Archived News:
Thursday, Jun 29, 2000
Alice Interview [10:20 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The second of PC.IGN's three days of Alice is online, featuring an
interview with Jim Molinets, producer of American McGee's Alice at Rogue.
Jim talks about the game's relation to the books by Lewis Carroll, their rather
inventive weapons and what will separate it from the pack of action/shooters
out there in addition to other topics.
TRIBES 2 Shots [10:20 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The folk at PC.IGN harassed Sierra enough for them to provide the site with
nine new screenshots from TRIBES
2 (if that's all it takes, someone remind me to start nagging them for a
beta). The shots feature the new BioDerm race, as well as the new vehicles and
of course their impressive new terrain engine.
Summoner Diary [10:20 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
It's a Thursday, which means it's time for another
edition of PC.IGN's Summoner diary. This week's installment has Volition
artist Matt Flegel explain how he makes those flashy spell effects, with a step-by-step
look at the creation of the death spell.
Mac Tomb Raider 4 Demo [9:48 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A demo for the Mac port of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation has been released,
and is available
for download at MacGameFiles.com. The demo is just under 10 megs, and requires
a 3D accelerator.
HEAT.net Merger [9:48 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Well Rounded Entertainment has
confirmed with Sega that HEAT.net, the online service that supports the
subscription-based 10SIX in addition to other games, is in "strategic discussions"
to merge with another online gaming network. As WRE points out, there aren't
too many other ones out there, making WON.net or MPlayer the most likely suitors.
Sega has been focusing their online strategy on SegaNet, their upcoming ISP
aimed at Dreamcast owners (although it will support PCs as well).
Robotech Games Announced [7:49 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
While there's no word as to exactly what kind of games they are, or who is
developing them, AVault
is reporting that Mattel Interactive has obtained the Robotech license,
and plans to use it to make multiple games for PC and next-generation console
systems, beginning late next year.
Terminus Patches [7:10 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Vicarious Visions has released another round of Terminus patches, bringing their space sim to version 1.3. The patches are available for the Windows, Linux and Mac retail editions, and include several bug fixes.
Star Trek: New Worlds Vehicle [7:05 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
It's time for a new weekly vehicle in Star Trek: New Worlds, the 3D real-time strategy game in development at 14 Degrees East and Interplay, and this time the Romulan Battle Tank is on display with two screenshots and a short movie clip.
Icewind Dale Interview [6:29 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Stratos Group Interviews J.E. Sawyer is a chat with one of the designers of the isometric RPG that arrived in stores today. J.E. talks about his work on the game, the improvements over previous Black Isle RPG's, his thoughts on the direction future role-playing games will take, as well as a few personal topics.
New Doom3D [4:53 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A new version 1.12 of Doom3D is available on the FudgeFactor Software page, updating this Win32/DirectX port of id Software's Doom source code. The new release adds a slew of improvements and fixes, including MD2 model support, customizable controls and joystick support, windowed modes, autorun, and more.
Master of Orion III Interviews [4:38 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The third in Master of Orion III @ The Atrium's ongoing series of interviews
with members of Quicksilver's Master of Orion team is online, talking
to artist Scott Godfrey about his work on the game. Also, a
10 question Q&A with Quicksilver designer Alan Emrich is up at The Orion
Senate.
Black & White Preview [4:16 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A new hands-on preview of Black
& White, the only RPG game that lets you play as a god is up at gaming
magazine Spank!. The author was able to play a full build of the game at Lionhead's
offices and the preview features his impressions, complete with a description of the game crashing.
Startopia Preview [3:16 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Dungeon Keeper fan page Dark Sword has posted a
preview of Startopia, the upcoming strategy game from Mucky Foot (a company
founded by former Bullfrog employees). The preview is based on what the author
saw at E3 as well as new information provided by the developers, and there are
also two new screenshots up (in addition to the ones released at E3).
New Linux Q3SDK [2:34 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Loki Software has released version
201 of the Linux Quake III Arena SDK (direct FTP link). This new version
updates the Linux level editor to the recently released Q3Radiant build 201.
Thanks 3D Downloads, who have a
mirror up at their site.
Throne of Darkness Gallery [2:25 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A new gallery
of shots from Throne of Darkness is up at RPG Vault this afternoon, gathering
together some new and some previously seen screenshots from this upcoming action
RPG from Click Entertainment (the same developer that brought you Barbie Super
Sports and was founded by members of the original Diablo design team, making
them one of the strangest companies in the industry).
Lemmings Revolution Patch [2:22 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
TalonSoft has released a patch for Lemmings Revolution, their 3D puzzler. Apart from the installation instructions, there is no information on what the patch fixes though.
Diablo II Warning [2:06 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
GameSpot has posted a
news story revealing that the version 1.01 patch for Diablo II (story)
deletes your single player characters (in addition to fixing bugs, of course).
When I ran the patch I didn't encounter the problem, but those planning on playing the game in single player would be advised to run the patch before starting their game just to be on the safe side. Update: GameSpot sends word that the problem appears to only affect people with lingering files from beta versions of the game, and not those doing fresh installs.
Probe No More [1:09 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Computer and Video Games News is reporting
that Acclaim has closed down Probe, the development studio behind Forsaken
and more recently Extreme-G and ReVolt (thanks Stomped).
In addition to laying off "dozens of people" this move means the end
for two unannounced games that were in production at the studio, and the Ferrari
Grand Prix team will relocate to Acclaim's Knightsbridge office.
On the Shelves [1:02 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
We've received a number of reports that Icewind Dale, Dark Reign 2, and of
course Diablo II are on store shelves across the country. If you didn't pre-order
Diablo II, it's probably a good idea to call ahead of time, as many retailers
are selling out of any shelf copies, and others aren't even able to meet their
pre-orders yet.
Project IGI Movie [12:12 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Eidos UK sent word of a new Project I.G.I. movie available in their downloads section, showing off in-game footage from the 3D thinker shooter developed by Innerloop. The movie runs for nearly a minute, consisting almost entirely of one very impressive sniper un-zoom shot.
Submarine Titans Interview [12:07 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Gamers.de has conducted an interview with Raaj Menon, the director of Ellipse Studios, about their underwater real-time strategy game Submarine Titans. Raaj explains the features that aim to set the game apart from other RTS offerings, as well as their goals for the game, and a few other topics. The interview is available in your choice of English and German.
Hitman Shots [11:47 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Three new
shots from Hitman: Codename 47 are up at GA-Source, showing off IO Interactive's
third person action game of mob-induced violence and bar coded gangsters.
Voyager Q&A [11:15 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The third of Stomped's
four talks with members of Raven's Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force team is online.
Today's victim is lead programmer James Monroe, and he gives full details on
the changes they have made to the Quake III Arena engine in addition to other
topics.
Warren Spector Interview [11:06 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The Mushroom's legit section has posted a
20 question interview with Warren Spector, talking to the Deus Ex designer
about why those giant crates only have one item (which I have to admit I was
wondering myself) and other game specific issues, as well as some random other
questions like the most evil thing he's done in The Sims.
Witchboy Interview [10:17 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
ION Storm designer Harvey
"Witchboy" Smith is interviewed on GameSpy.com this morning, talking
about just about everything but Deus Ex. The 20 question interview doesn't ask
anything about that recently released game, but instead focuses on Harvey's
background in the industry, the world of RPGs (both pen and paper and computer),
his favorite movies and there's even a question about canine warfare.
Shogun Patch [10:07 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
After a false start two weeks ago (story), Electronic Arts has released an updated version 1.01 patch for Shogun: Total War for download (4.4 MB). Presumably this release will not fail to install as the first patch did, and the README that is now included lists one change: "This patch fixes a problem with hosting and playing multiplayer games on the America Online ISP. Once you have installed this patch, you should have no problems both hosting and joining a Shogun game via the EA|Play matchmaking service."
New Game Support [10:07 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Eidos Interactive has opened its Deus Ex Tech Support section, offering tips and solutions for various technical issues you may experience with ION Storm's just-released 3D action RPG. Also, the Dark Reign 2 support page at Activision has opened, just in time before Pandemic's 3D RTS will appear on store shelves. Finally, Enfused has posted one chapter of the official Icewind Dale Strategy Guide as a sample of Sybex' full guide to the isometric RPG by Interplay.
Asheron's Call Interview [09:32 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Asheron's Call producer Scott
Herrington is interviewed on Active Windows, talking about the latest developments
in this massively multiplayer RPG. As the game has been live for some time now,
the questions are about recent additions, such as the new server, a mysterious
new spell and some questions of note for AC players (like video card problems).
MechWarrior 4 Interview [08:32 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
GameSpot UK has conducted an interview on MechWarrior 4, talking to Jordan Weisman about the improvements over its predecessors MechWarrior 2 and 3, such as the mission structure, engine, wingmate and enemy AI, and more.
Giants Movies & Update [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
An update to Interplay's
official Giants Citizen Kabuto website offers an update from PlanetMoon
Studios' Tim Williams about progress on Giants, PlanetMoon's quirky upcoming
action game. In addition to the development update, which describes progress
"on the jetski for Delphi and the AI for the evil Sea Reapers (Raiks)," they have also posted a
pair of new gameplay movies featuring Delphi, the half-nekkid Sea
Reaper. One movie "shows how she can do a cool Capture thing where she
imprisons things in these magic bubbles" while the second shows off
"her very awesome Fire Wall spell" (which is also mentioned in Tim's
update).
On the Next SoF Patch [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Raven programmer John "Pagan" Scott updated
his .plan, generously providing today's Story of the Day, as well as news of
video fixes and enhancements in an upcoming Soldier of Fortune patch. Here's the
word:
I just slipped anisotropic filtering into Trek and Sof.
Compare - http://www2.ravensoft.com/users/jscott/trek/aniso_tri.png
with - http://www2.ravensoft.com/users/jscott/trek/iso_tri.png
- to see the improvement.
I also made S3tc work on V5500 cards for SoF. These fixes will be in the next patch.
Addendum: Then I upgraded my V5 drivers; and texture compression no longer works =) I'll be investigating their FXT scheme tho.
The anisotropic filtering seems to be only on Geforce cards
at the moment; but I could be wrong.
Tech Bits [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- GeForce 2 MX Unveiled
A bunch of previews of NVIDIA's newest, if not fastest, accelerator: Sharky Extreme's NVIDIA GeForce2 MX (NV11) Guide is online, as are previews on 3DGPU, FiringSquad, and nV News. You can also check out RIVA 3D's GeForce 2 MX Slides, which gives NVIDIA's PowerPoint presentation, and then you can write your own preview. - More RAMBUS
Rambus, patents, and betrayal on The Tech Report looks further into the technological and legal issues being worked out on the memory front. - 3DNow! Programming
3DNow! Programming Tutorial: Part 1 The Basics on AMDZone. - Heart of the Amiga
This Look into Amiga! on Gamers Depot examines the new computers with the classic name. - Heart of the Linux Console
GameWeek.com interviews John Gildred, talking with the CEO of Indrema about their upcoming Linux-based console system. - Video Showdown
PlanetHardware's five-way video card shoot-out is online. - Whatchmacallit
Tech Extreme's Memory Extension Technology preview looks ahead at IBM's MET technology. - Hitting the Road
Tech Extreme's Mobile Power Article examines the future of portable CPUs. - PriceWatch Watch
Sharky Extreme's Weekly CPU Prices have been updated. - CPU Watch
Stop Remarking and Unlocking the Clock on CPU Review describes itself as a "modest" proposal" to get CPU resellers to stop cheating.
Battlecruiser Screenshots [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
This Battlecruiser Online Galcom News Network
points to this screenshots
page with four new shots from the upcoming Battlecruiser Millennium. These
images show off more of their DED (Dynamic Entity Deconstruction) technology at
work, calling it a "huge graphic leap" for the franchise. The shots
are taken from that 10 MB movie of the same effect (showing off things breaking up into discreet
parts) that is also available for download (story).
UO Chat Log [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
There's a log of the chat with the
developers of Ultima World Online: Origins on UO2Vault. As promised, most of
the conversation centers around the use of skill trees in the upcoming follow-up
to the MMORPG. I know Abraxas is eager to learn of new developments in
tailoring, since he spent most of his time in the original making "fancy
shirts" (he was like a medieval Calvin Klein).
Rune Quake 3 [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The debut release of Rune Quake 3
is now available. As the title implies, this Quake III Arena modification is
Rune-based, and they mean it, with more than 40 runes in the mod that will add
and modify various player and weapon abilities ("Gib your enemies instantly
with Berserk. Freeze them solid with Ice Traps. Watch them twitch and squirm in
the grip of Weirdness. Knock them across the map with Impact."). There are
also new weapons, a redesigned HUD, and support for various game modes.
Competitions [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Íslandsmót í Quake 2000 has posted
results, pictures, and downloadable demos from their recent Swedish CPL
qualifying event.
Guides and Walkthroughs [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
An official Drakan Online Traveler's Quest
FAQ is available, answering questions about the upcoming Drakan game. Also,
though probably not aimed at most readers of this site, Gamecenter's Online Action Game Primer
shows how to get past being a newbie when playing online in Unreal Tournament,
Starsiege TRIBES, Half-Life: Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, and Quake
III Arena online. Meanwhile, Tweak3D.net's
Vampire Tweak guide shows how to set up Nihilistic's vampire game so it
doesn't suck the life out of your system. Finally, Pacific Asia Gaming Network's
AC Alchemy Guide is a resource to help you out if you've chosen alchemy as a
career path in Asheron's Call.
The Mod Squads [08:05 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Some Great Mods
You Possibly Don't Know About But Probably Should on Half-Life.Net follows a
recent trend of highlight Half-Life mods, but rather than show off mods that are
already getting their chance in the spotlight, they are specifically choosing
more obscure projects to show off. Daily Radar's Mod Week
continues, talking with Epic's newlywed CliffyB about Unreal Tournament
modifications.
Game Reviews [08:04 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Army Men: World War on Electric Playground.
- Daikatana on PC Gameworld.
- Deus Ex on PC.IGN.com.
- Diablo II (in German) on GamesMania.de.
- Evolva on GamesMania.
- Gromada on Games Domain.
- Ground Control on Game Forces, RIVA 3D, and Fragtastic.
- Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death on GameSpot UK.
- KA-52: Team Alligator on Sharky Extreme.
- Martian Gothic: Unification (second opinion) on Games Domain.
- MDK2 on Game Raiders and Gamezone.
- Motocross Madness 2 on GamersEd.
- Shogun: Total War on Games Domain, Glide Underground, Happy Puppy, Player of Games, and ReviewNexus.
- Soulbringer on Gameunit.
- Starlancer on 3DGN.
- Star Wars: Force Commander on Xtreme Network.
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption on PC Gameworld.
Hardware Reviews [08:04 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- 3M Precise Mousing Surface on games xtreme.
- ASUS AGP-6800 Deluxe video card on PCExtremes.
- Baycooler 2 cooler on The Tech Zone.
- DFI TA-64B motherboard on t-break.
- ELSA Gladiac video card on Glide Underground and Chick's Hardware.
- Iwill VD133 motherboard on PC Roddin.
etc. [08:04 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- The Lost preview on PS2.IGN.Com looks ahead at an upcoming LithTech-engine adventure from the team that created the highly-regarded System Shock 2. The Lost does, however, look like it will be for the Playstation 2 only...
- A new Combat Mission Gold Demo is online, offering turn-based WWII combat. Thanks AVault...
- GameWallpapers.com has 11 new Diablo II wallpapers for download...
Out of the Blue [08:04 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Some folks managed to find Diablo II on shelves yesterday, and the press release
from Blizzard said tomorrow is ultimate street date in most places, but every
single store I asked in while out and about yesterday split the difference and
said today will be the day that the sequel to Blizzard's dungeon-crawling hit will be
dropping in on the waiting throngs like the ball dropping on New Year's Eve.
Today's Link of the Day was first sent in quite some time ago, and for every day it does not get posted, we receive exponentially more suggestions to post it, so once again, we have to title this one, "by popular demand," but with specific thanks to no one, since at this point it's really hard to figure which of the 100 or so mails on this was first:
Link of the Day: Walter's Special Mission.
Yup it's all about hits to get sex. Even if it's a hoax, at least it's not
feeding banner ads.
Story of the Day: New sex study shows randy side of Britons
(CNN). Thanks John Scott. "The atlas proves what many people think --
everyone but you is having sex." That's right, CNN knows how many folks
know you aren't getting any.
Bonus Story: Get Ready for the Britney Museum
(E!Online News). Thanks Mike Wilson. "At last, one of music's great
pioneers will get her due--and a new generation will get its Graceland."
More proof of the coming apocalypse.
Copyright © 1996-2023 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2023 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.