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Archived News:
As promised, a new beta version 6 for Counter-Strike, the popular Half-Life mod, has been released. As usual, there are full install and upgrade files for Windows along with the Linux server that was released earlier today, and this release brings new scenarios, player models, guns, and other features, as well as bug fixes.
Nine new screenshots
from Thief II: The Metal Age have surfaced over at Gamer's Voice. Eidos Interactive
tells us that the game is, "hours away" from going gold, and that
it will arrive in stores on March 20th.
New on Adrenaline Vault this evening are six
screenshots from SWAT 3: Battle Plan, the upcoming add-on for Sierra's
tactical shooter, SWAT 3 that adds multiplayer functionality amongst other new
features.
In anticipation of the full release of Counter-Strike beta 6 later today, the Linux server port is now available for download on the Counter-Strike site, so that server admins can upgrade in time. This is a new release of the popular Half-Life mod, so it comes only as a 43.3 MB full install. And in strikingly related news, there's a quick chat with the mod's creator, Minh "Gooseman" Le, on EuroGamer.
If you missed last night's AnachroChat, Bennyland has posted a log from the event where ION Storm's upcoming 3D RPG was freely discussed with some members of the development team. It's an unedited log, so you'll have to dig through the usual IRC mayhem to find the useful bits.
ActionTrip has updated its Devil Inside page with another pair of screenshots and a short sound clip from the third-person horror action/adventure by GameSquad and Cryo.
Games Domain Review has posted a preview of Loose Cannon, the mercenary driving/shooting action game by Digital Anvil. The article is based on what the author saw at his visit to last week's GameStock event, and while only the already widely publicized screenshots illustrate it, there are also quotes from designer Tony Zurovec. Earlier this week, GDR also posted a similar preview of Dungeon Siege, featuring quotes from designer Chris Taylor on Gas Powered Games' upcoming 3D action/adventure.
A new
interview with 3D Realms' George Broussard has popped up over at The Shugashack.
It's an interesting interview, with George talking about their upcoming
Unreal engine title Duke Nukem Forever, with some general details (nothing too
specific) about their plans for the game, the world of engine licensing, as well as his thoughts on EverQuest,
which George calls "the game of the decade." Here's an excerpt with
details on Duke's multiplayer: We do not believe in shipping now and adding
functionality later. Patches should be for bugs, not gameplay. I think we are
planning 10+ multiplayer maps, but really we have to get down to making them
and seeing how much time we have. But I think anything less that 10 is a waste
of time.
As for multiplayer modes, we're still talking about options. We want to do a
couple of different things other than DeathMatch, but we haven't decided yet.
Some form of class based team play is appealing to us.
The Gathering of Developers' Age of Wonders site has been updated with a version 1.36 patch for the retail version of Triumph and Epic's fantasy strategy game. Thanks Gone Gold. This release fixes several bugs, and the complete list of changes can be viewed here.
Our top story? Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Our second from the
top story? The X-Box. Dig:
- First off, the video links in GameSpot's
Microsoft Announces X-Box story are now operational, so if you are
interested in checking out demos of the X-Box, MS' now-announced console
gaming system, or watching Bill Gates send some gentle X-spin our way, there
are four movies from which to chose, two .mpgs, and two in QuickTime format.
- Microsoft to unveil X-Box video game console,
the Reuters press release on the subject, reveals more on the system's
NVIDIA connection, saying: "The system will also use an Nvidia Corp.
graphics processor, a third generation chip called the NV25 that is not yet
on the market. Microsoft said its graphics will be more than three times as
fast as the highly praised graphics on the new Sony Playstation2."
Thanks Planet GeForce.
- GameDaily
interviews Kevin Bachus (thanks Chumely) talking about the X-Box with
the Microsoft evangelist (and SuperCuts customer, from the accompanying
photo).
- There's a new Microsoft X-Box
FAQ on Active Windows to help figure out what this thing is and is not
supposed to do.
- Finally, the official X-Box website is
now live (thanks EvEm.org.au), offering
specs on the new system, as well as a link to the
full press release. Here are the specs:
600 MHz x86 compatible CPU Custom 3-D NVIDIA graphics processor
64 MB of RAM (unified memory architecture)
Custom 3-D audio processor
8GB hard drive
4X DVD drive with movie playback
Four game controller ports
Expansion port
Proprietary A/V connector
100 MBps Ethernet
There's a
new Thief II movie on Insane Gamers that offers some cinematic sequences
previously available elsewhere, but also shows off a few moments of
never-before-seen gameplay from Eidos Interactive's upcoming stealthy sequel to
Thief: The Dark Project. The movie is in QuickTime format.
Here's the first in a string of interviews this morning: Stomped
interviews Alex Mayberry talking with this level designer at Electronic Arts
about The World is Not Enough, EA's upcoming Quake III-engine shooter that
will feature the exploits of James Bond, sure to make liberal use of his license to
kill. In addition to the Q&A, the piece offers a couple of screenshots,
including one that's brand new.
Unreal Universe
interviews Chris Norden talking about Deus Ex with the programmer on ION
Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine RPG about progress on the game, as well as
his career in gaming, from his start programming for the Apple II.
Hypothermia
interviews Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin talking with the programmer on
Quake Rally, the Eraser Bot, and Kingpin: Life of Crime about his work in the
biz, as well as their usual mix of wacky other questions. The Q&A talks of
"progress of our current project," though I do not believe it is
clear yet whether Ridah is part of Gray Matter Interactive Studios, the new
developer "founded by the top designers formerly from Xatrix
Entertainment" currently at work on the sequel to Wolfenstein 3-D ( story).
I told you there are a bunch today:
A post on PlanetAvP says that Fox
Interactive's Pezman is currently at work on a programming project that will
warm the hearts of fans of Aliens versus Predator, Fox' three-species shooter,
as he is attempting to create a dedicated server program for the game. There is
a preliminary version available, though it currently only supports two-player
games.
Part three of the Computer Games Online
Starlancer preview is online, subtitled "Digital Anvil gets back to
basics," giving impressions on this upcoming space combat game to be
published by Microsoft. Thanks The Lancers Reactor.
- A new version 2.65 of the PowerStrip
shareware video tweaking utility is now available.
- Creative Labs Annihilator Pro GeForce 256 DDR is reviewed
on Sharky Extreme.
- Tekram ProP6-A+ Apollo Pro Slot 1 motherboard is
reviewed on CTNews.
- Northwind GFD Rev 2 Athlon Overclocking Card is reviewed on SystemLogic.
There are a couple of new Star Trek New
World Screenshots on New Worlds News showing off gameplay from this upcoming
Trekkie 3D RTS.
The Freeze Tag page has a new
release of the Quake III Arena version of this teamplay modification. In Freeze
Tag fragged players are frozen, and players look to avoid becoming Popsicles and
freeze their foes, while simultaneously rescuing teammates by thawing them.
Frozen players are free to observe in the new version, in addition to other
changes.
The Wyrm2 World of Destruction
page has a new alpha 3 of the Quake III Arena version of the Wyrms mod.
Among the new features in this release are decapitation(!), locational damage,
and alternate fire modes for several of the game's weapons, which include
Throwing Gauntlets, Homing Rockets, Impact grenades and a Shrink Ray.
The Doom LEGACY homepage has a new
version 1.29 pre-release 5 of the Linux port of this enhanced version of Doom.
Word is this glibc binary has all the new features of the Windows version "except
a good launcher," and is linked with libGL and not libMesaGL.
According to the Rogue Spear Retreat,
Urban Operations, recently reported as being gold ( story), is not actually
complete, though a follow-up on Gone Gold,
normally infallible in this regard, still indicates that it is (perhaps this
means development is done, and Quality Assurance is yet to sign off on
the master, but that is just a guess that attempts to reconcile the conflicting stories). Also, in referring to the Deus Ex interview yesterday ( story),
Warren Spector, the project leader on ION Storm's upcoming RPG was incorrectly
also credited with being the game's lead designer, a role that is filled by
Harvey "Witchboy" Smith. We regret the error and any confusion it
caused.
Digital connectivity continues to elude both loony and me, I've heard from a
handful of others in the greater New York area describing other such problems,
one of the most popular theories being offered involves recent heightened
solar flare activity having fried some vital piece of equipment somewhere... the
flux capacitor perhaps (yes, I snuck a Dirty Harry pop culture reference in the
news yesterday, I was feeling puckish, though it was good to start slow with the
first of these in a long time). My ISP got my hopes up by leading me to believe
sDSL is available in my area, but after ordering, loony tells me this is the
same sort of tease he's been victim to twice already, so I guess it's my turn to
be the DSL guinea pig, and find out if this is for real.
Link of the Day: The Artemis Project,
looking to promote "Private Enterprise on the Moon" (we need to hook
them up with previous LoD the Lunar Embassy).
Thanks ZDim.
Story of the Day: $6 System-On-A-Chip Mimics Human Vision
(TechWeb). Thanks CiKoTiC.
PC.IGN has posted a new installment
in their ongoing Summoner developer diary. This week's edition features
Character Artist Matt Kresge explaining how he goes about creating a character
for the game, and features images illustrating each step (from concept to 3D
model).
A new interview with
Blizzard's Rob Pardo is up at GameSpot, discussing the recent departure
of Mike O'Brien, the project lead on Warcraft III, as well as the recent changes
that the game has undergone. Rob says the changes were all decided on prior
to Mike's departure, and goes on to explain in detail just what (and why) they
are. Here's an excerpt: What we wanted to do, at the most basic level,
was to take a game - a fun RTS game - like the Warcraft series and add in the
concept of heroes, quests, items, and a more interactive environment.
Once we had that as our vision, we had to decide what technology supported that
and what user interface to use, and that's where we started going down a different
road. Since we had a 3D engine, we talked about different viewpoints and different
angles, and we chose one that was fairly flat. You could see a lot of the horizon,
and it was almost more of a first-person perspective.
It really showed off the engine at a beautiful angle, but what eventually ended
up happening to us was that we got to a point where we had to take the design
in one of two different directions. We either had to make it even more RPG-like
and cut back on the scale of units, how many characters there were, and things
of that nature, or we had to go the other direction and move the camera up,
allow free scrolling, and go more toward what we've done previously in our real-time
strategy games. That's the easiest way to explain the difference between the
two [directions].
Yes, we are moving back toward more of an isometric view.
You can still see a lot of the 3D terrain. You still get the sense of the 3D
engine. We're using all that. But we wanted to get the camera up high enough,
where free scrolling becomes an option for us.
New screenshots
from Thief II: The Metal Age have been posted at GameSpot News, where they're
reporting that the game is set to go gold "early next week" and will
be on store shelves by March 20th. Thief II was developed by Looking Glass Studios,
and will be published by Eidos Interactive.
Russian developer Nikita has released an updated self-running demo of Iron Strategy, their upcoming 3D action/strategy game. The demo shows various prescripted in-game sequences, and comes as a 37.5 MB full download, or eight parts of about 5 MB each.
There are two pairs of Devil Inside screenshots on ActionTrip, each pair showing two ever-so-slightly different scenes from the third-person horror action/adventure in development at GameSquad. Also, Telefragged has posted four very different Devil Inside screenshots, and received word from designer Hubert Chardot that the title is close to being finished.
- German gaming site nonstuff has added four more screenshots to their Daikatana screenshots page, showing off some new scenes from ION Storm's first-person shooter.
- Also in Germany on the Krawall gaming site is this gallery that mixes some new Deep Fighter screenshots with familiar ones, to accompany a preview of this underwater action/adventure game under construction at Criterion Studios (of course the text is in German, so you may want to stick a Babelfish into your ear).
- Jason Hall updated his .plan with a description of 12 screenshots from the LithTech 2 demo they will show at GDC, featuring a character with 15,000 polygons.
While it won't formally be announced until tomorrow, Microsoft's Bill Gates
appeared on CNBC's MarketWatch this evening, where he revealed their upcoming
console system, dubbed X-Box (thanks Trent Corney for letting us know in advance).
Gates was interviewed sitting in front of a giant monitor that featured a giant,
green, glowing "X" insignia, and said that the company's original
plan was to make the system, "over twice as good as what's ever been done"
and that the end result is, "far better than anything I had expected."
He also said the system wouldn't ship until the second half of 2001, and said
tomorrow's announcement will essentially be an explanation of the system to
developers.
GameSpot News has word that Totally Games, the company founded by X-Wing series creator Lawrence Holland, will be developing a new space sim entitled Star Trek: Bridge Commander for publication by Activision in 2001. Adrenaline Vault has additional details on the game, which will be set in The Next Generation universe and put players in the role of captain of large Federation starships.
The official Rogue Spear: Urban Operations site has been updated with a Q&A-type journal by lead artist Travis Getz, describing his work on the expansion pack that went gold yesterday ( story, as reaffirmed on Gone Gold today). Besides a general introduction, the update has a fair amount of detail about what will be in the pack.
incitegames has posted an
interview with with Interplay's Raphael Hernandez and Heather McLaughlin,
talking to them about Klingon Academy, their upcoming
Star Trek themed space sim. In addition to the interview, they've also posted
several new shots from the game.
In an early update, GameSpot News has posted a pair of new Shogun: Total War movies, as well as nine new screenshots and renders from the upcoming 3D real-time strategy game by Creative Assembly. The high-res movies shows two cinematic clips of about 16 seconds each.
Tonight at 8:00 CST is ION Storm's
monthly IRC chat session with members of their Anachronox team. Point your IRC
client to www.ionstorm.com, channel #ion, or use the Java-based client on
their web site to join in the fun.
GameSpy's "engine week" rolls on, with today's
interview with John Austin, the CEO at Numerical Design Limited, the company
behind the NetImmerse engine. Like their other interviews this week, it's laden
with self-promotion, but John also talks a bit about the company's background,
and their unique position as an engine provider, as they don't develop games
- just the engine.
GameSpot UK has posted a
new hands-on preview of Evolva, Computer Artworks' upcoming first and third
person action/strategy game. The preview features some new shots, as well as
plenty of gameplay details.
New Media Generation has released a public demo of their Shine Engine, which is used to power their upcoming first-person shooter Hired Team. This is a playable technology demo supporting Direct3D and OpenGL, and it includes a level showing various engine features. The download server is in Russia, so you may need to exercise patience while downloading. Update: a fast mirror is available at the Russian gaming site Daily Telefrag, who also have five screenshots showing off the demo level.
Visionary Media has released version 1.2 patches for their Unreal-engine shooter Nerf ArenaBlast. There is one patch to update version 1.1 ( 4.1 MB), and another to update the original retail version (11.3 MB).
Mirrors of both files are available at 3D Action Gamers.
Here is an excerpt from the ReadMe listing the changes:
Improvements include
compatibility with international servers, elimination of game-save
issues, more stable multiplayer play, improved character artificial
intelligence, elimination of the flying-out-of-the-tunnel bug and fixes
for Direct 3D video cards.
Daily Radar has posted a preview of Ground Control, putting a recent build of Massive's 3D action RTS through its paces. Besides a write-up of the game's concept and gameplay, there are also 14 new screenshots.
Computer Games Online has posted part 2 of their Starlancer preview, offering a look at the gameplay and mission structure in the upcoming space-combat sim from Warthog and Digital Anvil. Also, there is a brief hands-on Starlancer preview on GameSpot AU with a write-up based on a recent beta.
NovaLogic has released the French version 1.06.15 patch for Delta Force 2 for download, and with this first international patch is lending belief to the possibility that their long patch process is coming to an end. The Delta Force 2 developer notes now also list all the changes in this maintenance update.
That other space sim is another preview at CGO, sporting a brief look and a pair of new screenshots (and one familiar) of Freelancer, Digital Anvil's sequel to Starlancer.
There are a couple of new screenshots of Star Wars: Force Commander on GA-Strategy (though at least one is familiar), giving you another glimpse of the 3D RTS from LucasArts that recently went gold ( story).
Fantasy Gaming Network
interviews Scott Martin and Warren Spector talking about Deus Ex with two members of the team at work on ION Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine RPG.
Warren starts one answer "In case you hadn't noticed, the word 'brief' and
I don't get along too well," and sure enough the piece includes several
detailed answers to questions about plans for the game.
There's an
interview with Ben Smedstad on 3DGN talking with the producer of Baldur's
Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, BioWare's upcoming sequel to Baldur's Gate, their
AD&D role-playing game. The Q&A discusses progress on the follow-up, and
is part of a larger Baldur's
Gate 2 preview.
The Sims is (are?) the subject at hand as havokado
interviews Will Wright and Roxy Wolosenko talking about Maxis' "get a virtual
life" game. Also, Warcraft
III.Net's Triforge Interview talks with former Blizzard employees Pat Wyatt, Mike O'Brien, and
Jeff Strain about
Triforge, their new outfit composed of former snowflakes from Blizzard.
- There's a Deep Fighter teaser
on Ubi Soft's German page showing off gameplay from Deep Fighter, and
upcoming underwater action game for the PC and Dreamcast (the movie is mirrored
on GA-Source).
The teaser is in .avi format and is about 15 MB.
- The
LucasArts Force Commander page has some new music from the upcoming Star
Wars RTS for download in .mp3 format. Thanks FC Outpost.
- Actiontrip has posted a pair of small
.wav files with sounds from Devil Inside, the upcoming action/adventure from
Hubert Chardot, creator of the "Alone in the Dark" series.
- Finally, a couple of mod movies, as the 5thD
team page has a preview of their Q3A mod called REALq3 in .avi format, and Red Genesis Entertainment
has a new Chemical Existence movie showing a snippet of gameplay from this
upcoming Half-Life mod.
A new beta 2 of Quake 3 System Management Server
is now available. The new release adds "the ability to integrate with your
favorite Game Launcher," a fix for Client Monitoring, an Auto-Update
checker, and more.
The first release of Frag Tag,
a rare user-made mod for Descent 3, is now available. The About Frag Tag
page describes gameplay for the mod, which offers classic "tag"
gameplay, with one player designated "it," who must combat all the
other players in the game.
- There's a goodbye message on the Springfield
CTF site noting the closing of this very popular Quake II server,
including kind words for the L-Fire CTF
mod. Thanks Andrew Arace...
- There's a new FilePlanet
Alliance CTF Beta mirror up for this popular newly-released Quake III
Arena mod (story)...
- MS
to reveal gaming plans Friday reports ZDNet News announces that: "Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
will disclose details of the new business in his opening remarks to the Game
Developers Conference Friday," which won't surprise observers who have
been certain for some time the "revelation" will be the
announcement of the still-theoretically theoretical X-Box....
I'm pretty sure my trip to the GDC, which has already
been pushed back two days at least, is not going to happen at all at this point.
We're in the midst of an interesting few days here, as both loonyboi's and my
ISDN lines are still both on the fritz, each line seemingly operational, but
unable to connect to either of two ISPs, spitting back simple "you have
been disconnected from the computer you dialed" messages. So far neither
Bell Atlantic nor our main ISP (loony and I live mere blocks from each other,
which doesn't help when a problem like this breaks out) have been able to
provide any help, though neither are ever very useful in spots like this, Bell
Atlantic because, well...because,
and our ISP because they're so used to trouble-free operation they are unable to
even return simple tech support phone calls (they probably assume such calls are
hoaxes). Oddly my friend Abraxas using a different ISP and different telco in a
different state (New Jersey), experienced the exact same problem, while MrCoffee
on the same ISP, albeit in Manhattan, has been fine, which muddies the water
when searching for clues as to the cause of problems. Wacky, huh? Well both of
us have our modems hooked up and running, but since troubleshooting also
continues in the background, your patience in what is still a bit of a crisis
here is appreciated... though of course neither of us expect any mercy if we
manage to join a game with our high pings--revenge on an LPB is always
appropriate ![=]](/miscimages/smiley4.gif) .
Link of the Day: The
Quad Damage Toothpick on The Bench (Penny Arcade). Thanks David Brooks.
.plan of the Day: Brandon
"GreenMarine" Reinhart. 'nuff said
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