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Apple has posted a preview of the upcoming Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic on the game section of its website. The preview includes a trailer, screenshots, system requirements and other game recommendations. The first half of the preview is taken from a players perspective and shows the great diversity of the game world. Quotes from developers of the game are also included.

Here's a snippet of information from the preview:

We had all new technology for KOTOR, but it would have been much harder to build if we hadn’t been working on Neverwinter, which used our first 3D RPG engine. By the time we started on this game, we had learned quite a bit about technology and the overall process, which we applied to the KOTOR tools.

Apple Previews Knights of the Old Republic

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Blizzard has two pieces of good news today for World of Warcraft fans. The much publicized stress test is being both expanded and extended, with thousands of new gamers being introduced into the game, along with an extra couple of days play for the existing stress test users. Sunday is now the closing day for the stress test. Along with this announcement, Blizzard is increasing the number of winners in the stress test competition for each category to a possible 576 lucky gamers.

Here's a couple of paragraphs, one from each announcement:

We are extending the stress test beta to this Sunday and adding thousands of additional testers from the group of gamers that are currently on the closed-beta waiting list. Invitation emails have started going out to the new testers already. The stress test beta contest will continue on until the end of the stress test beta, at which time all stress test accounts will expire.

The top three players for each Horde class and the top three players for each Alliance class on each server will now win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. That increases our total number of winners to 576! Thanks again to all our testers and good luck!

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Ubisoft today announced that Myst IV: Revelation has gone gold and is expected to begin shipping on September 28th and a PC/Mac hybrid DVD in North America.

Within the visually awe-inspiring world of Myst, a gripping family drama will slowly unfold. A little girl disappears, her two brothers are suspected, and it is clear that their story is far from over. Players will escape into the adventure as they attempt to solve the mystery and discover the fate of the two villainous brothers, Sirrus and Achenar. Understanding their motives is the key to the investigation which will lead to a true “revelation.”

Myst IV: Revelation is available for pre-order from the IMG Store for $39.95. To place your pre-order, follow the link below.

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According to a new CNN article, id Software's legendary programmer John Carmack may be retiring sooner rather than later from gaming. Carmack, who is a brand new father, has taken up a keen interest in building orbital rocket ships and his passion for coding seems to have waned a bit in recent years.

Here's a clip from the CNN article:

Chief among those things are building orbital rocket ships and working on id's next game. Lately, though, he's found his interest in rocket ships surpassing his interest in coding video games. He's definitely on board for one more title, but Carmack's future as a video game programmer is growing increasingly hazy.

"I wouldn't hazard to look too far ahead," he said. "I'm definitely going to see through this round of rendering work. I wouldn't make any promises beyond that."

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CNN: 'Doom' creator faces a crossroads

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Earlier this year MacSoft's parent company, Destineer, announced Close Combat: First to Fight, a team-based first-person shooter created under the direction of active-duty United States Marines fresh from the front lines of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the game players lead a four-man Marine fireteam in close-quarters urban combat in the streets and buildings of Beirut.

Destineer has provided us with the first details of the background story of Close Combat: First to Fight, which is set in Beirut, and outlines the conflict surrounding the area and your fire team.

Included are four new screenshots from that game that show the detailed architecture from the city of Beirut. To check out the feature, please follow the link below.

IMG Feature: Close Combat: First to Fight Background Story

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Robert Duffy, a programmer over at id Software has updated his .plan with information about a DOOM 3 beta update and news that a demo could be ready within days. The demo version will include 3 playable levels from the game and will be single-player only. The limited scale beta update includes multiple fixes in areas of stability, net-code and the interface. It will be released on id's servers as soon as it is certain there are no problems. No new information about a Mac port is included.

Here's an extract from the .plan:

We have released the first update for DOOM 3 as a beta and on a limited scale (it is only available on the File Shack at www.shacknews.com).

The DOOM 3 demo is also coming in a few days, it is finishing the last stages of QA. It should give everyone waiting to buy the game a taste of what DOOM 3 is all about. It contains 3 levels of the game and is single player only.

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For folks who are still unaware of the upcoming event, GarageGames has posted a news brief inviting folks to attend the IndieGameCon '04. A meeting for game developers to meet and greet, the con will feature demos, seminars, and a few notable speakers.

IGC provides connections and content for programmers, artists and indie entrepreneurs. If you´ve caught the incurable desire to make games commercially, or even as a hobbyist, this is a community gathering of like-minded individuals you will not want to miss. Speakers include Jeff Tunnell on game design, Jeannie Novak on indie entrepreneurship, Ron Powers and Dave Nixon on the state of the industry, Thomas Buscaglia on law and many more.

GarageGames Invites Game Developers to Join the Revolution

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The folks behind the Unreal Tournament 2004 mod Domain 2049 have recently released an Editor's Choice edition of their work. Taking into account player suggestions, a host of bug fixes, model tweaks, and bot support have been added to the latest version.

Domain 2049, given the title of Super-Mod of the month by PC Action, is a team-based FPS that includes four different factions and objective-based play.

The story is set in the near future. The United State of Earth -USE- let the world stay in fear. Nobody has the faith to fight against them. Nobody? - not really. A small group of rebels resists and tries to hurt the USE with terror attacks. The members of the underground rebellion are living in dirty slums far away from civilization. Slowly they get more and more members. A war is beginning.

Domain 2049

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