Archived News:
Dynamix' Dave Georgeson sent out an e-mail to TRIBES 2 beta testers letting
them know that the beta test is going on temporary hiatus tomorrow night. The
e-mail sent out explains that the hiatus is being done to allow the team time
to fix all the issues that have been brought up in the last month, as the time
they were spending making patches can now be used on gameplay issues. He stresses
that the beta is not over yet, and that a new beta CD will be sent to testers
in the near future. Whether or not this will affect TRIBES 2's retail release
is unknown.
Headfirst designer Andrew Brazier
is interviewed on PC.IGN, talking about their upcoming first person title
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. The interview covers a lot of ground,
touching on how faithful they are to the Cthulhu mythos, their decision to use
a first person perspective, the game's interface (or lack thereof) and how your
character's sanity will factor into the gameplay. Here's an excerpt dealing
with that subject: Sanity (and the loss of it) is a key part of gameplay.
As with the RPG, investigators begin to lose their sanity as they discover more
of the mythos’ darkest secrets, and see more and more horrific creatures.
In the game, the loss of sanity can have an effect on various elements of gameplay
– such as the ability to communicate coherently with NPCs, the accuracy
of your aim, even how quietly you can move about. We never want to do anything
that hampers gameplay though, just include things, which build up atmosphere
and sense of immersion.
Also on PC.IGN this evening is a
preview of Heart of Winter, the add-on for Icewind Dale from Black Isle
Studios. The preview is based on a demonstration of the game they were given,
and contains details on all the new additions, including plot points which have
a nice spoiler warning for those that would rather not know the story beforehand.
If you'd like to circumvent the problem altogether, another preview
is up at Daily Radar that features quotes from producer Darren Monahan and
no spoiler warnings.
- O.R.B.
Quarter to Three has posted a brief status update on O.R.B., offering the latest on the development of the space-based RTS by Strategy First, along with a new screenshot.
- Oni
Another three new Oni screenshots are up at VoodooExtreme, showing yet more from the third-person anime inspired action game by Bungie.
- Desperados
GA-Strategy has posted four new Desperados screenshots, illustrating the isometric squad-based strategy game by German developers Spellbound.
In response to our Far Gate story earlier this evening,
BarrysWorld points out that their Far Gate fansite reported last week that the game has not only gone gold in the UK, but has already appeared on store shelves on that country. Additionally, a new playable demo is available to replace the old demo of The Rift ( story), the former name of the game. This 66.4 MB download includes a tutorial and a single-player mission but no multiplayer. Be aware that the demo includes and forces you to install the English version of DirectX 7.0a.
GameSpot has conducted a
new interview with Chris Roberts, talking with him about yesterday's announcement
that Digital Anvil has been acquired by Microsoft ( story). Much
of what is said here has already been seen elsewhere, but as this is a full
interview and not just sound bytes, everything is a bit more fleshed out. Chris
talks specifically about why the company was sold, and he repeatedly stresses
his belief that to make an A+ title you need a four year development cycle and
the complete backing of a major publisher. He also says he would be willing
to revisit the Wing Commander universe were he given the right opportunity,
and hints at Digital Anvil's unannounced Xbox title, saying that, "it has
been in development for two years and it is sci-fi."
The TRIBES 2 week on GameSpot continues with their looks at the multiplayer modes in Dynamix' team-based shooter, and today they examine the Capture and Hold mode. As usual, they describe the objective and maps for this mode, and there are half a dozen new screenshots.
GameSpot has posted their massive Sacrifice Game Guide, offering everything you need to whiz your way through Shiny's recently released 3D action strategy game. There are general and campaign-specific strategies, walkthroughs for all missions playing as one of the five wizards, as well as the final Crucible mission, and also statistics on the creatures and spells you get to play with during the game.
Fragland.net has received word from Super X Studios founder James Trush that Far Gate has gone gold. There however are no details on release dates and territories, or even whether publisher Microids has approved this space-based RTS for manufacturing.
The apparently revamped 3D Downloads has posted an updated version of the Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force GDK, bringing this Game Development Kit for Raven's first-person shooter up to version 1.1, in line with the patch, source code and Linux server releases earlier this month.
RPG Vault has conducted a
Q&A with Jeff Anderson, the executive in charge of production on Ultima
Worlds Online: Origin. None of the questions deal with that particular game,
but instead focus on the massively multiplayer genre, and Jeff comments on the
future of MMORPGs, online gaming communities and other related topics.
Gamers.com is reporting that
after being tied to several different companies, Hasbro Interactive
is finally being picked up by Infogrames. The deal is valued at $100 million,
and gives Infogrames the publishing rights to Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly,
the Atari classic library, and more. It still has to be signed off on by shareholders,
but it is expected to go through in early 2001.
When Giants: Citizen Kabuto hits the shelves tomorrow, you might notice a pair
of inconsistencies with the many screenshots that have been circulating over
the last year or so. Two changes have been added to the final version of the
game: the formerly topless character Delphi is now wearing clothing, and the
blood has been changed to a green color. These modifications were not in any
of the playable builds of the game that were sent to editors, and were added
at the last minute. A representative from Interplay told us that they were put
in "to make the game available to a wider audience." These changes haven't affected the game's rating, as according
to the ESRB site it was given an "M" rating, although it is possible
that the changes were made after its submission to the ratings board. Update: Stomped spoke with Planet Moon's Tim Williams who informed them that Delphi was clothed out of fear that certain retail outlets wouldn't carry the game. He also says "no comment" when asked about a future patch to put the blood and nudity back in. Meanwhile, a story on Gamers.com suggests that a blood patch will be released soon to restore the original red color (Delphi however, will remain clothed).
Data Becker has recently released a playable demo of America, an isometric RTS that purportedly lets you relive "how the West was won." The demo, which can be downloaded from their frontpage, clocks in at a whopping 125.7 MB but there is no information on what it contains. Thanks GameSpot, who have a mirror here.
According to a
story at Stomped, Freedom: First Resistance, the third person action/adventure
game from Red Storm has gone gold. No official word has come from Red Storm
yet, but Stomped is reporting that the game will be available on US store shelves
in mid-December.
Well-Rounded
Entertainment has confirmed that American McGee's Alice is being made into
a major motion picture (because nothing's ever a minor motion picture).
According to their news update, horror film director Wes Craven has signed on
to direct, and the screenplay will be written by John August, who penned this
summer's Charlie's Angels film. A full interview with McGee is promised to run
tomorrow, with more details on the project.
Version 0.99n beta of the Orange
Smoothie DM mod for Quake III Arena has been released (thanks Ozh).
This new release contains a number of tweaks, including one that reduces lag
from network overhead, as well as new camera options and a new overtime voting
system.
A new Q&A with id
Software's Paul Jaquays is up at The Deathmatch Zone this afternoon. Paul
talks about Quake III: Team Arena, level design in general and his interaction
with the community among other topics.
Gamasutra has posted their
latest postmortem article, this time featuring Warren Spector's look back
at Deus Ex. The article is an expanded version of the one that ran in Game Developer
Magazine, and like all their postmortems contains what he felt went right and
wrong with the game, but there are a few additional things thrown in, including
Warren's "Rules of Role-Playing" and details on the specific goals
they aimed for with Deus Ex.
Version 2.2.1 of the Kquery server browser is now available, adding support for Elite Force and QuakeWorld, as well as new player checker, player lister, and master server list import/export features, and more. An online help system has also been added and an updated user guide is available as a separate download.
Mindless Games has conducted an interview with Croteam artist Dinko Pavicic, naturally discussing their upcoming first-person shooter Serious Sam. The questions are all over the map, but Dinko talks about their Serious Engine and its odd-ball multi-directional gravity feature, the response to the first test demo and anticipation of the final game, and several other topics, some of which are warded off in a decidedly tongue-in-cheek manner.
AVault
is reporting that Soldier, the third person action game from Sinister Games
might never see the light of day. Soldier, which is based on the movie of the
same name, was supposed to be published by Southpeak Interactive, although now
that Southpeak has been sold (the exact details of which are still forthcoming),
nobody's quite sure what will happen to the game. On a somewhat positive note,
AVault is also reporting that Sinister is working on an Xbox game for Ubi Soft,
rather than sitting around and waiting to hear what will happen to Soldier.
Stomped has conducted a
brief interview with id Software's Todd Hollenshead. Todd fields questions
about Quake III: Team Arena, explaining why they decided to develop a mission-pack
internally (as opposed to outsourcing it like they did for the Quake and Quake
II add-ons), the reaction to the recently released demo and why it was pushed
back to Christmas 2000 (although there never really was an official release
date). There are also a few questions about other id subjects, including whether
or not we'll ever see another Quake game.
Fan site Coldwar: Flashpoint has posted a new movie of Operation Flashpoint which they found on the cover CD-ROM of German magazine PC Games. The trailer offers two minutes of in-game footage from the 3D tactical combat game by Bohemia Interactive Studio, showing off some impressive gameplay on foot, in a tank and up in the air by helicopter, accompanied by a German voice-over.
Tomorrow's the first Thursday of the month, and thus ION Storm's Daily Informant has word of a new AnachroChat where you can talk to Tom Hall and the rest of the gang about their upcoming 3D role-playing game, Anachronox. The fun kicks off at 9 PM EST (8 PM CST) on IRC server "www.ionstorm.com" channel "#ion", and you can also join via their Java chat applet.
A new edition
of GameSpy.com's Black & White developer's diary is online this morning.
This latest installment is by Lionhead's Steve Jackson, and consists of a profile
of designer Peter Molyneux. There aren't any new gameplay details revealed,
but then there aren't many Black & White details that haven't been mentioned
in dozens of previews already.
The Corporation
interviews Andre Wigmostad of Funcom, talking with him about their upcoming
massively multiplayer RPG Anarchy Online. The questions deal with a number of
gameplay issues, including how their four-year storyline will unfold, how player
killing is handled and more. Thanks RPG Vault.
A new
preview of Ace of Angels, a massively multiplayer space-sim from Flying
Rock Enterprises is up at AVault this morning. The preview contains a healthy
dose of gameplay details, with a description of the game's complex universe,
and it is illustrated with a handful of screenshots.
The Daily Telefrag has posted a
preview of Age of Sail II. The preview doesn't contain any new screenshots,
but it is based on the author's hands-on experience with a build of the game,
and has his impressions along with details on the interface, AI and scenarios.
GA-Source has conducted a
Q&A with Uwe Beneke, a designer at Yager Development on their upcoming
futuristic aerial combat game Yager. Uwe fields questions about the game, their
internally developed engine, the game's release date ("by the end of 2001")
and more.
Rogue Entertainment's Peter Mack made an
update to his .plan mentioning that there is no SMP support at this point in
the "demo/game" (which one presumes is Alice), as well as outlining
how to get your joystick working in in spite of the fact that joystick support
is, well, unsupported: Still no sign of the game at stores here in Dallas.
If anyone finds it in D/FW, let me know.
A few more notes for the demo/game.
Joystick support is in there, but didn't get tested enough before we shipped to
make it as a "supported" feature. However, it seems to work just fine.
Just pull down the console, and type "in_joystick 1". Then type
"in_restart". If your joystick is recognized by Windows/DirectX, it
should work fine.
Also, SMP support is not in there at this time. If enough people ask for it, we
may add it in a patch.
Also, as noted below ( story),
there's a new patch offering Alice SpaceOrb support on Birdman's Lair.
Here's more Alice configuration help, as a post
on Stomped offers word from id Software programmer Jim Dosé on how to
enable the first-person viewpoint in Rogue's new third-person offering by
entering the command "cg_3rd_person 0" at the console. Setting
cg_3rd_person back to "1" returns to the original chasecam.
A post on the Game Basement
(a semi-follow-up to their
Q3A Texture Compression article) gets confirmation from id Software CEO Todd
Hollenshead that while lightmaps were compressed in the Quake III: Team Arena
demo, they will not be compressed in the full Q3: TA release.
A new version 1.01 of the GameSpy Arcade
server browser is now available, the new release to address some bugs from
version 1.0. Word from the little spies is that Arcade supports the
newly-released Deus Ex multiplayer patch ( story).
Hit your caps-lock, a new release of RANDMAP for Half-Life
is now available, updating this utility that can create random Half-Life maps
(hence the name) on the fly to version 4.00. The new version boasts a list of
improvements and changes way too large to list here.
A post called Quake III Revolution Coming This Spring
on PS2.IGN.Com has a name and release date for an upcoming Quake III
Playstation 2 title. Their source is EB World,
so based on track record, while it's likely that that name is correct, it's
also extremely doubtful that their specific March 6, 2001 release date is
accurate. Also, fans of the Evil Dead movies will be disappointed at the Evil Dead: Hail to the King review on
PSX.IGN.Com, which is decidedly negative. Continuing to roam the IGN sites,
we learn on Cube.IGN.Com that
the NetImmerse 3D engine is coming to the Nintendo GameCube. Also, there are
some new 4x4 Evolution PlayStation 2 screenshots on Gamers.com.
Finally, brace yourself for the report on Pocket.IGN.Com
that the newly-published "Dirty Dozen" list of the most violent games
on the market contains no less than three GameBoy Color titles!
Planetfortress' Team Fortress
Classic Survival Guide is online, though they point out that much of it is a
re-write of the TFC manual, for those with that RTFM problem.
- Birdman's Lair has
posted two new patches to add SpaceOrb support to either the full version of
Alice or Gunman Chronicles...
- Up, Up, Down, Down Part Two
on Slashdot is a follow-up editorial by John Katz with an interesting
take on the take certain portions of the mainstream media take towards
computer and video games, referring to the response as a "moral
panic." Thanks Ant...
- There's a Bill Brown
interview on epradio.com, in streaming audio format, which is
appropriate, since Mr. Brown is known for his game music compositions...
- A new version 5.0 of the Opera
browser is now available (thanks ifish), following in the footsteps of
some browser predecessors in becoming freeware (but advertising-supported) now as well, sure to warm the
hearts of all who have already paid for it...
As if to make me feel bad that my Internet connection may be costing me over
$2,000 per month (actually, I'm hopeful the new access number I'm using is a
local call) for a 45,333 bps connection, loony discovered that Cogent Communications
is offering 100 Mbps access for less that half that. Okay, $1,000 a month is
still way out of control for personal 'net access, but I mean really now... 100
Mbps... Wow!
Link of the Day: Butte
High School Home Page. Home of the Butt Pirates. This is for real? Thanks Ben Chernicoff.
Story of the Day: Microsoft tosses monkey wrenches at AOL-Time Warner merger plans
(MSNBC). Something about pot-and-kettle legislation, perhaps? Thanks Adam Membrey.
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