Archived News:
PC.IGN.com has posted a movie trailer of Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, Westwood's upcoming isometric RTS expansion to Red Alert 2. The trailer weighs in at 52.5 MB and features four minutes of cutscene footage, introducing the backstory of the game.
The Matrox Graphics - Latest Drivers page offers new beta drivers for the Millenium G400 and G400 MAX video cards for both Windows 98/Me and Windows 2000. There are no further details on the changes in this release other than that it "includes several game bug fixes."
GameSpot kicks off a new series of Battle Realms profiles, this time 'round examining the heroes heading up each of the clans in the 3D real-time strategy game nearing completion at Liquid Entertainment. This installment covers the Dragon Clan, and the article describes primary hero Kenji and his four friends, each illustrated with a concept image and a new screenshot.
There is a Tor A.
Wigmostad interview on AO Basher with today's second Q&A with the
Anarchy Online community manager. The goal of the Q&A seems to be to face
the tough questions head-on, as the following excerpt demonstrates: Sion: The game had a problematic launch, do you feel the game was
released prematurely?
We believed we would be able to launch the game in a way that would work out
well for both the players and Funcom. A Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)
like Anarchy Online is dependent on people playing it for several months. What
this means is, a catastrophic launch isn't good for our long-term plans. Now, we
all agree that things did not go as well as we had planned. Some problems
probably could have been avoided by an extended release date and better
planning. Some of the problems where also due to things it had been difficult to
plan around. For instance, the number of subscribers we had at launch were much
more than we had anticipated.
Sion: In short, do you think the game was ready to be released?
Tor Andre: At the time of ship, we believed we were ready for a launch, but,
there were obviously problems in the game that we wished had been solved before
release.
There is a brief development update on Legion at the Slitherine Software website, discussing progress on this upcoming RTS game set in ancient Rome. Word is they have "made a lot of progress with the AI, which although does not make for great
screenshots, does make great gameplay," and they have also reworked the first scenario in the game to be more historically accurate.
As noted in this post on the official forums, a new patch for World War II Online is now available, taking Cornered Rat Software's massively multiplayer war game to version 1.22. This update is available via the game's auto-updater as well as a 753 KB manual patch, and improves the client's stability, fixes the MP40 bug, and addresses several other problems. The update also outlines their plans for the next two upgrades.
There's an Interview
with Linda Currie on 3DFiles.ru talking about the complexities surrounding
the fate of Wizardry 8, the RPG sequel nearing completion at Sirtech Canada.
Among those complexities are the search for publishers to distribute the game
outside of Russia (where this will be handled by Buka Entertainment), their
search for investors, the fate of Wizardry 8 support should funding fail to
materialize, as well as how that would derail the future of Wizardry 9 and
Jagged Alliance 3, the other upcoming projects they still have on the boards.
Moving on to more pleasant topics, they then put the discussion of these
problems behind them and get into some of the details about what's going on in
the final stages of Wizardry 8 development.
There's an
Anarchy Online interview on ZOCKS that is an English translation of their
conversation in German with Sarah Dietzschold and Tor Andre Wigmostad of FunCom
talking about various aspects of Anarchy Online, including some inquiries about
the International support in the MMORPG, as well as what's still in store for AO
players, while clearing up a couple of questions about what is different in the
game from what was expected based on E3 viewings and the such (thanks RPG Vault). Also, the
most recent AO Update addressed "further how FunCom deals with exploits
and exploiters," While also offering news that their FAQ
has been updated with more information about disconnects.
There's a Ghost Recon
interview on PC Gameplay UK talking with Steve Reid vice-president of product
development for Red Storm Entertainment. Featuring an intro so whacked out it
could have been written by me, the conversation with Steve covers progress on
Ghost Recon, their upcoming Tom Clancy game. Topics covered in the interview
include a bit about Red Storm, how they and the game have been impacted by the
Ubi Soft takeover, several questions about what involvement Tom Clancy had in
this latest project, what their feeling are about competing games like Operation
Flashpoint, and more. They promise to follow this interview up with another
tomorrow talking with Darren Chukitus, producer on the game.
Gamitopia's Beam
Breakers Interviews Christian Jungen, Martin Klinger, Rolf Klischewski,
Rainer Reber, Martin Schlierkamp, André Thiel, all of German developer Similis,
discussing progress on Beam Breakers. The lengthy interview offers detailed
questions and answers filling us in on progress on Beam Breakers, which, while
it sounds like a Karate simulator, is actually a futuristic racing game that
features hovercrafts (albeit not full of eels, for you Monty Python fans). Also
included along with the interview are eight new screenshots showing off
gameplay.
Contradicting an earlier report that seemed to confirm the rumored cancellation
of Homeworld 2 ( story), we received a reply from a Sierra PR
representative to our inquiries about this that says in no uncertain terms
that though they are involved in "negotiations with Relic regarding
Homeworld 2," that rumors that the game has been cancelled are simply not
true. Here is the statement: These days anyone can email one of the less
scrupulous rumor-oriented websites, say they're an insider and get a story
posted about something going on at Sierra.
But that doesn't make it true. Unfortunately, when every other website runs a
story about a rumor posted on another site, the public assumes that means the
rumor has been "confirmed," even though it's really just the same
story.
It's really impossible for us to get ahead of this particular rumor because the
rumor itself is based on information that is not true.
We have not cancelled Homeworld 2.
We have not released Relic from their contract.
We have not made any sort of statement about Homeworld 2.
The negotiations with Relic regarding Homeworld 2 (which actually started long
before E3) are completely divorced from the recent restructuring at Sierra.
If someone at Relic thinks the above things are true then they are mistaken. And
there's no way we can predict when someone at Relic is going to contact one of
you guys and say the things above.
Hopefully you can understand the situation we're in. It's hard to make a
"statement" about things that aren't true, except to say that they're
not true.
If you and auto-updaters happen to not get along very well, then Blizzard has now released downloadable patches for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, as before updating their isometric RPG expansion to version 1.09 ( story). The PC version comes as a 1.77 MB download while the Mac patch is 4.7 MB. Also, the Mac patch for the original Diablo II is already available, weighing in at 8.9 MB, with its PC counterpart expected soon. Update: There are reports of characters on the USWest Realm being reset to level 1 since version 1.09 was installed, and as a precaution Blizzard has shut down all realms until further notice.
Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Materializes on Store Shelves
is the press release from Sierra announcing that Arcanum: Of Steamworks and
Magick Obscura, the steampunk RPG from Troika Games (the team that created
Fallout), is now appearing on store shelves worldwide.
GameSpot UK's Age Of Mythology Interview
is the promised ( story) third part of their interview series with
Bruce Shelley, discussing the upcoming game that's to some degree a follow-up to
the Age of Empires series. The scope of AoM's gameplay, the number of
civilizations that will be included, deformable terrain, resource management,
and more are all on the table for this discussion. On a related note, there
is also an impressive brand-new Age of Mythology screenshot on the Ensemble Studios
site.
War Pig
goes one on one with Lori Silva on The Dr.Twister Network is a conversation
with the production manager for Mythic Entertainment about Dark Age of Camelot,
their upcoming MMORPG of the round table. The discussion covers what they think
the audience is expecting from this genre of game, what demographics they are
hoping to attract, what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated industry,
and more. In related news, a Camelot Press Release on the Mythic Entertainment site offers news that the fourth phase of Dark Age
of Camelot beta testing is set to begin, calling the stage three testing "a
complete success." Word is the 5,000 available slots in the test will be
filled by those who have already applied to be testers, and the release goes on
to describe what new features they will be implementing for this phase. Thanks RPGvault for both of these.
There's a new Etherlords Preview
on GamesDomain with a look ahead at Nival Interactive's upcoming Magic: The
Gathering-influenced turn-based strategy game. The preview is hands-on, based on
getting a hold of an early phase 2 beta build of the game, and therefore offers
first-hand impressions of gameplay, as well as what refinement is still required
before it is released. Included with the article are 19 new screenshots,
including a few showing the engines ability to zoom in for close-up views.
3D Gaming
Daily's Legion Q&A talks with Iain McNeil of Slitherine Software
discussing Legion, their upcoming strategy game set in ancient Rome. The
interview offers detailed answers to the seven questions it poses, covering
topics like the research behind the game, its wide scope, its 3D terrain,
resources, and more.
After a false start yesterday ( story), Games Domain has now posted an uncorrupted version of the Parkan: Iron Strategy demo. The demo includes the first part of the campaign mode in Nikita's 3D action strategy title as well as an auto-play mode, but no skirmish missions or multiplayer. As suspected though, much of its massive 210.6 MB download size is due to the inclusion of a DirectX distribution, a large collection of video card drivers, and a previously released movie trailer ( story). Thus, a version of the demo relieved of all this excess baggage is online at 3D Gamers, clocking in at a more reasonable 85.7 MB.
There's a new Neverwinter Nights
preview on PC Gameplay UK with a look ahead at the upcoming 3rd edition
Dungeons & Dragons game from BioWare. The article offers quotes from a wide
variety of people, including producer Trent Oster, BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray
Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk, and of course Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
(though I don't know if Lenin knew he was commenting on CRPGs when he made his
statement). Much of the preview focuses on the large amount of freedom the game
will offer, while also giving the background for its story and setting, as well
as its ability to make use of an actual live dungeon master. They seem pretty
enthusiastic in their assessment of what this will all provide, concluding the
preview by saying: "Neverwinter Nights isn't a game, it's a modern day
Pandora's box. And once you let this baby out, the only thing that's going to be
staying in is you."
There's a
Homeworld 2 Cancellation Update on The Adrenaline Vault (thanks sunil)
refuting the denial that was issued yesterday ( story), and saying
that though they have not received confirmation from Sierra on this, they have
confirmed with developer Relic Entertainment that Sierra Studios has cancelled
Homeworld 2. We have contacted Sierra for further information about this, but as
they are based on the west coast (where it is still quite early), we have yet to
receive a reply.
A new Ghost Recon Interview
on HomeLan focuses on the
next installment in Red Storm Entertainment's series of military shooters based on the work of
thriller author Tom Clancy. The conversation is with Brian Upton, the game's lead designer,
and covers a variety of topics like the story, weapons, "experience
points," the kind of missions you will be engaged in, and more, including
this bit I found amusing describing why they chose another military themed
project as their version of taking a 'break:' "We were sick of doing
Rainbow stuff and wanted a break. Really. We though about doing a police game
(like SWAT) but a military title seemed like it would be more fun since soldiers
get to shoot their guns more than cops do."
The Etherlords
Developer's Diary Volume 8 on GameSpy.Com features mission designer
Alexander Mishulin talks about the 'global spells' system in their upcoming
strategy/RPG hybrid. In the diary, Alexander discusses the idea behind them,
their role in the game, offering an example by describing what they call
"ether combat," concluding by describing the system as "a game
within a game, a war within a war."
There's a new World War II Online
update on the Cornered Rat Software website that follows-up on the release
of version 1.06 of their PlayGate utility ( story), and offers a
look at their plans for both a production patch version 1.22 and feature patch
v1.30. According to the update: "A number of persistent and sometimes
hard-to-recreate problems were solved, including a likely candidate for the blue
sky bug, a revamping of the hauling algorithm, the luger/MP40-shooting backwards
bug, the disabling of alt+tab, and a head-shaking fix. The persistent strategy
system is now in place and is ready to go into general testing."
- New AMD CPUs
This AMD
News Release announces: "AMD Marks Two-Year Anniversary of AMD
Athlon™ Processor with Announcement of 1.1GHz Mobile AMD Athlon™ 4
Processor." Thanks 3DNow.net.
- More Audigy
Breaking the Sound Barrier with Audigy
on PC.IGN.Com offers another look at Creative Labs' new soundcard
technology, including a rundown on products in which it will be used.
- Hercules 3D Tweaker
Savage News
has posted a link where you can find an updated version of the Hercules 3D
tweaker utility.
- Excite@Home Troubles
Excite@Home survival chances dim
is a CNET article outlining the perils that lie ahead for the broadband
supplier, who will have to repay $100 million worth of convertible bonds if
their stock is delisted by the Nasdaq. Thanks Ant.
- Hotmail Troubles
Hotmail flaw exposed e-mails
on MSNBC exposes a security flaw in the free mail service. Thanks Erik.
- Games Aid Burn Victims
Easing Pain with Virtual Reality
(ABC) is an article that says the immersive qualities of virtual reality can
help dull the agony that severe burn victims suffer. Thanks Scatterblak.
A press release on Gone Gold
has word that Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, the upcoming sequel to
the original Pool of Radiance, is on track for a September 25 release, though
the game is apparently not yet actually gold.
The Earth and Beyond
website announces a chat session scheduled for tomorrow (August 22) at 9:00
PM EDT. In a twist, each of the four attendees plan to remain "in
character," and the chat will be in "a town hall debate format,"
where a "news reporter will moderate a discussion between Terran, Progen,
and Jenquai representatives as they discuss the state of affairs at the
beginning of the Earth and Beyond timeline. After the moderator asks some
prepared questions for his distinguished guests, he will also take a few
questions from the floor." Meanwhile, on Thursday (August 23), BioWare's
Marc "Taro" Holmes will attend a Neverwinter Vault
Chat to answer the attendees' art-related questions about Neverwinter
Nights, BioWare's upcoming RPG. The festivities begin at 8:00 PM EDT.
An
article in this weekend's The Sunday Times (thanks EuroGamer) has word that a Colorado court
has made a ruling about the lawsuit that sprang out of the Columbine school
shooting ( story, story, and story),
ordering that the complaint against Eidos Interactive be "dismissed without
prejudice." Eidos was named in the suit because they published Final
Fantasy VII, one of the games found in the collection of one or both of the
killers, but the judge ruled against including Eidos in the suit because FFVII
did not contain any guns.
There's a
new Myst III Exile Interview on WORTHPLAYING where the new installment in
the hugely-successful Myst series is discussed, the various questions in the
Q&A answered by several different folks at Presto Studios.
A pair of posts on PlanetAvP offer a
couple of ways to get more out of the recently released AvP2 demo, as they have
posted a simple line to add to your config file to enable a ChaseCam mode, while
for the more daring, they have also posted a way to hack the .rez file to
enable the game's cheat codes in the demo.
An Aliens vs. Predator II Spawn Attributes File
posted on PlanetAvP offers a little evidence that an Xbox version of AvP2
may be in the works, though it must also be pointed out that abandoned code can
often remain behind in a game for no other reason than it was never cleaned out.
FGN is reporting
that the Japanese Xbox launch date will be announced next week, while a
related FGN story lists November 8 as the Canadian Xbox launch date and offers a rundown on the titles that will be available on launch. Conflict:
Desert Storm on Xbox on The Adrenaline Vault has word on plans for an Xbox
port of Pivitol Games' upcoming PC & PS2 Gulf War game. A new Digital Extremes Developer's Update
has the latest on progress on Unreal Championship. Finally, IOGEAR Launches i.LINK Battle Hub
on PS2.IGN.Com that will allow six PS2 owners to play head-to-head via
FireWire (presuming you can fit that many TVs in one room).
The TRIBES 2 Annoying Bastard Guide
on Dan's Data offers tips on being an annoying bastard, but the good kind,
meaning the other team finds you annoying, rather than your own.
There's a
Renegades II Interview on Tribes Center discussing the TRIBES 2 version of
the Renegades mod, describing the mod in future terms, as it obviously was
conducted sometime prior to the release of the first Renegades II beta yesterday
( story). The Team Orbit
website has a Orbit Wars trailer online to give a look at this upcoming
Unreal Tournament modification.
The deadline for submissions for The 4th Annual Independent Games Festival
has been announced as September 1. The IGF carries $15,000 in cash prizes, and
is held in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference,
to be held in March, 2002. Also, MaxFiles
has a tutorial on what they call "exporting vehicles into TRIBES 2,"
which sounds like importing here, but I am, of course, a monkey. Also, NeverWinter Haven
has posted the first part of their tutorial on creating your own 3D models. In
what probably is not a coincidence, the Neverwinter Vault
Modeling Section is open, also providing tips on how to create your own
models on this yet-to-be-released game.
In my ramble about lightning yesterday, I mentioned a more detailed explanation
of the phenomenon would probably contradict the simplified magazine piece that
told me lightning always travels from clouds towards the ground. A few folks on
the forums have argued back and forth a bit on this, but the How Lightning Works
article on Howstuffworks supports the idea that it can indeed travel up,
although it doesn't sound like a very common occurrence (this is all relative,
as the Maxim article that got me started on this also points out that the
earth is struck by lightning approximately 100 times a second). This
page of the article (thanks Aaron) points out something mentioned on the
forums here as well: that in some sort of Alanis-shattering coincidence, one of
the types of lightning that travels upwards, the existence of which I was
pondering while flying above the storm in the BlueJet, is called (drum roll)
Blue Jet Lighting. No, really.
Link of the Day: The Code
Red Wall of Shame seeks to pressure/inform operators of servers looking to
spread the Code Red worm into patching their servers. Thanks John Ceci.
Weird Science: Australian
Scientists Find 'Tender Steak' Gene. Thanks [MP] Wolverine [MP]. No rules,
just right?
Media of the Day: Boo!
No joke -- it scared the crap out of me! You probably want to mute your speakers
if you're at work. Thanks DooBall. Damn... I'm still scared!
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