Archived News:
There is a demo for End of Twilight on RaajMenon.com, an Australian game agent for the Asian and European territories. The demo weighs in at a hefty 93.1 MB and offers an early glimpse at this 3D turn-based action RPG by Russian developers New Media Generation, as it's labeled a version 0.7 alpha demo, and most likely aimed more at publishers than players. Further information on the game's story and features can be found at the End of Twilight page, along with ten screenshots to show what it looks like. Thanks GameSpyDaily.
A new preview of The Elder
Scrolls III: Morrowind is up at PC.IGN this evening. The preview is based
on what they were shown during a visit to their office by the developers, and
is loaded with gameplay details, with info on how your character develops, how
NPCs react to you depending on your actions, the game's inventory and skills
systems and lots more.
- Halo
Action Vault serves up their Halo E3 Report based on what they saw of Bungie's PC, Mac and Xbox action game at the show, now nearly four weeks ago.
- Recap
Similarly, The Mushroom recollected their memories on the three days of E3 2001, and finally developed those photos as well.
- ShakyCam
Another shaky Warcraft III ShakyCam video has been posted at WarcraftIII.net (thanks Shacknews) showing off Blizzard's 3D RTS in more than five minutes of soundless DivX AVI footage, and likewise SpelletjesGarnaal offers an Unreal Championship video today, as usual in streaming Windows Media Player format or a downloadable zip-file, demonstrating the Xbox version of Epic's shooter for a whopping 24 minutes.
Eidos Interactive sent along three
new screenshots from Praetorians, the upcoming 3D squad-based strategy game
from Pyro Studios, the creators of Commandos. While these aren't the first shots
to be released from the game, they do offer a glimpse at some of the game's
different environments.
There is a short movie of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix on French site Simactu Point Com, showing off Raven's mercenary shooter sequel. The movie sports half a minute of in-game footage in streaming format in a pop-up window.
Interplay has issued
a press release, announcing that Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising has shipped
to retailers. Also, Simon
& Schuster has announced that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion
Wars has shipped as well, and should be available on store shelves. Finally,
yesterday was the official release date for Nintendo's
GameBoy Advance handheld system, and most retailers across the US should
have received theirs by now, so if you pre-ordered one, now is the time to go
pick it up (call beforehand though - some won't have it until later in the week). Update: as mentioned earlier today ( story), Westwood has announced that Emperor: Battle for Dune is now shipping as well.
Croteam has released a version 1.02 patch for Serious Sam through fansite Seriously!, available in both USA and European editions. The patches clock in around 5 MB and bring a huge list of improvements and fixes to their fast-paced shooter (but is not multiplayer compatible with the previous versions).
A Q&A with
Patric Sundström, the marketing manager at MindArk AB is up at fan
page Future World Relations. Patric fields questions about MindArk's upcoming
massively multiplayer title Project Entropia, and he comments on their unique
currency system, how reselling items and buildings will be handled and more. Alongside the interview are three new screenshots from the game.
French site Gamedata reports that Cryonetworks has announced Black Moon Chronicles - Winds of War, an isometric MMORPG based on the works of French comic authors Froideval and Ledroit that is in development at Vircom for a November 2001 release. Their report, which you may like to read via the services of Babel Fish, has more details and some screenshots of the game, as does the newly opened official site, which also offers a movie trailer for download that introduces the game's backstory in two and a half minutes of cinematic footage.
Voodoo Extreme has conducted a
Q&A with Ken Turner of Auran, talking with him about their upcoming
action game Excalibur. Ken explains how the game's plot draws upon Arthurian
legends, and he also provides information on the various enemies, environments
and weapons in the game.
AVault has posted a preview
of Drengin.net, the upcoming gaming service from Stardock that will feature
a three pronged game distribution system: retail sales, downloadable games,
and the Drengin.net subscription service. The preview contains a detailed look
at Drengin.net and the various games that are planned for it, as well as an
interview with Stardock's Brad Wardell, who talks about the upcoming turn-based
strategy game Galactic Civilizations.
Tolstiy's Place has conducted an interview on Harbinger, quizzing Silverback Entertainment lead programmer Andy Muir about this upcoming isometric action RPG. Andy talks about his previous experiences in helping to create Postal while at Running With Scissors, his current efforts on Harbinger, that game's premise and features, and several related topics. The interview is illustrated with half a dozen new screenshots, and VoodooExtreme has also posted three new images.
There is a Diablo 2 Expansion Set: Lord of Destruction preview on Games Domain which is part one of a look at the upcoming isometric action RPG expansion. The article is based on the ongoing beta test and describes the improvements made on the original game as well as the new features, and is illustrated with nine new screenshots. And in related news, Blizzard's official site is continuously being updated with screenshots taken by beta testers as well.
Three chances to peak at some diaries that don't belong to your sister:
- TORN
Volume four of the TORN
Developer's Diary is now up on GameSpy.Com, penned by all three of the
designers on the upcoming RPG from Black Isle Studios. The article offers
thoughts from Chad "Briareus" Nicholas, whose three main weapons
are: "Less crap about me," "It's short," "Added an
'ing' somewhere in here, "More good stuff about TORN," (our
four main weapons...), and "A version number" (our five main...).
The main gameplay subject touched upon is "companions," a topic
Briareus says is as "benign as a M1A2 tank." Along the way Brian
Mitsoda offers a humorous list of companions that aren't going to make the
game's final cut, including "Generic the Barbarian," and Scott
Warner describes the joys of item placement for the detail-oriented.
- Mimesis Online
RPGDot's
Mimesis Online Development Diary 3 offers thoughts from Tannhauser Gate
staff writer Derek Handley on "moving, the delayed beta, PvP, which
playable races are in the beta and how a cat interferes with you working at
home."
- Morrowind
Finally, the Morrowind
Diary VI on Voodoo Extreme takes seriously any kidding we've done about how some
of these diaries are not very diary-like, as this installment from Bethesda
Softwork's Todd Howard offers a minute-to-minute journal of what his day
consisted of last Monday. Included are a bunch of familiar Morrowind screenshots.
Emperor Battle for Dune Release Date Announced
on PC.IGN.Com says that Westwood's next installment in the Dune series will
ship in just a couple of days (June 14), and will be appearing in stores shortly
thereafter. Thanks Ant.
In the aftermath of the release of the Annihilation
mod for Quake III Arena ( story) we missed the release of a
small update (thanks Stomped for the catch)
said to address three unspecified issues with the initial release of this
strategy-oriented mod set in World War II.
Version 1.02 of BarrysWorld Admin Mod for
TRIBES 2 has been released (thanks Tribal
War), offering the same sort of easy remote administration of a TRIBES 2
server that the program has provided administrators of Starsiege TRIBES servers
since the days of our forefathers. The program features several helpful remote
administration features, including a few new ones cooked up specifically for
TRIBES 2.
The official New Legends website
has launched dedicated to Infinite Machine's upcoming Xbox game. Also, Big Blue Box addresses Project Ego
on GameSpot quotes Dene Carter, managing director at
Big Blue Box, who addresses concerns that some have voiced that the upcoming
Xbox-exclusive action/RPG looks "'too good to be true." Meanwhile,
there are some new Rune: Viking Warlord
screenshots on GameSpot showing off this upcoming PlayStation 2 game set in
the Nordic hack-n-slash world of RUNE. There are also some
exclusive PS2 Deus Ex screenshots on Deus-Ex Machina, each captioned with a
brief explanation of what it's showing off. Finally, the Babel Fish translation of
this article (originally in Japanese) offers word on (drumroll)
DragonQuest, the Ballet(!). Thanks Video-Senki.
Part two of GameSpy.com's
TRIBES 2 Guide is online. The new installment plays "This Old
Base," in discussing the importance of base maintenance, as well as tips on
how to decorate your base with some of this year's most fashionable defenses,
rounding out their set of advanced tips by looking into TRIBES 2 psychology.
Also, there's a
guide to using the knife on The Backburner showing how to give the Ginsu treatment
in Counter-Strike. Speaking of Counter-Strike, there is also a Counter-Strike
Tweak Guide on PlanetHardware.
There's a
Punk-Buster interview on CS-Nation talking with Tony Ray of the PunkBuster
modification for Half-Life that attempts to curtail the cheating that can be the
scourge of online games (Counter-Strike in particular). Topics include the
project's history, plans for the future of PunkBuster, and even the possibility
of official support for the mod from Valve Software (thanks Stomped). Also, the
Infiltration website has word on plans for the upcoming version 2.86 release
of this tactical mod for UT. Finally, the Tactical Ops
website has a (sort-of) release date for their upcoming beta 2, as well as a
new gameplay movie from this Unreal Tournament modification.
The Valve Editing Resource Center
has uploaded the Blue Shift SDK that will allow those interested to create and
edit levels for Gearbox Software's Half-Life follow-up that puts players in the
role of a security guard at the Black Mesa research facility. Also, an update to
Rick
Overman's .plan has word from the GarageGames programmer that V12, the
licensable version of the TRIBES 2 engine, will be sent off to Sierra in a day
or two, following which it will enter duplication for distribution.
Listen carefully (chomp chomp)... can you (chomp chomp) hear them? If you hear a
sound of chomping coming from the northeast US, it may well be the yard full of
Nematodes I just released. The little grub killers (mentioned in this story
if you aren't following me here) were put to work last night, and while they are
supposed to take a few weeks to do their dirty work, I like to picture them
getting down to business right away (I sort of need them to... I'm running out
of places to stand in the yard between the skunk holes).
Link of the Day: Aircraft Homes.
Thanks [BBM]T. Another potential solution to skunks in the yard.
Story of the Day: Dr Who regenerated online
(ZDNet UK).
Weird Science: Star Trek science classes improve exam results
(Ananova). Thanks Ant.
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