Archived News:
An unexpected second demo for Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, IO Interactive's game
of murder-for-hire, is now available. The 59 MB demo offers the chance to try
"Invitation to a Party," the game's fifth mission, and it can be
downloaded from 3D Gamers,
FilePlanet
(registration required), FileShack (registration required), Gamer's
Hell, and Worthplaying.
This Ubi Soft FTP directory
(thanks Gamer's
Hell) offers two new trailers showing off Splinter Cell, the upcoming
stealthy Tom Clancy game that's coming soon to the PC (and for which a demo is
due in three days), one trailer with more than a minute of gameplay and the
other a three minute "making of" video. Also, this
Westwood FTP directory offers downloads of a Command & Conquer: Generals
gameplay movie which is a 16 MB download in Bink self-running format. The
movie, previously only available as subscriber-only content, has been mirrored
on Gamer's
Hell, and in a semi-related note, there's also a new Generals
Preview on Gamers Depot. Meanwhile, Get Milk
is a new Postal 2 movie showing off the upcoming Unreal-engine shooter from
Running with Scissors, while Napalm
Factory is another of their cinematic efforts previously released elsewhere
and Vince Errand
is another previously subscriber-only download that they've also now posted to
their website (and in a further semi-related note, there's an article on the
game in the Tucson Weekly called Shoot To Thrill).
Finally, Gamer's
Hell has posted a new Horizon's trailer from Artifact's MMORPG that just
began accepting beta applications.
Activision has released a new Star Trek Nemesis Downloadable Add-On Pack
for Star Fleet Command III, Taldren's game of Star Trek: The Next
Generation starship combat. "This 11MB download contains an exclusive
single player mission that allows the player to take the helm of the Scimitar,
the formidable warship of Lord Shinzon. It also contains several pieces of
exclusive concept art of various ships from the actual designers, including the
Scimitar, the Scorpion and the latest modifications to the Enterprise-E!"
The Horizons Beta Sign Ups Page and this
IGN page are accepting applications to beta test Horizons, Artifact
Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG. Here's the deal on
testing: "The beta test will operate in a number of phases, with the first
phase commencing in early 2003. If you are selected for a phase of beta testing,
you will receive an email and a CD will be ground mailed to your home address."
A status report on the overdue demo for Breed, Brat Designs' upcoming FPS is now
available, following the Demo will not be released
today forum post from a couple of months ago ( story), which
turned out to be an understatement. CDV Community manager Frederic Cremer has
made a Breed Demo
forum post (thanks eXtreme-Players.de)
in German that could be called 'Demo will not be released this year,' as a
Babel Fish
translation reveals the gist of the post to be: "The fact that the demo
will appear still in this year is impossible."
- Road to Rome
HomeLan Fed's Battlefield 1942: The Road To Rome
Q&A talks with Digital Illusions' Anders Hoh about the upcoming Road
to Rome add-on for Battlefield 1942. Topics include the reception BF1942 has
met with, the decision to focus on WW2's Italian campaigns, new maps, new
vehicles, NGEs, mod support, and more.
- Planetside
Planetside Universe's
Developer Q&A Part 4 continues this weekly series of inquiries about
SOE's upcoming science fiction MMO FPS game. Today's topic is MAX weaponry
for each of the game's empires.
- Sims Online
There's a Gordon
Walton Q&A on Markee Dragon talking with the executive producer on
the upcoming MMO Sims game, discussing his involvement in the project,
working with Will Wright, marketing to women, the type of activities Sims
can partake in, dealing with griefers, and more. There is also a
Q&A with Chris Trottier on Gamersclick talking with one of the
game's designers briefly about some specific plans for the game.
- Devastation
HomeLan Fed's Devastation Technical Level Designer Q&A
talks with Digitalo's Ben Golus about his role in production of their
upcoming Unreal-engine shooter. They discuss his responsibilities, his
background, challenges of his job, working with the development team, some
personal questions, and more.
- Chariots
The Chariots
Q&A on Gamer's Hell chats with Ajith Ram, producer of Chariots: The
First Olympics, talking about the game's story and setting, chariot racing,
damage, graphics, sounds and music, and more.
Level.Ro's
Realms of Torment Diary Volume II is written by Dan Antonescu, lead designer
on Limitless Horizons' upcoming MMORPG. Today's topic is their skill system, the
good and bad points about skill and level systems largely borrowed from the
pen-and-paper gaming world, teasing his plans to discuss their own plans in this
area in his next diary.
PlayStation and Xbox for $99: It's
possible on CNN Money is an editorial reporting: "The consensus seems
to be that we can expect another round of cuts before mid-year, most likely
right around the same time as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming
industry's annual trade show. Most execs are predicting another $50 reduction,
taking the Xbox and PS2 to $149 and the GameCube to $99. While unlikely, they
acknowledge it's not inconceivable that PS2 and Xbox prices could fall to $99
(and, by default, the GameCube would slip to $50)."
Programming types may be interested in Grid
Wars, a competition to create small programs to compete for control of the
CPUs in a multiprocessor system.
- The third round of StarSphere Online
is getting underway, continuing to offer free MMO space gameplay...
- The Strike-Force website has
word that they are partnering with Jolt Online Gaming to work out a UT2003
version of this popular UT modification...
After a night of MrsBlue stealing the covers, I wandered downstairs in the wee
hours of this morning to find that she had also left a window open, so on the
off chance that I end up dying of pneumonia, you guys are my witnesses that this
is part of some conspiracy.
Considering how few first-run TV shows I have any interest in, it kind of ticked
me off that they scheduled Malcolm in the Middle opposite The Sopranos
this year, but now that The Sopranos' season is sleeping with the fishes,
it's nice to have a beloved show to fall back on (though I'm not sure Malcolm
demonstrates as much of a positive family image as The Sopranos).
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