Archived News:
Friday, Jun 30, 2000
Evil Dead Site [9:56 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
THQ has revamped their Evil Dead: Hail to the King site into a full featured affair (Flash required), offering information, concept art and screenshot galleries, character animation clips, and more. The third-person horror action adventure, which is being developed by Heavy Iron, is slated for an October 31, 2000 release.
Alice Media [9:44 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
PC.IGN.com has posted no less than 16 new screenshots of American McGee's Alice, the third-person action adventure in development at Rogue and Electronic Arts, that is of course based on the books by Lewis Carroll. Additionally, the first movie with over a minute of in-game footage is available, albeit in low-res 160x128 format.
Zeus Preview [9:44 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
There is a new preview of Zeus: Master of Olympus on GameSpot, looking ahead to the latest installment in Impressions' series of ancient city-building strategy games. The article describes the premise of the series and the new features in Zeus, and also includes three new screenshots.
RUNE Screenshots [9:18 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Human Head has posted three new, high-res screenshots of RUNE (the top row), showing off more from their third-person game of Viking melee-combat. The third shot is available on RuneNews as well.
Voodoo3 2000/3000 Drivers [9:18 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
3dfxgamers has posted new Voodoo3 2000/3000 AGP/PCI 1.05.00 WHQL drivers for Windows 95/98, a non-beta release that changes the default start-up mode to 800x600 and fixes several game-related bugs.
More Screenshots [9:18 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Giants
3DActionPlanet has posted three new screenshots of Giants: Citizen Kabuto, showing off some new scenes from the third-person action game that is being developed by Planet Moon. - Blair Witch
There are three new screenshots of Blair Witch on 3DGPU, presumably from Volume 1 although that is not indicated. - Harbinger
Silverback has released four new screenshots of Harbinger (the leftmost column) to illustrate their upcoming isometric action RPG. - Blademasters
Likewise, the official Legend of the BladeMasters site has been updated with a gallery of 20 new screenshots from the 3D action RPG being crafted by Ronin.
MechCommander 2 Preview [8:33 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Gamecenter has posted a preview of MechCommander 2, the 3D RTS sequel in development at FASA and Microsoft. The article covers the game's premise and gameplay, features quotes from Microsoft's Mitch Gitelman, and is illustrated by a handful of new screenshots.
Undying Screenshots [8:33 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Also new on Gamecenter tonight are four new screenshots of Clive Barker's: Undying, the 3D horror action game by DreamWorks Interactive and Electronic Arts that is being built upon the Unreal Tournament engine. The shots show off a few outdoor scenes and a dungeon area, as well as a few of the game's weapons.
Vampire Demo [7:33 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
As promised, the first of two Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption demos is now available, as Activision has released the Dark Ages demo for download. The demo weighs in at 87 MB and contains one single player level from Nihilistic's 3D role-playing game.
Alice Update [7:29 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The weekly update to the American McGee's Alice site shows off a new weapon, the Jack-in-the-Box (which was already revealed in an earlier preview), and unveils a new area of Wonderland, the Queen's Keep which, judging by its description, is the final area in the game.
Terminus Patches [7:17 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
In what seems to become a daily ritual, Vicarious Visions has released version 1.4 patches for Terminus, this time fixing a few bugs in all retail editions of the game, as well as a couple of Mac specific issues.
Deus Ex Guide [7:11 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
GameSpot has posted their
guide to Deus Ex. Like all of their game guides, this features both spoiler-free
tips and a full walkthrough, and is available free online or as a pay-for-download
PDF file.
Halo E3 Movie [6:53 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Battleground: Halo has posted the full movie trailer of Halo that was shown in Bungie's theater at E3. The movie clocks in at nearly 10 minutes of in-game footage and is a massive 159 MB download, but it is also available on the cover CD-ROM of the August issue of PC Gamer (from which it was uploaded), and as it's currently available from only one file server, that may well be an easier way to obtain a copy. Update: mirrors have been posted at MeccaWorld, 3D Gamers, Stomped, 3D Downloads, and HaloVault to help cope with the demand.
New Strike Force Map Pack [6:09 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The second map pack for Strike
Force UT has been released (thanks Stomped).
The pack contains three new TeamDM levels, and is 7.5 MB.
Battlecruiser Media [6:09 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The official Battlecruiser
Millennium site has been updated with all kinds of stuff from this upcoming
space-sim, including a ton of new screenshots, a new MP3 with music from the
game's soundtrack and an AVI with in-game footage (in compressed RAR format).
Shogun Interview [5:39 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
E-tailer CheckOut.com has posted part one of an interview with Michael de Plater, producer on the 3D strategy game Shogun: Total War from Creative Assembly. Michael talks in great detail about the inception of the game, how it compares to some other RTS games, and the mix of turn-based diplomacy and real-time combat that Shogun offers, and part two of the interview is promised next week.
Warren Spector Interview [4:47 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Designer Warren Spector is interviewed on ION
Storm's Daily Informant, talking about (what else?) Deus Ex, focusing on
what gamers can expect from the game and what it was like to try and balance
the game (which has multiple solutions to every puzzle).
O.R.B. Interview [4:22 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
TacticalZone.com has conducted a
new interview with Jamie McNeely and Phil O’Connor, two producers at Strategy
First on O.R.B., an upcoming space-themed RTS game. The questions deal with
how the game will separate itself from the other games in the genre, as well
as some gameplay and multiplayer specific questions. In addition to the interview
itself, they have also posted seven
new screenshots from the game.
Cleopatra Gold [4:19 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Impressions Games sent along word that Cleopatra, the expansion pack to their strategy/management game Pharaoh, has gone gold, and is expected on store shelves "in a few weeks." The pack will offer 4 campaigns with 15 missions, along with lots of other new features.
Desperados Announced [3:57 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
During the flurry of new games announced at last month's E3, this one slipped through the cracks: Spellbound and Infogrames are developing Desperados: The shadow of el Diablo, an isometric strategy-adventure set in the Wild West. The page offers preliminary information on the game, as well as the first six screenshots. Thanks Paul for sending this in yesterday, and GA-Strategy for the reminder to post it (yep, another crack).
New Sacrifice God [3:22 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The previous update of the official Sacrifice site didn't even last a day (story), and has now been superseded with the introduction of the last of five gods in Shiny's 3D action strategy hybrid called, quite simply, James who, as [DI]Arctos points out, bares a striking resemblance to Earthworm Jim (another Shiny creation). Besides him and four of his men, there is also a new, high-res screenshot of his realms.
Human Head Interview [2:17 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
EuroGamer caught up with Shane Gurno, artist at Human Head, during the European press tour of Gathering of Developers, and quizzed him about the early days of Human Head, when they were going to create a sequel to Daikatana, and how that project changed into the development of their own game, the Viking action romp RUNE. Shane also talks about that game's progress, which is "getting close to the polishing stage."
EA Says No to Eidos Rumor [12:56 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
After this morning's report on the Financial Times that Electronic Arts was
interested in purchasing Eidos Interactive (story), Well
Rounded Entertainment contacted Jeff Brown, EA's executive director of corporate
communications and was told that they are not in discussions with Eidos, and
furthermore have no interest at this time to acquire the company.
New 3DMark2000 [12:34 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
MadOnion.com has released version
1.1 of 3DMark2000, the technology demo and benchmarking program that utilizes
the Max Payne engine. This new release adds full Windows 2000 compatibility
and support for the just-announced Pentium 4 processor in addition to other
changes.
I'm Going In Screenshots [12:19 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Matching PC.IGN's offer of this morning (story), Adrenaline Vault has also posted four new screenshots of I'm Going In, showing off more from Innerloop's 3D stealth shooter. Now, who bids more?
Obi-Wan Preview [12:09 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Star Wars : Episode 1 - Obi Wan Preview on GameSpot UK is a new look ahead to the first- and third-person lightsabre weilding game in development at LucasArts, based on seeing the game in action at last month's E3 event. The article descibes the premise and gameplay, featuring quotes from project leader Stephen Shaw, and includes half a dozen new screenshots as well.
Battle Isle Interview [12:03 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The Daily Telefrag has posted the second part of their Battle Isle interview, together with part one (story) forming a talk with Cauldron's David Durcak about the 3D strategy game that just entered closed beta testing (story). David explains the mix between turn-based and real-time features, the experience level system, and the proverbial more.
Sacrifice Images [11:10 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
More new images from Shiny's Sacrifice have been posted at
their official site, with seven new concept art pieces showing off creatures from the realm of Pyro,
the game's lord of fire.
Age of Empires II Q&A [11:10 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A new Q&A with Ensemble
Studios' Greg Street is up at French Age of Empires fan page Age of Kings
Universe, talking about the expansion pack The Conquerors. While Greg's answers
are in English, the questions are translated from French, so they're a little
stiff, to say the least. If you'd like the reverse problem, they have a
French edition up as well.
Dark Reign 2 Add-Ons [11:04 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
With the game just making it onto store shelves this week, Pandemic Studios has already released the first add-ons for their 3D RTS. One is a multiplayer map called 8spider, originally released in the online beta test, and the other is a Preview Window utility.
Voyager Q&A [10:47 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Stomped has posted a
Q&A with Raven's project leader Brian Pelletier, bringing to a close
their four day look at Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. Brian gives an update
on the game's current status, and says that they are working on the final tweaks
to the level design and he also talks briefly about the overwhelmingly positive
reception they received at E3.
EAX Interviews [10:47 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
A trio of interviews with audio designers are up at Creative Labs' site (actually
they were posted last week but they slipped through the cracks). There are individual
Q&As with BioWare's
Ryan Hoyle and Dave
Chan, as well as a
Q&A with EA's Laurent Betbeder. Each one asks the designer about how
they got into audio design, how the game they are working on uses 3D audio and
what games have their favorite sound work.
Tropico Diary [10:47 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The first installment of GameSpot's
Tropico designer diary is online. This edition has PopTop designer Franz
Felsl explaining how the project began, with some background info on the game.
Also, there are six new
screenshots from the game up at GameSpot News.
Dungeon Keeper 2 Patches [10:16 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Electronic Arts has released version 1.70 patches for Dungeon Keeper 2, the 3D strategy game by Bullfrog where it's good to be bad. This version adds the Maiden creature, the Jack-In-The-Box Trap and three new maps to the game, as well as EMBM support for Matrox G400 cards, and a host of minor fixes. The patches weigh in around 28 MB, can be downloaded in whole or in six parts, and come in every language edition under the sun.
ARX Q&A & Shots [10:15 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
RPGDot has posted a quick Q&A on ARX, the first-person RPG in development at Arkane Studios, dealing with spells, quest notes, and the option of a third-person view, and they have also included a pair of new screenshots.
Battle Isle Beta Test [10:15 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Blue Byte has kicked off the closed beta test of Battle Isle: the Andosia War, their 3D turn-based strategy game. The online-only beta weighs in at 51.5 MB, but downloading it only makes sense if you're a registered beta tester and have received your registration number from Blue Byte.
SWAT3: Battle Plan Interview [09:41 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Tactical Games has conducted an interview with Rod Fung, grilling the producer of the upcoming expansion pack to Sierra's tactical shooter over its features, such as multiplayer, new weapons and more (thanks SpecForce). Rod also reveals they will be releasing a level editor and a scenario editor, and the game will have drop-in mod support to facilitate easy user extensions.
Dino Crisis Preview [09:41 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Daily Radar has posted a brief preview of Dino Crisis, looking ahead to the horror action adventure game that is being ported from the Playstation version by Capcom. While short on game details, the article does include three new screenshots.
Deus Ex Interview [09:30 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The second
part of GamePen's Deus Ex Chronicles is online. Today's installment features
a discussion with ION Storm level designers Harvey Smith and Steve Powers, talking
with them about creating the different environments and missions for the game.
New Matrix Quake II [09:30 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Version 2 of Matrix Quake
II has been released. This new version adds a ton of new features, including
new single and multiplayer modes, a Jedi Knight-style spell system, kung fu,
and of course, guns. Lots of guns.
Harbinger Interview [09:22 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
RPG Planet Interview: Harbinger is a talk with Silverback's art director Steve Macomber about their upcoming isometric action RPG. Steve explains more of the game's features (without revealing its storyline) and there are a few new screenshots and a pair of short model animations as well.
I'm Going In Screenshots [09:22 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
There are four new screenshots of I'm Going In (also known as Project I.G.I. in Europe) on PC.IGN.com, offering more scenes from the 3D thinker shooter in development at Norwegian's Innerloop Studios.
Eidos/EA Sale? [09:19 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
According to an
article on the Financial Times, the company most likely to purchase Eidos
Interactive is none other than Electronic Arts (thanks Andrew C.R. Biddle).
The article says that a meeting will be held on Monday to decide whether or
not to sell the company, and that "management is thought to favour a quick
sale to EA."
Deus Ex Interviews [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Deus-Ex.Org
interviews Warren Spector in a healthy 29 question Q&A with the ION
Storm designer that delves into subjects like plans to release the DX level
editor, OpenGL support (or lack thereof), design and marketing issues, and a
whole lot more. Also on the Deus Ex front, BigKid
interviews Harvey Smith, talking with the lead designer on the just-released
Unreal-engine first-person action/RPG. The questions (and answers) cover topics
like the FPS genre in general, Deus Ex' genre specifically, the game's design,
and more. It's a quick, but interesting read, offering this worthwhile quote of
the moment: "immersion != (is not equal to) realism."
Alice Interview [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
GameSpy.com interviews Rick
"Zdim" Carlson, ex of both ION Storm and Looking Glass Studios,
about his job at Rogue Entertainment, where he is currently at work on American
McGee's Alice, the upcoming Quake III-engine, third-person game that Rogue is
currently developing along with Electronic Arts. Though he points out "I'm
a musician, not a level designer" (Dammit Jim!), the Q&A does, of
course talk about level design, as well as the recent fate of Looking Glass, and
in addition to the conversation, the article also includes a bunch of
screenshots and concept art.
Ground Control Interview [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
BrokenPixel's Massive Interview
is so named, not for its size, but for its subject, as it is a Q&A with
Massive Entertainment's President and CEO Martin Walfisz. The conversation
centers on Ground Control, the Swedish developer's recently released 3D RTS.
Arcanum Interview [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Today's rush of interviews concludes as GameSpy.com
"invades" Troika studios to discuss Arcanum, their upcoming
"fantasy-meets-steampunk RPG." The article includes a discussion of
their company's history, and progress on Arcanum, and also includes several
photos of their offices, and some screenshots.
Tech Bits [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- NVIDIA Interview
nV News' Loyd Case Question & Answer talks with the former hardware writer who is now NVIDIA's product marketing manager, discussing "GeForce2 MX, the KYRO chipset, memory bandwidth, and more." - GigaFuture
Intel To Debut 1.13-GHz Pentium III On July 31 reports Techweb. Thanks Borodimer. - It's Only Free if Your Time Is...
The Duke of URL's BeOS Buyer's Guide #1 shows how to "shop around" for the best setup of this free OS/shell. - But Does it Run Quake?
IBM's Got A Big, Bad Computer (Wired) reports on their "monster machine the size of two basketball courts that draws enough electricity to power a small town," running a mind-boggling 8,192 PowerPC processors. "ASCI White," which can run a Windows-like 100 hours before crashing, is said to be 1000 times more powerful than Big Blue, the IBM machine that whipped World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov in May 1997. Thanks Miller.
Homeworld: Cataclysm Screenshots [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
There are five
new Homeworld: Cataclysm screenshots on Internet ZahaVgames showing off
action from Barking Dog's upcoming sequel to Relic's 3D space strategy game. The
shots show off more ships, and of course more of that signature Homeworld orange
outer-space.
Guides and Walkthroughs [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
MSN's
Guide to Asheron's Call is up, showing the path to success in MS's online
RPG. Thanks Christopher Call.
The Mod Squads [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Daily Radar's Mod Week
continues with a look at the Strike Force
mod for Unreal Tournament, based on the recently released version 1.26 beta. In addition
to the profile of the mod, they have also interviewed
Michael "Optimizer" Hamlett, talking with the mod's producer
"about sniper rifles, tanks, grenades and other manly things." Also,
there's an Interview mit Scorman alias Cory Lake
on Counter-Strike.De talking about his contributions of artwork to the
Counter-Strike mod for Half-Life. Finally, a Counter-Strike
Chat Log is up on Half-Life.Net recounting last night's online session with
the mod's developers.
Editing Stuff [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Quake3Stuff is holding a Quake III Arena deathmatch
map contest, with a GeForce 2 GTS accelerator as one of the prizes (seemed
appropriate to stick that here rather than as a competitions post).
Game Reviews [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Army Men: World War on Adrenaline Vault.
- Boarder Zone on Wewp! Entertainment.
- Business Tycoon on Cosmo3D.
- Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun: Firestorm on GameRaiders.
- Daikatana on Game-Over and Gamezilla.
- Deus Ex on Games Domain, Release Magazine (thanks RPGVault), Well Rounded Entertainment, Deus-Ex.Org and (first impressions) on LittleWhiteDog.
- Diablo II (quick take) on Computer Games Online.
- Discworld Noir on WomenGamers.
- Ground Control on 3DRage, BarrysWorld, and PC Gameworld.
- Majesty on GamePen.
- Metal Fatigue on Hard News.
- Shogun: Total War (second opinion) on Games Domain.
- Starlancer Demo on 3DActionPlanet.
- Star Trek: Klingon Academy on Computer Games Online and GameSpy.com.
- Thief II: the Metal Age on PC Gameworld and BarrysWorld.
- Ultima Online: Renaissance on Gamecenter.
- Underlight on Games Domain.
- Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption on Game Revolution.
Hardware Reviews [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Chaintech Desperado RI71 video card on iXBT.
- Creative Annihilator 2 video card on The Tech Zone.
- DFI CW35E i810E motherboard on PCinsight.
- Inno3D Tornado GeForce DDR on VIAHardware.com.
- MicroStar MS-StarForce 815 video card on Digital Web 3D.
- Soyo 6VCA motherboard on PC Stats.
- Tweaking Device 2 cooler on 3D Alpha.
- Viewsonic E771 monitor on The Tech Zone.
etc. [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- CTW sends word that at launch on October 26, Sony's PlayStation 2 consoles will only be available in the UK through pre-orders, a situation that may persist through Christmas, and possibly beyond...
- This Gamasutra's Ask Mary-Margaret Licensing Issues discusses the legalities involved in intellectual property licensing...
- Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS00-042) "announces the availability of a patch that eliminates a vulnerability in an ActiveX control that ships with Microsoft® Internet Explorer." Thanks Hollow Pursuits. The Security Update is here (thanks NT Compatible)...
- There's a playable demo of Mind Riot on DemoNews.com, offering a chance to check out this "vehicular combat game featuring a dynamic economy, customizable vehicles and fast multiplayer action"...
Out of the Blue [08:02 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
I picked up a copy of that Diablo II and spent some time battling the USEast
server on Battle.Net yesterday. Clearly there are ways to stress a system that
even a stress test won't uncover, because I had a lot of trouble with lost
connections, and from other player's comments, clearly I was not the only one, hopefully these server issues will be resolved quickly.
OTOH, these are obviously not impacting everyone that badly, I see players on
the ladder already up to level 25 (huh?), so some folks are working around this
okay, and as my game machine sat in Battle.Net this morning, I saw this quote
from someone that qualifies as an all-time classic: "<Hassena> good
night you all. I'm so screwed. This is only the first day the game has been out
and I'm up all night." Hey, sounds like a box quote to me. BTW, in a case
of perfect timing, looks like we helped push old Walter
over the edge here (there's one guy we won't see on Battle.Net tonight).
Link of the Day: Black Mesa
Disco Inferno. Disco Stu would be in heaven. Thanks Christopher J. Wood.
Story of the Day: Tiny robots flex their plastic muscles
(BBC). Thanks Matt D.
Bonus Story: Naked Cricketers Caught Out by Police
(Fox). Thanks TheAntiELVIS.
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