3D real-time strategy title.
GameRush has posted ten
new screenshots from Digial Anvil's Starlancer, roughly half of which are
in-game, and half of which are from the game's pre-rendered CGI.
chUmbaLum sOft has released
a new version of their low-polycount 3D modeller MilkShape 3D, which offers
static, experimental Quake III Arena support (meaning, it doesn't support tags
or animations as of yet). Thanks to Pheral for the tip.
InciteGames has posted some
new screenshots from an early build of Soulbringer, a new RPG in development
at Gremlin. There are seven in-game shots, as well as two from the pre-rendered
CGI sequences.
This week's slew of 3D RTS site openings ( story and story) continues, as Activision has recently unveiled its official Star Trek Armada site, featuring information, screenshots and the first short movie trailer of their upcoming Trekkie RTS (thanks GamesMania). The kick-off feature is a look at the Romulan Star Empire's fleet and their special weapons.
AVault has posted some
preliminary information and conceptual renders from Dreamland, a new tactical
combat game for the PC and Playstation 2 from the creators of X-COM. It should
be stressed that the images, while impressive, are not in game, but conceptual
renders.
As further proof that the game is in its final stage of development, Unreal
Universe has posted a
status update from Deus Ex designer Bob White, who says just that, as well
as some details on the QA team that's working on the game.
HalfLife.net has posted an
interview with Brian Martel, former 3D Realms and Rebel Boat Rocker employee,
and currently at Gearbox Software where he worked on their Half-Life mission
pack Opposing Force. The interview focuses mainly on his texture work, but he
also comments on other games and trends in the industry.
Westwood has posted the
official FAQ for their isometric action game Nox (thanks Noxious.net). The
FAQ contains various questions about the game, from the different character
classes and the game's deathmatch style of multiplayer to some technical issues
as well.
Eurogamer.net has posted a
preview of ION Storm's Deus Ex, which is based on a demonstration they were
given by the game's lead designer, Warren Spector. The preview features some
new images, as well as quotes from Spector himself about the game.
Recently re-opened EliteForce.Net has posted an interview with Chris Foster, Raven's lead designer of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Conducted over IRC, the talk has a freely roaming nature, but it does cover a fair amount of info on the game.
If (like myself) you're wondering if upgrading to Windows 2000 is right for
you, check out ZDNet's massive
Windows 2000 special which features all kinds of useful stuff, including
a list of compatible hardware and software, as well as a comprehensive guide
to the new OS, and even downloads to help you beef it up once it's released
(on February 17th).
Dear lord, it's another
on-time edition of the Mail Bag. In this week's 'bag: the mysterious power
of Blue, the closing of the Ultima IX boards, a beef one reader has with Devil's
Bridge, an open letter to 3D Realms, and were Soldier of Fortune and SiN switched
at birth? Head
over and take a read.
E-tailer Checkout.com has posted an
interview with Peter Molyneux, the creator of the classic Populous, and
who is currently working on his latest "god game" Black & White.
The interview covers his whole career, including questions about the released-too-early
title Powermonger, and even the classic Magic Carpet (and of course, questions
about Black & White). Thanks love ME for the tip.
AVault has posted a special on
the Blair Witch Project games in development from the Gathering of Developers,
which features all kinds of good stuff. There's an
article examining the trilogy of games, which features quotes from the developers,
the publishers, and even the producers of the movie. They've also posted a
new interview with Jeff Mills, a producer at Terminal Reality, and if that's
not enough, they've scored some
new concept artwork as well.
GA-Strategy interviews The Rift is a talk with TrushWave's lead developer James Thrush about their space-based RTS, for which a playable demo should be released on February 9. A tenner of new screenshots is included as well.
GameSpot UK has posted a detailed preview of Shogun: Total War, the upcoming 3D real-time strategy game by Creative Assembly and Electronic Arts, illustrating their hands-on encounter with an alpha build by a set of new screenshots.
Diamond's Underground site has posted all kinds of stuff for owners of S3 cards
and Quake III Arena. There are a
whole bunch of new S3TC textures available for download, as well as a
handful of new levels available (which presumably use the S3TC textures,
although it doesn't specifically say so), and they've even got a
page up with tips for level designers (thanks Voodoo
Extreme for the tipoff).
Deus Ex Incarnate has posted some
screen grabs from a Deus Ex movie on the March 2000 Incite Magazine CD. Because
they're shots of a movie, and not actually from the game, the quality is a little
questionable, but they do show off some previously unseen (or rarely seen anyway)
areas of the game, including the augmentation interface, a sniper shot, the
appearance screen, and even some good ol' fashioned crate bashing.
Voodoo Extreme has posted three screenshots
from BioWare's upcoming third person action title MDK 2. MDK, as everyone knows,
stands for More Danish Kabobs.
A new version of QuakeWorld
Forever, an encrypted client/server build of the QuakeWorld source code
(making it nigh-impossible to cheat) has been released. Along with this new release,
the developers have also completely released the source code according to the
GPL under which the Quake source code was released.
Tim Sweeney updated the Unreal Technology
page with some kind words for the latest Unreal engine licensee ( story)
as well as an update on the state of the Playstation 2 version of Unreal Tournament.
According to Tim, the engine is running on the hardware in bare bones form,
and he says, that he's "thrilled with the Playstaton 2" and that "consoles
will be a big priority for Epic from this point forward."
GameSpot UK has posted a
preview of Daikatana 64, the Nintendo 64 port of ION Storm's Daikatana.
The preview is based on a playable build of the game, and they've posted nine
new screenshots and two new movies in addition to a detailed critique of the
game.
Building a starship, Part 1 is how Computer Games Online kick off their preview of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, the Q3A-engine powered action game currently under construction at Raven. Construction is literally the angle chosen for this article, as it describes the efforts taken, and changes made, to convert the Voyager TV sets into a playable game world, and a number of side-by-side screenshots (including the first in-game image of Seven of Nine) illustrate this. The preview then moves to look at the game itself, which is described like this:
Over the course of our visit we had a chance to take a close look at
how far Voyager: Elite Force has come since we saw it at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo last year. The game is still a ways from being finished,
but Pelletier feels confident that the team is still on target for a spring
release. There were a number of levels in a semi-complete state—some
merely empty environments, others with AI characters and some scripted
events in place. The team also had one mission to show that was effectively
content-complete, a rescue mission that takes place aboard a Borg Cube.
Gamers Central has posted a new movie of Killer Tank, showing off three and a half minutes of gameplay from this tank action game by Russian developers ElectroTECH. The movie is also available on the official site, but in the less convenient format of 11 small downloads.
A new version of the System Shock 2 FAQ and walkthrough is up on GameFAQs, adding more tips for survival on deck 4, as well as various other changes.
Surreal-News.com has posted a huge
list of changes planned for the upcoming version 445 patch for Drakan: Order of
the Flame. In addition to general changes, like the removal of the CD check,
there will be several multiplayer enhancements to Surreal's third-person
dragon-riding action game, including new server
administration options, teamplay changes, and new multiplayer design/gameplay
features included for the editing community. They also have quoted a
messageboard post from Stu at Surreal describing the pieces already in place
that could be used by an intrepid mod author to create a form of persistent
online multiplayer universe.
The Wyrm news page
has the debut release of Wyrm 3, the Quake III Arena version of Wyrm 2 (for
Quake II), which is a teamplay modification that features roll-your-own classes.
The mod supports up to 32 user-made classes, and offers class support for bots
as well as players.
The newly-relocated Beryllium
website has a new version 0.99B of this Quake III Arena mod that offers a
highly configurable set of options to create a custom server much in the vein of
the Lithium II mod for Quake
II (each mod also taking its name from the Periodic Table of the Elements, if
not Uncle Duke's medicine cabinet). The new version features a new Micromod
system, said to be able to get your custom server up and running in minutes.
A new version 1.2 of Merc's Q3A TeamMod
is now available. The new release adds a ton of changes and fixes, including a
boatload of new variables. A full rundown on the new
features and changes are listed here.
The Black Knight Productions page has the
first beta release of their Prisoners of War (PoW), a teamplay mod for Quake III Arena,
along with info on a beta server where the mod is running. Thanks Ryan Stotts.
A new version 2.0 of the Servarena
Quake III Arena dedicated server launcher is now available, described as the
final version of Servarena 2.0. Thanks Killjoy.
The changes in the new release are significant enough that there is only a full
installer, and rather than a patch for users of version 1.x, they have the
suggestion that you uninstall your previous version before using the full 2.0
installer.
Borderfield Software has
released the debut version 0.1 beta of their Q3A Shader Editor, Q3ASE, which
provides a real-time preview of your texture effects in an OpenGL accelerated
window. There are still some rough edges, and the opening of existing shaders is
not yet supported. Speaking of Shaders, id Software's Shader manual, detailing
the secrets of this mystic art, has been converted to HTML
format from the original Word document. gXp
interviews g1zm0 talking with the author of the Japanese Castles map for
"Beben 3 Arena," the euphemism they must use for Q3A since they are
based in Germany, where the game is "Indexed."
Another follow-up, today's is regarding the new version 1.1 of Reload Be Gone
for Quake III Arena on Quakeheads.Com
reported yesterday ( story).
Word from the authors is that the new version ads extra ammo to the weapons with
an increased firing rate making the caution from the Quakeheads
we passed along about being conservative with your fire unnecessary, the Tony
Montanas among you will be pleased to note.
The Razer CPL Event website has word that
registration for this upcoming $100,000 tournament has been delayed "because
of heavy loads that caused a third party registration software to fail."
Registration is now expected to open on Monday, February 7 at 5:00 PM EST (4:00
CST).
Crossroads' Design Your UO2 Contest
offers three winners prizes straight from Origin for the best suggestions for
things to include in Ultima Online 2, the upcoming sequel to their massive
multiplayer RPG. While the Origin folks will be assisting in the judging,
winning does not guarantee your ideas will definitely make it into the game.
Also, are you proud of your pocket protector? Geek and Guru
is holding a competition to find "Who Is The Sexiest Geek Alive?"
Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?), when we
traditionally attempt to gauge how much winter remains based on whether a
groundhog sees his shadow...
Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?), when we
traditionally attempt to gauge how much winter...
Tomorrow is Groundhog day (does that make this Groundhog eve?)...
Tomorrow is Groundhog day...
Tomorrow...
Link of the Day: MrMethane,
"the world's only performing flatulist." Thanks Lars.
Story of the Day: UK Man dies in crucifix race.
"The seven-mile race...in memory of the 'orginal (sic) tough guy' Jesus
Christ...has drawn criticism from church leaders who say it is disrespectful..." The victim died
after treatment at New Cross hospital.
Image of the Day: Rorshach's Comedian movie poster on Tritin
Films.
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