|
All site related info and text is © 2001 J. Meinzer and J. Uchman
unless otherwise noted. Games and their prospective logos, slogans and images are © their
prospective companies. Yeti doesn't have my stick Bob. I still hate Peter
Forsberg. Mushroom power. Scissors, scissors...
|
July 5th, 2001
 SHADOWBANE: DETAILED PLAYER MODELS RULE! |
 |
| I know I've been knocking Shadowbane for the past few weeks,
pointing out the fact that Wolfpack has done nothing really to secure the game with a
publisher as they merrily program the thing into finality. But yes, I am looking
forward to the game... with the amount of time it's been in development and the time still
to come, it may be what Anarchy Online was supposed to be and more. With swords.
Swords that you can sheath. SB designer Lazlo made a post on the official SB boards, explaining just how detailed
the player models were going to be. Here it is:
I've got to tell you guys, it's impressive
and pleasing that you're so deeply interested in the work that we're doing here at the
studio. It's great when you compliment the cool stuff in the screenies and it's great
(though sometimes frustrating) when you critique the weaknesses that have yet to be ironed
out of work we're producing.
I've been keeping a low profile around here for a couple of reasons. There's simply too
much work on the schedule to do anything but stay glued to the monitor twelve to seventeen
hours a day and as a rule of thumb I can't really discuss new elements until they've been
finished and incorporated into the game, i.e. player character models.
Ah yes, the pc models. Let's get to the point: the player character models for all races
have been radically upgraded. If you've been concerned about hand length, facial
variation, proportions, expression, or musculature, then relax, we've just spent nearly
two months making the characters well proportioned, strong, attractive (with exceptions)
and brutal.
The only example released so far in which you can see some of the new mesh is the
unarmored minotaur. Notice his hands. From his waist to his neck (of course) he uses the
same model as all the other races. His skin texture, naturally, is specific, and the
version you can see is only one of eight to choose from. His face is one of six faces and
there are currently seven sets of horns to pick, which equates to what, over three hundred
different possibilities? And he's a restricted race. Of the others, there are seven skin
tones, ten faces per sex and anywhere from five to fifteen hairstyles (and five to eight
beards).
So, there you go, more examples will soon start making there way out of the cave, and, as
always, let us know what you think. |
|
July 5th, 2001
GAMESPOT INTERVIEW: CHRIS TAYLOR OF GAS POWERED GAMES |
 |
| Gamespot has recently posted an interview with Gas Powered Games head chiefy
guy Chris Taylor, lead designer on the very very anticipated Dungeon Siege. There's
some screens in there as well, so if you're interested, take a look here. |
July 5th, 2001
HOW MUCH DOES BLACK ISLE RULE? THIS MUCH |
 |
Black Isle has released a *free*
expansion download pack for Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter titled "Trials of the
Luremaster" (sounds like some sort of fishing theme). Here is the detail from Planet Baldur's
Gate (formerly BG Chronicles):
After the release of Heart of Winter, Black
Isle Studios decided to create a free, downloadable extension called Heart of Winter:
Trials of the Luremaster. The expansion is now available
and weighs in at 71.3 MB. You must have Heart of Winter installed to play this.
Features
- Expansion starts by conversing with the halfling Hobart
Stubbletoes, a new guest in the Whistling Gallows Inn in Lonelywood.
- Your party must be of levels 11-18 to take part (higher
levels if in Heart of Fury mode).
- Twenty new areas, mostly above ground. Areas include an
entire haunted castle in the desert of Anauroch, and six subterranean levels.
- New monsters include beholders, jackalweres, ochre jellies,
harpies, and green slime creatures.
- More unique items and bags of holding.
- No new spells.
- Adventure difficulty scales with the strength of the party.
- Six new character portraits, two of which are female. These
humans and half-elves are two fighters, a cleric, a mage, a druid and a ranger.
- The "expansion expansion" should offer at least
8-10 more hours of gameplay.
- Localized versions in French, German, Spanish and Italian
will be available in the coming weeks.
- Various bug fixes to Heart of Winter, including to
multiplayer.
|
Just goes to show that Black Isle will always be, in my mind
anywise, the best game producers out there. All their games rock and by doing stuff
like this, they further cement their reputation of godliness. (Fallout 4evah!!).
Download that shiznit here. |
July 5th, 2001
YOU HAVEN'T BOUGHT THE SIMS YET? EA POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY. |
 |
| Hot off selling a copy of the Sims' expansion pack
Livin' Large to everyone and their f-cking dog, EA caught up with the game's associate
producer Sean Baity for a little QA about the game, and what goes into the production of
huge selling games (subliminal images). Click here for that interview. |
July 5th, 2001
THE EMPIRE OF FLANNEL |
 |
| FlannelArts... sorry, *Lucas*Arts has slapped up a new site
and dev diary for their upcoming RTS game, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds which
promises to suck 50% less than Force Commander. If resource gathering is your bag, click here to check out the site. |
July 5th, 2001
WELL, NO SH-T |
 |
Funcom US PR head person April Jones recently sent an email to AO Basher
regarding the shaky start to AO, and addressing some of the many (many many) concerns
about the game. Here's what was said:
Anarchy Online has now launched, and it is
time for a little update on the status of the game. The launch on June 27th has not gone
as smoothly as we had expected. On the positive side, the game is up and running and all
the features we have promised are implemented. The number of players that have logged on
to the game has exceeded our expectations by far - five days after release we had 35,000
registered accounts !
However, there have been some significant issues that our customers have been dealing with
the last few days. It has been difficult to log on due to massive traffic, and the game is
unfortunately still unstable. We apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused our
customers and we are working around the clock to make things right.!
These are the most prominent issues that we have fixed or will fix in the near future:!
Personal CD keys:
Some of our customers have been unable to register their personal CD key. This was due to
a minor interface error in certain web browsers, but we have fixed the problem now.!
Registration difficulties:
Due to the large number of people logging on to the game, many people were unable to make
it through the registration process. We have now increased our capacity for log in so that
everything should run smoother.!
Customer support:
Our customer support staff has been quite overloaded with questions due to the
overwhelming interest in our game, and has been unable to give our customers quick
responses. We are now dealing with this by hiring more people and improving the existing
support system.!
Lag and crashes:
Our customers often experience lag and crashing once in the game. Funcom had done thorough
testing and massive simulations before the launch to test server capacity and playability.
However, we see today that there are still some issues to be solved.!
Again, Funcom would like to apologize to all of our customers who have been troubled by
these various issues. We would like to inform you that the first included month of
playtime will not start until further notice. Funcom can also assure you that most of
these issues will be solved in the near future that we will work very hard to prove that
Anarchy Online is the very best online there is ! :-)!
April Jones
PR Manager U.S.
Funcom
www.funcom.com |
|
July 5th, 2001
FIREARMS INTERNATIONAL TOURNEY |
 |
FA-Nation is
hosting/sponsoring/putting-up-with an International FA Tournament starting later this
month. Here is the official word from CHS:
okie, I have some sort of
date for when the first game will be played. I am shooting for a 28th of July start, and I
am guessing it will last 4 weeks, maybe 5. You may find more information (excuse the poor
formatting, I knocked it up in literally five minutes.)here.
I have also knocked up a list with the team sign-ups I have received. You can find that
list here.
Any problems contact irchs@btinternet.com. |
|
|
