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Archived News:
The MadMinute Games Website
announces the release of a demo for Civil War: Bull Run, the Civil War strategy
game. Word is: "This demo consists of our first tutorial where we teach the
player the basics of CWBR as they lead a Brigade through the steps to support
their Division. This is the level that got MadMinute Games nominated as a
finalist for the 2004 Independent Games Festival."
Whiptail Interactive announces that Restricted Area is now available in the US:
West Chester, PA (May 31, 2005) – Whiptail Interactive, a leading
publisher of PC games, today announced that Restricted Area, its critically
acclaimed action/RPG, has shipped to retail stores nationwide. Restricted Area
has been a highly anticipated game in the U.S. since its release last year in
Germany.
Developed by Master Creating, Restricted Area shipped in Germany last year where
it received accolades from consumers and critics alike. The game, which has been
compared to the likes of the Fallout and Diablo series’, was nominated in five
categories at the 2004 German Developer Awards, including Best PC Game, Best
Game Characters and Best Story/Gameworld.
“We expect Restricted Area to set itself apart from other action/RPG titles not
only because of the recognition and nominations it has received in Europe, but
also due to the solid gameplay and graphics, said Joe Muoio, President of
Whiptail Interactive. “We’re to seeing the reaction from the North American PC
gamers.”
Powered by the IRIS graphics engine, Restricted Area offers characters and
environments a great amount of detail - up to 100,000 polygons per character.
The engine is able to put all the power of current 3D accelerators into a
countless number of stunning graphical effects that have rarely been seen in
this genre..
Set in the distant future of 2083, Restricted Area resembles a dark world where
much of the earth is covered with mutant inhabited wastelands caused by
environmental pollution. Restricted Area slips the player into the role of one
of four unique characters: The former taskforce agent John Johnson, who has
become a hired gun, proficient in a multitude of fire weapons. Victoria
Williams, a psionic sorceress with futuristic magic capabilities. Kenji
Takahashi, a martial arts master skilled in close-combat attacks or a mysterious
female computer hacker who is closely guarded by a flying drone. The choice
determines how the story will play out. Although an RPG at its core, Restricted
Area places an emphasis on action, resulting in faster game play; it also boasts
a cooperative multiplayer feature that enables players to team up and engage
enemies together.
The Army Ranger: Mogadishu
Website now features a gameplay movie from the just-announced special forces
shooter in a choice of formats and resolutions. Also,
The Age of Conan:
Hyborian Adventures Website now features the E3 movie from Funcom's upcoming
barbaric MMORPG. The movie is a 22 MB download. Also, the German
Singles 2 Website now
offers a 24 MB "movie 2" outlining the backstory from the saixy people sim.
Finally, The Guild 2 Website now
features the E3 trailer from 4Head's RPG sequel in a few different versions, as
it was originally encoded in a somewhat obscure codec. Thanks Frans.
- Prey
The
Prey Q&A on IGN
talks with Chris Rhinehart of Human Head about their upcoming first-person
shooter: "Our creature design is probably more influenced by Clive Barker
than by H.P. Lovecraft. The ship designs draw on a wide variety of
influences, including (in no particular order) Geof Darrow's work on The
Matrix, Frank Miller's Ronin, the work of Craig Mullins, Feng Zhu, Syd Mead,
Masamune Shirow, and of course, H.R. Giger. We also derived a certain amount
of material from studying anatomical photos of a huge array of tissues and
organs, both healthy and diseased."
- Alan Wake
The
Alan Wake
Interview on Eurogamer talks with Remedy's Petri Järvilehto and Sam Lake
about their upcoming action thriller: "The changes in the weather affect
everything on global scale. Visibility changes, audio cues will behave
differently, driving dynamics change and so on. Pretty much what you'd
expect to happen in the real world as well. The dynamic nature of the
environment is something that we use to create drama as well... for example,
when you start a mission branch, it's a nice peaceful morning, and as you
keep completing missions a storm begins to rise and that continues and gets
worse and worse when you progress through the sub-mission tree. With a world
this dynamic, even the same location can feel radically different depending
on the time of day and the weather."
- Black & White 2
The
Black & White 2
Mailbag 3 has answers to more reader-submitted questions about
Lionhead's upcoming god-game sequel: "Hi Jeremy, currently we aren’t
planning to release the world editor at the same time we are releasing the
game. But we are considering releasing this in the future; this could be
done with a patch, updates or even an add-on pack. We’d love to release
modding tools to allow people to create their own maps, as that would add a
lot of gameplay to it!"
- Project Entropia
MMORPG.COM's
Project Entropia Q&A talks with Marco Behrmann of MindArk about their
cash-and-carry MMORPG: "We have the position that the players of Project
Entropia are free to use the system as they see fit, as long is the follow
the rules of conduct. After all, they are the ones playing Project Entropia
and who invest money and time into it, so why should we impose strange rules
onto them? One thing to remember though is that any trade activities
performed outside the confines of Project Entropia is not guaranteed or
secure, and if you get scammed, MA cannot help you. A vast majority of our
players realize this and use the tools we supply to them within the virtual
universe instead of venturing outside."
A patch is now available for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, updating the latest
installment in the stealthy shooter series to version 1.03. Details on the
update and the North American edition of the patch can be found on
this page,
while European editions of the patch are available on
this FTP server. Some or all of the files are mirrored on
3D Gamers,
ActionTrip,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
The Halo Combat
Evolved for Windows Website now offers a new client and dedicated server
patches updating the PC edition of Bungie's first-person shooter to Hotfix 1.07,
presumably further closing off the exploit addressed by the HaloCE server hotfix
released last week ( story). Likewise, there is now also a
client patch on the
HaloCE
Website to go with that server update. Thanks Frans.
Legacy Interactive announces that ER has shipped, and the game based on th hit
television series is now available in stores through the U.S.: Hollywood,
Calif., May 31, 2005 – Legacy Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive
Entertainment are pleased to announce the ER video game based on the acclaimed
television series has shipped to retail outlets nationwide with an SRP of
$29.95. Available for PC/CD-ROM, ER is rated T for Teen and is licensed by
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, published by Legacy Interactive, and
distributed by Vivendi Universal Games.
ER captures the intensity and unpredictability of the award-winning television
series for gamers. With celebrities Noah Wyle, Mekhi Phifer and Sherry
Stringfield lending their voice and likeness to the game, fans will get a chance
to interact with their favorite characters from the show. The player will start
as an intern who must navigate the day-to-day drama in the emergency room, take
on hospital politics, make decisions on ethical dilemmas and establish personal
relationships - even romances.
Currently in its 11th season on NBC, “ER” remains one of the top-rated dramas on
television, attracting 20 million viewers per week. The show has received 112
Emmy nominations, more than any other drama series in history, and has won 21
Emmy Awards. “ER” has also been honored with a prestigious Peabody Award,
garnered 10 People's Choice Awards as well as a multitude of other accolades
since the show first debuted.
Though Call of Duty 2 is not yet complete,
this Infinity
Ward Jobs Listing (thanks Tiscali Games) indicates that a third installment in the
World War II shooter series is indeed likely, if not already in the works, as
they list an opening for a Senior Programmer "interested in creating cutting
edge games on both the PC and all of the new next-generation console platforms,"
with the following headline: "Senior Next-Gen Programmer (New IP and COD3)."
MCV Gamesmarkt.de has word in German on the closing of AquaNox developer
Massive Development (thanks Tiscali Games). Sorting through a rough
Babel Fish
translation indicates JoWooD made the decision to close this subsidiary as part
of an effort to cut costs and concentrate on developing projects with greater
international appeal. JoWooD is still planning on releasing and marketing the
Massive's current projects.
This Groove Games Press
Release announces Army Ranger: Mogadishu, a first-person shooter based on
the U.S. actions in Somalia in 1993 that lead to the battle depicted in the book
and movie Black Hawk Down. The project is in development at Jarhead Games
with a release date of June 14, 2005. The
Army Ranger: Mogadishu Website and
product page are both
online, and here's a bit on the game: You are the commanding officer of a
squad of Army Rangers, the highly trained special operations force of the United
States military. Deployed into Somalia for operation Task Force Ranger, you take
part in the events leading up to the historic firefight of October 3, 1993. Many
military experts refer to these events as "the most intense and prolonged
firefight involving American forces since the Vietnam War".
Command your Army Rangers during direct action operations including the
protection of shipments, defending HQ from mortar attacks, arresting key
officials, rescuing hostages, and destroying key enemy facilities.
The T72: Balkans On
Fire Website has news that the tank game is gold, and is
expected to ship in late June/early July, at which time a playable demo is also
to be released. The site also now offers
a bunch of new
gameplay movies, a cinematic trailer, and word on plans for an
add-on: Battlefront.com and IDDK/Crazy House also disclosed today, that
the work on a multiplayer add-on is already underway. The add-on is planned to
include full online multiplayer support (the current release allows for single
player and LAN only) for up to eight players as well as 20 completely new maps.
At least one new playable tank is planned as well! The add-on is expected to be
ready for release at the end of the year.
Following up on the unveiling of several new games ( story), 1C
Company has launched the corresponding websites for the projects, the
publisher's product pages are now online for the racing/economic sim
Adrenalin, the World War II RTS
sequel Outfront II, the World
War II sharpshooting game Sniper,
and the helicopter combat game
Whirlwind of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, publisher Playlogic has likewise opened several new product pages,
launching a home for the sci-fi shooter
Gene Troopers, the
action/adventure sequel Knight of
the Temple 2, the action/shooter
PRISM, the real-time strategy
game Sparta: Ancient Wars,
and the racing game sequel World
Racing 2. Thanks Frans.
GameSpy's Annual E3
Awards 2005 (thanks Tiscali Games) reveal Voodoo Nights, a heretofore unannounced project in the
works at Czech developer Mindware Studios (Cold War). There's not much in the
way of details, but the description of the guerilla showing of the game sounds
intriguing: "Imagine Max Payne but with Voodoo powers. Imagine a cop buddy movie
game, where you played both partners at once. Voodoo Nights was like Lethal
Weapon meets Jedi Academy."
The E3 movie from The Suffering: The Ties That Bind is now available, offering a
look at Surreal Software's upcoming horror game sequel. The 30 MB download is
available on 3D Gamers
and Worthplaying,
and there's also an E3 ShakyCam Ties That Bind movie on
Gamebiz.
Also, a new Nexuiz
in-game trailer shows off gameplay from this action shooter game that's to be
freely released this week under terms of the GPL. The clip is mirrored on
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
Finally, there's a Raiders of the Lost Casino movie from Akella's upcoming
action/adventure, the movie is available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, and
Worthplaying.
The
Supreme Ruler 2010 Website now offers new patches to update both the full
and demo versions of Supreme Ruler 2010 to the unusual version number 00-12.
There are no details on what's changed in the new version. Thanks Frans.
Thanks Mike Martinez.
- ATI Crossfire (SLI) previews on
AMDZone,
AnandTech, Beyond3D,
Elite Bastards,
FiringSquad,
Gaming Nexus,
HEXUS.net,
Hot
Hardware,
Neoseeker, PC
Perspective,
The
Tech Report,
TweakTown,
ViperLair, and
X-bit labs.
-
AMD Unveils Dual-Core Chips for Desktops.
- Nvidia goes
with ‘Nsist on Nvidia’ at Computex. I'll buy a vowel, Pat.
-
AnandTech Computex 2005 Day 1 - ATI R520 Sighting, NVIDIA's new Chipset.
-
An open letter to the incoming cyberczar.
- NVIDIA
G70 to consume 150W?
-
Computex 2005 Graphics Preview.
-
Microsoft: No IE7 for Windows 2000.
- Earthlink
offering Linux desktops for “only” $69.99.
- VDSL2 Compliant
Chips Emerge.
-
Battery makers juice up for portable computing boom.
- Online
service foils ransom plot.
-
Zarlink unveils wireless chip for medical implants.
-
New ITU standard boosts speed of DSL.
-
Bush Wants Right to ISP Customer Data.
-
Computers in hospitals—an electronic menace?
-
More Consumers Like The Online Life.
-
Bless Me, Blog, for I've Sinned (registration required).
-
OS makers slow to fix flaw, researcher says.
- US has most zombie computers.
- Yahoo Unlimited
'Hack'.
- Wimax Optimism
Wavers - Eweek 'unclear road map and lukewarm commitment'.
-
Spain to text message summer heatwave warnings.
-
'Kodak, Don't Take My Kodachrome' (registration required). Everything looks worse in black
and white.
-
Watch for Roadcasting Rage.
-
DVDs that put it on (and take it all off).
-
A straight-to-DVD solution for piracy.
-
Concept Maps Go to School.
-
Stanford rejects hacker applicants.
- Interview with AMD
Model Numbers, DDR2 and More.
Starbreeze Studios now offers
downloads of a new Chronicles of Riddick GDK installer version 1.02 as well as
updated Ogier documentation. Details on the release can be found in
this forum post.
Thanks Frans.
I really am the Colonel Klink of the canine crowd. After all that work on our
fence, both amateur and professional, it seems we are still(!) not succeeding in
keeping young Gunnar at bay. A minute gap remains where our fence meets our
neighbor's, and the little rat has been getting through it, a fitting
description, since it clearly requires a rat-like squeeze to fit through this
gap (a full size rat can fit through a hole the size of a quarter - I read that it in National Geographic as a kid). Anyway,
we once again turn out luckier than we have a right to expect with all these
escapes and no resultant tragedies, and hopefully our next attempt at this
repair will hopefully do the trick. You'd think we were trying to fence in the
Ponderosa, rather than a backyard here.
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