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Archived News:
Gamer's Pulse has posted an update on Republic: the Revolution that previously aired over Elixir Studios' mailing list for their upcoming 3D strategy game. The update briefly describes what the company is up to, and offers downloads of a new movie trailer in high quality DivX format (47.5 MB) as well as medium quality AVI format (27.0 MB) but both in 320x240 resolution, showing the game's setting, detailed cities and more in some two and a half minutes of in-engine footage.
More movie mania, as the official Beam Breakers site offers a new movie trailer of this futuristic flying car racing game by German developers Similis. The site is a Flash pop-up, so you'll have to manually traverse to the Downloads area and then the Trailer section, where you can download or stream the movie in a whopping four different resolutions that however vary little in size (7-10 MB), and it sports a minute of DivX footage introducing the game's premise and showing some fast-paced gameplay.
- Far Cry
Worthplaying has posted seven new Far Cry screenshots, showing more from the first-person shooter in the works at CryTek Studios.
- Chaser
There is a Czech interview on Chaser at Tiscali Games for which Babel Fish offers no consolation, but it's illustrated with half a dozen new screenshots of this sci-fi first-person shooter by Slovakian developers Cauldron.
- Xenus
Deep Shadows has issued another pair of Xenus screenshots, revealing more from their first-person action RPG in development.
- Dino Crisis 2
Gamer's Hell serves up game details and 20 screenshots of Dino Crisis 2, showing off this imminent PC port of Capcom's third-person survival horror adventure.
- Combat Mission 2
Battlefront has updated its Combat Mission 2: Barbarossa to Berlin gallery with more screenshots (in their trademark variety of resolutions) of the upcoming 3D turn-based war game by Big Time Software.
- Midway
Hungarian site HardWired offers up three new high-res renders of Midway - Naval Battles, the recently announced 3D tactical/strategy game by Mithis Games.
- Broken Sword 3
Ferrago.co.uk has posted a single new Broken Sword 3: the Sleeping Dragon screenshot along with word that this 3D adventure game by Revolution Software will be demonstrated at ECTS at the end of this month.
- Starsky & Hutch
There are 19 new Starsky & Hutch screenshots and a bunch of concept images on Computer and Video Games, illustrating Empire's upcoming action racing game based on the classic 1970's TV series.
- Sovereign
Fansite Sovereign Empire recently posted several new Sovereign screenshots, offering the first life signs of this massively multiplayer RTS by Sony Online Entertainment in quite some time (thanks Forge).
- Horizons
Another six new Horizons: Empires of Istaria screenshots are online at GameSpyDaily, featuring more scenes in the fantasy MMORPG being created at Artifact Entertainment.
This Tuesday movie-day rolls on with the release of a new Dragon's Lair 3D trailer at PC.IGN.com, showing the cel-shaded third-person action adventure by DragonStone Software in motion. The movie requires a 30.2 MB download in MPEG format and offers two minutes of introductory and action-packed gameplay footage.
A new preview of Medieval: Total War is online at PC.IGN.com, looking ahead to the 3D turn-based and real-time strategy game that is nearing completion at Creative Assembly. The article covers the game's European and Mediterranean setting, the improvements over its predecessor Shogun, new features like the siege battles, the increased scope, and more. Accompanying the preview is a gallery with 20 new screenshots and five QuickTime gameplay movies.
GameSpot Previews Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
with a look at Illusion Softworks' upcoming game of third-person action game of
La Cosa Nostra after seeing the game first-hand during a demonstration by
GodGames. They describe the game's storyline, the balance between the time you
character spends on foot and in vehicles, the graphics, interacting with the
motion-captured NPCs, vehicles, missions, weapons, and more. Included are 29
screenshots, 16 of which are duplicated in the Mafia
preview on Gamekult, which being in French, will require an understanding of
that language, or a willingness to go with a translator such as Babel Fish.
- Dragon Empires
RPG Vault's Dragon Empires Q&A #6
talks with artist Toby Eglesfield and programmer Jon Attafield discussing
the monsters and AI in Codemasters' upcoming MMORPG. they discuss the
process for deciding which monsters to include, monster influences, goals
for the AI, realism, AI design challenges, and more.
- Dungeon Siege
There's a Chris
Taylor Q&A on The Dungeon Siege Net Guide (thanks Voodoo
Extreme) talking with the president of Gas Powered Games about Dungeon
Siege and more. Topics include the reception the game met with, what went
right and wrong with development, the story behind the name, his opinion of
cheats, plans for expansion, and more.
- Dungeon: Gladiator
The Dungeon:
Gladiator Q&A on RPGDot talks with Noah Decter-Jackson, president of
Complex Games and project leader on their upcoming RPG. They talk about the
game's setting, gameplay, the difference between solo and multiplayer play,
combat, magic, where development stands, and more.
- Purge
There's a Purge
Q&A on Florida Gaming Network talking with Freeform Interactive
about their upcoming LithTech-powered FPS/RPG. They discuss the game's
premise, lessons learned from FvF Quake, the RPG elements, models, the
LithTech engine, plans for testing, their release schedule, and more.
- Splinter Cell
The Splinter Cell Feature
on TVG offers some quotes from Ubi Soft Montreal's Mathieu Ferland,
producer on their upcoming Tom Clancy game. They discuss the freedom the
player is afforded, the non-Clancy protagonist, the focus on stealth, the
size of the game environments, and more.
- Celtic Kings
TVG's Celtic Kings: Rage of War
Q&A is online talking with Gabriel Dobrev, producer and lead
designer of Celtic Kings, Haemimont Games' upcoming strategy game. Gabriel
describes the game's unique qualities, adventure mode versus strategy mode,
the emphasis on strategy over tactics, their new graphics technology, and
more.
- id's Line-up
There's an Activision's Activate 2002
Wrap-up on Games Domain with another look at the id Software projects on
display at the event. They offer impressions of DOOM II on the GBA, the
Return to Castle Wolfenstein console ports, the Enemy Territory add-on for
Wolfenstein, and of course, DOOM III.
- Battlefield 1942
GameOver's
Battlefield 1942 Preview is online amid a tangle of pop-ups, offering
impressions of Digital Illusion's upcoming vehicular WW2 action game. They
discuss balance issues, AI, the two maps in the beta, multiplayer support,
and more.
- Kohan II
The Kohan II Preview
on Games Domain offers a rundown on what's planned for TimeGate Studios'
upcoming RTS sequel. They describe the graphics, gameplay, returning
characters, the primarily single-player focus, and more.
Czech developer 7FX has issued a small patch for Team Factor, updating their team-based tactical shooter to version 1.06. Oddly, this 595 KB download merely updates your game configuration to use a backup master server, which became necessary after the "UK primary master server at jolt.co.uk went down."
The official Battlefield 1942 site offers details about and a countdown clock towards the imminent multiplayer demo of this 3D vehicular action game being developed at Digital Illusions. The demo will feature the Wake Island map, five player classes and eight kinds of vehicles (including planes and ships), and the countdown clock indicates it will be released on Friday, August 16, at either 9:00 AM or 3:00 PM EDT, apparently depending on which timezone you're viewing the clock from. Thanks Ryan Mitchell for the tip.
GameSpy's GenCon
Coverage concludes as their Day Four
Coverage: Conference Wrapup is online along with A. Scott Glancy on Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu
is their chat with Pagan Publishing, Bill LeVay on D&D Heroes
talking D&D console gaming with Infogrames, and Chris Klug on Earth and Beyond
discussing Westwood's upcoming MMORPG.
There is a Praetorians movie trailer on the Pyro Studios website that was apparently released around E3 but went hitherto unnoticed (thanks Gamer's Hell for the reminder). The movie is available in medium (27.5 MB) and high-res (48.3 MB) AVI formats and features more than three and a half minutes of cutscene footage giving a feel for the Roman setting of this upcoming 3D real-time strategy game.
There's a MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries
preview on PC.IGN.Com based on a visitation from Microsoft to show off Cyberlore
Studios' upcoming Mech game. They offer a 10 word form of the preview,
describing the game as "Science fiction, walking tanks, deep action, darn
cool, totally standalone," before fleshing that out with a discussion of
the story, the player's role in the Mech war, economics, mission types, AI,
graphics, environments, and more. Included are three new screenshots.
- AvP2: Primal Hunt
There's an AvP2:
Primal Hunt Q&A on ELiTeD talking with Fox Interactive's Paul
Pawlicki about the imminent Primal Hunt add-on for Aliens versus Predator 2.
They discuss the expansion's story, the setting, the "artifact"
that the storylines center about, use of the LithTech engine, the reasons
development was shifted from Monolith to Third Law Interactive, new weapons,
new characters, and more.
- Earth & Beyond
GameSpy's
Earth & Beyond Q&A talks with Westwood audio director Paul Mudra
about the sounds in their upcoming MMORPG, focusing on NPC dialog and music.
Accompanying the piece are some music samples for download.
- Ghost Recon
The Ghost Recon
Q&A on Gamer's Hell talks with Darren Chukitus of Red Storm
Entertainment about their Tom Clancy shooter. They discuss the game's
objectives, planned features that were dropped, what they would change about
the final product, what the future holds for Ghost Recon, and more.
- Robin Hood: The Legend Of Sherwood
There's a Robin
Hood: The Legend Of Sherwood Q&A on HomeLan Fed talking with
Spellbound's Jean-Marc Haessig and Wanadoo's Anne Devouassoux about their
upcoming Robin Hood action/strategy game. They discuss the idea behind the
game, research, the storyline, locations, playable characters, enemies,
combat, and more.
- Schwarzenberg
The Schwarzenberg
Q&A on HomeLan Fed talks with Bernd Beyreuther of Radon Labs about Schwarzenberg.
Topics include the miniscule portion of the story of the upcoming WW2 game
they are prepared to reveal, featured locations, enemies, the game engine,
and more.
The official Archangel Website
has been launched dedicated to Metropolis Software's upcoming action/RPG that
puts players in the role of an Angel. The site offers "exclusive
access to the storyline and features of the game, provides sketches and artwork
from the developers in addition to a host of screenshots taken from the game." There's also a previously released movie trailer ( story).
- AquaNox Revelation
There's an AquaNox Revelation Preview
on ActionTrip with a look at Massive Development's upcoming follow up to
AquaNox, their underwater action game. They discuss Revelation's setting,
the focus on AI improvements, new ships, the graphics, snags in the original
game they are looking to fix, and more.
- The Gladiators
The Adrenaline Vault Previews The Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games
with a look at Arxel Tribe's upcoming project they describe as
combining "Command & Conquer and Smash TV into an intriguing
package." They depict the comic book-style cutscenes, the
"run-and-gun real-time strategy" gameplay, accessibility, the
emphasis on terrain, the graphics, and more.
- Rise of Nations
The Rise
of Nations Preview on GameSpy.com offers their second profile focusing
on some of the namesake nations in the upcoming RTS game. In this
installment they put the Russians and the Egyptians under the microscope
describing each of their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, units, and
more.
The official Hitman 2: Silent Assassin site serves up a new movie trailer of the third-person action game of contracts and eliminations in the works at IO Interactive. The 12.2 MB download (the fourth clip on the page) offers two minutes of 400x320-resolution MPEG footage introducing the game's premise and showing plenty of gameplay action. The fictional journal on Codename 47's background has been updated as well.
Microsoft to Launch Xbox Live on Nov. 15
has details on plans to launch the online Xbox service on the first anniversary
of the system's launch. It is pointed out that a PS2 broadband adapter is due
later this month, while Nintendo is holding off on specifics about their
broadband roadmap until a decree from Princess Zelda. A report on GameSpyDaily
has further details on this, including word on the six launch titles, including
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and Unreal Championship. GameSpot Previews Summoner 2
with a look at the upcoming PS2 sequel to Volition's RPG. GameSpy.com's
Dragon's Lair 3D Developer Diary Volume I is online offering thoughts on
progress on the upcoming updated adventures of Dirk the Daring.
Console Reviews
A new Version 1.2 of the Kill
the Man with the Ball modification on PlanetSoldierOfFortune is the latest
version of this Soldier of Fortune II mod based on the children's game of the
same name (and less politically-correct variations). The new release adds a
radar icon to identify the ball carrier in team mode and a siren to do the same
in free-for-all mode.
The Army Game Project Page has
listings of job openings as they look to recruit more developers for the
Unreal-engine America's Army game, which they modestly refer to as "one of
the most significant events in gaming history." Jobs they are currently
looking to fill include openings for a lead engineer and 2D/3D artists.
- RPG Vault's Black Moon Chronicles Developer Diary #20
is online, written by Vircom web content creator Erin Haller who describes how
they are adding emoticons to chat in this upcoming MMORPG to ease
communications...
- The official Sonic Mayhem web site
has news of their new CD Music for Visual Media, which includes
tracks from James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies and Quake III Arena...
- Speaking of game tunes, Music 4 Games
has an article describing the adventure of setting off to the Czech Republic
to record a soundtrack with the Prague Symphony Orchestra...
- A story on ToTheGame
has the press release from Activision that they will be publishing Worms 3
and an additional yet-to-be-announced Worms title and that the big A "has
acquired multi-platform worldwide publishing and distribution rights for the
game, excluding PC rights in Korea, Taiwan and China."...
Video Game Co. Tries Human Branding
is a story with word that Acclaim is looking to pay five folks a whopping $800
each to change their names to Turok for a year. Word is their expectation is
"that the first five Turoks -- others may come later -- will be socially
active and may even work in the video games business." Uh-huh. Just a
guess, but I think they're wrong about this being the next big trend in
marketing.
They are warning of a new heat wave in the greater New York City area starting
this afternoon. I just wish that someone had pointed out that the old heat wave
had ended already, so I could have made more of a point of enjoying the balmy
90-degree weather we've been blessed with lately.
Turns out Frans' connection troubles are semi-severe... he's been offline
for the most part, and apparently the helpful folks at SlothfulHolland
Communications aren't
going to be able to stroll by his place until sometime tomorrow, but he actually
popped back online this morning, so we've got our fingers crossed that this bit
of F.M. sticks.
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