News

              From our reporter, Alex van Kaam

- Might and Magic VI; racism ??!!
- Might and Magic VII
- A New RPG
- Official LMK Site Open
- Return to Krondor
- EverQuest Express
- Klingon Honour Guard
- Sierra Launches new Division
- HeavyGear II Page
- Ultima Online pains
- Daggerfall / Redguard
- Ultima 9 Page
- Wheel of Time
- LMK Combat




>>> Might and Magic VI; racism ??!! <<<

@~Well let's first start with some Might and Magic 6 news, the MM
@~Newsboard was very busy last week after a player wrote that he
@~sent his game back for the following reasons:

1- Black Cannibals as bad guys
2- Oriental Monks as bad guys
3- only White male and female character to be selected as heros

Lots of people responded to that, personally I find it a bit sad,
but if you'er the easily offended type then bear the above in
mind but also remember it is a FANTASY GAME.

Right onto the next MM VII news:


>>> Might and Magic VII <<<

@~The following post floated around the WWW so here it is:

"Might and Magic VII will use substantially the same engine as
Might and Magic VI, allowing the development team to concentrate
on designing the gaming world, instead of focusing on technology.
The development team has a target release date for the game of
March, 1999.  Rather than the random townfolk stalking the streets
in Might and Magic VI, the development team is considering
scripting each and every non-player character in Might and Magic
VII, making the wandering NPCs less cardboard.  Some improvements
will be made to the turn-based combat: the party will be allowed
move during turn-based combat, and enemies may be visible from
more than one angle (i.e. side and rear views) and may attack each
other. As a result, townpeople may defend themselves from
creatures that wander into town, and monsters may fight between
each other.  The keyboard controls will be fully customizable.


The storyline will also pick up where Might and Magic VI left off,
and will involve the exploration of another continent in the world
of Enroth.  Some of the character classes from prior Might and
Magic games that were excluded from Might and Magic VI may return,
provided that they do not unbalance the game, including Ninjas and
Thieves."

@~That monster attack themselves sounds good, let's hope they
@~include the fact that when you get hit by a Fireball generator
@~in a corridor, any monster following you will get damage too,
@~this bugged me big time in MM VI.

@~One mistake I think they make is that there will be no 3DFX
@~and/or D3D and/or OpenGL version of the game. So far the only
@~real criticism you can hear about the game is that is does not
@~have the above mentioned support.  At this point in time when 3D
@~accelerators are not yet as common as a sound card they can get
@~away with it, but by March 1999 many more people will have a 3D
@~card, either a 2D/3D combo they got with their PC or a good 3DFX

@~card they bought separately and I don't think New Word Computing
@~can get away with it then.

@~As some of you may remember MM VI was originally also 3DFX
@~accelerated, the reason they gave for dropping it was "loss of
@~detail and the game will slow down"..... for those of you who
@~have played GL Quake II or Unreal on their 3DFX will know that
@~loss of detail is a lame excuse. And slowing the game down is
@~even a worse excuse (Quake II software will get 18 or so frames
@~on a P300, GLQuake II 69 frames <g>)

@~Enough about Might and Magic, onto the next news:

>>> A New RPG <<<

@~Here is a nice little blurb on a new RPG being created by Studio
@~Blue. It will take place in a Fantasy setting and should have
@~fairly nice 2D graphics.


"Our graphics are going to be good (better than Diablo), but I
don't know if they will win us any awards. So instead of trying to
create the most technologically impressive 3D game engine, we are
creating a solid 2D game engine and we are concentrating on
gameplay and story since those are the areas we can compete with
the larger companies out there. We will work hard to produce a
game with deep characters, solid stories, and as much
non-linearity as we can manage (within our allowed development
time and story constraints). But most of all we will work to make
a game that is fun to play."

@~hmmmmm 2D graphics, it'd better be very good to compete with 3D
@~graphics these days.

>>> Official LMK Site Open<<<

@~The official LMK site which I mentioned last issue is now
@~opened, so once again here is the URL: http://www.lmkworld.com/


>>> Return to Krondor News <<<

@~Sierra have a nice new page for Return to Krondor at
@~http://www.sierra.com/studios/sierrastudios/games/krondor/bot.html
@~and that is the same location I got the following article from
@~for you:

Product Description

Return to Krondor is the highly anticipated sequel to the
best-selling RPG of all time, Betrayal at Krondor. It is set in
Raymond E. Feist's world of Midkemia, and will offer many of the
key RPG elements found in the original while simultaneously
incorporating the latest gaming technology.

During the quest, players assume the roles of five main
characters, Squire James, a reformed thief; the Keshian sorceress
Jazhara; William Condoin, son of the magician Pug; a roughhewn
Warrior-Priest of Ishap named Brother Solon; and Kendaric, the
reluctant wizard whose magic is the group's only hope of victory.

The story revolves around the disappearance of the Ishapian
Church's most sacred relic, the Tear of the Gods. A band of
ruthless pirates - in the employ of Sidi, a shadowy, half-mad
sorcerer - attempt to seize the Tear from the Ishapian treasure
ship; but in the process, they sink the ship accidentally, sending
the Tear to the bottom of the Bitter Sea. The characters' efforts
to recover the Tear inadvertently draw them into a violent,
three-sided battle over the relic. Their quest leads them from the
dizzying heights of Krondor's Palace, through the twisting tunnels
of the sewers beneath the city, and into the haunted depths of a
temple dedicated to an evil as ancient as the gods themselves.

Raymond E. Feist's bibliography dominates the world of literary
fantasy with more than a dozen books translated into 13 languages.
His work appears regularly on best-seller lists including The New
York Times and The Times of London. Two of the original works,
Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master have been reprinted 22
and 21 times respectively. His most recent title, Rage of a Demon
King, has ranked on The New York Times list since its release in
April 1997. Net sales of Mr. Feist's books, worldwide, is over 12
million copies.

The game is being developed by Cincinnati-based PyroTechnixr, a
technology and development house whose credits include Tanarus and
the upcoming online RPG EverQuest.

Key Features:
10 plot-twisting chapters based on the writings of best-selling
author Raymond E. Feist
True3Dr engine provides real-time lighting and a host of special
effects never before seen in an RPG
More than 150 real-time 3D characters
Over 60 spells, each with its own unique effects
Comprehensive alchemy system that allows you to create your own
potions and spells
Tactically complex 3D combat, featuring intuitive smart cursors
for ease of play




System Requirements:
O/S Requirements: Windows 95 or Windows NT (DirectX 5.0)
Hardware Requirements: Pentium 166, 4x CD-ROM, 100MB hard disk
space
Memory Requirements: 16MB RAM
Monitor/Card Support: 1MB PCI Video Card
Sound Card Support: 16 bit sound card

@~Sounds good so far, I just hope it's a bit "faster" then the
@~previous one, but that was just my experience with it <g>

>>> EverQuest Express <<<

@~Check out http://eqx.simplenet.com/ for the EverQuest express,
@~which has some good short stories for you to read, it looks
@~good, is fast, HIGHLY recommended by me, myself and I.


>>> Klingon Honour Guard <<<

@~At this page: http://www.pcfan.com/pcfan/previews/khg.html I got
@~the following info for KH:

"I'm a big fan of the Star Trek universe, well, at least on TV.
And I would have thought that with the generous amount of material
available (such as the TV show, the books, the movies, the
strategy games) video game developers would have more than enough
at their fingertips to release successful, decent quality games
based upon this franchise. Unfortunately, however, this does not
seem to be the case. Throughout the years many Star Trek games
have been released by the likes of Interplay and Microprose. 90%
have sucked.

Yet, this trend looks like it's about to end with the release of
Klingon Honor Guard. Based on the Unreal engine, you assume the
role of an elite member of the Klingon Honor Guard who must
investigate an assassination attempt on Chancellor Gowron (head of
the Klingon empire). This choice of plot by Microprose is a very
clever one indeed, by making the protagonist a Klingon, they don't
have to worry about corny Starfleet morality. They can make this
game the bloodfest we all want to see.

As far as the plot goes, like I said before, you take on the role
of a Klingon enlisted in the Klingon Honor Guard (the Klingon
equivalent of the Tal Shiar, or Obsidian Order). An assassination
attempt has been made upon the life of Chancellor Gowron, leader
of the Klingon High Order. It is your duty to find out who's
behind it, so you go pick up your disruptor and your d'k tagh (a
three bladed dagger) and head out on the quest. Along the way the
plot thickens, and you meet up with people from the Star Trek
universe.  From what I understand your main contact in the game is
Kurn, Worf's brother (although I thought he had his memory
erased...I guess this is a bit of artistic liberty). I wouldn't be
surprised if the Duras sisters have something to do with this,
either (actually I'd be kind of disappointed if they didn't ).

Enough about the story, however, thanks to the power of the Unreal
engine, and the flexibility of Unreal's editor, Microprose has
been able to faithfully reproduce many familiar areas from Star
Trek movies. You'll fight on the Klingon home world, inside a Bird
of Prey, and then scale the hull and fight on the outside of it.

Apart from the single player mode, Microprose has stated that this
game will support a multiplayer mode (which I suppose will be very
similar to Quake's deathmatch mode).

This game looks to be very promising. The graphics (thanks to the
Unreal engine) are cutting edge, the story is interesting, and
hopefully the gameplay will be top notch. To be honest, I'm kind
of getting sick of the whole first-person shooter genre, but I
still find myself wanting to add this to my collection when it is
released. Now if we could only get a first person shooter
featuring the Jem'Hadar."

@~Sounds good to me so far, having played and finished UnReal I
@~downloaded one of the weapons from Honor Guard and used it in
@~UnReal, looks very good :-))). With so many companies using the
@~Unreal engine it seems that the Quake II engine has finally - or
@~should I say already - lost its place at the top .... Quake III
@~is on its way so it had better be good.

>>> Sierra Launches new Division <<<

Sierra has announced the launch of a new division, called Sierra
Studios.  The Sierra Studios brand line-up including Half-Life
(slated for Summer 1998), King's Quest: Mask of Eternity (Fall
1998), Gabriel Knight III: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the
Damned (Fall 1998), Return to Krondor (Fall 1998), Caesar III
(Fall 1998) and Homeworld (Fall 1998), a genre-melding game
featuring space combat, strategy and cinematic-quality graphics

Those are some nice titles to start a new division with I say !!

>>> HeavyGear II Page <<<

@~All HeavyGear fan check out
@~http://www4.activision.com/games/heavygearii/ for news on this
@~game from the makers themselves

>>> Ultima Online pains <<<

@~I took a few parts of an article posted at
@~http://www.avault.com/articles/brokbrit.asp about how Ultima
@~Online can turn out to be a huge pain/frustration. Check out the
@~full article if you are interested, it's a good read.

.....Everyone's heard the expression, "I feel like my whole world
is just falling apart!" For Ultima Online players like myself, who
choose to do their adventuring on the Atlantic game server, this
has become our credo.  Simply put, the Atlantic server is about as
stable as a moongate during a lunar eclipse. One minute it's
there, and then "poof!" ... all gone. A fly on the wall of my
computer station would have gotten quite a show this past week,
watching as I pulled the hair out of my head, and shouted
obscenities at my monitor. At least ten times in a one week period
I have been booted from the game without warning, only to find
that rejoining was impossible, because Atlantic was no longer on
the list of available game servers. Going through this process is
like sitting in NORAD during a nuclear war, watching as cities get
wiped off the map. "Look sir! There goes New York! My God, we've
lost Boston too!"

The worst thing about getting dropped from a game because of a
downed server is the immediate sinking feeling that all the
character building you've just gone through has been for naught.
You see, when the server you're playing on fails, all of the game
data since the last system backup is lost forever.  It's like
playing a game and almost completing a level, only to have the
power go out; but the real hurt comes when you remember you
haven't saved the game in about 30 minutes! Naturally, Murphy's
Law completely dominates in Ultima Online. Chances are you'll play
for two hours straight without encountering a single monster. But
then, after you've slain two ettins and 3 orcs, and accumulated a
backpack full of treasure, the game will unceremoniously boot you
out. It's enough to make a ranger take a bow to his head....

...In Ultima Online, it is every player for himself (or herself,
as the case may be). For every cool person I've hooked up with,
I've encountered 5 complete jerks who would just as soon stab me
in the back as watch it. This in itself is not a fault of Ultima
Online; the blame rests solely on those miscreants who find
enjoyment in making other, paying customers miserable.  And that's
the real problem -- people don't want to pay to be harassed.
There are plenty of mean, selfish people in the world and it
doesn't cost a cent to be victimized by them; they'll gladly do it
for nothing! ....

....The most serious side-effect of this docile nature of the
animals is that the concept of pets has gotten way out of control.
It is just much too easy to train an animal, even if you have very
little ability. Taming a gorilla only requires 5 skill points,
which is akin to nothing. That's realistic? It's not surprising to
find people with entire menageries of animals -- dogs, rabbits,
bears, panthers, deer. That's ridiculous. What's even more
distressing is the fact that it's become completely commonplace to
see a person wandering around with pet demons or dragons. One of
the things that originally peaked my interest in Ultima Online was


knowing that it would be some time before I was good enough to
face, even see, Britannia's most mystical creatures. Sadly, this
has not been the case, and I find there is little now to look
forward to....

... A ranger lives in the woods. A rangers thrives in the woods. A
ranger needs the woods. In Ultima Online, my ranger has the
equivalent of a garden to snoop around in. The problem is with the
game's availability of houses.  At around $13,000, a small
building would seem pretty expensive. But apparently, it's not
expensive enough. Either that, or Lord British needs to draw up
some new zoning laws. Britannia's wilderness is like one big urban
renewal project. No matter where you are, in the deepest forest or
murkiest swamp, you will find a player-owned house. Sure it's cool
to be able to own such property, but such overcrowding really
shatters the illusion that the gameworld is a giant, largely
unsettled continent.....


>>> Daggerfall / Redguard <<<

@~A letter floating around about RedGuard, the new game from
@~Bethesda, all I can say is this, if they don't get 3D graphics
@~and please please get a Windows based version and not one
@~running in a DOS window which gives problems with new graphics
@~cards then they can forget this game.

I've read every comment on Daggerfall and everything on most other
games as well. We're not under any delusions as far as the state
of our games and their success and failures. REDGUARD will NOT be
DAGGERFALL. They are different games, different types of games.
REDGUARD is something nobody has really tried (well not since the
early days, when designers actually tried something new). It is
not an RPG, it is not an adventure, and it is not an action game.
There are elements of all those things in it, but it is the
combined effect of many types of interaction into an epic
swashbuckling tale. Daggerfall may have been a game in the world
of Tamriel, but you've never really touched the world the way you
can in REDGUARD. Again, I'll post more when I can, and keep in
mind that for all the hits we take, we're still going to make the
games that capture our imaginations. Perhaps Markus will even like
it? Who knows? If he doesn't, I welcome his comments

Todd Howard
Project Leader REDGUARD
Bethesda Softworks

>>> Ultima 9 Page <<<

@~Head over to http://www.walrus.com/~sith/ for all the Ultima 9
@~info that is available on the WWW.

>>> Wheel of Time <<<

@~Yet another RPG announced, this time it's called Wheel of Time,
@~I have not checked it out myself but if you're interested then
@~head over to http://www.wheeloftime.com/ - it seems it is based
@~on the UnReal Engine, just like KH is.

>>> LMK Combat <<<

@~The following was posted on one of the newsgroups and it is
@~about the combat in LMK, turnbased or real time, it seems while
@~New World Computing is going to expand turnbased more, the LMK
@~team have chosen Real Time:

@~LMK Commentary, I found an interesting post by Swen Vincke of
@~Larian Studios on one of the message boards for The Lady, The
@~Mage & The Knight.

I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to pick up the
turnbased versus multiplayer issue :) It's something we have been
giving a lot of thought, and to be quite honest, if we had gone
for turnbased, our lives would have been a lot easier. It's easier
to code, it's easier from a design point of view, and it's much
easier to implement in a multiplayer environment.

Our initial idea was that what worked great for real time strategy
games, would work well for multicharacter RPG games too. We
quickly found out that that was a stupid idea. The difference is
that you are much closer to the action in a multicharacter RPG
like LMK than in for instance C&C. However, we did learn a lot of
things from that mistake. *GOOD* realtime multi character control
during fights in a RPG is undiscovered territory, which is why I
think most people are very sceptical about it. The system we've
come up with however turns out to be a pretty good solution for
the problem, and I've no doubt that we'll show with LMK that it is
possible to combine strategy and adrenalin in a RPG, just like you
can in a real time strategy game. The two keywords are interface
and balance. If the interface is fast enough, and the gameplay
well balanced then there is no problem. But I must say that if I
were you, I'd also be a bit sceptical.

@~Well that's it for this issue, I reached my 20K and boss Sue
@~does not want me to go over that <eg>



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