Archived News:
There's a new Alice screenshot on Dark
Places showing off gameplay from American McGee's Alice, the upcoming
third-person Quake III-engine through the looking glass action game from Rogue
Entertainment and Electronic Arts. In the shot, Alice shows her tough side,
duking it out with a pair of cards.
- Dungeon Siege
DailyRadar.com
previews Dungeon Siege is online asking the musical question "Will
Chris Taylor's next project totally annihilate Diablo II?" The preview
goes into the differences between the two upcoming action/RPGs.
- Summoner Thursday
It's another Summoner
Thursday on PC.IGN.Com in which "Frank Marquart takes us on a
journey to a monastery to find the secrets behind level design," a
little daunting for those of us who didn't realize level design involved
becoming a monk.
- Dark Reign 2
PlayNOW
previews Dark Reign 2 looking at Pandemic's just-completed 3D RTS based
on playing around with a pre-release beta.
There's an official
Icewind Dale chat log on BGChronicles recapping tonight's chat with Black
Isle Studios to find out more about progress on Icewind Dale. There was hope the
chat would contain a gold announcement, but instead it is learned that they are
close to completion. On the subject of chats, PC.IGN.Com's
Giants Citizen Kabuto Chat is scheduled for next Tuesday at 9:00 PM EDT
(6:00 PM PDT), the development team from PlanetMoon Studios will be on hand to
answer questions about Giants, their quirky upcoming action game.
GameSpot rounds off their Dark Reign 2 designer diary with the last entry by Pandemic's Greg Borrud, who reflects on the two and half years of development on their 3D action RTS that is now heading towards retail stores. Greg also talks about the last few months of development and the various stages of beta testing, and in closing asks for feedback once the game is on sale.
Also on GameSpot tonight is a brief look at Metal Fatigue with some new screenshots on the occasion of the robotic real-time strategy game by Zono reaching US stores next month through Take 2 and TalonSoft ( story).
incite has posted a movie of Hitman: Codename 47, featuring the first in-game footage of the third-person action game by IO Interactive. The movie reels down a minute of assassinations and other chores a modern hitman has to perform these days, such as disposing of the body and redecorating walls with bullet holes.
An update to the official Sacrifice site reveals the third of the five Sacrifice gods: Stratos, God of Air, and its description is illustrated with three new concept images. Additionally, the Stratos landscape is shown off in a new screenshot on the frontpage.
- Fallout: Tactics
The official site for Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel has been updated with seven new screenshots for this upcoming turn-based strategy title.
- Dark Reign 2
New Dark Reign 2 screenshots are online at GamesPlanet.De, showing off the 3D action RTS shortly before it will appear on store shelves.
- Horizons
A fourth in-game screenshot has been added to the Horizons: Empires of Istaria gallery, showing off another scene in the MMORPG being crafted at Artifact, and there is some new concept art as well.
- Wizards and Warriors
There are half a dozen new screenshots of Wizards and Warriors on Adrenaline Vault, offering new scenes from the RPG being created by designer D.W. Bradley at Heuristic Park.
- Arcanum
A new Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura screenshot is available at RPG Vault, showing more from the isometric role-playing game by Troika.
Pandemic has posted a Dark Reign 2 Beta FAQ to help master the online test demo that was released the other day ( story). Also, Ready, set, mutate! Part 1 of 4 on Computer Games Online kicks off their series of level tips for the colorful shooter by Computer Artworks.
A new interview
with Interplay producer Chris Taylor (not the creator of Total Annihilation
- that's a different one) is up at Strategy Gaming Online, talking to him about
Fallout: Tactics their upcoming isometric action/strategy game. The questions
deal with how the game fits into the Fallout series, with Chris talking about
the game's various missions, plot, vehicles and he even confirms that the popular
PIP-Boy will make an appearance.
Guillemot has released new
Windows 2000 drivers (direct link) for their NVIDIA based cards, including
all 3D Prophet and MaxiGamer cards. Thanks NT
Compatible for the tip.
UnrealTournament.org has posted
details on the version 421 patch for Unreal Tournament that they say could be
released as soon as this weekend, as it is already in QA testing. Here's a list
of the engine changes in the patch: - fixed another mixed skin cheat
- fixed creeping pings problem
- especially prevalent with passworded servers
- fixed problems with passwords with spaces
- improved server CPU utilization
- improved prioritization of network traffic for low bandwidth users
- fixed ActorLineCheck() crash again - no really this time
- fixed clearing base on client in netplay - thanks Mongo
- fixed suicide spamming
- Last Man Standing now can have time limit
- fixed spriteballexplosion sounds playing client side
- faster translocation effect in software mode
- fixed collision bug which cropped up in 420 (overlord)
Loki Software has released a
version 1.0a patch for their Linux port of Heavy Gear II (thanks zakk).
This version consists mainly of bugfixes and updates to the various library
files (such as OpenAL and SDL).
MCV spoke with id Software's Todd Hollenshead at E3, and they have posted an
interview with him on their site (thanks Stomped).
The interview focuses on id's console plans, with Todd talking largely about
the upcoming online-ready Dreamcast version of Quake III Arena and Sony's decision
not to include a modem with the Playstation 2.
3dfx has released new
Windows 9x drivers along with a new version of the Visual Reality software
for their Voodoo 3 3500 TV card. These are beta releases, and have their usual
scary warning that they are completely unsupported, so download at your own
risk.
Blade Universe has posted another
of their updates from the Blade development team, this time with programmer
Carlos García Cordero explaining what he does on the game. The update
features a screenshot of his desktop, which shows the game's Python-based scripting
system, as well as a look at the game rendered in "toon" mode (which
may not be released, as it was written for OpenGL, and the game is switching
to Direct 3D).
Today's second interview with Sheldon Pacotti comes from AussieGamer, who have also been grilling the ION Storm writer about this work on Deus Ex and writing novels. As usual, few hints are dropped as to the plot of the game, but Sheldon does go into the gameplay and other aspects of the game, as well as his dream to "be a well-known and well-paid novelist" and make games "on the side."
Gamer.NL has posted a Q&A on Echelon, talking to Bethesda's Peter Hines about the futuristic action flightsim in development at Buka Entertainment. The article's introduction is in Dutch of course, which Babel Fish doesn't grok, but the actual Q&A is in English.
Tonight at 9:00 EDT, 3DGN will be holding
an IRC chat with the Ritual level designer known as The Levelord. To join in,
point your IRC client to irc.planetquake.com or west.gamesnet.net and join channel
#3dgaming.
GameSpot UK has posted the
second part of their interview with IO Interactive's Janos Flösser,
talking to him about the Glacier engine which powers their upcoming third
person action game Hitman: Codename 47. In addition to the interview, they have
some new
screenshots from the game as well.
TTLG has conducted an interview
with Raphael Colantonio, lead developer at Arkane Studios on their game
ARX. He describes ARX as being a first person RPG, and compares it to Ultima
Underworld and Ultima VII. There are also eight screenshots from the game, showing
off their internally developed engine.
Stomped will be holding an IRC chat this
evening with Brian Pelletier, project leader at Raven on Star Trek: Voyager
- Elite Force. The chat will be held on irc.stomped.com in channel #eliteforce,
and the fun starts at 8:00 EDT.
While it's far from an official confirmation, UK gaming site PC Format has
spoken with a representative from Microsoft who says that Bungie will remain
a completely independent studio within the company and that, "Halo will
still arrive as planned on the PC - but will also be released on X-Box."
Be sure to take it with a grain of salt, as Bungie has repeatedly stated that
the decision hasn't been made yet.
A new, hands-on preview
of Summoner is up at GameSpy.com, looking at this 3D RPG that should be
released this fall for PC and Playstation 2. The preview is based on the author's
experiences with a build of the game, and sports some new screenshots showing
off the game's various spells and combat system.
The game will be arriving in stores tomorrow, but for those that can't wait,
GA-RPG has posted a new
preview of Soulbringer, based on their beta version of the game. The preview
is almost a review, with their impressions of the gameplay, engine and music,
and is fairly enthusiastic about the game.
According to GA-Strategy, Submarine
Titans, the 3D RTS from Ellipse Studios, has gone gold. The game is being published
by Strategy First, and will hit store shelves on July 24th.
Speedy 3D has conducted an interview with Sheldon Pacotti, scriptwriter on ION Storm's Deus Ex, about this work on the game, which includes some 8,500 out of the 10,000 lines of dialog written for it. Sheldon also talks about getting the conversation logic right, his novel (recently released through the Internet), and the future of print.
RPGDot went digging through the Larian Studios message board and compiled a summary of posts by Swen "Lar" Vincke, project leader on their upcoming isometric role-playing game Divinity: The Sword of Lies. The topics are all over the dungeon, from the current state of the game (pre-alpha), friendly and not so friendly interaction with NPC's, to the graphics, interface, and lots more.
It's a Thursday, so Day 4 in the Dark Reign 2 Week on GameSpot UK offers another nine new screenshots from the 3D action RTS by Pandemic Studios that went gold yesterday ( story), as well as a description of the environment's effect on gameplay.
First Taste of Angel on Daily Radar is a talk with Red Storm designer Richard Dansky about their 3D action adventure Freedom: First Resistance and its protagonist Angel Sanchez. Richard describes this lead character, the setting and environments of the game, the involvement of writer Anne McCaffrey upon whose books the game is based, and more.
GA-Strategy has posted three new screenshots of Flashpoint 1985: Status Quo along with quotes from Marek Spanel, designer on this 3D tactical wargame by Bohemia Studios. Mark explains the kind of realism they are aiming for, summing it up with, "this is not another Doom and if you think you can just run towards your enemy position, you'll see that you're dead wrong."
According to a report on The Adrenaline Vault,
Diablo II, the long-awaited sequel to Blizzard's action/RPG, is due on store
shelves worldwide June 28. The date is based on a confirmation from "the
public relations agent responsible for pushing the beast" after a call to
Blizzard. In a related note, Blizzard has been sending participants in the
Battle.Net stress test word that the test will be coming to an end.
Game-Guru.net
interviews Davor Hunski of the CroTeam, talking about Serious Sam, their
upcoming hyperactive first-person shooter. This Q&A is a follow-up to their
recent conversation with Davor Tomicic ( story), and it isn't
clear whether there are more Davors waiting in the wings. Included in the
interview is the following on Serious Sam's release date: We will finish
Serious Sam inside 8 months. That means that it will be available 1Q next year.
Both DailyRadar.com
and Dreamcast.IGN.Com
have posted a new movie of Half-Life for the Dreamcast. Since even the version
on display at E3 wasn't really playing on the Dreamcast, this is the debut
showing of the console port of Valve's shooter (according to the text
accompanying the IGN piece, "Sierra promises contains nothing but Dreamcast
footage").; The movie, which closes saying the DC version is due this summer,
is about a 15 MB download.
An Earth 2150 Fast Track Guide is online at IGN, offering help with this just-released 3D RTS (free registration required). Also,
Old
Man Murray's Deus Ex Demo Walkthru is up, teaching us that "Nothing
spells big dystopian trouble like a messed up Statue of Liberty," a lesson Planet of the Apes
taught oh, so well. Finally, TWEAK CENTRAL's
Half-Life Tweakguide is in German, so if you don't sprechen, stick a Babel Fish
in your ear.
Total-reload.com has model
shots up of a Half-Life mod called Invasion 1955. Also, a messageboard post called The Downfall Of Operation
Overlord gives the sad story of the demise of this SoF mod.
There's a CPL
Asia tournament write-up on XSReality.com recapping all the festivities in a
diary format.
Q3Center's Coding Tutorial Section
is online, providing an index to the various Quake III Arena coding tutorials
that they have posted. This FTP server
has version 1.8 of the Blender, a freeware modeling/rendering tool for multiple
platforms.
Well hello there... here I am back at home in the Blue Tower. Since loony did
his usual fine job of getting the morning updates up pretty close to midnight in
my absence, I will try to continue the trend towards earlier updates, which also offers Frans the
chance to keep a more European schedule instead of being forced to US time. I
had a fine old time on vacation, though I seem to have picked up a slight cold
upon my return (shouldn't be a big deal, just stay back from the monitor in case
I sneeze).
Tim 'B2' Walker wrote in suggesting that the popular thread listing up top
only list threads begun within the last week, so I thought I'd mention that this
is how it is supposed to work, there's just a kink in there to be worked out, it
may take a couple of days to fix that.
Link of the Day: Find A Grave.
This is a little oogie, and in spite of the T-Shirt offer and the truly odd
"Posthumous Reunions" section, this looks completely serious. Thanks
Faustus.
Story of the Day: Harley drops bid to trademark engine's roar.
Thanks Buclerpp.
Image of the Day: iMacaquarium.
Thanks Fatal0E.
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