Slashdot Mirror

Thanks to GameSpot for its review of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, the EA-developed hack-n-slash action game based on Peter Jackson's acclaimed movie trilogy. The reviewer rates the now-released multiplatform title as a "relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy." 1UP also seems to dig the game, although notes that "the pre-level sequences are potentially spoilerish", since FMV from the not-yet-released movie is sometimes used. Finally, GameSpy has a whole section on the game, including a developer-friendly postmortem and a 'Pile On!' article that has opinions ranging from EA doing "such a good job of appealing to mainstream and hardcore gamers", to a sole dissenter: "This is definitely a great game for fans of the films, but others beware."

Thanks to GameSpot for its review of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, the EA-developed hack-n-slash action game based on Peter Jackson's acclaimed movie trilogy. The reviewer rates the now-released multiplatform title as a "relatively simple and short action game at heart, but [with] a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, [and] cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy." 1UP also seems to dig the game, although notes that "the pre-level sequences are potentially spoilerish", since FMV from the not-yet-released movie is sometimes used. Finally, GameSpy has a whole section on the game, including a developer-friendly postmortem and a 'Pile On!' article that has opinions ranging from EA doing "such a good job of appealing to mainstream and hardcore gamers", to a sole dissenter: "This is definitely a great game for fans of the films, but others beware."

Thanks to GameSpy for their article discussing the realities of building MMOG world based on existing licenses. They point out: "The rush is on. Star Wars Galaxies, released this past summer, was only the beginning. Middle-Earth Online is gearing up to bring The Lord of the Rings to life... The Matrix Online, still secretive, is a real noodle bender: A virtual reality based on living life inside a virtual reality?" But, as Will Wright points out: "Books and movies are by definition very linear properties, as seen from a single protagonist's point of view. That's very hard to put into an online world." The article concludes: "Most agree that great licensed games have to be based on a sense of place, as opposed to character."

Thanks to Telefragged for their review of Activision's World War II-themed PC FPS, Call Of Duty, which they seem to approve of, commenting that "the action and pacing... is done just right", though they point out your enjoyment depends on "whether you still enjoy WWII shooters" after so many predecessors, notably Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, which Call Of Duty developers Infinity Ward also developed. GameSpy are extremely impressed, hailing Call Of Duty as "one of the best games of 2003", with "tons of amazing missions", alongside"solid [Quake 3-enhanced] tech and lots of white-knuckle combat." Finally, GameSpot are also effusive, hailing the shipping-now title as "an all-around excellent game that confidently challenges, head-on, all the other WWII-themed shooters out there and comes out on top."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their section featuring extracts and articles centered around the previously Slashdot-mentioned new book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which discusses "the rise of computer game culture" through figures such as Ultima creator Richard Garriott. The feature includes a three part extract from the book, dealing with "the trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses." There's also an interview with the book's authors, as well as a chat with Garriott himself, in which he trails his new NCSoft-backed massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, which he says "combines MMP with story-based scripted adventures for parties of players."

Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Sole Food' editorial discussing the vitriol directed against videogame-themed television programs, or, more specifically, the game-themed digital cable/satellite channel G4. The writer laments: "You'd think that people that enjoy the gaming lifestyle would be all over the only channel dedicated to their passion. Sadly, that's not the case", and goes on to suggest "there's been an enormous amount of improvement" in the channel, and comment: "my favorite thing about [G4] is that it will bring new people into the [videogaming] fold." Are there any game-related TV shows, either on G4 or elsewhere, that you think are being done just right?

Thanks to GameSpy for their feature on the history and continued shaping of MMO communities. The article discusses lessons learned from Ultima Online's "growing pains" over conflict resolution ("There was a group known as the Dread Lords who went around attacking other players, decimating the population of entire towns and forcing the developers to change the rules for PvP, which ultimately minimized its role in the game"), and points out that "...subverting developer intentions is a significant part of an MMO, whether for good or ill", referencing The Sims Online Mafia as an example. When should 'authorities' step in, if ever, in massively multiplayer games?

Thanks to TeamXbox for their review of Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, as the long-in-development Xbox sequel to the cult FASA/Microsoft PC flight game finally ships today, and, according to the reviewer, "...has added a whole new feel to the genre." 1UP also like the results, mentioning the "decent, but nothing worth getting too worked up about" version that showed at E3 2002, and lauding the year's delay which led to such massive improvement, noting "...the Xbox Live modes extend the lifetime of Crimson Skies several times over all by themselves." Finally, GameSpy join the others in giving the game a thumbs-up, suggesting: "This game exemplifies the sleeper hit; its unique feel, solid gameplay, and great aesthetics offer up something a little left of center, but it's something that anyone who's remotely interested in the genre should be checking out."

Thanks to GameSpot for their review of Castlevania:Lament Of Innocence for PlayStation 2, released today in the U.S., as they pronounce this "new 3D installment" to be "a fun, though fairly short and simple, game that marks a promising new beginning for this beloved series." GameSpy also have an interview with the creator, Konami producer Koji Igarashi, but end up judging the title a "very playable but somewhat dull game", and 1UP try a different tack by nominating the Top 10 Belmonts, discussing the "Belmont family of vampire hunters", before ruling similarly to the other reviews, albeit with a more upbeat edge: "Taken on its own terms, Lament of Innocence is a resounding success, and one of the best 3D action games on PS2." Would you prefer the Castlevania series stuck to 2D, or is 3D the only way to truly evolve it?

Thanks to GameSpot for their review of Castlevania:Lament Of Innocence for PlayStation 2, released today in the U.S., as they pronounce this "new 3D installment" to be "a fun, though fairly short and simple, game that marks a promising new beginning for this beloved series." GameSpy also have an interview with the creator, Konami producer Koji Igarashi, but end up judging the title a "very playable but somewhat dull game", and 1UP try a different tack by nominating the Top 10 Belmonts, discussing the "Belmont family of vampire hunters", before ruling similarly to the other reviews, albeit with a more upbeat edge: "Taken on its own terms, Lament of Innocence is a resounding success, and one of the best 3D action games on PS2." Would you prefer the Castlevania series stuck to 2D, or is 3D the only way to truly evolve it?

Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Spy Vs. Spy' editorial discussing whether any reality-based subject should be made into a game, referencing games like Kuma:War, which offers "the hunt for Uday and Qusay Hussein in Iraq and their eventual deaths in a shootout with U.S. forces" as a scenario. The first editor suggests that " I believe that such 'ripped from the headlines' titles are disrespectful to the soldiers in combat and the issues involved", whereas another editor presents a different view, arguing: "I'm all in favor of games working in contemporary events... one way for games to be more relevant to people is to bring current events to an interactive medium."

tvalley000 writes "Warcry has just finished up a 3 part interview series with Brian Green, CEO of Near Death Studios and Lead Developer for Meridian 59, potentially the oldest commercial MMOG still running today. You can catch the first part here, the second part here, and the third part here. Brian talks about the PC MMOG genre, where he came from, and how the game has weathered the storm of nearly a decade in development and production."

Thanks to GameSpy for their article presenting an overview of the massively multiplayer RPGs released so far in 2003, as the piece advances the opinion that "on balance, the year seemed a bit disappointing." The author bases this on the fact that "...too many games, like City of Heroes, Dragon Empires, Lineage II... and others have slid into 2004.", but also takes issue with the released titles: "Even though we got some hotly-anticipated MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies and PlanetSide, they suffered from some notable feature trim." Although profiling interesting new MMOs like A Tale In The Desert and Rubies Of Eventide, the article ends on a cautionary note: "There just don't seem to be enough players for all of these to garner big numbers. [In 2004] we're going to see some of these MMO publishers doubled-over in pain."

Thanks to GameSpy for their brief interview with Rockstar Vienna's managing director over the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto/Vice City 'double pack' for the Xbox, which ships on 4th November. He reveals this conversion of both GTA games has "upped the resolution for HDTV usage, enabling 480p support along with a 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen TVs", significant other graphical enhancements, including "much higher resolution textures", "specular lighting" and "reflection maps", and best of all, that "...players will also be able to create their own stations and can make multiple soundtracks by ripping their favorite CD's onto the Xbox hard drive. Grand Theft Auto 3 recognizes each soundtrack as a CD that can be changed by the new CD changer."

PepsiProgrammer writes "Epic and Nvidia are teaming up to create the first annual Unreal University, a two-day tutorial covering techniques for creating mods for the Unreal Tournament 2004 game engine. It'll be held at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, on November 8th and 9th, 2003." With this event, the million-dollar Make Something Unreal contest, and the free Unreal Technology video tutorials, looks like Epic is pushing their engine heavily as weapon of choice for FPS modders.

Thanks to GameSpy for their article exploring whether massively multiplayer games can ever break into the mainstream. The piece starts by contrasting EverQuest's 460,000 subscribers with other media, saying: "What EverQuest is not, however, is a mass-market success. J.K. Rowling sold over nine million copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this summer. Michael Jackson sold 25 million copies of 'Thriller.'" It goes on to analyze mass-market MMOG attempts such as the still-profitable, but disappointing The Sims Online, which Sims creator Will Wright says "...was the poster child for massively multiplayer games going wrong with the mass market", and Richard Garriott also comments: "...though the high concept was fabulous, [The Sims Online] suffocated under its own development weight."

Thanks to the New York Times for their article discussing the rising reputation of game music in the mainstream media (free reg. req.) Bigger budgets are discussed ("the game industry's success has made developers willing to pay for live orchestra recordings"), as well as interactive music ("...akin to writing music for a Broadway show in which audience members could determine the order of the scenes... Game-music composers don't know which path a player will choose or when, so they must be prepared for unpredictability.") Elsewhere, veteran former LucasArts composer Clint Bajakian tries to describe steps to interactive musical bridging: "You conceive of the elbow joints you're going to need", but Richard Kessler of the American Music Center is still skeptical of game soundtracks in general, saying: "On an artistic level, it's not in the film music league."

Thanks to Reuters for their article summarizing the "mixed response" to today's launch of Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'/phone hybrid. According to the piece, "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy", but many are less convinced, with CNN Money suggesting "N-Gage might sound great on paper, but it's a disaster in execution", an earlier San Jose Mercury News piece criticizing the N-Gage as "...a hopeless muddle - lacking in quality games, too confusing in regards to service plans, too expensive and crippled by a series of stunningly bad design decisions", and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view.

Thanks to Reuters for their article summarizing the "mixed response" to today's launch of Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'/phone hybrid. According to the piece, "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy", but many are less convinced, with CNN Money suggesting "N-Gage might sound great on paper, but it's a disaster in execution", an earlier San Jose Mercury News piece criticizing the N-Gage as "...a hopeless muddle - lacking in quality games, too confusing in regards to service plans, too expensive and crippled by a series of stunningly bad design decisions", and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy.com just posted the final installment of its 25 Most Underrated Games of All Time feature. What under-appreciated classics made the list? Well, titles like Zork Zero, Ico, and Sly Cooper all make the cut. This most recent countdown is a follow-up to GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time piece from a couple of weeks ago." Although the 'X Most X' series sometimes draws howls of derision, it does still pinpoint some interesting choices.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy.com just posted the final installment of its 25 Most Underrated Games of All Time feature. What under-appreciated classics made the list? Well, titles like Zork Zero, Ico, and Sly Cooper all make the cut. This most recent countdown is a follow-up to GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time piece from a couple of weeks ago." Although the 'X Most X' series sometimes draws howls of derision, it does still pinpoint some interesting choices.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy.com just posted the final installment of its 25 Most Underrated Games of All Time feature. What under-appreciated classics made the list? Well, titles like Zork Zero, Ico, and Sly Cooper all make the cut. This most recent countdown is a follow-up to GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time piece from a couple of weeks ago." Although the 'X Most X' series sometimes draws howls of derision, it does still pinpoint some interesting choices.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy.com just posted the final installment of its 25 Most Underrated Games of All Time feature. What under-appreciated classics made the list? Well, titles like Zork Zero, Ico, and Sly Cooper all make the cut. This most recent countdown is a follow-up to GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time piece from a couple of weeks ago." Although the 'X Most X' series sometimes draws howls of derision, it does still pinpoint some interesting choices.

Thanks to GameSpy for their new article charting the pioneers of MMORPG gaming, and discussing with them the "major quantum leaps" needed "to grow from two million North American MMORPG gamers to ten million." MUD co-creator Richard Bartle argues that "...so many MMORPGs have become so intently focused on automating and artificially motivating players to engage in the game-world that at times, the experience feels a little too 'Disneyfied.'" The solution, the article suggests, is to focus on "more human elements", "more life and realism into AI-driven NPCs", and stress "user-generated content" in the next generation of MMO titles.

Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Sole Food' editorial discussing the decline of the Japanese-developed videogame in the U.S. console charts. The article doesn't deny there are still big Japanese-developed hits in the West, but suggests: "It's not uncommon for there to be only two or three Japanese games among the top 20 sellers each month; this would have been unheard of less than ten years ago." As for explanations, it's argued that "Western developers are doing a better job of servicing core genres that are popular in the U.S.", but a "financial and creative slump" in the Japanese games industry is also blamed - "A quick glance through the games shown at last weekend's Tokyo Game Show reveals little that is truly new."

Thanks to GameSpy for their article officially revealing the return of classic RPG series The Bard's Tale, following recent rumors that a new title was in the works. However, screenshots of the title, from former Interplay boss Brian Fargo's new company, inXile Entertainment, reveal a radically different top-down view, as the game, due out at the end of 2004, "is being developed primarily for the PS2", and "is using an improved version of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine." There are also noticeable similarities to the classic original series, as: "The plan calls for the game to start near the original town of Skara Brae, an ancient ruin in the Orkney Islands on the northern tip of Scotland." Update: 10/01 22:34 GMT by S : There's now an interview with Brian Fargo about the new Bard's Tale title, also courtesy GameSpy.

Thanks to GameSpy for their article officially revealing the return of classic RPG series The Bard's Tale, following recent rumors that a new title was in the works. However, screenshots of the title, from former Interplay boss Brian Fargo's new company, inXile Entertainment, reveal a radically different top-down view, as the game, due out at the end of 2004, "is being developed primarily for the PS2", and "is using an improved version of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine." There are also noticeable similarities to the classic original series, as: "The plan calls for the game to start near the original town of Skara Brae, an ancient ruin in the Orkney Islands on the northern tip of Scotland." Update: 10/01 22:34 GMT by S : There's now an interview with Brian Fargo about the new Bard's Tale title, also courtesy GameSpy.

Thanks to GameSpy for their article officially revealing the return of classic RPG series The Bard's Tale, following recent rumors that a new title was in the works. However, screenshots of the title, from former Interplay boss Brian Fargo's new company, inXile Entertainment, reveal a radically different top-down view, as the game, due out at the end of 2004, "is being developed primarily for the PS2", and "is using an improved version of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine." There are also noticeable similarities to the classic original series, as: "The plan calls for the game to start near the original town of Skara Brae, an ancient ruin in the Orkney Islands on the northern tip of Scotland." Update: 10/01 22:34 GMT by S : There's now an interview with Brian Fargo about the new Bard's Tale title, also courtesy GameSpy.

Thanks to IGN Xbox for their hands-on look at Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox, as the eagerly-awaited ninja action title got an updated showing at the Tokyo Game Show. As well as what GameSpy call the "beautiful and frenetic action" of the main game, the developers showed off the NES Ninja Gaiden games that were recently announced as unlockable features, found "...hidden inside of a random chest. After finding it, series creator Tomonobu Itagaki directed us to a rundown arcade cabinet in the corner of the [in-game] room. Suddenly... we were playing the original Ninja Gaiden in all its 8-bit glory." Intriguingly, Itagaki was concerned that the new Ninja Gaiden was too easy, and "...said many Japanese gamers don't really like challenging games, and that he wanted to make sure the American fans were pleased and found the game challenging enough."

ceejayoz writes "The source code for Relic Entertainment's 1999 Game of the Year, Homeworld, has just been released. Details are available at Homeworld Universe. Not GPL'ed, but pretty nifty all the same." Note that any sort of property aside from the source such as graphics or codecs have been stripped out, but it's still cool to look through the game engine.

Thanks to various sources for their continued Tokyo Game Show coverage, as GameSpot cover the show in full and GameSpy is also showcasing regular TGS updates, with their Tokyo Game Show pictorial giving a good flavor for the sights and sounds of the show. Elsewhere, IGN's coverage is spread all over their console-specific sites, and there's more personal takes from Video-Fenky, who comments that "Sony is to TGS what Nintendo is to E3 - they always rent out huge spaces not to show off new games, but to make a point to the game industry", and NFG, who noted that the "cellular phone gaming sector was booming... [and] is Namco's biggest source of profit by division."

Thanks to various sources for their continued Tokyo Game Show coverage, as GameSpot cover the show in full and GameSpy is also showcasing regular TGS updates, with their Tokyo Game Show pictorial giving a good flavor for the sights and sounds of the show. Elsewhere, IGN's coverage is spread all over their console-specific sites, and there's more personal takes from Video-Fenky, who comments that "Sony is to TGS what Nintendo is to E3 - they always rent out huge spaces not to show off new games, but to make a point to the game industry", and NFG, who noted that the "cellular phone gaming sector was booming... [and] is Namco's biggest source of profit by division."

Thanks to various sources for covering Tokyo Game Show game announcements, including multiple new Capcom titles, from a Nightmare Before Christmas game for PlayStation 2, to a new multi-platform Mega Man RPG for PS2 and GameCube, and confirmed details on the Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, which "contains every incarnation of every character from each game released under the Street Fighter II name." Apart from the Final Fantasy VII-based CG movie DVD we mentioned earlier, SquareEnix has also revealed details and initial screenshots for "Kingdom Hearts II for the PlayStation 2 and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance", and Famitsu.com has breaking news on two new SquareEnix PS2 online RPGs, the action-orientated Ambrosia Odyssey and Front Mission Online, though there'll be much more comprehensive coverage soon.

Thanks to various sources for covering Tokyo Game Show game announcements, including multiple new Capcom titles, from a Nightmare Before Christmas game for PlayStation 2, to a new multi-platform Mega Man RPG for PS2 and GameCube, and confirmed details on the Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, which "contains every incarnation of every character from each game released under the Street Fighter II name." Apart from the Final Fantasy VII-based CG movie DVD we mentioned earlier, SquareEnix has also revealed details and initial screenshots for "Kingdom Hearts II for the PlayStation 2 and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance", and Famitsu.com has breaking news on two new SquareEnix PS2 online RPGs, the action-orientated Ambrosia Odyssey and Front Mission Online, though there'll be much more comprehensive coverage soon.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out BioWare's official Jade Empire site is now open, with news and screenshots about this Xbox-exclusive "epic action roleplaying game" from the creators of Baldur's Gate and Star Wars:KOTOR. There are also early screenshots for this Microsoft-published, Q4 2004-due title, "based on mythical China", in which the player "becomes a legend in... [a] world of martial arts and magic." There's also an interview with the BioWare founders and Jade Empire producer over at GameSpy which, though marketing-speak heavy, gives away some of the similarities to the popular KOTOR (for example, "If players want to pause to reflect on their strategic choices during a tough battle and choose that perfect style, they can do this at any time", though Jade Empire has real-time combat.)

Thanks to GameSpy for the first in a series of weekly articles charting the evolution of massively multiplayer online games. The piece discusses the claim that "All of the elements of MMOGs existed by the late eighties, but they did not exist in a single product", but suggests that Meridian 59 was the first "Internet-based, true graphical-based MUD." The article goes on to chart the rise of MMORPGs through Ultima Online (which "proved that there was a market for MMOGs, but... also suffered from problems that would haunt online worlds"), Lineage (which found "a ravenous market of its own overseas"), and EverQuest (which "accomplished everything that Meridian 59 attempted to do.")

MohitKhanna writes "GameSpy has posted a new preview of Doom 3, along with a couple of new screenshots from the game. The article gives an insight into what the single-player story mode of Doom 3 will be like, and also introduces a few new monsters." Blue's News has a good round-up of the other Doom 3 articles released today, also including a new Tim Willits and Todd Hollenshead interview at GameArena, and this 2004-due FPS is also previewed at Eurogamer and checked out via GameSpot.

MohitKhanna writes "GameSpy has posted a new preview of Doom 3, along with a couple of new screenshots from the game. The article gives an insight into what the single-player story mode of Doom 3 will be like, and also introduces a few new monsters." Blue's News has a good round-up of the other Doom 3 articles released today, also including a new Tim Willits and Todd Hollenshead interview at GameArena, and this 2004-due FPS is also previewed at Eurogamer and checked out via GameSpot.

Thanks to GameSpy for their unveiling of a new PC real-time strategy title based on the Lord Of The Rings movies. Not to be confused with Vivendi's book-based War Of The Ring RTS we covered a couple of days back, in this title, "EA and the C&C Generals team are bringing their own brand of RTS gameplay to Tolkien's world.", and the tech demo screenshots from this large-scale, early-in-development title look intriguing, as the developers try to "capture the epic cinematic flavor of the three film's battles (including Helm's Deep, Ithilien, and Minas Tirith) by combining content from all the movies."

Thanks to GameSpy for their unveiling of a new PC real-time strategy title based on the Lord Of The Rings movies. Not to be confused with Vivendi's book-based War Of The Ring RTS we covered a couple of days back, in this title, "EA and the C&C Generals team are bringing their own brand of RTS gameplay to Tolkien's world.", and the tech demo screenshots from this large-scale, early-in-development title look intriguing, as the developers try to "capture the epic cinematic flavor of the three film's battles (including Helm's Deep, Ithilien, and Minas Tirith) by combining content from all the movies."

Thanks to GameSpy for their import gaming column which also collates the total hardware sales for all the major consoles by territory, information that's often hard to find in one place. The article points out: "Generally speaking, worldwide, the PlayStation 2 is crushing the competition, having sold millions and millions more consoles than the Xbox or GameCube", and "Xbox seems to be more popular [than GameCube] in both North America and Europe", leading Nintendo's console by a million in the U.S. and a couple of hundred thousand in Europe. But in the East, the situation is different, since "hardly anybody is buying the Xbox in Japan", and the GameCube has a one-and-a-half million console advantage, further bolstered by a recent weekly chart that has the GC selling 16,841 consoles, and Xbox selling just 530 machines.

Thanks to GameSpy for their review of Capcom's Dino Crisis 3, in which their Xbox-exclusive "second-tier survival-horror franchise" barely survives a bizarre transition into space, thanks to "stunningly inane combat sequences" and "a camera that constantly switches between useless views of the action." A brief interview with the producer reveals even he thinks the franchise "...maybe not as [viable] as Resident Evil." On that note, TotalVideoGames.com has an interview with the producer of Resident Evil: Outbreak, the forthcoming PS2-exclusive online title, and he suggests: "Whereas other games have and will make use of voice chat, we decided not to. The main reason for this is to preserve the essence of Resident Evil games, namely the fear." Do these Capcom franchises still grip gamers like they used to?

Thanks to GameSpy for their review of Capcom's Dino Crisis 3, in which their Xbox-exclusive "second-tier survival-horror franchise" barely survives a bizarre transition into space, thanks to "stunningly inane combat sequences" and "a camera that constantly switches between useless views of the action." A brief interview with the producer reveals even he thinks the franchise "...maybe not as [viable] as Resident Evil." On that note, TotalVideoGames.com has an interview with the producer of Resident Evil: Outbreak, the forthcoming PS2-exclusive online title, and he suggests: "Whereas other games have and will make use of voice chat, we decided not to. The main reason for this is to preserve the essence of Resident Evil games, namely the fear." Do these Capcom franchises still grip gamers like they used to?

Following on from our earlier story about GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games countdown, the Top 5 have been announced, and Lionhead's PC-based 'god game', Black & White, made it to the top spot, with GameSpy suggesting: "Sometimes... people want to love a game so badly that its reputation runs away with itself." Congratulations to an an anonymous reader for guessing right, before another commenter noticed screenshots for the Top 5 had already been uploaded, doh. Meanwhile, Penny Arcade chime in on the chart, commenting: "When you deny the profound effect of Donkey Kong Country's fully rendered sprites in 1994, making the system a bulwark against the 32-bit revolution, there is no educating you", and illustrating: "If a company that overhypes games does a feature on overhyped games, are they overhyping the game?"

Following on from our earlier story about GameSpy's 25 Most Overrated Games countdown, the Top 5 have been announced, and Lionhead's PC-based 'god game', Black & White, made it to the top spot, with GameSpy suggesting: "Sometimes... people want to love a game so badly that its reputation runs away with itself." Congratulations to an an anonymous reader for guessing right, before another commenter noticed screenshots for the Top 5 had already been uploaded, doh. Meanwhile, Penny Arcade chime in on the chart, commenting: "When you deny the profound effect of Donkey Kong Country's fully rendered sprites in 1994, making the system a bulwark against the 32-bit revolution, there is no educating you", and illustrating: "If a company that overhypes games does a feature on overhyped games, are they overhyping the game?"