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Archived News:
Eidos accepts Elevation bid (thanks
IGN) has word that
the British publishing giant has been purchased by a group that includes U2's
Bono, former Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello, and former Apple CFO
Fred Anderson. Here's the deal:
Video games maker Eidos has agreed a 71 million
pounds cash offer from a unit of U.S. private equity company Elevation
Partners LP, the firms say.
The offer price was 50 pence per Eidos share, a premium of nearly five pence
on their Monday closing price of 44 3/4 pence.
"The board firmly believes that shareholders' interests are best served by a
sale of the company," John van Kuffeler, chairman of the board of Eidos,
said in a statement.
Whiptail Interactive announces that Psychotoxic, NuClearVision's
first-person shooter, has shipped in North America:
West Chester, PA (March 21, 2005) – Whiptail
Interactive, a leading publisher of PC games, announced today that the
action shooter PsychoToxic has shipped and is available now at retail stores
nationwide. The fast-paced PC shooter title shipped in Germany in 2004,
where it was well received by both the German games media and fans of the
FPS genre.
Developed by Nuclearvision Entertainment GmbH, PsychoToxic places players in
the role of an unsuspecting heroine, Angie Prophet. Taking place in 2022
New York, this unwitting savior comes to learn that, like it or not, she’s
the only one standing in the way of the world’s nuclear annihilation,
courtesy of the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse and his evil earthly
associate, Reverend Aaron Crowley.
“Our partnership with Nuclearvision on PsychoToxic is further evidence of
our continued commitment to bringing great gaming content to shooter fans in
North America,” said Joe Muoio, President, Whiptail Interactive. “This game
is a great combination of fast-paced FPS action with a high tension story
that’s guaranteed to hold players’ attention from start to finish.”
Powered by the Vulpine Vision graphics engine, PsychoToxic features 29
richly detailed levels, including eight “dream stages” that take Angie
inside the dreams (and sometimes nightmares) of other characters in the
game, thus further revealing the storyline. The game incorporates highly
interactive environments, with nearly every object being destructible. In
saving the world, Angie will utilize an impressive and lethal array of
weaponry, ranging from small arms to devastating ADW’s (Area Damage
Weapons). Throughout her quest, Angie will also discover her arsenal of
extra-normal abilities, including invisibility, time “stretching” (slowing
of time) and mental telepathy.
GMX Media announces plans for Beyond Blitzkrieg (A.K.A. World War II
Online in North America), a massively multiplayer game from Cornered Rat
Software set in World War II
“BEYOND BLITZKRIEG” COMING TO EUROPE JUNE 2005
GMX ANNOUNCE THEIR FIRST EVER MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE TITLE
LONDON, UK (25th March 2005) - GMX Media announces the availability of a new
massively multiplayer online title for June 2005 – BEYOND BLITZKRIEG is a
first-person, online action game where players choose to fight alongside and
against thousands of other players on the battlefields of Western Europe.
Grab a rifle and experience heart-stopping infantry action or choose to
advance your skills in one of dozens of accurately modeled combat vehicles,
naval vessels or aircraft. Succeed and help the cause of the Allied or Axis
forces. Fail and watch your side be pushed back and struggle for a foothold.
The game world includes more than 36,000 strategic objects such as
buildings, bunkers and bridges placed among 4,000+ facilities in 450 cities
and towns. A truly massive, single-instance MMOG environment with the
current game map measuring over 354,000 square miles.
It allows thousands of players to fight 24/7 in a persistent world in which
character advancement and multiple career paths provide a rich RPG layer and
strategic systems are driven by player missions and command structure. The
game is developed by Cornered Rat Software, the in-house development studio
operated by Playnet Inc.
“Beyond Blitzkrieg is an already established and successful game in North
America with a dedicated base of thousands of players,” commented Eugene
Perry, COO for GMX Media. “The game offers an incredible amount of freedom
to the player who can choose from a wide variety military roles at the start
of their campaign and then go on to rewrite history in this historic online
world.”
“We are really pleased to be working with GMX”, said Al Corey, Playnet’s
Executive Producer. “We are excited at reaching the long-overdue goal of
bringing the game to European players and are sure the experience of
re-writing the history of WWII will be a huge hit.”
GAME FEATURES
• Thousands of players sharing a single world- First person
perspective in all game play
• Huge game world measuring more than 350,000 square miles
• Character advancement and career paths for rich RPG layer
• Strategic systems driven by player missions and command
• Growing list of 80+ historically accurate weapons including
aircraft, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, trucks, rifles, machine guns and
more!
• Groundbreaking physics and damage modeling- Localized in English,
French, German, Spanish & Italian
- Age of Empires III
The
Age of Empires III Q&A on FileFront talks with Gregg Street, lead
designer on Ensemble's upcoming real-time strategy sequel: "Ironically,
*incorporating* the Havok engine has made us change a lot of gameplay. Silly
game things that you just accepted in previous games, like forests that
blocked all movement, just seemed like glaring errors when the rest of the
game world was so believable. It looked ridiculous when a cannon would fire
at a group of infantry, and all their hitpoint bars would drop a fraction
and they’d just keep coming. So Havok has led us to make combat more lethal.
But there isn’t a big gameplay ramification per se to throwing musketeers
around when struck by cannons. We had to make a lot of these graphic
features something that players with lower end systems could turn off in
order to increase performance."
- Commandos: Strike Force
Commandos Strike Back on Computer and Video Games (thanks Frans)
is a Q&A with José Manuel Garcià of Pyro Studios
about their upcoming World War II shooter: "Here, on many occasions the
player will choose the pace of the game, and if he decides to do some
planning, he will be rewarded. Our aim is to develop a game with many
challenges, and is therefore fun to play. Also we want to reward the players
that take some additional efforts or challenges. To give you an easy example
of this, it will not be the same taking care of an enemy with a heavy
machine-gun as with a knife, and we will acknowledge that."
Electronic Arts cuts forecast, stock off 12% after bell reports losses at EA
following the gaming giant's first-ever mid-quarter profit earning. The portion
going into the reasons for the warning includes some bizz buzz and a bit of
amazement at the success of World of Warcraft:
The company singled out three reasons for the the
anticipated shortfall. Primarily, it said, it underestimated the effects of
the Holiday 2004 video game hardware shortage. (Retailers were regularly out
of stock of Xbox and PlayStation 2 machines, as Microsoft and Sony were
unable to keep up with demand.)
Also, momentum the company saw in its third quarter software sales did not
continue into the holiday period. Similarly, titles released in the fourth
quarter did not live up to expectations. The company specifically cited
lower than expected sales of its "Need for Speed" and "NFL Street"
franchises.
EA president Larry Probst also acknowledged sales of competitive titles,
including "Half-Life 2" and "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" have cut into
sales. "World of Warcraft," a massively multiplayer game from powerhouse
developer Blizzard, he said "has had an impact on everyone in the industry."
"Everybody in the industry has been surprised with 'World of Warcraft,'" he
said. "I can tell you from firsthand observation that there are people who
haven't played games in years who are now spending 15 to 20 hours a week
playing 'World of Warcraft'."
The
EverQuest II Website (thanks Frans)
has word on the launch of The Bloodline Chronicles, the first adventure pack for
EverQuest II:
The EQII team is pleased to announce the launch of the first Adventure Pack,
EverQuest
II: The Bloodline Chronicles. It's available via digital download at the
Station Store.
Intended for characters that are levels 30 to 45, The Bloodline Chronicles
offers new zones along with new weapons, armor, spells, and combat arts.
Note that subscribers who choose not to purchase the Bloodline Chronicles
can download a new zone, the Tombs of Night, at no additional charge.
A new version of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is now available, updating
the free World War II multiplayer shooter from id and Splash Damage to version
2.60. There are patches for the Win32 and Linux versions, a full Linux
installer, and the first MacOS installer for the game, some or all of which are
available on the
Wolfenstein website and mirrored on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
AusGamers (Australia),
FileFront, and
Worthplaying.
A demo for
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - Developer's Cut is now
available, allowing the chance to sample the PC edition of the first-person
shooter based on the science fiction movie The Chronicles of Riddick. The
205 MB download debuted on
GameSpot DLX (registration required) and mirrors are now available on
3D Gamers,
AusGamers
(Australia),
Boomtown,
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent), Gameguru Mania, and
Worthplaying.
A bit earlier than promised, the Red Dawn free multiplayer add-on is now
available to expand Vietcong, Pterodon's military first-person shooter. The
expansion adds a co-op campaign, new multiplayer maps, a new solo mission, AI
bots, and more. The 310 MB download can be found on
3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
SimBin announces plans for another free GTR track expansion "coming soon
to a download site near you." Here's the deal:
Darmstadt (Germany), 21st of March 2005: GTR is
taking the world by storm! That's something every fan of the award winning
motor sport simulation would agree with. Now, the developer SimBin
Development Team and publisher 10TACLE STUDIOS proudly announce another free
expansion pack, the "King of Ovals". This pack adds three new fictional
tracks in the style of American oval circuits to the existing selection of
tracks in GTR. Oval racing in a GT car is a unique challenge, and provides
the player with an interesting variation from the FIA-GT seasonal circuits.
Each of the new tracks is designed to present the player with a different
characteristic of oval racing, and the AI behaviour is adjusted to suit the
new conditions and keep the player challenged.
A Coffee Tycoon demo is now available, offering the chance to sample the
latest management sim from Anarchy Enterprises, the creators of Moon Tycoon,
Deep Sea Tycoon, National Lampoon's University Tycoon, and of course Tycoon
Tycoon. The demo allows the chance to influence the caffeine consumption at
strip malls all across America for an 11 MB download, which can be found on
Boomtown (registration required),
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
Aspyr announces that DOOM 3 for the Macintosh has shipped to retail
stores. Here are the system requirements for this edition of id's first-person
shooter:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later CPU
Processor: PowerPC G4/G5 or later CPU Speed: 1.5GHz or faster
Memory: 512 MB or higher
Hard Disk Space: 2.0 GB free disk space
Video Card (ATI): Radeon 9600 or better
Video Card (Nvidia): GeForce FX5200 or better Video Memory (VRam): 64 MB
Media required: DVD Drive
This Downloads Page
on the Enemy Technology Website offers
downloads of the first episode in the "I of the Enemy" science fiction RTS game
series. Word on the 67 MB download is: "It is a stand alone game and is
completely free. Be sure to check out the multi-player game via your LAN."
- Commandos: Strike Force
The Commandos: Strike Force Q&A on
3DAvenue goes commando with
some of the folks at Pyro Studios to discuss the upcoming shooter
installment in their strategy series: "In CSF we have three commandos: a
sniper, a green beret and a spy. As I said before they have different
abilities, so for instance the Spy is able to wear enemy uniforms, of
distracting enemies, of killing silently with a piano wire, etc. At the
beginning of most missions we will have the commando for us to solve the
mission with, as we wanted for the player to explore the different
capabilities of each of the commandos. In some missions the player will have
two commandos and will be able to swap from one to the other at any time. We
are not giving the option of having the three characters at the same time,
not because of technical reasons, but because in our tests it became a
problem for the player."
- Empire Earth II
The Empire Earth II
Q&A on Computer Games Magazine chats with Mad Doc Software's mad doc Ian
Davis about their upcoming global RTS sequel: "How does this translate to
the gameplay experience? Well, as you might expect, seasons and weather will
play a role, with seasonal variation of terrain, trees, bushes, buildings
and other game objects - while weather effects like thunder, lightening,
fog, accumulated snow, unit animations tied to environmental conditions, and
the tactical effects of seasons and weather, will all add to the player’s
experience as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what a player will do when
they’ve sent forces out to combat, only to find themselves locked in by a
blizzard. I can’t wait to see how they handle it. Note that weather can be
disabled, too!"
- Blue52
The Stolen Q&A on
Computer Games Magazine talks with Jaid Mindang about the upcoming
stealth in an interview conducted before the announced closure of Blue52,
its developer: "Anya Romanov is an exceptionally gifted thief, who is graced
with an olympic athleticism and good looks into the bargain. Her partner in
crime is an electronics wizard who builds and supplies her gadgets. She can
take care of herself in a combat situation, but more to the point, her
professional pride in a clean job with no complications is what has put her
at the top of her league. Potential clients are all the more eager to pay
her extravagant fee in order to avoid any entaglements [sic] with homocided
[sic] investigations or family vendettas with the acquisition of their
respective prizes."
- XFire & Yahoo!
The XY Factor Case on ipkonfig.com talks with Xfire CEO Mike
Cassidy about their legal conflict with Yahoo!: "We've seen huge support
from our more than 1 million users from day 1 of this whole thing. Over
20,000 signed an online petition against Yahoo in just the first few days.
Many of these users are also writing letters to Yahoo telling them what they
thought of the lawsuit. I think we've seen that our community is totally
behind us all the way!"
A new version 1.06 of the Pro Rugby Manager 2 multiplayer demo is now
available, offering the chance to sample a scrum between Northampton and
Toulouse in Cyanide Studio's sports sequel. The 187 MB download is available on
3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
FileFront, Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
Version 2.0 of the Hell in the
Pacific modification for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is now available, an
update to this conversion that brings the Pacific theater to the World War II
shooter. The new version "consists of 17 deathmatch maps, 7 objective maps, 4
new gameplay modes, 2 new active classes, Japanese axis taunts, Japanese axis
weapons, and too many new skins for both the allies and axis to even count. All
of this material is set in the pacific theater of WW2."
Okay, still having trouble sitting without squirming after watching
Deadwood last night. I've been known to complain that I don't believe the
medical sciences have progressed significantly since the frontier days, and as
much as that was actually a joke, I don't think I'll kid about that again. Ow!
Oh, and happy belated birthday to nin!
R.I.P.: Car Developer
John DeLorean Dies at 80 and
Cabaret Singer Bobby Short Dies.
Yakety Yak
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