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The STALKER PC game series is my favorite single-player first person shooter type series of all time. The spooky atmosphere created in the game is just fantastic when you play the game in a darkened room at night. I would highly recommend the games to everyone.

The book A Roadside Picnic is also pretty good giving you a nice emotional ride of what it's like be a Stalker and to go into the zone. The old black and white movie Stalker is somewhat good in giving you some background about the Zone but it's nothing to the atmosphere that you feel in the games when you play.

STALKER Game Website

Stalker Wiki

Also be sure to check out these mods:
STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl
Oblivion Lost 2.2.1 for 1.0005 - Forum Thread
Supermod Pack v2.4 and Patches

STALKER - Clear Sky
The Faction War v3.7

But there is!

do they also hunt bandits and the military as well?

...before they finally get around to releasing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

FTA:
...I once asked Mr. Miyamoto about Nintendo's strategy when it comes to making games. I was surprised when he said that Nintendo only makes games to sell hardware units

I think this is a really good point. Nintendo's primary goal is to sell Nintendo consoles. They do this by not only having good games, but having a good console as well. They focus on what matters (selling consoles) and adjust everything else so they can acheive this goal.

Companies like ID are already innovating, but in a different way. ID is not a game company. They are a technology company. They make engines for games which they sell to make money. They make games to sell the engine, picking up quite a profit on the way mind you. A good example of this is Doom 3/Quake 4. They used Doom 3 as a technology demo, and Raven software and Activision liked it so much that they wanted to make a game using that engine.

Innovative things that I am exited about:
A Metaverse type of game, using Virtual reality.
This guy's vision of Virtual reality to come true. I think it would be fantastic.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - I am really looking foward to this game. It is exactly what I want: a RPFPS Game (Role Playing First Person Shooter Game). It has the kind of fully interactive gameworld that I want out of a metaverse (only smaller). AI that reacts depending on the situation (another innovative technology?). Really good physics (watch the demo movies). And the gameplay looks good; you interact with the world in pretty much the same way that you do in real life (with obvious limitations, of course).

I believe that the next innovation of games will be to make them as realistic as possible. We are already getting that now, with the game engines. Soon, I hope, we will change the way we interact with the games themselves (Virtual Reality). Hollywood (may) actually write good original stories (doubtful, I know), rather than re-hashing old ideas. We may get to decide how the story goes (like a choose-your-path book), and the game can go in different directions according to our choices.

As the technology gets better, hopefully the ideas will follow.

Where is S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? This game allows you to explore the Chernobyl nuclear reactor area ~20 years after the blowout at the reactor. One playtester even found the office he used to work in while playing this! The animal AI decides whether to rest and hunt, and go on without you being in the area. There are over 100+ npc players for you to intereact with, form clans with, or destroy... It's going to release spring 2005. This may sound like some hyped up fanboy, but just read the about page and you'll see why one could be more excited about this than most any other game known so far slated for release this year.

I guess author of this story is somehow mistaken. How can someone use engine that uses pre-compiled lights. Using doom3's engine is understandable because 99% of operations are realtime.. I can't find any other alternative with realtime lighting system, only doom3 atm (probably stalker in some way.

You might also be interested in S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl (previously subtitled as Oblivion Lost).

The designers call it a FPSRPG. There is no `levelling up', that is, as in normal RPG's where you increase stats etc. In this you just get better at the game as you play.

It is not yet out but from your description I think it is one you may want to keep an eye on.

official game site

Don't forget S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Why was the parent modded Offtopic?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R (aka Stalker) is a new first person shooter taking place in Chernobyl, after the events.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is not a 3rd person action adventure. It's a FPS that, IRC, has some roleplaying elements. you can see more here.
If you go to the engine features, you could see that this game has lots of potential.

Ok, DooM III is just fine, but, since I'm form Ukraine, 'tis more exciting for me && I'm more waiting for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Here are the movies from the game: Video

P.S. I'd really like to view them, but, ahh, my 14400Bps modem just rules the world! P.P.S. Unfortunately, it uses Micro$oft DirectX, so do not expect a version for GNU/Linux or MacOS X...

Ok, DooM III is just fine, but, since I'm form Ukraine, 'tis more exciting for me && I'm more waiting for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Here are the movies from the game: Video

P.S. I'd really like to view them, but, ahh, my 14400Bps modem just rules the world! P.P.S. Unfortunately, it uses Micro$oft DirectX, so do not expect a version for GNU/Linux or MacOS X...

I dunno, let's find out...

Looks pretty impressive!

Looks pretty impressive!

They actually give tours of the area. The people making the game S.t.a.l.k.e.r have been there a few times, pictures are here. sorry for the redundancy.

Not as alone as you would imagine. They give regular tours of the exclusion areas. The devlopers of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R have travelled there twice taking pictures. They explain a lot about the processes of getting there and what is safe to go to. Pictures are here. I find how close they go to actual power plant to be a little unsettling.

I have hope that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might introduce some much needed dirt and grit! Check out this picture for instance, or the gallery in general.

I have hope that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might introduce some much needed dirt and grit! Check out this picture for instance, or the gallery in general.

In a few months, coming to a store near you.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
http://www.stalker-game.com/index_eng.html
http://www.russobit-m.ru/eng/games/oblivion/
http://www.3dgamers.com/games/stalker/
Scarier than DOOM3, prettier than Half-Life 2.

Check out the screenshots and the trailers, they will blow your away.

There is a game in the production -STALKER about Chernobil zone. Designers of the game took a special trip into Chernobil zone, to take pictures and get a feeling of the zone. Pictures form their trip (don't mistake them for screenshots)used to be buried somethere on their site.

...the upcoming PC game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The developers of the game made a trip to Chernobyl and also took some photos of "The Zone" that are quite amazing as well. Supposedly they recreated about 60% of the real world for this game. How creepy...

Here is the link to the photos, and here is the game.

Both photos collections are unsettling. Just to think of what it must be like to experience Chernobyl, past or present, gives me chills. But is it not somehow fascinating to see our own technological marvels destroyed and decayed, as a sort of humbling reminder? Or am I the only one?

-K

Yeah, no doubt, man. A hot chick on a motorcycle cruising through radioactive ruins pursued by
marauders has 80's postapocolyptic action flick written all over it.

Not an action movie, but it did make a good video game

Stalker seems to be overlooked quite a lot. Still it has Nvidia's attention. Tom Ohle from Bioware is looking forward to Stalker as well as Andrew Edelsten from Auran. And I know I am keeping both my eyes on this gem :)

This is an upcoming FPS/RPG where the developers make it a point of saying that it's you, the player, who advance in skill, not the stats of your character in the game.