"The demo has three levels, and three characters to play with, each having their own special abilities. Light, agile and quick female player, Medium built male player, and the heavy bartender character. Weapons included in the demo are pistol, shotgun with defensive shield, riotgun with secondary nerve gas grenades, Rocket launcher with secondary bouncing grenades, Sniper Rifle with secondary energy drain, and the flame thrower with secondary fire bombs. These characters have some limited melee combat skills as well. The bartender can knock someone out with one beercan upside the head, so look out for him when he is up close. The 4D Staff as well as our coding partners Eyecon and Slam are very excited to play against our fans online and will have servers running at 4D."
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Eidos Interactive has launched a new Anachronox website. This is a low-band version of Anachronox.com. whioch has (and will be updated with) more screenshots, bios, and the high-band version of the site. Right now the site features a look at the Anachronox story, a new Designer Diary update, and a look at two of the Anachronox characters, along with screenshots.
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Black Isle Studios, the role-playing game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. and BioWare Corp. announced today plans to develop an expansion product to the award-winning role-playing game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Entitled Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the add-on product expands and enriches the gameplay experience by adding several new locations, high-level spells and powerful new characters to the Baldur's Gate game. Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign world of the Dungeons & Dragons game, Throne of Bhaal is the ultimate conclusion of the Baldur's Gate legend as gamers fulfill their destiny as the child of Bhaal. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is due to ship summer 2001 for Windows 95/98 and gamers will need to own the original Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in order to play.
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Legacy Interactive has announced that a version of its popular Emergency Room games, purchased by more than 350,000 customers in the past two years, is now available for play online. With online gaming exploding, Legacy Interactive is leading the way with ER-sim, pairing state-of-the art Shockwave technology with Legacy's unique, real-life medical simulations, for a whole new level of online excitement. Legacy's Emergency Room games, built on medically accurate databases, are known for posing fast paced, challenging options at every turn. Game players assume the roles of emergency room staff who must choose from a range of tests and tools for examination, diagnosis, and treatment, while racing against time to save patients clinging to life. And ER-sim will bring it all online.
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This week in BEATDOWN #44, the news keeps Marching on! They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, well, given the fact that the bad news seems to be escalating, Joe America is really hoping that adage is true and April signals the return of the salad days of yestermonth. In this edition we hear about the GeForce3, Doom III and a whole lot of announcements, cancellations and other fun stuff, including another crack at that contest! Come in from the cold and laugh your economic troubles away!
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Spiderweb Software has announced Geneforge, their newest, most unusual role-playing game. In Geneforge, you don't hire your adventurers. You build them. You are a Shaper, a member of the most powerful and secretive of the magical guilds. You have the power to create life and mold it to serve your own needs. For millennia, your world feared and respected the Shapers above all others. Their creations could go everywhere, do anything, all according to the wishes of the Shapers, and no others. If you need a servant, you have but to create it, and it will gladly die for you. But now the secrets of your people are at risk. Someone dares to try to steal the power of the Shapers and take them for his own. He has committed the ultimate crime he has captured you, and he will do anything to get you to surrender your secrets. He would use the power of the Shapers to remake the world. The question is a simple one. Will you fight him? Or join him?

Geneforge is an upcoming fantasy role-playing game for Macintosh and Windows. It features beautiful 16-bit graphics, fully animated characters, a fascinating and unusual game system, and the ability to create your own army of lethal, totally obedient creatures. Geneforge will also have a huge and open storyline, in which you have the freedom to choose your path and decide how the story will turn out. Geneforge will be available on CD-ROM. The tentative release date is in the Winter, 2001 to Spring, 2002 range.
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Shrapnel Games announced that they are releasing an updated and final demo for their upcoming game Air Command 3.0. The new demo can be downloaded from their website. The game is currently on track For a mid March Gold date. This final demo will include the following:

1. Fixes to several video and audio related crash bugs.
2. More authentic pilot voices with added background noise.
3. Replacement of the current clouds on the radar map with more authentic Doppler precipitation patterns.
4. A new option to allow for pilot communications problems. Now, if selected, pilots may not accurately follow or understand your orders during flight requiring corrective action.
5. A new visual indicator has been added to denote descending and ascending planes.

Screenshots:

• Ga-Source has screenshots of the Auran Jet powered virtual model railroading game, Trainz
• Stomped has a couple new Tribes 2 screenshots
• The new Anachronox Site has some new screens posted
• GameSpy has new Operation Flashpoint screens

Interviews:

• GameGirlz has an interview with Netamin's Daniel "Savant" Manachi, the Producer of Fallen Age
• EuroGamer has posted the first half of a two part interview with Peter Molyneux
• VoodooExtreme interviews Tom "Zileas" Cadwell about Strifeshadow
• AlliedAssault has interviews with several members of the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault team

Reviews (and Previews):

• GGO has a preview of the RPG expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
• Gamepen has a new preview of Neverwinter Nights
• Daily Radar has a preview of Anarchy Online
• LatestUpdates reviews Escape From Monkey Island

Patches Etc.:

• FilePlanet has the Front Line Force 1.2 Win32 Client patch