Clusterball - sim @ 11:20 pm PST
If you like a little adrenaline rush now and then, an original idea, eye candy, and fun, then you'll probably like Clusterball. I just happened upon this nifty little game by Daydream Software and find it to contain loads of fun. Here's the basic premise of the game: you fly around on a big map, pick up balls from the ground, and try to take them back to the center of the map to increase your score. In the meantime, other players are trying to stop you from doing so using guns, tractor beams, and other power-ups found around the map. That's just a simple description of the gameplay, but it doesn't do the game justice (check out these visuals). So just download the game, register for multiplayer, and start playing. We need more people to play on and host servers, so get busy people!

Project IGI Movie - sim @ 8:00 pm PST
There's a sweet movie, recently released by Eido Interactve, showing off the "fine art" of sniping in Project IGI. If you're looking forward to this game at all, or even if you're not, then download this movie now! It looks great! You can grab the 6.7 meg .zip off of Meccaworld. If you haven't heard about this amazing shooter using a flight sim engine, check out this short blurb off of GA-Source:

Project I.G.I (I'm Going In) will throw you into one of the largest gaming environments ever seen. Action takes place across continents, within enemy bases, on trains, planes and even cable cars. The central character is Jones, a freelance British agent hired by US Intelligence to undertake the sort of “blacker than midnight” operations that no-one else can manage. Jones is sent into Estonia to “investigate” an arms robbery, but as the storyline slowly reveals, much more is going on.

Do I really have to say it again? It appears I do. Download this movie now!

Vampire Demo - sim @ 7:51 pm PST
That's right, the playable demo of Nihilistic's RPG, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption is out. You'll be able to test out the game in the dark ages portion of the game, while a modern day one will come out later. You can grab the 91 meg demo from 3DFiles, 3DDownloads, Stomped, or Meccaworld.

BG DevProfile: Andrew Nobbs - Falcon @ 7:31 pm PST
After starting out in an entry level position at developer BioWare, Andrew Nobbs is now a Designer on this highly anticipated title. As RPGVault continues
their series of Baldur’s Gate II Developer Profiles, they're happy to introduce Andrew who tells us about gaining entry into the industry, his position on
the team and more. Read more here

Raaj Menon Sumbarine Titans Interview - Falcon @ 7:29 pm PST
Gamers.de has an exclusive Interview with Raaj Menon, Manager of Ellipse Studios online. Ellipse develops the underwater RTS-Game Submarine Titans. here is a small clip:

Q:How do you plan to set yourself aside from the pool of RTS-games?
A:It is hard to differentiate RTS games on a quick look. We've found that a first impression look at our graphics reminds some people of Starcraft, however once people look a little deeper they see how rich SubTitans really is.
Our key point of difference is in the details. We have streamlined all the features people expect to see in a real-time strategy game and added some innovative new ones that reinforce the play experience without overwhelming the player.

Elite Force Interviews - Falcon @ 7:18 pm PST
For their fourth and final interview of Stomped's interview series with members of the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force development team, we chat with
the game's project leader, Brian Pelletier. Check out the exclusive interview here.

And seeing I forgot to post the other 2 interviews, here they are:
n the third of Stomped's four part interview series with members of the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force development team, we chat with the game's head programmer, Raven Software's James Monroe. Check out the interview here.

In the second of Stomped's four part interview series with members of the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force development team, we chat with the game's lead artist, Raven Software's Les Dorscheid. View it here

Ground Control Review - Falcon @ 7:08 pm PST
Gamesxtreme have posted a review of Ground Control on the PC. Being very impressed with its gameplay, range of units and graphics they gave it 93%, earning it a 'games xtreme essential' award.

"The games controls are so simple, using the mouse and a few keys you can control the whole battle, zooming from one place to another checking on your troops progress. Moving the mouse to the edges of the screen turns the camera In that direction and the arrow keys on the keyboard move the camera in that direction, so just using these you can look at any point in the map.

The other controls are practically all done via the mouse. You have to land your troops via a landing craft, instead of having to press keys and stuff you just click on the on screen icon that shows you there are troops ready for deployment and click on the appropriate drop zone marked on the mini map. Oh, didn’t I mention anything about mini maps and dropzones, well to land your troops you are designated a dropzone which is marked on your mini map. The beginning of the mission shows only 1 dropzone but others will become available if necessary. You also get objectives marked on the mini map, such as places you need to investigate or where you need to attack the enemy."

Side Story 0079 Review - Falcon @ 7:06 pm PST
GameCritics.com has a review on Side Story 0079, in which they tlak about the rising popularity of anime in the United States and the new Dreamcast game based one of the most revered anime of all-time. Here's an excerpt:

"The most surprising thing about Side Story 0079 is the way it looks. While being based on one of the most popular anime of all-time, it doesn't look anything like its animated counterpart. Colors aren't typically bold and vibrant. Also missing-in-action are anime trademarks like physics-defying hairstyles and wide-eyed facial features in the character designs. For Side Story 0079, what we get instead are colors that are far less saturated and 3-D character models that are more physically proportionate."

Halo Movie - Falcon @ 7:03 pm PST
BattleGround: Halo, a 3DActionPlanet hosted site, has gotten ahold of the full-length Halo movie that was shown at E3. This incredible movie features al IN GAME footage
that showcases the title's amazing graphics and physics abilities. Come to Battleground: Halo to download the movie and see for yourself whate everyone has been talking about.

Intel Announces Pentium® 4 - Recoil @ 6:18 am PST
The new Pentium 4 name builds upon one of the world's most recognized brands to convey the most powerful personal computing experience. Scheduled to be introduced in the second half of 2000, the new Pentium 4 processor is based on revolutionary technology designed to maximize performance today and in the future, keeping consumers on the cutting edge of the Internet.
readup on the press release
Source: Intel PressRoom

Homeworld: Thoughts - a view through the last year - Thundra @ 3:38 am PST
In this new editorial I reveal some of my thoughts on Homeworld, and the impact the game has made. Here's a bit:

"It's typical: a company (Sierra)innovated, now others will use that to try and make something similar. Shortly, other games will appear that are obvious copies, trying to profit through others ideas. But in some years, how many I don't know, someone will, perhaps using the same technic, develop a game that's a mark, a point to stand out in the RTS games history. This game, that I call "THE ONE", does not have a temporal mark because when we reach him, another "THE ONE" will unveil in the future. Gee... this sounds like a prophecy..."

Check the new editorial, or go to the HW:N mainpage.

Hey! I expect comments.

Ground Control released - Thundra @ 3:03 am PST
Ground Control, the action-packed 3D realtime strategy title from Massive Entertainment, has arrived in North America and will continue touching down on store shelves around the world later this month. To find out more about the game IGN chose as Best Strategy Game of Show (E3 2000), check the official Ground Control website, www.groundcontrol1.com.

Lost Homeworld Mission - Thundra @ 2:17 am PST
Yeah, it looks like it's going to be that way. Here it is what's on Sierra's Newsletter:

LOST HOMEWORLD MISSION INCLUDED IN CATACLYSM PREORDERS

Sierra Studios is proud to release "Raider Retreat," a never before seen Homeworld mission, with every preorder of Homeworld: Cataclysm at Electronic Boutique (beginning mid-July). In the mission, you must enter Turanic Raider space and eliminate the Turanic Raider pirate threat in a deadly race against time. This "lost mission" was fully developed and tested by Relic Entertainment but not included in the full version of Homeworld. The "Raider Retreat" disc includes the Homeworld training mission and the first four missions of the game, in addition to the lost mission.

PvP Comic on Diablo 2 - sim @ 1:47 am PST
If you like to laugh, then you absolutely must check out today's PvP Online comic. It combines Diablo 2 and funny. If that isn't a great combination, I dunno what is. Hey! What are you still doing here? Go take a look at this gaming comic now!

Thursday, June 29, 2000

Infrogrames purchases Paradigm Entertainment - Falcon @ 8:26 pm PST
GameSpy has the latest on acquisition news:
Inforgrames Inc., formerly GT Interactive, has purchased Paradigm Entertainment so it can have a developer for next generation console systems.
They also have the latest in the Eidos saga and Microsoft's bid for the Japanese market.
Read all about it here

Ground Control, Thief2 Review - Falcon @ 8:24 pm PST
Two new reviews are now live at BarrysWorld -
Firstly the lastest in the current rash of action strategy titles, Ground Control, comes under scrutiny from MikeyBear:

"...The singleplayer gameplay is a series of missions that unfold to tell the story of a future mega corporation and it`s battles against a religious sect / rival to secure some alien technological artefacts. Kinda like Microsoft versus the Vatican or perhaps Bill Gates and Pope Jean Paul celebrity deathmatch, with the prize being the Ark of the Covenant...."

Deus Ex Review - sim @ 6:00 pm PST
Deus-Ex.org has put up there very own review of the FPS/RPG action game by Ion Storm. Here's a clip:

Deus Ex, released to the general population on June 23rd, 2000, has been given excellent ratings by most reviewers. However, I am going to be looking at it from all stand-points, and, as you will see, I will be judging this game based on every angle. Throughout the game, I have looked for bugs, errors, unusual things, AI intelligence, and more. By the end of this article, you will truly understand what Deus Ex is.

Read the rest here.

The Conquerors Interview - sim @ 5:57 pm PST
AOKings has this interview up with Greg Street of Ensemble Studios. He talks about the expansion pack for AOE 2: Age of Kings, titled The Conquerors (are game titles getting longer and longer nowadays?). Here's a clip:

1) Will they have new buildings in TC ?
[Greg Street] We didn't make any new buildings, but we did add a new art set for the Central American civilizations. We also changed some older buildings, such as Outposts and Town Centers.

Read the rest here.

CS Chat Log - sim @ 4:23 pm PST
Half-Life.net has thrown up a log of the CS chat that was held earlier today in IRC. Gooseman spent an hour or more answering fan questions regarding Counter-Strike, Valve, and the origin of his name.

Deus Ex Interview - sim @ 4:21 pm PST
The Mushroom (legit version) was able to sit down (virtually) with Warren Spector, the man behind Deus Ex, System Shock, and Theif. Here's a clip from the 20 question interview:

4. If you had the time to implement multiplayer in DX, how would you do it? What features or game types do you think would work best?

Oh, if only!... Obviously, the idea of playing through the story with a couple of friends, each with a character specializing in something different... Man, that'd be awesome! But even if all we could do was deathmatch and capture the flag and stuff like that, I think it'd be a win. The character differentiation systems in DX and the deeper, more interactive world we were trying to create, all of that would translate over to multiplayer nicely, I think. And, assuming I'm right, those two aspects of gameplay would make even traditional forms of multiplayer seem new and fresh.

Read the rest here and look for Deus Ex on the store shelves!

Great HL Mods - sim @ 1:40 pm PST
Looking for a break from Counter-Strike or TFC? Need a fun mod that isn't a CS rip-off? Then check out the latest article at Half-Life.net, entitled Some Great Mods You Possibly Don't Know About But Probably Should. It's a short, but sweet list of Half-Life mods out there that you probably don't know about. They're all great mods, but don't get the attention they deserve. Definitely worth checking out if you're an avid Half-Life fan, but getting sick of the big three (TFC, CS, and Action).

Shogun Review - Falcon @ 5:47 am PST
Gamespy has posted their review of Shogun, which can be viewed here.

Shogun: Total War is set in one of the most violent times in Japan's history. The game takes place during the Sengoku Jidai, literally, "The age of the country at war." In 1530, the last Shogunate of Japan had collapsed, and the country was divided into a number of clans, each at war with each other. Out of this epic conflict, one clan would rise to the top and conquer the whole of Japan to restore order to the troubled nation.

UO Chat - Falcon @ 5:37 am PST
The log of tonight's chat with the UWO:Origin Dev Team hosted by the UO2 Vault has been posted at http://uo2vault.ign.com/uo2vlog.asp

The topic tonight was Skill Trees and the team had a LOT to say about what is one of the most important aspects of Origin. Here are two nice quotes if you're wanting to use a quote from the chat:

Ubiq: I want to thank you all for coming to listen to us spout out about the skill trees. I know that they seem a little wacky, but the UWOO team feels like we really have found a solution for character advancement that really allows the level of character customization that players deserve and demand for building an online persona. Words really cannot express how happy I am with the skill trees solution, how awesome they are in testing, and how many problems they solve almost effortlessly. The largest problem is balance, and we have had a QA staff testing the skill trees for the last year or so, trying to see if the balance is right.

Mobius: When you craft an item, it begins as a crafting project. As you work on the project, it moves closer and closer to completion. This concept allows you to stop and start the project over time. There's no need to complete it all at once. Furthermore, crafting the uber item generally is a multistep process. Crafting the base item is just the beginning as other crafting actions must be performed on it in order to complete it. For example, a tinker may want to be a really good clockwork longsword. First, he needs a blacksmith to craft him a really good longsword. That will take some time in and of itself. The tinker will want to use high end components in his sword, the best springs and gears and such. These pieces require their own specialist to get the very best quality. Then, of course, the tinker needs to take all of these pieces and craft the complete clockwork longsword. After that, he may pass it off to a mage for further enhancement. Each of these steps is a crafting project in and of itself.

Hardware Giveaway - Falcon @ 5:19 am PST
Here is what the had to say:

With the re-opening of Neoseeker, we introducing our monthly giveaways! We're kicking it off with a bang with our top prize, being a CeleronII 566 cranked up to 892Mhz. We are also giving away 1 24-Port CNet Switched Hub, 1 pair of MidiLand S4 7100 speaker set with ADS2000 decoder, 1 Iwill SIDE-RAID66 IDE RAID Controller Card, 1 MLi-490 surround speaker set, 10
CNet PRO200WL NIC Cards with WOL, and 10 MidiLand MK-01 speaker wall mounting kits. All this for participating on Neoseeker! What a deal!
Find out more & sign up today!
http://www.neoseeker.com/info/july_giveaway.html

Savage Interview - Falcon @ 4:43 am PST
Mechwarrior 2 fans across the net were excited to hear that the team of seasoned Mech 2 veterans (and ex Activision employees) has been working in secrecy for the last two years on a new Sabertooth 3D engine, gathered around the newly-formed independent company, Savage Entertainment. Their first commercial game will start production shortly, targeting the Microsoft X-Box and Sony PlayStation2 game systems, as well as Windows compatible computers.

Actiontip have managed to hook up with Tim Morten of Savage to talk about the team's plans for the future, giant robot games, and not so giant robot games… Read on here

Making an FPS - sim @ 2:33 am PST
Something Awful has been updated (courtesy of the man, Lowtax) with a fresh article called The Official SA Guide to Making a Successful FPS. It's full of what some people call, funny. Here's are two tips ripped from the list:

3. When placing "bonus" ammunition or items, make sure to put them on top of extremely high ledges and platforms that are virtually impossible to get to. This stresses realism, because if you had a box of high explosive rockets in your home, would you place them on the floor where babies and dogs and the neighbors could get into them? No, you'd put them up in the rafters above your living room! It's only common sense.

4. If adding a large number of enemies in a single group, you'll want to put them near some object which explodes when shot. This adds a superb element of "strategy" to the game, because only the smartest of MENSA members will be intelligent enough to fire at the exploding object, thereby wiping out all the bad guys!

Read the rest of it here.

Wednesday, June 28, 2000

Arcade games to use "smart cards" - shiva @ 10:57 pm PST
According to The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Sega Enterprises is aiming for an industry first in the arcades, introducing a IC card payment system for its arcades in Japan. Players will purchase chip-embedded "smart cards," and insert them into readers for automatic deduction of fees. The system at the beginning must use cash to settle the final account, but soon, the system will support a straight withdraw from the cardholder's bank account.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun also reports that Sega has plans to put its 600 arcades online, linked by fiber-optic cables, and will open 15 arcades with smart-card reading terminals in major cities by the end of the year. Arcade-goers will eventually be able to download online games, music or movies onto special terminals. This is for the Japanese market, and there is expected to appear in American arcades sometime next year.
Source: Daily Radar

Quick Console News - shiva @ 10:44 pm PST
Just some quick notes on some major stuff hitting the 7 Billion dollar industry...

Seems a couple of the big boys are truly hurting. Hey, didn't I say that you can't live on Pokemon alone?

Deus Ex is now shipping - shiva @ 10:34 pm PST
Eidos Interactive has announced today that the much awaited game, Deus Ex, is now shipping for the PC CD-ROM. Deus Ex is a globe-hopping, epic adventure that allows the player to travel the world from New York to Paris to Hong Kong exploring locations recreated from detailed maps, blueprints and photographs. How you choose to deal with scores of NPC's affects the outcome of the game, minute-to-minute mission to mission, start to finish.

Developed by Ion Storm's Austin, Texas development office, Deus Ex features the software design talents of Warren Spector, co-producer of such hits as Ultima VI and Wing Commander 1. Warren went on to produce the award-winning Ultima Underworld series, Ultima VII, Part 2: Serpent Isle, System Shock, Wings of Glory and many more.

"I think I can speak for the team when I say we're all totally jazzed about the release of our little genre-bending baby," says Spector, Producer/Project Director on Deus Ex. "We took some chances with this game, tried some things no one had done before, things no one could say for sure were even possible -- and I think the team pulled it off incredibly well; the anticipation as we wait for players to get their hands on the game and tell us how we REALLY did is almost unbearable. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about the release of a game I'd worked on."

Deus Ex is in stores now. GameSurge also has a Gallery Section for the game. You can view the 6 screenshots already up (more coming BTW) right here.

Counter-Strike Wallpaper - sim @ 9:17 pm PST
I've been pretty damn bored all day long and out of that came a little creation: a Counter-Strike wallpaper. It's pretty simple, but I think it looks nice and it works well with Windows (notice the spots for start, time, and icons). You can grab a quick preview of it here or jump right to the full version here. It's all located at my other site Inside3D, so be sure to stop back there every once in a while for an extra dose of Sim (that's me btw).

More Mailbag - shiva @ 6:09 pm PST
Well, we certainly recieved a lot of comments about our Netcode Article. Because of the large amount of great comments, we decided to start a second page just for the Netcode article mailbag. The latest comments submitted to us will be placed on this page, and more will be added this evening as I recieve the permissions from the authors.

Some comments were not included due to shortness or was just repeating a previous submission, but we at GameSurge wish to thank everyone for taking the time to send their comments to us. We read every single one, and there are some fine points made. Please note that we strip the emails and any addresses from the submissions, due to "spam" engines.

You have a opinion? You can use the feedback page, or directly by email to webmaster@gamesurge.com. Please make sure Mailbag is in the subject line, as we get flooded with emails on a daily basis.

Homeworld: Cataclysm preview at Adrenaline Vault - Thundra @ 4:06 pm PST
Leaded by Kareem Harper, this HW:C preview really worths a read. Here's the Ctrl+C:

"Homeworld: Cataclysm promises to build upon the design excellence of its predecessor by bringing its own set of dazzling features. Kareem Harper leads the way in his hands-on preview."

"The original Homeworld received AVault's Reviewer's Choice Award back in October 1999. As an original title it had everything from a great story, to superb graphics and gameplay, and an easy to use and innovative interface that made controlling and keeping track of large squadrons of vessels an easy task. Of course, games of Homeworld's caliber eventually give birth to sequels. Producing a sequel is no easy task and, like movies, can occasionally serve as only a shade of the original. Barking Dog Studios, however, has done their homework. In Homeworld: Cataclysm, I found a sequel that is more engrossing and entertaining than the original."

Check the full preview at AV.

HL Patch Mirrors - sim @ 1:59 pm PST
Having trouble getting the latest Half-Life patch off of File Planet? Then check out these mirrors on Voodoo Extreme which will be updated throughout the day.

Half-Life 1.1.0.1 Upgrade Patch Released! - Thundra @ 1:26 pm PST
That's right! After 1.1.0.0 comes 1.1.0.1 Upgrade Patch. Valve Software just did what everyone was waiting and hoping for. Here's the list of the fixes:

- Fixed performance problem on ATI Rage video cards.
- Fixed 'Unassigned' in scoreboard bug.
- Fixed death messages being delayed when downloading a custom decal.
- Fixed 'Out of Handles' crash on dedicated server.
- Fixed bug where player models would be drawn incorrectly in Team Fortress 1.5
- Fixed fakelag exploit.
- Fixed mmx optimization.
- Restart command fixed on dedicated server.
- Fixed two flags in Dustbowl bug.
- Fixed longjump in Half-Life DM.
- Fixed spectator grenade exploit.
- Fixed changeteam grenade exploit.

You can get this latest patch at Planet Half-Life, here.

Source: Planet Half-Life

Counter-Strike Feature - sim @ 4:29 am PST
There's a new article up at FiringSquad all about Counter-Strike. I'm not gonna try to explain it, I'll just let them do that:

The mod's been out over a year and FiringSquad has finally been bitten by the bug. Check out our feature article on Counter-Strike - the Half Life mod that's taken the online shooter world by storm. What is it and why is it so popular? We explore all of that in our feature.

Read the rest here.

Penny Arcade Update - sim @ 4:20 am PST
The boys over at Penny Arcade have updated their fancy site with a news post and a comic. I enjoyed both. And you GameSurge viewers might notice the link to our netcode article (thanks Tycho!)... I feel famous!

Counter-Life Mod - sim @ 4:09 am PST
I'm sure there's been a few times when you wished you could have played the single player Half-Life game with the Counter-Strike weapons. Well now you can, with Counter-Life! This mod has just been released by the boys on the Black Ops team and is available for download. Now you snag the AWP to use against those pesky grunts with pitiful little MP5s. Enjoy! And btw, you NEED Counter-Strike version 6.5 or above and Half-Life version 1.1.0.0, Counter-Life wont run on anything less.

Soulbringer Review - Falcon @ 3:59 am PST
Actiontrip have released a Soulbringer review. Is the game any good? Their RPG guy thinks it is... But their webmaster wasn't all that impressed with the texturing, and why on earth did they include hardware T&L support?! It doesn't really show in the game... Read on here

Dogs of War Review - Falcon @ 3:52 am PST
The latest review from MikeyBear is up at BarrysWorld today, which is a look at the real time action strategy game, Dogs Of War, from Silicon Dreams. Here`s some snippage:

`.....most notably the ability to single out one unit and command it in the 3rd person perspective. This literally allows you to grab (as an example) one troop with a specific ability (usually a sniper) and then edge him to the brow of a hill and pick off targets `personally` (even utilising a sniper scope). An interesting feature which is bound to be picked up on, leeched and improved by successive games in the months and years to come.

Check out the full review, with the usual bucket load of screenshots, over here.

Elite Force Week begins - Falcon @ 3:51 am PST
With the demo of Raven Software's Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force close to being released, Stomped begins fhe first of a four-part series of interviews
this week with members of Raven Software as they talk about their Quake 3 engine powered first person shooter based on the UPN television series. In
their first interview, lead designer Chris Foster talks about the level design in the game:
Check the exclusive interview at http://www.stomped.com/interviews/eliteforce1.html

Half-Life Mods - sim @ 3:03 am PST
Everybody's best friend, GameSpy, has a brand new article up that takes a look at what's hot in the Half-Life mod scene. They cover all the big ones like TFC, Counter-Strike, Action Half-Life, Firearms, and Russion Front.

Voodoo 5 5500 AGP Review - sim @ 2:58 am PST
Redwood of Stomped has finally finished his 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP review. It's got a ton of benchmarks with several processor speeds and video cards including; comparison marks for the Voodoo 3 3000, Voodoo 3 3500TV, TNT2, and GeForce 2. He also included a bunch of FSAA screenshots for Counter-Strike, Q3, Motocross Madness 2, and other games. Finally, he takes a look at how well the card overclocks out of the box. Hardware fans better be sure to check it out.

Tuesday, June 27, 2000

Waiting is the Hardest Part - Zero @ 8:40 pm PST
Ah yes...waiting is definitely the hardest part. Even though Blizzard stated that Diablo II should be in all stores by the 30th, I've talked to some managers and they told me the will have their copies tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up my copy tomorrow afternoon.

It's strange, I've waited three years for this game, but the last week has been incredibly agonizing for me. I guess I'm just hardcore [or utterly insane, as others told me =].

Oni Preview - shiva @ 8:00 pm PST
Zero has a look at the anime style fighting game Oni. Bungie has high hopes for this game, by releasing it to 3 different systems, the PC, Mac and PlayStation 2. The game itself has suffered a lot of delays, like Diablo 2 among others, but it's close to being finished. Featuring Computer Aided Design graphics, and a completely interactive level, this is a highly awaited action game by fighting fans. Here is a small bit from our Oni Preview:

"Of course, when making a game with as much hardcore action as Oni, one most not forget the environment itself. To be short, everything is "live". You can do anything you would do logically in life, such as kick things over or jump off walls [and most importantly, you can go at it, John Woo style! Those guys at Bungie has implemented the ability to hold two separate weapons at once]. Hopefully, Oni will be more like Jackie Chan using everything to his advantage than Final Fight, where grabbing a chair and bashing people with it is law."

Mega Man X5 News - Id @ 4:17 pm PST
IGN has just recently previewed the newest Playstation Mega Man game, entitled: Mega Man X5. Being an avid fan of the Mega Man series, I must say that this game simply looks awesome. The animation is as fluid as ever, and it's good to see a solid 2-D title on the Playstation. You can check out the preview here. Mega Man X5 is due out in October.

More new Final Fantasy IX screens - Id @ 4:09 pm PST
ZDNet has recent posted 5 new FFIX screenshots. You can check them out by clicking here.
Source: Videogames.com

1906 in 2001 - Id @ 4:06 pm PST
Darkworks Studio is currently in the process of developing a new action/adventure game entitled: 1906: An Arctic Odyessey. The game, which is based on novels by Jules Verne, is expected for a late 2001 release. No screens or details about the gameplay have been released as of yet.

More Mailbag - shiva @ 1:47 pm PST
Judging from what people and other sites have been saying, everyone seems to have a opinion on the Netcode article, and sometimes a little bit more. :)

I just added some more of our viewer opinions to our special mailbag feature, and more than likely, I will be adding comments for the next couple of days. Nothing like turning on the email and getting 24 in one shot. And I check the email several times a day on average. If you have a opinion, send it to us at webmaster@gamesurge.com or use our feedback page, we are always happy to hear from our viewers.

Also, don't forget to comment about our great new article, Diablo Revealed as well. If you wish your comments to be included in the mailbag, please let us know! I stopped asking for permissions a few hours ago, due to all the email I had to send. :)

GameSpy Arcade Released - sim @ 12:32 pm PST
There's a new GameSpy in town and it's called GameSpy Arcade. It's a new program that lets you connect, chat, and play with other gamers. You can download it, watch the animated preview of it, or read up on it.

Hitman Interview - sim @ 12:25 pm PST
Those crazy foreigners at Gamer.nl were lucky enough to score this interview with Jens Peter Kurup of the upcoming action game, Hitman: Codename 47. Here's a little something from the "Engels" version:

[Frank Herrman] Has any movie or other game been an example for Hitman? Like Thief?

[Jens Peter Kurup] Yes. We play to many games at IO, and we watch far too many movies, that’s for sure. Leon and Nikita come up now and then as does the trillions of bad action movies we have seen. Thief has many of the same many gameplay elements as Hitman, so of course we looked at it to see how it worked out in their environment. We also looked at Half-life and tons of other good games. It's been fun.

Read the rest of it here.

Vampire Patch and Demo - sim @ 12:19 pm PST
Rob "Innerloop" Huebner has updated his .plan for Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. He talks about the upcoming patch and the soon to be released demos (note the plural). Here's a clip:

In other news, the first of TWO demos to be released should be arriving within a week from today and will be the Dark Ages demo, representing the first half of the game. There will be a second demo for the modern-day portion of the game to follow shortly. These demos use a newer version of the engine so include many of the feature additions like save-anywhere and combat pausing. The dark ages demo should be a bit smaller, around 87MB, and the modern day one is a bit over 100MB. Pretty large, but there's a lot in there. Hopefully you'll give them both a look, they play very differently.

Read the rest here.

Future of RTS - sim @ 12:13 pm PST
GameSlice has thrown up this editorial entitled, The Future of RTS. It's a good read for any fans of the genre. Here's a snip:

Well, I saw my good friend RTS the other day. He was hunched in front of his monitor lassoing troops, building hundreds of tanks, and looking downright bored. You know what I said? You need to get out more. If he does, RTS has a bright, bronzed skin, stud-muffin kind of future. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up looking like the pasty-faced folks I saw at E3.

Rea the rest here.

Next-Gen Zelda One Step Closer - Zero @ 10:21 am PST
Shigeru Miyamato, creator of such great characters such as Zelda, Mario and Donkey Kong, has been seen stating that the Dolphin's version of Zelda will come earlier than one might expect. The four year wait has been cut into two to the surprise of many.

The reason? The Dolphin won't make as big a jump from the N64 as the latter did over the SNES. These two years will be spent refining the technology to develop the game with.
Source: The GIA

New Contest - shiva @ 4:49 am PST
Here's the cut and paste:

Recently we here at GameZNet.com have undergone a re-design. Along with that facelift, we are opening up a contest for a chance to win any video game of your choice for any platform. All you have to do is answer a simple question. The link to the contest page is: http://www.gameznet.com/contest.shtml

the complete contest page information as shown on the contest page is:

WIN A FREE VIDEO GAME FOR PC OR CONSOLE SYSTEM OF YOUR CHOICE!

No, this isn't some lame marketing scheme or an email spamming idea, it's just a simple contest that we here at GameZNet.com decided to bring to you every month, and if all goes well, perhaps even bi-weekly. All you have to do is answer the question in the most creative way you can (or non-creative)and email your answer to contest@gameznet.com. It's that simple, and no we dont keep your email address, it all gets deleted and no one else will ever see it but the one person in charge of picking the winner. If you win, you will be notified by email and also be announced on our main page news.

The contest question is:

AS YOU NOTICE IN THE GAMEZNET LOGO, THERE IS A MYSTERIOUS OLD MAN SAYING SOMETHING... THE QUESTION IS, WHAT IS HE SAYING?

Stern Pinball Website - shiva @ 4:37 am PST
Finally, after several false starts, Stern Pinball has opened up their website. Stern is the only major pinball manufactor in the world now, so it's nice to see them up and running. In case you didn't know, Williams/Bally closed their division, and Sega sold their business to Stern late last year. Stern also has reproduced a couple of Sega Games, South Park as a "special edition" and Harley Davidson, both excellent Pinball games.

Pretty good looking site, with lots of information on the latest (Striker Xtreme) and future projects. There's also a couple decent articles to read as well. Pinball is celebrating it's 70th year, so go out and drop a few quarters in your favorite pinball game.

GameSurge has a new arcade section, where you can find loads of information on Pinball, including gallery pages of the Stern Pinballs as well. You can view the section by going to our Arcade Main Page.

Our Newest Feature: The MailBag - shiva @ 3:11 am PST
A couple of days ago, we put up our first new editorial called Netcode Debacle, and then got flooded with emails. There were some real good replies, and some not so good, but I thought it would be nice to highlight some of them. With thanks to the authors for allowing us to reprint them, I present to you our mailbag. As more people give me permission, I will add them, as there was some excellent points made. Well, see for yourself...

Diablo Revealed - Raven @ 2:20 am PST
Diablo Revealed is a new feature at gamesurge, which looks at the secrets associated with Blizzard's smash hit RPG title, Diablo. This new report documents secret characters, hidden quests, missing items, mysterious movies and a huge number of rumors. The end version of Diablo was completely different to what Blizzard had planned. Have a look at the secret and rumors of Blizzard's original plan for their original smash hit Diablo. Please sit back, and let Gamesurge show you this remarkable game in a new light.

Monday, June 26, 2000

New Poll - Falcon @ 10:26 pm PST
We have set up the next stage of our cgi scripts, which includes the poll, which you can view at the lower right hand side of the page.
Our first poll lets you give your thoughts on what you think about the new Gamesurge, so head to the poll and tell us what you think!

CPU Prices - Falcon @ 8:43 pm PST
Check out the latest CPU prices from this site

What weapons should be in games today - Falcon @ 8:21 pm PST
One of the most difficult challenges many game developers face is thinking up new and exciting weapons. It almost seems like all the good ideas have been done to death. That every possible weapon you could think of has already been used in some other game. So if you want a little fun in your day, check out Gamespy's top 10 weapons that SHOULD be in games today. A little something to get developers thinking here.

Mafia Pre/Interview - sim @ 8:12 pm PST
Check out this sweet three page preview/interview (with screenshots) of Mafia, the 1930s mobster action game by Illusion. Here's a snip from the interview:

I guess organised crime pretty much gives you licence to do what you want ...

Daniel Vavra: I hate stupid "save-the-world" or "find-seven-magic-artefacts, kill-evil-wizard-and-save-the-world" concepts. Instead, I love stories based on real events, stories about real people who are strong enough to deal with serious troubles, stories which tell something important to present day people.

Read the rest of it here.

Diablo 2 Released! - sim @ 8:03 pm PST
If this Avault story is true, then the much awaited Diablo 2 will be released on Friday (June 30th). Hopefully this sequal by Blizzard will live up the hype :)

Mod Week at Daily Radar - sim @ 8:00 pm PST
The imfamous Daily Radar is hosting a week long feature entitled: Mod Week. They promise to have interviews with game developers on their feelings on the mod scene and much more. Check out today's feature, A Newbie's Intro to game modifications.

Penny Arcade - sim @ 10:36 am PST
Whether you're a fan or not, check out today's comic at Penny Arcade. It's not exactly games related, but it has to do with Napster, Dr. Dre, and computers... and I'll be damned if I didn't laugh out loud when I read this strip. And check out the archive if you're new to this whole "Penny Arcade craze". I promise, you'll love yourself more the next morning.

Horizons Interview - sim @ 10:26 am PST
The Horizons Vault has thrown up another interview with the Horizons team. This time it's a nifty little round-up of user submitted questions. Here's a snip:

Nibelung: Will animals behave like real animals in HZ? I personally don't want to see wolves and such attacking me on site when most wolves are afraid of people.

Depends on the wolves, if they are hungry and in a large pack they can attack. I doubt we will go to that level of detail though. If its wildlife in Horizons, best to be on your guard, hard to say when a bear will attack and when he won't.

Read the rest of it here.

Elite Force Stuff - sim @ 10:21 am PST
Action Trip has scored an interview with Kenn Hoekstra of Raven Software (designers of SoF) regarding their upcoming Quake III engine-powered first-person shooter, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. Here's a clip:

I read that players would be able to make some choices about saving certain friendly characters or leaving them to their fate. How much will this affect the game? Will it introduce certain non-linearity?

There is a certain degree of choice in the game. On several occasions you are faced with a challenge that can mean life or death for one of your fellow crewmen. These situations don't create non-linearity in the sense that it doesn't send the storyline off on a tangent, but it can affect whether or not the crewmen will show up later in the game to provide you with information on your mission. Dead men tell no tales...

Read the rest here. You can also check out some brand new screenshots of Elite Force over at GA-Source.

Tribes 2 Screen - sim @ 10:12 am PST
Sierra Studios has released a new screenshot from Tribes 2, the upcoming team-based sequel to Starsiege Tribes. The shot shows off some beautifly rendered terrain, a disc launcher in hand, and an explosion in the distance. You can take a look at it right here.

James Jones Interview - Falcon @ 4:17 am PST
James Jones, Vice President of Artifact Entertainment, has been interviewed on Horizons Vault! James answers many questions regarding the revolutionary trade skill system of the upcoming MMORPG Horizons!

Utildayael: What is your favorite thing about the trade skill system in Horizons?

Scan: Diversity. Players will be able to become extremely skilled at certain skills and will have to rely on other players to support them in making great items. I think it will be a tremendous aid in creating overall social strength in the various cities of the land. I think you'll see villages that specialize in gathering raw materials and taking them to the cities where the concentration of tradesfolk will be so they are close to other skilled trades folk to make great items. This is very similar to how our real world developed and worked prior to the industrial revolution.
You can read the rest of the interview here

Myst III Interview - Falcon @ 4:14 am PST
If you loved Myst and Riven, then you are probably looking forward to Myst III: Exile. Gamespy has tracked down producer Dan Irish and talked to him
about the series and the live action movie trailer, complete with exclusive shots of the filming.

GameSpy: How much character interaction should we expect in Myst III?

Dan Irish: Throughout Myst III, the character interacts frequently with the villain and other characters. One complaint levelled against Myst and Riven is that all of their character interaction is through linear playbacks that the player has no control over. In Myst III, the engine allows us to place characters in the environments where the player may interact with them at their discretion. It adds a great deal of freedom to the story elements of the game.

Find the interview here.

Daikatana Review - Falcon @ 3:52 am PST
In their latest review, games xtreme have taken a good look at the long awaited and much hyped 3D shooter Daikatana on the PC. Deciding that it is not good enough and would have been better if it was released years ago, they gave it 52%.

"Its somewhat obvious that they were trying to capture the RPGesque feel with the plot, and to further this feeling you earn experience points for killing enemies. The experience points earn you levels and levels earn you ability to increase certain abilities, such as: running, jumping, and attacking to name a few. While this all sounds nifty in theory, increasing the skills doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Saving your game in Daikatana is another area of complaint. Your forced to use save gems that you collect to save your game. Come on folks, this ain’t no console! Leave the decision to save your game up to the gamer."

Sunday, June 25, 2000

Horizons Interview - sim @ 9:01 pm PST
Horizons Vault has put together a nice little interview with Artifact Entertainment's James Jones regarding their upcoming 3D accelerated massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Horizons. Here's the ctrl+c:

Utildayael: What sets this system apart from other trade skill systems in similiar games (UO, EQ, AC) ?

Scan: There is a lot more focus on player created items. Any item in the game can be made or scavenged by players. This will include the "uber" items. If the item is found somewhere in the game, expect to find a formula to make that item somewhere in the game. Now there are a few and I mean a few exceptional items that are merely myth and legend, no one has ever actually seen these items. However, it may be possible that a player could come across one of these artifacts. Which of course these items can never be duplicated. Trade skills are also heavily tied into the quest system. So a lot of items will require very unique exotic items that can only be obtained through a randomly generated quest.

Read the rest here, but be warned: they talk a lot about trade skills.

Diablo II Parody - Zero @ 4:52 pm PST
Well, I was looking over the old PvP comic strip archives [good stuff, by the way], and came across this strip, drawn way back in October of 1999. It was expected that Diablo II would make the Christmas season back then. The content is fitting, no?

In other news, most stores have confirmed that Diablo II will be available by June 28th. Although realistically, I'm sure the stores in the west coast have gotten their hands on some already. After all, how would they ship around 1.5 million copies at once...

Deus Ex SDK - sim @ 2:59 pm PST
That's right, DXDot has word that Ion Storm's Harvey Smith confirmed that there will be an SDK released for Deus Ex, along with a map maker, speech editor, and stuff for mod making.

There's no 'for sure' release date, so don't hold your breath.

Vampire Skins Tutorial - sim @ 2:56 pm PST
Planet Vampire has a fresh (from the oven) skinning tutorial for Nihilisitc's recently released 3D accelerated role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. Now I can finally bite the neck of a digital, naked Al Gore. Wait... did I just say that out loud?

John Romero Interview - sim @ 2:53 pm PST
Spank! has an interview with John Romero up. They have exclusive interview footage with John Romero filmed at this years E3. Rather than tell you what the conversation covers they're going to leave it as a surprise for you. You can grab the weak ass verion (902kb) here and the bigger, badder one (3mb) here. BTW, is John Romero proud of what he's done at Ion Storm? Cause that's the vibe I'm getting...

Shogun Review - shiva @ 10:18 am PST
Zero makes his debut as a staff reviewer here at GameSurge with a look at the Electronic Arts computer game, Shogun. This massive multi-player/turnbased strategy game is getting some good buzz around the community, with it's combination of Koei style strategy married with 3d style graphics. Complete with new screenshots of the game, the article goes more in-depth on some of the new features this game sports. Here is a small sample from the review:

"Strategic warfare runs very deep in this game. The formations used in the game are simple and effective. Being born from the Blizzard school of RTS, I tried to attack the enemy with a huge mass of men while they were fragmented. Needless to say, I was soundly trounced. The PR said that the AI is influenced by Sun Tzu's The Art of War. While I haven't read a lot of The Art of War, the AI still seems very intelligent.

You can view the review here, and as well, a separate gallery has been set up just for the screenshots, which you will find here.

Also, expect to see some of the other reviews from the old GS site returning shortly. I am just shifting through the content, and getting prepared to start the process of putting it all together. We are always happy to recieve new reviews from our viewers, and are actively looking for extremely talented people to join our staff. If you would like to submit a review/preview to us at GameSurge, you can send the article directly to both Falcon and I by this email.

The Strategy Index Guide Returns. - shiva @ 6:27 am PST
A very popular feature at the old GameSurge site returns, redone and updated with a new look and attitude. The Strategy Index Guide makes its return appearance, as the process starts on converting the old GameSurge content into the new site. Even though GameSurge will have one of the largest collections of strategies on the internet shortly, it just isn't enough. The Strategy Index Guide Page is a very large collection of some of the best editorials, walkthroughs, strategies, and information on some of the top games, collected from some of the premier websites around the internet. With support for over 55 games, containing links to thousands of articles, this is THE place for your strategy needs.

Every once in a while, we place a spotlight on a particular game, and for our first spotlight, we choose Quake 3:Arena. This intense action game is one of those "for all the marbles" type games, needing brains, skill, and reflexes. It can also be a very difficult game to play. We have collected some of the best links to terrific articles from the best Quake sites, written by some of the top players. Learn to be the best, from some of the best players in the world.

Changes to the Guide include a compete makeover to all the pages, with the layout for each of the pages completely redone. Because of the huge amount of work re-doing the guide, as there are nearly 60 separate games, and tens of thousands of links, I felt it was a lot simpler to unify the layout from page to page. It all looks pretty much the same, and should be easier for our regular fans of the guide to view, and to find the information that they need.

As well, the guide has been organized into 3 separate main pages, sorted by game name, genre, and by game system.

On a side note, if I don't have to look at these pages for the next little while, I would be a happy man. Anyone of you who have viewed the pages before knows what I mean. This guide was put together by several different people, all with different ways of doing things, and alas, different editors. A good case in point was one of the pages was 337k in size! That same page is now 41k in size, which only goes to show you that Microsoft Front Page is truly a evil piece of software. :)

Saturday, June 24, 2000

Write for Arcanum - sim @ 9:12 pm PST
Trokia Games is in need of volunteer writers for their upcoming game, Arcanum. They want people to write novels, newspaper articles, and other literature for the game world. Here's the official 'skinny' from the the official Arcanum message board:

This is a call to arms! (Or to pens...) Currently, we are beginning to fill out some of the books/literature of Arcanum, so that people can go into the library or a bookstore and spend an afternoon reading about Arcanum...

SO! If there are people out there who are interested in the possibility of being published for the first time, and running across one of their works in the Library of Tarant, or the Ancient Annals in Tulla...send me some stuff! Anything will do....histories, fiction, poetry, scientific essays, newspaper articles, etc, etc, etc.

Just remember...whenever possible, we are trying to stay in the period around the turn of the century. When writing, think about what was important at that time (and what wasn't...no aliens!). Take those ideas, and project them into Arcanum...

If anyone's interested, send them to... cmoore@troikagames.com

Monkey Island 4 Shot - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:22 pm PST
There is a new screenshot of Monkey Island 4 over on the offical Monkey Island 4 Site. Check it out right here.

Project IGI Preview - sim @ 6:11 pm PST
Player Of Games has a two page preview of Project IGI (I'm Going In) up. Here's a snip from it:

Project IGI, or “I’m Going In” as it will be known in the US is the upcoming revolutionary adventure game from Innerloop Studios based in Norway. IGI is a first person shooter which gives the player freedom to traverse huge polygonal terrains, infiltrate enemy encampments and take on the opposing henchmen in a style reminiscent of a James Bond movie.

Read the rest here and remember, this game uses a flight sim engine, so look forward to wide open spaces :)

New SoF Multi-Player test Monday - MaD-HaTTeR @ 5:40 pm PST
Rick Johnson from Raven has just slapped up a post on the Raven message boards, with word that he will be putting out a new Soldier of Fortune multiplayer test on monday, to try to isolate and fix all the crashing going on in SoF. Anyway, here is what he said:

I'm going to put out a test .exe which back-dates out the latest code from WON to see if their stuff is what is causing all of the crashes (which based on the crash addresses, I believe it is). I'll also release a new eaxsnd.dll and eaxman.dll which have bugs fixed by creative as well..

Video Card Buyers Guide - MaD-HaTTeR @ 5:33 pm PST
Ace's Hardware has just posted their newest guide to computer parts, a guide to finding the best video card for you. They cover alot of the pro's and con's of the Voodoo 5 5500, and the new GeForce 2 GTS. Check it out right here. Clippage for your viewing pleasure:

SUMA, a Korean company sent us the Suma Platinum Geforce 2. This card has a huge heatsink on the chip and SUMA promises to offer the cheapest Geforce 2 card around. You might remember SUMA from our review of the 64 MB Geforce DDR. ASUS sent us the V7700, which is one of the more expensive GeForce 2 cards, especially in its "Deluxe version."

Back to our comparison of the two chipsets. You might not believe it, but all Geforce 2 GTS cards also feature HARDWARE FSAA. You probably know that the 5.22 Drivers give you the option to enable FSAA, but a common misconception is that the Geforce does software FSAA, while the Voodoo5 does FSAA in the hardware. That is not the case, however.

Nvidia was so clever to utilize its mostly thumb twiddling T&L unit (More info about the T&L unit ) to do some "supersampling." Simply said, the T&L unit calculates the Anti Aliased pixels of an image at a certain (lower) resolution by "averaging" the color of, for example, four neighboring pixels of a much higher resolution image. The OGSS super-sampling technique is described in detail at Beyond3D.

OC'ing that new AMD chip of yours - MaD-HaTTeR @ 5:26 pm PST
Tom's Hardware has just kicked up a new guide to overclocking that new AMD processor of yours. They cover how to OC the new Duron and Athlon-Thunderbird chips. Check it out right here. Dig the snippage:

In the last 9 months we have learned that AMD has finally reached a position where it can supply processors that are fully competitive to the counterparts from Intel. When AMD's Athlon processor was released in August 1999 it was even significantly ahead of any Intel product and it took AMD's arch enemy no less than three months to come up with a solution that could properly compete with Athlon. Since AMD's Thunderbird release on June 5, 2000 both processor makers are pretty much on par, so that it is up to the customer to decide whose solution he prefers. Basically, AMD's new Thunderbird is superior to Intel's 'Coppermine' Pentium III in floating point intensive applications, while Pentium III can score points with software that makes heavy usage of Intel's proprietary 'streaming SIMD extensions', short 'SSE'. Since last Monday (June 19, 2000) AMD is now also in the position to attack Intel's low-cost processor 'Celeron'. At the same price AMD's new Duron processor is significantly faster than the Intel's Celeron.

Soldier Screenies - MaD-HaTTeR @ 5:20 pm PST
Gaming Age has just gotten their grubby little hands on a bunch of new screen shots from Sinister Game's upcoming action game, Soldier. Check them out right here.

Aquarius Screenshots - sim @ 12:42 pm PST
Developer Jack in the Box Computing sent GA-Strategy new EMBM enhanced screenshots from their upcoming strategy hybrid, Aquarius. The shots show off the games Environmental Bump-Mapping effects (cool water and glass effects). You can view screenshots one, two, and three or check out their first look at the game.

CS The Movie - sim @ 12:29 pm PST
This may be old news to some, but I just found out that there is a Counter-Strike movie in development! It’s an action comedy based on Half-Life’s mod, Counter-Strike and it's being made by a guy named DSS, his family and friends. You can check out pictures of the replica guns that are going to be used in the movie or read up about the movie in the FAQ.

Missing CS Sniper Scope - sim @ 12:01 pm PST
The latest patch for Counter-Strike (beta 6.6) has just been released and it already needs a fix! Unfortunately, the new sniper scope was missing from the latest update and that means you need to download it. You can grab the small update (1k) right here.

UO2 team comment on RPGs - Raven @ 8:09 am PST
Jeremey Gaffney, from the Ultima Online 2 team, made afew interesting comments about the gaming industry and the current state of playability in games. He said that the introduction of online gaming to the gaming industry will change present trends and successful business models. A question which originally came up at E3 concerning the failed emphasis on gameplay in modern games, has sparked Gaffney's four paragraph responce. You can read his responce here, its very "deep" and some might find it a little boring, but diehard gamers will probably want to read it. Heres a quote

"A question that came up at E3 occasionally (and has been mentioned on the boards) is an interesting one. People often worry that because of the attention we've paid to being able to have lots of pretty graphics (smooth, interesting animations, lots of stuff on the screen, lots of variety of creatures, etc.) that there isn't as much attention paid to the gameplay. After all, many single-player games have sold well based largely on having pretty graphics and no attention to replayability, so there is an industry trend towards that being a successful business model. This is an industry trend, however, that is likely to change with the advent of online gaming."

Final Fantasy IX Screenshots - Raven @ 7:56 am PST
There really is much need for an intro to this article, after all we know what Final Fantasy is, and we all know that FF9 is a game with a unique storyline, that revamps features and cycles from other FF games, aswell as introducing new magic and skill sets.

So here the news, Gamespot has just put up 5 news screenshots, which takes their entire screenshot archieve up to 62 shots. The shots look great and highlight the fact that FF9 is going to be a wonderful title.

Perfect Dark Review - Raven @ 7:43 am PST
Alot of people have been asking me about the brand new game Perfect Dark recently. This game is a first person shooter, that comes from the designers of smash hit FPS titles including James Bond -Goldeneye. Gamefirst have reviewed and rating this new title, and anyone who is curious about Perfect Dark should definately read this review. Very well done, plenty of detail. You can get it at http://www.gamesfirst.com/reviews/sarah/pd/pd.htm.

New Pokemon game for N64 - Raven @ 7:36 am PST
The global Pokemon trade, is an entity ever expanding. From games, to books, to vidoes, to cards, to food, to toys, to yada, to yada, you don't have to look very far to find somthing related to Pokemon.

It appears that Nintendo plans to keep the Pokemon trade on N64 going strong, with its recent announcment at E3 of a brand new Pokemon game entitled Pokémon Puzzle League, for their console the N64. Heres some information about Pokemon Puzzler off Gamecenter's website:

"Pokémon Puzzle League is essentially Tetris Attack with more Pokémon than you could shake a stick at. There will be six modes: Main Stadium, in which you can go up against the computer or another player; Marathon Field, which features constant play; Time Zone, which has time-limited play; Puzzle University; Pokémon Spa, in which you challenge Team Rocket; and Mimic Mansion, in which you learn how to play the game by copying the computer. You will work to defeat all 16 trainers to become the Pokémon Puzzle Master."

Looks kinda interesting, but I am getting a little sick of Pokemon myself, how bout you ?

Unreal 2 - Raven @ 7:27 am PST
This news comes from www.damagegaming.com. I couldn't find anything to support this information on the Official Unreal website, but maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough :/. Anyway here is the new information:

"It has been announced that Unreal 2 will be focused primarily on the single player aspect of gaming. To me that is great is great news. I think everybody wants to have a night when they can just sit down and have an emmersing game without dealing with people. But dont get the wrong idea, a good FPS should always have multiplayer, and Unreal 2 will have one, it just wont be the primary selling point like UT."

Icewind Dale preview - Raven @ 7:19 am PST
Icewind Dale, is a new Role Playing Game title, about to be released by Bioware. This game will return players into the exciting world, of the Forgotten Realm. Icewind, is based off an improved version of the Infinity graphics engine used in Baldurs Gate. The game itself very looks good and is highly anticipated, with all abid Bioware fans, eagerly awaiting this title.

PlayNow has just posted up a preview of Icewind Dale. The preview is a little on the short side, and doesn't contain much new info. However anyone who hasn't been keeping up to date on Icewind Dale, will find the preview a nice easy to read article, which should bring them up to speed. Plenty of screenshots, all in all, not a bad preview. You can caugh it ">here. Heres a quote from the article:

"Black Isle have stated that this game is going to be more straight-forward than BG and it will concentrate more on getting into the action. This is apparent as soon as you jump into the game. Creating your whole party instead of just one character makes a huge difference; you can start at full firepower, letting you rack up experience much more quickly. The larger pool of cash also means that you can concentrate your gold where it's needed, like decent armour for your warriors and even a composite bow if you need one."

Counter-Strike 6.6 Released - MaD-HaTTeR @ 12:19 am PST
Thats right boys and girls, 3DFiles has just tossed up Counter-Strike beta 6.6 patch! It even comes in two spicy flovors, 2.1 megs for the 6.5-6.6 upgrade, or 58 megs for the full install. You can grab it right here.

Friday, June 23, 2000

Deus Ex Review - sim @ 11:34 pm PST
Incite has a review of Deus Ex, the adventure/role-playing/action game from the mind of Warren Spector. Here's the ctrl+c:

It's also perhaps the most interactive first-person game since Duke Nukem 3D. However, at the heart of Deus Ex lie the traits Spector's games (Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project) are best known for: A deep story, huge game environments, and absorbing gameplay that encourages players to use their cerebellum more than their rocket-launcher.

Read the rest here.

New Editorial - Netcode Crack and Debacle. - shiva @ 8:37 pm PST
A brand new editorial has been placed up here on GameSurge, a discussion about Valve's attempt to reduce the lag in Half-Life 1.1.0.0 and Counter-Strike. Written by Crepidus [WT], it's a interesting piece on Valve's latest attempt. Here is a small piece taken from the article:

"Valve made a very bold move with their latest implementation of netcode for halfLife 1.1.0.0. This is a giant step backwards with respect to technological trends. What a debacle, and here is why: *I've tested both as a modem and DSL client. The hit scoring and position prediction are weighted towards the highest common denominator of ping, leaving a Low Ping client with a completely unrealistic experience.* In an attempt to reduce lag and even the playing field for Clients with High Pings, Valve simply “Castrated” the playability of Low Ping Clients."

Some very good points are made in this editorial, which you can view directly here.

If you would like to submit a editorial, you can contact me directly at my private email address, shiva@cwk.imag.net, as it appears that our server host, GameFan Networks, has yet to hook up our email accounts fo this domain. Please send all submissions as a htm file, saved as .shtml if you can. Images I ask to be zipped up, or else I will start recieving letter bombs from my ISP. :)

Editorials Now Up - shiva @ 7:59 pm PST
The first part of the merger of content between GameSurge and Ancient Nation begins, with the Editorials section now up and running. There seems to be a rather lot of editorials, with the shivaSite articles added as well, I lost count, but it looks to be over 50 or so. The latest editorial can be found in the shivaSite section, called The Crystal Ball, which are comments I made on the E3, and about the various console manufactors. Here is a little slice from that article:

"I guess that even though the world wide market outside of Japan is larger than the Japanese market, Nintendo is Nintendo. The funny thing is if your the number 2 game manufacturer, and looking at becoming the number 3 manufacturer real fast, you would think that at least you would do something about it rather than let your biggest competitors get more free publicity on every single game news medium, while you just sit there and say, "Just you wait, we have something better." Come to think of it, that's exactly what Nintendo has been doing since they released that the NES. Nintendo though has seemed to have forgotten that they no longer control 90 percent of the market. Remember the Virtual GameBoy? And yes, we have been waiting for that "something better", and no, we haven't seen it yet."

More new articles are on their way, and should be put up shortly.

The Conquerors Site Launch - sim @ 7:10 pm PST
Microsoft has a new site open for business; the Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors website. Here's what Microsoft had to say about it:

The official Conquerors site offers gamers a wealth of information, including a detailed features list outlining new additions to game play, such as ship formations, ram garrisoning, farm queuing and smart villagers. The site also features a selection of in-game screenshots, AVI, historical background information for each of the five new civilizations, and details on each of the four new campaigns.

Check it all out by click here.

Grand Prix 3 Shots - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:45 pm PST
Thats right my kiddies, Infolder has some new shots up from Grand Prix 3. They all look pretty sweet, do all you racing sim fans should check it out. Check them out right here. Oh, and the sites not in english, but that doesnt really matter since we only want the pics, lol.

Deus Ex in Stores - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:34 pm PST
Thats right, it seems that Deus Ex is now sitting patiently on your local computer stores shelf, waiting for you. What are you waiting for?

Q3A Map Pak - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:30 pm PST
The level design team working on EA's upcoming Q3A Engine powered game, The World Is Not Enough, has just tossed out a new "fun little map pak for Q3A." The pak contains 13 new maps, with some custum shaders and textures. You can grab it right here off of 3D Downloads.

Verant Interview - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:23 pm PST
It looks like EQAnswers.com has just kicked up a new interview with Gordon "Abashi" Wrinn, the Internet Relations Manager (does that mean he spends his days surfing the net, putting out good press for their game or something?) at Verant Software. Check it out right here. Dig the snippage:

EQanswers: Do you admit that the way testing was done on the server provided you with little information? Whose idea was it to buff characters and be given near godly equipment considered a helpful way to test low level zones, which they could slaughter anything without trouble?

Abashi: To the extent that we felt that the environment on the Test server had gotten to a point that it was not fulfilling its goal, yes, the information provided by the testing process began to approach the point where it was less useful than was necessary. This is what prompted the wipe. As for giving high-level items to lower-level characters, no one here would 'test' a zone by doing that. I am, however, certain that some of the items found their way from the higher level characters to the lower level ones from time to time, which further corrupted the environment. That said, I don't place any of the blame upon the players on the Test Server. Instead the problem was in our internal policies that allowed those situations to occur.

Alice Screenshots - sim @ 6:15 pm PST
There are four new screenshots on the Alice site. Alice is American McGee's upcoming Quake3 engine powered title which is based on Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. These latest shots show a a ton of Army Ants, as well as Alice kicking some enemy butt. For more information on this crazy game, check out Alice.Stomped, it's a good collection of what's known about the game.

Grand Prix Legends Patch - MaD-HaTTeR @ 6:11 pm PST
Sierra has just released a new beta patch for their Grand Prix Legends, which will fix a bug that was intoduced in v1.1.0.3, which caused the game to run pretty slow. Anyway, you can grab it right here, off 3DFiles.

Paul Steed at Rogue - MaD-HaTTeR @ 5:51 pm PST
ex-id employee Paul Steed is doing some contract work for Rogue Entertainment. This is all coming right from GameSpy. Here's what they had to say:

Paul Steed is doing contract work for Rogue Entertainment, which happens to be right around the corner for id's offices. Rogue is working on American McGee's Alice, and has also done mission packs for the Quake series.

Barrett Alexander, CEO at Rogue, confirmed that Steed was indeed handling some work for them.

"Paul is augmenting our staff and doing some character animation work for the team," Alexander said. "He is helping us stay on track."

Morrowind Interview - sim @ 5:50 pm PST
Billy "Wicked" Wilson of VodooExtreme has thrown up an interview with Lead Designer of Morrowind, Ken Rolston, and Bethesda's Director of Marketing and PR, Pete Hines. They did a little talking about Morrowind:

Voodoo Extreme: Why announce the game so early, if it is not due until late 2001 (Which, as we all know in the gaming biz, means late 2002 :)?

PH: In terms of development cycle, we didn't really announce it "early." Morrowind has been a work in process since we finished Daggerfall four years ago. We announced it when we did because we think it can be the greatest RPG ever and we wanted to get people involved in the development process and give ourselves enough time to talk about this huge game we have. Plus, I really think we're going to make our release date. Of course, I also though Brain Donors was a really funny movie, so my judgment is sometimes called into question.

Read the rest here or hop on over to the official Morrowind forum to talk about the game. You'll probably see me there :)

Morrowind FAQ - sim @ 5:45 pm PST
The man over at Destination: Morrowind (kathode) has put up a gigantic FAQ covering almost everything that there is to know about the latest Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind. Here's a quick snip:

4.2 How big is the game world in Morrowind?
That’s a more difficult question that it seems on the surface. How does one truly measure a 3d gaming world? You can’t really do it in miles or any standard measurements. It has been stated that Vvardenfell will be approximately 50 times the size of the world of Redguard. However, it has also been said that the world will be slightly smaller than Daggerfall. Suffice it to say that there will be enough world included with the game to keep you experiencing new things for many, many weeks, and in the event that you finally do see it all, you can always add on to it with the TES3 Construction Set.

Read the rest of it here and keep on eye open for updates.

Dark Reign 2 Diary - Raven @ 5:45 pm PST
Well to be honest I have really havent been keeping up to date with Dark Reign 2. I do know that the game has now gone gold, and that DR2 is the first commercial strategy game to feature a solid 3d engine, but I didn't realise that the latest title from Pandemic Studios looks absolutely amazing! That was until I read over all the DR 2 Designer Diaries

Gamepost in their latest diary, have a quick review and summary of DR2, and talk mostly about all of the finishing touches which have been added to game. Not to bad a read, but not as good as some of the other DR2 diaries. If your interesting in the production side of gaming, then its a good read, and you can view it here.

Otherwise you can check the Designers Diary index to view other additions. Interesting readin :)

MCM2 Track Editor - sim @ 5:15 pm PST
That's right, the track editor for Motorcross Madness 2 (codenamed Armadillo) is available for download today. Developed by Rainbow Studios, the terrain editor not only lets gamers create a variety of racing tracks, but also lets them populate their racing world with 3D objects and entire ecosystems. Using the editor, gamers can create custom tracks to use in the Baja, Enduro, Freestyle Stunts, Nationals and even Supercross events. Players can also add a variety of obstacles, such as trees, shrubs and hay bales, to make their terrain more competitive. While Armadillo is not a 3D modeler, it is compatible with 3D Studio Max, which allows gamers to create and import their finished model into Armadillo for placement.

Back at it again - Id @ 5:12 pm PST
As some of you already know, I'm Id, former head news director of both Ultragaming.com and Ancient Nation. So far it looks like I'm the only Ancient Nation staffer to make the switchover to GameSurge, but from the looks of things, expect Thundra to get in on it too. Well, it's good to get back into the posting rounds, as I've been absent for the past few months due to school and assorted matters. The merger between Ancient Nation and Gamesurge is the best of both worlds, and as you can see, the site has benefitted greatly as a whole from the merger. GameSurge is an excellent site on it's own, and with a merger with Ancient Nation, it only got better. So what am I going to do here exactly? Seeing that GameSurge seems to have a more PC focus, I'm going to concentrate more on console news and reviews (I always had anyway). With my position, I hope to give GS more of a console edge, as I did with Ancient Nation. It's good to see that everything is in order right now, and I'm sure things'll be great in the time to come. I won't be starting my regular posting duties until next week, but when I do, I hope to bring the best.

Some Site Stuff - shiva @ 5:08 pm PST
Nothing like waking up in the morning and found that the news scripter had been changed while I was asleep. From the sound of things, the CGI crashed, but it's back the way it should be, with bylines on the main and everything. Hopefully, there will be no more problems

Also, as if you need solid proof that Netscape really sucks, the infamous Netscape resize bug has stuck this site. I have just put in the code to hopefully correct this problem, though users of 4.72 may have problems with the sideways scrolling on your screen. The NS bug happens when you resize your browser, it causes display problems. Other people may have to scroll sideways to view the entire page. Hopefully, this new code will fix the problem, but if it doesn't, please let us know.

CS 6.6 Released - sim @ 5:08 pm PST
Version 6.6 of the Counter-Strike mod for Half-Life is out. That means all you players and server hosts will need to upgrade. You can grab all the various files off the Counter-Strike downloads page. Only the Linux port is out right now, so you have to wait a few hours for the Windows version. Here's what's new:

- added new command 'timeleft'
- fixed stalled connection bug
- new sniper crosshair
- fixes "laggy rifle firing"
- fixed many cheats
- updated cs_estate

New Commands:
------------
timeleft
(tells you how much time is left on the map)

Woah.. - MaD-HaTTeR @ 4:51 pm PST
Woah, i gotta say i love the new layout (i have to admit i wasnt involved in making it), and im glad to have all the guys from Ancient Nation aboard. I think the new sites gonna be great, so make sure to keep checking :) We got some real good stuff in store for you guys. Now, i guess i gotta start posting news again. doh!

Counter-Strike Sniper's Bible - sim @ 1:10 pm PST
Half-Life Center has a sweet feature up for all you wannabe Counter-Strike snipers. It's called the Counter-Strike Sniper's Bible and it has tips on what to shoot with, what to shoot at, and when to shoot it.

GameSpy Arcade - sim @ 1:06 pm PST
Well, looks like the behemoth that is GameSpy has yet another project in the works. This time it's GameSpy Arcade and they have a sweet flash animation to preview it. It's drawn by the one and only Gabe of Penny Arcade, so you know it's going to be good. Check it out by clicking here.

Deus Ex Demo Cheats - sim @ 12:55 pm PST
Hey, welcome to the new GameSurge (as if you haven't seen that enough eh?)! I'm back from the grave and ready to keep on posting... news that is. But I have acquired some "side projects" in the time that GameSurge has been temporarily down, including some work with Inside3D. I'll be posting news there, along with more content to help them out :)

Speaking of which, I threw together a little step by step tutorial of the Deus Ex demo cheats over at Inside3D. Now you can kick some terrorist butt, spawn some kitties, or whatever.

Arcanum Preview - Raven @ 8:14 am PST
The Gamers Alliance, have put together a detailed preview of the highly anticipated role playing game, Arcanum. Arcanum is a fantasy adventure title, that is situated somewhere within a medievil land presently undergoing changes, similar to those faced by our society in the industrial revolutions of the 18th century. The game itself showcasing an evolving world where "technology and magic" constantly clashing, and the entire society hangs by a thin balance.

GA-RPG's previews of Arcanum is very indepth, and a good read for anyone curious about this exciting game. This preview explains the storyline, hisory, system and gameplay associated with Arcanum and can be view at http://www.ga-rpg.com/firstlooks/arcanum/.

Mario Tennis Screen Shots - Raven @ 7:56 am PST
Mario Tennis, is the latest edition to the Nintendo 64 - Mario Brothers Family. This upcoming sports/strategy game, is currently under devolopment in the Camelot Software studio's of Japan. Mario tennis features some of your favourate "old characters" from the Mario world such as Mario himself, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, Bowser, Donkey-Kong, Baby Mario, Yoshi, Birdo, Boo and new characters including Waluigi and Flying Koopa.

Gamefan Online, has just released the first gameplay screenshots concerning this exciting new game. You can grab the screenshots from this url, or alternatively you can read their previw and view the official roster. All in all Mario Party looks like a great game, make sure you check it out.

A new beginning... - Falcon @ 7:56 am PST
Well, time for my little intro speech. As you can see Gamesurge has been redone, and relaunched with a new layout on a new server. These changes should provide the stepping stones for the beginning of a new phase of growth and development for Gamesurge.

If you have not gathered from shiva's first post, he ws the webmaster of Ancient Nation, a site that Gamesurge has merged with. The added content from AN, along with the added skills from shiva should lead Gamesurge on a bright track into the future.

As shiva has explained, the site has been remade to support multi res, so whether you are on anything from 800x600 to 1600x1200 you will always be viewing the maximum amount of information available to you on one screen.
The other key feature is the expansion of the site to cover arcade and console sections, a totally overhauled gallery (screenshots) and strategy section.
A major complaint about this site in the past was its "Lack of focus", with small articles or reviews written on anything that came to mind, we hope to rectify this now by truly being an all round gaming source, with detailed and specific coverage on any major gaming related topic.

In time, with your help, we plan to make this site a force on the 'net, so please feel free to send an email to us with any suggestions or comments you may have.

Please excuse the dust as we are still tying up loose ends with the site, so don't panic if there may be a couple of inconsistencies on the page or even downtime with CGI scripts.

Diablo II news - Raven @ 7:07 am PST
Firstly Blizzard Entertainment have updated their website with an image of "The Wanderer" from the opening cinematic of Diablo II, Check it here. GFraizer from Blizzard, has also announced Blizzard's plans to ship Diablo 2 by the 28'th of this month. This means that gamers will hopefully be able to buy copies of this smash-hit, RPG title, by next weekend.

Finally in other Diablo2 news, the Diablo 2 stress test will be closing down on Monday the 26th of June. Anyone lucky enough to participate in the test, has been urged by Blizzard to get online and help test their servers one last time this weekend.

Earth 2150 News and Gallery - shiva @ 05:02 PST
Fans of the Earth 2150 game will be happy to know that TopWare Interactive will be releasing the first of a new series of games based on the Earth series. Called Earth 2150: The Moon Project, this Real Time Strategy game looks to be very good, at least judging from the screenshots. Several more games are also planned in the series. Here's the press release I recieved from them:

TopWare Interactive plans to use its increasingly famous EARTH 2150 brand name as a springboard into the ranks of the big players in the real-time strategy genre. The first step along this road is “The Moon Project”, which will be released amidst great fanfare along with several other new titles this September.

Welcome to the year 2150, in one of the darkest chapters in the history of mankind. While the Lunar Corporation, Eurasian Dynasty and the United Civilized States wage ferocious battles down on Earth; on the Moon a secret research project has just been unveiled.

To find out why the Lunar Corporation is so obsessed with this project, the UCS has assembled a giant armada and sent it off to snoop around the lunar landscape. The action in "The Moon Project" runs simultaneously to EARTH 2150 - Escape from the Blue Planet, TopWare Interactive’s award-winning RTS bestseller.

As part of the product’s kickoff, TopWare Interactive is planning a massive marketing campaign, which will go far beyond a standard product release. The German publisher intends to make the game absolutely “in”, by generating a veritable whirlwind in the gaming community. Stay tuned for more details.

World War III and EARTH 3 are two more upcoming titles from the EARTH universe. Both games are based on a new EARTH 2150 engine. This state of the art technology looks set to set new limits and drastically change the face of the real-time strategy genre in the coming years.

Topware was also kind enough to send me 4 screenshots of the game, which I have placed in the Computer Gallery section. This looks like it's gonna be a great game, and judging from the screenshots, a great looking game as well.

Source: TopWare Interactive

The Start of Something Wonderful - shiva @ 02:17 PST
Before you lies the new GameSurge, totally redone, primed, and sanitized for your convenience. After a bit of downtime, we are finally back up and running, though not quite at 100 percent yet.

Allow me to introduce myself, I am shiva, the new co-webmaster of GameSurge, and responsible for the site design and the content that you see before you. As the webmaster of shivaSite, and then Ancient Nation, I was pretty content to have a "small site", and do pretty much what I felt liked doing. And along the way, I learned... a lot... about what it takes to design, build, and maintain a working website. When Falcon first asked me to join GameSurge, I was, like previous times with other people, going to turn him down, but then I rethought a few facts that caused me to change my decision:

• It was time to move on personally. I had reached the highest level I could reach at Ancient Nation. The lack of staff, and the inability to attract new members meant that no matter how much effort I put in the site in the future, there was always a level I would not be able to achieve.


• The challenge of a new site, and a movement up towards "the major leagues". The site moving to one of the best, and most respected servers, in GameFan, means a new opportunity for this site. This is a class server, and hopefully, we can maintain a reputation as a class site.


• And last, but most importantly, I figured I would be less likely to kill Falcon as opposed to other people. :)

For the last few weeks, I have been working on this new site, so as the designer, there are a few comments to make. The site design is based on the Ancient Nation design, but just about all the graphics have been totally redone from scratch. From comments by my web design friends, they all agree that the site, though similar in appearance, is considerably more "polished" than the AN design. As well, in what has turned out to be the bane of my existence, the design is now multi-resolution, tested up to 1020x680. It should work for higher resolutions, though I can not guarantee that the layout may not start to look a little weird. This site also uses CSS, so please use any 4.0 or 5.0 browser to view.

The multi-resolution format has created some problems, especially in changing all the pages from both sites into a unified design. What you see before you is the Ancient Nation content, as it was the easiest to change over. Both GameSurge and AN were 800x600 sites, so to make the layout display properly at a higher resolution meant that I had to change every single page, remove the unnecessary code, and redo the layout to fit. I have completed about 60 percent of the AN site, and am now working on the GameSurge content to be unified with the new design. As the content is done, checked, and placed up on this server, I will announce them here.

We also have just placed a special page for your feedback on this site. If you have a opinion on an article, comments on various sections, or wish to report a broken link or a problem with the site, please use our viewer feedback form. With over 5000 pages to this site, and around 200,000 separate links scattered among the pages, there's bound to be a few I have missed.

I have always thought that GameSurge was a good site, but with the present expansion of the site, and your comments and suggestions as well, I feel that GameSurge just won't be a "good" site any longer, but a "great site". I invite all the viewers of GameSurge and Ancient Nation to send in their views, and I am looking forward to the future of this site.

shiva
co-webmaster: GameSurge