Archived News:
A new preview
of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is up at LoadedInc.com this evening.
The preview is brief but hands-on, with the author's impressions of the game,
and it also contains eight new screenshots.
PC.IGN has posted a new preview
of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, the upcoming RTS from LucasArts that's
powered by the Age of Empires II engine. The preview is based on what they saw
during LucasArts' recent press event, and it contains their impressions along
with five screenshots that have already been seen elsewhere in similar previews
from the event.
- Commandos 2
PC.IGN.com has posted five new screenshots of Commandos 2: Men of Courage, the squad-based tactical combat title by Pyro Studios that is or isn't complete yet (depending on the report of the day, it seems).
- Bridge Commander
A very brief look at Star Trek: Bridge Commander on GameSpot UK is accompanied by several new and a few familiar screenshots of Totally Games' space-combat sim, and three more images are up at GameSpot.
- Dungeon Siege
There is a single new Dungeon Siege screenshot on fansite Packmule.org that shows off, what else, the fearsome packmule in Gas Powered Games' 3D role-playing game.
- Trade Empires
GameSpyDaily has posted eight new Trade Empires screenshots, offering more scenes in the isometric trading strategy game by Frog City.
- DuelField
A bunch of DuelField concept images on fansite World of DuelField illustrate the online turn-based strategy game in the works at Sismoplay.
Operation Flashpoint will be making its way to US stores next month, and so GameSpot has posted their updated preview of this tactical action game by Bohemia Interactive that's been available elsewhere for some time already. Penned by our very own loonyboi, the article offers an overview of what you can expect from the game, complete with plenty of gameplay impressions from the European build, as well as eight new screenshots.
RPG Vault has posted a
Fatherdale: Guardians of Asgard Q&A. The Q&A is actually an English
translation of one that ran in a Yugoslavian magazine, and while it specifies
who conducted the interview, it doesn't indicate who was being interviewed.
Regardless, the questions deal with Snowball Interactive's upcoming RPG, touching
on its storyline and overall gameplay.
JoWood Productions has posted a
movie featuring over two and a half minutes of gameplay footage from World
War III: Black Gold. The 46 MB movie is in AVI format and requires the most
recent release of the DiVX codec.
HomeLAN has conducted a
Q&A with Ed Del Castillo, the president and cofounder of Liquid Entertainment.
Ed fields questions about the company's upcoming RTS title Battle Realms, and
he provides some general information about the game and confirms that they are
shooting for a September completion date, which should get it on store shelves
in October.
It was already revealed in an interview last night ( story) but
id Software and Activision have
formally announced today that Nerve Software has been contracted to create
the multiplayer component of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The press release
doesn't offer any new details beyond this general description of what we can
expect: In addition to an action-packed story-driven single-player experience
where players must infiltrate deep into the heart of the Third Reich, Return
to Castle Wolfenstein's multiplayer mode enlists gamers to hone their tactical
skills in a series of combat scenarios. Gamers will join the fight as an axis
or ally soldier and be challenged to intense, realistic campaigns like storming
beachheads, infiltrating military installations, holding strategic positions,
and more. The game features multiple objectives spanning a variety of maps,
including an Axis airbase, a war-torn German village and a secret Nazi laboratory.
Version 2.7 of the PainKeep
Arena mod for Quake III Arena has
been released (thanks Shacknews).
This latest version fixes some small bugs and also features some minor map changes
to correct errors.
Letting a record setting 48 hours pass without a new release (kidding, kidding)
the official Orange Smoothie Productions
site has been updated with version 0.99v3 of their OSP mod for Quake III
Arena (thanks Stomped). This release contains
"another hotfix for QuakeCon."
Stomped's
Underworld: Crime Does Pay Interview talks with Clint Uhlir and Jonathan
Williams, the two founders of Phoenix Entertainment about their upcoming first
person shooter that includes elements of both strategy and role-playing games.
The pair explain how the game will switch from an RTS view to a first person
perspective, and they also talk a bit about their internally-developed 3D engine
that powers the game.
CDV has released a new patch for Sudden Strike Forever, available for both English and German editions of the isometric RTS expansion by Fireglow Studios. The patch applies a few gameplay fixes, multiplayer improvements and an editor fix, and the English patch weighs in at 11.1 MB while there are two versions of the German patch depending on whether you have the previous patches installed.
PC Zone has posted a
new preview of Aliens vs. Predator 2, the upcoming first person shooter
of bug (and people) hunting. The preview is hands-on, and quite complementary,
featuring the author's impressions along with a couple of new and some familiar screenshots.
It also has some new gameplay details, and compares it very favorably to the
original game, as well as a Q&A with David Stalker, the game's producer.
A new preview
of From Dusk Till Dawn is up at Games Domain today. The preview is based
on their hands-on impressions of the game, and features 21 new screenshots.
Also new on Games Domain this morning is a
preview of Evil Twin, the upcoming 3D platformer from In Utero. It features
a look at the game's nutty concept and gameplay along with some new (and some
old) screenshots.
Five years to the day after the announcement that John Romero was departing id
Software, we find this tidbit, straight out of the new issue of Next-Generation
magazine: ION CLOUDS:
John Romero and Tom Hall are at it again. The two founders of ION Storm may have
completed work on Anachronox and been all but banished from their Dallas-based,
54th-floor ivory tower. Still, the two are collaborating on a new PC game and
shopping it to publishers, including Eidos. According to sources, the game is
being described as Sin meets Rollercoaster Tycoon meets Age of Empires. It's
being planned for Xbox and Game Boy Advance.
FilePlanet now has
a newer version of the Zax demo first released the other day ( story),
saying that the initial release turned out to be leaked. The new file is
described as the "official release" of the demo, and while there's no word of what has been changed or added, the download to experience the joy of Zax has doubled to about 51 MB. Update: The demo is also available directly from publisher JoWood.
Massive Multiplayer.Org's
A Tale in the Desert Beta Journal, Part 2 gives more impressions from more
testing of the beta of A Tale in the Desert, the upcoming combat-free RPG. This
account details the process of the creation of some bricks, starting
with the acquisition of the raw materials, through watching the
bricks dry (perhaps after building your brick house, you can paint it, and watch the
paint dry?).
Westwood's
Earth and Beyond website (thanks Earth N Beyond)
now features a new development update on progress on this upcoming science
fiction game set in, well, Earth and beyond. The new installment follows-up on
last week's Building a Space Sector
article, discussing how those sectors are integrated into the game.
IanStorm's Live IRC Chat (or use an
IRC client to connect to irc.ianstorm.com #stormevent) will play host to
Destination Games today as they gather with those interested in participating in
an online chat session about what they are up to. Confirmed participants are
Richard Garriott, Starr Long, and Jake Song, and the whole shebang kicks off at
8:00 PM EDT. Meanwhile, the Armada Universe
chat room (or alternatively axisirc.ma.cx, port 6667, 6668, 6669 or 7000, channel #starmada for IRC clients) will be the location of a chat session tomorrow
(August 8) at 5:00 PM EDT where Activision and Mad Doc Software will
participate in "the first ever official Armada II chat." Finally, the Mucky Foot Productions
website (thanks CROC) has word of a chat on Sunday (August 12) with members
of the StarTopia development team, who will be gathered on the server irc.dal.net in the channel #startopia. The time of the event is 21:00 (GB time).
Don't know what that is? Me neither, but according to the site: "If you
live in a different time zone check what time 21:00 GB time is locally here," which indicates this will be at 4:00 PM EDT.
There's a new Drakan II movie on GameSpot
with the first look at gameplay in the upcoming PS2 sequel to the dragon-riding
action/adventure. There's a new Unreal Championship developer update on the Digital Extremes
website (thanks Shacknews). This
press release announces that FunCom is jumping off the console development
bandwagon citing "the initial success of Anarchy Online." The Doom preview on
Pocket.IGN.com offers new details on the upcoming GBA version of Doom,
including new gameplay modes. The-Magicbox
reports that "Sega announced that they have sold all the unused Dreamcast
graphic processor chipsets to Sammy," Sammy being a "well known
Pachinko machine maker in Japan." There are some new Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance
PS2 screenshots on GameSpot, some new
Deus Ex PS2 screenshots on GameSpot and some Agent Under Fire
screenshots on GameSpot, as well.
EuroGamer's coverage of
the ELSA CPL European Championships is online, complete with play-by-play match reports and an interview with
CPL-Europe boss Ralf "Griff" Reichert.
GameSpy.com
Interviews Sarah Boulian talking with this programmer at Gas Powered Games (and with tech lead Bartosz Kijanka as well) about the Siege Editor, the level design tool being used to craft Dungeon Siege, GPG's upcoming RPG.
GameSpot's Anarchy Online Game Guide
looks to help get you online by sporting through the Anarchy for you. The
official Darkfall FAQ
has been updated with more on Razorwax'
upcoming online RPG.
This day in gaming history: I'm going to jump on this .plan bandwagon just
this once.
I have decided to leave id Software and start a new game company with different
goals. I won't be taking anyone from id with me.
John Romero
With that .plan update, John Romero announced his departure
from id five years ago today. A couple of days later this
press release rolled in confirming the announcement as well as heralding the
formation of his new company, Dream Design, a name that eventually gave way to
ION Storm.
In other recent gaming history notes: it was four years ago today that
Activision announced they were acquiring Raven Software. It was two years ago
today while attending QuakeCon that we heard the first audible rumblings of work
on American McGee's Alice (story), while on a semi-related note,
it was one year ago today that Levelord announced he was participating in the
creation of Alice (story).
Link of the Day: Molecular Expressions Photo Gallery The Microscapes Collection.
Thanks Frostnick.
Wild Science: First human clone bid planned
(CNN). We may have clones before Attack of the Clones is released! Thanks
Diehard.
Media of the Day: I Love This
Company on Detonate.Net. Thanks Ant.
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