Archived News:
A new preview
of Digital Anvil's Starlancer has been posted at Gamecenter, featuring quotes from designer Erin Roberts
about the game. There are quite a few interesting details in here, from info
about the storyline (and how it unfolds) to specifics about the gameplay.
incitegames has posted a
new movie featuring footage from Ground Control, an upcoming 3D RTS title
from Massive Entertainment. The film shows how the camera system works, and
unlike most of their movies, this actually features actual in-game sound effects
instead of dubbed techno music.
Also on incitegames is a
new MPEG movie featuring footage from Third Law Interactive's LithTech engine
title, KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child. The film is available as either
a large or small download, and clocks in at 45 seconds long.
3dfx has released new Voodoo3 2000/3000 Windows 9x Drivers version 1.04.04 BETA, fixing problems with Glide Unreal as well as Midtown Madness, and boosting the usual all-caps warning that these beta drivers are unsupported, so download at your own risk.
Blizzard Entertainment has announced
the details of the special limited Collector's Edition of Diablo II that will
be available when the game is released (thanks Mach5). This jam-packed box is
loaded with everything from a DVD version of the game's intro movie to the soundtrack
and lots more. Here are the details: Blizzard Entertainment announces
a one-time production run of Diablo II Collector's Edition. Available only during
Diablo II's initial launch, this special edition will be offered in limited
quantities. The Collector's Edition will include Diablo II on four CD-ROMs,
a 24-minute Diablo II cinematic on DVD in wide-screen letter box format, the
Diablo II soundtrack with 70 minutes of music, the Wizards of the Coast pencil-and-paper
role-playing game based on the AD&D rule set and a Diablo II manual signed
by the development team. Diablo II Collector's Edition will be available exclusively
at Babbages, Electronics Boutique and direct from Blizzard. The expected price
for the product will be $60 - $70.
Gamecenter has posted a surprise demo of Half-Life: Opposing Force, the expansion pack by Gearbox to Valve's acclaimed first-person action game. The demo is available as a 30.4 MB download for those who already own Half-Life, or a 71.2 MB version that is playable standalone, and features a "montage of the levels and areas in the expansion pack."
As expected after yesterday's auto-update patch ( story), Novalogic has released a downloadable Delta Force 2 patch version 1.06.14. The 8.2 MB patch fixes weapon emplacements and more, as described in their developer notes.
AVault spoke
with Steve Grossman, the CEO of ASC Games, about the current status of their
Unreal-engine title Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Heart of Gaia, which has
been in a shaky position ever since the company announced that they were in
"a state of transition." According to Grossman, "“Werewolf is
still in development, and is going strong. The situation at ASC is still in
the process of unfolding, but with promise of clarification in the near future."
Matrox has released new
TurboGL drivers for their Millennium and Marvel G400 cards. This new version
(1.30.002) adds support for Starsiege: TRIBES and Tread Marks in addition to other changes, and will only
work under Windows 98.
According to this
story at ActionAce.com, Shiny, the developers of the upcoming games Messiah
and Sacrifice, have beaten out several contenders (including Bungie Studios)
for the rights to make a game based on The Matrix, last year's ridiculously
successful sci-fi movie. If this is true, then a formal announcement should
be coming soon.
Eurogamer.net has posted an
interview with Jason Kingsley, co-founder of Rebellion, the developers of
Aliens vs. Predator and the upcoming action-RPG Gunlok. Jason talks about the
company's humble beginnings with the Atari Jaguar system, and goes into detail
about the transition from the console AvP to its more recent PC incarnation.
There are also three new images from Gunlok, their current project, as well
as some gameplay details.
AVault has posted an
interview with Tim Train, former designer for Firaxis, and one of the founding
members of Big Huge Games. Tim talks about their new company's plans, which
are still in their infancy.
According to this
story on Daily Variety, the actress who will be portraying Lara Croft in
the upcoming film adaptation of Tomb Raider (directed by Simon "Con Air"
West) is none other than Angelina Jolie, Oscar® nominated actress and daughter of Jon Voight. Thanks Jason Ocampo for the tip.
If you're getting that "insert disk 1" error with the recently released
Metal Fatigue Demo ( story),
Spamkill sends along this tip that should get things working: The demo
does work. If it doesn't self-extract correctly, you neeed to change the .exe
extension to .zip and then extract the contents which will be in a folder called
"disk1". Just run the setup in that folder and start building giant
robots!
Tritin Films, the people behind
the Quad God and Comedy in Armor films, have released a new film titled, "The
Kick." This film is all of 400k, and is notably simpler than their previous
efforts. As their page describes
it, the film "does nothing but show one opponent kick the other opponents
butt." It's available for download in Real Video format at
Machinima.com.
SegaSoft has released a new 10Six client for download on the official site, although it's not clear what this March 2 version changes from previous releases of the massively multiplayer action/strategy game that went into full operation last Monday ( story). Also, there is a new intro movie trailer available in three different sizes.
The official DooM Legacy site has a new version 1.29 pre-release 5 of this OpenGL port of id's classic DOOM. This is proclaimed to be a really stable release, and the last one before the 1.29 final release. The source code has also been released, as required under the GNU GPL. Also, DoomWorld has word of the first beta release of GlBoom, an OpenGL port of TeamTNT's Boom engine. Lastly, DoomWorld also mentioned Doom3D, a new Win32/DirectX port that features Direct3D acceleration, full TCP-IP networking, and more.
GameSpot UK has posted a
massive, 41-image gallery, featuring new screenshots from Project IGI, an
upcoming first person shooter from Norwegian developer Innerloop Studios, that
features a fractal-driven, original engine.
Also new on GameSpot UK today, is a
new preview of LucasArts' 3D strategy game Force Commander, which is based
on a hands-on test of the full game. They've also posted one
of their trademark image galleries, which features 21 new shots from the
game.
Daily Radar has posted an
interview with Rade Stojsavljevic, producer of Firestorm, the just-finished add-on
for Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Rade confirms that Firestorm
is the last time they'll be using the current C&C engine, but dodges the
question when asked if this will be the last top-down C&C game.
New screenshots
from Loose Cannon, an upcoming game from Digital Anvil, headed up by Tony Zurovec,
the creator of the classic Origin Crusader series, have been posted at GameSpot
News. In the game, you play a futuristic bounty hunter, and it is played both
on foot and inside a vehicle.
According to PlanetAvP, Aliens vs.
Predator Gold, the new edition of Aliens vs. Predator that features improved
multiplayer code and OpenGL support (not to mention new multiplayer weapons and a strategy guide)
is set for release on April 6th. Also, screenshots from the new multiplayer levels in the pack are available at AvPNews.com's Gold Edition section, which also features a rundown of all the features in the new version.
Another installment of PC.IGN's
Summoner Diary has been posted. This week's installment features Volition's
Tim Borelli talking about the process of animating the game's characters, including
the all important, "watch Kung-Fu movies" step.
There's a Tim Willits
interview on Mean Arena talking with the id Software level designer about
all sorts of stuff like his work, his feelings about Q3A, his start in the
business, id's future plans, some less topical stuff, and still more (if you can
stand it).
Hypothermia
interviews Kenn Hoekstra talking with the project administrator at Raven
Software about life at Raven, life in general, games, his KISS tattoo, and more,
though nothing about bodybuilding.
There's a
Baldur's Gate II chat log on RPGvault.ign.com (in case there's a difference,
there's also BG2
log on BG Chronicles) recounting the chat action in last night's IRC shindig
with the folks at BioWare currently toiling away at this sequel to the hit
AD&D game. The RPGvault also has
highlights of the session on their main page, as well as some more new BG2
details gleaned from an update to the Baldur's Gate II
site as well as messageboard
posts by "Designer Dave Gaider, Lead Programmer Mark Darrah and Paul as
well as Interplay webmaster Slyle."
Unreal Universe has the release of
Skaarj Generator ][, an Unreal Tournament update to a classic Unreal map by Epic designer Innox
that was apparently intended for inclusion in the just-released UT Bonus Pack ( story). While they're at it, they've posted a pair of screenshots from the
upcoming release of Rocket Arena for Unreal Tournament, showing maps also being
created by Innox.
Interview with James Parkman
talking with the Legend Entertainment level designer about his work on Wheel of
Time and the upcoming Unreal II as well as some thoughts on the U2Ed level editor
that is going to be released soon.
There's a new Troika Games
interview on Joystick.fr talking with some of the developers of the upcoming
RPG Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. The interview is French, so
you'll have to try something like AltaVista Translations
to read it, but there is also an audio version in streaming RealPlayer
format that is in English.
A new version UT MouseBall, the
nutty (cheesy?) sport for Unreal Tournament is now available, adding a new map,
as well as a blimp that provides a scoreboard.
Word from counter-strike.de
is that they are attempting to inspire a back to the future weekend where
servers will run the first beta of Counter-Strike for Half-Life. They have the
betas available for server operators and clients to download, along with handy
instructions on how to avoid ruining your current Counter-Strike installation.
How about a B.A. in Quake
on ZDNet News (thanks Ron Johnson and George Cifrancis) offers hope that an
interest in Quake and other games might some day earn one a college degree,
rather than simply putting one on the slippery slope to flunking out. Here's a
bit: The program incorporates courses in a variety of disciplines,
including psychology, sociology, graphic design and human kinetics. The goal is
to create students who are not only able to code and design games but also have
an understanding of the societal impact and significance of this $7 billion
industry.
A
post on the UT bonus pack on Unreal Universe offers strategies for the new
maps, as well as a review of the pack. There's a new Unreal Tournament
deathmatch guide on City Of Games.
Also, there's a new Lonely
Planet-Spog/DMMQ3DM3 strategy guide on Hellhound. Finally, the
Allegiance Vault's Turret Guide
is online.
The Outrage Entertainment site has word of
the release of the source code for D3Edit, the Descent 3 level editor, on The
D3Edit website. Also, the Microsoft Flight Simulator
page has a new version of the MSFS2K SDK.
There's a new version 2.61 of the Winamp
.mp3 player (thanks 3D Spotlight),
including "Massively improved CD Audio support," and "improved
SuperPiMP installation." Coming this fall to theaters near you: Shaft
vs. the SuperPiMPs. The Microsoft Mouse-PC Drivers
page has new version 3.1a IntelliPoint drivers (thanks File Flash).
This webpage (seems you
have no choice but to wait out the "dramatic" intro) has information
on a Quake III Arena tournament that will take place on Monday March 20 at the
University of Texas, with all the proceeds from the event to benefit the
American Diabetes Association.
Well of course it's going to be another messed up demo, following a theme of the
week. While it may not be the case for everyone, Darkhand Brackstone sent along
a warning about the Metal Fatigue demo released yesterday ( story),
saying the demo wouldn't run, complaining it needed "mission disk
#1." Sure enough, upon testing this seems to be the case, so take this into
account before going for the 24 MB download (unless, of course, you have mission
disk #1 laying around).
The "all-you-can-eat" review bar is open, please don't put more on
your plate than you plan on finishing:
The new edition of Dear
Mynx discusses which is bigger, the Blue Tower, or Redwood's tree (thanks
Rick Noble and CrackHeadBob). Lemme
tell you, sometimes being in the public eye, even to this small degree, gets really
weird. ![=]](/miscimages/smiley4.gif)
Link of the Day: NoWebPatents.org,
joining what seems to be a growing movement protesting Amazon's one-click
patent.
Story of the Day: CNN.com - FBI smokes out Coolio in computer attacks probe.
Thanks Mark Williams. From the story: "However, there are a number of
"Coolio"s in the Internet world, and the FBI is systematically
investigating each of them." I wonder if they'll get around to nutty old
Coolio from NYC DWANGO?....
A patch to update Delta Force 2 to version 1.06.14 is available from NovaLogic's
in-game update system (it's not available on their FTP site yet). Thanks Maagic,
who says the patch, "fixed gun emplacements, adds a variable zoom on the
scoped weapons and fixes a bug with the ghille suit that rendered players wearing
the suit invisible."
The second installment of GameSpot's
Vampire: The Masquerade character feature has been posted. This week they
focus on Serena, and there are some new screenshots featuring her, as well as
downloadable MP3 files of her speaking, and of course, details galore about
how she fits into the game.
It's been awhile, but Gamecenter has now posted a new Fast Track guide, and this one for MechWarrior 3: Pirate's Moon provides brief walkthroughs for all missions in this expansion pack to Zipper's robotic combat game. Further, this Half-Life: Counter-Strike "Training Manual" on GameFAQs has received an overhaul with more information to make it "as perfect as possible."
You saw this one coming, didn't you?
- Interplay has updated the official MDK2 site with 7 new PC screenshots and 5 new DreamCast screenshots of BioWare's third-person action sequel. (Update by Blue: Since Frans forgot to mention it, I'll point out that MDK, of course, stands for "Memory, Dutch kid!")
- Redstorm has posted a background image for their upcoming space combat sim U.F.S. Vanguard.
- There is a pair of new Ground Control screenshots on GameSurge, showing off the 3D RTS by Massive Entertainment.
- incitegames has posted two small sets of screenshots from the EverQuest expansion pack The Ruins of Kunark, here and here.
As reflected in Kenn
Hoekstra's .plan update, EliteForce.net
has posted a
new interview with Raven's Jarrod Showers, one of the animators on their
upcoming Quake III Arena engine title Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. The
interview is just over 4 megs, and is in MPEG format.
James Ohlen, one of the designers on Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (as well
as the original Baldur's Gate), has been interviewed over
at Baldur's Gate Chronicles (thanks RPGVault).
James is responsible for much of the dialogue in both games, and is responsible
for some of the offbeat humor as well.
A new version of HMDPRX, a proxy server
for Quake II that replaces the sound engine with an A3D enabled version, has
been released. This new version now caches .pak files, the result being (according
to the author), "windows is no longer eats our memory like crazy."
There's also a step-by-step tutorial available at the
official site, making the installation process a whole bunch easier.
Version 1.1.0 of the Simple
DirectMedia Layer (SDL) has been released. SDL is a cross-platform multimedia
API that powers several games, including SDL
Quake (1) and Hexen,
and the Linux version of Civilization: Call To Power. Thanks to Jacek
Fedoryñski for the tip.
Rogue Spear Recon's Urban Operations Center has posted a
10 question Q&A with Red Storm's Steve Cotton, talking to him about
their upcoming add-on pack for Rogue Spear, Urban Operations (thanks Stomped).
According to Steve, the pack is virtually complete, as he says, "we are
currently in the process of handing a Gold Master candidate over to QC to finish
testing. Look for Urban Operations on the shelves in early April."
The House of Hard Havoc
has released a Classic Rail mod for Quake III Arena, that lets you use the classic
"double helix" style Railgun trails from Quake II, as well as an updated
Weapon Slots mod, which lets you change around the game's weapon groupings.
Both mods are available in source code format at the House
of Hard Havoc's site. Version 1.62 of Digital
Paint, a paintball mod for Quake II has been released (thanks Ryan Stotts).
This server-side only version fixes a problem in 1.61 where the server detected
everyone as using a speed cheat.
Two
new screenshots from ION Storm's Quake II engine, console-style RPG Anachronox
have been posted at the German games site Krawall. The text is in German, so
if you need translation, try sticking
a Babel Fish in your ear.
GA-Source has posted six
new screenshots from Digital Anvil's space-opera Starlancer, which is currently
being shown to the press at Microsoft's GameStock.
ActionTrip has conducted a
Q&A session with Demis Hassabis, lead programmer on Republic: The Revolution
at Elixir Studios. The game's engine is capable of rendering every minute detail
of the gameworld, from the flowers on a balcony, to each individual person,
to the buildings and geography, all using, "an unlimited" number of
polygons.
incitegames has released the Metal
Fatigue demo, which was previously only available on this month's Incite
Magazine CD. Metal Fatigue is a 3D real-time strategy game from Psygnosis that lets you battle
it out with tanks and "combots."
GameSpot UK has posted a
preview of Nihilistic's Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, which is based
on a beta build of the full game. While brief, the preview contains a number
of new screenshots from the game. In other Vampire news, The
Graveyard has posted the movie contained on the current issue of the German
magazine PC Player, which features some low-resolution gameplay footage (shot
with a camcorder), a German narrator, and the English voice of the person demonstrating
the game, although it's a little soft. The film is in ASF format, and requires
the latest version of the Windows Media
Player with the MPEG-4 and Voxware codecs (which will auto-install if you
don't already have them).
Screenshots appear to be all the rage these days, so here's some early afternoon imagery:
There is a brief look at X-COM Alliance on GameSpot UK that sports a short (for them, anyway) gallery of screenshots, the first six of which are new. X-COM Alliance is the upcoming tactical first-person shooter that is being developed by MicroProse using the Unreal engine.
Adrenaline Vault has posted a preview of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force which, while not offering anything in the way of new screenshots, does provide a detailed write-up of Raven's upcoming Quake III Arena-engine powered action game, which puts you into the shoes of a member of the Voyager's Hazard Team.
Stepping out of the shadows is a first look at Praetorians on Computer Games Online, offering the first couple of images from an upcoming 3D real-time strategy game by Spanish developers Pyro, which appears to provide the same kind of gameplay as Shogun, but set in the Roman Empire.
Also on CGO is a preview of Heart of Stone, a 3D "strategic adventure" again by Spanish developers Pyro Studios. Some screenshots and concept art are included.
There are a pair of new TRIBES 2 Armor Pics
on PC.IGN.Com showing off a couple of suits (both look like heavies)
available in the haberdasheries in TRIBES 2. TRIBES 2, of course, is the
upcoming sequel to Starsiege TRIBES, the online multiplayer shooter that the
caption accompanying these shots describes as "hella cool," something
we would never argue with around these parts.
There is a transcript
of last night's MDK2 chat session on HavenGames recounting the IGN chat
about progress on the sequel to Shiny's quirky action title. The log is
more-or-less unedited, with just the join/part messages culled, and offers
answers to all sorts of questions from the MDK2 development team at BioWare.
MDK, of course, stands for Madonna's Disco Knickers.
There are some new Hostile Waters
screenshots GA-Strategy with three looks at this upcoming strategy-oriented
action title from Rage Software. Also, there are five new Gunship
screenshots on gunship.sim-arena.com showing off gameplay from this
upcoming helicopter combat game from Hasbro, as well as some new movies in
high-resolution RealPlayer format.
The Coil
Mutator pack on Mod Central Unreal offers a pair of new mutators for Unreal
Tournament, each with its own "professional quality config dialog, where
the player can tweak options." The mutators are Ambition, where: "Each
player starts with the Impact Hammer. To gain a better weapon, the player must
make successive kills. However, after each new weapon is acquired, the player's
running speed is reduced," and CoilJump, where: "Each time
a player is shot, they are propelled into the air. You can earn bonuses by
juggling your opponents, such as extra health or frags."
The El Niño Quake Extensions page
has a new version 2.0.2 of the Viz mod for Quake III Arena. In addition to some
bug-fixes, the new release adds a new gametype from an idea Hentai had so long
ago, he mentions that he first spoke of the idea on QuakeCast. The new gametype
adds Quake Rugby, which just like the name suggests, combines the competitive
teamplay of Rugby with the violence of Quake III Arena, and, of course, vice
versa.
The debut release of Matrix Quake 2
for Win32 is now available. Would you like to know what the Matrix is? Well in
this case, it can be at least partially explained before you experience it: The
mod offers the chance to perform many of the death defying (and death-producing)
stunts from the movie, in Quake II, including all manner of back- and
side-flips, running up and down walls, and of course, the opportunity to see how
your Kung Fu stacks up against your opponent's. Mac and Linux versions of the
mod are expected to follow soon.
A new version 1.2 of the Crush Depth modification for Quake II is now available
on the 4th Dimension Interactive
website. This is the first non-beta version of the mod, which adds the
claustrophobic undersea action of submarine combat to Quake II. In addition to
the new version of the mod, this release adds a new 2-4 player map, called Water
Wars, which features jetskis as well as subs.
A new version 1.2 of S.H.U.D. for
Quake III Arena is now available on their newly-relocated website. S.H.U.D.
stands for Stats Heads-up Display, which replaces the standard Q3A HUD with one
that adds all sorts of statistics, including per-weapon accuracy percentages,
award counts, and an improved scoreboard.
Hypothermia
interviews Jason Hall, beginning a series of developer interviews on the
heels of a string of webmaster Q&As. While touching on games and life at
Monolith Productions, the interview apparently actually took place in the gym,
and for all you girlie-men, takes a particular interest in Jason's bodybuilding regimen, as well as that
of his girlfriend, Lisa Dixon, a pro bodybuilder in her own right.
- Word from Quake3mods is that they
are mentioned in the April PC Gamer, which has a cover story on the whole
world of Quake editing.
- How to code a
Super-Duper-Gibb-o-Terrific-Shuga-Shackin'-Kick-Assin-Super-Auto-Shotgun on Q3Seek.com
(or "Q3 Weapons 101 Tutorial") and Fun
With Explosives, which shows how to trigger a model to explode, are
their 200th and 201st Q3A editing tutorials.
- The newly-relocated QUCT page
has a new Windows version of the Quake Unit Conversion Tool that quickly
translates between Quake and real-world measurements.
- VRMagazine Texture Pack #3
is the final VR texture pack: "Designed with Q3:A in mind but as
always, useful for most any first-person shooter. There are 27 new textures
from every theme, designed to intermix with the previous packs."
- The Fly3D
v0.86 SDK on DemoNews.com "is a game engine all written in
C++. It supports Direct3D 6.1 or OpenGL 1.1 as the 3D API, DirectInput for
mouse and keyboard input, DirectSound for 3D sounds and DirectPlay for
multiplayer."
The leaked demo of the day for yesterday was a Shadow Watch demo that was up
yesterday. If you tried the link that was with the story for the short time it
appeared here before it was pulled, the link wasn't actually a full copy of the
leaked demo anyway.
The EuroLan.Org website is live, and now
accepting sign-ups for this event planned for the weekend of April 1 in Brighton
(UK). Quake III Arena and Q3A CTF tourneys are planned. Also, qualifiers for the
$100,000 Razer CPL tournament have been announced for Svendborg,
Denmark April 1, Nicosia, Cyprus
March 25, and Toronto, Canada March
19, The Big Day In is the CPL
qualifier down under this weekend, and there's a new CPL qualifying center for
the Razer/CPL at the Cyber Shock Cafe
in Missoula, MT. Finally, XSReality's
Post-XSi Writeup gives a rundown on the extra-curricular activities of some
of the top-notch Q3A players during this recent Euro-tourney.
Finally got my hands (and butt) on one of those cool Herman Miller
Aeron ergonomic chairs that I first began envying after checking them out on a
visit to ION Storm some time ago. I spend a great deal of time on my kiester,
and my old chair was starting to really bother my back, and this unusual
looking chair (some might say ugly--MrsBlue calls it the Herman Munster chair)
is already an impressive improvement. They are quite expensive, but as much as
my wallet is complaining: Mr. Miller (Munster), I thank you, my back thanks you, and
indeed...my ass thanks you.
Link of the Day: March 1, 2000 letter to ICANN regarding issuance of new Top Level Domains for the Internet.
Thanks [6e9]rrRYAN.
Story of the Day: Woman Files Patent Application on Herself.
Thanks Miguel Bazdresch.
Bonus Story: Study: 200,000 Hooked on Web Porn.
Thanks socks. How far off do you think that estimate is? I'm guessing you can
find 200,000 addicts in a medium-sized Manhattan office building.
.plan of the Day: Bobby Duncanson.
Basic rules for driving in Florida (America's old-age home).
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