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Archived News:
This press release from Prairie
Games announces the release of Minions of Mirth, a single-player and online
RPG for Windows and Mac OSX. The
Prairie Games Website
offers a couple of ways to sample the project, as it hosts a 10 minute gameplay
movie an a playable demo for each platform. Word is: "Minions of Mirth
gives the player an incredible amount of freedom in their role-playing
experience! It can be played in single player, multiplayer, and even allows
friends to run their own custom persistent worlds! We're very pleased to be
releasing this amazing product. We've worked very hard with our community to
make sure Minions of Mirth totally rocks!", says Josh Ritter co-owner and
programmer of the title.
Aspyr announces plans
for the Mac edition of Quake 4: "Aspyr Media, Inc. announced today that it is
bringing QUAKE 4, developed by Raven Software and produced by id Software, to
Macintosh. The game, licensed from Activision, is scheduled for release in early
2006."
New patches are now available for Command & Conquer: Generals, updating the
English and European editions of the RTS game to version 1.8 in preparation for
the release of Command & Conquer: The First Decade. The patches are available
through the game's auto-update function, and can also be found on
this FTP server. Thanks Frans.
Infogrames Signs Minimoys License on TotalVideoGames unveils plans for games
based on Luc Besson's (Fifth Element) upcoming animated adventure, due around the time of the
movie's release next year. Here's word on the children's game: Infogrames
has today announced that it has been granted the license to develop videogame
adaptations of Luc Besson's feature length animation, Arthur and the Mininoys.
Best known for movies such as Fifth Element and Leon, Besson's animated
adventure follows the story of a boy called Arthur and his two friends Selenia
and Bétamèche as they try to stop the destruction of the Minimoys (which are
only a couple of millimetres in height) and their homeworld.
- Rainbow Six: Lockdown
A new
Rainbow Six: Lockdown trailer is now available, showing
off a little more than a minute of gameplay from the PC edition of the
upcoming installment in the tactical shooter series. Thanks Frans.
- Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
Two new Empire Earth
II: The Art of Supremacy movies are online, offering a look at two of the
eras in Mad Doc's upcoming RTS expansion. The Egypt and Zulu era movies can
be found on 3D
Gamers and
Worthplaying.
- Raiders of the Lost Casino
Tiscali
Games features a new clip from Raiders of the Lost Casino, Centauri's
and Cinemax's offbeat action adventure game that was due in Q3 of this year
(story).
- Star Wars Galaxies
SOE's
John Smedley on Galaxies' outer limits on GameSpot continues this chat
with the SOE CEO about Galaxies and the MMORPG scene: "We think that in the
future, and in the near future, people are going to want to be able to play
these kind of games from any device, anywhere in the world. The gameplay
style will be different, maybe the specifics of the game will be different,
but if they can have that persistent character and they can keep their
character in the same basic form across different platforms."
- Hyboreal
Shacknews'
Hyboreal Games Q&A talks with Eric Sexton from this developer formed of
Blizzard expatriates about their new company: "Our current project is a 3D,
Science-Fiction, Action RPG. It's Halo meets Diablo with all the fast
visceral game play of third person shooter merged with the character
advancement and item collection of a role playing game. You can explore the
planets of the galaxy, customize your space ship and choose the path of your
character while deciding the fate of the galaxy."
- Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday
The
Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday Q&A on GameSpot discusses the upcoming WW2
strategy update with Johan Andersson: "Our games are known for being deep in
content and, depending on what type of experience you are after, you will
have to put more or less effort into learning the game and sifting through
the different layers of gameplay. However, with more and more casual gamers
taking an interest in our games, we have made it a focus to put things in
place that will make the learning curves less steep. Aside from what we did
for Hearts of Iron II, we have also incorporated color coding of messages,
we've automated certain systems (like budget sliders and trade), and we've
added graphical statistics, like pie charts, to simplify analysis."
- Colossal Studios
The
Colossal Studios Q&A on MMORPG.COM is a chat with James Moffet of
Colossal Studios, which is largely comprised of former members of Mutable
Realms: "To date we have developed sci-fi arcade games, online sports games,
and a medieval fantasy MMORPG. We prefer the fantasy and sci-fi genre
because of the freedom to create without bounds. I could go the rest of my
life without making another sports game and be perfectly happy. In fact, I’d
rather put hot needles in my eyes than build another sports title (*thought
this article needed some drama*).Until we finalize a concept for a ground
breaking project, we will continue to do what we like to do best – create
outlandish concepts for others and build them in 3D."
- Games In 2005-2006
Gamecloud's extensive Games In
2005-2006 Q&A series continues its combination of retrospectives and looks
forward by chatting with
Martijn
Holtkamp of Larian Studios and with
CCP producer
Nathan Richardsson.
- The Eve Online Website has word
that they are in the process of installing the Red Moon Rising expansion for
CCP's sci-fi MMORPG. Thanks Kristian...
- A new Guild Wars update is live, the
Game Update Notes
outline the latest changes to ArenaNet's MMORPG. Thanks Frans...
- The Lord of the
Rings Online Website has new details on which races can play as
champions in Turbine's upcoming MMORPG...
I had an encounter with a spider today. As I've mentioned in the past, I have a
long-term affection for arachnids, and they usually are allowed a lot of leeway
to make their homes around here. This guy, however, was a Peter
Parker-biting-sized monster, and was a little too daunting to consider allowing
his continued cohabitation. I lost track of him for a bit while seeking out a
jar, but luckily I located him again and evicted him. Hopefully he can hibernate
or something out there, or maybe he can stay warm eating birds or small deer
(did I mention he was big?)
Midway closes San Diego,
Aussie studios on GameSpot reports that Midway has pulled a bit of a Grinch
move, closing their San Diego, California and Adelaide, Australia studios just a
couple of weeks before Christmas. The Australian closure is surprising, as
Midway just acquired Ratbag Studios to be their Aussie studio in August
( story), but the report cites a recent string of losses as a
likely motivation behind the move, so this may be a case of Ratbags being thrown
off a sinking ship.
The
Galactic Dream Overview outlines a new space-based RTS game from independent
developer Evolution Vault. The site
includes information and screenshots for the game, and
their
download page offers a demo for the project that's a 34.5 MB download. Word
is: The game features great story, various galactic maps on which great
battles are carried. Combining elements of space combat strategy, role-playing
and real-time tactics, Galactic Dream will prove itself to be a decisive
game.
The SWAT® 4 The
Stetchkov Syndicate Product Section is online (thanks Frans). The site
offers an overview of the next installment in the tactical police shooter
series, along with a few low-resolution screenshots.
- Dreamfall: The Longest Journey on
IGN.
As noted on Planet
rome.ro (thanks Frans), yesterday was the 15th(!) anniversary of the release
of Commander Keen (and today is the 14th anniversary of the release of the
second Keen game). The Romero describes how it was all of one month after the
release of Commander Keen that their first royalty checks arrived, leading to
his leaving SoftDisk along with John Carmack, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack to
form id software. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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