Just spotted this @ Gayspy: No One Lives Forever 2 was critically acclaimed among the gaming press, winning numerous ?editor?s choice? and ?game of the year? awards (including our own PC Game of the Year for 2002). Despite the success, however, there hasn?t been much information available on the immediate future of the franchise.

The ?first big release? (as Monolith put it) is a huge NOLF2 multiplayer patch which will be released within a week or two, adding deathmatch, team deathmatch, and a new gameplay mode called Doomsday. The patch should contain over 10 maps, many based on NOLF2 single-player levels (including Siberia, Japan, and Khios), but including large pieces of original architecture as well.

Thanks to my mate waddy @ NTFS.org for letting me know that Infogrames have just released some new Unreal II test maps on their ftp server! For your download click on the Unreal II Pic.

Spotted this over Flexbeta: Bungie reveals that the much anticipated sequel to Halo won't make it to stores this year.

Bungie, the developer of Halo for Xbox, has updated its official site with news that Halo 2 will not be released in 2003. "This game is a vast undertaking, considerably more complex than any of our previous efforts, and there is just no way to squeeze all of the necessary work into this calendar year. We know many of you were hoping to get your hands on Halo 2 during the holiday season, and we're sorry to disappoint you - but making this game as good as we possibly can is our paramount concern.

The official website has been updated with four new screenshots.

Yes, that's right. The great people over at Rockstar Games are giving away their classic game, Grand Theft Auto. You have to register for free in order to download it and you may have to try a few times to get through as many people are probably trying to download it as well. The download is over 300mb, so 56kers beware!

Although it's not on the official site, you can grab it here at:

Fileplanet.com.

3dgamers.com

Want to know the latest happenings @ Game Developers Conference 2003? Then check out this Gayspy article:

Special report: The show floor's open, and our GDC 2003 coverage has really started to roll! Warrior, Fargo, Psylancer and Sluggo are bringing you the inside scoop on Deus Ex 2, Nvidia, The Hulk, and a whole lot more.

AUSTIN, TEXAS, March 3, 2003 -- Today a team of game industry veterans announced the launch of Skylab Entertainment, a new game development studio in Austin, Texas. Skylab's founders include original team members from game developer Ritual Entertainment and publisher Gathering of Developers. Skylab Entertainment is dedicated to developing the next generation of interactive entertainment for tomorrow's gaming systems, and is hard at work on their first, unannounced title.

"We formed Skylab Entertainment specifically to create a new breed of games. We're combining strong characters and immense game worlds with cutting edge technologies for entirely new styles of gameplay," said Michael Hadwin, Skylab's CEO and Creative Director. "We?re looking forward to rocketing the industry into new and exciting directions."

Gamespot have posted their preview of EA's upcoming first person shooter, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault.

A lot of new technology is going into Pacific Assault to make the planned gameplay possible. Although parts of the engine are still based on Quake III technology, the EA team has completely rewritten the renderer to make the game competitive with next year's visual standards. The engine will support a lot more objects onscreen to allow for dramatic scenes like Pearl Harbor, and the terrain engine has been redone to make way for large outdoor environments. There are also a number of new effects that are being prototyped, including an advanced water effect and a particle system that will be showcased by the flamethrower, a weapon most commonly used in the South Pacific fighting. The engine will also have to handle the special lighting characteristics of dense jungle and will have dynamic lighting that we'll see in nighttime sequences where friendly troops throw flares to expose enemies hidden in the darkness. Last but not least, the AI is being revamped to make the enemies behave in a more squadlike manner.

Here's a couple of news items from the Mercury News that should be of interest to all the games fans out there:

Microsoft taking Xbox into arcades:
Hoping to open another avenue for its video games and broaden its front in the war against Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft is expected to take its Xbox game console into arcades later this year. The project, code-named Chihiro after the heroine of the Japanese anime film ``Spirited Away,'' has been in the works for a couple of years. Microsoft and Sega announced in fall 2001 that they would jointly create arcade machines based on the Xbox technology. But the partners have been quiet since that time.

Now the project is closer to fruition. When Microsoft and graphics-chip maker Nvidia settled their price dispute on chips for the Xbox, the agreement included plans for the Santa Clara chip maker to provide Microsoft with chips for arcade machines.

Gamespy have posted their review of the recently released space action-trading-sort-of-RPG-mix Freelancer from developer Digital Anvil and Microsoft Games. On a side note I have received a confirmation Email from my german games retailer that the ASIA version (same as US except for the packaging) will be available in Germany as soon as March 10th, 2003. Here is a snip: Had Freelancer not shipped with expectations so sky-high I probably wouldn't have been as disappointed as I was. Taken purely as a straight-ahead action game, Freelancer is terrific and well worth the cost of purchase. The combat is electric and there's so much to explore and discover that it'll take quite a while before most players discover that the universe isn't as deep as it could have been. For sheer fun, the game is hard to beat, and it will have a home on my hard drive for some time to come.

Craig Lafferty, Assiciate Producer at Legend Entertainment, has posted a detailed changelog of the upcoming patch for Unreal 2. The list is long and detailed, however Mr. Lafferty was not able to present an ETA on the patch. The log file also states what additions have been made to the readme.txt. A bit too devoted if you ask me, but hey. Click on read more for the changelog and the discussion link.

Rainbow Six: Raven Shield is the sequel to the immensely popular Rainbow Six® : Rogue Spear, awarded "2000 Action Game Of The Year", and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six®, 1999 Action Game Of The Year. It will be the third game in the Rainbow Six line, which has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Single Player Featured Mission: Oil Refinery.

Playable in all 4 Custom Mission modes with three levels of difficulty for each.

A new movie trailer of World of Warcraft is now available, showing more from the 3D massively multiplayer online RPG being crafted at Blizzard Entertainment. The movie sports nearly three minutes of high-resolution gameplay footage illustrating the game's environment, the characters inhabiting it, and their activities.

Take a look at this great mod for GTA 3 its well cool changes all the cars and also adds more ramps and stunts. Check it out @ Justcdr.net by click on the screenshot. Files are now on for download.

Electronic Arts unveils Rising Sun for next-gen consoles, with a new PC title due to be confirmed later today.

The guys @ Gta3mta.tk have released a new unofficial multiplayer patch for Grand Theft Auto III.

As you have probably already read on your games related site, we're working on a GTA3 Multiplayer Mod, called GTA3: Multi Theft Auto! The second release, v.0.2a is now ready to be downloaded! Please check the downloads section for the file. This version has been tested a couple of times now, but of course there are some bugs in it. Please post any bugs or problems with the program in the forum under the 'problems/bugs' section.

Following on the earlier US patch the European retail patch for Splinter Cell is now available, similarly bringing the third-person stealth action game by Ubi Soft to version 1.1. As before, this release enhances graphics quality and performance, fixes map and AI issues, and more.