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Week of April 21st

Friday Thursday Wednesday Tuesday Monday Last Week's Top Stories






Quake license
for 3D Realms.


Wheel of Time
from Legend.


Intel gets
into consoles.


Another Star Wars
game from LucasArts.


More Blood products
from Monolith Studios.







Duke Nukem Forever!

Scoop! 4/25/97 -- On Monday 3D Realms will announce Duke Nukem Forever, a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D that will -- get ready for this -- use the Quake II engine from id Software.

While details are scant at this point, PC Gamer has learned that the game will be released in Spring, 1998. This is a major announcement, combining as it does the best of both worlds in action gaming: the true 3D technology of Quake, consistently ranked as the industry's best, with the excellent gameplay, humor and design that made Duke Nukem 3D such a hit.

The name Duke Nukem Forever was originally planned for a Duke Nukem side-scroller being developed in Australia, but that project has been scrapped. Instead it's being used for the Quake engine sequel. We also have reason to believe that the Total Entertainment Network has obtained the exclusive online rights to the new Duke game, as well as Shadow Warrior.


Robert Jordan, Meet Unreal

Scoop! 4/25/97 -- In a PC Gamer Online exclusive, Legend Entertainment has revealed that they are working on a new action/roleplaying game using Epic's Unreal engine and The Wheel of Time license from best-selling fantasy author Robert Jordan.

Robert Jordan himself is taking a hand in the game's development, giving feedback on the design and making sure it stays true to his work. A team of artists and designers are already hard at work on the first test levels. Check out the screen shots below to see for yourself.

Epic MegaGames was apparently so impressed with the early stages of the project that they are considering publishing the game or partnering with Legend in some way, though final publishing arrangements have yet to be determined. But the two companies have developed a close working relationship.

Contrary to what has been reported elsewhere, this is not an adventure game, but rather a first-person action/strategy game with strong roleplaying and multi-player elements. Furthermore, the game will require hardware acceleration, allowing the designers to create even more complex and richly textured environments than even Epic is attempting with Unreal.

The combination of the Robert Jordan license, the use of the cutting-edge, true 3D Unreal engine, and Legend's sterling reputation for fantasy and adventure games makes this look like the fantasy action game to watch for. Still, the game is probably still a long way off, either late 1998 or possibly even 1999.

Here are the first screen shots. Remember, these are in-game shots of a 3D world, not pre-rendered backdrops.
wheel1.jpg: Street scene (41 kb).
wheel2.jpg: In the dungeon (42 kb).
wheel3.jpg: Gloomy corridors (36 kb).
wheel4.jpg: A darkly lit alley (38 kb).
wheel5.jpg: A character on the street (36 kb).


Counterstrike Patch on the Way

Scoop! 4/25/97 -- Westwood Studios has informed us that a patch for Red Alert: Counterstrike will be available very soon. The patch will address several problems and concerns that players have expressed since the product's release. According to Westwood, the patch will do the following:

In a PC Gamer Online exclusive, the patch will first be available for download from this web site. We'll keep you posted.


Intel Gets into Consoles

4/25/97 -- It's been revealed that chip-maker Intel is making a big push into the console and arcade market, with a major announcement to be made at the Computer Game Developer's Conference next Monday. This announcement will describe a new open specification that Intel is proposing for arcade and console systems based on the Pentium II chip.

A key strength of the proposal is that game developers will only need to create a game on one platform, which could then be released to arcade systems, multimedia home computers, and Intel's open console platform simultaneously. This would produce a significant savings in development costs and also free developers from having to pay royalties to companies such as Sega or Nintendo, who own the rights to their proprietary hardware. Developers would also be liberated from the censorship and lengthy approval processes that are part and parcel of the current console market.

The biggest drawback is that Intel's proposed gaming machine -- a Pentium II-based system running a 233 or 266 MHz CPU, 16 MB of RAM, a 3D accelerator, and Windows 95 or NT -- is expected to cost around $2000 during 1998, which is considerably more expensive than a $150 dedicated gaming console. However, the proposal is being supported by both Microsoft and Sony.


Sony Pushes into PCs

4/25/97 -- Twisted Metal 2 and Jet Moto, two of Sony's biggest PlayStation titles, are coming to the PC this Christmas. Optimized for MMX, the Windows 95 version of Jet Moto will support up to ten players in multi-player mode, and a same number will be able to compete head-to-head in Twisted Metal 2. The PC versions will be shown for the first time at the Computer Game Developer's Conference next week.

Also in the works from Sony is a massively multi-player Internet combat game, ArmorGeddon. Able to support up to 10,000 players at a time, the game pits players against each other in customizable battle tanks. The game is currently in open beta, so you can drop by the ArmorGeddon web site and try it out for free.


LucasArts Update

4/25/97 -- To clarify yesterday's story about Shadows of the Empire, we've obtained an estimated release date from LucasArts, which has the game coming out sometime this Fall, in September or October. LucasArts also confirmed that the game will not have any multi-player support added, as it is a pretty straightforward port from the Nintendo.

They also gave us the most up-to-date estimates for their other games, and it's looking like both Jedi Knight and Rebellion will be available in June, around the time of E3. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter of course is right on schedule for next week's ship date.


Shadows of the Empire for PC

Scoop! 4/24/97 -- Shadows of the Empire, LucasArts' first Nintendo 64 title, is being ported over the PC. It's the fourth Star Wars PC game the company is releasing this year, along with X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Jedi Knight, and Rebellion.

The storyline follows the adventures of Dash Rendar, a new character invented for the game, similar to the way in which Kyle Katarn was introduced in Dark Forces. Rendar's mission is to combat the Dark Prince Xizor, a leader of a criminal organization bent on assassinating Luke Skywalker. Ten different levels will cover a variety of different gameplay elements, including snowspeeder chases, starship pursuits, and interior missions on foot with blaster weapons.

Shadows of the Empire is being developed for Windows 95 and is being enhanced for Direct 3D. In other LucasArts news, it's been reported that X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter has gone to the manufacturers and is on time for its April 29th retail release.


Win John Carmack's Ferrari

4/24/97 -- As we reported earlier this year, John Carmack has decided to give away one of his Ferraris to the winner of a Quake deathmatch tournament. The contest drew the interest of Intergraph and several other sponsors, who added more prizes and arranged for the final round of the competition to be held during E3. Now the final piece of the puzzle is in place, as it's been determined that the elimination rounds will take place over the Mplayer online gaming service.

Called 'Red Annihilation', the tournament sign-ups begin on April 25th (this Saturday) at 12:00 PST. The first phase will involve up to 10,000 players competing in open rankings. Subsequent phases will narrow the field down to 16 players, who will be flown to E3 to compete in the grand finale.


Trouble at the Post Office

4/24/97 -- Game developer Running with Scissors is in trouble with the U.S. Postal Service over their upcoming title, Postal. Apparently the company has received a letter from the United States Postmaster complaining about their use of the word 'postal' in reference to their violent action game, even though the main character of the title is not depicted as a post office worker. A similar letter followed from the Postal Service's legal department, implying that they had a proprietary interest in the word 'postal'.

"We didn't invent this word, we're just using it," says Ron Desi, a spokesman for Running With Scissors. "This is a word in common usage employed as the title of a game which has nothing to do with the Post Office."


THQ Reports Profits

4/24/97 -- Game publisher THQ Inc. recorded profits of $720,000 for the first quarter of 1997, the company announced today. This in contrast to a loss of $261,000 over the same period in 1996. The company attributes its gains to several successful console titles, and THQ is looking to the future with several PC projects including Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain, a space strategy game slated for release later this year.


Return Fire II in the Works

4/24/97 -- MGM Interactive and Prolific Publishing are teaming up to release Return Fire II for the. The game is an action/strategy title with 3D military combat on air, land and sea; the original title was relatively successful on both the PC and PlayStation platforms. Look for it this fall.


More Blood from Monolith

4/23/97 -- Monolith Studios has released the Blood editor to the public on their web site, allowing players to create their own new levels. You can download it right here. The editor is being released to help build support for the retail release of Blood this May.

In other Blood news, the game's expansion pack has been announced, even though the full game isn't out yet! The pack, Passage to Transylvania, will contain nine new levels along with new graphics. It will ship in mid-June (about a month after the full game is released), with a suggested retail price of $29.99.


Rollout for Redneck Rampage

4/23/97 -- Take a little Duke Nukem and mix in some Southern stir-fry, and you'll get a feel for Redneck Rampage, the latest first-person shooter from Interplay. Developed using 3D Realms' "Build" engine, the game is set in the deep South, and stars two country bumpkins who blast their way through a humorous parody of hillbilly culture.

The game is out in stores now, three days earlier than the announced ship date. Apparently a few retail chains broke the release date, and other outlets have followed suit. Other Interplay titles hitting the shelves this week are Reloaded and a Forgotten Realms archive.


Stephen King Hits the PC

4/23/97 -- THQ and Orion Interactive have teamed up to create The Dark Half, a new horror game based on the Steven King novel of the same name. Being developed by Bits Studio in the UK, the game is planned as a third-person perspective adventure with richly detailed environments to explore. As in the book, the plot concerns writer Thad Beaumont's attempts to come to grips with his murderous alter-ego, George Stark.


INN Signs on to DirectPlay

4/23/97 -- The ImagiNation Network has agreed to use Microsoft's DirectPlay technology in its connection software, enabling standardized connectivity between gamers using their service. Microsoft in turn will incorporate some elements of INN's software development kit (SDK) into the fifth rev of DirectX.


DVD-RAM Drives En Route

4/23/97 -- Hitachi will start shipping samples of its new line of DVD-RAM drives on June 20th. The rewritable disks will hold 5.2 gigabytes, both sides included — that’s over 3,000 floppy disks worth of data. The drives will come in three flavors: internal and external SCSI and ATAPI. Expect to see the sample internal versions priced near $800, with the external SCSI drive available for just over $953.


Newfire Unleashes Catalyst

4/23/97 -- A new Internet 3D game development tool called Catalyst will debut at the Computer Game Developer’s Conference, April 27-29th. According to John Ison, President and CEO of Newfire Inc., their new product is a "solution that delivers great content to the Internet in weeks rather than years, and nearly eliminates the six-figure investment that developers typically spend to license or build expensive 3D engines."


INN Grabs Tetris Rights

4/22/97 -- The ImagiNation network has grabbed the exclusive online rights to Tetris, one of the most popular games of all time. The multi-player version of Tetris will be exclusive to INN, and will go online with INN's distribution partners, such as America Online and Earthlink, across INN's 3D avatar chat system, CyberPark.

Invented by Alexi Pajitnov, various version of Tetris have sold over 40 million copies since it was first introduced.


AST In Trouble

4/22/97 -- AST Research reported heavy losses for the first quarter of 1997, prompting layoffs of up to a quarter of the company's workforce. The PC maker posted a net loss of $110 million, and blamed low demand , competition, and consumer uncertainty concerning the company's impending acquisition by Samsung Electronics for their difficulties. Reducing their staff by 1000 workers, combined with efforts to generate demand, "will help to further advance [their] goal to return to profitability," according to Y.S. Kim, AST's president and CEO.


Take 2 Announces Black Dahlia

4/22/97 -- A new graphic adventure is in the works from Take 2 Interactive, a murder mystery called Black Dahlia. Inspired by the murder of film actress Elizabeth Short, the game takes place in 1940s pre-war Cleveland, and revolves around the brutal deeds of one of America's earliest serial killers, the "Torso Slayer". Making generous use of full-motion video, the game will feature over 70 interactive puzzles, 60 locations, and some of the same technology used in Ripper, Take 2's most recent adventure title. To help promote the game, Take 2 is launching a web site that will feature updates and contests with cash prizes and gaming PCs. The game should be out in September.


More EF2000

4/22/97 -- Flight sim fans who couldn’t get enough of the highly acclaimed EF2000 can finally stop holding their breath as the game’s U.K. based creators -- Digital Image Design -- -- have announced that they’re getting ready to unleash the latest and greatest version of their state-of-the-art simulation -– EF2000 v2.0 -- for North American audiences. While no official release date for EF2000 v2.0 has been announced, this new version should pack quite a wallop, combining all the features and enhancements from previous European releases such as EF2000 Evolution, TACTCOM and Super EF2000 (Win95), plus newly added support for Verite or 3DFX based accelerator cards for enhanced graphics. Additionally the game will ship with a 350 page manual and a strategy guide from Sim-Tech.


Jetfighter III Expansion in May

4/22/97 -- More good news for flight sim fans: Mission Studios is readying an expansion pack for their award-winning flight simulator, Jetfighter III. This new campaign disk features new aircraft (the F-22 Lightning, F/A-18 Hornet and F-14 Tomcat), as well as improvements in the terrain texture-mapping and 70 new missions in locales as diverse as Alaska, Russia and Japan. Look for it in May, with Interplay handling the distribution.


New Hires for Golgotha Team

4/22/97 -- Dave Taylor's company, Crack dot Com, has signed up two more programmers for its upcoming strategy game, Golgotha. Both programmers were recruited from the ranks of amateur developers who release game-related shareware on the Internet. The net has become a fertile recruiting grounds for developers of cutting-edge action games on the lookout for programmers and level designers.

Kenneth Baird first drew Taylor's attention by writing his own optimized Quake-compatible engine by reverse engineering the Quake data files. In a similar vein, Trey Harrison was recruited after creating a hardware-accelerated Quake editor.

Crack president Dave Taylor is a former id Software programmer with credits on both Doom and Quake. He struck out on his own last year; Crack's first product was the darkly futuristic side-scroller Abuse.


Two New Strategy Games

4/22/97 -- THQ has just signed a deal with Nemicron, a small development house, to create Speed Tribes for the PC and PlayStation. The game is a real-time strategy game with arcade elements: players are placed on heavily armed air cycles and must battle it out in a futuristic world of conflict and strife. The two companies also hopes to promote the title with a comic book, television series and trading card to tie-in to the game.

Yet another real-time strategy game, Wisdom of the Kings, is in the works, this time from Grimmware, a relative newcomer to the gaming scene. The game takes place in a world devastated by nuclear war, and it is up to the player to rebuild their societies while fighting off enemies such as the Xenotes and the Jorlocks -- mutant races who have prospered and thrived in the radioactive wastelands that cover the world..

Wisdom of the Kings is being developed for Windows 95 machines, configured with a minimum P166 and 16 MB of RAM.


FASA Teams Up with MicroProse

4/21/97 -- MicroProse and FASA Interactive are teaming up to bring some of FASA's hot roleplaying game properties to the PC screen. Three games are slated for the BattleTech universe: MechWarrior III, MechCommander, and BattleTech: The Elementals. In addition, MicroProse will be doing two games set in FASA's ShadowRun cyberpunk universe.

Prior to MicroProse's acquisition of the BattleTech license, Activision was doing the MechWarrior games. They have since picked up the Heavy Gear license, another roleplaying game setting featuring giant armored robots.


Diamond Ships Monster Sound

4/21/97 -- Diamond Multimedia has begun shipping the Monster Sound 3D audio card for PC users. It's a PCI bus audio accelerator with a suggested retail price of just under $200. Featuring multi-stream positional 3D audio, legacy support for DOS apps and support for four speakers, Diamond insists the new board offers the best available audio experience for the PC gaming enthusiast.


Looking Glass Ships British Open Golf

4/21/97 -- Looking Glass Technologies has begun shipping their new Windows 95 golf game, British Open Golf, to retail outlets everywhere. The title is the first to use the British Open Championship license, and includes two of golf's oldest and most renowned courses: St. Andrews and Royal Troon. As part of the package, gamers are invited to take part in the "Virtual Open", an online golf tournament. The Grand Prize winner will earn a trip to this year's British Open at Royal Troon.


Jack Goes Hollywood

4/21/97 -- Berkeley Systems' award-winning CD-ROM trivia game You Don't Jack has just added its next installment: You Don't Know Jack: Movies. Featuring over 800 new questions about the silver screen and the stars who make its magic, You Don't Jack: Movies is available for a suggested retail price of $30.


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