Archived News:
EP Radio has conducted an in-depth interview with Warren Spector, talking to the legendary designer about his most recent game, Deus Ex ( Windows Media Player required). Warren discusses his role in the development team, the inception of the project, dealing with the focus on him as a person versus the games he's making, the advantages of licensing technology, several aspects of their design choices, how well the game is selling, and lots more. The talk runs for more than half an hour, but it's a great listen.
Daily Radar has posted a new interview on Ultima Worlds Online: Origin, querying lead designer Damion Schubert about this upcoming MMORPG sequel. Damien talks about their goals for this game, some of its features like emotes and guilds, what will distinguish it from similar online offerings, and the proverbial more.
Anachronox Interview on PC.IGN.com quizzes ION Storm lead designer Tom Hall about his upcoming 3D role-playing game, talking about the game's development progress, his vision for the game, some details about the skill system, how easy the game can be modified, and a few other topics. Here is a quote on how everything's coming along:
Latest developments: the battle system is really coming into its
own (the MysTech effects look COOL!) Jake, the artists (Travis Doggett,
Russ Hughes, and John Sheffield), and Will the sound guy have really
made some incredible effects. The levels are now bristling with sound, the
Hive assault mini-game is really fun, all the player World Skills are in…
Testers are laying into the game. It's really shaping up!
Also on PC.IGN.com tonight is a new preview of Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, looking ahead to the isometric RPG expansion pack by Black Isle Studios. There's a brief description of the plot before serving up more details about the new features and various improvements, and a couple of screenshots and a model animation provide the mandatory imagery.
Rites of Acerbus Interview on RPG Vault is a in-depth talk with no less than four developers from OMG-Games about their upcoming 3D adventure RPG. They jointly discuss the origins of their company, the game's premise, backstory and features, as well as the RPG elements, technology and more. Rounding out the proceedings are a whole bunch of images, five of which are new.
GamePower has posted a new preview of Giants: Citizen Kabuto, examining the increasingly ubiquitous beta build of Planet Moon's third-person action game from which they've also snapped ten new screenshots. The article contains a succinct overview of the game's premise and features, and as is their way, it's accompanied by a movie clip that features bits from an old promo trailer and over two minutes of new, in-game footage. Rounding out the package is a Q&A with Planet Moon's Tim Williams and Scott Guest as well as Interplay's Shawn Jacoby who discuss their game, the ongoing improvements during its development, gameplay balancing, and a few related topics.
This story on GameSpot has the first details on Golem, a "post-apocalyptic" strategy game by Polish developers Leryx Longsoft. Along with some preliminary game information, there are also more than 20 screenshots to show what it looks like.
Fansite Hidden & Dangerous II @ raingaming has posted a movie of Hidden & Dangerous 2 filmed during the backroom demos at ECTS where Illusion Softworks presented some very early playable code of their upcoming 3D tactical shooter (thanks SpecForce). The movie suffers from fairly heavy interlacing and doesn't really do the game justice, but nonetheless shows some three and a half minutes of RealPlayer footage with several outdoor and indoor environments, some vehicle action, and other interesting scenery, sporting commentary from lead designer Tomás Pluharík.
There is a new Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force interview on Digital Game Developer, querying Raven's Brian Pelletier and Mike Gummelt about their just-released Trekkie first-person shooter. They talk about their choice of the Quake III engine, the development of the team AI, their ICARUS scripting system, and several related topics.
Crave Entertainment has opened the official Battle Realms teaser site for the 3D real-time strategy game being developed by Liquid Entertainment, although it presently only offers the opportunity to sign up for a mailing list (through which future site updates will be announced) as a "member" of one of the four clans in the game.
Newly opened fansite AOForge has conducted an interview on Anarchy Online, talking to Funcom's Tor Andre Wigmostad about their upcoming futuristic MMORPG. Forgoing the usual introductory questions, the Q&A dives right into various details of the game, such as the skills system, game balance, first- and third-person perspectives, and a few other topics.
ION Storm sends word that this Thursday, October 5, a new monthly Anachrochat will take place at 9 PM EDT (8 PM CDT), offering you a chance to quiz lead designer Tom Hall and the Anachronox crew about their upcoming 3D role-playing game. To participate in the festivities, connect to IRC server www.ionstorm.com, channel #ion, or use the Chat lobby on ION's website. Also, there are three new Anachronox screenshots on GA-RPG.
GameSpot UK has posted a new gallery of Project I.G.I. screenshots that offers five new (and four familiar) scenes of the 3D thinker shooter in development at Innerloop. And elsewhere, a brief but hands-on preview of Sea Dogs on Gaming Age includes a dozen new screenshots of the 3D role-playing game by Akella.
Volition's Alan
Lawrance is interviewed on German site ZOCKS, talking about Red Faction,
their upcoming FPS game that boasts deformable terrain. The interview was conducted
at the recent ECTS expo, and the questions deal largely with various gameplay
issues. There are a number of screenshots up as well, all of which have previously
been seen elsewhere. The interview is in English, and a German language version
is promised for tomorrow.
Hot on the heels of the Mac OS release earlier today (see below), the Linux
version of the Parsec LAN-Test is now available
for download at its official site. Like the Mac port, this is restricted
to LAN play only, as it uses a peer-to-peer networking system. A Win32 version
is expected to be released shortly.
A new Q&A
with Peter Molyneux is up at WomenGamers.com this afternoon. This is the
first of their two part feature, and he talks about all those
nifty little things he likes implementing into his games, along with the future
of the industry and his post Black & White projects, one of which will be
a sequel, and one of which is being designed specifically for console systems.
In related news, fan page The Citadel
has posted the last of their movies from Peter Molyneux' ECTS demonstration.
The Parsec LAN-test has been released for the Mac OS, and is available
for download at MacGameFiles.com. This is a peer-to-peer only version of
the game, so it only allows for four people on the same local network to play
together, and is being released solely for test purposes. Versions for Windows
and Linux should be released shortly.
ION Storm's official Daikatana page has posted a
new version 1.0 to 1.2 patch for the game. While identical in content to
the already available version 1.2 ( story), this patch is only one 46 MB file, saving you the lengthy two step upgrade and a 23 MB download required by the original version 1.1 and 1.2 patches.
We've been informed that Gunlok, the upcoming action RPG from Aliens vs. Predator
developers Rebellion, is scheduled to ship in eight weeks. As the the date draws
closer, they will be making new announcements and releasing new media on a weekly
basis, and the first batch of screenshots has been sent our way. Here are 12
new screenshots from the game, which show off some of the locations in the
game, along with the customization screen and the first person "recon"
mode.
GameRush has cornered Westwood producer Harvard Bonin for a detailed interview on Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, the RTS sequel that is due in stores in about three weeks. Topics on the agenda include their goals for this game, unit balance, the FMV sequences, the choice of engine, multiplayer, and lots more.
Six new
screenshots from Rune, Human Head's upcoming third person action title of
drunken Viking glory are up at GA-Source, along with a full rundown of all the
various available weapons. In related news, RuneNews.com has posted the
first portion of their preview of the Rune pen and paper RPG that's in development
at Atlas Games, which contains some quotes from the development team.
The official Blair Witch Volume 1: Rustin Parr site now features a support section for this just-released horror adventure, offering a technical support FAQ, discussion forums, and more. Also, Walkthrough Online has posted their complete Deus Ex walkthrough to guide you through ION Storm's acclaimed 3D action RPG. Finally, the Elder Scrolls: Morrowind FAQ on Destination: Morrowind has been updated with more information on Bethesda's upcoming 3D role-playing game, and has now reached version 3.0.
CheckOut.com
Games interviews Mike Montgomery, the head brother at Bitmap Brothers, the
developers of the classic games Z, Cadaver, Chaos Engine, Gods, Magic Pockets,
Xenon and others, talking with him about their upcoming titles Z2 and Speedball
2100, the latter of which is being developed exclusively for the Playstation.
Mike explains that they've been spending the four years since the release of
the original Z developing their 3D engine which will be used in its sequel and
he also talks a little about the company's history and where the industry is
going.
Italian gaming site Nextgame.it has posted a
new interview with Jonathan Knight, Activision's producer on Return to Castle
Wolfenstein. Jonathan talks briefly about what they've added to the Quake III
Arena engine, how action-oriented the gameplay is and the possibility of a co-op
multiplayer mode (which is very unlikely). It's available in your choice of
English or Italian.
As noted on Sierra's official
SWAT 3 site, SWAT 3: Elite Edition, the multiplayer-enhanced version of
the game, has gone gold and is off to replication (thanks Crash). SWAT 3: Elite
Edition also includes the editing tools for the game, and the complete single
player component from the original, and there will be a patch released in the
near future to allow current SWAT 3 owners to upgrade for free.
A page called EAX enhancements for Soldier of Fortune
offers just that, the first of a planned series of Soldier of Fortune sound
enhancements for users of Creative Labs' EAX-enabled soundcards. This release
offers new environmental sounds for the deathmatch levels in Soldier of Fortune
(details on the enhancements can be found here),
which will require Soldier of Fortune Gold, or version 1.06 (or later) to
operate. Thanks The Patches Scrolls.
GameSpy.com's
interview with American McGee talks with the creative director at Electronic Arts behind Alice, the upcoming third-person game that uses the
Quake III-engine (as tweaked by Ritual for Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2) to recreate a
variation on Lewis Carroll's world of dark fantasy. Meanwhile, GA-Source
interviews Brandon James, of Rogue Entertainment, talking with another
former id Software level designer (both Brandon, A.K.A. KillMe and American,
A.K.A. tokay, previously worked for id) about his work on Alice.
Stomped's SWAT
3 Elite Edition interview chats with Rod "Tons of" Fung, the
producer on the upcoming multiplayer add-on for Sierra's tactical police
simulation. This question and answer discuss the limit they're setting on the
number of players supported: Stomped: Some people might be
disappointed with the game’s limit of only 5 or 6 people in multiplayer, even
though the game can be filled out with AI opponents. What were the reasons why
more people could not be accommodated and do you feel the AI opponents will give
players a solid multiplayer experience?
Fung: Most of the reason for the 5-player limit has to do with keeping the
flavor of the original game, but in a multiplayer environment. Co-operation is
the main thrust of SWAT 3 Elite Edition and the five player model fits very
well. Keeping the integrity of the original 5-man team concept is also crucial
for the communication / command menu that we designed. The AI in SWAT 3 EE are
smarter and more aggressive. The AI opponents definitely are tough opponents to
go up against in the game.
Activision's Product Solutions
for the Soldier of Fortune Gold Edition is online with a searchable
knowledgebase of fixes for common problems with the just-released SoF add-on.
Also, Planet DAIKATANA's
Daikatana FAQ has been updated, and now offers links to the game's editing
tools and patches, and more info on the retail release, including instructions
on setting up a server, more on the patches, and the cheat codes. Finally, a new
Delta Force: Land Warrior
FAQ 4 is online, answering questions not covered in FAQ
1, FAQ 2, or FAQ
3.
An article titled The
Transition of FPS Games onto Consoles on MSXbox talks with 3D Realms' George Broussard and id Software's John Carmack about the potential for console systems and games in the first-person shooter genre to adapt to each other. On a related subject, DailyRadar.com's
preview of PS2 Unreal Tournament is out, declaring: "It's UT, it's PS2
and it's very very good," while Bleszinski Talks UT on PS2 on PS2.IGN.Com is a Q&A discussing the upcoming port with CliffyB. Finally, on another
related note, Sega Slows Down Plans for Broadband Adapter on Dreamcast.IGN.Com reports a delay in the release of a Dreamcast broadband adapter, which was originally supposed to be released concurrently with the D.C. Q3A port.
A follow-up on yesterday's birthday wishes is that many readers wrote in that,
unlike Snake Plissken, rumors of Spanky's death have not been exaggerated. As this
page on FindAGrave.Com (one of those sites that falls into the category of
'oogie but helpful.') recounts, George McFarland died in 1993, and he would have
been 72 yesterday (thanks Roger Phillips).
Speaking of anniversaries, David Chase writes in to point out a few of these
as well (by the way, in case it isn't obvious, any notes about anniversaries
here are because an anniversary of some sort was "noticed" at the
appropriate time, there's no official calendar for this stuff--I just wanted to
point that out in case there was ever a question about why one of these might
get over looked): Tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of the first official Doom
beta release (to press only), today is the fourth anniversary of the first
mention of Zoid's Threewave CTF here, and finally, it was 23 years ago this
month that Atari first released the classic 2600 home arcade console system
under the name "VCS" (blow out the candles, loony).
Story of the Day: Large iceberg breaks free from Antarctica
(CNN). We're talking a berg ten times the size of Manhattan (though parking can
be even more difficult to find). Thanks Frederik.
Bonus Story: Can gorillas and dolphins
communicate? Thanks Wouter Teeninga.
Super Bonus Story: Finger-Toe Transplants.
Thanks devilbunny.
|
Twitter 
