News from the Net

                     From Alex van Kaam

   RPG planet over at
   http://www.rpgplanet.com/ac2/features/interviews/mfqa.shtml
   have a nice Q&A up with the Matthew Ford, the program manager
   for Asherons Call 2:

WoD: Asheron's Call 1 was known for its many dungeons, and plenty
of fighting spots. Will AC2 follow the same design, or is Turbine
aiming at less but larger, fullscale dungeons like UO?

Matt: In my opinion, AC1 has an embarrassment of riches when it
comes to dungeons. We don't intend to top that. We may not have
quite so many dungeons, so we can concentrate on making each of
them really special, distinctive, and attractive to a clear range
of players. Players will still spend a lot of time in dungeons if
they like that kind of fighting-- which will have a pace and
tactical style very different from the landscape. Then there are
the Vaults, which are a kind of uber-dungeon that ties into our
Vault Campaign quest system. We'll reveal a lot more about that
later.  Suffice to say that working your way through a Vault will
be a climactic experience, with a big payoff. At the same time, we
will use a few clever ideas to make sure that the Vaults are not
full of campers, so you'll feel like a real hero as you and your
party fight your way to the bottom.  As for giving you plenty of
fighting spots, our philosophy is simply to give the players what
they want. If you want to feel like you've got a hunting spot all
to yourself, you can have that. If you want a bustling place full
of the mayhem other players can provide, you can have that too. We
don't want to force you to only have one type of experience.

EQ Caster's Realm have the news up about EQ, so head over to
http://eq.castersrealm.com/viewarticle.asp?Article=4245 if you
want to read it all:

The world of EQ2 is set some time into the future from the current
EverQuest world. There will be only three continents however at
release.  50% of the zones will be entirely new, and 50% will be
rebuilt areas of the traditional Norrath. But the world has
changed. The article describes how Freeport has been taken over by
the corrupt Freeport militia and the remnant paladins isolated in
a new area known as Marr. The Iksar still roam, but the Vah Shir
have disappeared (Kerrans are however playable).

   Talking about EQ, BBC news has a funny article about Nortath
   being richer then Bulgaria
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1899000/1899
   420.stm

   Eurogamer has some more about Tale in the Desert, the one Sue
   is trying out I think, so head over to:
   http://www.eurogamer.net/content/i_deserttale

   @~I've downloaded the demo but STILL haven't installed it! ...
   @~Sue

   I played the demo of Arx Fatalis, it had a few bugs so they
   delayed the game a month or two, but it sure was nice, reminded
   me very much of Ultima Underworld. The controls are a bit more
   tricky but once I got used to it I had a great time, so head
   over to http://www.slcentral.com/articles/02/3/arxfatalis/ and
   read up on it:

Arx Fatalis' roots come from the Ultima Underworld series, which
was developed right around the same time as Doom. Comparing the 3D
engines, Underworld was capable of much more complex geometry than
Doom was, but Underworld had to be displayed in a window for it to
run efficiently on a then-powerful 486. UW, like many other
follow-up games by Looking Glass Studios (R.I.P.), was very
versatile in how you could solve your problems.  You could take
the world on by force, negotiate your way through problems, or
just be a cunning sneak

   Another game by Fish Tank (like Arx) is Call of Cthulhu, head
   over to
   http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?http://www.comput
   erandvideogames.com /previews/previews_story.php?id=27410 for a
   preview:

28 Apr 02 In an old barn in a windswept field on the outskirts of
darkest Sutton Coldfield, something sinister is lurking. It is a
thing of unspeakable terror, the result of man's perverted need to
turn technology to his own foul purpose. As yet inchoate but with
the potential to leave every mind it touches hideously scarred and
twisted, it calls itself...  Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The
Earth.

Scared yet? Well, if not, we're pretty confident you will be when
this first-person mind-wrench gets hold of you come summer. In
fact, those of a delicate humour may want to give it a wide berth,
as it could just be the most disturbing and frightening game ever
made. "It's not about shocks and thrills (although there are a few
of these) but about a gradually building atmosphere of despair and
hopelessness. People should play this game and not be able to
sleep afterwards thinking about all they've seen and heard."

   Gamespy had a nice RPG week going from the tabletop RPG to the
   future, start at
   http://www.gamespy.com/articles/april02/rpgweek/rpg1/ for the
   whole deal

The first true role-playing game came from an unlikely place
indeed: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In the 1960s, E. Gary Gygax
created a medieval wargame called Chainmail. Chainmail was a minor
success, and soon Gygax and friends were hosting a small local
convention called "Gen Con" in support of it. (At that time, Gen
Con attracted 100-500 attendees. Last year the venerable
convention hosted over 21,000). The gathering attracted a
Minnesotan named David Arneson, who had modified Chainmail to a
1:1 scale (one figure equals one character). Gygax reportedly
liked the immediacy and the threat of instant death having a
single 'character' added to his game; soon the two were working
together. On that day, Dungeons & Dragons was born.

   http://www.bardslegacy.com/main.html has a few more updates
   about their bards tale game... still fun to see, hope it will
   be fun to play (we all are spoiled these days so....)

   http://www.complexgames.com/index.htm is all about the game
   Dungeon, still a bit low on info but none the less interesting
   and promising

   Exuit (Ultima 7 remake) has some new stuff online, so once
   again head towards http://exult.sourceforge.net/

   http://www.ferrago.co.uk/column.asp?id=9 have up a great
   article about MMORPGs read it, even if you don't play them...
   maybe things he says are very very true.

Those of you reading this who have a lot of experience with online
gaming will know what I mean. The first major online RPG was
Ultima Online.  Conventions that exist on the today's generation
of online games were invented on UO. Back then they didn't know
how people would act in a game.  They just presumed they'd act the
way the designers wanted them too. But if there is one cardinal
rule in online gaming, it is this - people are totally
unpredictable, and if there is a way to screw up game balance then
someone out there will find it for you. In UO, they screwed it up
big time.  People hacked their characters to make them invincible,
and went on killing sprees murdering every man and beast in sight.
These virtual psychopaths banded together and almost brought the
game to a standstill - you couldn't leave town without being
ganked by a twenty strong gang of computer highwaymen. UO's
designers at this point were frantic, and desperate to reclaim the
game from those that were ruining the enjoyment of a great many
players - and many changes were introduced. In the end, however,
what saved the game was the ingenuity of the players themselves.
The normal players began to fight back. They formed vigilante
guilds whose sole purpose was the annihilation of the grief
killers. Other guilds formed that specialised in the protection of
other players - online bodyguards. Players travelled from town to
town in convoys. Major roads and other routes were patrolled.
Players adopted tactics from the real world - tactics they had
probably never learned about, but which seemed like the sensible
thing to do in such a situation. I have played pretty much all of
the online RPGs out there, and UO holds a special place in many
people's hearts. Perhaps the main reason for this is the sense of
struggle that the game created. The grief killers were actually
sincerely hated - and this gave the game an extra dimension that
subsequent games could not quite replicate. It really was a case
of good versus evil.

   A bit of an old link, but GameSpy have made a list of the 30
   most influential people in gaming:
   http://www.gamespy.com/articles/march02/top30/3025/ some old,
   some unknown, some very well known.....

   Sticking with GameSpy, a dev diary of Atriarch, another MMOG:
   http://www.gamespy.com/devdiary/april02/atriarch8/ :

In Atriarch, we approach player-derived content from many angles.
Probably the best example of Atriarch player-content lies in our
player construction building system. Ok, so you are thinking to
yourself, what is so special about player housing anyway? Everyone
will eventually have it, right?

At the gates. First, player housing barely scratches the surface
of what Atriarch can do. This is a construction system, not just a
housing system.  If you want to build a secret fortress of doom,
then go for it.  Second, imagine every building you own, including
your house, can be unique in size, shape, and appearance from
every other player if you want.  Third, now imagine that you could
care less about taking the time to design a building and just want
a place to store your loot. You can buy and trade blueprints and
layouts of structures that other player-characters design for you.
Of course, this all happens in-game and is very much a part of the
world culture, economy, politics, and story.

   Some more GameSpy at
   http://www.gamespy.com/interviews/april02/shadowbane/, all
   about Shadowbane, the MMORPG that is PvP

GameSpy: What does Shadowbane bring to fantasy MMORP gaming that
hasn't been done before?

Scott Herrington: We think of Shadowbane as the next evolution of
MMORPG gaming. Shadowbane is the first MMO to combine RPG and
strategic elements to allow for city management, army creation,
siege warfare, and economic development. Shadowbane is also the
first MMO to offer a "Dynamic World Model" in which player's
actions directly affect the politics, history, and landscape of
the game. This means the Shadowbane story arc will evolve over
time as players build guilds, start wars, and create political
systems.

This is a completely new level of interactivity for MMO gaming.
Based on our innovative server architecture, Shadowbane will also
be the first MMO to allow players to explore every world in the
game. With all these elements combined, we hope to create a MMO
experience that will continue to evolve and capture the attention
of players long after the first few months

   Lord B has another interview over at
   http://www.frictionlessinsight.com/Articles/RichardGarriott/Ric
   ha rdGarriottI nterview.htm

At what point did you know that computer gaming was going to
become a career rather than just a hobby?

It was a ways into it. Once the Apple II came out I wrote DND28b
(which became Akalabeth) and even after that one sold I was like,
"Wow! I can make money at this!? Well, let me make one which is
intended for public consumption," which became the first Ultima.
It really wasn't until somewhere between Ultima II and Ultima III,
where I began to flunk out of school. The first class I failed was
a programming class that was even on a processor that was related
to the Apple II processor, but since it wasn't quite the same I
would make errors in my school coding even though I was coding on
a sister machine processor at night. Then I made a very difficult
decision - I either had to finish school, or go do games. The
money I was already making in games was hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year, so there was no question even from a family
standpoint.  Everybody was like, "Oh, yeah ... go do the games."
But everyone still thought it was a hobby.  Everyone thought,
"When this windfall goes away, 'cause this is an aberration,
surely, you'll go back to school and finish your degree and get a
real job." It wasn't until a few years after that that I finally
began to reflect and go, "This industry's not going away. My
company's probably not going away, but even if it did, I'm now a
senior member of this new industry. The knowledge I have is very
valuable to anyone and everyone in this industry. I'm not ever
going back to school. This is not a hobby anymore." That didn't
really happen until Ultima IV or V.

   Now for all ADVENTURE PLAYERS, HomeLAN has an interview with
   the creators of Syberia at
   http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=6337

Microids is getting close to completion on their ambitious PC
adventure game Syberia, which is based the work of comic book
author Benoit Sokal. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with the project
manager of the game, Marie-Sol Beaudry, to find out more about
their plans for Syberia.

HomeLAN - How did the idea for Syberia come about?

Marie-Sol Beaudry - The main idea comes from Benoit Sokal's (comic
book author) imagination. There has never been a definite starting
point to the conception of Syberia. There was never a "pop-up"
idea about Kate Walker and Hans Voralberg.

HomeLAN - What was the inspiration for the storyline and themes in
Syberia?

Marie-Sol Beaudry - BenoŚt Sokal is a storyteller. He has been
creating some stories for the past 25 years and the creation
process for Syberia has been similar to its other projects. But
for sure, there have been a few critical moments in terms of
inspiration. Sokal has travelled across Europe a few times and has
also visited the ex USSR and other ex-communism countries. There
is no doubt these trips have marked his imagination. Starting from
there, Sokal just built the Syberia universe, line after line,
helped by two designers who brought other dimensions to the story.

HomeLAN - What types of environments will be seen in the game?

Marie-Sol Beaudry - Basically, the environments are 3D pre-
rendered and are not limited to a bubble-type exploration.
Syberia's action takes place in four different worlds made out of
a fantastical conception of last century's reality. Some real
European regions and countries inspired the creation of all the
four worlds, which are also related to some historical events that
took place between 1900 and 2000.

HomeLAN - Having a solid user interface is essential for an
adventure game.  How is the UI being handled in Syberia?

Marie-Sol Beaudry - We believe the most important characteristic
of an interface should be the quality of its integration in the
game's environment. It has to be simple, while efficient and
obviously user-friendly. From the cursor to the menus, we really
worked on integrating every aspect of the interface in the game
design. In Syberia, everything is mouse-controlled, including the
UI.

HomeLAN - What sorts of puzzles will be featured in the game?


Marie-Sol Beaudry - We pretty much tried to integrate as much as
possible the puzzles into the scenario to give them a logical
sense. We didn't want the player to face some puzzles unrelated to
its previous actions. Obviously, we do not want to give the
solution to some of the puzzles but one sure thing is that the
players will have to resolve puzzles like they never imagined
they'd have to in an adventure game.

   I also added a screenshot or 2 for Sue to post. They're in the
   screenshot section.

   And some more Syberia can be found at
   http://www.microids.com/english/Gamesyberia.html

   Sticking with the adventure games there is another one out
   there, this time coming from Russia, so head over to
   http://www.gamespy.com/previews/march02/jazzfaust/ and read
   about Jazz and Faust


PC gamers have come to expect that every year or so a particular
genre will be labeled "dead" by the general consensus. One of the
latest styles of PC gaming to be labeled dead and buried, or at
least seriously comatose, has been the traditional adventure game
-- but this could be due in part to the new trends in
action-adventure and even the resurgence of role-playing games. At
any rate, if you even thought that adventure games were dead you
can think again, and thank the Russians for it.

Making its debut in America is Russian software maker 1C Company,
a publisher that has been previously unheard of in the Western
Hemisphere.  That could change when 1C releases Jazz and Faust, a
new adventure game from developer Saturn+. The spring-scheduled
title will engross players into a rich and innovative storyline,
and while adventure games of this type might not have been seen in
a while, this upcoming title should satisfy the call of the quest
with its impressive graphics. Jazz and Faust may even change the
perception of straight adventure for those that have wanted more
action in their action/adventure fare.

What could further interest gamers is the unique storyline; or
rather storylines as players choose to take the role of one of the
game's title characters. While this determines your character
model and abilities, it is important to note that unlike many
games that feature dynamic duos, Jazz and Faust aren't connected
at the hip, nor will they experience the same events.  Whichever
character you ultimately choose, the game will begin in the city
of Er-Elp, which features a Middle Age Eastern European feel, and
each will involve piecing together clues to a grisly murder while
tying to uncover more information about the strange happenings in
this port of call.

The overall arc of the game has both Jazz and Faust involved but
the paths from beginning to end are supposedly very independent.
As a result the characters' paths will cross throughout the story,
but depending on which you play you'll experience events from very
different perspectives. Even as the pair will travel together this
type of gameplay promises that there will be quite a bit of
re-playability, especially if you want to try every puzzle and
discover every secret the game has in store.

   Again I added screenshots for Sue to post... hope she has room
   as these look cool as well

   For all you card player there now is Magic the Gathering Online
   http://www.gamespy.com/previews/march02/magiconline/

   And finally a fun link: http://www.computer-archiv.de/ the
   computer ABC, if you can't find it there......

   Alex








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