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Archived News:
San Andreas
rumbles onto PC, Xbox on GameSpot has word that the PC and Xbox editions of
the latest installment in the life-of-crime series has raced into stores, joining the PS2 edition of the game. Word
is: "Both the PC and Xbox versions of San Andreas feature the complete
PlayStation 2 game with a few extra bells and whistles. Besides sporting
improved graphics, both versions also support customizable radio stations, which
will let players rip CDs and create playlists, which include DJ chatter from the
game's on-air personalities. The two new versions will also have a new replay
feature."
The Close
Combat: First To Fight Website now offers downloads of a new patch to update
Destineer Studios' squad-based shooter to version 1.02. Word is: "This update
addresses several issues with the North American PC version of Close Combat:
First to Fight and adds a new dedicated server program. Click
here
for a complete list of the issues addressed by this update. Scroll down this
page for the European version of the PC update."
A pair of new Rise & Fall Civilizations at War movies are now available,
promoting the upcoming real-time strategy game in the works at Stainless Steel
Studios. There is a gameplay clip and another movie that offers an interview
with designer Rick Goodman along with further gameplay footage. One or both
clips can be found on 3D
Gamers,
FileFront, FileShack
(registration required), Fragland.net,
Gamer's Hell, and
Worthplaying.
Also, the first movie from Sudden Strike III: Arms For Victory is now available,
showing off the upcoming installment in Fireglow's World War II series. The clip
is available in two resolutions on the
Sudden Strike
Website.
The Rome: Total War -
Barbarian Invasion Website is online (thanks Frans), as Creative Assembly's
home to their upcoming RTS expansion. The site offers the first screenshots from
the project, though most of them are low resolution.
Magic Hat Software announces the launch of beta testing for Irth Online, their
upcoming MMORPG: DEDHAM, MA - JUNE 6, 2005 - Magic Hat Software (www.magichatsoftware.com)
announced today that the Open Beta for its MMORPG Irth Online (www.irthonline.com)
begins today and runs through July 5, 2005. Gamers are encouraged to apply for
the Open Beta on the Irth Online website.
"We scheduled our Open Beta relatively late in the development cycle because we
wanted our gamers to have the deepest and most complete experience we could
provide," says Alan Chipura, Lead Game Designer. "We've paid close attention to
the input provided by earlier testers and our changes and improvements are up to
date, so we expect the Open Beta test to go smoothly."
Head to Head from 1UP
(thanks Shacknews)
offers Q&As with gaming advocate Henry Jenkins and anti-violence crusader Jack
Thompson in an attempt at covering both sides of the debate over violence in
gaming. Here's a bit where Jack explains that suing everyone is a way of
protecting gamers from having their games banned altogether: We are going
to sue videogame manufacturers, platform manufacturers, and retailers like
Wal-Mart, Circuit City, and Amazon who continue to sell adult-rated materials to
children. We're going to sue the industry for its recklessness, for being so
shortsighted. Eventually there is going to be a Columbine to the factor of 10, a
slaughter in a school by a crazed gamer. And when that happens, when America
figures out these kids were filled up with virtual violence, Congress may ban
the games altogether. You wise guys who think you're so clever about saying what
kids ought to play and then putting [Mature] games in the hands of those kids,
you will wish you listened to me.
There is a listing for an unannounced Far Cry expansion on
Play.com (thanks YiYas), though Frans
points out a
Gameplay listing for this appeared
some time ago.
The listings bear two different release dates (August and October, respectively)
for the untitled project, nor are there any details (besides "Requires Far Cry
to run"), thought Gameplay's page does list Far Cry publisher Ubisoft as the
publisher of this project. Update: It turns out this expansion was
actually first revealed in March ( story) as part of Ubisoft's
2005-2006 product catalog (thanks Tiscali Games).
Nevrax officially announces The Ryzom Ring, an upcoming expansion for their
MMORPG The Saga of Ryzom that was first unveiled via some E3 previews. Here's
word: PARIS, FRANCE – June 6, 2005 – Nevrax, developer of The Saga of
Ryzom, the ground breaking massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG), announced a new expansion to The Saga of Ryzom entitled The Ryzom
Ring, first presented at the recent E3 Expo in Los Angeles, California.
The Ryzom Ring is a set of tools for editing and sharing player-made “maps” that
are customizable with terrain, monsters and NPCs all run by individual players.
Maps can be integrated directly into The Saga of Ryzom world of Atys, where
thousands of other players can experience one person’s handiwork, or kept as a
private sanctuary only accessible to a select few. Maps can be made exclusive to
player guilds or select friends while running their own invasions or events.
“Our hope for The Ryzom Ring is that it will bring back the power to the
players,” said David Cohen Corval, CEO of Nevrax and creator of The Saga of
Ryzom. “The Ryzom Ring will empower individuals to create their own adventures
and lands and to share them. The only true limitations will be their own
imaginations“.
Player maps will be hosted on Nevrax’s servers and developed with tools that
have a point-and-click interface. Nevrax plans the first phase of the tools to
be easy enough to use that even the most inexperienced MMG player can create
content with ease.
“One of our goals is not only to make the players be truly a part of the world
of Atys by giving them the tools to create their own areas, but also to make it
easy and fun to do so,” continued Cohen Corval. “We believe that the
player-empowering nature of The Ryzom Ring is ground-breaking and we hope it
will change the way MMGs are played forever.”
The Ryzom Ring is currently scheduled to ship in Winter 2005/2006.
Midway announces that Area 51 has shipped in the U.S., and the conspiracy-laden firs-person
shooter, like the truth, is out there: Chicago – June 6, 2005 – Midway
Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading developer and publisher of interactive
entertainment software, announced today that AREA 51® the story-driven,
first-person action thriller has shipped to retail outlets nationwide for PC.
AREA 51 delivers a powerful multiplayer experience that allows up to 16 gamers
to battle it out online via Capture the Flag, Infection and various other
multiplayer modes. Players can now get a taste of the intense storyline that’s
packed with scripted events and a vast arsenal that features a multitude of both
human and alien weapons, by downloading the playable demo (
http://www.area51-game.com/demo/Area51_Demo.exe ) that is now available.
AREA 51 is the only first-person action thriller to be set within the confines
of the government’s most secret research facility. The U.S. Army has received a
distress signal from AREA 51 where a viral outbreak has just shut down the
research facility and the automated quarantine procedures have locked all
scientific and military personnel inside. A small Special Forces unit led by
Specialist Ethan Cole of the HAZMAT (hazardous materials) Division is sent to
investigate. As Cole, players will delve into five massive levels within the
confines of AREA 51, discovering a deadly mutagenic side effect of the virus
that controls the minds of those infected, as well as an ancient alien colony
buried beneath the facility. With a multitude of human and alien weapons,
players must explore chilling conspiracies such as the extraterrestrial crash at
Roswell and the faked lunar landing, in order to solve the enigma of Area 51
before the viral mutagen is released and ir! revocably mutates all life on
Earth.
The AREA 51 playable demo can be downloaded at:
http://www.area51-game.com/demo/Area51_Demo.exe
Addition information, artwork, screenshots and other assets can be found at:
www.area51-game.com
The Paraworld
Website now reflects a delay for the release of this upcoming real-time
strategy game in the works at SEK. Where the site formerly listed 4th Quarter
2005 as the game's release date, it now lists 1th Quarter 2006 (1th?). Thanks
Frans.
A new ShakyCam movie is now available from the Battlefield 2 launch party in
Poland, showing off a bunch of gameplay footage. The 610 MB video can be found
on Filerush
(torrent), while the
Battlefield Nation Forums have an English transcript of the clip's
narration. Meanwhile, the Call of Juarez E3 movie is now online, showing off
Techland's first-person shooter set in the American frontier. The 41 MB clip is
available on 3D Gamers,
FileFront,
Fragland.net, Gamer's
Hell, and
Worthplaying. Likewise, the SpecForce E3 movie is now also available,
offering over 90 seconds of gameplay and cinematics from Techland's upcoming
shooter. The movie is a 73 MB download, available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
Finally, the
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Website now features new wallpapers and
screenshots of Bishop and Archangel along with a Bishop video.
- Civilization IV
Fragland.net's
Civilization IV Q&A is an in-house Q&A distributed by 2K Games
discussing Firaxis' upcoming strategy sequel: "Culture has been revamped
from Civ III. We thought it was a great idea that didn't get the treatment
it deserved. In addition, we have also eliminated static eras and revamped
the tech tree to make people feel more in control of what they want to
research and when. Civilization III had a very advanced AI but many people
felt that it 'cheated' a bit too much. For many reasons, the AI has to have
some bonuses to keep it competitive, especially at higher levels, but Soren
Johnson (lead designer/programmer on Civ IV) has taken the criticism to
heart and will be spending most of our remaining development time making
sure this game has the best Civ AI ever."
- LucasArts
The
LucasArts Q&A on Boomtown talks with Jim Ward, president of LucasArts,
one-time LucasFilm marketing president about the future of their gaming
division: "Right now there is no story in games. Gaming right now is about
button management, basically. Take for instance Grand Theft Auto, a great
game, I love it and play it, a fantastic game. But the story of that is just
simply a broad context, you drive around some places and shoot people. But
there is no real compelling story telling, very rarely you see this in good
games. In Half-Life, there was an attempt. But we need to infuse story into
those games and make them compelling because every kind of entertainment, if
it's a movie, a play, whatever it is, is all based on story and characters."
- Falcon 4: Allied Force
SimHQ's
Falcon 4: Allied Force Q&A chats up the folks from Lead Pursuit about
their upcoming effort at giving Falcon 4 more time in the sun: "Our company
mantra is stability, stability, and stability. We've made tremendous strides
here. Our tests on the data have greatly improved gameplay. Julian Onions
has taken a virtual chainsaw to the Virtual Universe engine to improve the
management of all entities (aircraft, objectives, weapons, etc.) in the
Falcon world. The Artificial Intelligence Quotient has jumped 50 points
thanks to the efforts of Sylvain Gagnon, Manfred Nelles, and Mike Laskey.
There are new hi-res textures, dynamic lighting, and volumetric clouds.
Multiplayer has an engine to impress online squads-we recently had ten
players battling it out in a busy Internet campaign. The User Interface is
so much easier to navigate, and a lot more intuitive."
- 2 Days to Vegas
The
2 Days to Vegas Q&A on Tactland.Ocio Digital is a conversation with Tim
Dvoskin of Steel Monkey about 2 Days to Vegas, their upcoming third-person
action/adventure game. Details in the Q&A are scant, and the answers are
brief, so given the theme I am arbitrarily choosing to quote the late Hunter
S. Thomson: "My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster
reincarnation of Horatio Alger: A man on the move... and just sick enough to
be totally confident."
- Curt Schilling
There's
a Curt Schilling Q&A on Everquest 2 WarCry where they talk with the
Boston Red Sox pitcher about participation in EverQuest II.
Guild Wars
Guru's IQ Test offers a Celestial Sigil to the winner.
Today is this 61st anniversary of the launch of the D-Day invasion in World War
II.
Well, the spring-like period in our area seems to have ended, having lasted a
bit longer than usual in what is basically a two-season region. It was scorching around these parts yesterday, and while most of our house is quite
livable in warm conditions, thanks to high ceilings (or low floors) and ceiling
fans, my office is in our finished attic, which tends to run even hotter than
outside. So while it was 90 outside and 75 inside, it was probably closer to 105
up here. In spite of my best intentions, somehow over the past couple of years I
have failed to replace the air conditioner up here, but now it seems
more-or-less dead, rather than just under-powered, so I can't imagine making it
through this summer without addressing this cooling conundrum once and for all.
R.I.P.:
'Hogan's Heroes' Actor Leon Askin Dies.
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