Archived News:
This LucasArts Press
has the announcement that plans for Full Throttle: Hell On Wheels, the sequel to
Full Throttle, LucasArts' freewheeling adventure game, have been cancelled. The announcement
is accompanied by the following, slightly vague, quote from LucasArts president
Simon Jeffery: "We do not want to disappoint the many fans of Full Throttle,
and hope everyone can understand how committed we are to delivering the best
quality gaming experience that we possibly can."
The Will Rock Website now
offers up a new patches for the various language versions of Will Rock, updating
the hectic shooter to version 1.2. The updates have been mirrored on 3D Gamers and Gamer's
Hell. Details on the patch can be found on
this page.
There's a Lords of the
Realm III Designer Diary on the Vivendi Universal Games Forums written by David
"Zeb" Cook to fill us in on the "final leg here, coming around the
final curve, in the last inning (let's see how many more metaphors I can
mutilate), on the last lap, down to the 2-minute warning, and going into the
final round" of development of their upcoming medieval simulation sequel.
Also, there's a Middle-Earth Online
Diary on the official website written by marc_taro production designer on
the upcoming MMO Lord of the Rings game. There is also a team
letter with another glimpse at how development is progressing. Thanks Frans.
The World of Ryzom now
offers a chat log recapping an IRC session with the developers of this upcoming
MMORPG. This chat is with Mathieu Mauduit, lead level designer at Nevrax, and
the plan is to hold a couple of such sessions per month going forward.
The Unreal Technology Website now
offers links to the finalists as well as a considerable number of honorable
mentions for the mutator category of the Make Something Unreal contest.
The official Space Colony Website
is now open for business, dedicated to this upcoming sci-fi colony construction
strategy game. Thanks David Laprad.
After being pulled shortly after it was posted online ( story),
the Northland demo has returned, offering a two level sample of the game also
known as Cultures 3. The demo is an 80 MB download, available from the official site, Computer Games Online,
and Gamer's Hell.
Videogames Italian Center's
Half-Life 2 Q&A is the English version of their Q&A with Valve's
Gabe Newell, also available
in the site's native Italian. The conversation includes details about the
upcoming game, an effort at tricking him out of a Half-Life 3 announcement, and
the following, which makes it clear that previous attempts at determining
whether the game is delayed or not have been for naught: Can you
finally confirm that the release date will be 9/30 to put an end to all the
rumors of the last few days?
No comment.
The English-language single player demo for XIII is now available, offering a
sample of Ubi Soft's upcoming cel-shaded Unreal-engine shooter, a bit earlier
than the "middle of August" that was recently predicted ( story).
The demo offers two levels for an 80 MB download, which is available from 3D Gamers,
FileFront,
FileShack (registration required), GameCenter,
Gamer's Hell, and Loadedinc (registration required).
Update: Some of these links were to a passworded version of the demo, so
some of these mirrors are unavailable while this is being sorted out.
A playable demo for Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad is now available,
offering a sample of Pivotal Games' and SCI's Gulf War combat sequel. The demo
is a 216 MB download, offering one mission from the game. The demo has been
mirrored on 3D Gamers, FileFront,
Gamer's
Hell, Loadedinc (registration required), and
Tiscali Games.
Fight the Japanese Imperial Army in EA's Medal of Honor Pacific Assault for PC
is the press release officially announcing Medal of Honor Pacific Assault, a
follow-up to MoH: Allied Assault that was first teased about six months ago
( story). Likewise, the first screenshots from the project have
been released, which can be seen on ToTheGame.
Here's a bit on the game, slated for release "in the winter of 2004."
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault gives players a sense of the courage it
took to fight the Imperial Japanese Army from the shock of Pearl Harbor to
triumph on the shores of the Tarawa Atoll. Set in the Pacific Theatre of
Operations from 1941-1944, players will assume the role of Marine recruit Tom
Conlin as he survives the attack on Pearl Harbor, leads the assault on
Guadalcanal, and finally charges up the beaches for the climatic battle at
Tarawa. Armed with their wits and a variety of authentic weapons, it's up to
players to stop the Japanese war machine in its tracks.
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault follows the tradition of previous Medal of Honor
products with a brand new arsenal of weapons, new enemies, and new storyline. In
addition, Pacific Assault features new multiplayer modes in which up to 32
players can choose soldiers from American, British, Japanese, and other armies.
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault will also debut a new 3D technology built
specifically for Medal of Honor.
Accompanying the Unreal
Tournament 2004 preview on GameSpy.com based on seeing Epic's upcoming
shooter sequel at the CPL event, is a
Q&A with Cliff Bleszinski to interrogate the Epic designer on the topic.
Here's a bit on the oft-discussed plan to add vehicles to the next iteration of
the UT franchise: If I listed every last vehicle, then there'd be nothing
to look forward to! We just got in the updated three-person Hellbender. (It
needed a makeover, the first design was too similar to another huge franchise's
buggy that everyone knows and loves.) It now looks like a Humvee on
crack/steroid cocktail with both passengers manning their own weaponry.
Vehicles are a lot of fun, but they can change a game dynamic significantly, and
it requires a bit of finessing to keep things fun and balanced. We don't want
the gamer to feel useless if he doesn't have a tank, so balancing each vehicle's
strengths and weakness is an ongoing challenge (especially when you insert
vehicles into a game dynamic that already has 12 or so established and
well-balanced weapons).
Comcast shows its intent on Vivendi
(thanks Shawn Wallace) has word that another
suitor is calling at Vivendi Universal's door, going so far as to call this
rumor "serious." Here's a bit: "Comcast, the largest cable
company in the US, has underlined its serious intent to bid for the
entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal by reportedly hiring former Universal
Studios boss Frank Biondi as a consultant."
Another Thursday, another flick on the Lock On Modern Air Combat
Website (thanks Frans) Here's a bit on the 6.4 MB clip, shown entirely from
the Russian perspective: "This week, we created a land battle with tanks,
infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, SAMS, AAA. The
two sides were then left to duke it out."
Nintendo Plans New Game Product, Coy on Details
(thanks Peter Binazeski) reports Game Boy creator Nintendo ( news
- web
sites) Co Ltd said on Thursday it will reveal details of a new game product
next year but was coy on details, only saying it will be a surprise. 'We are
preparing a new product which will be surprising and unique,' President Satoru
Iwata told a news conference on the videogame maker's business strategy."
Also, The XGameStation Website
offers the chance to speculate about the credibility of another new upcoming
system described as: "the world's first video game system development kit,
designed from the ground up to be tweaked, hacked, modded, coded, and defaced to
your heart's content by Computer Scientist and best-selling game development
author Andre' LaMothe." Thanks Boomtown.
And, Nintendo to begin mileage points scheme to reward software buyers
(thanks Peter Binazeski).
The United Cyber Games Association (UCGA) announces that the Samsung World
Cyber Games 2003 USA Finals will be held from August 19th – August 20th at
the Irvine Spectrum in Irvine, CA.
Day1Studios, LLC has posted
some job openings the Chicago-based developer (Mechassault) is looking to fill,
including a Game Code Software Engineer, a Visual Effects Software Engineer, a
Concept Artist, a 3D Artist/Level Designer, a Senior Game Designer, and a Game
Designer.
I've gotten further complaints about the noisy Telco ad some Canadian readers
are receiving, and got some form of wonky noisy ad myself yesterday... I will
dust off the cone of silence and try and get these shut up today.
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