Archived News:
Steel Soldiers Interview on PC.IGN.com is a brief conversation with Mike Montgomery, president of The Bitmap Brothers, about their imminent 3D RTS. Mike talks about the game's territory system, AI, interface, and units, as well as their influences and a few other topics.
- SW Galaxies
The official Star Wars Galaxies site features the first 3D screenshot in QuickTime format of the massively multiplayer role-playing game by Verant and LucasArts (thanks VoodooExtreme), and word is a short movie trailer will be released on July 18.
- Citizen Zero
Micro Forte has added three new screenshots atop the gallery page of their official Citizen Zero site, showing off this upcoming futuristic MMORPG.
- 3D WWII
Game Active sent word that the official 3D WWII site has been relaunched with a new look, updated game information on this budget first-person shooter by LippieSoft, and a handful of new screenshots.
- GTA3
GTA Sentinel has posted fifteen new Grand Theft Auto 3 screenshots, illustrating this 3D sequel to the acclaimed hit-and-run games by DMA.
- Disciples II
Seven new screenshots of Disciples II: Dark Prophecy are online at GameSpot, depicting new scenes in the turn-based strategy game under construction at Strategy First.
GameSpot's latest E3 video interview is online, talking to a representative from Irrational and Crave about Freedom Force, their upcoming 3D tactical RPG of superheroics. The video runs for a bit over two minutes in the usual downloadable and streaming choices and also includes some gameplay footage.
XGR Radio will be conducting a live audio interview with Levelord tonight, grilling the Ritual level designer with questions that you can pose on IRC or at their forum during the chat. The fun kicks off at 9:00 PM EDT and you'll need WinAmp to tune in to the show, and participation details can be found at their site.
Voodoo Extreme reports that PowerPlay, the improved connectivity project by Valve, Cisco and others that was announced last year ( story), is to power a new gaming ISP called Game2K1 by New Millenium Entertainment. This US-based ISP will launch on July 1 with pre-registration to commence on June 16. More details on the service and the PowerPlay connection can be found in the full news story.
Interplay has annouced on their website that Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal has gone gold, and BioWare's isometric RPG expansion is expected on store shelves later this month. Thanks GameSpyDaily.
Bethesda has released updated Echelon patches that supersede the single patch released last week for the futuristic combat flyer by Madia and Buka ( story). There is now a separate Instant Action patch for systems not equipped with a Pentium I or AMD K6 processor, while last week's patch has now been renamed and designated specifically for those processors (so you don't need to get it if you already patched up last week.)
As promised quite some time ago, BioWare and Interplay have released the final patches for MDK2, their three-way third-person shooter that was released last year. The patches add Force Feedback support as well as a few minor changes, and come in four variants, so choose your poison: US/Canadian retail patch (1.4 MB), European retail patch (891 KB), OEM patch (1.2 MB), and Demo patch (742 KB). You should also be able to upgrade with the in-game updater.
The post-E3 news is finally slowing down to a trickle, but here's today's round-up:
- PlanetSide
Action Vault has posted their PlanetSide E3 Report recollecting their impressions from a month ago on Verant's upcoming massively multiplayer shooter.
- O.R.B.
An O.R.B. preview posted last week on Gamezilla offers their impressions from checking out the space-based RTS by Strategy First at the show (thanks A Talent For War for the reminder).
- FiringSquad
FiringSquad belatedly rounds out their E3 coverage with the third and final installment covering Startopia, Commandos 2, Praetorians, Empire Earth, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Aliens Vs. Predator 2, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and Sea Dogs II, as well as a collection of FuzzyCam shots.
- Awards
The Best of E3 2001 on WomenGamers is online, presenting what they "considered to be major highlights of the 2001 show," including such unlikely categories as Best Alternative to Barbie, Best Games I Didn't Get To See, and more.
- ShakyCam
There is a very shaky ShakyCam video of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix on German site ZOCKS that focuses more on the representative demonstrating the game than the game itself (thanks Jera).
The Armchair
Empire interviews Phil Steinmeyer of PopTop Software, talking with him about
his background in the industry, as well as his work on their recently released
strategy game Tropico. In addition to questions about the game and himself,
Phil also talks about some other topics, and he says their next game will be
a simultaneous PC and console release.
A new preview of
Lord of Destruction, the upcoming add-on for Diablo II is up over at RPG
Planet. The preview is based on their impressions of the current beta build
of the game, and contains lots of gameplay details and new screenshots.
Micro Forte and Interplay have released a new patch for Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, updating the US and UK editions of their isometric tactical combat game to version 1.27. The patch clocks in at 16.3 MB and also includes the eagerly-anticipated editing tools. Additionally, it fixes a few more game bugs as detailed in the readme.txt. Thanks No Mutants Allowed and Vault13.net for the tip.
The official MechWarrior 4 site has unveiled a new page for Black Knight, announcing an expansion pack for the stomping 3D action/sim by the FASA Interactive team and Microsoft. The pack is being developed in collaboration with Cyberlore (creators of Majesty) and "takes you back into action on Kentares IV with new 'Mechs and vehicles, more ways to modify your 'Mechs, several new multiplayer modes, and a new single-player campaign where you can play a Black Legion mercenary fighting for House Steiner." Three new screenshots offer the first glimpse of the expansion, which is scheduled for a Fall release.
Bad Karma has posted a
new preview of MechCommander 2. The lengthy preview contains quotes from
Mitch Gitelman and David Fung, two members of the game's development team, and
the duo talk about all sorts of gameplay aspects, including the MechLab, the
resource management system and the mission editor among other topics.
A (somewhat) new Q&A
with Warren Spector is online over at Planet DeusEx today. The interview
was originally conducted way back in January, but never published. Warren talks
about console development, and fortunately they have gone back and asked Warren
a few additional questions to keep things a little more current.
A Q&A
with Mark Mensch, the project director of Shadows of Temuair at Nexon, is
up at RPG Vault today. Mark talks about the game's relationship to
Dark Ages, another Nexon title, the game's backstory, how the combat system
works and more.
Also on PC Gameplay today is a new preview of Alone In The Dark: the New Nightmare, the survival horror adventure by Spiral House and DarkWorks for which a demo appeared online this morning ( story). The preview is fairly brief but offers an overview of the game's premise and some hands-on impressions, as well as a mix of new and familiar screenshots.
The Horizons site on the MMORPG Network has conducted a
Q&A with David Allen of Artifact Entertainment. The questions deal largely
with the two people who recently left Artifact Entertainment, and David says
this will not have any impact on Horizons' development, and he also uses this
Q&A to set the record straight on some rumors about the game. Thanks RPG
Vault for the tip.
Fan page Morrowind Summit has posted a
Q&A with Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard, asking him questions about
the TES Editor that will ship with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (thanks again
RPG Vault). Todd says the editor will
support custom textures, and he talks about Morrowind's scripting system, how
dialogue is created and more.
PC Gameplay managed to get their hands on a playable build of Pool of Radiance:
Ruins of Myth Drannor, and so they have posted
their impressions of the game on their news page. The brief preview doesn't
feature any new screenshots, but it is pretty detailed, with info on the overall
gameplay and how it compares to other games based on the D&D license.
German gaming site PC Pointer has posted a
Q&A with Ken Turner of Auran, asking him questions about their upcoming
title Excalibur. The questions are all of a general sort, dealing with the concept
and gamplay of Excalibur, and in addition to the Q&A they have also posted
a new screenshot from the game.
The interview is available in English
as well as the site's
native German.
Brief but hands-on previews seem to be the norm this morning.
Strategy
First has announced that the Mac OS version of World War II Online will
be shipping early next month. The press release doesn't mention if the Mac port
will contain a more recent version than the PC retail release (which requires
the download of a 70 MB patch), but nonetheless it will be available in stores
the week of July 10th.
Version 2.01 of the
Seriously Warped mod for Serious Sam has been released. This latest release
contains three new gameplay types (including CTF), six new teamplay maps, new
taunts and more.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars is arriving in stores this week,
and so Voodoo Extreme has posted a
Q&A with Mike Wallis, the producer of the game at Simon & Schuster
Interactive. Mike talks about why the game was pushed back from its original
release date last fall, why they decided to make a DS9 RTS game, how it fits
into the Deep Space Nine continuity and more.
Fansite MythWolfAge.com has conducted an interview with Scott Campbell, quizzing the Mumbo Jumbo lead designer and project lead about their upcoming 3D real-time strategy sequel. The talk covers variety of topics, including the game editors, the new Trow Iron Warriors units and other unit-related issues, the game music, and lots more. Three new screenshots are also on display.
DiabloII.net has posted a new movie of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the upcoming isometric action RPG add-on being beta tested at Blizzard. The movie originates at German magazine GameOn and previews the expansion and its features in three minutes of in-game MPEG footage with a German voice-over.
The Magic of Sound on 3DActionPlanet is a lengthy conversation with Erik Kraber, a senior sound designer at DreamWorks Interactive and Electronic Arts. Erik talks in detail about this work, his previous contributions to Clive Barker's Undying, and his current efforts on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
There is an Alone In The Dark: the New Nightmare demo on FilePlanet (registration required), that offers you a chance to try out this fixed-camera survival horror adventure nearing completion at Spiral House and DarkWorks Interactive. That is, provided you can stomach the massive 191.6 MB download size, which suggests that it was uploaded from a magazine cover CD-ROM. Thanks Hans von der Crone and Cynicide for the tip. Update: It turns out that the demo is much larger than necessary due to the inclusion of DirectX 8 and a full GLSetup distribution, which active gamers are likely to have installed already. Therefore, a more reasonable 83 MB version of the demo without those drivers can be downloaded at 3D Gamers, Czech site World Online Games, and Italian site Multiplayer.it
Frequent contributor Ant sends along
word that a version 1.06 patch for Emperor: Battle for Dune is already available via the
in-game auto-update system. Here's word on the patch for the just-released
strategy game: Changes in V. 1.06
------------------
Dear Emperor: Battle for Dune Player,
Thanks for your continued support. This patch, version 1.06, includes several
important fixes to the game.
These fixes apply to both Westwood Online and Multiplayer games.
We hope you continue to enjoy the game!
--Westwood & the Emperor: Battle for Dune Team
GENERAL ISSUES
- We fixed a CD checking problem with Quick Match games.
- We fixed an issue where buddies would disappear off the Buddy List while
editing the list.
- Improved menu item selection on the menu screens.
- Multiplayer maps are now sorted by the number of players.
- We fixed a problem where your Multiplayer House and Sub-House preferences
were not being remembered by the game.
MULTIPLAYER GAME ISSUES
- We fixed an issue with a player having the ability to retreat after they
were defeated in a Multiplayer game.
- We fixed a problem where Quick Match would send incorrect client
information to the matching bot when asking for a match.
- We fixed an issue with players not returning to the lobby at the same time
after completing a Multiplayer game.
- We added Clan and Rank info to the tooltips in the Westwood Online
screens.
GameZone.com's The Art of Developing Games
part one and The Art of Developing Games
part two are a pair of installments that offer gang interviews with three of
the developers working on titles to be published by the Gathering of Developers.
The interviewees are Eric Ouellette of FireFly Studios, Phil Steinmeyer of
PopTop Studios, and Tim Gerritsen of Human Head Studios, and topics include
general game development stuff, the impact of online coverage on games, the
future of gaming, and more, with the questions inspiring some detailed answers.
Volume three of
GameSpy.Com's MechCommander 2 Developer Diary is online, offering thoughts
from Mike Lee, lead designer on the 3D mech combat RTS game that, according to the
article, is on the verge of going gold. The main thrust of today's installment
is the hot topic of "heat," as heat dispersal and management is one of
the key elements in most all of the BattleTech series, but was noteworthy for
its absence from the original MechCommander. The diary goes on to describe how
the dev team overcame the challenge of finding a way to have heat build-up be a
factor in the sequel to answer the cries of the hardcore BattleTech fans, while
avoiding creating a factor that would stand between newbies and their enjoyment
of the game.
A post to the FirstOnes.com
forums (thanks A Talent For War)
drops the other shoe (actually this would be the third shoe here) on the project
to create a game based on Babylon 5, announcing that the project is
officially dead. The first indication that the game based on the cult
science-fiction show was on the rocks came close to two years ago when Sierra
Studios cancelled the project ( story) and though subsequent
reports gave hope of finding a new publisher for Babylon 5: Into the Fire
( story), there was another report last September that these
efforts had failed ( story). In spite of the seeming finality of
these obituaries, we still had word as recently as a few months ago that there
was still an effort underway to obtain the rights necessary to publish the game
( story), but this latest post, which expresses a lot of goodwill
about this process, has the news that this last try was also in vain.
The Mainstreaming of Microsoft
on CG Online is an article that attempts to justify the odd premise that
"The computer and console game industry is one of the only 'artistic'
fields where 'mainstreaming' can actually produce a better product."
(the kind of thinking that leads to games like Space Bunnies Must Die). Also,
the official (and annoyingly noisy!) Rune:
Viking Warlord site is online. Meanwhile, THQ Announces 15 GCN Titles for 2002
on Cube.IGN.Com has word on just under 2.5 3 upcoming 'Cube titles.
Also, Chief Xbox Officer addresses analysts
on Gamespot is an interview about the Xbox with Robbie Bach that says "The
first real online games, which include such products as Infogrames' Unreal
Championship, will become available in the first half of 2002." Finally, PlayStation
2 For Dummies is now available (thanks Chris Johnson)... just how dumb are
these dummies, anyway?
A new version 1.6 of the Quake 3
Server Wizard is now available, updating this Quake III Arena server
front-end to offer support for Urban Terror beta 2 and Weapons Factory Arena,
among other things.
Soldier Of Fortune Center has the first
beta release of The Green Wall, a new modification for Raven's Soldier of
Fortune. There are not a lot of details about the mod other than its jungle
setting, and the fact that its "based around custom everything." Word
is they are still working out the bugs, but that the mod is playable online.
- PCShooter.com
interviews CliffyB talking with the lead designer about Epic Games about
this and that in a quickie Q&A. Thanks Voodoo
Extreme...
- Day three of PC
Gameplay's Lara Croft Week rolls along with an interview with Lloyd
Levin, producer on the new Tomb Raider movie. The conversation took
place before reviews started rolling in, though it's unsure if the
Waterworld-esque flavor of most reviews would inspire an interviewer to ask
about them anyway...
- Word on Battle.net News is that work
is complete on upgrades to both the US East and US West Diablo II Realms,
and that these fixes, which have caused accessibility problems over the last
couple of weeks, should improve performance and reliability (Europe and
Asia's Realms will likewise be upgraded by the "end of the
month")...
I can't tell you how long loony has been threatening his enormous pile of stuff from
his apartment giveaway, but the wait was surely worth it, take this from
someone who has seen the prize in it's pre-shipping form (i.e., the enormous
pile of stuff in his apartment). I thought one way to hold the contest would be
to provide photos of some of the odd loose cables or expansion cards included in
the hardware portion of this super-sized game meal and ask folks to try and
figure out what they were originally for... of course, I have an enormous
collection of junk myself, so I can always save that idea for my own such
giveaway, should I ever decide to do one (which is probably unlikely, since I am
a bit of a pack rat).
John Riordan points out that yesterday on Jeopardy, there was a category
called "Out of the Blue," though inexplicably there were no mentions
of this site (go figure!). If only we could figure out a double-entendre for the
category -- I'm sure we could get a mention on Win Ben Stein's Money.
Link of the Day: Nadia versus Atlantis
(equal time here).
Thanks Ryan Gavigan.
Bonus Link: SimSandwich 2000.
Thanks Alex R.
Story of the Day: Golden
Moldy Gets New TV Gig (Fox). Gumby and Pokey return. Thanks theAntiELVIS.
Auction of the Day: Dragon's Lair Arcade Game Serial# 00001.
Thanks Ice Nine.
Follow-up: Project R.U.S.H.
More on the "Rocket-Guy" mentioned yesterday (story).
Thanks Captain Kaos[doh].
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