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Archived News:
There is an interview on X²: the Threat at Computer and Video Games, discussing this space simulation currently docking at EgoSoft (thanks HomeLan Fed). Writer Darren Astles is at hand to talk about the game's fictional universe, the influence of the classic space game Elite, the kind of gameplay freedom they're striving for along with some specific examples, the variety of missions they're designing, the graphics engine, and more. Eight new screenshots are included.
- Vietcong
Gathering of Developers sends along half a dozen new Vietcong screenshots, revealing more from this tactical first-person shooter in the works at Pterodon and Illusion Softworks.
- Battlefield 1942
The official Battlefield 1942 site has been updated with eight new screenshots of the now-gold 3D vehicular action game by Digital Illusions.
- Enclave
There are six new Enclave screenshots on German site Krawall, showing off the upcoming PC port of Starbreeze Studios' third-person action RPG.
- Emperor
Four new screenshots of Emperor: Rise of Middle Kingdom are online at Adrenaline Vault, offering more scenes in the now-gold management strategy game by BreakAway and Impressions.
- Horizons
Horizons Vault has posted a new pair of Horizons screenshots, showing more from the fantasy MMORPG being crafted at Artifact Entertainment.
German fansite Planet-Mafia has posted a Mafia intro movie that was previously available on the cover disk of GameStar magazine (thanks Gamer's Hell). The movie introduces the game's lead character in 1:45 minutes of in-engine cutscene footage in MPEG format. Also, fansite MafiaWorld.co.uk reports that this third-person action game by Illusion Softworks has gone gold, but this has not been directly confirmed by the publisher. However, lending weight to this assertion is a note on Take 2 Germany's site that the game is due to arrive on European store shelves by September 6. Finally, there's a brief Mafia preview on Game Revolution.
Mike Taskey, Sierra producer on No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way,
sends word that a three-level playable demo of the game is expected next month.
Here's the announcement: You've been asking for it and it is on its way!
Sierra and Fox Interactive confirmed that the official demo for NO ONE LIVES
FOREVER 2: A SPY in H.A.R.M.'s Way will be available in September. Make some room on
your hard drive for this one. The demo will include 3 levels from the game which
is being developed by Monolith. No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s will
be shipping in October.
The announcement is accompanied by 11 new, high-res screenshots.
There's a Hegemonia: Legions of Iron Preview
on GameSpot offering impressions of Digital Reality's upcoming space
strategy game based on seeing a demonstration by publisher DreamCatcher
Interactive. They describe how the story hinges upon the inevitable rift that
springs up between Earth and Mars after the latter planet is colonized and how
the warring planets must unite against an ensuing threat from an alien race.
Going on to gameplay, they offer impressions of the striking graphics, how micromanagement
has been de-emphasized in combat, the fully 3D environments (including an interesting
theory about how "human beings don't actually think in terms of three
dimensions"), the massive space armadas that will be under the player's
control, a bit on multiplayer support, and more. Accompanying the article are 16
new screenshots.
- Hitman 2
There's a Hitman 2 Silent
Assassin Q&A on ActionTrip talking with Clayton Palma from publisher
Eidos about IO Interactive's upcoming game of murder-for-hire. The
conversation sets the story in relation to the original game, their
continuing emphasis on tactics, AI enhancements, the de-emphasis on
conversation compared to the original, weapons, items, graphical
improvements, and more. Included are a half-dozen new screenshots.
- Splinter Cell
ActionTrip's Splinter Cell
Q&A talks with Mathieu Ferland about Splinter Cell, Ubi Soft
Montreal's upcoming Tom Clancy game. They discuss the game's storyline,
features of the Unreal engine, featured locations, goals, weapons, vision
modes, AI, differences between the game on the Xbox versus the PC, and more.
- Iron Storm
There's an
Iron Storm preview on the electric playground with a look at Wanadoo's
upcoming strategy game set in an alternate history where World War I never
ended (making it still The Great War, I suppose, since that makes for no
WW2). They describe the game's "what if" storyline, the types of missions
offered, features of 4X Technologies' Phoenix 3D engine, weapons, enemies,
multiplayer modes, and more.
- No Name War
EuroGamer's
No Name War Preview offers a terribly brief glance at development on
AMC's upcoming RTS game. They describe the recent implementation of a brand
new fully 3D engine, the influence on gameplay of new features like
deformable terrain, and a new emphasis on RPG elements.
In spite of being dated over a week ago, Xicat Interactive sets it's sights on their new hit man release,
Sniper: Path of Vengeance (sic) is a new press release announcing that
Sniper: Path of Vengeance, Xicat Interactive's LithTech shooter, is complete,
and will be available in North America as of September 17, 2002. Predicting
Sniper "will become the new benchmark in first-person action games,"
here's how the release summarizes the game's plot: "After being set up and
drugged, a hit man known only as the Sniper, awakes in prison with one thing on
his mind, revenge. Once free from his cell, a John Woo-esque blood bath ensues
as our "hero," the Sniper, shoots his way out of prison and scours the
city for those responsible. Prison guards, crooked cops, Chinese crime bosses
and the mob, are added to the ever-growing trail of dead. Sniper has no
alliances, only those who stand in the way of his ultimate goal: VENGEANCE."
Infogrames Germany has posted a movie trailer of Civilization III: Play the World, the turn-based strategy expansion pack under construction at Firaxis. The movie is available in medium and low resolutions and offers some 45 seconds of cinematic footage introducing the pack's features.
Eidos Interactive Producer Neil Donnell sends word of a couple of compatibility
issues present in the Hitman 2 demo that hit the 'net this morning ( story)
that he assures us will not be present in the final build of the upcoming game
of hired assassination. In the meantime he passes along a couple of workarounds,
saying folks with NVIDIA video cards with corrupted graphics should use drivers
older than the 30-series Detonator drivers (e.g., version 28.32), and users of
Creative Audigy sound cards experiencing audio glitches should be able to fix
this by turning down hardware acceleration.
German site K-Files serves up a new movie trailer of Soldiers of Anarchy, the 3D tactical RTS that is nearing completion at Silverstyle Entertainment. The movie requires a 10.3 MB download and sports a minute of cinematic and gameplay footage in high-res AVI format.
Prince of Qin Ships in North America
is the press release with word that Prince of Qin, Object Software's action/RPG
set in historical China, has shipped to stores in North America. There is no
in-store date specified, so as usual, a call to your local software retailer is
advisable before setting out on any extended quests to pick this up.
As promised, Reakktor Media has now released the beta 4 client of Neocron for download. Prospective players will need to sign up for an account to enter this futuristic MMORPG, and have a broadband connection (or an extreme amount of patience) as the download weighs in at a mind-boggling 1.08 GB (1,106 MB), which sets a new record for largest ever game download in the process.
- BANDITS
There's a Bandits
Q&A on Gamersclick talking with GRIN's Bo Andersson about BANDITS:
Phoenix Rising, their upcoming game of vehicular combat. They discuss the
GRIN 3D engine, the storyline, vehicles, AI, multiplayer support, word that
the game is on the verge of going gold, and more. Included are three new screenshots.
- Priest
The Priest
Q&A on HomeLan Fed talks with JC Entertainment's Jason Kim about
Priest, their horror MMORPG set in the wild west. The conversation covers
the idea behind the game, their mix of genres, the backstory, character
generation, locations, weapons, combat, the game engine, plans for testing,
and more.
- EVE Online
GameRifts.com's
EVE Online Q&A (thanks Kal "Skywarp" Macaper) chats with
Mike "Campion" Wallis, Simon & Schuster's producer on Eve
Online: The Second Genesis, CCP's upcoming space MMORPG. They discuss his
role in the project, comparisons to similar titles, economics, corporations,
PvP balancing, the storyline, and many gameplay details.
- Hegemonia
The Hegemonia
Q&A on GameSpy.com catches up with Laszlo Peller, lead designer on
Digital Reality's upcoming space strategy game. Topics include the
storyline, races, technology, controlling space ships, fleet upgrades, micromanagement,
combat, fleet formations, and more.
- Freedom: Battle For Liberty Island
HomeLan Fed's Freedom Battle For Liberty Island
Q&A talks with IO Interactive's Martin Guldbaek and Henning Semler
about Freedom: Battle For Liberty Island, their upcoming action game. They
discuss the idea behind the game, the storyline, the alternate history the
game provides, combining turn-based strategy with action, levels and
environments, the unique gameplay yada yada question, the reasons for a
different perspective in the PC and console versions, and more.
- Gothic II
3D Festival's
Kai Rosenkranz Q&A talks with the audio designer on Gothic II,
Piranha Bytes' upcoming RPG sequel. They discuss how the story relates to
the original Gothic, whether Gothic characters can be imported into the
sequel, size of the game world, how the lush environments were created,
challenges, character animations, and more, but no questions about the audio
he worked on.
- Garage Games
The Garage
Games Q&A on GameSpyDaily is with their CEO Jeff Tunnell, discussing
improvements they've been making to the Torque engine, impressive Torque
projects in the pipeline, the size of the development community, more on
their game store, what's up with the TRIBES 2 patch, and more.
There's a QuakeCon 2002
Article on PC.IGN.Com recapping their attendance of this year's event,
describing the setting, and offering impressions of the various games on
display, the workshops, and more. There's also a
DOOM III preview on PC.IGN.Com with further details on the DOOM sequel,
describing the game's demonstration, and offering a bunch of quotes from id
Software's Tim Willits and Fred "Neilsson" Nilsson on the topic. Also,
ZenGamer's QuakeCon 2002 Feature
is online, offering impressions and photographs of the festivities.
A playable demo of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is apparently available on the cover disk of PC Gamer magazine, and has predictably now made its way online at Gamer's Hell. The demo clocks in at a modest 48.4 MB and allows you to try out the first mission in this murderous third-person action game by IO Interactive. Update: More mirrors are online at 3D Gamers, FileShack (registration required) and Tiscali Games.
Eidos Interactive sends word that the PS2 version of Commandos 2: Men of Courage
has gone gold, and is expected on store shelves August 30. Activision and id Software Take Multiplayer Warfare to Xbox Live With Return to Castle Wolfenstein
is the press release announcing that the Xbox Wolf port will offer multiplayer
support via the Xbox Live service. On a related note, GameSpot's QuakeCon 2002 Return to Castle Wolfenstein impressions
has details on work to bring Wolfenstein to consoles, describing the
difficulties of the PS2 port and the comparative ease of getting the Xbox
version working. There are some Tomb
Raider: Angel of Darkness screenshots on ToTheGame that include some model
photos, character renders, and shots of Lara crouching, climbing, walking,
and even standing. There are some new
Hitman 2 screenshots on GameSpyDaily taken from both the PS2 and Xbox
versions of the upcoming hitman sequel.
Console Reviews
A pair of .plan updates by 3D Realms' Joe
Siegler and id Software's Jim
Dosé, who formerly worked at 3D Realms himself, have the sad news that
former 3D Realms programmer William Scarboro recently died of a severe asthma
attack (also the cause of the untimely demise of Doug Myres last year). His
obituary, which Joe points out is generally accurate (but has the date of
death wrong), has details on the services that were held yesterday, and both
updates offer thoughts on working with William, and other personal
reminiscences. Update: There have also been subsequent .plan updates on
this from 3D
Realms' Scott Miller and Gearbox Software's
Randy Pitchford.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to William's friends and family.
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