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Playboy: The Mansion Developer Diary
The making of the Playboy mansion.

Comic Book Invasion!
Batman Begins, Ultimate Spider-Man, and every other comic book-inspired video game coming in the next three years.

- Worthplaying Goodies
- World of WarCraft Q&A;
- Sims 2 Hacks Spread Through 'Value Added' Features
- DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil Preview
- EA & VUG Back Blu-Ray
- Unreal Manifesto II
- Today OnThe Vault
- WoW Euro Release Date Set?
- Mercenaries Q&A;
- Comic Book Game Previews
 
Hottopics_top
- 2004 VE3D Console Award Winners (54)
- Halo 2 Minus the Suck? (51)
- Halo 2 vs Half-Life 2 Poll Results (43)
- French Government To Protect Ubisoft... (42)
- Self-Rating Works (42)
- Underage Teen Sues Over Naked Pic... (33)
- 2004 PC Game of the Year Awards (31)
- EA Buys 20% Of Ubisoft (31)
- San Andreas Makes You Graffiti (29)
- Quake 4 Nudies (21)

Thursday , January 06, 2005
Worthplaying Goodies 05:39 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: general news

World of WarCraft Q&A; 03:12 pm - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: mmog (0 comments)
Eurogamer chatted with Blizzard's Shane Dabiri about World of WarCraft:

Eurogamer: You've already had to ban a number of accounts because of issues like speed hacks and third party bots, and you're encouraging players to alert you to any new problems through your [email protected] email address. When you encounter something like a speed hack, what sort of measures do you have to take to undo the problems it causes, and what are your criteria for banning an account outright?

Shane Dabiri: I cannot get into too much detail on how we track these types of exploits, as it might give creators of such tools a leg up. I can say that we have monitoring tools and an exploit investigation group within our GM staff that responds to these alerts and tracks players in the game. We will only ban someone after we have verified through our exploit investigation group that they are in fact "botting" or hacking. We are taking a very heavy stance on these types of issues from the get-go. It is important for us to maintain the integrity of the game for everyone to enjoy.

Sims 2 Hacks Spread Through 'Value Added' Features 01:50 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: simulation (7 comments)
A big draw of The Sims 2, and its predecessor, is the ability to constantly add new objects and features to the game to keep it fresh. However, some of the objects on the Sims 2 Exchange are wreaking havoc, intentionally and unintentionally:

The first sign that some of the hacks were spreading to unwilling users came in October, in the form of a dishwasher that did nothing special, but was inexplicably named Candace on the screen. Candace began replacing the ordinary dishwasher in the houses of users who had never visited a Sims 2 hacking site, or knowingly installed a hack. A torrent of other hacks soon followed, and users who wanted to play the Sims 2 as it was designed found them as unwelcome as the latest Windows worm. By mid-November, players were openly complaining on EA's Sims 2 forum and other sites. "Please help, I'm afraid my game is going to get ruined forever," one player despaired. "This stuff is not funny."

With EA seemingly comatosed in resolving this growing problem, players have created their own anti-virus programs to sniff out and destroy these cancerous hacks. Thanks /.

DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil Preview 01:43 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: action (7 comments)
GameSpy today features the first preview of the Doom 3 expansion pack, Resurrection of Evil, yay oh yay:

While your character remains nameless, you're no longer the same space marine who survived DOOM 3. This time, you play a combat engineer working under the command of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who worked alongside the nasty Dr. Betruger on Mars but was sent home as she began to suspect Betruger might be up to no good. "In the original DOOM 3 storyline, you can find bits and pieces of McNeil throughout," Hooper explains. "She's actually the whistleblower -- she saw all the things Betruger was trying to do and called Swann and Campbell to come down. In the original DOOM 3, you'll see emails from her to Swann, and if you run across her office, there are little bits and pieces in there."

More spoilers inside, but when has Doom ever been about the plot?

Update: There's also a short preview of Doom 3 Xbox on 1UP.

EA & VUG Back Blu-Ray 01:38 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (3 comments)
EA and Vivendi Universal Games are set to today announce their support for the Blu-Ray format that is expected to take over from DVD in the future. This signifies a major victory for the Blu-Ray conglomerate that has once again got one over the rival HD-DVD faction:

Sony is a major backer of Blu-ray Disc technology, and its Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary has already said it will use Blu-ray Disc in its next home game console, the successor to the PlayStation 2, which is expected to be released sometime in 2006. Microsoft and Nintendo, which compete with Sony in the console market, have yet to make similar announcements.

In the personal computer market, both Dell and Hewlett-Packard are members of the Blu-ray Disc Association, and HP recently said it is planning to release PCs with Blu-ray Disc drives later this year. On the competing side, NEC and Toshiba said they will add HD-DVD support to some of their PCs or offer compatible drives later this year.

Unreal Manifesto II 01:37 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: action (0 comments)
Dubious - owner of the well-known server provider, FactoryUnreal - has written an entertaining article that provides his take on the Unreal community. Here's his take on Epic

Luckily, Mark's estimated release date was a bit off so they found the time necessary to hire the announcer from The Late Show with David Letterman to record the "Fiiiive minute warning!" message. Epic learned their lesson from the release of UT2K3 and was able to ship UT2K4 as a completed product. It's just a shame that they screwed up UT2K3 so badly that they had to break network compatibility in order to fix the bugs and re-release the game as UT2K4. But I bet they made a shit-ton of cash this way.

Today OnThe Vault 09:57 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (0 comments)
The latest from The RPG Vault:

WoW Euro Release Date Set? 12:38 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: mmog (12 comments)
Losiu from GRY-OnLine sends word (in Polish) that according to CD Projekt, who publishes World of WarCraft in Poland, that the official release date they have for Europe is February 11th. These are the same guys who gave us the Age of Empires 3 scoop, so chances are it's true.

Mercenaries Q&A; 12:35 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: action / strategy (2 comments)
With the game gone golden yesterday, The Armchair Empire interviewed LucasArts about Mercenaries:

For those that don't know, what's Mercenaries all about?

Mercenaries is all about making money, causing mayhem and destruction, playing factions against each other, flying helicopters, hijacking tanks, calling in air strikes, shooting at bad guys, and having as much fun as possible in a video game. It's set in a fictional North Korea, in which a malevolent general has staged a coup to prevent peaceful overtures to the world. Your job is to dismantle his organization, conveniently laid out for you as the latest "Deck of 52," and to make as much money as you can in the process.

Comic Book Game Previews 12:30 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: general news (0 comments)
IGN wrangled up a look at some of the comic book inspired games that are coming out in the not-too-distant future:

Welcome, true believers! With the release of The Punisher and Constantine rapidly approaching, we began thinking about the stunning number of comic book-inspired video games coming over the next few years. Some of these are being made to coincide with feature films, while others are banking on the popularity of a character. We've got the skinny on this year's upcoming titles, a look into 2006 and even 2007, and a status report on some MIA comic book games.

Hardware & Tech Nuggets 12:15 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - hardware: general news (0 comments)

In Other News... 12:09 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - in-house: in other news... (27 comments)
Damn, it's Thursday already. Time flies when you're having fun. The game review lubes are on a bit of a hiatus until some new games are released (and reviewed); I'll try to gather enough of them together for one on Friday. Hardware round-ups of course will continue on as usual. A couple people asked me how long the poll would stay up; the answer is until Monday. We'll just make Monday our official new poll day from now on. Today's question is:

Do you think id has given up on multiplayer games?

 
 

Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Bill Stays Quiet About Xbox Next 08:07 pm - Andrew Burnes - consoles: xbox next (9 comments)
As predicted, Bill Gates did not publicly unveil the Xbox Next during his humorous keynote speech at CES today. He did however speak with CNET ,where the console is discussed, in addition to their non-existent plans for the handheld gaming sector:

What are some of the primary goals with Xbox 2?

Gates: Broadening the market, having media capabilities that when there's a PC, we connect up to that. This whole story of the Windows Media Connect and how all the formats and rights management and that simple Media Center menu that's just got TV, photos, music right there--those are common elements we're bringing to all the home devices.

We didn't do Xbox just to do a video game; we did it to be part of our vision of the digital lifestyle, and with the next generation, we really get to go there. In the first generation, we had one simple goal, which was to establish credibility as a great video game platform. We've done that. Actually, the last few months in the United States, we outsold Sony with the PlayStation. So even though they have the biggest installed base, we are a very strong, credible No. 2 in that. As we go into this next generation, it's much broader.

Yes, great video gaming but videogaming for a broader set of people, more communications, more media, more connectivity. And at the same time, we move up to things like high-definition graphics and wireless that the chip breakthroughs allow us to get to.

So just for the games alone you'd go, wow, but the concept now of bringing in your music, your media, connecting to the PC, connecting Xbox Live to Messenger--that just makes it a very big deal.

Highlights of the CES speech included Conan O'Briens amusing intro, Forza Motorsport crashing, several Microsoft demonstrations failing, and repeated ribbing of Bill Gates, much to his non-amusement.

Worthplaying Goodies 05:52 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (1 comment)

Mercenaries Goes Gold 04:11 pm - Andrew Burnes - consoles: general news (4 comments)
LucasArts sent word to tell us that their North Korean destroying action game, Mercenaries, has gone golden:

Mercenaries is a revolutionary, 3rd person action-shooter game set in the near future and inspired by real world events. On the eve of a historic reunification of North and South Korea, a ruthless general stages a military coup to take control of North Korea and threatens the world with nuclear war. The international community launches a global task force to stabilize the region. However, when diplomatic efforts collapse and the region descends into anarchy they announce a one hundred million dollar bounty on the North Korean general and his top military and scientific advisors. The targets are identified in a "most wanted" list in the form of a 52-card deck of playing cards. As one of the top operatives for a private mercenaries company called Executive Operations, you have been called in to collect on these bounties.

Freeform destruction with fancy physics is the name of the game here.

Update: You can find a development diary regarding the game on GameSpy.

Best Selling U.S. PC Games 02:07 pm - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (3 comments)
Here's the uneventful chart for the week ending December 25th:

1) The Sims 2 - Electronic Arts
2) Half-Life 2 - Vivendi Universal
3) Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 - Atari
4) Zoo Tycoon 2 - Microsoft
5) Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth - Electronic Arts
6) The Sims 2 Special Edition - Electronic Arts
7) World Of Warcraft - Vivendi Universal
8) The Sims Deluxe - Electronic Arts
9) Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection - Microsoft
10) Rome: Total War - Activision

Vivendi And Ubisoft To Merge To Fight EA? 11:43 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (11 comments)
This Reuters article suggests that Vivendi and Ubisoft could merge to protect the latter from the advances of EA, who are nothing but hostile according to the Vivendi boss, Bruno Bonnell:

"Electronic Arts certainly did not enter Ubi Soft's capital to just stay at that level. I hope Ubi Soft will find ways to defend itself so that Infogrames does not become the last bastion in the European video games industry."

"It would be a pity to see great European creations end up in a relatively hegemonic U.S. conglomerate," he continued.

If the two were to merge, presumably with assistance from the French government, the new publisher would become the largest in Europe, although still miniscule in comparison to EA.

Update: All the speculation is good for shareholders as prices have risen dramatically since the 20% acquisition by EA.

Update #2: This AFX report states that VUG is not thinking of a merger after the publisher issued an official announcement to calm the nerves of worried investors.

Today On The Vault 11:38 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (1 comment)
The latest from the RPG Vault:

Interplay Sails Off Into The Nether 11:35 am - Andrew Burnes - games: general news (0 comments)
Thanks to Duck and Cover for letting us know that Interplay has finally been liquated:

In a report published Wednesday, the editor of video game company Titus Interactive announces that after an intermediary audience during the observation period, the Commerce Court of Meaux decided to pronounce the judicial liquidation for all the entities of the placed June 7 last Group in judicial redressement.

Titus Interactive as well as its three affiliates had been placed at the beginning of June in redressement judicial by the Commerce Court of Meaux.

An end of a varied era.

Update: Duck and Cover takes cover as they debunk their own story:

I mailed you earlier about Interplay probably being dead, it turns out they're still alive (sorry about that), Titus have been liquidated but it only affects companies based in France, which doesn't include Interplay.

PSP Stateside Bound March 04:54 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: psp (5 comments)
Maybe. Probably. I don't know! Here's what Ken Kutaragi had to say:

"It will probably be March," Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) president and CEO Ken Kutaragi told reporters at a gathering of business executives, responding to a question on when it would start selling the PSP in the U.S. market.

"We'd like to launch in Europe during March as well. You've got Easter," Kutaragi said, referring to the Easter holidays in late March.

At least us Euros don't get shafted for once.

Update: Sony held its CES shindig, but failed to announce pricing of the unit, or when it will specifically be available.

Fancy Pants Xbox Next Patents 03:23 am - Andrew Burnes - consoles: xbox next (17 comments)
TeamXbox reports that Microsoft has registered a number of fancy patents full of complicated words that lend considerable weight to the alleged Xbox Next designs that were 'leaked.' Here's a sample of the gobbledy gook:

In a typical gaming application, the host CPU 1 (108) performs the high-level tasks associated with the game, such as receiving a player's input, performing scene management, performing the computations used to simulate the physical phenomena represented by the application, performing any artificial intelligence provided by the game, and so on. The CPUs 2 to n (110, . . . 112) perform more fine-grained processing associated with a game.

In short: it makes shit look good, and stuff more varied.

2005 Preview 02:24 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: general news (7 comments)
PC.IGN took a peak at some of the stuff we can look forward to in 2005:

Blizzard has, in the past, been quite comfortable announcing only one game or one expansion a year. We'd certainly like it to be StarCraft 2. But for once, there is some great likely hood that an expansion to World of Warcraft could accompany any huge announcement on their part. It seems that expansions to MMORPGs spawn faster than your average game. Though... with the addition of the upcoming PvP Battlegrounds, maybe a full expansion isn't in the cards this year in favor of free content additions. If one thing is true about Blizzard, it's that they like to do things big when they do them. In any case, they're about due for something big. We just don't know what it is.

The Matrix Online Update 01:57 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: mmog (0 comments)
Monolith squeezed out an update for the Matrix Online on the official website:

Over the last couple of months The Matrix Online community has delivered 3 or 4 well-organized, oftentimes original, and always entertaining live in-game events a week. These events include such concepts as "guided tours" of Mega City, club nights hosted by a live DJ, scavenger hunts, fashion shows, pageants, parties, dueling tournaments, and unbelievably, even a 24/7 live radio station. These special player-run events have, understandably, generated a lot of excitement in beta community, often times playing to standing room only capacity crowds.

Supreme Ruler 2010 Quickie 01:41 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - games: real-time strategy (0 comments)
HomeLan tossed off a quickie preview for Supreme Ruler 2010:

Graphically the game looks rather primitive, with sprite based 2D graphics but that look is somewhat deceptive. Battlegoat has loaded this game with tons of options and gameplay features and it's somewhat overwhelming at first. Thankfully the developers have a tutorial that go through the basics of gameplay but the truth is that this short preview cannot begin to touch upon all the features that Supreme Ruler 2010 actually has, which include multiplayer support for up to 16 players as well as a map and campaign editor for folks to make their own fractured world storylines.

In Other News... 12:00 am - Robert 'Apache' Howarth - in-house: in other news... (32 comments)
This no new release drought is a bit of a bummer. The past few months have been so good with new games coming out that you kind of took it for granted. Now, it's going to be months til anything good is released. I still have tons of games keeping me busy (especially RTS and MMOG stuff), so I suppose it isn't too bad. Since we haven't asked this in awhile, today's question is:

WTF have you been playing lately?
 
 

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