News archive

May 16

AoK at the E3
Here are a few links from Gamespot:

"While only three of the campaigns were ready to be shown (Joan of Arc, the Mongol horde, and a Middle Eastern campaign), all looked extremely well done." - "Impressive than that was the computer's automatic prioritization of units when setting guard and circle formations. We grouped together a mix of archers and catapults, and then clicked on a square formation. The archers automatically formed a protective square, with the catapults protected inside the wall of archers. If you group together footmen and archers, the computer is smart enough to place the footmen in the outer square and put the archers behind them." - "Another improvement in Age of Empires II is an informative and comprehensive tech tree. You can click on a button that will take you to a virtual poster of the entire technology tree."

E3 review
There is not much about AoK on the web pages so far, but I am sure this will change later today. Some of my personal highlights from the E3 1999 are:

Braveheart - the game: Campaign play features the gamer assuming the leadership of one of the 16 leading Scottish clans. Each has different strengths based on the terrain it occupies, the number of members, and so on. Your goal, of course, is to become King of Scotland. This can only be done through a cunning blend of diplomacy, insurrection, and open warfare. Games can last up to 200 years. Generations pass during each game, which will see the old die off and new leaders emerge to take their place. This adds a welcome depth and scope to the game while still respecting history. Leadership is a huge factor. You'll be able to slightly adjust the characteristics of your virtual avatar at the beginning of each game, tweaking aspects such as "Brain," "Leadership," "Stealth," and "Diplomacy."
BBC has used some of the screenshots to portrait the policitians campaigning for Scotland's new parliament (their first one since 300 years), and they looked pretty good :)
X-Wing Alliance: Screen Shots High flying action with wild graphics. These look truly stunning.
Telcontar

May 14

E3 news
Us usual, many new games are presented at the E3. One of the web pages entirely devoted to this exhibition is e3expo.com. However, some online game sites also have their own E3 coverage:

None of these pages have any substantial information yet, but I guess the first reports will come in later today.

May 11

E3 games demonstrations
At the upcoming event in the games scene, the E3 (which used to be in Atlanta but now is in Los Angeles), Microsoft (among many others) presents a lot of games. The E3 will last from May 13 - 15. As far as I know, Microsoft has acted only as distributor in all cases, not as a producer, i. e. they do not touch the game, but only sell it, which cannot be too bad ;)
The titles they are going to show are "Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings," "Flight Simulator 2000," "Links LS 2000," "Asheron's Call" and "Starlancer". "One of our primary goals is to increase the number of computer gamers by turning new audiences on to the fun of PC games," said Ed Fries, general manager of the Games Group at Microsoft. This is a very ambitious statement, considering the fact that game consoles are establishing themselves as the biggest market for games, and that the computer games market is splitting up into Win9x, Win NT, Linux, and MacOS. The future will probably bring more cross platform games (e. g. Civ3, Quake3) and more ports from PC to consoles and vice versa.
Bruce Shelley from Ensemble Studios will also be at the E3. You can read the full press release if you want more details.

Telcontar

May 5

AoK showcase: Britons
This week, Gamespot examined the Britons, which will be the "bad guys" in AoK. This is due to the fact that in many campaigns, you will have them as enemies (e. g. being William Wallace or Joan d'Arc). Nevertheless, they have some interesting bonuses, such as Town Centers for 1/2 price and very powerful archers. The review has some historical information, lists all unit bonuses (as they are in the current alpha version) and also has some good screenshots. The most interesting screenshot is where you can see how the graphics artists design the units.

Civilization: CTP review
For the people who want to play a new strategy game now, here is a review of Civ 3: CTP. This review is about the Linux version, but it plays identically under Windows. I still recommend playing the Linux version as you will not have an OS that behaves unstable after playing a game or crashes in the middle of the game.
The review is ok but the "story" about a first game is kind of cheesy. Some of the best features of this game are:

"New parts of the universe are open to conquest, including undersea and outer space. Under-handed, unconventional warfare is now supported in CTP. Slavers can take an enemy's peoples as slaves, and lawyers can severely damage any empire's functions. Several other types of economic attacks, propaganda attacks, eco-terrorism, and religious conversions are included as tools to the inspiring conqueror."
So unlike Civ2, it is not just a rehash of the classic. The great thing is that the game has been ported to Power PC and Alphas, too! Now you don't need an Intel compatible architecture any more for playing games, which is great.
Telcontar


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