Archived News:
After a German demo earlier this month ( story), JoWood Productions has now
released the English
demo of The Sting!, the comic-style burglar simulation/adventure by Austrian developers
neo Software that's known in German-speaking countries as Der Clou! 2. The demo clocks in
at a reasonable 41.9 MB, but there are no details on its contents.
- Medal of Honor
Like every Wednesday, the official Medal of Honor: Allied Assault site has been updated with three new screenshots of the WWII first-person shooter being developed at 2015, as well as an introduction of the Brown Automatic Rifle (thanks AlliedAssault.com).
- Necrocide
NovaLogic has released four new Necrocide screenshots, offering new scenes in their upcoming first-person horror action game.
- Etherlords
Similarly, the official Etherlords site now sports three new screenshots demonstrating the user interface in the 3D turn-based strategy game by Nival Interactive.
- Divinity
Likewise, Larian Studios has released a new pair of Divine Divinity screenshots, illustrating their upcoming isometric role-playing game.
- Shadows of Luclin
There are over two dozen new EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin screenshots on GameSpyDaily, and three more on Voodoo Extreme, all showing new scenes in the 3D MMORPG expansion in the works at Verant.
- Evil Twin
Also on GameSpyDaily today are five new Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles screenshots, showing off the quirky third-person action adventure by French developers In Utero.
- Hitchcock
Just Adventure has posted a batch of new screenshots of Hitchcock: The Final Cut, a survival horror adventure by Arxel Tribe based on the works of the famous Master of Suspense.
A new trailer showing off
Operation Flashpoint is up at PC.IGN. The 60 MB movie is in the self-running
Bink format, and consists of lots of in-game footage that shows off the different
environments in the game.
Also new on PC.IGN is a new preview
of Ghost Recon, the latest tactical shooter from creators of Rainbow Six.
The author recently paid a trip to Red Storm, and the lengthy preview features
quotes galore from the developers, tons of gameplay information, new screenshots,
and even a picture of a child for no apparent reason.
The official Tribes 2 Central
Download Site has released a beta 2 patch for TRIBES 2. This new patch contains
a slew of gameplay fixes and improvements, as well as improved community
features. Like the first patch, this is clearly marked as a beta, and is not
supported by Sierra, so download at your own risk.
Anarchy Online has arrived in stores and lots of people are signing on for
the first time today, and so GameSpot has conducted a
Q&A with Funcom's Morten Byom. The questions deal with the primary influences
on the game's design, their plans for a four-year storyline, the different environments
in the game world and more.
There's still more news over at GameSpot tonight, as they
are reporting that Kinesoft, the studio that had been developing MageLords
and Crimson Order has shut its doors. According to GameSpot's news blurb, the
company hopes to sell their projects to another company.
An updated version of the bonus mission that was released for the second Battlecruiser
Millennium demo is now available at all mirror sites listed on the official BCM demo page. The updated version fixes a problem in the initial
release where a particular area of space was accidentally inaccessible.
Another preview is online tonight over at GameSpot, this
time looking at Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. The brief preview
contains a general look at the game, and it also contains a
video interview with Chuck Yager, the game's associate producer, which is
available in your choice of streaming media formats.
A new preview
of Shadows of Luclin is online at GameSpot this evening, taking a look at
the upcoming third add-on for EverQuest. The preview is pretty lengthy and as
a result is loaded with information on the new character class and locations,
and there is a wealth of screenshots and concept artwork illustrating it all.
ION Storm's Squirrel Eiserloh made a
post to our news comments after one reader mentioned problems running Anachronox
under Windows 2000. As many people (myself included) are likely to be affected
by this, it seems worthy of a separate story. Here's his post, which says that they are looking into the problem, although they haven't experienced it themselves: We're getting
reports of various problems running the game under Win2k. Officially that OS
is unsupported (by mandate of Eidos' tech support), however we (the anox coders)
think that's kinda weak and are therefore looking into the problem right now.
The problem is that all three of us run Win2k on our development stations and
none have had any issues with the game. This is a problem because we're still
looking for an easily reproducible case. If it comes down to it we'll set someone
up with a remote debugging client and try to analyze their crashes from here.
More to come on this as we investigate.
-squirrel (lead programmer, anachronox)
German gaming site SpieleCity has posted a
Q&A with the unnamed producer of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor.
This being a German site, the interview isn't in English, but it can be translated
with the help of Babel Fish.
There are also seven screenshots here, which of course are language-independent.
Eidos Interactive sends word that Anachronox, the long-in-development Quake
II engine RPG from ION Storm, has shipped and should be in stores across North
America by Friday. The virtual ships of Anarchy
Online have set sail, and the game's servers are live and ready for those
of you picking up (or downloading)
your copies of the game today. Finally, according to Gone Gold, Alone in the Dark 4: The New Nightmare and Lord of Destruction, the Diablo II expansion set should be in stores today as well.
Czech gaming site BonusWeb reports that Illusion Softworks, currently toiling away at Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven and Hidden and Dangerous 2, has a third project in the works using the same LS3D engine employed in those games. The news story is only available in Czech for which Babel Fish offers no assistance, but The Unofficial Hidden & Dangerous 2 Site has posted a brief summary of what's known. Tentatively called Chameleon, there are very few details on the project other than that it's a third-person stealth-based action game to be officially announced by publisher Take-Two Interactive later this year. Update: It appears both articles have been removed since this story was posted.
Version 1.1 of The All-Seeing Eye,
a server browser for Quake engine games, TRIBES and other titles, is now available.
This latest release adds ICQ and IRC integration (via mIRC), improved bandwidth
autodetection, custom launch options and more.
The first half of the
Republic: The Revolution interview at GameSpot UK is online today. In this
portion Elixir Studios' Demis Hassabis provides some background information
on the company's ambitious strategy game, commenting on its original Totality
engine and the complexity of the game's AI system.
Net-Games has released an updated demo of Bacteria, the vascular 3D shooter in development by FIN arts. At 52.2 MB this demo is notably larger than last week's version ( story), but Net-Games informs us it still only fixes a some bugs.
Although it's incorrectly dated, HORIZONS HQ has posted a
new Q&A with James Jones, the vice president of Artifact Entertainment
(thanks RPG Vault). James explains what
will separate HORIZONS from the other massively multiplayer RPGs out there,
the steps they're taking to reduce lag, the level of interaction players will
have with the environment and more.
As promised yesterday ( story), the Anachronox
downloads page now has a new Anachronox trailer for download. This third
trailer for ION Storm's now-gold RPG features 2+ minutes of gameplay and
cinematic footage, and is available in four different resolutions, all in .mpeg
format, though word is the largest version (68 MB in 640x480) may run poorly on
slower systems. Update: Three of the trailers are now mirrored on 3D Gamers.
Voodoo Extreme
interviews Kevin Cloud (thanks fRy) talking about Return to Castle
Wolfenstein, as the id Software artist/co-owner is acting as liaison between id
and Gray Matter Studios, the folks currently at work on the game. Topics include the Quake
III engine game's use of the terrain rendering technology introduced in Team
Arena, features of the AI, plans for a demo, and more.
There's an interview
with Tomas Pluharik on Hidden & Dangerous Fanatic talking with the lead
designer at Illusion Softworks about Hidden & Dangerous 2, their upcoming
World War II combat sequel. The popularity of WWII-themed games, the deeper
storyline in the sequel, and several questions about gameplay specifics are
included in the conversation, which also features answers from several other
members of the H&D2 team on the subject of their favorite new weapons.
Westwood's Earth and Beyond
website (thanks Gamerush) has word on
plans for a chat session with the E&B team to take place tonight at 9:00 PM
EDT. The plan is to place a link to the chatroom on their news page just before
the event begins. Also, the aftermath of yesterday's Arcanum chat is surfacing,
as there is an
edited log of the chat on Terra Arcanum as well as a an unedited
log. Finally, as previously mentioned ( story) the RPG Vault Chat page
is hosting a Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal chat this evening at 9:00 PM EDT.
BlackAngel Software has
released a "NOLF 'add-on' Rez," an unofficial add-on that adds a
'Direct Connect' option to No One Lives Forever, allowing users to connect
directly to a multiplayer server via IP address, provided the server is likewise
running the add-on. Thanks GameSpyDaily.
The PlayStation 2 GT3 Racing Pack
on PS2.IGN.Com finally provides the details on plans for this bundle.
There's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer preview on
Xbox.IGN.com that includes the first screenshot of Buffy herself. MSXbox
is confirming that the long-rumored Xbox Sacrifice port is in production.
Finally, Sierra reevaluates Jonny Drama concept
on GameSpot reports that Sierra is reexamining plans for this upcoming Xbox
title "After the overwhelming positive response Jonny Drama received at
E3" (which certainly leaves one to wonder what the game's fate would have
been if the reaction to the game was negative).
Before You Start Fragging
(I) on CG Online is an introduction to the art of creating levels written by
Raven project administrator Kenn Hoekstra, a one-time level designer himself.
The article offers tips on beginning the process, including a run-down on the
various files you'll need to get started. The article's intro also makes mention
of Epic designer Alan Willard, but it's unclear what, if any, contribution he
made to this article (perhaps he is a contributor to a follow-up, as this is
called Part I). In a similar vein, Neverwinter Vault's
Scripting Interview talks with BioWare lead programmer Mark Brockington who
offers basic and advance tips for scripting in Neverwinter Nights. Finally,
there's an article on
making your own maps and mods on 3DActionPlanet.
Minister of Birthday Madness Chris Morris
points out that today is H. Ross Perot's birthday, who turns 71. This is proof that
there are no effective anti-aging remedies no matter how rich you are... I would
have sworn he was older than that back when he ran for president. Maybe it's
just proof that with enough cash you can get the date on your birth certificate
changed?
Link of the Day: Cable Modem Vs DSL
(Flash required). Thanks shul.
Media of the Day: 386 DX - Cyberpunk-rock band.
Yes, the band is indeed an actual 386. Thanks Frostnick.
Weird Science: Designed for Other Worlds, Robot Is to Follow the Sun
NY Times free registration required. Thanks Jonathan C. Forster.
Wild Science: Experts plan 2,300mph rail tunnel to the US
(Ananova). Thanks Andrew Arace.
Follow-up: Private rocket launch is 'suicidal'
(BBC). Thanks Ade. More on "Rocket Guy" (story and
story).
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