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Archived News:
Micro Machines Return on TotalVideoGames.com offers a revelation from the
booklet included in the box for RF Online revealing plans for Micro Machines V4. Word on the return of the mini car racing series is it will be "bringing its own hilarious brand of mini
multiplayer madness to PC." TVG followed up with Codemasters, learning the game
is due on the PC, PS2, and PSP this summer, and that an official announcement is
due later this week.
ÜberSoldier demo debuting on GameSpot has news that a sample of the eerie
World War II shooter will debut on Wednesday at Noon Eastern Time. Word is: "The
416MB demo will feature one single-player mission spanning three diverse
environments. Players will be charged with freeing a resistance leader being
held by a horde of undead German fascists in an underground complex. To help
them reach their goal, they will get such weapons as the STG 44 Machine Gun,
MP40 Machine Pistol, Luger Pistol, and Panzerschreck bazooka."
The Age of Empires III Website
(thanks Frans) has details on plans for the upcoming version 1.05 patch for the
real-time strategy sequel. The update covers
out-of-sync
problems that can prevent two players from being able to see each other in
the game, and what is being done to address this.
- TimeShift
A new TimeShift movie is online, showing off the
time-reversal capabilities in Saber Interactive's upcoming 4D shooter.
Different sizes of the clip can be found on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
GameSpot, and
Worthplaying.
- Darkfall Online
The
Darkfall
Online Website now offers a new gameplay video from Aventurine's
upcoming MMORPG. Word is: "We're releasing the first Darkfall gameplay video
today. We pieced it together from in-game footage taken during internal
testing. We hope you enjoy it."
The
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Designer Diary #6 on GameSpot covers the
topic of "Building a Better Multiplayer Experience" in crafting Big Huge Games'
upcoming big huge RTS as multiplayer programmer Jeff Stuart discusses how
multiplayer play in Rise of Legends will improve upon Rise of Nations.
- Garriott Bros
There's
an interview
with the Garriott Brothers on GameDaily conducted at the recent D.I.C.E.
Summit talking about games and the MMO market: "Some of the good parts about
EA is that they have a lot of financial capabilities that as an independent
developer we didn't have. And so they were able to spend a lot more time and
money on projects, but speaking of time... they have to meet quarterly
objectives and stuff that a private company doesn't. So there's good and bad
with any situation, but being with Electronic Arts I think actually helped
us all develop a lot in terms of just capabilities and design style and
stuff like that. And they have a great marketing team, and I think it was a
great experience."
- The Matrix Online
MMORPG.COM's
The Matrix Online Q&A talks with Dan Myers, community relations manager
on the Matrix Online, the spoon-free MMORPG: "The current storyline hasn’t
coalesced into anything easily explainable, yet. Several new characters have
been introduced—Cryptos, the General, and another character we haven’t named
outright yet (although players have their assumptions)—and what their roles
are is still being defined. Cryptos seems to be preaching the Cypherite
line—that all redpills should return to their dreamlike bluepill existence.
The General, who many assume is a bad guy, is suddenly lending his commando
troops to Niobe. The plot is going to take some twists, turns, and the
occasional nosedive in the coming months."
- Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Tom
Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Q&A on GameSpot talks with
Ubisoft's Adrian Lacey about The Cross-Com in the shooter sequel: "The
cross-com system is a completely wireless, wearable computer system with a
heads-up, hands-free display that overlays information onto the soldier's
vision, enabling soldiers to perform in the field faster and more
effectively. This feature is based on actual military technology, which is
expected to be fielded in the next couple of decades. The cross-com is the
blue monocle that is shown on the players, and it shows up as a
picture-in-picture window on the player's heads-up-display."
- Mage Knight: Apocalypse
RPG
Vault's Mage Knight: Apocalypse Q&A - Part 2 continues discussing Namco
Bandai's upcoming action/RPG with Senior Producer David Georgeson: "Combat
is the action in the 'action RPG'. In other words, you're going to spend a
lot of time defeating enemies and overcoming obstacles in the game. In its
simplest form, you simply click on an opponent to attack them with the skill
you have selected. If you've selected a sword attack, then that's what
happens. If you have a Tidal Wave spell selected, then that's what occurs
when you click on the enemy. It's that straightforward."
- Ken Silverman
The
Apogee Legacy #8 on the 3D Realms Website talks with Ken Silverman, the
programmer who created the Build engine that powered Duke Nukem 3D,
revealing that he almost turned out to be Tim Sweeney, sort of: "I wrote a
letter to Scott Miller about marketing Ken's Labyrinth in October 1992, 3
months before the game was released. We didn't reach a deal at that time. In
March 1993, Epic released Ken's Labyrinth - which caught Scott's attention.
He and Mark Rein of Epic sent me competing offers until August, at which
time I chose Apogee."
The SWAT 4:
The Stetchkov Syndicate SDK (direct link) is now available, offering mod
authors the tools they need to create custom content for the just-released
expansion for the tactical police shooter. The SDK is a 2.24 MB download. Thanks
Frans.
Computer and Video Games (thanks Frans) has a story confirming recent
indications ( story) that an expansion for the PC edition of The
Movies is in the works, in spite of the cancellation of the console editions of
Lionhead's cinema sim. The report says the project has the working title of the
Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack, indicating the thrust of the add-on will be to
allow you to get in touch with your inner Bruckheimer, perhaps at the expense of
your inner Mamet. The story goes on to describe new sets, the ability to create
lengthier movies, and a bit on the S&E from the working title: Alongside
new effects like lasers, water effects, smoke and electrical charges, you'll
have the power to direct your jaw-dropping set-pieces - with examples like the
ability to fire cars off bridges, causing them to burst into flames given. Of
course, to achieve these magical movie moments, you'll need to hire top-class
stuntmen to do your bidding - maybe even snagging a stunt award in the
process.
Dark Horizons
(warning, Mariah Carey photo) has what sounds like confirmation of a Prince of
Persia: The Sands of Time movie project being developed for Disney Studios by
producer Jerry 'Boom Boom' Bruckheimer (thanks Ant). Word is screenwriter
Jeffrey Nachmanoff is penning a script for the movie, though of course this
subject matter will require considerably more realism than his previous
noteworthy project, The Day After Tomorrow.
A new
Steam Update (thanks Frans) on Half-Life 2: Episode One discusses the add-on's plot and describes Valve's frustration at Half-Life 2's six-year development
cycle as one reason for the move to episodic content. The update includes a
thumbnail with a broken link to
this screenshot and a broken link to the recent
Robin Walker Q&A on Computer and Video Games.
- SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate
The
SWAT 4: The
Stetchkov Syndicate Q&A on Eurogamer talks with Dean Tate about the new
Stetchkov Syndicate add-on for the tactical police shooter: "The dynamics
don't change too significantly. In our experience, small teams tend to
separate and clear parts of the level independently. The level needs to be
large enough so that the teams don't finish the level too quickly. We were
careful not to make any small missions for the expansion that had only one
or two enemies. And taking up from our LAN experience, the VO-IP will bring
that to people who haven't set up a voice-chat server themselves - which is
just about everyone."
- Hellgate: London
The
Hellgate: London Q&A on Hellgate-spain is the English translation of a
Spanish Q&A with Bill Roper about their upcoming action/RPG: "Creating a
full 3D engine that can not only handle the amount of randomization we do,
but look good doing it has been an ongoing task for our graphics guru, Chris
Lambert. This is something that takes constant attention and is never really
done as there are always new features he and the artists want added, new
demands placed upon the engine when new background supersets are created,
and of course, all the little tweaks that take place to get better and
better performance. We have a LOT of experience with random map generation,
so while things like “no escape zones” are always something we keep an eye
out for, it isn’t quite the same concern for us as it would be for other
developers. We’ve also created tools that do a lot of combined level
generation and flow-through testing that make our lives a little easier in
this regard."
- Lord of the Rings Online
The
Lord of the Rings Online Q&A on TenTonHammer.com talks with community
manager Meghan “Patience” Rodberg about supporting the MMORPG: "It’s funny
how much Tolkien lore I’ve picked up just through osmosis in the last year.
It does help me to have a basic working knowledge of the lore; however, I
sometimes feel that not being so heavily invested in it (personally) helps
me to interpret the community’s feedback a little more impartially. I don’t
have a pre-conceived notion of how things 'should' work. It’s interesting
how differently people interpret the lore. One has only to visit the LOTRO
forums to see how passionate people can get about even small details like
the proper color of squirrels in Middle-earth, even though Tolkien may have
never really addressed the color at all."
- Savage 2
Gamecloud's
Savage 2 Q&A talks with Marc DeForest of S2 Games about their upcoming
multiplayer RTS/FPS hybrid: "The closest thing to a single player campaign
will be a tutorial that walks players through the unique gameplay that
Savage 2 offers. We will demonstrate how games are normally played out, how
to play different action player roles (defense, siege, support, offense,
etc…) as well as how to play as an officer and a commander."
- Comics
Gamecloud's
Killer 7 Comic Book Q&A talks with Arvid Nelson about plans for a Killer
7-themed comic book.
Atari reaches
settlement with ex-Reflections boss announces that Reflections Interactive
founder Martin Edmondson has scored an over $4 million payoff for the unfair
dismissal lawsuit he filed against Atari. Word is: Financial documents
released last week by Atari, as reported by
Gamasutra, reveal that
Edmondson filed suit the following March, alleging "constructive unfair
dismissal as a result of Reflections alleged repudiatory breach of a contract of
employment that necessitated Mr. Edmondson’s resignation."
The documents state that Edmondson withdrew his claim last August after reaching
a settlement agreement with Atari. The publisher agreed to issue Edmondson with
1,557,668 shares, valued at USD 2.1 million, plus a cash payment of USD 2.2
million.
CDV
Software Entertainment now offers downloads of a new patch for the European
edition of American Conquest: Divided Nation, updating the New World RTS game to
version 1.86. Thanks Frans.
Well, the baseball pitching game we got our Smurf was a huge hit, and sure
enough, also gave me a nice sore arm, though thankfully it's not bothering me
today. The gift did present an unanticipated challenge: If you buy a game for a
youngster, it helps if it doesn't require more skill to lose than to win... the
spots to hit for strikes and outs on the game are much larger than the spots for
hits and such, so I needed some pinpoint control to give up enough homeruns to
lose.
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