Latest Articles (Page 3437)

EA has finally announced its massive E3 line-up, most of which we've heard about before. New additions include James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing [nothing please! -Ed], the next Nightfire-style game, third person this time, to combine James Bond's gadgets, wit, women and objectives with intellectually devoid and meaningless gameplay. Well, hopefully not, but you know! That'll be out on PS2, Xbox, Cube, GBA and PC.

Yes, we know you're probably picking yourselves up off the floor after reading this latest stunning revelation, but it's true. Electronic Arts is set to stun the gaming world with its 15th version of FIFA.

You know, we pity the poor developers who get tasked with projects like this. We bet they don't ask for them. But these days, whether it's a 3D platformer or a complicated tactical shoot 'em up and spy sim, the publisher behind the purse strings always seems to want a GBA conversion. Ubi Soft is no exception. And that's why we should all be upstanding for the publisher's Montreal development studio, whose efforts have - against the odds - created damn near the best 2D sneak 'em up we've ever played.

Ubi Soft is so sure it's about to "reinvent adventure gaming" with URU: Ages Beyond Myst, that it felt the need to tell us all about it all over again. Probably the most interesting aspect of the game, over the improvements to the traditional Myst adventure model, is the introduction of Uru Live - a social portion of the game which takes place in a persistent "ever-expanding world." And, er... that's all it says about it here, apart from the fact that it's due out late 2003. Mark it in your diaries.

If you were one of those on the end of Rockstar's email periodical this morning then you may have noticed a couple of release dates for Midnight Club II - on Xbox and PC. The good news is that you won't have to wait long. Although we aren't sure these are anything other than American dates, June 4th for Xbox and June 25th for PC still sound pretty good. We'll let you know if we hear anything else.

Sony has announced that an expansion for EverQuest Online Adventures is planned for release in the fourth quarter of this year. Frontier will enable players to get their beard on with new items and quests in three new cities, and 24 dungeons, in addition to a new playable race of ogres and an entirely new continent to explore.

Being the only '70s child around these parts, I feel somewhat more qualified to check out Empire/Mind's Eye's attempt to make a mission based driving game out of possibly the most memorable '70s TV show of them all. After all, I had the big hair and the flares the first time around [some things never change -Tom]; although in those more innocent days, irony was something you pressed your big collared shirts with.

Square designer Tetsuya Nomura has revealed in a recent interview that the possibility of a Kingdom Hearts sequel is very high, with discussions between Disney and the developer already in progress on the subject. In the same article, the designer snubs any likelihood of there being a Final Fantasy VII sequel, stating that the only reason it was possible with FFX-2 was the ability to re-use much of the technology from X, thusly halving the development time of a brand new title - something that simply wouldn't be viable with VII without starting from scratch.

Ubi Soft has once again left us high and dry over news of… whatever the hell it was planning to announce on www.splintercell.com last night. "We understand that you are very anxious for the announcement and have been patiently waiting," the Splinter Cell team comments. "We are sorry to let you down but there will be no news today. Stay tuned and we'll have more news in the coming days." 'More', chaps? Anyway, we imagine this will now sit still until E3 itself, at which point we expect to be talking about Shadow Strike, Splinter Cell 2, Splinter Cell Online or whatever other variation Ubi Soft has envisaged. Not long now for all Fisher-man's friends.

Another tale from Famitsu this morning is that Dead or Alive Online for Xbox Live will be a compilation of the original DOA and DOA2. Visually the original DOA will be Saturn-quality, but apparently DOA2 is being enhanced for the Xbox - and DOA Online should be playable at E3.

The latest Famitsu apparently announces a new Capcom cel-shaded 3D action title called Crimson Tears. Described as a collaborative effort between Capcom (publisher), Dream Factory (developer) and Spike (marketing), PS2 title Crimson Tears takes place in a near-future Tokyo where a biotechnology company called Weaponix secretively plots the course of the world as an underground manufacturer of war machines (you'd think someone would spot the possibility in the company's name).

Sony's US-based Jak II teaser site has a stuttery trailer (it may just be our PCs) which gives you a small, windowed opportunity to gain a glimpse of this year's most anticipated platformer. We've been hearing some... 'interesting' things about it on the grapevine. And we're sure we couldn't possibly tell you what exactly, but we understand that it's actually getting pretty close to the end of its development and that the new approach is a lot more freeform. Rather like a certain organised crime simulator that may have been popular recently, but in a platform vein...

A supposedly leaked Nintendo of America release schedule tells us that Metroid: Zero Mission is the name of the series' next GBA instalment. Metroid Fusion still ranks highly around here as one of our favourite games on the system, with only the likes of Advance Wars and A Link To The Past nipping anywhere near its shiny heels.

A major overhaul of the Xbox Live platform is in the works, with the console set to get new online functionality including the ability to talk to friends outside of games and use streaming video and audio services.

In recent years, gamers have turned their mice to managing everything from banana republics to restaurant empires, and if the world's biggest publishers have anything to do with it, the gravy train has plenty more stops to make. Perhaps we'll even get to manage that before long, tending to the driver's tea, wiggling thumbsticks to blow whistles with various beard-force modifiers working against us, and button-mashing our way through games of Pocket Connect 4 between Lewes and Eastbourne.

We swear this was common knowledge already, but THQ has signed the worldwide publishing rights to GSC’s Game World’s swanky first person survival horror title (their choice of genre phrasing, not ours) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost.

The French publisher that’s not Ubi Soft or InfogramesNotAtari has a ton of games on show at E3, and we have to admit we know very little about any of them. Whether they’re any good or not remains to be seen, but with the likes of Tecmo and Rebellion handling some of the development, we might be in for some surprises.

EA has announced that the first mission pack for Sim City 4, Rush Hour, is in development, and has released shots to prove it. The pack concentrates on rapidly expanding control over the transportation aspects of the game with additional management and route planning tools, as well as brand new methods of ferrying your Sims about, such as the elevated train networks of Boston, the wide-avenues of New York, or the winding one-way streets of San Francisco. Players can also develop a seamless mass-transit system including rail, subway, or even a scenic ferry service that connects to a greater regional travel network.

Fledgling publisher Xicat is the latest to unveil its E3 line-up with a trio of "highly anticipated" titles confirmed, along with more to be (foolishly) announced at the show, including one GameCube title, one Xbox title, and two PC titles.

As regular visitors to Eurogamer will know, we like to shoot things. A lot. First person, third person, aerial combat, stompy robot Mech games with ludicrous controllers you need an entire annex to house - all the best ones are welcome in our manor. But what of the urchin faced submarine based first person shooter? If you enjoyed the likes of Subwar 2050, Archimedean Dynasty, and the previous AquaNox, then you're in the right place, and after the deluge of World War II, shooters, Vietnam shooters, sci-fi shooters and stealth shooters, we must admit we were looking forward to a change.

Empire has announced its E3 line-up with days to spare, and they're dragging plenty of producers and other folk from developers over to the show, so presumably if we stand there complaining loudly enough we can collar them for a quick word. Anyway, the games on show will be Ghost Master (Sick Puppies, PC), Starsky & Hutch (Mind's Eye, PS2/Xbox), Vegas: Make it Big! (Empire, PC), Bad Boys II (Blitz, PC) and Bulletproof Monk (Empire, PS2), with several previously released titles also on the floor.

One of the most frequent topics of email feedback this week has been "who won Tropico 2?", which either proves that the game is really popular, or that we pretend to get sent feedback via email. In all honesty, the competition sort of "fell off" the page what with the redesign and all that malarkey, but rest assured we accepted entries right up to the last minute and took great pride in picking five winners. The correct answer, by the way, as "Um Bongo". Wrong answers included "Mandy Moore".

Rockstar has almost made a rod for its own back by releasing a game as expansive and freeform as Grand Theft Auto III. When there's a game that's almost every racing game rolled into one, combined with the ability to beat and shoot the crap of everything that moves, why bother with a straight up urban street racer? It's a compelling argument, and one that will rage across the world as gamers wrestle with their conscience over whether they can justify blowing another forty quid.

Not all games fit the industry standard price tag for new releases, and Pseudo Interactive's Cel Damage was one of them. It was a very basic game in which prototypical cartoon characters raced around in over-the-top driving machines, battering one another one with spring-loaded boxing gloves, ice blasters, giant mallets and other ACME-inspired creations strewn around various wacky locations. It was noteworthy because of its masterful cel-shading - which remains as close to the heart of the average cartoon as anything before or since - and because it fell so hard on its face that most people flatly ignored it. Critics and punters.

Strategy First has announced the first couple of titles it intends to shamelessly parade in front of lifeless, sweating journalists and over-paid suits at E3 this year. The first is the tremendous World War II: Frontline Command, which comes highly recommended by people you trust. Yes, us. War Times is another WWII strategy title, but on a far larger scale as you play the strategies of Germany, Great Britain, the USA and the USSR.

The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker has stormed to the top of the chart, becoming the 12th fastest selling game ever in the process, with estimated sales of around 80,000 in the first weekend on sale in the UK.

Ever since Sim City first gave gamers severe sleep deprivation problems, game developers have been adding new twists to the basic formula of building and managing a virtual metropolis. Some of those twists have delivered stunning gaming experiences, like Dungeon Keeper, whose genius touch of giving you a lair full of evil minions to keep happy rather than a city full of civilians made for a wonderful gaming experience. Two years ago, PopTop gave us its own take on the genre with Tropico - a management 'simulation' which saw you taking on the role of a dictator in charge of a banana republic somewhere in the Caribbean.

Ubi Soft has announced that it is the Chosen One that will publish forthcoming massively multiplayer FPS PlanetSide in Europe, and those that won't be able to afford the subscription fees will have the game wafted in front of their hungry eyes from May 23rd. The European server for the game will be based in Amsterdam, and will hopefully be powered, supported and maintained by ginger men such as myself; an assurance of quality.

The official Splinter Cell website has been updated with news that you'll have to wait another day to see whatever the hell it is they're unveiling. 5PM GMT today. We'll try and remember to look.

As reported in the trade press last Friday, Infogrames is planning to call itself Atari from now on. The company's US operation is now "Atari, Inc." and all other worldwide operations will become Atari with their country of origin included in the name (e.g. Atari UK). The bit of Infogrames that desecrates Hasbro's board games will now become Atari Interactive.