VE - We might lack the length, but we pack enough girth to kill a rhino -bw



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Thursday, December 14, 2000 - Have some news or does your woman ask for Sweet Dick Willy by name? Tell us!

WarCraft III preview - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Role Playing Strategy -
The women at Daily Radar posted another WarCraft III preview, taking a glance at Blizzard's upcoming 3-D real time strategy cash-cow. Included, are a few new screens. Here's a take:

Warcraft III is Blizzard's first attempt to create a 3D realtime strategy game, which places emphasis on developing heroes and involving them in combat, and downplays resource management and rush tactics. Obviously the move to 3D presents every developer with the same challenge: what to do with the camera. Recently, games like Ground Control have given players an enormous amount of freedom, allowing them to zoom in for a quick view or hover well above the field. Shiny's camera in Sacrifice was fixed on the main character, and allowed for rotation and a small amount of zoom. However, Blizzard has decided to fix the camera in place, with the possibility of a small amount of zoom.

Call to Power II Patch - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Real-Time Strategy - (3)
FilePlanet has posted a new patch (3.5 MB) for Activision's recently released real-time strategy game, Call to Power II. The patch, which is intended for us under all languages, fixes serveral game-related issues, mainly in the multiplayer department.

Commander Keen History - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Action -
3D Realms' company page has been updated with an article which deals with the history behind Commander Keen, the game which Apogee (which is 3D Realms as we know it now) released some ten years ago. Here's a clip:

1991 was a crazy year for id and Keen.  In January of 1991, they finished the final update to Keen Vorticons, and then worked on the aforementioned Softdisk titles.  The guys moved from Shreveport to Madison, Wisconsin in September of 1991 - got shocked at how cold it was (even though Tom was from there), yet still managed to work on games up there for six months (they moved back to Dallas on April 1, 92).  Anyway, it was during this time in Madison that work began on more Keen games...

Elite Edition Demo - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Action -
Sierra Studios has released a playable demo for their tactical action game, SWAT 3: Elite Edition. I highly recommend downloading this demo if you don't already own the game. I've blown many hours on the game and like it quite a bit!

Update- Sierra sent word that they also posted a cool Elite Edition movie of an upcoming level.

Undying Interview - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Horror - (4)
GameCenter has put together an interview (it's more of an interview in the form of an article, though) held with Clive Barker, the man behind Electronic Arts' upcoming Unreal engine-powered action/adventure horror game, Undying. This game is quite high on my "highly anticipated" list. Here's a quote:

"Games by and large don't do that. Games don't even aim to change you. It's not even part of their basic thinking. They mark time. This became apparent to me. My husband has a daughter who is 11 and she plays Super Mario Bros. all the time and that f------ tune which just goes round and round and round. All weekend she stays with us; it begins on Friday night and it ends on Sunday night. To me that is indicative, it symbolizes the problem. Round and round and round it goes nowhere. It doesn't ever stop. The numbers may change, the mountain may get steeper, the thing that's chasing you may get bigger, but it's all that f------ tune. And that's not story. That's breathing. That's barely staying alive. Story gets to your gut.

Silent Hunter II Preview - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Real-Time Strategy -
IntelGamer.com has put together a preview which takes a look at Ultimation's and Strategic Simulations' upcoming real-time strategy game, Silent Hunter II. Here's a little of what they had to say in the preview:

You’ll be able to play a full career covering the entire span of the War in the Atlantic, single historical scenario, or random scenario generator. You’ll have 4 immaculate U-Boat models at your disposal in which you can completely obliterate your enemy. You’ll have access to all the major stations in the U-Boat like; the AA guns, hydrophones, even the torpedo deflection calculator. There will be a first-person mode that enables you commanders out there to target and attack both sea and airborne enemies using the anti-aircraft machine guns or the deck cannon. 

Q3 1.27 Point Release - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Action - (20)
The latest patch/point release/whatever (version 1.27) has been released for id Software's Quake III Arena. The new release is fully compatible with Quake III: Team Arena and implements the feedback which they received from the last release (version 1.25). As per numerous requests, this point release reverts the physics back to the way they were in the 1.17 point release. More information (including some on the Mac and Linux versions of the patch) can be found in Graeme's latest .plan update. Right now, the only place you can get it from is id Software's FTP, but that'll be changing shortly (we'll update the post with mirrors).

Mirrors:

DNF Gets Release Date? - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Action - (28)
Watch out! Pigs have suddenly sprouted wings, hell has frozen over and the Arizona Cardinals have won the Super Bowl because 3DR's George Broussard has issued a estimated release date (other than "When it's done") for Duke Nukem Forever (thanks uwi mAn). According to GB "The game will be out next year. That's as close as we can get for now."

Icewind Dale EP prev. - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing -
G-spot has posted a preview of Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, the upcoming add-for, oddly enough, Icewind Dale.  Included along with this detailed write-up are quite a few new shots.  Here's a taste:

Heart of Winter effectively extends the original game with an all-new quest designed for high-level characters, which your characters certainly will be by the conclusion of Icewind Dale. Yet, you'll be able to start the Heart of Winter quest from almost any point during Icewind Dale, provided you feel that your characters are powerful enough - which means that they are at or past the ninth experience level - to face the challenges; and this is quite powerful indeed by D&D standards. You'll also have the option to simply start the expansion quest from scratch by importing your high-level characters straight into the new scenario.

WWII Online Movie - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: Massively Multiplayer - Strategy -
Playnet.com has been updated with some footage (in Bink format) taken from the closed beta test of Cornered Rat Software's upcoming massively multiplayer online wargame/real-time strategy, World War II Online. Thanks goes out to Tim G. for that one!

Misc. Shots - Chris "Outlaw" O'Brien - Games: General -
After a day off (don't get too many of those), I figured I'd kick things off with a post containing our collection of screenshots for the day (we'll keep it up-to-date):

  • Neverwinter Nights -- Planet Neverwinter has upped a batch of concept art/rendered images taken of the Umber Hulk.
  • Star Trek: Bridge Commander -- The official website has been updated with a new set of screenshots from the upcoming game.
  • World War II: Europe in Gunfire -- The game with the most original name I've heard in years has had some images kicked up over at GA-Strategy.
  • Survivor of the Ages -- RPGPlanet has posted a batch of new screenshots taken from the upcoming RPG.

NWN's Umber Hulk - Robert "Apache" Howarth - In-House: Games - (6)
Interplay sent along a cool new Neverwinter Nights desktop image of an Umber Hulk. Here's a little lore on this fearsome beastie:

Umber hulks are massive creatures that dwell deep beneath the earth. Ripping through rock as if it were light underbrush, they rampage continuously - leaving a wake of destruction. Powerfully built, Umber Hulks look something like a cross between a great ape and a beetle. Armor plates cover virtually all of its chitinous body, whose scattered feelers resemble sparse hair. The low, rounded head is dominated by a massive pair of mandibles and rows of triangular teeth. An Umber hulk can deliver blows powerful enough to crush almost any enemy. In addition, its mandibles are strong enough to bite through armor or exoskeletons with ease. Despite its great bulk, the umber hulk is intelligent. When brute force won't overcome an enemy, it is more then capable of outthinking those who assume it to be a stupid beast.

(Click to enlarge!)

Fly3D game engine - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Software: 3D Engines -
I noticed over at OpenGL.org that v2.0 alpha of the Fly3D game engine has been released.  Here's a short blurb of information on this engine:

Fly3D is a C++ multi-player game engine using OpenGL 1.1, DirectInput, DirectSound, DirectPlay for Win9x/2k/NT. The new 2.0 version adds many enhancements including shaders w/ a real-time shader editor, support for large faces, curved faces and tri-soup faces, ActiveX front-end for web games/app, compatibility with Quake3 level editors and a new mesh file format for animated or static game objects

Colin McRae Rally 2.0 demo - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Racing - (19)
Codemasters has released a playable demo (yes, there is another type, dammit!) of Colin McRae Rally 2.0, giving you a chance to try out this new rally simulator that hit stores in Europe this month.  Only one car available in this 36.5 meg demo, but there are three tracks, the demo also let's you try out the "Arcade Mode".  Thanks Blue's!  Whoops, almost missed that the official site has a new v1.05 patch for Colin McRae Rally 2.0.

Evolution of Black & White - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action / Strategy - (6)
Gamasutra has posted a video from GDC 2000, "The Evolution of Black and White", by Lionhead's Big-Pete Molyneux. Here's the description that they tossed up along with the links (Real and Quicktime flavors) to this video:

In the initial design stages of Black and White it was the development team's ambition to produce a game that was innovative in every way. This GDC video explores the design process needed to fulfill these ambitions and illustrates the process with examples of Black and White in every stage of its development, including demonstrations of the integration of advanced AI, 3D engine technology and interface breakthroughs without compromising gameplay.

Bridge Commander Q&A - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. - (4)
Ga-Sim has greased up an interview with Lawrence Holland of Totally Games, in a chat about how Star Trek: Bridge Commander will be different than their previous games (such as Battlehawks: 1942 and X-Wing: Alliance), a bit on if we'll see a level editor (shipping with the game), and on the game's controls.  Here's a snip:

You've been primarily known for your great World War II and Star Wars based simulations, so what prompted you to make a game in the Star Trek universe?

We just weren't ready to leave the space combat arena, but wanted to do something a bit different and Activision asked us to think about the opportunity because of the quality of our past work. During our talks we came up with a design different enough from our past games to make it interesting both to our team and the public -- so that was the beginning of Bridge Commander. Star Trek has a rich history with 35 years worth of material, including four TV shows, nine movies, hundreds of novels and a lot more. We are drawing upon those fundamental elements of the license to create a fun and compelling game with combat, defense, rescue, diplomacy, exploration and scientific discovery.

Baldur's Gate 2 intl. patch - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing - (3)
BioWare has released the international patch for Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.  Nothing new / different from the English-language patch (released Nov. 29), but there you have it.  Check out this page for the list o' fixes and/or to download it.

AMD interviews - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Hardware: AMD -
Hey, how would turn down a nice look pair of twins <Aimee smacks Billy upside the head>...?  Fullon3D and TempleofTech have both posted interviews with AMD.  Temple's is with AMD's Drew Prairie (one of the PR guys) regarding Q3 earnings, their next fab plant, possibility of a Timna style chip, and things of that nature (post Q3 announcement).  FullOn3D.com's AMD interview s part 2 of a chipset/processor industry interview feature that they've whipped up (part 1 was with VIA).  This interview (once again, with Drew) consists of general industry questions with AMD specific questions at the end. 

Severance Package - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action - (4)
The little limeys at GameSpot UK got their grubby hands on the upcoming title Severance : Blades of Darkness and they've just finished writing up their hands on with preview (Looks a little bit like Rune to me). As always, their preview of Severance comes in at a few pages in length and contains a gallery of screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Eve page revamped - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. -
The developers and web chumps behind Eve and the official Eve homepage slapped up some new and exciting content this morning. Among the new additions to the official page of this very sweet looking online MMOG (as they put it) you will find :

  • Updated Ships Database
  • 28 New Screenshots
  • Schematic Blueprints of seven ships
  • New Wallpapers and MP3 Audio Tracks
  • One Illustrated Short-Story

Global Operations news - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action - (12)
I have no idea how we missed this but the folks at Daily Radar slapped up a little article / interview yesterday with Jeff Barnhart, producer on the newly announced release Global Operations being developed by Barking Dog and Crave Entertainment. Anyways here's a little clip that you'll find tastes great and is less filling at the same time :

Daily Radar : Is it correct to say that the game will seem more realistic than iconic?

Jeff Barnhart : Absolutely, we wanted this game to be absolutely realistic. We wanted the weapons to be realistic. We wanted the environments to be realistic in how they look and in how they are laid out when compared with their real-life counterparts. We want all of the player models to be realistic looking. If playing in Peru, we wanted the rebel team to look like a real rebel force in Peru would look. Say the U.S. is going into Columbia to take down a drug lord. We want it to look like the real U.S. Special Forces. We wanted the weapons to not only look realistic, but sound realistic. We wanted them to do realistic damage. And, with all that our goal is to have the most immersive first-person shooter experience on the PC. We want to have a fun team play as well. What we really want to try and do is have a good, well-balanced, elite fighting force that you will be able to become a part of. We want this to be the most intense, action filled first-person shooter on the market.
And speaking of Global Operations, it was just "officially" announced. Here's something from the PR:
On the battlefield, there is no substitute for communication and organization, and "Global Operations" utilizes the latest technology and unique features to encourage and create these elements. The unique Intelligence Officer role allows one team leader to become the eyes and ears of the entire group. The team leader coordinates the troops through a combination of real-time cameras and a top-down map to recognize hot spots, guide troops to objectives, and direct reinforcements through both voice over IP and waypoint setting. Successfully directing the best troops to an assignment is challenging as each soldier has specialized skills.

BG2 : Bad to the Bone - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action / Role Playing -
Looks like the interview streak may have stopped for the time being as John "Warrior" Keefer from GameSpy just wrote in and let us know that the "Bad Guy" version of their in-house Baldurs Gate II strategy guide is now finished and up. Coming in at six pages in length, it'll help you build up that nasty and evil reputation you've been dying for in Baldur's Gate II.

Majesty interview - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action / Strategy -
Wow talk about a buttload of interviews this morning, looks like the guys at Majesty Dragon sat down with the George "the voice man" Ledoux to talk about behind the well received fantasy / strategy game Majesty and it's add-on. Here's a clip :

Majesty Dragon : Did you find the work enjoyable, challenging, etc.? Are you happy with how it turned out?

George Ledoux : Oh yeah! When I've done work for computer games before it's always been a blast because you really get to act "over-the-top". It's like doing the voices for an animated cartoon; your voice has to be able to twist and turn and stretch just like the character on the screen. But sometimes you also have to really "act" to convey emotion with only your voice. Personally, I think the Majesty project turned out great!

Interview with an American - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action - (8)
Daily Radar UK has posted an interview with Amercian McGee, while out overseas doing promos on his recently released title, Alice. Here's a couple of little early mornin' clippets straight from the interview:

Daily Radar UK : You've avoided multiplayer in the game - was this intentional?

American McGee : I don't think it would have added anything. Multiplayer is done really well in multiplayer-only games, and making ours a single-player only game gave us a chance to not worry about wasting time and energy on a piece of the game that wasn't essential to telling the story. And at the end of the day, what we were trying to accomplish was to tell a really good story.

Daily Radar UK : So, what's your favourite character in Alice?

American McGee : The Cheshire Cat is really damn cool, Alice - I like her a lot, she's just a really neat girl. I've found a lot of people have fallen in love with Alice, and I can see why - she's very appealing. As far as invented characters go, we invented characters called the Insane Children, which represent what would happen to Alice if she lost this battle, and those are pretty funny.

Anarchy Online Chat - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Massively Multiplayer - Action - (3)
Anarchy Online : Stratics will be hosting a moderated chat session this weekend with the team behind the currently in beta MMORPG - Anarchy Online. The chat will take place in the room #aohoc on Sunday, December 17th, at 2pm CST and will be available under any one of the servers below :

  • irc.stratics.com
  • compu.stratics.com
  • dhp.stratics.com
  • frws.stratics.com
  • intworks.stratics.com

Croteam Q&A - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action - (5)
Those wacky bastards at Stomped slapped up their interview with Roman Ribaric of Croteam, one of the homeys behind the upcoming Serious Sam game. Although the interview is not exactly Serious Sam related, Roman does share his opinions on what's been going on with the gaming industry and his insight into the future. Here's a extra tasty morsel for ya :

Stomped : What, in your opinion, was the single most encouraging trend in gaming that appeared this year and why?

Roman Ribaric : Computer and console development are starting to come closer to each other. Most game developers have the desire to develop games for consoles, because it's primarily a gaming platform and piracy is much lower than on PC. But, with all those restrictions put by console creators, as independent developers you weren't able to actually develop for it. Also, console tools were awful to use in development. But now, with Sony and Microsoft entering the market, it's a totally different song. You can develop on PC for both PCs and consoles. Cost for producing is much lower and there is a possibility to have a game released on different platforms at the same time. At least in theory, anyway :)

X-Wing BC Gangbang - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. - (8)
It turns out the boys over at X-wing: Legacy used "the force" (and a little lubing) and scored a chat session with the folks behind the upcoming Star Trek sim : Bridge Commander (They also helped develop those X-Wing games back in the day). As always, this chat session will be moderated and will begin around Saturday, December 16th, 10-11am PST. or so on the irc server irc.holonet.org and in the channel #bridgecommander so be there or be square. Hit up the official Bridge Commander website for more information on BC.

Tropico Interview - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Turn-Based Strategy - (3)
Mark Ascher from Quarter to Three just dropped me a line and let me know that their interview with Phil Steinmeyer of Pop Top Software (Railroad Tycoon II / Add-On Developers) is now up. Just incase your ass is not in "The Know", Phil is one of the girlies behind the upcoming castro-ish simulator, Tropico.

QT3 : Tropico. Is that a game or a nightclub where Ricky Martin performs?

Phil Steinmeyer : Tropico is a strategy game where you play a Castro-ish figure running a Caribbean island, jailing your opponents, oppressing your people, and filling up your Swiss bank account, as the case may be.

I think you're confusing it with Tropico 2, the sequel, where you're an Menudo-ish figure running a Salsa band, trying to shake your bon-bon, impress your 13-year old groupies, and score a second hit to revive your flagging fortunes.

QT3 : You grabbed the Railroad Tycoon license from Microprose, somewhat to Sid Meier's surprise. Will we see any dinosaurs in Tropico?

Phil Steinmeyer : Tropico and Jurassic Park are both set on remote islands in the Caribbean. The leaders in Tropico and Jurassic Park both try to draw American tourists and they're hefty wallets. Both games climax with everybody being eaten by... whoops I've said too much, you'll just have to buy the game and find out for yourself.

David Perry interview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - In-House: Games - (10)
We have posted a short interview with Shiny's main man, David Perry.  In this brief Q&A, we talk about whether or not Shiny will ever switch gears from the side-scroller and third-person type of games to something like a first-person game, if we'll see an add-on for Sacrifice, and how they went from a game laced with bugs (Messiah, at least out of the box) to something like Sacrifice (as most bugs seem to be driver specific).  Here's something to get you in the mood (in case you ran out of motion lotion):

VoodooExtreme -- Any word of an add-on for Sacrifice?

DP --
The team is talking about it right now... After Xmas there will be serious discussion as to the direction we want to take with Sacrifice. It's an EPIC story, so easy to continue.

American McGee Interview - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Adventure - (12)
Euro mega-site GameLoft interviewed Rogue Entertainment's American McGee about its latest Quake III engined adventure game -- Alice. Here's a little taste:

GL: On to the game itself; where do you get the idea to make a game like this? What makes you sit up some day and say, "I'm going to make a game about Alice in Wonderland"?

I suppose it was a frustration with the games that were available out there; in terms of the technology and the creative side of it they were very cool, but there wasn't much in the way of storyline or characters or really nice environments. I had a number of different ideas, and each one in a way inspired Alice; the final epiphany, I guess, was a song I heard which had this line about the age of wonders, the whole "wonder" thing stuck in my head and I thought of wonderland, and knew immediately that that's what I wanted to do.

Deus Ex Patch Report - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Action / Role Playing - (14)
ION Storm's Warren Spector dropped off another update on how the Deus Ex single player patch is progressing, here's the biz:

We're going to release a single-player patch as soon as we get done testing it. It'll be smaller than the multiplayer patch. MUCH smaller. We just wanted to get MP out there as soon as possible and figured we'd get some feedback on MP and the fixes with one patch... (BTW -- the MP patch includes everything we currently plan for the SP patch, so don't bother downloading both, when we release final versions!)

HSR for the V4/5... - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Hardware: 3dfx - (48)
The girls at AnandTech reviewed the latest 3dfx drivers that added hidden surface removal support for the 3dfx Voodoo4/5 boards, the feature includes benchmarks a'plenty to prove their point. You can read all about the results right here.

Optimizing Your Work-Space - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Hardware: General PC News - (8)
Our good pal Jeremy "Binky-Dinkums" Allford, former AGN3D stud is back in action at GamersDepot where he whipped up a great article on how you can clean up that rat's nest you call your work-space; computer cables, hardware crap and all. Binky, if you already didn't know it was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor not too long ago, and has beaten all the odds and is still alive and kicking out the content. Anyhow, I'm really proud of the man; he is a real-life hero. You can read the full article right here.

Dragon's Lair 3D Q&A - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (11)
Ahhhhh, Dragon's Lair, the memories (of course, um, I wasn't old enough to play it...I just heard about it...yeah, that's the ticket)...3DAP has popped up an interview with Dragonstone's Steven Parsons regarding their upcoming 3D remake (well, of sorts, as you'll read) of the arcade classic, Dragon's Lair.  Here's something to nibble on (what I was talking about with the "of sorts", and then some):

3DActionPlanet: I've noticed from the screenshots and what I saw of the game in action that you're going for a "cartoony" look, just like the original cell animations. Doesn't that sort of conflict with the whole idea of bringing the game into 3D with modern technology?

Steven Parsons: The original Dragon's Lair is unique in that it used high quality animation that had a more realistic feel to it. To keep the Dragon's Lair 3D game true to the original, we felt that we needed to keep the cartoon look and feel in a true 3D environment. One way in which we're capturing that look and feel is by making Dirk the Daring and the cast of Dragon's Lair 3D as full 3D polygonal characters, and making them look cartoonish by applying "toon shading". 

Another method we've used to capture that look and feel is to use a lot of color highlights in lighting the environment, duplicating the same lighting used in the original Dragon's Lair. The differences are that we are using some 2D techniques to improve the look and feel of the 3D environment. Our goal is to give the player the immediate familiarity with the Dragon's Lair environment that they remember, while at the same time offering fantastic new gameplay challenges and yet more enjoyment!

Misc. Lubings... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Miscellaneous Lubings -
Misc. nuggets of crap from around the web that weren't quite "worthy" of a real post...

  • Athlon vs. Duron catfight.    Ok, so an Athlon reaches past the 1GHz mark, but the Durons are buttcheap, so which should you go with (as, with the cash saved, you could always buy more memory and such if you go with a Duron)...?  That's what the boys over at Tech-Report try to answer for ya in their "Athlon vs. Duron catfight" article.  Hell, even the 1.2GHz Athlons are so cheap these days, is hard _not_ to suggest just dropping your load on one of those bad boys.
  • Winamp v2.71.  Yeah, I posted this yesterday, but I received a couple of emails this morning so figured it got buried under all of the other lubes yesterday afternoon.  Yep, Nullsoft has released Winamp v2.71.  If you don't know what Winamp is, please go to your backyard and throw yourself a good beating.
  • Alpha EV8 processor articleRealWorldTech.com has posted the first of a three part article on the upcoming Alpha EV8 processor.  Can Alpha get their groove back?  After reading this guy, it looks like they've at least got the right music playing.  Here's their description of this article: "This is the first installment in a three-part article about the futuristic Alpha EV8, the most powerful and ambitious microprocessor yet proposed. It describes the path leading up to the EV8 and offers a look at its general design and operational characteristics. Future articles will examine the technical challenge and promise of a powerful new technology called Simultaneous Multithreading, or SMT, that EV8 will exploit to increase its performance even further, and the serious implications for competing design approaches such as EPIC."

MS / Xbox interview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Consoles: Microsoft X-Box - (41)
I try to stay way from too much console stuff, but dammit, both the PS2 and XBox give me mahogany (long time anti-console person, so just go along with this)...Gamecenter has posted an interview with Microsoft's J. Allard in a chat about EA's Xbox news (that they've jumped on the Xbox bandwagon, and will be developing for this console).

Summoner shots - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing -
VolitionWatch.com has posted 7 shots from the PC version of THQ and Volition's forthcoming 3D RPG, Summoner.  Dammit the visuals in this game look polished (which is why I'm not doing just a Misc. shots post for these guys). Some of these have been seen before (I can't recall which, this is just something they pointed out in the email) but most are indeed new.

Wizardry 8 preview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing - (9)
CGO has smacked up a preview of Sirtech's forthcoming RPG, Wizardry 8, which really does look pretty damn cool -- now if they could just ink a deal with a publisher (apparently they are in negotiations with several).  Here's a snip from this lengthy preview:

While the saga unfolds from the first-person perspective of Wizardry's past, the designers have taken great pains to get away from the "six character tank" criticisms that have plagued this style of RPG. For example, veterans accustomed to first-person shooter-style tactics such as the old "Eye of the Beholder two-step" will find that enemies surround the party here. Concern yourself too much with what's onscreen and in your face and you'll be headed to the fantasy world equivalent of Boot Hill in no time. Sophisticated monster AI means that foes will often try to converge on those weak sister mages at the back of the line. Even a lowly group of rats is sure to spread out and assault multiple adventurers simultaneously, and more intelligent adversaries such as the dreaded Death Lords will key on those vulnerable, yet still powerful, magic-users and try to take them down first.

Icewind Dale EP gallery - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing -
It's actually the "cinematic gallery", but there's only so much room there.  RPGVault has posted a look at how the new adventure in Black Isle's upcoming Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter begins, with 10 screenshots from this upcoming expansion pack's opening movie.

blah... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - In-House: Blah - (22)
Whoopsie, remind me to _not_ talk about how Tanya (Sweet Dick's woman) has slept with the entire city of Chicago when Sweet Dick is probably going to be around.  Oh well, he got over it (I had to butter him up with my unopened boxed copy of Scars of Velious -- probably a good thing as I'd hate to start up that nasty habit again, I mean the Evercrack twelve step program wasn't a picnic...hell, getting the shakes just thinking about it).  He was also pissed when he found out that it is a tax write off if you score with her (as he apparently missed that item on his tax return last year, the dumb bastard).  And speaking of Sweet Dick, in just a few more days (the 17th) we're heading down to Vegas (with Tanya and Aimee)...probably finish my Christmas shopping while I'm down there -- you've gotta love the Caesar forum shops, of course, even if you sell sperm for a year + a kidney, you still don't have enough to afford nearly anything at any of the shops there (yeah, everything there is such a bargain, I'm picking a great place to finish my Christmas shopping <dripping with sarcasm>).  

Dammit, I didn't have a chance to pick up the new Tool thingy yet, hopefully today.  I haven't really heard anything on Salival yet, but assume it's this boxed set is a safe purchase.  Jeez, I can't believe that it was, hell, like 2 1/2 years ago that I checked out that Tool concert here in Salt Lake.  It's definitely time for a Tool-fix (um, no pun intended, or something).
























Wednesday, December 13, 2000 - Have some news or does your woman ask for Sweet Dick Willy by name? Tell us!

Giants: Citizen Kabuto @ VE - Robert "Apache" Howarth - In-House: Games - (91)
If I haven't been around too much the last few days it's because I was busy playing Planet Moon's Giants: Citizen Kabuto in it's entirety (I finished the game at 4:30 am this morning) and was busy writing this review, which oddly enough includes the first ever released cheat codes for the game! Not that I used them *cough* other than testing to see if they worked, of course. Did Giants manage to bust wide open the can-o-whoop ass?! Anyhow -- here's a taste about the super-sexy 3D visuals:

The stunning graphics featured in Giants: Citizen Kabuto simply blew me away. The unique art style, highly detailed characters and expansive environments were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. From the colorful sky and pastel waters, to the dark twisted Reaper fortresses and quaint Smartie villages, Giants is definitely one of the best-looking games of the year.

This over abundance of eye-candy does have a cost, however. NVIDIA GeForce/GeForce 2 owners will be undulated with richly detailed levels, simmering with lovely textures, all bump mapped and beautiful. With any other video card, however, results may vary. The Voodoo 5, with its great full-screen anti-aliasing, gives the characters and buildings a nice clean look, but the frame rates do seem a bit sluggish, and the colors aren’t nearly as vibrant compared to the effects seen on a newer NVIDIA based board.

Gangsters 2 Preview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Real-Time Strategy -
Daily Radar has a preview of Eidos' upcoming sequel to Gangsters, titled, surprisingly, Gangsters 2. Being developed by Hothouse Creations, Gangsters is a strategy game where you run a group of ruffian-hooligans.

Diablo II Goodies - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Action / Role Playing -
Yes, that's right goodies -- the sweet kind that you'd punch your own mom to get to. Daily Radar has just put up a preview of the Diablo II Expansion. Also, they have an interview with the fellows that were in-charge of Diablo II's cinematics, which have to be some of the sweetest looking cutscenes ever.

Q3: Team Arena Preview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Action - (19)
PC.IGN has been playing Quake 3: Team Arena for the last few days, and has written up a preview of this bad boy. Out of curiosity, what did you folks think of the Q3 Team Arena? Post in the comments section.

Undying Preview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Action -
PC.IGN has updated their wonderful site with a preview of Clive Barker's Undying. I can't wait until I see what this man can do with the gaming industry -- it's been a while since we've had an excellent horror game. I mean come on, there are crotch biting reptiles in the game -- how can you go wrong?

MOO III Diary - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Turn-Based Strategy - (2)
It's designer diary time! That's right, drop your smocks, and grab your socks, because this Master of Orion III Desinger Diary is freakin' massive. Here's a little bit from this sloppy bitch of a diary:

Joining me on that Mission: Impossible is our own Tom Hughes, who has shifted from his "fine focus" position on space combat, ship design, and technology, to a more "broad focus" on the game as a whole and how all the pieces interconnect. Poor bugger! He's getting up to speed right now on that most critical of elements, the economic model (money, other resources, and planet-building). It's an awesome challenge as we've given this aspect of the old Maser of Orion games a fresh look. Included in the model are such elements as capacity, efficiency, tax rates, unemployment, the "consumer economy," trade (at the local, system, and interstellar level; not just inter-civilization), government (local, system, sector, and Imperial), and other aspects. Of course, in keeping with our paradigm, at the "highest level" of macro-management, you can whoosh through all this red tape with a few mouse clicks in response to the "summary" numbers presented on the screen. If you look "under the hood," the minutiae is there in all its detail and you can manipulate it all.

Escape from MI Interview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Adventure -
The Unofficial Escape from Monkey Island site has an interview with Sean Clark and Mike Stemmle about their recently released adventure game, Escape from Monkey Island. Here's a clip from the interview:

Can you give us a little insight into the puzzle-making process? How do you devise the often intricate methods used to get just one object made - such as ‘making’ the Ultimate Insult?

First, we drink a lot of beer. Kidding.

Although everyone has a different way of thinking of these things, there is a basic approach that seems to work. Most of the big puzzle ideas come from the story. Most of the annoying, nonsensical puzzles tend to feel that way simply because the goal of the puzzle doesn’t match the goal of the main character. From there, we find ways of breaking the puzzle up into smaller puzzles, and find ways of integrating them with each other, and the locations we’ve designed. Puzzles we’ve identified as being more thematic we tend to make more complicated.

Then we drink a lot of beer.
If you missed our review (Written by yours truly) you can read that bad-boy right here.

WarCraft III Interview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Real-Time Strategy - (3)
Gaile just e-mailed me letting me know that WarcraftIII.net has interviewed Chris Metzen, Creative Director at Blizzard and author of a prequel story to WarCraft III which will be released on Friday. Here's a clip from the interview:

WarCraftIII.Net: The story, Of Blood and Honor, will focus on the pre-history of the time period of the WarCraft games, right? How far pre- is the history?

Chris Metzen: Actually, Of Blood and Honor takes place maybe five months before Warcraft III. It's definitely set in 'present day' and not in the far flung past. My intent was to bring people up to speed with what Orcs and Humans are all about and show a very focused example of the stereotypes that are associated with Warcraft's two main races.

I wanted this story to create a sense of momentum that will lead right up to Warcraft III and get Warcraft fans fired up all over again. I also wanted to expand upon what people know of these races and begin to show that they're far more dimensional than we've previously led you to believe.

Startopia preview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Real-Time Strategy -
Gamespot has kicked up a preview of Mucky Foot and Eidos' 3D strategy game, Startopia, based on a recent build of this 3D strategy game.  Of course, you may remember Mucky Foot as the guys behind Urban Chaos (which looked cool, but kind of lacked in the gameplay department; that doesn't seem to be the case in Startopia based on some of the hands-on previews I've seen).  In particular, Gamespot takes us through the first few missions of the game (how everything looked, played, and just overall feel of the game).  Since this preview assumes that you know of/about the game, here's a description from the official Startopia site:

Startopia takes gamers to a once thriving galactic network of starships, space stations and planets left lifeless with redundant scars of the apocalypse. You will lead the way in rebuilding the network of space stations that once served the commerce and communication of the old empire - reuniting the surviving alien peoples under one banner.

This simulation gives you the opportunity to rebuild and successfully maintain a series of giant Torus (donuts) space stations that are scattered across the galaxy, providing a suitable home for the many alien races that inhabit space, and perhaps turning a tidy profit for yourself in the process.

Arcanum preview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing -
IntelGamer has posted a preview of Sierra and Troika's dialed looking RPG, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (yes, my spelling is correct on that MF).  Included with this preview are seven new shots snapped off from a beta.  Here's a snippet:

Arcanum takes place in a D&D-esque world filled with magic, dwarves, elves, orcs and, of course, humans. What makes this world different and interesting is the recent industrial revolution and the advent of technology. Spell slingers meet gunslingers and all that. Of course, it doesn't end there. Magic and technology aren't just two different paths; they are diametrically opposing paths since magic twists the laws of nature and technology depends heavily upon them. As such, they tend to negate each other resulting in reduced effectiveness when used on someone from the opposing path.

Arcanum is set for a February 2001 release.

New Art of Magic Screens - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Action / Role Playing - (2)
GameSpot has some new screenshots of Bethesda and Charybdis' upcoming action/strategy/RPG game, Magic & Mayhem: The Art of Magic. Featuring an all new 3d-engine, new spells, new character's, and more fun than the midget toss at your local Sharkey's bar, Art of Magic looks to be one of the dark-horse games of next year (I've played it, so I should know). And in case you missed it earlier, check out the latest Art of Magic designer diary.

Westwood calls for tester - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Massively Multiplayer - Role-Playing - (6)
Just jumping on the reminder bandwagon.  Westwood is still accepting applications to join in on the beta of its science fiction themed massively multiplayer online game (that hasn't been officially announced).  Here's a bit more (actually ripped from a post that Apache kicked up back on December 4th): 

We've begun to accept applications to participate in the beta testing of Westwood Studios science fiction themed massively multiplayer online persistent state world and would like to invite you to apply! The players initially selected will be part of a very limited group but as the testing process continues we'll be adding progressively more testers. There should be plenty of opportunity for you to become involved as we transition to larger phases of the Beta.

Baldur's Gate high-res? - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing - (18)
Our buddy EA scored a bit of news from BioWare's Ray Muzyka on if BioWare has considered creating a high-res (800x600) mode patch for Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast or Planescape Torment.  Check it:

It's not impossible, but the technical challenges are considerable. We've actually been thinking about doing this and if we had the room available in our development schedules it would be something we'd really like to do.

Conquest trailer - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. - (5)
Digital Anvil's official site has been updated with a spiffy new 19 meg AVI trailer showing off their recently completed Conquest: Frontier Wars.  Of course, since Microsoft gave 'em a swift kick to the gomer (announced that they aren't going to publish it), who knows when we'll actually see this game. Thanks FP! 

On DNF engine tweakage - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (26)
Unreal Universe's ADecay spotted a post by 3DRealms code-monkey Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart on Unreal engine optimizations (DirectX and some other tweaks) that 3DR has done to their someday-to-be-released Duke Nukem Forever.  Check it (I'll just rip the stuff UU ripped, since they did such a bang-up job on snipping the good stuff):

As George implies here, our goal is to focus as much on DX8 as possible and that includes any engine modifications necessary to achieve great framerate. We've already made SIGNIFICANT changes to the Unreal engine's span buffer based occlusion model to increase framerate. We are also making changes to the mesh pipeline and other elements of the engine to take advantage of DX features like hardware transform.
----- snip -----
The Unreal engine is heavily CPU bound, so our focus on optimization is more on releasing that CPU tension. For example: the Unreal engine uses span buffering for occlusion. This approach has a lot of benefits, but is CPU intensive. We have saved a lot of framerate by reducing the complexity of the span calculations and reducing the number of required calculations. This kind of optimization is unrelated to the render API layer.

More Lubings... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Miscellaneous Lubings - (29)
Whoa, a second lube job for the day?  This should at least prevent that nasty ass rash that you've had...

  • Windows 2000 SP2 Bug Fix ListActiveWin just posted a bugs fix list from Microsoft's upcoming SP2 for Windows 2000.  No new features in this upcoming service pack, but more bugs fixed than you can shake a dead cat at! The vast majority of these bugs deal with hardware, driver, networking and security problems.  If memory serves, this service pack is due out mid to late January, although a private beta (1) of this SP2 shipped late last week. 
  • New tweaked GeForce drivers.  Thanks to SN for letting us know that Fachman has released v3.1 (2.4 megs) of his tweaked GeForce drivers.
  • Playstation 2 disappointments.  According to this post over at MSNBC (Thanks Shack), people that have picked up the PS2 haven't been overly impressed.  Thanks Shack!  A snip: "ALL-IN-ONE GIZMO with movie-quality graphics. Japanese gamers were the machine’s first fans, snapping up a million the first week it went on sale. Not anymore. The title of the late-November conference at a trendy coffeehouse in Tokyo said it all: 'What Happened to PlayStation 2?'"
  • OpenGL Winamp band & dance plug-in v2.0.  Spotted this one over at OpenGL.org: "Karam's Group OpenGL-based plug-in for WinAmp uses real time character animation and a beat detector with a rock band playing your favorite MP3 music. The new 2.0 version adds human models, real lights w/ shading, background animation and dancers" (dammit I'm lazy).  You know how I dig those WinAmp plug-ins!
  • Violence and Baldur's Gate 2, what's the connection?. BioWare's main page mentions an article on people being influenced by violence in games, check it out to see what the author has to say about it (violence) and Baldur's Gate 2. Dammit, that's a horrible description...I didn't eat my Wheaties today.
  • Winamp v2.71. Thanks to Anthony for letting us know that Nullsoft has released a new version (2.71) of their MP3, CD and other audio formats player, Winamp.
  • New Diablo II Expansion NPC revealed. PlanetDiablo has revealed Anya, another NPC from Blizzard's Diablo II expansion pack.
  • "Video Games are 'unhealthy' for girls". Man, did they enlarge Lara Croft's boobs for this article over at MSNBC (picture at the top) or is it just me? Whoa, I think that's like one of their points (about large boobs, or stereotyping women in that way)...whoops :) Thanks Phil!

Blade of Darkness Q&A - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Action - (17)
GameSeek scored a little interview loving from Juan Diaz-Bustamante, general manager at RebelAct Studios about its sharp (no pun intended) looking over-the-shoulder action game -- Blade of Darkness. Included, are sixteen new screen shots of the game in action. Here's a cut from the interview:

What makes this game stand out from other games in his genre?

JDB: Realism. We wanted the playing really feeling he or she is inside the game. Real time shadows and lightning, interactivity with any object around, realistic physics, realistic behaviour of the enemies, etc... all orientated to create a great athmospheric enviroment. At the same time, we didn't want a swords game in which you should have to press one key one time and another for hitting your enemies. Combat is very well thought from my point of view, and very challenging. It needs experience until you master it.

Powerplay update - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Action -
Does anyone remember that whole "Powerplay" deal that Valve Software was trying to set up to improve the standards of Internet play? Well Stomped has a little update from Matthew Lodge, the manager of product marketing for Valve's partner in PowerPlay, Cisco Systems.

Custom A.I. in Sacrifice - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Role Playing Strategy - (3)
Sophistry, (Martin) the lead programmer at Shiny posted some info on the possibility of using custom AI scripts for Sacrifice. Here's the word:

The AI does not use build lists. It has a number of actions that it can do (hardcoded) that are enumerated and evaluated based upon its current knowledge base, then it chooses the most appropriate action(s) and issues the orders needed to carry them out.

Yes, wizard stats are hard coded, even though there are character entries in the stats database for wizards, these get overridden. This was the only way to ensure a fair, matched multiplayer experience.

Also, although the stats database is available to edit, I would refrain from doing so, since any change to this file effectively changes your version number, so you are unable to play against other players online unless they have the same database.

Indy War 2 interview - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. - (7)
Those happening guys at GA-SIM dished out an Independence War 2 interview with Particle Systems lead programmers, Will Vale and Michael Powell. The game looks really good, and here's why:

Tell us more about the lastest engine on which I-War 2 is based. What are its capabilities and how has it allowed you to expand the game beyond the scope of the original title?

I-War 2 has an entirely new game engine called Flux. This is a next-generation game engine designed for new and upcoming PC and console hardware. In terms of features, we have full support for Direct3D and take advantage of new hardware features such as texture compression and accelerated T&L. We also use 3D sound to put the player right into the centre of the action.

With Flux, we've been able to create a much richer world, with ships and environments that look real enough to reach out and touch. The new scripting language has allowed the game designers to be much more creative with ship behaviours and mission scenarios.

Top 20 Selling Games - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: General - (14)
GameWeek updated its TRST sales figures for the week of 11/26 today, with Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 snagging the top spot and the Sims coming in second place. Diablo II mananged to get back on the list, and Mechwarrior 4 moved up nine spots to number eleven. Other than that, there are a lot of crappy bargin-bin stocking stuffer games on the list like Frogger 2 or Who Wants to be a Millionare.

SoF news - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (1)
A couple of Soldier of Fortune bits to, um, suck down, or something.  There's a new mappers guild over at SoFCenter.com.  SoFCenter.com also let us know that according to this G-Spot article, a Playstation 2 port of SoF in currently on the grill over at Pipe Dream Interactive.  This PS2 version of SoF should be out Q4 2001.  Pipe Dream, of course, is also porting Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force for the PS2 (just an FYMFI).

BCM terrain tech. shots - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Space Shooter / Space Sim. - (27)
3000AD's Derek Smart sent word that the first public showing of the new terrain technology in the upcoming Battlecruiser Millennium (which will also be used in Galactic Command Online, as well as their upcoming space/planetary/RPG/first-person XBox title based on BCM engines).  Here's what else he had to say (in regards to some new shots that he posted showing off this terrain, slightly trimmed down as Derek tends to be longwinded):

These shots speak for themselves. You will see shots of different alien landscapes, multiple cloud layers (all of which are dynamic i.e the move, doh!) etc. You will also see a ground-zero shot. This new terrain technology supports all three types of altitude ranges required for these titles. These include high-alitude (fighters, ships entering from space etc), low-altitude (low flying gunships), and ground-zero (driving, first person combat etc) - seamlessly. And while others are touting game worlds with 8KM ranges, pah! Even the old legacy terrain technlogy in BC3K v2.0x on a size 400 planet, spans about 40000km. Yep, thats almost the size of the planet Earth you currently live in. Go do the math.

Due to the plug-in nature of the BCM engine technologies, this new terrain will go final and implemented in an upcoming Beta patch sometime this month.

New official AOE II map - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Real-Time Strategy -
Thanks to "Dr. Spunk" (hey, I can't make this stuff up...well, sober anyways) for letting our stank asses know that Ensemble Studios has just posted a new official map for Age of Empires II: Conquerors, "Canals". Here's the description:

The most notable feature of this map, is in fact, the network of canals, which creates a spiderweb effect as they try to connect every player's starting town and generate some pretty spectacular-looking minimaps. The more players, the more canals, so this map is much more interesting with 8 players than with 2.

Neverwinter Preview - Manveer "Eidolon" Heir - Games: Massively Multiplayer - Role-Playing -
Since Billy is waxing the love pigeon currently, I guess I'll post this baby. Action Trip, the site that puts new meaning to the phrase "loose as a goose", has a preview up of Bioware's upcoming RPG Neverwinter Nights. Using the D&D 3rd edition rules, Neverwinter Nights is supposed to bring a true pencil and paper RPG experience to the computer. The preview also contains a slew of sweet-ass screens (Yes, sometimes ass can be sweet).

On Q3A 1.27 point release - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (2)
According to a response by id's Todd Hollenshead over on the Quake3world.com forums, we probably won't see the Quake3 v1.27 point release today (as we were told previously) but "soon". 

Speaking of id, if you missed our interview with Robert Duffy earlier today, check that bad MF out.

Fighter Ace II update - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Flight / Combat Sims - (2)
The Redmond boys (MS) have released a major update for Fighter Ace II, Zone.com's massively multiplayer ("more than 300 pilots to fight in a single air combat arena") WWII air combat game.  This update adds 13 new vintage fighters and bombers the WWII era, as well as two new maps (English Channel and a fictional map which features "10,000 foot spires, a nail-biting canyon, and a death bowl with walls so high no one cane escape.  Along with those added goodies, they have also tossed in there advanced flight model adjustments for increase accuracy, improved rocket trajectories, heavy machine gun adjustments for the German and United States forces, and more.

If you're a registered players of Fighter Ace II, you'll have to snake this update in order to continue playing.  Check out all of the poop on this update right here.  If you'd like to learn more about Fighter Ace II, hit the official site.

John Romero interview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (68)
Continuing to Dolly (milk) their year-end 2000 Q&As, Stomped has posted an interview with the man behind Daikatana (hey, he was young, he needed the money), John Romero, in a chat about, well hell, this past year in gaming and what he thinks will happen in 2001 (Daikatana 2 maybe?!?!?! We can only dream...<dripping with sarcasm>.  In this interview, John does make some good points about some print and net sites (not saying that we aren't one of 'em <cough>, but still).  Just to get you in the mood, here's a snip (had to do it):

Stomped: What was the year 2000 like for your particular gaming projects? Were you happy with the response to your most recent games? If you did not release a game this year, were you happy with the progress made during your current game's development?

Romero: Well, it's no secret that I wasn't happy with the response to Daikatana. Sure, the game has some problems, but not enough to warrant the amount of voracity that was seen in some of the reviews. Deus Ex did really well, though, so it was a decent year here at Ion Storm.

The guts of an Indrema - Dave "Octane" Morrison - Consoles: General News - (6)
The kids over at Howstuffworks.com (maybe they can figure out how women work... then they'd be famous =) have taken a look at the first console that would make any hobbiest proud, the Indrema Game Console. No doubt if you're a regular reader you've heard us mention this one before, but this is a pretty good article for those that haven't heard much info. Check it out right over here.

StarKnights preview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Turn-Based Strategy -
Strategy Planet has posted a look at KnightSoft's forthcoming turn-based strategy title, StarKnights.  They have also posted an "exclusive" trailer (4 megs) for this game of "interstellar conquest".  Here's a small tidbit from this preview:

StarKnights is a game of interstellar conquest. You take control of planets and systems in order to extract resources so you can grow and build your empire. You can set up starports to help you move your resources to the areas that need them, and you can build planetary defenses to help you defend your systems from invaders.

Shots lubings... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: General -
Some misc. shots to nibble on from around the web this morning...

  • Warzone Online shots. AVault has scored some reach around from Paradox Entertainment by way of some new images from their forthcoming real-time strategy game, Warzone Online.
  • Dark Age of Camelot shotsGildenweb has scored some gameplay shots from Mythic's upcoming MMORPG, Dark Age of Camelot (set in the King Arthur days, as the title might suggest).
  • Morrowind Editor shots -- Destination Morrowind dished out some cool new editor shots from this sexy looking 3D RPG.
  • Action Half-Life takes a dive -- PHL released six Action HL shots showcasing the "dive" move that made its way into beta4, which should be released pretty soon here.

Star Wars Galaxies news - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Massively Multiplayer - Role-Playing - (2)
Thanks to my boy over a Verant (and Blue's) for sending word that their Star Wars Galaxies site has been updated with a Developer's Journal-type (forums post) thingamajig.  This jobbie has comments from the team behind this upcoming cash cow that's been posted to their forums.  If you've read all of the press releases, there probably isn't anything new here, but, if like me, you haven't been keeping it, it'll bring you up to speed.  It DOES include things like how it differs from Everquest (as many thought it would be "Everquest in Space", PvP news, and oh-so much more.  Although, if you hit RPG sites or *cough* this page, you've probably seen most of this forum bits previously.

KuF - GOD is not pleased - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Action / Strategy - (6)
Yesterday we reported on GamesDomain and their exclusive Kingdom Under Fire Demo (I must say this is a great game if you loved Warcraft II .. it's actually like Warcraft II on crack - very addictive and it packs quite a mind blowing punch). Anyways, it seems as if the actual developer Phantagram send out the demo directly to the GamesDomain kiddies without proper authorizion from GOD (Watch out!) so this really isn't the "official" demo that GOD intended to release. Anyways hit up the link above in the mean time to check out the "un-official" demo.

On updated Hitman demo - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Action - (11)
Contrary to a few earlier reports, there will be a second demo of Eidos' stealthy/thinker/shooter, Hitman: Codename 47 "within a week".  I scored this steaming nugget of news from Eidos' Bryan Davies.  Since the previous demo seemed more of a tech demo/beta and was released ages ago (well, ok, months ago), I'm sure it'll be a bit more representative of the final gameplay.

AITD Interview - Ryan "TheMystic" Lord - Games: Horror - (3)
GA-Source yanked out the lube and got down to business with Antoine Villette / Guillaume Gouraud of Darkworks Studio and pulled out a little bit of info on their upcoming Alone in the Dark sequel (The classics spawned games such as Resident Evil / Nocturne). Here's a early-mornin' clip for ya :

GA-Source : What genre would you categorize this game? Will it be similar in terms of gameplay to any games currently out on the market? What were your influences for this game?

Darkworks Studio : Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is an adventure/survival-horror game based on fear and anguish. Our purpose is to have the player live a unique (and some would say total) experience, removing him from the real world where his emotions are always limited, and to immerse him in an imaginary but very believable world where he must exhibit courage, tenacity, perseverance and intelligence.

We want to give the player the feeling that he’s participating in a kind of rite of passage: he won't be quite the same after playing. This is not a question of saving the world once again. The player assumes the role of Edward Carnby, the hero, who is a rich and complex character who combats his own demons just as much as the creatures that inhabit the hell into which he is plunged. The scenario implications of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare make him discover realities he could only suspect, realities that have consequences in terms of both gameplay and adventure. The player has to adapt and understand this universe he is challenging in order to fight with his own arms. Some people undergo what we call sense deprivation experiences because Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare immerses the player so fully in the game.

Robert Duffy (id) Q&A - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - In-House: Games - (17)
To spice up a normally blah hump day (that would be Wednesday), we've posted an interview with id programmer Robert Duffy, in another one of our post-gold interviews (milking the free time some developers have just after a game goes gold).  In this interview we talk about whether or not the Team Arena design document changed much during the development of this game, a quick course in designing a level for Q3, what things he would go back and change with TA if he could, and oh-so much more (ok, not much more).  Here's a small taste from this interview:

Voodoo Extreme: Were there any engines / utilities / etc. that absolutely sucked ass or slowed down development and made you want to go postal?

Robert Duffy: QVM's are a necessary evil for portability and security but they sure can be a bitch to work with sometimes.

Voodoo Extreme: Did you work directly with Carmack on the Q3 TA engine or was it just a checklist of things needed to be done?

Robert Duffy: John mostly worked on DOOM research during Team Arena. He was always available for sticky issues but in general that work was shared between Jan, Paul, Graeme and myself.

Oni overload - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Consoles: Sony Playstation I/II - (14)
Computer and Video Games smacked up a whole bunch of new shots from the PS-2 version of Oni, Bungie's action packed martial arts game set for release next month. Yeah, they're PS2 shots, but it looks almost the same as the PC. Here's a blip from the little preview:

Oni is shaping up, and these shots point to a great deal more than the less-than-impressive offering shown off at E3 and ECTS this year. The game casts players in the role of a female anime character Konoko, and merges hand-to-hand fighting action with weapons combat. Reports from Take Two are that the hideous frame rate problems that dogged previous code have now been cleaned up and from the looks of things, the general graphics have been smoothed down nicely. Single-players can expect a full futuristic storyline involving evil mega corporations and tooled-up super-violent police types, while multiplayer comes in the form of split-screen action.

Fallout Tactics Chat - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Role Playing Strategy -
Interplay sent word that they will be hosting an official developer's chat at the Vault Network with the guys making Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel tomorrow at 5pm PST. Here's the sauce:

What: Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel Chat
When: December 14, 2000 at 5 p.m. PST
Where: http://rpgvault.ign.com/chat/ in channel #ignvault or for fans (and team members) who prefer to use a regular IRC client can connect to host17.webmaster.com, #ignvault

Who will be in attendance from the Fallout Tactics Team:
Chris Taylor - Senior Designer
Tony Oakden - Producer
Ed Orman - Lead Game Designer
Karl Burdack - Lead Programmer
Parrish Rodgers - Lead Artist

A Shiny FPS Christmas - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Role Playing Strategy - (3)
At the Ambassador's Domain I noticed that in celebration of the Christmas spirit Shiny released a first-person-shooter mod for Sacrifice at the official website. I haven't tried it out, but it sounds pretty cool. If you missed it before, you can read our review.

KuF preview - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: Role Playing Strategy -
MGON previewed Kingdom Under Fire, "a Diablo meets Warcraft type of affair, with “dungeon hacking” style combat and plenty of character evolution and role-playing elements thrown in." If you missed it last night, the blokes at GamesDomain released the "exclusive" demo of Kingdom Under Fire, but according to the Gathering of Developers it was in fact "leaked". Gosh, no wonder it was exclusive. The magic 8-ball says "GD will not be getting any love from GoD anytime soon." No use in crying over spilled milk though, you can snag the 160mb demo at AVault.

Fallout BOS Q&A - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Role Playing Strategy - (2)
FalloutX.com has kicked up a short Q&A with Chris Taylor regarding Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.  It's a shortly, but remember what your momma taught you about size (ok, maybe not your momma), but there is a question in there about new art photos from 12/6 (blimps in a cutscene, if they'll be included and a city in flame, that looks like the aftermath of an H-bomb...the answers on both of these).  And, will any of the BOS guys from the original be in the game?  Such as Rhombus, The General, etc.?  Find out at FallouX.

Tropico preview - Robert "Apache" Howarth - Games: General -
The ladies at Thresh's Firing Squad previewed PopTop's Tropico, the nifty looking island sim powered by the Railroad Tycoon 2 engine and published by the Gathering of Developers. Here's some sex on the beach:

Since the game is built on the Railroad Tycoon 2 engine, players can scale the resolution from either 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 all the way up to 1600 x 1200. When we saw the game, it still used the railroad spike pointer from RRT2. There's still much development ahead before Tropico is published - PopTop is shooting for March 2001 for a PC release, with a Macintosh release scheduled shortly after that. A Dreamcast version has been announced but remains unscheduled.

Misc FAQs and Guides... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: General -

Misc. Lubings... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Miscellaneous Lubings -
Just miscellaneous little nuggets from around the web that I couldn't quite muster up a "real" post for...

  • Acoustic Edge sound card review. 3DSoundSurge.com has posted some early impressions of Philips Semiconductors’ Thunderbird Avenger - SAA7785 PCI audio chip powers the Acoustic Edge sound card.  Hey, it's nice to see some competition for Creative these days, so figured this at least deserved a lube-job.
  • "Recording Industry Scores Victory Over Radio Stations".  Yikes... I noticed over at The Shack that "radio broadcasters are not exempt from paying royalty fees to artists and record companies when they simulcast a broadcast on the Internet" (talk about a blatant rip).  Check out this article for the juice.
  • Quake III: Team Arena system requirements. I'm sure they've been posted before but can't actually find it, so just gonna lube this one: Quake3world.com posted word of the min. system requirements for id's Team Arena.

FunRun & Stacker Blocks 3D - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: General -
A couple of little freeware games that I noticed over at 3Dfiles, so while they probably won't win any awards might provide you with at least a few minutes of entertainment (which can be a bit more than a lot of commercial games these days).  The first game is called FunRun and weighs in at a very modest 7.9 megs.  Here's the description of FunRun:

FunRun is a small, single-player (time attack) racing game where the user has to drive as fast as possible through the race track, avoiding obstacles, crossing checkpoints and collecting various extras.

The game was designed as a merchandizing giveaway for the relaunch of Karstadt's e-commerce platform "my world" on IFA, Berlin, the most important international exhibition for consumer electronic and communications

The second freeware game that I noticed over at 3dfiles is Stacker Blocks 3D (hell, you can't go wrong with these Tetris-type games, like a virgin hooker, you probably won't...err, nevermind, I won't go there):

Stacker Blocks 3D is a falling blocks game in the style of classic Tetris. It runs under MS Windows, using Direct3D for some fancy graphics. It is free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is also open source; you can download the source code.

Giants coming to PS2... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Consoles: General News - (15)
According to a post over at G-Spot, Planet Moon and Interplay's recently released gem, Giants: Citizen Kabuto is being ported over the Playstation 2, which we could see in mid-2001.  They also mention that Planet Moon could milk the console market a bit more with a release for Microsoft's XBox console.  Check out the whole story right here.

Update by Apache - I just beat Giants, woo!

Cossacks preview - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - Games: Real-Time Strategy - (3)
Computer Games Online has posted a preview of Strategy First's upcoming real-time strategy game, Cossacks: European Wars.  My god(s) does CGO need a spit-shining (just thinking out loud, site looks more dated than a Reno...as in the city, not that guy that's the attorney general, hooker).  Here's a semi-hefty blurb:

On the surface, with its 3D terrain, highly detailed structures and units, Cossacks looks like a fairly straightforward real-time strategy game, i.e., the gathering of resources (gold, iron, coal, stone, wood, and food), building the various structures that produce weapons, advances, etc. However, it is in the sheer number of opponents and allies involved, with their own unique strengths and tech-tree advances (up to 300 upgrades are possible) that allows Cossacks to stand out from the pack. There are 16 nations that you can play as, with, or against: Algeria, Austria, England, France, Netherlands, Piemonte, Poland, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venice. Each country has its own original look, specialized economic and technical development, military advantages and drawbacks—which should allow for plenty of tactical, strategic, and diplomatic possibilities. Among the military unit types available are infantry, cavalry, artillery, and naval forces. Nations will use their unique units along with units common to all sides.

Update: Speaking of Cossacks: European Wars, GameSpot UK has posted a little hands-on preview lovin' of this game as well. And, of course, they have included a gallery of nudies.

blah... - Billy "Wicked" Wilson - In-House: Blah - (40)
I'm not sure how I overlooked it before, but our new guy Ryan ("TheMystic") is from the Chicago area...chances are he's nailed Sweet Dick's woman at least once before (because, as I'm under the impression, it's a requirement if you live in the Chicago area...plus, it's a tax write-off or something).  I heard a rumor that it's windy or breezy there in Chicago, or something like that (joke, dammit).  Of course, Sweet Dick also told me that it really isn't that windy, so I would say "yeah, you think they'd give it a nick name like 'the breezy town' or something if it really was windy there" (as he knows that I like to bitch about anything weather related, and that he's been trying to get me to head over there sometime with him -- of course I know this isn't the REAL reason behind the cities name, at least historically, but it def. wits it these days).  To be honest, he has probably the only long distance relationship that I can think of that actually works, hell, he's been with his little hooker for like 7 years now.  They have the type of relationship though that, if they lived together, I doubt they'd be together for more than a couple of months (I'm sure you know the type).  Next time he goes out of town to visit her (as I know he doesn't check the site much when he's out of town) I'll tell you the story about how he had to hide under her bed a few times when her husband came home early (yeah, she was married, but hey, that's how good relationships start).  In all honesty, she's a great girl -- I hated her way back when, for obvious reasons, but she turned out to be very cool (um, once she got divorced, which wasn't a huge shocker).  She was a real bitch though until her mom died, which sparked the joke "now if her dad died, she'd be ever more cool"...that went over like a lead balloon.  I have no idea what sparked this long ass blah about Sweet Dick's hired help, so please just excuse me.

I don't know how the hell I spaced this but Tool's "Salival" boxset was released yesterday (Tool's first new release in like four+ years...).  If you don't like Tool, consider yourself scratched from my Christmas list, ya bastard! :)

And finally, another "well smack my ass and call me sally", it looks like Bush has finally won, or is just about too (Gore will apparently officially withdraw on a televised address to the nation tonight at 9PM Eastern) -- about f'n time! Man, he was a stubborn bastard, not that I'd blame him I suppose.




 

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