Archived News:
After last week's Windows patch ( story), Blizzard has now also released the Mac version 1.06b patch for Diablo II for manual download (3.9 MB), in case you were having difficulty upgrading via Battle.net. Also, MASA and Ubi Soft have released a version 1.1 patch for Conflict Zone (3.0 MB), but no information appears to be available on the changes it brings to their 3D RTS that was just released in Europe. Finally, Team 17 has released a series of Worms World Party patches for download from their ftp server, updating no less than eight different European editions of their turn-based strategy game. Again, no details are included on what the patches do, so apply at your own risk.
- Gamesmania
Gamesmania's E3 coverage rolls on with an Age of Mythology preview, a Destination Games interview, Top 10 lists of PC Games and Online games, and more.
- Red Faction
There is a Red Faction preview on MGON (reposted on eSports-America) that looks at Volition's destroy-everything shooter as demoed at the show.
- Warcraft III
Today's post-E3 preview at Games Domain covers Warcraft III, the 3D real-time strategy game in the works at Blizzard.
- RPGs
GameSpot has posted some brief Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Dark Ages of Camelot impressions from the floor, while E3 RPG Report part 2 at Enfused examines Dungeon Siege and, again, Morrowind.
- Recaps
PC.IGN.com has rounded up their Best of E3 PC Awards with Star Wars Galaxies and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault taking home more than one award each. Also, Gamezilla's Report From E3 2001 is online with brief looks at everything they saw, while The Wargamer's Coverage of E2 2001 just focuses on day 1 for now.
- FuzzyCam
3D Realms' Joe Siegler went snapshot-crazy at the show, and the first, mere 240 photos are now online, while the German GameStar E3-2001-Babe-Voting allows you to vote for your favorite booth model (or "Mädel" as they put it.)
- ShakeyCam
JediKnight.net found someone to risk life and death by smuggling brief, tiny ShakeyCam footage out of the LucasArts press meeting room that features Jedi Outcast, Galactic Battleground, Starfighter and Obi-Wan. Also, Videogamegal's E3 Coverage offers what you'd expect: plenty of ShakeyCam footage including a preview and interview on Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
- Miscellaneous
The E3 impressions of ION Storm designer Harvey Smith are online at Witchboy's Cauldron, as is the E3 Report of Earth and Beyond community manager Maria "Cerdith" Hamilton.
PC.IGN has posted a clarification on the news story they ran during E3 that
said ION Storm Austin's upcoming titles Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 would be premiering
on the Xbox ( story) which was later debunked by Warren Spector
( story). According to IGN's
news update, Eidos has told them that the game will simultaneously be appearing
on multiple platforms, just like the original Deus Ex was for Mac and PC (actually,
that's not entirely true - the PC version shipped slightly before the Mac one).
Also on PC.IGN tonight is the final
installment of their Battle Realms history. This final piece chronicles
the adventures of the Wolf Clan and like all the others it serves as a fictional
backstory to this upcoming RTS from Liquid Entertainment.
The official PlanetSide site has been updated
this evening with a summary of the developers' recent message board postings,
as well as their thoughts of this year's E3 expo and answers to a couple of
common questions (including "how can PlanetSide support so many people?").
A new video
interview with Rob Loftis, the associate producer of Red Faction at THQ
is up at GameSpot this evening. The video is available in a number of streaming
and downloadable formats, and has Rob talking about the game while showing off
some gameplay footage (which is recorded in ShakyCam format). In addition to the video interview there is also a separate movie that contains direct-feed gameplay footage and features commentary by one of the GameSpot PC editors.
Also new on GameSpot is a
preview of Disciples II. The preview is based on their impressions of a
full build of the game, and contains lots of gameplay details, info on how it
improves upon the original and five new screenshots. Another preview of Disciples
II can be
found over at Game Industry News, which is also based on the author's hands-on
impressions of the game.
Tonight at 9:00 PM EDT XGR.com will be broadcasting their
interview with Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games. The interview will be broadcast
in SHOUTcast format, so WinAmp or another
compatible audio player is required to tune in. The interview contains Cliff's
post-E3 thoughts, and as he
noted in his .plan update he tends to swear quite a bit, so consider yourself
warned.
- Unreal II
If you missed the new Unreal II screenshots released at E3 last week, the official site now offers these five screenshots not only in 640x480 resolution, but also as downloads up to resolutions between 1024x768 and 1600x1200. Thanks Gameplex.ch for the tip.
- Art of Magic
The official Magic and Mayhem: Art of Magic site now offers eight new screenshots atop this gallery of the 3D RTS that used to be in development at Charybdis.
- Steel Soldiers
GameSpot UK celebrates Steel Soldiers going gold (story) with ten new screenshots captured from their review build of the 3D action RTS by The Bitmap Brothers.
- Etherlords
Half a dozen new Etherlords screenshots are online at Russian site Triada Gaming World, offering more scenes from this 3D turn-based strategy game by likewise Russian developers Nival Interactive.
- Paradise Cracked
Freelancer has posted four new Paradise Cracked screenshots, showing off the role-playing tactical combat game by, again, Russian developers MiST land.
- Operation Flashpoint
Another batch of 15 new Operation Flashpoint screenshots is online at fansite Flashpoint Bunker, showing more scenes in the 3D tactical action game by Bohemia.
- Project Entropia
GameSpyDaily has posted five new Project Entropia screenshots illustrating the fantasy MMORPG under construction at MindArk Entertainment.
Version 0.97 of the Science and
Industry mod for Half-Life has been released. This new release contains
six new weapons (including the cheerfully named "flesh eating virus"),
new models, a new VGUI and lots more. In fact, so much has changed since the
last release it's only available as a full install.
ActionTrip has written a
preview of MechCommander 2, Microsoft's upcoming Battletech RTS. The preview
is based on their experience with a full build of the game, and basically reads
like a mini-review, with their impressions and of course new screenshots.
Interplay has released the movies from their E3 press kit for download from their ftp server. Choose your poison from
the Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal trailer,
the Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising trailer,
the Neverwinter Nights trailer,
the Black Isle Studios: TORN trailer,
as well as trailers for the console games
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2),
Galleon (Xbox),
Hunter: the Reckoning (Xbox),
Rubu Tribe (PS2),
Run Like Hell (PS2), and
Star Trek: Shattered Universe (PS2).
Most movies run for a bit over a minute (with a few exceptions both ways) and all are also available in "CD" versions that offer the exact same footage at the same resolution but are nonetheless larger to download.
SourceMagazine.com has posted an
interview with Chris Taylor (the Dungeon Siege creator - not the Fallout
Tactics designer) which originally appeared in Computer Source Magazine. The
interview covers a lot of ground, touching on Dungeon Siege, DirectX 8, the
Xbox and more.
- Max Payne
GameSpot AU has posted their impressions of Max Payne based on the demo they saw of the third-person action game nearing completion at Remedy, complete with transcript and a brief Q&A.
- PC.IGN.com
PC.IGN.com's E3 coverage resumes with looks at Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Civilization III, and Sims Online, as well as impressions by "PickleBoy".
- GameSpy.com
Likewise, E3 2001 Coverage at GameSpy.com now offers impressions of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Throne of Darkness, Project Eden, and Intergalactic Bounty Hunter, while the latest GameSpin column looks at Dungeon Siege, Warcraft III and Empire Earth.
- Vault Network
There is a Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II E3 Report on Action Vault, a Sovereign E3 2001 Report - Part One on Sovereign Vault, an Anarchy Online E3 2001 Report on Anarchy Online Vault, and a Star Wars Galaxies E3 2001 Report on RPG Vault (not on Star Wars Galaxies Vault?).
- GamesFirst
GamesFirst visited the Interplay booth and returned with brief looks at Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates, Neverwinter Nights, and Black Isle Studios: TORN.
- RPGs
Enfused kicks off their E3 RPG Report with a fairly detailed look at TORN, while Everlore cornered Verant's Brad McQuaid & Jeff Butler for a Q&A on Everquest:The Shadows of Luclin (thanks GameSpyDaily).
- Miscellaneous
E3 2001 Q&A Part III on WarcraftIII.net continues getting knee-deep into Warcraft III details, and VoodooExtreme previews Majestic.
Sony Online Entertainment
has announced that beginning with The Shadows of Luclin, the upcoming add-on
for EverQuest, their games will all be playable in French, German, Japanese
and Korean (thanks Eurogamer). The most
interesting part of this announcement is that Sony is including real-time translation
software with all of their upcoming titles (including PlanetSide and Star Wars
Galaxies) that will automatically translate from each of the above languages
into the player's native one.
Lonely Cat Games has opened its full-fledged Atlantica site for business, showcasing their upcoming first-person shooter set in a fantasy world of the Incas and Atlantis. The site offers plenty of information on the single-player game, the multi-player modes, game features, as well as concept art, six new screenshots, and more.
Version 1.01 of the BarrysWorld Admin Mod for
TRIBES 2 is now available (thanks Stomped),
which is the debut release of this program that looks to do for TRIBES 2 what
their original admin mod did for Starsiege TRIBES. This would be to offer fixes
for bugs and protection against cheating while avoiding any significant gameplay
changes, since the goal is to "to keep the mod as efficient as possible so
you won't notice any (degradation) in performance of your server."
The Art of War page has the
debut release of the Seeker Quake modification, which is a test of some
"seeker" rocket code that will be included in a future version of Art
of War. Seeker missiles differ from homing missiles in that they will navigate
through the levels following their target (apparently this is a good thing).
Square Going Multiplatform
on Core Magazine and Square Comments on Microsoft Negotiations
on Xbox.IGN.Com describing the glacial negotiations that have already
spanned two years(!). Metal Gear Solid 2 Kojima’s final word
on Computer and Video Games offers an MGS2 interview, and then the media
blackout really begins (really!). Crimson
Skies confirmed for Xbox on MSXbox has word this alternative history flying
combat game will be making its way to the Xbox (no word on how hard a time
Microsoft had negotiating with Microsoft on this one). Turok X?
is the musical question asked on MSXbox where there's speculation the next
iteration in the Turok franchise is likewise Xbox-bound. Meanwhile, Xbox delay causes concern
on the Financial Times (thanks EuroGamer)
says the final development kits for the console still(!) haven't shipped,
and that "Further delays could jeopardise the launch date of Microsoft's
games console which is due to hit the US market on November 8. It could also
threaten the quality of the games available for the critical Christmas holiday
selling season, when the Xbox will be competing head to head with the market
leader, Sony's PlayStation 2, and Nintendo's GameCube." On the other hand,
what does quality matter when you've got pr0n, as Pixis
Makes Virtual Sex Game First For The Xbox; Microsoft Balks reports Adult Video
News (thanks November). Bleem! Accuses Sony Of Blocking
Bleem! Products on Dreamcast.IGN.Com is the latest in this electronic feud
that's reaching Hatfields & McCoys status. Finally, Game Wars 5.0
on MSNBC catches us up on the scorecard in the ever-present console wars.
There's a new Age of Mythology FAQ
on Heaven Games that compiles some of the knowledge gathered about Ensemble
Studios' upcoming RTS at this year's E3.
An update to RuneEd adds a couple of new
tutorials to this site dedicated to the creation and modification of maps for
RUNE, Human Head Studios' Viking slash-fest. Also, DethteX
has added a new "Space Madness" texture pack, the latest in their
series of such packs you can use in your own projects.
The Adrenaline Vault Bawls Giveaway
is giving away 10 cases of the world's finest soft drink. Also, word from Quest Arena
is that they will be sending the winners of their Counter-Strike tournament to
the big $150,000 CPL Counter-Strike tourney.
Holy anniversaries, Batman! It was one year ago today that Daikatana started
showing up on store shelves and today is likewise the first anniversary of
Ground Control going gold. Coincidentally (or not actually, since right around
E3 is probably the second busiest season for new game releases other than the
Christmas season), today is also just about the third anniversary of Unreal
appearing on store shelves, and in a genuine coincidence, today is also the
fourth anniversary of the beginning of M3, the coolest public LAN event I can
recall attending.
Link of the Day: College
Dropout Files Class Action Suit Against Video Games (StrangeCrap.Com).
Thanks Chris Johnson.
Story of the Day: 'Sopranos' Uncle Junior Records CD
(NY Times-free subscription required). Thanks Chris Morris.
Warning: This contains a spoiler if you haven't seen this season's last
episode yet.
Weird Science: Puzzling hyper-gravity proves weighty mystery
(CNN). Thanks Captain Kaos[doh].
|
Twitter 
