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Halo 2 Weekly Update 07:45 pm
- Apache
- consoles: xbox
(0 comments)
Thanks to HBO for the link to this week's official Halo 2 update posted at Bungie.net. It isn't very game related, but you can check it out here if you so desire.
Friday WPG 07:38 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
Hoooot Topics 05:06 pm
- Steejee
- in-house: in other news...
At the moment it looks at the last 3 weeks of topics, but that will change to 2 in a while (next deploy, which could be a few days). Also, Vault links are a bit more relevant. I'll be fixing the odd ads bugs on the left sidebar soon.
LucasArts Layoffs 03:33 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
LucasArts confirmed today a major restructuring of its development studio. It marks the first change within the company since Jim Ward took over as president in May. "Since joining LucasArts in early May, I've taken a hard, critical look at our business. I've come to the conclusion that to make LucasArts thrive and to position ourselves for the long-term future, we need to make some fundamental changes." Today Ward named Peter Hirschmann Vice President of Product Development, who will oversee both internal and external development. Hirschmann has been with LucasArts for two years and has been involved with such titles as Secret Weapons Over Normandy and the upcoming games Star Wars Battlefront and Mercenaries. Hirschmann was previously with Electronic Arts where he launched and oversaw the Medal of Honor series. As a result of the restructuring, 31 people from the development studio were laid off as the company will be concentrating on fewer titles.
Valve Talks Counter-Strike: Source 02:33 pm
- Apache
- games: action
Is Counter-Strike Source actually Counter-Strike 2, or is there still a further iteration of the game that you're working on based on the Source technology?
Serious Sam 2 Update 02:21 pm
- Apache
- games: action
Each engine uses some system to determine which objects on the scene are visible to player, those should be rendered, and which one are not. It is very important to reject as much as possible unnecessary details, but it is also important not to spend much time doing it. Less time engine spends in rejecting not visible details, more time is left for what is actually visible to player - graphic details, physics, AI… We decided to take one step further in exploiting hardware feature called "occlusion query". Basically, modern 3D graphics boards are able to report how many pixels of a given object ended up visible on screen (that is to say, not occluded by some other, previously rendered objects, like walls or doors). That way our new engine can completely skip rendering of objects that are occluded, and that greatly improves rendering performance! Even more, instead of testing object one-by-one, we can now test the whole group of objects and skip them all in one go, if it turns out that the whole group is not visible. This is basically our VSD (visible-surface-determination) algorithm. And it works great!
Pacific Assault Diary 01:42 pm
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
Today's subject, morale based AI. In Medal of Honor Pacific Assault (MOHPA) we're using a new feature to expand the gameplay experience that we call "morale based AI. To create gameplay that can take advantage of this, as designers we've had to change our approach and thinking as to how we create combat areas.
Sid Meier's Pirates! For Xbox 01:29 pm
- Apache
- games: action / adventure
In Sid Meier's Pirates! for Windows and Xbox, players take the leading role of a Pirate Captain in the 17th century Caribbean - amassing fortune and fame in an attempt to seize a rightful place as one of the most revered and feared pirates in history. Players test their skills as a sea captain exploring the high seas and exotic ports in a richly detailed 3-D world. As your reputation and skills grow, so will the size and quality of your crew, your ability to take on larger enemy ships, raid and plunder heavily fortified ports, and locate ancient treasure.
Dungeon Siege II Interview 01:25 pm
- Apache
- games: action / roleplaying
Jonric: What degree of importance will combat have Dungeon Siege II's gameplay, and in terms of high-level goals, what kind of overall feel or experience are you aiming for?
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault Preview 01:22 pm
- Apache
- games: action
Pacific Assault is set in the same general war theater as console cousin MOH: Rising Sun, but it's a new game rather than any kind of sequel. It puts players in the combat boots of a young United States Marine named Tommy and follows his whole tour of duty -- from the sucker punch of Pearl Harbor, to the U.S. attack on Guadalcanal, to the final, grinding assault on Tarawa, the clash known as the "D-Day of the Pacific."
Regarding id's Next Game 01:16 pm
- Apache
- games: action
From a technical standpoint, id's next game will not be as revolutionary as "Doom 3," said Hollenshead. The focus this time is to do something that's remarkably difficult in the gaming world: Establish a new franchise.
Massively Multiplayer Bits 12:40 pm
- Apache
- games: mmog
Splinter Cell 3 Preview 12:34 pm
- Apache
- games: action
The most evident improvements are in the visual department. The new Splinter Cell employs a new engine, which renders nearly photo-realistic scenes. Ubisoft officials have already announced that this would be the game with the best graphics, regardless of the platform. Effects like advanced dynamic lighting and shading are just a start; the game features some of the most realistic weather effects ever. Rainfall will form puddles and make characters look soaking wet. This is performed by changing the textures on objects and characters. The weather is not mere eye-candy, though. Guards stuck in the rain will seek shelter, giving Sam the opportunity to sneak by unnoticed or even help the guard to enter another plane of existence (the world of the recently deceased). The demo showed a guard sticking an arm out to check whether it is still raining. He then retreats to the building where Sam is waiting for him. which is when he shuffles off this mortal coil. (As Terry Pratchett wisely noted, being a guard is less than gratifying. You stand in the rain getting wet and waiting for someone to wring your neck.)
QuakeCon Coverage 02:25 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Hollenshead talked about the long hours needed to make the game during the last six months (80 hours a week, six days a week) and that some neat stuff still was put into the game close to its completion, such as John Carmack putting a heat shimmer effect into the game a few weeks before going gold. Hollenshead also repeated that id's next title will be an all new game and not revisiting a previous id franchise although he did say half-jokingly that they have thought about doing a Commander Keen remake.
Assorted Downloads 01:20 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Misc. Interviews 01:14 am
- Apache
- games: general news
IGN Morsels 01:02 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:48 am
- Apache
- hardware: general news
Game Reviews 12:45 am
- Apache
- games: general news
In Other News... 12:02 am
- Apache
- in-house: in other news...
I finished Doom 3, so I'm a bit stuck on what to play next. To give me some ideas, today's question is What games are you playing?
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Doom 3 Review @ VE3D 09:00 pm
- Apache
- games: action
(8 comments)
As promised a few days ago, here's my review of Doom 3. I haven't written a review for a couple years, so you know it's a big game. Doom 3 hits stores in Europe tomorrow so it's extra good. Here's a taste: In Doom 3 the player assumes the role of a UAC Marine assigned to its top secret Mars research base as a run of the mill guard. Soon after your arrival on the Red Planet, you get the feeling that all isn't well. Base personnel are vanishing at an alarming rate, mental illness is running rampant and there's an aura of fear affecting everyone. As soon as you get off the landing shuttle, you'll notice something. It's dark. Very dark... That isn't going to change either. Shadows play heavily in the game, and the designers make sure that there are no well-lit locations anywhere to break the mood. Screw this military thing, I'm going to open up a light bulb stand. I'll be rich! The UAC may be the best-funded corporation in the universe, but they really went cheap on the lights. No wonder everyone is freaking out.
WorthPlaying Goods 05:30 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
Tony Hawk Underground 2 Q&A; 02:41 pm
- Jeff Tom
- games: sports
JJ: The first thing you need to do is believe you can do it. And then, after you do it once, you really start to see the benefits. The combination of seeing your game on the shelf every Christmas, along with the money that can be made by a team that can consistently pull that off, can make for a very heightened level of motivation. As you build a team, you hire people who understand what it means to lead by example. You hire people who work hard and work focused. Then you support these people with strong leadership--people who can and are willing to make good decisions--and a production staff that understands how to organize tasks and make sure people know what they need to do each morning when they get to work. I think that at this point, if you were to compare notes on the developers who ship quality software on a timely basis, you would find that they all have a strong process in place that includes a solid tool chain, ways of organizing and keeping people on task, and rules to make sure that their games are always in a playable state. Everything is basically accounted for, all the way down to structured work hours. And they focus on making sure they are always making their process better. It's a lot of fun working on a team that knows it can make a great game for Christmas.
CS: Source Beta News Page; FAQ 02:14 pm
- Apache
- games: action
Geforce 6600 Previews 01:11 pm
- Apache
- hardware: general news
QUAKECON 2004, GRAPEVINE, Texas, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA - News), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today introduced the GeForce(TM) 6600 GT and GeForce 6600, the latest additions to its GeForce 6 Series of graphics processing units (GPUs). These new products bring the feature set of NVIDIA's flagship GeForce 6800 GPU, including support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 and NVIDIA's revolutionary UltraShadow II technology, to the mainstream market. The GeForce 6600 GT rips through DOOM 3(TM) at a stunning 42 frames per second at high quality, high-resolution (1600x1200x32) settings(i).
Warner Bros. Buys Monolith 01:03 pm
- Jeff Tom
- games: game biz.
RPG Vault Happenings 01:00 pm
- Apache
- games: role-playing
Shade: Wrath of Angels Media 03:52 am
- Jonric
- games: action / adventure
Evil Genius Preview 02:44 am
- Apache
- games: action / strategy
Right from the beginning, Evil Genius throws you into the 1960's spy movie feeling with psychedelic menus filled with moving silhouettes that could easily have been lifted from a James Bond credit sequence. The music, too, is pure '60's lounge lizard camp that made me long for a Highball or a Martini or a Scotch and Soda or whatever it was that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin used to drink when they were on stage. When you start the game, you have a choice of three different villainous campaigns; Maximilian, a bald, Nehru-jacketed take off on Austin Powers' Dr. Evil (who was himself a parody of James Bond's Ernst Stavros Blofeld); then there's Alexis, the lunatic former model turned high mistress of crime who longs to bring the whole world together to admire her beauty; and, finally, there's Shen-Yu, your classic Fu Manchu-style fiend who uses his mysterious Eastern knowledge to spread his tentacles of crime around the world. I ended up playing as Maximilian, for no other reason than I wanted to be able to break out my Montgomery Burns "excellent" impression during the game.
The Art of Guild Wars 02:40 am
- Apache
- games: mmog
Doom 3 Guides 02:37 am
- Apache
- games: action
The Bard's Tale Developer's Diary 02:27 am
- Apache
- games: role-playing
Early on in the design, we decided that rather than traditional spells like "fireball" and "lightning bolt," we would instead have unique ally characters, similar to pets. Where most games let one type of character summon one pet at a time (say a necromancer can summon a skeleton), our game would allow you to fill out a party with summoned allies. And each ally would have different abilities, hit points, and personalities. Over the course of the game, you have the opportunity to find up to 16 different tunes, each representing a different avatar. These tunes are divided into four basic areas: fighters, elementals, defenders, and utilities. Each of these tunes can be upgraded to improve the statistics and abilities of those avatars.
Fable Previews 02:08 am
- Apache
- consoles: xbox
In Fable there are always consequences for your actions. As an adult, if you attack anyone in a town in sight of a guard you will be fined. Refuse to pay the fine and guards will attack and attack and attack and attack. They'll call guards in from other towns just to get you out of town. The same thing happens if you break a barrel. After all, that's someone's property and they aren't gonna be happy with you breaking their things. You can go into many houses in Fable and search for items, but taking something is still stealing and if you're caught, you're gonna have some explainin' to do.
Assorted Downloads 01:54 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Misc. Interview Action 01:41 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Hardware & Tech Nuggets 01:31 am
- Apache
- hardware: general news
Game Reviews 12:50 am
- Apache
- games: general news
Good Morning, Ulaanbaatar! 12:03 am
- Apache
- in-house: in other news...
Since that new Aliens vs Predator movie is kicking off tomorrow, today's question is Who wins, Alien or Predator? Well, it's kind of game related since they made so many games out it (cough). Oh yeah, we took down that Trent Reznor Doom 3 sound pack link. Even though Gamespot got it from Trent, id wasn't too jazzed with them posting it, hence the nukage. The forums seem to be acting up, but they should be fixed soon.
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