Archived News:
Mucky Foot has released an English language conversion patch for Startopia, their new 3D space station management game, available for download from Eidos Germany's ftp server. This whopping 96.5 MB download is an unsupported beta patch that replaces all text and speech in foreign language editions of the game with English, for those gamers who prefer to play the game as originally created. It requires that you manually edit your StarTopia.ini file as outlined in this Eidos Forum thread. Thanks Patches Scrolls for the tip.
- Battlefield 1942
There are four new Battlefield 1942 screenshots (and a familiar one) on FunXbox.com, offering more scenes from the upcoming WWII action title for PC and Xbox by Digital Illusions (thanks www.ce-bf.com).
- Battle Realms
GameSpyDaily has posted 15 new Battle Realms screenshots, showing off this 3D real-time strategy game in the works at Liquid Entertainment.
- Commandos 2
GamePro gave a recent build of Commandos 2 a spin, and captured nine new screenshots from the isometric squad-based combat game being developed by Pyro Studios.
- OMF: Battlegrounds
There is a hands-off preview of One Must Fall: Battlegrounds on ActionTrip that is illustrated with five new screenshots of this 3D fighting game by Diversions Entertainment.
- Anarchy Online
After this last batch of eight new Anarchy Online screenshots, EuroGamer finally promises to stop milking their beta build of Funcom's imminent MMORPG for images.
Gamesmania has posted a new preview of Fighting Legends, the massively multiplayer RPS under construction at Maximum Charisma Studios. While there are only two new screenshots, the article offers a lot of quotes from director of business development Dale Lullo on the game's intended audience, some of its features, the recently commenced beta test and their pricing policy, and the proverbial more.
There is a new Q&A on the Linux port of TRIBES 2 at German fansite TRIBES-2.DE, quizzing Loki Games founder Scott Draeker about their work on the penguin version of Dynamix' team-based shooter (thanks TribalWar). The interview somewhat confusingly interlaces the English and German versions of both questions and answers, but Scott talks about when they started porting the game, their cooperation with 3D accelerator card manufacturers, the ongoing patches, why they port and publish Linux games rather than develop one from scratch, and a few other topics.
3DO has released an updated patch for the Legends of Might and Magic demo, now bringing both previous installments to version 0.511. There are no additional details on the 972 KB download, but like the first demo patch ( story) it lifts the demo's original expiration date of June 15.
As promised, id Software's Graeme Devine has updated his .plan with the release of the version 1.29f beta patch for the Mac Classic port of Quake III Arena. As usual we have a local copy with mirrors of the 25.4 MB download, and here is what Graeme has to say about this build:
A Mac Classic build of 1.29f is in the process of being posted to the id ftp site.
I have not had time to make an installer, or extensively test this build. SO IT MIGHT NOT WORK.
However, because of user demand I am making it available asap. If you want to download the .sit file
and give it a go, it'll be there shortly.
The filename is quake3-MacClassic-1.29f-BETA.sit
There is a new Conflict Zone video interview on GameSpot, captured at the recent Ubi Soft press event, in which MASA Group's Christophe Meyer demonstrates and talks about this 3D real-time strategy game. The video runs for nearly nine minutes in several streaming formats, and sports plenty of gameplay footage.
Continuing the apparent theme of this evening, GameSpot has posted a new preview of TORN, visiting Black Isle's offices to check out the latest build of the game. There are descriptions of the game's premise and backstory, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. role-playing system, and the use of the LithTech 3.1 engine, along with an interview that goes into more detail on a variety of topics, as well as ten new concept images and screenshots.
As is their way, XGR will be broadcasting an interview on Black Isle Studios: TORN this evening at 9:00 PM EDT, grilling lead designer David Maldonado about the upcoming 3D role-playing game being crafted at, indeed, Black Isle Studios. As usual you'll need WinAmp or a compatible player to tune in to the fun.
Hot on the heels of Tuesday's release, the official Eternal Arena site offers a new version 1.4 update for the Eternal Team Arena mod, as well as version 4.4 for its Eternal Arena cousin (thanks Stomped). The sole change in both releases is the fix for a bot CTF related problem.
Nival Interactive has opened sign-ups for the upcoming beta test of Etherlords, their turn-based 3D strategy game. Word is "a limited number of testers" will be accepted into the test, which is to commence early next month, while the game is on track for a fourth quarter 2001 release. And in related news, RPGDot has posted a new pair of Etherlords screenshots.
A version 1.60_A patch for the
Strike Force mod for Unreal Tournament has been released. Due to problems
with the 1.61 update, this patch reverts the mod back to version 1.60, while
adding the new maps from the 1.61 release.
Gibme.com has posted a
press release of sorts that is loaded with information about Might and Magic
IX: Writ of Fate. Very little, if anything has been previously available about
this upcoming RPG, and so just about everything here is new, and there is specific
info about the game's plot, game world, NPCs, characters and lots more. Update: A brief story on GameSpot indicates that a lot of this information is still subject to change, including its subtitle.
The second installment of PlanetXbox'
Halo development diary is online this afternoon. The diary is penned by
level designer Jaime Griesemer, who talks about Halo's tutorial mission, and
he explains how the feedback they received from actual gamers helped determine
which skills are emphasized.
A new interview
with Nathalie Christoux and Tiphaine Locqueneux of Cryonetworks is up at
Tolstiy's Place, talking with the duo about their upcoming online strategy title
Dune Generations. There really hasn't been too much information about the game
available, so there's actually a good amount of new stuff in here, including
details on how many planets will be on each server (over 100,000), how the different
Houses fit into the game, what happens when a player goes off-line and more.
Loki Games has just started shipping the Linux port of RUNE, the third-person Viking slashfest originally created by Human Head, and nicely coinciding with that a 87.7 MB demo is now available for download from their ftp server. Details on the demo are available in the README file, and an updated version 1.0e of their Loki Demo Launcher has also been released. Thanks Jacek Fedoryński for the tip.
The official Zanzarah: the Hidden Portal site is now online (thanks VoodooExtreme), showcasing this third-person action adventure by German company Funatics Development that was revealed a few months ago ( story). The site offers information on the game's premise and features, as well as plenty new screenshots. In related news, GameSpyDaily has posted the press release announcing that THQ will be publishing the game in the first quarter of 2002, along with a few more screenshots.
Blizzard has made a
post to their forums with the news that the recently released version 1.08
patch for Diablo II accidentally included changes meant for the now-gold Lord
of Destruction add-on (thanks Diablo II.net).
According to their update, the server-side changes which will remove these features
will be going into effect on their servers "within the next couple of days."
Strategy
Planet's Kingdom Under Fire interview talks with Sai Wing of Phantagram
about their strategy game series, the first of which is out now, with a second
currently in development. Sai mentions that an in-game save feature will be
added into an upcoming patch for KUF, and he also talks about some other gameplay
issues and how they are approaching the concept from a different angle with
the sequel.
TFH Gaming.com has conducted a
Q&A with Alan Miranda, the producer of Throne of Bhaal, the just-released
add-on for Baldur's Gate II (thanks GameSpyDaily). Alan fields questions about the add-on, and he
explains the new spells that were inspired by ones in the pen and paper Dungeons
& Dragons 3rd Edition game, how it balances combat elements and more.
Blizzard has announced that Diablo II: Lord of Destruction has gone gold, and their isometric action RPG expansion is expected on store shelves in a multitude of language editions by June 29.
Rumors have been flying around that Infogrames is going to be reviving the
Atari name, and it's starting to look like the rumors are true. FGN Online has
posted an excerpt
from an interview that will run on MCV tomorrow, where CEO Bruno Bonnell
confirms that they are going to begin using the name on their high-profile games
as of October, including the upcoming Unreal products (Unreal II, Unreal Championship).
Bruno explains this decision by saying that, "If Atari decided to launch
as a company today, it wouldn't do Pong, it would do a leading edge game."
The third installment
in the Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown diary at Cinemaware's site is online
this morning (thanks Voodoo Extreme). This edition is by Cinemaware's Morgan
Gray, who answers some gameplay questions and talks briefly about last month's
E3 Expo. For those that missed them, the first two installments are online as well.
The Fighting Legends beta test is underway, and so Voodoo Extreme has posted
a
beta report from co-lead designer Steve Escalante. This first installment
deals with the initial problems the development team ran into with the beta,
and there are also details on the first in-game event.
The Adrenaline Vault Previews Disciples II: Dark Prophecy
with a look ahead the upcoming turn-based strategy follow-up from Strategy First.
The article offers details on the game's background story as well gameplay,
where factors like triggered events and the three included play modes all get
written-up. There are also impressions from playing the one-race preview build
covering things like party dynamics, magic, and combat, as well as some
thoughts on how the sequel will differ from the original Disciples: Sacred Lands: For
the sequel, (Strategy) First rebuilt the original game from the ground up. In
addition to offering a graphics resolution of 800x600, every piece of art will
be new, from the menus and user interface down to the actual units. Neutral
units will feature enhanced AI, and every unit will be able to earn experience
points up to level 137, including your enemies. As in the original, units will
evolve as they gain experience, and can branch off into different powerful
character classes depending on which buildings are created in the player's main
fortress. In the sequel, these branching unit paths will be longer and more
diverse, and characters will no longer max out their acquired skills.
There's an
Emperor: Battle for Dune Interview on MGON offering another conversation
with Chris Longpre, the producer on Westwood's latest installment in their RTS
series that's based on the series of science fiction books by Frank Herbert. The
conversation gives background on the setting and story for Emperor, what cool
new features it includes, a description of multiplayer play, and more, and while
this is really a sequel to Dune II (and Dune 2000), Chris points out "that
Emperor is its own game and can be enjoyed not only by fans of the Dune
universe, but newcomers to the franchise and to RTS games as well."
A new installment in the
BattleCruiser Millennium Diary is now online. This new update offers details
on the crunch mode the project is entering, plans for things like international
versions of BCM, ordering the game, and plans to release a demo episode 2
(according to the update, this episode should be available any time now), all in
Derek Smart's trademark outspoken manner.
Minimum and recommended system requirements for Anachronox have been posted on Anachronox.com,
and the Max Payne F.A.Q.
likewise now offers three flavors of system requirements for Remedy
Entertainment's upcoming shooter: minimum, recommended, and optimal.
This
page on FilePlanet (registration required) has episode three of They Hunger, the third in this
series of single-player Half-Life episodes from Neil Manke that was recently
released on a PC Gamer cover-mount CD. As noted on Neil's Black
Widow Games page, there is a They Hunger
3 Walkthrough on Planet Half-Life. Thanks [UAF] Maverick.
The Anarchy
Online Primer, Part 2 on Massive Multiplayer.Org is the second installment
in their planned five-part series (here's part 1 if you missed it, which is ok, since we seem to have too) intended on giving you a leg up on the
competition when the game arrives in stores next week. Also, The Diablo2
Encyclopedia has been updated to version 2.10, and now includes several
calculators to evaluate the probabilities for several different aspects of
gameplay.
The CPL 4 Year Anniversary Event
is offering free spectator passes for those interested in watching the gaming,
but not in taking part. The SSL certificate there is probably going to cause
your browser to complain, but we're told this is the result of some confusion
with VeriSign, and certainly shouldn't be a concern when applying for a free
spot anyway.
This Blizzard Entertainment
Employment Opportunities page has a job opportunity posted for an
Entry-Level Game Programmer. Word is "The ideal candidate would have
extensive hobby programming experience (personal or shareware) in addition to a
passion for playing games." Also word from the folks at work on Planetside
is that they are looking to fill a server programmer position. Candidates must
be willing to relocate to St. Louis. Send resumes to dneufeld@station.sony.com.
They're baack! No, not Poltergeist, but pop-up ads... or at least I think
they are, since we've gotten a couple of emails asking about them (or maybe they
were death threats, it's tough to tell with feedback). As has been the case in
the couple of similar previous incidents, the answer is these aren't supposed to
be appearing, and I'll look into getting them killed ASAP. Apparently these are
of a particularly obnoxious hard-to-dismiss quality, so apologies are in order
for those who have encountered them (unless of course it turns out that these
are actually going to make some money, or something).
Want to click for a cause? MamaBlue sends along word that The Breast Cancer Site: Fund Mammograms for Free
page can provide women with free mammograms for the cost of a mouse click,
so maybe before you scoot off to the links of the day you can crank out a couple
of clicks for this as well. It couldn't be easier and doesn't even require any
form of registration. Thanks in advance to all that participate.
Link of the Day: Park.
Thanks Steve Alikonis. If yesterday's LoD was a Java Wolfenstein, today's is a
Flash Myst.
Story of the Day: Entertainment and Arts Community Urge Senate Democrats to Withdraw Support of Legislation That Threatens First Amendment.
Thanks David Laprad.
Bonus Story: Woman seeks divorce over mynah indiscretions
(CNN). Thanks zombie69.
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