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The Game.Ars
Report by Carl Salminen
So, since I am so anxious to get into the game there will be no column this week. Goodbye. Okay, I was kidding. But news was slim this week. No interesting threads in any of the forums either. Well, there is a certain anticipation swelling around a game called D-something. De Babble? De Booble? De Boppity? De Able? Ah, Diablo II, that's it. Yeah, I think I've heard of it before. Something about an evil dude who makes good dudes really mad so they go out and try to kill his ass. They're even making dolls for it. They call them action figures (dolls for guys) or something like that. I finished playing Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption. It's really ... well, you'll get the Ars opinion once the review goes up sometime this week. It didn't suck. On to the news... Send your feedback right here.
Diablo II dolls ... er, action figures Hey, I saw some Diablo II dolls, er, action figures at the store today. The barbarian's head is just as small on the doll, um, action figure as it is in all those pictures from the game. Or is the body just too big? Eh, he swings a mean axe so who cares.
The Diablo doll, oops, action figure was rather … jagged and pointy. Can't wait to get that into the hands of some small child, who can then run around with it on a linoleum floor in his socks. Oh, that won't hurt at all when he sprawls. Nooooo. Maybe the Paladin will have a sword with a real edge and the Sorceress will spout streams of
searing fire, too. That'd be great. (They're freakin' dolls!) Waiting for Giants Are you sick of waiting for Giants: Citizen Kabuko? Well, stay sick. The game isn't going to be hitting shelves anytime soon but the recently updated site has some info on how the development is coming. Take a peek here. Live and let Daikatana Mplayer is hosting weekly Daikatana tournaments through August 5th. Every Saturday at 4pm players can compete for prizes like a collection of Eidos games, a hot-rod gaming rig and (gulp) Daikatana branded merchandise. That means you could wear a baseball cap that lets everyone know just how much you LOVE Daikatana. Woo-hoo! Eidos and Michael Crichton to bring Timeline to the PC
Eidos announced that they are working with Michael Crichton's
Timeline Computer Entertainment company to bring his recent novel,
also called Timeline, to the PC. The novel follows archaeologists on a time-traveling adventure to rescue their mentor and fellow scientist. While the game will see the characters heading backward in time, the game isn't due until far in the future. Don't expect this one until next year sometime. Eidos for sale! Get your Eidos here! Looks like Eidos has entered some top-secret discussions about selling itself off. Let's see, who could want to buy them? Rumors about Infogrames and Havas Interactive as potential buyers have surfaced but my money is on the BIG money. Microsoft. Heck, look at our next story and you'll see that MS is trying to expand their game division. Besides, I think that Bill Gates has always had something of a flame for Lara Croft anyway. Who can resist her ... guns? Those are .44s right? Microsoft found extra change in pants and buys Bungie
Microsoft has purchased the game developer
Bungie, which is best known for creating the Marathon (Mac) and Myth games. The biggest implication here is the fate of Bungie's upcoming action game Halo. It won action game of E3 from Game.Ars and several other less-worthy sites across the web. There is a chance that Halo will be exclusive to the XBox. Sounds like a marketing coup by Microsoft to me. Offering Halo as an XBox exclusive property will sell more units. We'll see what happens… Bungie is also developing Oni but it looks like that title is still safe in the hands of G.O.D. (Gathering of Developers) for publishing on PC. And what about all the Mac games that Bungie has developed? They developed the classic Marathon and ported both Myth and Myth II: Soulblighter to the Mac. I'm sure Microsoft is ready, willing and able to keep supporting Mac gamers ... oh yeah. Get a month of Allegiance on the Zone for free Registered owners of Microsoft's Allegiance can play in the Allegiance Zone during the month of July for free. A monthly subscription charge of $9.99 per month will engage afterward but a free month is a free month. Check it out. You must be a registered owner of Allegiance before July 1st in order to take advantage of the deal. Got Ground Control? Patch it. Ground Control has hit store shelves and is winning over action-game fans all over the country. Only a week after its release it has become one of the hottest topics in the gaming forums. Well, it's patched already. Looks like a serious incompatibility issue prevents the game from auto-starting after installation. This patch should fix that along with some other minor blips. Get it here. On shelves (or any day now)
Gone Gold (on shelves in a couple weeks)
DarkReign 2 - Activision Cheat codes of the weak: Gound Control While at the main menu press the [m] [s] and [v] keys simulatneously. This brings up the Code-Entering Dialog. Then enter any of these cheat codes: Console: Allows "~" To Bring Up Console Flashlight: Flashlight GUI mode. From Massive with love: Funky textures enabled. Gimme maps: All campaign missions available in custom game menu. God: All units are indestructible. Not god: Turn off god mode. The new generation of rts-games: Lets you play a secret sabotage mission in custom game menu.
Past Game.Ars action:
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I've
got Deus Ex in my hands. The box isn't even opened yet.