Archived News:
Posted later than usual tonight on PC.IGN are three
new screenshots from Freedom Force, the action/adventure game of superheroics
from Irrational Games. Prior to this only one in-game shot had been released ( story),
and these shots show off some of the characters' super powers along with some
seriously damaged backgrounds. More Freedom Force goodness (including these exact same shots) can be found at the game's just-unveiled official site.
PC.IGN is reporting that X-COM:
Alliance, the Unreal-engine X-COM title that has already been delayed more than
once, has been pushed back to the third quarter of 2001. The reason given is
the departure of one of their key developers, who apparently was working on
the game's substantial AI system when he left.
Also on PC.IGN this evening is a
preview of Europa Universalis, the upcoming strategy game from Paradox Entertainment
and publisher Strategy First. The preview contains some gameplay details about
this ambitious RTS, which covers 300 years of history and contains roughly 75
different countries that are ripe for the conquering, along with a handful of
screenshots.
GamePower has posted a new preview of Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, looking ahead to the isometric RPG expansion pack being crafted at Black Isle Studios. The preview features the usual overview of how the story and gameplay is continued and improved upon, complete with half a dozen new screenshots. Also, as is their way, a brief Q&A with designer Josh Sawyer is included, as well as a movie clip that offers a part of the previously seen intro trailer and some new gameplay footage. Here is a quote from the Q&A that hints at what's next for Black Isle, including their LithTech 2 engine project (which they licensed early this year-- story):
The majority of the Torment team is working hard on a game using Fallout's SPECIAL system in a fantasy RPG. They are building up the Lithtech 2 engine for use with the game and have been pumping out content for a while now. The Heart Of Winter team will be moving on to a classified project, and I and some other kids from assorted projects are in the pre-production stages of yet another project. So, what's next? A lot.
id Software's Robert Duffy made an
update to his .plan this evening with some brief thoughts on the just-released
version 1.27h patch for Quake III Arena and Quake III: Team Arena, and he stresses
again that this is a beta, and not a final release of the patch. Here's what
he has to say: One other quick note, this will work fine on top of Team
Arena and/or 1.27g ONLY. It will not work on top of 1.17 or prior versions.
Once we release a full update in a few weeks there will be a complete installer
to go from any version to the latest. This update is primarily intended for
server admins to address the handicap exploit and it IS a BETA.
We have just put up 1.27h as a BETA. Since there has been mass confusion in
the past, I said >>>BETA<<<. This addresses the handicap/guard
exploit and fixes a few other issues. It is a .exe only release primarily intended
for server administrators but it should be OK for client use as well. We had
not intended to release an update until later this month or early next month
but the handicap issue warranted a quick update.
The second
edition of the Disciples II: Dark Prophecy diary at GameSpot is online this
evening. This edition consists mainly of a status update on the game's development
by Strategy First's Frederic Ferland, who also talks about some of the problems
they ran into over the past year or so.
As promised, id Software has released a beta version 1.27h patch for Quake III Arena for download from their ftp server and mirrored on cdrom.com (816 KB). This patch requires the 1.27g point release and addresses the previously mentioned multiplayer exploit bug, the mouse sensitivity, and a few other issues as listed in the README:
Fixes and Additions
- Fixed James model bug
- CD Key read correctly when starting from Q3A vs TA shortcuts
- Handicap exploit fixed
- Bot routing bug fixed
- Potential 20 FPS increase for some clients :-)
- Sensitivity is back how it was
As is their way, The Shugashack has posted new
DLL files for Quake III Arena and Quake III: Team Arena which could improve
performance as much as 20% for some users. The DLLs are compiled from the version
1.27g game source by Jack "morbid" Mathews, and could cause problems
connecting to servers and running mods, so download at your own risk.
Stomped has posted an
update on the status of the Planet of the Apes game in production at Fox Interactive.
According to a representative for Fox the game is still in production, however
its release date is uncertain, as 20th Century Fox studios are preparing a new
Planet of the Apes film for release this summer, and the game is based on the
original Apes movie.
French fan page La Taverne de Black & White has conducted a
brief interview with Jean-Claude Cottier, a 3D programmer at Lionhead. There
isn't much in the way of gameplay information, but Jean-Claude answers some
questions about the villager in the game that bears his face (apparently everyone
at Lionhead has an avatar) as well as some of the technical aspects of the Black
& White engine. It's available in English
or the
site's native French.
id Software's Todd Hollenshead updated
his .plan with info for those that want to help test out their new beta
Quake III: Team Arena server, which offers a fix for the "guard" exploit
that was recently discovered. Here's the info, and if you're interested in joining,
you can get the IP addresses in his
full update: We're testing a new beta server-side executable that
stops the "Guard" exploit. If you want to help us try it out, come
and join on one of the following:
We'll probably jump on the Terrain server here in a little bit to maybe play
a little id vs. everyone CTF and monitor the stability of the executable. You
don't have to download anything new since it's server only. Just join and play.
If you have any feedback specific to the server patch, please email it to bugs@idsoftware.com
and put "New Executable Feedback" in the subject line. Please DO NOT
email id employees directly as your feedback will just get lost.
The second
portion of GameBanshee's Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor interview
is online, talking with SSI's Chuck Yager about this upcoming RPG. This portion
jumps straight into hardcore gameplay info, and Chuck comments on their transition
from the Dungeons & Dragons second edition ruleset (which apparently they
originally were basing the game on) to the third edition and how important the
alignment attribute will be as well as some more general topics, such as the
future of D&D gaming.
A new interview
with Daniel Vavra of Illusion Softworks is up at ActionTrip today, talking
with him about their upcoming third person action title Mafia: The City of Lost
Heaven. Daniel fields questions about how the game utilizes elements of racing
sims, the possibility of a first person perspective (possibly in small indoor
areas and of course when using a sniper rifle) and some technical questions
about the LS3D engine that powers Mafia.
Firaxis has launched their official
Civilization III site today (thanks Quarter
to Three). The site contains a general update on the status of the game,
including some details about the new combat system (which is more prominent
than in the previous Civilization titles), a gallery with some miscellaneous
unit images, new shockwave animated units (with sound) and more.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's release ( story), Longbow Digital Arts has released an updated CTF patch for Tread Marks, taking their off-road tank combat racer to version 1.5.7. This release brings one change: "Fixed joystick support."
Developers Orbital Frog have recently opened their official Infiltrator: Shadow Wars site for business, featuring the backstory, game details and character concept art of this isometric RPG/strategy game that aims to differentiate itself from similar offerings by taking the action into an online world. Thanks GA-Source.
- Breed
Some two dozen new screenshots of Breed (pop-up alert) show off this impressive looking 3D action/strategy game for PC and Xbox by UK developers Brat Designs (thanks Adrenaline Vault, who have more background info on the game in this story that we never seem to have mentioned).
- Battlecruiser Millenium
IntelGamer has posted a hands-on preview of Battlecruiser Millenium, complete with a handful of new screenshots captured from the ongoing beta of the space-combat sim by 3000 AD.
- Ace of Angels
There is a hands-on Ace of Angels preview on Gamer's Pulse, looking ahead to this space-combat sim by Flying Rock Enterprises, likewise including some new screenshots.
- Tropico
Quarter to Three has posted one of their typical 60 Second previews of Tropico, putting five new screenshots of PopTop's isometric management strategy game on display.
Computer Games Online's
Anachronox Preview is online talking with the ION Storm designer (and
one of the "zygote-contributors to id Software" as their semi-crack-addled
description goes) about his "babe-in-arms," Anachronox, ION's upcoming
ambitious RPG. The preview offers a detailed look ahead at the game, features
several quotes directly from Tom Hall himself, and is illustrated with a hefty
batch of new screenshots.
GameSpy.com's Black & White Developer Diary
#11 is online, offering tales of the intrigues behind securing a publisher
for their Big Blue Box and Intrepid games, along with anecdotes about showing off Black & White, while trailing off into a description of buying
a coke at ECTS using a cell phone (the latter perhaps related to the included
tale of some Absinthe abuse, which has long been theorized to contribute to both
creativity and nuttiness).
"Once more into the breach" declares Computer Games Online's
Joel Billings interview, which is a conversation with the founder of
Strategic Simulations Inc., who has moved on to form 2BY3 Games, a new company
which, like SSI, is primarily focused on strategic war games. The Q&A
discusses the circumstances that lead to Joel's departure from SSI, what his new
outfit is up to, and the future of war gaming.
There's a new American
McGee interview on Alice's Asylum where the winner of their "Interview
a Character Contest" collects on his grand prize, an opportunity to
interview the lead designer on American McGee's Alice, American McGee himself.
The Q&A covers a wide range of topics in addition to the main topic of
American's namesake game, including politics, fast food, red meat, booze,
television, and some of the other stuff that makes this world a wonderful place
to live.
The Art of Gaming 2 Volume 6
on GameSpy.com is their somewhat confusing designation for the interview that
kicks of their second
week-long look at the art of creating art for computer games. Today's
interview is with Eric Gooch from Westwood Studios, and promised to follow will
be installments covering id Software, ION Storm, Shiny Entertainment, and
BioWare.
The Programmers part
five on Fragland.net continues their series of interviews that obviously
focuses on game programming. Today's brief conversation talks with James Thrush
from SuperX Studios, creators of Far Gate, asking their batch of general
questions about the industry, engines, programming languages, and more.
There are a batch of Oni
screenshots on 3DGW taken from a gold version of Bungie's third-person
combat game. While the first dozen shots from this huge batch will be
familiar to those who have played the demo, the remainder are from levels not seen in the demo.
It's not apparent how widespread this is, but Rob, a concerned reader, passes
along a warning that he received what is pretty obviously a hoax email claiming
to be from Blizzard support (but from a diablo2.yada.yada email address rather
than from Blizzard.com). The mail, replete with misspellings as cues, requests
the user's Battle.net username and password, supposedly related to restoring
accounts harmed in the recent cracking incident ( story, story,
and story). As far as we know, Battle.Net is not requesting any
private user information for the process, as is usually the case in situations
like this.
ZOCKS'
Stupid Invaders interview is online, talking with the team behind this wacky
adventure game in German, though there's a
translate link on the article, and of course Babel Fish
is ready to give a shot at translating it for you, as well.
A new version 1.12 of the Classic CTF Quake
III Arena mod is now available. The new release fixes things that broke upon
the release of the Quake III Arena version 1.27g point release, as well as
tweaking a couple of other things along the way.
The fine Barrys at Barrysworld are in
the process of starting up competitive leagues using Star Trek: Voyager- Elite
Force, playing both team deathmatch and CTF. Clans interested in more information
or in joining should either email
them or visit this page.
Also, applications for SniperUK's Q3 FFA League
are underway, and matches will begin at the end of this month.
The RuneNews.com Files
section has a new "mini" version of Chris "Gwynhala"
Burke's Pygmalion animator for RUNE that allows you to view any animation frame
of any RUNE model. Also, X3M's
Q3A map conversion tutorial shows how to convert Quake III Arena maps for
use in Unreal Tournament.
Okay I feel a little better now... some time after scratching out my Out of the
Blue for yesterday, I realized I failed to note that it was Frans' birthday
(which I added in after the fact).
Well it turns out that yesterday was actually just a day of celebration for our
fine Dutch friend, and his actual birthday is today, so the good news is
there's still time to get a timely birthday wish in. So a hearty huzza and kudos to Frans,
who was born on this date somewhere back in the hippy days.
Happy birthday wishes are also due today for Stephen Hawking (58), David
Bowie (53), and Elvis Presley, who we hope is actually off celebrating his 66th
birthday somewhere with Jim Morrison and Amelia Earhart. Thanks Chris
Morris.
Link of the Day: Silo World.
Thanks Anne Curr.
Story of the Day: Vacuum Cleaner Saves Man Chokes on Rice Cake
(Oddly Enough). Thanks Joe K.
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