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Archived News:
KOCH Media has announced Voodoo Islands, a 3D action strategy game by German developer SPIRIT Projekt that places you into the boots of a pirate captain. The press release offers more details on the gameplay and features they are aiming for, and the announcement is accompanied by six screenshots, while more information can also be found at the official site.
Yesterday, Slovakian developer Mayhem Studios sent along the first details and six screenshots of Neverend, their Final Fantasy style 3D role-playing game in development. The details cover the game's plot, character development, game locations, combat system, their new Doubleform Technology, and more, while the images offer an idea of what the game looks like.
- Elite Force II
Ritualistic offers up a single new screenshot of Star Trek Elite Force II, the recently announced Trekkie shooter sequel by Ritual Entertainment.
- Thief III
ION Storm has opened a teaser page for Thief III with a concept image of their stealthy first-person action game in development (thanks teriyakidonut).
- Breed
The official Breed site has been updated with four new screenshots of the 3D space, air and surface action game by Brat Designs.
- Gore
Similarly, the official Gore site sports eight new screenshots of the futuristic first-person shooter in the works at 4D Rulers.
- Mobile Forces
PCShooter serves up three new Mobile Forces screenshots, while EuroGamer doubles that with six new images of the multiplayer first-person shooter by Rage Software.
- Necrocide
A baker's dozen new but low-res Necrocide screenshots on GameSpot UK accompany some brief impressions of the first-person horror action game by NovaLogic, while Computer and Video Games offers the same images in regular resolutions.
- Purge
Five new screenshots of Purge are up at HomeLan Fed, offering more scenes in the multiplayer action RPG being created at Freeform Interactive.
- Celtic Kings
Freelancer has posted three new screenshots of Celtic Kings: Rage of War, the just-renamed isometric RTS by Haemimont Games that used to be known as Druid King.
- WarCraft III
Back on GameSpot UK, there are also some brief WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos single-player impressions along with 11 new, low-res screenshots of Blizzard's 3D RTS in beta testing, while GameSpyDaily offers four new screenshots as well.
- Warhammer Online
The official Warhammer Online site has been updated with new concept art and developer commentary on this upcoming MMORPG by Climax (thanks The Art of Magic: Battle Fansite).
- Planes of Power
Sony Online has released new images of EverQuest: Planes of Power, showing off the transformation from concept art to in-game scenes in their upcoming MMORPG expansion.
Here's another harvest of recent Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind coverage around the web, based on the ubiquitous press build of Bethesda Softworks now-gold 3D role-playing game ( story). UGO.com's preview goes into fair detail about the game's beginning, choosing your character, interaction with NPCs, combat and magic, the impressive graphics, and more. epiGamer's preview covers much of the same ground in much of the same depth. RPGDot split their preview into four parts of which part one covers general impression and technical aspects, and part two the gameworld and immersiveness. Finally, previews are also online at Game Industry and Computer and Video Games.
- Zachary Quarles
As noted
in his .plan, sound designer Zachary Quarles has left Raven Software,
with his departure and future plans the subject of a
Q&A on Planet Soldier of Fortune.
- Warcraft III
There's a
Bill Roper Interview on Computer and Video Games recapping a
conversation they had with the Blizzard producer in London as he toured
about helping to show off Warcraft III. Topics include the perspective they
settled upon, races, campaigns, editing, tutorials, and more.
- UFO: Aftermath
There's a
UFO: Aftermath Q&A on The Wargamer talking with Altar Interactive's
Jiri Rydl to discuss this upcoming strategy game set literally in the
aftermath of a UFO invasion, and symbolically in the aftermath of the X-COM
series.
- Morrowind
RPG Vault's Morrowind Developer Q&A #23
asks the design team at Bethesda Softworks the following question about their
upcoming Elder Scrolls RPG: "Which is your favorite Birthsign and why?
What skills do you like to combine with it and why is this combination
particularly effective, useful or fun?"
After a false start last week ( story), Ubi Soft has now officially announced The Sum Of All Fears, a new 3D action game by Red Storm Entertainment based on the upcoming motion picture starring Ben Affleck, which is in turn based on the Tom Clancy novel. The PC version is slated for a May release with console versions to follow, and it uses the Ghost Recon engine. Ubi Soft also sends along the first two, high-res screenshots and a box shot of the game, and here is an excerpt of the press release:
The Sum Of All Fears games will be based on events from both Tom Clancy’s novel and Paramount Pictures’ movie, immersing players in the middle of a high-stakes adventure as members of an FBI elite hostage rescue team reassigned to track down the conspirators of a major plot against the United States. Players can choose to play as part of a three-player team or up to 36 players can join the multiplayer action on the ubi.com gaming portal as well as the internet. The game takes place in a number of modern day locations, including West Virginia, the Middle East, and South Africa, and allows players to follow the story of The Sum Of All Fears via rendered cinematics depicting vital plot points from the novel and movie.
There's a
Trials of Ascension Q&A on RPGDot talking with Don Danielson, CEO and
cofounder of Shadowpool Studios about Trials of Ascension, their upcoming
MMORPG. Topics include their support of the first-person perspective, the GUI,
face models, trade-offs in character development, player created player-designed
housing item degradation, repetition, guilds, secret doors, the business of
MMOGs, and more.
Following on the earlier beta patch ( story), DreamCatcher has now released a final version 1.10
patch for SuperPower,
the strategy game of global domination by GolemLabs. Details on the changes in the 34.6 MB download along with
mirror can be found on GolemLabs' download page. Thanks
Worthplaying.
There's a
Divine Divinity Preview on Computer and Video Games that combines their
hands-on impressions of this RPG in the works at Larian Studios with their
conversation with Swen Vincke, project
leader/lead programmer on the game. The preview is brief, offering a description
of your behavior's impact on NPCs and an impressive degree of interactivity with
items, while the Q&A covers topics like the storyline, the size of the game
world, lack of plans for multiplayer support, the possibilities of an add-on, their
projected release date, and more. Included are over a dozen new screenshots.
There's a Legion
Preview on Games Domain with a look at this upcoming strategy game in the
works at Slitherine Strategies that will prove that Rome was not built in a day.
Topics include the role real history has in the story, the epic feel of
gameplay, the spit focus between empire-building and combat, city management,
unit types, shortcomings of the beta version they played with, and more.
Included are seven new screenshots.
There's a Neverwinter Nights
Interview on PC.IGN.Com catching up with BioWare's Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka,
and Trent Oster to discuss progress on Neverwinter Nights. Conducted during a
recent foray to BioWare's offices in Canada to check out the game, the
conversation covers topics like D&D rules they've tweaked, the use of
pre-generated characters versus user created characters, the game's goals, their
feelings about users being able to view the structure of missions, and more.
There is also a Neverwinter
Nights Preview on GameSpy.com that offers some background on the game
"For those of you who have been living under a rock the past few
years" (huh?), some hands-on impressions from checking it out, as well as
some quotes of their own from the trio of victims of the IGN interview.
GameSpy.com's
Atriarch Developer Diary #8 is online, written by designer Serafina Pechan
who discusses the impact player-designed content will have in Atriarch, their
upcoming MMOG. She describes how this content will include player-designed
buildings, how their construction system will work, and how they will keep all
this from creating an overload of graphics and textures. She also reflects on
how having the designers retain complete control over such items is "not
necessarily a bad thing" either.
Another news story left over from last night due to our technical problems is
TO:AoT 315 Mod and Patch Released! on the
official Tactical Ops site, as Kamehan Studios now offers a patch for the retail edition of their team-based
shooter, along with the multiplayer compatible free mod version for Unreal Tournament. The 5.6 MB retail patch brings the game to
version 315 with a handful of bug fixes and other changes, while the free mod download weighs in at a
whopping 200.7 MB but offers "slightly less content" than the retail game.
There's an IGI 2: Covert Strike
Preview on PC.IGN.Com offering impressions of the upcoming first-person
shooter sequel in the works at Innerloop based on getting to play with an 80%
complete beta version. The article goes into the shortcomings of the original
game that the follow-up is looking to redress, describes the levels they got to
check out and how they differ from those in Project IGI, the upgraded AI, the
balance between stealth and all-out action, improvements to the graphics, and
more. Nearly two dozen new screenshots are included.
A press release
on UnknownPlayer.com that will apparently be distributed today has word that
NetDevil has plans in the works for Jumpgate: Episode 2, Attack of the Conflux,
an upcoming follow-up to JumpGate, their massively multiplayer space game. The
release describes the update, expected for release this Summer, as being free to
current subscribers, with additions including player-owned space stations, and
an expanded Jumpgate universe "far beyond the current 126 explored sectors
of the galaxy."
- City of Heroes
The City of Heroes Forums Q&A
#11 is online, offering answers to questions found in the forums about
this upcoming superhero MMORPG in the works at Cryptic Entertainment. This
batch of Qs and As is a bit more substantial than those that have preceded
it in this series.
- Remedy
There's an Interview With Remedy Entertainment
on GameZone21 talking with Mika Reiniand and Petri Jarvilehto of Remedy
Entertainment about their history, the development of Max Payne, and what
the future holds, in a conversation spread thinly over several pages.
- Asheron's Call 2
There's a
Matthew Ford Q&A on the World of Dereth talking with Microsoft's project
manager about Asheron's Call 2, the MMORPG sequel in the works at Turbine
Entertainment. Topics include what sort of testing AC2 will undergo, the scale
of the dungeons compared to the original AC, how easily AC veterans will adapt
to the new game, system requirements, the return of elements from the original
game in the sequel, and more.
- Bridge Commander
There's a Q&A
with David Litwin on Ground Bridge Commander talking with the project
leader on Bridge Commander about his role on the project, what the future
holds for the BC series, how their flight sim experience helped in making a
Star Trek game.
Infogrames
to Acquire Shiny Entertainment and Exclusive License to "The Matrix"
Interactive Games is the press release announcing that Infogrames has agreed
to pick up the development company, which previous owner Interplay had already
revealed was on the block ( story). According to the announcement,
the transaction involves approximately $47 million in cash and a promissory note, should
be completed within about a week, and will leave Dave Perry as the president of
Shiny.
There's a new Rainbow Six: Raven Shield preview
on Computer and Video Games looking ahead at the squad-based tactical shooter in the works at Ubi Soft Montreal and Red Storm. The article introduces the Rainbow Six series, covers their realistic setting in the near future, the choice for the Unreal
engine, team AI, comparisons to Ghost Recon and more. Included are plenty of quotes
from producer Mathieu Ferland and a batch of high-resolution screenshots (most of
which are new).
Blackley leaves Xbox to make games
on CNN is the latest installment in the daily series of Q&As with one of
the main players behind the Xbox on the occasion of his departure from
Microsoft.
Console Reviews
As noted in a post on Volition Watch,
the source code for FreeSpace 2 has been released, and is now available for
download from 3DDownloads.
As is noted with the release, "This code can be used to modify all sorts of
attributes of FreeSpace 2 and allow for new effects, events, and all sorts of
changes and upgrades to the FreeSpace 2 engine. This is uncompiled code so it
can be modified by anyone." In a related note, this
forum has been set up to discuss the source code. Also, a new version 1.1 of
the Bridge
Commander SDK is now available, though no specifics about what is new or
changed in this release are available.
Well the bumpy ride around here is by no stretch over. A couple of hundred
emails seem to have been excised from my inbox, but my mail is still impacted.
Meanwhile, the Half-Life/Counter-Strike release yesterday brought a good chunk
of the Internet to its virtual knees, including this site, FilePlanet, the
Shack, 3D Gamers, Joe's Gaming Page... the whole nine yards. Then to top it off
Frans' computer seems to have adopted the IP of a flower shop in Brussels or
something like that, and among the unfortunate side effects is an inability to
reach our own server, which prevented proper updates last night. We've got the
shovels and the hip waders out to fix things up, and it's sure to start getting
better soon, but it's quite the circus around here right at the moment.
Story of the Day: 'Sopranos' son pleads guilty to petty larceny.
Thanks Levelord. Woke up this morning...
Weird Science: Chicks
From Outer Space!. Thanks EvilToast.
Wild Science: Cancer
Risk Found in French Fries, Bread. Thanks EvilToast.
Follow-up: High-tech scooter to debut on Atlanta streets.
Thanks dbodine. The first city to segue to the Segway.
Photo of the Day: Yahoo! News
Photo. Thanks again EvilToast. On a
note related to the above.
Movie of the Day: The
LEGO Chainsaw Massacre. Thanks Dan Leadbetter.
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