Archived News:
The Asheron's Call 2 Multimedia page offers a new pair of animation movies from the fantasy MMORPG sequel being crafted at Turbine Entertainment. The brief but high resolution AVI clips demonstrate a few animations of a Tyrant, described as "one of the most fearsome creatures Dereth has ever seen."
- Urban Justice
GameSpot has posted four new screenshots of SWAT: Urban Justice, revealing more from the squad-based tactical shooter being developed at Sierra.
- Manhattan Project
Belgian site SpelletjesGarnaal took their copy of the ubiquitous Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project press build for a spin, and captured no fewer than 52 new screenshots of Sunstorm's 3D platform action game.
- Clone Campaigns
The official Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds site has been updated with six new Clone Campaigns screenshots and some concept art to illustrate the upcoming isometric RTS add-on by LucasArts.
- Divinity
Larian Studios has released another pair of Divine Divinity screenshots, depicting new areas in their upcoming isometric role-playing game.
- HoveRace
Likewise, GSC Game World has released another three new screenshots of HoveRace, their futuristic combat racer in development.
- Lost Continents
Even though the game is now on hold (story), VR1 has released three new screenshots of Lost Continents, revealing more from their pulp fiction inspired MMORPG.
- EVE
There are two new EVE: the Second Genesis screenshots (followed by six familiar ones) on Adrenaline Vault, showing more from the sci-fi hybrid space MMORPG under construction at CCP.
- Shadowbane
PC.IGN.com serves up five new Shadowbane screenshots and a familiar one (the second entry), offering more scenes in the fantasy MMORPG being beta tested at Wolfpack Studios.
Call Of Cthulhu Developer Diary, Part 6 is online at Action Vault, as usual penned by Headfirst Productions' designated spokesperson Andrew Brazier. Topics in this sixth installment include the creation of realistic environments, the attention to detail they aim to ingrain the game with, specific easter egg-style features, and developing an "Artist's Eye."
- UFO: Aftermath
ESCMag has conducted a brief interview on UFO: Aftermath, talking to Altar Interactive's Jiri Rydl about their upcoming squad-based tactical combat game, its backstory and gameplay, the absence of multiplayer, their inspiration in the UFO/X-COM series, and more (thanks HomeLan Fed).
- Divinity
There is a brief Divine Divinity Interview on Adrenaline Vault, quizzing Larian Studios lead designer Swen Vincke about the final stages of development for their isometric role-playing game.
- Ken Silverman
There is An interview with Ken Silverman on Doom Encyclopedia talking to the Build Engine programmer about his past and present work (thanks Voodoo Extreme).
- Game Audio
XGR broadcasted an interview with sound designer Frank Bry the other day of which the archived .MP3 clips are now online.
Icewind Dale II Designer Diary #5 is the latest installment covering the development of the isometric RPG sequel at Black Isle Studios. Designer John Deiley discusses their use of the 3rd Edition D&D rules, the new user interface and spell icons, work on the game's dialogues, moving the project into 'design lockdown' phase, and more.
XGR will be broadcasting an interview with Cliffy B, grilling Epic Games' lead designer about his contribution to Unreal Tournament 2003 and a variety of other topics. As usual, the mayhem commences at 9:30 PM EDT, SHOUTcast compatible media player required.
Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix Multiplayer Test Available on April 18 is the press release announcing the impending release of a multiplayer compatibility test for Raven's mercenary first-person shooter. The multiplayer test will offer "one map across four different game modes including deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination and infiltration" as well as "20 skins and all the weapons available in the multiplayer portion of the full game," and will be released through FilePlanet next Thursday.
Eidos has released a new Blood Omen 2 patch to bring the third-person vampiric action adventure by Crystal Dynamics to version 1.02. This release offers improved game stability (although a warning about using saved games remains) along with all the fixes from the previous patch, and again requires a 2.9 MB download.
German site GIGA Games sent word this morning that they would be posting several movies of their TV show that featured Unreal Tournament 2003 and Epic's Mark Rein, and they are now indeed online (thanks Morn for the reminder). There are five movies in DivX 5 format totalling a hefty 135 MB, and they offer some studio footage with Mark answering questions about Digital Extremes' multiplayer shooter, as well as copious amounts of action-packed gameplay footage with a total running time of some 45 minutes. Update: Mirrors of the movies are available at BonusWeb.
Here's more Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind action based on the widely-distributed
press build of the upcoming RPG sequel in the works at Bethesda Softworks.
There's a preview on RPG
Vault, one on GameOver,
another on Game Club Central,
one on TFH Gaming.com, and
a fifth preview on Voodoo Extreme.
Each article offers impressions of much of the game, with comments about the
spiffy graphics and addictive gameplay seeming to be the common theme. Each
article is also accompanied by its own compliment of screenshots.
The official IL-2 Sturmovik site has been updated with new patches for this acclaimed World War II combat flight sim, available for download from this updates page. There is a basic patch at 30.3 MB that adds three flyable planes and numerous new features, improvements and bug fixes, a supplement patch at 26.5 MB that addresses a stutter problem (and is not needed if you're not experiencing it), and a combined patch with all changes at 56.7 MB
DiezelPower Studios sends word that the official BlowOut site is now online, introducing their third-person platform action game. The game boldly proclaims to be "the ULTIMATE all-action Doom, Abuse and Starship Troopers combo" and offers a few more details on the kind of gameplay you can expect, along with half a dozen screenshots. Additionally, they included six exclusive screenshots of the game.
There's a
Scott Miller Q&A on The Adrenaline Vault talking with the 3D Realms
co-owner about all things Duke Nukem. This includes the old-school feel of
Manhattan Project, profits versus creative integrity, working with third-party
developers, why Duke Nukem Forever is taking so long, whether DNF can recoup its
development costs, when more DNF revelations will be made, and more.
Computer and Video Games has posted a new Prisoner of War movie, showing off the third-person action adventure by Wide Games that will see you behind barbed wire in World War II. The movie sports some four minutes of gameplay footage from an early part of the game, and is available in three different MPEG sizes which will all take you a fairly long time to download as the ftp server is rather slow.
This evening Stratics Chat will play
host to the folks at EA Seattle behind Motor City Online,
the massively multiplayer muscle car racing game. Attendees will include
producer Jason "Trouble" Chein, designer Alex "Ghoughakka"
Pantelias, and development director Jon "Yikes" Cummings, and the
festivities get underway at 10:00 PM EDT. In other chat news, the results of the
previous Stratics chat can be found in this Earth and Beyond
Online Chat Log recapping the session with the team behind the upcoming
space MMOG.
The Adrenaline Vault Previews Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
offering their impressions of the press demo of the third-person shooter in the
works at Sunstorm Interactive. They describe how the camera operates, platform
maneuvers, the controls, Duke's objective, the varied environments, combat,
enemies, weapons, sound and graphics, and more. Included are ten screenshots.
Largo Winch to be released in PlayStation 2, PC and X-box format is a press release that slipped through the cracks a month or two ago, announcing a new 3D adventure game in development at Ubi Soft based on the franchise by renowned French comic book publisher Dupuis Publishing. The announcement has sparse details on the premise and gameplay of the title, which is slated for a September 2002 release. For a better impression, you can check out last month's Largo Winch movie trailer from Ubi Soft Germany, which offers a minute and a half of in-game footage for the price of a 32.6 MB download in AVI format, and Worthplaying now serves up a smaller but watermarked Windows Media Player version of the movie at 5.1 MB.
Ubi Soft has released a patch for Ghost Recon: Desert Siege, updating the multiplayer side of Red Storm's new tactical shooter expansion. The modest 1.3 MB download "corrects a play balance issue in Desert Siege multiplayer games with two or more teams," is needed only when hosting multiplayer games, and applies to all language editions of the pack.
GameSpot UK's Sid Meier
Interview talks with the famed game designer during his recent jaunt around
Europe accompanied by Firaxis programmer Soren Johnson during their 'Get
Civilized' tour. They discuss his proudest moment from creating the Civilization
series, the longer production cycle that's marked each successive game, specific
advances in Civ III, his reaction to criticisms that the series represents
refinement rather than the reinvention of the game, the influence of user
feedback, the future of turn-based gaming, publishers using developer's names in
pushing titles, SimGolf, console wars, the possibility of console Civilization,
and more.
Silent Storm interview, part 2 on Daily Telefrag continues and concludes their conversation with part of the Nival Interactive team that is developing this 3D turn-based role-playing strategy game. Topics include their character system, their new engine technology, the enemy AI, their goal of historical accuracy, tentative plans for multiplayer and mod support, and more. Three new screenshots accompany the proceedings.
HomeLan Fed's Conflict: Desert Storm
Q&A chats with Lee Singleton about Conflict: Desert Storm, their
upcoming squad-based tactical action game set in the Gulf War. The discussion
covers the reasons for setting a game in this recent conflict, the research
behind the game, the plotline, the squads players will control, environments,
weapons, enemies, AI, differences between how the game will play on multiple
platforms, multiplayer support, and more. In addition to this, HomeLan Fed has
also posted a Q&A with
Cameron Spence, the military expert who provided the expertise behind the
game.
Norwegian developer Razorwax sends word of a new development update on Darkfall Online, their upcoming fantasy 3D massively multiplayer online RPG. This update describes their efforts to improve their ongoing Pre-Alpha test into the next stage, and that Alpha 1 build will feature an enhanced graphics engine, new character models, an improved user interface, clan support, and other changes that will be scrutinized by an expanded group of testers.
There's a Mobile Forces
Q&A on Prophecy.co.za talking with Daniel Leyden, one of the programmers
on Mobile Forces, Rage's upcoming tactical shooter that will place emphasis on
the role of drivable vehicles. Topics include what will make Mobile Forces stand
out from other similar games, how long production has been underway,
inspirations, the blend of arcade action and realism, classes, vehicles, cheat
prevention, game modes, and more.
This post on the official Global Operations forum announces the availability of the dedicated Linux server for Barking Dog's new team-based shooter. Not for the faint of heart in more ways than one, the server weighs in at a massive 240.8 MB available from Electronic Arts' ftp server, FilePlanet (registration required) and eXtreme-Players.de, and the forum post offers instructions for its installation.
GameSpot's
Shattered Galaxy Update Q&A talks with Nexon's Terry Park, discussing
Shattered Galaxy, their multiplayer real-time strategy game. The conversation
focuses on updates to the game, including the last update that added new units,
maps, and tiles sets, as well as the next one, which will add additional rewards
for teamwork and a new economic system. They also discuss how they feel the
changes have impacted the game, as well as how some of these changes will
encourage a greater degree of role-playing.
This Mythic Entertainment
Communiqué de presse has word of plans for a face-to-face gathering of Dark
Ages of Camelot in Washington D.C. this summer, operating under the assumption
that players addicted to the hit MMORPG are actually interested in being pried
away from their computers. The festivities commence June 29, 2002, and those
interested in attending can sign-up on The Camelot Herald.
There's a Final Fantasy
Q&A on Xen Gamers talking about plans for Final Fantasy XI, the upcoming
installment that adds online play to this series that has been such an
outstanding success as a single-player series and an equally spectacular failure
as a movie. The Q&A is with Square's Nanaka Hiromichi and seems to be a
translation of an interview originally conducted in Japanese.
Console Reviews
Much to my own surprise I was fairly successful at making the banner carrying
the new EvenLarger™ technology fit in our format yesterday, this is a work in
progress, but at least it's somewhat happening. My success helps to prove the
adage about a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters for a thousand
years, although in this case it was one monkey working at one keyboard, for what
only seemed like a thousand years. This will undergo some further tweaking, so
if you see odd output today, that's likely the cause.
Play Time: Play Mini Putt.
Flash required. Thanks Mike.
Link of the Day: Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age.
Thanks Chris Johnson.
Story of the Day: Amish
Refuse to Put Reflective Triangles on Buggies. Thanks David Poland. Don't
worry, we can make fun... they won't be reading it.
Movie of the Day: David
Hasselhoff's Hooked on a Feeling. Thanks EvilToast. The musical genius of
Blue Swede and the choreography of Steve Balmer.
Weird Science: New Secret Weapon -- the Indestructible Sandwich.
Thanks Greg 'Jesh' Trzaska.
Wild Science: Researchers: Pill may someday replace exercise.
Thanks dbodine.
Follow-up: Ohio Rep. Traficant guilty of all charges, refuses to resign.
Thanks Conan Ford. Hopefully being yesterday's LoD provided some consolation.
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