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Archived News:
PC.IGN has conducted an interview
with Tom Zahorik, the senior producer on Starship Troopers, the upcoming
squad-based action game from Blue Tongue and Hasbro Interactive. Tom talks about
the game's relationship to both the book and movie, along with the reasons why
earlier games based on the license were scrapped, and their plans for a sequel
(or lack thereof).
Also on PC.IGN this evening is a
new preview of Rune, the third person Unreal-engine title of Viking violence
from Human Head. The preview contains quotes from Human Head's Tim Gerritsen,
and has details on both the single and multiplayer aspects of the game along
with some new screenshots.
As is their way, Gamecenter has posted a Fast Track Guide for Homeworld: Cataclysm, offering general information, playing tips, and walkthroughs for the first seven missions in Barking Dog's recently released space RTS. Likewise, the Warlords: Battlecry Game Guide on GameSpot offers detailed support for the role-playing RTS by SSG, complete with abundant gameplay tips and walkthroughs for all missions. And lastly, the Baldur's Gate II section of GameFAQs sports several FAQ/Walkthroughs for BioWare's just-released RPG sequel.
Another Q&A on Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force is up at Rust today, talking to Raven's Mike Schulenberg and Jeremy Statz about their just-released first-person shooter, the challenges of the Star Trek license, the level design process, and the limitations and challenges of some specific levels in the game.
Czech gaming site BonusWeb has conducted a
new interview with Alan Brazier of Headfirst Productions, talking with him
about their upcoming first person adventure game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners
of The Earth. Alan explains why they licensed the Cthulhu pen and paper game
from Chaosium, their decision to use the NDL NetImmerse engine, and their multiplayer
modes, including word that unlike most games these days, Cthulhu will in fact
have a co-op mode. It's available in your choice of English
or Czech, and includes three new screenshots.
Sierra Studios and Valve
Software have announced their second annual Half-Life Mod Expo, which will
take place at The Zodiac Club in San
Francisco on Thursday, October 12th at 9:00 PM. Gunman, the mod which recently
became a full-fledged Half-Life engine game, was shown to the public at the first expo,
and this year's lineup includes FireArms, The Opera, Wanted and more.
A non-interactive technology demo from No One Lives Forever has been released,
and is available
over at GameSpot (thanks Stomped).
The demo is designed to showcase the lighting, animation, level-of-detail and
other whizbang features, and has a character dancing in a 60's style club.
Sector 14 Studios' Richard G. Brewer made a
post to FirstOnes.com's forums with the news that despite over a year's
worth of efforts from fans and the developers, Babylon 5: Into the Fire is no
more (thanks Drazi Guy). The game was cancelled last year by Sierra Studios
( story) however the developers had hoped to keep the project alive
by finding a new publisher. According to Richard's post, however, it looks like
they've lost the Babylon 5 license altogether. Here's an excerpt: It is
with deepest regret that I must inform you that our efforts to finish “Babylon
5: Into the Fire” have failed.
It is not due to problems with Sector 14 Studios, nor is it due to lack of interest
by publishers, or lack of funding, but rather the current holder of the materials
recently informed us they were no longer interested in selling the game assets.
Appeals to the highest levels of management at Havas in France were not able
to change their stance.
This outcome is unfortunate, for several reasons. Those of you close to the
project know just how revolutionary the game design and gameplay would have
been, and given the rather stagnant performance of space combat games, many
to us knew in our heart of hearts that ItF had real potential to turn the market
around, and get some of the life that the first person shooter market has been
enjoying for the past 3 years. Technology-wise, we had many features in the
design that are now becoming common-use tools such as multithreading and hierarchical
AI—it was exciting to push the boundaries of technology in that way. For
the fan of Babylon 5, it is another blow—the last remaining unseen footage
of the cast and crew will remain unseen. This is a tragedy in itself.
What does this mean for Babylon 5 gaming? What’s next for Sector 14 Studios?
Time will tell. More than a few of us have put our blood, sweat, and tears into
this project. Personally, I’ve been working on this as a second job, logging
in 10 plus hours a day for the past year on top of the demands of a full-time
engineering career. Sector 14 Studios is a labor of love for us, and we won’t
let it die. It is as much a way of thinking as it is a development studio—we’ve
shared a special bond with our fans, and we hope that bond continues in the
future when we are ready to start anew. We have ideas where we might go, but
for now we need a rest—it’s a time of closure, as many of us have
been putting 110% into ItF for over 3 years. In the meantime, we’d be happy
to hear from any of you. Please feel free to send us your thoughts at sector14studios@yahoo.com
or contact me directly.
PCShooter has conducted a brief interview with Mike Gummelt, talking to the Raven programmer about the just-released Trekkie shooter. Mike looks back at its development, discusses what he feels are the best parts of the game, and explains their ICARUS scripting system, among a few other topics.
Version 1.0 of the RTS Quake
mod for Quake III Arena is now available. RTS Quake is a mod that adds strategy
game elements like resource collection and unit upgrading to Q3A, and this latest
release adds 3D models for all buildings, building explosions and gameplay tweaks
in addition to other changes.
Planet Moon and Interplay have released another batch of Giants: Citizen Kabuto movies for download, and like the previous set ( story), there doesn't appear to be an accompanying page to link to, so the direct FTP links are below. All movies sport the game's namesake Kabuto strawling around the landscape, engaging in what appear to be his favorite gymnastics as well as rounding up Vimps for food, and the last clip features some deathmatching with a Meccaryn.
A new interview with
XYZ Games project administrator Vitomir Jevremovic is up at Honest3D. Vitomir
talks about their ambitious massively multiplayer space-sim 3rd World, touching
on how death will be handled, how players will communicate (there's a SpaceICQ
system for long distance messaging) and more.
The Mushroom has posted a
20 question interview with Monolith's Jason Hall. The interview is wisely
divided into two pages, one with questions about Monolith, LithTech Inc. and
Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles, their upcoming game of giant robot mayhem, and
one page containing more personal questions.
GameSpy.com has conducted a
new interview with Volition's Alan Lawrance, talking with him about their
upcoming FPS Red Faction. Alan discusses how the game's deformable terrain engine
affects gameplay, the background of the various team members (many of whom worked
on Freespace and Descent) the level editor that will ship with the game and
more. There are also three new screenshots up, along with a few previously available
ones.
A new preview
of The Moon Project, the upcoming sequel to Earth 2150 is up at AVault this
morning, complete with a handful of screenshots. The preview examines its connection
to Earth 2150 (both in terms of plot and gameplay), and they quote one of the
developers as saying that this game focuses more on adventure than its predecessor,
with more creative and open-ended ways to complete a mission.
A new edition of
GameSpy.com's O.R.B. Developer Diary is online this morning. This installment,
by Strategy First designer "Sarcasmo" focuses on the development of
the weapons in O.R.B., their upcoming 3D strategy game, outlining the pros and
cons of each.
There are a couple of updates on the official Starship Troopers site, as word is the game is now "a matter of days away from the gold master," and also that a playable demo is scheduled "by the end of next week." Additionally, an comprehensive FAQ is now online, offering everything you always wanted to know about Blue Tongue's 3D tactical squad combat game, but didn't know where to look for.
As is their way, Ellipse Studios has released a new Submarine Titans multiplayer map for download, expanding their underwater RTS that was released earlier this year. Entitled Grand Fairway, the map is one of the largest so far, as it accommodates seven players.
Stomped
interviews Kenn Hoekstra, talking with the project administrator at Raven
Software mostly about Star Trek: Voyager-Elite Force, Raven's recently released
Trekkie shooter. The conversation covers many bases, including the question of
whether the single-player portion of the game is too short: Stomped:
Although the reviews for Elite Force have been mostly positive, many reviewers
have mentioned that the single player portion of the game was short, with some
saying it was too short. How do you respond to these statements?
Hoekstra: I'm not entirely sure where these statements are coming from, to
be honest. Reviewers don't seem to be taking into account that Elite Force is
not only a single player game, but a fully functional, rather sizeable
multiplayer game as well. Every day I see another press release about an
upcoming game that is multiplayer only or is dropping multiplayer in order to be
single player only. And yet here is Elite Force, a 40 level single player game
with multiple main characters, multiple story arcs, online capabilities for head
to head play, several bot based "single player" games and a host of
other multiplayer options and people are calling it short. I guess reviewers are
dissecting it into two games rather than calling the whole package, single
player and multiplayer, one big game.
From our perspective, similar comments that have been sent to us at Raven via
e-mail have said, "The game was so cool, I didn't want it to end." I
couldn't agree more. If you're enjoying a good game, you don't want it to end,
and I think that's a big part of the argument as well.
Daily Radar
interviews Senator Joseph Lieberman, current vice presidential candidate in
the upcoming US presidential elections. The conversation with the democrat from
Connecticut discusses his feelings about violence in the media, and its impact
on children, a topic with which he is strongly associated. The interview discusses many
aspects of the Senator's position on the subject, in many cases taking the time
to clarify his proposals, like in the following answer, which discusses possible
game content regulation and the first amendment: DR: It is a
common understanding among those who play videogames regularly that you think
violent games should be regulated or banned. Is that an accurate assessment of
your position? If not, what role should the federal government play in this
issue?
JL: That is a common MISunderstanding. I have never proposed having the
government ban games or regulate game content. I am a devout believer in the
First Amendment, and have consistently opposed resorting to censorship to
address the growing public concern about media violence and indecency -- for
example I was one of just 16 senators who voted against the Communications
Decency Act. Instead, I have simply called for better citizenship by the
entertainment industry and the videogame makers, and urged them to accept
greater responsibility for the influence they wield in our society. More
specifically, I have asked them to set higher standards for their products and
to draw basic lines they will not cross in order to make an extra dollar. And,
short of that, I have asked them to do a better job of helping parents shield
their children from inappropriate and potentially harmful products, providing
them with useful tools like content-based ratings and blocking technology like
the V-chip.
There are many constructive steps, though, the government can take to help
parents and reduce the risk of media violence. Elected leaders can and should
give voice to the values and concerns of the parents they represent and use the
public platform they are afforded to demand more responsibility from media
producers and retailers. In addition they can hold hearings and forums to raise
public awareness about the threat of media violence and educate parents about
things they can do to better protect their children.
The QuakeForge Project website has the
first release of their modified Quakeworld server program, and a newer beta 2 of
their modified version of the Quakeworld client, both based on the publicly-available
Quake source code. Thanks Stomped, by way
of PlanetQuake.
MSXbox interviews Jason
Hall, talking with the monolithic CEO at Monolith about the recent
announcement that LithTech is joining Microsoft’s Tools & Middleware
program. Also, a post called The World Is Not Enough This
Month on Gamecenter has some TWINE console dates, saying "...the
Nintendo 64 version of the 007 action game...will ship on October 17, with the
PlayStation version to follow in early November. EA gave no word on the
PlayStation 2 and PC versions of the game; those versions will be built on id
Software's Quake III Arena engine."
Fatal1ty's Tips and Tricks on Q3A @ Stomped
offers both basic deathmatch tips and tournament (one-on-one) strategies for
Quake III Arena, presumably revealing some of the techniques that have lead to
his great success on the competitive tournament scene. Also, Part
two of DailyRadar.com's game guide for Baldur's Gate II is online, offering
tips on getting through chapter two of the RPG. Finally, the Stratos Group's
Guide to Star Trek New Worlds is now available in HTML form, or as a free download.
Introduction
to modeling using Milkshape 3D on Machinima.com offers a tutorial on chUmbaLum sOft's
freeware modeling program in both web-based, and printer-friendly formats.
Hey more birthdays! As noted in
Kenn Hoekstra's .plan, the Raven project administrator is now 27 (I have
t-shirts older than that!). Also, minister of birthdays Chris
Morris points out another: Happy 76th birthday to Charlton Heston. C'mon,
say it along with me once: "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty
ape!"
Link of the Day: The official U.S. time
at time.gov. Thanks ttol.
Story of the Day: Critics blast FBI's first release of Carnivore documents
(CNET). "The Carnivore system, which is installed at Internet service
providers, captures "packets" of Internet traffic as they travel
through ISP networks. The program sifts through millions of mail messages,
searching for notes sent by people under investigation." Thanks Frederik.
Bonus Story: Computer That Ate Hitler's Brain.
A little history of the British Colossus project, used to break the German
Enigma code in World War II, possibly earning the perpetrators the title of
"first hackers." Thanks WarPig[doh].
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