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Archived News:
HomeLan Fed offers a report on the DOOM III presentation and the keynote speech by id Software lead programmer John Carmack that took place at QuakeCon today. They describe what was being demonstrated of the game by several members of the development team, including lead designer Tim Willits on level design, dynamic lighting, realistic physics, and the new Revenant monster; animator Fred Nilsson on the modelling and animation technology; programmer Robert Duffy on the tools that will be included; designer Matt Hooper on the scripting system; and designer Christian Antkow on the sound effects. The keynote speech by John Carmack and the subsequent Q&A session covered the future use of 64-bit color, the status of DOOM III's engine development and what he's looking into next, use of Dolby 5.1 surround sound, planned weapons, the anticipated length of the single-player game, and more. Elsewhere, GameSpot's Doom III details likewise reports from the session, covering game features like the physics system by programmer Jan Paul van Waveren, the support for outdoor areas, the mission interface and objectives, the expected minimum system requirements, the likely limit of four players in multiplayer, and more, while also highlighting the part in the speech where DOOM III is confirmed for the Xbox.
- Age of Mythology
There are two new Age of Mythology screenshots on AOE2.com, showing off new scenes in the 3D real-time strategy game being alpha tested at Ensemble Studios.
- Broken Sword 3
The latest Revolution newsletter offers a new pair of Broken Sword: the Sleeping Dragon screenshots, revealing more from this upcoming 3D adventure (thanks Adventure Gamers).
- Galactic Civilizations
Stardock has released eight new Galactic Civilizations screenshots (randomly interlaced with older ones) to show more from their 4X space strategy game under construction (thanks Sander).
- Steel of Haste
The Clever's Games website offers up 30 new high-res screenshots of Steel of Haste, their post-apocalyptic combat racer in development.
Apparently overlooked at the site's opening early this month ( story), the Emperor: Rise of Middle Kingdom site carries a note dated July 19 that this isometric building strategy game by BreakAway Games and Impressions Games has gone gold. Thanks Gone Gold, where they offer a confirmation that the game is nonetheless not due to ship until September 10, 2002. Also, notwithstanding the August 9 date, the game's "opening video sequence" was just posted on the site, and this intro movie is available in the usual choices of low and medium resolution QuickTime and Windows Media Player formats, offering some two and a half minutes of CGI footage setting the game's backstory.
- Medieval
There is a comprehensive Medieval: Total War preview at Fourbelowzero (thanks ActionVault) looking ahead to the now-gold 3D strategy game by Creative Assembly. They describe the game's background, factions, units, tech-tree, crusades, generals, maps, AI, battles, and lots more.
- Shadowbane
The latest Shadowbane War Report is online, titled "Beware Hidden Daggers" describing some action covering a week or so of gameplay in the ongoing beta testing of Shadowbane, Wolfpack Studios' upcoming MMORPG. They offer the setting for the scenario and an extended narrative on how it all played out.
- Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
There's an Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom Preview on The Wargamer with a look at the latest entry in this city-building strategy game series that also included Caesar III, Pharaoh, and Zeus. They discuss similarities to prior installments, missions, scenarios, cooperation versus combat, the importance of Feng Shui, building fundamentals, agriculture, the Chinese zodiac, and more.
- Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
The Armchair Empire's Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Preview offers a hands-off rundown on what to expect from Gearbox Software's upcoming single-player focused Counter-Strike game. they discuss the new content that will be added, what's being done to extend the life of the Half-Life engine, and more.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's auto-update ( story), Blizzard has now issued the manual patch for WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos as well. As before, the 1.7 MB download brings the game to version 1.02 and applies two gameplay fixes and a few balance tweaks.
Polish developer Rebelmind has opened their official site for A Fistful of Gold, their isometric role-playing RTS that was unveiled yesterday (thanks Gamer's Hell). The bare-bones site offers information on the game's setting, premise and features, along with the already familiar first screenshot and some concept images.
The festivities at QuakeCon have gotten underway, and reports are starting to
spring forth. Focusing on the games being demonstrated, HomeLan Fed's
RCTW: Enemy Territory Impressions and GameSpy's
RTCW: Enemy Territory Preview offer their thoughts on Mad Doc's and Splash
Damage's upcoming Wolfenstein add-on, HomeLan Fed's
Star Trek Elite Force II Impressions discuss the upcoming Star Trek shooter
in the works at Ritual, and DOOM
III: The Remix -- The New Demonstration on GameSpy. HomeLan has also
posted some Mini QuakeCon Bits
and some QuakeCon2K2 Pics,
and they also point the way to a brief Wired
article on the gathering. There are also day one impressions of the
proceedings on GameSpy.com,
VIAHardware Dot Com, Amdmb.com,
and swankygames.
Finally, there is also a feature with some interviews with some of the
top-ranked competitors in the tournament on Cyberfight.Org.
JoWood Productions has launched the official site for Europa 1400 - The Guild, showing off this 3D town management and trading strategy game by German developers 4HEAD Studios (thanks Worthplaying). The site offers a fair amount of information on the game's premise and features, along with a batch of concept art, screenshots, and more.
There's a Treasure Planet
Preview on PC.IGN.Com with a look at Barking Dog's upcoming strategy game
based on the movie of the same name, itself an animated sci-fi adventure based on the
premise of Treasure Island. They describe the game's setting, dismiss the
idea that it is a traditional RTS by comparing gameplay to Starfleet Command,
discuss the avoidance of micromanagement, the interface, the importance of maneuvering,
graphics and special effects, and more. The article includes a whopping batch of
over 40 new screenshots.
- C&C Generals
When Generals Talk
on PC.IGN.Com is a Q&A with Mark Skaggs, executive producer on the
next Command & Conquer game. Topics include the game's premise, the
number of missions, the storyline, scripting, AI, economics, resource
management, and more.
- AVP2 Primal Hunt
The AVP2
Primal Hunt Q&A on Gamer's Hell talks with Fox' Paul Pawlicki about
Primal Hunt, their imminent add-on for Aliens versus Predator 2. They
discuss the idea and back-story for the add-on, continuity from the original
game, new weapons and locations, graphics and AI tweaks, new locales (again)
and vehicles, and more.
- Mechwarrior IV: Mercenaries
There's
a Mechwarrior
IV: Mercenaries Q&A on GameSpy.com talking with T.J.
"PAINGOD" Wagner about the upcoming MW4 game. They discuss his
history at FASA, commanding other units, side-switching, new Mechs and
weapons, new environments, and more.
- Battle Realms Add-on
There's a Battle
Realms Winter of the Wolf Q&A on InGaming.com talking with Ed Del
Castillo and Peter Bartholow of Liquid Entertainment about the upcoming
Winter of the Wolf add-on for Battle Realms, their 3D RTS game. They discuss
the game and add-on's small development team, making the add-on accessible
to new players, improvements to the sounds and graphics, new units and
structures, and more.
- Mafia
HomeLan Fed's
Mafia Q&A talks with Daniel Vavra of Illusion Softworks about their
upcoming game of being a made man. They discuss the appeal of the gangster
genre, research, the story, levels, weapons, the unique gameplay
features question, plans for a demo, and more.
- Silent Storm
RPG Vault's Silent Storm
Q&A talks with Dmitry Zakharov of Nival Interactive about their
upcoming World War II strategy RPG hybrid. They discuss the game's concept
and features, linearity, the reason for the setting, locations, character
development, and more.
- Atriarch
The third edition of Atriarch Vault's
Ask World Fusion is online, grilling lead designer Serafina Pechan with
questions about World Fusion's upcoming MMORPG. She offers detailed answers
to queries about environments, underwater travel, and flight.
Earlier than anticipated due to miscommunication abroad, Electronic Arts has now officially released the multiplayer demo of Battlefield 1942, and we have a local copy with mirrors of this 3D vehicular action game in development at Digital Illusions. The 130.2 MB download offers the Wake Island map that you can play in Conquest mode with up to 32 players.
EA
Talks Towers on Computer and Video Games talks about The Two Towers, the
upcoming Lord of the Rings game. They satisfy our burning curiosity by offering
opinions on the source material and go on to discuss the game project in detail.
There's a Red Faction II Multiplayer
Preview on PS2.IGN.Com discussing the multiplayer game modes in the upcoming
PS2 shooter sequel, going on to describe gameplay, offering screenshots showing
off the four-player split-screen mode, some new
gameplay movies, and a
Q&A with Hollywood actor Lance Henriksen, who has signed on as voice
talent for the game (perhaps making up for playing Wally Schirra in The Right
Stuff, where he got to speak all of three words). There's a Conflict: Desert Storm preview with a hands-off preview of the Xbox port, accompanied by 10 new
screenshots.
Console Reviews
Gamehelper.com's
MonkeyStrike Q&A talks about how the Half-Life MOD expo went, and of
course, about their Half-Life modification, describing the mod, how long it has
been in production, how it was received at the Expo, and more.
The server here died for a couple of hours in the wee hours this morning,
apologies for any inconvenience, perhaps the server's death was in commemoration
of the death of the king, as today is the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's
death (a fact which is refuted-apparently 7% of all Americans believe the King
is not dead, and more
Americans believe they are more likely to see Elvis than real campaign
finance reform).
It's QuakeCon weekend, and being unable to attend is saddening... I know I've
threatened this before, but I am definitely going to have a meal out this
weekend in remote honor of the occasion. I'm not sure if there's an actual
Denny's in the area, but I've seen an Applebee's, which seems like it should
serve as a fair substitute.
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