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Archived News:
Rampant Games announces the release of Void War, their independently
developed space combat game: September 27, 2004 – (California, USA) –
Rampant Games (http://www.voidwar.com)
announced today that their long awaited 3-D space combat game, Void War, is
complete. Void War takes retro style space combat to a whole new level,
combining the easy to learn game play of earlier space combat simulators with
modern technology. Void War features two modes of play, Multiplayer and Single
Player. Each mode of play has sub-modes as well. Single Player games can be
played in Campaign Mode and in Death Match mode. Multiplayer games can be played
on teams mode or every man for himself.
Void War features 6 different ships, each with their own unique and special
abilities. For instance you could take the Renoun with its high thrust and
glossed handling with its “vampire” leech ray or the FireBolt with its easy
handling and low top speed, armed with quad lasers and deadly missiles. Combat
in Void War takes place in areas called “void points.” These void points are
surrounded by an electric field, creating a sort of deep space arena. Flying
into the electric field will not harm you, but the further you get outside the
arena the stronger the force will be pulling you back in. Placed randomly
throughout each arena are special items, such as missile packs, enhanced
shields, instant-recharge, and repair bots. Learning to fight and grab pickups
at the same time is challenging, but only through this can you become a true
Void Runner
...
The best feature is Void War is free to try. You can even play the demo online
against other people! So download Void War from
http://www.voidwar.com and show the world what it means to be a “void
runner.”
The first patch is now available for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, updating
Relic's Warhammer RTS game to version 1.01. The 1.5 MB patch is available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
DEEP SILVER announces a first quarter 2005 U.K. release date for Scrapland,
Mercury Steam's upcoming action adventure being completed under the tutelage of
American McGee: "Scheduled for release January 2005, Scrapland will be the 1st
release for Deep Silver on the Xbox ®
video game system from Microsoft, priced at £39.99. The game will also be
available on PC CD ROM at £29.99."
A little later than originally promised ( story),
this EA FTP
Server now offers downloads of the English and French playable demos for
Knights of Honor, joining the previously released German demo
( story) to provide a trilingual sample of Black Sea Studios'
strategy game. The English demo is a 243 MB download, while the French demo is
233 MB. Here's the description of the demo's contents sent along a couple of
weeks ago: "It will contain two playable Kingdoms, namely Bohemia and Scotland.
Furthermore, it includes the complete Tutorial with audio commentary. There is
one Single Battle - Open Battlefield. In order to check out the Multiplayer
Mode, two maps are available: Open Battlefield and King of Towers (each for up
to 6 Players!)."
This Sierra
Entertainment Press Release (thanks Frans) announces that Evil Genius has
shipped to U.S. stores: In Evil Genius gamers assume the role of a wicked
mastermind bent on achieving global domination through the construction of the
ultimate doomsday device. A tongue-in-cheek take on the 60's spy thriller genre,
Evil Genius offers the chance to be the villain and control a secret island
fortress complete with powerful (and strangely dressed) henchmen, mindlessly
loyal minions and a wide range of hilarious gizmos.
All the everyday tasks of the megalomaniac are available to experience as
players build a secret base, train minions, gain infamy and notoriety by
completing daring missions, toy with the forces of justice by setting clever
traps, torture captives with ingenious devices, and develop evil super weapons
to complete a nefarious master plan.
This
SCi Games Press Release announces plans for games based on the Highlander
movies, though no genres or platforms are announced at this point:
Highlander follows the adventures of the Immortals, powerful warriors
living secretly among us, living day-to-day lives, they seek out their
adversaries, destroying each other throughout history until only one will
remain.
Patrick O’Luanaigh, Creative Director at SCi said; “There are so many great
opportunities with such a rich license as the Highlander franchise. We will be
working closely with Peter Davis and Bill Panzer to develop the Highlander
universe further. The concept is ideal for a game.”
Ubisoft Announces New Multiplayer Details from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos
Theory is the press release discussing multiplayer play in the upcoming
Splinter Cell game, including more on the highly desirable, though rarely
offered, co-op support, as well as two other multiplayer modes. The update is
accompanied by
some new screenshots (shrunk into JPEGs from startlingly huge TGA
originals), which show off a new predator-style invisibility dealie, and how to humiliate your opponents when killing them just isn't enough.
Here's a bit from the announcement: San Francisco, CALIFORNIA – September
27, 2004 – Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, today
announced that Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory will include the
innovative co-operative multiplayer gameplay showcased at E3 2004, as well as
the critically-acclaimed, wildly successful adversarial style of gameplay (known
as ‘versus mode’) introduced by Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.
Ubisoft’s Montreal studio is developing both the single-player and cooperative
multiplayer portions of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, while Ubisoft’s
Annecy studio, developers of the versus mode of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Pandora Tomorrow, is creating the versus multiplayer campaign. Full details on
the game can be found in the November issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, on
newsstands October 5.
“With its focus on working with a partner to gather intel using stealth and
smarts, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory’s co-operative multiplayer gameplay will
offer a completely new multiplayer experience, much as Splinter Cell Pandora
Tomorrow’s versus gameplay did,” said Tony Kee, vice president of marketing for
Ubisoft’s North American division. “And with Chaos Theory, the latest and
greatest installment in the Splinter Cell franchise, gamers will be able to
enjoy both styles as they work together to prevent a global conflict of epic
proportions – or simply open a can of whup-ass on their online
compatriots.”
Meqon announces that they are providing the
physics engine for Duke Nukem Forever: 3D Realms selects Meqon as physics
provider for Duke Nukem Forever
Norrköping, Sweden – 27th of September, Meqon, an up and comer in the physics
middleware industry, announced they have been selected by 3D Realms as the
physics engine provider for their long awaited game Duke Nukem Forever.
Meqon has been focusing on creating the most easy to use and flexible physics
engine in existence. George Broussard, CEO of 3D Realms backs them up - “We
evaluated several physics SDK's and Meqon was really fast, had the cleanest
interface and integrated into our game very quickly."
The physics engine does not only handle basic rigid body simulation, but extends
into character and vehicle enhanced physics as well. Mr Broussard comments,
“With its advanced feature set, we feel confident that Meqon's next generation
physics engine can help us create the next generation of action games.”
Vivendi announces a partnership with ATI for their upcoming TRIBES: Vengeance,
continuing the trend of alliances with particular graphics card vendors. Here's
word on the deal which covers marketing, promotion, and... oh yeah, technology:
LOS ANGELES, CA (September 27, 2004) – Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games)
announced today that the company has forged a technology, marketing, and
promotional relationship with ATI Technologies, the leading graphics card
supplier, in support of the PC videogame Tribes:Vengeance, due to be released in
the United States on October 5th.
The two companies will collaborate in efforts to showcase Tribes:Vengeance
through advertising campaigns, special events, and online evangelism.
More information about Tribes:Vengeance can be found on the game’s official
website at
http://www.tribesvengeance.com/.
“Tribes: Vengeance takes full advantage of the latest and greatest graphics
cards from ATI so it makes perfect sense to work closely with them,” said
Michael Pole, Executive Vice-President, Worldwide Studios, VU Games. “This
holiday it’ll be hard to beat the combination of Tribes’ Vengeance Engine and
ATI’s graphics technology.”
“ATI has been working closely with VU Games to enable the most intensive
graphics experience imaginable in Tribes:Vengeance,” said Andy Thompson,
Director of Advanced Technology, ATI. “Tribes:Vengeance will bring
high-definition gaming to life for end-users like never before.”
The playable RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 demo is now available, allowing the chance
to sample the ups and downs in Frontier Developments' amusement park simulator
that allows you to get in touch with your inner Disney. The 184 MB download is
available on
Yahoo! Games Domain (thanks games.bmj.pl)
and mirrored on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
ActionTrip,
Boomtown (registration required),
FileFront,
Filerush
(torrent), Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell,
Loadedinc (registration required), and
Worthplaying.
- City of Villains
HomeLAN
Fed's City Of Villains Q&A talks with Dave "Zeb" Cook and Shane Hensley
about the upcoming bad guy expansion for City of Heroes: "RPG’s and MMOG’s
are very alike and different at the same time. In some ways they share a lot
of the same challenges of creating interesting worlds and fun player
experiences in situations where you, the designer, don’t have total control.
In both types of games you spend a lot of time thinking about how players
will use (or misuse!) what you’ve created and you also spend a lot of time
working with a community. In my fifteen years of working on AD&D and other
role-playing games, I’ve learned a lot about how to create interesting
worlds, game mechanics and stories that involve players. You need to do the
same thing in an MMOG."
- Stranger
HomeLAN
Fed's Stranger Q&A talks with the team at Fireglow about their upcoming
RTS game, and there's also a
Stranger Q&A on Jeux-Stratégie.com offering an English conversation with
Ludmila Ludvig on this French site discussing the project: "We have to make
each character interesting even if its lifetime is just a few seconds. We
give each single character its own story; we think out its role in the game
and provide it with some unusual skills and abilities. We have paid most of
attention to heroes, there’s no question about that. They are crucial
characters. The storyline and additional missions are built on them.
Anti-heroes will be important part as well, but this information is still
secret."
- GTR
The
GTR Q&A on FZ
talks with Jay Ekkel of SimBin about their upcoming racing game: "Our
ambition is to make as realistic game as possible. Since we today have
access to data from cars in the FIA GT-race series we can make physics and
driving feeling that still isn't around in another games. Besides that, the
drivers Henrik Roos and Magnus Wallinder have been part of the development.
With the help of their knowledge and feedback GTR is a game that won't have
any competitors."
- Dark Horizons: Lore
There's
a Dark Horizons: Lore Q&A on the Junkyard talking with Adrian Wright,
founder of Max Gaming Technologies, about their persistent world mechanized
combat game: "Our influences actually came from the early Mechwarrior games,
some console Mech games and for me, Starsiege. Our goal from the start of
the game was to make a mecha based game that was easy to learn for general
First Person Shooter players, yet have enough mecha feel to attract the
older hardcore mecha fans."
- Vanguard: Saga of Heroes on
Okratas.
There's a Rome:
Total War Strategy Guide on GameSpy teaching you how to do as the Romans do
when in Rome.
TheGXL LANs "would like to formally
announce their next event geared towards large scale gaming, superior
entertainment and gamer satisfaction coming this October 22nd – 24th 2004 to the
Millville Rescue Squad, located in Millville, NJ seating 560 BYOC (Bring Your
Own Computer) gamers. The ATI GXL 512 Man Halloween LAN is a promotional fund
raiser for the Millville Rescue Squad and all proceeds from the event go to the
Millville Rescue Squad and New Jersey’s First Responders."
Wow... yesterday marks the eighth(!!) anniversary of the launch of
The Adventures of Dank and
Scud. On the subject of old school ("everybody's going streaking down at the
quad!") The Blog of Christopher Van Epps now offers another chance to relive the classic QuakeCast intro. Now we need to
find some of those old promos (like the SpaceOrb one).
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