Daily News Spin — October 4, 2001 (Thursday)

Rogue Spear to be used by Department of Defense

USA Today has the scoop:

Ubi Soft Entertainment...is licensing technology used to create counterterrorist simulation game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear to help train soldiers. The Department of Defense plans to use the game engine � the programming that powers the game's logic � to train troops to fight terrorists in urban terrain. It will be modified to use maps and scenarios requested by the U.S. Army, and will teach strategy and tactics, as opposed to weapons training, Ubi Soft says.

Our operatives will be the best in the world at mouse-driven anti-terrorist measures! We spotted this at WomenGamers, and we're not even women!

Hitman 2 announced

Ok, we're late with this, but what the hey. A sequel to the generally well-received Eidos game was mentioned at Multiplayer.it.

Hitman 2's storyline begins in a Sicilian monastery. His attempt to distance himself from his violent past is detoured as he is discovered by a Russian crime lord and tricked into returning to his trade. Caught in the middle of a ring of deception, Hitman soon discovers that he has been manipulated and is now a target himself - of a highly trained ex-Spetsnaz assassin.

Hitman 2 has an outstanding list of new features, including: a choice of 1st and 3rd person viewpoints; mid-mission save options; a revised and enhanced inventory system allowing gamers to acquire and carry weapons and equipment from mission to mission and ending pre-game "shopping"; a new ranking system; multiple play styles allowing missions to be accomplished with the primary target as the only casualty or "blast-your-way-through," and variations in-between; and finally, an advanced level design and engine dynamics providing gamers with open levels and no set path.

Playing the role of a for-hire assassin, Hitman is armed with a massive weapons arsenal such as knives, handguns, sniper rifles, various explosives and grenades. Hitman is also given new non-lethal weapons and pacifying gear including chloroform, poison darts and stun guns as well as laser-aiming devices, night vision goggles, lock picks, and remote cameras. Gamers will acquire more hidden bonuses throughout the game.

We spotted this at Blues.

More gold

Aquanox and Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty are done -- stick a fork in 'em.

Majestic, part the third, available

Psst! You'll have to give EA some personal information if you want to play this new episode, like credit card info. Can they be trusted? Can anyone? Are you more comfortable chatting with a bot than a real person? This game might be for you! Here's the promo part, probably written by an EA PR-bot!

"Visions" will find the player continuing the search for their friend, who eventually returns, apparently unharmed. Introduced in "Visions" is Sharon Kramer, a young single mother. Sharon possesses unusual mental abilities, the result of an operation at the hands of your enemies, from whom she escaped. With the help of Sharon, you are lead to a strange underground cavern that is relevant to a device your adversaries have in their possession. Players will help reunite Sharon with her children.

It's for the children. By god, it's for the little ones! How can you resist? Here's a low-bandwidth preview.

Real War demo

You want real war! You can't handle real war! Good thing this is just a game. Grab the free demo at only 60 megs.

Strifeshadow gold

This fantasy RTS from Ethermoon Entertainment looks interesting. It's designed from the ground up by hardcore RTS players. It's also multiplayer only. Check out the website.

Warlords Battlecry II announced

SSG has announced the sequel to Battlecry on their website. Battlecry was favorite RTS of Tom's. Here's some of the details.

12 Different Hero Races

20 Different Hero Classes

Terrain - All new lush 3d rendered height-mapped Terrain. Clever generals will use height and obstacles to their advantage.

Awesome Graphics Engine - Scar the ground with Dragon breath; track down enemies who leave footsteps in the snow; soak the ground with blood in immensely gory action-packed battles. Particle & lighting effects complete a truly remarkable graphical experience.

CD Quality Orchestral Score - almost half an hour of original Celtic/Orchestral music.

Titans - Each side has the ability to summon a Titan - an immensely powerful god-like character who can wipe the floor with your enemies, if you can afford the gold to build one.

Sounds good. The site also has some screenshots.

SSG has also signed a deal with Matrix Games. Korsun Pocket will be the first SSG game that Matrix publishes. It looks like Battlecry II may be a Ubi Soft game, however.

And of course another question is, where's the next turn-based Warlords game?

3am

We noticed on the 3DO site that there's a Might and Magic novel in the stores, The Sea of Mist.

More news later today. We just wanted to get up the news about Warlords Battlecry II.

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