Archived News:
A new edition of PC.IGN's Throne
of Darkness Character Roles is online. Tonight's installment focuses on
the Brick, a giant character that stomps on his enemies, and there is a description
of the character in each of the game's different playable races, along with
some new concept artwork.
WEB Corp president and CEO Jim
Perkins is interviewed on Daily Radar this evening, talking about their
recently announced plans for an episodic (and 2D) Duke Nukem game ( story),
as well as general information about the company. According to Jim, they plan
on releasing four or five Duke Nukem episodes in the Spring of 2001, released
every three or four months.
Four new
screenshots from X-COM: Enforcer, the recently discovered third person action
game set in the X-COM universe are up at AVault. The game utilizes the Unreal
engine (which is also being used for X-COM: Alliance), and according to AVault
is scheduled to be released later this year.
Blue Byte formally unveiled Battle Isle: DarkSpace, their online-only action/strategy
game at last weekend's ECTS trade show, and eight
shots to surface can be found at GameSpot this evening. While not quite as
newsworthy, they also have 12
shots from Battle Isle: The Andosia War, the strategy game which is currently
in beta testing, and coming ever closer to its November release date.
A new preview at RPG Dot
titled, "Everything you wanted to know about Evil Islands" provides
just what it says it does, with five pages of gameplay information and six new
screenshots from this upcoming RPG/RTS title from Rage of Mages developers Nival
Interactive.
Star Wars gaming site Star Wars Gamer has posted two logs from IRC chats with
Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. In the
first chat (from yesterday) he answers lots of questions about Obi Wan (their much-anticipated
follow-up to Jedi Knight), and says that it may not be released until early 2001, and that while
there aren't any "firm plans for Outlaws 2 right now" they are always
evaluating new titles. This topic also comes up in their
second chat log (from this evening), where he says that they "frequently
consider sequels" to the much-loved classics Day of the Tentacle and Sam
& Max Hit the Road.
A pretty comprehensive
interview with BioWare producer Trent Oster is up at Four Below Zero (thanks
RPG Vault). The interview was conducted
in person at ECTS, and contains tons of gameplay information about Neverwinter
Nights, including details for would-be mod authors and loads of other facts
for hardcore RPG fans.
3D Realms' Jess
Crable is interviewed on the Stratos Group. As the all-encompassing Duke
Nukem Forever media blackout is still in effect (and has been for ages now)
don't expect any news about the game here, but Jess does talk about his background
in the industry (he worked at Legend on Wheel of Time before landing at 3D Realms)
and other non-DNF topics.
Despite rumors that HEAT.net's online service would be snatched up by a competitor,
it looks like they're closing down after all. A
news update at the site, titled "An Important Message from HEAT.NET!"
has a good-bye message of sorts, which says that as Sega revamps their online
presence for their new Sega.net ISP (which launches tomorrow) the network will
close its doors. Current 10SIX customers, however, are unaffected by this news,
as the game has been moved over to the new ISP, but those with remaining HEAT
"degrees" have until midnight on October 6th to spend them. Thanks Voodoo
Extreme, who picked this up as it fell through the cracks (the announcement
was actually posted last week).
Ensemble Studios
has released "Capricious" the first in a series of random map
downloads available for The Conquerors, the recently released add-on Age of
Empires II. This new level "randomly decides whether food, gold and stone
are in double normal levels, at normal levels, or at one-half normal levels"
and more levels by Conquerors designer Greg Street will be released on a biweekly
basis.
The latest edition of GameSpy's
Baldur's Gate II diary is online. In this installment, BioWare producer
Greg Zeschuk gives a general update on the status of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows
of Amn, as they wrap things up, complete with a rundown of some of the game's
features.
A new interview
with Nival Interactive's Serge Orlovsky is up at GA-Strategy this morning,
talking about their upcoming title Evil Islands (as well as a pair of new screenshots).
Nival is best known as the developer of the Rage of Mages titles, and Serge
talks about the RPG elements in Evil Islands, as well as the plot and combat
system.
GA-Source has posted a
four question Q&A with Jonathan Chey of Irrational Games Australia,
talking with him about Freedom Force, their upcoming action/adventure game of
super-heroics. In addition to the Q&A itself, they have also posted two
new concept artwork images.
Dynamix' Dave
Georgeson is interviewed at PlanetStarsiege. Dave answers some questions
about the new vehicles, their use of water and other gameplay issues, and there
are a couple of new screenshots up as well.
Release candidate 2.3 of the Firearms
mod for Half-Life has been released, and is available for download at its
official site. The update is available as a 16.7 MB patch for users of version
2.2, or as a 44 MB full download.
A brief Q&A
with Dynamix' Dave Georgeson is up at PC Gameworld. The questions deal exclusively
with gameplay issues, including ones of note for fans of the original TRIBES,
such as how the new inventory stations work and how they're avoiding having
vehicles get "ripped off" (as was so common in the first game). Here's
an excerpt that should make those tired of waiting in line for an inventory
station quite happy: They are "inventory pads" now. You access
a favorites menu *before* you step onto the pad (you can't actually access the
menu while you are ON the pad), and pick the equipment you want. Then, at any
time, you can step onto a pad and get that inventory setup. You can save up
to 10 favorites as presets and can access any of those with hotkeys. We're considering
allowing more than 10 favorites. Anyway, the setup is MUCH faster and completely
eliminates lineups because people *must* select before arriving at the station.
Fans of the Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena mod InstaGib will be pleased
to know that the InstaGIB mod for Half-life
has been released. The mod brings the same one-shot-kill gameplay to Half-life
deathmatch, and includes "a pack of funny skins." Thanks Planet
Half-life for the tip.
GameSpot
spoke with Interplay about the status of Fallout: Tactics - Brotherhood
of Steel, and they have learned that the design for the playable demo is complete,
and it is expected to be released on November 15th. There is also a quote from
designer Dan Levin on the overall status of the game, which aims to mesh an
RPG feel with that of a tactical action game.
- Half-life: Counter-Strike
Although it's not entirely clear
if these are shots from anything new or just the regular mod that's out there
already, GameSpy.com has posted some
new shots from Half-life: Counter-Strike, the retail version of the ridiculously
popular Counter-Strike mod (which doesn't require Half-life to play).
- TRIBES 2
Sierra's latest TRIBES 2 shot of the week is up at
their official site,
and as has been the norm lately, TribalWar.com
has posted a higher resolution version of it.
- Serious Sam
Croteam
has updated their official Serious Sam site with an
updated picture of the Bio-Mechanoid, which as they put it, "no longer
looks like a chicken."
- Blade of Darkness/Severance
13 shots (most already familiar) from Blade of Darkness
(or Severance, depending on where you live) are
up at Daily Radar.
- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Seven
shots from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn are up at GameAddicts, which
they say are from "the more difficult levels and locations."
- Battle Realms
11
shots from Battle Realms, the upcoming RTS from Liquid Entertainment are
up at Daily Radar, while GameSpot has a
handful of shots of their own along with some new concept art images.
- Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy
GameSpot managed to get
a look at Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy at ECTS, and they have posted
some
brief impressions and a whole lot of screenshots.
- Legends of Might and Magic
Also at GameSpot are new screenshots
from Legends of Might & Magic, the upcoming LithTech engine title
from 3DO.
Reactive Software has released version 1.01 of Titanium,
their mod for Quake III Arena that features giant-robot teamplay. This new version
contains a whopping eight new maps, as well as three new suit models, an entirely
new HUD and lots more.
A demo of Reach for the Stars, an upcoming
turn-based strategy game from Mattel Interactive (based on the
original RFTS game from the 80's) has been released (thanks AVault).
The demo clocks in at 46 MB.
Daily
Radar interviews Gonzo Suarez, talking with the project lead at Pyro Studios
about their upcoming isometric tactical action game Commandos II. Topics covered
include its relation to the original Commandos title (apparently it's a whole
new game and not a direct sequel) as well as the new scenarios and multiplayer
features.
- New NVIDIA Linux Drivers
NVIDIA has posted new Linux drivers
for XFree86 4.0.1, labeled version 0.9-5 on
their FTP site (thanks LinuxGames).
- Green Eggs and...CPUs?
Well, it's been joked about, but the
guys at FreakNuts actually
tried to cook an egg using an overclocked CPU. They weren't quite successful,
but it's certainly an amusing read.
- Voodoo 5 6000 Preview
As part of their ECTS coverage, GameSpot
UK has written a
preview of 3dfx' mammoth Voodoo 5 6000 video card.
- New Voodoo 4+ Runner
Voodoo4+
Runner version 0.69b has been released. Voodoo4+ Runner is a handy program
that lets you tweak settings on 3dfx cards, and this latest release adds one-click
FSAA support.
- Price Guidance
Tech-Review.com has updated their
Weekly CPU Chart, The Tech Zone has updated their Weekly
Hardware Price Index and Sharky Extreme has updated their
Weekly CPU Prices all of which contain the latest prices on Intel and
AMD processors.
- Overclocking Tips
G3D has posted the
first edition of their overclocking tips column, which will provide weekly
help on squeezing the most out of your system.
- New GeForce Tweak Utility
Version 1.0 final of the
GeForce Tweak Utility, a program that lets you tweak the registry settings
on GeForce cards, has been released.
Version 0.15a of QuakeStarter
NEXGen has been released. QuakeStarter is a game configuration and launching
program for the Quake series of games, and this latest release is dramatically
faster than earlier versions, and has an easier to use skin browser in addition
to other changes.
With ECTS over, the flood of reports has slowed down, but there's still a number
of them left over. Here's today's list: MGON's coverage continues with a
look at the smaller companies at the show, while Gamecenter has their
full wrap-up online, as
does Stomped, Machinima.com has written their
second report, and Diablo
II.net's coverage focuses (of course) on the just-announced Diablo II expansion
pack (with lots of new info). Lastly, battle-fields.com
has posted what they say is "the first article of many" containing
their impressions from ECTS, and HardwareCentral has a
report of all the hardware shown online.
Gathering of Developers' official
KISS: Psycho Circus page has posted a new movie in QuickTime format which
features gameplay footage from the Dreamcast version of the game (which will
support online multiplayer, but only through Sega's SegaNet service).
It's that time of the month again...this Thursday is the monthly AnachroChat
with members of ION Storm's Anachronox team. To join in the fun, point your
browser to ION Storm's web-based
chat system, or your IRC client to server "www.ionstorm.com" channel
"#ion" at 9:00 EDT. Also on Thursday is a chat with members of Third
Law's KISS: Psycho Circus team in GameSpy Arcade. To participate, join in the
Psycho Circus channel using the GameSpy
Arcade software at 7:00 EDT.
Walkthrough Online has written a
complete guide to Heavy Metal: FAKK2, with explicit details on every level. Further, TalonSoft has updated their official Martian Gothic site with a downloadable walkthrough for the 3D adventure game.
Also, the Soldier of
Fortune FAQ at Soldier-of-Fortune.com has been updated to version 1.05 and
now includes the latest info about SoF Gold in addition to other changes. Lastly,
the official FAQ
for Delta Force: Land Warrior at Land-Warrior.com has been updated with
new questions about available weapons and other recent queries.
id Software's Paul Jaquays updated
his .plan with the winners of the fan voting for the QuakeCon 2000 Map Object
Model Contest. In tournament news, sign-ups have opened for Stomped's
STP Quake II one-on-one tournament, with a GeForce 2 card and some Stomped
merchandise going to the winners.
Version 0.17r001 of the free, cross-platform CrystalSpace
3D engine has been released. This release is mainly to let people upgrade
their programs from version 0.16 of the API, as it has been greatly cleaned
up since then.
New shots from the Navy Seals mod for Quake III Arena are up at its
official site, while Total
Reload has new shots from The Heat Mod, Gangsta Wars and The Battle Grounds,
three Half-life mods. Also, new shots and concept art from squadron: GHOST (a
mod for Half-life) are up at its official
site, and Swartz from the Real Tournament mod for Unreal Tournament is
interviewed on Unreal Italia (in English).
I mentioned yesterday that I finally had my DSL line installed, and
what do you know...I've now got IP addresses and later today I should have a
router installed (which frankly shouldn't consist of anything more than plugging
it into the wall). So if for some reason I stop posting news later today, assume
it's because my apartment has blown up (either that or the world as we know
it has come to a standstill) as the higher power that has prevented me from
getting a DSL line for over a year (!) strikes his final blow. Regardless, today
(hopefully) Blue makes his triumphant return to the Blue Tower, and Frans returned
yesterday, so things should be returning to normal around here. Relatively speaking,
of course.
Story of the Day: The
Ultimate Laptop: A Black Hole (thanks Mirsky).
Story of the Day (2): Kidnapped
computer calls cops, culprit collared (thanks ttol).
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