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Archived News:
A
Battlefield 2 Update announces the release of the Linux dedicated server for
the Battlefield 2 demo. The 40 MB download is available on
EA's FTP server (direct link), and mirrored on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers, and
FileFront. There is also an update confirming that they are intentionally
removing servers from their server list that have turned off the game's time
limit: EA and DICE both fully support server-side modding in the sense
that we have intentionally exposed a good deal of Python functionality to the
end-user, primarily to encourage modders to tweak game types and scoring (on
UNRANKED servers) once the full game is available. That said, we have come
to discover that two items that were not a part of the demo feature-set were
hacked in the Battlefield 2 demo. We consider both of these changes in violation
of the Tools EULA that each server operator accepted in installing the server
software.
The demo's feature set included a 12-minute time limit on rounds and excluded
access to the weapon unlocks. Because some server operators have hacked the time
limit out of their servers or hacked access to the unlocks, we have been forced
to reinforce our intended feature set by delisting the offending servers. All
violations of the EULA as described above will result in a 1-week
ban/delisting.
Majorem
announces that they have once again ceased development of Ballerium, their
planned MMORTS game. The project went on a hiatus once before ( story)
before Interplay stepped up with support for the project ( story).
Unfortunately their saviors needed saving of their own ( story),
steering Ballerium back towards the rocks: Majorem (www.majorem.com)
regretably announces today that development of its MMO-RTS Ballerium has again
come to a full stop, as a result of an agreement signed with Interplay's
(IPLYE.OB) in December 2004 that could not be realized, apparently due to
Interplay's inability to raise the required funding to turn Majorem's technology
into a game.
The agreement, signed in december was to see Interplay provide Majorem with the
means to launch Ballerium this summer.
As a result of this new situation, Majorem now considers to accept new offers
for the licensing of its MMO-RTS technology (and an almost ready MMO-RTS game)
to interested third parties.
Inquiries can be sent to info@majorem.com
The Adrenalin E3 movie is now available from Gaijin Entertainment's upcoming
arcade racing game. The movie is a 161 MB download, available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, and
Worthplaying. Also, a new Brian Lara International
Cricket 2005 movie (registration required) offers a teaser to make a pitch for Swordfish Studios'
upcoming cricket game. The 12 MB high resolution clip can also be found on
3D Gamers and
FileFront.
There's a
Battlefield 2 IRC Dev Chat Log on gameSlave recapping a chat session
attended by James Salt discussing Battlefield 2, DICE's imminent shooter sequel.
The log has been edited into an orderly Q&A format.
- Alan Wake
The
Alan Wake Q&A
on AlanWAKE.Net discusses the upcoming first-person shooter with Sam
Lake of Remedy Entertainment: "Just as we did with the Max Payne games, we
are concentrating on building the best possible single player experience.
For a small company, it’s very logical and necessary to concentrate on doing
one thing really well, instead of dividing your resources. Also, the story
is an important part of Alan Wake, and that is something that doesn’t
translate well to a multiplayer game. We have all kinds of ideas related to
replayability, but we want to prototype them further before we’ll talk about
them."
- Alpha Prime
Gameguru
Mania's Alpha Prime Q&A talks with Jan (just Jan, like Cher) about Black
Element's upcoming first-person shooter: "Alpha Prime is a first person
Sci-Fi action game. It will have a strong story line because its written by
our (Czech) best Sci-Fi writer Ondrej Neff and it will be build on our
state-of-the-art technology - Enforce2 engine. Story itself will be placed
on the abandoned and closed mining facility on an asteroid in the forbidden
zone. Why this facility was closed, why this zone is forbidden, why player
receive a message from his old friend about this asteroid and why all
robotic staff at the base trying to stop him… you'll have to find for
yourself."
- Age of Empires III
The
Age of Empires III Q&A on GameSpot chats up Ensemble's
Dave Pottinger about the RTS sequel: "We've rebuilt
and extended the cinematic systems that we had in Age of Mythology. We liked
how big and epic the Age of Mythology campaign turned out. The in-game
cinematics were a huge part of that. We've gone even bigger on those things
this time around. We've got all the high-tech bells and whistles you'd
expect, and a few things you wouldn't. One of the great things about our
setting is that it lends itself very well to sweeping vistas and awesome
landscape shots as you explore the New World. Our cinematics and campaign
take full advantage of the sense of awe created by those things."
- Fantastic Four
Gamecloud's
Fantastic Four Game Q&A talks with 7 Studios' Jeff Gardiner about their
upcoming superhero movie tie-in: "One of the greatest things about Fantastic
Four is that it’s not just a movie license; it’s a comic book license with
over forty years of history and a wealth of source material to mine. We’ve
gotten a lot of inspiration from the classic comic storylines, enemies, and
character interaction. Having a major motion picture just gives us an
additional set of materials. It’s been wonderful to collaborate with both
Marvel and Fox to bring all these visions together in a playable experience.
We tried to use as much of this great material as possible, and the good
news is that there is plenty left to explore in the future!"
- Hero's Journey
The
Hero's Journey Q&A #1 on MMORPG.COM is a conversation with Erick Slick
of Simultronics about their upcoming MMORPG and
WarCry Network's Hero's Journey Dev Chat recaps another conversation
with the devs: "You group your clothing/armor into outfits. You can have
many outfits and change between them at will. You can manage these outfits,
changing them as you like. As you go, you'll find more items to add to your
outfits and you can also use stuff that is generally available. Your
hairstyle can also change. The thing that stays the same is your facial
features and body type. So it's just like real life... you can change
clothes, and dye your hair funny... but you still are you."
- Cossacks II
RPG
Vault's Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars Q&A, Part 2 continues this
discussion of GSC's RTS sequel: "Unlike in the original, diplomacy and
economics play a much more significant role. While combat is still the heart
of the game, those that consider themselves more statesman than warrior can
significantly tilt the odds in their favor. Players can build a sound
economy, intercept enemy supply carriers, weaken defenses through sabotage
prior to attack, build alliances, or simply pay another nation off so that
it will accept the player's alter ego as protectorate."
Steam News
has news of an automatic Steam/Source update: "Fixed a number of connection
problems to the backend of VAC2 (Valve's anti-cheat technology for game
servers). VAC2 currently only runs on servers in the beta group, but will be
active for all servers very soon."
The World of Warcraft Website
(thanks Frans) has word on the release of a bug fix version 1.5.1 for World of
Warcraft that's automatically applied when logging into Blizzard's MMORPG. Word
is: "Fixed an assertion that was preventing Mac clients from playing in the
battlegrounds and causing a memory leak on PCs when they did. - Improved error
reporting to give more useful information to development."
The Neverwinter Nights
Patches and Updates Page now features a new version 1.66 patches for the
various language versions and add-ons for Neverwinter Nights (thanks Frans).
This page
outlines details on what's changed and added in the new version.
The Settlers: Heritage of
Kings Website has a new version 1.04 patch for Blue Byte's management sim.
The 12 MB download adds ladder support, stability improvements, bug fixes, and
more.
A new patch for the German edition of Cuban Missile Crisis is now available,
updating the cold war strategy game also known as The Day After to version 1.2.
The patch is available on
3D Gamers,
4players.de, and
FileFront.
Though not yet listed on the appropriate
Sierra
Entertainment Downloads Page, this
FTP directory offers
new version 1.1 patches for the European, German, and French editions of The
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - Developer's Cut, bringing those
versions of the shooter in line with the recent "pre-released" English patch
( story). Thanks Frans.
Electronic Arts up on merger rumor (thanks Mike Martinez) reports that resurgent
rumors of an Electronic Arts acquisition of Ubisoft are strong enough to provoke
an increase in EA's stock price, in spite of Ubi's resistance to further
overtures ( story) from EA, already owner of 20% of Ubisoft
( story). Here's word: There was also a rumor making the
rounds of trading floors that Electronic Arts, which has a 20 percent stake in
Ubisoft, might buy the rest of the company. Ubisoft Chief Executive Yves
Guillemot said in The Wall Street Journal last month that the company was open
to being acquired by a traditional media company. However, he again said he was
opposed to Electronic Arts getting a stake in the Ubisoft and that Ubisoft
wouldn't be a good combination with Electronic Arts.
A new Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten
Hammers Product Page (thanks Frans) is online, dedicated to Pandemic's
upcoming modern warfare strategy game. There is information and screenshots,
though these shots have appeared elsewhere already.
- Civilization IV
The
Civilization IV Q&A on Strategy Informer hears from 2K Games about the
upcoming next installment in the Civilization series of strategy games: "The
first thing you might notice is that there are no longer separate attack and
defense values for units. Instead, there is a single Strength indicator to
make combat calculations less ambiguous. There is also a countering system
built into the units where certain types are naturally stronger against
other types. There is also the idea of unit customization through
experience-based upgrades. All of these things help to make combat more
interesting and strategic than ever before."
- Irth Online
The
Irth
Online Q&A on Boomtown talks with Alan Chipura, lead designer on Magic
Hat Software's upcoming MMORPG: "We have a different approach to player
housing. It stinks not to have a house. It also stinks not be able to afford
a house. Therefore, every account gets one free house. This is not a virtual
room. It is a real virtual house with real virtual property. All homes exist
only in player-run villages. Players can put additions onto their homes at a
cost. Cost will be dictated by economic conditions. Players can enlarge
their homes for extra space or to simply flaunt their prosperity, or they
can add on with more practical intentions such as retail shops, taverns, or
whatever enterprise that suits a player’s livelihood."
- Game Patents
Gamasutra's
Question of the Week Responses: Video Game Patents offers responses from
a number of developers (some anonymous) on the controversial topic of
technology patents, and their applicability (or appropriateness) in the
world of video games. Thanks Mike Martinez.
World of
Warcraft Achieves New Milestone with Two Million Paying Subscribers is the
press release announcing a new subscription threshold achieved by Blizzard's
MMORPG, with further breakthroughs expected when the game launches in China:
World of Warcraft recently surpassed the two million mark for paying
subscribers. Already the largest MMO in both North America and Europe, Blizzard
expects to see even greater growth with the recent commercial launch in China on
June 7, 2005. Anticipation for World of Warcraft was already at an all-time high
in China, with peak concurrency during the open beta test topping 500,000
players, nearly equal to World of Warcraft's peak concurrency in all three
current markets combined. Blizzard expects to see the new mark of two million
subscribers shattered quickly with the arrival of players from China in the
coming weeks.
TweakGuides' Battlefield 2 Tweak
Guide has tips on getting optimal performance out of the demo for DICE's
modern military shooter. Also,
RPG
Vault's World of Warcraft Tips #28 is online, discussing the undead race and
the Ragefire Chasm instanced dungeon. Finally, a new
Supreme Ruler 2010 FAQ
(thanks Frans) offers answers to questions about BattleGoat Studios' strategy
sequel.
So with this Michael Jackson trial concluded, why are all the TV new reports
still using those smeary pastel courtroom artist's sketches of him rather than
actual photos?
Oh, those are actual photos? Nevermind.
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