Archived News:
An official press release is not in evidence, but several reports have rolled in
indicating that people have found The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon expansion for
Morrowind on store shelves in the U.S. On a related note, Ubi Soft "today
announced a distribution deal with Bethesda Softworks® to publish The Elder
Scrolls III: Bloodmoon™ – the second expansion of the RPG-of-the-Year, The
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® – in European territories and Australia."
A new
Lords Of EverQuest Producer's Letter is online (thanks Frans) in which Sony
Online Entertainment's James Parker discusses beta plans for the upcoming EQ
RTS, their plans for releasing gameplay movies soon, and thoughts on being
labeled a clone of other RTS games. Action
Vault's Will Rock Development Report #4 features Saber Interactive designer
Pavel Grachev describing the process of creating levels for their upcoming
action-oriented first-person shooter, saying: "A lot of work has gone into
making each level in Will Rock a mini-game that, if it stood alone, would be fun
and intuitive for the player." Also, Action
Vault's X² - The Threat Beta Report #7 is the most recent entry from Darren
Astles, fiction co-author on Egosoft's upcoming space combat game, providing
another narrative based on playing in the game's beta.
IGN's
XIII Media Page features a new exclusive trailer from XIII, Ubi Soft's
upcoming cel-shaded Unreal-engine shooter. The video can be streamed in two
different sizes, or downloaded in QuickTime format. Also, WorldofWar.Net
has posted the second part of their gameplay movie showing off the Warlock class
in Blizzard's upcoming MMORPG, the movie runs for two minutes, and is a 27 MB
download. Also, there's a new Rome:
Total War Movie on GameSpot (registration required). Finally, The
Bloody Magic Downloads Page has the E3 trailer from this upcoming
magic-themed role-playing game (thanks Frans), along with some
new screenshots.
The Rise of Power Website is online
(thanks PC.IGN.Com)
with word on this planned "Role Playing first person shooter" that
uses the Torque engine. The plan is to have no recurring fees once the game goes
live, but in an unusual move, they are charging to participate in the beta test,
which has not yet begun.
The Evil
Genius Preview on GameSpot features their impressions of Elixir's upcoming
spy-themed strategy game that places the player in the role of a bad guy. If
living in places like volcanoes appeals to you, you may be Evil Genius material:
"In fact, you'll have quite a few options when it comes to building your
headquarters, inside and out. In the setup we watched, the base was located near
the beach on a tropical island amid a quaint little village of straw huts. To
complete the disguise, the setup even had a lavish multistory hotel nearby to
draw in clueless tourists--because no place that attracts tourists could be
evil. Or so you'd think, until you see the roof of a nearby hut split open to
reveal the titanium-walled entrance to an underground complex that features
computer rooms, prison cells, and all manner of torture devices."
BF42.com now offers downloads of the Eve of
Destruction modification for Battlefield 1942, though this release is described
as the demo version of the mod, as it represents about 10% of what they have
planned. Word is: "This release will contain not only new skins, vehicles
and new objects, it features 8 complete new custom maps. Each map is different
in their own way (from realistic to fun maps) and partially adapted to the
Indochina Vietnam Conflict. Infantry Combat in EoD is more realistic and more
action than in Battlefield and similar to more infantry-based games like Raven
Shield or Counterstrike." Thanks Ant.
A news post on 3D Gamers
relates a discovery they made at this year's E3, where Strategy First told them
that Zero-G Marines, the planned space-combat and first-person shooter combo,
has been cancelled, following this up with a confirmation they received today
that their "development studios have shifted their focus to new
projects" and are also "still concentrating on the Disciples
series."
The Master of
Orion III Website now offers new PC and Mac patches for Quicksilver's space
strategy game sequel (thanks Frans), coining the phrase "Official BETA"
to describe its status, followed by the obvious note that the final version of
the patch is to follow. Word is: "This patch is incompatible with the
previous data patch (see the enclosed read me for full installation
instructions). The installation validator will be updated, possbily (sic) by
next week, in order to accommodate (sic) the patch." Word is the update
includes a new history screen, rewritten/expanded help text, improved enemy AI
behavior, improved navigation and increased economic information, and more.
The
Thief 3 Q&A on Computer and Video Games chats with ION Storm's Randy
Smith about the upcoming installment in the stealthy Thief series. They discuss
various aspects of gameplay, including how the use of the Unreal engine is
influencing things: One of the biggest differences for Thief 3 is that it
uses state-of-the-art rendering technology. We've got fully volumetric shadows,
which other companies are using now; but as early as two months ago the only
companies we knew that were using this were us and id Software.
We try to use the rendering technology for gameplay all the time, so in a room,
say, you might have an oven that's casting light. So the fact that any object
casts a shadow from any light source means that the player has a lot more
control over lighting in Thief 3.
The Vietcong Downloads
Page now offers the promised patch for Illusion's Vietnam War shooter. The readme
describes what's new and changed in version 1.2, and mirrors of the patch can be
found on 3D Gamers
and Worthplaying.
Likewise, the Arxel Tribe
Website now features a new Mistmare patch, updating any prior version (in
any language) of the action/RPG to version 1.6. 3D
Gamers is providing a mirror of this update as well.
A report on Inside
Mac Games has word that Unreal Tournament 2003 for the Macintosh has gone
gold, and the game is slated to ship on June 11. They also have updates on a few
other Mac ports, saying the OS X port of Duke Nukem 3D "is coming along,
the OS X port of the original UT will "be awhile," and that
"progress is being made" on the Mac version of America's Army.
There's an updated Will Rock demo available for download via the Gigex
Client that apparently came online last month sometime, but went unnoticed
until discovered by FileShack,
where they have provided a mirror (registration required). The new demo includes multiplayer
support, and like its predecessor, it requires a video card with T&L
support. The demo also includes a DirectX installer, which has been removed from
the copy that's up on 3D
Gamers, making the download 32 MB lighter. Mirrors of this shrunken version
of the download can be found on Gamer's
Hell and Worthplaying.
This Freelancer
Downloads Page (thanks Frans) offers the first patch for Digital Anvil's
space game, updating it to version 1.1. Here's the deal on the 1.6 MB patch:
The Freelancer Update v1.1 is primarily a server update addressing server
stability and cheating. There are some client side fixes, the most important
being a multiplayer ID generation issue. There is really no need to install the
update unless you are running a server or are unable to play multiplayer because
you can't get an ID.
The update itself contains no localized text, therefore it is applicable for use
for the English, French, and German versions of the game. An English, French, or
German readme file will be installed depending on the language version of the
target operating system.
- Line of Sight: Vietnam
Urban
Informer's Jason Zisk Q&A talks with one of the founders of nFusion
about their recent Vietnam War shooter. He offers detailed thoughts on the
current project and a very frank assessment of what went right and wrong on
their Deadly Dozen project.
- Lionheart
RPG
Vault's Lionheart Q&A #13 poses a new group Q&A to the team at
Reflexive Entertainment: "What are a couple of sound, voice or musical
elements that you consider most memorable or effective, and why do you feel
they work especially well?"
- Axle Rage
HomeLAN
Fed's Axle Rage Q&A talks with Andrew Belkin of Akella about their
recently unveiled game that combines motorcycle racing with melee combat in
a post-apocalyptic setting.
- Worms 3D
There's a Worms
3D Q&A on Jucaushii.ro offers the original English version of a
Q&A with Team17's Martin Brown that was translated and published in a
Romanian game magazine.
- Greyhawk
The Greyhawk:
The Temple of Elemental Evil Q&A on PC.IGN.Com talks with Tim Cain
of Troika about their upcoming D&D RPG. Here's a bit on the reasons for
converting such a large module for computer play: "Well, one reason I
picked the module was because it was so huge. If you are going to make a
CRPG, you can't just have a simple dungeon and spray down some monsters and
treasure. We have a lot of fun making extra side quests and writing dialogs
based on little hints given in the module."
- J.E. Sawyer
J.E.
Sawyer's RPGDot Q&A asks some personal questions of the lead
designer at Black Isle Studios.
There's a Star
Trek: Elite Force II Preview on GameSpy offering another set of impressions
of the upcoming Trekkie shooter in the works at Ritual Entertainment. One of the
factors they discuss is a newfound emphasis on the oft-forgotten tricorder:
"Something new added for Elite Force II are various puzzles you solve with
your tricorder. In some missions, you'll need to match the amplitude and
frequency of waves; in the Dallas mission, you'll come across a number of
control panels in which you need to rotate a series of tiles so that power flows
smoothly from one side of the circuit to the other. The puzzles start out pretty
simple, but get tougher as the game progresses, eventually introducing time
limits and other complications."
The Vietcong Website
follows-up on their announcement that a patch for Illusion Softworks' Vietnam
War shooter was planned for yesterday ( story), reporting a delay
and saying: "It's currently still under construction and will hopefully be
available for download in a short while. We thank you for patience."
Activision and id Software announce the release of the first downloadable map
for Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War, a new Xbox-exclusive,
multiplayer level titled Barn, which is now available via Xbox Live.
The Unreal Tournament
2003 $1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal Contest has been announced. The
contest includes a $400,000 grand prize, and they promise further details over
the next few day on how to qualify for cash and prizes by creating custom Unreal
Tournament content. Meanwhile, word is: "Entries can be made in 13
categories, including 'Best Mod,' 'Best Character,' 'Best Use of 3D Sound,' 'Best
Real-Time Non-Interactive Movie (also known as Machinima),' and more.
Contestants can find contest information and qualifications, including a full
list of categories, and sign-up for the contest today at http://www.makesomethingunreal.com."
A forum post just commented that we were due for a Hudson the wonder dog story,
which reminded me the beastie has not really had one of her adventures lately.
Last night, MrsBlue asked me to see what happened when Hudson was outside,
because she may have gotten skunked. I guess I need to work on MrsBlue's scent
recognition, because there should not have been any question that she had
managed another of her close encounters with one of Pepe LePew's cousins.
There's nothing that noteworthy about all this, as she has before, the little
maniac managed to be close enough to the skunk that she took most of it in the
mouth (I can't imagine how she stands this... I got a little sick to my stomach
from the smell just cleaning her off), I just thought it was funny how shortly
after the comment that the incident occurred. I never catch her browsing the
site, so I'm not sure she got wind of this, but it sure seemed like she was
taking a request.
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