Archived News:
Pie's Tactics has posted a brief preview of Rogue Spear: Black Thorn, the just-announced standalone expansion to Red Storm's squad-based tactical action game, which offers a quick summary of its features and some already familiar screenshots, but also a new movie trailer from the Ubi Soft press kit. The movie takes 26.4 MB to download and offers a minute and a half of in-game footage in Bink format (but not self-running, you'll need the player to view it). Thanks Stomped for the tip.
There is a new client for 10Six, the massively multiplayer strategy game by SegaSoft. The file takes 37.2 MB to download, but there is also a small 975 KB patch that updates your client as long as it's newer than version 4444 of February 15. Additionally, the patch for the Dell DVD edition of the game has also been updated to match the current version.
- Neverwinter Nights
E3 2001 Neverwinter Nights Preview on Neverwinter Vault offers a plethora of information and media from what they saw of BioWare's upcoming 3D role-playing game, including all of the screenshots and concept images in the press kit, plenty of photos, a lengthy ShakeyCam video, and a Q&A with lead programmer Scott Greig.
- FiringSquad
FiringSquad's 2001 E3 Report Part 2 is online with previews of Unreal Championship, Unreal II, Max Payne, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
- MMOGs
Games Domain's latest E3 preview covers PlanetSide, while Gamesmania took a good look at Earth and Beyond at the show.
- Awards
GameSpot's Top PC Games of E3 2001 feature is online, offering a round-up of their top picks that is as comprehensive as their coverage during the show, even highlighting some of the challenges that the respective developers are facing to complete their games. Also, IGN has opened their Best of E3 2001 Awards Site that includes their Overall Picks for Best of E3 2001. Lastly, Gamesmania bestows its E3 2K1 BFG Award upon Max Payne and ranks their Top Five Mac Picks.
- G.o.D.
Gathering of Developers has updated their E3 site (Flash required) with a recap of happenings in the Promised Lot and the response to the games they exhibited, while this week's Askin' Haskins column sports a somewhat more outrageous look back at E3.
The official Red Faction site offers another update for Volition's first-person shooter of destructable enemies and environments. Like every Tuesday and Friday, there is a new screenshot and a new weapon of the week (or twice-a-week, then), today introducing the Sniper Rifle, while the extra item is a new soundtrack excerpt in MP3 format.
A new preview
of MechCommander 2 is online over at GameSpot this evening. The preview
is based on their impressions of a full build of the game, and is loaded with
hands-on gameplay details and also contains 11 new screenshots. Additionally, there is a video interview in downloadable and streaming formats that was taped at E3, in which Microsoft's Christopher Lye talks about the game and shows plenty of in-game action.
Shiny Entertainment has released their Sacrifice patch #3, available for download from FilePlanet. The patch takes 6.6 MB to download, requires DirectX 8, and brings a lot of the changes from the previous beta patches into their final form, as detailed on this page.
- Freelancer
There are half a dozen new Freelancer screenshots on Lancers Reactor along with high-res versions of a few previously released images of the epic space combat game by Digital Anvil.
- From Dusk Till Dawn
German site Spieleflut has posted eight new From Dusk Till Dawn screenshots (as well as two familiar ones) offering new scenes in the third-person action adventure by French developers GameSquad.
- Warcraft III
Three new Warcraft III screenshots captured under MacOS X on MacGamer demonstrate that Blizzard's 3D role-playing RTS is being developed on multiple platforms.
- Neverwinter Nights
RPGDot has posted five new Neverwinter Nights screenshots of the 3D role-playing game by BioWare, and threatens to do so every day for the next two weeks.
- Jekyll & Hyde
Dreamcatcher has opened their official Jekyll & Hyde page for the schizophrenic third-person action/adventure by French developers In Utero, and somewhat higher resolution versions of the six new screenshots can be found at GameSpot.
- Zeus: Poseidon
Half a dozen new screenshots of Zeus: Poseidon, the upcoming expansion pack to Impressions Games' city building strategy game, are online at their official site.
- Anarchy Online
As usual, the ongoing beta test of Anarchy Online continues to be milked for images so the latest batch of screenshots is online at Cosmo3D.
Although their previews usually don't pop up until Monday, a
new preview of Wizardry 8 is online over at GamePower (thanks RPG
Vault). The preview doesn't contain any new screenshots, but it does feature
a general look at the game as well as a
Q&A with Ian Currie, the director of product development at Sir-Tech.
Computer Games Online has posted an in-depth Aliens Versus Predator 2 preview, looking ahead to the second game in the three-class first-person shooter series that is now in development at Monolith. The article describes the game's premise in detail, examines the various weaponry you'll have at your disposal among other features of the game, and offers plenty of quotes by producer David Stalker and lead designer William Westwater as well as 15 new screenshots.
GameSpot UK has premiered a
playable demo from Startopia, the space station sim from Mucky Foot. The
demo clocks in at 84 MB and the download page is pretty sparse, and doesn't
mention anything about its actual contents. The file is also available
for download at GameSpot US and the Eidos Germany Startopia Downloads page (thanks Gameplex) which mentions it includes 5 tutorials and the first mission.
Daily Telefrag has posted an update on Enclave, a game by Swedish developers Starbreeze Studios that was originally designed as a first-person shooter but that little had been heard of since its announcement over a year ago ( story). According to the update, the project has now been revived as a third-person fast-paced gothic action game for the Xbox, and there are some sparse details on its features as well as nine new screenshots to show what it currently looks like.
- GameSpy.com
GameSpy.com winds up their post-E3 coverage with looks at Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Freedom Force, Neverwinter Nights, Sovereign, Star Wars: Starfighter, a second look at Age of Mythology and, of course, their E3 awards.
- Max Payne
PC Zone UK offers up their Max Payne preview based on checking out Remedy's gritty third-person action game at the Promised Lot, and share the revelation that it is expected to offer some 10 to 14 hours of gameplay.
- Republic
There is a new preview of Republic: the Revolution on GameSpot AU based on what they saw of Elixir Studios' 3D strategy game at the show.
- Wolfenstein
Similarly, Games Domain offers a look at Return to Castle Wolfenstein that kicks off with some memories of the 1992 (not 1991) original that kick-started the FPS genre.
- TORN
BIS: TORN E3 2001 Report on RPG Vault brings their impressions of the 3D role-playing game being crafted at Black Isle Studios.
- Awards
Well Rounded Entertainment rounds up their Best of E3 2001 Awards, as does Stratos Group's The Best and Worst of E3 and VoodooExtreme's Best of E3 2001 Awards.
- FuzzyCam
Diversions Entertainment, developers of One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, offer their E3 Wrap-up that is heavily illustrated with their own set of Kodak moments.
- Miscellaneous
SimHQ looks back at the games of their affection at the show in their E3 2001 Report of the flight sims and other reality based games, and Pie's Tactics did some fact finding on Rogue Spear: Black Thorn at the show (thanks Stomped).
The second
part of AVault's Cyan Q&A is online today, talking with Brice Tebbs
about their mysterious massively multiplayer title that's currently only known
as MudPie. In true Cyan fashion there are lots of cryptic statements here about
their plans for the game, and Brice says that their graphical standard "is
Riven, not Quake III Arena" and that they believe the broadband market
is large enough to support an exclusive massively multiplayer title. There is
also a new screenshot from MudPie up, which may be the first released that actually
features a person and not just the game's detailed environments.
Stomped has conducted a
Q&A with David Durcak of Cauldron, talking with him about their upcoming
FPS Chaser. David provides some background info on the company (whose previous
game was Battle Isle: The Andosia War), and he also explains what makes Chaser
different from the other first person shooters out there and how they are striving
for realism in the game.
Voodoo Extreme has posted a
Q&A with 3D Realms' George Broussard, asking him some questions about
the recently released Duke Nukem Forever trailer. George says they made a conscious
decision not to show Duke from a third person perspective (apparently he hasn't
been modeled yet, so this wasn't a very difficult choice) or have any Duke catch
phrases in the movie, and he also confirms that there is lots of NPC interaction
in the game and that 3D Realms will be going back into hiding, so don't expect
any more DNF news for a while.
The second installment in the Fighting Legends Design
Journal on Action Vault offers thoughts from Brandon Gillam, artist and
designer on Maximum Charisma Studios' upcoming massively multiplayer fighting
game. "This article's subject is the developing dichotomy between players
who yearn ONLY for tactical superiority and players who do it in style
(sometimes at the expense of battle dominance!)."
An article on Ubi Soft's GameCube Lineup
on Cube.IGN.Com says "Largo Winch, Tarzan, Rogue Spear, Rayman, and
more will arrive on GameCube." There's also a GameCube Developer Reel
on Cube.IGN.Com where you can "see what the GameCube developers have to
say about the power behind the system." Speaking of the Cube, Nintendo Reveals NGC Projections
on FGN offers Nintendo's ambitious projections for GameCube sales, while in
what is actually a related note, GameCube
to hit Nintendo on FT.Com offers word on the negative impact the console
launch will have on their balance sheet (no surprise since all console launches
involve bleeding money). Meanwhile, Sony says the game is over for Microsoft
on FT.Com offers the opinion of the Sony prez that any money MS is likewise bleeding
for their own console launch is being wasted, while the
Microsoft rebuttal on Computer and Video Games (thanks EuroGamer)
takes the smug approach, saying "for Sony to react in such a way means we
must be doing something right." Meanwhile,
PlayStation 2 Office Network?
is a Core Magazine article on a Japanese company's plans to build their network
out of console units, and Sony adds Web security to the PS2
is an article on ZDnet that sounds like it's just in time if folks are using
these things for their networks. Moving right along, Sega discusses multiplatform plans
on GameSpot is a video interview that discusses where several projects are
headed in these post-Dreamcast days. There's more best of E3 on Cube.IGN.com
where they have the Best of E3 GameCube and on Dreamcast.IGN.com
where they say "the Dreamcast gets some major respect" (people are
usually respectful at funerals). Finally, a
Bungie.Org messageboard thread called Re: So Matt about online play...
basically confirms that there won't be online play support in the Xbox version
of Halo, and that it probably will not be added by a post-release patch, either.
The TRAM Design page
has a recently released version 0.2 update for their CRASH Squad modification
for Kingpin. The mod will eventually offer new weapons, but for now offers a
pair of scenarios that pit the CRASH Squad (L.A.'s anti-gang suppression unit)
and the Crenshaw Mafia ("a notorious LA street gang").
Strike Force Center is now
accepting orders for a CD that will have 500 MBs of content(!) including the
upcoming new version of the Strike Force mod for Unreal Tournament, before it is
available online.
CyberCon is now accepting
registrations for this upcoming "online role-playing convention, auction, and art
show." Also, StRIKE-CLUB
is now underway, planned as a hub for college-based Counter-Strike teams (the
first rule of StRIKE CLUB is...). Finally,
The Adrenaline Vault
is reporting that "an existing CPL sponsor has agreed to pay $10,000 toward
the missing cash purse" that was not fulfilled by Razer, the original
sponsor. Quoting CPL (and AVault) head honcho Angel Munoz as saying "We owe
a huge apology to the CS community for this entire fiasco..." the
article says that "All place finishers from the tournament will receive two
thirds of their total winnings, which will be mailed next week," and that
their attorneys are continuing to work on getting the remainder out of Razer.
The Power of the High Pass Filter
on Gamasutra offers some advanced techniques for tiling textures in
Photoshop from Peter Hajba of Remedy Entertainment.
This weekend marks the Memorial Day weekend here in the US. The holiday is to
commemorate the folks who have protected this country by serving in the armed
forces, as well as being the traditional unofficial start of summer, and in the
name of the latter, I'm determined to have some manner of barbeque to celebrate
our own first summer with a yard. However, in contrast to myself, MrsBlue is
what you would have to classify as a reluctant carnivore; she has always had her
reservations about too much meat in one's diet... and now with stories in the
news about BGH, Mad Cow Disease, Hoof & Mouth Disease, and assorted tales of
cattle that just run with bad crowds, you can imagine that in addition to my
life being filled with variations on "I told you so," it makes
shopping for a cook-out a little daunting. So what's the one item it has been
decided we should be willing to risk in a barbeque? If you guessed frankfurters,
you're a winner (a wiener winner?), and though the idea is that by going with hot dogs by
someone like Hebrew National, who 'have to answer to a higher authority,' one is
being as careful with their diet as is practical, it still tickles me to be
turning to the traditional icon of gross meat products for safety here.
Story of the Day: Dog
Digs From Grave to Stardom (Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS. As a terrier owner, I
had an unfair advantage at easily guessing the group this dog is from.
Bonus Story: Invisible toy doll makes money out of thin air
(Ananova). Thanks Mike Smith.
Super Bonus Story: Roukema
Introduces Resolution Criticizing The Sopranos (Fox). Our tax dollars
at work, as well as something right out of the show (remember Dr. Melfi's
husband?). Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Super-Duper Bonus Story: 'Klingon Bandit' Sought by Police
(Reuters). Thanks Boba Fett. Apparently posing as a friendly customer in a
Klingon mask does not arouse suspicion.
Weird Science: Scientist uses plants to harvest gold
(Ananova). Thanks Ant.
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