Archived News:
PC.IGN.com sat down with Relic's Alex Garden at GameStock, and talked with him about the upcoming 3D real-time strategy game Sigma: The Adventures of Rex Chance. Alex explains how they came up with the idea to build an RTS around animals, his philosophy of game development, some of the gameplay elements, and lots more.
Black & White mania continues today with GameSpot UK quizzing senior programmer Jonty Barnes about his contributions to the game, such as the gesture interface, and a few other topics. Also, the Black & White: White Week on PC.IGN.com rolls on with more insight into how to be a "good" god in Lionhead's 3D god-playing game..
Ultima Haven has conducted a brief interview with Jeremy Gaffney, the tech lead on Ultima Worlds Online: Origin, the upcoming 3D MMORPG by (again) Origin. Jeremy discusses his work on the game, some of the game's features such as combat moves, and a few other topics.
Although it's a little later than their usual evening update, the wait appears
to be worth it, as GameSpot has a
new preview of Unreal II online this evening. The preview is brief, but
contains a new look at this upcoming game from Legend Entertainment, complete
with new screenshots that show off the new Unreal technology and some concept
art images.
The flood of coverage from Microsoft's GameStock press event continues this
evening. Daily Radar has posted a
general look at the event with each of their editors commenting on what
they saw. Their typical consensus seems to be that Dungeon Siege looks great,
while the Xbox stuff (including Halo, which was running at 640x480) failed to
impress. Also, GameSpy.com has posted their
GameStock overview article, which contains a general look at everything
that was shown and promises (or possibly threatens) that in-depth previews of
each of the games are on the way.
- X-COM Enforcer
Fansite Alliance X has posted half a dozen new X-COM Enforcer screenshots, showing off the third-person shooter nearing completion at MicroProse.
- MechCommander 2
Three new screenshots (and a familiar pair) accompany Daily Radar's MechCommander 2 preview based on checking out Microsoft's 3D real-time strategy game at GameStock.
- Operation Flashpoint
There's another hands-on preview of Operation Flashpoint based on the ubiquitous press build at GameRush, looking ahead to Bohemia's tactical action game in words and a handful of new images.
- Summoner
The official Summoner site sports a new screenshot of the week for Volition's imminent 3D role-playing game, as well as a new MP3 for download.
- Archangel
GameSpot has posted the first six concept images of Archangel, illustrating this newly announced third-person action game by Polish developers Metropolis.
The official Blade of Darkness site offers a new OpenGL renderer (or raster, as they call it) for the recently released third-person melee-combat game by Rebel Act. This alpha 2 renderer brings a handful of new tweaks and fixes listed in the included readme.txt, but remains an unsupported release, so apply at your own risk.
Gearbox' Randy Pitchford updated his .plan (linked to Stomped while our server keeps getting hammered) with word that the Opposing Force Linux server is due to be released tomorrow, as well as some comments on the just released Win32 patches. Here is an excerpt on what to expect from the server:
The OpFor Linux server will be released tomorrow afternoon - I'll get some mirrors in place before the release.
This release includes OpFor CTF (team based multiplayer action - Black Mesa Civilians vs. the Opposing Force soldiers). It also includes the entire collection of All-Star deathmatch maps (Fun stuff from great designers including Tom "Paradox" Mustaine, David Kelvin, Eric Reuter, Marin "Kndyman" Gazzari, Rich Carlson and The Levelord).
Half-Life day continues with the release of the version 1.1.0.6 patches for the Opposing Force mission pack, available from Sierra's ftp server in English, French, Italian, and Spanish editions, each clock in around 19 MB. Also available are the international Half-Life patches to update version 1.1.0.4 of the French, Italian, Spanish, and Korean editions to version 1.1.0.6 (between 6 and 15 MB), and the patches to update any previous version of said French, Italian, Spanish and Korean editions (about 54 MB each). Patches for the German edition are presumably still forthcoming. Finally, there are Counter-Strike retail version 1.0.0.1 patches in German, French, Italian, and Spanish flavors, mostly around 19 MB.
Note that Sierra's ftp server is as swamped as every other download server, so it may take a while to get the file you need. Thanks to Stomped for the links.
Owners of the retail edition of Counter-Strike have noticed some oddities with
the version 1.1 patch that was released earlier today ( story).
We contacted Valve, and they informed us that the reason the retail patch does
not include the new de_dust2 map that's in the mod release, is because there
are certain maps they don't have the rights to use at retail. Therefore retail
CS users will have to download the map when they connect to a server for the
first time. Here's what Valve told us about the error message that some users
saw regarding an incorrect version number: There are three master servers
you can potentially (determined randomly) attempt to get a server list from.
If your version number is incorrect when you try to
connect to one of these, it triggers the update system.
One of the three master servers was not upgraded yet, so this was tripping some
people up. This is fixed now.
Update: cliffe of the Counter-Strike team sends words that they are working on an "unofficial mappack" that will offer the aforementioned missing maps to owners of the retail edition of Counter-Strike. It is expected to be released tomorrow.
A new
edition of their Disciples II diary is up at GameSpot this evening. This
installment is by Strategy First programmer Frederic Ferland, who talks about
what the development team is currently working on, which includes tweaking their
graphics engine.
In their quest to help absolutely everyone upgrade smoothly to version 1.1.0.6,
Valve has released a patch for those that accidentally installed a leaked pre-release
version of the update and therefore are getting "HL version out of date"
errors when they start up the game. Here's
our local file page, which of course has mirrors listed as well.
A beta 1.1 patch for the
Tribal CTF mod for Quake III Arena has been released. This new version fixes
many miscellaneous bugs and oddities, and also contains some gameplay tweaks. We have local copies of the beta 1.1 patch as well as the new full install, but be warned that our server is being hammered pretty hard, so you may have more luck getting files from another mirror.
The first
four shots to be released from Star Trek: Armada II, the just-announced
game from Mad Doc Software ( story) are up at GameSpot. These
shots show off some of the new 3D features of the game.
A news
story at Inside Mac Games provides an update on Dragon's Lair 3D, the 3D
cell-shaded update of the classic Dragon's Lair from Dragonstone Software. The
update is compiled from posts to publisher Blue Byte's forums, and contains
a general status report that says they are working on completing the level architecture
and plan on reaching a playable alpha state later this month.
GameSpot's on a roll today, as in addition to the Halo movies (see below) they
have also posted two
movies with new gameplay footage from Volition's Red Faction. The two movies
contain 28 and 36 seconds of new footage from the game, and like the Halo movies
are also available in both Windows Media Player and MPEG formats.
GameSpot's GameStock coverage continues with two
new gameplay movies from Bungie's Halo (thanks Stomped).
One of the movies features the same scenes released yesterday, but in a higher quality format, and the second features nearly a minute of completely new gameplay footage. Bother are available in Windows Media Player and MPEG
formats.
Hot on the heels of the Counter-Strike retail patch (see below) comes the Half-Life
version 1.1.0.6 update. Here are links to our local file pages for the
1.1.0.4 to 1.1.0.6 patch and full
1.1.0.6 update, and you'll find mirrors and a complete list of changes on
each page. This latest HL release adds new player models for Team Fortress Classic,
a new DM map and lots more.
As promised, the version
1.1 patch for the retail version of Counter-Strike has been released. Please
note that this is an update for the retail, standalone version of Counter-Strike,
and is not the update for the mod version which was released last night ( story).
Here's our local
file page which of course has a current list of mirrors.
Just in time for the new Half-Life release comes version 2.0 of The
Server Spy. Like the previous releases, The Server Spy 2.0 allows server
administrators to monitor games in progress, and this latest version adds message
posting to IRC, server stats generation, special LAN party monitoring features
and telnet access to monitored servers in addition to other changes.
A new movie featuring footage from Paradise Cracked, the upcoming action/RPG
from MiST land and Buka Entertainment can
be found over at 3D Gamers. The movie is in the self-running Bink format
and contains over two minutes of pre-rendered cinematic footage from the game.
GameBanshee's
Horizons Interview talks with David Allen, the lead designer at Artifact
Entertainment on this upcoming massively multiplayer RPG. David talks about
the current status of the game, as well as how the project came about, and he
also hints at their plans to "pursue some new publishing styles that are
definitely new to this industry."
An interview
with Richard Benson, a programmer at Dreamworks Interactive on Undying is
up at fan page Resurrection this afternoon. The questions cover Richard's role
in the development of the game as well as some personal questions, such as his
favorite games.
Stomped has conducted a
Q&A with Jeff Tunnell of GarageGames, asking him some questions about
their recently announced plans to release the TRIBES 2 technology (or their
"V12" version of it anyway) to aspiring developers for $100 ( story).
Jeff talks about how they were able to do this, and he also provides some information
about their publishing plans and confirms that GarageGames themselves will be
making games with the same technology. Here's an excerpt with info on how their
overall system will work: Stomped: How will GarageGames handling the publishing
of any V12 source code games?
Tunnell: That is the next area of our business plan that we tackle. First we
had to get the rights to the engine, then build the site, then recruit developers
and get games into production. Now we are working on the Publishing aspects.
We will start off with a simple download engine similar to Download.com where
anybody can list their games in a directory. This is already done, but not turned
on. Next comes the e-commerce engine and back-end systems. Luckily, we have
some time. Even starting with a completed engine, games take a considerable
amount of time to develop. All of the games published on GG will be via download,
and we have already announced our first publishing partner in Sierra. There
will be other announcements.
As noted
in this press release, Activision has announced Star Trek: Armada II, a
sequel to last year's Star Trek themed strategy game. Armada II will be developed
by Mac Doc Software, a new company including members of the original Armada
team and former Looking Glass employees. New additions in the sequel include
3D maps, a new 3D tactical view and a revised damage system. Here's an excerpt
from the PR with some gameplay and multiplayer details: Star Trek: Armada
II adds a number of new strategic options and enhancements to Armada's winning
gameplay mix. Maps in Star Trek: Armada II now have 3-D depth, and have been
increased in overall size. To make optimum use of the added dimension, the game
offers players a new Tactical View in which the battle unfolds in true 3D. Ships
can also be placed into 3D formations for different firepower configurations,
and to further immerse the player in the action. Damage modeling has also been
revised for Star Trek: Armada II. In true Star Trek fashion, player's weapons
can now damage different locations and sub-systems on targeted ships.
Star Trek: Armada II features an extensive range of multiplayer options, including
up-to-eight-player competitions over LAN and the Internet where gamers can play
as the Federation, Klingons, Borg, Cardassians, Romulans or Species 8472. Several
additional multiplayer game types will also be available including variations
of Capture-the-Flag, King of The Hill, and Co-Op style gameplay.
German developer enjoy Entertainment has announced that development of Ramnathep has been ceased, although no reason for its cancellation is provided (here's a rough Babel Fish translation of the brief announcement). Ramnathep was a 3D action/adventure that cast the player into the role of a movie star in a 1920's Hollywood, unveiled last Summer in this story.
The first two screenshots from NovaLogic's Necrocide : The Dead Must Die are
up at EuroGamer today. The shots show off some of the creepy atmosphere
and zombie creatures from this upcoming action game.
Declaring "Forget all that crap about Dwarves and Wookiees," there's a
new World War II Online preview on
PC.IGN.Com with a look ahead at the upcoming game that will offer
first-person combat in the epic battles of World War II, emphasizing the role of
the individual soldier. The project sounds like it is aiming quite high, the
following clip giving a sense of the ambitious scope of development: I was
impressed that the physics model for this game was as involved as it is. With
over 50 separate vehicles to render, you'd think some corners would get cut. But
you'd be wrong. WWII Online uses a force-based modeling system rather than the
arbitrary system. In other words, they should be able to build a plane using
specs from the period and expect it to behave as it did historically. In all
theaters Cornered Rat is promising top-shelf simulations. The tank simulation or
plane simulations alone are good enough to compete with more concentrated
simulations on the market. But the physics don't stop there. Even when you take
charge of a vehicle, you're still rendered as a 3D model within the
vehicle.
Another preview of a game immersed in the big one (WWII) is the BattleField:
1942 Preview on MGON, which takes a look ahead at this upcoming game of
combat action and tactics based on some hands-on play during a recent visit to Digital Illusions CE,
the game's developer. The preview offers thoughts on the capabilities of the new
engine that was created for the game, a discussion of gameplay and related
features, and a batch of new screenshots to show it all off.
Computer Games Online
previews Desperadoes, taking a look ahead at this upcoming RTS game set in
the "wild" west of 19th Century North America. The preview discusses
the relative dearth of western-themed games, and describes how this one will
handle gameplay with an emphasis on strategy and adventure based on some
hands-on play. Also included are some screenshots and concept art.
PC.IGN.Com's Black & White White Week, Day 2
is the second installment in their look ahead at the good (white) side of
Lionhead's imminent game that puts you in the humbling role of a god. This installment offers an introduction to the basics of the game's good creatures,
and along with an account of their place in the game, the article also features
a batch of screenshots, including one of the white advisor. Meanwhile, a full
week ahead is GameSpot UK's Black & White Day Nine,
which offers an interview
with Mark Webley, who is the project manager on the game, as well as one of
its programmers and day 10 is up as well with Do Good Guys Finish
Last, and more
screenshots.
Daily Radar's Gamestock 2001 Wrap-Up
is online, with write-ups of impressions of the PC offerings on display, coving Sigma,
Mech Commander 2,
Flight Simulator 2002,
Train Simulator,
and Dungeon Siege.
Meanwhile, GameSpot's Gamestock 2001--PC Games
features several previews, including Hands-on MechCommander 2
with extensive impressions of the upcoming sequel in the RTS arm of the
MechWarrior series and their Hands-on Sigma
preview that likewise offers impression of Alex (Homeworld) Garden's
upcoming RTS offering.
The Adrenaline Vault Previews Waterloo:
Napoleon's Last Battle looking ahead at the wargame based on the battle that
Napoleon Bonaparte probably had hoped would be forgotten by now. The preview
offers a description of the RTS gameplay offered, and jazzes things up with a
few screenshots. Meanwhile, there are a
dozen Waterloo screenshots on XGR and three
Waterloo screenshots on Online Game Review (the same three
screenshots are on GamePort.ru, BrokenPixel,
and GameSpyDaily),
these sites sending along word they received from Strategy First that the game
has gone gold.
Wizardry 8 Design Log IV
on RPG Vault is a new installment in the series detailing development of
SirTech's upcoming RPG. This edition is penned by Lee Haneman, who was lead artist
and animator for Jagged Alliance 3 before joining the Wizardry team. The theme
of the journal is "Animating Unusual Monsters" (not to be confused
with Rodents of Unusual Size). Meanwhile, there is also a new Dragonriders Designer Diary, Part VI
on RPG Vault that offers reflections from Oliver Sykes, lead designer on the
project.
Word on Daily Radar
is that the Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament has shipped. Also, Daily Radar's
Xbox Gamestock Extravaganza offers impressions on all the Xbox titles on
display at GameStock. Meanwhile, PS2.IGN.Com's First Details: A Darkened Sky
has news on an upcoming game based on Skittles candy (no, really...). Xbox.IGN.Com's First Look At Terminal Reality's New XBox Engine
offers news that TRI is working on a project tentatively called "the
Nocturne engine" for the Xbox. Microsoft hires Japanese Xbox developers
is a CNET report on Redmond's recruiting efforts in the East. And last but not
least, GameSpot's Gamestock 2001 Hands-on Halo
(part of GameSpot's Gamestock 2001
page) offers just that: hands-on impressions of playing Halo on the Xbox
(thanks Stomped). Here is a portion of the
write-up discussing the x-factor of adding the Xbox as the game's first
platform, and how it is impacting gameplay: Howard also said that Bungie
currently has two people working full time on Halo's multiplayer component,
although the company still hasn't decided exactly how or if it's going to
support multiplayer for the game. Players will recall that when Halo was
originally a PC game, it was supposed to be largely multiplayer, much like
Sierra's Tribes 2 will be. And speaking of the PC version, Bungie is committed
to releasing Halo for the PC and Mac platforms after it ships the game for the
Xbox, and the designers do plan on significantly differentiating all three
versions from each other. Halo will take advantage of certain Xbox-specific
hardware features, like a completely dynamic operatic soundtrack, and the game
will stream the cutscene movies off the console's 8GB hard drive while new
levels are being loaded into the system memory.
Halo will be an Xbox launch title, and it is expected to ship sometime this
fall.
This Sierra download
page has a new map/mission for SWAT 3: Elite Edition called Abandoned
(thanks 10-David). The map is free, save
for the cost of the 12 MB download. Though the file is for the Elite Edition of
the game, owners of the original SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle can also play it,
provided they first install the Multiplayer Upgrade for SWAT 3- Close Quarters Battle.
The Garagegames
website has been updated (thanks Stomped)
following up on yesterday's announcement ( story) that they were the place to go to license
the "V12" engine that is the underlying technology behind TRIBES 2,
the hopefully-imminent multiplayer shooter sequel from Dynamix. The
site offers information about the technology, with detailed licensing
information, as well as a
V12 engine FAQ. Meanwhile, an article on the Neurotic Conversions Team
website offers "Ten good reasons to still mod for Quake1."
Word from the CPL is that the CPL Registration
page will begin accepting registrations next Wednesday at 4:00 PM EST for their
upcoming Unreal Tournament event, scheduled for this summer in balmy Dallas, TX (this is a correction to this story, which originally said the sign-ups were to begin today--apologies for any confusion this may have caused).
They have also announced that "the CPL World Championship Event scheduled
for December 6-9, 2001 has changed the official tournament game to
Counter-Strike." Meanwhile, the LANding Zone
is looking for feedback on their plans to construct a LAN gaming center, asking
folks to fill out their Lan Gaming Facility
questionnaire. Finally, addressing the uncertain future of Razer ( story
and story), the sponsor still responsible for some hefty yet-to-be
awarded prizes, The CPL has announced that if all else fails, they will award
the missing prizes: The CPL is aware that because of financial problems at
kärna (the parent company of Razer) that the winners of the Babbage's CPL
Counter-Strike tournament have not received their promised checks. The CPL is
grateful to Razer for the support that they have kindly given the worldwide
competitive gaming community since September of 1999 and hopes that the
management of kärna is able to overcome their current situation.
The CPL wants the winners of the Babbage's CPL Counter-Strike tournament to be
reassured that if payments are not received from kärna by Monday, April 2, 2001
the league will arrange for payments to be sent to the winners. In light of this
situation, the CPL has changed its policy and now requires sponsors to deposit
the entire amount of the prizes with the CPL's parent company, NewWorld.com,
Inc., before an event is confirmed.
- A report on EuroGamer
says that French developer Kalisto, currently at work on a Highlander-based
MMORPG, may be in trouble after terribly disappointing financial reports
that the article says French stock-brokers felt they were trying to hide up
until now. In a
subsequent article on EuroGamer has information from "a copy of the
letter sent out to shareholders on Monday in which CEO Nicolas Gaume
explains what lies behind the losses"...
- SOF Center's Clem
Samuel interview looks to catch up on
what's what with the new level designer at Raven Software. Topics include
general gaming stuff about breaking into the industry, and a few personal
questions...
- There's a Kevin Manthei Interview
on GamesDomain talking music with the composer who has contributed to
Shiny's Sacrifice and Nihilistic's Vampire, among other things...
- There's an Interview
with Jeff Vogel on RPGdot talking with the founder of Spiderweb Software
about Avernum 2, their soon-to-be-released shareware RPG...
- Thanks for the mammories
on the UE Forums explains the reason for the shutdown of the UZ Compression Admin Page
which allowed UT server admins to have players on their servers download
skins, maps, and such from a mirror, rather than the game server.
Unfortunately, no capability has ever been added to the game to offer credit
for that service...
When posting the Lost in Translation
link yesterday, I was sure there would be some perfect thing to run through it
to show off its genius, but drew a blank. Several readers, however, did not miss
a beat in recognizing that the famed Zero Wing intro that has already suffered a
mangled translation was the perfect choice. Here's the English Zero Wing intro
run back and forth through several languages, thanks Ty Pendlebury:
| In A.D. 2101 War was beginning. |
Begun in 2101 A.D. the war. |
| Captain: What happen? |
Captain: That thing happens? |
| Mechanic: Someone set up us the bomb! |
Mechanic: Somebody installed collapse! |
| Operator: We get signal. |
Client: We received the light. |
| Captain: What? |
Captain: That thing? |
| Operator: Main screen turn on. |
Client: The general of the visualization
ignites. |
| Captain: It's you!! |
Captain: She you are! |
| Cats: How are you gentlemen!! |
Cats: Like him he sigg.! to be! |
| Cats: All your base are belong to us! |
Cats: Its superficial lower whole number is belongs to us! |
| Cats: You are on the way to
destruction! |
Cats: They are in the thrown one with the destruction! |
| Captain: What you say? |
Captain: That thing that you say? |
| Cats: You have no chance to survive
make your time! |
Cats: They do not have of a certain way to survive dice probably to
form his time! |
| Cats: Ha ha ha .... |
Cats: Hectar to hectar of Hectar..., |
| Operator: Captain!! |
Client: Captain! |
| Captain: Take off every 'ZIG'!! |
Captain: In order to cancel each ' CABLE '! |
| Captain: Move 'ZIG'. |
Captain: In order to move ' the cable '. |
| Captain: For great justice! |
Captain: For the great justice! |
Ayup... Its superficial lower whole number is belongs to us!
Then Levelord
updated his .plan with a little mangled language story of his own, so I
figured I'd see how the re-translation of his bb-gun instructions would turn
out: "IF in the CERTAIN UNIT THEY ARE, IF the VERSION EXERTED PRESSURE ON of
t-cRelease of DNO ' NOT this HE THEM SUSTENATIONS, IF NONE connoisseur in the PREVENTIVE computer science of DÉBARASSER of the MEASUREMENT."
Story of the Day: One company's gag has Webheads worldwide fuming
(Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Bonus Story: Drew Carey Sets Virtual Visit
(Reuters). Thanks EvilToast.
Weird Science: Sonic Hedgehog Shapes The Brain
(ScienceDaily Magazine). Thanks petrik. Sega will be so pleased.
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