Slashdot Mirror

Thanks to 1UP for their story exploring the varied history of Alien Vs. Predator games for PCs, consoles, and handhelds, pointing out "...aliens have fought Predators while eating Colonial Marines on half a dozen game platforms with no sign of letting up." Titles featured include Capcom's 2D arcade version, notable for "ridiculous life power-ups, including tossed salads, giant pizza pies with everything, and delicately-garnished plates of sea bream", the first-person shooter Atari Jaguar version, "employing the concept that would later become central to the franchise - the game would be playable from the point of view of all three species", and Rebellion's follow-up PC version, described as "a heck of a game if it's patched to repair the flaws in its initial release."

Thanks to 1UP for their story exploring the varied history of Alien Vs. Predator games for PCs, consoles, and handhelds, pointing out "...aliens have fought Predators while eating Colonial Marines on half a dozen game platforms with no sign of letting up." Titles featured include Capcom's 2D arcade version, notable for "ridiculous life power-ups, including tossed salads, giant pizza pies with everything, and delicately-garnished plates of sea bream", the first-person shooter Atari Jaguar version, "employing the concept that would later become central to the franchise - the game would be playable from the point of view of all three species", and Rebellion's follow-up PC version, described as "a heck of a game if it's patched to repair the flaws in its initial release."

Thanks to 1UP for pointing out that the classic Sam & Max PC graphic adventure will be a bonus pre-order item for anyone reserving LucasArts/Planet Moon's wacked-out Xbox/PC shooter Armed & Dangerous. The article suggests: "PC adventure fans still venerate Sam & Max for its cool cartoon graphics and demented sense of humor", and this bonus disc, which includes a fully-compatible Windows talkie version of the classic title, also features a trailer to help promote the Sam & Max sequel, due on PC in early 2004.

Thanks to 1UP for their chart of the most ridiculous videogame character names ever. Among the crazed picks are Higharolla Kockamamie from Snake's Revenge ("How many 8-year-olds of the time were expected to get the Ayatollah Khomeini reference here is questionable"), Rocket Billy Redcadillac from Gungrave O.D. ("Here's a name so gloriously stupid, the mind protests at being asked to accept it"), and Fred Askare & Paula Abghoul from Castlevania IV ("Presumably from the same translation department that gave us Love Chaney, Jr. and Boris Karloffice.") Any other nominations?

Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

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 TotalGames.net for their article discussing the history of Star Wars-based videogames, in which they air the fan-voiced complaint that "LucasArts used to be a seal of quality on a game, but it's become totally devalued by so many third-rate titles." However, the article notes the upsurge in buzz over expansive titles like Knights Of The Old Republic, commenting: "Rather than divide their fanbase into original trilogy and prequel fans, LucasArts seem to want to bring them together", before suggesting some unlikely license uses along the lines of Super Bombad Racing: "Jedi Set Radio and Dance Dance Rebellion, anyone? Maybe Grand Theft Jawa?"

Thanks to Ludology.org for pointing to the Georgia Tech game morphology project, which, although still in development, has asked famous creators and academics for their favorite games of all time. Interesting picks include Warren Spector's kudos for Ultima IV ("Wait, you mean games can be about more than just killing things? Whoa! This game, with its ethical underpinnings, changed my life"), Henry Jenkins' choice of Myst ("not a great game from the perspective of game play... [but influential because] it brought some degree of middle class respectability to games"), and Will Wright's picking of Pinball Construction Set ("[a] heavy influence for me - construction is fun.")

Thanks to Ludology.org for pointing to the Georgia Tech game morphology project, which, although still in development, has asked famous creators and academics for their favorite games of all time. Interesting picks include Warren Spector's kudos for Ultima IV ("Wait, you mean games can be about more than just killing things? Whoa! This game, with its ethical underpinnings, changed my life"), Henry Jenkins' choice of Myst ("not a great game from the perspective of game play... [but influential because] it brought some degree of middle class respectability to games"), and Will Wright's picking of Pinball Construction Set ("[a] heavy influence for me - construction is fun.")

Thanks to Ludology.org for pointing to the Georgia Tech game morphology project, which, although still in development, has asked famous creators and academics for their favorite games of all time. Interesting picks include Warren Spector's kudos for Ultima IV ("Wait, you mean games can be about more than just killing things? Whoa! This game, with its ethical underpinnings, changed my life"), Henry Jenkins' choice of Myst ("not a great game from the perspective of game play... [but influential because] it brought some degree of middle class respectability to games"), and Will Wright's picking of Pinball Construction Set ("[a] heavy influence for me - construction is fun.")

Thanks to Yahoo! for hosting the press release announcing Eidos Interactive's return to full-year profitability, despite the disappointing critical reception for the latest Tomb Raider title, as Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, TimeSplitters 2 and Championship Manager 4 "each sold circa one million units during the year." Eidos comment on Lara's transfer to developers Crystal Dynamics as bringing a "fresh look and feel" to the franchise. Elsewhere, the massive-selling Championship Manager soccer sim franchise will no longer be developed by creators Sports Interactive, raising questions of "how Eidos will manage to deliver anything up to CM's standard" for the 2004/2005 version, and Eidos won't be publishing TimeSplitters 3, since developers Free Radical own the rights to it.

Thanks to Nintendojo for posting the latest in their series on classic games that deserve to get resurrected in updated form. The latest instalment picks out Combat for the Atari 2600, "...one of the first genuine 'deathmatch' games around", but earlier picks include Fortress of Narzod for the Vectrex, and Shadowrun for the SNES, of which the author says "...the style of this game, plus its rudimentary squad-based combat, makes this a natural for an upgrade."

Thanks to The Magic Box for their new information on Sega's AGES 2500 Series remakes for PlayStation 2. We've covered the initial set of remakes, currently announced for Japanese release only, and including Phantasy Star, Fantasy Zone, Monaco GP, Space Harrier, and Golden Axe, but there's now a streaming trailer of the first titles (in 56k and broadband flavors), and details on the next games in the series: "Vol.6:Virtua Racing - remake of Model 1 3D racing game, Vol.7:Last Bronx - remake of the Model 2 arcade fighting game, Vol.8:Phantasy Star 2 - remake of Mega Drive RPG, Vol.9:Phantasy Star 4: The End of Millennium - remake of Mega Drive RPG."

Thanks to The Magic Box for their new information on Sega's AGES 2500 Series remakes for PlayStation 2. We've covered the initial set of remakes, currently announced for Japanese release only, and including Phantasy Star, Fantasy Zone, Monaco GP, Space Harrier, and Golden Axe, but there's now a streaming trailer of the first titles (in 56k and broadband flavors), and details on the next games in the series: "Vol.6:Virtua Racing - remake of Model 1 3D racing game, Vol.7:Last Bronx - remake of the Model 2 arcade fighting game, Vol.8:Phantasy Star 2 - remake of Mega Drive RPG, Vol.9:Phantasy Star 4: The End of Millennium - remake of Mega Drive RPG."

Steve Shewchuk writes "3DO, the publisher known for its Might and Magic, Army Men, and High Heat Baseball franchises, has successfully auctioned off a number of its assets after its transition into bankruptcy protection. High Heat Baseball has been purchased by Microsoft, while the Might and Magic series went to Ubisoft. Street Racing Syndicate sold to Namco Hometek, but there's no word on Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, one of the biggest 'in production' games before 3DO went bankrupt."

Thanks to Gamasutra.com for their news report (registration required) indicating that Graeme Devine has left id Software for Microsoft-owned Ensemble, the developers of the Age Of Empires series. The article elaborates: "Devine's career covers a substantial swath of videogame history, starting with porting games such as Pole Position for Atari while still in high school in the U.K. in the early 1980s. He later co-founded Trilobyte, where he was central to the development of the seminal CD-ROM title The 7th Guest and its follow-up, The 11th Hour. Most recently Devine was working on Doom 3 for id, in roles ranging from project manager to designer to programmer." Further details are as yet unavailable, but the piece suggests "..in his new role at Ensemble, Devine will be focusing primarily on game design."

Thanks to Gamasutra.com for their news report (registration required) indicating that Graeme Devine has left id Software for Microsoft-owned Ensemble, the developers of the Age Of Empires series. The article elaborates: "Devine's career covers a substantial swath of videogame history, starting with porting games such as Pole Position for Atari while still in high school in the U.K. in the early 1980s. He later co-founded Trilobyte, where he was central to the development of the seminal CD-ROM title The 7th Guest and its follow-up, The 11th Hour. Most recently Devine was working on Doom 3 for id, in roles ranging from project manager to designer to programmer." Further details are as yet unavailable, but the piece suggests "..in his new role at Ensemble, Devine will be focusing primarily on game design."

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the Yahoo-hosted press release announcing a development relationship between BioWare Corp. and Obsidian Entertainment, notable because Obsidian is headed by Feargus Urquhart, ex-head of Interplay's Black Isle Studios, and someone who helped bring Icewind Dale and Planetscape:Torment to life, as well as working with BioWare to publish the Baldur's Gate series. Urquhart commented that "A collaboration with BioWare gives Obsidian the opportunity to explore development projects on established game franchises with proven technology and brand loyalty from the fan community."

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the Yahoo-hosted press release announcing a development relationship between BioWare Corp. and Obsidian Entertainment, notable because Obsidian is headed by Feargus Urquhart, ex-head of Interplay's Black Isle Studios, and someone who helped bring Icewind Dale and Planetscape:Torment to life, as well as working with BioWare to publish the Baldur's Gate series. Urquhart commented that "A collaboration with BioWare gives Obsidian the opportunity to explore development projects on established game franchises with proven technology and brand loyalty from the fan community."

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the Yahoo-hosted press release announcing a development relationship between BioWare Corp. and Obsidian Entertainment, notable because Obsidian is headed by Feargus Urquhart, ex-head of Interplay's Black Isle Studios, and someone who helped bring Icewind Dale and Planetscape:Torment to life, as well as working with BioWare to publish the Baldur's Gate series. Urquhart commented that "A collaboration with BioWare gives Obsidian the opportunity to explore development projects on established game franchises with proven technology and brand loyalty from the fan community."

Thanks to Gamers.com for their news that Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Super Smash Brothers and the Kirby series, announced his departure from developer HAL Labs in his latest column for the Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly. Although an independent developer, HAL Laboratory is tied very closely to Nintendo, but Sakurai said that "...his departure was entirely amicable, and he is leaving with the approval of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata." Going forward, it's confirmed that "HAL will continue to develop games starring Kirby, although the fate of the Smash Brothers franchise remains uncertain", according to Sakurai's column.

Ndr_Amigo writes "ScummVM (an interpreter for several different adventure game engines, like Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2, the LucasArts' SCUMM adventures and Beneath a Steel Sky, earlier Slashdot story) just released version 0.5.0. Among the usual bugfixes, new game support, etc, the interesting thing about this version is that the developers of one of our target games (Beneath a Steel Sky, by Revolution Software) actually supported us. To the extent of not only supplying us with the original assembly source code, but later deciding to release the game as Freeware to coincide with our reimplementation of their engine. This is a complete turnaround from our prior experiences, and shows that there are still a few smaller active game developers out there that are willing to help keep the classics alive for their fans... And of course you can download ScummVM and the freeware release of Beneath a Steel Sky from the ScummVM homepage :)"

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an Eidos press release discussing major changes to the Tomb Raider franchise. Following the recent resignation of the managing director of Tomb Raider developers Core Design, seemingly due to the disappointing reception for Tomb Raider:Angel Of Darkness, Eidos has announced that "...in recognition of the Company's need continually to enhance the value and maximize the commercial opportunity of one of its key franchises, for which all intellectual property rights belong to Eidos, the Board has concluded that it will transfer development of the franchise to its Crystal Dynamics studio in the U.S." Crystal Dynamics are probably best known for the recent titles in the Legacy Of Kain series, so it'll be interesting to see what they make of the latterly lackluster Tomb Raider franchise.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an Eidos press release discussing major changes to the Tomb Raider franchise. Following the recent resignation of the managing director of Tomb Raider developers Core Design, seemingly due to the disappointing reception for Tomb Raider:Angel Of Darkness, Eidos has announced that "...in recognition of the Company's need continually to enhance the value and maximize the commercial opportunity of one of its key franchises, for which all intellectual property rights belong to Eidos, the Board has concluded that it will transfer development of the franchise to its Crystal Dynamics studio in the U.S." Crystal Dynamics are probably best known for the recent titles in the Legacy Of Kain series, so it'll be interesting to see what they make of the latterly lackluster Tomb Raider franchise.

Thanks to GameSpy for their new interview with Dennis Dyack, founder of Silicon Knights, the developers of the Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain, as well as Eternal Darkness and the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Dyack discusses working with Shigeru Miyamoto on MGS: "Working with Miyamoto is like working with Aristotle ... like working with one of the great masters. I said this at a press conference: 'Gameplay is his ocean, and he navigates it like no one else.'" and praises Nintendo's vision: "When [Nintendo ex-president Yamauchi] appointed Iwata as his successor, we were all amazed, but it was a great call. Look at his aggressive approach: the GBA-SP, for example. He said it best at the press conference, 'We know what happened, we know what the issues are - we're moving forward.' And what did the other groups do? Microsoft cancelled its party. Sony talked up a handheld that it didn't show."

Thanks to GameSpy for their new interview with Dennis Dyack, founder of Silicon Knights, the developers of the Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain, as well as Eternal Darkness and the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Dyack discusses working with Shigeru Miyamoto on MGS: "Working with Miyamoto is like working with Aristotle ... like working with one of the great masters. I said this at a press conference: 'Gameplay is his ocean, and he navigates it like no one else.'" and praises Nintendo's vision: "When [Nintendo ex-president Yamauchi] appointed Iwata as his successor, we were all amazed, but it was a great call. Look at his aggressive approach: the GBA-SP, for example. He said it best at the press conference, 'We know what happened, we know what the issues are - we're moving forward.' And what did the other groups do? Microsoft cancelled its party. Sony talked up a handheld that it didn't show."

Thanks to BluesNews for pointing to a DOS Game Archive interview with Ken Silverman, creator of Apogee's Build Engine, as used for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage, and more. The interview discusses the genesis of the Build Engine ("Around March of 1993, id Software released a set of alpha screenshots of DOOM. That's about when I started to work on Build... I decided to start with angled walls with a little prototype I wrote in QuickBasic (named PICROT)"), as well as some of Ken's more 'unique' non-programming skills ("I can draw the borders of all U.S. states from memory.")

Thanks to BluesNews for pointing to a DOS Game Archive interview with Ken Silverman, creator of Apogee's Build Engine, as used for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage, and more. The interview discusses the genesis of the Build Engine ("Around March of 1993, id Software released a set of alpha screenshots of DOOM. That's about when I started to work on Build... I decided to start with angled walls with a little prototype I wrote in QuickBasic (named PICROT)"), as well as some of Ken's more 'unique' non-programming skills ("I can draw the borders of all U.S. states from memory.")

Thanks to BluesNews for pointing to a DOS Game Archive interview with Ken Silverman, creator of Apogee's Build Engine, as used for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage, and more. The interview discusses the genesis of the Build Engine ("Around March of 1993, id Software released a set of alpha screenshots of DOOM. That's about when I started to work on Build... I decided to start with angled walls with a little prototype I wrote in QuickBasic (named PICROT)"), as well as some of Ken's more 'unique' non-programming skills ("I can draw the borders of all U.S. states from memory.")

Thanks to BluesNews for pointing to a DOS Game Archive interview with Ken Silverman, creator of Apogee's Build Engine, as used for Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage, and more. The interview discusses the genesis of the Build Engine ("Around March of 1993, id Software released a set of alpha screenshots of DOOM. That's about when I started to work on Build... I decided to start with angled walls with a little prototype I wrote in QuickBasic (named PICROT)"), as well as some of Ken's more 'unique' non-programming skills ("I can draw the borders of all U.S. states from memory.")

Thanks to Blues News for pointing out a recent post on the Celestial Heavens fansite discussing the continuing demise of New World Computing, the creators of the Might And Magic series, saying that the 3DO-owned developers, caught in that company's recent bankruptcy, have had their separate office in Solvang, CA, closed, and are running out of time for a third party to buy up the Might and Magic license from 3DO and re-employ the team. Elsewhere, fan Charles Watkins has published a discussion piece about how the franchise might be reborn, suggesting: "The conservative approach to product planning has a strong appeal. By sticking with a successful formula, you feel you are taking fewer risks so your profits seem more secure. And the less you change, the less effort is required. It is this mentality that brought Heroes down."

Although not officially announced, both the No Mutants Allowed and Duck And Cover fan-sites for the Fallout series of PC RPGs have much new info on Fallout 3, including some new alleged Fallout 3 concept art, as well as pictures of it on the wall in Black Isle HQ. NMA has a good unofficial FAQ, missing the newest info such as there "..being just one playable race in Fallout 3, humans" , but including many more details from the game codenamed 'Van Buren', as being widely discussed in online forums by lead designer J.E.Sawyer.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamers.com article discussing the best and worst character designs in videogames. The author singles out his favorite designs, including Samus Aran, Solid Snake, and Sonic The Hedgehog, and then picks Ratchet, Plok, and Boogerman as examples of characters that just don't make the grade. It may not be the final word on the subject, but it's a good starting position to answer the question: "Who became an absorbing avatar with which to explore a virtual world, and who was just plain painful to look at?"

Thanks to Gametab for pointing to a new C+VG interview with the creative director of Sony Cambridge's new PS2 action title, Ghosthunter. This title uses the graphics engine of the good-looking Sony title Primal, and is summed up like this: "..imagine Ghostbusters, dark, adult, horror, but still with the little macabre weird stuff we've always done in Studio Cambridge games [like Medievil]." There also a few screenshots available on Gamespot.

gomariusnet writes "The Mythdev group has released the 1.4 patch for the game Myth 2:Soulblighter. What is particularly special and unique about this is the circumstances of how this has come about: Mythdev doesn't work for the franchise publisher, they're just fans of the Myth series who have got a hold of the source code (assumedly under NDA), and have continued development of the game four years after its release. Thus far they've added support to Myth 2 for OpenGL, WinXP, Mac OSX carbonisation, fixed bugs, added a virtual Myth 1 mode, increased modding capabilities even further, have undertaken and completed a similarly large undertaking for Myth 3, and set up a server which supports both games to replace the departed server of Myth 2's creator, Bungie. Mythdev is looking for programmers to assist in porting the new, enhanced version Myth 2 to Linux and in further developing the game engine." We noted an earlier Myth 2 patch a couple of months back, and it's good to see projects like this and the unofficial Anachronox patching keeping old titles working and enhanced, years after release.

gomariusnet writes "The Mythdev group has released the 1.4 patch for the game Myth 2:Soulblighter. What is particularly special and unique about this is the circumstances of how this has come about: Mythdev doesn't work for the franchise publisher, they're just fans of the Myth series who have got a hold of the source code (assumedly under NDA), and have continued development of the game four years after its release. Thus far they've added support to Myth 2 for OpenGL, WinXP, Mac OSX carbonisation, fixed bugs, added a virtual Myth 1 mode, increased modding capabilities even further, have undertaken and completed a similarly large undertaking for Myth 3, and set up a server which supports both games to replace the departed server of Myth 2's creator, Bungie. Mythdev is looking for programmers to assist in porting the new, enhanced version Myth 2 to Linux and in further developing the game engine." We noted an earlier Myth 2 patch a couple of months back, and it's good to see projects like this and the unofficial Anachronox patching keeping old titles working and enhanced, years after release.

gomariusnet writes "The Mythdev group has released the 1.4 patch for the game Myth 2:Soulblighter. What is particularly special and unique about this is the circumstances of how this has come about: Mythdev doesn't work for the franchise publisher, they're just fans of the Myth series who have got a hold of the source code (assumedly under NDA), and have continued development of the game four years after its release. Thus far they've added support to Myth 2 for OpenGL, WinXP, Mac OSX carbonisation, fixed bugs, added a virtual Myth 1 mode, increased modding capabilities even further, have undertaken and completed a similarly large undertaking for Myth 3, and set up a server which supports both games to replace the departed server of Myth 2's creator, Bungie. Mythdev is looking for programmers to assist in porting the new, enhanced version Myth 2 to Linux and in further developing the game engine." We noted an earlier Myth 2 patch a couple of months back, and it's good to see projects like this and the unofficial Anachronox patching keeping old titles working and enhanced, years after release.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a new preview of the abstract Gamecube shoot-em-up, Unity, over at TotalVideoGames.Com. Unity is being created by the infamous Jeff Minter at his one-man ungulate-loving Welsh development house, Llamasoft - Minter is especially well-known for his psychedelic shooter remakes like Tempest 2000 and his interactive VLM ('virtual light machine') programs for the Atari Jaguar and the ill-fated Nuon. Fortunately, Unity is being made for a non-dead platform, and has help and backing from Peter 'Populous/Black+White' Molyneux's company Lionhead. On a related note, iainsimons points to a rare public appearance by Minter to talk about Unity - at an Indian restaurant in Nottingham, UK, no less. We hope there's no llama curry on the menu.

easychord writes "RPGCodex are reporting that J.E. Sawyer has sneakily or accidentally leaked Fallout 3 concept art onto the Interweb. After the disappointing non RPG spin-offs in the Fallout universe and the confusion around Black Isle's Lionheart having the working title of Fallout Fantasy, is Fallout 3 becoming a vaporware holy grail?"

Courtesy of Gamespy, there's a new interview with Lawrence Holland about Secret Weapons Over Normandy. This sequel to the classic PC flight combat game Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe comes from Holland and his Totally Games development house, who are also legendary for the X-Wing series of games for Lucasarts. This game is due in time for Xmas on PC, PS2, and Xbox, and Holland offers - "We're not very complicated. What we emphasize is re-creating the WWII combat experience, meaning that we try a visceral, seat-of-the-pants, total involvement on the violence of the actual battles."

flipkin writes "MobyGames, an IMDb-inspired database of video games, has now surpassed the significant milestone of 10,000 game entries. The stated goal of the site has been to meticulously document and catalog every single game ever made, and while they still have a long way to go, 10k is an impressive start." Apart from this site and the excellent Gamefaqs, what other online game databases do you find handy?

flipkin writes "MobyGames, an IMDb-inspired database of video games, has now surpassed the significant milestone of 10,000 game entries. The stated goal of the site has been to meticulously document and catalog every single game ever made, and while they still have a long way to go, 10k is an impressive start." Apart from this site and the excellent Gamefaqs, what other online game databases do you find handy?

flipkin writes "MobyGames, an IMDb-inspired database of video games, has now surpassed the significant milestone of 10,000 game entries. The stated goal of the site has been to meticulously document and catalog every single game ever made, and while they still have a long way to go, 10k is an impressive start." Apart from this site and the excellent Gamefaqs, what other online game databases do you find handy?

John Callaham writes "HomeLAN chats with Digital Illusions producer Mikael Rudberg as he talks about Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons, the upcoming second expansion pack to their hit multiplayer shooter for publisher Electronic Arts." Seems like Battlefield 1942 has been one of the out-of-left-field smash hits of recent, and from the guys who honed their skills on Pinball Dreams for the Amiga, too.

Siliron writes "Back in the heyday of DOS gaming, there was one game that had more of a BBS addons-trading scene than any other, and that was Stunts. Now a German developer, Moon Byte, has decided to update the game in full 3D glory. Check it out at the official Crashday site." The new game, which is still in development, seems to be influenced by the original Crash (which was called 4D Sports Driving outside the US) in its custom track creation and stunt-making capabilities.

mbishop asks: "After reading an the article on games decreasing brain activity, I thought back through childhood to when there were an abundance of 'construction set' games. I owe much of my music education to 'Music Construction Set'. These games were unique in that you could not only save a creation, but you could compile it into a standalone program that someone else could play even if they didn't have the original software. Creation was very easy, no programming necessary, and fun. My guess is that these sorts of games do much to increase the brain activity of the player. What are the 'Construction Set' games of today? Is there still a market for them?"

"I know that most PC games today have editors where a player can create their own levels and share them but users still need the original software. Even worse, consoles, which have the larger market, don't have enough storage (except maybe for the XBox) and aren't open enough to encourage players to create their own games and share them."

C :I think I see mbishop's point. Legos are still alive and well, but I don't see as much evidence on these types of toys in today's TV commercials. It seems those commercials are more interested in pushing the latest licensed crap instead of pushing toys designed to stimulate your child's own imagination. Of course, a simple Google search may yield a result or two, but that still doesn't answer the real question. Computer-based sets, would be a nice alternative, but nothing beats the real thing where children can use their own hands to create something they can show their paernts. Where have all of the Heathkit's, the chemical experiment toys and the other types of "builder" sets gone, and are they due for a revival, soon?

winter@ES writes: "The U.S. Army is teaming up with Sony, Pandemic Studios, and Quicksilver software to develop a pair of squad-level combat games. Through the Institute for Creative Technologies (jointly operated by the U.S. Army and the University of SOCAL) the Army will be funding and developing "C-Force", targetted for next-gen consoles, and "CS-12" for PCs. The project is headed up by Mech Warrior veteran, Rob Sears."