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Archived News:
The Ensemble Studios Website
officially announces plans for Age of Empires III, the next installment in the
real-time strategy series, officially confirming a horse that was already long
out of the barn. The site offers some high resolution screenshots (there are
more shots on
ToTheGame), along with some details: Microsoft Game Studios and
Ensemble Studios are proud to announce the return of the king of real-time
strategy games: Age of Empires III is scheduled to ship in the second half of
2005. This will be the latest landmark release in the award-winning franchise
that has sold a staggering 16 million units worldwide.
Age of Empires III will offer gamers the next level of realism, with advanced
battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age
of Empires II: Age of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a
European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This
time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to
courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial
Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.
Age of Empires III will once again demonstrate Ensemble Studios' reputation for
excellence and innovation in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The game will
set a new standard for visual quality and amaze players with detail never before
seen in an RTS. Age of Empires III will excite strategy gamers with new
game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations,
units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span
three generations.
- The Matrix Online
The
Matrix Online Q&A on The Matrix Online Vault jacks in with Monolith's
Toby Ragaini about their upcoming MMORPG: "Any new concepts that were not
part of the movies or expanded material like the Animatrix or Matrix comics
have been written into the Matrix Universe. In some cases, they are the
natural result of events that occurred in the movies. For instance, the
hoverbarges were a necessity, since Zion’s hovercraft fleet was destroyed.
In some cases, new technology has become available as the residents of Zion
gain further insight into the functioning of the Matrix. Such is the case
with the safety cut-off mechanism that can usually jack people out before
they die in the Matrix. Any cinematics in The Matrix Online will be
consistent with these additions." There is also a new update to
The Matrix
Online Website with info on some community projects, such as Radio Free
Zion, PvP duel tournament, and a "Sexiest Redpill Competition."
- Face of Mankind
RPG
Vault's Face of Mankind Update Q&A talks with Duplex Systems' Marko
Dieckmann and Ojom's Christian Winter about the upcoming science fiction
MMORPG: "What many others might find risky is fascinating for us. We plan to
introduce a new level of player freedom. I find it boring if game mechanics,
in addition to the technical limitations of online games, define the rules
of how a player has to play the game. Why not just give players the power to
decide for themselves? For example, the decisions about how, where, whom and
when to fight - if you offer the power to commit crimes, you also have to
offer the power to punish, which we do. In general, let the community help
to build and improve a living, breathing world."
- Stronghold 2
The
Stronghold 2 Q&A on Gamesplanet talks with Simon Bradbury, designer on
Firefly's upcoming strategy sequel: "It is completely new and purposefully
built. We knew that Stronghold had its own peculiar requirements and we
wanted to get in all the features we needed. We have worked hard to retain a
simple camera control system whilst retaining some interesting angles for
the player. We have also looked to keep and expand the system of taking the
roof off a building, that we thought worked so well in Stronghold."
DEEP Silver announces that the European edition of Scrapland is gold, and that
Mercury Steam's action game should be available on the continent early next
month: BASINGSTOKE, England (January 7th 2005) – International software
publisher DEEP SILVER are delighted to confirm that American McGee's highly
anticipated game, SCRAPLAND has gone GOLD. A deeply immersive 3rd person 3D
action/adventure, Scrapland sets players in a bizarre robotic world made of
scrap parts. Scheduled for release 4th February 2005, Scrapland will be
available for the Xbox® (£39.99) video game system from Microsoft and PC CD ROM
(£29.99).
Scrapland is a third person action-adventure game set in a stunningly beautiful,
futuristic world occupied by an amazing array of robotic characters. The play
experience is driven by a solidly engaging, sometimes humorous adventure
narrative. The game mechanic combines proven GTA3 style emergent action with an
immersive storyline, diversity of player actions, and complete freedom of
movement through the world.
The Camelot Herald
(thanks Frans) outlines price increases for subscriptions to Dark Age of
Camelot, citing increased costs as the reason for the move. They are also
offering a six dollar discount on a one-year subscription as well as
opportunities to lock in their current rates until the next billing cycle.
The Zoo
Tycoon 2 Downloads Page (thanks Frans) offers a new patch updating the
animal park sim to version 20.11.00.0007 for those keeping score at home. Word
on the update is that it "contains a performance enhancement and includes a
number of fixes for Animal and Guest related issues."
Merscom now offers a new patch for
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, updating 3D People's RPG to version 1.3, though the link
to the patch on the page is broken, so
here is a
direct link to the proper location. 3D Gamers has a
change list extracted from the patch.
This
DreamCatcher Europe Support Page features a patch for the European edition
of COPS 2170: The Power of Law (thanks Frans). The patch fixes "some random game
crash" and Windows 2000 sound issues.
HYPERNIA now offers downloads of a
new version 2.3.0 of Purge Jihad, updating this "war of self-righteousness and
extreme intolerance." The mirror on
3D Gamers offers
build notes for the new version.
A third playable demo for Tribes Vengeance is now available, offering another
chance to sample single-player action in the latest installment in the science
fiction shooter series. Word is: "In the demo, gamers play the role of Mercury,
a robot assassin hired to locate and eliminate Daniel, a captain of the local
Phoenix subclan." The 415 MB download can be found on
this VU Games FTP server,
and mirrors can be found on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
ActionTrip,
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent),
FileShack (registration required), Gamer's
Hell,
GameSpot DLX (registration required), and
Worthplaying.
- Hearts of Iron 2
HomeLAN
Fed's Hearts Of Iron 2 Q&A talks with Johan Andersson and Fredrik
Lindgren of Paradox about their upcoming World War II strategy sequel: "The
battle mechanics are more realistic than it was in the original game. The
micromanagement has been reduced a lot giving the player more time to
actually make strategic decisions rather than taking care of every detail.
We have added lots of help for the player, without removing the detailed
aspects of the game."
- Unreal Tech
There's
an Unreal technology Q&A Part 3 on Unreal Ops (thanks
Shacknews)
discusses the Unreal engine technology with the folks from Epic and Digital
Extremes.
- Real Time Worlds
The
Colin
Macdonald Q&A on Experience Gaming talks with the studio manager for
Real Time Worlds about what can be revealed of the online gaming plans for
this Scottish developer: "We have two projects in development, but
unfortunately, under the usual veils of secrecy, we can't reveal the
slightest details about them. We are hoping that we'll be able to say lots
more, and perhaps show, at least one of the titles later in the year though
(which doesn't sound so bad now that it's 2005!)."
- Music
Headhunter
Composer Richard Jacques Takes on Starship Troopers; Others to Follow on
GameZone talks with the composer of the music for several games,
including the upcoming
Starship Troopers Game.
RPG Vault World of
Warcraft Tips of the Week #5 offers "Thoughts you may want to consider when
buying skills and in anticipation of obtaining mounts for your characters" in
Blizzard's MMORPG. Also, there's an
Official
Seed FAQ on BoomTown with info on the upcoming science fiction MMORPG.
The LAN Party Association of New
England announces LPANE NorEaster 2005. "This LAN Party will take place on
April 16th-17th, 2005 in Wilmington, MA and will support 500 players!
Registration is now open on our web site at
http://noreaster.lpane.net Be sure to sign up quickly for the event so you
don't miss this momentous occasion." Also,
A Conversation With the Frag Dolls on Killer Betties talks with this
all-female clan about competing, their sponsorship by Ubisoft, and gaming in
general.
The COR Project ("Counter Organic
Revolution") has released a couple of videos showing off the
Transformers-inspired gameplay in this upcoming Unreal Tournament 2004
modification.
I'm going to take a little road trip today with our puppy Gunnar. One of the
reasons Hudson the wonder dog is remarkably well-socialized is thanks to getting
to visit Devicer's home, where in addition to a couple of doggies, there are
several cats representing a range of feline personality types to teach one one's
place. Even as a puppy, Gunnar is a whole degree more mellow than Hudson, and I
expect he will adapt to being around new critters and new situations even more
smoothly than his big sister.
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