The much anticipated demo for Prey is now available for download. Weighing in at 450MB where you can try out Human Head Studio’s gravity defying FPS. The demo features 5 singleplayer levels, and 2 multiplayer maps. Here are some mirrors you can grab it from:
Archive for June, 2006
June 21st, 2006
June 16th, 2006
Here is a list, called The Duke Nukem Forever List, which outlines things that has happened since the game was first announced back in 1997, and what took less time than DNF’s development. It’s a hilarious, albeit unsettling look at a game that has many wondering if it’ll even be worth it when/if it ever does come out.
In 1997, the fastest consumer internet connection was a 33.6 kbps modem. On average, consumer internet connections are 300 times faster today.
June 15th, 2006
In this editorial, Consolitis - A PC Gaming Disease, I write my thoughts about this trend that PC gamers have to put up with, and sometimes, end up wasting our money over. How many times have you played a game that was clearly a console port that looked fun, could’ve been fun, but didn’t take advantage of the capabilities of your PC? I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of it, and wish game developers and publishers knock it off and treat PC gamers with a little more respect.
Some recent examples of PC gamers receiving the short straw is Deus Ex 2: Invisible Wars. The original Deus Ex, widely regarded as a classic game for the PC, ushered in a new era of smart shooters. However when Deus Ex 2 came out, the howls of agony by PC gamers could be heard everywhere. It suffered from the affliction known as consolitis. All the elements that made the original Deus Ex great was stripped bare and a ghost of its former self was left in the sequel.
In related news, Evil Avatar has an interview with Randy Smith, who worked on all three Thief games, and talks about what went wrong with Thief 3 (I say it suffered from consolitis, too.)
Midway, in a hurry to get some money quick, announced the Unreal Anthology; for $30, you get the original Unreal and its Return to Na Pali expansion pack, Unreal 2: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament Game of the Year Edition, and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor’s Choice Edition. This is a great deal, and besides Unreal 2, should provide plenty of fun gameplay for those of you who haven’t digged into the Unreal series (or just want to revisit old memories.) This Anthology pack will be available this coming August.
On June 21st next week at 9 p.m. PST/12 a.m. EST, Gamespot will be premiering the demo for Human Head Studio’s Prey. This demo harks to the old days of demos, where there’s real gameplay to experience so you can better make up your mind whether you’ll enjoy buying the full game or not. Rumor has it that the demo will contain an hour’s worth of gameplay. I’m certainly looking forward to play this demo, as I think the unique anti-gravity and other premises will add some much needed flair to a stagnating genre.
June 14th, 2006
NVIDIA has released new beta drivers, Forceware version 91.31 for WinXP/2k/2003 which weigh in at 32MB.
Necromanthus has updated the browser-based clone of Warcraft, called Warcraft Reloaded 0.9, which lets you play Warcraft in your own browser. It includes the barracks, blacksmith, the footman, weapon and armor upgrades, new sounds, and more.
XYZ Computing has a review of Razer’s new Krait mouse, optimized for MMO and RTS gaming. How does it fare; is it good, or a gimmick?
The criteria for an appropriate mouse for each style of gaming are different, or at least Razer would want you to think that this is the case. With the market starting to accept products like gaming mice and gaming keyboards, it was only a matter of time until someone introduced a mouse for a certain type of game. While it is easy to be skeptical of such an idea, Razer has a great reputation and may actually be onto something here.
Take-Two Interactive were hoping to give 3DRealms a juicy carrot to motivate them to complete the long-delayed Duke Nukem Forever. The carrot? Half a million dollars if finished before the end of 2006. Apparently it wasn’t a juicy enough carrot, as 3DRealms turned their nose up at it according to 1Up.
Broussard indicated he “thinks” the promissory note was part of a renegotiated agreement with their publisher, but expressed frustrations over reportedly inaccurate stories being passed around and claims it’s all irrelevant. “We’re certainly not motivated by that amount of money, after all this time, and getting the game right is what matters. I would never ship a game early (even a couple of months), for 500k,” says Broussard.
Stay tuned, Take Two may increase that to a $500,001 to see if they bite.
June 12th, 2006
Matt Brett has posted an excellent review of Valve’s new episodic Half-Life 2 series, Episode One. He seems overly impressed with this first episode, and looks forward to the next two:
The first of 3 new episodes that expand on the Half-Life storyline proves to be well worth the wait and reminds me why I’ve loved Half-Life for so many years.
Midway has announced that Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War has gone gold and is shipping to stores. The RTS game from now defunct Stainless Steel Studios introduces a few twists to a stale genre in need of more innovation, in which you control history’s greatest generals and can directly control them in action.
In Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, players can choose from four of the ancient world’s mightiest empires – Persia, Greece, Egypt or Rome – and then engage in awe-inspiring feats of heroism by joining troops during climactic battles, using an action/adventure-style third-person perspective to personally impact the outcome as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra or other heroic and historic leaders.
“Rise & Fall is a graphically–stunning and easily–accessible game, offering something for strategy gamers of all levels,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “Rise & Fall’s single–player campaigns and various multi–player modes feature a number of new innovations in addition to traditional RTS gameplay, including intuitive yet highly–detailed naval battles and, of course, Hero Command.”
June 9th, 2006
There’s a thread in the Gamespot forums with a list of games that we can look forward to playing in 2007. While 2006 is far from over (thread for 2006 games here), it’s nice to have something to look forward to. It looks like a lot of RPG’s are slated, and there’s even a promising space simulator to look forward to (we need more space sims!) PC gaming is far from dying, as some pundits like to claim every year.
June 7th, 2006
Romar Entertainment, was gracious enough to not let too many people suffer through the movie that is based on the vampire game of the same name, Bloodrayne. Uwe Boll who directed and produced the flick, is not happy, and is suing the distributor for not showing the “movie” on 2000 screens like they promised, but rather 930 of them. Romar Entertainment grew claws after this announcement:
Romar co-founder James Schramm is having none of it though - in fact, he’s announced plans to launch a lawsuit against Boll in return. Speaking to Gamespot, Schramm said that when it came to the DVD release of the film, Boll deleted the Romar name and logo from the box packaging, trailer and end credits.
He also alleges that Boll refused to pay Romar 1 per cent of the proceeds from the DVD sales, refused to let film critics see advanced screenings of the movie, and refused to arrange for the cast members to attend press events.
The Escapist has a series of articles about Blizzard Entertainment, the games they’ve made (World of Warcraft, Starcraft, etc.) and how they have changed the face of gaming in a cut-throat industry that is rapidly growing.
Despite reports of churn in the ranks of World of Warcraft players, the total number of subscribers continues to rise. What the dramatic upward swoop says to me is folks are entering the massive genre and not leaving. While some may quit World of Warcraft and no longer play online games, Woodcock’s chart suggests that there are a number of players who enter the massive space and, upon canceling their WoW account, move on to another title in the genre.
Here’s an interesting comparison between real-life locations and the realistic portrayal of those locations in the Crysis engine.
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