Back and rested from the Game Developer's Conference,
there's only about a month and a half until the entire industry converges on Los Angeles
for the E3 convention. Thusly, over the next six weeks I'll be devoting the last Gist List
entry to a game that should be on display at E3; one which I'm excited to see 'live' on
the show floor. It could be a new product or one I'm excited to see again based on last
year's presentation. But now, here's The Gist of It for this week.
Quake 3 and Bond?
The industry trade paper MCVUSA printed a rumor last week that Electronic Arts will be
licensing the Quake 3 engine and using it to create a James Bond game for the PC. Quake 3
+ James Bond = A potential blockbuster product, although living up to Goldeneye will be no
easy task. So far all the parties involved aren't commenting, but even if the game was
just starting development, it probably wouldn't show up until the latter part of 2000.
There's no news on whether it will be based on the forthcoming Bond movie "The World
is Not Enough," but it's probably a good hunch – Mind you, the Tomorrow Never
Dies PlayStation game from Black Ops is still in development. Nevertheless, what
I'm really interested in finding out is which developer might be pegged to do the Bond
game? Everyone knows that id Software doesn't license the Quake engine to just anyone, and
I doubt EA would do the game internally. If you have any tips, send them my way. As if you
can't tell, I'm terribly excited by the prospects of such a game.
The Kingpin Demo
Speaking of the Quake engine, kudos to Xatrix Entertainment
for the Kingpin Demo launched online last week. The 100+ megabyte size is definitely
prohibiting most gamers from downloading it, but it's definitely something you should
check out on magazine cover discs. Visually stunning (the flame-thrower weapon is the best
I've ever seen), and with racy content to boot, Kingpin is apt to turn quite a few heads.
Xatrix has also added some unique elements to this first person shooter, including a
conversation mode between characters and a pawn-shop where weapons can be purchased.
Although I still think the environments are a bit too static and the explicit-language may
wear thin in the full game, if Xatrix takes their time and puts the right amount of spit
and polish on the concept, it could turn out to be a solid hit. Here's to hoping!
The Unreal Demo Saga
You know, I guess I've been jaded by the whole Unreal
shareware saga, but a friend of mine put it all in perspective this weekend. He was
reading the latest Next Generation and mentioned that the Unreal Tournament ad suggests
players "Download the Demo Now!" Come to think of it, these ads have been
promoting the Unreal demo for over half a year despite the fact it has never been
released. It appears that most of Epic's attention has gravitated toward Unreal
Tournament, but what about Unreal shareware? There's the level pack coming soon and Unreal
Tournament later this Spring, but where is the demo?
SimCity Building Tool
A lot of you have been writing in complaining about the fact that the SimCity 3000
Building Architect Tool still hasn't been released, and I've finally decided that this is
worthy of a mention. The box of SimCity 3000 promotes a tool you can download to
build your own edifices for the game, but it still hasn't been released two months after
the game shipped! Although there's light at the end of the tunnel – Maxis promises it
during April – it's a shame this was promoted on the box as a core feature of the
game.
Shadow Man Screenshots
Last week you
may remember I praised Acclaim's new 3rd-person shooter Shadow Man, and now I'm
able to show you some images from the game that is due out for the PC, PlayStation, and
Nintendo 64 this August. There are five screenshots available, and you click here to access the
screenshot page. Let me know what you think! Of particular note is how far into the
distance you can see – No more fog 10 feet in front of your face here!
Phantom Menace Games
In early February I had a chance to visit LucasArts outside of
San Francisco to see the makings of the first two games based on Star Wars: Episode I The
Phantom Menace, but I was sworn to secrecy by iron-clad Non-Disclosure Agreements. Last
week LucasArts gave us the ok to unveil the games, and you can read my behind the scenes
report on the two games, The Phantom Menace and Episode I Racer, on GameSpot in a Behind The Games story. Both games are
schedule to arrive in late May and I'm particularly excited about Racer on the Nintendo 64
and The Phantom Menace adventure game on the PC. After seeing the 60 Minutes profile on
George Lucas last night, I can't wait to see the movie and sit down with the games!
The E3 Outlook:
Elysium
I'm eager to see the progress on Cavedog's episodic adventure game from Betrayal at
Krondor creator John Cutter at E3 this year. Last year Cavedog showed a very early
shell-of-an-engine up and running, and pitched the product as being an "X-files like
series" with downloadable online episodes. Cavedog has remained quiet for most
of the year on this title, so it will be interesting to see what progress has been made.
It has a lot of potential to be a groundbreaking product.
And that's The Gist of It.
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
