Archived News:
PC.IGN has a new preview of
Star Trek: Armada II online this evening. The preview begins with the usual
disclaimer about the quality of Star Trek games (although you would think with
some of the recent titles this wouldn't be necessary any longer) and proceeds
to deliver gameplay details and screenshots from Mad Doc Software's upcoming
title.
- Sierra's Triple Dose
Until the first of these games is released, Sierra Studios will probably keep posting the weekly three screenshots for their upcoming games Arcanum, Empire Earth and Throne of Darkness.
- Etherlords
Freelancer has expanded their Etherlords gallery with another trio of images from the 3D turn-based strategy game in the works at Nival Interactive.
- Arcanum
More Arcanum today, as RPG Vault as posted an Arcanum NPC gallery showing off a bunch of characters in the imminent isometric RPG by Troika Games.
- Throne of Darkness
Also on RPG Vault this evening is another Throne of Darkness Elements of the Week gallery introducing the Blacksmith in Click Entertainment's isometric action RPG in a few new images.
- Battle Realms
Battle Realms Serpent Clan Info on PC.IGN offers more details and concept art on some of the units and structures in the 3D real-time strategy game under construction at Liquid Entertainment.
A new preview
of Shattered Galaxy is up at GameSpot this evening. Like the other recent
previews of this massively multiplayer title it's based on the current beta
test (which is freely available for download) and contains screenshots, the
author's impressions and gameplay details.
A new 1.2.0 Dev Update on the official World War II Online site has the latest goings-on with respect to the improvements being worked on by Cornered Rat Software for their massively multiplayer action sim. A variety of issues is addressed, including incompatibilities with existing version 112 keymaps, in-game vehicle limiting which will not yet be implemented in the upcoming patch, disabling "alt-tab" functionality, and more.
Earlier today we received word from Mightygames and Netdevil that the European edition of Jumpgate was to be launched today, and after some extensive downtime to revamp them accordingly, their English and German websites ( Flash required) now reflect Jumpgate's hyperjump to the universe of released games. Both sites offer more information on this massively multiplayer space sim, as well as downloads of the English and German game clients that include five days of free play.
After several releases under the name LUNA, Anarchy Enterprises has now released a new beta version of the recently renamed Moon Tycoon (still on the old URL though), available for download from 3DFiles. Moon Tycoon is a 3D sim/strategy game where "players take on the complex job of colonizing the hostile lunar landscape, where even the air the sim-citizens breathe is a potentially exhaustible resource." The new beta demo is a 50.1 MB download.
GameSpy Daily has conducted a
Q&A with Robert Stevenson of iROCK Interactive, talking with him about
their upcoming title Ozzy Ozborne's Black Skies. Robert talks about the genesis
of the project, the level of interaction the development team has with Ozzy
himself and more.
The Unofficial Hidden & Dangerous page has posted an
interview with Peter Kubek, a lead 3D artist on Hidden & Dangerous
II. Peter's responses are pretty small, but nonetheless he comments on a number
of issues, including some technical aspects of the game's engine and more general
topics such as what games he's currently playing.
Bethesda Softworks sends word that the U.S. beta test sign-up page on the official Magic and Mayhem: the Art of Magic site is now online with details on the upcoming beta test of this 3D role-playing RTS nearing completion at UK developers Climax (after initially being developed by the ill-fated Charybdis). Word also is that a playable demo is expected next month, while the full game is slated for a late September release in North America.
A patch to correct a problem with the recently released version 1.07 update
for the Mac OS port of Rune is
available for download over at FilePlanet (free registration required).
The small (256k) patch corrects a bug that disabled OpenGL.
As promised, the revamped official Black & White site offers a new add-on for Lionhead's god-playing game, the Village Banter. The 2.2 MB download allows you "to hear the secret thoughts of your villagers. All you need to do is zoom in to the as close as you can, and their innermost hopes, desires and dreams will become audible. A word of warning - the villagers' banter may not be as flattering to you, their deity, as you might like!"
French gaming site Alliance Francophone has a
Q&A with Greg Street, a game designer at Ensemble Studios online today.
Greg talks about his background in the industry, exactly what an "AI script"
is and how it affects the gameplay in the Age of Empires series and more. The
Q&A is also available in
the site's native French.
Now that Max Payne is gold ( story), Voodoo Extreme has conducted
a Q&A
with 3D Realms' Scott Miller. There isn't much in here in the way of new
information, but Scott talks about the morale at 3D Realms, and he says that
after Remedy's much deserved vacation they will be completing work on the Max
Payne demo.
Inside Mac Games
interviews Tim Gift talking with the former Dynamix programmer about this
current work at GarageGames working on the licensable V12 version of the TRIBES
2 engine. Though the main focus of the site is the Mac, this is a cross-platform
interview, talking about the unusual decision to license the engine for $100,
speculation about what sort of V12-powered projects we may be seeing down the
road, progress on the next V12 beta, some Mac questions (of course), and more.
PC Pointer.de
interviews Cauldron in an English-language version of their conversation
with the Slovakian team at work on Chaser, their upcoming first-person shooter
(the Q&A is also available in the
site's native German). Topics include the game's proprietary CloakNT engine,
the lack of appropriate titles to compare Chaser to, plans for a demo, and more.
Computer and Video Games
has posted the
first The Thing screenshot with a look ahead at the upcoming action game
based on the Kurt Russell movie of the same name (which they call "the only
decent film Kurt Russell ever appeared in," but since this is the man who
starred in both Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China,
obviously a bit of crack smoking has been going on). They also offer the
following speculation about the game, which is planned for release on the PC,
PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and even the Game Boy Advance: Although
unconfirmed, the game is thought to follow on from the events of the movie,
where a team of scientists thaw out a fantastically dangerous extra terrestrial
from the ice, which proceeds to dispose of the crew one by one in increasingly
horrific ways.
A new version 2.50 of the TriCon 2 TRIBES 2
server administration utility is now available. According to the page, the
changes in the new release are too extensive to list there, so we certainly won't
try here. Oh, okay... the new release has a cleaner installation program,
improved multi-admin support, enhanced in-game menus, and more. They are also
interested in feedback from mod authors who are having trouble getting their
mods to work under TriCon 2.
GameBanshee's
Trials of the Luremaster walkthrough is now online for the just-released
Heart of Winter add-on, including fully annotated maps for every location in the
expansion.
The BIG GAME is accepting
sign-ups for this LAN party that is planned for August 4 & 5 in West End,
Southampton (UK).
There's an interview with
Silicon Ice Development on ELiTeD (thanks Stomped)
discussing the Urban Terror
modification for Quake III Arena. Topics include the then-current version 2.1
beta (version 2.2 has subsequently been released-- story), as well
as the upcoming beta 3. PlanetDungeonSiege
interviews FreezeWeasel of Riot Games
about their work on a Siegelet temporarily titled Project Horizons that will use
the Dungeon Siege engine.
For you old school Quake folk, today is the fifth anniversary of Aftershock
shutting down, though that link is now a portal to Joost's homepage, and this
is what remains of one of the original Quake websites. Speaking of old school,
this week's game homage in the logo has a certain familiar air, as well
(it should go online an hour or two after I post this). For some reason the
bizarre opening of the old QuakeCast is now running though my head.
Link of the Day: Black Market
Babies.com. Thanks marleyboy (if you think it's in bad taste, blame him, if
you think it's funny, you can thank me). Includes a classic customer service
moment on this page.
Story of the Day: Apes
Take Over Arizona Town Again (Fox). Thanks theAntiELVIS ("It's a mad
house! A mad house!").
Media of the Day: Playing
Games on Moviefone.com (thanks =Rental=[DJedi]-Z-), on Tomb Raider
follow-ups including Pong: The Movie, and Ken Burns' Frogger.
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