Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: The Elder Scrolls

Showing posts with label The Elder Scrolls. Show all posts

2011/04/14

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #3 [Guide to Goodness]

For this issue of what’s best on the web, I have quite a good line-up.

First off, there’s a new version of the full free game known as Warsow (people tend to pronounce it as “Warsaw” – like the capital of Poland). The game is a first person shooter geared more towards multiplayer, much like Alien Arena or Red Eclipse, which were both featured in the previous issue in this series.

But this game is different from those games in several ways. Upon first seeing it, you’d think that it’s just another Quake III Arena inspired mod of some sorts. But it uses the Qfusion engine, technology based on the Quake 2 GPL engine. It features celshaded graphics, which lends the title a cartoonish or comic-like style, which gives it quite a bit of character.

But where Warsow really shines, is in its gameplay techniques. You are encouraged to learn these as you go along – they include bunny hopping, wall jumping, dodging, and the likes. It’s all about momentum – as long as you keep it going, you are more likely to have things play your way. Add in some weapons that are borrowed from FPSs from the 90’s such as Quake III Arena, and you’ve got a fun free game.

You can download the full game, which weighs in at over 400 MB. But if you have an existing copy of Warsow on your HDD, you can download and install a patch, which will upgrade it – and this is far less in terms of weight. The game is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

The next item on the list is the demo of a game called Black Mirror III. This is the latest, and apparently the final chapter in The Black Mirror trilogy – a series of third-person point-and-click adventures.

You take the role once again of Darren, who appeared in BM II, who is arrested as the chief suspect of a crime. After a few weeks, his bail is posted and Darren is released. He then sets out to once again try and get to the bottom of a “tangled web of riddles”.

I haven’t had the chance to play any of these Black Mirror titles, but apparently the first one was said to be pretty good. The only thing is that BM III is only going to be published in Oz, the UK, and Scandinavia. So it remains to be seen if there will be any plans for a release elsewhere in the world at some point. From what I’ve read, digital distribution might also be on the cards.

The game is set to be released in the aforementioned territories on the 22nd of April, 2011. The demo is up for download now and comes in at 823 MB.

Also out this month is the latest version of The Dark Mod. This chalks it up to 1.05. Within this release is a whole bunch of bug fixes and some new “assets”. The download comes in at just under 2 GB this time, and you have two chief ways of obtaining it. You should either download the small installer, and then you run the installer while online, so it can grab all the data – not the best way to go about doing this, but luckily there is another option. Usually a torrent is provided as well, a few days after release. And this has download resume and all – this is the option I’d consider using. It does kind of suck that once the new torrent is up on the official site, the old one doesn’t seem to function any longer. So if you had the download in your queue and were planning on resuming it some time – forget it. Rather try a torrent elsewhere.

At first I was upset that there wasn’t a proper download package, but the updater makes sense if you all ready have an existing build of the mod. You just run it and update it, rather than having it download a whole massive amount of data. It is kind of convenient in that situation.

Note that you’ll need Doom 3 for this mod to work, and it also has to be patched to the most recent version 1.3.1. Also note that no maps are included except a training mission. The FMs, or fan missions, you’ll have to grab separately. All in all, it’s a lot of stuff to download, but I’ve read that it’s probably worth it in the end.

Then there’s one last thing here to be featured. There’s a huge mod compendium for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and it’s fittingly called the “Morrowind Overhaul mod”. To quote the text on the website where it’s featured, it’s a “massive compilation mod project that encompasses the work of over 80 mod authors and almost a decade of modding”. And what the mod does is basically overhaul (what were you expecting?) the graphics and sounds in the game. It is quite hefty, but not as bad as The Dark Mod – slightly over 1 GB.

And there’s also a patch that you should probably consider getting as well, which will update it to version 1.1.

That’s it then for this edition. Check back later on in the month perhaps when issue #4’s out. See you then!

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Black Mirror III PC Demo [823 MB]

Warsow v0.61 Free Full Game for Windows [442 MB] – website

The Dark Mod v 1.05 [2 GB] – website

Morrowind Overhaul mod [1.2 GB]

Morrowind Overhaul – Sounds & Graphics v1.1 Patch

2010/06/12

Ever Noticed How Clint Eastwood Sounds Like a Ghoul From Fallout 3 Nowadays?

They even look similar. Damn…

Clint Eastwood has never been known for having anything but a deep, raspy, even gravelly voice. But as he’s gotten older, like in Gran Torino, which I saw the other night, I couldn’t help but think that Clint Eastwood reminds me of two different video game character voices.

One would be that of the male Ghouls, basically like Zombies, from Fallout 3. And the other would be the Dunmer, or Dark Elves, from The Elder Scrolls series, particularly Morrowind, I’m thinking. This is probably because it’s likely the same voice actor, since both game were made by Bethesda.

The guy can’t help it. He is old and all now [nearly eighty now], and I’ve enjoyed his films over the years, especially Gran Torino. But who wouldn’t want to see Clint doing some voice work for the next Fallout or Elder Scrolls game before he’s gone for good?

Have a listen to this clip I recorded from Gran Torino – some of the best bits – and see, or hear, and tell me what you think. While you’re listening, just picture Gob or some Ghoul from Fallout 3. I would’ve gotten a clip of one the Ghouls as well for a comparison, but I didn’t get around to it. I uninstalled the game you see.

Gran Torino Clint Sample [945 KB]

2010/05/10

Guinness Names the Top 50 Best Video Games Series

So, Guinness thought it would have a crack at listing the Top 50 Video Games series of all time. This time gamers were able to vote for the list, instead of in the gaming edition of Guinness Book of World Records.

I’ve got the list here, and I will make my comments either next to it or somewhere else. Why? Because everyone has their own opinion. And don’t we all like to deride someone else’s work – especially lists? Yes!

Halo [Overrated. Crysis 2’s writer would agree with me here.]
Call of Duty [See above, but still better than the first.]
The Legend of Zelda
Guitar Hero
Metal Gear [Yes.]
Super Mario Bros.
World of Warcraft
Gears of War
Super Smash Bros.
Grand Theft Auto [Definitely.]
Pokémon [I only ever played one Pokémon game in my whole life – so…]
Resident Evil [Yes, I’ve played a few.]
Fallout [Yes.]
Half-Life [Definitely.]
Sonic the Hedgehog [I only ever played one game in my whole life – so…]
Counter-Strike [Probably.]
Runescape
FIFA [I only ever played one game in my whole life – so…]
Kingdom Hearts [Never played it.]
Final Fantasy [Never played it.]
Pac-Man [Yeah!]
Madden NFL [Never played it]
The Sims [Damn right!]
Tomb Raider [Yep.]
WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW [Belongs here somewhere.]
Rock Band
LittleBigPlanet
Saints Row
The Elder Scrolls [Yes.]
God of War
GoldenEye 007 [Everyone likes the game, so won’t argue.]
Bioshock [Yep.]
KillZone [Everyone likes the game, so won’t argue.]
Skate [Probably. Preferred THPS Games.]
Left 4 Dead [Maybe.]
Need for Speed [Yes. Played the first few.]
Chrono Trigger [Never played it.]
Gran Turismo [Played the first couple.]
StarCraft [Yes.]
Ratchet & Clank
Pong
Tom Clancy's [Damn right! The Original Rainbow Six and Ghost Recons, as well as Splinter Cell.]
Star Wars: Battlefront [Never played it]
Battlefield [Yep.]
Diablo [Yes.]
Lego Batman
Mario Kart
Burnout
Crash Bandicoot [Yes.]
Pro Evolution Soccer

Doom? Quake? Duke Nukem? System Shock? Thief? Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater? Mortal Kombat? Mass Effect? Medal of Honor? Command& Conquer?! Red Alert?! Jagged Alliance?! WORMS?! Some horrible omissions here. Practically nothing older than late 90’s. Anyway…

It’s like I always say: it’s down to personal opinion, and your own is the only one that really matters.

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Source: Halo Tops Guinness World Record's 50 Best Video Game Series [Gamasutra]

2009/11/09

Video Game-Inspired Fan-Fiction Novels Coming Your Way

It seems as though video game-inspired fan-fiction novels are all the rage at the moment. There are three coming out by the end of the year that I’ve read about: Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance, Splinter Cell: Endgame, and the one I’ve heard most about, The Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City.

The first to hit will be The Elder Scrolls: The Infernal City, written by by Greg Keyes, which will be published by Del Rey on the 24th of November. There were recently hints in the novel’s blurb that alluded to a fifth Elder Scrolls game, and this blurb was subsequently taken down, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure that Bethesda would never drop one of their most successful franchises. There’s and excerpt from The Infernal City available online right now at randomhouse.com. It’s not bad, I guess. I had a read of it today.

The second one, following close behind, is Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance, written by Oliver Bowden, which will be published by Penguin on 26th November, just after the game’s release, which is scheduled for the 20th. It’s funny because there was initially a trilogy of books planned for the Assassin’s Creed series, including The Invisible Imam, but they were cancelled. There’s a description of the novel, Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance, on Amazon.

The third one I’ve read about is to be published by Berkley, and indeed based on another Ubisoft game- Splinter Cell: Endgame (not to be confused with EndWar, another Tom Clancy title, or Megadeth’s latest album, Endgame). This one is going to be released in December, and is based on the Splinter Cell series. In addition to this, there will be a novel based on HAWX, predictably called Tom Clancy's HAWX. They are both written by a "David Michaels" which is said to be a pseudonym used by many different authors.

When's the last time that Tom Clancy wrote a novel, anyway? It's just become a brand name.

The only novel that doesn’t have a tie-in title to speak of is the Elder Scrolls novel, it seems.

2009/10/26

Elder Scrolls V Revealed in Novel Blurb…Briefly

Over the past few days, I’ve been busy with other stuff, and so my feeds have been building up, most of them unread. This is a nightmare when it comes to Kotaku, because their feeds mainly contain a lot of inane rubbish (worse than my stuff), and pictures that clog up the whole process of wading through it.

Anyway, I did come across something interesting on there recently. Kotaku noticed a blurb for the Elder Scrolls novel, Infernal City, at waterstones.com, which read as follows:

“A novel that takes places forty-five years after the Oblivion Crisis, which is the story of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game and the expansion pack Shivering Isles. It partly bridges the gap for the next game, which is set 200 years after the Oblivion crisis.”

This text has apparently been taken down since then, and in these cases, even though it may just be a rumour, it seems to confirm the situation, since it happens on sites like Linkedin all the time. Someone posts some sensitive information, and later it gets taken down, or the person’s profile is deleted.

This is the new synopsis:

"Four decades after the Oblivion Crisis, Tamriel is threatened anew by an ancient and all-consuming evil. It is Umbriel, a floating city that casts a terrifying shadow - for wherever it falls, people die and rise again. And it is in Umbriel's shadow that a great adventure begins, and a group of unlikely heroes meet. A legendary prince with a secret."

There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be another Elder Scrolls game, although there are concerns that this game might be an MMO.

Infernal Sky will be published in 32 days, late November, as of the time of writing.

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Kotaku

2009/08/31

Apocalypse Then- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Developers: Bethesda Softworks
Publishers: Bethesda Softworks
Series: The Elder Scrolls
Engine: XnGine
Platforms: MS-DOS
Release dates: 31 August, 1996
Genres: RPG

On this day in gaming, in 1996, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was released.

Daggerfall is the second game in the Elder Scrolls series, and is often considered by some to be the best in the franchise. The game, interestingly, has the largest game world, although most of it was randomly generated. The game also has six different endings.

The game was released as freewar e this year by Bethesda, the game's developers.

There's also a source port for the game, originally meant for MS-DOS, called DaggerXL which will eventually allow people to play the game on modern systems.

You can pick up The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall for free here if you want to play a classic. Otherwise you can also try Arena (also free), Morrowind, or Oblivion.

2009/08/30

DaggerXL- a Daggerfall Source Port in the Works

I came across something interesting for a change yesterday on TTLG.com, and that was something called DaggerXL.

DaggerXL is a source port for Daggerfall, the second game in The Elder Scrolls series, which was made freeware recently by Bethesda. DaggerXL was started recently, like in July this year or so, soon after the freeware release.

I got Daggerfall off of a NAG cover DVD recently, and tried to get it working with DosBox. I installed it, but couldn’t manage to get it to work. I usually don’t like messing around with DosBox, it must be said. It’s a good idea, don’t get me wrong, but as the DB team themselves say, if you can find a source port, then rather use that, as using DosBox doesn’t always provide the best experience. Besides, a source port will naturally look and run a lot nicer on our modern systems, and I was convinced that it would only be a matter of time before someone undertook this as a project.

So, I am quite interested in this source port then, and word has it that work is speeding along quite nicely. I’d like to get a hold of a version sometime soon, as I hear that Daggerfall is arguably the best in the series of TES games, and I, like a lot of people, haven’t played it…yet. Hell, there are some people who haven't played Morrowind or Oblivion. I'm glad I'm not one of those weirdos.

You can check out the DaggerXL site, a wordpress blog, here.

Sources& Resources:

Dosbox
Daggerfall made freeware
Daggerfall Download
DaggerXL website
DaggerXL thread at TTLG.com

2009/08/18

Bethesda Speaks, People Don't Listen...Properly

Bethesda was misquoted the other day at QuakeCon when many people were lead to believe that it was said that there will not be another Elder Scrolls game in the future. Bethesda responded by commenting on their blog by basically saying "never say never, and we didn't".
There are also rumours now of an Elder Scrolls MMO, similar to World of Warcraft, presumably.

Do you really think Bethesda would drop one of their most successful franchises, next to Fallout 3? Come on.

Speaking of which, Bethesda is claiming that Mothership Zeta will be the last DLC pack for the game, and that five is enough, but then again, never say never I suppose. Of course it won't be the end of the Fallout games, as there's still Fallout: New Vegas- by Obsidian.

Bethesda's new step-sister, id Software, says that their Fallout 3, otherwise known as the hotly anticipated Rage, which will be released next year, will not feature monster-closets, a gimmick featured in Doom 3 a hell of a lot (get it?).

id also says that Doom 4 will not have much talk until next year, once Rage is out, likely.

Sources:

Bethesda: No More Fallout 3 DLC
Bethesda: Of course there’s going to be an Elder Scrolls V - eventually
http://bethblog.com/index.php/2009/08/17/clarifying-about-next-elder-scrolls-game-mmo-etc/
id: No More Monster Closets, Promise! [Id]
http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/15/bethesda-has-no-plans-for-an-elder-scrolls-v/

2009/07/10

Bethesda Releases Daggerfall as Freeware

With Bethesda being so busy nowadays, it's good to see that they had the time to get one of their old games, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, out and make it free to download, as a way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls. Arena is also available as freeware- that was done back in 2004, on the tenth anniversary.

Is it too much to hope that on the twentieth one, that Morrowind becomes freeware?

If you're not familiar with The Elder Scrolls series, Daggerfall is the sequel to Arena, and was followed by Morrowind and Oblivion.

Still not familiar? Shame on you.

It's a 148 MB download, and is provided "as is" apparently, so you'll need DOSbox, an emulator, to play it. DOSbox has full support for Daggerfall, so no problems there.

Sources& Resources:

Free Version of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Released by Bethesda
http://www.elderscrolls.com/
http://www.dosbox.com/

2009/06/05

Games Now Available for Preorder- Feature: BioShock and Elder Scrolls Oblivion GotY Bundle

Now Available for Preorder: 07-07-2009 - BioShock and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion GotY Bundle

For PC - $29.99

For Xbox 360 - $39.99

Product Description

Game bundle - Get two of the most challenging, exciting and addictive games.

BioShock lets you do the impossible as you explore a mysterious underwater city. When your plane crashes, you discover Rapture - an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified "splicers" and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. As little girls loot the dead, and biologically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn. Now you're trapped, caught in the middle of a genetic war that will challenge both your capacity to survive and your moral allegiance to your own humanity. Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the grand question - do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself - or risk all to become their saviour?

The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Windows is a compilation of this classic RPG game. Oblivion GotY will include the original version of the award-winning RPG Oblivion along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls IV - Shivering Isles, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine. This new product allows players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion for the first time with additional content. In addition, gamers can continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content. Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, Character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion's epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges. With more than 30 hours.

- Ama zon

2009/05/01

Apocalypse Then- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Worker's Day (holiday)

On this day in gaming, in 2002, Morrowind was released. It is the third major game in the Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda, and used the Gamebryo engine which is still used by games today, like Oblivion and Fallout 3, among many others.

There were two expansions for it, Bloodmoon and Tribunal, one of which introduced the player to the Dark Brotherhood, the opposition to the Morag Tong, which was further enlarged upon in Oblivion, the game’s sequel.

2009/04/29

Bethesda gets Busy…Ruining other People’s Plans

Bethesda is going to be pi$$ing two camps off now- Elder Scrolls fans, and Aliens and/or Predator fans.

The next Elder Scrolls installment will be a novel and then another after it.

Fans of the Elder Scrolls will have to be content with Morrowind and Oblivion for the foreseeable future as Bethesda has turned over the work of writing two novels to continue the series to Greg Keyes, to be released this year. The first book is called The Infernal City.

Bethesda’s also busy with their game, WET, and in addition to this, they’ve given Fallout: New Vegas to Obsidian, who was supposed to be developing an Aliens RPG at one point, and they’ve given Rogue Warrior to Rebellion, supposed to be developing Aliens vs. Predator.

2009/03/20

Apocalypse Then- TES IV: Oblivion& S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

On this day, in 2006 and 2007 respectively, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was released.

Oblivion is an excellent game, and it gathered a big following of people who sought to improve it by adding custom made items and mods that made the game more challenging. Oblivion is the sequel to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, a great game in its own right.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is like a more modern form of Oblivion, except it’s foreign, having been developed in Ukraine. It was buggy, the translation sucked, and yet it was the start of something incredible: exploring the vaunted Zone of Chernobyl in 2011, 25 years after the infamous Chernobyl Incident. It became a hit despite its shortcomings.

It was followed in 2008 by S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, which promised a lot, but came up as an even buggier game, with not a heck of a lot of new stuff to offer. It acted as a prequel to the events in Shadow of Chernobyl. There are rumours of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 3 that have been circulating around the internet for about 3 or 4 months now at least.

What I find so funny, is that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was originally going to have Oblivion in its subtitle. It was going to be named S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost.