Archived News:
The lack of follow-up in the over three weeks since the
original report on Shacknews that ION Storm (Dallas) is closing down ( story),
which spurred a quick follow-up ( story), as well as some denials
( story) seemed to support the nature of those denials, but now a
new report on MCV (thanks Matt Durant)
adds fuel to the 'ION is closing' fire. The
story offers the headline "Eidos to axe Romero HQ," though the use
of the phrase "looks set" in the sub-headline "Ion Storm in
Dallas looks set to be closed by Eidos, but the sister studio in Austin will
expand," is decidedly less definitive. The quote that caps off the story is
not concrete either, though at least, it certainly indicates that Eidos has
been giving some thought to its relationship with ION Storm Dallas: CEO
Mike McGarvey told MCV: "We've made no public statement about Dallas yet,
but the truth is a lot of money went in and not much came out. I'm sure those
guys will be making games in the future, but whether or not it's with us remains
to be seen."
There's a Mike Verdu interview on gameplex
talking with the designer and producer for Unreal II, the upcoming Unreal sequel
in the works at Legend Entertainment. The conversation (also available in
the site's original German) covers a lot of general background for the game,
the following clip provides Mike's answer to the question about how directly the
follow-up will follow on the storyline of the original: Unreal II is a
sequel to the original Unreal and takes place in the same universe - but you
take the role of a new player character and travel to many new worlds. You
are a Colonial Authority Frontier Marshal charged with the safety of scientists,
colonists, terraformers, and miners in a sector of space that is just being
colonized. A war breaks out in your patrol area and you must protect the
civilians while you work to discover the source of the conflict and attempt to
stop the fighting.
A new The Art of Magic developer's diary
is online on The Art of Magic Battle Fansite,
offering the 11th installment in this series detailing "the 'real' story"
of Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic. The new diary catches us up with the
aftermath of the closing of Charybdis, the UK-based developer who had been
creating this episode in the Magic & Mayhem series for Virgin Interactive
( story), saying: "But with a core team of 7 of the original
development team members, we've been able to give the project the completion it
deserved, backed this time by Climax Entertainment, Nottingham." The update
includes details on how the project is rounding into shape as the team's
attention turns to issues like optimization and localization, since all of the
game's content is in and scenarios have been created. Finally, word is that the
demo of Art of Mayhem is nearing completion, and will hopefully be on the way
soon.
The Emperor: Battle for Dune News
page has word that another patch for the just-released RTS game is on the
way, planned to bring the game up to version 1.07. The page offers a list of 10
fixes that will be provided by the patch that cover issues ranging from gameplay
to the functionality of the chat lobby interface. According to the update, the
patch should be expected sometime around the end of this week.
An update to Planet Romero in honor of
Quake's fifth birthday the other day offers "Lost Entrance of the Dismal
Oubliette," a map that at one point was intended for inclusion in Quake
that was cut for exceeding their file size for .bsps. Here's a bit from the
accompanying update that fills us in on the history of this map: Yes,
there used to be a much more interesting beginning to that area of Quake, but I
had to amputate the guy and cauterize the wound into its current state, the
starting point of e2m6. I remember spending many hours trying to get it
just right, to create the feeling of an awful, cavernous pit for the player to
get out of and into the real horror of the Oubliette. It added a nice bit
of gameplay time and I'm sorry that it had to go, but we set the .BSP
file size at 1.4Mb and had to be strict about it.
But today, on Quake's 5th Birthday, I will give you a personal piece of
Quake's creation that I treasure. Be careful with it, it's fragile and one
of a kind and was created back in the mists of time around QTest's
release. I've named the map E2M10.BSP and am including the E2M10.MAP
that chronicles its creation. Looking closely at the .map file will reveal
some long-lost entities that we had in Quake and I'm not sure if I even remember
what they did...
After what is described as "months of work" and "a month of
unremitting, exhaustive testing," the debut release of JailBreak:
Prisoners of War is now available from Black Knight Productions
and Team Reaction, bringing the Great
Escape-style gameplay of JailBreak to Quake III Arena. Word on this version is
that it is "Q3 1.27 compliant. There may be a few quirks with 1.29 beta
version of Q3, but nothing that reconnecting to the server wont fix. All issues
will be worked out with the upcoming mod patch. Sorry for any inconvenience."
Here is a full Features-Map List
for the mod, which includes features like radio commands, a clan competition
mode, an all new HUD and scoreboard, turrets, security cameras, and more.
GameSpot Previews Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls
looking at the Xbox version of this upcoming RPG. Also, GameSpot Presents The History of Metroid
with a look back at this classic futuristic space shooter that also casts an eye
towards the future of the franchise. Pong, anyone? Atari comes to cell phones
(ZDNet). There's a RUNE Viking Warlords preview on
PS2.IGN.com. The bleem!
website has word on how you can help get Bleemcast released. Core Magazine's
Inside PS2-Linux reflects on the PS2-Linux kits that have begun appearing in
Japan. Finally, PlayStation 2 Goes ISDN
on Core Magazine confirms plans for an ISDN adapter to go on sale in Japan
next month.
As noted in Kenn
Hoekstra's .plan, today is the 11th anniversary of Raven Software, a group
that should feel justifiable pride for the success that they've found in a
difficult business after their humble origins. Here's a bit from the update on
the subject: All this talk of Quake's five-year anniversary reminded me
that this Sunday is Raven Software's eleven-year anniversary! In 1990, five men
and one computer in a basement started Raven Software with a vision: to create
an RPG for the Amiga. That game was Black Crypt. Eleven years and fourteen
titles later, Raven Software has expanded to more than 50 employees and is
working on not one, but three game titles.
Pretty cool stuff...
Congrats to Brian and Steve Raffel and all of the "old timers" who've
been here longer than I have. I'm looking forward to the next eleven years.
On
a related note, there's a
Kenn Hoekstra Interview on JediKNight II.Net discussing Raven's history as
part of their extensive Raven
Day celebration.
Weird Science: Rental driver finds Big Brother over shoulder
(CNN). Thanks Keith Passmore. Believe me, I made sure this wasn't going to
happen to me the time I rented the Corvette.
Media of the Day: The
Weird Circles Trick. Thanks Ant.
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