Archived News:
The official Counter-Strike site has a version 1.0b server-side patch for download in the usual Win32 and Linux flavors. The patch addresses a client lag problem at the beginning of a round, fixes the "listmaps" command, and includes other fixes. It requires the just-released updated Half-Life server ( story). Thanks GamesCorner for the tip.
Liquid Entertainment has opened the official Battle Realms site for business ( Flash required), offering a wealth of information on their upcoming 3D real-time strategy game. There are details on the backstory, clans, units, buildings, and other aspects of the game, the previously released developer diaries, 15 new screenshots and the first 50 second gameplay movie (in the Realms section), wallpapers, and more. And in related news, PC.IGN.com has posted a bio of the game's hero Kenji Muranaka.
Daily Radar has conducted an interview on Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, talking to project manager Julian Widdows about the upcoming 3D action/strategy game by Rage. Julian explains the game's resource model, the unit system, their plans for multiplayer (which isn't included at the moment as the game was designed for its single-player experience), and several other topics.
- Battlefield 1942
A new Battlefield 1942 gallery on GameSpot sports a 50/50 mix of new and familiar screenshots of the WWII 3D tactical action game by Digital Illusions.
- Moon Project
GameSpyDaily has posted eight new screenshots of The Moon Project, showing off the 3D real-time strategy sequel to Earth 2150 by TopWare.
- Lord of Destruction
There are three new screenshots of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction on Adrenaline Vault, illustrating the upcoming expansion pack to Blizzard's isometric action RPG.
- Commandos 2
A brief look at Commandos 2 on Gamecenter is accompanied by a gallery mixing new and familiar screenshots of Pyro Studios' squad-based strategy game.
- OMF Battlegrounds
PC.IGN.com has also posted a new preview of One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, accompanied by eleven new screenshots of the robotic fighting game by Diversions Entertainment.
- IL-2 Sturmovik
Eight new screenshots of IL-2 Sturmovik illustrate an interview with Oleg Maddox on Daily Telefrag, discussing the upcoming WWII flight sim by 1C Maddox Games and Blue Byte.
Two hands-on previews of the Playstation 2 version (which is being developed
along side the PC version) of Red Faction are online this evening. PS2.IGN's
preview is very detailed, with loads of gameplay details and screenshots,
whereas Daily
Radar's preview is much shorter, but also contains new screenshots.
The weekly Summoner Diary on PC.IGN.com returns this evening now that Volition's 3D role-playing game gets closer to a PC release. This installment brings a round-up of changes they've been making to the game since its PS2 release, particularly the PC-only multiplayer functionality, 3D video card support, and an improved interface. And elsewhere, RPG Vault has posted an account of their visit to Volition where they got to check out the game and mingle with the developers.
Also on PC.IGN.com this evening is the latest preview of Operation Flashpoint, like all the others that have appeared this week based on some hands-on time with the 3D tactical action game by Bohemia and Codemasters. There's a quick summary of the backstory and more comprehensive impressions of the gameplay, but the screenshots are all from the previously released press disk. Nevertheless, in case you still haven't seen them, XGR has posted all of them in high-res format, including a few that haven't appeared elsewhere yet.
The Freeze Tag page has a new version 1.4a of this Quake III Arena and Team Arena mod for download. This release adds more spawn points to maps, the ability to drop any powerup or holdable item, improved bot AI, rewritten spectator code, and more.
The latest developer's diary is online at the official Magic and Mayhem: The Art of Magic site this evening, offering an update on progress in the creation of this 3D real-time strategy game at Charybdis. The update kicks off with the addition of the Gooey Blob spell which, "as Magic & Mayhem I players will know, is something of an institution."
Euro-Tribeplayers and Gameshrine have both posted an (identical) edited log of the TRIBES 2 chat they conducted today, with Dynamix' Dave Georgeson at the center of the festivities. The chat covers a lot of ground, and Dave mentions that the beta test will be re-opened "soon" for a short period before the game is released.
Today's GameSpot preview looks ahead to Legends of Might and Magic, the first-person action RPG turned team-based fantasy action game by 3DO. The article covers the changes the title went through, its multiplayer features like the gameplay modes, the character classes and weapons, and more (although most of the included screenshots have already been on display elsewhere.)
Valve Software has released a dedicated server upgrade patch for Half-Life, available for download in Win32 and Linux flavors from FilePlanet. Additionally, full installs of the Win32 and Linux server are also available. The upgrades fix a series of server, client, and gameplay issues that are listed in detail in the included README.
Wizard Works and Infogrames have released a patch for Beach Head 2000, bringing this first-person arcade shooter by Digital Fusion to version 1.03 (thanks AVault). The patch addresses problems with level 57 and save games past level 100 (but it's not save game compatible with previous versions).
Total War has updated their
Shogun community site with a new interview
with Michael de Plater, the executive producer of Shogun: Total War - Warlord
Edition (which will be released as The Mongol Invasion in Europe and online
through Electronic Arts' web site). Michael answers questions about how they're
improving on the original Shogun, and there is a
new image in their Mongol Invasion tour up as well.
As no site is complete without an interview with Levelord, the newly opened
site newsflood has posted their
inevitable Q&A with his 'loness. The questions are all non-game specific
except for one, where Levelord dodges a question about Ritual's next title, a first
person Quake III Arena engine title to be published by Electronic Arts.
GA-Sim's
Operation Flashpoint first look is another preview of Operation Flashpoint:
Cold War Crisis, based on what they saw during their trip to Codemasters' PR
firm. The screenshots are all old, but it does contain a description of the
gameplay and missions they were shown.
The official Star Trek: Away Team site has opened its door to the general public, showcasing the isometric squad-based tactical combat game nearing completion at Reflexive and Activision (thanks GamePen). The site features an overview of the game's premise and features, some screenshots and wallpapers, and a FAQ mentioning that a two-mission demo of the game should become available in March.
A new preview
of Operation Flashpoint, the upcoming tactical shooter from Codemasters
and Bohemia Interactive is up at GameSpy.com this afternoon. The preview is
hands-on, and contains the author's impressions, quotes from Codemasters' David
Solari and some new screenshots. Also new is the game's official title: Operation
Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.
Blizzard Entertainment issued
a press release today with the news that Diablo II sold more than 2.75 million
copies in 2000, despite the fact that it wasn't released until June. As mind-boggling
as that is, the press release
also contains the official name for the Diablo II expansion, which is now titled
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and is still on schedule for release in the
first half of this year.
- Battle for Naboo
The official Star Wars: Episode 1 Battle for Naboo site sports four new screenshots of the PC port of the N64 action flyer by Factor 5 and LucasArts (the fancy pop-up site doesn't allow direct links, but you'll find them in the Gallery section).
- Iron Dignity
This Iron Dignity gallery on GA-Strategy offers over a dozen new (and a few familiar) screenshots of the upcoming 3D tactical combat game by Artex and TopWare.
- Team Factor
7FX has updated their site with a pair of new Team Factor screenshots, showing off the first-person view mode in their upcoming team-based multiplayer shooter.
- Evil Islands
Ten new Evil Islands screenshots are up at EuroGamer this morning, captured from the increasingly ubiquitous press build of Nival's 3D role-playing RTS.
- Gothic
Piranha Bytes has conveniently lumped together a couple of links to Gothic previews and screenshots on several German sites, showing off their 3D action-RPG.
id Software's Robert Duffy updated
his .plan this morning with an update on the status of the Quake III Arena/Team
Arena point release, as well as word that they will be releasing all the menu
files used in Team Arena so Q3A mod authors can take advantage of the new menu
scripting functions. Here's what he has to say: A few quick things.
Point Release Status - We are getting close to finishing up fixing issues, from
retail Team Arena and the 1.27g/h builds. No specifics yet but it should be
in the not too distant future. This release will address all ( or most ) the
bugs we have had reported and adds some new things as well. We have added a
new "fs_basegame" so mod makers can base mods on other mods ( read
that as use content from other mods ). There are more FPS speedups, some sound
fixes, general ui fixes, better collision, etc. Lots of stuff and demos and
protocols should all remain compatbile so 1.27g and above will all communicate
just fine.
Menu Content Release - To help facilitate and allow mod makers to utilize the
new menu scripting in vanilla Quake III: Arena, we are going to release the
.menu files and related shaders and textures used in the Quake III: Team Arena
user interface. This will allow mods to use the new menu system without having
to worry about the problems with re-releasing content from Quake III: Team Arena.
Q3GridIron ROCKS - We have been playing the heck out of this thing at the office.
Hail Mary!
Adrenaline Vault Previews Strifeshadow sharing their impressions of the isometric multiplayer RTS under construction at Ethermoon Entertainment. The preview contains a good look at the game's 2D engine, its fantasy world, resources and units, as well as ten new screenshots.
GameSpot UK has posted a new preview of Independence War 2: The Edge of Chaos, looking ahead to the upcoming space combat sim by Particle Systems. The brief article offers the usual overview of storyline and game features, and comes with a new screenshots gallery showing what it looks like.
GameSpyDaily and Adrenaline Vault report that Age of Sail II has gone gold and is expected on store shelves by the end of the month. Age of Sail II is the naval-based 3D real-time strategy game developed by Akella, and AVault also has two new screenshots showing it off.
Day eight of the Oni Special Moves Feature brings yet another short movie clip demonstrating special combat moves in Bungie's imminent third-person action game. Today's move is the 'rising fury' which is similar in execution to the 'devil spin kick' of day four.
As promised when they posted their first batch of Art of Magic screenshots
( story), Beta Bites'
Magic and Mayhem: Art of Magic preview is now online with a look ahead at
what to expect from the upcoming RTS/RPG follow-up. Included with the look ahead
at the game is a new batch of nine screenshots.
FiringSquad
interviews Gooseman and likewise, the Stratos Group
interviews Gooseman each talking with one of the creators of the immensely-popular
Counter-Strike for Half-Life. The
conversations covers Gooseman's (his real name is Minh Le) history in gaming,
the background of the game that began life as a modification, his other mods
(Quake (1) Navy SEALs and Action Quake 2), and more.
There
are some new Freedom Force shots on Voodoo Extreme answering the
apparently burning question of whether you can throw cars in the upcoming
superhero RPG (the answer being yes). Also, there's an Evil Islands Start-Up Gallery
on RPG Vault showing off Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul,
an upcoming strategy-oriented RPG from Moscow-based developer Nival
Interactive.
There's a Warren Spector and the Thief 3 team
chat log on Thief Underground (seems Planet Thief
is taken). The log is from the online chat with some of the folks at ION Austin,
including Warren Spector, Thief 3 project Director Randy Smith, and more of the
team at work on creating the next installment in the stealthy series of Thief
games begun by Looking Glass Studios. If slogging through the log daunts you,
there's a Thief
3 chat summary on GameSpyDaily.
The folks at GameVisions
send word of their planned chat session with the folks at Human Head studios,
talking about RUNE, their game of speaking softly, and carrying a big axe. The
session will begin at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, and can be accessed via
the web, or by using a traditional IRC client, by joining
irc.gamevisions.com:6667 in channel #gamevisions.
The official Deep Space 9 Dominion Wars
website is now online. Although there are no new screenshots, there is a bit
of new information on the game, like captain/ship profiles. Also, a
new FLY! II Teaser page is up on the Gathering of Developers
website.
Sega set to license
Dreamcast to set-top box builder on The Register reports the possibility
that the Dreamcast's future will be as "a consumer-oriented entertainment
system and information appliance" from a British set-top box manufacturer.
Also, Phantasy Star Online a Success
in Japan reports Gamers.com describing the initial success of the first
console-based online RPG. That's a good sign for Sega, as a post called Sega reveals Farnation details
on the Gaming Intelligence Agency talks about plans for another, more
open-ended online RPG. Finally, XBoxAddict.com
interviews Paradox Entertainment about Mutant Chronicles: Warzone Online.
The official Planetside
FAQ has been updated with a load of new questions, and a revision to the
answer about the game's expected release date, which is now fourth quarter 2001.
Also, the official Quake III: Team Arena FAQ offers two new questions with their corresponding answers regarding lack of response from the master server and connection problems via cable modems.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the celebration of the Chinese New Year, which will
take place between now and February 11. The new year is the Year of
the Snake, this one being the Year of the 'Golden' Snake or 'Metal' Snake. David
Coverdale fans (or perhaps there are more Tawny Kittain fans at this point) will be pleased to note this is
also called the Year of White Snake, because Metal is equivalent to White in the
Five Elements system.
Of course, like many, I will no doubt still be writing Year of the Dragon on my
checks for another couple of weeks, but this is part of the price we pay for
progress. Happy New Year!
Link of the Day: Armor The Things They'll Carry
(Wired). Thanks Marco Zamora. "...the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency -- is soliciting proposals for a $50 million project to develop an "exoskeleton"
for battlefield soldiers."
Story of the Day: Titanic cut clampdown in Kabul
(BBC). Thanks RVF400RR. "Barbers in Afghanistan have been jailed for giving
customers a haircut styled after Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Titanic."
Bonus Story: Funeral Home Head Finds Live Body
(NY Times -- free subscription required). Thanks Laughing Jesus.
Weird Science: Rats
Dream a Little Dream, Too (Go2Net). Thanks [MP] Wolverine [MP].
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