In case you were confused about what day of the week it is, I offer proof that it is, in fact, Tuesday. My proof is a new official Diablo 2 Screenshot of the Week... something which only happens after Monday but before Wednesday. It's a really good one today, depicting the Amazon wreaking havoc on some baddies with her Immolation Arrow skill. And like I usually say about this time on Tuesdays, DiabloII.net has done their usual stellar job of dissecting the pic and gleaning all useful information contained therein.

The folks at 24 Hour Gamer have made available the trailer for Warcraft III, previously only to be found on the Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition CD. Weighing in at about 36 MB, this movie once again showcases that Blizzard is the best in the business when it comes to game cinematics. You should definitely download a local copy here.

And speaking of War3, Gamespot has posted a new Warcraft III Preview. The 4-page article sums up basically all that is so far known about the game Blizzard hopes will break from tradition and create a new genre of "Role-playing Strategy". There are also several new screenshots and pieces of concept art for your perusal. Also of note is Gamespot's claim that they knew about this game long before the rest of the public did and that they were sworn to secrecy... those sly bastards. =) Go give the article a read here.

And if that's not enough to get you excited, Gamefan has posted Part 2 of their interview with Ultima IX: Ascension lead level designer, Seth Mendelsohn. I don't really have a nits to pick with the interview unlike last time, and there's some good new info, such as:

Good stuff. Go read the full article here.

At last the Daily Radar has posted their fifth and final installment of their Diablo II Character Preview, culminating with the Necromancer. As usual, you can read DiabloII.net's excellent captions to accompany the new screenshots on their main page.

Perhaps of greater interest however is the news that their D2 Beta Contest will be delayed a bit longer to coincide with Blizzard's own official Beta sign-up... the date of which has not been announced yet. There is a short explanation of this here. However, the weird thing about it is that it says:

Er... by my calculations, the end of this week IS the end of this month. Well, I suppose what we are to glean from this is that the Beta sign-up and contest will begin at the beginning of next week, maybe even as soon as Monday. If it doesn't happen though, I won't be surprised either. Blizzard has a long history of delaying things in order to assure they are as perfect as possible when they do go out the door.

And in other news, word is that The Wheel of Time game has gone gold and should be on store shelves in a few weeks. This first-person 3D action/adventure built with the Unreal engine is based on the novels of Robert Jordan. Jordan's series of the same name chronicles the events in a truly great fantasy world which always thought would translate will into a computer game. I am interested to see what the guys and gals at Legend have done with it. Count on us to bring you our own look at this game soon!

After a typically slow weekend, today brought the usual Monday influx of worthy news. Let's start off with some Ultima IX: Ascension news, shall we? Word on the street is that folks with subscriptions to Computer Gaming World magazine have already begun receiving the December issue with the U9 Demo enclosed on CD. That's right! There are actually real, live gamers playing U9 right now! That very notion fills me with awe and wonder. My local newsstand has yet to receive the issue... but rest assured, I will be checking every day and I will report as soon as it's in. (Unless of course I break down and install it before doing a news update... so if the news here suddenly stops for 3 weeks, you now know why.)

Also, the U9 designers have once again been active on the official boards giving us tidbits to hold us over until we can start playing. First and foremost, CapnBill says that the code is locked down, meaning that they will only be fixing major game-stopping bugs. He goes on to say, "WE'RE DAYS AWAY!!!! After that, it's packaging & distribution, then to the shelves!" Great news! And if you're worried that there will be no new surprises left in the game considering all the coverage it has gotten, Jaccl had this to say:

The mind reels.

Now if you're the type of person who just skims over the Ultima news and goes straight for the meaty Diablo II info, then this is for you. The Darkness webpage has moved over to the DiabloII.net Network. If you are unfamiliar with the site, then I suggest you take a look. Here, in their own words, is who they are:

With an even more detailed bestiary than their venerable parent site's archive, they are definitely worth a look.

And if you are still starved for Diablo II content, be sure to check out GameSpy's look at the new crop of Action-oriented Role Playing Games. They cover the three big games to closely follow in the original Diablo's footsteps without straying far from its more arcade like play than many more plot and/or stat oriented titles. Namely, Darkstone, Revenant, and Diablo II itself. While there's nothing really new or earth-shattering here, it does a nice job of espousing the strengths and weaknesses of each. I'm not sure if I agree with the ultimate conclusions, but it's still an interesting read. Click here to check it out.

Also, be sure to stay tuned. The Daily Radar's Necromancer preview and D2 Beta contest could be unleashed up us at any time. It might be in five minutes, it might be five days. We'll just have to wait and see.

Finally, I'll make good on a promise I made a while back to follow the development of a often overlooked MMORPG title called Horizons. The Crossroads Gaming Network has posted an interview with David Allen, CEO of Artifact Entertainment, the developers of Horizons. Here are some of the more juicy bits:

Sounds good to me! =) Click here to read the full interview.

I hoped that today would bring a little more news than a typical Saturday, what with the Daily Radar's Necromancer Preview scheduled to be posted tonight. However such is not the case. The word over on DiabloII.net is that both the preview and their D2 Beta Test Contest have been delayed until at least Monday. Oh well... I hope no one was scheduling their weekend around this. =P

But just so you don't have to go away without ANYTHING Diablo II related, I saw this post on the Official Diablo II Suggestion Forum which I just found hilarious. It's just gotta be read in its entirety::

Sorry Jimbo, it's not what you think it is. There won't be any hardcore porno action in Diablo II. For the uninitiated, "Hardcore" mode refers to a type of multi-player character you can play. If you choose this mode, your character is only given one life to live... you cannot be resurrected. This offers a much more serious challenge to devoted players, and offers the chance for glory as Blizzard intends to rank the best Hardcore players worldwide. So no, the Sorceress and the Amazon will not be getting down and dirty in D2... however we've all seen the nude Lara Croft pictures, so who knows what time will bring. Oh and just so I can't be called one-sided on this issue, my girlfriend tells me that she thinks the Paladin is quite sexy and would be perfect for a more 'adult' version of the game. =P

But seriously, the only nudity we're likely to see in the game (as in Diablo I) is on corpses and monsters... and if that DOES interest you, it would probably be healthier if you just avoided the game altogether. But if you can handle it, here's a small sample:

Here is the promised new feature from the Daily Radar's Diablo II character preview. As it turns out, the featured character tonight is the Barbarian. Personally, I didn't find the screenshots as interesting as the ones from the past few days -- but they're still new Diablo II stuff, so you know you want to go see them. And as usual, DiabloII.net has the new pictures sliced, diced, categorized, and easily referenced. Logic would dictate that tomorrow will bring the preview of the Necromancer, as he is the only character they have left to cover.

Addendum: And lest we forget, the Daily Radar stated that they soon will be holding some form of contest where they will give away 30 slots in the Diablo II Beta Test to the winners. The test was originally slated to begin at the end of October by Blizzard, but as the weeks slip by with no official word, the reality of a Halloween Test becomes less and less certain.

Also as promised, GameFan has released both a new screenshot and an interview with Ultima IX: Ascension designer, Seth Mendelsohn. You can read it here. There's some good information there, but I think it must be taken with a grain of salt judging by Seth's answer to this question:

Um, Seth? Gazers have been a staple of the Ultima series throughout the most of the games. (Anyone else remember the really old kind that would turn into a swarm of insects when you killed them?) And although I don't believe there was a Gargoyle Queen in Ultima VI, there was definitely a King. Lastly, although there may not have been an enemy with the name of Bandits, this can hardly be called original since there have been Brigands, Swashbucklers, Pirates, and more. I'm probably just nit-picking here... but you would hope that the U9 design team would be intimately familiar with Ultima lore. Either way, I guess it doesn't matter too much; as long as people who know their history are the ones constructing the initial design documents, then the programmers can just follow their instructions closely. Only time will tell for sure, but I still have a great deal of faith in this game being worthy of it's name.

Anyway, there's still a bunch of info in the interview which can be taken at face value, such as this:

Give the full interview a read here.

Last night, the Daily Radar posted the next installment of their character preview, this time focusing on the Sorceress. And once again, DiabloII.net has excellent captions for all the exclusive screenshots on their main page. Tonight we should see the second to last part which will focus on either the Barbarian or the Necromancer, so stay tuned.

Apache from the GameFan Network is apparently the first member of the press to get a chance to try out Planescape: Torment, the new game from Black Isle Studios. Eager to get the word out, the preview only covers the beginning of the game and character creation, but more is promised in the coming days. There are also 12 exclusive screenshots... I especially like the ones with the disembodied, floating skull which appears to be a party member. =) Check it out.

Lastly comes an offbeat little news item. Ever hear of Dink Smallwood? Didn't think so. Well, it's an imaginative, offbeat little RPG with a wacky sense of humor that has only been available on a mail order CD. I played through it last year and then tried some of the many user-created adventures which supposedly are quite easy to write. It's no big budget production... in fact I'd say it is one of the last great 'garage games', but it's got quality gameplay, acceptable graphics, and limitless replayability with all the add-on adventures. But here's the best part: it's now freeware! That's right! They decided to just give it all away. It's not Diablo II, but weighing in at 25 MB, it's well worth a download. Go to the this page for the announcement, or if you just can't wait, you can download it directly here.

The website of Computer Games Online magazine has written up a very interesting look into the sound design of Ultima IX: Ascension. In case you didn't know, U9 will be the first computer game to be recorded in cinema calibre, THX sound. This ultra-high quality recording system provides the absolute highest fidelity you could ever want in a movie, let alone a game. The article discusses the technology, the steps Origin took to meet the high THX standards, as well as a bit about what you'll actually hear in the game. I learned a whole lot... and you can too by simply clicking here. Saw this over at Ultima IX Horizons

If you thought the popularity of the massively multiplayer online RPG Everquest was raging out of control, you were right. With 225,000 copies sold and 150,000 active subscriptions, EQ is now officially the most popular MMORPG ever. Here's the bulk of the Gamespy Network article where I read this information:

It must be the fact that EQ is 6 cents cheaper than UO that helped them hold onto those extra 16,000 customers. ;-)

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