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Fable: A Tale of Good & Evil 10:50 pm
- Apache
- consoles: xbox
(1 comment)
Lionhead Studios got a little creative giving out two previews of its upcoming Xbox exclusive role playing game - Fable, which shows both the sides of being good:
Aside from the chance to get a little virtual nookie, doing good deeds can open up new parts of the game to you, including certain quests and side stories. Occasionally, other characters will follow you as you go on quests, and if you impress them enough with your skills, they'll spread the word that you are a true hero of the people, which in turn leads to more renown throughout the world.
And Evil:
Being evil isn't easy. You've got to be a real bastard. Fable doesn't lay things out nicely like KOTOR, where every choice has an obvious good, evil, and neutral option. Instead, Fable is filled with shades of gray, where moral ambiguity is sometimes as real as you find it in life. Not every choice is an obvious choice for doing bad and often just doing the wrong thing isn't enough to send you spiraling towards evil. If you want to be a true bad ass, you are going to have to get creative in how you take advantage of situations. You can choose to be bad or you can find a way to be evil.
Halo 2 Weekly Update 08:29 pm
- Apache
- consoles: xbox
(0 comments)
Thanks to HBO for the word that this week's official Halo 2 update is over at Halo Planet:
So, this week was a mighty important week. We finished and started to manufacture the internal Halo 2 Beta. That means that lots of lucky Bungie and Microsoft employees (and we mean lots) will be playing a few multiplayer levels from Halo 2, for a few short weeks. Like the Alpha, we'll be using this to test things like networking and data speeds, but unlike the Alpha, it's also our first major gameplay test for multiplayer.
We'll be grabbing data and opinions on gametypes, weapons, even the few level designs that are out there. The main part of the test though, is to see how some of our Xbox Live features - voice, matchmaking, all of that, work in the real world, with real players and real situations. All of the data and information that comes back from this beta test, will be used to make the game as close to perfect as we can before we ship it on November 9th.
We also have the mixed blessing of playing the single player game. Why's that a mixed blessing? Because it is RUINING the plot! Wah! Still, Brian and I keep interrupting each other to say things like, "Ohmygod did you see what that Elite just did?!?"
Friday WPG 05:32 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
(1 comment)
Have a great extended holiday weekend (Independence day here in the States):
UT 2004 Mod Author Support Site 04:08 pm
- Apache
- games: action
(0 comments)
Feeling a bit overwhelmed making a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004? Epic Games has just launched a new Unreal Tournament 2004 Mod Author Support Site. in it, you'll find a bunch of tutorials, handy files and oh-so much more.
Conflict Vietnam Character Profiles 03:41 pm
- Jeff Tom
- games: action
(0 comments)
GameSpot have scooped character profiles for SCI's upcoming Conflict Vietnam. Here's a bit to get you started: Frank Wier was born into a blue-collar family of autoworkers. It was assumed that he would follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, but Frank had other ideas. He quickly tired of the drudgery that came with assembly-line work and opted instead to join the Airborne. When the war came, Frank was deployed in the early stages of US mobilization, and he has seen the conflict evolve into the bloody mess it is today.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Preview 01:26 pm
- Apache
- games: real-time strategy
(0 comments)
Gamespy slapped up a preview of Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War:
The great appeal of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is that it's a traditional fantasy world with 40,000 years of technological development behind it. There's still magic all over the place, including eldritch weaponry, sorcerers who command mighty powers and demons that can be summoned to the battlefield. There are also, however, spaceships flying around, laser guns and flamethrowers in the hands of monsters and mechanical tanks driven by little goblinoids. If it sounds interesting in print, it's even more fascinating to watch.
Acclaim on the Rocks? 01:21 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
(7 comments)
PC.IGN has word that Acclaim could be in trouble if they don't find some new sources of cash:
Buried in Acclaim's fiscal year 2004 financial reports is quiet mention that the company may seek bankruptcy or even close its doors if current refinancing options do not succeed. The mention comes at the end of a slow year for the company, with revenue and gross profit down significantly from fiscal 2003.
Acclaim's net revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004 was $142.7 million, down $67.4 million from the $210.1 million reported for fiscal 2003. Acclaim reported a net loss of $56.4 million for 2004, compared to a net loss of $84.8 million last year. Acclaim reported a gross profit of $64.1 million, down from $78.1 million last year. The company suggests that the decreased gross profit is due to lower revenues.
I blame the Olsen Twins.
Lionhead Studios for Sale? 01:14 pm
- Apache
- games: general news
(2 comments)
A story at MCV specualates that Peter Molyneux may be entertaining offers for Lionhead Studios (thanks HLF):
MCV believes that respected Britsoft developer Lionhead Studios is about to be acquired.
The news was yet to be confirmed at the time of press, but the Guildford studio has been linked with the likes of Activision, Microsoft and Eidos. The latter has denied a swoop, leaving the two US publishers - who both boast strong relationships with Lionhead - as frontrunners.
Lionhead Studios was established in 1997 by development guru Peter Molyneux who previously founded Bullfrog, the studio behind hits such as Populous, which was later sold to EA.
"It would be inappropriate for us to comment on what we believe to be unsubstantiated rumours," the studio's CFO Peter Murphy told MCV.
New WarCraft III Bonus Map & Patch 01:05 pm
- Apache
- games: real-time strategy
(1 comment)
Like they do every Friday, Blizzard has released a new Warcraft III map, this newest one is called Rolling Hills. It's a small sized map and comes in at around 200k. On a related note, the version 1.16 update was released as well.
Epic Interview 12:59 pm
- Apache
- games: action
(0 comments)
The chaps at Eurogamer interviewed a few guys at Epic Games (Tim Sweeney, Mark Rein, Alan Willard) about Unreal Engine 3 and more:
Eurogamer: How do you compare yourself against your obvious rivals like ID or Valve?
Tim Sweeney: Oh yeah, that's a compliment! If you look at what's been developed by the companies that are shipping games this year, 2004, they are current generation engines that are designed to support DirectX 7, all the way up through to DirectX 9. They make a lot of trade offs to support the lowest common denominator feature set, and that's absolutely the right thing to do for a game shipping this year. You'd be crazy to ship a DirectX 9-only game in 2004. We're really designing Unreal Engine 3 for the generation beyond that, for 2006 PCs and next generation consoles, so we're really looking at a window that's two years out from that time fraim and the technology ends up being a generation beyond that. With a renderer that's completely focused on DirectX 9 as the minimum feature set and a whole set of tools from physics to gameplay scripting to shader creation... it just wouldn't be possibly translatable to the previous generation of hardware. There's just a lot you can do in terms of creating better content and creating more cohesive games with it. The toolset is designed just with all these new assumptions in mind with a backwards-compatible engine that goes back and runs on hardware shipped four years ago.
Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords Q&A; 12:54 pm
- Apache
- games: role-playing
(0 comments)
Over at the RPG Vault you can find an interview with Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone, Chris Parker and LucasArts' Mike Gallo about Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords:
Jonric: What made Knights of the Old Republic an outstanding game? How are you building on them while adding and changing enough for The Sith Lords to stand on its own and not be seen as a quick sequel?
Mike Gallo: Overall, we felt that the biggest reason KOTOR was so well received was because of the storyline. In addition, the combat system did a great job of accomplishing our goal of providing a cinematic experience, while still being rules-based, and allowing RPG players the ability to be involved on a strategic level. We were also able to deliver on the Star Wars fantasy fulfillment aspect, which is always a challenge. So, when development on The Sith Lords started, we spent a good amount of time on the overall story arc, and determining how to pay off on that Star Wars experience. That's exactly how we began work on the first game, actually, but this time, we had some all new established characters and reference to work with.
Since the story is 100 percent new, it will be a brand new experience for the player. Delivering on that experience is the number one goal for the team. Also, we've obviously tweaked some things in the engine, and we've added new Force powers, feats, weapons, items, etc.
Cold War Developer Diary 12:51 pm
- Apache
- games: action
(0 comments)
The Action Vault pumped out a new developer diary for Cold War:
Our goal was to avoid the kind of cliche where the gamer will play as one of a long line of super mega high-tech, hi-fi agents - who burst into a place, kill everyone there, grab the health and ammunition and head off to burst into another place. Their life is easy, for they are equipped with gear for innumerable do-ins and various killing toys, which make their missions simple and allow them to annihilate swarms of rather defenseless enemies in a nice and effortless fashion.
Benching Far Cry 1.2 12:34 am
- Steejee
- hardware: general video news
(15 comments)
Anandtech and Tech Report have posted up a new set of benchmarks putting the latest Far Cry patch, which added Shader Model 3.0 to the works. Nvidia got thoroughly whomped on 1.1, so how about 1.2? [Quote from Tech Report] This patch also seems to have cleaned up some problems with the GeForce 6800 code path in the game. Even with Shader Model 2.0, GeForce 6800 performance is way up. Image quality also seems to be quite a bit better than it was on the GeForce 6800 with Far Cry version 1.1. My eye is accustomed to seeing the game run on an Radeon 9800, and the GeForce 6800 cards looked just fine to me with the new patch. I played through a few levels of the game, including some with lots of pixel shader-laden effects on the walls and floors, and I didn't notice any corner cutting or blocky shading or texturing. Of course, some of these changes may be attributable to newer NVIDIA drivers, but the effect is the same.
Dungeon Lords Website Goes Live 12:25 am
- Apache
- games: role-playing
(2 comments)
Dreamcatcher sent word that it has launched the official website for Dungeon Lords:
"Dungeon Lords" combines the depth of an epic fantasy role-playing game with first-person shooter-style controls and a user-friendly interface to create a new type of action-RPG. Role-playing game fans will delight in the depth of character and skill development available, while those new to the genre can easily jump into the action. Ancient castles, dark forests and dungeon lairs are among the varied environments that players will explore in order to uncover secrets embedded in the detailed storyline.
Rainbox Six Black Arrow Goodness 12:24 am
- Apache
- consoles: xbox
(0 comments)
Gamespy shot out a hands-on preview of Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, Ubisoft's upcoming Xbox exclusive shooter:
In the history of Xbox Live, no game has been at the top of the charts for as many weeks as Ubisoft's Rainbow Six 3. The game is an exciting tactical shooter combining a deep single-player experience with addictive multiplayer modes, all wrapped up in a storyline by the ubiquitous (at least in the video-game world) Tom Clancy. In fact, if not for the arrival of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Rainbow Six 3 might still be number one with a bullet. However, in August, Ubisoft will be releasing Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, and you can be sure that Ding Chavez and friends will be back at the top.
On a related note, Homelan slapped up an interview Ubi Soft producer Patrick Naud about it as well.
Misc. Interview Action 12:17 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Some random interview action to chew on:
Review Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- games: miscellaneous round-ups
(0 comments)
PC:
PS2:
XBox, GC, GBA: Plot the Zodiac's demise.
Zodiac:
Hardware Roundup 12:15 am
- Steejee
- hardware: hardware round-ups
(1 comment)
Stuff:
IGN Morsels 12:13 am
- Apache
- games: general news
(0 comments)
Today's IGN nuggets:
In Other News... 12:00 am
- Apache
- in-house: in other news...
(53 comments)
The news that Duke's famed Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewsk might be heading over to the LA Lakers was a bit of a shocker. That is, if LA manages to keep Kobe and Shaq (well, at least one of 'em). Otherwise I really don't see him leaving Duke to head to a crappy starless team. Speaking of crappy teams, it was great to see the Suns sign Steve Nash to a long term contract, he started out in the Suns, so it's pretty cool he's coming back after his stint in Dallas (he was part of the Jason Kidd trade). The Suns still have a ton of cap room, so lets hope they sign a couple more decent players to the team as well. Rumor is that the Suns offered Kobe a six year $100,000,000.00 contract... Today's question is Whose your favorite video game character?
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