You can find some useful stuff in the newsgroups,
If you can enlist an AI with the patience to wade through all the garbage,
Matthew Arcilla

 

It's Done, Done, Done! Part I: Half Life  Gabe Newell of Valve Software recently announced that their highly anticipated first-person shooter (rife with adventure elements) Half-Life, has finally gone gold. Says Newell:   "Half-Life has gone gold and is in manufacturing. I'd like to say how extraordinarily grateful all of us here at Valve are for the support and enthusiasm you have shown Half-Life over the last two years. We are very proud of the product and hope it lives up to your expectations."  Built upon the Quake II engine and full of adventure and puzzle solving elements, Half-Life looks to be the most immersive first person shooter since Doom! It is being distributed and published by Sierra.  Expect it to be out in two weeks, or in time for Thanksgiving. Newell told press people that the team will be going on vacation in Mexico. On a more amusing note, Newell told GameSpot News:  "I've got a stack of games I've been meaning to play for a while that I haven't been able to get to." Considering how long this game has been in gestation, this leads me to wonder how old the games he's gonna play are...   ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  It's Done, Done, Done! Part II: The Blackstone Chronicles  After a really long gestation period, Legend Entertainment's The BlackStone Chronicles has finally shipped. Written by New York Times best-selling author John Saul, who wrote the Blackstone Chronicles novels, The BlackStone Chronicles explores the twisted secrets of Blackstone Asylum.  Interesting to note is Saul actually made the proposal to write the story for the next Legend Entertainment game before the Blackstone serials existed. While doing so, he wrote chapter prologues to accompany the game packaging, and those expanded into full stories themselves.   His agent got them published for him, and lo and behold, The Blackstone Chronicles have become the biggest selling serial stories, right next to Stephen King's Green Mile serials. So you could say that the books are based on game documentation. It remains to be sen of course, whether those original chapter prologues will come with the game.  Said Saul to GameSpot News:  "I think the most exciting thing about the Blackstone game is that it represents a genuine breakthrough in storytelling, offering the creator of fiction an entirely new framework within which to construct a story."   "While the CD-ROM form offers a new set of opportunities for structuring a tale, it presents a new set of limitations as well. I found the form to be not only very exciting, but incredibly challenging, and I am very much looking forward to working in it again."  Look forward to an adventure in terror to be out in stores by next week. It is being distributed by The Learning Company.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  It's Done, Done, Done! Part III: Raymond E. Feist's Return to Krondor  Sierra has announced that Return to Krondor has gone gold. Developed by Pyro Technix and based on the works of Raymond E. Feist, Return to Krondor is an RPG set in the the land of Midkemia and is the official sequel to the cult favorite Betrayal at Krondor.  Although a little more linear than the first game, expect more ole-fashioned RPG fun coupled with whiz-bang 3D accelerated eye candy.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  It's Done, Done, Done! Part IV: The Ultimate Wizardry Archives  While we're all waiting for Wizardry VIII, which won't be out till later next year, Interplay has announced that The Ultimate Wizardry Archives has finally been released.   A nostalgic anthology of Sir-Tech Software's infamous RPGs with weird subtitles, The Ultimate Wizardry Archives includes seven titles to cut your teeth on. This includes everything from Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord to Crusaders of the Dark Savant.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  "Woof, woof... Aroo, yip, yip, yip!"  We just received a press release from Impact Games regarding Cracker, their latest Playstation adventure. Actually, the game is a portover of the PC title  Dogday: Chegga's Revenge.   Placing you as an assist to the Coalition Against Totalitarian Society (CATS), The Cracker is set in a dystopic future run by the oppressive Chegga.   The Cracker features ray-traced graphics, full motion video, real-time 3D sound and has been enhanced for the Playstation and takes full advantage of the Playstation's Dual Shock controller.  Impact is currently seeking potential partners for the world wide publishing of the title. Interested parties should contact Mark Bracken.   For more information, contact Jane Griffith, Public Relations for ImpactInteractive Publishing at 612-9674-7399.  ---c/o Stuart Yoder

Our mailpage is getting boring what with only one concern, that is the adventure games suckage... But anyway: "If my story amused you in any way, you may show your appreciation in any way you wish but particularly with money.".

"Bgglw! Mfrnkfr? Dmnkly!"
Matthew Arcilla

 

The Bell(atti) Tolls...  Good ole Andy Bellatti had the decency (unlike some other JA staffers I know) to give me his little mill of tidbits regarding Sierra On-Line. So here it is:  Hello everyone!  So Christmas is approaching and every entertainment industry is really heating up.  Check out these hot stories...  * After a lot of anxious waiting, I can assure you that King's Quest: Mask Of Eternity will be available later this year.  Now, it might make it to the stores as early as Thanksgiving, but Roberta (Williams, designer) has told me she is not too sure about that. However, she also told me she feels very confident about this game.  She also mentioned that she feels happy about the fact that the reviews and previews for the game have been positive. And who said sequels are bad?  * During the past few months, news regarding Sierra and all its changes have been making headlines all over the Internet.  All I know is that Cendant Software might be bought by a very large company, but that is about it.  Designers and other staff members are not hiding anything, nor have they any secrets!  In fact, Roberta Williams herself has told me she doesn't know anything because she is "out of the loop"... and she doesn't mind.    * There is a persistent rumor going around saying that Roberta Williams was considering quitting her job at Sierra early next year.  Well, I can assure you that there is no truth to that rumor.  Roberta has admitted that she has no plans at the time besides taking some time off to clear her mind.  However, she stressed that she is too young for retirement.  Although she does not know what project the future holds for her, she told me that she will take several months off (or even a year) before starting anything new.  Not to worry though, she also mentioned that she has a lot of options to choose from!  * Meanwhile, Gabriel Knight 3 is still in production, and as reported *way* back, the game has been delayed to 1999 (although now instead of Summer, Spring seems to be the scheduled release date).  JANews! Ed: Yes, Andy, but I beat you to that. Mwahahaha! Just to clear things up for everyone, GK3 is scheduled for an April 1999 release... hopefully.  Most people think the reason for the delay is a technical problem, but such is not the case.  Jane Jensen recently told me that there is no problem, but that the development of the G-Engine took longer than the team expected.  She then added, "We were too optimistic about the time frame." As they say, better late than never!  You can look for it in the spring of next year, but Jane has assured me that it *will* be out before Christmas of 1999.  And let me tell you, Jane is not worried about *not* releasing the  game during the Holiday Season.  She told me that she hopes that the series has a good enough reputation that the time of year in which it is released will be a trivial matter.  * Remember when Gk3 was nothing but an idea in Jane's mind and she was not too sure about venturing into 3D gaming?  Well, she is now very fond of it.  She claims the 3D technology "is just really fun and impressive", and that the voice-over and story are great and very strong.  She also hinted at the fact that there are some very unique puzzles that have never been done in games before, such as the one involving the treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau.  Have I made you anxious now?  * Will we ever see a GK4?  I would dare to say yes.  Jane commented that after GK3, she would like to do the second book in her Del Rey contract and then start the story for GK4.  Of course, this fourth installment will depend on how well GK3 does.  So YES, there will be a GK4. :-)  Bye!  Andy Bellatti,   JustAdventure Staffer and   "Our Cool Connection With Sierra" Correspondent for JANews! Just in case anyone gets any ideas, none of us are actually affiliated with Sierra. We are not employees of game companies... okay? So stop sending us love letters. Besides, our disclaimer already says this.  ---c/o Andy Bellatti  Fired Up.  No, it's not the NBC TV series... of course, I've never actually seen it, what with living in a remote Southeast Asian country... That has nothing to do with games.   Husband and wife designers Lori and Cori Cole's (Shannara, The Dr. Brain series) latest opus in the award-winning Quest for Glory series is finally coming very soon. The long awaited fifth installment, Dragonfire, has had its ship date moved earlier than expected. And the press has received a release date of December 7, 1998. Praises resound around the world.   Unfortunately, the planned multiplayer options have been removed due to "unforeseen complications". These features however will be available as a downloadable upgrade. So all you Glory fans better have Internet now, unless you plan to remain Luddites or something.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  AOL Free Trial Discs To Face Serious Competition  Official reports have it that AT&T services will be included on 40 million Cendant CDs to be released by the end of the year. This report has caused rumors that AT&T may be interested in purchasing  Cendant.   One particular report on this issue from GDReview took note of a statement by an unnamed source:  "There's still talk of a management buyout but it really is a lot of money. Cendant is a huge company and we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. I doubt anyone in the games business will be the eventual purchaser due to the amount of money involved and the problems with anti-trust. A massive company outside the industry, such as AT&T, would be the only organisation that could do it."  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  Can You Say "Indie"? I Knew You Could.  Miller Freeman Inc. has announced a gaming festival which will highlight independent new games that are currently without publishers.   The festival, dubbed the Annual Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival (GDC's IGF) will take place at the San Jose Convention Center in California on 16th to 18th March 1999, simultaneously with the Annual Game Developers Conference.   According to GamesDomain News:   The festival is billed as an attempt to "provide a forum to showcase the work of independent game developers, foster recognition of games as an art-form and to facilitate relationships between game developers and publishers." The GDC is calling for entrants from independent developers who have crafted games for the PC, Macintosh or Sony Playstation and the grand prize is $5000 for the designers. The winning entries will be showcased at the conference and between 10-30 games will be spotlighted. Somewhere                    According to GameSpot News, other festival awards will be for technical excellence, artistic achievement, audio, game design, and audience favorite. An entry date of November 16, 1998 to January 20, 1999 is set and contenders must submit information to the GDC web site. The Indie Games Web Site can be accessed here.  Looks like Jordan Mechner's wish of independent development feasibility is being given a good start and "art games" may yet come to pass.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla  Husband and Wife Run Off Together. Now to Make Games.  That probably sounds like a tabloid headline. Well, the rumors on the net are true: Jonathan Ackley and Casey Donahue Ackley have indeed departed from LucasArts.   Both have been responsible in varying degrees and varying fields in such Lucas classics as Steve Purcell's Sam and Max: Hit the Road and Tim Schafer's Day of the Tentacle. Casey was responsible for founding LucasLearning which developed Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion (among others).  Rumor has it that the yet-to-be announced development studio which they are presumed to be forming will be called Stargazy Studios.  ---c/o Matthew Arcilla