World Map with Historical Start Locations for civilizations will be
included in the June patch. - DanQ
GAMER
HAPPILY DEFEATED
(24 May 2002, 19:33 |
RoN | 6
comments) Eric "Zuik" Wackerfuss of Chicago, Illinois sat
down for a quick game of Rise of Nations with designer Brian
Reynolds. Wackerfuss was ultimately defeated, but walked away with a $500
gift certificate to the Microsoft shop.
Wackerfuss scored the honour of challenging Reynolds at his own game
when he won Microsoft Game Studios "Lunch Hour Challenge." E3 attendees were
invited to sign up for the tournament Thursday morning, and four contestants
were randomly selected from that pool. Wackerfuss and Francis "Angel Draco"
Cermak, also of Chicago, defeated their opponents in the first round of
competition, going on to face each other in the second round. Wackerfuss
soundly defeated Cermak to take the grand prize and square off with
Reynolds.
Thanks to Gamers Pulse for the news tip. - DanQ
E3: NEW
SCREENS SURFACE
(24 May 2002, 19:22 |
RoN | 5
comments) More Rise of Nations screenshots have
surfaced from this year E3 Expo which is wrapping up today in Los
Angeles, California.
There are fifteen new ones over at GameSpy (that is, the
same fifteen new ones that were posted yesterday by The Adrenaline Vault
[see story below]) and a majority of the twenty-one posted on BonusWeb are also new. - DanQ
MACGAMER @
E3 REPORT
(23 May 2002, 21:04 | MoO3 |
5 comments)
MacGamer Chris Barylick spent the day at the Electronic Entertainment
Expo (E3), including being shown a demo of Master of Orion III. Below
are highlights from what Barylick had to say on this front:
Two [MoO3] team members (producer Cory
Nelson and art director Rantz Hoseley) were brought in to demo the game.
Very slick interface, beautiful design and graphics. The game was
restructured to contain fewer things for players to keep track of as well as
showing the consequences of their actions in a more timely manner. There
been a complete screen/interface restructure as well, with 72 unit screens
being reduced to under 20 for the game. [..]
The Diplo-Matic (bad pun) is an AI that takes various factors such as
needs, alliances and available resources into account in determining which
races are hostile, friendly or neutral towards the player. [..]
Macromanagement is possible without having to check on each planet via
high-level tools, thus removing a source of frustation from the first two
games. Easy tools are available to filter out criteria (such as which
planets the player controls within certain borders) which lends an entirely
new feel to the game. [..]
[In order to win, the following is one possible criteria]: [d]iscover
the Antaran Xs (an alien race that must be found and guides players towards
playing every means of the game. If another power has discovered an Antaran
X, the only choice is to take it from them). - DanQ
MORE
SCREENS ON AVAULT
(23 May 2002, 19:50 |
RoN | 5
comments) The Adrenaline Vault has posted fifteen screenshots of Big Huge Games upcoming
debut title, Rise of Nations that they obtained from Microsoft via
the E3 Expo currently being held at the Los Angeles Convention Centre
in California.
Shots include a picture of the gaming interface and the "Research"
screen. - DanQ
AVAULT GETS
NEW SCREENS
(23 May 2002, 19:44 |
Alt) Stardock Systems sent the Adrenaline Vault five new exclusive screenshots of the company upcoming
Galactic Civilizations, its upcoming space empire building game.
Shots include a picture of the gaming interface and the "Research"
screen. - DanQ
EDITOR IN
JUNE?
(23 May 2002, 19:19 |
Civ3) Wargamer E3 Expo coverage today includes a note about a discussion their roaming reporters
had earlier with Firaxis Games Jeff Morris about the company upcoming
release, Civilization III: Play The World. Here is something new of
interest that they were able to coax out of Morris:
[O]ur attentive reporters caught... [a] little
tidbit casually mentioned during their conversation. Apparently there are
plans to release a fully functional Scenario/Map Editor, complete with
multiplayer tools, as early as June. - DanQ
E3 RON
VIDEO
(23 May 2002, 06:50 | RoN | 17 comments)
Microsoft released a 4.3mb
windows media video for Rise of Nations. Check it out, it really
impressive!
Thanks to ColdFever for the news. - MarkG
GS-US
IMPRESSIONS @ E3
(22 May 2002, 23:31 |
Civ3) GameSpot (US) today made their impressions known regarding Civilization
III: Play The World, the upcoming expansion pack for the said title.
From his one-page ravel diary, GS-US Trey Walker reports from the E3
Expo that wrapped up its second day some hours ago:
[There are] new structures featured in the
expansion. The new outpost structure can be built outside of city boundaries
in order to dispel the fog of war for a certain distance that varies
according to the surrounding terrain and elevation of the outpost. The new
airfield structure expands air operations beyond what is possible through
cities alone, and the new radar tower adds a combat bonus to units within
range. [..]
The expansion will also include stacked unit movement for both land- and
sea-based units, making it easier for players to keep units with different
movement speeds together during journeys across the map. [..] [Additionally,
there are] new unit sets for use in the editor. The new sets include a
medieval Japan set and a World War II set, and they will feature 17 units
each. [..] The expansion will also have new winter and European terrain
sets. [..]
Play the World includes turn-based, simultaneous, play-by-e-mail,
and hotseat modes. To also appeal to Civilization players unwilling
to take part in extended multiplayer matches, Firaxis is adding a new
"turnless" multiplayer mode along with short game types such as regicide,
elimination, and capture-the-flag.
According to Walker report, a more definitive release date for the
expansion has been set: this October. - DanQ
REYNOLDS
CHAT LOG ONLINE
(22 May 2002, 23:19 |
RoN) The complete Brian Reynolds chat log from his appearance
yesterday on the "MSN Gaming Zone Theater" is now available over at Rise of Nations Pantheon.
Some highlights:
Each group of nations will have their units have
their own unique look as they have unique set of buildings in a particular
theme set (not including unique units).
There are non-military game play modes where the object is to advance
through the ages and deal with each opponent largely on the political
aspect.
Governments have been "in and out" in the game, and it hasn yet been
decided whether that will be in the initial game or in a later expansion.
Some movies of the game play will be available after E3 and it will be a
lot different than Age of Kings/Empire Earth etc. - DanQ
6 OF 8 NEW
CIVS KNOWN
(22 May 2002, 23:14 |
Civ3) Six out the eight new civilizations set to make their
debut in the upcoming Civilization III expansion pack, Play The
World, are known. They are:
Mongolians
Carthaginians
Spanish
Vikings
Koreans
Celts
Again, the identities of the other two civilizations have not yet been
confirmed or hinted at through screenshots or otherwise (as the latter is
the case with the Carthaginians). - DanQ
SF TO
PUBLISH GALCIV
(22 May 2002, 23:01 |
Alt) Strategy First and Stardock Systems today announced that they have entered a worldwide
publishing agreement for Galactic Civilizations, the new sequel to
the space empire building game originally created in the early 1990’s for
OS/2. From the official press release:
"In keeping with our goal to support independent
developers, Strategy First is pleased to be working with industry veterans
Stardock", says Steve Wall, V.P., Business Development for Strategy First.
"The original Galactic Civilizations blazed new trails for the strategy
genre in terms of A.I. and gameplay, and we are proud to bring you the next
installment in this stellar series”.
"Galactic Civilizations has been designed as a strategy game with
mainstream appeal". says Larry Kuperman, V.P. of Sales and Marketing for
Stardock. "Strategy First has a proven track record of successfully bringing
such games to market. They were a natural partner for us".
Thanks to GameSpyDaily and The Adrenaline
Vault for the news tip. - DanQ
GALCIV
INTRO TRAILER
(22 May 2002, 22:56 |
Alt) Take a look at this trailer to the
[G]alactic [C]ivilization strategy title introduction that describes the
change in intergalactic travel once the human race invents the hyper
drive.
This is FilePlanet description for the introductory
trailer for Stardock Systems Galactic Civilizations, set to be
released for the Windows platform later this year. The 112MB download
definitely lends itself to broadband; at the time of this posting, the
trailer has been grabbed by more than 225 individuals in its less than first
24hrs. - DanQ
24 BRAND
NEW MOO3 SCREENSHOTS!
(21 May 2002, 22:30 |
MoO3 | 14
comments) An Apolyton Exclusive!(well, until you see them
somewhere else :))
Here are 24, brand new, latest build, moo3
screenshots for your eyes only.
- MarkG
8 NEW
SCREENSHOTS
(21 May 2002, 06:37 | MoO3
| 11
comments) Infogrames released 8 "new" moo3 screenshots during
E3. Actually only the first is new as Quicksilver informed us, the rest are
at least 2 months old. Hopefully we'll have some really new shots
soon:
- MarkG
PLAY RON
AGAINST BRIAN REYNOLDS
(20 May 2002, 20:44 |
RoN | 6
comments) If you can be in the E3 Expo on Thursday you can have a
chance of playing Rise of Nations against Brian Reynolds!
Gamespy reports: Sign-up for the event will begin at 11 am Thursday at the
Microsoft booth (South Hall, #1246). At 11:55am, four randomly selected
contestants will enter the challenge. The winner will receive a $500 gift
certificate to shop.microsoft.com, then get a crack at Reynolds at
2pm.
Think you can do it? ;) - MarkG
PTW HI-RES
SCREENS AND LEADER VIDEOS
(20 May 2002, 20:18
| Civ3 | 52
comments) We got our hands on hi-resolution version of today
Civ3: Play the World screenshots as well as two leader videos:
- Ghengis
- Isabella
Here are the sceenshots
Thanks to panag and monkspider for their help. - MarkG
FIRST PTW
SCREENSHOTS
(20 May 2002, 14:30 | Civ3
| 171
comments) 
The Adrenaline Vault has posted the first known screenshots from the upcoming
Civilization III expansion pack, Play The World. There are
seven in all, including the "Multiplayer Setup" screen.
Thanks to ColdFever for the news tip. - DanQ
