As January draws to a close, without question the
biggest story so far of 1999 hasn’t been a game, but rather the Ion Storm expose at
the Dallas Observer. What’s in store for February? There don’t look to be very
many big releases this month either, except for Alpha Centauri and Simcity 3000. March is
supposed to bring games such as Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, but I’m hard-pressed to
believe the game is ready for release in March…I guess we will wait and see.
Without further ado, here’s this week’s Gist List:
Rebel
Boat Rocker
This group of 3D game developers got their eponymous name
based on Apogee President Scott Miller’s assertion that the development team was a
group of "boat rockers" when they worked for 3D Realms. With a fancy game deal
with EA, Rebel Boat Rocker thought they’d show 3D Realms just how much they were
going to rock the boat. The only problem? Last week they hit a major iceberg. Their first
game, Prax War, was cancelled by Electronic Arts. To those in the know, it wasn’t
surprising. EA practically hid the game in shame at last year’s E3 in a back room --
Despite the fact the developers were proclaiming their engine was much more versatile than
Unreal. I remember sitting in on the demo and listening to a programmer expound on how the
chrome texture on a pipe was the next level of 3D gaming. The writing was on the wall a
long time ago, and now Rebel Boat Rocker’s game will never see the light of day.
People are finally realizing how hard it is to build competitive 3D technology to go up
against the likes of Epic, id, and Monolith.
Electronic
Arts
Ok, so maybe EA was out of their mind signing Rebel Boat
Rocker to a game deal, but you have to give them points for deciding to cancel the game
because it just wasn’t working out. Far too often corporate behemoths will know a
game is destined to fail, but release it anyway in the hopes of at least scoring some
sales. I mean, even DreamWorks Interactive couldn’t have believed for half a second
that Trespasser was anything more than a complete disgrace. Sure, EA could have release
Prax War and probably sold a reasonable number of copies, but it’s encouraging to see
that they are willing to scrap projects that aren’t working out – even if it
means millions in lost development costs.
Interplay’s
Kingpin Event
Last week Interplay and Xatrix treated to press to a preview
of Kingpin, the new Quake-II-engine-driven-street-thug-loving action game from the
creators of Redneck Rampage. Two words: Kiss-ass flame-thrower. Featuring the music of
Cypress Hill – who attended an after-demo party at Santa Monica’s trendy Gotham
Hall club – Kingpin is to the hood as Redneck Rampage was to the South. Graphically,
Xatrix has done an outstanding job creating a visually stunning environment that is
brought to life with innumerable street thugs who treat expletives as common-day hellos.
It remains to be seen if Kingpin will turn out to be more substance than shock, but so far
it looks like Xatrix is heading down the right path.
Prey’s Music?
Last week Sasha of the alternative band KMFDM announced that
the band was effectively "finished." That’s not good news for 3D Realms who
created quite a stir a year or two ago when they announced KMFDM would be providing the
music to Prey. Mind you, with all the re-engineering of the game it’s doubtful music
is a huge priority at this point, but it just goes to show you how long Prey has been in
development. Bands come and go, but Prey still lingers.
The New Unreal Tournament Ad
Congrats on Epic MegaGames and GT Interactive on their new
foldout Unreal Tournament ad in the latest PC Gamer magazine. Just one look at the shiny
Tournament trophy depicted in the ad and you’re interested in this game. Although the
ad could use more focus on what the game is really about – I still think gamers are
confused as to how Unreal Tournament fits into the grand-scheme of things – the
screenshots are stunning. With Internet play working well with the latest version of
Unreal, Tournament could turn out to be a certified hit if it doesn’t run right up
against Quake 3: Arena.
Your Ideas?
Do you have a suggestion about something that should be added to next week's list?
Is there a game that gist doesn't cut it or one that does it gist
right? E-mail gistlist@gameslice.com
and we'll consider your suggestion.
Thanks for reading!
Geoff
Keighley
Editor-in-Chief
GameSlice
