Archived News:
Hot on the heels of their announcement that they will publish Hostile Waters in the US ( story), Interplay has released five new movie trailers of the 3D action/strategy game in development at Rage Software. The first three movies show all gameplay footage, while the other two offer mostly cutscene footage. Here are the download links:
There is a brief interview with Ben Geisler on SOF Center, talking to one of Raven Software's recently hired programmers. Ben works on the AI in their as yet unannounced project, which he obviously can't talk about yet, so instead the Q&A covers his previous working experiences, how he ended up at Raven, and some personal interests.
Daily Radar has conducted an interview on Emperor: Battle For Dune, grilling Westwood's Chris Longpre about their upcoming 3D real-time strategy game. Chris talks about the challenges of the 3D camera system, how the game is structured, the storyline and the three main houses, and several other topics.
There is a new Fate of the Dragon preview on PC.IGN.com, looking ahead to this isometric RTS set in medieval China by Overmax Studios and Eidos. The article describes the premise and features of the game, in particular gameplay details like the maps, and comes with a handful of new screenshots.
Russian site Gameport has posted a whopping 29 new movie clips of Clive Barker's Undying, each available in three download sizes for a total of no less than 87 QuickTime files. Four of the clips have already appeared elsewhere before ( story and story), but the remainder offer plenty of new gameplay footage from the first-person horror shooter by DreamWorks and Electronic Arts. And elsewhere, there are new details on the Lizbeth character at GA-Source.
PC Gamer UK has posted a preview of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, looking ahead to the third-person mobbing action game that's in the works at Illusion Softworks. The in-depth article is a repost from their October issue, and includes story and gameplay details galore, highlighted by quotes from lead designer Daniel Vavra and producer Andrew Morley, as well as a gallery of mostly new screenshots.
An updated
preview of Red Faction is online over at GameSpot this evening. The preview
is based on what the author saw at a recent demonstration of the game, and contains
descriptions of the weapons that were shown, as well as a look at the backstories
of the major characters. There are also six new screenshots up, posted throughout
the preview.
Creative Labs has released the first of their
Environmental Audio enhancements for Unreal Tournament (thanks 3D
Spotlight). Like their Soldier
of Fortune add-ons, these add enhanced audio tricks, such as environmental
reverberations, occlusion and obstruction effects, and this first download enhances
deathmatch only. Separate downloads for the other gameplay types will be released
in the near future. Also available on this page is a version 436 patch for the version of Unreal Tournament that comes bundled with SBLive! cards.
GameSpot has posted their
full guide to Giants: Citizen Kabuto (thanks Jason Todd, The Still Dead
Robin). The guide has individual walkthroughs and strategies for each of the
three characters, plus the all-important cheat codes for those of you looking
to take the easy way out. Like all their guides, it's available online in HTML
format, or as a downloadable PDF file ( Adobe Acrobat or compatible viewer required).
Gone Gold reports that Carnivores: Ice Age has gone gold and is expected in stores around the end of the month. Carnivores: Ice Age is the third of Action Forms' hunting shooters, and in case you'd have trouble running the game (once available, of course) there already is a technical support FAQ from publishers WizardWorks and Infogrames. Update: Lakota sends word that you may be able to find the game on store shelves as early as today, but be sure to call in advance.
Eidos has released new files for the Tomb Raider level editor in the Other Media section of the Tomb Raider: Chronicles download page. There's a new_wads0110.zip file that includes two new levels and a variation of the City level, a revised_wads0110.zip file that offers updated versions of the six levels included with the editor, and a textures0110.zip file with a bunch of textures from Chronicles and previous Tomb Raider games.
Version 1.1 of the SuperConfigurable Team
Arena mod for Quake III: Team Arena has been released. SCTA is a mod that
gives server admins the ability to tailor the game's settings to their needs,
and this latest release adds the ability to log client IP addresses among other
changes.
Version 6.1 of Quark, the multifaceted
level editor for Quake engine games, has been released. This new version adds
better bezier editing for Quake III Arena among other changes.
Codemasters has opened their official Operation Flashpoint site for business, showcasing the upcoming 3D tactical action game in development at Bohemia Interactive Studios. Besides a short overview of the game's premise and features as well as some screenshots (some new, some familiar), there is also a new movie trailer that offers well over a minute of gameplay footage in a variety of video formats. And in related news, a new Q&A on Operation-Flashpoint.net grills the developers about a series of very specific game details.
- Steel Soldiers
The official Steel Soldiers site sports a pair of new screenshots from the imminent 3D action/strategy game by Bitmap Brothers.
- Project Eden
Computer and Video Games has posted a dozen new Project Eden screenshots, offering more scenes from the upcoming first- and third-person squad-based action game by Core Design.
- Hired Team
There are a baker's dozen new Hired Team: Trial Gold screenshots on German site Gamigo, captured from a build of this multiplayer first-person shooter by Russian developers New Media Generation.
- Evil Islands
EuroGamer has posted ten new, high-res Evil Islands screenshots, illustrating the 3D role-playing strategy game by likewise Russian developers Nival.
- Oni
This Oni gallery on Cutting the Edge sports another handful of screenshots captured from a gold master copy of Bungie's imminent third-person action game.
- Heart of Winter
Computer Games Online has posted brief preview of Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, accompanied by half a dozen new screenshots of Black Isle's isometric RPG expansion pack.
- Dark Age of Camelot
Part 2 of the Dark Age Of Camelot Beta Impressions on RPGVault shares more experiences from the ongoing beta test of Mythic's MMORPG, as well as some new screenshots.
Andrew Brazier of Headfirst Productions is
interviewed on the newly launched Tolstiy's Place, talking about their ambitious
first person RPG Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Andrew answers
lots of gameplay related questions, and he explains why they decided not to
include background music, how they are creating "gelatinous" enemies,
how the Havok physics engine enhances the game and how taking large amounts
of morphine (in the game, of course, not in real life) affect the gameplay.
Stomped has conducted a
Q&A with Dr. Michael Capps, the producer and lead designer of the Army
Game Project, a government-sponsored project to create a realistic first person
shooter for use in military training. Michael explains the project's origins,
and provides some details on the game, including an explanation for why they
licensed a "well-known first person shooter engine" and how the game
differs from other shooters like Soldier of Fortune.
German publisher CDV sends word that they have signed Psychotoxic: the 4th Horseman, a "technothriller" first-person shooter in development at NuClearVision Entertainment. Few details are available on the game, which is being created upon the Vulpine engine and will feature single- and multiplayer modes, but you can check out some previously released screenshots here. Additionally, CDV will also be publishing Divinity: Sword of Lies, the isometric RPG by Larian Studios.
GameSpy.com's Art of Gaming series continues, with a
new interview with Marc Holmes, an artist at BioWare. Like all the interviews
in this series, the questions all deal with what inspires him artistically,
and also how he broke into the industry and what tools he uses.
A new Q&A
with Roman Ribaric of Croteam is up at Voodoo Extreme today. Roman fields
questions about Serious Sam, and talks about their internally-developed engine,
the chances of a third demo (most likely not until the game is gold), and "What's
with the whole Egypt thing?"
Another Jumpgate preview is online, this time over
at the newly unveiled Action Vault. Like all the Jumpgate previews in recent
memory it's based on the current beta test, and contains new screenshots as
well as the author's impressions of the game.
MobyGames has conducted an interview with Rob Elam, the lead programmer on Diversions Entertainment's upcoming robotic fighting game, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds (thanks GameSpyDaily). Rob reminisces about the original OMF game before moving on to the premise and features of its sequel, his development platform, and a few other topics.
A brief development update on the official Atriarch site offers the latest from the worlds of World Fusion as they resume work on their upcoming MMORPG after the holiday break. The update describes improvements to the creature AI, character animation and other areas, and mentions their intention to kick off a series of theme months soon.
The usual mix of off-topic stuff like women, booze, and cars with on-topic stuff
like the game industry and their games are among the subjects covered in Hypothermia's
Josh Galloway interview that talks with the producer on The Blair Witch
Project 3 for Gathering of Developers. Included along the way is Josh's account
on getting his current gig by practically hobo-ing his way to E3 (don't try this
at home kids).
A new patch for Hellfire Arena
for Quake III Arena is now available, though neither the new patch, nor the
small fix they've posted for a subsequently-discovered sound bug, update the version number past 1.1. Regardless of what you call it, the new
release offers changes that include a few bug fixes, as well as the removal of
certain content that may only be used in Team Arena specific mods.
This Interplay
Press Release announces Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, Rage's upcoming third-person
strategy/action hybrid previously only known as Hostile Waters. The release is not clear on
the fact that Antaeus Rising has been in development for a couple of years now,
and that the new subtitle (which may only be for the US market) is the main
revelation there. The game will be published by Rage in the UK and 14 Degrees
East (a division of Interplay) in the US.
A new version 2 of the LW Edit utility is now available from Gamechics.com.
This is not a true editing utility, as the name implies, but is better described
as a front-end, allowing a finer degree of control when setting up a Delta
Force: Land Warrior server. Thanks Maagic.
You can now order a Sega Dreamcast Broadband Adapter,
which supports Q3A on a LAN, though the patch to allow Dreamcast users to play
against PC users is not yet available. Shadowman
world's first screens and details on Computer and Video Games offers info on
Shadowman: The Second Coming, the upcoming PS2 follow-up to Shadowman. The
Oddworld Chat Log on XBoxaddict.com is now online, catching you up on future
odd developments. The 4x4 Evolution preview on
PS2.IGN.Com offers new screens and movies from "Terminal Reality's Gran
Turismo for truck lovers." PS2 Browser Ships This March
reports Gamespot. Finally, also on Gamespot is Nintendo Gears Up for Game Boy Advance Launch
reporting in-store demos may be happening as soon as April.
Z-Axis @ Stomped
interviews Pink, talking about his work on FrontLine Force
talking about the rise in popularity of this Half-Life mod.
The Art and Science of Level Design
on Gamasutra is an article on the subject penned by Epic Games' Cliff
Bleszinski. The paper, originally published in the 2000 Game Developer's
Conference proceedings, offers insider insights into the increasing role of the
level designer in game development, and attempts to predict some of the future
evolution of the industry.
An update to the employment page
on the Volition website
has word that Volition is in the process of adding the following new positions:
3D Artist/Modeler, Concept Artist, Entry-Level Programmer, Red Faction Level
Designer, Senior Programmer, and Texture Artist. Also, the Sacrifice
Website has word that the jobs
section at Shiny.com has
word that this Laguna Beach, CA-based developer is hiring both entry-level and
experienced Programmers, Artists and Designers for the next Sacrifice project.
- This page on Something Awful
is host to Awfulmon, a turn-based combat game in the vein of Pokemon where
you play as one of 10 game industry types, competing for the Bonehead Badge
and the Ubergeek Badge (rated NC-17). Greenmarine's
.plan even offers an Awfulmon strategy or two...
- Randy Pitchford's
.plan has word that they've been messing around with the servers over at
Gearbox Software, so if you've sent them a mail that bounced recently, that
is the explanation (though if you sent them a check that bounced, you're on
your own)....
- Kingpin fans may want to whip out their virtual pens and add their names
to the We Want Kingpin
2 Petition that looks to inspire a sequel to the life of crime
shooter...
- A Battle.Net thread called Barbarian dual wielding Potions
says that Blizzard is aware of the problem potion-wielding Barbarians are
having starting Diablo II games, and that they are working on a fix. Thanks PlanetDiablo...
I happened across something that reminds me that today is the birthday of a
frequent contributor to this site, happy birthday Ant,
who is, as I once referred to him, the human link of the day machine.
On the subject of birthdays, best wishes to the big man, as Clarence Clemons
turns 59 today (thanks Chris Morris).
The segues continue, as, speaking of Ant, he's one of two who sent along the
Andgor Toy Company's Personalized Figures page (thanks also to Chris Johnson,
who also actually deserves a thanks for yesterday's LoD). This represents a
potential dream come true for loony, who for quite some time now has said he
won't be happy until there's a Blue's News action figure.
Link of the Day: GraceLessLand,
home of theAntiELVIS, which offers tAE's "inside" account of
reorganization at Ritual Entertainment.
Story of the Day: Man's unusual grave marker Three Rivers Stadium seats
(Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS. My Giants have been sold out since Y.A. Tittle had
hair, so my equivalent headstone would be my couch.
Bonus Story: 'Machine' Politician Exposed By Photos
(Washington Post). Thanks again Ant.
No explanation on what went wrong with his AI.
Weird Science: Speedy
Beer Brewing Ahead? (Discovery.com). A new use for ultrasound (better living
trough science). Thanks Gary "Big Dog" Teter.
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