Latest Articles (Page 3580)

Anarchy Enterprises and Unique Entertainment are currently hard at work bringing the ever popular "SimCity" style of game to the final frontier with "Luna : Moon Colony Simulator". Luna does exactly what it says on the tin, putting you in charge of developing and maintaining a sprawling colony on the moon.

Unlike Dino Crisis 2, which is definitely its own game, the original Dino Crisis is more like a side story to Resident Evil, borrowing so much that at the time many used "Resident Evil on speed" and other amusing one-liners to describe it. And indeed, if you go through Resident Evil and replace the zombies with Tyrannosaurs, Raptors and other assorted prehistoric nasties, you do end up with a resoundingly similar picture. Dino Crisis though, puts you in control of a lass called Regina, rather than a lass called Jill, and Regina is a member of a secret government organisation sent to bring an a nasty situation under control at a remote location in the middle of nowhere… Oh shut up. Anyway, the remote spot just so happens to be an island, controlled by the elusive Dr. Kirk, who has been conducting some rather unusual experiments involving prehistoric creatures. Dinosaurs, no less, which in due course break loose and run wild all over the place. Controlling Regina and regularly interacting with other operatives on the island, you must evacuate survivors and try and locate Kirk himself, if he is still alive. Basically it's survival horror by numbers. You have to find keys, push buttons and shoot things to get your way. Thankfully, the shooting and moving sides of things have been speeded up noticeably, so running Regina around is no problem, and the freedom of movement makes dealing with dinos a lot easier than otherwise.

The Pentium 4 has met with a lot of criticism since its launch last year, mostly over its ineffective handling of current programs and its unusual architecture. It seems that the development community is also rather perturbed by it, with Tim Sweeney in an interview today at The Tech-Report, commenting that the Pentium 4 is a good architecture, "it's just not a good architecture for any of the current program executables on the market." "I look at the P4 pragmatically," he continues. "In terms of current applications, the P4 is basically equivalent to a P3 running at a few hundred megahertz lower clock rate. The P4 architecture, with its really long pipeline, doesn't seem to be designed for optimal instruction-per-second throughput -- the P3 probably beats it there -- it's designed to scale up to higher clock rates better than the P3." His comments echo what pretty much everyone on the Internet has been saying from day one, but his intuition stretches further, to its effects on the Unreal engine. "The Unreal engine is pretty sensitive to both memory latency and memory bandwidth. The P4's Rambus focus is OK for this, but it's not optimal. I expect DDR will perform better for most of the high-performance 3D games on the market." When we spoke to Tim just after the launch of the Pentium 4 about the possibility of recompiling Unreal with support for SSE2, his feelings for Intel's current compilers told a story in themselves. His sentiments there are echoed in this interview, where he points out that "it could be a year or more before good tools are available." Elsewhere, he commented that he thinks "'Netburst' is a buzzword, not an architecture." Check out the whole interview for more.

On Tuesday we reported that Sega would cease production of the Dreamcast as of March, and that they would concentrate on software releases. Yesterday evening, the company issued an official press release, stating that "Sega is considering a strategic reform to return the company to profit". The reform will affect worldwide production, sales and distribution of the Dreamcast, effectively halting them. Sales of the consoles will continue until the inventory is exhausted, all as we reported. Nonetheless, fans will not be left in the cold. Sega is "preparing a very solid Dreamcast software line-up with more than 100 titles (including third parties) to be released in the coming year". In other words, if you own a Dreamcast, there will still be plenty to play in the coming year. According to the release, Sega is "negotiating" with regard to the development of titles on other formats, including PlayStation 2 and GameBoy Advance. On Tuesday we quoted figures of five titles for PS2 and two for the GBA. This information wasn't included in the press release. You can read the full press release here.

Delays to key releases and poor sales in the US have forced Eidos to revise its full year profit projections, reports MCV. Commandos 2, Gangsters 2 and Startropia are just three examples of games that have taken longer than expected and hit the publisher hard. The financial results, due to be announced on February 28th, will be lower than originally anticipated. All this occurred despite Eidos grabbing as much as 12% of the UK market in the final quarter of last year, with profits way ahead of expectations. Unfortunately, the company has been hit by what it refers to as a "softening" of the US market. All this caused Eidos' shares to fall by as much as 27% in early trading. They are on the way back up at the moment, but only gradually.

Eastern Europe has been spawning an increasing number of quality games in recent years, and the latest country looking to get in on the act is the Ukraine, home to GSC and their epic real-time strategy game "Cossacks". We took a beta version of the game for a spin to find out more...

Screamer 4x4 is a peculiar beast. It arrives at a time when four wheel drive games are more regular than service stations on the M1, and with next to no fanfare surrounding it. Moreover, it boasts superb handling and to coin a phrase from that fox in the Citroen advert, impeccable road-manners, as well as a varied race structure and on the whole just about everything a good 4WD simulation could possibly require. For starters it isn't a race in the classic sense. Screamer is more like orienteering for cars - which I am led to believe is fairly indicative of the real thing. You are given a tough, gritty off-road vehicle, pointed in the direction of the first checkpoint and told to navigate your way to the end of the road. To progress to the next stage, you have to get yourself into the top three. Unfortunately for you, this is damnably difficult. Not content with dropping you off in the great unknown, the terrain is like a bad day at the crash clinic. Twists, turns, bumps, rivers, ponds, cliffs, bushes, trees… it's as if nature has taken up picketing against off-road sports and wants to shove the sign down your throat. Racing across uneven ground at high speeds isn't always the answer, and that is, in a way, Screamer's attraction, it actually forces you to act as if you are in a 4WD car.

One of the more unusual uses which has been found for the multiplayer first person shooter Unreal Tournament is "Unrealty", a modified version of the game's engine and editor which allows realtors to recreate offices and houses in 3D and then allow clients to wander around the building. Now NASA have taken that one small step further by using the system to show what the multi-billion dollar International Space Station is going to look like when it's finished. Sadly the ISS was not designed with poly counts and clipping planes in mind, and going EVA is a rather tedious affair as your frame rate plummets the second you leave the airlock. The textures are rather washed out in places as well, and I certainly wouldn't want to run a deathmatch in there. But it's certainly an .. interesting application of modern 3D game technology in a completely different context.

Easily one of the most anticipated games of the past few years, Shenmue is the brainchild of one Yu Suzuki - the man who is considered in some circles to be, alongside Sonic creator Yuji Naka, the best game designer currently working at Sega. Currently the head of Sega's AM2 division, Suzuki has been an innovator in the field of 3D gaming for years - producing games such as Space Harrier and Virtua Fighter, which may seem dated now but were groundbreaking in their time. Since the original announcement of Shenmue, every release of images has astounded and thrilled even the most cynical journalists and the most battle-weary console fans with their beautifully realistic depiction of characters and locations - giving meaning, arguably for the first time, to the whole concept of a "next generation" console. Shenmue promised something that no game had ever before even dared to hint at - a fully interactive world, which lives and breathes around you as you play, and in which you can interact with anything and anyone. Believers have enthused about the enormous potential of this for months; sceptics have explained over and over why this is an impossible task. With Shenmue finally on the shop shelves, the question of whether the game lives up to its own hype can be answered at last - as well as the burning question of whether it can justifiably be considered to be the start of a whole new genre, as Yu Suzuki has claimed so many times.

We reported earlier today that Sega would be developing games for other formats than the Dreamcast in a move to try and increase their share of the software sector. Just now we received word from MCV that Sega have announced huge losses, and intend to pull out of the console hardware market ceasing production of the Dreamcast hardware at the end of March. This is Sega's "fourth straight year of losses, mainly caused by Dreamcast," and it has caused a "radical rethink of [Sega's] strategy." The machine will still be sold and marketed throughout 2001, until the inventory is halted. Confirmation from MCV is that Sega has five PlayStation 2 titles in the pipeline and two GameBoy Advance titles. We should have more on these in the near future. As big fans of Sega's consoles over the years, the news is very disheartening for us, the staff of EuroGamer. We can only hope that Sega's games on other formats do as well as we feel its consoles have done.

A couple of weeks ago we reported that the PlayStation 2 version of "Summoner", a new 3D role-playing game from Volition and THQ, was due for release on March 23rd. Now we know that the PC version is expected to follow within weeks, with the latest reports saying "mid April". Claiming to offer over 50 hours of gameplay and featuring some rather nifty 3D accelerated graphics, along with the ability to control up to five characters at any one time and a whole gaggle of different monsters to summon ranging from dragons to minotaurs, Summoner is certainly looking rather promising at this stage. If you're not convinced, why not peruse the latest batch of screenshots from the game?

Sega is apparently developing software for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox undercover, or so says Japanese newswire Jiji Press. The unconfirmed report has sent Sega's shares up 19%, the stock's biggest one-day gain in over seven months according to Bloomberg. A couple of months ago, the claims would have been laughed back into the ether, but recent announcements from Sega bode well for the news. The company has already stated that it wishes to boost the company's software market share to 25% and they have also admitted to being undecided about the development of a sequel to Dreamcast. SegaNet is the current focus of the company's attention, and as console and PC users can now both use the service, it seems likely that inter-format multiplayer games will be another option for Sega in the future. Heavy investment into the promotion of a universal service like SegaNet shows that the company is looking ahead.

Part of the problem with auction sites is that they do tend to attract overzealous bidders to the table. For example, this auction on eBay reached $425 with 39 bids starting at $9.99 and spiralling upwards. The bid was for "the playstation 2 original box and receipt," with a genuine, boxed PS2 shown in the accompanying picture. As those of you with a bit of bonce will quickly have ascertained, the cunning auctioneer has been deliberately vague in an attempt to get people to bid on what is actually a cardboard box and a bit of paper. Even more alarming is that the woman who won the auction is now claiming that she feels cheated out of her $425, and can do very little about it. You see, the terms and conditions of eBay's auctions mean that once money has changed hands, the person running the auction is under no obligation to refund the buyer unless the goods do not agree with the description, and in this case they do, just about. eBay would not comment on the details of this auction's outcome, despite us phoning them on two separate occasions.

In an effort to keep up with Microsoft's constant exercising of the purse-strings, Sony have reached out and grabbed Red Zone and Naughty Dog, the developers of the American football GameDay series and the creators of Crash Bandicoot respectively. It is not thought that Sony will retain exclusive rights to Crash though, as Konami, the game's publisher is already involved in a deal with Microsoft to release one title on the Xbox. Both companies will take their places in the Sony Computer Entertainment division and report directly to Shuhei Yoshida, vice president for product development. It should help give Sony some control over their own console sales by actually taking an active interest in the construction of software. Only three games actually created in-house by Sony were released last year, and many believe that only the badly-advertised Fantavision was worth its salt. Related Feature - PlayStation 2 UK Launch Coverage

Interplay have broken the news today that one of their various divisions, Digital Mayhem, is currently handling the port of Giants from PC to PlayStation 2. The game will be rejigged to make it more approachable for console users, with a new interface added for starters. An action-adventure title, Giants offers three vastly different sides, the Meccaryns, the Sea Reapers and Kabuto, and pits them together in a vicious war. The PS2 port is expected to be finished by the second quarter of this year.

- EverglidePrice - £15.99

Less than a year after announcing a multi-million pound investment deal, Barrysworld today revealed that they have already burnt through all of their money and may be forced to shut down operations within days. In a statement earlier, Barrysworld's TedTheDog announced that the company "has gone into voluntary liquidation as we're running out of money and with the market in its current state we've not found anyone prepared to fund our 2nd round of investment".

Just what the heck is an "Action Replay 2" when it's at home, you may ask? If you haven't come across Datel's "game enhancement" devices before, this may come as something of a shock to you. It's a way of cheating.

Bloomberg is reporting that Sony's financial results are likely to be down nearly 22% for the fourth quarter last year due to problems with production for the PlayStation 2. The severe shortages in Emotion Engine chips may have been a key factor. At the same time, Sony are now reportedly examining the possibility of a PlayStation 3 some time in 2002, due to the lack of broadband connectivity at this time, something they had not counted on. When the PS2 was originally envisaged, Sony planned for a market dominated by broadband Internet connections, and while some of us already have such capabilities, the majority does not. Ken Kutaragi, boss of Sony Computer Entertainment, is already speaking out about the Emotion Engine 2 chip (which he claims is due in 2002), and is discussing post-games functionality in terms of the PS2's successor. In a recent interview with Scientific American, The Register writes, "Kutaragi re-iterates the old PlayStation 2 vision, but links it to PlayStation 3. When that console ships, we can expect it to hook up to email, online shopping and all the other broadband services Sony originally expected the PS2 would connect us to." In a perverse way, Sony is now in a race with Microsoft to get its next next-generation console ready for mass-market consumption in time to stand a chance against the Xbox's strategic living room placement. Of course, frowns will now permeate themselves on the faces of just about everyone who bought into the PS2 vision, and who can blame them? If this latest information is true, they have been burned. Related Feature - PlayStation 2 UK Launch Coverage

RPG behemoth Squaresoft have inked a lucrative distribution deal with Infogrames Entertainment for the publication of titles from Square Europe, FGN Online reports. Square Europe is a subsidiary of Square Co. Ltd. in Japan, and handles the UK / European releases of games like Final Fantasy VIII. The deal with Infogrames will give the French publisher the rights to distribute Final Fantasy IX on PlayStation, as well as back-catalogue titles like Front Mission 3, Parasite Eve 2 and the incredible Vagrant Story. Final Fantasy IX is already available in the States, and heralded as a return to great times of yore after the relative disappointment of FFVIII, which many considered too rash. Related Feature - Final Fantasy VIII Review

Sources at Electronics Boutique in the States have been quoted as saying that EBWorld (the company's online presence) will no longer be accepting pre-orders for the PC version of Halo, as they were informed by those in higher positions in the company that Halo would be an Xbox exclusive title. This is remarkable, since EBWorld are renowned for accepting pre-orders for just about everything. If Microsoft are making such a change, it may well prove a significant turning point in their Xbox battle plan. Previously Halo was due out on all formats with the Xbox first, but it is known that Microsoft are interested primarily in getting the Xbox version into the limelight. The word from VoodooExtreme today is that the PR representative for Halo only has information that the game is due out on PC, Mac and Xbox. We should receive an update later this week. But in the long term, if this is a legitimate change, what does it mean for the PC platform? It could well mean that any company under Microsoft's ownership or supervision develops first and foremost for the Xbox with no pre-requisite for a PC version. This has of course been a worry all along, but it looks like we now have cause to take it more seriously. Related Feature - Thinking About The Box

Rick Goodman is no stranger to epic historical strategy games, having acted as lead designer on the first of the popular "Age of Empires" game. Today he is heading up the team at Stainless Steel Studios which is working on "Empire Earth", which takes its inspiration from his previous project but aims to take its blend of real-time strategy and historical settings to the next level with an even broader scope.

Judging by the imported copy we've been playing for the last week or two, Guilty Gear X is just such a breed of fighter. Upon sticking it into the VGA box and outputting it to our 19" monitor, it was fairly obvious that it is far more "VGA compatible" than any of the games Capcom claims are. Running at a crystal clear 640x480, it resembles a living, choreographed martial arts flick, with anime overtones. It really has to be seen in motion; the tiniest details in the background can be made out, with high res character models capturing the essence of the game beautifully. The level of animation is just right - a major problem in games of its ilk. Capcom in particular are often guilty of going over the top with animation - Guilty Gear X offers a pleasant go-between. Actually once you've witnessed the game first hand, the only thing you are liable to find slightly annoying is the over-exaggeration of detail in some of the backdrops, presenting a bit of a muddle.

- Edward Zwick Producer - Freddie Fields Starring -   Matthew Broderick   Denzel Washington   Morgan Freeman Filmed - America, 1989 DVD by - Columbia Tri-Star

One of the more ambitious massively multiplayer games under construction at the moment is "3rd World", a free-form space sim inspired by "Elite" which is being developed in eastern Europe. Designer Vitomir Jevremovic describes it as "more like an online world than a game", because rather than the dull repetitive quests found in most massively multiplayer games at the moment, it instead relies on players to provide the gameplay. "We put the basic regulations, we put the objects and game system, and everything else is up to the players".

PlayStation 2 owners may finally have something to shout about with the release of "Evergrace," "Armored Core 2," "Driving Emotion Type-S," "Skysurfer" and "Tokyo Extreme Racer 2" this week. The slew of new games includes three titles from UbiSoft alone, with EA and Virgin making up the numbers. We are taking particular interest in Evergrace, which met with our approval when we took a look at its development in the latter stages of last year. On the Dreamcast front it's actually quite a slow week. "Vanishing Point" is Acclaim's new racing title but upon tracking down a copy recently we weren't all that impressed by it. Elsewhere, the PSOne welcomes "Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear," which should be a remarkable conversion, going head-to-head with next week's Dreamcast release of the original "Rainbow Six", as well as "Ultimate Fighting Championship". The N64 is nowhere to be seen, but the GameBoy Color is still pootling along with several new releases; "Batman - Chaos in Gotham," "Land Before Time," and "Godzilla 2". Of course, here at EuroGamer we're most looking forward to a copy of the new Harvest Moon RPG, due out next week on PlayStation. Hold me back!

Last summer the lead designer, lead programmer and lead artist behind the innovative third person action game "Evolva" left Computer Artworks to form a new company called Synaptic Soup. We caught up with them a few months later to chat about their impressive looking new 3D game engine Cipher, but at the time they couldn't tell us about any of the games which would use the engine.

Virgin's latest release schedule has just arrived here at EuroGamer, with most of their first quarter titles slipping. Role-players will be sad to hear that the Icewind Dale add-on "Heart of Winter" and the DVD edition of "Baldur's Gate II" have both slipped to March 9th, missing out on cashing in on the UK cinematic release of the Dungeons and Dragons movie. Given the rather negative reports on the film following its American release though, this might be no bad thing.

Colin McRae Rally suffered from one identifiable flaw; it was basically tunnel racing with textures painted on the inside. There was no sense of scale, of going anywhere. All that and more is set to change in CM Mk. 2.0, the sequel and arguably the best Rally driving game out there. For starters, the game has one of the most streamlined controller calibration systems I've yet encountered. Ever since playing Grand Prix 3 with a steering wheel and foot pedals I've tried to do the same with every driving game I pick up, and unlike many others (notably 1nsane, the Codies' other recent racing release), sorting this out took about five seconds. Once I was set up and ready to go, I fired up the game proper and jumped into one of the full championship modes. The full season features loads of locations and stages for each of them, against 16 drivers in total. Messrs McRae and Grist (Nicky), his pace notes partner are of course the centre of attention and it makes perfect sense to pick up with them and a lovely looking Ford Focus, faithfully bedecked with all manner of advertising. You can also choose to go at it using a tight-looking Peugeot 206, or a Toyota Corolla WRC amongst others. FIA rules have been followed to a letter and each car shares the same power, transmission type and approximate weight to keep performance levels in check.

A black day for the Daily Radar and its owners Imagine Media is expressed via a letter from Consoles Editor Michael Wolf to its readers - you can read it here - about the lawsuit Nintendo is currently bringing against the company. It alleges that Imagine Media has been illegally using screenshots of the Pokemon games to produce its strategy guides. In short, it's no different to what anybody else on the Internet does, but it fell into discord with Nintendo, who don't like being tipped, so to speak. The letter makes for grim reading, and we fully support the sentiments and echo them here - if a company like Nintendo can't take the bad with the good, it shouldn't expect any publicity at all. We will obviously be watching the case with interest, until then we wish Imagine the best of luck.