May 2004
Dungeon Siege II Preview
 Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:10 PM |
Category: Role Playing |
After doing the news over on raven-games I did a bit of digging and noticed on RPGDot that they have a cool article on Dungeon Siege II that is based on thier E3 coverage. Theres also a group of six new screenshots to gaze upon. So go and have a wee look if your a Dungeon Siege fan or just happen to be interested.
Lineage II Review
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:03 PM |
Category: Massively Multiplayer |
After slogging around quite a few news sites I noticed that gamespy.com has posted up a review of Lineage II and here is a quote for you to read:Lineage II quite literally puts the "multiplayer" back into the MMO genre. The title is built around universal player-versus-player combat that culminates in the major gameplay dynamic of seizing and holding one of the six major castles that dot the land. Is this a good or bad thing? It depends on your perspective. Players who are looking to just run around, do quests, kill monsters, and go on adventures by themselves or with a small group of friends are going to be dramatically disappointed. Put simply, it's almost impossible to go solo past the first few levels of the game, and the higher you go, the more people you need to be allied with in order to get anything out of it. Now if you want to read the rest, go right to the review itself.
Thief: Deadly Shadows Demo
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 8:29 PM |
Category: Stealth |
The demo for Thief: Deadly Shadows is now available on the official site. The system requirements for the game include:- Intel Pentium® IV 1.5GHZ (AMD Athlon XP™ Equivalent).
- 256MB Ram.
- 100% DirectX 9 Compatible Sound Card.
- 437mb space (for the demo)
If you can't get the demo off the official site then try 3d gamers or actiontrip or fileshack. You need to register for downloading off some of those sites. Luck in the shadows with getting the demo.
Bard's Tale Creature Creation Dev Diary
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 8:04 PM |
Category: Role Playing |
Senior Artist, Brandon Humphreys talks creature creation for The Bard's Tale in a new Developer Diary on gamespy.com and here is a mall snip from the article:I have been designing critters professionally for over a dozen years now and always try to present new ideas and approaches to show the audience creatures they haven't seen before, but feel as though they could exist. When I am designing a character or monster I like to start with the head, ultimately growing the design out once the initial attitude and personality has been set. For the remainder of the two page article go right here. By the way, the game is being developed for the PC as well as the console. What console versions are being developed.... well I was going to look that up but my ISP has been acting screwy all day and I can't get on the official site to find out.
Catwoman Interview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:17 PM |
Category: Action |
Ferrago chats with Richard Leinfellner about the upcoming Catwoman game which will be released on the 8th of August for the PS2, PC, Xbox and GBA. The Game Cube version is due out a little earlier on July 30th. Anyhow, if your interested in reading the one page Q&A article then go to this page.
Starship Troopers Screenshots
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:52 PM |
Category: First Person |
Thanks to visiting Shack News I found some new screenshots on PC Games for the upcoming Starship Troopers FPS game. The shots show some different locations and a lot of nasty, angry looking insectoids. Check em out...
Painkiller Review
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:05 PM |
Category: First Person |
Barry's Rigs 'N Reviews has gone and reviewed Painkiller. Here is a small piece of what Barry has to say about it:Painkiller’s plot won't win an Oscar, but it’s good enough to do what it’s supposed to, with just the right amount of cut scenes to carry the story forward without getting in the way of all the action—giving you a sense of purpose of what you’re doing, and why, as opposed to just running around on a map killing things and blowing shit up just because “it’s there.” Finding out what would ultimately be the result of Daniel defeating Lucifer’s generals and stopping his planned assault on Heaven, if Daniel would be reunited with Catherine, and maybe even finding some clues on the real reason why Daniel ended up in this predicament in the first place, was part of the reason that I continued playing Painkiller—aside from enjoying the imaginative levels, outstanding visuals, and pulverizing every demon that crossed my path, of course . . . Anyhow go read the rest of the three page Painkiller review. By the way Will Rock was pretty fun IMHO.
Thief III Sneaks Nearer
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:25 PM |
Category: Stealth |
worthplaying.com has some cool looking Thief: Deadly shadows screenshots posted up and they have a 4mb trailer for download. You can check that all out on this page. It's somethin to check out while we all wait for Thief: Deadly Shadows to ship to stores on May 25th, 2004 (Holy Shadows That's Tomorrow!!)
Catwoman Slinks Online
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:30 PM |
Category: Action |
The official website for Catwoman has gone live and the site features movies, screenshots and you can sign up for a newsletter. This new Electronic Arts game is in development by EA's UK Studio and is based on the upcoming motion picture starring Halle Berry. The game is scheduled for release this Summer for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and PC. Meow!
Gabe Newell Interview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:58 PM |
Category: First Person |
I noticed on Blues News that Halflifesource has a Gabe Newell interview transcribed from an audio interview with the Valve head cheese that was conducted during E3. The interview mentions their eagerness to finally get Half-Life 2 out the door this summer. Well that sure sounds good to me. Imagine playing Doom III and Half-Life II back to back!
New Dungeon Siege II Dev Diaries Entry
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:08 PM |
Category: Role Playing |
On the Dungeon Siege II site they updated thier Dev Diaries. This time Level Designer Brian Fricks talks about getting back from E3 and says:Just getting back to the office from a half-week at E3, and the staff of Gas Powered Games is stoked. Having packed our game full of new features for character development and combat, it's quite satisfying to have seen E3 participants test drive a few sections of our game world and have fun. Go right here to read the rest of what Brian Fricks has to say.
Splinter Cell 3 Preview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:15 PM |
Category: First Person |
On Wham! Gaming they posted up thier E3 preview for Splinter Cell 3. Take a read of this quote from the preview:So image my surprise when I went to see the video on display of the game in action on Thursday. To say the title caught me off guard (in a good way) would be an understatement. Zelda was the biggest surprise of E3 for me, followed very closely by Splinter Cell 3. I really was unprepared for it, and am happy to say Ubi Soft went all out in trying to add new features and make the game look incredible. I never did get to play the first two Splinter Cell games but Splinter Cell 2 I've had my eye on for awhile now. Everytime I go looking at games it's sitting there for $29 Canadian. Uh, anyhow here is the link to that preview
Painkiller Review On GamerDad
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:03 PM |
Category: First Person |
GamerDad has a new review online for Painkiller. I think it's quote time:Taken as a shooter, Painkiller seems a bit silly at first glance. But the gameplay mechanics, replayability (full multiplayer is also available); variety and brilliant level design make Painkiller one of the finest and most satisfying shooters you can buy. Now you can read the rest of the preview by visiting this page.
Doug Lombardi Interview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:56 PM |
Category: First Person |
Boomtown.net pasted up an interview from E3 with Doug Lombardi and they chit chat all about Half-Lfe II. The thing that got my attention was the fact that Valve announced at this year’s E3 that they will release Counter-Strike as well as the original Half-Life using the Half-Life 2 engine. Oooh the original Half-Life all spiffed up in the source engine! I wanna play that! Ok fellow gaming goons, go read that interview.
Dungeon Siege II E3 Article
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:55 PM |
Category: Role Playing |
Spotted this on Wham! Gaming. The site posted up some coverage from E3 concerning Dungeon Siege II. So here is a quote from the one page preview article:The only other things that I had a chance to immediately notice were pets and Weapons sets – this time around you have a vested interest in your pets. You can now bring them back from the dead, level them up by feeding them your weapons and armor, with each increased level giving your pet (and by extension you) new powers and abilities. And finally I was able to clearly see that weapons sets (that’s a combination of armor and weapons designed to complement each other), are still in the Dungeon Siege Universe; only now they’ve become much easier to identify both in the menu, and by their appearance as well. Well that all sounds interesting. I look forward to hearing more about this game before it's ready (supposedly by Christmas it'll be done). If you haven't tried the first game maybe it's time to get yourself into Dungeon Siege... or somethin.
Lineage II Interview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:14 PM |
Category: Massively Multiplayer |
ign.com has a spiffy interview with Dhevrin of NCSoft who talks about the popular MMORPG Lineage II. Check it out, it's full of interesting Lineage II chit chat including this bit:Let me start by talking about Castle Sieges, because they are scheduled at a certain time we know Europeans will not be able to play when Americans schedule the sieges. So we know that European servers will be a necessity, even for just that one main reason. The financial aspect of it is do we have enough players to support one server, and based on what we have right now we do. We are very strongly and very seriously taking into consideration a European server. Its very likely and something I am pushing for, we also have to consider since they have different house it will also effect the requirements for customer support to match their prime times. So its a lot of things but we are trying to bring it all together and make it happen. Check out that interview!
Top Selling MMORPGs
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:02 PM |
Category: Massively Multiplayer |
MMORGPs are all the rage these days and both Lineage II and City of Heroes have seen great success since being released on April 28. City of Heroes, which was the overall top selling PC game from April 24- May 1, has already amassed over 100,00 subscribers, while Lineage II, the second best selling title in the previously stated week, has surpassed 60,000 subscribers. Here's a list of the top 10 games:1. City Of Heroes
2. Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicles
3. Battlefield Vietnam
4. Rise Of Nations: Thrones & Patriots Expansion Pack
5. Far Cry
6. Unreal Tournament 2004
7. Rise Of Nations
8. The Sims Deluxe
9. Call Of Duty
10. Drop JC (eGames) This info is from NPD Group's list of the top-selling PC games for the week of April 24-May 1, 2004.
Rush To Release Covers EP
Posted
by
Christian 'Fraust' Wilson
at 7:20 PM |
Category: Music |
Legendary rock band Rush is set to release their first ever covers album entitled Feedback through the Atlantic label. Drummer Neil Peart had the following to say about the project. "[Bassist] Geddy [Lee], [guitarist] Alex [Lifeson] and I were channeling back to 1966 and 1967, when we were 13- and 14-year-old beginners," drummer Neil Peart writes in the album's liner notes. "We thought it would be a fitting symbol to commemorate our 30 years together if we returned to our roots and paid tribute to those we had learned from and were inspired by. We thought we might record some of the songs we used to listen to, the ones we painstakingly learned the chords, notes and drum parts for, and even played in our earliest bands." Below is a tracklisting for Feedback which is due to hit store on June 28th.01. Summertime Blues (EDDIE COCHRAN)
02. Heart Full Of Soul (THE YARDBIRDS)
03. The Seeker (THE WHO)
04. For What It's Worth (BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD)
05. Mr. Soul (BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD)
06. Shapes Of Things (THE YARDBIRDS)
07. Seven & Seven Is (LOVE)
08. Crossroads (CREAM) I know I'll be first in line at the record store to pick this one up. Rush is also embarking on their 30th anniversary tour this summer. Check out their official website to see if they are touring in your area.
Bard's Tale E3 Impressions
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:44 PM |
Category: Role Playing |
Gamespot posted thier up thier E3 impressions of The Bard's Tale. I figured id throw in the quote now:Fargo ran us through an early area of the game that demonstrated the titular bard hero's one and only special ability--playing a song that summons a single rat, then playing the song again to dispel it. According to Fargo, the bard has used this song in the past to frighten bartenders (and barmaids) into giving him a free beer or a place to put up for the night--this has essentially been the height of his ambition, since the bard's primary interests are women and money (followed by booze). Unfortunately for the bard, he meets a really fine-looking young lady with lots of cash and gets suckered into a larger story that may end with him saving the world--or not. Anyhow now would be a good time to go read the rest of The Bard's Tale E3 Impressions.
Halo 2 Hands On E3 Impressions
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 11:03 PM |
Category: First Person |
I was rooting around the net when I noticed on ign.com a XBox, Halo 2 Hands-on E3 article. Here is a clip from the article:Zanzibar turns out to be one well-crafted multiplayer level. The base stands behind broken walls on a beach front, with two to three stories and multiple staircases, walls, paths and manners of getting from one story to another. On offense, players have the Warthog, which controls just like in the first game, and one particularly good strategy is to blast in, close in to a fixed turret and use the fixed rocket launcher attached to the car to permanently blast the metal of that turret across the beach. For the remainder of this 2 page Halo 2 article go right here.
Half-Life 2 Official Site Online
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:56 PM |
Category: First Person |
I spotted on Blues News that the Half-Life 2 site is now online and ready for all us Half-Lifers to check out. They have all the latest Half-Life 2 stuffs, including screenshots, trailers and Gordon Freeman underwear...ok, maybe not that item but it's a good place to get psyched for Half-Life 2. By the way, if your visiting this site and wondering why we never mention Doom 3, then you should realise that we have a site dedicated to everything Doom. Dunno why I started this in a Half-Life news post but hey both games are cool and both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 are gonna kick-ass. Get to Newdoom for the latest Doom 3 and other Doom related news.
Serious Engine 2 Tools Interview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:56 PM |
Category: First Person |
I spotted on Shack News this serious engine interview where Croteam talks to the Serious Zone about the engine tools that are going to be present in their upcoming Serious Engine which includes info about the new scripting system, physics, editing, and multiplayer aspects, etc...
E3 Half-Life 2 Preview
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:38 PM |
Category: First Person |
After slogging around a few news sites I noticed that gamespy.com has a preview up for the greatly anticipated Half-Life 2. Here is a clippage from the preview:All told, we had a chance to play through three different levels: two from the very beginning of the game, and one a significant way along. (Valve's Doug Lombardi estimates it at about halfway through, equaling about 10 hours in.)
The first level we played was set at the very beginning of the game, and - like Half-Life's famous opening tram ride - Half-Life 2 starts with Gordon Freeman's transit to "City 17," which provides the backdrop for much of the game. As Lombardi tells us, Half-Life 2 starts a "significant number of years" after the original events at the Black Mesa Research Facility, and it's clear that the world has been significantly changed. Ok you can read the two page preview by going right here and theres some new screenshots to check out too!
Thief III Dev Diaries Volume II
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:23 PM |
Category: Stealth |
gamespy.com has volume II of the Thief: Deadly Shadows Dev Diaries. Developer David Riegel talks about how the AI behavior in Thief: Deadly Shadows was revamped to enhance the stealth gameplay. Here is a quote from the article:Those moments of tension created when you're hiding in shadows are pure adrenaline, waiting to see if you're going to get caught -- but after a certain amount of time that tension fades and it becomes a waiting contest. You have to wait for the A.I. to finish what it's doing before you can move again. Suspense is good, but an elevator-riding simulation we are not. One of our design goals was to keep the player tense, but not confined to a single dark space -- we wanted things moving and fluid -- at least a large part of the time. Its a good read if your a Thief fan so sneak over and read it!
Catwoman On The Prowl
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:05 PM |
Category: Action |
Gamespot has a first look at Catwoman. According to the preview, on July 23, Warner Bros will release the Catwoman movie based on the popular DC Comics character and Electronic Arts will unleash the game on the same day for XBox, PS2, GC and PC. To read the preview head on over to this page right here.
Vivisector Screenshots
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:41 PM |
Category: First Person |
Gamespot has some new Vivisector: Beast Inside screenshots geared up for viewing on this page. Vivisector is an H.G. Wells-inspired action game and is is currently scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2004. You can view some more info about the game right here.
Some Suffering Screamshots
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:30 PM |
Category: Horror |
worthplaying.com has fourteen screenshots posted up from The Suffering, which is being ported to the PC. Have a gander at the shots on this particular page.
The Suffering On PC
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:36 PM |
Category: Horror |
HomeLan Fed has a Suffering Interview with Tomas Vykruta of Surreal who talks about the upcoming port of their recent console horror themed game. Go ahead and read the full Interview.
Thief III Has Gone Gold
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:54 PM |
Category: Stealth |
Blues News announced that Thief: Deadly Shadows has gone Gold with it being completed for both PC and XBox. Thief: Deadly Shadows will continue the Ion Storm tradition of open-ended emergent gameplay the studio is famous for. The freedom to choose a unique play style is what sets Thief: Deadly Shadows apart from any other game further immersing the player into the adventure. Thief: Deadly Shadows features a powerful physics system, startlingly smart AI, enhanced character modelling and animation, a groundbreaking sound propagation system and state- of-the art lighting and graphics for which Ion Storm is famous for. The game will ship on May 25 and you can expect to see it on the shelf May26 so get your thieves tools ready...
Starsiege Tribes and Tribes II Free
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:54 PM |
Category: First Person |
Blues News posted up the info that you can now download off of Fileplanet, Starsiege Tribes (136mb) and Tribes II (539mb) for free. Vivendi Universal has released the Multiplayer games to celebrate the upcoming release of Tribes: Vengeance. Registration is required to download files off of Fileplanet. According to Blue's both games will be released on other sites soon enough so if you can't get the Fileplanet's downloads then keep your eyes peeled for other links soon. I'm currently in-line for the first game download and I have 30 minutes to wait...
Everquest II Beta Sign-Up
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:57 PM |
Category: Massively Multiplayer |
I just noticed on worthplaying.com that they announced that the
beta signup for EverQuest II started today. Thousands of players are expected to apply in order to test the MMORPG. The beta testing of EverQuest II will start in June and the game is expected to ship in North America later on in the year.
Conan The Dark Axe v1.03 Patch
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 10:01 PM |
Category: Action |
I was on worthplaying.com to look around (once again) and noticed they have a patch already for Conan: The Dark Axe. This 8meg patch updates your retail game to v1.03 and adds new chat features, graphics rendering fixes and other stuff. That's if you have the game. I don't and I sure would like to know when it'll ship on PC in North America.... Europeans got the game shipped on April 8th and on the Conan-The Dark Axe site they say the game shipped April 30th for XBox, PS2, followed by the GC version later on... I have no idea yet when the North American PC version will come along. Anyhow get the patch if you have the game and need patching.
Thief III Will Ship In May
Posted
by
Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch
at 9:48 PM |
Category: Stealth |
Right on ign.com they put up a jobby saying that Eidos sent out a quick announcement that Thief: Deadly Shadows, the third title in the renowned stealth-action series, will ship for the PC and Xbox on May 26. So there you go, we can get to sneak around again, blackjacking man and beast alike on May 26. *Lays down a spread of moss arrows and sneaks across the mindlessgames lobby*
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