Slashdot Mirror
Domain: msn.co.uk
Stories and comments across the archive that link to msn.co.uk.
Stories · 16
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Some Revolution Downloads Will Be Free
GamesRadar has the details from an interview with Nintendo of America VP George Harrison, in which he passes on the very good news that certain past-gen Nintendo titles will be free for download onto the Revolution. The article seems to imply that primarily the games available for free download will be Nintendo created titles. From the article: "This is a clever move by Nintendo: regardless of the final power of Revolution and the frequency of new titles, Nintendo knows that its loyal fans will cry tears of joy over a free service that lets them download previous Nintendo classics straight out of the box." -
MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves
theodp writes "Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. And don't forget to download your free Thought Thieves Poster!" -
MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves
theodp writes "Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. And don't forget to download your free Thought Thieves Poster!" -
MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves
theodp writes "Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. And don't forget to download your free Thought Thieves Poster!" -
Dawn of War Gold; Demo Out
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Relic's Dawn of War has gone gold, and is due out on September 20th. Published by THQ, Dawn of War is a Real-time Strategy game based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It's gotten a few previews so far - but why trust them when you can grab the demo? Unfortunately, a quick jog through Google didn't turn up any torrents." -
On The Making Of Cannon Fodder
Thanks to Games Radar for its Edge-reprinted piece discussing the making of the classic Amiga action-strategy title Cannon Fodder. The piece rhapsodizes of the cult title, later converted to the Game Boy in very limited amounts: "It stirred the British Legion into a fury, was immediately hailed as a classic by Amiga magazines, and abides as one of the 16-bit generation's most memorable games. Though best known for the eponymous Soccer, Cannon Fodder was the third hit of Sensible Software's golden age: a period between 1989 and 1994 when the UK codeshop could do little wrong, enjoying universal critical acclaim and validation, in retail form, to the tune of cash registers ringing up millions of sales." -
Out Run 2 Xbox Enhancements Analyzed
Thanks to GamesRadar for its Edge-reprinted cover article interviewing UK developers Sumo Digital on its conversion of Sega's arcade title Out Run 2, and trying to explain why "Sega has handed the Xbox conversion [of the new AM2-developed arcade game] to an unknown dev studio responsible for exercise bike software." The developers discuss the issues is conversion: "The arcade board has essentially got twice the memory that the Xbox has... and most of that was used", before explaining a new-for-Xbox Mission Mode which "will feature in excess of 50 missions consisting of Heart Attack-style challenges, marathon routes and AI character challenges", and also revealing "[Xbox] Live compatibility, which promises score uploading and ghost downloading while also permitting online play." -
MGS3 Demo Nabbed From Sony E3 Stand?
Ant writes "GamesRadar.com is reporting that a Metal Gear Solid 3 demo was stolen from the E3 videogames expo by nefarious exhibition attendees, as, allegedly: 'L.A. Convention Center security staff were left flat-footed and red-faced yesterday as two unknown perps had it away with a copy of the MGS3: Snake Eater demo... The code snatchers were able to gain access to the PS2 demoing Snake's hotly anticipated jungle rumble by cracking the perspex case on one of the pods on the Sony stand." -
On Next-Gen Consoles And Technical Innovation
Thanks to GamesRadar for reprinting an Edge feature discussing likely technical innovations which the next generation of videogame consoles may introduce. The piece discusses the impact of massively parallel computing on consoles, noting it's "...been plagued by a lack of good development tools, and with most developers taking three years even to get familiar with PlayStation 2's brace of vector units, this must be a real worry." It goes on to discuss graphical effects, from post-scene processing ("allows subtle ways of changing the look of the game in terms of brightness or colour saturation") to depth of field ("The biggest question remains whether developers will find any useful in-game applications for such technology.") -
Arcade Show Report Shows Coin-Op Endurance
Thanks to GamesRadar for its report from the recent London-based ATEI arcade game show. The article, following quickly on the heels of a recent Slashdot Games post about new arcade games, points out: "When you can play an online version of Project Gotham Racing 2 from the comfort of your very own living room, the concept of heading to a grungy arcade emporium to play the latest coin-ops seems, to say the least, quaint", but still finds arcade-only highlights, including Out Run 2 ("...retains its predecessor's sheer speed-fuelled thrills while adding a decidedly 21st century feel") Ollie King ("a rarity among skateboard games in that it's a checkpoint-based racer"), and even the bizarre Flamin' Finger ("...an odd little LED maze game in which you have to trace a route out with the tip of your finger within the harshest of time limits.") -
Videogame Graphic Advances - Not What They Used To Be?
Thanks to GamesRadar for its PC Gamer-reprinted article discussing why graphics alone aren't enough to sell a game anymore. The author explains: "During the final days of Steam, I found myself playing the original Half-Life. And, frankly, it looked perfectly acceptable. While it clearly lacks the fine polish of modern first-person shooters, the world it presented me with was entirely comparable with anything around. And, being a great game in the first place, it was more enjoyable than - say - Unreal II." He continues: "However, if you went back to 1998 when Valve's masterpiece was released, and attempted to play a game five years older than that, it would be a very different experience. To go back and play System Shock, Doom or Wolfenstein requires a whole re-arrangement of your thought processes to accept the difference in graphics quality." Do you agree that "...the days when graphics ruled videogames are rapidly drawing to a close"? -
Half-Life 2 Already Being Illegally Sold in Russia
freidog writes "A short blurb on GamesRadar reports Half-Life 2 is for sale, sort of. It seems the 'leaked' Half-Life 2 source has found itself nicely updated and packaged for sale, in Russia. Some work has certainly gone into this production, as 'Hackers have apparently even gone to the length of translating text in the fully playable code into Russian.' However, one would imagine the game's content would be pretty sparse, and stability and polish lacking on such an early build." Another reader points to a page with more information on the bootleg discs, although only the disc art and packaging is mentioned as being translated. -
Half-Life 2 Already Being Illegally Sold in Russia
freidog writes "A short blurb on GamesRadar reports Half-Life 2 is for sale, sort of. It seems the 'leaked' Half-Life 2 source has found itself nicely updated and packaged for sale, in Russia. Some work has certainly gone into this production, as 'Hackers have apparently even gone to the length of translating text in the fully playable code into Russian.' However, one would imagine the game's content would be pretty sparse, and stability and polish lacking on such an early build." Another reader points to a page with more information on the bootleg discs, although only the disc art and packaging is mentioned as being translated. -
Adaptive AI in Games - Does it Really Work?
qasimodo asks: "I was recently reading a preview of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and then I came across this article at GameSpot saying Pandora Tomorrow will feature adaptive AI which 'will adjust itself to players' skill level'. I remember (and is also mentioned in the PT article) Max Payne also featured this, but I never noticed it. I guess that's the best way to know if it works, since it adapts to your gaming skills, but does it really work? Have you noticed it? Do you have proof of it?" -
The Making Of Halo Illuminated
Thanks to Gamesradar for their Edge-reprinted feature on the making of Bungie's seminal Xbox FPS, Halo. According to a Bungie producer, the team "...decided they wanted to go back to the roots of a game like Marathon, combining it with some of the things we learnt from Myth." Other topics include the originally impossible tutorial level ("I actually had several play testers decide they wanted to quit playing the game and go home, rather than go through the opening level"), and the relative disappointment of The Library level ("A lot of the little things like that added up to make the Library a lot less than what we wanted it to be.") -
Europeans Find Trouble In Camelot
Thanks to GamesRadar for their investigation into trouble with the European version of Dark Ages Of Camelot, following an earlier 'hacking incident' on the PC MMORPG. The piece discovers that: "Customers say access to their subscription accounts and ability to contact GOA.com (who hosts servers for the Mythic Entertainment game in the UK, France and Germany) was disabled without notice by the company, who later went on to disable all game passwords as well. Subsequent statements about time frames for services to return to normal have not been met." GOA's comments on the lack of notice: "...we were unable to communicate that this was a hack in order to prevent further attacks or damage."