StrategyPlanet
has a preview
of the upcoming trading game, Patrician II. Here is a tidbit:
Patrician II is a 1300's era trading
game played in real-time; a city-state builder that challenges
you to play the role of a powerful aristocrat seeking to dominate
medieval trade and amass a huge profit against devious rivals.
You'll have to manage supply and demand, importing and exporting,
buying and selling, and deal with pirates and natural disasters
that plague shipping routes. Following in the footsteps of legends
like Imperialism, the Caesar series, and the real-time ship-to-ship
combat of Age of Sail, Patrician II plays simply but reveals surprising
depth the more you play. It's addictive and intellectual, and
sure to find a welcoming fan-base when it appears on store shelves.
Call
of Cthulhu : Dark Corners of the Earth Preview...
3DActionPlanet
have posted a preview
on Call of Cthulhu : Dark Corners of the Earth. Here is a snippet:
So, what’s the basic set up of the game? The player is
Jack Walters an investigator trying to unravel the goings on at
the ‘quiet’ fishing village of Innsmouth (if you consider
hulking shambling things parading around town as ‘quiet’).
A name, which right off the bat should start instilling fear in
anyone who knows H. P. Lovecraft, the writer of the source material
for the pen and paper RPG, and this game.
Instead of just running into monsters none stop, it sounds
more like the fights with the shambling beings stalking the Lovecraftian
landscape will be more interspersed in an attempt to create real
tension.
Deadly
Dozen Interview...
HomeLAN
has an interview
with nForce Interactive's Steve Ellis and Jason Zisk to talk about
their upcoming first person tactical action game, Deadly Dozen.
Here is a clip:
HomeLAN - How did the idea for the game come about?
Steve Ellis - I've always wanted to do a World War Two action
title. The concept was basically to do a historically accurate
action game that had some elements of some of the classic Hollywood
war films of the 1960's and 1970's (i.e. Kelly's Heroes, A Bridge
Too Far, The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge, Desert Rats, The
Devil's Brigade, Cross of Iron, etc.). Since my background is
from the traditional tabletop gaming industry I've played games
like Squad Leader, Up Front and Battalions In Crisis that had
an influence on this project.
KABcam
2.2 Beta 4
A new KABcam
2.2 Beta 4has been
posted. With KABcam
you can publish up to the minute images on your web page. All
you need is a Windows compatible camera or capture device and
a web site that is accessible via ftp.
Changes:
Capture time range now supports International time formats.
Image format size and colors depth settings are now forced
with KABcam starts. (This helps overcome a problem with some
capture drivers not retaining settings on their own.)
* Project
Nomads Preview - The basic premise of Nomads is
that after falling to earth you wake up with no memory of the
past. This shock is nothing compared to the next realization,
that you are lying on a floating island in a world of clouds above
a ravaged planet. As you awake, a ghost on the island gives you
the blueprints to a town center, and the RTS (real-time strategy)
element of the game is brought to life. At this early stage in
the game your only mission is to survive in a world of competing
overlords.
*
Etherlords Dev Diary - Eugeny Ivanov and Oleg Glazounov sound
off about the difficulties of creating automatic camera modes
for Etherlords.
Pam
v2.93 Beta
A new Pam v2.93 Beta
has been released. Pam v2/free is a modern
Audio/Video player for Windows 95, 98, NT4 and 2000. Pam
2.93 features a faster playlist editor and an improved encoder shell.
Pam uses Inno Setup.
Download
Pam 2.93 Beta (complete - 6.17MB) for Win 95/98/NT 4.0 without
the MS Mediaplayer 6.x. Download
Pam 2.93 Beta (2.79MB) for Win2000/ME or you've installed MS Mediaplayer
6.x.
A
Day in the Life of a Progen Warrior Dev Diary...
Westwood's Earth and Beyond site has been
updated with a new Dev
Diary entitled, "A Day in the Life of a Progen Warrior."
You can still sign-up
for the upcoming beta test.
SIGuardian
v. 1.5 Beta Build 197
PalickSoft have released a new SIGuardian
v. 1.5 Beta Build 197. SIGuardian™ is the only tool
what allows you full control over the health of your HDDs, and
prevents data loss because of failures. Using S.M.A.R.T. technology
included in all modern HDDs SIGuardian predicts the end date of
HDD lifetime, so you can make backup copies of all your data before
it's to late.
Download
SIGuardian v. 1.5 Beta Build #197 (1.2MB).
* Return
to Castle Wolfenstein Preview - In fact, the entire essence
of Wolfenstein multiplayer is its objective, team-based gameplay.
Yes, working with others will be critical to success. Yes, if
I can, then even you too can muster enough social skills to accomplish
this degree of human interaction.
* Fighting
Legends Preview - There are nine different clans fighting
for control of Exisle. Each clan inhabits one of three large geographic
zones. The Sky Realm is home to the arboreal Rin clan, a group
of martial artists and ranged attackers; the Pyron, belligerent
demons who use fire and chaos as weapons; and the M-Clan (M for
magic), rational dragons with an incredible affinity for magic.
Moving down to the surface you'll find Bearkats, intelligent,
well, bearcats, inhabiting the icy mountains; the Bio-Mechs, organic
robots living near and drawing power from the water; and the Humans,
guys like you.
Empire
Earth Beta Patch
For any of you participating in the Empire
Earth Preview Beta, there is a new beta patch available. This
patch updates version 0.0.1.1 to 0.0.1.2 and is 11.4 MB. Also,
since the beta, some reference material has popped up. Check out
the Imperial
Age Unit Index at Empire Earth Aeon and the Beta
Guide at Empire Earth.cc.
ArtIcons
3.0 Pro Released and New CustomIcons 1.1 Beta
Aha-soft
have released out of beta, ArtIcons
3.0 and 3.0 Pro. ArtIcons allows you to find, create, edit,
import and export icons and manage icon libraries. With this powerful
utility you can create and edit icons in either standard or custom
sizes, in color depths up to 32-bit True Color. ArtIcons contains
various graphic tools including enhanced gradient and chess fill.
You can import icons from image, cursor and library files and even
from executables.
Download
ArtIcons 3.0 Pro (742KB). Download
ArtIcons 3.0 (722KB).
Also available is a CustomIcons
1.1 Beta, the ultimate tool for customizing the icons on you
desktop, in Windows Start menu and many other locations. Using
CustomIcons you can easily replace default Windows icons with
the ones to your choice and customize a wide variety of desktop
attributes.
* GameSpotting
- This week's edition discusses multiplayer and single-player
games, game packaging, and more.
* Kohan:
Ahriman's Gift
Preview - "We are treating Ahriman's Gift as
a follow-up to Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, a volume two, if you
will," commented producer Adel Chaveleh. "You'd be correct
in saying that a ton has been added, both feature-wise and content-wise.
With three yet-to-be-seen campaigns and dozens of unseen units,
heroes, technologies, spells, and AI players, Ahriman's Gift will
bring a smile to both experienced Kohan players and people experiencing
the franchise for the first time."
* Myth
III: The Wolf Age Preview - There are quite a few new units
in Myth III: The Wolf Age, and most of them have been added to
simply diversify the abilities of certain armies. One of these
new units--and one that appears to be a personal favorite among
the staff at Mumbo Jumbo--is the ghol shaman, a fairly unassuming
unit that has spell-casting capabilities.
Snippets,
Snippets, Snippets...
Screenshots:
* EVE Online
- Take a look at the peek
of the week - The Tierijev Pocket.
* Empire Earth - Sierra
Studios latest SotW.
* Throne of Darkness
- Sierra Studios latest SotW.
* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
- GameSpot have 4
shots from the upcoming tactical shooter.
* Kayak Extreme - GameSpot
has 3
screenshots of the upcoming 3D kayak racing game.
* Throne of Darkness Elements Of
The Week - RPG
Vault
* Dune - PC.IGN have
posted screenshots
from the upcoming movie game.
* Aliens Vs. Predator 2
- AvPNews.com
has five new screenshots of the upcoming FPS. [Source: Blues News]
* Matt Hoffman Pro BMX
- AVault have 6
new screenshots from the cycling stunt game.
* Valhalla Chronicles - RPGDot
has posted some creature artwork, six screenshots, and a video
for the upcoming RPG.
Hardware, Tweaks, etc.:
* Hot
Product News - Check
out Integrated Web Authoring Solution, Bluetooth Profile Interoperability
Tester, CFdesign 5.0 - unmatched Associativity With Most Leading
CAD Systems, and Reactor 5 for IBM WebSphere.
* Extreme Pentium 4 FSB/RAM Overclocking
- FiringSquad
* Lian-Li PC-65 USB Aluminum Case
- 3dXtreme
and Hardware
Extreme
* NetPassage15B Router Review
- TweakMax
* Arxtech Heatsink Reviews &
Interview - Icrontic
* AMK Neon Light Rods Review -
Icrontic
* Chilli Pro Case Review
- ProCooling
* Weekly Price Guide
- 3D
Spotlight
* Inno3D Tornado GeForce3
Graphics Card Review - EXHardware
* 1GHz Duron Review
- I
am Not a Geek dot com
* Good to the Last Note
- AVault
traces the Evolution of Computer Game Music.
Industry News:
* Dell Dimension 8200 Redesigned
- Dell today announced availability of the Dimension 8200,
its most powerful, expandable multimedia desktop for consumers
and small businesses, featuring a bold new chassis design. The
Dimension 8200 -- powered by Intel Pentium 4 processors with speeds
up to 2GHz, Rambus RDRAM, the latest in graphics cards and other
peripherals such as a 100GB hard disk drive -- delivers the necessary
performance to effortlessly run video editing applications, 3D
games, and various other high-end entertainment and business applications.
[Source: Press Release]
The BB Cookie Jar:
* Anarchy Online Free Trial - Funcom now
has a downloadable
client (660 MB) for the game that allows people to try the
full game free of charge for seven days. [Source: Blues News]
September 17, 2001
The
Etherlords Interview...
XGR
have an email interview with with Andrey Emelyanenko, Project
Manager for Nival Interactive's upcoming RPG, Etherlords.
Since a phone call to Russia is just a bit too expensive, we
have an email interview with Andrey discussing the many facets
of the game including the heroes, spells, environments, and
why they choose to make a Turn-Based only
game.
Included with the interview are half a dozen exclusive screenshots.
Check out The
Etherlords Interview.
While Tom Clancy’s Rogue Spear: Black Thorn features a
very strong moral component and realistic portrayal of the fight
against terrorism, Ubi Soft has decided to delay the release
of the game and modify the content to avoid stirring emotions
unnecessarily and unwillingly offending the public.
As a result, the game’s release will be postponed from
the originally scheduled date of October 9th until further notice
from the company.
Tom Clancy’s Rogue Spear: Black Thorn’s official
web site will remain online. People can go there to participate
in forums, check out links to fan sites and get the latest news
and media about the game. [Source: Press Release]
Kohan
Ahriman's Gift News...
RStrategy First and TimeGate Studios
would like to clear up some confusion that we see being posted
in the gaming news and editorials on Kohan Ahriman's Gift. The
game is NOT an expansion pack. It IS a stand alone prequel to
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns. We are marketing the game as a stand
alone product that can be played WITHOUT playing Kohan: Immortal
Sovereigns. It will be sold at the full price point of $39.99US.
[Source: Press Release]
xReminder
Pro 3.8 Beta
A new xReminder
Pro 3.8 Beta is available. xReminder Pro is an elegant-looking
event-based personal information manager that can help you remember
birthdays, holidays, and other special events. It starts automatically
with Windows and minimizes to the system tray from which you
can create new reminders in a few mouse clicks. The program
contains fully a customizable Floating Clock and supports Swatch
Internet Time. It also can synchronize your computer's clock
with Atomic Time Server. Other options include: import-export,
stopwatch, countdown, pop-up calendar, print preview, etc.
DeviceLock
version 5.0 Release Candidate 1 is available for Windows
NT/2000/XP. DeviceLock gives network administrators control
over which users can access what devices (floppies, serial and
parallel ports, Magneto-Optical disks, CD-ROMs, ZIPs, etc.)
on a local computer. Once DeviceLock is installed, administrators
can control access to floppies, CD-ROMs or any other device,
depending on the time of day and day of the week. DeviceLock
enhances access control for Windows System Administrators and
helps control removable disk usage. It can protect network and
local computers against viruses, trojans and other malicious
programs often injected from removable disks. Network administrators
can also use DeviceLock to flush a storage device's buffers.
Remote control is also available.
NorthWinds
is a new multi-player online RPG designed and developed by Ian
Kent. Choose from many races and classes to battle or join the
forces of Evil and Good. With a large and ever expanding world,
reputation system, easy to use and streamlined interface, and
many other exciting options, this is a game setting the standard
of all MPOG's to come. Get in now, and join the many others
who are quickly building a grand online community!
Download
Northwinds v. 0.1 Beta (888KB). [Source: Thanks to Death_Jester!]
Programm
CopyProf v. 1.11 Beta
Sobolev Andrey Alexandrovich has posted
a Programm
CopyProf v. 1.11 Beta. Automation of routine operations
on copying - carry of files. To conducting archives (input)
files as current year, month, day, Hour, minute... (with adjustment
of a kind by the user), number processable File... An opportunity
of processing of accompanying documents to files. In the registered
version there is an opportunity of conducting dens, a conclusion
of the list (input) files, which can not be processed at the
current configuration Programs (does not get under one of masks
of files...) The console appendix (versions under Win32, DOS
and OS/2), Text files of a configuration.
HomeLAN
have an interview
with Electronic Arts’ Dave March about Multiplayer BattleTech:
3025, their upcoming massively multiplayer mech action game.
Here is a clip:
HomeLAN - What
multiplayer game modes are supported in BattleTech: 3025?
Dave Marsh - Right
now the game is 4 on 4 lance battles where 1-4 attackers fight
against 1-4 defenders. You can also go to the gladiatorial planet
of Solaris to fight grudge matches against anyone (even members
of your own House.) We have plans to offer other mission types
as well (like capture the flag or escort) that will affect the
strategy game differently than gaining planetary control.
New
Mozilla 0.9.4
Mozilla.org has posted a new
Netscape Mozilla 0.9.4 release. The new Mozilla is a milestone
release based on the same branch as Netscape 6. It is aimed
at developers who wish to create products that extend Netscape
6 or who wish to port it. Mozilla is an open-source web browser,
designed for standards compliance, performance and portability.
There is a new beta in town -
Ragnarok Online. There a number of screenshots, wallpapers,
info, forums, etc. to check out. It looks pretty cool. Here
is a bit about the game:
Ragnarok Online is MPOCG (Multi Player
Online Community & Game), produced by using vast structure of
background and set-up from the original of Ragnarok, written
by Myung-Jin Lee. It is considered as RPG style MUG game emphasizing
community to materialize virtual reality by upgrading simple
game structure of other voice-based online games.
Unlike other common online games, which mainly deal with becoming
a lord, Ragnarok online provides a definite objective of true
adventure. It also provides completed services through independent
scenario and major update, along with additional quest is planned.
Therefore, user will be able to interact with the original as
the game goes on. Players may join the war in the middle of
adventure, face with request solving requirement, or complete
certain conditions. Moreover, user may confront with peculiar
games by adding concept of solving problems through the party
play with certain jobs. It will be the special feature that
can be differentiated from existing level-up based online games.
Ragnarok is a specialized 3D online game, composed of more
beautiful 3D background and adorable 2D characters by emphasizing
the strength of Acturus, previous game of Gravity.
Go to the Ragnarok
Online Tester Regist Page.
Once registered, you can download
the English Client - rag_client_eng.zip (151MB). Note: You should
run setup.exe before run ragnarok.exe. RO requires microsoft
DirectX8.0 and 3D accelated VGA. [Source: Thanks to Conco!]
Supreme
Ruler 2010: Developer Diary ...
GameSpy have posted a Supreme
Ruler 2010: Developer Diary I. David Thompson, BattleGoat
Studios' lead designer and co-founder, introduces us to some
of the game's unique concepts and a little of its history.
Beta
Bites FTP Problems...
We haven't actually run away, but we
had FTP problems earlier last week. Then, our site was moved
to a new server which changed the IP address. Of course, I have
to register the IP address again, and that is not completed
yet. I can upload to the new IP, but the old IP address (www.betabites.com),
I was locked out to even tell you what had happened. I am using
an online FTP manager to get this updated on the old IP address.
At least, these problems gave me time to put in a new motherboard
and reformat which I needed badly.
We are sorry for the inconvience, and hope you have returned.
~Lockup~
The
911 Project - A Living Memorial...
Caryn "HellChick" Law (Formally
of 3DActionPlanet; currently working for Activision) has created
a new website The
911 Project. The idea is to create a kind of living memorial
to what happened with the thoughts and recollections of everyone
around the world who witnessed it. So I'm asking you if you'd
like to contribute your own entry. Read what's up there now
-- I've gotten a few so far -- to see what people are contributing.
The 911 Project is meant to be a living
monument not only to those whose lives were tragically ended
in the terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, but
to those who've survived them. There are so many lost that if
you don't directly know someone who died in the tragedy, chances
are you indirectly know someone who did. And sometimes it's
those who've seen what we've seen who face the larger horror
of simply living after an event like this.
AquaNox
Interview...
The
State have an interview
with Massive Development on the upcoming underwater game, AquaNox.
Here is a clip:
state: What is the main inspiration
behind "Aquanox"?
MD: The world of Aqua, which we created
for AD, was the main inspiration. It just bears so many stories.
But there were other inspirations like H.P. Lovecraft stories
and games like Elite.
Net
Snippets 1.1 Beta
A newNet
Snippets 1.1 Beta
is available. Net Snippets allows you to select the portion
of the web page you wish to save (Snippet). Using Net Snippets
you can save articles, news, pictures and practically anything
else you can find on the Web. Prior to saving a Snippet you
can customize the way it looks, add comments or highlight important
information.
New Features in 1.1:
Drag & drop of Snippets and folders
was added for easy management.
The Snippet Editor was greatly enhanced
to support new formatting options like font selection, color
selection, alignment and much more.
Accelerator support was added to the
Snippet Editor so that common operations like Bold, Underline
or Italic can be done via keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl-B
for Bold)
A new feature allows you to add multiple
items to the same Snippet before saving it. This is done via
the ‘Add More’ button located in the Snippet Editor.
An option was added to allow Net Snippets
to “remember” the last folder a Snippet was saved to. This
option can be enabled from the ‘Options’ window.
Pressing the Ctrl key while clicking
a Snippet goes to the source web address. This allows quick
access to the original web site where the Snippet was taken
from.
Adding text-based snippets is now much
faster.
Edit button was removed from the Snippet
Editor. The editor is now always in edit mode.
CGO
take a
look at Digital Illusions upcoming WWI action game, Battlefield:
1942. Here is a snippet:
You'll encounter over 16 historical
campaigns over four different areas of the world including North
Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific, with scenarios
surrounding D-Day, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, El Alamein, and many
more WWII battles. Six character types, each equipped with unique
weapons and abilities, destructible terrain, 16 infantry weapons,
and 3D sound all figure into the mix.
Snippets,
Snippets, Snippets...
Screenshots:
* Dune
- AVault has 2
screenshots for the upcoming acition/adventure game.
Hardware, Tweaks, etc.:
* ZZZ online
- The 97th
issue is online with sign-to-text translator, personal location
system, shoes that roll, and shocking joystick.
* NVturbo 0.96B -
Maximum
Reboot
* Samsung Yepp YP-30S MP3 Player
Review - PC
Stats
* Abit KG7-RAID Review
- The
Tech Zone
* Matrox Millennium G550 Graphics
Card Review - X-bit
labs
* ASUS A7A266 Motherboard Review
- 3D
Spotlight
*OCZ
ICE 150Mhz SDRAM. OCZ ICE Released - OCZ
Technology Group
Industry News:
* WWII Online
Updates - Cornered Rat
Software's development team are releasing details of the next
major update to its MMOG, WWII Online which includes additional
RPG elements and the first naval vehicles available in the "Blitzkrieg"
theater. The 30 day free trial period will follow this release
(v1.2.5.). Version 1.2.5 provides players the beginnings of
a career advancement path for their characters. All players
will begin with the rank of Private with the ability to be promoted
through 13 levels of rank up to General. Chris Sherland, WWII
Online Producer, outlines this new feature and others as building
blocks for future updates. [Source: Press Release]
* Empire
of the Ants New Patch - Strategy
First and Microids announced that they have released a patch
that fixes a bug found in the tutorial of their recent release,
Empire of the Ants. The patch can be downloaded from the Microids
web site, www.microids.com.
[Source: Press Release]
*The
Dow Drops 684 Points on Opening Since Tragedy- Scared investors sent
stocks reeling Monday as Wall Street resumed trading after its
longest shutdown since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones industrial
average set a record for a one-day point drop and closed below
9,000 for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years.
The Dow ended a difficult day down 684.81 at 8,920.70, according
to preliminary calculations. The previous record for a one-day
drop was 617.78, set April 14, 2000. [Source: Press Release]
The BB Cookie Jar:
*
Ricochet Interview - AVault has posted their Sunday
Night Interview with Reflexive Entertainment about Ricochet.
* The Third Place Article
- EuroGamer
takes a look at why Europe is always last in the gaming industry.
