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Friday , June 11, 2004 |
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Vault Features 12:44 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
Today at the Vault:
Patches Aplenty 12:37 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Quite a few patches released today:
Shadow Ops: Red Mercury Stuff 01:49 am
- Apache
- games: action / strategy
(0 comments)
HLF is closing out its Shadow Ops: Red Mercury coverage with the last developer diary and interview with Zombie about its recently gone gold Unreal engined tactical action shooter:
HomeLAN - Looking back on the development of the project, what things would Zombie have done differently in the creation of the game?
Williamson and Long - We cyberscanned the characters - 3D laser scanned at 1mm resolution - at great time and expense. We were implementing normal mapping and hoped to derive the high resolution displacement maps from the scans. But normal mapping the characters hit the framerate unacceptably, so we had to abadon it for this title. Normal mapping works great in titles with 2 characters on screen at a time (Riddick, Doom3, the next Splinter Cell), but we wanted more action on screen, 6+ guys at a time, just couldn't pull it off just yet. But wait for the next hardware rev.
KOTOR 2: Sith Lords Preview 01:46 am
- Apache
- games: role-playing
(0 comments)
Re-printed from the pages of EGM Magazine comes a preview of Knights of the Old Republic 2: Sith Lords at the publication's website (thanks JCal):
Structurally, the game is similar to the first KOTOR. The Sith Lords is mostly linear but with a lot of freedom to choose what specifically you do next. In all, you'll visit seven worlds (most of which have lots of separate game areas within), including Dantooine from the first game. But don't expect Dantooine to look like the peaceful grasslands where you killed kath hounds of yore. Remember, the planet was ravaged by Malak's army and the Jedi Academy was destroyed, so this Dantooine looks a lot different. "We don't want KOTOR 1 players to think we're re-using stuff," says Gallo (a veteran of the original KOTOR team). "We want to hearken back to the first game...but we want it to be a different experience for them." The other worlds will be totally new; the team, however, is keeping the identities of these worlds under wraps for now. We do know, though, that you'll visit Telos, home planet to the first KOTOR's Carth character.
MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf Q&A; 01:42 am
- Apache
- games: action
(0 comments)
Homelan cooked up a interview with Day 1's president Denny Thorley about MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf:
HomeLAN - When the time came to develop the sequel, what were the development team's main goals?
Denny Thorley - With MechAssault 2, we wanted to take the players out of the 'Mech and let them experience the world from a new perspective. We also wanted to exploit all the advantages Xbox Live has to offer and provide the players an opportunity to use new tactics and strategies in the game. Additionally, we wanted to deepen the single player experience and make the whole game have a more seamless feel.
IGN Nuggets 01:34 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Mmmmm, nuggets...
Gamespy bits 12:55 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
A few bits from Gamespy:
Your DVD Burner is Obsolete 12:16 am
- Steejee
- hardware: components
(2 comments)
That is, of course, if you actually own one. Anandtech gives the lowdown on the never ending march of technology, checking out all the spiffy new stuff to be found in the latest DVD burners, perfect for clearing out a few gigs for all those UT2004 mods.
AMD Sempron Details 12:16 am
- Steejee
- hardware: amd
(1 comment)
X-bit labs belches out a few more details on AMD's just announced Sempron budget line of CPUs. Socket A Semprons will be coming soon to a store near you: The initial AMD Sempron processors will be designed for Socket A infrastructure and will contain cores used in the current AMD Athlon XP microprocessors. The Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker plans to replace AMD Athlon XP processors with AMD Sempron chips in the third quarter of the year, sources said. The first Sempron processors will extend life of Socket A mainboards with new SKUs and are likely to be available on the market for quite some time.
Review Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- games: miscellaneous round-ups
(0 comments)
PC:
PS2:
XBox:
GC:
GBA:
Hardware Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- hardware: hardware round-ups
(0 comments)
Mobos:
Vid Cards:
Other:
In Other News... 12:05 am
- Apache
- in-house: in other news...
(25 comments)
Hot damn, it's Friday! Man, what about those Lakers... They should've really lost the first three games, but are only down 2 games to 1 at the moment. I guess that Krispy Kreme diet they're on is finally paying off! Now they've lost home court advantage and have to play in the palace. Talk about upset city if the Pistons pull it off...
Most of the online game stores still have DOOM III set to ship on the 20th, so if that's true that gold release should be coming out soon, then again UK reader Andrew Smith forwarded a note he recieved from the place he pre-ordered DOOM III from and said it was pushed back until August. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Today's question is What is the most under appreciated game genre? Maybe they just don't sell very well, perhaps not many people like it, but you happen to be a fan of.
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Thursday , June 10, 2004 |
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WorthPlaying Goods 05:38 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Kind of a slow one, today...
Valve Tracks Down Code Theft Hackers 02:52 pm
- Apache
- games: action
(18 comments)
Thanks to Assassin for this little gem:
June, 10 2004 - Arrests have been made in several countries related to the break-in to Valve's network, theft of the Half-Life 2 source code, and release of the source code on the Internet.
"Within a few days of the announcement of the break-in, the online gaming community had tracked down those involved," said Gabe Newell, Valve's CEO. "It was extraordinary to watch how quickly and how cleverly gamers were able to unravel what are traditionally unsolvable problems for law enforcement related to this kind of cyber-crime."
Thousands of tips were received related to the criminal activities, with a core group of people who were able to analyze and backtrack from these clues. Subsequent to these individuals being identified, Valve has been working with various national authorities to prepare cases against those involved, leading to these arrests.
"It was very uplifting to see how the community rallied and tracked these people down. Everyone here at Valve is once again reminded of how much we owe to the gaming community," added Mr. Newell.
Sith Lords Screenshots 11:58 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
(0 comments)
GameSpy have posted some screenshots from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - Sith Lords, from Obsidian Entertainment due next February. Here's some info on the game from GameSpy: Approdimately five years after the events of the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , the Jedi, nearly brought to an end by the Sith, are on the brink of extinction. The galaxy is in turmoil and the Republic no longer has the strength to protect its worlds. Sith Assassins are hunting the one they believe to be the last of the Jedi, the one who holds the fate of the galaxy ... you.
Bringing a new chapter to the Star Wars series, this sequel to the blockbuster RPG again delves into the saga's founding lore that was explored in the original. The Sith Lords features an all-new, more perilous storyline, new characters, classes, locations and force powers.
Besieger Q&A; 11:54 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: real-time strategy
(0 comments)
RPG Vault have scooped an interview with Pavel Grodek on the RTS Besieger. Here's a bit on the gameplay: Jonric: What kind of real-time strategy game is it? Are there many units or fairly few, how fast is the pace, and what's the gameplay balance among combat, resource management, building, research et al?
Pavel Grodek: The only thing that limits the number of units in the game is your "personal approach"; each of your warriors has a personal experience level; there are heroes with special abilities, so it wouldn't make sense to have hundreds of microscopic dots on the screen representing your units. This means we have a moderate number of units with a reasonably fast-paced game. To make it more accessible for beginners and to add a bit more comfort, we have included the pause feature where you can still command your armies. It's available anytime, anyplace.
City of Heroes Update Q&A; 11:49 am
- Apache
- games: mmog
(0 comments)
PC.IGN smacked up a Q&A; with Cryptic about what will be in its first update for City of Heroes:
What are a couple of cool additions we can expect to see in the first update?
The major change is that we're increasing the level cap to 50, with new zones & villain groups to match those levels! Plus, we've added a lot of mission "interactivity". This is a direction we'll be going down more: making missions much more in-depth.
Chaos League Gold 11:48 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: real-time strategy
(0 comments)
The RTS with sports team elements has gone gold according to PC.IGN, from an update on the website. The game is developed by Cyanide and will be published by Strategy First in the US.
The Suffering Shipping 11:45 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
(0 comments)
PC.IGN have word that Encore are shipping the action game The Suffering to stores after the game was ported to the PC. Here's some info on the game: If you've missed coverage of the title so far, The Suffering takes place in a sinister, rather haunted jail. You take the role of a convicted murderer who must escape amidst a prison break. Along the way you'll encounter plenty of hideous enemies, creepy environments, and literally shocking situations.
Top 10 Best Selling PC Games 11:44 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(5 comments)
The NPD Group released the latest top 10 best selling PC games in the US ending the week of May 29th:
1) City Of Heroes - NCsoft $46
2) Far Cry - Ubisoft $39
3) Battlefield Vietnam - Electronic Arts $36
4) Rise Of Nations - Microsoft $35
5) MS Age Of Mythology - Microsoft $33
6) Unreal Tournament 2004 - Atari $38
7) Call Of Duty - Activision $39
8) Counter Strike: Condition Zero - Vivendi Universal Publishing $35
9) The Sims Deluxe - Electronic Arts $27
10) Drop JC - eGames $10
Thief III, if they sold enough copies, should be on the next one.
Vault Nuggets 11:40 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Today at the Vault:
The Bard's Tale Developer Diary 11:38 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: role-playing
(0 comments)
GameSpy have scooped a developer diary for The Bard's Tale. Here's whiff:We have tackled several technical challenges in developing The Bard's Tale in order to make the game play and look as good as possible. One thing we pride ourselves on is putting in interesting moments that may or may not have anything to do with completing a quest but are entertaining for the player to experience. These aren't afterthoughts, and we [went] to great lengths to make these moments detailed and polished. For example, there are a several scenes in The Bard's Tale where NPC's break out into song. Some are just for laughs, while some also have helpful clues in the lyrics. In either case, the game design called for the classic, yellow karaoke ball to bounce across the text of the lyrics in time to the singing. While this is far from the bigger technical hurdles we have leapt in making the game, I was a bit concerned about this feature since it meant we would have to create the timing data for each of several songs across several languages. That is a lot of grunt work for some poor sucker and I had a feeling it would end up being me since I'm primarily responsible for our language localization system.
Vanguard Chat Today 11:37 am
- Apache
- games: mmog
(0 comments)
Today at 9PM EST the OG Radio Network will be interviewing Sigil strongman Brad McQuaid plus other members of the Saga of Heroes staff. You can tune into that here.
Ground Control 2 Preview 10:27 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
(0 comments)
Game-Over have posted up a preview of Massive Entertainment's RTS Ground Control II, which went gold yesterday. Here's a whiff: Every mission in Ground Control II has an overall objective tied to the storyline but each mission can be broken down into a land grab. Victory locations tend to be strong points held by the enemy. On campaign missions, they can be secondary objectives that have a direct relationship to your primary goals. For example, destroying the power plant down the river can negate the defenses of an enemy fortification. Landing zones, meanwhile, are reinforcement bases for both sides. Capture of one provides twofold advantages. First, you don't have to worry about enemies sneaking up on you from behind. Second, you won't have to maintain lengthy supply chains to get fresh units to the frontlines.
Call of Duty Q&A; 06:08 am
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
(0 comments)
FileFront have whipped up an interview on Call of Duty, Infinity Ward's first-person shooter. Thanks HomeLAN. Here's a cut: Q: The idea of a World War II era shooter isn't new to the industry. Between Medal of Honor, Day of Defeat, and Battlefield 1942, the scene was crowded with very successful games similar to Call of Duty. When you were developing Call of Duty, what made you think that you could set it apart from the rest?
VZ: To me, the fact that there are several successful WWII games doesn't make it played out, I think it reinforces the setting. There is an enormous amount of history to draw from, a lot of which is amazingly rich in detail and emotion. I think people know just enough about WWII for it to be familiar, and to peak their interest.
Digit-life May 3Digest 12:40 am
- Steejee
- hardware: general video news
(0 comments)
Another month, another Digit-life 3Digest covering all the video card happenings of the month complete with links to more card reviews than you could shake a bee covered stick at.
New G5s, No 3.0 Ghz Quite Yet 12:34 am
- Steejee
- hardware: apple
(19 comments)
Maccentral has the scoop on some new Apple G5s running up to 2.5Ghz. Especially of note in the higher end of these is the inclusion of liquid cooling. The 2.5Ghz model will set you back a cool 3Gs, if you're into that whole Mac thing (It's a 'Mac', not a 'MAC', that would be Media Access Control). Also of note in the article is word that IBM will not be able to hit Steve Job's promised 3.0Ghz speed for the PPC970s anytime soon. The hardships of going to 90nm are cited as the source of the delay.
Review Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- games: miscellaneous round-ups
(0 comments)
PC:
PS2:
XBox:
GC:
GBA gets stuck under the couch cushion.
Hardware Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- hardware: hardware round-ups
(0 comments)
RAM:
Ramen:
In Other News 12:01 am
- Jeff Tom
- in-house: in other news...
(21 comments)
Hey everyone, Jeff here down in Austin. Here's a little more on Nintendo's nex-gen plans. I'm not sure what to make of Nintedo's so revolutionary next-gen console, given that everything at this point is just hype and speculation. I see no reason for it this early in the game but I'm curious what Nintendo has up their sleeve. I think overall since their inception, the chances they took have paid off more often than not. The NES console its self, the first game with a battery save function, portable gaming with the GameBoy, the analog stick for 3D gaming on controllers, rumble pack, wireless controllers, etc. They've had their misses with Virtual boy, the 64DD, and going cartridge only for Nintendo 64, what really set them back, but they've been succesful more often not. In fact, what I don't like is a Nintendo that doesn't take risks, such as with online gaming. As far as PC gaming, I don't have to beat a dead horse that things are slow waiting for a couple first-person shooters to hit store shelves to pick things up. Ground Control II did go gold and I certainly enjoyed the first one so hopefully this next game does it even better. What do you think Nintendo has in mind to "revolutionize" gaming?
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