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Freedom Force Developer Diary
Robb Waters talks about his love of comics.

Rome: Total War Faction Feature
Egyptian units and buildings blowout!

- Heroes of the Pacific Q&A;
- Alien Swarm Patch
- Bloodrayne Film
- Pacific Assault Q&A;
- Vault Features
- In Other News
- Halo 2 Weekly Update
- Friday WPG
- Serious Sam 2 Update
- BF: Vietnam Update
 

Children of the Nile 06.04.2004
Ancient Egypt moves into three dimensions with Tilted Mills' lovely new city builder.

Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon Review 06.03.2004
A WWII RTS that manages to eke out some freshness.

Uru: Path of the Shell Preview 06.01.2004
Plunge into next and final chapter in the Myst spin-off.

Saturday , June 05, 2004
Heroes of the Pacific Q&A; 06:42 pm - Steejee - games: action (0 comments)
Armchair Empire has posted up an interview with Ben Palmer and Justin Halliday on the subject of their game, Heroes of the Pacific. Killing lots and lots of simulated people never gets old:

Armchair:How difficult is it balancing between arcade and sim? Will there be separate modes?

Halliday: Heroes of the Pacific offers two different sets of flight control, Arcade and Simulation. The Arcade controls are similar to those in Crimson Skies, while the Sim controls give you totally control over the pitch, roll, and yaw of your plane.

Alien Swarm Patch 06:35 pm - Steejee - games: mods (0 comments)
Black Cat Games sends word they've posted up a patch for their UT2004 mod Alien Swarm. Lots and lots of fixes included, so be sure to pick it up if you have the game (if you don't have the mod, pick it up already! It rocks).

Bloodrayne Film 09:16 am - Jeff Tom - games: game biz. (6 comments)
PC.IGN have posted a news story with word of a film version of the Bloodrayne well underway and also a possible Far Cry film. Here's a bit to get you started but follow the link for more info:

The movie version of BloodRayne is being directed by Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark) and written by Guin Turner (American Psycho). According to our sources, the film will get underway soon, with shooting set to start on August 20.

BloodRayne, in case you aren't hip to that scene, follows a sexy vampiress agent who takes on a dangerous group that's trying to unite three parts of an ancient talisman that will give them the power to control the world. As she fights, BloodRayne must consume the blood of her victims to sustain her life and increase her power.

Pacific Assault Q&A; 09:10 am - Jeff Tom - games: action (0 comments)
Planetmedalofhonor have posted up part two of their interview with EA on the level design of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. Here's a slice:

Q: What will the training level be like will you tackle it solo like on Allied Assault or with other men?

A: Boot camp will be much more interesting than the standard fare training level that many shooters have, as it is where you first meet the other three main characters in Pacific Assault. We plan to introduce the player to the new aspects of gameplay that we have in Pacific Assault, as well as begin the player character's story of his journey through the Pacific theater.

Vault Features 09:05 am - Jeff Tom - games: action (0 comments)
Here's the latest from the Vault on this saturday. Enjoy:

In Other News 08:58 am - Jeff Tom - in-house: in other news... (36 comments)
Dang, everything seems to have slowed down quite a bit this June. I wish something exciting would happen this month like Doom 3 going gold but I wouldn't bet on it for June. It'll be interesting since they're focusing on the single player component more this time around what exactly we'll get as far as multiplayer. They haven't exactly gone into detail on that but they did show it off at QuakeCon last year. Counting the days until the next...

What game sequel let you down the most? I think that's a fairly interesting question.
 
 

Friday , June 04, 2004
Halo 2 Weekly Update 09:40 pm - Apache - games: action (0 comments)
SuperNova Reloaded is this week's lucky host of the official Halo 2 update:
Dave Dunn didn't have much to say, but what he had to say was tremendously important. The environments and the geometry are done. That is to say, there is a building, a door, a wall and a floor everywhere it's supposed to be, you can run through the entire game without finding any gaps, and now he and the guys have moved on to polishing. They'll be tweaking textures, futzing with lightmaps and tweaking things here and there, but now they're on a different type of schedule.

The geometry and environments guys have been pretty much left to their own devices for a long time, but now they'll have a lot more to-ing and fro-ing with the designers as they tweak bits of environment to suit gameplay requirements. Dave says that while it may seem like they're cutting it close; this is a lot further ahead than it was on the first game, by comparison and with a whole heck of a lot more environments!

Thanks HBO.

Friday WPG 08:50 pm - Apache - games: general news (0 comments)
Like, whoa.

Serious Sam 2 Update 02:22 pm - Jeff Tom - games: action (0 comments)
Croteam have updated their webpage with an update on Serious Sam 2. They go over the menu system on this update:

The new game menu system has been cooking for a while now, and is now finished. It is as simple to use as it possibly can be, and yet extremely flexible. All game menus can be edited while they are running, all thanks to our phenomenal simulation documents (an applause for our programmer Darko Martinovic, please). You can start a test game, open up the menus (in game, or tell the test game to start in main menu), and then edit the menu layouts live, with changes you make instantly visible on screen. Menu gadgets can be added, moved around, resized, their color and font changed, values added to multi-select gadgets (i.e. 'Easy', 'Normal', 'Hard')... and all that with no coding at all. Functionality has to be coded, of course, but it's coded in script code and not in C++, so it can be done without a C++ compiler, just with a restart of the editor (we'll try to avoid that, too). A simple menu screen can be created in under 5 minutes, with all graphics properly placed, links to other menus working, and all buttons placed where they should be.

BF: Vietnam Update 02:19 pm - Jeff Tom - games: action (2 comments)
The community website for Battlefield Vietnam has been updated with news that the 1.02 patch will be released next week and also news of the 1.1 patch. Here's a cut:

Meanwhile, DICE has been hard at work on moving the 1.1 update forward. Today we are featuring a screenshot from "The Defense of Con Thien", the free map bundled with 1.1. The view below is from the middle of the DMZ (or Demilitarized Zone), and takes in the desolation of the area as well as the NVA defenses above. As you can see, the DMZ is a killing zone, littered with the wreckage of downed vehicles and surrounded at both ends by artillery pieces, stationary machine guns and watchtowers (US-owned defenses are not pictured). Not a safe place to venture on foot, the DMZ is best crossed in vehicles and in force (lest you catch a bullet in your brain pan).

Pacific Assault Q&A; 02:04 pm - Jeff Tom - games: action (0 comments)
PlanetMedalofHonor have slapped up an interview on Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and level design. Here's a whiff:

Q: What is the new MOHRadient like?

A: There have been a number of changes to how levels are created with Radiant. The old terrain system has been completely reworked to give level designers much greater flexibility in terms of shaping and texturing terrain. New features, such as selection groups, give designers better tools for organizing entities and assets in the scenes. Although brushes are supported for functional entities such as triggers and clip brushes, they are not supported at runtime for level geometry (if you use too many of them they will crash the level). Patches are also no longer supported as well. Instead of using brushes and patches, static models are used. Models and entities can also be flagged to hug the hills and valleys of the terrain automatically. There are also new tools to quickly add vegetation to the terrain, as well as to control fog and farplane settings, using painted layers in Photoshop. Combined with the new terrain tools, this will make it much easier for map designers to create lushly vegetated, realistic landscapes than before.

Prisoner of Azkaban Ships 11:33 am - Jeff Tom - games: action / adventure (0 comments)
PC.IGN has word that the latest Harry Potter game, Prisoner of Azkaban, has shipped to stores in time for the movie release today. The game is being released on all console formats as well as PC.

Hardcore Gamer Article 11:30 am - Jeff Tom - games: game biz. (2 comments)
CNN Money's Game Over column has been updated with a new article looking at the hardcore gamer and their impact on the mainstream buyers and also companes such as id, Valve, and Epic who target the market. They also confirm that Raven's Quake 4 will not be shown at QuakeCon this August. Here's a cut:

"We've been happy with what they've done, but it's too early to show," added id's lead designed Tim Willits.

The disappointment of not seeing the game could bring out the ugly side of the hardcore crowd, though. Hollenshead said it comes with the territory.

"The guys who love you the most are also the people who will blast you the hardest if you piss them off," he said. "We've been trying not to whip people into a frenzy with ['Quake 4']. When we show the game, we want it to be something that's really impressive for the people who have been waiting for it."

Spider-Man 2 for the Kids? 11:08 am - Jeff Tom - games: action (0 comments)
PC.IGN is running a news story with word that Spider-Man 2 for the PC from Activision will be different from the console versions, done by another developed and aimed at a kids market. Of course the obvious conclusion is that they're reaching for a broader demographic on the PC market but as I recall despite the poor reviews of the last Spider-Man game for the PC, it sold fairly well. Check it:

After a bit of checking, we've learned that Spider-Man 2 for the PC will actually be a stand-alone product skewed towards kids and will not be the same as the ultra-cool looking console versions, which is why I now have a box of tissues at my desk and am weeping like a little girl. Yes, it sucks, PC gamers will again get jacked out of receiving the adult version of a game for a smaller, easier, and more kid friendly version. Damn. After contacting Activision, they informed me they were in the midst of getting the demo pulled down off of the various downloads sites obviously to avoid some confusion as they haven't really talked about this version of the game yet.

Universal Does Doom 07:55 am - Jeff Tom - games: game biz. (22 comments)
Comingsoon.net reports that Universal Pictures have optioned id software's Doom with Enda Mccalion making his directorial debut, according to variety. The story also mentions a July 15 release date for Doom 3 but whether or not that hits we shall see.

Epic Chat Today 01:20 am - Apache - games: action (0 comments)
Today at 4PM EST Epic Games will be having a hot man chat, err IRC chat with CliffyB and Steven Polge about (among other things) the Make Something Unreal Contest that NVIDIA is sponsering (a million bucks is nothing to scoff at!). The chat is hosted by IGN, server is chat1.ign.com and the room #unreal. You will need an IRC client to join.

GameShark Stuff 01:15 am - Apache - games: general news (0 comments)
Today from Gameshark:

Star Wars Battlefront Diary 12:56 am - Apache - games: action (0 comments)
In a move I am sure which is just to annoy me and my trusty AM updates, GameSpy is now updating 6 hours earlier and posted a new designer diary for Star Wars Battlefront, LucasArts' upcoming tactical action shooter:

Re-creating the dozens of amazing worlds and the hundreds of exotic creatures in the Star Wars universe is no easy task. In this installment of our Star Wars: Battlefront developer diaries, lead artist Dean Betton talks about the trials and tribulations of rendering the worlds, creatures, and vehicles of Star Wars in a fast-paced action game.

DRIV3R Preview 12:33 am - Apache - games: simulation (0 comments)
Gamesdomain kicked up a preview of DRIV3R:

At first glance, DRIV3R looks as if it's cut straight from the Grand Theft Auto mold. Of course, 2000's Driver 2 cut that mold before Rockstar did, but regardless, this sequel is a logical continuation of the series.

Rather than integrating cruising and missions into one glob of gameplay, DRIV3R breaks the two into distinct menu entries. "Undercover" is a linear sequence of missions that takes players from one to the next with no unstructured driving in between. Cutscenes tell what will hopefully be a complex story, with missions filling in the details. "Take a Ride," on the other hand, is the venue for unrestrained driving in unlocked cities. Three are part of the plan -- Miami, Nice, and Istanbul -- and several mini games are also available.

IGN Nuggets 12:28 am - Apache - games: general news (1 comment)
From IGN with love:

More Computex 12:18 am - Steejee - hardware: general news (0 comments)
So exciting it might raise your pulse by one beat per minute:

AMD64 and Compiling 12:17 am - Steejee - hardware: amd (0 comments)
Felt this article over at Digit-life was worth note. The Digit-life guys take an Athlon FX-53 and see what sort of compiler performance increases one can expect. Digit-life did the same test several months ago with rather disappointing conclusions. Not a whole lot has changed it seems...

Hardware Roundup 12:15 am - Steejee - hardware: hardware round-ups (0 comments)

Review Roundup 12:14 am - Steejee - games: miscellaneous round-ups (0 comments)

PC:

PS2:

XBox:

GC:

GBA:

In Other News... 12:05 am - Apache - in-house: in other news... (22 comments)
At long last it's Friday! Let us rejoice in the soon-to-be weekend goodness. Sorry again for the crappy AM update yesterday, IGN's database took a big crap and we were just lucky to get up what we could before it pooped out. Things seem to be working okay today, so all is good. I'd of liked to see more replies for yesterday's question, but the forums were down as well (the replies were pretty good though for those who were able to post when the forums went up). If you have any really good questions you'd like to ask, submit them to be with the topic of QOTD and I'll see what I can do. It gets pretty hard coming up with new stuff to ask!

Today's question is How many good games does a developer with a bad reputation need to put out before they lose the stigma of being a shitty company? If you could use examples with your answers that would rock!
 
 


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