Archived News:
- Ghost Recon
Ubi Soft sends along eight new, high-res Ghost Recon screenshots, offering new scenes in the latest tactical shooter in the works at Red Storm Entertainment, and a further five new ones each are up at GameSpot and PC.IGN.com.
- Battle Realms
Also on PC.IGN.com this evening are four new Battle Realms screenshots, showing off the 3D real-time strategy game under construction at Liquid Entertainment.
- Throne of Darkness
Another installment of the Throne of Darkness Elements of the Week on RPG Vault illustrates the Dark Samurai in Click Entertainment's isometric action RPG with a few screenshots and some concept images.
- Arcanum
Similarly on RPG Vault this evening is an Arcanum Elves Gallery, sporting another dozen new screenshots from Troika Games' imminent isometric role-playing game.
- IL-2 Sturmovik
The Wargamer has posted ten new IL-2 Sturmovik screenshots, featuring more aerial scenes in the WWII flight sim by 1C Maddox Games.
FASA Interactive and Microsoft have released a playable demo of MechCommander 2, available for download from GameSpot. The demo weighs in at a hefty 98.5 MB and allows you to try a two missions in the Carver V Campaign with six different types of Mechs in their new 3D real-time strategy game. Update: There are mirrors on Gigex and the official site.
id Software's Robert Duffy updated
his .plan this evening with information on the status of Quake III Arena,
including the news that they are currently testing a new patch to correct problems
with the previous release. Here's what he has to say: We have made the
fixes we wanted to make to the latest version, including having the proper pak
files in the full installer. We did not make any input code changes between
1.29f and 1.29g, but we did link with a different version of Directx ti get
NT Sound functioning properly. This fixed NT 4.0 sound but produced an FPS loss
on some systems and changed the way input was working as well which allowed
in_mouse == -1 to work like some folks like but causes mouse wheel problems
under some versions of Intellipoint. We have since done the following:
-Re-linked to a later version of DirectX.
-Set Directx up to use sound compatible with Directx 3
-Made one small tweak to the input code which allows in_mouse to function correctly
when set to -1 ( old sensitivity ) this should make both input camps happy.
-Fixed a potential server crash.
We are testing this now and should release it in the am.
- Sierra's Triple Dose
Another new week commences, and thus another trio of new screenshots of the week for Sierra Studios' upcoming games Arcanum, Empire Earth, and Throne of Darkness is online.
- AvP 2
As is their way, AvPNews.com has added five more Aliens Vs. Predator 2 screenshots (starting with this one) to their gallery for the upcoming three-way first-person shooter by Monolith.
- Grand Theft Auto 3
A brief, hands-off preview of Grand Theft Auto 3 on PC Zone UK is accompanied by eight new screenshots of this 3D sequel to DMA Design's acclaimed action games.
- Soul Reaver 2
PCPointer.de has posted eight new Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 screenshots, showing off the third-person action game by Crystal Dynamics that was recently announced to be returning to the PC after a console diversion (story).
- Zax
There is a new batch of Zax: the Alien Hunter screenshots on German site Krawall, depicting new scenes in the isometric action adventure in the works at Reflexive Entertainment.
- Mystery of the Druids
A brief but hands-on preview of The Mystery of the Druids on GameSpot UK is illustrated with ten new screenshots of this 3D adventure nearing completion at House of Tales and CDV.
- Neocron
Neocron/Online has posted three new screenshots of Neocron, the futuristic 3D MMORPG being beta tested at Reakktor Media.
- Tale in the Desert
Half a dozen new A Tale in the Desert screenshots are online at Beta-Bites, showing off the peaceful MMORPG likewise being beta tested at eGenesis.
An update on the
status of Divinity, the upcoming isometric RPG from Larian Studios, has
been posted in the game's official forums. This is the first update on the game
in some time, and so it's very comprehensive, saying that the game has been
pushed back to Q4 2001, and that they plan on showing a playable demo of the
game at ECTS in September among other things.
An update on the Anarchy Online Community site announces that the second dimension of Funcom's futuristic MMORPG is now online, and players can choose which world to enter after logging on. The update explains what this means for your character, while a second update explains the server down-time after yesterday's new patch ( story).
As promised, here
are the results of the contest to win my giant box of crap, If you entered,
swing by and see if you won! Thanks to everyone that entered this contest, and
if you haven't already, be
sure to pick up a Blue's News T-shirt of your own, as the sales of these
helped fund this contest.
We reported on Saturday that the official Total War site had been updated with
a new release date ( story), but they have incorrectly reported
such dates before, so Electronic Arts sent along a press release confirming
the August 7th release date. Here's the full press release, and here's a
link to an image of the game's box artwork: Shogun: Total War(tm)
Warlord Edition for the PC, the successor to the highly acclaimed real-time
strategy game - Shogun: Total War from Electronic Arts, has gone gold and is
scheduled to ship nationwide on Tuesday, August 7. Shogun: Total War Warlord
Edition will have a new enemy that threatens mainland Japan, as well as an array
of new and improved game features. The Warlord Edition will also reintroduce
players to the original Shogun title that delivered a revolutionary style of
gameplay through its epic size battles. Building upon the excitement of battle
found in Shogun: Total War, the Warlord Edition offers the inclusion of Kublai
Khan's invading Mongol hordes that sweep across Japan in the greatest external
threat the Samurai ever faced. Like its predecessor, the title will allow players
to take command of thousands of warriors, each with his own unique Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and fighting characteristics, on a quest to unify Japan under
the rule of a single powerful warlord.
The Warlord Edition is a stand-alone product that includes the first Shogun:
Total War title, which means it does not need the original title in order to
run.
Titled Star
Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds - The Hardcore Preview, MrFixitOnline has posted
their preview of LucasArts' upcoming RTS title. This is actually the first part
of their preview, which is based on the author's impressions of an extensive
play test of the game, and this portion contains a look at what separates SWGB
from Age of Empires II (whose engine powers the game), and details on each of
the six different civilizations.
There is a new AquaNox interview on HomeLan Fed, cornering project manager Wolfgang Walk to discuss the underwater 3D action game that is currently submersed at Massive Development. Wolfgang explains how this game follows up on their 1996 title Archimedean Dynasty, the kind of setting, gameplay, enemies and weapons, and other features that can be expected, as well as their plans for multiplayer and how their in-house engine employs the new features of GeForce3 video cards.
A new preview
of From Dusk Till Dawn is up at GameSpot UK this morning. The preview appears
to be hands-on, and it contains some gameplay details, a brief recap of the
movie the game is based on, and 15 new screenshots.
StrategyPlanet Interviews Conquest: Eric Peterson is a conversation with the Fever Pitch Studios lead designer about their imminent space-based RTS, Conquest: Frontier Wars. Eric talks about the game's features, plans for a map editor after release, and a handful of other topics. Similarly, German site Krawall has also conducted a Conquest: Frontier Wars interview in English or the site's native tongue, in which Eric Peterson discusses the game's turmoiled development history, the engine, multiplayer, and more. Ten new screenshots are also included. Update: A third Conquest: Frontier Wars Q&A is online at the site of e-tailer EBgames.com this morning, and as before Eric Peterson talks about the game's features, how it differs from other RTS games and, again, the proverbial more.
HomeLAN has posted details
on the Soldier of Fortune Platinum Edition, a re-release of SoF that's set
to be released at the end of August. This information comes by way of Raven's
Kenn Hoekstra, and according to him the package will contain the latest version
of SoF, the Brady Games strategy guide (in PDF format), five new multiplayer
maps and a trailer for Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix. Also mentioned is
that a patch to upgrade the standard (or gold) release to this version will
most likely be released.
Version 2.1 of utLobby,
an Unreal Tournament server browser and monitoring tool has been released. utLobby
sits in the user's system tray, and in addition to its standard suite of server
monitoring functions, it can publish game information to a live web page and
let players waiting to join the server chat with each other.
UK developer Slitherine Software has recently announced Legion, an isometric RTS with 3D terrain set in the days of ancient Rome. The official site offers more information on the game's premise and features, plenty of concept images, and the first screenshot. There is also a brief development update on progress in recreating battles with 800-1000 troops. Thanks AVault for the tip.
A follow-up on posts about an issue with the new Win32 Quake III Arena installer
( story and story), has been posted on Stomped
where id Software's Robert Duffy tells them a new installer is due out sometime
early today.
In other game-patch related news, as noted in
Joey Liaw's .plan, a post to the PlanetAnachronox Forums
has word from some of the now-unemployed members of the Anachronox team that
they are at work on a patch for the game in spite of the fact that they no
longer work for ION Storm. Included will be a new "Bricks Finest Taxi
Service" feature, as well as an attempt to address crashing problems on
some systems. Word is that when the patch is complete, Eidos "may or may
not test it," but the team intends to turn their attention towards the
release of "a big TOOLS PACKAGE" for the game.
Red
Faction PC Enhancements on The Adrenaline Vault is another article on what
Volition is doing to differentiate the PC version of Red Faction from the
console version, and along with the report are new screenshots showing off both
multiplayer play and the game's editor (they've also posted a
batch of new single-player screenshots).
R6Italia has posted some
new screenshots from Ghost Recon, Red Storm Entertainment's upcoming installment
in their series of tactical first-person shooters based on the works of Tom
Clancy. Thanks Stomped who saw them on Rogue Spear Retreat
who saw it on GhostRecon.net.
The Adrenaline Vault
Previews Silent Hunter II and Destroyer Command looking ahead at this pair
of World War II naval combat games that feature action below and above the
surface (respectively). The main focus of the article is the multiplayer modes
in the games, which are interoperable, allowing for head-to-head destroyer
versus sub battles and the like, offering quotes from Mark Kundinger, associate
producer at Ultimation, on how this will work.
PlanetXbox' Halo Developer Diary Vol. 3 is now online, with Bungie level designer Jaime Griesemer describing the role of scripted scenes and events in Halo, covering things like cutscenes, character AI, the communication system, and more.
A new version 1.2 of the ArenaScout
IRC server browser for Quake III Arena is now available (thanks Stomped).
ArenaScout is a script that's run from within mIRC that is nonetheless quite
feature-rich, offering a favorites list, the ability to store passwords, a list
of friends to search for online, as well as some IRC-specific functions, like
changing your nick automatically when you depart the channel to join a game.
Strike Force Center has news of
a new policy they are implementing that will allow their subscribers (which
costs $14.99) to participate in the beta testing of future public releases of
this Unreal Tournament modification. There's an
interview with the Opera team on Needbackup.net talking about their
Half-Life modification.
This post on the Arithmetic
Studios website has word that they are looking to hire an experienced 3D
Modeler to create high-quality, high-poly characters for W.A.T.E.R.: Blood Runs
Deep. Candidates are expected to exhibit a mastery "of enveloping and
skeletal/hierarchy construction."
I'm dying to see the new Planet of the Apes movie, I may even get out to
the theater to do so... maybe I can make the excuse be research, since TeraBaap
points out that both the spacecraft in the movie and the tattoos on the human
slaves resemble the Quake (1) symbol.
Laurence Fishburne turns 40 today (thanks Chris
Morris). Okay Morpheus, blow out the candles and try your cake. If you close
your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs.
Link of the Day: Cutie
Quake. Flash required. Thanks eravage.
Auction of the Day: Battle Bot Patriot -competed in season 3.
Thanks David.
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