Archived News:
An extensive update of the official Civilization III site brings new information and media for the turn-based strategy sequel under construction at Firaxis. A new game update by programmer Soren Johnson discusses the tweakage being applied to the terrain and resource systems (which is illustrated with a mini-tutorial slide-show), three new screenshots are on display, and finally, a new Ask the Civ Team feature is up, offering a new set of questions and their corresponding answers on a variety of topics, including surveying, the advisors, citizen control and the proverbial more.
Gearbox has released a new movie of Half-Life: Blue Shift for download at GameSpot, showing off the upcoming stand-alone Barney episode in the Half-Life universe. The movie offers some 40 seconds of gameplay footage for a 7 MB download (or several streaming formats).
It's another Red Faction Friday at the official site for Volition's first-person shooter of destructible enemies and environments, and as usual there is a new PS2 screenshot, a new weapon introduction (the Shotgun), and a downloadable soundtrack excerpt in that nippy MP3 format.
Bethesda Softworks has released the promised English playable demo of Echelon, offering you a chance to try out the futuristic combat flyer by Russian developers Madia and Buka that arrived on store shelves today. The demo clocks in at a reasonable 51.4 MB and "features both single-player Instant Action and Multiplayer play". Update: As the official site is rather bogged down, you may like to try a mirror at 3D Gamers.
As promised, AvPNews.com has posted another new batch of Aliens Versus Predator 2 screenshots, offering no less than 21 images from Monolith's upcoming three-way first-person shooter. While some have already appeared in print magazines, all of them appear online for the first time.
Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza Interview on Stomped is a talk with Bryan Ekman, art director at Piranha Games, about their recently announced first-person shooter based on the 1988 Bruce Willis movie ( story). Bryan explains how the project evolved last year from a Half-Life mod ( story), their efforts to "adhere to the movie as closely as possible," the weapons and enemies, and their decision to make the game single-player only.
- Age of Mythology
The rightmost image on the Age of Mythology screenshots page at Ensemble Studios offers a new night scene in their upcoming 3D real-time strategy game.
- Gangsters 2
The official Gangsters 2: Vendetta site has been updated with seven new screenshots of Hothouse Creations' isometric management strategy game of offers you can't refuse.
- Paradise Cracked
eUniverseGames was the first of a handful of sites today to post four new Paradise Cracked screenshots, showing off the 3D tactical combat RPG by Russian companies MiST land and Buka.
- H&D2
The Gathering of Developers E3 site sports a new preview page for Hidden & Dangerous 2, but only familiar screenshots for the WWII tactical shooter in the works at Illusion Softworks.
- HoMM 4
The fourth screenshot in this Heroes of Might and Magic 4 gallery at Norwegian site gibme offers a new scene in the turn-based strategy game by 3DO (along with three previously released images).
- Neocron
Neocron Central has posted a new pair of Neocron screenshots captured from the recently commenced beta test of Reakktor Media's futuristic MMORPG.
The official Anarchy Online site has
been updated with the news that they are about to close the current beta test
and begin work on beta 4, which is presumably the last one before the game's
June 27 release date ( story). Also mentioned in the update is
the status of the soundtrack, and there are also five
new screenshots up from the current beta.
A new preview
of Warcraft III is up at GameSpot UK today. The preview doesn't have any
new shots, but it does contain a look at the overall gameplay, and there is
also a
Q&A with Bill Roper, who talks about creating buildings and their plans
to ship the campaign editor along with the game.
Computer and Video Games News has posted the
first batch of screenshots and a gameplay movie from Maelstrom, an upcoming
PC, PS2 and Xbox title from Virgin Interactive. According to CaVGN's news update this is the first
game to use the (next-generation) Unreal engine. And the movie (which is in QuickTime format) shows off some of the
engine's features quite nicely, with scenes depicting a Wing Commander-style space sim as well as a traditional on-foot FPS view.
Stomped interviews
Phil Shenk, talking with the former Blizzard Entertainment art director
about his current project, Dark Orbit, an isometric 3D RPG in development at
WildTangent that will be released online this summer. Phil explains how he wound
up at WildTangent and the advantages of their web browser based technology,
and he also provides lots of gameplay details. There are also some new screenshots
up alongside the interview.
Brave New World is the name of an
article style interview at Eurogamer with Patric Sundström of MindArk.
Patric talks about their upcoming massively multiplayer RPG Project Entropia,
and he explains how the project came about, its plotline (which like Asheron's
Call evolves as time goes by), and its pricing scheme, which is unique in that
it will be free to download and play, and players will be able to conduct commerce
with real money.
A new preview
of Dungeon Siege, the Diablo II-style RPG from Chris Taylor and Gas Powered
Games is up at Gamesmania this morning. The preview doesn't contain any new
screenshots, but it makes up for it with plenty of details and hands-on gameplay
impressions.
Australian developers Auran have announced Excalibur, a third-person action game set in the legendary times of knights and a round table scheduled for a release in 2002. The (musical Flash-only) official site is online with all kinds of information on the game, the three realms it plays in, the first concept art and screenshots, and even a movie clip offering 20 seconds of melee-combat footage in self-running Bink format.
GameSpy.com previews Commandos 2,
looking at the upcoming sequel to Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, pointing out
that "this is one sequel that may actually prove to be far superior to the
original game, which is a rare feat in the gaming industry" (though
they may be confusing game sequels with movies sequels there). The preview
describes the impact of the addition of 3D graphics to this squad-based
real-time tactical game, what sort of new weapons and missions you will
encounter, and more gameplay details, all illustrated by several screenshots.
GamesDomain's
Ubi Soft Interview talks with Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubi Soft, discussing what's going on at this international game publisher, including past and future
titles, console development, and more (though no question about whether they
thought the company would sound like You Be Soft when they picked the name).
Also, a new edition of eUniverse Live
(it's not daily, but it's still demented) is online, offering part two of their
steaming streaming audio interview with Joe Siegler, web-stud at 3D Realms,
discussing Duke Nukem Forever and Max Payne. Meanwhile, Computer Games Online
interviews Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka "on taking Dungeons &
Dragons to a new level with Neverwinter Nights" (a summary article called All
Things Dungeons & Dragons went up there yesterday, clarifying this is a
theme week, not a change in direction for the site). In a related note, Greg and
Ray are also respondents in this RPG Developers At E3
article on RPGVault where they discuss their plans for the show.
The LEGO System 4 Tribes 2 website
has version 1.1 of the Lego mod for TRIBES 2, which, just as the name suggests,
places combatants in a first-person shooter where everything is constructed from
colorful plastic parts. This is the first full version of the mod, which offers
several different game types.
New Worms Advance
on FGN has word that Worms World Party has been specially adapted for
both Game Boy Advance and PlayStation. Meanwhile, Core Magazine
reports a sell out on PlayStation 2 Linux kits within eight minutes of the 2,000
units being made available for pre-order. Also, the daily announcement from LucasArts E3 2001
high command is that they are planning a GameCube port of Rogue Squadron II,
which (probably not coincidentally) is
previewed on MSNBC. Meanwhile, Cube.IGN.com
quotes USA Today in reporting that this will be one of no less than 36
titles on display for Nintendo's upcoming console system. Finally, Day 4 Of Half-Life Week
on Dreamcast.IGN.Com offers an interview with Randy Pitchford talking about
the Dreamcast Half-Life port.
Turtled.com interviews
Stevie 'KillCreek' Case talks with the one-time ION Storm level designer
prior to her attendance at the CPL Holland event, discussing games, life, and
her current role as Master of Ceremonies for the CPL. In addition to the
transcript, they have posted the audio version of the interview for download in
.mp3 format. Also, registration opens today for the Quake III Arena tournament
at QuakeCon 2001. Though the
press release doesn't specify a time for the first-come, first-served
sign-ups to begin, as mentioned Wednesday ( story), the
site lists them as beginning at 9:00 PM EDT.
The
Kingdom Under Fire FAQ has been updated with new questions (and answers)
#23-33, covering things like the map editor, cheat codes, and various KuF
troubleshooting solutions.
I watched a show last night where they interviewed the surviving members of
Gilligan's Island, which, if nothing else, serves as justification to those of
us who always preferred Mary-Ann to Ginger. If they used the living cast members
to do a reunion show at this point, the now 300-LB Professor could play the
skipper, and Ginger could be Mrs. Howell, while I swear Mary-Ann could still
play herself (meanwhile Gilligan looks older than Sherwood Schwartz).
Link of the Day: eugenemirman.com.
Pants-wetting funny. Thanks Nikan and ultimatechaos.com.
Story of the Day: Passenger tried to open emergency exit at 37,000 feet
(Ananova). Thanks Bryan Mau.
Bonus Story: WWF Folds the XFL
(AP). Thanks ERIK. Restoring a little faith in humanity. Final score, USFL-3,
XFL-1.
Weird Science: Weird
Whirlpool (KFMB TV). Thanks Bryan Mau.
Auction of the Day: 13 Different AOL CDs.
Thanks 3Y3.
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