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Mount & Blade Preview at Game Banshee ( Preview )
posted by El Dee on Fri 16 May 2008, 21:17:10
More info on Mount & Blade
There's a Mount & Blade preview up at GameBanshee written by none other than Brother None of NMA and RPGCodex fame.
I've seen many attempts to quickly describe Mount & Blade. It has been said that the game looks like an interpretation of Dungeons & Dragons from someone who never played D&D, it has been called Pirates! in a medieval setting, and, most aptly, a mix of Pirates!/Elite with role-playing mechanics.
In other words, it's a very unique independent game, having started out as an experiment to bring an oft-ignored mounted combat component into the realm of gaming, and ending up as a massive freelancer game with RPG elements and plenty of things to do.
It has been a couple of years since I played this. I may have to fire it up again.
Check Mount & Blade out for yourself, here.There are 6 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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Sacred Pokes the Penguin ( Game news )
posted by baby arm on Fri 16 May 2008, 08:48:22
More info on Sacred
There's a Linux port on the way for action RPG Sacred.
Linux Game Publishing has announced a Linux port of "Sacred Gold," an action role-playing game first published for Windows three years ago. The U.K.-based game publisher plans to ship the title in August of this year, priced at 27 GBP (~ $50).
Yep, $50 for a port of a 3 year old title that can be had on the PC for $10 (or less). Are Linux gamers that desperate? Have they finally run out of freeware puzzle games?There are 4 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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See Fallout 2 in Newfangled High Resolution ( Mod news )
posted by baby arm on Fri 16 May 2008, 06:10:26
More info on Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
NMA brings word of the Fallout 2 High Resolution Patch from a young modder named Mash.
This is something I've been working on for the last several months. As the title suggests this program modifies fallout2.exe in memory for the purposes of increasing the visual resolution.
I'm calling this a test release as I haven't had the chance to play through the whole game as yet. But I don't think there are any game killing bugs.
I've been running the game at 1680x1050 for testing and I'd be interested to know how it runs at different resolutions.
It was made for Version 1.02d of the fallout2.exe and installation instructions are included in the zip.
Should make it easier to track down the last shuffling junkie when you go on your next New Reno massacre.
Grab the download here and view screenshots here.
Thanks to Cthulhugoat for the tip.There are 20 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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New Fallout 3 Concept Art ( Game news )
posted by El Dee on Fri 16 May 2008, 02:50:21
More info on Fallout 3 - More info on Bethesda Softworks
In the new dev diary on the Fallout 3 site Adam Adamowicz explains his ideas behind the concept art:
I’m Adam and it’s my job to design for Fallout 3. Establishing the big picture for the Fallout universe as a pictorial diary, was my first task. Myself and the rest of the team poured over the lore, related our experiences playing the original, and researched everything 50’s we felt enhanced the drama, black comedy, and rich vintage sci fi that make this a truly unique game. At the end of these jams, as I liked to think of our discussions and debates, I did my best to put on paper what we had reached as a consensus. For my part, I like to feel I initially brought to the table a design sensibility that also favored ridiculous rocket flanged nuclear powered automobiles, and martini swilling characters who fight mutated horrors without scuffing their sharkskin suits. When the dust clears, I hope what you see is a mutated beast stamped indelibly with its inimitable origins. Whew.
And new images:
Read it here.
Thanks, VD!There are 37 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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Avernum 5 Reviewed at RPG Watch ( Review )
posted by baby arm on Thu 15 May 2008, 07:35:58
More info on Avernum 5 - More info on Spiderweb Software
RPG Watch's Dhruin took at crack at Avernum V, finding it worthy of 4 out of 5 stars. One of the improvements noted over past Avernums is the reduction of pointless crap combat.
Speaking of encounters, Jeff Vogel spoke in interviews prior to release about trying to remove the “trash” combats – those generic fights that serve only to fill out the content. The Avernum series has always leaned towards lots of combat – and Avernum V is no exception – but it's obvious that a lot of effort has been put into reducing random encounters and beefing up quest-related sequences and boss fights. And boy, are some of them memorable – the Soultaker's Pit, for example, is one of the most insidious dungeons I've played in a long time; equal parts frustratingly difficult but satisfying to finish.
Read the full review here.There are 3 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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The Germans get to choose Witcher voices ( Game news )
posted by Ausir on Thu 15 May 2008, 01:51:07
More info on Witcher, The - More info on CD Projekt
As Atari's choice of voice actors for the German version of The Witcher sucked, in an unusual move for a developer, CD Projekt is re-recording the lines of some of the characters for the Enhanced Edition of the game. Even more unusually, the players get to choose the actors. This mainly refers to the German speaking Witcher community. But if you all wish to raise your voice as well, you are welcomed
CDPR was so nice and favoured us with samples of the new voice overs for the German Enhanced Edtion. This concerns Zoltan Chivay, Yaevinn, Vesemir, Triss, Siegfried, Shani, Raymond Maarloeve, Kalkstein, Leo, Geralt, King Foltest, Dandelion, Azar Javed und Alvin.
You have the chance to decide which voice of the above mentioned chars will please your ears in the forthcoming Enhanced Edtion. We have launched a special poll forum, each thread contains the samples and of course the poll.
Take your chance and make your decision The English voices will also be re-recorded, but with the same actors, as the issue in the English version were the chopped dialogues rather than crappy voices.
Spotted at: The Witcher forumThere are 26 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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Alan Miranda/Mysteries of Westgate interview at GameSpy ( Interview )
posted by El Dee on Tue 13 May 2008, 15:36:25
More info on Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate - More info on Obsidian Entertainment
GameSpy interviews Ossian Studios' CEO Alan Miranda about the upcoming Mysteries of Westgate adventure pack:
GameSpy: One of the best elements of Neverwinter Nights 2 and the first expansion was the interplay between companions and your influence over them. Will Mysteries of Westgate take advantage of this system?
Miranda: We definitely have some great banter between our three new companions. Each of them is very different and that contrast clearly comes across in what they have to say to each other and to the player. They can absolutely be influenced and this will have the most significant consequence during a companion's personal subquest. The companions were each done by a separate writer, which is why their characters are quite different from one another. Luke Scull, our lead designer, wrote Mantides, a fallen paladin of Lathander who cares very little about life anymore. Mat Jobe wrote Rinara, a rogue who formerly belonged to the Night Masks and who's always out to get some easy money. Russ Davis wrote Charissa, a battle priestess of Tyr who is staunchly black and white in her views. Those three character types really add a lot of fuel to the fire when it comes to interplay.
Read the rest of the interview here
Spotted at: RPGWatchThere are 3 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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How BioWare was born: The Ray Muzyka story ( Company news )
posted by DarkUnderlord on Sun 11 May 2008, 07:08:57
More info on BioWare
The Guardian have an interview with BioWare founder Ray Muzyka. Here's the intro:
It is not what you'd call an obvious career progression. In 1992, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were practising medicine in Edmonton, Canada. Greg was a GP and Ray was an emergency room physician – and they were both keen gamers.
Three years later, they decided to set up their own development studio. "One day we were having lunch and I just said, 'hey wouldn't it be fun to make a game?' and Greg says, 'yeah, I know some guys who are good programmers, let's hire them'.
Sadly, BioWare never did get around to hiring those good programmers. HOHOHO. Read the rest here, including how their medical experience helped them make Mass Effect and what the "Bio-RPG" tool does (Hint: It has little to do with any actual RP'ing, unless you consider pulling faces the height of RPG development).
Spotted @ Sorcerers.netThere are 12 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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EU Cantina interviews MCA ( Interview )
posted by Calis on Sat 10 May 2008, 09:56:32
More info on Obsidian Entertainment - More info on Chris Avellone
EU Cantina got a hold of Chris Avellone. A large chunk of the interview deals with KOTOR 2, which the interviewer really liked (and it shows in the way he phrases his questions). Here's the obligatory "wut u change" question: EUC: If you could go back and change one thing about Kotor II, what would that be?
CA: Drop a planet, chop 1 or 2 levels off of Peragus, drop the Disciple and Hanharr, and then use that energy to focus more on Malachor V. I would also remove all party-splitting mechanics (which while true to the franchise, didn’t go over well with players), and de-emphasize all cut-scenes (which the engine couldn’t really do well in the time provided with the programming and scripting support we had available). Read it here
Thanks, Fastpunk - the interview was out since April 27th, but we missed it
There are 1 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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Gothic 4 screens spotted ( Game news )
posted by Fez on Sat 10 May 2008, 06:07:49
More info on Gothic 4: Arcania - More info on JoWood Productions
The first batch of screen shots for Gothic 4: Arcania are available on CRPG.ru. They aren't the best looking scans but they do give an idea of where the art direction is headed and the kind of locations that will appear in this sequel being developed by Spellbound, the team chosen by JoWood to step into Piranha Bytes' shoes.
Spotted at: RPGDot
Update: Pericle has kindly visited the forums and given us some more (and better-looking) screens and artworks here and here.
Thanks! There are 41 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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S.C.O.U.R.G.E. V0.2 rolls out ( Development info )
posted by Fez on Sat 10 May 2008, 05:35:05
More info on S.C.O.U.R.G.E.: Heroes of Lesser Renown
This one hasn't had a mention here for a while. The latest version of the free and open source 3D roguelike S.C.O.U.R.G.E.: Heroes of Lesser Renown has been unleashed. These are some of the changes mentioned for version 0.2:
Translations to languages other than English (German and Italian)
Outdoor Levels with villages and real terrain
Each level now starts in a village with its own set of npcs
User Interface has a new default color scheme and is now themable
New Models and Icons
Weather and ambient sound has been added for more engaging fantasy
New Monsters, Levels, Traps, Secrets and Story Additions
High Scores may be uploaded to SCOURGEweb
Walls in dungeons areas now become transparent in front of the camera
Many small features and bugfixes
For those unfamiliar with the game:
S.C.O.U.R.G.E. is a cross platform, open source rogue-like game in the fine tradition of NetHack and Moria It sports a graphical front-end, similar to glHack or the Falcon's eye. The design of the 3D UI is an attempt at the best of both worlds from old to new: It lets you rotate the view, zoom in/out, view special effects, etc with the feeling of the old-school isometric games like Exult or Woodward.
There are player guides, installation guides and other information available on the S.C.O.U.R.G.E. site. You can download the game here.There are 6 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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BioWare caves to pressure over Mass Effect copy-protection ( Game news )
posted by DarkUnderlord on Sat 10 May 2008, 03:20:00
More info on Mass Effect - More info on BioWare
How many people can I piss off by making a third thread about this? Hopefully a lot. BioWare have seen the light and caved in to peer-pressure over their proposed copy-protection shenanigans:
There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.
The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication.
BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.
Thank the military. There's another 10 or so questions over there about it as well.
Thanks StarWars and cazsim83!There are 93 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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Dark Disciples II tweaked to 1.6 ( Development info )
posted by Fez on Fri 09 May 2008, 20:54:36
More info on Dark Disciples II
Version 1.6 of Dodgysoft's freeware fantasy RPG Dark Disciples II has been released. This update promises to have squashed a bunch of bugs that have crept in during the continued development and content additions. A new module containing four levels is also due in a week or so. The download for the game available on the website includes the editor used to create the default game. It may be worth trying if you are interested in creating your own CRPG adventures.
MrDisciple (the developer) states he is interested in any feedback on what you particularly enjoyed or disliked, bug reports or general suggestions to improve things for future versions.
Having played through the original Dark Disciples I'm looking forward to trying this one out too. There are 4 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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New major version release for UnReal World ( Development info )
posted by Fez on Fri 09 May 2008, 17:16:25
More info on UnReal World
The Finnish graphical roguelike UnReal World has recently had an update, bringing it up to version 3.10-1. Here are a few items that appear on the latest list of changes:
fixed: dead shopkeepers still trying to trade. Very persistent businessmen!
fixed: stacks of traps in inventory reducing down to a quantity of one if a trap was set (applied) from the stack
fixed the time required for curing and tanning
protection value of the clothes you make is now dependent from the type of the leather/hide used
foreign traders' inventories arranged a bit to offer more trading possibilities
changes in cookery and recipes
building construction is now a tile-by-tile procedure
added unique graphical symbols for the peoples of the three major cultural regions
No more zombie shopkeepers in the game? How could our Finnish brothers betray us so? The decline of the RPG industry is more apparent with each passing day.
You can find all of the latest changes on this long and detailed list. It is an unusual RPG and a fine example of what the indie RPG industry can produce. It would be well worth you taking the time to try the demo available on the UnReal World site, especially if you are already a fan of games like the complex Dwarf Fortress and you are able to look beyond the simple visuals. It is a refreshing change from the usual hack and slash titles that have been exorcised of their tyranny of choices long before release.
Cheers, Sami!There are 12 comments on this article. Click here to comment.
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