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Archived News:
1C Company sends along an announcement of the games they will be showing off at
E3, which includes some previously unannounced projects. The four unfamiliar
titles in their lineup are Adrenalin, Outfront II, Sniper (working title), and
Whirlwind of Vietnam. There are no accompanying details, but the first Outfront
was the World War II RTS game also released under the title Soldiers: Heroes of
World War II.
CDV announces that Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars is now shipping in North
America: CDV Software Entertainment today announced that Cossacks II:
Napoleonic Wars, has shipped to North American retail outlets. Cossacks II will
put gamers in control of one of six 19th-century nations as they wage war,
secure alliances and work to economically and militarily defeat their opponents
to become the dominant European power. Cossacks II Napoleonic Wars challenges
players to take on the roles of general, diplomat and economist as they strive
to etch their names in the history books.
Developed by GSC Gameworld, Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars expands upon everything
that gamers enjoyed about the original Cossacks: European Wars, which has sold
over 2.5 million units to date. In Cossacks II, gamers take on the roles of
diplomat, warrior and economist as the leader of one of six nations as they
expand their empires through treaties, truncheons and treasuries. Utilizing an
attractive 3D engine, the game allows for tens of thousands of units to be
onscreen simultaneously, as armies battle in sweeping landscapes featuring more
than 1,000 types of realistic flora and fauna. For more information about
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, please visit
http://www.cossacks2.de.
Juiced Stalls Until June on Computer and Video Games reveals that Juiced has
hit a speed bump, and is now due in June. Juiced Games' eponymous street racing
sim was previously due in the middle of this month, and the reasons for the
slight delay is given as "finishing touches and final polishing."
A new Evil Dead: Regeneration
Website is online, an Ash-kicking movie homage homepage. Also, the
Serious Sam II Teaser
Website is live (thanks
Voodoo Extreme),
though there's not much there. Likewise there's not much to set yet on the new
product pages for
Scarface: The World is Yours and
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider: Legend. Thanks Frans.
Including a bunch of Atari E3 clips... the show will be over soon, right?
- Auto Assault
A new Auto Assault movie gives a look at the
upcoming vehicular MMORPG in the works at Netdevil. The clip can be found on
3D Gamers and
Worthplaying.
- Madagascar
There's a Madagascar
movie showing off the upcoming tie-in with the animated movie of the
same name on 3D Gamers,
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
- Gothic 3
The Gothic 3 Q&A on
World of Gothic also has
the premier of a new gameplay clip with a
little monster interaction from Piranha Bytes' upcoming RPG.
- TimeShift
The E3 movie for TimeShift is now available,
showing off Saber Interactive's upcoming first-person shooter. The 15 MB
download is available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent),
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
- Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy
The Fahrenheit E3 movie is now
available, with a lengthy cinematic sequence from Quantic Dream's action
adventure also known as Indigo Prophecy. The 29 MB download is on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and
Worthplaying.
- Tycoon City: New York
The Tycoon City: New York E3 movie
is now available, showing off the chance to build the city that never sleeps
in Deep Red's upcoming construction/management game. The clip is available
on 3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's
Hell, and
Worthplaying.
- Soaked!
The Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! theme park
sim expansion is on display in the game's E3 movie, a 10 or 56 MB download,
available on 3D
Gamers,
FileFront,
Filerush (torrent),
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
- Metal Combat
A new Metal Combat movie shows off more of
the scrappy fighting game in the works at Solar Studios. Available on
3D Gamers and
Worthplaying.
- Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade
MMORPG.COM's
Star Wars Galaxies Combat Upgrade Q&A discusses the controversial MMORPG
update with Julio Torres of LucasArts: "What could have gone better… The
obvious being the conversion of two of our servers could have been more
smooth. We also would have like to have seen fewer balancing issues
immediately following the publish. Moving forward, we are placing maximum
effort on continuing to balance this new system while keeping the
informative feedback from our player base front of mind. We firmly believe
that we’ve designed a greatly enhanced way to play Star Wars and are
committed to continue delivering that experience to our players."
- Tactica Online
RPG
Vault's Tactica Online Q&A, Part 2 concludes their conversation with
Luke Carruthers of Imaginary Numbers to discuss their upcoming online
turn-based strategy game/RPG: "Death isn't a harsh experience in Tactica
Online. Characters are up and ready for their next mission as soon as the
previous one ends, no matter how they fared, and there is no loss of items
or experience. Depending on their opponent, the only loss a player could
experience would be a few points from their rating. Our whole philosophy is
to reward winning rather than punishing losing, and then only with things
that don't increase the winner's power. If you keep giving things to the
victor, and taking them away from those less fortunate, pretty soon you have
a situation where it's impossible for consistent winners to be beaten, and
that's no fun for anyone."
- Gothic 3
There's
a Gothic 3 Q&A on
World of Gothic discussing Piranha Bytes' upcoming RPG sequel with
Stefan Berger and Johann Ertl: "Thanks to continuously adjustable graphic
effects, Gothic III will run on an usual computer (e.g.. Win XP/2k 2 GHz +
GeForce 3 (not G4MX!) 512 MB RAM or more). However, every gamers is surely
aware that more power will allow higher resolutions etc. and therefore make
the game "better". You should be on the safe side with this configuration:
CPU around 3 GHZ, 512 MB Dual Channel (1 Gig is of course better), a good
graphics card like the GeForxe 5900 or 6600GT or the Radeon 9800 Pro or
X600, a rather fast HDD and of course a good soundcard."
- Fate
RPG
Vault's Fate Q&A discusses WildTangent's action RPG with the team: "I
think the best example of what we're trying to do in terms of bridging the
gap may be the Zelda series - they have a tone and approachability that
draws lots of people in, but more advanced players love the games for other
reasons. To complete the standard difficulty quest and retire your character
can take from 20 to 30 hours of playing time."
A S.C.A.R. (Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo) demo is now available, offering the chance
to test drive the racing sim. The demo offers the chance to drive one of three
Alfa Romeos on the Valenciana circuit, a country track, and a city track. The
192 MB download is available on the
BlackBean
Games Website, and mirrored on
3D Gamers,
Filerush
(torrent), Gameguru Mania, and
Worthplaying.
The Sacred
Official Website (thanks Frans) has the news that the English edition of
Sacred Underworld is now gold, and the RPG expansion is expected in stores on
May 6. Word is: Underworld contains 2 new characters within an even
greater world of Ancaria, including vast regions such as the Pirate Isles,
mystical forests and deep, twisting caves. Hundreds of new quests, monsters,
weapons and new set items can be found for characters old and new.
Underworld also expands in the multiplayer mode with the addition of a friends
list and much more.
The Knights of Honor Website has word that the North American edition of
Black Sea Studios' RTS game is now complete (thanks Frans), and should be
available on May 10. Here's a bit: "Knights of Honor lets you take on the role
as the leader of a kingdom in the Dark Ages. As a powerful ruler it’s up to you
to lead your people to victory through trade, espionage, diplomacy, and war.
Handpick your most trusted and experienced Knights and struggle for sovereignty,
dominance and riches."
Groove Games announces that Pariah has shipped, and Digital Extreme's science
fiction first-person shooter is due in stores this week: TORONTO - May 3,
2005 - Groove Games, a global interactive entertainment software publisher,
today announced the shipping of the highly touted first-person action game,
Pariah. Developed by top independent development studio, Digital Extremes,
Pariah hits store shelves this week on the Xbox® video game system from
Microsoft and the PC.
"We're really excited to see gamers get their hands on Pariah this week,"
said Jon Walsh, CEO of Groove Games. "It's a great year for the first- person
shooter genre and Pariah is a must-have for any gamer who loves the rush of
fast-action fun gameplay and with Pariah's MAP Editor, the replay- ability is
infinite."
Pariah has steadily gained awareness as a game to watch after it was awarded
Biggest Surprise at the industry's Electronic Entertainment Expo by IGN.com last
spring. The game intertwines a compelling story, evolutionary gameplay and
stunning visuals to create an impressively immersive single- player campaign as
well as fully loaded multi-player features including the exclusive Make-And-Play
(MAP) Editor.
Pariah puts the power in gamer's hands to create their own playable environments
using the tools provided in the MAP Editor. From manipulating terrain to
changing weather effects to adding pre-made art objects and more, the MAP Editor
harnesses the power of game developer's tools while simplifying them for anyone
to use. Once created, gamers can share their maps with their friends via the
internet with the PC version or through Xbox Live™, memory unit, split-screen
multi-player or system link with the Xbox version.
Groove Games is publishing the game in North America while Hip Interactive
Europe will publish and distribute the title in Europe, Australia and New
Zealand. Pariah will be in most major retail stores this week for an estimated
retail price of US$49.99 on Xbox and US$39.99 on PC with an ESRB rating of 'M'
for Mature. For more information on the game visit the official website at
www.pariahgame.com.
Fenimore Fillmore 3
officially announced on Adventure Gamers (thanks Frans) has the announcement
of Fenimore Fillmore's Revenge, the third installment in Revistronic's wild west
themed adventure series. Word is the new game will feature a more realistic look
than its cartoony predecessors, allowing for a grittier spaghetti western style.
The game is slated for release in the second quarter of next year.
Atari's Betatests.net announces that beta testing of both Soaked! and
Dragonshard began last week (thanks Frans), saying: "Thank you for your patience and support,
it's appreciated. We hope you'll find many good bugs and have a great time
during the duration of the betas."
A new
Armies of Exigo patch is now available, updating Black Hole's RTS game to
version 1.4 (thanks Frans). The
change log has details on the update, which is described like this in the
main summary update: "Most of the balance changes and fixes included with this
patch only affect the multiplayer and skirmish modes in AoX. The Single Player
campaign has been left relatively unchanged in order to preserve the progression
and balance of that particular mode."
An American Civil War: Gettysburg demo is now available, allowing a 60 minute
sample of Cat Daddy Games' turn-based strategy offering based on pivotal battle
in the war between the states. The trial version has the content of the full
game, and unlimited play can be unlocked by the online purchase of a product
key. The download can be found on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
GameSpot DLX (registration required),
Happy Puppy (registration required), and
Worthplaying.
The GT-Legends Website is now live for
the upcoming racing simulation in the works at SimBin. The site includes English
and German language support, and features a mix of new and old screenshots from
the game.
Matrix Games announces the release of a new version 4.5.0 of Starshatter,
described as a major update to this space combat simulation. The
new patch can be found on this
Matrix Games FTP Site.
Here's the deal: "The 4.5.0 update to Starshatter includes an all new rendering
engine based on DirectX 9, a new user-interface, a new terrain engine and
improvements to shading, textures, and graphical effects such as bump and
specular maps. Additional improvements include increased missile payload for
ships, minor bug fixes with flight patterns, and more responsive controls. This
major update requires Starshatter v.4.0.3 to be installer before updating."
RPG Vault's World
of Warcraft Tips #22 are online, discussing the occasional advantages of
small parties in Blizzard's MMORPG as well as an analysis of playing the Tauren
race.
The 3D Realms Website now
features a new help wanted in their
jobs section for a level
designer, with the update on the main page indicating they are seeking to fill
multiple positions. Thanks Frans.
- The Oddlabs Downloads Page
now offers a demo for
Tribal Trouble, an impressive-looking indie RTS game. Thanks Frans...
- Aspyr announces they will publish CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Dark
Motives for the Mac. The release is planned for summer 2005...
Sorry for the tardy update... my 'net connection seems to be rebelling a bit. I
recently asked Verizon about these 3 Mbps upgrades they are promising in these
perts, but I'm apparently too far from the C.O. to get that... it just seems my
existing 1.5 Mbps connection has gotten jealous since I looked into this, and is
showing me I should be grateful for any connection at all.
R.I.P.:
Greenpeace co-founder Bob Hunter dies.
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