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Archived News:
An update on GameSpot
has some details about changes to the format of E3, confirming with ESA
president Douglas Lowenstein that the event will indeed move to July, also
learning that the name of the expo will be changing to the "E3 Media Festival."
A different GameSpot article
goes further into some of the causes and effects of this story, describing the
pressure from companies like Sony, Microsoft, and EA to cut the costs associated
with the show, as well as the impact of a smaller show on the city of Los
Angeles from disappointed cab drivers to a hard-to-interpret remark by an
attorney saying he thought the city wouldn't "take this lying down." Examining
this news is Moving
Beyond E3 on IGN (thanks Frans), an editorial covering the plusses and
minuses of the changes, while
Ten Reasons for E3's Collapse on Next Generation offers their opinions in
numerical order.
Confirmed No Unreal
Tournament 2007 till 2007 on GameSpot announces first half of next year is
the new release window for the next installment in Epic's shooter series. The
announcement covers the PC edition of the game, while there is no set date for
the PS3 edition at this time. They probe for hints that this might mean an Xbox
360 edition was in the offing, but were met with a vaguely encouraging sort of
no comment.
A new D.I.R.T. Website is live as a
Flash home to Nu Generation Games' upcoming third-person shooter. The site
offers new screenshots and a new trailer
on this pop-up
page while also setting a North American release date, saying D.I.R.T. will
sweep into stores in mid-September.
As announced
here, a new Super-Bikes
Riding Challenge Website is live, celebrating the high-speed action from the
upcoming motorcycle racing game with some low-speed Flash. Word is the site
"features news, game information, the bikes, the tracks, and breath-taking
trailers of the game in action."
- Sam & Max
Telltale
Tells All Part 1 and
Part 2
on Gamasutra (thanks
Shacknews) offers
two parts of a conversation with Telltale Games' Dave Grossman about their
series of episodic Sam & max games: "We're definitely building it out with
the believe that Sam & Max can appeal to anybody, not just fans of the
license. Bone and Sam & Max, we went after both of those because we saw a
cult following around those licenses that really pointed at the quality of
the license, the quality of the content, that there is something there that
people latch on to and enjoy, that's credible, and will always be there. And
it makes it more of a long-term success plan, something that has legs,
because we're still returning to the core thing that made it great in the
first place; in the case of Sam & Max the interesting characters, in the
case of Bone the great, epic story. Even with CSI, obviously their formula
was money in the bank."
- War Front
Computer
Games Online's War Front: Turning Point Q&A talks with Lajos Boza about
the upcoming alternate-history World War II RTS game: "There are serious and
very visible differences between the nations. The allied forces have
superior air power; the Germans have the strongest tanks and vehicles, while
the Soviets have the advantage in mass production of infantry and artillery.
Of course every nation has its own special weapons and abilities as well.
The Germans can send inaccurate but powerful V rockets; the Allies have a
devastating A-bomb and the Soviets also have some chilly surprises for their
enemies. Beside this, there are lots of national special weapons for each
side, jetpack-equipped jump troopers, Exoskeletons ('mechs), mobile shield
generators, five turreted mega tanks, and so on."
- Officers
GFI’s
Nickolay Demchenko provides the details about Officers on GameZone is a
Q&A about Game Factory Interactive's coming World War II RTS game: "The
system is pretty simple. Promotion is given for successful accomplishment of
a mission. You will also get decorations as rewards for meeting certain
objectives. Rewards will appear in the player’s profile so you may always
refer to them in between the missions. Promotion will usually result in
bigger armies the player will command and consequently in more large-scale
battles that require tactical weapons as regimental artillery and air
forces."
- Horizons
RPG
Vault Horizons Empire of Istaria Sale Q&A talks with David Bowman about
the latest transfer of the MMORPG: "Our investor was providing us with the
money to operate Horizons during this period, but even though our monthly
burn was shrinking, made a decision to attempt to sell Horizons in the
spring of 2006. His representatives found a buyer in EI Interactive, and by
two weeks ago, they provided terms that the investor felt were fair and in
the best interest of Tulga Games. Since the investor was no longer willing
to invest more money in Horizons, it made sense for me to agree to sign the
deal so that it would have a stable, excited company to continue to grow the
subscribers. This is the best choice for the players."
- Frontlines: Fuel of War
Frontlines
Warfare's Frontlines: Fuel of War talks with Frank DeLise of Kaos
Studios about their upcoming first-person shooter: "As a gamer, Frontlines
was designed out of a passion in this Genre to fill a void that was missing.
There simply is no non-linear single player military games with the
intensity, battle chatter, squad play combined with the go anywhere do
anything vehicle play. That combined with Co-op, Multiplayer on all
platforms and near future weapons based on real military designs. I am also
tired of single player games that force you to keep redoing the same thing
every time you die, in FFOW you are always chipping away at the battle and
you can form new strategies as you go. For Multiplayer, I really want
teamwork to matter. In FFOW, teamwork truly makes your team stronger. More
than two people in a vehicle make vehicles much more powerful by target
sharing and counter measures, the frontline only moves forward if you work
as a team, so expect to see some really cool team based features using the
latest military equipment."
- ArchLord on
GameDaily.
- Hero Online on
MMORPG.COM.
- Shenmue Online on
IGN.
- Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption on
GameSpot. Designer Diary #3.
A new patch is now available for STACKED with Daniel Negreanu, updating the
poker simulation to version 1.2. The update improves Daniel's tips and clears up
some bugs. The patch is available on
3D Downloads, 3D
Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
This Battlecruiser Online
Downloads Page now offers a new version 1.00.16 patch for 3000AD's space
combat game. The
version control file lists all the changes in the new version.
The E3 news makes me sorry it's been so long since I last attended the show…
I always presumed I'd get to visit the inside of the pinball machine again. Oh
well.
E3 could slip to July on
GameSpot (thanks Frans) has some speculation about a new schedule for the
newly "evolved E3," saying the newly announced changes to the show could result
in it taking place during July rather than May. Word is: "An industry analyst
and a representative of the City of Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau
have both told GameSpot that the event's organizers at the Entertainment
Software Association mentioned moving the show to July." Such a change would
allow presenters greater time to polish their offerings, and of course, give
attendees the chance to enjoy the heart of summer off the Mojave Desert.
The promised new point release patches are now available for Quake 4, updating
Raven's first-person shooter to version 1.3. The new version includes gameplay
changes, a new DeadZone game-type, performance improvements, new maps, a
new weapon, and more. There are patches to update version 1.2 or any previous
version for both the Win32 and Linux clients as well as updated Win32 and Linux
SDKs. The files can be found on
3D Downloads,
3D Gamers,
Filecloud,
FileFront, FileShack,
Gamer's Hell,
VGPRO, and
Worthplaying.
The
Entertainment Software Association now offers the predicted announcement
about the future of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, using "evolving" as the
term for the new version of E3, which will remain in Los Angeles, but will be a
more "intimate" affair, so get your lingerie ready: Washington, DC (July
31, 2006) – To better address the needs of today’s global computer and video
game industry, the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) is evolving into
a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities,
the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today.
“The world of interactive entertainment has changed since E3Expo was created 12
years ago. At that time we were focused on establishing the industry and
securing orders for the holiday season,” said Douglas Lowenstein, President of
the ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game
publishers and the owner of E3Expo. “Over the years, it has become clear that we
need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue
with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry
audiences.”
The new E3Expo will take shape over the next several months. As currently
envisioned, it will still take place in Los Angeles, described by ESA as a
“great and supportive partner helping to build E3.” It will focus on press
events and small meetings with media, retail, development, and other key
sectors. While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, E3Expo 2007
will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years.
“E3Expo remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that
sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial
resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an
exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures
that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get
information to media, consumers, and others,” said Lowenstein.
Additionally, the evolution of the video game industry into a vibrant and
expanding global market has led to the creation of major events in different
regions, such as the Games Convention in Leipzig, the Tokyo Game Show, and
company-specific events held by Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and others around the
world. As a result, Lowenstein said, “It is no longer necessary or efficient to
have a single industry ‘mega-show’. By refocusing on a highly-targeted event, we
think we can do a better job serving our members and the industry as a whole,
and our members are energized about creating this new E3.”
Additional details about the new E3Expo event will be forthcoming in the next
few months.
Buka
announces Collapse is a press release with first word on Collapse (no
relation), a new action game
from CREOTEAM (no
relation), while this press
release offers different text covering the same announcement, saying the
game will be shown off at the Games Convention in Leipzig next month. The
announcement mentions the
Collapse Product Section for the game with a
screenshot gallery and the
CREOTEAM Website offers one of those shots and 11 more new ones (thanks
Frans). Here's the description of the game: MOSCOW, July 31, 2006 - Buka
Entertainment is pleased to announce Collapse, new Non-stop Action game for PC
in development at CREOTEAM.
Dynamic action of Collapse immerses the player in an alternate future. 2096 A.D.
The world we now is destroyed. Creatures from other dimension emerged over the
old Europe, massacring and killing every life form they found on their way… That
was one century ago.
The remains of humankind live under the constant menace of alien attacks, while
the law of the strongest has taken place over the society. The Lords, an elite
group appeared from the total chaos and anarchy and now they are the only
barrier between the total annihilation.
Collapse is a remarkable 3D adventure game full of action. It has the gripping
adventure elements and impresses with the acrobatic movements and realism of
character. The game is currently planned for release for Q4 2007.
England
Managers Apply Here - CM2007 Announced is the press release unveiling plans
for Championship Manager 2007, the next installment in the sports management
series (thanks Frans). They include the first screenshots from the project, and
here's a bit: Managers will now be able to praise and criticise players
in a brand new team talks feature. Give individual instructions to players
either pre-match or at half time and receive staff feedback on performances.
Plus behind the scenes there is also a huge backroom staff of improvements
including; transfers, negotiations, news, media and pre-match build up along
with player and club data accurate up to the closing of the August transfer
window, a refined AI system and the introduction of two new leagues; Conference
North and South.
This page on the framed
GTR2 Website now offers a new track teaser movie from the upcoming
motorsports sequel. The clip shows off a perfect racing line on the
Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg racetrack.
- Neverwinter Nights 2
The
Neverwinter
Nights 2 Q&A on FiringSquad discusses the coming D&D RPG sequel with
Obsidian's Feargus Urquhart: "I think the campaign that ships with the game
is going to be a lot of fun to play, but if there is anything I'm proud of
it is the effort that a lot of the people on the team have put into the game
over the past nine months. They've all really wanted it to be everything the
fans would want, which is probably centralized in the new toolset that has
been chiefly put together by Erik Novales with work from Adam Brennecke and
Steve Weatherly. The toolset pretty much does everything. I really am proud
of how it can let people not only place pieces of things, but also change
them around by coloring and sizing them differently. Basically, it really is
a game making application now."
- Joint Task Force
Joint
Task Force Q&A on FiringSquad chats with HD Publishing's Vincent van
Diemen about Most Wanted Entertainment's upcoming strategy game: "The single
player campaign consists of 20 missions in 5 scenarios. Your fight against
the evil forces in this world will take you to Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan,
Colombia and Iraq. Some of the missions are loosely based on real life
events. We have a prison break in one of the Afghanistan missions for
instance. But the story behind the game is crucial, so the missions connect
through the story."
- Galactic Civilization 2: Dread Lords
The
Galactic Civilization 2: Dread Lords Q&A on Gaming Nexus talks with
StarDock about their space strategy sequel: "Galactic Civilization 2: Dread
Lords is one of our top games of the year so far. It’s easy to use
interface, cool custom ship builder, and deep game play have been the source
of many late nights and early mornings for various GN staffers since the
game came out. The folks at Star Dock haven’t been asleep at the wheel since
the game has come out as they have been cranking out a few patches that go
beyond the standard bug fixes and game play tweaks. Since they game was
released the folks at Star Dock have added modding tools and a few new game
play modes which meant more late nights and early mornings just so we can
squeeze out “one last turn”. We were a little giddy when we heard Star Dock
was already working on an expansion pack and we were able to get a short
interview in with one of the fine folks at Star Dock."
The PrBoom Homepage offers a new
version 2.2.4 of this cross-platform game based on the DOOM engine and likewise
the ZDoom Website has a new version 2.1.4 of
this Win32 DOOM game. Thanks Frans.
The news is reporting that our area is due to be hit this week by the heat wave
that's been cooking the west coast. This is not great news, as our weather was
already, as the line from Biloxi Blues put it, "Africa hot."
R.I.P.:
In memoriam Bill Goggins, formerly of Wired Magazine.
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