They also take a look at the Playstation game, SaGa Frontier 2. Was it better than the original? We sure hope so. Find the review at http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/saga2_a.shtm

They also talk with the guys from Alliance Games, the team formed from the merger of the folks behind Expert Quake and Loki's Minions. Check out the interview at http://www.gamespy.com/spotlights/alliance_a.shtm

"Since Sony's Playstation 2 was officially announced a year ago in March 1999, this next generation console has been one of the most widely-discussed topics between console and non-console fans. The specifications of the console were, to say the least, mind-boggling. With a CPU running at close to 300 MHz with a 128-bit Emotion Engine (think: SIMD for PS2), a dedicated 150 MHz graphics processor, a new dedicated audio processor, and a 4X DVD-ROM drive, the specs of the Playstation 2 put, when it was announced, those of PCs to shame.
Sporting two USB ports, and a high-bandwidth, high-speed FireWire port, the PS2 also comes ready for future expansion. The PS2 also comes with a PCMCIA slot, useful for adding new drives and the like"

It was a brief visit, so I'll share some brief impressions: The full scene 4X anti-aliasing is as cool as I expected, I had a taste of the effect in my first 3D accelerator, the Vérité (of all things) and was already aware of how even lower resolution images can be enhanced by smoothing out the stair-stepping around the edges. The effect is just as impressive on high-resolution scenes, eliminating not only jaggies around the edges of images, but removing all sorts of noise and moiré patterns from textures and such. It does entail a performance hit, and twitch gamers tend to turn off eye candy in favor of performance, but the full-scene AA is awfully sweet, with possibly even greater impact on how some images appear than the use of 32/24-bit color. Nothing screams "computer generated" like jagged edges, and switching between normal views of Falcon 4 and anti-aliased views was like switching between the past and the future.

There is a bug that may be giving Q3A mod developers some headaches if they are trying to add new holdable items.

File cg_event.c, function CG_UseItem; the line:
itemNum = es->event - EV_USE_ITEM0;
should be:
itemNum = (es->event & ~EV_EVENT_BITS) - EV_USE_ITEM0;

This causes itemNum to be invalid about half the time, preventing any client side effect tied to the item from occurring.

"Practically all of the massively multiplayer online games at the moment are 'men in tights' games, and Star Wars has the real opportunity to expand online gaming to a more casual gamer," Jeffery says. "I think there's a high degree of intimidation to entry in online gaming. A lot of casual gamers are just put off by the fact that there's newbie-bashing and you have to be pretty hardcore to just know what's going on."

There will be opportunities for players to hack and slash their way to the next level, Jeffery says, but LucasArts will emphasize the nonviolent aspects of the game. "We want people to be able to go in there and have an experience that might have no killing whatever, where level increasing is gained by doing good, or simply being a successful trader or a good spy."

A hands-on preview of Vampire: The Masquerade by PC.IGN.

A preview and three new screens of Independence War 2 at Gamespot UK.

There's a preview of Flying Heroes at the AVault.

Jiovanie Velazquez, artist working on Summoner, is interviewed by Summoner Homeland.

Gary Stelmack of Red Storm, chatted with SimHQ about Red Storm's upcoming ( as in a week or so) Urban Ops, the mission pack for Rogue Spear.

Sam Brown of Legend Entertainment is interviewed by ShadorLogoth.com (WTF) regarding Wheel of Time.

Couple of Raven Software interviews: One with Gil Gibb discussing the GHOUL system in SoF; the other with Kenn Hoekstra regarding game development.

Digital Extremes' lead designer James Schmalz is grilled about their new game Dark Sector.

You are one of the best mercenary space-pilots in the Sol system. Play the beginning five, single-player missions of this intense space-combat adventure, featuring: a free-form mission structure, furious space-fighter warfare, full in-game cinematics, innovative new weapons and the most incredible large-scale objects ever seen in a space game.
This demo lets gamers try out Base Wars, one of Tachyon's multiplayer game types. Two teams (GalSpan and Bora) advance through ten levels of technology by collecting crystals and defeating enemy players. Each technology level allows the team access to better weapons, hardware, and base defenses. Upon reaching the tenth level, the goal is to destroy the life support systems on the other team's base.

This is a Flight simulation / RTS genre mix using 3Dfx's Glide and OpenGL. Development of this game is far from finished, but all key parts of the game are included with this demo. Deranged Raid is FREEWARE and OPENSOURCE.
DERANGED RAID is a team game. Each team consists of one or more pilots who pilot their own vehicles. The goal is to destroy the enemy Command Center, while defending your own. One part of the game consists of flying and fighting with your ship, the other part plays like a normal RTS-game: you build structures and defense systems, harvest resources and try to keep the enemy from doing the same.

With this update, dynamic scenery will work both day and night, whether you have shadows turned ON or OFF.

Flight Simulator now includes shadows for aircraft, buildings, and dynamic scenery. The complete redesign of the scenery system in Flight Simulator 2000 made the previous method of displaying shadows obsolete.

To view shadows, make sure that the Aircraft Shadows and Ground Scenery Shadows settings are selected in the Image Quality tab of the Display Settings dialog box. To get to this dialog box in Flight Simulator, click the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Display. Then click the Image Quality tab.

The problem with setup failing to rename some files has been solved. The problem was a result of incorrect registry settings.

Autopilot-induced oscillations while following the ILS glideslope have been fixed.

Displayed ATIS frequencies are now limited to frequencies tunable with the Communication radio.

The Learjet 45 and the Boeing 737-400 ADF needles now correct for magnetic variation.

Voodoo2 video cards now correctly render gauges.

The VSI needle in the Learjet and the 777 move in full scale when metric units of measure are in use.

Several issues with the 413 patch have been pointed out. We will have an updated patch as soon as possible to address these issues. In the meantime, if you are having D3D video performance problems, see Erik's update below. If you are having problems installing UT, or getting an error after installation that "UnrealTournament.exe is not a valid Win32 application" or "UnrealTournament.exe is too big to fit into system memory", try installing into the default directory for UT (c:\UnrealTournament). Our patch installer seems to be occasionally corrupting files when installing into different directory structures. We are still working on the problems of the 413 patch not working with minimum installs, and problems patching the Spanish/Italian version of UT.

GS: Which single aspect of MechWarrior 4 excites you the most?

TJ: For me, it's finally being able to bring the multiplayer BattleTech experience we had in the pods to the PC user. The thought of hundreds of dedicated servers running MechWarrior 4 across all different styles of play and multiplayer modes makes me giddy.

Martian Gothic is a relatively non-linear game. With over 120 locations, it will take the average gamer between 40 and 60 hours to make it through, which translates into more than a few sleepless nights.

The game is a mixture of puzzle solving - all puzzles are related to real-life object combination and manipulation, according to developer Creative Reality - and combat.

By executing the Allegiance Server Code, sites will be automatically listed among the worldwide free-play servers for Allegiance on the MSN Gaming Zone. Gamers who are interested in hosting an Allegiance free-play server can download the free file and support manual at: http://www.microsoft.com/games/allegiance/downloads.htm

Allegiance will be available in retail stores for an anticipated street price of US$40. Gamers can then choose to play on public-domain servers free of charge or access the Allegiance Zone, a subscription service that provides larger-scale games, special events, persistent scoring and rankings, and new exclusive content. Players are eligible for one free month on the Allegiance Zone ($9.95 value) with game purchase.

Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) and the U.S. subsidiaries of Sega Enterprises Ltd. and Nintendo Co. filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. They are seeking an injunction to halt sales of counterfeit games on Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO). The suit is the first time the companies have taken on an online retailer. Electronic Arts is based in Redwood City, Calif., while Sega and Nintendo are based in Japan.

Diane Hunt, a spokeswoman for Yahoo! in San Jose, Calif., said the company hadn't seen the suit yet and couldn't comment on it. She noted that Yahoo! shuts down illegal auctions when it hears about them from buyers or sellers, but so far hasn't found a practical way to search through "millions of listings" for possible illegal items.

The lawsuit alleges Yahoo! profits from the sales and is aware they are happening. Richard Flamm, general counsel for Nintendo of America in Redmond, Wash., said Yahoo hasn't responded to requests to stop the activity.

The game is outrageously addicting. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you will even yell at your Sims. Your goal is to keep them happy and make some friends. It’s gigapets meets Dungeon Keeper meets Freud’s worst nightmare meets the Brady Bunch. As the puppetmaster, you pull all the strings and dictate how your Sims will grow (or wither and die) in the environment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check in on the Sorority sisters and find out what this game feels about same-sex marriages.

GA-Source has snapped up a 12 new screenshots from the latest MDK2 build, given to them at the recent MDK2 launch party.

SCi recently released 12 new action-packed screenshots and a development update for their upcoming action racer, Carmageddon TDR 2000.

A representative for Bethesda Softworks has told GA-Source that tomorrow they will be making an official announcement for the long awaited sequel to Daggerfall - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. First image included: http://www.ga-source.com/all/news/bits/02+29+2000/12:23:0.shtml

The update includes over 20 character and weapon enhancements, many of which came from fan suggestions. A complete list of improvements can be found at http://www.westwood.com

"The rewards systems are what set this game apart. Unlike every other real-time strategy you don't have direct control over your heroes. You can't order a group of warriors to lay waste to an enemy castle, or to explore an area. Instead you can place a reward flag on the castle and the warriors, if they see fit, lay waste to the castle in order to collect the bounty. The key here is " if they see fit"

Continuing to build the library of multiplayer titles for the Sega Dreamcast Network, Sega of America announced today a deal with Activision, Inc. to publish id Software's QUAKE III Arena(tm) " for the 128-bit, Internet-ready Sega Dreamcast(tm) videogame console. The title is being developed, under id Software's supervision and direction, by Activision and Raster Productions for Sega Dreamcast and published by Sega of America. QUAKE III Arena is expected to ship later this year.

Using the Sega Dreamcast Network, Sega Dreamcast gamers will be able to play QUAKE III Arena against both Sega Dreamcast and PC owners. This is the first time that QUAKE III Arena will be available on a videogame console and the first time in history that PC gamers can play against console gamers via real-time networked gameplay. Whether played in multiplayer or single player mode, QUAKE III Arena is sure to give gamers an adrenaline rush and keep them coming back for more.

"id Software has continually been at the forefront of online games and we are thrilled to have them involved in our efforts to expand the way people play games on Sega Dreamcast," said Charles Bellfield, director of corporate communications, Sega of America. "In 2000, Sega's focus is on online games for Sega Dreamcast and we are pleased to be shipping a proven hit such as QUAKE III Arena."

Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) and the U.S. subsidiaries of Sega Enterprises Ltd. and Nintendo Co. filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. They are seeking an injunction to halt sales of counterfeit games on Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO). The suit is the first time the companies have taken on an online retailer. Electronic Arts is based in Redwood City, Calif., while Sega and Nintendo are based in Japan.

Diane Hunt, a spokeswoman for Yahoo! in San Jose, Calif., said the company hadn't seen the suit yet and couldn't comment on it. She noted that Yahoo! shuts down illegal auctions when it hears about them from buyers or sellers, but so far hasn't found a practical way to search through "millions of listings" for possible illegal items.

The lawsuit alleges Yahoo! profits from the sales and is aware they are happening. Richard Flamm, general counsel for Nintendo of America in Redmond, Wash., said Yahoo hasn't responded to requests to stop the activity.

IGNPC: Just how many models of Porsche will be in there?

PR: Although the final numbers are still being determined, we anticipate that there will be over 80 models of car available on PC – compared to 50 on PlayStation.

GameSpot UK:
What's the attraction of setting a game based in Norse era and mythology - how has this fed into the game design?

Timothy Gerritsen:
Many of us at Human Head had read stories about the Vikings and their legends, and had read the Norse mythologies about the gods Thor, Odin and Loki as kids. It is a deeply rich culture that has contributed a great deal to our present day literature and cultural psyche. It is also an area often overlooked in games other than in cartoonish ways. We decided the time had come to do an epic adventure fantasy game about Viking mythology. Rune, however, is not a documentary simulation of Viking life, so don't get me wrong. What we've done is taken the legends of the Vikings and combined them with our own takes on the culture to create what is essentially a fantasy legend brought to life in an action game.

Tip #9 - Use the crack whore skins. He will see the scantily clad model and be so dismayed that he will hesitate before shooting you.

Microsoft today announced the start of its server spawn program for Allegiance, a brand-new multiplayer space combat game, by releasing the stand-alone server code for the game as a free download. The server code, which is a self-extracting, executable file, allows any PC or server to host free multiplayer games of Allegiance. The server code will also be included in the retail shipping version of Allegiance, which is expected to hit store shelves later this week. The game combines furious space combat with the social challenge of squadron-based combat in a stunning 3D universe.

By executing the Allegiance Server Code, sites will be automatically listed among the worldwide free-play servers for Allegiance on the MSN Gaming Zone (http://www.zone.com/allegiance/). Gamers who are interested in hosting an Allegiance free-play server can download the free file and support manual at:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/allegiance/downloads.htm

Allegiance will be available in retail stores for an anticipated street price of US$40. Gamers can then choose to play on public-domain servers free of charge or access the Allegiance Zone, a subscription service that provides larger-scale games, special events, persistent scoring and rankings, and new exclusive content. Players are eligible for one free month on the Allegiance Zone ($9.95 value) with game purchase.

In Allegiance, players can pilot and customize many different classes of ships; from scouts and fighters to battle cruisers. They also have the ability to switch between a variety of combat roles, including pilot, turret gunner or base commander. Hundreds of players can engage each other in death-match style arenas or in cooperative play. Gamers will be able to represent their identity, through recorded accomplishments and medals, giving combatants the chance to become part of an ongoing, dynamic universe. Allegiance also features rich strategic elements such as controllable assets, researchable technology and command features.

For more information about Allegiance, visit the game's official site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/games/allegiance/

Soldier-of-Fortune: Given the chance, what would you change about Soldier of Fortune?

Kenn Hoekstra (Project Administrator): I wish we had time to add weapon mods to the weapon functionality and outfit menu. Taking a stock weapon and adding a silencer, laser site, flashlight, larger clip or different rounds would have been very cool. User controlled vehicles would have been cool, too. You can never seem to do everything you want to do in a game, it seems. If you could, why would any game have a sequel? =)

DR: Explain this half-beast character that you play in Vampire. What's the attraction to playing undead characters -- is this some sort of gothic chic?

CH: You begin the game as Christof Romuald, a mortal knight fighting for God and greater glory, but soon after the game begins, you are turned into a vampire and must contend with a world that, for you, has turned upside down. All the things you believed in, good and evil, are no longer the same for you as your humanity is subverted. But on the other hand, the attraction of this character change is that you get to play an immortal creature of legend, with strength and powers beyond mortal comprehension. One of my favorite things about this vampire world, called the World of Darkness, is that the character struggles against the beast within to maintain his humanity, providing a sense of the tragic hero.

All Star Wars games that don't have a title at the time that they begin evelopment end up being assigned a code name. Well, we've just landed information about one that is supposed to be amazing in the next generation gaming market. Europa, the code name for the project, is LucasArts' first upcoming effort in the next generation market. TFN has learned that in addition to the N64 title to be released this Christmas and the recently released Star Wars Online, LEC has another really great looking title tighly under wraps possibly for the PC and Playstation 2. While we do expect an official announcement soon, here's your first word about the new TPM game, exclusive to TFN:

"LucasArts is developing what sounds to be an Episode I related flight simulator type of game. The project is code named "Europa" and is anticipated to run only on the higest end PCs and one of the next generation consoles. From what I've seen it looks like it's shaping up into a very cool game. One source suggested that Europa is, quite simply, the most beautiful flight/simulator/shooter that just has to be seen to be appreciated. More soon."

New features (Gameplay):

- D3D uses vertex buffers for all drawing operations - gives overall performance boost.
- Can now use number and arrow keys to navigate voice menu
- Random bots picks from all 32 (not first 16) - including the specially configured ones
- Can summon specific bots: 'AddBotNamed Alarik' adds the bot with the name Alarik (if he's in the list of configured bots)
- Now shows waiting players on team scoreboards before start of game (players who aren't ready are greyed out)
- Improved bot AI about triggering pressure zone when player is in it
- Changed xDSL and cable modem clientspeed to 10000 (and added separate category in netspeed selection)
- No longer need to type 'iamtheone' for cheats in single player
- Demos can now play looping - demoplay demofile?loop
- Turbo/hardcore mode is now shown in UBrowser for team games

S-o-F: What is your favorite weapon in Soldier of Fortune and why? Favorite hit location / enemy body part to dismember and why? >;-)

Brian: My favorite weapon is the SMG- It is fast and furious and I love the "dance" it puts the enemies into. I think my favorite hit location is a hard one. I have 3 favorites of the throat, the Groin , and finally shooting the head clean off. But that's me I am a little brutal.

GAMELINKS.NET: The terrain engine look absolutely incredible and it appears that Tribes 2 will blow away the competition in terms of outdoor environments once again. With this in mind, have there been major performance related issues in trying to incorporate intensive features such as water and fog?

RICK OVERMAN: Not for fog. Our fog in TRIBES 2 is vertex-based and supported directly by hardware. We’re still considering some other permutations, but it’s safe to say fog isn’t going to be a problem with most hardware.

Water, on the other hand, could create some issues. Water’s translucency means that the combination of polygons and textures that make up a body of water is essentially drawn over the polygons and textures that make up the "underwater" terrain. So there’s an overdraw issue because your machine has to draw the lake bottom and then draw another layer of translucent water over the top of that terrain, essentially drawing your pixels twice in the same map location. You can scale down your poly count to compensate if you’re having performance problems, but you can’t do much with the doubled textures.

There are always performance-related issues when introducing new environmental features, but we think we’ve worked out some good solutions for TRIBES 2. The amount of data that makes up TRIBES 2 maps is actually far less than for TRIBES 1 maps, even though our maps in T2 provide the user with larger, vastly more complex landscapes.

The AI has been improved considerably and, as a result, the other characters in the game now react to your presence more realistically. They hear you when you walk across noisy surfaces and hunt you out based on where they last heard your footsteps. They also see you more easily if you have not completely hidden yourself, and they run for help, yelling at the top of their voices if they think they can't handle you alone. When that happens, be very fast on your feet or you'll be killed. Guards now carry bows too, so it's no longer simply a matter of knocking out the opposition from a distance. On the whole, the game is a lot less forgiving than Thief, but more atmospheric because of it.

Tactical combat, however, is the main element of Heart Of Stone, and again this relies on the ability-focused nature of characters. Brother Spencer has an "earthquake" attack, which involves jumping and landing heavily to shake opponents over parapets and ledges. The Norman Princess, the only archer on the team, can make use of torches proffered by other characters to shoot fire arrows, while the Mercenary's pike becomes useful in narrow corridors, allowing him to hold opponents at bay while his colleagues pick them off.

Argosy 2325's unique setting recycles traditional dogfighting elements while introducing new ones, bringing with them additional challenges. The presence of the ice ceiling sandwiches the action between it and the seabed, forcing you to ensure that the momentum from your combat maneuvers doesn't propel you into a surface sturdier than your SeaHawk's ceramic-coated hull. There are advantages to the dual-surface area, however. Traveling close the ocean floor considerably lessens your engine noise, thereby making you much harder to detect on enemy sonar. Cruising close the ice makes you much more visible on enemy sonar, but also extends your own sonar range, enabling you to detect your enemies approaching much sooner than you would have at a lower altitude.

According to Alex Papasavas, President of ReAllis, it is this mix of first person action and turn-based strategy that promises to keep the gameplay unique, while introducing gameplay elements that gamers are already accustomed to. "Perhaps it can be related to the classic title, Archon; Turn Based Strategy/3rd Person 2D Shooter," he explains.

He continued, "Archon similarly flipped between strategic moves on the chess-like board and intense arena combat between various characters. Some other great works that influenced the development of Rogue Wars are Tribes, Warcraft II, Doom, Unreal, Quake and Mortal Combat."

There seems to be some confusion over the multiple SKUs of Soldier of Fortune. The standard full version of Soldier of Fortune comes in a green box and the Tactical Low Violence Version comes in a red box. I think that THIS ARTICLE sums up the differences and the reasoning behind it quite well. If you are ordering the game online, odds are you will see two listings: One called "Soldier of Fortune" and another called "Soldier of Fortune Tactical Version" like this listing on Amazon.com.

Of course the best way to make sure that you get the version you are looking for is to go down to your local software retailer and hand pick the version you want. If that's not an option, call the Customer Service department of the website or store that you ordered from and make sure you are getting what you want. That's what the CS people are there for and it will save you a lot of headaches because of the strict software return policies that exist in today's market.

There is NO WAY to enable the full violence in the tactical version and no patch or hack to do so will ever be released, supported or endorsed by Raven Software or Activision.

FS: What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of developing for the X-Box as opposed to other consoles like the Playstation 2?

Jake: For everyone out there that already supports DirectX it's a godsend. Since we support OpenGL it's not going to be so easy, but such is the life of a games developer :) Obviously we as PC developers will have to get our heads around the idea of not patching games, even though there is an 8meg harddrive included in the package. Since Microsoft has said "Don't expect to use this to patch games" we should use that to get out of this mindset of 'ship now, patch later'.

Of course being able to use the MS DEV studio set of tools really helps too. All us PC developers are familiar with these, and to be honest, they are the most complete set of development tools out there. The PSX2 has lots of 'little' processors in it, which makes debugging code a touch more complex than just worrying about the one program thread.

However the PSX2, - because of it's more complex architecture - should present us with more opportunities to squeeze performance out of it. Put it this way. The X-box will be like PC games. Pretty much everyone gets roughly the same sort of performance out of it polygon wise, give or take 15% or so. With the PSX2, if you know what you are doing, the difference could be as much as 50%. The PSX2 I think is really going to sort out the wheat from the chaff programmer wise.

Our sources in the US tell us that the main elements of the game are all in place and the beta is in Q&A at the moment. In fact, the whole game can be played right through to the end at this stage. As a result, most of the work which is being done right now involves adjusting the skill levels and AI of the monsters and player characters, along with other play-balancing issues. Bugs related to graphics and sound are also being fixed and the game is being tweaked in the system requirements department to ensure that it works on the maximum number of PCs.

I can't help but think Shadow Watch would have benefited from a little more time in development. On the surface, the backdrop of syndicate power and political intrigue seem to be right on target, a near perfect setting for a comic book-style game of strategy. While these elements are unique, Shadow Watch misses its mark slightly, mostly due to its simple gameplay mechanics. It has a lot of great components, such as an inventive conversation system, engaging role-playing aspects, and interesting characters, and also features a well told story. Unfortunately, a solid story and interesting characters don't add up to a good product.

The X-Box will have at its disposal the financial backing of one of the wealthiest companies in the world, Microsoft. Microsoft is more than just a company with money, it is a company of innovation. They are constantly looking to broaden their horizons, grow, and become the best at what they do. Sure, many complain that their Windows Software has too many bugs that lead to constant crashes. While that may be true, those people should realize that without that same software, computers in general would not be used nearly as much as they are. Hardware, Software, and E-Commerce sales would dwarf in comparison to today's numbers. Close to 90% of computer users run some incarnation of Windows which makes life easier for not only the users, but for the developers.

Up until recently, I would not have added this title to this list, but since Blizzard lost 3 of its key developers they have announced that WarCraft III will be returning back to its RTS roots, and somewhat leave behind the ideals of a role-playing game.

A lot of the details on this game are still in flux, but as it stands right now WarCraft III will remain a full 3D game, but will not offer zoom or camera rotation. The camera view will be pulled back significantly and set to an exact angle. This should make it look more like WarCraft II, only prettier due to the 3D enhancements.

It has been suggested that there will be far less buildings in this sequel, and the need to produce massive armies will be decreased due to the fact that units will be much more expensive while at the same time being much more powerful. The idea being that this way you spend more time on the strategy aspects of the game instead of trying to bum rush your opponent with the largest army.

Soldier of Fortune is the best first-person shooter since Half-Life; Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena and Tribes were also outstanding, but let’s be honest, they have no real single-player element other than some overhyped practice mode with 'bots. Soldier of Fortune's story isn’t the deepest in the world, but it’s on par with just about any action movie. The in-engine rendered cut-scenes, mission briefings and other storytelling elements really convey the feeling that you are John Mullins, and it’s your job to save the world. I was captivated for the full twenty hours it took to play the game, and for those adults looking for extreme action, Soldier of Fortune could be just what the doctor ordered. Come back next week for our full multi-player coverage, featuring a weapons report, deathmatch, capture the flag, assassination mode, and more!

Theocracy is a real-time strategy game in which you take control of one of the Aztec tribes, develop the tribe to its ultimate destiny, and resist the Spanish conquistadors.

But before this final fight you will have to:

establish trade routes between you and your neighbouring states

develop diplomatic relations between you and the others provinces

conquer new territories

develop your economy and your empire

After one century, you will have to resist the fierce assault of the Spanish. 400 years of History are in the balance: History is in your hands!

Puppet: Messiah is done… Team EGO can now get some rest :), What does it feel like after these nearly three years of development to know that the game is finished?

Stuart: It’s a bit surreal to be quite honest; ever since I’ve worked at Shiny Messiah has been a part of our daily lives.

My experience with Messiah all started for me back in early 1998 when I joined Shiny as an assistant designer on Wild 9. While Wild 9 was a cool game, Messiah was clearly leaps and bounds beyond where we were with regard to both technology and gameplay. The Wild 9 team sat on the second floor of Shiny’s building and the Messiah team was on the third floor. I had no reason to ever venture upstairs so finally one day I asked our producer to take me upstairs and introduce me to some of the guys and take a sneak peek at Messiah.

Put simply, I was blown away! While at that time the AI wasn’t working anywhere near how it does today and there was only one level to really see, I couldn’t believe my eyes at how cool the game was. The technology was unlike anything I had ever seen before at that time and the game mechanic of possessing other characters in the game was really exciting to me as well.

I left the Messiah team room that day green with envy that there was a team lucky enough to be working on such an advanced project. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to work on such a cool project…

…Fast-forward two years…

…and now I look back with wonder at how I moved from being an assistant designer on the Wild 9 team, looking at Messiah in awe, to helping the team produce the title a short two years later.

It’s going to be very bizarre to see Messiah sitting on the shelves at the local software store.

Officially we have not signed a publishing deal for UT PSX2 so this is just speculative. But we hope to have the game ready as a North American and European PlayStation2 launch title. The game is up and running with full features but still needs a lot of optimization work. We are just getting into taking advantage of the PlayStation2s vector units where most of the machines performance potential lies.

We will definitely have support for USB networking and split screen multiplayer. We also plan to have support for modems and Sonys broadband networking but since the specifics of those things have not been made available to developers yet I do not know about the timing or exactly how it will work. But obviously Internet support is Unreal Tournaments best feature and we plan to do everything possible to exploit the Internet on the PlayStation2.

We would love to ship with PlayStation2to PC networking support and that is currently possible because we have not made any game content changes. However I can not promise whether this will happen because we might decide to make significant content or control changes to optimize the UT experience for PlayStation2 which would break network compatibility. We will just have to see.

I can not comment on timing or media issues since those will depend on our as yet unsigned publishing deal.

• 3 new weekly columns have been started at AN.
  Every Thursday, I write a editorial or column on various subjects in my own section, shivaSite.
  The latest column is "The Truth" volume 5, dealing with the various home console units, why does SEGA always seem to shoot themselves in the foot, and why Sony isn't exactly sweating over the X-Box at the moment.


• Friday's sees Zero Hour, a weekly column written by staff member Zero. This issue deals with the net trade, and Zero's opinion of ebay and other online auctions.


• Sunday is the day for Rants and Ravings, where 2 staff members drop by with their own comments about gaming. The latest issue sees Id lose his The Sims addiction, and where did Zero go anyway?


• More columns are being planned, as well
  as additional viewer editorials will be added in the future.

More info is now trickling through about this enormously exciting and daring project. WarCraft III is what Blizzard describes as a roleplaying strategy game . To quote its own description this means: "A strategy game set heavily within a roleplaying environment. It takes the individual combat and interactive environments found in roleplaying games and combines them within a competitive strategic environment. WarCraft III puts players in command of smaller, potent parties of heroes and troops. They adventure and do battle in a dynamic world of living towns, wandering monsters, characters and quests, while simultaneously devising strategies to defeat their enemies."

Thief II does succeed in taking a great premise and making a good game of it. You get to use a number of interesting thieving tools in environments in which they're all useful. There are very few moments in Thief II where there's a single correct path to take, and the beauty of the mission design is that it's left to your ingenuity to use the tools provided to overcome the obstacles in your path. Do you shoot out the torches and sneak down a hallway? Or should you use a rope arrow to hoist yourself up to the rafters and ambush the guards from above? It's a testament to the quality of the design that when you complete a mission in Thief II, you'll actually feel as if you've accomplished something and not just executed a series of predetermined tasks.

Firstly though, I can't fault the graphics. Visually SWAT 3 is absolutely stunning with incredible detail given to every aspect. The terrorist and civilian models are well detailed, though perhaps too repetitive. One complaint is how much some terrorists look like civilians...that was intentional, but a nasty surprise. Trust me - yell at everyone, then cuff them (maybe a little CS tear gas too, completely up to you) and you'll save yourself a lot of grief. Fellow officers, a.k.a. Operation Human Shield, sport excellently detailed uniforms right down to the creases. They also have eerily lifelike facial features, get right in their face and you can even see them blink, probably in annoyance as you're blocking their view of the gorgeous mission environments. The great texture work continues there, as each setting contains detailed and distinct texture sets. A suburban living room looks like just that, is significantly different from other homes you'll "visit", and is completely different from, for example, the church you enter later.

Westwood realized it wasted all their trumps, and that it can no longer rely on old fame and strong media campaigns, so after somewhat more than half a year after publishing the controversial title, it released an expansion pack called Firestorm. The main goal of this expansion pack was to retrieve the C&C fans that were disappointed with The Tiberian Sun, and it has good chance of succeeding there.

2pronger: So tell us about the new deathmatch song "Face Rake"

Will Nevins: Well, "Face Rake" like all of the other deathmatch songs are performed to simulate the actual 'deathmatch' that a player experiences, there are lulls in the music that would be close to a player looking around a map for his next prey, then faster "in your face" parts to simulate the fighting. My motto is "To Rake or be Raked!!" (hense "Face Rake") and music helps enormously to push the gameplay (or rake) along, it keeps the adrenaline flowing!

As a game company, we have a choice. We can let our customers in on our process as a game is being developed, or we can say nothing to the public until the game ships.

The first way is our choice because it gives a window to the public into the development of an exciting product. It generates excitement in the community, and lets us share our enthusiasm for what we are doing. However, it also exposes us to criticism when a discussed feature doesn't make it into the final product.

Every game has features that don't make it into the final product. Every game undergoes an evolution from the concept stage, through development, and until it ships. And no game contains ALL of the good ideas and features dreamed up by the develpment team. There are always compromises that have to be made, especially as the game nears completion. Obviously, we share in the disappointment when this happens.

So please try to understand that when we talk about a feature in development, we are letting you in on our process, and not promising something that we later may yank out from under you. Please keep in mind that the only alternative is to keep quiet and say nothing of substance until the game ships. But that is not our choice, and not the Blizzard way.

Gamespy: Were there any features that you would have liked to have included in the game but could not due to a lack of time or resources?

Michael: There were a number of spells we had on the drawing board, but we just didn't have time to create them all. There was a host of other nifty things we also wanted to do, but they will have to remain secret.

John: We are discussing a possible add-on for Nox. We're paying special attention to what Nox fans want.

The board demonstrated to us yesterday was the Voodoo5 5500, an AGP card that has 64 megabytes of SDRAM and is powered by a pair of VSA-100 processors. 3dfx ran through a series of demonstrations to show off the board's anti-aliasing and motion-blur effects. To illustrate these features, we were given the chance to play Microprose's Falcon 4.0 on a Voodoo5 5500 at 800x600. We played first without any anti-aliasing and then again with the effect turned on. While the game did indeed take a performance hit when we enabled anti-aliasing, the drop in frame rate didn't seem all that significant. Besides, the resulting imagery was well worth the sacrifice in performance. Enabling full-scene anti-aliasing not only smoothed all the "jaggies" found along the absolute edges of onscreen polygons but also cleaned up all the swimming and popping artifacts that appeared on the horizon.

A good assault level usually has two characteristics: long playing time and multiple objectives. We'll discuss the latter in a bit; as far as playing time, you want to make your map physically long enough so that it takes a team awhile to reach the objectives.
Create a basic layout for your assault level. (We suggest starting rooms for each team, and a couple of rooms that you set up for battle areas.) Add plenty of weapons, power-ups, and the occasional automatic cannon to spice things up.

6 new screens of Throne of Darkness, a Japanesse-themed RPG, are up at Gamespot.

GameCenter has a preview of Arcanum, a RPG set in a fantasy world upset by the industrial revolution.

Daily Radar spoke with Chris Taylor about his upcoming 3D/RPG title Dungeon Siege.

Starlancer gets the hands-on treatment by Exxtreme3D.

There are 6 new shots of Evolva at DamageGaming.

Gamespot UK has a preview and a handful of screens of Black Isle's Icewind Dale.

Class blending is of particular interest. For example, a player has the ability to start off as a paladin and at each level up, the player can continue as a paladin or choose to be almost anything else. Switching classes will not cause you to lose experience in your first class, and it's possible to switch back and forth between classes. Therefore, you could conceivably end up with a level 6 paladin, a level 4 thief and a level 5 cleric, all in the same character. In Ruins, players are limited to a combined maximum level of 16; i.e., your levels in each class are added together, and that total can't be greater than 16.

The plot comes down to the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. Without giving too much away, the prophecy foretells of a great evil coming to ravage the world. Now, it's up to you to stop it ... or take control of it and use it for your own devices. You see, instead of making two separate campaigns - one for good, one for evil; SSG has decided to let the player decide which side he shall choose - a guardian or a conqueror. Approximately halfway through the singleplayer game, you will be presented with a choice, and this your decision will decide how the game plays out from there.

If Quake is your universe, then you probably won't get what all the fuss is about with the game, and you certainly won't understand why someone would get off on peeking around corners and creeping around for hours on end without laying so much as a finger on any thugs. But for those of you looking for a complex, unique effort, Thief II continues to shine. The game puts in so much world detail that you can't help but get immersed in Garrett's plight and his adventures. Whether you're creeping up on a guard, or hiding in a dark alleyway listening to an important conversation, it's hard to separate yourself from the tension and tell yourself that you're still just playing a game. Like Half-Life, Thief II is an adventure that leaves resonating impression, and a game that you'll want to return to, often.

Because of its dated graphics, ineffective controls, and flawed gameplay, Force Commander falls short of its ambitious intent.

Homeworld: Cataclysm is not a typical Expansion Pack per se; you do not have to own Homeworld to play this game. The usual new features will be found (new ships, new weapons, etc.), but developer Barking Dog has taken the Homeworld universe and given it enough history and background to make it worthy of a miniseries. Players familiar with the original game will feel at home in the new game, and newcomers are given enough history to easily be drawn in.

Q: Do you still plan to support guilds?

A: Guilds will not be in the final shipping version of Diablo II. During development it became clear that making Guilds bullet-proof, balanced, and completely secure would delay shipping Diablo II. Fundamental, major changes to the Diablo II/battle.net client/server architecture would be required. Testing and all-important balancing would make our fans wait even longer. In the interests of getting the game to our fans -- we had to decide to drop Guilds. We are exploring ways of adding Guilds after Diablo II ships.

One of the main differences that you should see is that Icewind Dale is more focused on the party rather than one single character. This means that the game will come with the built in ability to allow you to switch who the main spokesman for your party is at any given time. Overall a pretty cool feature as this should allow you to choose the best character with the best reputation to deal with the appropriate NPC or monsters that you encounter. Because of the new focus, your entire six member party will be chosen and customized prior to the game starting. This means that you won't have to recruit NPC's during the course of the game to help you in your quest. No new classes are being introduced to the game so you'll see the usual Thief, Fighter, Wizard etc etc. classes as in any 2nd edition rules AD&D game. The character creation is nearly identical to that of Baldur's Gate.

Not to mention that, but often times your sims will somehow manage to kill themselves doing tasks such as using the microwave, or unclogging the toilet. If they manage to not kill themselves, usually a house fire or some other sort of disaster is the result. Honestly, repeatedly having house fires while using the microwave and losing either your life, or several appliances in your kitchen is not only annoying, it's downright enraging. Even worse is when an appliance breaks, and one of your sims attempts to fix it and somehow electrocutes themselves to death, thus ending your game in a ludicrous fashion..

Sorry for the repeated delays... Once again, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that we'll be integrated with Epic's build within the next week or two (assuming they're ready for our updates within that period). The bad news is that Legend won't be able to release the "experimental / pre-Beta" version of U2Ed. I know from the numerous emails I've received over the past several weeks, that this will come as a huge disappointment to many of you... I'm sorry. I know it sucks to have to wait even longer... Here's what happened: At the beginning (late last month) our intent was to put out a "experimental / pre-Beta" release of U2Ed to give people a taste of the "work in progress" and to get preliminary feedback on the stability of the editor prior to merging with Epic's build. A number of events have come to pass that have shot this plan in the head:

- Attempting to shrink the patch from a 25MB ZIP down to a 5MB patch took *much* longer than I had anticipated.

- The delay made it possible for the team to further evaluate the state of U2Ed, and the conclusion was that it still needed a lot of work before it would be ready for public consumption.

- Then, as you may have read by now, Warren announced that he was migrating from Legend to Epic -- fortunately, we'll still have the benefit of his talents and effort, but we won't have the results as immediately.

- In addition, the intent of releasing U2Ed prior to synchronizing with Epic's build was to solicit feedback while we waited for the new build from Epic. We have that build now(!), so my top priority (as of today) is to merge our code into that build, and be prepared to merge the result with Epic's build as quickly as possible.

- I could spend time fixing bugs in U2Ed in order to enable us to follow through with posting a "experimental" version, but at this point, I believe that it's in everyone's best interests to get U2Ed merged with Epic's build as rapidly as possible. And, unfortunately, that means scrapping any effort to publish a version of U2Ed ourselves.

My apologies for raising your expectations, then dashing them. Hopefully, you'll find (eventually!) that U2Ed was worth the wait.

Daily Radar has a preview of Homeworld: Cataclysm.

Gamespot UK posted a preview of Commandos 2.

Gamespot UK also has a preview of ST: Voyager- Elite Force.

10 new ST: Conquest Online shots at Telefragged.

9 screens of Motocross Madness at GA-Sports.

3 new shots of Dark Age of Camelot at GA-RPG.

3 new artwork shots of Battle Realms at GA-Strategy.

Aureal's SQ2500 sound card is reviewed at 3AG.

Looking for the blazing speed (at least for this month)? Check out the review of GigaByte's GA GF2560 GeForce 32MB SDR card at Guru of 3D. Is that long title really necessary?

That $3 mouse you got from Best Buy giving you trouble? How about a Razer Boomslang 2000. GamingChronicle.com reviews this one.

DeezTech reviews the DDR version of Elsa's Erazor X. With a name like DeezTech, how can you not trust them?

Both 3D Spotlight and got apex? review the Diamond Viper II.

I found a couple of reviews of the Linksys DSL/Cable Router, for those of you lucky enough to have highspeed access. Check out the reviews at AnandTech and Boomgames.

Still paying money for games and software? Not to worry, my friend. I will hook you up with a review of Plextor's 8/4/32 CD-Burner by Tech Extreme to help you make up your mind. And if that one is too slow, check out the Plextor 12/4/32 CD-Burner review by Gamer's Depot.

Ok, I know there are some rich people hitting this site. Now all I'm asking is for you to buy me a digital camera, that's all. Here's a review of one that isn't too bad.

Ground Control lets you tackle two 15-mission campaigns, first as Field Commander Sarah Parker for the Crayven Corporation and then as Deacon Jarred Stone for the Order. At your command are 13 unit types per side, split into three categories: infantry, armor, and aircraft (sorry, no naval units). Although unit types for each side are roughly comparable, they naturally have their own distinct look and capabilities.

GDR: How does the game address multiplayer? Will the game simply support multiplayer or is it being designed specifically with the intention of making it more multiplayer-friendly (and if so, how?)?

Garry Gaber: The game will support four players of any affiliation (Rebel or Imperial) playing on the Internet Gaming Zone, over modem, over IPX, over TCP/IP - pretty much all of the flavors of multiplay.

Before you start a mission you are given a written de-brief of what your task’s are that you have to perform. Then your taken into the game mode where some bloke with a seriously dodgy tash guides you to the key points of the map pointing out the objectives (very much like Hidden & Dangerous), all very helpful indeed. All in all there are 12 missions for you to guide across and which are all different from each other. One mission will have you taking control of a plane and steering it to safety while another will have you jumping over a bridge whilst being attacked by nasty men in black suites.

For the crazy europeans who want more bloodshed from their SoF, 3DFiles has a demo patch that will up the violence content for those who have the "lite: version of Soldier Of Soldier.

You've got to be a real loser if you're playing Dirt Track Racing, but there is a patch and I will inform all. Gamers and losers alike. :)

Man, talk about bad timing. It's bad enough Force Commander is getting mixed reviews at best, but now they have a patch to improve multiplayer stability. Obi-Wan must be rolling over in his grave. Oh wait, he's not really dead...

There's a patch for 10Six, a game I know nothing about. Does anyone play this game?

Might & Magic VIII

Colin McRae Rally

Tiberian Sun: Firestorm.

Ultima IX

Tzar: Burden of the Crown

Spec Ops II

Planescape: Torment

Imperium Galactica II

Looks like Verant Software can't have its cake and eat it too. Industry trade magazine MCV is reporting that Verant and Activision have ended their previously announced partnership to create a massively multiplayer online Star Trek game. The word comes just days after Verant was named as the developer of LucasArts' massively multiplayer online Star Wars game.

What makes the game exciting – besides the fact it's a massive online RPG – is the fact that Verant Interactive (Everquest) will be creating the game. Although details on the game are still few and far between, an article in USA Today last week mentioned that two planets will be featured in the game which will center around the time-period of Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. It's interesting that LucasArts would decide to move away from the prequel world for the online game, especially considering that Star Wars: Episode II is scheduled for release in May 2002.

It's commendable that LucasArts has decided to work with a third party to develop the online game, and especially a group as skilled as the team at Verant. The combination of LucasArts' attention to detail with Verant passion for online gaming is no doubt going to create one of the most talked about games of 2001. Still, the game is at least eighteen months away from release, and it's unlikely we will even see the first images from inside the game world until later this year. Nevertheless, it's hard to not get excited about the idea of melding Everquest's play mechanic with Star Wars lore.

Talon Soft realized potentials of the new (and probably first) game developed by the Bulgarian group Haemimont, and accepted to publish it. Since the Age of Kings and Tiberian Sun absolutely nothing worth mentioning happened on the RTS stage, As 2D games slowly wither or get another dimension, Tzar is set to continue the great tradition founded by Warcraft and C&C.

The single player continues and updates the story from the original Battlezone. There is still a secret war raging for biometal being fought by soldiers who will never get recognition for their sacrifices. The story continues with a lot of dialogue and detail between missions. Players who dislike the story can skip the extras, but there is an interesting story for those who want it. Nice voice acting and excellent pacing to the story are the two biggest pros. The first few missions unfold at an easy pace and will probably be a little annoying for veterans, but new Battlezone pilots should welcome the slow climb up the learning curve.

DPN: Is Firestorm the last expansion pack for Tiberian
Sun?
Rade: Yes, we want to put the team's effort into
building the next game.

Saitek X36 Combo USB Review (03-20-00)
A review of Saitek's latest HOTAS flight control offering.

There are four additional Shadow Watch music samples and streaming realaudio(tm) and MP3 audio files from many other titles. Come give a listen!

Oceanus released 3 new "engine" screenshots from Star Peace, a massive online real-time strategy game that provides persistent and highly graphical worlds where thousands of gamers create entire societies from the ground-up.

Eidos Interactive's Hitman: Codename 47 is a new third-person action adventure that combines a strong mix of stealth, strategy and shooting. Features and screenshots included.

Hitman's engine (Glacier) is fully object-oriented, and features support for many extremely advanced functionalities. Developer IO Interactive has released an extensive list of features and new details about their scripting language, plug-ins, editor, and more.

Genetic 1 Entertainment released 9 new screenshots from their upcoming first-person action/RPG hybrid, Impact.

"Being the procrastinator that he is, Leonard has decided to get a new system. But what should he get? A top of the line 1GHz Athlon powered alongside a GeForce or should he stick to the port-a-bility of notebooks? Desktops or Laptops is the key issue here in this month's issue of Hardware Au Gratin."

"Something had taken my eye that day; it wasn't the sexy women behind the counter [Ed - yeah right!], no, but instead a game calling itself 'Treadmarks' that was being played out in a rather brutal fashion on one of the show monitors. To my sheer dismay I was promptly told that the title was unavailable for another few weeks. Then in some kind of twisted irony I was informed by E-Mail on that very same day that a review copy was going to be sent, "whooo", I screamed with excitement."

>>What happened to 406, 407, 408, 409, and 410? <<

We made all these versions, but they had problems or bugs. We sent them to the ngStats guys to test the ngStats changes, tested them internally, etc. Last night the server admins were testing 411, and we found a problem - so today we gave them 412. If a big problem is found in 412, we'll release 413.

We keep incrementing the version number so there's absolutely no confusion about what version a build is. People don't seem to like it when we add letters - last time we got to 405b, but people thought that meant Beta. We should have just called it 406.

We've been fixing bugs for UT and will continue to. We're not adding features to UT or changing UT's gameplay in any way. UT is the game you bought from the store. UT has been "Done" since it went gold in, terms of being feature complete. Features we've been adding in the patches have been things to encourage people to make cool mods for UT, or things which encourage server admins to run more UT servers.

So while we're continuing to support UT by fixing bugs and keep the community going by encouraging modmakers and server admins, we're also moving towards our next big thing.

As Activision stresses in each moment of Soldier of Fortune, the world of the modern day mercenary is not a pretty one. The game is filled with the most vivid, over-the-top violence ever seen in a computer release. Heads can be vaporized into red mist with a single, well-placed shot; enemies dance a macabre jitterbug when under a hail of gunfire; and victims grope for missing limbs as blood streams from gaping wounds. But not everyone’s desires for digital violence have reached such pandemic proportions; some gamers prefer a more suggestive approach, while certain parents or guardians might not have a problem with a little gunslinging if the gore factor could be toned down. Most action games, including Soldier of Fortune, therefore contain a password protected violence filter that enables users to turn off the more visceral elements. Activision, however, is going one step further, and releasing a separate retail unit altogether with the violence feature forever disabled.

Activision has also created two separate versions of Soldier of Fortune--the regular version with a non-violent content installation option, and a modified "tactical" version. The action featured in the modified version is representative of the graphic content found in the regular version with all the violent content disabled. To help differentiate the two on retail shelves, the regular version will come in a green box, and the modified version come in a red box. In addition, the box fronts of both units feature an octagonal burst that explains that the regular version of Soldier of Fortune can be installed with the graphic content barred, and that the bloodier content has been removed from the modified version. Also, in each case of Soldier of Fortune shipped to retail customers, Activision is including a letter that explains the difference between the two versions.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - March 22, 2000 - Ten people just threw up on the roller coaster. There are twenty screaming kids waiting for a bathroom. On top of that the Dino Bounce just broke down! It’s just another day of managing the park’s front office when playing SimTheme Park™. Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company, and Bullfrog™ Productions today announced the release of SimTheme Park for the PlayStation® game console system, a new 3D simulation game in the tradition of SimCity 3000™ and the original Theme Park™.

In SimTheme Park, players can create and operate the most exciting, attractive and feature-packed amusement parks their imaginations can conjure. Unlike other titles in this category, SimTheme Park allows players to ride their creations and experience them from a first-person perspective. In addition, the PlayStation version offers a redesigned interface to take advantage of the PlayStation controls and several fun “mini-games” that can be enjoyed throughout the park. While building the theme park of their dreams, players can take time out and try their hand at Dino Racing, the Strength Test, Smash ‘Em, Shooting Gallery, Fortune Teller, Giant Puzzle and Coconut Shy.

Players construct their parks based on one of four different themes: Space Zone, The Lost Kingdom, Land of Wonders and Halloween. Each themed area features a variety of rides, concessions and attractions from which to choose. A simple and intuitive user interface allows players to jump right in and start building. Players can create amazing roller coasters and log flumes with the flexible track-building interface, as well as exciting go-kart tracks and water-rapids complete with crossovers, jumps and tunnels. An advisor gives instant feedback to help create a successful theme park.

After designing the most gut-wrenching roller coasters imaginable, players can take their thrilling creations for a test drive to judge whether they need more loops, steeper drops or faster turns.

- more -

Aside from building fun rides, players must keep their park visitors happy in a number of other ways. They need to make sure admission prices cover operating expenses, staffing is adequate, restroom facilities are sufficient and that rides aren’t too intense to be enjoyed - - all while staying on budget. To supplement park income, players can build shops and kiosks and set up sideshows. Every aspect of running the park is at the player’s fingertips.

SimTheme Park carries an ESRB rating of “E” for everyone. It is available in stores now for a suggested retail price of US $39.95 or by direct order from the EA StoreSM at http://www.store.ea.com or by calling 800-245-4525. More information on SimTheme Park can be found on the Internet at www.simthemepark.com.

Bullfrog Productions Ltd. develops and publishes games that offer original, deep and challenging gameplay. Concentrating on a small number of unique titles, Bullfrog has delighted game-players with hit after hit including Populous, Populous II, Populous™: The Beginning, Theme Park™, SimTheme Park™, Magic Carpet™, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper™ and Dungeon Keeper™ 2. Bullfrog is based in Chertsey, England. More information on Bullfrog titles is available at http://www.bullfrog.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.2 billion for fiscal 1999. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and video game systems. Electronic Arts markets its products under eight brand names: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, Maxis™, ORIGIN™, Bullfrog Productions™, Gonzo Games™, Westwood Studios™ and Jane’s® Combat Simulations. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.ea.com.

Trump: What aspects of the new Star Wars game will Verant be handling and what aspects will LucasArts will be handling? How will the work be divided up between the two companies?

JSmedley: Verant will be doing all of the development. LucasArts, as the publisher will be steering the game in a direction they feel is the appropriate one to keep in the spirit of the Star Wars Universe and we will be working with Sony Online Entertainment to make sure the online experience is a good one.

GameSpot UK: Can you tell us something about the mission structure and design in Hitman?

Janös Flosser: Hitman is a revolutionary third-person action adventure that combines a strong mix of stealth, strategy and shooting. The player will play through five different chapters, all subdivided into levels representing the given mission. Seemingly, it is all linear storytelling, but the player can accelerate the events, or plan the hits according to his temperament. He has to accomplish the mission, but there are several ways to do it.

The plot so far is pretty good. The few bits of storyline that we have seen already hint at a conversion over to the Rebel side. The plot also seems to parallel the original Star Wars storyline.
Force Commander looks to have a decent two-cents worth in it. So come on back for the full review, coming soon! Enjoy the few bits of eye-candy that we have here - we'll see if this game turns out to be choc full o' gaming goodness in the final review.

ID SOFTWARE NAMES DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Marty Stratton Joins Legendary Game Shop from Activision

MESQUITE, Texas ­ March 21, 2000 ­ id Software, a leading independent developer of entertainment software, has named Marty Stratton as director of business development.

Stratton joins id Software from Activision Inc., where he served as a producer in their StudioX PC group, working on id games including QUAKE II and QUAKE III Arena. Stratton also contributed to the production of QUAKE II Mission Packs Ground Zero and The Reckoning in addition to QUAKE II for the Nintendo64 and Sony PlayStation video game consoles. As director of business development, Stratton will team up with Todd Hollenshead, CEO, to manage strategic partnerships and id Software’s marketing and corporate communications efforts.

"Marty’s track record at Activision and hands-on experience with id’s games have distinguished him as one of the rising stars in the industry," Hollenshead said. "His background and expertise ensure a seamless transition into our tight-knit group."

Unreal Tournament server-authoritative netcode is that way for a reason. The author of Zero Ping seems to think that we didn't know what we were doing when we wrote it. :)

Zero Ping might make a game feel more responsive, but it seriously opens up servers for client side exploitation. Security is a critical part of online gaming and multiplayer fairness.

Even though Zero Ping makes the game feel more responsive to the
shooter, it detriments the victim. You might think you got out of the way... hell the server might even agree that you DID get out of the way...but Zero Ping ignores that and empowers the client's machine to make critical gameplay decisions.

I encourage mod authors to avoid using the Zero Ping Unreal Tournament mod. Finally, realize that ngWorldStats will reject stats reports from servers using the Zero Ping mod.

Unlike the loads of "first person shooters" around, this game focuses on stealth. To an even greater extent than the original Thief (which did contain some straight up action parts to it), this game places great emphasis on strategy. You can't just run out into the open and pull out a rocket launcher, instead you must be careful walking around every corner, making sure nobody is there. You really get the sense of a real thief, not that I would know what that is like =). While carefully listening and waiting, you must progress through the darkness with a variety of "Metal Age" weapons ranging from moss to rope arrows and from gas mines to flash bombs.

To be eligible for the Grand Prize trip, gamers must sign up on the official Flight Simulator 2000 Web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/games/fs2000/

The MicroWINGS Flight Simulation Conference 2000 is "the event" for flight simulation enthusiasts. Many of the top flight sim titles will be discussed, exhibited, and/or demonstrated. Attendees will get the opportunity to hear, see, and in most cases, actually try out the latest PC-based flight simulations, joysticks, yokes, panels, and even complete cockpits. They will hear about the latest technologies, see demonstrations, learn tips & tricks, find out about cockpit building, and more. Attendees also have the opportunity to meet the "movers and shakers" in the flight simulation market. The 1999 conference attracted the likes of FlightSafety, CH Products, Jeppesen, Abacus, and others.

That chat will take place at 8PM CST and will be available at #entropia on Sorcery.Net IRC. You can connect to Sorcery.net by using the irc.sorcery.net server at port6667.

This chat will be a question and answer discussion with the Mindark representatives. Please feel free to stop by Crossroads of Calypso and place your questions on the Discussions Board before the chat.
Afterwards be sureto head back to the boards and discuss the chat.

And more...
Jack in the Box Computing released new screenshots from their upcoming 3D action/strategy hybrid, Aquarius.

And more...
Eidos Interactive released the following four new screenshots from Deus Ex, an upcoming Unreal powered role-playing action/adventure.

And more...
6 un-seen pictures from Electronic Arts upcoming Formula 1 racing game, F1 2000.

Evil Avatar has three new shots of Soldier of Fortune.

Four new shots are up at Infolder.com (a Dutch site) of Black & White. Clean, man.

The Klipsch ProMedia v2-400 THX speakers are reviewed at GamePC. Man, I want those speakers. Maybe I can convince Dyson to get me a "review" set. :)

AVault has a write up on Harn: Bloodline. The game is being touted as a RTE game, "Real Time Environment."

According to NCS, it appears that the first batch of Japanese PS2's have been experiencing various problems with the new 8MB memory cards, saved data, DVD playback, and some freezing/overheating. Sony has actually issued a recall of all PS2 memory cards, so those with problems should most likely find a way to return them from where it was purchased from.

So, what do I think about this? Counterstrike Beta 6 is the longest beta in development besides the 1st, something that tells me this is going to be a great beta version.

GameSpy: What would you define as the "primary benefits" of licensing a preexisting engine, from a general non-engine-specific standpoint?

Bioware: We can think of a couple of benefits. First of all, licensing a pre-existing engine allows you to use an established technology base. As a result the development time and development costs (and concurrent risks) should be lower than if you had to develop the engine as well as the game. Second, it's always hard to focus on simultaneous development of an engine and a game, so licensing the engine is a great way to simplify development and allow a team to focus on game play and story. As well, licensing an engine from a major game is a way to link the product in development to the game that used the engine originally.

Two new shots of Divinity: The Sword Of Lies are up at the official site today.

GA-RPG posted one preview shot of Dark Age of Camelot.

Blade-Universe updated their page with a new screenshot of Blade.

GA-Source has 5 screenshots of Carnivores: Ice Age. Does anyone else think this game looks hot? (I can't believe I just used the word "hot". *sigh*)

"With its emphasis on exploration, resource gathering and building, Conquest follows the standard RTS model. In the game, four different races (the Terrans, the insectoid Mantis, the high-tech Solarians and the bruising Vyrium) are battling for space supremacy, with the two single-player campaigns telling the game's story from the unique perspectives of the Terran and Mantis races. Don't worry about being limited though - alliances will be struck that will allow you to employ the units of all four races through the course of the game, and all races will be available for multiplayer contests."

GameSpot received some new info and some screenshots of Creative Assembly's Shogun.

GameSpot also got their hands on a month-old build of Terminus, a 3D space combat sim by Vicarious Visions. Here's the small preview and a few screens.

Digital Anvil's upcoming action game Loose Cannon gets a preview IGN style. They also include about 15 current images.

Computer Games Online put up Part 1 of their preview of Starlancer, developed by Digital Anvil. They include 6 clean-looking shots as well.

AVault went crazy and built a Thief 2 Feature which includes an in-depth hands-on account based on the most recent build, an interview with Looking Glass designer Emil (don't call me Elmo) Pagliarulo, and an awesome 21 screenshot gallery.

Game Link has a review of the Vortex 2 SQ2500 sound card from Aureal. System Logic posted a a review as well.

PENSTAR Systems posted their review of those DDT Digital Desktop Theater 5.1 speakers from Cambridge Soundworks.

The Tech Zone put together a well-received review of the Altec Lancing ATP3 speaker set.

CRUS.com got their hands on the Hercules 3D Prophet DDR DVI and ran it through the standard tests. This is what they had to say.

The Everglide Giganta (my current mousing surface) gets reviewed by PCGN and 3D GameForce.

"In Dungeon Siege you will start with a single player and travel the world building up a party of up to 10 unique characters. As you make your way through the game fighting battle after battle, the overall plot of the game will be slowly revealed."

• Skirmish games may now be saved
• Ability to select all units of a type or types on screen that are currently selected
• Ability to select all units of a type or types on screen that
  are currently selected
• Included the ability to browse Battleclan and Firestorm ladders

Also, I was looking around for a good review to help explain Firestorm to newbees to the C&C world, but to my disapointment the 6 or so reviews I came across used so many acronyms that no-one but I diehard C&C fan would have been able to understand them. What I did find however was a little article of at Gamefans-Online detailing Firestorm. The article is very small and doesn't have much information in it, but its still useful for anyone curious about the game. The article is over at http://www.gamefan.com/hotinfo.asp?s=5603&rs=, heres a quote

"First off, you'll notice that the expansion's very similar to the original game, with the same rules, engine, interface and control system. Basically, what you get is a healthy dose of the same old C & C 2 with a few new units, maps and, of course, two new single-player campaigns, sporting new story lines and even a few new faces in the outstanding full-motion video cut-scenes."

As a follow up on the many news articles on the hacker issues around the globe today, Bo sheds some light over how this is done and brings you a few thoughts and speculations from the “other” side of the issue.

There are reports that the floating Crystals and Shadow creatures, which until recently had stood guard in the wilderness of Dereth, are now on the move. Strange, twisted citadels are also rumored to have emerged from the earth and hover ominously over the land near several towns. A vast, bat-winged figure has been spotted, flickering like dark lightning amid the storm clouds. Many are speculating about what these recent changes in Dereth could mean? Do these frightening apparitions signal the beginning of a much darker conflict?

Additionally, Turbine Games, the developers of Asheron's Call, are in the process of refining the graphics engine, introducing colored lighting effects and amazing new Drudges and Golems. The world of Asheron's Call will come into even sharper focus over the coming months. For full details on the extensive changes made with this update, see Build Notes for March 2000 and the new State of the Code.

Asheron's Call is a massively multiplayer role-playing game playableexclusively on the MSN Gaming Zone that draws together thousands of players within a dynamic, 3-D online world. Players can create truly unique characters by choosing between extensive combinations of visual appearance, attributes and skill sets. Asheron's Call immerses players in an intense role-playing environment where they must compete or cooperate with thousands of other online players. An extensive system of allegiance and influence greatly enhances social interaction. The online nature of the game facilitates an evolving and dynamic adventure inside a consistent universe. The game will never be solved because there will always be more areas to explore and quests to complete.

For more information about Asheron's Call, please visit: http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/

"I never appreciated some little computer person called a SIM bitch to me about what I can and cannot do and what they want, when they want it, and everything else. It completely pissed me off. I couldn’t go for more than five minutes without a SIM bitching. I fulfilled his request only to find 3 more had the same reasons to bitch at me. I eventually gave up and decided to punish my miserable little slaves, err…SIMS. Yes folks, that’s right. I had discovered the disaster button. Mwahahahaha. To watch the little SIMS jump up and down and cry and scream as their new home burnt to the ground. I looked down from my godly position as mayor, and I smiled…and wondered if all mayors in the big cities had a little button on their desk to unleash a devastating natural disaster. The thought still perplexes me to this day. So, if you’re a mayor, I want an email from you. I want you to tell me all about your little disaster button."

LAS VEGAS, NV, March 7, 2000 - Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun Firestorm, the expansion pack to the two-million-selling real-time strategy game, is shipping
and will be on sale in North America on March 8 and around the world with two weeks.

Firestorm continues the epic story of Tiberian Sun with 18 new single-player missions and more than 30 minutes of live-action filmed sequences. The story
picks up with the notorious NOD leader Kane apparently dead and a new, even more deadly enemy emerging.

Firestorm energizes Tiberian Sun multiplay with 15 new multiplayer maps, new options for the Battle Map creator, and new units like the Juggernaut, the
Mobile War Factory, the Mobile Stealth Generator, and the Cyborg Reaper.

There's also a new way to play over Westwood Online. Called World Domination, it allows gamers from around the world battle for the control of the world. Gamers
will struggle for their chosen side, GDI or Nod, as they compete against thousands of other commanders. Eventually, either Nod or GDI will control more
than 30 territories and claim the globe as their own.

More information about Firestorm's new units and features can be found at www.firestorm.westwood.com.

The Firestorm expansion pack requires a copy of Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun to run. Tiberian Sun's minimum system requirements are a Pentium 166 MHz with 32 MB of RAM, a quad-speed CD drive, a 16-bit sound card, and a Direct X(tm) compatible video card.

"One aspect that separates the 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro from the rest of the pack are the drivers used by Creative Labs. Rather than repackage the reference drivers or copy them fully, Creative Labs created their own driver set named the "Blaster Control." Having useful features on hand, the Blaster Control center also includes some items that are not found on the reference driver set, such as virtual desktop and a memory overclocking utility."

"If you're into long adventures and atmosphere, this is a game to turn
the lights off, turn the speakers on, and start exploring. It's as
addictive as Nethack, and will last just as long once you get hooked.
And you will get hooked. Demise is an incredible released from Artifact
Entertainment, and I can't wait to see what they turn up next. Until
then, I have a dungeon to explore…"

Fifa 2000 has an absolute plethora of options, in game and out of game. The biggest difference between this game and others such as Total Soccer (apart from the view that is), was the ability to play indoor matches. In this mode normal indoor rules apply, so it was a five a side where you were able to bounce the ball of the wall and such. This was easily my favourite part of Fifa 2000. In addition to the indoor and outdoor modes, other things such as the ability to play with/against over 60 international teams and being able to change your teams tactics and strategies.

"Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed is a wonderful description of the Microsoft gaming division. It is also a very surprising description given the amount of work that has been put into their games over the last 12 months. The developers are animated, happy, and most of all excited about their jobs.

GameStock 1999 impressed me. The titles were innovative. Games like Midtown Madness were getting their legs. Freelancer was unveiled. Age of
Empires 2: The Age of Kings was in the spotlight."

Millisec.com offers 3 models in the VIce product line. Included are the VIce I, VIce I Xtreme and finally the biggest and badest of all, the VIce II extreme. All three models can be upgraded with a copper plate for better heat transfer. They all use the same heatsink witch is pretty big, 46x46x9mm. What changes from a model to the next is the fan type used.

Download now available at http://www.westwood.com

LAS VEGAS, NV, March 6, 2000 -- Westwood Studios(tm) today announced an upgrade for Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun(tm) that adds many features fans have
requested.

The upgrade will add these enhancements:

The ability to save skirmish games.
The ability to select all units of a type or types on the screen
Location and server selection integrated into Westwood Online login screen.
User locations are displayed in the Westwood Online user list tooltips.
Battleclan and Firestorm ladders are now browsable in the Westwood Online ladder screen.
Host location filter added to Westwood Online find game screen.

The upgrade is automatically installed into the game when a player starts the Tiberian Sun program and logs onto Westwood Online, the free multiplayer game
service. The upgrade is also available for download at http://www.westwood.com in the File Updates Section of Tech Support.

Set in the early 21st century, Tiberian Sun once again pits the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) against the Brotherhood of NOD in an epic struggle for control
of the planet. With an engaging storyline that unfolds as play progresses, players will learn the reason for the outbreak of Tiberium that has poisoned the Earth, and what happened to the notorious NOD leader Kane, who was presumed dead at the end of Command & Conquer.

Want to know more about the man behind Anachronox? Hypothermia conducted an interview with ION Storm’s main man (sorry Romero) Tom Hall.

Lum The Mad (he certainly is insane. There’s a picture of the geek on the page) interviewed Brian Urbanek, programmer for Wolfpack Studios, regarding the MMORPG Shadowbane.

Glide Underground played “8 questions” with Peter Binazeski, Publicity Director of Simon & Schuster, regarding DS9: The Fallen.

SirTech, makers of Jagged Alliance 1 & 2, will be releasing Wizardry 8 sometime this year. With this in mind, GA-RPG interviewed Project Leader Linda Currie. It’s a good read with 5 exclusive shots and a handful of older shots.

UTWorld posted a quick Q&A with Epic level designer Cliff Bleszinski. Incite tried to do the same, but with less than stellar results. :)

Gamespot UK posted their preview of XCOM: Alliance. They also have an interview with three members of the development team.

NFS: Porsche Unleashed gets the preview treatment from Gamelinks.net.

Incite (gulp) posted a preview of Commandos 2.

3DGaming whipped up a preview of Halo, one of the best looking games in development.

"Unreal Tournament blows away all previous FPS offerings when it comes to level design. Some examples of this are levels in which you battle on a clipper ship, a spaceship, inside a castle atop a mountain, as well as your standard indoor futuristic arenas. Hard-to-navigate areas are common, in which one sidestep to the left or right can send you either plummeting to your death or falling into a pit of slime or liquid goop, which will slowly harm you."

Can you give examples of how you can interact with the enviroment?

You can open the cabinets and drawers in some offices. Some might be locked. You can pick the lock, find the key, ask an NPC for the key, blow up the door with a small explosive charge. Inside the cabinet, there might be a bottle of wine, which you can either drink or throw. If you throw the bottle and it breaks, a guard will look that way, then run over to check it out. (Allowing you to sneak past.)

You can fire a flamethrower at an NPC until he catches on fire. Then, if he bumps a trash bag while running and screaming, it will ignite. And if it burns long enough, the trash bag will be destroyed, busting open. A rat will often run from the ruins of the trash bag.You can drink from the water cooler.