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Archived News:
A Ford Racing 3 Demo is now available, allowing the chance to test drive cars
from the blue oval on the oval in Razorworks' brand-specific racing title. The
36 MB download includes one track and a random selection of Ford automobiles.
The download can be found on
the Empire interactive Website and mirrored on
3D Gamers,
Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell,
Tiscali Games, and
Worthplaying.
The Stolen
Diary Part Two on Computer and Video Games is penned by
Jaid (as in ride) Mindang, project director on Blue52's
upcoming stealth game. Also, the American McGee Presents Scrapland
Wrap Report on RPG
Vault presents the titular presenter
of Mercury Steam Entertainment's open-ended action game who provides a
postmortem on the project.
A patch for the retail edition of Armies of Exigo is now available, updating it
all the way to version 1.2b, in spite of being its first update for Black Holes'
RTS game. The patch can be found on
3D Gamers,
Gameguru Mania, and
Worthplaying.
The
World of Warcraft Community Site (thanks Ant) has details on the new
update to Blizzard's MMORPG, including Maraudon, a new dungeon. Additionally:
"The holidays are here and the citizens of Azeroth are celebrating the occasion
with festive decorations and winter time activities. Keep an eye out for some
fun and exciting surprises throughout the world!"
- Battlefield 2
The
Battlefield 2 Q&A on Computer and Video Games (thanks Frans) talks with
producer Jamil Dawasari about DICES upcoming military shooter sequel: "So
Battlefield 2 had to be designed in terms of the rendering engine. We've had
to tweak and re-design the physics engine because it's a modern era and that
requires some tweaks you wouldn't normally have to worry about. Sound, that
was one area where the Battlefield series could really use some
improvements, really good sound. So, when you play this with EAX and Dolby
it is going to be an intense, intense experience."
- Still Life
The
Still Life Q&A on
Adventure Gamers chats with Mathieu Larivière about
Still Life, the upcoming
PC/Xbox Adventure game in the works at Microids: "We’ve entirely changed the
dialogue system. We’ve come up with a design that we believe can make a lot
different players happy. The conversations are divided into two categories:
business and off-topic. We’ve separated these two categories in the left
mouse button (business) and right mouse button (off-topic). So for players
who want to get to the point quickly and move on, they may do so by left
clicking. The right click is for more personal or offbeat subject matter
that adds depth to the characters and the story line. These conversations do
not hide special information; thus skipping them does not interfere with the
flow of your progress. They are simply there to add more flavor."
- I of the Dragon
The
I of the Dragon Q&A on FileFront talks with
Pavel Grodek about Primal Software's RPG: "The gameplay that defines this
game, all the things that you will do, are centered about our dragon, the
character that you learn to identify yourself with. Sure, there are some
humans around, but you don’t command them, you don’t create or lead them –
you just help them in their plight. Sure, we have used some cross-genre
elements to give you something more meaningful than standard hack-n-slash
typical for Action-RPG (you build cities, upgrade them, sometimes you even
get to control humans instead of your dragon), but those elements do not
stay in your way, you still have to level up, learn new spells and attacks,
and, of course, to destroy hordes of bloodthirsty monsters, just like any
other Action-RPG protagonist ;)"
- Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars
The
Creature Conflict: The Clan Wars Q&A on Gamer's Hell talks with a couple
of the testers from Mithis Entertainment about their upcoming turn-based
cartoon combat game.
- Music
The Jason
Hayes Q&A on World of Warcraft Guru talks with the composer of the music
in World of Warcraft: "I’ve also had the good fortune to record with live
orchestra and choir a few times, which is a real joy! Most recently, I
recorded with the 80-voice Long Beach University Chorus for the World of
Warcrat Intro movie, and they sounded absolutely beautiful."
- Games in 2004
HomeLAN
Fed's Games In 2004-2005 Q&A with Derek Smart continues this year-ends
series by chatting with the head of 3000AD.
Cox News (thanks
HomeLAN Fed) reports
a teenage girl has targeted Topheavy Studios, Gathering of Developers, Sony
Computer Entertainment, and Microsoft Corp. with a lawsuit over appearing in her
birthday suit in the Guy Game, the intellectual romp centering around such
salacious moments. Reportedly, the girl did not consent to appearing in the
game, and apparently being 17 at the time would make such permission moot
anyway.
TheSims2.com now offers the release of
HomeCrafter Plus
(thanks The Sims 2.cz), "a powerful tool
that lets you create unique design elements that you can use to personalize your
environments in The Sims 2. Use any paint program to create custom content such
as floor tiles, wall coverings and ground cover -- and then combine them in new
ways for endless variety. Preview them in HomeCrafter Plus before importing them
to The Sims 2." Also, another updated version of
the Splinter
Cell: Pandora Tomorrow Level Editor (direct link) is now available,
3D Gamers has
details on what's changed.
A second Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault multiplayer demo is now available,
enhancing the opportunity to sample this World War II shooter sequel from
Electronic Arts. The new demo offers the content of the original demo,
performance enhancements, bug fixes, and a new Corregidor map that is not
included in the retail game. The 409 MB download is available on
3D Gamers,
ActionTrip,
FileFront, FileShack
(registration required), Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
New patches are now available for Enigma: Rising Tide, updating Tesseraction
Games' naval combat game to the same version as the recently released Gold
edition of the game. There are patches for the various language editions of the
game on 3D Gamers,
and the UK edition is mirrored on
Worthplaying.
IGN has
a report up stating that the NBA has rejected an offer from Electronic Arts to
form an exclusive video game relationship with the pro basketball league in the
nature of EA's recent deal with the NFL ( story). The economics
are cited as the obvious reason here: "One of the reasons is that the NBA Live
series simply doesn't have a stranglehold on the market the way Madden has for
years, so by signing an exclusive deal with EA, the NBA would actually be losing
money." The story also lays to rest fears that an exclusive baseball deal is on
deck: Sources aren't quite as clear in terms of potential dealings with
Major League Baseball as a few publishers were worried a deal was already in
place for EA to step in and take over like they did with the NFL. But after the
EA/NFL deal went down, at least one publisher was able to re-up their MLB
contract for three more games, so it looks like a false alarm as the only
exclusive EA was able to lockup for the time being was the NFL.
Hip Games announces a European distribution deal for SRS: Street Racing
Syndicate. Here's the description of the game that accompanied the announcement:
"The raw, high-stakes, world of illegal street racing comes to life in Street
Racing SyndicateTM. Trick out over 40 authentic licensed cars with parts from
over 15 real-world manufacturers, then turn your customized ride loose on the
streets of 3 cities across the USA. Lay it all on the line - your wallet, your
woman, your pride and your wheels. For the first time ever, throw down the
gauntlet with opponents around the world via online pink slip races. With masses
of perfectly tuned, nitrous-stoked horses under the hood, the only thing between
you and victory is the distance from the pedal to the floor."
I just noticed a thermostat set improperly last night, which was
seriously heating one floor of the house as we all slept. I'm not sure how long this has
been this way, but I am concerned that as of this first day of winter in these
parts, we may have spent a season's budget on our heating already.... we're on
some sort of balanced billing schedule, so we may not learn whether that's true
for a couple of years, so I'll just file that under shoes waiting to drop.
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