Neverwinter Nights 2 First Details 08.06.2004
We talk to Obsidian Entertainment and BioWare about the upcoming RPG sequel.

DOOM 3 Review 08.05.2004
We take part in an immaculately presented trip to Hell and back.

Pre-loading of the Counter-Strike: Source beta to cyber cafés begins today. On Wednesday, this first phase of the beta will open and the game will be playable at all cyber cafes that subscribe to the Valve Cyber Café Program. Later this month, the beta will be extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and ATI Fulfillment Coupon holders.

This beta serves as a compatibility test of the Source engine as we near the completion of development on Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. During this limited-time beta, issues can be reported using the in-game bug-reporting tool. In addition any crashes will automatically generate a report back to Valve's bug database. We thank everyone for their participation, and we hope Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source live up to your expectations.

WorthPlaying Goods 05:00 pm - Apache - games: general news
Today's assortment 'o media & misc. files:

• 'NBA Live 2005' (NGC/PS2/Xbox) - Screens
• 'Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed' (PC) - Screens
• 'Khan the Absolute Power' (PC) - Screens
• 'Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault' (PC) - Screens
• 'ShellShock: Nam '67' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Legend of Kay' (PS2) - Screens
• 'Wings of War' (PC) - Screens
• 'Resident Evil Outbreak File #2' (PS2) - Screens
• 'Megaman X Command Mission' (PS2/NGC) - Screens
• 'Under the Skin' (PS2) - Screens
• 'Street Fighter Anniversary Collection' (PS2) - Screens
• 'Pool Shark 2' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Alex Carver: Futurebrighter' (PC) - Screens
• 'Cuban Missile Crisis' (PC) - Screens
• 'Jak 3' (PS2) - Screens
• 'Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand' (PC) - Screens
• 'Universal Combat: Hold the Line' (PC) - Screens
• 'Conflict: Vietnam' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'War World' (PC) - Screens
• 'Psychonauts' (Xbox/PC) - Screens
• 'Bet On Soldier' (PC) - Screens



• 'Chaos League' - v1.02 Update Patch Available NOW
  • This patch brings your retail game to v1.02 and adds several match and scenario adjustments, management tweaks, as well as the usual bug and crash fixes, multiplayer improvements, etc.
• 'Battlefield Vietnam' - v1.1 Updated Win32/Linux Server
  • This update addresses a conflict involving NVA Spawn Tunnels and XML Logging.
• 'Sacred' - v1.7 beta 31 Update Patch Available NOW
  • A new beta patch for Sacred, bringing the US/UK edition of the game to v1.7 beta 23. A complete up-to-date fix list is not available, but we'll assume it addresses more bug fixes and game crases, game balancing and general improvements



• Various Game Trailers
  • 'NBA Live 2005' (NGC/PS2/Xbox) - Trailer
  • 'Starship Troopers' (PC) - Trailer
  • 'Darwinia' (PC) - Trailer
  • 'Sly 2: Band of Thieves' (PS2) - Trailer
  • 'Legend of Kay' (PS2) - Trailer
  • 'Worms Forts: Under Siege' (PS2/Xbox/PC) - Trailer
  • 'LotR: Battle for Middle-Earth' (PC) - Trailer
  • 'The Urbz: Sims In The City' (NGC/PS2/Xbox) - Trailer
  • 'Resident Evil: Outbreak File No.2' (PS2) - Trailer

Guild Wars Live Preview Announced 03:45 pm - Apache - games: mmog
Arena.net announced that through October 29-31 people can download and playtest Guild Wars for free, which are the first three days of the game's official beta test. "Beta events are a unique way for players to get a taste of Guild Wars and participate in the crucial beta process," Jeff Strain, Guild Wars producer and ArenaNet co-founder said. "We welcome feedback from the millions of players invited to join the events and plan to incorporate their input as we polish, tune and balance the game."

Thanks Guild Wars OG Gaming and GWOnline.Net.

Myst IV: Revelations Preview 03:44 pm - Jeff Tom - games: adventure
GameSpot have scooped a preview of Myst IV: Revelations, the latest in the adventure series. Here's a bit:

Myst IV is being developed at Ubisoft Montreal by a team of developers that has apparently done its homework. The team has not only played through all of the Myst games, but it has also solicited plenty of feedback from the series' fans. According to the comments that the team has gathered, fans (and detractors) take issue with how the series has seemed "empty and lifeless," and how the games themselves have been both difficult and difficult to finish. To this end, the team has decided to include an in-depth, three-level "help map" system that will give you simple hints or, if you choose, will simply give you a full-on solution to your current puzzle. But don't worry: If you don't wish to use the hint system, you won't have to; if you avoid it altogether, you may get a slightly different ending sequence once you complete the game.

Call of Duty United Offensive Update 03:36 pm - Apache - games: action
PC.IGN kicked up a feature for Call of Duty: United Offensive which takes a look at the various weapons and hardware in the game, plus slapped up some new game videos as well. Check that out here.

Tribes: Vengeance Preview 03:17 pm - Apache - games: action
WorthPlaying took a short but hands-on look at Irrational Games' upcoming Unreal engined shooter - Tribes: Vengeance. Included, are a bunch of new screen shots as well. Here's a lick:

Overall the game performance was good, I was pleasantly surprised considering I don't have the latest and greatest video card but it ran well on my Nvidia geForce4 Ti4400. Turning down the settings will naturally get you better performance but I was able to comfortably run it at 1024x768 with medium settings. The current maps didn't stress my system that much but in a large battle you will notice the lag, hopefully this will be improved as the beta progresses. I hope that a large scale open beta will happen in a later stage of the beta to ensure that no unexpected problems will occur; I don't want to be seeing numerous patches the first week for issues that should've been resolved during the beta.

Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack Released 03:05 pm - Apache - consoles: xbox
Word over at GSpot is that Tecmo has released the Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack on the Xbox live today. The Hurricane Pack is a free download which adds not only new content, but some core gameplay changes also.

Ubisoft Backs Away from Eidos 02:39 pm - Apache - games: general news
SPOnG is reporting that Ubisoft got cold feet about buying Eidos (that was the rumor, at least) and EA may be the next suitor for the once dominant publisher. Here's the poop (thanks MCV):

The Eidos takeover bid is continuing to twist and turn today as financial analysts have called into question the commercial viability of Ubisoft's bid. It is thought that the projected value of Eidos has been artificially escalated as a result of so many interested parties engaging in negotiations. Ubisoft's offer of $215 million apparently attaches an excessive 40% premium to Eidos' real value, and this could easily threaten shareholders' confidence in the plan.

Eidos' value had been falling steadily throughout this year. In May, when the rumours first started circulating, Eidos was optimistically valued at around $325 million, with shares floating around the 185p mark. By August, shares had fallen to 150p each, and Ubisoft's $215 million bid now outweighs the value of the company. It is no wonder that Ubisoft's share value has taken a plunge today, as many investors interpret this news as an excessive payout for a risky acquisition.

This will be good news for the other publishers circling around Eidos' negotiation table. If weighty offers from the likes of Sony, Microsoft and EA had forced up the bidding, those same companies will be pleased to have pushed competitor Ubisoft into this somewhat delicate predicament. Similarly, the reaction from shareholders may discourage Ubisoft from pressing ahead, in which case alternative negotiations can be resumed.

Fable Preview 02:03 pm - Apache - consoles: xbox
The chaps at Computer & Video games conjured up a hands-on preview of Fable, the forthcoming Xbox exclusive role playing game from Peter Molyneux's Big Blue Box. Overall, they seemed to really like it, but there was a problem with the graphics:

Still, we all know how important caveats can be nowadays and our one slight concern from the day's event was Fable's graphics. It may have been because of the large plasma TV we were playing on, but they definitely didn't seem as crisp, sharp or detailed as some of the Xbox's finest.

It could be that Big Blue Box has had to make compromises on the game engine and textures because of the huge amount of other data in Fable, or it may have simply been the TV, we're not quite sure; but from what we saw the graphics are best described as functional rather than spectacular. Happily, they're certainly quick and smooth enough for combat purposes.

Starship Troopers Update 02:00 pm - Apache - games: action
Empire Interactive updated the Starship Troopers website with 22 new screen shots and a game trailer for its upcoming sci-fi flavored action game. Thanks GG Mania.

New NVIDIA Card at Quakecon? 01:47 pm - Apache - hardware: nvidia
HardOCP actually listened to the NVIDIA conference call (over an hour long) and noticed that they would be showing off a new video card at QuakeCon (thanks Shacknews):

NVIDIA CEO Jen Hsun Huang said "In a few days we're going to turn up the heat another notch. At QuakeCon in Texas, a mecca for gamers and truly a phenomenon to witness, we will officially unveil our newest mainstream member of the GeForce 6 family".

Price points and product names weren't discussed, but Jen Hsun also confirmed SLI support for this upcoming card, and also mentioned by the end of the year NVIDIA will have a top-to-bottom family of shader model 3.0 cards. In fact, he mentions "we're ramping 110 on two GeForce 6 families right now at TSMC, and very shortly we'll start a third...and this quarter we'll have five GeForce 6 GPUs in production, and that ought to cover us from top to bottom."

Arena Wars Interview 01:11 pm - Jonric - games: real-time strategy
The upcoming Arena Wars is German developer exDream entertainment's title described as blending real-time strategy gameplay principles with the tempo of a shooter. The action will encompass a trio of modes, Capture the Flag, Bombing Run and Double Domination, with dozens of single-player missions against AI-controlled adversaries along with multiplayer for up to eight participants. Slated to ship in North America within the coming weeks through the auspices of Trisynergy, it will be handled in Europe by Ascaron Entertainment. We had the chance to learn quite a bit more by questioning Alan Wild from the latter company in this interview.

Arena Wars is a fast, addictive, action-packed real-time strategy game. We decided to combine the RTS genre with some elements of shooter games. The plan has always been to release a community-driven multiplayer and single-player game. Arena Wars is typical RTS control. Left click to select a unit or item. Right click for action - send, attack, activate...

Myst 4 Revelation Demo 01:01 pm - Apache - games: adventure
As promised last week, Ubisoft has released the demo for Myst 4: Revelations which comes in at 191 megs. You can grab it from 3D Gamers, Gamers Hell and Fragland. Myst 4 is set to ship later next month. To put you in the mood, here's a preview from Gamespot:

Revelation's gameplay will focus on your journey to uncover the fates of the treacherous sons of Atrus in the ages to which they were exiled. You'll find out early in the game that even though it was Atrus' sons who were banished for corrupting and destroying the ages their father had discovered, neither the patriarch nor his wife Catherine, or daughter Yeesha, remained completely unscathed and unaffected. At the beginning of the game, you find that Yeesha is missing, and the only keepsake that her concerned father has is his daughter's magical amulet, which you recover early on in the game. The amulet apparently bears a strong psychic connection to Yeesha, who was last seen fleeing from her brothers. Each time you encounter certain puzzles in the game, the amulet will actually provide you with a memory flashback (played out as a cinematic sequence) that will give you some insight into the context of the puzzle and perhaps a hint about how to solve it. You'll also have a journal that you can use by taking photos of your surroundings for later reference.

X-Plane v7.61 Demo & Patch 12:29 pm - Apache - games: simulation
Gamers Hell posted the X-Plane v7.61 Demo / upgrade which comes in at 154 megs. 3D Gamers has it as well. Here's more about it: " ...this release implements another large batch of new features, improvements, bug fixes and other changes as detailed in the release notes, and as always the update also serves as a time-limited demo."

Madden NFL 2005 Hits Stores 10:23 am - Apache - games: sports
EA sent word that Madden NFL 2005 is now widely available in stores:

Signaling the start of football season, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that Madden NFL 2005 , the flagship EA SPORTS videogame and the largest-selling franchise of all time in North America, with over 37 million copies sold, has shipped to retailers nationwide and will be in stores in time for National Madden Vacation Day on Tuesday, August 10th . Madden NFL 2005 celebrates the franchise's fifteenth anniversary by pushing the boundaries of realism forward with new defensive innovations including the Hit Stick, that for the first time make playing defense as fun as playing offense, an immersive new Storyline Central in Franchise Mode, where player chemistry and personalities come alive, and enhanced online features including Xbox Live support.*

Doom 3 Tweak Guide 09:45 am - Jeff Tom - games: action
Tweakguides.com have slapped up their tweak guide for id software's Doom 3 full of tips to optimize the popular first-person shooter. Update - UC Guides has a walkthrough and maps guide as well.

Vampire: Bloodlines Interview 09:41 am - Jeff Tom - games: action / roleplaying
RPG Vault have scooped an interview with Troika on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, which uses Valve's Source Engine. Here's a clip:

Jonric: What kind of feel does Bloodlines' combat system aim for, what has been most challenging about designing and implementing it, and how does it compare to the same aspect in other Troika RPGs?

Leonard Boyarsky: Well, first off, we wanted combat to be fun and engaging, while keeping as much of the feel of Vampire as possible. Another goal was to have your Attributes and Abilities affect your combat without being intrusive. A big problem with going to real-time is the feedback for the player to be able to determine why things are happening the way they are.

RPG Vault Features 09:37 am - Jeff Tom - games: role-playing
Here's the latest from the RPG Vault on this Monday. Enjoy:

• The Saga of Ryzom Images #88
• The Roots Media #2
• Asheron's Call Vault - Turbine Nation Report

D&D;: Dragonshard Preview 12:52 am - Apache - games: role playing strategy
Dungeons and Dragons continues to be the theme at Gamespy as they've posted a preview of Dragonshard, Atari and Liquid Entertainment's forthcoming role-playing / strategy game:

"Our first concern was to make sure that any RPG aspects in Dragonshard didn't feel like a bolt-on - something we did because it's expected." Del Castillo said. In order to accomplish this, they've separated Dragonshard into 2 different levels. The top level is all RTS action. Players build cities, crank out units and endeavor to crush their enemy by accomplishing strategic goals. There is, however, an entire second level of play, an Underworld where players can take small groups of units and go down into a more traditional Dungeons & Dragons style adventure.

Men of Valor Q&A; 12:48 am - Apache - games: action
On the grill at HomeLan today is an interview with 2015's John Whitemore about the latest goings on in Men of Valor: Vietnam, its upcoming Unreal engined FPS:

HomeLAN - Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Men of Valor?

John Whitmore - The team has put a lot of effort into giving this title the authentic atmosphere to match the intense, cinematic gameplay. I know there are a number of Vietnam-themed games coming out this fall, but I think Men of Valor will really stand out for its polish, its serious storyline, and its subtle gameplay innovations. Anybody who likes historical military shooters should definitely pick it up, and gamers who have grown tired of WW2 should give Men of Valor a try -- it feels and plays a lot different than previous efforts.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Update 12:45 am - Apache - games: action
GSC Gameworld updated the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. website with a new article called Chronology of the Nuclear Age. There's not much to it, but since they hardly update, I figured WTF.

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:28 am - Apache - hardware: general news

Reviews

• Asetek VapoChill LightSpeed [AC] - Hot Hardware
• CoolerMaster KHC-V81 Hyper 6 P4/A64 Heatpipe CPU Cooler - Tweaknews
• I4U News: Muzio JM-200 OLED Music Player - I4U
• Kingwin Arctic Liquid Cooler - Bjorn3D
• MSI NX6800 GeForce 6800 128MB - GamePC
• OCZ DDR Booster - VR-Zone
• Steelpad S&S; Review - XYZ Computing
• Ultra X-Connect Modular 500W PSU - Hardcoreware
• XMod Product Lineup - Gruntsville
• Xtrac Mad Wax - Ascully

  Other Stuff
  

• Bilinear, Trilinear, and MIP Mapping Technologies Explained - Cool Tech Zone
• Dude, Mythic Got a Dell - WP
• GeForce 6800-series round-up - Tech Report
• Guide on quiet CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs - Build A Silent PC
• How To Setup A Wireless Home Entertainment Center - The Tech Zone

Game Reviews 12:17 am - Apache - games: general news

PC

• Carnival Cruise Lines Tycoon: 2005 Island Hopping - AVault - 2/5
• Catwomen - Gamesdomain - 4/10
• City of Heroes - Boomtown - 9/10
• Doom 3 - Red Assed Baboon - No score (I guess they want you to read it)
• Doom 3 - Primotech - 92%
• Doom 3 - Pixelrage - 82%
• Doom 3 - GG Mania - 91%
• Doom 3 - HomeLan - 88%

In Other News... 12:08 am - Apache - in-house: in other news...
It's Monday again already, time sure does fly when you're having fun. I'm still grinding through Doom 3 (currently in the Delta Labs) and I'm still really digging the game. I figured that if I laid down $60 of my own money to buy it, I'm going to take my sweet time and really enjoy it to its fullest. Doom 3 doesn't really strike me as a game you want to replay (unless you get new hardware and want to show it off) so I'm going to make this last.

Today's question is What is the scariest game you've ever played?

PC
Alpha Black Zero.

PS2
Madden NFL 2005.

XBox
Madden NFL 2005.

GameCUbe
Madden NFL 2005.

GBA
Madden NFL 2005, Gundam Seed: Battle Assault, Thunderbirds.

DVD
Bill Cosby: Himself, Conan O'Brien 10th Anniversary Special, Crossroads, Dead Above Ground, Dead Ringer, Highlander: Season 5, Kill Bill Volume 2, Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Best of Triumph the Insult comic Dog, The Lost Boys, Predator: SE, The Prince & Me, Predator: SE, The Who - Live at Isle of Wright Festival.

Movies
Alien vs. Predator, The Princess Diaries 2.

Guild Wars Fansite Q&A; 05:12 pm - Apache - games: mmog
The Guild Hall was this week's lucky Q&A; participant as they were selected by Arena.net to fire off a few questions about Guild Wars. While there are only three questions and answers, they are quite detailed. Here's a slice of one them:

What drives the creative process behind the class design and balance? What is your ultimate goal when it comes to profession and skill design?

Wow, it's really difficult to name a single ultimate goal for profession and skill design. I guess that would be something along the lines of "creating professions that are balanced and fun to play." But I know you'd rather have details and perhaps a bit of philosophy in there, too. First of all, the Guild Wars professions are designed to give you archetypes with which you are familiar, like the warrior or necromancer, but with a "twist" that makes them uniquely Guild Wars.

Xpand Rally SP Demo 04:17 pm - Apache - games: racing
3D Gamers posted a three track playable demo for Xpand Rally, Techland's upcoming racer. It comes in at 231 megs.

Turbine Nation Report 01:03 pm - Apache - games: mmog
Turbine had its "Turbine Nation" weekend and WarCry was there to cover it. Included are write ups for D&D; Online, Asheron's Call series and more. Thanks Shack News.

D&D; Online Roundtable 01:17 am - Apache - games: mmog
Gamespy took a page from the RPG Vault and posted a developer's roundtable style interview with Turbine about Dungeons & Dragons Online. Here's a slice off the top to get you started:

Moderator: How, exactly, are WOTC and Turbine collaborating in regards to D&D; Online's development?

Ken Troop: Over the last year and a half, we've had a number of face-to-face meetings at Wizards of the Coast about the vision and scope of Dungeons & Dragons Online. We supplemented those meetings with various documents in which we covered the game and backstory for WotC. Finally, at various milestones, we've opened up the build to WotC so that they can play and give us feedback on where the game is at.

WotC has been an enthusiastic and terrific partner in this process. I think they appreciate how much we love and respect the D&D; experience, and they in turn have been very supportive when we need to tweak the translation from the pen and paper to the Online Role-Playing (ORPG) medium, either because of technical or design reasons.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Preview 01:11 am - Apache - consoles: ps2
Updating over the weekend, Gamespot posted a new preview of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:

For its next installment in the vaunted crime drama series, Rockstar is thinking big--real big. As you may know, the developer isn't stopping at one city, because you'll be able to explore three of them (not to mention the countryside in between them) as you make your way through the fictionalized California that is San Andreas. All told, the game world is purported to be five times the size of Vice City, and we wanted to know all about it. So we've been fortunate to secure new information on the neighborhoods that will make up Los Santos, the Los Angeles-styled capital city of San Andreas and home to the game's lead character, Carl "CJ" Johnson. From the looks of what we've seen, Los Santos alone could make up an entire chapter in the series on its own, so the fact that there are two more cities yet to be revealed is frankly a little mind-boggling.

Prince of Persia 2 Preview 01:05 am - Apache - games: action / adventure
The lads at Action Trip tossed off a new preview of Prince of Persia 2 which features those nifty ulta-violent 3D screen shots that Ubisoft released. Here's a taste:

The environments in POP: SoT were designed in a more Oriental fashion, and the new Prince of Persia will have a buccaneering look about it. The development team wanted to avoid further innuendos to 1,001 Nights of Sheherazade. They found the solution for this in its sinister and more gloomy atmosphere achieved by combining different geographical influences (Persia, Mesopotamia, and Babylon) with fantasy elements. Other huge levels include a pirate ship, lush gardens, harbors, temples, castles… The levels should be very versatile, which is also influenced by the fact that levels that take place in the present are desolate desperate chaos, whereas the levels in the past shine with life and splendor, yet under the shadow of what is to come. Apart from the Silent Hill series that I already mentioned, the game was also inspired by some Tim Burton movies, and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Greatest inspiration came from old and modern pirate movies, as the game even begins with a fight scene on a pirate ship. The entire game has a movie-like feel to it.

WarCraft III Bonus Map 01:01 am - Apache - games: real-time strategy
Blizzard's WarCraft III bonus map of the week is called Stone Cold Mountain (no relation to wrestling or Stone Mountain, GA, as far as I know) which is a small map that comes in at 184K.

The blizzard that once made the high crags of Stone Cold Mountain inaccessible has finally subsided. Rumor has it that the first expeditionary force sent to explore the area returned battered and broken. Time, it seems, has only made the mountain deadlier.

WP Previews 12:48 am - Apache - games: general news

• Phantom Brave - PS2
• The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee - PS2
• Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders - Xbox
• Guilty Gear X2 # Reload - Xbox

Game Reviews 12:45 am - Apache - games: general news

PC

• Doom 3 - 2404 - 9.8/10
• Doom 3 - TTG - 9/10
• Doom 3 - Gamespy - 4.5/5

Hardware Nuggets 12:35 am - Apache - in-house: in other news...

Reviews
• Aspire AS500W 12V ATX Power-Supply - Techfreaks
• Crucial Ballistix DDR2-533 - VR-Zone
• Enermax UC-9FATR2 Deluxe Multifunction Panel - Extreme Overclocking
• FIC Condor SFF System - Designtechnica
• Gigabyte 8GPNXP Duo - Legion Hardware
• Mitsubishi Diamond PRO 2070SB - Bjorn 3D
• Opus Technologies TT-501 Titanium Tiny Case - Newstechinfo
• SilverStone Aluminum TJ05-ST Case w/ Thermal Control Display - 3D Game Man
• Steelpad S&S; - Phoronix

In Other News... 12:30 am - Apache - in-house: in other news...
Wow, NVIDIA stock really got wasted last Friday, at 9 bucks and change a share I think it's a really good buy now. I think that in a year or so it could reach $12-15 again without much of a problem. I'm going to have to put out a strong buy recomendation on that badboy.

To answer yesterday's question about the best first person shooter released since Doom 3, I'm going to have to say that prior to Doom 3, I'd give the nod to Halo (Xbox) and then Half-Life. There have been a lot of very good multiplayer FPS games released lately, but I'm looking for at the single player experience myself. Prior to Half-Life.... Jedi Knight 2! Ah, the memories... Other notables would of course include Unreal, Unreal Tournament, No One Lives Forever and BF1942.

Today's question is What are your top 5 FPS games of all time?