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Archived News:
- id Software
John
Carmack And Todd Hollenshead Speak on Game Informer is part one of a
two-part series that catches up with two of id Software's co-owners during
CES 2007 to discuss a variety of topics, including progress in their new IP:
"Yes, the in-house development project that we’ve been working on is all new
technology. It still has some roots in the Doom 3 technology, but almost
everything is new in there. We’re still not talking about exactly what the
project is, but it’s a new IP, it’s diverting a little bit from the standard
id formula and it’s not just a first-person shooter. Technically, it’s build
around an advancement over the MegaTexture technology from Quake Wars. Where
that was applied just to the terrain, the version of the new technology
applies it into everything, so we can have that level of rich detail on all
the surfaces on the entire world. That’s the push that we’re making with
graphics technology. The gameplay is somewhat different from anything that
we’ve of done before. The company is pursuing Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake
franchises with other partner developers and all, but we’re trying to
develop a brand-new franchise with this new one. Hopefully, we’ll be talking
about that sometime this year, and we’ll be able to go ahead and come out of
our own little cone of silence about it."
- Hellgate: London
The
Hellgate: London Online Q&A on Shacknews offers the promised
conversation with Bill Roper of Flagship Studios (even though he still says
"we" when referring to Blizzard) on multiplayer Hellgate: London,
demonstrating why he gave them the impression there will be subscriptions
involved: "We'll probably have some kind of detail in the next month or two
as to our pricing model, but the design is both a standalone as well as an
MMO, so we want to be able to hit both markets just like we did with the
Diablo titles. There are a lot of people that in some instances actually
can't get online, and there are also people who are online but for gaming
they aren't sure if they want to make that commitment to pay the monthly fee
and go online. They can get the game and play the standalone, and get 30 or
40 hours' worth of gameplay. If they like that, they can go online and we'll
have a good ramp of some kind for them to go online and check out some of
the services. Exactly how we handle that, whether it'll be a trial or
whether they can check out some of the game for free, we're still hammering
out the final details. Then beyond that it will be pay to play, and again
we're about a month out from announcing more on that. But what you're
getting with that service is you're getting 24/7 customer service, secure
servers, databases, and the biggest thing is that you're getting continuing
content. We'll have a full dev team that's on the project from day one.
Actually, right when you buy the game, when it launches there will already
be content available that you can't get in the single-player--additional
monsters, areas, all the community and economy things, you'll be able to
form guilds, auction houses, all those things you expect from MMOs."
- EverQuest II
The
EverQuest II Q&A on EverQuest 2 WarCry is an article-format conversation
with SOE's Scott Hartsman about the future of their MMORPG sequel.
The Insects Infestation Website
now offers the version 1.0 Linux and Windows dedicated servers for this
Half-Life 2 modification, paving the way for the imminent release of the
corresponding client, currently slated for Friday. The server comes with the
warning: "The bots provided by our mod should not be used to fill server, they
are there for test purpose only."
The Merciless Website
now features a new version 2.00 of this teamplay modification for Call of Duty
2, Infinity Ward's World War II shooter. Merciless adds a class system, new
weapons, new gore and spatter effects, and more.
First Flurries of the Year Seen in Central Park (registration required). Virtually
undetectable. The previous record for latest snowfall in a winter was January 4,
1878!
R.I.P.:
'Munsters' star Yvonne De Carlo dies.
Shacknews has a
follow-up from EA on their story from last night ( story) about
subscription fees for Hellgate: London, Flagship Studios' upcoming action/RPG.
Word from EA is that no final decision has been made yet about charging for
Hellgate multiplayer, while Shack defiantly maintains they have reported Bill
Roper's words accurately (they promise a full interview soon). The
Hellgate Guru
Forums has a Q&A with Flagship Studios community manager Ivan Sulic that
seems to indicate the issue that this touches on is how they will be able to
fund the creation of additional content after the game's release: Ivan
Yeah, we haven't made a final decision. Seriously, the directors debate about
this quite a bit. Basically, we want to do ongoing content. We don't want it to
be like Diablo where we had a patch and an expansion and that's that. We really
want to do ongoing content. So the directors have to just figure out how the
hell we're going to pay for that. Could be anything. Really.
Scaper-X
Are continuing expansion packs still on the table in lieu of monthly fees?
Ivan
Could be the bonus dvd does it or subscription or real money transactions or
auctions or micro purchases or lots of smaller expansions. Could seriously be
anything. Which is why they still debate some. So... Until the reach a decision,
whatever that is, and then print it across the web in a release, it's all going
to be speculation and misunderstandings and odd quotes
The Advanced Micro Devices Website now offers
new version 7.1 CATALYST reference drivers for ATI graphic accelerators. Word
is: "As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various
situations. In this release of Catalyst® Dark Messiah: Might and Magic
performance improves as much as 12% on all ATI Radeon X1000 Series products."
The new drivers also offer Crossfire performance enhancements with an Alternate
Frame Rendering (AFR) Crossfire rendering mode. There are new drivers for both
windows and Linux. Also,
NVIDIA
released new version 97.46 Windows Vista x86 RTM drivers a few days ago (thanks
Neutronbeam). The
Release Notes outline what's new.
Paradox Interactive announces that Europa Universalis III is gold, and the grand
strategy sequel will ship in North America on January 23, in Scandinavia and
Germany on January 26, in UK, France, and Benelux on Feb 2, and Australia on
February 10: New York, USA (January 10, 2007) – Recognized global
publisher Paradox Interactive announced today that their much awaited flagship
title, Europa Universalis III, has gone gold. The epic PC strategy title spans
over 300 years of history, which delves deeply into the areas of exploration,
trade, warfare and diplomacy.
In Europa Universalis III, the player takes control of a nation and guides it
through the ages to become a great global empire. Unparalleled in its depth and
historical accuracy, Europa Universalis gives players freedom to rule their
nation from an impressive choice of over 250 historically accurate countries.
"Europa Universalis is the series that started it all for us and with this
release all the expertise and experience we have accumulated over the years has
culminated in a worthy continuation of the franchise" says Fredrik Wester,
Director of Sales and Acquisitions. "We expect the game to appeal not only to
fans of our previous games but gamers who appreciate immersive strategy games in
general".
Europa Universalis is rated E for Everyone by ESRB, 12+ by PEGI and 6 years by
USK. The title is shipping to stores in North America on January 23 to be
followed by Scandinavia and Germany on the 26th and UK, France, Benelux on Feb
2nd. Australia will release the title on Feb 10. The standard edition will
retail for $39.99/€39.99 and the Collectors edition for $49.99/€49.99.
For further product information please go to
http://www.europauniversalis3.com
.
Techland announces development of Warhound, apparently deciding the announcement
of the game in August 2006 ( story) didn't have sufficient impact.
The reannouncement includes word on the
Warhound Website, but that offers nothing but a broken image. The
announcement does offer new details, such as support for DirectX 10 and an Xbox
360 edition, as well as a Q4 2007 release date. Update: There are some
Warhound Screenshots for PC on GameSpot (thanks Hump). Here's word:
Techland is pleased to announce that it's working on a new FPP shooter
called "Warhound". The game puts you in the role of a freelance mercenary, whose
job is to intervene in some of the most brutal and precipitous armed conflicts
around the world.
You will choose from a number of differing missions, equipment and your
character's development possibilities. During the game you will freely decide
what skills of the mercenary you want to improve. The most important features of
the game are: many possible ways of playing each mission, a lot of vehicles that
you can use on the battlefield and the multiple story line. "Warhound" runs on
the latest implementation of Techland's acclaimed "Chrome Engine", guaranteeing
photorealistic graphics, large open terrains, vastly interactive gameplay and
effects utilizng the most up-to-date technologies including DirectX 10 support.
"Warhound" will debut in Q4 2007 on the PC and Xbox 360 platforms. The game's
website is now operational – you can visit it at
http://warhoundgame.com/. Check out the
forums and let us know what you think about the game and what expectations you
have. The best ideas can end up in the final game.
The World of Warcraft
Vault offers a word that WoW needs to be patched to version 2.0.3 after
installation of the new Burning Crusade expansion for the MMORPG. This prompts a
"helpful warning" from Blizzard to hold onto the patch file until after The
Burning Crusade is installed. Thanks Ant.
The UK, German, French, and Spanish editions of the new World of Warcraft
version 2.0.3 patch are now available. The update provides the same fixes and
updates as the US edition released yesterday, and presumably the same warning
about reapplying the patch after installing the Burning Crusade expansion (as
detailed in the story above) applies. The downloads are available on
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
GOA announces Valentine's Day as the European release date for the Labyrinth of
the Minotaur expansion for Dark Age of Camelot, EA/Mythic's MMORPG: 10th
January 2007 – Paris, France: Today, GOA will announce the details for the
European release of the seventh expansion of the massively multiplayer online
role-playing game, Dark Age of Camelot: Labyrinth of the Minotaur. The expansion
will be available on the 14th of February 2007, and will celebrate the fifth
anniversary of the famous EA Mythic and GOA MMORPG in Europe.
"This expansion is a great way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Dark Age of
Camelot", says Producer Walt Yarbrough proudly. "Labyrinth of the Minotaur is
rich with new content and adds exciting new features to the game that will
challenge players. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to lose
yourself in Dark Age of Camelot!"
Egosoft
announces plans for a Linux edition of X3: REUNION, saying penguin-powered PCs
will be able to fire up the space combat sequel sometime around summer of this
year (thanks Frans). Word is: The expected release date will be around
the middle of the year, and it will be released patched to the latest version,
including the latest bonus package on the disc.
A new Battlestations Midway movie shows off still more footage from the upcoming
World War II action/strategy hybrid. The clip can be found on
3D Gamers,
GameTrailers,
GameSpot, and
Worthplaying. Also, the
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Website offers up the CES video showing off
gameplay from Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG. Finally, a new Left 4
Dead movie introduces Turtle Rock Studios' upcoming Source-engine game, the clip
is available on 3D
Gamers,
GameSpot, and
Worthplaying.
Mod DB offers a new trailer for the Insects Infestation Half-Life 2
modification offering a "Maps, Players, Plants Overview."
And after all the trouble I went through yesterday with this new spam filter,
wouldn't you know it doesn't work right? This resulted in the worst tech support
call I have ever experienced: My previous experiences being outsourced have all
been surprisingly pleasant, but in this case I needed to explain my problem five
times amid being repeatedly put on hold before being offered a solution that
made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I asked to speak to a supervisor or another
representative, and was told there was nobody there, since it was 4:00 a.m. in
Malaysia. Sigh.
R.I.P.: Italian
film producer Ponti dies.
R.I.P.:
Elkan R. Blout, Scientist at Harvard, Dies at 86 (registration required).
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