Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, ‘Earth 2150: Escape from the Blue Planet’ and ‘Earth 2150: The Moon Project’, Lost Souls is sure to wow fans of the series.

“Strategy First is pleased to be working with Zuxxez on this title, “ says Steve Wall, Vice President of Business Development for Strategy First. “Earth 2150 is a successful series and Lost Souls is a great addition. We look forward to its release later this year.”

“With Strategy First we found the right partner with a great market knowledge of the North-American Entertainment industry. Together with SFI we are able to support the huge EARTH-Community”, says Alexandra Constandache, Development Director at ZUXXEZ Entertainment AG.

It is the 7th of December, 2150 and the Earth is quickly coming to an end. An ongoing feud between the Eurasian Dynasty and the United Civilized States has left the planet in disarray – people are hungry, resources are scarce and agricultural production has stopped. But the situation is getting even worse. A series of nuclear explosions near Antarctica have altered the Earth’s orbit around the sun, making glaciers melt and the seas rise to threatening levels and the catastrophe has been worsened by meteorite showers that have buried whole parts of the planet. Thanks to a group of scientists from the Lunar Corporation, a long forgotten colony on the Moon, many people have managed to escape the terror and make their way to the nearby safety of Mars, but an unlucky few – the Lost Souls – have been left behind. And now they are seeking revenge. In a rage of resistance, the group has decided not to give up, and is working to scrape together the last of the Earth’s resources in an attempt to escape the pending disaster.

“Jagged Alliance 2: Gold Pack is a great addition to the market, “said Steve Milburn, Director of Marketing for Strategy First. “Both Jagged Alliance 2 and Unfinished Business did very well when they were first released and by combining both of them, players receive two quality titles for the price of one.”

"It seems that during this current stale period people have found themselves trying genres and games that they would never normally go near. I’ve seen devoted Q3 players turn their hand to games like Dark Age Of Camelot and other MMORPGs, and RTS games have taken a recent boost thanks to Warcraft 3. Whereas a year ago going to a LAN meet and finding a UT or Q3 tournament was certain, it just isn’t the case any more. People are broadening their horizons and trying new things, and judging by the take-up on these games they’re enjoying it too. I myself have been trying some RPGs and enjoying them online, so it seems that the days of FPS games ruling with an iron fist are gone."

June 2002 Game May 2002
1 Half-Life: Counter-Strike 1
2 Medal of Honor Allied Assault 2
3 Diablo II 3
4 Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast 4
5 Starcraft 10
6 Dark Age of Camelot 12
7 Unreal 11
8 EverQuest 5
9 Command & Conquer: Renegade 7
10 Neverwinter Nights Debut
11 Half-Life: Day of Defeat Debut
12 Soldier Of Fortune 2 Debut
13 Dungeon Siege 6
14 Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds 19
15 Return to Castle Wolfenstien 20
16 Halo (Xbox) Debut
17 Command & Conquer: Red Alert II 18
18 Quake III 13
19 Global Operations Out
20 Battle Realms 14

Golfers will be able to experience the high level of realism in "Links 2003" by viewing swing animations featured in the player bio section. Golf aficionados can observe the swings of such golf pros as Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik, Annika Sorenstam and David Toms. Golfers can also use the site to learn about the new, highly anticipated Real Time Swing feature and begin studying the game's six championship courses through screenshots and descriptions. Twenty additional courses that will be included in an upcoming expansion pack, "Links 2003 Championship Courses," are also listed on the site.

"Links 2003" will feature improved photo realistic graphics, six all-new championship courses, a growing list of high-resolution 3-D characters and expanded online capability. With its superior ball physics and unparalleled attention to detail, "Links 2003" is the perfect way for golfers to experience true-to-life golf on their PC. "Links 2003" will land on retail shelves this September.

"Medal of Honor clearly illustrates the degree to which 2015 can create exciting and successful games," said Ken Cron, CEO of Vivendi Universal Games, a division of VU Publishing. "By leveraging our global sales and distribution network, we look forward to bringing 2015's newest release to gamers around the world."

The development of this title is the latest project by Tulsa, Oklahoma based 2015, Inc., best known for its 3D action games. Further details about the highly anticipated release will be announced in coming months.

"We are very excited about our partnership with Vivendi Universal Games," said Tom Kudirka, President of 2015, Inc. "VU Games has shown their commitment to empowering top tier developers to create high quality franchises. Their demonstrated success in publishing and distributing hit games compelled us to partner with them for our next title."

ABOUT VIVENDI UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING

Vivendi Universal Publishing (VU Publishing), the publishing division of the world's second largest communications group (Vivendi Universal), is an international leader in multi-platform publishing and content distribution. As one of the top three players in the global publishing market and the only publisher with an international reach, the company's key content areas include literature, reference, education, games and consumer press. VU Publishing publishes content in four major languages: English; French; Spanish and Portuguese; and has strong local publishing brands; including Anaya; Atica; Houghton Mifflin; Knowledge Adventure; Larousse; Nathan; and Scipione.

Visit the Vivendi Universal website at www.vuinteractive.com

ABOUT VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES

Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) is a global leader in multi-platform interactive entertainment and a worldwide operating division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, the world's third largest publishing company.

A leading publisher of PC, console and online-based interactive content, Vivendi Universal Games' portfolio of development studios includes Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment and Universal Interactive. Through its Partner Publishing Group, Vivendi Universal Games also co-publishes and/or distributes interactive products for a number of strategic partners, including Empire Interactive, Interplay, Fox Interactive, Mythic Entertainment and Simon & Schuster, among others.

Vivendi Universal Games Australia is headquartered out of Sydney. Together with multi-platform interactive entertainment, the Australian subsidiary publishes educational and children's interactive entertainment across PC and console platforms.

Irvine, CA (July 23, 2002) – PersistentWorldZ announced today that their Massively Multiplayer Online Community Game (MMOCG), Z-Opolis, having completed over 12 months of testing outside the U.S., is in the final stages of localization and will be opened to select test groups on August 1st. As the game on which Z-Opolis is based has already been running for over a year, and has reached thousands of concurrent users in commercial service in Korea, final testing here in the U.S. will concentrate on validating that Z-Opolis hits the mark with U.S. tweens, teens and young adults – especially girls!

Anyone interested in participating in this limited player test should visit www.z-opolis.com.

Traditional massively multiplayer online games have centered on a linear trudge through endless battles with monsters and/or other players. Z-Opolis represents an evolutionary step that brings players of all experience levels together through a three dimensional, interactive, virtual-life experience where game play and community meet content and commerce -- accessed anytime, anywhere via the game client, PC Internet, or mobile devices.

Z-Opolis challenges players to live successful virtual lives within a complete economic, social, and educational framework. “However, the key for us is the fact that game play is geared toward promoting positive interaction between players,” said Kevin Hannah, Chief Marketing Officer at PersistentWorldZ. “Violence is replaced by friendship, making Z-Opolis the first truly kid-friendly massively multiplayer online game.”

Utilizing Web technologies, such as browser access and Instant Messaging, allows players within the Z-Opolis community to never lose touch with their friends, and by exploiting dynamic and personalized web content, directly from in-game, Z-Opolis stays interesting and fresh (without client patching).

The legend of Sherwood.

England, late 12th century. King Richard the Lionhearted, is back from the Crusades, and has been taken prisoner at Durensteien Castle in Austria. His chances of escaping are slim; his ransom, exorbitant. In his absence, his brother, Prince John, has taken over the throne with the help of some powerful Norman barons. Extortion, racketeering, taxation of all sorts, and the proclamation of unjust laws have become par for the course. The people of England are bending to the will of these unscrupulous individuals. But North of Nottingham, in the heart of Sherwood Forest, one man refuses to give in to the Normans. This rebel, an outstanding archer, calls himself Robin Hood.

In one of the most exciting PC games of the year, players are immersed into the magical world of Robin Hood. As Robin Hood, players are sworn to return the throne to King Richard. To do this, they must collect enough gold to pay the King’s ransom and chase Prince John from the Kingdom.

There are over 40 separate missions of three different types;

• Robbery and Infiltration: here players must find their way into enemy castles in order to seize riches amassed by the Normans on the backs of the poor; free hostages; attend secret meetings; or prevent the marriage of Marian to the despicable Guy of Guisbourne.

• Castle Attack: here players must help the Saxons to conquer an enemy-occupied castle. They must weaken strategic Norman posts in order to make an invasion by the Saxon army possible.

• Ambush: a smaller mission in Sherwood in which players must stop the tax collector’s convoy by trapping and attacking its escort or weaken enemy troops on their way to sieges.

Before every mission, players select five team members on the basis of their individual abilities. To successfully complete the operation, players must rely on their skill as tacticians and utilize the competencies of each of their companions, without getting them captured or killed.

The simple and highly intuitive interface enables players to easily coordinate the actions of all five of the characters. For example, while Friar Tuck is taking down a guard, Stutely is putting the final touches on the trap he is setting, and Robin is crawling between two bushes, positioning himself for the arrival of the tax collector’s carriage.

At any point, players may choose to turn on the ”view cone” or ”detection cone” displayed for only one enemy at a time that enables them to determine their field of vision. The system is coupled with a set of small icons that are displayed above the heads of all enemies appearing in a scene and symbolizes their mood: exclamation points for alarm, question marks for worry, storm cloud for annoyance, etc. In addition, the color of the symbols represents the intensity of the emotion: a red exclamation point indicates a maximum state of alarm.

There is no imposed linear order for the missions. Players have a choice of several missions of different kinds. They can proceed as they wish, even favoring certain types of missions over others if they so desire.

Scenarios involve all of the most memorable faces of the Robin Hood legend: Maid Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, and others. As players move through the story line, they recruit new companions, each with their own special talents. For example, when a player has saved Maid Marian, she joins the ranks of the rebels.

More than nine places have been modeled: Sherwood Forest, Nottingham Castle, Lincoln, York, Leicester, Derby and 3 forest intersections. Each of them offers one or several different atmospheres: day, night or fog. The ability to interact with the environment is also highly advanced. Players can open doors, enter buildings, go upstairs, leap onto ramparts, cling to vines, set off traps, lower drawbridges, and so on.

From castle dungeons to York Cathedral, all decors have been extensively researched in order to recreate an authentic medieval atmosphere and ensure an impressive level of detail and an unparalleled feeling of realism.

Join the excitement and adventure of Robin Hood scheduled to hit retail stores in Winter 2002.

Also fresh on EuroGamer today is a preview of the game, featuring new information and a pair of exclusive screenshots, along with a seperate gallery containing another three new shots of the game.

Developed and tested by an active Airbus pilot, Wilco’s new add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 will again give simmers the meticulously detailed panels, the true-to-life Flight Management Computer (called the Flight Management and Guidance Computer in Airbus-speak) and dozens of nerve-wracking malfunction simulations that earned multiple industry awards for 767 Pilot in Command.

In addition, A320 Pilot in Command will deliver exclusive new features made possible by Wilco’s proprietary new FS NAT (New Animation Technology). These firsts include:

· Fully integrated active 3D cockpit, enabling armchair pilots to control the aircraft directly from FS2002’s virtual cockpit without switching to a 2D flat panel. Pan and zoom around the flight deck to your heart’s content, then click any button or switch to activate the autopilot, grab the throttle, access the FMGC, or perform any other operation right from the 3D view. It’s the way to really fly virtually.

· Complete cabin navigation, allowing simmers to move anywhere in the aircraft. Leave the cockpit, walk through the cabin, take a seat, activate the TV monitor, go to the kitchen, open the overhead luggage bins, and more. No more halfway measures that leave you trapped at the cockpit door or a few feet beyond.

· Realistic fly-by-wire simulation, modeling the behavior of the A320’s digital flight control system more accurately than any other add-on to date. If you pull the nose of the aircraft up too far, for example, the program will immediately refuse your command. Other sims faced with a similar situation will wait for the jetliner to reach stall speed before taking corrective action something a real A320 would never do. Other flight controls ranging from ailerons to all gear, flap and brake circuits will also be realistically simulated.

· Interior turbulence and turning effects, allowing desktop aviators to watch their flight panels shudder and shake during turbulence and heavy turns for the first time. Everything in the pilot’s field of view will move in response to the aircraft’s motion, whether in the cockpit or outside the windshield. See it feel it and enjoy the ride.

· Multiple monitor display with one PC, making it possible to display the active 3D panel on your main monitor and drag Electronic Flight Instrument Systems (EFIS) to supplementary screens for quicker access and/or better readability. User preferences can be saved for future use.

The panels will provide soup-to-nuts views of the complex instrumentation that faces a working A320 pilot, including the view from the captain’s seat, the overhead panels, the pedestal, the flap and spoiler controls, the FMGC window, the backup flight instrument window for use during systems failures, and the hydraulic shutoff panel.

Simmers will also get the most accurate and comprehensive A320 FMGC on the market as well as some 25 other flight computers ranging from air data modules to centralized fault and display, electrical management and digital engine control systems. The fully implemented Air Data and Inertial Reference Units will drive all navigation instruments, with simulated alignment procedures, IRS drifts and NC map shifts.

Other features will include a complete Ground Proximity Warning System, a Traffic Collision Avoidance System, a precisely recreated autopilot system, a five-mode Nav Display, dozens of real warnings and advisories, a complete Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM) with upper and lower screens and a selectable status screen, and more.

The airliner itself will come with a choice of worldwide liveries, multiple day and night high-resolution textures, fully animated components, and a panoply of visual effects from contrails and reflective textures to tires that smoke at touchdown.

Available first in a downloadable version and later in a boxed package, A320 Pilot in Command will ship with a comprehensive installation and flight training manual, flight checklists, flight procedures, and detailed descriptions of the aircraft systems and flight instruments.

Scheduled for third-quarter release, the new title will feature seven all-new 3D airport models powered by exclusive new Wilco technology called FS NAT (New Animation Technology) that is capable of delivering more complex animations, more static and dynamic objects, more sounds, and higher resolution than any other add-on today without severe impact on PC performance.

For flight sim enthusiasts, this means that wheels on the ground vehicles will turn, doors and cargo bays will open and close, jetways will extend and retract, and much more all in the proper sequence. It also will result in an active 3D cockpit allowing all switches and buttons in the program’s Boeing 737-700 to be controlled from the Virtual Cockpit view rather than requiring simmers to switch to a 2D flat panel. No other add-on offers these capabilities.

Airport 2002 Volume I will include precise recreations of the world’s seven busiest airports: Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow, Munich International, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International, Atlanta Hartsfield, and Dallas Fort-Worth International. (The Munich and Texas airports are firsts for the series.) Get ready for:

· Step-by-step animations Thanks to FS NAT, all activity outside the aircraft will be displayed in dynamic detail. Simmers will be able to hear the engines shut down after landing, see the jetway moving toward the aircraft, and observe ground vehicles go through their paces with realistic motions ranging from docking to unloading, and so on all with no significant effect on the frame rate.

· New sound effects Animations will be accompanied by directional 3D sound effects for the first time. Simmers will be able to hear gates moving into position, truck doors slamming, engines cranking, and other noises in sync with the relevant actions.

· Realistic night lighting effects Ground vehicles will be illuminated and lit at night, complete with white backup lights and red ambulance warning lights. Other airport activity will also be illuminated for day/night differentiation.

· More graphic elements Each airport will depict more aircraft liveries, airport buildings, gates, roads, trees, street signs and other objects in greater detail than in any previous edition, with reproductions based on Wilco’s exclusive behind-the-scenes visits. Building resolutions in particular will be so high that the images will be indistinguishable from photographs. There also will be more ground vehicles, including catering, fuel, fire, police, baggage and maintenance vehicles as well as passenger buses.

· Active 3D cockpit Building on the capabilities of FS2002’s enhanced virtual cockpit, the new Wilco scenery will add the ability to fly its Boeing 737-700 directly from the 3D view. There will be no need to switch to a 2D flat panel to turn on the autopilot, grab the throttle, or consult the FMC. Simmers can pan and zoom all around the cockpit, using the mouse or shortcuts to reach preferred views in a flash.

· Highly detailed 737 Passenger doors, the hydraulic undercarriage, flaps, rudders, ailerons, spoilers, reversers, cargo hatches and wheels will be fully animated. Each instrument panel will replicate its real counterpart down to the locations and sizes of the gauges. The FMC will include flight plan management, editable leg data, fictive waypoints, flight plan progress actuated in real time, and more.

Adding excitement to the holiday season in Europe, Lemon Interactive and Schanz International Consultants (SIC) signed a long term Agreement to throw their might together for Lemon interactive’s next two games.

Schanz International Consultants will have exclusive world wide rights to license the great looking action-adventure, “Nina: Agent chronicles” based on the Lithtech Talon engine and European rights to license the adrenaline pumping action arcade “Aces of World War I“ with immediate effect.

MD at SIC, Gerhard Schanz, says, “We are very excited about licensing these strong titles and to start a partnership with Lemon Interactive. Our common understanding of the markets will make it a pleasure to work together. The fact that both games do not require funding to finish, will be very attractive to a suitable publisher-partnership. I and my team look forward to this partnership with Marek and his games”.

The initial qualifying rounds will take place at iGames centers nationwide on August 10 and 11, 2002. Regional qualifying rounds will be on August 17, 2002 at 16 select iGames centers. The finals will be held on August 30, 2002 on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA.

Timekeepers is a conversion of the 1995 Amiga Classic with enhanced graphics, new sounds and music, and additional character animations.
Compared to Lemmings in it's day, but instead of assigning commands to the characters, the command icons are pasted directly onto the level terrain.
The Timekeepers obey the commands as they walk over them.

Space World consists of 15 levels set in a futuristic space station setting, which you must complete with at least 8 of your 14-man platoon still alive, in order to deactivate 8 nuclear devices which are hidden in the final level. Hazards include hostile aliens, air locks, gene splicing machines, and holes in the space station floor, crossed by way of ladder or shuttlecraft.

HiTech Creations, producer of the award winning online combat sim Aces High, has unveiled their latest version (1.10) of the premier air, land, and sea WWII battlefront. This version continues Aces High’s tradition of continual advances and improvements, coming just a few months after the previous version that set a new standard in voice communications in online games. This latest version introduces single-player controlled bomber formations, expanded strategic gameplay, and nine new airplanes.

"This release puts more emphasis on strategic and team-oriented goals," says company CEO, Dale Addink, whose team has worked diligently over the last months preparing the release. "This is the first time in a MMOG where a single player can control a flight of bombers. This allows bombers to be used in their historical role of strategic bombing. This complements an expanded map that encompasses over 26,000 square miles and strategic targets like factories and railroads that can be captured.”

Along with numerous other improvements in the new version are nine new fighters and bombers. This brings the total number of player controlled planes, vehicles, and boats to seventy.

Initially developed for Xbox by Bungie Studios, "Halo: Combat Evolved" is a science-fiction first-person shooting game that takes place on a mysterious alien ring-world. The PC adaptation is being developed by Texas-based Gearbox Software and based on the game's original concept. Gearbox has a strong reputation for bringing triple-A gaming franchises to multiple platforms.

"PC gamers worldwide will soon be able to dig into the addictive gameplay of 'Halo,'" said Stuart Moulder, general manager, Microsoft Game Studios. "By combining the success of 'Halo' on Xbox with Gearbox's proven talent in the first-person shooter genre, PC gamers are guaranteed a lively and 'up-all-hours' single and multiplayer experience on the PC."

The award-winning "Halo: Combat Evolved" for Xbox earned the distinguished honor of being the fastest million-unit seller ever for any next-generation console according to NPDFunworld (SM). Statistically, this means that more than six copies of "Halo: Combat Evolved" were sold every minute of every day between the launch of Xbox on November 15, 2001 and Apil 8, 2002.

"We've been dying to play Halo online with a PC ever since its spectacular launch last year," said Gearbox Software President Randy Pitchford. "The team at Gearbox has the experience and the talent to not only bring Halo to the PC, but also to add enhancements that exploit the multiplayer capabilities that PCs are known for."

The Macintosh version of "Halo: Combat Evolved" will be developed by Westlake Interactive and published by Destineer, which has brought other top Microsoft games to the Macintosh including "Age of Empires II" and "Links Championship Edition." Development of the Macintosh versions of "Halo" will occur simultaneously with Gearbox's development of the PC version.

"Our goal is for Mac and Windows users to battle each other on foot, in vehicles, and in the air next summer when the best first-person shooter ever created comes to both Macintosh and Windows," according to Destineer President Peter Tamte.

As if that wasn't enough they are giving away an MP3 player to a random new member that signs up between now and the 24th August, and a random existing member providing they have spent at least 20 hours in the
gamezone between now and the 24th August.2002

The competition is open both to paying members and free trial members. If you are not already a member you can sign up now at http://www.ThrustWorld.com/signup.php. They have extended their free trial period to 45 days to allow people to enter the competition without obligation.

RPG Vault Black Moon Chronicles Developer Profile: François Christin We learn about one of the developers who responsible for keeping Vircom's online world up and running smoothly.

PlanetWarcraft.com offers fans of the Warcraft series complete information about the strategy game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and the upcoming massively multiplayer role-playing game, World of Warcraft, both developed by Blizzard Entertainment.

PlanetWarcraft.com contains extensive statistical information for Warcraft III players to maximize their gameplay skills, and will serve as the cornerstone for an active online community of players and map- and mod-makers.

Online golfers compete on the Million Dollar "Links" VGA Tour using "Links Championship Edition," the latest installment in Microsoft's popular "Links" series for the personal computer. PC golfers worldwide can participate by signing up at http://www.linkstour.zone.com/ from now until July 22, when the first major tournament begins.

"We have given away more than $150,000 during the past two years of the VGA Tour," said Scott Lee, Links brand manager for Microsoft Game Studios. "The addition of the $1 million putt ensures that the VGA Tour now has the competitors, courses, prize money and pressure to match virtually any other golf tour."

The 3-year-old VGA Tour mirrors professional golf tours. Over the past two years, the VGA Tour has included more than 34,000 cybergolfers from 10 countries, making it a true international online sporting event. It comprises three major tournaments, a semifinal event for the tour's leading money winners and a final event in which the top four golfers square off in a match-play tournament to determine the world's best PC golfer.

To download the patch please follow this link;
Patch v1.1 fixes a crush bug that occurred when a convoy was disbanded during repair.

About Patrician II: Quest for Power

Update: The college says that if enough people show an interest they will run the course. If you want this course to fly you have to phone the school and tell them or fax them and tell them -- otherwise it's toast.

St Lawrence College:
Fax: (613) 545-3923
Tel: (Canada) 1-866-276-6601 <- open 9-4pm EST

The course code is: GENI 283 888
and the name is: Game Concepts & Design I

Scheduled for the weekend of July 12-14, 2002 in the Mall’s famous Sam Goody Center, the Festival will crown champions on Midway’s MLB Slugfest 20-03 and Red Card Soccer 20-03, Sega’s Crazy Taxi 3 and Altus’ SkyGunner – with each championship splitting $1,000 cash purses among the winners. Also, Midway, the main sponsor of the Festival, will be giving Slugfest and Red Card champions memorabilia autographed by baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

Walter Day, Chief Scorekeeper at the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard and organizer of the event, says: “Twin Galaxies is honored to include such prestigious titles in our Festival and will be publishing the winners for each event in the next edition of Twin Galaxies Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, the industry’s record book.”

The Video Game Festival is a 5,000-sq-foot, three-day celebration of gaming culture, featuring many of the greatest games and gaming systems produced in the last twenty years, from the legendary Pac-Man arcade game of the early 80s to today’s hot new Playstation 2 and X-box game titles.

BELLEVUE, WA (July 1, 2002) - Sierra Entertainment, Inc., a studio of Vivendi Universal Games, today announced the launch of a new website dedicated to Malice(tm), the upcoming action-adventure game, developed by UK-based Argonaut Games PLC (AGT.L). The site is live and can be accessed at http://malice.sierra.com, where fans can find out just what makes Malice this year's most unexpected title.

The new Malice site hosts screenshots from the game, desktop backgrounds, movies and music, as well as behind the scenes production artwork and a voice recording session with No Doubt. There are also links to the latest Malice game news and press releases. Malice is due to release worldwide this November on both the Xbox(tm) video game system and the PlayStation(r)2 computer entertainment system under the Sierra brand.

RPG Vault: Black Moon Chronicles Developer Profile: Gregory Belacel We meet an ambitious member of Vircom's testing team whose career objective
is to become a great game designer.

Montreal, Quebec. June 28th, 2002 - Strategy First, Playnet.com and Cornered Rat Software announced today that they will be launching a new version of their massively multiplayer online game. WWII Online bounced back in 2001 to win IGN and Gamespy Reader’s Choice Awards. Now, the new retail version, WWII Online Readers’ Choice Edition, has gone gold and will
be available in late July 2002.

World War II Online is an online combined arms simulation set in a relentless, action-packed environment where players can command and crew a variety of accurately modeled vehicles and aircraft, sling weapons, and fight as foot soldiers with and against thousands of other gamers. Set in 1940, it includes equipment and major battle points: strongholds, fortresses, forests, rivers and more ­ much as it was on the battlefields of Europe.

* The Readers’ Choice Edition will contain a new version of the game along with numerous new features and enhancements.
Some of which are:
* New vehicles and weapons
* All new terrain
* New objects and tons of concealment for ground troops
* A redesigned interface
* New mission launch lobbies and a key mapper
* Upgraded mission, rank and strategic systems
* First-person shooter perspective
* New animations and control systems
* Increased performance and rock solid connects

The psychotic Emperor Zorg has hidden a multitude of nuclear devices throughout 4 unique time zones of Earth's history. Our only hope lies with an elite military force Known as the Timekeepers. Your mission is to guide a platoon of 14 brave timekeeper soldiers, through the 15 treacherous levels of each world, all riddled with complex puzzles, obstacles and traps, in order to locate, and disarm, the nuclear devices.

Timekeepers is presented as an 'over-head' scrolling world, where your platoon will wander aimlessly around, getting into all sorts of trouble.
Although very well trained in time management, they are completely lacking in initiative, or common sense of any kind. To prevent total chaos you have several command icons available to you, which can be pasted onto the level terrain. Your Platoon will obediently obey the commands as they walk over them, and by careful manipulation you can overcome the many puzzling problems within the worlds.

Timekeepers was originally released for the Amiga in 1995, receiving review scores as high as 96% in the Amiga press. The PC conversion includes enhanced graphics, completely new sound effects and music tracks, and extra character animations.

The game has been adapted for digital distribution within Vulcan's Portal application, which allows it's users to play and download Vulcan games. Each
Timekeepers world consists of 15 levels. World one, Hieronymus World is now available for free download via the Vulcan Portal. Medieval World is priced at #2.50 ($3.70). The remaining 6 worlds, including Military and Space Worlds will be released throughout next month.

The movie was excellent and so is the game... I even found the training fun and humourous... if you have a PS2, get this game and here is the review just in case you are unsure...