News from the Net From our reporter, Alex van Kaam News from the web.... sad news from the web really..... When you think Ultima you think Lord British, right ? Well think again, I found this on Deja a few weeks ago: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Garriott Leaves Origin; 20 Positions Eliminated According to an Ultima Online FYI update posted today, legendary game creator Richard Garriott has departed Origin Systems, the company he founded more than 15 years ago. An internal Origin e-mail that found its way to UO fan site Lum the Mad revealed that Garriott's departure was the result of discussions with Origin's CEO that his goals were inconsistent with those of the company and owner Electronic Arts. Also announced today through Origin's public relations department was the elimination of 20 positions at Origin, none of which will affect the development of Ultima Online or Ultima Online 2. According to the distributed e-mail, this included the cancellation of such projects as web-based gaming and further iterations of Wing Commander and Privateer. "It was announced today that Richard Garriott is leaving Origin Systems to pursue other interests. As co-founder of the company ... Richard has helped Origin grow into one of the top [interactive] entertainment companies in the world. As creator of the Ultima series, his contributions to the company and the gaming industry as a whole are immeasurable, and he remains a friend of Origin Systems. Richard has yet to announce his upcoming plans; however, we at Origin wish him success in any future endeavors. Origin will continue to support and expand the world of Ultima Online, as well as our online worlds in development such as Ultima Online 2," the update to FYI read. Scuttlebutt also circulated today that Origin was slated to eliminate another 30 jobs in the future, but Origin's public relations department squashed that rumor, stating it was not true. Plans are to continue focusing on Ultima Online and increase the subscribership to 200,000, move forward with Ultima Online 2, and begin preliminary development on Ultima Online 3, with a focus on targeting casual users. We will have more on this situation as we confirm additional information with our sources. I checked this up a bit, but could not find any more official stuff on it, probably old news by now, still a shame that the man behind it quits..... ------------------------------------------------------------------ now on another sad note, go to http://www.gamespy.com/news/May00/5-24-00-1.shtm, where you will read the following: Looking Glass Studios closes down Maker of System Shock 2, Thief franchise to cease operations immediately. By - John "Warrior" Keefer Looking Glass Studios, the developer behind such hits as the Thief series and System Shock series, has closed its doors. No one at the company could be reached for official comment. A source at the company said "the company is essentially ceasing operations immediately." Calls to Paul Neurath, managing director of Looking Glass, were being directed to his voice mailbox, which was full. The source said Neurath was still at the office "making the rounds, talking to folks. There's a lot of that going on." Looking Glass, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., has created some of the best-selling and highly acclaimed titles in the industry, including the Ultima Underworld series, the System Shock series, the Thief series, the Flight Unlimited series and Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. "This news about Looking Glass closing down really saddens me," said Harvey Smith, lead designer at Ion Storm in Austin and a former lead tester on System Shock while with Origin. "Those guys have been my inspiration. They've made such incredible, revolutionary games over the last decade. Where would we be without Looking Glass?" Eidos, which published the Thief series, had no comment on the closure. The license for Thief was held jointly and where the closing leaves the franchise is currently up in the air. Electronic Arts was publisher of the System Shock series and they were unavailable for comment. Various posts on the forums at TTLG, a fan site for Looking Glass, show members of the studio confirming the demise. Among the posts was an open letter to the fans from Randy Smith, a Looking Glass designer: Hello LG Fans, Yes, it's true, Looking Glass has gone out of business. Our office is closing tomorrow. I'm sure that this effects me as much as anybody, since as a fan and then as an employee, Looking Glass has always been my favorite company in the games industry. Dedicating myself to the Thief projects has meant a lot to me, and we had high hopes for Thief 3 and other projects beyond. I'm going to deeply miss Looking Glass and my brilliant, fun co-workers. I don't think the industry will ever be quite the same. I want, on a personal level and on behalf of Looking Glass, to extend heartfelt appreciation to TTLG. Knowing that you guys were out there, watching and appreciating our efforts, has truly fueled our work. The things that you've accomplished on your sites are amazing, and knowing that it's all about us - Looking Glass and it's fans - is mindboggling. I slept on the floor of Doug Church's office for 13 days in a row during the making of Thief 2. I was working to make the game better, which I might not have done if I didn't know for certain that someone was going to notice. You owe a part of Looking Glass's products to yourselves, and we've been both proud and appreciative. In particular, I want to thank Dan Todd and Saam Tariverdi for starting TTLG. Beyond them, there are too many names to mention, so consider yourselves thanked. Sincerely, Randy Smith, former LG designer and forever an LG fan ps. Sadly, there is a low chance that Thief 3 will ever see the light of day, and it's even less likely that if it did, a majority of LG folks would be involved. I hope I'm wrong, but I think that's the sad truth. But just so you know, we were going to do this whole cool open-ended, self-directed city thing, where you get to wander around the city and steal at your leisure, until, of course, Garrett gets mixed up in crazy affairs that draw him into a larger plot. You guys, in particular, would have loved it, I bet. And, yea, it was gonna be about the Keepers. Good guess. The closure obviously came suddenly. Looking Glass had actually posted five job openings only three weeks earlier. What can I say... there are so many crap companies around and they seem to do well, while a company like LG, who only made good games goes belly up... shame. At http://members.aol.com/thief2metalage/ you can find a small history about the last days by Mike Chrzanowski who was one of the programmers there.... nice read !!! http://www.ttlg.com/ is and probably will be the best fansite for the company, all the news and how the people are doing now can be found here. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Anyways, at http://www.wizards.com/licensed/ruins_interview_4_1.asp there is a good interview with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor producer Jonathan Kromrey. The main page for Pool of Radiance, http://www.poolofradiance.com/, has been updated again with info, screenshots and other stuff. And finally http://www.dailyradar.com/previews/game_preview_593.html has another preview of this good looking game. ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.wizardry8.com/monsters/index.html you can find monster info on the upcoming Wizardry 8 game and at http://www.wizardry8.com/combat/index.html you can get combat info about the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.physics.uci.edu/~hawkins/mm8faq.txt there is a nice MM8 MINI-FAQ by Donovan Hawkins. At http://www.cdmag.com/Home/home.html?article=/articles/027/145 /mm8_tips3.html there are also some MM8 tips to be found. ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.cdmag.com/Home/home.html?article=/ articles/027/133/icewind_preview3.html you can find a preview of IceWind Dales, and for sure this game looks like a beauty: Icewind Dale, Black Isle's next AD&D-based RPG using BioWare's Infinity Engine is set in the Spine of the World mountains, a rugged land of dungeons, caverns, and scattered settlements. It's also home to numerous creatures and beings, both surface-dwelling and subterranean, many of whom would like nothing better than to make you and your party the guests of honor at a seven-course meal. Here's a general but nowhere near complete taste of what you can expect from Black Isle's latest bestiary: Beetles - Numerous types Elementals - Earth, Water, Fire Ettins - Two-headed kin of the giants Ghosts - Powerful, non-corporeal undead Ghouls - Nasty undead with a paralyzing touch Giants - Fire, Frost, maybe others; their incredible strength can challenge the toughest of parties Goblins - Small and weak, they swarm you with their numbers Lizardmen - Fairly intelligent and weapon-using Orcs - Your basic bad guys, from shock troops to spell-using shamen Salamandars - Fire based and difficult for up to mid-level parties Skeletons - From the weak to the mighty Wights - A fiendish mid-level undead monster According to Black Isle, they "felt it necessary to include those monsters that the average AD&D player, and the average CRPG player, would want to see, while adding enough variety as to not make it boring." The result is a collection of creatures that is appropriate for the setting of Icewind Dale, yet includes as many rare beasties as is consistent with the AD&D rules. And of course, monsters that feature prominently in the R. A. Salvatore novels had to make an appearance as well; hence, the Yetis. At http://www.gamefan.com/hotinfo.asp?s=6666&rs= there is a 12MB movie from the E3 show this year about Icewind Dales. And at http://www.ga-rpg.com/article.cfm?id=3672 there are some very cool Icewind Dale screenshots ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.xtremenetwork.com/interviews/industryleaders/lucas art s/ is a good interview with one of the workers at LucasArts, not really RPG/adv related but lots of us are Lucas art fans so :-) Staying at Lucas, http://www.escapemonkeyisland.com/ will lead you to their Monkey Island site where you can get your free e-mail address @monkeyisland4.net and of course news about LA and Monkey island ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.uo2.com/faq.html there is a Ultima 2 Online (or what ever it's new name is) FAQ, all the things you ever wanted to know about the game can be found here How does advancement work in Origin? Players perform a wealth of activities to gain experience. As they gain experience, they gain levels. When they gain levels, they gain skill points, or ankhs, which they can then apply to the skill tree. Effectively, you use the skill points to purchase 'skill boxes' inside the skill tree from teachers who offer the skill box. So, Origin is a level-based game? Only on the surface. The precise limits of what your character can achieve are dictated first and foremost by how you have spent your skill points, and secondly by your character's stats. So, can I advance without killing things? Of course. Details to come soon. What's to stop me from advancing in, say, cooking, by killing things? Primarily, because it will be less efficient. The experience costs for gaining skill points grows as you advance. If you choose to spend your skill points in cooking instead of killing things, you will find that you can't kill things as fast as other players can cook. Also, teachers may have specialized demands in order to teach you the skill. How many skillboxes are there? At this time, well over 1000. The system is very extensible and allows for great future growth. I'm curious about hybrid characters. Are they going to be as effective in combat as a pure mage or pure warrior? Hybrid characters will have the advantage of versatility, but they will never be as strong at magic as a pure mage, or as strong at combat as a pure warrior. How much control, once shipped and being played, will the Live Team have over [Origin]? For example, if players wanted more weapons, would the Live Team be able to create a new weapon? The architecture for Origin has been designed to be as extensible as possible, and should make it easier to add new weapons, creatures, etc. How the live team will choose to spend its time will be determined at that time, since it is based on many factors, including code stability, game balancing, player requests and the demands of the marketplace. Http://pc.ign.com/previews/14803.html have another preview of this game. ------------------------------------------------------------------ At http://www.rpgplanet.com/content/firstlooks/atriarch/ there is a first look at Atriarch: World Fusion's first and foremost aim with Atriarch was a completely unique and wholly new sort of world for gamers to play in. The world they have created for Atriarch is quite detailed at over one million square kilometers in size with 6 major continents. Atriana is 60% water and 40% land, and has five major oceans, and three moons which play a significant thematic role in the cultures of the sentient species: Devar, moon of fire; Gentar, moon of Frost; and Mantar, moon of Fury. These three moons bring to Atriana harsh winds, icy cold, and scorching fires, something collectively known as the Torpor Storm, which blankets Atriana each cycle, creating a period of hybernation and rejuvenation for all the inhabitants. World Fusion has given their world precise boundaries and dimensions, and their work on the actual world itself is no less thorough. The best single word for Atriana might be 'unique', a quality that World Fusion claims to be striving for above all others except the obvious desire to make their game enjoyable. Atriana is a wholly alien world; World Fusion made the unique decision months ago to remove the human race completely. There are no 'alien' influences on the natives of Atriana at all and all five sentient, playable species are unique non-human species who are wholly adapted to the organic nature of their world, utilizing only organic technology. Firstly the Cavolon, masters of plant life. The Cavolon are eccentric and secretive, and inhabit the planet's swampy areas. The Eshlar are skillful architects and are responsible for most structures built on Atriana. The Lokai are explorers who have mapped most of the world and though their home is desert terrain, they are comfortable anywhere on the world. The Tyrusin are fierce, brutal warriors from the icy northern plains who follow a strict code of honor. Finally, the Unarra are the beast tamers of the planet, with an empathic link to all the non-sentient living beasts of Atriana. All five of these races are playable, and each has unique defensive abilities and skills that might predispose them to certain classes. The stage is set for a unique multiplayer experience with a completely organic world, five native and strange species spread across six geographically different continents, on a world where everything is, to some extent or another, alive. This game looks kinda cool I must say, so go check it out, screenshots and lots more to read can be found. ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.gamespy.com/articles/dnd1_d.shtm have a preview of the 2 upcoming RPGs we all have heard of by now and who are using the D&D rules: Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor will be the first third- edition D&D title for the PC, set to be released in November. It is a sequel to Pool of Radiance from 1988, which began the Gold Box series. In the original game, your party cleared the monsters, and vanquished the demon Tyranthraxus the Flamed One, from the Phlan in the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms. The party consisted of six members, including two NPCs, and the characters were selected from six races and four classes (plus multiclasses). The combat was turn-based and fifty spells were available to the magical classes. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Neverwinter Nights While Baldur's Gate II is meant to be the definitive single-player D&D game, NWN hopes to do the same in the multiplayer arena with the 3rd edition D&D rules. Much like D&D, the adventures are organized into twenty-four modules, each averaging four hours in length. NWN takes place along the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms, north of Baldur's Gate, but south of Icewind Dale. The cities of Neverwinter and Luskan will feature heavily in the story. This is not the first foray into the Neverwinter region as there used to be an online RPG at America Online called Neverwinter Nights, created by Strategic Simulations, Inc. of Pool of Radiance fame. BioWare's NWN is not a sequel of the AOL game, but hopes to convey the same spirit of camaraderie. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Now back to real news, http://www1.sharkyextreme.com/games/glimpses/bioware/baldurs _gate2/ have posted a review of BG2, looking smoooooth again and http://www.gamespy.com/screens/bg2c.shtm has some more screenshots of BG2 for your pleasure. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Http://www.gamespot.co.uk/news/2000/06/6943.html is all about Shogun, and this is one smart looking game, anyway they posted the following: In previous postings, GameSpot UK has taken a close look at the background to Shogun Total War and examined gameplay in the twin aspects of the turn-based strategy section of the game and the real-time 3D tactical section. With Shogun Total War now barely two weeks from final release we take you, over the next five days, a little bit deeper into the world of warfare and subterfuge that was Japan 500 years ago. Our Diary of a Daimyo (a Japanese feudal lord), based on extended play of a close-to-final version of the game should give you a flavour for the way a campaign develops, while each day we will take a closer look at the various units available to do battle with. ------------------------------------------------------------------ And finally, since there are so many Star Trek games coming out I figured some ST links would be okay, here are a few http://www.sherylfranklin.com/startrek.html which is your normal ST fan site, lots of good stuff though, http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lnohara/startrek/technology/technolog y.h tml which is all about the technical stuff used in ST, from how a cloaking device works, to how the PC's and the holodeck work.... not sure about this yet, it is kinda scary people think so much about this... now at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/4156/index.html is the medical log, it's all about DS9, this is one very very well worked out site !!! You can even check out all the known shops on the promenade, to show how detailed here is some info on Garek: As you may have heard from other sources in and around this station, I have had some experiences in covert operations, sabotage, and other general spying techniques. The life of an operative is for the most part shadowy, but I enjoyed great prominence within my own circle and select officials in the government. I once was an elite of the Obsidian Order, the secretive intelligence agency that served only the purpose of the Cardassian Union. Since the fall of the Order, Cardassia is not quite what it used to be, but that's another matter altogether. The skills requisite to all Obsidian Order operatives combine that of uncompromising brutality and the artistic finesse, both of which I have in ample supply. In years past when I was younger, I had been more inclined towards the more violent aspects of the intelligence business. Interrogation of victims was my primary gift, and I had many opportunities to use it to the advantage of the Order. Living the highly stimulating life that goes so far beyond that of the ordinary Cardassian citizen came with a heavy price, but it was one I felt was well worth the rewards. I was right hand man to Enabran Tain, head of the Order in my time, and also my late father. The two of us wrested secrets from other governments, doing what we thought was in the interest of the empire we swore our allegiance to. However, none other than my own father exiled me from Cardassia. His emotional and professional ties with me had made me too expensive for upkeep by his side and he believed that banishing me to the outermost realm of the Union would serve his purposes best. In 2368, the Central Command, then military government of Cardassia, sent me to formal exile on Terok Nor, a mining station situated as far from Cardassia Prime as Tain could arrange. It was a most ignoble punishment, but I would have borne the humiliation had anyone other than Gul Dukat lorded over me. In those days, he was still Prefect of Bajor and had far better connections than I had with the Central Command. Let us just say we had our differences in the past. His father and I were not on the best of terms, and so Dukat and I naturally grew to hate the other. When the Occupation of Bajor ended abruptly a year later, I did not retreat with the Cardassians, rather electing to remain on Terok Nor. It was not out of love for this Bajoran labor camp that I chose to do so, but simply because I had nowhere else to go to. Besides, I did develop a turn for the tailoring business and felt taking my chances with the Bajorans and later, the Federation, would be far more preferable than facing certain death and condemnation on Cardassia Prime. Fortunately for myself and my tailoring establishment on the Promenade, the Bajoran Provisional Government hastily erected following the retreat of Cardassian forces enlisted the help of the Federation in station administration. The neutral and self-righteous Starfleet officers came aboard and permitted Promenade merchants such as myself to continue with our businesses as before. My good friend Dr. Bashir came aboard with the other Starfleet officers at that time, very noticeable for his starry-eyed look and ambitious demeanor. He possessed an intellect and humor that suited both of us very well, and our friendship has lasted. Maybe I had brought it upon myself to be a mentor of sorts towards him, because his naivety and optimism dismayed me. The universe is not a game, nor is it so bright and cheery as he'd like to think. He's learned well the past seven years. No longer so frank and trusting, he is hardened by the war and the deaths of so many people from his Federation. Together, we have uncovered a plot between the Bajoran terrorist Tahna Los and the Klingon sisters Lursa and B'Etor, determined the true circumstances behind the adoption of a young Cardassian named Rugal by a Bajoran couple, and discussed the finer points of Cardassian literature over lunch. The doctor had some fantasies of being a spy for an agency of Earth's past history, and I provided him with some useful techniques upon witnessing how laughably amateurish he was. He had no idea who or what I had been before my exile from Cardassia, and that was how I wished it to remain. No use digging up ghouls of the past to discourage young ambitious doctors such as himself. And at any rate, I wouldn't wish to antagonize such a heroic and just Starfleet officer who also happens to be my only friend. And finally there is http://www.mjs-startrek.com/, now enter the Frames -Enhanced area, have some patience, and you'll think you're on the Enterprise behind a real PC/Terminal. Alex - o -