Archived News:
A new preview of AquaNox,
the upcoming aquatic action title from Massive Development is up at PC.IGN this
evening. The preview is based on a recent look at the latest build of the game,
and contains gameplay information, a quote from one of the developers about
its original 3D engine and over 30 new screenshots.
LinuxPorts reports that Loki Software, the company that ported numerous games to Linux including Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, TRIBES 2, and Soldier of Fortune, has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. There is a scan of the bankruptcy filing and word is the company owes Activision and Prolix a significant sum. Thanks LinuxGames.
- Red Faction
A belated Red Faction Friday on the official site for Volition's first-person shooter brings a new screenshot of the week.
- Spells of Gold
Doubling that, there are two new Spells of Gold screenshots on RPGDot, showing off the isometric RPG in the works at Jonquin Software.
- Throne of Darkness
Doubling that again, the latest Throne of Darkness Elements Of The Week on RPG Vault includes four new screenshots of Click Entertainment's isometric action RPG, but also throws a MP3 with the First Citadel Musical Theme in the mix.
As anticipated last week ( story), Sierra brand manager Alex Rodberg has confirmed the closure of Dynamix in statements to TribalWar and PlanetTribes. The brief Q&A on TribalWar also has word on their plans to continue TRIBES 2 support with at least one more official patch, and the impact on the servers and community features. According to this GameSpot story, "the decision was made in order to consolidate product development and marketing functions." Here is Alex Rodberg's statement from PlanetTribes:
Sierra On-Line announced today the closing of its Dynamix studio in Eugene, Oregon. 97 employees will receive competitive severance packages and outplacement services.
:( It's official.
As usual, GameSpot didn't forget to pack their camera for QuakeCon, and so they have now posted a video interview with John Carmack, id Software's lead programmer. The conversation is available in four segments in several streaming formats, totalling nearly 24 minutes, and John talks about graphical effects, realism in games, the new Doom game and the features it will require in 3D accelerator cards, his current programming challenges, the future of computer graphics, and lots more.
There is a hands-on preview of Star Trek: Armada II on Armada Universe, based on checking out the space RTS sequel at the offices of developer Mad Doc Software. The article features impressions of the game's intro, graphics, interface and other aspects, as well as how they improve on the original game. A few small FuzzyCam shots are also included.
GameSpot has posted the
first part of their three-day look at Aliens vs. Predator 2. Each day will
focus on a different one of the game's three playable races, and today's portion
takes a look at the Predator. The preview features information about the plot
of this portion of the game, along with details on the new weapons and some
new (and lots of familiar) screenshots.
TalonSoft has released another patch for Age of Sail II, this time upgrading Akella's naval-based 3D RTS to (non-beta) version 1.55. This release solidifies the changes in the previous version 1.54 beta ( story) and doesn't appear to add any new ones. Thanks Mark Kreuzwieser for the tip.
Inside Mac Games has posted a new preview of Neverwinter Nights based on checking out this 3D role-playing game at the BioWare offices. The article describes the game's premise, features like its engine, single- and multiplayer, and toolset, and offers impressions from the demo they saw, which they've also captured on a 13.9 MB ShakyCam movie in QuickTime format.
There is a brief but hands-on preview of Aliens Vs. Predator 2 on LoadedInc.com, based on the upcoming playable demo that will allow you to play a hapless marine in the first-person clash between two aliens species that's in the works at Monolith. The article offers their impressions from the one level it contains, the weapons, sound and graphics, and more. It comes with eight new screenshots captured from the demo, while AvPNews.com has appended another five new screenshots from the full game to their ever-expanding gallery.
Fan page The Zen Garden has posted a
hands-on preview of Battle Realms. The preview is based on what the author
saw during a recent trip to Liquid Entertainment, and features his impressions
of the game, with details on its overall gameplay, unit building system and
more.
The first screenshots of Deadly Dozen, the first- and third-person action game by nFusion Interactive and Infogrames that was revealed last week ( story), are now online at GameSpyDaily. In Deadly Dozen, the player controls a squad of up to six soldiers chosen from a total of twelve through missions in a WWII setting. Update: GameSpot has posted the same shots plus an additional new one.
After Hitchcock and Hannibal ( story), Arxel Tribe seems to be picking up another oddball license, as EuroGamer reports that an action adventure game based on the legendary Venetian adventurer and writer Giacomo Casanova is coming to the PC, entitled Casanova: Duel of the Black Rose. Details on how it combines swordplay and seduction in gameplay are scarce, but sixteen new screenshots are online to show what it looks like, while the official site sports a Casanova movie trailer with a minute of low-res, pre-rendered footage in QuickTime format.
Sierra Studios has released a playable demo of Throne of Darkness, offering the opportunity to try out the isometric action RPG that is nearing completion at Click Entertainment. The demo weighs in at a hefty 108.5 MB, and since the ftp servers seem fairly slow, we'll add some mirrors once available. Update: There is now a mirror on FilePlanet (registration required).
Project Entropia Q&A on The Armchair Empire is a chat with Mind Ark's Patric Sundstrom about their upcoming fantasy MMORPG. As in many previous Q&As, Patric talks about the game's features, including their economic system, safe and unsafe zones, character alignment, and more.
German company Funatics Development has released a movie trailer of Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal, their upcoming third-person action adventure set in the "fantastic world of fairies and goblins." The movie is available in two download sizes and offers a minute of in-engine footage in high-res (640x480) MPEG format with an English voice-over, but of course a version in their native tongue is also available.
Player.at has conducted an
interview with Alan Emrich of Quicksilver Software, talking about their
upcoming 4X space strategy game Master of Orion III (thanks A Talent For War).
Alan talks about the improvements to the series since the last MOO game, how
players will be able to form alliances, the types of government and how they
affect gameplay and more.
GamesReview's
Max Payne Interview chats with Remedy Entertainment about Max Payne, their
third-person shooter that offers a combination of gritty realism and cinematic
gadgetry with its Matrix-inspired "bullet time" effect. The
conversation goes into depth about the game, the history behind its development,
and future plans, though all the references to the game's release being part of
that future suggests that this article sat in cold storage for a while before
being posted. The Q&A is also
available in the site's native Spanish, and since Remedy Entertainment is a
Finnish company, it makes one wonder what language was used to conduct the
interview.
Flight Of The Raven on
HomeFed offers an article based on a chat with Raven's Brian Raffel that took place
at this past weekend's QuakeCon festivities. As is pointed out in the intro,
"Raven has developed and released a whopping 12 full games since the
company was founded, (not counting expansion packs and collected editions of
games)," and their plate is currently just as full as they work on Soldier
of Fortune 2, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and the just-announced Quake IV.
Brian discusses how they are keeping the company from becoming unwieldy under
such a workload, the benefits of being owned by Activision, the PC versus
console question, and more.
GameSpy.com's Operation Flashpoint
Developer Diary Volume 1 is now online, credited as a group effort by the
Codemasters team. Actually, the developer of the game is Bohemia Interactive, so
this could be better described as a publisher diary, and what it offers is a
month-by-month account of the events between Codemasters signing on as publisher
and the game's release in the UK. This recaps the trials and tribulations
of such a process, which they are in the midst of again, as the game's US
release is now in the works: as the conclusion notes: "Hopefully the
US release will be a little smoother!"
There's a Freedom Games
interview on Combat Zone, the 20 question Q&A with "Eric" of
Freedom Games, talking about this company formed by former members of Atomic
Games, and plans for G.I. Combat, their upcoming World War II-themed combat
game. Topics include the new company, system requirements, mod-ability, the
theaters of operation G.I. Combat will feature, comparisons to Close Combat, and more.
A new version 1.3 of The All-Seeing Eye
server browser is now available (thanks Stomped). The new version offers support for No One Lives Forever and UT Infiltration
and Strike Force, and more. They also have a new FAQ
online that can answer further questions about the program. Also, the Famigo Network
has the release of a new C-S server browser for Counter-Strike players,
presumably German ones, as that's the only language on the page.
Following its debut at QuakeCon, a version 1.03 beta of the Superheroes
III is now available, the first Quake III Arena version of this
modification that has previously been released for both Quake and Quake II. Their
page has details on the IRC channel where you can pick up the latest on the
mod, including the addresses of servers where it is running.
Another QuakeCon release is here, as the debut release of Combat
Quake III Arena, an offbeat project that offers tank combat from a top-down
perspective. Included with the release are six new tank models, and 11 maps (ten
for deathmatch and one for CTF).
"DEUTSCHLAND IST EUROPAMEISTER" is the headline on q3ctf.de
that screams the news that Germany is the new Savage Euro Quake III Arena CTF
champions, though the Savage Euro
website has not yet been updated with the results. q3ctf.de
does have accounts of the action, albeit in German, as well as some demos of the
matches for download. Also, Challenge Smackdown
Headquarters has details on season 3 of this worldwide Quakeworld
TeamDM-tournament which is about to get underway.
This past weekend was QuakeCon, which is also the fifth anniversary of the
original #quakecon in 1996. Yesterday was also Ritual Entertainment's fifth
anniversary: It was five years ago yesterday that it was revealed that much of
the Prey team as well as Levelord had departed 3D Realms to form their own
company called Hipnotic Interactive (which was later changed to Ritual). It was
the day that followed (five years ago today) that George Broussard made his
first-ever .plan update discussing the situation, in it, among other things, he
addresses a comment by American McGee who, in an IRC sessions said "Prey is
not going to happen," to which George responds "Uh.. Yes it is. :D"...
as it turns out, American was right on this one. It was the following day that
the first reports of Tom Hall's departure from Apogee/3D Realms was reported,
and another day before it was confirmed he was joining John Romero at Dream
Design (which later became ION Storm).
Link of the Day: Freck's New Feet.
Maybe I'm really naive, but I think this is for real. This is probably
not for the easily disturbed. Thanks Jedi Clampet.
Bonus Link: Google
PR3F3R3N(3Z. The 'l33t search engine. Thanks Frostnick.
Story of the Day: U.S. Chess Concedes on Drug Testing
(AP).
|
Twitter 
