Archived News:
PC.IGN.com has conducted a lengthy interview on WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, interrogating Blizzard producer Bill Roper about their imminent 3D role-playing RTS in beta testing. Topics include the game's current state of completion, balancing the single-player campaign and multiplayer maps, the addition of two new playable races in addition to the ones from the previous games and their different goals in WarCraft III, the structure and storyline of the single-player campaign, why sea-based units and battles didn't make it in, how they expect the game to be received, and lots more.
There is a brief Rise of Nations Q&A on PC.IGN.com, quizzing CEO Brian Reynolds about the real-time strategy game under construction at Big Huge Games. Bryan provides an update on the game's progress, discussing features like the user interface and game rules that he's been working on recently, and giving a brief overview of what's left to be done.
- Sum of All Fears
Computer and Video Games has posted another nine new The Sum of All Fears screenshots, showing off the tactical shooter by Red Storm that went gold today (story).
- Chaser
Nine new screenshots of Chaser are online at ToTheGame, offering new scenes in the sci-fi first-person shooter in the works at Slovakian developer Cauldron.
- Grand Theft Auto III
Back on CVG, there are also three new Grand Theft Auto III screenshots, depicting new areas in the upcoming PC port of DMA Design's 3D action game.
- WarCraft III
GameSpyDaily serves up five new screenshots of WarCraft III, the 3D role-playing RTS being beta tested at Blizzard.
- Legion
A brief but hands-on Legion preview on The Wargamer is illustrated with half a dozen new screenshots of the Romanic strategy game by Slitherine Strategies.
- Cossacks: Back to War
The official Cossacks: Back to War page has been updated with ten new screenshots of this upcoming isometric RTS expansion by GSC Game World.
- American Conquest
Also from GSC Game World comes American Conquest, and the CDV product page for this isometric RTS offers four new screenshots.
- Blitzkrieg
CDV also has released five new screenshots of Blitzkrieg, the WWII real-time strategy game in development at Nival Interactive.
- Sabotain
Finally from CDV, there are six new images of Sabotain online, illustrating this 3D role-playing action game by Avalon Style Entertainment that used to be known as Sabotage: Fist of the Empire (thanks LoadedInc).
- Dragon Empires
Codemasters has released nine new Dragon Empires screenshots for download in one convenient zip-file, revealing more from their upcoming fantasy MMORPG, but if you prefer you can also browse them at CVG, and elsewhere PC.IGN.com provides another five new images.
There is a new Icewind Dale II Designer Diary #7 on RPG Vault in which Black Isle Studios designer Chris Avellone takes a somewhat rambling approach to his chosen (imposed?) duties of providing more insight into the development of this isometric RPG sequel. Included in today's round-up are the origins of The Pipes of the Wheezing Dragon, numerous gameplay tips, an unusual spell icon exchange, five new screenshots, and more.
- Breed
The First CDV
Forums Breed Q& A is online, with "Rico" the game's
community manager answering a collection of questions about the upcoming
science fiction FPS game submitted by the forum participants. Thanks Alan Boney.
- Garage Games
There's a Jeff Tunnel
Q&A on gamezone21.com talking with the president of Garage Games
about his departure from Dynamix, the formation of their company, the
Torque engine, and more.
- Freedom Force
There's a Freedom Force Q&A
on Gamers Hell talking with designer Jonathan Chey about Freedom Force,
Irrational Games' just-released superhero game, as well as a bit about comic
books in general.
- Eidos
There's an Ian
Livingston Q&A on Computer and Video Games talking with the ex-chairman
and current creative director of Eidos Interactive about games, the game
business, this whole Lara Croft thing, and more.
Word on the official Dungeon Siege site is that the anticipated beta version 1.1 patch "will not be ready for a few more days." However, the promised beta version of the Siege Editor is now available for download from Microsoft, allowing prospective mappers to gain experience using it, although the patch will be needed to actually play any new maps. Tutorials for the 4.8 MB download are available at the Siege University.
Contrary to earlier indications, the new level of the Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast demo ( story) is now available from Jedi-Outcast.com as a separate download for owners of the retail game (thanks Ant). It's a 6.0 MB download and we confirmed with Raven Software that it is a legitimate albeit unsupported release, although the site is very slow so it may take a while to obtain a copy. Update: The level apparently had some issues, and these have been corrected in a newer version of the map, available from us as a 6.3 MB download, and it includes a demo.bat file to properly play the map.
The
Sum Of All Fears Game For PC Goes Gold is a press release from Ubi Soft
announcing that The Sum Of All Fears, the latest installment in Red Storm
Entertainemnt's series of Tom Clancy games, has gone gold. Word on the game's
availablioty is that it "will be available at U.S. retail stores in
conjunction with the movie release on May 31." Here's the bulleted feature
list for the game from the release:
- Streamlined interface and planning stage allowing players to jump right
into the action
- Selectable weapons kits featuring 15 different playable weapons in single
player and 28 in multiplayer
- 11 single player missions
- 6 multiplayer maps, including the Red Storm offices
- Selectable auto-targeting, auto-reloading, always on heart beat sensor and
threat indicator
- Default plans loaded from headquarters
- Mini-map to guide you through the missions
- Full set of training missions to hone your skills
- Selectable difficulty for all levels from beginners to the most advanced
players
- Advanced AI where enemies and team members react realistically to their
environment
Computer and Video Games'
Iñigo Hernáez Q&A chats with the executive producer on Duality,
Trilobite Graphics' upcoming "cyberpunk 'adventure-RPG-action' game."
Topics include the game's setting, inspiration, its three protagonists, skills,
how which character you control will be decided, support for different styles of
gameplay, the number and length of the included quests, the game's visuals, and
more. Included are eight new images.
There's
a Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Preview on Games Domain offering
impressions based on playing with an early version of the single-player code for
Raven Software's upcoming mercenary first-person shooter sequel. They offer a
narrative of playing the first mission that describes the story and how it plays
out, going on to discuss things like the GHOUL II skeletal animation system,
improved enemy AI, the weapons, a newfound emphasis on stealth, the random
mission generator, and more. The article is illustrated by nine new screenshots,
and if that's not enough for you, there are another 32
SoF2 screenshots on WORTHPLAYING.
As promised, the official Day of Defeat site now offers downloads of a new beta version 2.1 release of this World War II modification for Half-Life. There's a client upgrade from the previous v2.0 at 48.8 MB and a full client download at 115.3 MB for Windows, while Linux users get slightly more economical downloads at 47.0 and 95.5 MB respectively, and word is this release "features the resurgence of several great maps, weapon tweaks, HLTV support and improved game play (as well as fixes for those nagging lag problems :)"
HomeLan Fed's Impossible Creatures Preview
is online, based on their opportunity to play around with a press preview build
of this upcoming strategy game of designer genes that at one point was titled
"Sigma." The article offers some background on the concept of the game
and its story, its setting, an introduction to gameplay, and more, in describing
the game's tutorial, options offered by the game's 3D engine, the creation of
the game's namesake impossible creatures, and the sort of options you will have
for sending them off to do battle once you have built them into armies, and
more. Included are half-a-dozen new screenshots.
GameOver Previews
IGI 2: Covert Strike offering a look at the upcoming follow-up to Project
IGI (A.K.A. I'm Going In) in the works at Norwegian developer Innerloop Studios.
The article describes the sequel's focus on stealth (much like the original
game), background on the story that once again sees players filling the quiet
shoes of David Llewelyn Jones, the locations the globetrotting game will offer,
the improved enemy AI, and more, all accompanied by a batch of 10 new
screenshots.
Only two days later than planned, the updated Mobile Forces demo is now available for download from 3D Gamers, offering the chance to try out an enhanced version of Rage Software's vehicular team-based shooter. The 74.1 MB download offers the same Western level and Holdout mode as before, but also includes numerous improvements, including a dedicated server option, enhanced networking code, rebalanced weapons, tweaked physics, particle effects, a spectator option, gameplay tweaks, bug fixes and more. Update: There are mirrors on FilePlanet (registration required) and Shacknews (registration required).
Declaring that "CDV strikes back with more
realism than an episode of The Osbournes," there's a
Sudden Strike 2 Preview on GameSpy.com looking at the upcoming sequel to the
World War II real-time strategy/war game. They describe the difficulty levels
that add a new variety to gameplay, historical accuracy of units that should
appeal to hardcore World War II aficionados, the blend of RTS and war game
gameplay, game balance, the influence of the abilities of your soldiers upon
gameplay, multiplayer modes, and more. Included are 10 new screenshots.
As promised, Raven Software has now released the playable demo of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Oucast, available for download from Gigex. The 66.5 MB demo allows you to try out one new single-player level that isn't available in the retail game, and it includes an intro movie, five different weapons (Bryar Pistol, Stormtrooper Rifle, Flechette, Thermal Detonators and the Seeker), the lightsaber and several Force powers. Users behind a firewall for which the Gigex client doesn't work can use this direct download link, and additional mirrors are online at Shacknews (registration required), Fragland, FilePlanet (registration required), 3D Gamers and CCGR. Update: The demo level is now available as a standalone 6.3 MB download for owners of the full game.
Rumors abound that an Xbox price cut is in the works: There's a GameSpot story called Further proof of Xbox price drop based on a leaked advertisement that apparently lists the console system for
$199.94, while demonstrating no doubts about this, Analysts: Xbox U.S. Price Dropping to $199 on GameSpyDaily reports that Microsoft has given indications to "retailers and analysts that the company will soon slash the U.S. price of the Xbox console to $199." Not to be confused with Gladius Online, this LucasArts press release announces production on Gladius, a game that will offer loads of Russell Crowe-style gladiator gameplay, and in timely strokes, GameSpot Previews Gladius and PC.IGN.Com Previews
Gladius, each offering a look ahead at the game which is expected in "spring 2003 on PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube." There's a Prisoner of War Preview on GameSpot with a look at the upcoming stealth get out of jail free game
for the PS2. There are some new
Buffy the Vampire Slayer screenshots on TeamXbox. Finally, PlayStation(R)2 Worldwide Shipments Reach 30 Million Units offers today's hype-check.
Console Reviews
The Deep Shadows Downloads
Page now offers a Codename Outbreak level design tutorial written by
Vyacheslav Djura. Also, along with word that Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is
gold comes word that: "The game will also ship with an unsupported Level
Editor program, which will allow those interested to create their own levels for
Duke to run around in. There won't be any instructions for this editor, so
you'll have to figure it out on your own..."
Out latest mail situation here seems to be behind us now, in one of those F.M.
moments that have been discussed here in the past, no likely explanation for the
failure has presented itself, and it just seems like the glitch simply cleared
itself up. Gremlins have a notoriously long attention span, so I doubt they just
left on their own, but they really seem to have departed, leaving us mystified,
but gratified by their absence. To all of you who picked up on our temporary
address, thanks, and you can revert to our normal news@bluesnews.com
address for news stuff, and to all of you who suggested that we try to find a
more reliable mail server, we hear you loud and clear.
Auction of the Day: Stretch Marks Memorabilia. Thanks Hoosier_Dadi.
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