Archived News:
The Tron 2.0 Updated Preview
on GameSpot offers a look at Monolith's upcoming computer game follow-up to
the computer game-based 1982 film. They offer positive impressions of the game
in spite of its still pre-beta status, describe the intricate plot, and
outline what's to be expected from the game's first-person shooter combat and
light-cycle racing. The article is accompanied by some screenshots and a
subscriber-only movie.
There's a Black9 Preview
on GameSpot with a look at this science fiction RPG in the works at Taldren
after a visiting them to check on its progress. They offer impressions
the game, and describe the ambitious plans for how multiplayer play in the cross
platform game will play out: "Black9 is fundamentally an action RPG backed
up by a flexible skill-based system for developing your high-tech mercenary
character. And not only will Black9 have a complex, conspiracy-laden story for
the single-player campaign, but Taldren's multiplayer plans for all three
platforms--PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2--will also include full cooperative play
through the campaign and competitive modes that will let players develop
persistent characters." Accompanying the article are some
new screenshots.
Atari to Publish Artifact Entertainment's Horizons
is a press release with word that Infogrames will publish Horizons under their
Atari label. More information about the MMORPG can be found on the
official website, and here's a bit from the release about Horizons: "Horizons
takes place within the world of Istaria -- filled with cities and towns, castles
and strongholds, villages and mystical structures, in environments ranging from
tropical jungle and arctic tundra to windswept plains and mountainous
wilderness. Whether adventuring by themselves or questing with a group of
friends, players are free to choose their own path and encouraged to create
their own stories. Fierce warriors, arcane spell casters and challenging combat
will rule the frontier lands, but skilled craftspeople will play an absolutely
critical role in overall character and world development." Similarly, CITY interactive
posted word (nearly three weeks ago now) that they will publish Nina: Agent
Chronicles. Word is the game will reach U.S. store shelves this April under the
title Codename Nina: Global Terrorism Strike Force.
A post to the Interplay Entertainment
Forums by Black Isle's Jessica Urquhart (thanks GameSpyDaily
and HomeLan Fed) has
an updated release day for Lionheart, indicating that Reflexive's RPG has
suffered another delay. The game is now expected to be released on August 12.
Strategy First sends news that a new Nexagon Deathmatch Official
Website is online, offering a Flash-heavy homepage for their upcoming
tactical arena combat game. The site offers all manner of information about the
game, screenshots, wallpapers, a forum, tunes from the game in .mp3 format, and
more.
This press release announces an
upcoming pirate-themed RPG called Pirates of the Caribbean that will be released
in conjunction with the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer film Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, starring Johnny Depp. Word is:
"the game will bring swashbuckling adventures and rich worlds to Xbox and
PC this June, and to PlayStation 2 at a later date," and the announcement
is accompanied
by three screenshots. We have confirmed that the developer on this project
is Akella, and must engage in a little uncharacteristic speculation that there
is a reluctance to admit that rather than being a movie tie-in from the start,
that this game is Sea Dogs II with a new name, as all traces of that project
seem to have vanished. Besides the coincidental theme, developer, and publisher
of the two titles, the former Sea Dogs II site at http://seadogs2.bethsoft.com/
now redirects to the PotC site, and, most compelling of all, comparing this
Pirates of the Caribbean shot to this
Sea Dogs II shot doesn't leave much room for doubt that these two projects
are one in the same. Big thanks to Frans
for helping piece through all of this.
Raven Shield Platoon is
offering downloads of a new Raven Shield map called Close Quarters, described
simply as a "Small Close Quarters Combat multiplayer map." The map was
created by David "ArGh" Massicotte of the Raven Shield development
team, and they list the IPs of a couple of servers already running the map in
their rotations.
Strategy First, Paradox Entertainment, and Slitherine Strategies announce that
Legion Gold, has gone, well, gold. "Legion Gold is a revolutionary,
high-level strategy game that incorporates both strategic and tactical elements
in a unique Roman Empire adventure. At the strategic level, players control vast
armies and attempt to carve an Empire, and at the tactical level, they position
their armies and make use of the best formations to achieve victory." New
features in the gold edition include three new campaigns, new units, new races,
new structures, improved strategic and tactical elements in battle, improved
diplomatic; economic; and management elements, and more. No release date is
offered.
The Korea: Forgotten
Conflict Developer Diary #1 on The Wargamer kicks off a series written by
Plastic Reality's Michael Lekovski detailing development of Korea: Forgotten
Conflict, their upcoming RTS game. He discusses the history of the Korean War,
the development team, and offers a gameplay/bug-fixing anecdote. Included is a
batch of new screenshots.
- Mortyr 2
There's a
Mortyr 2 Q&A on Computer and Video Games talking with Andrej Wilewski
from Polish developer Mirage Interactive about their upcoming World War II
shooter sequel. Among the topics covered is what they hope to improve upon
over the original: "It's basically everything - the engine is made from
scratch to cover the latest in hardware and software and avoid carrying tons
of useless code. The graphics approach is different, since the engine allows
a lot more complicated geometry to be displayed with real-time shadows. The
scenario is complex - although this is mainly an action game. We mean to
preserve the good feeling of the original only."
- LucasArts Games
Player Of
Games'
LucasArts Q&A talks with Sean Clark about the heyday of the
adventure game genre (1988-1994) and the LucasArts releases that were such a
big part of it. The Q&A concludes with hopes that a return to prominence
in this genre is coming: "Well, we're kind of finding out. Full
Throttle 2 is deep in production, and we've got a new Sam and Max
percolating."
- WW2 Frontline Command
Publisher Koch Media has released a
Q&A they conducted with the Bitmap Brothers to discuss World War II:
Frontline Command, their upcoming RTS game. Worthplaying
is the first site to post a copy, which is accompanied by a batch of new
screenshots.
- Broken Sword
There's a
Dave Isherwood Q&A on the Broken Sword 3 The Sleeping Dragon Unofficial Site
discussing his role as a tester and vocal sample editor on the first two
Broken Sword games.
There's a The Sydney Mystery trailer
on Gamer's Hell showing off a couple of minutes from the upcoming FMV
adventure game in the works at independent aussie developer Twilight Software.
The trailer is a 6.3 MB download.
NVIDIA has released new version 43.45 Detonator
reference drivers for WinXP/2K
and Win95/98/ME.
Among the listed release highlights is: "The industry’s best Microsoft®
DirectX® 9 support." Thanks Aaron.
The Neocron Homepage features Patches
#173 and 174 Notes (thanks Jolene Brumbaugh) on the latest updates to this
science fiction MMOG. The notes describe balance tweaks, inventory changes, a
reworked apartment system, a new area for newbies to start off, the introduction
of "epic runs," numerous bug-fixes, and more.
An updated version 1.2 of the Mistmare demo is now available on the game's
official website (thanks RPGDot
and YiYas), tweaking the sample version of
Sinister Systems' LithTech-engine alternate-history adventure/RPG. The update
changes how input is handled during combat. In addition to the new 277 MB full
demo, they have also released a 3 MB patch to update the earlier demo, as well
as a manual for download in Adobe Acrobat format.
GameSpy.com's
One Must Fall: Battlegrounds Preview
examining the prospects for the upcoming OMF: 2097 sequel in the works at
Diversions Entertainment. They focus on how unusual fighting games are for the
PC, and go into ways the game will try to put this to its advantage by offering
significant multiplayer gameplay and support for user-created modifications.
They also provide impressions of gameplay talking about moves and attacks,
arenas, controlling your robot, and more.
- HomeWorld 2
There's a
HomeWorld 2 Q&A on The Adrenaline Vault discussing the upcoming
space strategy sequel with Relic's Dan Irish and Josh Mosqueira. They
discuss what the sequel will include, how familiar players should be with the
earlier HW games, specifics about units, and more.
- Horizons
HomeLan Fed's Horizons Special Effects Q&A
talks with Casey Robinson and Ryan Mitchell of Artifact Entertainment about
their upcoming MMORPG, focusing on the pair's role in the creation of the
game's special effects, discussing the art and the programming behind the
game's eye-candy.
- Disciples II Expansions
HomeLan Fed's Disciples II Expansions
Q&A tracks down Strategy First producer Ariel Gauthier to discuss
the two Disciples II expansions in the works, learning the reasons for
creating a pair of stand-alone expansions rather than a single larger one.
- Tomb Raider
The Adrenaline Vault's
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness Q&A chats with Eidos producer Mike
Schmitt about the "Darker. Tougher. Edgier." Lara Croft that will
star in the upcoming installment in the long-running Tomb Raider series.
Action Vault's X² - The Threat Beta Report #2
is written by Egosoft writer Darren Astles who narrates some of his experiences
in playing the upcoming space game sequel, describing a mission that ultimately ends in a pretty unsuccessful attack upon a larger ship.
Germany restricts game it says glorifies war
is a New York Times article noted on Slashdot
(thanks Ant) discussing the placement of C&C Generals on the list of
indexed games that cannot be sold to minors or advertised in Germany. The Times
article says: "But a representative for Electronic Arts said the company
thought the German government was acting against the game because of the Baghdad
element and the political dispute between the United States and Germany over
invading Iraq." Trouble with that theory is the game was "permanently"
indexed a few weeks ago ( story) along with unrelated (to Iraq)
titles like GTA: Vice City, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X, and Red Faction, and
the game was first temporarily indexed more than a month ago ( story).
Likewise, Bets are on for online gamers
on CNN (thanks flechette) shows the influence of Slashdot,
who posted the three week old report ( story) that YouPlayGames
is planning to allow gambling on RtcW matches, which has now been picked up by
the A.P.
Ubi Soft sends word that: "You won't have to wait much longer for your
Fisher fix: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell on the GameCube and GBA will be
released sooner than we anticipated! We will be releasing both the PS2 and
GameCube games on April 8, and the GBA game will come out later in the month."
The debut public release of the Tribes2Maps.com AutoDownload System
is now available (thanks Jason). Here's the deal: "This is a combination
Tribes 2 script and Visual Basic application. The two pieces work together to
enable your Tribes 2 client to automatically download maps from
www.Tribes2Maps.com when you attempt to join a game server that is running a
client-side map which you do not have installed."
A thread on the LucasForums
called Where Can I Find MotF is the place to do just that, find downloads of
the latest version of the Master of the Force modification for Jedi Knight 2.
The goal of this modification is to make the combat in the game closer to what's
seen in the movies.
The CPL sends word that the CPL @ Gamefixx.com qualifiers for their Summer 2003 event have almost filled up. Meanwhile, a
couple of other big tournaments are gearing up, though neither is accepting
sign-ups just yet:
- World Cyber Games
World
Cyber Games USA "will bring thrilling competitions closer to all of
America’s 140 million gamers by holding its qualifying and semifinal
competitions at 20 CompUSA locations across the country from April through
July 2003. The U.S. competition will culminate in a national final in
August; winners there will advance to the WCG 2003 Grand Final in Seoul,
Korea October 12-18." Word is: "Online
registration for the WCG 2003 U.S. Qualifiers will begin soon!"
- Battle of the Beachhead II
The Battle
on the Beachhead II tournament, a sequel to this id Software-sponsored
Return to Castle Wolfenstein tourney, is also gearing up. There are a bunch
of prizes on tap, and: "To register for a chance to compete in the
'Battle on the Beachhead II' tournament, captains can sign-up their
six-person team at http://bob2.worldogl.com
between March 31 and April 5, 2003. The OGL will choose a total of 64 teams
throughout the week."
The Desert Combat Website has links to
download a 46 MB video showing off the upcoming version .3 of this Gulf War
Battlefield 1942 modification. Also, the Natural
Selection Website now offers details about what's planned for version 1.1 of
this Half-Life modification.
Digitalo is hiring... has word of
their openings for an AI Programmer, a Gameplay Programmer, an Engine Programmer,
a Level Designer/3D Artist, and a Sound Designer, saying: "Digitalo is
looking to hire dedicated, industrious, and team-centric videogame industry
professionals to work on their next Triple-A title. Applicants must have a
minimum of two years industry experience, and be comfortable with the Unreal
Engine."
I suspect I suffer from the emergence of some sort of recessive dummy gene, as
how poorly I can learn from my mistakes seems to contradict the laws of natural
selection. I am currently suffering with a scalded roof of my mouth after not
being patient enough with the cooling process of a just-microwaved Tombstone
pizza. Trouble is this is like the eighth time I've done this. This recalls the
low ceiling at the top of the stairs out of my office... I've ceased clunking my
head on this, but there are still many skull-prints up there to serve as a
reminder of just how slowly I can learn sometimes.
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