Archived News:
A new interview with
Ritual CEO Ron Dimant is up at The Corporation. The interview is quite entertaining,
with Ron commenting on the development of Heavy Metal: FAKK2, the Mac port of
Sin, Mac gaming in general, Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie, and lots more.
Game-Interviews.com
has conducted a brief Q&A with the always outspoken Derek Smart, the man
best known around these parts as the creator of Battlecruiser 3000 AD. The Q&A
deals with 3000 AD's upcoming Project ABC (that title is a codename only) which
will be powered by Croteam's Serious Sam engine.
BioWare producers Ben Smedstad and Trent Oster are
interviewed on Enfused, talking about their upcoming RPGs Neverwinter Nights
and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, as well as their thoughts on the industry
and the company's success with their previous titles. We reported this morning that Ben had left BioWare ( story), so naturally this interview was conducted prior to his departure.
Version 1.1 of Weapons
Factory Arena, the popular Quake III Arena mod, has been released. The patch
is available in many forms, including individual patches for Windows, Linux
and Mac users, as well as a special update for those that received version 1.0
on the PC Gamer CD, and contains many new gameplay tweaks as well as a pair
of requested features.
- Shogun
GameSpot Game Guides has posted their in-depth Shogun: Total War guide, making every effort to help you prevent having to commit hara-kiri after playing this recently released 3D RTS. As usual, the guide can be browsed online for free or downloaded as a PDF for a little under six bucks.
- New Doom
On the other hand, the new Doom game is still a long way off, but DoomWorld has already posted a preliminary, Unofficial Doom 3 FAQ, compiling what is currently known or speculated about into one place.
- Deus Ex
The busy bees at GameFAQs have posted two updated Deus Ex FAQ/Walkthroughs to guide you through ION Storm's acclaimed 3D action RPG.
- Diablo II
Also on GameFAQs are several updated FAQs and guides for Diablo II, offering assistance with the amazingly popular isometric RPG by Blizzard.
- MOO3
A Talent For War reports the release of this Master of Orion III FAQ on MOO3 @ The Atrium, answering any questions you may have about this upcoming turn-based strategy game set in space.
PC.IGN has posted a new preview
of Startopia this evening. The preview contains a generous helping of new
gameplay details (including info on each of the game's various races) as well
as a number of new screenshots.
There is a new Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force Designer Diary on GameRush, with lead designer Chris Foster talking about his early years at Raven, the start of the Elite Force project, how they came up with the idea of making the Hazard Team the focus of the game, and how development is now culminating in the dreaded crunch-time.
It's a Tuesday, so Pandemic Studios has released a new multiplayer map for Dark Reign 2, and this week's offering is a two player map called '2slimey', quite appropriately set in the Sewers world.
A new MP3
featuring music from the soundtrack to American McGee's Alice is up at Gamecenter.
The soundtrack is by former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna, and is a different
song than the one released a few weeks ago at Daily Radar ( story).
Massive Entertainment level designer Niklas Larsson has released another new Ground Control map, available for download at Ground Control Center. This release is a single-player map where you have to "sneak into an OND camp and rescue held prisoners."
A trio of massively multiplayer RPG Q&As are online for your reading enjoyment:
Glide
Underground interviews David Allen, talking with the CEO of Artifact Entertainment
about their ambitious title Horizons. Also, several members of the Caeron3000
development team are
interviewed on RPG Vault, while GameSurge chats
with members of the Dark Zion team at Wombat Games.
The first non-beta release of Powerpillz
for Quake III Arena is now available, bringing the mod to the always welcome
version 1.0. This new version contains a ton of gameplay tweaks, bug fixes and
changes over the last public beta.
Version 1.2 of the Alliance
CTF mod for Quake III Arena has been released. This new version contains
a number of bug fixes and gameplay tweaks, and is available for download as
a full install executable or a manual install ZIP file.
Derek Smart, the outspoken head of 3000 AD, is
interviewed on AVault, talking about the game known as Project ABC which
was just announced yesterday ( story). Derek explains the decision
to license the Serious Sam engine from Croteam before the game is actually complete,
and says that the game is not a new chapter in the Battlecruiser saga, nor is
it a first person shooter.
A new
article at CheckOut.com Games looks back at the original massively multiplayer
Neverwinter Nights (which was a mainstay on AOL for years) and ahead to the
upcoming NWN RPG from BioWare. The piece contains quotes from BioWare communications
manager Brad Grier along with "Snake", a hard-core fan of the original
game.
GamersEd's Week in Our Worlds rolls on with today's pair of Q&As. Raven's
Mike Schulenberg and Valve's
Jeff Lane are in the hot seat today, with each explaining what it is that
they do at their respective companies, and how they got there.
Ritual's Mark Dochtermann made a
brief .plan update with word that they will be releasing a patch for Heavy
Metal: FAKK2 this weekend, along with a request for anyone experiencing crashes
to contact him. Here's what he has to say: Thanks for everyone purchasing
Heavy Metal FAKK 2. I hope everyone out there enjoys the heck out of it. As
is often the case with software development, we have had reports of lockups
and crashes on exit with certain machine configurations. We are working very
hard to solve these problems so that everyone can enjoy the game. We will have
a patch out for the game this weekend. If you are experiencing any lockup or
exit problems with FAKK 2, and live in the DFW area, please email
me. Of course every system we tested the game on before shipping it did
not exhibit any of these problems.
Volition's Anoop
Shekar is interviewed on CombatWorld, talking about their upcoming RPG Summoner,
the various members of their team, and more. According to Anoop, the game is
"80 - 90% complete."
The first public release of Catch
the Chicken for Quake III Arena is now available (thanks Chris Jones). The
mod is described as "a cleverly disguised alien ploy to destroy the universe,
or a silly mod for Quake 3" and contains both standard and teamplay variations.
This first release is numbered version 1.43 Alpha.
A brief interview
with BBC producer Jon Riley is up at Wireplay, talking with him about Bleeding
Thumbs, the deathmatch gameshow that they will be unveiling this Fall. Jon talks
about what they're attempting to accomplish with the show, and also says that
they are looking into releasing their custom Unreal Tournament mod to the general
public.
In case you missed the plethora of shots posted around the web these last few
days, GameSpot UK has 18
new shots from Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, taken from their beta copy
of the game.
Also on GameSpot UK this afternoon is a
new preview of Battle Realms, the upcoming strategy game from Crave and
Liquid Entertainment. This being GameSpot UK, there are of course new screenshots,
although there are only four.
Dynamix' Dave Georgeson made a
post to Sierra's official TRIBES 2 forum with some preliminary server system
requirements for their upcoming open beta program (thanks James). Here are the
details: We're going to be accepting applications for Tribes 2 Beta Servers
at the same time that we take apps for beta testers. (And, in fact, on the same
web-based form.)
The requirements for a T2 server will be high so that performance during beta
is not an issue. Requirements will be LOWER THAN THIS in the released version,
so don't panic.
Here are the BETA requirements for a dedicated testing server, if you are interested:
-- broadband network connection (not a modem)
-- CPU speed 600 MHz or greater
-- 256 MB of RAM or greater
-- dedicated server (i.e. you cannot play the game on the machine.)
-- the machine must be running 24/7 during the beta test
Those folks that run dedicated servers during beta are a shoe-in for "authorized"
sites after release. "Authorized" sites will get perks. I'm not sure
what those will be yet, but they'll get 'em.
A whopping 15
new screenshots from Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, Raven's nearly complete
Quake III Arena engine title are up at Sci-Fi Gaming, taken from their beta
copy of the full game. The shots were taken on a GeForce with full scene anti-aliasing
enabled.
If last
night's barrage of screenshots from Throne of Darkness wasn't enough for
you, be sure to check out the 12
new shots on GA-Source, taken from their early alpha build of the game.
AMD Zone's Jeff Tom attended QuakeCon
over the weekend, and caught up with John Carmack to ask a question about Trent
Reznor's possible involvement with the Doom 3 soundtrack (thanks Fabian and
SeemsLikeSalvation). Here's
what Carmack had to say: After the crowd had left, I asked John Carmack what the status of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Doom 3 was. Apparently, Trent very much wants to do the music for Doom 3. Carmack added that a title soundtrack would also be something they might do for Doom 3, such as done with Quake III, as well as an opening theme like the Quake II introduction sequence. The music should be more ambient as well than id’s two previous games, Quake II and Quake III. All those who are worried about not being able to hear enemies in the game can breathe a sigh of relief, as this will also not be an issue with Doom 3’s music.
A post on Stomped
follows-up on the recent news that a few members of the Anachronox team had left
ION Storm ( story and story) with more on what new
companies some of those folks have landed with. According to the report, Seneca
Menard, versatile level designer, modeler, and texture artist on the Anachronox
project, has joined id Software as "an all-around artist who can also do
level design," and that former Anachronox artist Lee Dotson is now at Rogue
helping finish up Alice. On a similar topic, a
post on RPGvault has word that Ben Smedstad, producer for Baldur's Gate II:
Shadows of Amn, has departed BioWare. Word is "the reasons for the
departure and his future goals remain unknown." Update: The Stomped
story (and therefore we) reported that one-time Anach lead artist Lee Perry has
joined Retro Studios, current home to one-time id contract programmer Zoid and
GameSpy programmer and former 3dfxer/Ritual Killer, Jack "morbid"
Mathews, but Lee contacted us to let us know that this was not accurate, but
that he is currently considering such a position.
FAKK²Central Interviews Beau
"Grue" Anderson talking with the artist behind the skins in Heavy
Metal FAKK2, which of course left the responsibility on his shoulders that these
skins would be up to the inspiration of the original Julie Strain (inspirational
is a great word to describe her, too). The conversation briefly covers Beau's
beginnings at Ritual, and then launches into questions about his contributions
to Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2.
PlayNOW!
interviews Kenn Hoekstra accessing the accessible Raven Software project
administrator in a conversation centered around Star Trek: Voyager-Elite Force,
talking about what to expect from the Quake III-engine shooter, and discussing
some of what is found in the game's demo.
eUniverse's Blair Witch Volume 1 Interview
talks with Jeff Mills Terminal Reality's executive producer on one of the
upcoming Blair Witch Project games that will use the Nocturne engine, talking
about the plot and gameplay from Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr.
GameSpot
previews Quake III Arena for the Dreamcast offering "more than 50
shots, a video interview, new footage of the Dreamcast version of Quake
III Arena, and (a) full preview" looking ahead at the upcoming console
port. Included in the video clips are an interview with id's Graeme Devine,
talking about the port, and a couple of clips of footage of the game in action
on the Dreamcast, one showing deathmatch, and the other CTF.
The Fallen Free Online Test
on GameSpot UK News announces Simon & Schuster's plans to make Star Trek
DS9: The Fallen and DS9: Dominion Wars, two of their upcoming Trekkie games,
available for a free limited time test period. Calling it a try before you buy
program, rather than shareware, more
details are in this press release.
The Rocket Arena website
has news of a version 1.1 fix for the recently released Quake III Arena version
of Rocket Arena. The patch, which is required for server operators only, "fixes
a number of issues from the initial release and should give us a stable platform
to build future features on." Again, clients do not need to download this
release.
Syco from PlanetVampire sends
word of a post to the Nihilistic
Bulletin Boards that warns of a scam where someone posing as an official of
Blizzard has been sending emails requesting verification of CD keys for Vampire:
The Masquerade-Redemption. As is usually the case when its a story like this,
the mails are fakes, and no one from Activision or Nihilistic (much less
Blizzard, who are unconnected with the game) are actually requesting keys, this
is just a scam to steal them.
The CPL Announces First
Ever Female Cash Tournament is the press release with details of an upcoming
gender-specific competition at The FRAG 4 this fall. Also, registration is
underway for The Ritual 2000, slated for the
end of this month in Orange Park, FL.
ModNation's
Mission to Mars interview talks with the team behind the upcoming Mission to Mars
modification that will create Half-Life gameplay inspired by the movie
considered to be one of the all time classics (no wait, that was Citizen Kane).
Wow, just when you are worried you may not have anything goofy enough to say (I
keep a brick by my computer to klunk myself with when this sort of idiot's block
arises), rescue comes in the form of a trivial tidbit via email. Thanks Chris
Morris at WRE for pointing out that
today is actor Donny Most's birthday, the man who portrayed Ralph Malph is 47
years old today (sit on it Potsie, you're no spring chicken yourself).
Story of the Day: Harrison
Ford Rescues Hiker. Thanks devicer.
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