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Archived News:
Data Node One - The Matrix Online's Official Community Site announced the
completion of development on Monolith's upcoming MMORPG, which will launch March
22:
The highly anticipated continuation to The Matrix
film trilogy, The Matrix Online has gone gold and is on track for a March
22, 2005 launch. The MMOG, co-published by Warner Bros. Interactive
Entertainment and SEGA, will take tens of thousands of players down the
rabbit hole and unveil a story full of twists and turns allowing them to
take an active role in helping determining the future of the Matrix saga.
Developed by Monolith Productions in conjunction with the Wachowski
Brothers, creators of The Matrix Trilogy, the game will be a re-creation of
the virtual world of the Matrix, employing cutting edge 3-D graphics,
networking and server technology. Gameplay in The Matrix Online will be
based on intricate and exciting "wire-fu" combat, an extensive mission
structure, social interaction and completely customizable skill and ability
system.
The Matrix Online also features many of the original talent from the films -
Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Monica Bellucci (Persephone), Mary Alice (The
Oracle), Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Link),
Harry Lennix (Lock), Nona Gaye (Zee), Collin Chou (Seraph) and Tanveer Atwal
(Sati).
Gamers wanting to delve into the secrets of The Matrix Online before the
game hits store shelves can check out a Sneak Preview event on Saturday,
March 12 at 12:00 p.m. PST and ending at 9:00 p.m. PST on Tuesday, March 15.
A playable demo for LEGO Star Wars offers a sample of the Plastic Menace
facing the Star Wars characters in their upcoming LEGO crossover. The 227 MB
download is available on
Yahoo!
Games Domain and mirrored on
3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent),
Gamer's Hell,
GameSpot
DLX (registration required), and
Worthplaying.
This JoWooD Press Release announces development of Panzer Elite Action, a
World War II action game from Zootfly due on the PC, Xbox, and PS2 later this
year. There are
some screenshots on ToTheGame, and here's the announcement:
Rottenmann, Austria, 10th March 2005 - Jowood
Productions would like to announce its intention to bring out the big guns
for 2005 with the release of Panzer Elite Action for Xbox, Playstation 2 and
PC developed by Zootfly.
Panzer Elite Action is a fast-paced WW2 action game that lets the player
Feel the power of 30 tons of steel armor around them and gives them the
ability to command increasingly powerful tanks in a series of intense and
dramatic battles. The cinematic and immersive action will allow the player
to experience the adrenalin rush of an intense conflict commanding 30 solid
tons of steel in the heat of battle
Panzer Elite Action follows the story of three tank commanders and their
crew. The German commander, flushed with the success of the Blitzkrieg in
Poland and France, moves on to the Eastern Front and the brink of victory
with the taking of Stalingrad. We meet the Russian commander in desperate
straits as he helps defend Stalingrad, and follow him as the tide turns
against the Germans and he joins the massive tank battle of Kursk. The
American commander enters the war on the Normandy Beachhead on D-Day. After
the struggle for the Bocage, he survives the doomed gamble to take Arnheim,
defends the German outbreak at the Battle of the Bulge, and then drives on
to the victorious crossing of the Rhine.
Features:
• Command your tanks through 3 different campaigns set against the
backdrop of the most dramatic battles of WW II
• Take on the enemy with your choice from over 15 powerful and
versatile tanks
• Become the leader of your own squad and employ various strategies
using the different tanks.
• An action filled battlefield with AI controlled airplanes, infantry
and enemy vehicles making the mayhem of battle come alive
• Blast through houses and trees in a completely destructible
environment
• Graphic engine supports all up to date graphic features – from T&L
effects to day and night cycles
• Compelling theme, storyline, and characters created by design legend
Bob Bates (Unreal,…)
Xfire Files
Countersuit Against Yahoo is the press release with the latest on the legal
tangle between the Xfire gamer's messaging utility and Yahoo! Here's the deal:
MENLO PARK, Calif., March 10 /PRNewswire/ --
Xfire(TM) Inc., the fastest growing online gaming platform and community,
announced today it has filed an answer and countersuit in United States
District Court in response to a lawsuit filed by Yahoo Inc.
Yahoo had previously filed a lawsuit against Xfire for allegedly infringing
U.S. patent number 6,699,125 (the '125 patent). In today's filing Xfire
refutes all allegations that it is infringing Yahoo's patent. In addition,
Xfire has filed a countersuit stating that the Yahoo lawsuit is an attempt
to drive Xfire out of business (and therefore avoid direct competition in
the marketplace) or to force Xfire to sell or license its proprietary
technology to Yahoo for far less than fair market value to settle the
expensive litigation.
Matrix Games announces the availability of Supremacy: Four Paths to
Power, the science fiction-themed IGF Finalist:
Staten Island, NY, March 10th, 2005 – Supremacy:
Four Paths to Power (www.supremacygame.com)
by Black Hammer (www.blackhammergame.com)
is officially ready for sale from the Matrix Games website (www.matrixgames.com).
Supremacy offers an addictive sci-fi turn based strategy experience like
none other as you battle for universal supremacy on land and in space! The
game will be available for $24.99 for digital download and $34.99 for the CD
version. Supremacy: Four Paths to Power is the ultimate test of survival for
sci-fi strategists. Begin with a planet, a ship and a plan. The galaxy is
stretched out before you, but you are not alone. The path to Supremacy is a
puzzle with many pieces, from espionage and economic growth to planetary
invasions and fleet battles. Play as one of four unique commanders, each
with distinctive starships, ground units, abilities and strategies.
Eidos on
the brink as investors flee sinking ship (thanks Mike Martinez) reports on
the latest woes at the embattled publisher, describing more
poor financials,
discussing the possibility of an acquisition, and revealing that the next Tomb
Raider and Hitman games are delayed:
The situation for Eidos is now desperate.
"If an offer for the Company has not been announced in accordance with Rule
2.5 of the Takeover Code or alternative funding has not been put in place by
25 March 2005, or if any such offer lapses, RBS has the right to require the
Company to undertake an orderly disposal of assets, and/or intellectual
property, of an amount equal to the facility plus associated fees," the
statement continued.
"In that event, and if such disposal is not agreed by 22 April 2005, the
adequacy of the Company's working capital facilities cannot be assured."
In other bad news, Eidos confirmed that new Hitman and Tomb Raider games
have slipped to fiscal 2006, with a "strategic decision" having been taken
to delay the next titles in both series from fiscal 2005, which ends on June
30th.
Adventure
Gamers (thanks
Frans) has word that French developer
Galiléa has shut down:
Originally formed in 1996, Galiléa broke into the
genre with an adventure/edutainment title called Genesys, before finding a
much wider audience with its promising Cameron Files series (Loch Ness and
Pharaoh's Curse/Amenophis). The company's final adventure was Jack the
Ripper in early 2004. These games met with mixed public and critical
reaction; often considered to be entertaining, but suffering from what the
developer admits were rushed production schedules.
Having already cancelled production on the third Cameron Files game and
shutting down its main studio in Grenoble, France, Galiléa has existed since
mid-2004 as a skeleton company based in Montreal, Canada. However, unable to
secure any new development deals, co-founder Philippe Gaudé has now
confirmed that budget considerations have forced them to close down and seek
opportunities elsewhere.
A Majesco Games
Financial Report released yesterday reveals, among other things, that Advent
Rising is delayed (thanks
GameGossip). Here's
the deal:
Advent Rising , the first title in a planned
trilogy of games, has been developed in collaboration with award-winning
science fiction author Orson Scott Card. This premium title is scheduled to
ship during the third quarter for the Xbox and PC.
- World of Warcraft
The World of Warcraft
Q&A on Computer Games Magazine talks with Shane Dabiri of Blizzard about
their MMORPG: "Well, I really can’t get into how we structure or build our
infrastructure. Much of the information is proprietary and complex. However,
we have multiple servers per realm spread out among several datacenters in
each region where we launched World of Warcraft. And we had plans all along
to deploy more realms as the population expanded, and additional datacenters
when we reached a certain population milestone. As everyone knows, we
experienced significant challenges meeting the demand for the game because
of its rapid expansion, and we added realms and servers very quickly. Along
the way, there were problems, but we always worked hard and immediately to
remedy them. I can tell you that our network operations and World of
Warcraft teams spent a lot of their winter holidays in the offices
stabilizing our service and expanding it for our players."
- Guild Wars
A trio of new Guild Wars Q&As discuss ArenaNet's upcoming MMORPG (thanks
Guild Wars Slovenija).
There's the latest (English)
Fansite Friday on Guild Wars en Español talking with Gaile Gray, a
Jeff Strain
Q&A on The Guild Hall Forums, and finally
a Guild Wars Q&A on Nudist Talk.
- EQ: Dragons of Norrath
MMORPG.COM's EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath Q&A talks with Alan Crosby
about the DoN expansion for the original EverQuest, throwing in one answer
credited to Sigil's Brad McQuaid just to make sure we're paying attention:
"As part of the expansion, yet released to all customers, we did revamp the
graphics in Lavastorm. As the content for the new expansion kicks off in
Lavastorm, we had to add some new geometry and decided to just do the whole
zone with our new tools. The content of the zone, other than new things
specific to DoN, is the same as it always has been, and can be enjoyed by
all EQ players."
- FF vs. The Third Reich
There's
an Irrational Games Q&A on the BioWare Website talks with Ken Levine
about a just-announced partnership whereby BioWare will help promote the
release of Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich, Irrationals' upcoming
self-published superhero sequel: " I think we're very simpatico with
BioWare. BioWare and Irrational have very similar philosophies on games. We
don't believe games have to be built for the lowest common denominator. We
don't believe games with depth and intelligence are only for the hardcore.
Realizing that we share many of the same fans, the two companies decided
that they could help not only each other, but also the fans by forming a
partnership." Thanks YiYas.
- Elite Warriors Vietnam
Major John
Plaster talks about bring the realism of the Vietnam War to Elite Warriors
Vietnam on GameZone is a Q&A about the upcoming Vietnam War shooter:
"After initial discussions with Steve Ellis and Jeff Birns, I spent about
five weeks studying several first-person shooter games that they
recommended, so I could understand how such state-of-the-art games work. I
was amazed at how far games had come since "Pong" and "Pac man," but I also
noted that the way some of these things are done still wasn't very
realistic."
- Game Pioneer
The Game Pioneer Q&A
on Computer Games Magazine talks with Lane Roathe, John Romero's partner
at Ideas From The Deep about their just-announced game matchmaking software:
"It's already been seen that the game-matching power of Game Pioneer is
solid, through its history with long-time game publisher Freeverse
Interactive. We took this core and expanded it to become more versatile and
Flexible. This allowed us to offer important features such as redundant
servers, CD-key checking and a stand-alone application. In doing so, we take
the tried-and-true heart of the proven technology and evolve it into a very
modern, very reliable solution for game-matching."
More Dr. Toothy again today. That just represents more unusual business
as usual... I am hoping that all the various situations here at the BlueTower
all come to a close soon enough, between server woes, dentistry, painters,
blizzards, puppy training, and the inevitable more, it just feels like
everything around here is in flux at the moment. In fact, were it not for fear
of jinxing myself (as Al Swearengen says: "Announcing your intentions is a good
way to hear God laugh"), I'd dare say I'm expecting it all to settle down at
once. After all, there has to be a converse to the 'when it rains it pours'
rule.
Yakety Yak!
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