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Archived News:
Battlefield Nation has word
from a video interview with producer Scott Evans saying the Battlefield 2 demo,
planned for release this Friday ( story) will have an as-yet
undefined period of exclusivity on GameSpot's GameCenter service: "Yeah, you
guys are gonna have an exclusive period on the demo where you have to go to
GameCenter to get it." These exclusives are sometimes actually in essence just
premieres.
A new City of Villains movie shows off the upcoming bad-guy take on the City of
Heroes theme, offering gameplay footage along with an interview with Cryptic
designer Jack Emmert. The clip can be found on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, and
Worthplaying. Also, the
Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas for PC Website has a pair of brief new clips from the just-released
PC edition of the game.
- Earth 2160
The
Earth 2160 Q&A on TotalVideoGames.com Feature Earth 2160 Q&A talks with
producer Phil Hassinger about the next installment in the futuristic RTS
series: "As Earth was destroyed in the year 2150, the three human factions
found a new home on Mars. But in 2160 they will learn that they are not
alone. Their presence on Mars and the start of terra forming awakened
something strange and dangerous. But each bad has always something good.
With the help of alien technology humans will be able to reach places
outside the solar system. The final target is a paradise planet, but it will
be a long journey getting there."
- Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
RPG
Vault's Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars Q&A, Part 1 hears from CDV's Mario
Kroll about GSC Game World's upcoming RTS sequel: "Cossacks has certainly
been a popular franchise, as the sales numbers attest. I think the appeal to
gamers stems from it being very approachable for new players, but also
offering a ton of strategic options for the advanced gamer. In addition, it
takes place in a time period that a lot of RTS titles ignore, giving players
a fresh era and unfamiliar units and technologies to explore."
Atari Announces
Departure of Chief Executive Officer (thanks Frans) is the announcement that
James Caparro has resigned as Atari CEO to become President and CEO of
Entertainment Distribution Corp. Word is: "The board of directors appointed
current Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Bruno Bonnell, to act as CEO on an
interim basis. The board has instituted an immediate search for a permanent
President and CEO."
Atari chief Jim Caparro leaves post after seven months (thanks Mike Martinez) has
market reaction to the news.
Steam News
has word on a new update to the original Half-Life engine that's now available
through the Steam service. The new update shuts off several exploits, and as a
result of the new version, Linux Half-Life servers now must have GLIBC version
2.3.2 or later installed, and a change to the HL1 Engine Master Server Query
Protocol may cause problems for third-party server browsers until they have been
updated.
The Blizzard
Entertainment Press Release announces the launch of the new PvP
Battlegrounds for World of Warcraft, their MMORPG. Word is: "World of Warcraft’s
Battlegrounds are PvP-enabled zones where players compete against each other to
achieve victory, Honor points, and valuable in-game rewards. Each Battleground
has different goals and gameplay styles, providing an addictively engaging
experience for participants. The two initial Battlegrounds now available to the
public are Alterac Valley, a high-end zone designed for large groups of
experienced players, and Warsong Gulch, a more casual zone designed for all
players level 21 and up." The patch notes can be found
in this forum
thread, and the patch is mirrored on
3D Gamers,
ActionTrip,
FileFront,
FilePlanet (registration required), Gamer's
Hell, and
Worthplaying.
This Digital Illusions' Press Release (thanks Frans) announces that DICE is
closing their New York offices. DICE New York was the arm of the Swedish
developer formed upon the acquisition of Trauma Studios, developers of the
Desert Combat modification for Battlefield 1942. According to the announcement,
the dozen employees of DICE New York are being offered the opportunity to
relocate to Sweden, and that DICE Canada will continue to operate, focusing on
expansion packs. The wording of the announcement makes it sound like this move enables
DICE to renege on a scheduled
payment: Digital Illusions will not pay the supplement payment of 200,000
USD as agreed upon at the time of the acquisition of Trauma Studios. The total
payment is thereby 300,000 USD. Following the adjustment for the default of
payment of the additional supplement payment, the SEK 1.3m remainder of the
value of goodwill is written down during the second quarter of 2005. Other costs
of liquidation are diminutive.
Update:
Gamecloud has
a reaction from Frank DeLise of Trauma/DICE NY saying those not relocating to
Sweden are being provided with severance packages, and he personally was taking
a vacation before returning to game development.
Fragland.net's Vietcong 2
dev diary 1 kicks off a series by designer Jarek Kolar about Pterodon's
upcoming military shooter sequel, focusing on the weaponry in the game's arsenal.
Also,
MMORPG.COM's Sigonyth: Desert Eternity Developer Journal #1 kicks off a
series on the development of this upcoming MMORPG from Polish & Italian
developer New Desert.
This Atari
Downloads Pop-up from
the
Atari UK Website offers a new patch for the European edition of Boiling
Point: Road to Hell, Deep Shadows' first-person shooter. The download is
mirrored on 3D Gamers,
FileFront,
and Worthplaying.
The
Running With Scissors Newsletter announces the release of a new patch for
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend, updating their outrageous shooter expansion to
version 1411. Apparently the expansion, to quote my old Brit pal Sharky, 'took
the piss out' of the game, hence the patch. Here's word: "Once again, the
geniuses at RWS have managed to spill acid on their own crotches and they've
passed the incompetance [sic] on to you, the consumer! That's right, due to
utter stupidity on our part, the European and American release of Apocalypse
Weekend has a minor blockage in its urethra. Players will find that they are
unable to urinate in the game! D'oh!"
- Huxley
The
Huxley Q&A on
Huxley Union reproduces an interview from a print edition of Game
Informer Magazine talking with Webzen about their upcoming MMO
first-person shooter: "In previous MMO games the world is basically divided
into towns and battlefields. In Huxley, the concept of a town is replaced by
a city that serves as a background stage for game narratives. While the
players can play the game any way they want, the narratives will naturally
guide them into the epic storyline of Huxley’s world with the four steps in
composition. This game mechanic will make players take more active roles in
the game and immerse into the world of Huxley. There are no meaningless
quests or repetitive battles. The narratives will bind together and give
purpose to every MMO act, such as battle, community and trade."
- Star Trek Online
There's
a new Q&A on Star Trek
Online Universe discussing their namesake MMORPG with Daron Stinnett,
Perpetual Entertainment's new executive producer: "My experience at
LucasArts taught me much about making great licensed games. The key is to
focus the game so that it pays-off on the popular conception of what the
license is all about. Too often, licensed titles attempt to pay-off on
fringe elements of the franchise and in doing so limit their appeal to niche
markets. Star Trek is a great license with a broad, world-wide appeal. An
MMO is the perfect, and perhaps the greatest opportunity to fulfill the
ideals of Star Trek in a meaningful and engaging way."
- ParaWorld
The
ParaWorld
Q&A on Game7 offers a German conversation about SEK's upcoming RTS game.
A Babel Fish
translation can help if you don't speak German.
A new patch for the Taxi 3
eXtreme Rush Demo is now available, updating the sample of the game that puts you in the
driving-challenged role of a cab driver to version 1.1. The patch is accompanied
by an updated full version of the demo. These downloads can be found on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gameguru Mania,
Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying.
First, Rockstar Games Ships
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for Xbox-R- and PC is the official press
release on the availability of the new GTA game on PC and Xbox first mentioned
last night. On a note related to the release, the
GTAForums
(thanks Tiscali Games) indicate that because the game does not offer an option to disable
pixel shader effects, it will not run on video cards without pixel shader
support, GeForce 4 MX cards are specifically discussed in this thread.
The first version of the Obsidian Edge
modification for Far Cry is now available. Word is: "The Mod team has taken
everything players loved about the games Operation Flash Point, Ghost Recon,
Ravenshield and Call of Duty, and using the Cry engine developed a mod that
sucks you in and feels extremely realistic. They have done this by adding things
not seen in a first person shooter before, such as damage spin when taking fire
and true night vision including bloom when looking at a light (think CNN)..."
- A new version of the
Ca3D-Engine is now available. Word is: "It can be used to create a
variety of 3D applications, including games, simulations, and training and
architectural software. The development kit is freely available, and the
DeathMatch MOD code is open-source."
-
Game AI Conference Explored. Thanks Mike Martinez.
I'm trying to keep the impending release of the Battlefield 2 demo out of the
forefront of my mind to try and avoid getting impatient, but the closer it gets,
the harder it becomes to quell a sense of anticipation. I really hope they
achieve the better vehicle balance that's been discussed... My own preference
would is to be able to play without even hooking up a joystick. I guess we'll
see about that soon enough.
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