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Archived News:
There are some new
Vampire: The Masquerade-Redemption screenshots on Vampire Vault, six to be
exact, showing off gameplay from the Dark Ages era from Nihilistic's upcoming
vampire RPG.
There's an interview with
Dave Perry on Stomped talking with the president of Shiny Entertainment that
covers a load of bases in a short space, including Dave's history in the
business, what car he drives, general gaming stuff, Shiny's just-released
third-person action romp Messiah, their upcoming strategy hybrid Sacrifice,
openings for slave boys at Shiny, and of course, cows.
3DFiles.Com's Diablo II
page now has a mirror of the Diablo II stress test, in case you have an
authorization code, but have learned the initial FTP servers, well, failed their
stress test.
There is a
transcript on Dark Zion Vault with an edited recap of last night's IRC
session with the team at work on Dark Zion, as well as a
raw log if you want the unadulterated experience. Dark Zion is planned as
(from the FAQ) "an online
world in which tens of thousands of players form a new civilization on the
hostile terrain of an abandoned planet. Players control and are responsible for
the creation and actions of their characters, their societies, and the state of
the world at large; there are no arbitrary rules, no laws, no governments beyond
player influence."
Rich Carlson, a former Looking Glass Employee himself, sends along this letter
from former designer Randy Smith, which is intended as an open letter to fans:
Hello LG Fans,
Yes its true, Looking Glass has gone out of business. Our office is closing
tomorrow. I'm sure that this effects me as much as anybody, since as a fan and
then as an employee, Looking Glass has always been my favorite company in the
games industry. Dedicating myself to the Thief projects has meant a lot to me,
and we had high hopes for Thief 3 and other projects beyond. I'm going to deeply
miss Looking Glass and my brilliant, fun co-workers. I don't think the industry
will ever be quite the same.
I want, on a personal level and on behalf of Looking Glass, to extend heartfelt
appreciation to TTLG. Knowing that you guys were out there, watching and appreciating
our efforts, has truly fueled our work. The things that you've accomplished
on your sites are amazing, and knowing that it's all about us - Looking Glass
and it's fans - is mindboggling. I slept on the floor of Doug Church's office
for 13 days in a row during the making of Thief 2. I was working to make the
game better, which I might not have done if I didn't know for certain that someone
was going to notice. You owe a part of Looking Glass's products to yourselves,
and we've been both proud and appreciative.
In particular, I want to thank Dan Todd and Saam Tariverdi for starting TTLG.
Beyond them, there are too many names to mention, so consider yourselves thanked.
Sincerely,
Randy Smith, former LG designer and forever an LG fan
ps. Sadly, there is a low chance that Thief 3 will ever see the light of day,
and its even less likely that if it did, a majority of LG folks would be involved.
I hope I'm wrong, but I think that's the sad truth. But just so you know, we
were going to do this whole cool open-ended, self-directed city thing, where
you get to wander around the city and steal at your leisure, until, of course,
Garrett gets mixed up in crazy affairs that draw him into a larger plot. You
guys, in particular, would have loved it, I bet. And, yea, it was gonna be about
the Keepers. Good guess.
ION Storm's Noel Stephens updated his
.plan with some details on the inevitable first patch for Daikatana, which
will address some of the minor issues that have started to pop up in this just-shipped
game. Here's what he has to say: Daikatana has hit the shelves! Along
with this comes the inevitable... the dreaded patch. However, never fear too
much regarding this. ChalreZ, Shawn, and of course myself have been working
on fixes for things that we have come to discover since the demo release on
the code side, and I know the mappers have been adding some fixes and a few
extra goodies to make the patch that much more welcome when it is released.
As far as Shawn and Charles are concerned, I know they have both been working
in their 'areas' as I have been working on AI, World, and of course Sidekick
related issues. Some of the windows 2000 issues that have been solved are relating
to level transitions and I know Shawn is working on one particular load game
issue under Win2k. So, if you are running 2000 and have had some crashes when
transitioning from one level to the next, don't freak too much... the fix is
coming soon. As for things relating to the Sidekicks, well one of the additions
that I have added is the ability for them to use those nifty health trees, medical
kits (episode 4), and of course the various forms of the hosportal (in episode
2 it is the fountain of life).
On another note, things have been quite a change in pace and I think everyone
is just 'adjusting' back to a normal schedule. It is times like these that make
me understand the whole game developer's cycle and why there are times of complete
chaos and then there are times of nice peaceful bliss. Either way, it is one
fantastic ride.
I am sure there will be a good handful of bugs sent our way once Daikatana gets
into full circulation. As for when the patch is going to be released? Can't
say... because it is really a matter of how many more bugs pop up between now
and the next few weeks.
Also, I would like to send out a special thanks to the entire Daikatana community
for being so patient in waiting for Daikatana. I hope that we have made all
of your waiting worth while. Enjoy!
An article called Thief
Creators Shutting Down on The Adrenaline Vault
cites an unnamed source saying "LOOKING GLASS Studios, creators of Thief
and Thief II, is in the process of closing down and has cancelled all future
projects, including unannounced projects Thief II Gold and Thief III." The
report goes on to give finances as the cause: "A source at the studio
indicated the company is in dire financial straights despite robust sales of
Thief II."
Additional stories on the AVault give word
that Evolva, the third-person shooter form Interplay and Computer Artworks, is
now on store shelves, and that Shogun:
Total War is gold, and this "epic real-time strategy game"
therefore should be on shelves soon itself (the story has no specific date, but
points out "retail schedules target June 13").
3dfx has just issued this
press release announcing a delay in their Voodoo 5 5500 cards due to "failure
rates in certain configurations." Here's the scoop: 3dfx Interactive®
Inc. (Nasdaq: TDFX - news) today announced that it has temporarily delayed the
release of its Voodoo5(TM) 5500 AGP. The company is taking this action to ensure
that it meets its own high standards for product quality.
The company discovered that the Voodoo5 may be experiencing field failure rates
at very low levels in certain configurations. The company is conducting further
tests to determine whether a problem actually exists. 3dfx anticipates this
action will delay product availability between seven and 14 days.
"We believe that this affects only a small number of configurations, but
we feel that this is the safest thing to do," said Randy Schussler, vice
president of operations at 3dfx Interactive. "We're taking this action
to ensure that our customers receive a high quality product that exceeds their
expectations."
Members of Interplay and Micro Forté's Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
team are
interviewed at RPG Vault, talking about this upcoming game which is not,
as was originally reported, a true sequel to Fallout 2, but rather a turn-based
squad combat game. The interview covers a number of aspects of the game, particularly
focusing on how they plan to mix in RPG elements (which the series is known
for) with the new strategy-oriented gameplay.
Time Machine, an upcoming adventure game from Cryo Interactive that's based
on the novel by H.G. Wells is
previewed on Eurogamer.net. It's a Nocturne-style adventure, with pre-rendered
backgrounds and 3D characters, and there are four screenshots showing off the
look and feel of the game.
Those of you that were accepted into Blizzard's giant Diablo II Stress Test
should be getting e-mail today (as many of you already have). The letter contains
a personalized authorization code, and a link to snag the 100 MB beta version
of the game, which features the Barbarian class and portions of the game's first
act. If you weren't one of the lucky ones that made it into the test (or you
just forgot to apply) DiabloII.net
has posted the letter for your reading enjoyment (sans codes and links,
of course).
After a short E3-related hiatus, the
Blue's News Mail Bag is back. In this week's ever-so-enjoyable edition are
letters about Daikatana, Microsoft's Xbox, the Japanese Seizure Robots, Panty
Raider, Bawls, and of course, lots more. Head
over and check it out.
A new
preview of Crimson Skies is up at GameSpot, featuring new screenshots and
an in-depth look at this aerial combat game from the people behind Mechwarrior.
The preview is based on an alpha version of the game they received, and stresses
the fact that despite its appearance, the game is definitely action-oriented
and not a flight-sim.
Wasting no time at all after the game ships to stores, GameSpot has posted
their massive guide to
Daikatana. The guide features a full walkthrough of each episode, as well
as strategies for each of the game's four sets of weapons and cheat codes. Like
all of their guides, it is available for free online, or as a pay-for-download
PDF file.
New gameplay movies from Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption, Star Trek: Voyager
- Elite Force, and Wizards and Warriors are
up at Daily Radar. The movies are all in MPEG format, and range in size
from six to thirteen megs.
Also new on Daily Radar this morning are two
excerpts from the Icewind Dale soundtrack in MP3 format. The game's score
is composed by Jeremy Soule, whose previous work includes the soundtrack to
Total Annihilation.
A messageboard thread called Clarification on the Mobile Point Base
issue on the TRIBES Forum (thanks Kath) has more from Dynamix' Dave
Georgeson on TRIBES 2, this time clarifying how some of the new vehicles will
operate, discussing weaponry, the new bomber class flyer, as well as the dirt on
the new ground vehicles. Additionally, Scripts for T2
Linux (thanks Bad_CRC) is another thread in which Dave offers a cautionary
note that "The Linux and Mac clients are going to be done AFTER we finish
working on the PC version," adding: "This does NOT mean that there
will not be Linux and Mac clients. We actually want to do them a lot. We *will*
work on them."
There are nine new
TRIBES 2 screenshots on Tribal War showing off gameplay from the upcoming
sequel to Starsiege TRIBES. Included in the new shots from the upcoming
team-based multiplayer game are several shots of the new spin-fuser, including
the first shot we've seen of a mid-air spin-fuser kill.
There are eight
new Hired Guns screenshots on GA-Source showing off gameplay from Hired
Guns, VR-1's upcoming strategy-oriented, Unreal-engine, science fiction
first-person shooter. Hired Guns is a remake of a highly-regarded Amiga game.
A bunch of new
Starship Troopers screenshots on Hollow Pursuits show off gameplay from
Hasbro Interactive's newly-re-announced Starship Troopers, an upcoming squad-based
3D action game based on the movie loosely based on the classic sci-fi novel by
Robert Heinlein. Want
to know more?...
Gamers Central
previews Sacrifice in a look ahead at Shiny's upcoming strategy hybrid. To
go along with the preview, they've posted a load of screenshots from the game,
including three new ones (the top three).
Though acknowledging that a certain amount of collaboration is present in all
the maps, Gearbox Software's Randy
Pitchford updated his .plan with an outline of which designers at Gearbox
were primarily responsible for designing which maps in Opposing Force, their
expansion pack for Half-Life.
Lots of folks have sent in excited word that Rocket Arena
for Q3A is "code complete," though since "content completion
and beta testing" remain, this doesn't really indicate when Q3A RA will be
available. Also, Fortress Center
interviews the SOF Fortress Team about their class-based SoF mod. Also, Sharky Extreme's
Spicing Up Unreal Tournament part two looks at the UT Infiltration mod. Finally,
though it's not yet reflected on the Action
Web, the Action Half-Life A-Team sends word that the new SDK 2.0 from Valve
has caused quite a few problems in the porting of Action Half-Life, saying
"any method of repairing dives and prone that we could implement would
require the recompiling of every map used in Action Half-Life, including
standard Half-Life maps." They say that they and Valve are looking at the
issue, and they are doing their best to arrive at a solution, but at this point,
they aren't sure when the next patch will be made available.
The invitees for the Teamplay.Net
Q3A CTF Invite Capture Ring have been posted. Also, the Cyberathlete Professional League
site has been updated with their upcoming schedule, which includes The FRAG
4 (October 26-29, 2000), The Babbages / CPL $100,000 Tournament (December 14-17,
2000), and a few details about their Spring 2001 event, The CPL World
Championship." Word is: "Assigned representatives from each
country will select a team to compete in this deathmatch tournament, only one
team per country will be allowed. The total cash prize will be $150,000."
As a result of some recent investigations, loony discovered the Quisp
website is online (for those of you who don't qualify as ancient, Quisp was a
sugar-sweetened cereal promoted by an ET-style alien mascot in a series of
commercials that highlighted his rivalry with a burly miner-type named... Quake!).
Quake, sadly, lost a poll they held close to 30 years ago asking consumers which
of the two (identical tasting, but different shaped) cereals should be sent to cereal
heaven, and while Quisp won the poll, it also disappeared from store shelves shortly
after Quake did, some 25 years ago (according to the site, Quisp had to
"journey back to planet Q to get more" cereal). Anyway, the website
actually has an address where you can once again order Quisp online (though no
Quake), so of course I ordered a case. Many who remember the cereal will
probably do the same, but to those who can say that this is all before their
time, I'll confess that if my memory serves correctly, the stuff tastes exactly
like Cap'n Crunch.
Link of the Day: The newly-updated BAWLS Guarana
site. All Flash-enhanced and whatnot, though I can no longer find their
brilliant radio jingle (woops never mind, it was just pointed out to me).
Story of the Day: Guns return to the nursery school toy chest
(BBC). When I asked "what's left?" after yesterday's Musical chairs 'too violent'
on the BBC, I didn't think the answer would be 'toy guns.' Thanks Niall Litchfield.
Image of the Day: Anna Kang,
Trent Reznor, and John Carmack on the nine inch nails site. Hey, what's
Trent's dog been smoking? Thanks Stephen Payne and Dave Raftery. Scott Geppert
sends word the id crew was at the NiN concert in Dallas last night and got a
shout out from Trent (who was composer of music and sounds for the original
Quake) and the crew.
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