Hardware News

The Godfather Review

March 31, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Bringing the evening to an end, JustPressPlay has thrown up a review on Electronic Arts' Action title, The Godfather. Here's something to chew on:

Being a new mobster and trying to prove your worth to the Corleones, one of the first things youll want to and have to do is go around and extort business for money, just as I described above. Once you successfully extort a business two things will happen. Youll earn a weekly income from that business, part of which will go to the Coreleone family and part of which will go to you. That percentage is determined by your status in the family. The higher rank you are, the more money you get to keep. The second thing that happens is the backdoor to the business is open which ultimately leads to you uncovering a racket. Taking over a racket is as simple as extorting a business with a small twist. Sometimes you can try and bribe a racket operator and buy them out. When that doesnt work, well youll make them realize how they wish they would never have heard the name Corleone. Rackets will also pay you a weekly income.

Click here for more.

Condemned Demo Released

March 31, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The fine folks over at Monolith have released a 450mb demo from their Action title, Condemned: Criminal Origins. Including one level of mayham, you can grab this sucker from one of the following mirrors:

Rock on!

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 31, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

They just keep on coming! This time Gameplay Monthly has taken a look at Bethedsa's recently released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Scoring an impressive 9.1/10, they really seemed to dig the game's audio:

The music in this game fits very well. It has an epic, orchestrated feel to it, and usually conveys the mood as well as possible. Traveling alongside the hills and valleys will give you a pleasant tune, while braving the hellish gates of Oblivion will give a grim, dreadful piece. There's nothing exceptionally memorable except maybe the main theme, but in-game it won't disappoint. The voice-acting is top-notch, with well-known actors in quite a few roles, such as Sean Bean (The actor of Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring), who voices one of the most prominent characters in the game.

BioWare/Pandemic Interview

March 31, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Gamasutra has slapped up an interview with BioWare's Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Pandemic's Josh Resnick regarding everything from their new partnership to the MMORPG market. Here's a clipping:

GS: So hows the joint venture been going so far?
Josh Resnick: Its going great! When we first entered this arrangement we never really baked into the deal that there would be all these synergies and connections and benefits of working together. Obviously we both have a robust different set of brands, but were finding that theres really a lot of good crossover here.
We were just up at BioWare checking out their new slate of products, and its just incredible, and we were able to check out their games and give suggestions, and they were able to do the same for us. They also have a lot of best practices at BioWare that were able to bring over to Pandemic and vice versa. Were actually having a big creative summit between both companies tomorrow. So theres a lot of things that are coming together pretty nicely. So far so good!

Prey Interview

March 31, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping the content flowing, the FiringSquad has sat down with Human Head's Tim Gerritsen for a quick Q&A regarding their upcoming first person shooter, Prey. Topics range from portals to the game's weapons. Here's a taste:

FiringSquad: Much has been made of Prey keeping the original game's use of portal technology as a gameplay device. How hard is it to incorporate those elements in the game?
Tim Gerritsen: From the get go we and 3DR wanted to keep portals. It actually took surprisingly little time to get the initial portal tech going, though it took considerably more time to refine it to where we wanted it to be in terms of features. The biggest issue was then how we wanted to use them in levels. Performance is a potential issue with them, so you don't want to put a bunch of portals in a wide open area or you run the risk of bringing your system to a crawl as it creates a series of infinite loops. So we had to develop a set of placement rules for the internal designers to live buy via trial and error. Some programmatic methods of restricting the performance hits were developed as well and eventually we got the hang of it. 3D Realms had some great ideas toward the end of the development cycle as well, so we put in a full court press to include those. As to how they work and what they do, you'll just have to see for yourself. Some are obvious, some are playful, some are actually used for mundane tasks and others are really, really subtle.

Epic Games Interview

March 30, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

ShackNews has Epic Games' Mark Rein in the hot seat tonight, answering questions regarding consoles, mod support and much more! Here's some lovin':

Shack: Unreal has always been a great platform for modding. How much of the new UE3 toolset will be available to modders, for example stuff like Kismet?
Mark Rein: All of it, that's always been the case. Yeah, we're really excited about the possibilities for mod makers. Kismet, facial animation, all that stuff is going to be there for mod makers. We think mod makers, especially because of stuff like Kismet, are going to be able to do much richer, more inventive, more unique kinds of mods than they've ever been able to do in potentially less time with potentially smaller team sizes even. Yes, if they want to do competitive next-generation art, they're going to have to raise the polygon counts and things like that, but mods haven't always been about that. I'm sure we'll see companies rise up to sell people assets and sell people materials and sell people textures that are higher in quality there, so people with cool ideas can buy those things, or borrow or beg or steal or whatever, to put them in their mods. We are absolutely on pins and needles to see what mod makers can do with this technology when we finally ship UT.

NeverWinter Nights 2 Q&A

March 30, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The peeps over at GameSpot have slapped up an interview with J.E. Sawyer, the Lead Designer behind Obsidian's upcoming Action-RPG, NeverWinter Nights 2. They cover the game's development status, storyline and more! Here's a nugget:

GS: Neverwinter Nights 2 is supposed to have a much stronger emphasis on story, but could you give us an idea of just how much deeper the story will be? For instance, we've heard that there's going to be a much more "believable" world, or, at least, as believable as a fantasy world filled with elves and dwarves can be. What does that mean, exactly?
JES: Your character comes from a very humble background. West Harbor is a pretty rural community and not a lot happens there. When you first arrive in Neverwinter, people don't think much of you. Your actions help build your reputation among people. Over time, you become increasingly feared and respected. Your role in the story increases in a manner that is believable within the setting. The reactions that people have to you are reactive and sensible. By the end of the story, you're entrusted with matters of grave importance because you have built up a reputation befitting a heroic figure.

Space Rangers 2 Review

March 30, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Moving right along, PC.IGN has kicked up a quick review on Elemental Games' Strategy-RPG, Space Rangers 2. Here's a bit on the game's missions:

Occasionally, planet governments hand out missions that move the action to the planet and into RTS mode to battle it out with Dominators that have landed somewhere in the system. All units on the battlefield are robots with interchangeable parts (chassis, weapons, accessories, treads or legs) that add expense and both attack and defense properties to the unit. Each side on the field (there usually are four, but I've seen as few as two) must eliminate the other players by securing resource nodes and eventually sending a robot into an enemy base to capture it. The challenge simply comes from deciding what pieces to put on which robots. For the most part, I've found it's pretty successful to stay with one type of robot and be methodical about taking over the world. The computer is aggressive, but pretty damn stupid. This is pretty damn simple compared to your average RTS, but it's still fun to get out of space and into other gameplay elements from time to time. Those that want nothing to do with this mode (which actually drops the game into full 3D) can choose to skip the missions or simply not install them at all.

Tabula Rasa Preview

March 30, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

MMORPG.com has thrown up a preview on Destination Games' upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Tabula Rasa, after getting a chance to check it out at this years GDC. Here's a taste:

Moving to more direct gameplay issues, the battlefields in Tabula Rasa will change constantly. They plan to have a lot of strategy for players to think about. Bases will have way points, hospitals, defenses and quests that can be all quickly taken away from one side if the base is overrun. Richard made a great point about PvP in the game which was that shared space will be used for battles, while instanced areas will be used for solo content. He also remarked that each world has its own unique physical goods. Travel will be done through way points or wormholes, not light speed. The first world is finished and ready to go. Each expansion will be by world. Basically players solve a world and move on to the next one.

Update: Quake IV Patch Recalled

March 30, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Raven Software have released a new patch (v1.1) for their first person shooter, Quake 4. Weighing in at 120megs, the patch includes a new multiplayer voice chat feature, two new DM maps and more! Hit one of the following mirrors to get downloading:

Links Removed

Update: The patch has been recalled with an ugly bug that can cause harm to your monitor while using the widescreen support.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 29, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The ActionTrip has slapped up the latest review on Bethesda Softworks' recently released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a bit on the new traveling system:

From a gameplay standpoint, the biggest change is the introduction of the fast travel system - which (I'm happy to say) works marvelously. What this does is allow you to "portal" to various (discovered) locations on the map so as to save time while completing the main story. One of the biggest complaints about the third game was that the main story was just too spread out. Many less patient players would simply give up on it after some time. The travel and waypoint systems for each quest allow you to move through the main plotline effortlessly, while enjoying the grander and more spectacular fight scenes (often involving friendly NPCs) in Oblivion. The game therefore becomes a lot more focused and streamlined for the less patient of players. However, to truly enjoy Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, make sure to get up on your mount, ride across the countryside, and explore the countless (and often very interesting) side-quests that are spread all across the land. So essentially, the game as it is, has it all. It lets you choose the style of playing you're more comfortable with, and that's about the biggest gameplay improvement that Bethesda could introduce into the series.

Read on!

Battlefield 2 Patch Released

March 29, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Next on tap, Digital Illusions' keeps your modems warm with a new patch (v1.22) for their multiplayer shooter, Battlefield 2. Fixing some bugs and making various gameplay tweaks, you can grab this puppy from the mirrors below:

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers Review

March 29, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has whipped up a review on Pandemic Studios' recently released tactical shooter, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers. Here's a bit on the game's enemy AI:

This brings up the newly enhanced AI. In the first game, the enemy was scripted. Once you encountered it, enemies basically stayed passive, hiding in place and hoping for something other than death. In FSW: Ten Hammers, the enemy is not scripted. Each time you play a level it starts in different areas. Enemies will try to flank you. They'll constantly seek cover. They'll try to suppress and squeeze you. And to a certain extent, they'll come after you, tracking your position for a moderate distance. They usually stay in a zone or sector, so you can technically run away. The heightened AI thus creates a game based on movement, advanced tactical strategy, and more fast-acting decisions.

New World of WarCraft Patch

March 29, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Blizzard Entertainment have released a new patch (v1.10) for their hit massively multiplayer online RPG, World of WarCraft. Included in this puppy are new upgradable armor sets, a redone priest talent tree and much, much more! Click here for a list of what's new or just load up WoW to start downloading!

City Life Preview

March 28, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Finally tonight, the ArmChair Empire has whipped up a quick preview on Monte Cristo's upcoming city-building title, City Life. Here's something to chew on:

It appears that the games developers, Monte Cristo, are on a bit of a social conscience kick in City Life. Here, players will need to keep in mind all of the strata that make up society: the poor, the blue collared Joes, the rich folk, the intellects, the bourgeoisie, and so forth. A real city has a diverse mix of people in it, and they arent always going to see eye to eye. Nonetheless, they need to find a way to work together so that the city can actually function. As such, players will need to balance their city so that everyone is happy. If players want their city to be a utopia theyll need to have everything from bus drivers to bankers to janitors to mechanics. Theyll likely be fundamentally different people, each with different values, and the best thing one can do is find the kindest way to keep them in good spirits. Then again, one can try being iron fisted and bring everyone in line through some state-sponsored tough love, but this will likely lead to more instability in the long run.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 28, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at GameSpy has slapped up their take on Bethesda Softworks' hit RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a snippet on the game's world:

One the most remarkable aspects of Oblivion is how real the world feels. There's an extraordinary rush that comes from walking out of the prison sewers at the beginning of the game, taking in the beautiful vista, and realizing that everything the player can see is "real." The world of Tamriel is simply enormous, and there's not an inch of it that's not filled with interesting things to see and do. Oblivion has non-quest dungeons that are as large, well-designed, and interesting as another RPG's main storyline content. Merely playing through the main story quest (which can take 60+ hours to complete) means missing 90% of the game's content. It's no exaggeration to say that fully exploring Oblivion will take players months, not days.

Sony Online Interview

March 28, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The FiringSquad has shot-up yet another interview. This time they chat with Sony Online's John Smedley regarding everything from the MMORPG market to their console support. Here's a blurb:

FiringSquad: Sony Online is currently developing a MMO based on DC Comic's superhero universe. We know the game is very early in development but can you give us an idea on how the game willl be different in terms of gameplay from Cryptic Studios' City of Heroes?
John Smedley: Well, well have Batman. And Superman. And Wonder Woman. And Green Lantern. And The Flash. And See where Im going with this? Were developing the title for both next-gen console and PC. Other than that, were not really talking about the game at this point; its still too early.

Crysis Preview

March 28, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Getting back in the swing of things, PC.IGN has kicked up a preview on Crytek Studios' upcoming first person shooter, Crysis. Here's a bit on the game's weapons and AI:

As expected, players will be thrust into the important shoes of a super soldier out to save the world. Weapons are important to a shooter and Crytek is hoping their customizable armor and weapons will add to the fun and dynamic aspects of the experience by making players adapt their environment and enemies. Of course, as you would expect following Far Cry, players will want to be adaptable to deal with some AI that's pretty competetive in the market and will undoubtedly be much improved this time around. Not only will human AI be interesting and use military tactics in real-time, but the aliens will use their own tactics and highly tuned senses to make life difficult for any would be heroes.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 27, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot is the latest website to fire-up a review on Bethesda Softworks' recently released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. With a final score of 9.3/10, this one sounds like a keeper! Anyways, here's a bit on the NPC's:

Of course, there's much more to the game than combat against a wide variety of scary-looking bad guys. Simply exploring one of the game's towns and interacting with its populace can be a remarkable experience. Characters don't all stand around like they did in Morrowind; they're on a schedule, so they'll go to work in the morning and go to bed at night, and you can catch them going from place to place, talking to each other about recent rumors, and so on. They'll regard you differently depending on your personality and appearance, and you can compel them to like you better using everything from bribery to a fun little persuasion minigame in which you must guess at the other character's disposition and act accordingly. Every line of dialogue in the game is delivered in full speech, and the quality of the voice acting and the writing is generally excellent.

Stardock Interview

March 26, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at the FiringSquad have thrown up an interview with Stardock's Brad Wardell regarding the Galactic Civilizations franchise, Society and more! Here's a nugget:

FiringSquad: Can you give us an update on Stardock's other game projects, such as your upcoming free MMORPG?
Brad Wardell: Society is coming along. We're stretched a bit thin right now which we're addressing by aggressively hiring more developers. The free version will probably lag the premium version by a little bit since the game engines are different (Society is being designed to be very cross-platform so each client is a front end to their society).

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 25, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The good reviews continue to pour in as PC.IGN takes a look at Bethesda Softworks' recently released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a bit on the game's quests:

Though the main quest is usually a game's primary draw, that isn't the case here. The game starts out with the world in danger and you're destined to save it. Pretty standard stuff. The largest threats to Cyrodiil are the Oblivion Gates opening up across the land. Flanked by ominous stone columns, these flaming portals are doorways to hellish dungeon settings where better armor and weapons can be found. Which ones you enter is totally up to you, though some are required by quests. While the story missions are great, there's tons of excellent content you'll be missing if you stick strictly to the main plot. The Guilds, for instance, all have epic storylines of their own. There's a gladiatorial Arena in the Imperial City where you can engage in mortal combat with one, two or even three enemies at a time for cash rewards. It's a wonderfully open-ended game, yet also surprisingly focused once you decide what you want to do.

Click here to read more!

Prey Developer Diary

March 25, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

This weeks Prey developer diary has Human Head Studios' Chris Rhinehart taking a look at the game's music, gameplay testing and more! Here's a snippet:

A few Human Heads attended GDC this week, shmoozing with other developers and attending talks. As mentioned last week, our very own Ed Lima is giving a talk today (the 24th) on sound in the Doom 3 engine and on many of the enhancements that have been added both by us and by Creative Labs.
Yes, Ed will be showing some sound stuff in-engine. Don't expect a huge Prey demonstration, though -- it's tailored towards the sound, so he's just showing off a couple of rooms as he's demoing the sound enhancements. But, we did choose two pretty cool rooms. :-) One of them has one of my favorite portal effects.

SiN Episodes Preview

March 25, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot has thrown up a preview on Ritual Entertainment's upcoming first person shooter, SiN Episodes, after getting a chance to check it out hands-on at this years GDC. Here's some juice:

What's really intriguing about the game is the dynamic difficulty system, which we got to experience first hand. Like most shooters, Emergence will keep track of all your statistics as you play the game, including your hit percentage with various weapons, your number of kills, and so on. However, this data isn't for you to gloss over at the end of the game. Instead, Emergence will dynamically adjust the difficulty level depending on your performance. As Ritual's Tom Mustaine explained to us, if you start getting good at nailing head shots, then the game will subtly adapt to that. Enemies may start appearing with helmets, or they may dodge faster to incoming rounds. The idea is that you'll constantly be faced with a difficult challenge, no matter what your skill level. What's impressive is that Mustaine said they've discovered that with dynamic difficulty turned on, both newcomers and first-person shooter veterans take about the same amount of time to get through the game.

Gearbox Software Interview

March 25, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The FiringSquad has fired-up a quick Q&A with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford regarding everything from upcoming projects to the console wars. Here's a taste:

FiringSquad: What hints can you give us about other upcoming Gearbox Software projects?
Randy Pitchford: I'll give you a hint - Brothers in Arms isn't the only video game brand Gearbox will build.
Here's another hint: Gearbox is capable of doing several next-gen projects at once. Our lead teams have worked on the best brands in the business and have participated significantly in building our own brand.
Here's a last hint about a couple of the things we're cooking up - When we started Gearbox, we planned to make things we thought would be great and to work on other people's things we think are great. Halo isn't the last time Gearbox will work with something we didn't invent from scratch.

Tabula Rasa Preview

March 25, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Continuing their GDC coverage, GameSpy has slapped up a preview on NCSoft's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Tabula Rasa. Here's a clipping:

Garriott ended the lecture with a brief discussion about the symbolic language that he's creating for the game. Now, Tabula Rasa is no longer envisioned as a cross-territory product, but rather is being aimed at the North American audience first and foremost. But the relic of the game's cross-cultural aspirations will still find its way into the final code, and it's clear that Garriott put a serious amount of work into it. He personally draws an analogy between Tabula Rasa's Hieroglyphic-like pictographs and the runic language that he devised for the Ultima games (or, as he admitted, pilfered from Tolkien). The analogy served not to draw similarities between the two quasi-languages, but to highlight their distinctions; Ultima's rune script required that the readers knew both the Runic alphabet, and the English language, whereas he hopes that users will understand Tabula Rasa's pictographs regardless of their native tongue.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Review

March 24, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

TeleFragged has kicked up a quick review on Bethesda Softworks' just released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a nugget on the game's drool-worthy visuals:

Beyond the whiz-bang special effects, it's the simple things that also make this game much more special. Trees and grass sway in the wind in unison, and heavier winds will make them bend even more. Torches flicker, lighting up cavern walls, and your own magic spells cast their own light as well. The interface looks sufficiently medieval without sacrificing readability, and everything is laid out in a tabbed interface which is very easy to flip though. What it adds up to is a game that focuses on the visuals on both the big and small scales. Let me put it this way: I've thrown around the word "awesome" in plenty of my reviews before, but after going back and looking at the definition of the word and how it applies to graphics in games, I see that my past uses of it were rarely justified. That is not the case with Oblivion. This game looks truly awesome.

Very yummy!

Gothic III Preview

March 24, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping things rollin', PC.IGN has also slapped up some impressions on Piranha Bytes' upcoming RPG, Gothic III. Here's a snippet on the game's combat system:

One way that the two differ quite a bit is in the action gameplay. The melee combat system in Gothic III is much more robust than that of Oblivion with different moves, button combos, and animations for each set of weapons. Gothic has the advantage in this arena being built as a third-person game, which eliminates some of the limitations of the primary first-person mode in melee fights. From what was shown, the combat is also much easier to use this time around. While we didn't get the chance to lay hands on the game, characters seemed to auto acquire targets well and animations were much smoother and directional attacking better.

SiN: Episodes Preview

March 24, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Straight fromt his year's GDC, the folks over at PC.IGN have fired-up a preview on Ritual Entertainment's upcoming first person shooter, SiN: Episodes. Here's something to chew on:

Although the visuals don't have quite the polish of Half-Life 2 (and this may not be the final build of the game anyway), SiN Episodes feels pretty accessible and fun. It doesn't look like Ritual wants to re-invent any wheels, and anyone familiar with shooters should find their groove within a few minutes. Weapons have recoil, though, and you'll want to keep your eyes open, because the environments often have multiple tiers. You can be attacked from above and below, even from sections you may have "cleared" earlier. SE also makes liberal use of ambushes, funny imagery, and massive gunfire. In this demo, we had an assault rifle, shotgun, and pistol, with each performing roughly to today's shooter standards. The shotgun spread makes it ineffective at long range, but more powerful than the assault rifle at close range. You'll also see a lot of potentially deadly environments, as you'll be working your way through shipping yards and storage rooms, as well as office buildings.

Gas Powered Games Interview

March 24, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping their barrage of interviews coming, the FiringSquad has caught up with Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor, asking him about everything from Supreme Commander to their deal with 2K Games. Here's a taste:

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the now officially announced Dungeon Siege II expansion pack?
Chris Taylor: The Dungeon Siege II expansion pack, Broken World will add a new Act and completes the original story from Dungeon Siege II. The pack includes new monsters, boss fights, sets and unique items, and of course the two new classes Blood Assassin and Fist of Stone, each with new skills and powers. We also made numerous enhancements to the game including the addition of the Dwarves as a playable race and more pets to train. We really pushed the pack to jam in as much as we could, so everyone would get tons more gameplay, regardless of their skill level and whether they played the original or not.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent Preview

March 24, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Computer and Video Games.com has taken a quick look at the PS2 version of Ubisoft's upcoming Action-Stealth title, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Here's a bit on the tweaked alert system:

Anyone who's played previous Splinter Cell games will be familiar with its 'alert' stages - the more racket you make, the higher the guards' state of activity becomes. The system has been tweaked for Double Agent, so if you make a mistake, it won't be mission over, but you'll face more obstacles, such as gas and laser grids. However, guards can be 'persuaded' to reset alarms, but the issue of maintaining cover means you can't kill anyone here. While Double Agent won't disappoint fans of Sam's famous gadgets, the emphasis here is on building relationships to progress. It's an intriguing new direction for the series,with the manner in which you achieve your goals affecting the game's ending. How you choose to play it is entirely up to you.

Star Wars: Empire at War Review

March 23, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Brining the evening to a end, the Armchair Empire has slapped up some impressions on Petroglyph's hit Strategy title, Star Wars: Empire at War. Time for a little combat-lovin':

Land combat is certainly easier to leapfrog your units around the map and able to actually track how the battle is proceeding. The typical real-time strategy controls apply but like the space battle you can only call for reinforcements not produce an endless supply of units. Scattered on most maps are build points that can be captured and used to build a handful of small (immobile) defensive structures like anti-vehicle turrets and bacta tank health nodes for healing infantry units. It forces a tactical approach for sure, but at least its not as overwhelming as the chaos of space battles.

Valve Software Interview

March 23, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Also over at the FiringSquad this evening is an interview with Valve Software's Doug Lombardi regarding Steam, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and much, much more! Here's something to nibble on:

FiringSquad: Even more attention is being made over Valve's Steam service. Has Valve been surprised by the amount of interest in using Steam to distribute games?
Doug Lombardi: What's been surprising is how successful Steam has been for the 3rd parties. The Red Orchestra team saw their project become profitable through Steam pre-orders alone. It's always nice to turn a profit before your game has shipped. The Introversion guys made more from Steam sales of Darwinia in two weeks than from months of retails sales of the same product. Also, after forming a relationship with us to ship their games via Steam, both the Rag Doll and Red Orchestra teams found retail distribution deals.

Richard Garriott Interview

March 23, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The FiringSquad has fired-up an interview with NCSoft's Richard Garriott regarding everything from Ultima to the upcoming Tabula Rasa. Here's a taste:

FiringSquad: Tabula Rasa has been in development for some time and has had a major gameplay change in the middle of its creation. Now that the MMORPG genre has expanded since the project was first announced are you confident that Tabula Rasa will stand out from the crowd and gain an audience?
Richard Garriott: Oh yes. TR is very unique among MMPs. Most MMPs are still in the UO/EQ mold where farming for XP and the level grind are your purpose in life. TR is much more of a story-based game in a changing battlefield environment. Not the static ho-hum worlds weve seen to date!

D&D Online Review

March 23, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has chimed in with their take on Turbine's recently released massively multiplayer online RPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Here's a bit on the game's party search system:

Speaking of quests, the party search system is pretty well done. Unlike World of Warcraft, which gives you nothing more than a chat channel that spans across three cities, the party grouping system is an actual system. Just hit O to open a window where you flag yourself as Looking for Group. This immediately puts an icon over your head, and you'll show up in the list of people automatically. You can also add a message of what types of quests you're looking for. It's a very fast way to put a group together, as you can see what class the person is and what level they are. If you're the party leader, you can also go with the Looking for Members option, which allows you to select what level ranges and class types you want to advertise to. I've never had to wait more than ten minutes to get in a group, and I don't have to continually spam a chat channel.

EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky Review

March 23, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Starting off the evening, GameSpot has thrown together a review on Sony Online's latest EverQuest II expansion pack, Kingdom of Sky. Bring on the PvP!

A big addition this time around is player-versus-player combat. If you've been itching to battle your Qeynosian or Freeportian foes, Kingdom of Sky fulfills your wish, opening up several new servers that enable world PVP. You'll have to reroll if you want to participate in the stabbing, though; existing servers are being left as they are. While you're fairly safe for the first few levels spent hopping around your home city, once you start to venture out into the larger world you're pretty much fair game. Initially, there's a level-range limit on who can attack whom (a spread of eight levels is the maximum at the low end), working up to a complete lack of restriction in the highest level zones.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion First Impressions

March 22, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Finally tonight, PC.IGN has kicked up some first impressions on Bethesda Softworks' just-released RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's the scoop on the spiffy eyecandy:

The visuals have been the subject of some controversy lately, but the weakness of the rendering doesn't get much worse than a lack of vegetation in the distance; plenty of trees, but no foliage close to the ground. It fills in around you as you move, looking at first like a cloud passing in front of the sun, as the ground darkens with grass and bushes. If you've played PlanetSide, you've seen the effect before. It seems as though people are ready to bag on the game because the grass doesn't extend for miles, but the visual appeal of Elder Scrolls boils down to two things: the dungeons and the cities. Since neither of these exhibit much vegetation and you'll often be fast traveling from point to point, it's not a big deal. You're not going to be running through miles of ugly forest. The beauty of ES is that you don't have to slog on foot anywhere if you don't want to. If you've heard about the town, it shows up on your map. Simple, no? Now let's move on.

Star Wars: Empire at War Patch

March 22, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Petroglyph Games have released a new patch (v1.03) for their Strategy title, Star Wars: Empire at War. Weighing in at 24megs, this sucker includes a bunch of bug fixes, a new multiplayer map and more! Hit one of the following mirrors to get downloading:

3DRealms Interview

March 22, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The FiringSquad has also slapped up an interview with 3DRealms' Scott Miller this evening. They chat about the long-in-development Duke Nukem Forever, the console wars and much, much more! Snip:

FiringSquad: 3D Realms is working with Human Head on Prey, much like they have worked with Remedy on the Max Payne games and with other developers on Duke Nukem titles. Can you explain how your company works with others to do these projects?
Scott Miller: We started this back in 1990, when we worked with Id Software on the original Commander Keen games, so it's something we've been doing for a long time. What we do is assist with project funding, game design, polishing the game, and marketing.

Ritual Interview

March 22, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The FiringSquad has sat down with Ritual Entertainment's Richard "Levelord" Gray for a quick chat regarding everything from working on episodic content to their upcoming DirectX 10 graphics engine. Here's a taste:

FiringSquad: Is it easier or harder to develop an episodic game with shorter gameplay time for each episode compared to a full first person shooter with many more hours of gameplay?
Levelord: - First, lets make sure that we all understand that at the end of the third episode of SiN Episodes, the gamers will have all the same gameplay value (more, we expect) that they would if they had purchased a non-episodic game in one lump package. They will have the same bang-for-the-buck and it will be delivered to them within the same timeframe.
As a developer, making a game under the episodic model has been MUCH easier. This paradigm forces us to encapsulate our efforts into more manageable pieces, and to compartmentalize our development cycles. Im sure it is easy for your readers to grasp that focusing on one episode for 6-8 months, then wrapping it up before proceeding to the next, is much better than trying to do three episodes at once during an 18-24 month timeframe. There is a synergetic benefit in there.

Space Rangers 2 Review

March 22, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has thrown together a review on Elemental Games' Strategy/RPG, Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators. With a final score of 4 1/2 stars out of 5, this one might be worth a look! Anyways, here's something to nibble on:

At its heart, Space Rangers 2 is a simplified space trading/combat simulation that places the player at the controls of a one-man spaceship and sets him or her loose on a randomly generated universe of over 100 different star systems controlled by five different races. The Space Rangers universe is under attack by the Dominators, ruthless AI-controlled war machines out to exterminate all organic life in the universe. As one of the Space Ranger elite, the player is called on to liberate the universe from the tyranny of the Dominators, eventually tracking them back to their central control center and destroying them for all time or not. Space Rangers 2 is completely open-ended. The player may completely ignore the war and become the richest trader in the universe, or turn pirate and became the greatest menace to the space lanes. The game never tells the player what to do.

StarForce Not Investigated by Futuremark

March 21, 2006 - Nicklas Renqvist

There have been discussions and news posts (Geek.com, cdfreaks.com etc.) on the net that Futuremark would have investigated, researched or uncovered something about a software protection system called StarForce (Protection Technology).
All the recent news and discussions claiming Futuremark would have done any kind of research into StarForce are based solely on threads and posts posted by individual users on Futuremark's public discussion boards. Futuremark as a company has not done any investigations, research or uncovered anything in regards to StarForce.
The material found on the discussion boards is published "as is", and does not represent the official views and opinions of Futuremark Corporation.

Best Regards,
Nicklas Renqvist
Benchmark Development Architect

UberSoldier Preview

March 21, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The guys over at PC Gameworld have scraped together a preview on Burut's upcoming first person shooter, UberSoldier. Here's some lovin' on the game's weapons:

Each weapon is distinct and very effective. They all have the option to look down the iron sights with the secondary fire button which is neither necessary or effective. The aim of the majority of weapons is very accurate without toggling the sight. Once toggled the weapon movement is slower and the weapon model significantly blocks the player's view resulting in an aiming system that is actually more difficult. While the slower mobility and blocked view is made worthwhile in other games that offer it through enhanced aim, the exceptional accuracy of shooting from the hip in Ubersoldier makes the sights needless and not worth the hassle. The exception to this is of course the sniper rifle, which functions as one would expect when using the scope.

Keep reading!

Another D&D: Online Review

March 21, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping this slow news day kickin', 1Up.com has thrown up a short review on Turbine's massively multiplayer online RPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Here's a snippet on leveling up:

Raids are reserved for the highest-level characters -- in a game where the max level is 10. It really is to D&D Online's credit that the level cap is so (seemingly) severe -- the pen-and-paper game tops out at 20, so Turbine is just being hardcore about sticking to the venerable rule system. Since leveling up is so rare, Turbine has added "ranks" to the game system. This is essentially a tier system with four tiers per level. Achieve a new rank and you earn an action point to spend on an enhancement -- not a new power or spell or feat or attack or anything like that, but an enhancement that will make you do something you already do a little bit better. It's not a bad solution for the level-cap problem. Still, you may find yourself grumbling if you finally hit rank 4 and there's no enhancement you want. Why not just add one anyway? Because you can only have four at any one time -- after that you have to drop an enhancement to add a new one. You could forgo adding an enhancement, but the action point you earned is burned when you level, and that just feels punitive.

Elder Scrolls IV Construction Set Released

March 21, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

With The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion about to hit stores, Bethesda Softworks has released the TES Construction Set for the game. So all you mod makers out there can can check out the tutorials while you're downloading this bad boy! Here come the mirrors:

Unreal Tournament 2007 Q&A

March 21, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Gameplay Monthly has caught up with Epic Games' Jeff Morris for a quick Q&A regarding their upcoming first person shooter, Unreal Tournament 2007. They chat about everything from mod support to their E3 plans. Here's a nugget:

5- Other than high poly counts and insanely detailed textures, what is the Unreal Engine 3 allowing you to do in UT2K7 that wasnt possible in UT/UT2K3/UT2K4?
As a developer UE3 has had a tremendous impact on how we build the content for our games. One example is Kismet, a visual scripting language that enables our level designers to do things that once were only possible with the help of a programmer. Another would be Cascade, which allows artists to quickly prototype particle effects and see them in-game instantly. Across the board what once was a pain involving many people, is now a pleasure often involving only one.

CivCity: Rome First Look

March 20, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at GameSpot have thrown up a quick look at FireFly Studios' upcoming city-building title, CivCity: Rome. Here's something to nibble on:

Basically, your job as a Roman governor will be to take various Roman cities and make them flourish. You'll do this by placing down hundreds of buildings designed to make life in your city easier for your people. Like all city-building games, your citizens have basic needs that have to be met, which means that you'll need to put down buildings that meet them. The idea is to make a city that's self-sustaining, and that can provide for all of its needs internally. To help, you'll be able to research new technologies on the tech tree that will let you unlock new structures that can address issues such as sanitation, health, religious needs, and more. And you can construct various ancient wonders of the world--assuming you've stockpiled enough materials--to generate special bonuses, just like wonders of the world grant bonuses in Civilization.

Dungeons & Dragons Online Review

March 19, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has thrown up their take on Turbine's recently released massively multiplayer online RPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Here's a bit on the game's setting:

The game itself takes place in Stormreach, a remote frontier city in the newer and popular D&D campaign setting of Eberron. Magic permeates all aspects of everyday life in Eberron. Wizards don't seclude themselves in ivory towers; rather, they take on lucrative jobs as the fantasy equivalents of civil engineers. It's a world in which street lights are actually floating globes of magical energy, and citizens travel to distant lands on magic-powered railroads. The problem is, apart from a few nice vistas, you don't really feel any of this vastness when you're playing D&D Online.

Click here for more!

Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs Q&A

March 18, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Bringing the evening to a close, PC.IGN has slapped up an interview with Ensemble Studios' Sandy Peterson regarding their upcoming Age of Empires III expansion, The War Chiefs. They chat about everything from the new civilizations to it's development status. Here's a taste:

IGNPC: There will be three new civilizations included in the game but so far you've only announced the Iroquois Confederacy. What about them made them a good choice for the game? How do they play differently than the European powers?
Sandy Peterson: The Iroquois controlled a large confederation that sprawled over a wide area. They actually expanded their territory and became more powerful after contact with the Europeans, making major conquests among other tribes. They enthusiastically adopted European technology and their military is the most "European-like" of our three native nations. So they are an interesting combination of a fairly contemporary army (for the 1700s) backed up by a native economy and a strong tradition of mysticism.
The Iroquois really focused on their harvest, their domestic food plants, and their agricultural way of life and we've tried to reflect that in their in-game economy.

New Prey Dev Diary

March 18, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Human Head Studios' Chris Rhinehart has posted a developer diary giving us a general update on their upcoming first person shooter, Prey. Here's a bit on a new hire and what he's up to:

A new contract animator has joined us to help finish Prey. Eric Weiss has a background in both film and computer game animation, having worked on such movies as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Godzilla, and most recently, Superman Returns.
On Prey, he's been focusing first on learning the animation pipeline from Maya into Prey, and has been doing work on one of our boss creatures. Very cool having him aboard and helping make the animation rock.

Battlefield 2: Euro Force Review

March 18, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has taken a quick look at Digital Illusions' latest Battlefield 2 expansion pack, Euro Force. Here's a snippet on the game's new locals:

The three new maps are Great Wall, Operation Smoke Screen, and Taraba Quarry. Of the three, Great Wall is my early favorite. It sees the EU battling against the Chinese around a section of the Great Wall of China. It's a nail-biting battle that takes place on several fronts: in the open areas around the Wall; within the interior sections of the Wall; and on the Wall itself. Great Wall perfectly combines urban and open combat into one finely tuned mixture of total mayhem and destruction.

Dungeons & Dragons Online Review

March 18, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot has shot-up some impressions on Turbine's recently released massively multiplayer online RPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Here's the scoop on the different quests available:

It isn't difficult to understand one's place in one of the game's skirmishes, since the D&D rules encourage you to specialize with certain weapons, spells, or tactics. In between fights, there's exploring to do, barrels to break, levers to throw, and so on. The game's dozens of different quests offer a good balance of pure combat and light puzzle-solving, but while each one is technically different, there's still a sameness they all share in common. The important thing is, though, that D&D Online is structured in a way that constantly keeps you in active motion. Whether you're spotting secret doors, swimming through underwater labyrinths, defending against massive kobold ambushes, or smashing barrels and things, you're always doing this to make progress through to the end of your quest.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Q&A

March 18, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

TeleFragged has sat down with Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines for a quick Q&A regarding their much anticipated RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a bit on the game's impressive draw distance:

Finger: Some of the screenshots we've seen for Oblivion show a massive draw distance that goes out way further than Morrowind could handle. Is a draw distance this far going to make it into the final game, and if so, is it only a setting for the most of extreme of PCs? Can the Xbox 360 handle that kind of huge environment?
Pete Hines: The most recent videos you saw were taken last week, so yes, that's in the final version of the game. That's what it looks like. On the Xbox 360 it is a fixed distance, and yes, it can handle it. Again, it looks just like it does on the videos. On the PC it's actually a slider so that it can be pulled in for older or slower cards, or drawn out further on the latest cards. As newer and better cards come out, you'll be able to adjust that even further.

Guild Wars: Factions Interview

March 17, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameCloud has ArenaNet's Jeff Strain in the hot seat this evening, answering questions regarding their upcoming Guild Wars expansion, Factions. They chat about everything from the new professions to the visual upgrades. Here's a taste:

Gamecloud - What can you tell us about the two new professions that are being added in Factions?
Jeff Strain - Factions introduces the Assassin and Ritualist professions. Our goal with every new profession is that they should introduce new ways to play the game, with skill packages that offer very different strategies from the six core professions that shipped with Guild Wars. The Assassin uses shadow step skills that allow her to instantly travel to her target, strike, and retreat. Her primary mechanic is spatial control of the battlefield. The Ritualist is a dark priest who summons spirits to work on his behalf. These chained spirits can sustain damage on behalf of the Ritualist or the party, and can also act as turrets by holding a position on the battlefield and dealing damage to all enemies in the area. The Ritualist also has numerous spells that can manipulate these spirits after they are summoned, such as teleporting them to the Ritualists location, or causing them to explode, doing tremendous damage to everyone in the area.

Rise of Legends Interview

March 17, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Written in article format, GameSpy has slapped up an interview with Big Huge Games' Tim Train regarding their upcoming Strategy title, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. Here's a bit on their move into the fantasy realm:

"The move to a fantasy setting was tremendously freeing for us," Train said. "All of a sudden, we didn't have to worry about whether or not these incredibly wild units we had come up with were plausible in the real world." That was the birth of Rise of Legends' world of Aio. It didn't have a name yet, nor did it have a history, or heroes or even native races to call its own. All it had was the development team's idea that Aio was not Earth, was not bound by the same laws of physics that we labor under every day, and would be able to support the kinds of spectacular imagery that the Big Huge Games team knew they were capable of creating and support the implementation of three radically different sides.

CivCity: Rome Announced

March 17, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The fine folks over at 2K Games have announced a new city-building game entitled CivCity: Rome. With a release date set for the summer, this might be one to watch! Anyways, here's a snippet from the press release:

New York, NY March 16, 2006 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), and the Company's world-renowned development studio Firaxis Games, today announced CivCity: Rome for the PC, a new city building strategy game inspired by the world of Sid Meier's Civilization. CivCity: Rome is being developed by Firefly Studios, the acclaimed creators of the Stronghold franchise, in collaboration with Firaxis Games.
In CivCity: Rome, gamers will recreate the glory of Rome by building a small settlement into a mighty imperial city. Featuring hundreds of buildings including gladiatorial schools, amphitheatres, the circus maximus, legionnaire forts, weapons workshops and much more, CivCity: Rome offers the most detailed look at Roman life ever depicted on a computer screen.

EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky Review

March 17, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has whipped up some impressions on Sony Online's latest EverQuest II expansion pack, Kingdom of Sky. Here's a nugget on some of the new items to be found:

There are plenty of new items to collect in this expansion. First, there are loads of new armor models that add a lot more variety to the game. Players who are growing bored with some of the generic-looking, underpowered designs will definitely have the chance to customize their appearance with a wide variety of new hats and helmets. Okay, okay, new hats isn't exactly a huge selling point, but there are plenty of other cool items that will not only protect your character but make them seem a little more stylish as well.

Titan Quest Interview

March 17, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The RPGDot has sat down with Iron Lore's Brian Sullivan for a quick Q&A regarding their upcoming Action-RPG, Titan Quest. Here's a bit on the game's classes:

PGDot: You have revealed that there are 28 different class combinations, based on combining 8 "mini-classes". Can you elaborate on this system? What are the 8 mini-classes?
Brian Sullivan: We have 8 mini-classes or skill masteries, of which a character will eventually be able to select two. This gives 28 total class combinations, and allows for a lot of character customization and replay fun. We have class combinations that support archetypal character classes such as warrior and mage, but we also provide for many mixed classes where you can be a warrior mage, or a warrior with a pet, or a healer rogue, etc. We also unlock higher level spells through the application of skill points instead of gating them by character level. This allows a player to put skill points in unlocking higher level skills early, or putting a lot of points into lower level skills instead.
The skill masteries are: Defensive, Earth, Hunting, Nature, Rogue, Spirit, Storm, and Warfare.

Rise of Legends Interview

March 16, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot has posted an interview with Big Huge Games' Paul Stephanouk regarding the Cuotl faction in their upcoming Strategy title, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. Here's a nugget:

GS: The entire point of the Cuotl is that they're aliens who have technology so advanced that it's almost magical. Given that's the case, what's to prevent them from simply wiping out the other factions? What sort of limits are put on them?
PS: At a macro level there are only a handful of them and they don't have full access to all of their technology at the moment. The ship did crash after all. It's not like Marshall, Will, and Holly ended up ruling the Land of the Lost just because they brought some modern trinkets to an ancient era.
Practically, the problem is power. Their technology requires a lot of it and they just don't have the means to use their technology in a totally unlimited fashion, at least not yet. In gameplay terms this means their units are individually more powerful but they have fewer and they are generally more expensive.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Preview

March 16, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The GamesRadar has thrown together a preview on Splash Damage's much anticipated first person shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Here's a little something on the vehicles:

Enemy Territory will give you toys including 4x4 ATV quad bikes, three-person jeeps, six-wheel drive mobile cannons, a helicopter with both rotors and jet engines for easier newbie control, and even some amphibious vehicles. They're not just generic trucks used to get from point A to point B; each vehicle serves a combat purpose and some are tied to specific character classes. For the GDF, those classes include the grunt-like Soldier; a Ranger suited to covert ops and sniping; a Field Ops class who can call in air strikes and blow up turrets; as well as the nerdy Engineer and always-necessary Medic.

*Cue drool* :shocked:

The Movies Expansion Announced

March 16, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Lionhead Studios have announced an expansion pack for their hit movie-making sim, The Movies. Entitled The Movies: Stunts & Effects, we can expect stuntmen, a new toolset and much more! Here's a clipping from the press release:

Santa Monica, CA March 15, 2006 Suited up and ready for action, Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Lionhead® Studios today announced The Movies: Stunts & Effects, the expansion pack to the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Simulation Game of the Year.
Building on The Movies critically acclaimed gameplay, The Movies: Stunts & Effects ups the ante on movie production with the addition of stuntmen to the lot, a movie-making toolset, a diverse selection of dangerous stunts, astounding visual effects, impressive new sets and a number of brand-new techniques and technologies that can be used when making a movie. Currently in development at Lionhead Studios, The Movies: Stunts & Effects will be released Spring 2006 and has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

The Chronicles of Spellborn Preview

March 16, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

1Up.com has fired-up a quick preview on Spellborn International's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's a snippet on the game's combat system:

That pretty 3D environment is actually important for once, rather than just an attractive companion for combat that, in other MMORPGs, hasn't changed all that much since the days of text-based MUDs. No simply targeting an enemy and trading blows until someone's bar runs down. No "You miss the Spider!" "The spider hits you!" crap. It's kind of reminiscent of Phantasy Star Online, except in a massive, persistent environment and not, well, slow and clunky. If anything, the combat has more in common with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It should make fighting engaging in a way that isn't really possible in a typical numbers-driven MMO, and honestly wasn't anywhere near practical before the recent proliferation of broadband. Maybe it won't be for everyone, but for those who aren't turned off by the idea of twitch-based gameplay in a massive environment; this'll be the first real chance to see what it's like.

SiN: Episodes Interview

March 16, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

TotalVideoGames.com has caught up with Ritual Entertainment's Richard Gray regarding their upcoming first person shooter, SiN: Episodes. Here's a bit on the auto-adjusting AI:

SiN Episodes offers a multitude of clever ideas one being that novice players will be able to progress through the game at relatively the same speed as a hardcore games, with the game adjusting itself to the skill factor and speed of the player. Is this based upon the episodic content idea to ensure gamers of all skills keep up to date with the continuing story; conversely are there any concerns it will dilute the experience at all?
This is our Personal Challenge System. This is not a new feature in itself and has been attempted by many developers. We believe, though, that we have engineered the next advance in automatic skill level tailoring. Our lead programmer, Ken Harward, has developed a very cool 5-faceted system that closely monitors and maintains the player's performance. It then adjusts the gameplay in ways that I can't reveal. I can say that this is not the typical tweak-hitpoints-and-enemy-counts. It is quite amazing!
As you have mentioned, it works very well keeping the level of gameplay within the scope of the particular player. We have held many, many testing sessions with groups of people that span the entire gamut of gaming experience. From novice to diehard, the entire group always finishes within 15-30 minutes of each other.
The player can check, at any time, their performance and how the system is monitoring their execution of the game.

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers Preview

March 15, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The GameZone has fired-up a short preview on the Xbox version (also due out on the PC) of Pandemic Studios' upcoming tactical shooter, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers. Here's some juice:

One of the interesting new twists in the game is that youll be able to go into certain buildings for a better vantage point. In the demo, Alpha enters a civilian house and uses the window for a better vantage point of an area with very little cover. The real treat, though, comes in the form of Charlie that is composed of a Bradley APC tank complete with heavy machine gun and mounted cannon. Moving the Bradley tank is a lot like moving the tank in both Brothers In Arms games and it could be used to provide cover for your squad as well. Lastly, theres Delta, yet another additional fire team that comes in the form of a very useful sniper. One aspect of the game that isnt mentioned in the short demo is the Fog of War feature from the first game that allows you to rewind back the time before you made a fatal mistake.

Chronicles of Spellborn Dev Diary

March 15, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The RPGVault has shot-up a new developer diary written by Spellborn International regarding their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's a blurb on weapon enhancements:

Core shards offer many different kinds of enhancements. Some add additional damage to your attacks. Others boost your attributes. These tokens come in different ranks relative to their strength. To imbue a weapon with a core shard, players need to buy slots on their weapon corresponding with the core shard's rank. The higher the rank needed, the higher the cost to add the slot. Depending on your weapon type, more than one slot can be added, giving players total freedom to design a weapon with their desired look and enhancements. Once a slot has been placed on a weapon, it can never be removed. However, the core shards themselves can be removed using special purchasable solvents. The price of the solvent will depend on the rank of the core shard.

Guild Wars: Factions Hands-On

March 15, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Sticking with GameSpot, they have also taken a hands-on look at ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Factions. Here's a snippet on the game's eyecandy:

Cantha will also provide plenty of new visual thrills to enjoy. The graphics engine from Guild Wars has been enhanced to provide full DirectX9 support if you have a DX9 card, but the big news is that the level designers and artists have been able to realize some pretty amazing vistas. Your first steps in the continent will be on the streets and rooftops of the main city in Cantha, and here you'll enjoy all sorts of beautiful architecture. Things get especially interesting once you venture out of the city and see the sights of the countryside, such as the Jade Sea, which is a sea "frozen" by magic. There are gullies and pits carved into the sea, as jade is used as a building material, and you can see aquatic life and sinister creatures frozen in the jade, like insects in amber. Don't worry if you don't have the latest video card, though, as Factions pretty much has the same system requirements as the first game, so if you could play Guild Wars, you'll be able to play Factions fine.

City Life First Look

March 15, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping things rollin', GameSpot has slapped up a First Look at Monte Cristo's upcoming city-building title, City Life. Here's what sets the game apart from SimCity:

In City Life, you have to worry about classes--the strata lines in society that divide the population into the haves and the have-nots, or the poor from the bourgeoisie. There are six distinct social classes in the game, such as the "fringes," the "have-nots," and the "blue collars," and each class has basic needs, as well as up or down relationships with the other classes. It makes sense, for example, that the "have-nots" might have a problem with the wealthy or intellectuals (and vice versa), while they get along better with the "fringes." What this means is that you have to design your city to find a good balance and get the cultures living together in some kind of social harmony, because if the balance is upset, you'll end up with riots and other issues on your hands. And while you can call in SWAT teams and build prisons to try and pacify the crowds, keep in mind that enforcing short-term security this way often comes with long-term repercussions.

Supreme Commander Preview

March 15, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Starting the evening off, PC.IGN has fired-up a quick preview on Gas Powered Games' upcoming Strategy title, Supreme Commander. Here's a bit on the game's interface and moving your troops:

What you notice immediately about the game is the interface. The entire screen is the map. You simply zoom in and out smoothly from a tactical view to a global perspective. All units up close transition to icons when you pull all the way back to observe the entire battlefield. This map might have been created solely for demo purposes, but it was colossal. GPG tells, though, that there will be situations where even a nuke can miss its target without proper recon. At any rate, it takes a good amount of time to properly move and position your troops, but you can create attack vectors. When you click on a destination, you get a line drawing the path, an estimated time of arrival, and a depiction of what the formation will look like when it arrives. Furthermore, separate groups will attempt to auto-adjust so that they can arrive to the same location at the same time, which is great for pincers and flanks. There's no fog of war, per se, since this is the far future and technology exists to map an entire planet. So you can see the geography -- but not necessarily enemy troops.

Chronicles of Spellborn Impressions

March 14, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Finally tonight, GameSpot has thrown up some impressions on Spellborn International's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's a nugget on the game's visuals:

The visuals in the game will rely on the Unreal 2.5 engine, which is churning out some unique MC Escher-esque visuals that represent the twisted landscape of the shards. As far as the character models go, you'll find a fairly detailed character editor that you can log some time with to create a custom character, or you can simply choose to go with a randomly generated one if you want to dive right in. The nice bit on the creation side is that the character types aren't limited by their class as they are in other games, meaning you can have a frail-looking stick be a mighty warrior, or have a burly type serve as your caster.

Hellgate: London Q&A

March 14, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The Hellgate Guru has Flagship Studios' Ivan Sulic in the hot seat, answering community-submitted questions regarding their upcoming Action-RPG, Hellgate: London. Here's a bit on the randomly generated events:

18. One of the goals Guild Wars had when making instances of the world was to make the environments more interactive and fun to play in. In Hellgate I have read interviews that says that there will be random generated events while playing the game; such as a NPC's wanting help from a demon attack and such. Can you tell us more about these different kinds of events, will there be events that affect the environment? Like for example pushing a button and a cannon will shoot through the wall making a way for the character or the character have to place explosives on a bridge before masses of demons rushes over it
We do have emergent events planned. Most that I've seen revolve around assisting spontaneously generated NPCs unattached to assigned quests or tasks... Players may stumble upon a group of struggling survivors and provide escort, or they may help fend off an attack, or they may seek out a lost child. It's all that sort of thing. We don't have any environment interactions planned, however

BioWare Announces MMORPG Studio

March 14, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

BioWare has announced the opening of a new Austin-based studio, set to work on an unnamed massively multiplayer online RPG. Here's a nice sized chunk from the press release:

BioWare Austin has already begun work on a Massively Multiplayer Online roleplaying game (MMORPG) title; the new game will mark BioWare's debut in the Massively Multiplayer Online space. BioWare has recruited some of the top talent in MMO and RPG development, both to manage the development efforts at BioWare Austin and to collaborate with the experienced team at BioWare Edmonton, to develop a game that combines the best of BioWare's great past games with a compelling persistent online experience. Joining the Austin team as lead designer is James Ohlen, BioWare's Creative Director, whose previous credits include lead or co-lead design roles on Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic(TM), Neverwinter Nights(TM), Baldur's Gate(TM) and Baldur's Gate II(TM). Also leading the BWA team are MMO veterans Richard Vogel and Gordon Walton. Richard Vogel brings 15 years of experience to BioWare Austin, previously serving as VP of Product Development for Sony Online Entertainment's Austin studio, as well as launching Ultima Online(TM) as a senior producer at Origin. Gordon Walton recently served as VP, studio manager and executive producer at Sony Online Entertainment as well as VP and Executive Producer at Electronic Arts.

With a new studio, comes new job openings. So click here if you're interested!

Guild Wars: Factions Preview

March 14, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy is the latest website to fire-up some impressions on ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Factions. Here's something to sink your teeth into:

Factions seems to be much more than a couple of new classes and a continent-full of missions, however. There are some game-altering mechanics in the works here. Primary among these is the territory control elements. It works like this: player guilds can band together into alliances, which are conglomerates of up to 10 separate guilds. These alliances can then align themselves with one of two factions that reside in Cantha: the Luxons, who occupy an enormous sea that's been transmuted into solid jade by a cataclysmic event some 200 years down the game's timeline; or the Kurzicks, a group that's settled into a forest that was petrified by the aforementioned cataclysm. Your character's affiliation (and, by extension, your guild and alliance's) isn't a binary choice. Rather, you slowly accumulate reputation with one or both of the factions depending on the quests you perform. Thus, it's possible for groups of players to shift between the two groups, if the one they're affiliated with doesn't suit their fancy.

Loki Interview

March 14, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameCloud has fired-off some questions at Cyanide Studios' Tom Veauclin regarding their upcoming RPG, Loki. They cover the game's engine, storyline and more! Here's a taste:

Gamecloud - What can you tell us about the storyline for the game?
Tom Veauclin - Seth is back in town ! He's returned from the land of the dead where he had been banished by the gods of ancient Egypt. However, he no longer has any close allies in the Egyptian pantheon that would allow him to seek his true rank. Yet, he still has a desire to become ruler of the gods and nothing will get in his way. Even the idea of transgressing an age old prohibition and cross into a different mythology.
With his evil forces behind him, he sweeps through three mythologies in search of powerful allies who will back up his thirst for vengeance and power. Chaos is everywhere and the end of time approaches .....

Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars Preview

March 13, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The guys over at WorthPlaying.com have thrown up some impressions on Phenomic's upcoming Strategy/RPG title, Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars. Here's something to nibble on:

Phenomic has taken pains to preserve the formula that made Spellforce: The Order of Dawn such a success in Europe. Rather than radically reinvent the game, they've done nothing more than polish, refine, and perfect the basic mechanics. The end result is immediately familiar to longtime players, but astronomically smoother in its execution. For people new to this franchise, a brief description: Spellforce 2 is a hybrid real-time strategy role-playing game. You are given a central avatar to level up and equip; you are also given mechanics to build up bustling cities or towns, and to train up armies of subservient fighters. The blend is just right not too much or too little of either RPG or RTS. I've said this many times in the past; Phenomic is the only developer to have claimed they made a hybrid out of these genres and been 100% accurate in saying so.

Click here for more!

WoW: The Burning Crusade Preview

March 12, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping this weekend kickin', GameDaily has fired-up a preview on Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming World of WarCraft expansion, The Burning Crusade. Here's a snippet on the new Blood Elves race:

In addition to all of that stuff, there's also two brand new playable races, one of which is the Blood Elves (Blizzard hasn't revealed the other). The Blood Elves are mysterious creatures that have what appears to be an unhealthy thirst to practice magic, even if it means dipping into demonic practices. Their adoption of these evil teachings resulted in them being banned from the Alliance, thus, they've turned to the Horde for guidance and help reaching Outland, where their messiah and last of the royal bloodline, Kael'thas Sunstrider awaits their arrival. They're also out to kill any demons that destroyed Quel'Thalas, which is where they used to live and a place that you'll have the opportunity to explore.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Dev Diary

March 11, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

With The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's release right around the corner, Bethesda Softworks has slapped up a new team developer diary taking a look at the game's world. Here's a bit on the spiffy looking skies:

For the skies and heavenly bodies above Cyrodiil, the Oblivion developers made some technical improvements on several fronts. Gazing upwards, one might initially notice that there are now dual cloud layers placed in tandem, which naturally parallax from their different rates of travel. The resulting effect affords a skyward view much more depth and a greater sense of spaciousness.
There are also subtle lighting changes to be had based upon where the player is in relation to the immediate environment. In order to better simulate the generally more intense luminance of the sky, High Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting and shader effects were meticulously incorporated into Oblivions renderer, to better give a more photorealistic flair to the atmosphere visuals.

Guild Wars: Factions Release Date Set!

March 11, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

According to this press release, ArenaNet has announced that their upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Factions, will be shipping world-wide on April 28th, 2006. So mark your calendars!

SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate Review

March 11, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Sticking with reviews, EuroGamer has slapped up their take on Irrational Games' SWAT 4 expansion, The Stetchkov Syndicate. Here's a snippet on one of the *ahem* interesting new features:

A new feature with this expansion, which seems so minor and yet is so vital, is the ability to punch people in the face. There was an odd gap of interactivity in the original game, whereby the only way to subdue the people you encountered was to shoot them, or shout at them. Finding yourself yelling at a choking pepper-sprayed individual who simply would not be restrained was a frustrating experience: you just wanted to hit them. And yet you couldn't. Now you can, although it's about the weediest and most dislocated nudge I've seen in gaming since Trespasser's the arm' [fifty-nine bonus points for obscurest reference! - Ed]. This new potential for thumping completes the game that was previously missing a vital link.

EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky Review

March 11, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The GamesRadar has thrown together a review on Sony Online's recently released EverQuest II expansion pack, Kingdom of Sky. Here's some juice:

Kingdom of Sky finally comes through with Achievement Experience, which provides points you can spend to "buy" special attributes and abilities for your character. From greater strength or agility to magical weapons to spells and abilities, you'll finally have the chance to look and act unique in the virtual world.

How did the expansion fare? Read on to find out!

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos Preview

March 11, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy starts off the evening with a preview on Black Hole Entertainment's upcoming Strategy title, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. Here's a bit on the singleplayer campaign:

The single-player game will unfold on two fronts. The first is a dynamic campaign map (similar to Rome: Total War) where you manage your territories, construct new buildings, and move your forces. According to Wren, this mode will play out in a hybrid of both turn-based and real-time. All of the actions take place in real-time, but you are given a good deal of time to make your strategic choices. However, if you wait too long, the enemy will simply begin to make its moves.

Meet Us at GDC 2006

March 10, 2006 - Nicklas Renqvist

At the Game Developers Conference 2006, Futuremark Corporation will demonstrate OpenGL ES 3D Graphics Performance Benchmarking with their recently released 3DMarkRMobile06 Developers' Edition.
3DMarkMobile06 produces high detail 3D game content workloads to tax OpenGL ES 3D 1.0 and 1.1 hardware. Image quality, pixel, vertex, and CPU processing tests provide additional in-depth analysis of device performance, ensuring fair and consistent results.
Futuremark is a VIP partner with Khronos Group for this event and can be found in their booth during open Exhibition Floor hours in the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California. The Khronos booth is #1632.
Show dates and hours are as follows:
- Wed Mar 22nd 11:30 am - 6:30 pm
- Thu Mar 23rd 11:30 am - 6:30 pm
- Fri Mar 24th 11:30 am - 3:30 pm
For more information and to inquire about tickets for the Exhibition visit the GDC 2006 website: http://www.gdconf.com/.

If you'd like to set up a meeting with us, please contact Mr. Tero Sarkkinen at tero@futuremark.com.

gdc2006

March 10, 2006 - Nicklas Renqvist

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Preview

March 10, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Yahoo!Games has shot-up a quick preview on Bethesda Softworks' much anticipated RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a snippet on the NPC's and player immersion:

The first-person immersion here is, frankly, a little disturbing. The 1000-plus NPCs get (literally) in your face with lip-synching, facial animation, speech, and even personal schedules (not to mention that should you fight them and win, you can strip them to their comical high-fantasy skivvies).

Battlefield 2 Patch Released

March 10, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Digital Illusions have released a new patch (v1.21) for their hit multiplayer shooter, Battlefield 2. Fixing various bugs, you can find a list of what's new or just start downloading this sucker at one of the following mirrors:

Star Trek Online Interview

March 10, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

MMORPG.com has fired-up an interview with Daron Stinnett, the Producer behind Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Star Trek Online. Here's a bit on the playable races:

MMORPG.com: The Star Trek universe is filled with unique races and passionate fans will undoubtedly be extremely upset if any are skipped at launch. With the realities of a production in mind, obviously you cannot please everyone. What races are you going to concentrate on and why?
Daron Stinnett: Playable races are those that you might expect to see on a Starfleet starship and will likely include Human, Vulcan, Klingon, Bajoran, Bolian, Trill, Tellarite, Andorian. The controversial issue is our decision to have Star Trek Online focus exclusively on Starfleet at launch. The immense scope of MMOs means that if you want to build a multi-faction game, then those factions had better be carbon copies of each other from a game mechanics point of view. But the "coat of paint" approach just doesn't work with Star Trek. Starfleet is very unique, as are the other factions and we didn't feel that anyone wanted a watered down experience in order to achieve a multi-faction game. Starfleet, with its focus on starship life, space combat, exploration, and away missions, presents a challenge to MMO conventions that has pushed us to come up with fresh ideas that will give players a very new online experience. And ultimately, innovative gameplay and respect for our license are the things that will provide the greatest value for players.

John Romero Q&A

March 10, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Moving right along, Computer and Video Games.com has thrown up an interview with "the hair" himself, John Romero. They chat about his start in the gaming industry, his time at id Software and more! Here's a taste:

So when you finished Doom you really thought that you had something quite special?
John Romero: Yeah. The last 30 hours were a lot of work, a lot of stress testing, mastering it for download and the whole time we had people calling the office, we had people on the internet who knew where we were going to put the game and they were creating fake file names like "Where. Is. It." There were 250 users or something, which back then was a lot. When we finally uploaded it, the University of Wisconsin FTP server went down, so we uploaded it a second time and the server went down again. Finally, after they limited the users or something we finally managed to upload it, and we were exhausted. Sandy Peterson was sleeping on the floor under his desk, and we were tired of seeing the game as well - for us we had seen it so much over the last year that we were glad to be done with it.

Vanguard Preview

March 10, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

1Up.com has posted a short preview on Sigil Games Online's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Here's a bit on the game's crafting system:

Constructing houses is all a part of the game's elaborate harvesting and crafting system. Players will need to buy, harvest or trade commodities like lumber for the structure and thatch for the roof before raising the building themselves, enlisting friends to help, or hiring players skilled in carpentry. Once they have a home, or permission to use someone else's, the players can place furniture and fill the place with weapons, trophies, or the heads of fallen enemies. Owning a home will be a big deal, and a major way show off, but the devs aren't blind to the possibility of a privileged few snapping up all the land early and sitting on it. Regular maintenance fees, scaled to the player's level, the location of the plot, and the size of the structure should keep squatting in check, and they're examining the possibility of limiting players to a single plot each, and guilds to a single village.

Chronicles of Spellborn Preview

March 9, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has taken an updated look at Spellborn International's upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's a bit on the game's combat and movement systems:

Spellborn also doesn't have lock-on combat. That means you can actually dodge an enemy's projectiles and weapon swings. Personally, I rather dislike it when I stumble into a spellcasting bad guy and he puts some movement-impairing effect on me. Then his buddies come running over and stomp me because I didn't have the privilege of dodging the caster's first spell. Movement works a lot differently in Spellborn. Traveling speed, for example, can be affected by all kinds of spells or buffs -- both positively and negatively. Unlike a certain other MMO, you're not mostly stuck to one speed for the first 39 levels of your character. In fact, if you're carrying a weapon in Spellborn, you can move a little faster just by sheathing it.

UberSoldier Interview

March 9, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameCloud has caught up with Burut's Maxim Volkov for a quick Q&A regarding their upcoming first person shooter, UberSoldier. Here's a bit on the weapons at your disposal:

Gamecloud - What weapons will be at the player's disposal?
Maxim Volkov - Weve stuck to the real weapons of that time period. The armory is really impressive and multifarious: from Luger and Colt pistols to Panzershrek bazookas. Automatic weapons will include such legendary models as PPSH, MP40, MG42 and so on. Beside well-known models weve unearthed a few rarities such as the FG-42, StG-44 assault rifles and a very uncommon antitank rifle s.Pz.В-41.
Along with common weapons the player will be able to fire anti-aircraft guns, stationary heavy machine guns and even launch torpedoes from a Nazi submarine.

Rise of Legends Preview

March 9, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Thanks to ShackNews for this tidbit. Gaming Excellence has shot-up a brief preview on Big Huge Games' upcoming Strategy title, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. Here's a snippet on the Vinci faction:

The Vinci are a faction with strong, durable war machines, and defensive structures. A Vinci army rattles and clanks around the battlefield, while its flying machines whir and putter overhead, and your powerful general uses his powers to aid your army or devastate the opposition. The troops at your command and the upgrades available are too many to research all of them in a game so you are forced to pick a style you want to play and some favorite units to upgrade in order to overpower your enemies. In many ways the Vinci are like the standard faction you will find in any game of this type, solid in most areas but masters of none.

Read on!

The Sims 2: Open for Business Review

March 9, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot has whipped up a quick review on Maxis' latest The Sims 2 expansion pack, Open for Business. Here's a bit on some of the new goodies:

The Sims 2 looks and sounds as good as it ever has in Open for Business. The myriad of new items that you can buy--there are 125 new items in all--make it easy to build a business with its own unique look and style. The new animations that go along with your business-related activities all do a great job of conveying the task at hand, and some of them can be quite hilarious--watch as customers sob after you give them a terrible new haircut or snap after a sales-sim pushes them too far.

Hitman: Blood Money Preview

March 9, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Getting things rollin', Computer and Video Games.com has thrown up a preview on Io Interactive's upcoming Action-Stealth title, Hitman: Blood Money. Here's something to chew on:

"If you just kill like mad, and leave witnesses, it will have consequences later on in the flow of the game. The levels will get harder, people will start to recognise you, and your picture will be all over the newspapers. This kind of paranoia and suspicion adds a lot of spice, as well as giving you feedback as you play through the game. If people start pointing, you know you're not being careful enough."

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Preview

March 8, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Finally this evening, Gaming Steve has fired-up the second part of their audio preview on Bethesda Softworks' upcoming RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. So break out the speakers and get listening!

Chronicles of Spellborn Dev Diary

March 8, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The RPGVault has slapped up a new developer diary written by Spellborn International regarding their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's a nugget:

Current details about the Vhuul are sketchy, since diplomatic relations were broken when they demonstrated their contempt for the Enclave by savagely killing and eating an ambassador and his entourage. There has been no contact with them since, but the active trade in contraband from Carnyx brings back fragments of unsettling information.

Age of Empires III Expansion Announced

March 8, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Ensemble Studios have announced an expansion pack for their hit Strategy title, Age of Empires III. With a release date set for Fall of 2006, we can expect new civilizations, maps and more! Here's a clipping from the press release:

he new expansion pack will build off of the exciting real-time-strategy gameplay of "Age of Empires III," providing players with the ability to lead one of three proud Native American civilizations, including the Iroquois Confederation, to expand their empire and fight for control of the Americas.
The expansion pack, which is due on store shelves in the Fall of 2006, will provide new ways to play and win, introducing new gameplay elements and content including new civilizations, a new single player campaign, Home City enhancements and additional maps and units. Additional content will be added to all existing European civilizations as well.

SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate Review

March 8, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has chimed in with their take on Irrational Games' recently released SWAT 4 expansion, The Stetchkov Syndicate. With a final score of 8.5/10, this one might be worth checking out! Anyways, here's a snippet on the game's multiplayer:

Thankfully, multiplayer naturally eliminates problems with team member AI. You can play co-op with no fewer than ten other people, broken down into two teams of five. There's also voice over IP, and you can select one person to lead the team and issue commands. In multiplayer mode, you can also choose to have no body armor, which allows you to interact with objects a lot faster (restraining people, picking locks, anything with a progress bar, basically). When hosting a game, you can select whatever missions you want in any order, and all the original SWAT 4 modes are present and accounted for. There's even the new Smash & Grab, where one team plays the police and the other plays the suspects, and the latter has to get to the exit with a briefcase before the timer runs out. For those of you who want something more straightforward, the "Barricaded Suspects" mode is essentially team deathmatch. Rapid deployment is similar to CS defusal, but there are multiple bombs and they're randomly placed. If you still haven't found something that's up your alley, there's VIP escort, which is thankfully a lot cooler than the Half-Life version. The Suspects have to actually detain the VIP for an extended period of time, rather than just killing him.

Guild Wars: Factions Interview

March 8, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GWOnline.net has posted an interview with ArenaNet regarding their upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Factions. They look at everything from the new classes to future updates. Here's a taste:

With the release of Factions, what will happen to Tyria? Will it get an update on release of Factions, will it still get periodic content updates, or will it be left as is? There is a lot of area left on the map ;)
The continent of Tyria has been explored as fully as it will be in the foreseeable future. Yes, there is a lot of area left on the map, but that does give us delightful options for the future. At the current time, our focus looks "across the water and far to the south of Tyria" at Cantha, and that is where the majority of our development time is being spent.
Periodic content updates will apply to the world as a whole. They may take place in Cantha, in Tyria, or in both. In the future, I imagine we may do more localized updates, as well. For instance, fans have suggested that with the many new cultures being revealed, we might have certain holiday celebrations closely tied to one continent, instead of to all lands. Well have to see how that works out in the future.

New Serious Sam II Patch

March 7, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The Croteam has released a new patch (v2.068) for their action-packed first person shooter, Serious Sam II. Weighing in at 45megs, this puppy adds a deathmatch multiplayer mode, an in-game voting system and much, much more! Hit one of the following mirrors to start downloading:

Rock on!

Hitman: Blood Money Q&A

March 7, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The Games Radar has sat down with IO Interactive's Rasmus Hojengaard for a quick chat regarding their upcoming Action-Stealth title, Hitman: Blood Money. They cover close-combat, the storyline and more! Here's some juice:

Are there more options for close combat, such as the CQC system in Metal Gear Solid 3?
Yeah, there are several moves you can perform in close combat. You can head-butt to stun your target, and you can follow up with punches to knock them unconscious.
You also have the ability of ripping weapons out of the hands of your enemies in a situation where you are confronted and don't have any bullets left.

Updated EverQuest II Impressions

March 7, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

After many changes in the game, GameSpy has taken an updated look at Sony Online's hit massively multiplayer online RPG, EverQuest II. Bring on the PvP!

As mentioned before, EverQuest II now, at long last, has PvP. There are six PvP servers (some of which are flagged for role-playing and Station Exchange as well), and by all accounts, the community is eating them up. The system is, surprisingly, pretty hardcore by today's standards, though there are some concessions for those prone to fits of crying after being repeatedly murdered. For one, depending on where you are in the world, you can only attack players within a certain range of your own. This figure is usually eight, but if you travel to some of Norrath's more remote reaches, this can increase. Currently, both of the expansion areas -- the Kingdom of Sky and the Desert of Flames -- have no level restrictions. So if you're a newbie, you're advised to refrain from taking any sightseeing excursions at the scenic Oasis of Marr.

Guild Wars: Factions Preview

March 7, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has slapped up a preview on the new classes (and the old ones) in ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars expansion, Factions. Here's a bit on the Assassin:

Exclusive to the continent of Cantha, the Assassin is a deadly combo of agility and double weapon damage. These characters can appear and disappear from combat, striking a heavy blow then retreating before an enemy can retaliate. They wear light-weight armor with lots of room for mobility, making it the ideal profession for those who value swiftness over brute force.

Stargate Worlds Interview

March 7, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameCloud gets things started by firing up an interview with Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's Chris Klug regarding their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, Stargate Worlds. Here's a nugget:

Gamecloud - First, why did the development team decided to pick a licenced property like Stargate for their first game, rather than develop an original IP for their MMORPG?
Chris Klug - The founders are big fans of Stargate and also it takes less time to develop a game based on a license than a game based on original IP. And you have to make sure that the new IP is any good. Stargate also gives us credibility.

D&D Online First Impressions

March 6, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Yahoo!Games has thrown up some first impressions on Turbine's recently released massively multiplayer online RPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Here's something to nibble on:

D&D Online is missing a lot of the elements you might normally expect from a massively multiplayer game. There's no player-vs.-player combat (fellow D&D nerds, we can't even select an evil character alignment). There's no crafting system, so you're going to have to find, buy, or trade for your gear. There's no massive wilderness to explore, and no random monsters wandering around in it for you to fight. Getting from level one to level two takes hours, but that's good, because the maximum character level is 10. If you've played other online RPGs, all of this might make D&D Online sound rather strange or shallow. But by letting you spend most of your time in the game undertaking meaningful quests--filled with traps and plenty of other surprises--D&D Online delivers a higher-quality playing experience from minute to minute than most other comparable games. It remains to be seen whether this format will lend itself to making D&D Online compelling over the long haul, but most fans of D&D and online role-playing games alike should appreciate what they see, at least at first.

Titan Quest Dev Diary

March 5, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpot hits us with another developer diary, where Iron Lore's Arthur Bruno chats about the skill system in their upcoming Action-RPG, Titan Quest . Here's some juice:

I think the most innovative aspect of the system is the way that you unlock higher-level skills. Instead of having to reach a certain character level to unlock the next tier of skills, you have some control over the pace at which you unlock your masteries. At each character level, you earn three skill points, which you can either place in a mastery to advance it and unlock additional skills, or increase the power of the skills that you've already unlocked. This adds another level of strategic thinking to character development, because there is an ideal balance somewhere between dumping all your points into Tier 1 skills or, conversely, dumping all your points in a mastery to unlock the Tier 6 skills as soon as possible. This balance is achieved because the effectiveness of later skills is built upon the power of your early skills. This aspect of the skill system hits upon one of the major things we've done in an attempt to improve upon older role-playing skill systems. We've made a great effort to ensure that even your Tier 1 skills are useful throughout the game. There are three ways in which we have done this: We've designed skills that are part of a family in which later skills are modifiers of the first; skills whose properties never become obsolete because they're universally effective; and skills that are indirectly boosted by other skills.

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Dev Diary

March 4, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Finally this evening, GameSpot has posted a developer diary written by Red Storm's Jeff Wesevich regarding the sound effects and music in their upcoming Tactical Shooter, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Here's some lovin':

Ghost Recon's environments have always been a series strong point, but sound designer Justin Drust's treatments on the online levels is as detailed and complex as anything I have heard. In some areas (underneath the piers in "Wharf," the scrap yard in "Nowhere," the urban setting of "Treasury"), I believe we're getting very, very close to what you would expect to hear in a feature film, which is quite an accomplishment given that we have to do everything in real time. While we still have a ways to go before the whole package sounds like Gladiator, the detail we've been able to get into this iteration of the series (wind causing sounds to trigger, sounds muffled when passing underneath bridges, our rain effects, and the like) shows that we may be able to achieve this in the not-too-distant future.

Prey Dev Diary

March 4, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

In this weeks developer diary, Human Head Studios' Chris Rhinehart takes a look at their upcoming first person shooter, Prey. He touches on voice recording, multiplayer testing and more! Here's a clipping:

Music: We're incorporating the latest Jeremy Soule music into the game. Very nice stuff. It's amazing how the mood of an area changes radically when music is added. There's still quite a bit more music from him coming soon -- all in all, Prey will have about 2 hours of music from Jeremy.
We're also looking at getting more bands for the jukebox (which is in the Roadhouse near the start of the game, and also makes an appearance a few times on the alien ship). We already have some major label stuff in the jukebox and Ed is looking at some more indie-bands as well. Also, music related and interesting: Killer music from development materializes.

Battle for Middle-Earth II Review

March 4, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has also slapped up a review on Electronic Arts' recently released Strategy title, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II. Here's a snippet on the construction and resource management:

One of the most significant changes made in BFME II relates to construction and resource management. You are no longer limited in where or how you construct your cities--like it any other RTS, you can build wherever you want. Resources are collected automatically once you build mines, Mallorn Trees, or lumber mills. The system for placing these is actually very helpful--as you move the building's icon around the map, a percentage appears that shows you how much gold you will be able to collect from that area. During some of the game's latter battles, you'll need to weigh the importance of collecting the maximum amount of gold versus exposing your resource centers to enemy attack.

Galactic Civilizations II: The Dread Lords Review

March 4, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Moving right along, GameSpy has thrown together a review on Stardock's Turn-Based Strategy Title, Galactic Civilizations II: The Dread Lords. Bring on the eye-candy!

The most obvious upgrade from the original Galactic Civilizations is visual. Unlike the previous game (which used sprite-based graphics and still images), GalCivII is in full 3D and sports rendered cut-scenes. The game's playfield is filled with planets and moons rotating around their stars on the galactic map and polygonal modeled spaceships flying around. The game is also punctuated by brief cut-scenes whenever a truly significant galactic event happens. In terms of aesthetics, the game's graphics are good, but not brilliant. There are some lovely effects, such as the way many of the planets have moons orbiting them, and some of the larger battles involving the player's forces are illustrated with a 3D replay of the fight. However, anyone used to the graphic splendor that's par for the course in most other types of games will likely be disappointed in Galactic Civilizations II's offerings.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Preview

March 4, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

With the game going gold yesterday, Computer and Video Games.com decided to throw up a quick preview on Bethesda Softworks' upcoming RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's the run-down on the game's storyline:

As the game starts, magic-wielding assassins unknown have attacked Uriel Septim's sons and heirs, inside his own palace. You're a criminal, imprisoned in the dungeon of the palace, in a cell that also happens to contain the hidden escape route from the palace. The Emperor, seeking to escape, recognises your face from his dreams of his death, and takes you along as a mascot/hero. The next hour is a tutorial as you flee alongside the Emperor and his guards, trying to learn the tricks you'll need to stay alive. It's rare that a tutorial contains the majority of the tricks you'll need for the game, manages to stay fun and doesn't break the illusion of being in the world. Oblivion ticks all of these boxes.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Goes Gold!

March 3, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Bethesda Softworks have announced that their much anticipated RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, has gone gold and will be shipping to stores on March 20th. Here's a clipping from the press release:

Rockville, MD - March 2, 2006 - Bethesda Softworks® and 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), today announced that the highly-anticipated role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion has gone to gold master and will be available in stores in North America and Europe during the week of March 20. Oblivion will be available for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in both regular and collector's editions.
"Our most ambitious project ever is finally done," said Todd Howard, executive producer of Oblivion. "We're excited to get the game into everyone's hands and let them experience it for themselves. We hope they enjoy it. I think it's our best game yet."

I can't wait to play! and now...I dance.

Battle for Middle-Earth II Review

March 3, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

After some good game-time action, PC.IGN has slapped up a review on Electronic Arts' recently released Strategy title, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II. Here's a bit on the campaigns:

In fact, almost all of the sixteen total campaign missions (eight each for good and evil) are well constructed and fun. Many of them provide very cool settings to play in like Rivendell, Celduin, Erebor, and The Shire and most are constructed to fit the fiction and progress the action and technology. By the end of the game there's a truckload of powers, units, and heroes at hand. The good missions really push the feeling of being cornered while the evil missions are all about attacking with superior numbers and disdain for the realms of the freemen. I know I've said it before, but it's just too much fun to run into The Shire with the goblins to not mention it again.

Unreal Tournament 2007 Preview

March 3, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has thrown up their take on Epic Games' upcoming first person shooter, Unreal Tournament 2007. Here's a snippet on the game's weapons:

One of the things that the team prides itself on is the ability to create weapons that look like they could plausibly work in the real world. If you watch the guns while they're being fired, you'll notice all sorts of little details that make the proceedings more realistic. When you shoot the rocket launcher, for instance, you'll see new shells popping into the barrel immediately while a small wisp of smoke dissipates into the air. The team revisited many of the franchise's classic weapons, tweaking their primary and alternate fire modes a bit.

Guild Wars: Factions Preview

March 3, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Starting things off, TotalVideoGames.com has fired-up a preview on ArenaNet's upcoming Guild Wars expansion pack, Factions. Here's a little something to chew on:

Back to Guild Wars Factions. Based heavily on Far Eastern cultures and their respective mythologies, the continent of Cantha is the result of countless hours of work by the design team with everything from imperial red pagodas and Chinese stylised dragons to the solidified jade seas inspired by oriental art and architecture. That isn't to say that the design is skewed towards any one Oriental culture; Strain insists that instead, "...what we're trying to enforce is all of them." One thing's for sure, Cantha certainly doesn't reflect the medieval European cultures of the original Guild Wars, it's strikingly different. It doesn't hurt either that Factions takes advantage of new shader technology and other DirectX 9 features, which brought the environments out from the screen to great effect.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent Q&A

March 2, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameCloud has UbiSoft's Daniel Roy in the hot seat this evening, answering questions regarding their upcoming Action-Stealth title, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Here's a bit on one of Sam's challenges while in prison:

Gamecloud - What will some of the main challenges in the prison portion of the game be like?
Daniel Roy - Sams missions have always been in very quiet environments. In jail, Sam is actually breaking out by helping create a full-scale riot. So the challenge is to use this new, chaotic environment, filled with noise and random violence, to cover his escape.

WarPath Demo Released

March 2, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The folks over at Groove Games have released a 257mb multiplayer demo from their upcoming first person shooter, WarPath. Included are two maps and three gameplay modes. You can grab this puppy from one of the following mirrors:

w00t!

Counter-Strike: Source Update

March 2, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Here's something to heat up the old modem. Valve Software has released an update for their hit first person shooter, Counter-Strike: Source. Included in this bad boy are the new player models and bug fixes. Just load up Steam to start downloading!

Unreal Tournament 2007 Preview

March 2, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has slapped up a quick preview on Epic Games' upcoming first person shooter, Unreal Tournament 2007, after getting a chance to check it out at a recent Gamer's Day event. Here's a bit on the spiffy new vehicles:

And there's also a few new vehicles they haven't talked about before. First is the Paladin, which is a defensive weapon that's also useful as an escort. Its key feature is a shield projected about ten feet in front of it, which can be rotated to block fire from multiple directions. It has a cool purple glow that's reflected onto the vehicle and ground. Another vehicle is the SPMA, a long-range artillery cannon that can strike targets beyond visual range. Last is the Cicada, visually similar to the Manta but capable of sustained flight like the Raptor. They describe it as a close support vehicle, and it can lock onto a target while you load up a bunch of missiles. The target can eventually be completely out of your view, but the missiles will still track their way over to it, as long as you've locked on beforehand.

SiN: Episodes Interview

March 2, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Kicking things off, Computer and Video Games.com has tossed up an interview with Ritual's Shawn Ketcherside regarding their upcoming first person shooter, SiN: Episodes. Topics range from character development to the game's dynamic difficulty system. Snip:

How does the dynamic difficulty system work? Why choose this over the usual 'very easy, easy, average, hard' system?
Shawn Ketcherside: Traditionally, selecting a difficulty level has always done very little - changing hit points, changing ammo drops. We wanted our dynamic difficulty to go beyond that. The system our coders have put in place is phenomenal. It's constantly monitoring your progress and play style, then adjusts the game. Games are most fun when they hit a sweet spot of difficulty, they need to be challenging - sometimes very challenging. However, when a game steps over the line to frustrating, it becomes a problem. So far, the system has proved fantastic: we've had play-tests where hardcore FPS players have sat next to truly neophyte players and have finished the game fifteen minutes apart.

Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy Review

March 1, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

GameSpy has fired-up a short review on Mad Doc Software's recently released Empire Earth II expansion, The Art of Supremacy. Here's a snippet on the new civilizations:

The Art of Supremacy's biggest new feature, naturally, is the four new civilizations it brings to the table, The French, the Russians, the Zulu, and the Masai. Of these, only the new African races manage to rise above the expansion's general level of mediocrity. The Zulu and the Masai are part of the new "African" region, and as such, they get a whole host of new regional powers and abilities. They also each sport their own unique units for ancient, medieval and modern warfare. Both races' military doctrines reflect a cultural bias toward an individualistic warrior ethos, which makes their ancient infantry units particularly devastating. That makes using both of them in ancient era games a lot of fun when opponents have to figure out how to deal with powerful columns of warriors that can cut through the infantry of most other races.

Read on

The Sims 2: Open for Business Review

March 1, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The peeps over at Yahoo!Games have thrown together a review on Maxis' latest The Sims 2 expansion pack, Open for Business. Now go out there and rob those consumers blind!

To facilitate the commerce system, Open for Business adds three types of stores to the Simverse: Pay Per Item, Pay Per Use, and Pay Per Time. By using one of these three models you can create virtually any type of retail store. For example, Pay Per Item is the traditional retail model, such as a flower shop. Here, you need to worry about purchasing inventory, stocking shelves, and selling items to the customers. Pay Per Use stores are service oriented, such as a salon, while Pay Per Time stores are places like nightclubs which charge visiting sims by the hour.

The Chronicles of Spellborn Dev Diary

March 1, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

The RPGVault has posted a developer diary written by Spellborn International regarding the crafting system in their upcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Chronicles of Spellborn. Here's something to nibble on:

The first step is to acquire a recipe. Players can acquire them in different ways. They can, for instance, be bought in shops, found on dead NPCs, or obtained as quest rewards. Recipes are carried in the character's inventory like other regular items. Several types of recipes are class- and level-restricted. Gadgets are only available to Tricksters, while Soul Shapes are only available to a Facedancer. Although the use of recipes is sometimes class- and level-restricted, all players can keep these recipes in their inventory since these thresholds apply to the completion process only.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Preview

March 1, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

Keeping the content flowin', GameSpy posts their take on Bethesda Softworks' upcoming RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Here's a quick blurb on the game's storyline:

As you'd expect, Oblivion features what appears to be a deep, involving storyline feature plenty of medieval intrigue and world-saving heroics, with just a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in for good measure. The game's story grabs you from the beginning, as you're tasked with aiding the land's beloved king as he attempts to flee an assassination attempt. Not surprisingly, he finds his end at the end of an enemy's blade, but not before he asks a small favor of you: save the world from destruction and bring peace back to his kingdom. As was the case with Morrowind, however, you can quickly abandon the main quest and set off to create your own story in the game's immense world.

Battle for Middle-Earth II First Impressions

March 1, 2006 - Joe "OuTkAsT-1" Topolnisky

PC.IGN has thrown up some first impressions on Electronic Arts' recently released Strategy title, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II. Yea, but is it sweet to look at? Snip:

Visually, Battle for Middle-earth II is definitely a step above its predecessor. As I mentioned before, some of the set-pieces are terrific but the simple wilderness environments are pretty fantastic as well. Icy terrain is appropriately reflective, water looks fantastic, mountains and forests look very natural, and the blending of all of this into ruins and cities is perfect. Unit and building art is likewise very good, especially considering the number of units on screen at the same time. Fortresses are particularly impressive but some of my favorite moments have come from simply running my goblin hordes around the map with trolls and giants in tow. The animation on all of these creatures is very good and brings life to Tolkien's creations the way they deserve.