Bits And Bobs: Monday News Roundup

Radical Games will apparently 'blow' the lid on its Scarface adaptation in the next issue of US mag Electronic Gaming Monthly. Trailing the issue, website 1UP has a couple of shots and a quote from producer Peter Wanat, who says: "Players have seen the movie -- the movie does a great job of telling that story. We would much rather give the player a unique experience. We're gonna get away from games [where] you've seen the movie, [now] play the movie." The shots are slightly reminiscent of GTA, but then that's to be expected. They're not abundantly detailed, really, but you do get to see Tony Montana in his usual red shirt riding on a boat and firing a rocket launcher. We look forward to hearing how Radical and VU plan to handle a South Florida drug empire sim in more detail... Speaking of details, there should be more on the otherwise barren www.scarfacegame.com fairly soon.

Blizzard's World of WarCraft is the latest high profile game to sign on for Game Stars Live. According to publisher Vivendi, visitors will be able to play the US closed-beta version and "experience the vibrant world of Azerorth firsthand". If you're going, look out for it on stand no. F11/F12 in the Main Hall N1-N5. Er, if you can find it. According to Blizzard president Mike Morhaime, the game is "nearing completion". "When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, our goal was to give players an incredibly dynamic online gaming experience filled with endless possibilities while expanding the scope of the Warcraft universe. We look forward to accomplishing this goal with the release of World of Warcraft," he said.

Atari has confirmed that Sid Meier's Pirates! will be 'port'ed to Xbox in time for spring 2005, a few months after the PC version drops anchor at retail. (Oh give up.) Better, it'll be Xbox Live enabled with a versus mode, and you can expect 5.1 Dolby Digital surround support and - if you're using a US Xbox and a big old TV, progressive scan support. You can find a recent trailer for the game over here if you haven't seen it already.

Speaking of Atari, the publisher is also planning a new real-time strategy game for the PC called Act of War: Direct Action It's in development at Eugen Systems in France, and also due out in spring 2005. And it's not based on World War II, before you ask. Instead, it'll pit gamers in the role of elite US troops as they battle an international force in places like San Francisco, Moscow and Tokyo, and will feature online multiplayer for up to eight players. Novelist Dale Brown is apparently helping to craft the game's background story.