Game players rejoice. Microsoft has got a bumper crop of games coming out this summer and they actually look good for a change. Coinciding with the gaming industry trade show known as E3, Microsoft has announced the upcoming availability of the following games:
- Age of Empires II - The sequel to the award-winning, best-selling strategy game Age of Empires. AOE II builds on the success of the first game and adds some stunning new graphics and new campaigns.
- Asheron's Call - An epic role-playing game that draws together thousands of players at a time within a dynamic, 3D online world hosted on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone. It looks like an attempt to compete with Ultima Online.
- Baseball 3D - This breath-taking 3D treatment to America's favorite game looks like a winner. It supports force feedback joysticks, 3D cards, and Internet play.
- Combat Flight Simulator 98 - The Flight Simulator we've all been waiting for--kind of. CFS98 *finally* adds combat to the best-selling Flight Simulator line, but does so with an historic World War II European theater, rather than feature a wider range of fighter. This may limit the market for the game somewhat.
- Golf 1998 Edition - The 1998 Edition of Microsoft Golf looks stunning and features realistic game graphics, beautifully rendered courses, and accurate ball physics. Like most other Microsoft game offerings, you can hook up with other duffers online at the Internet Gaming Zone.
- Fighter Ace - A World War II aerial combat game designed specifically for play over the Internet on, you guessed it, Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone. This game has actually been available for a while now: Note that there is no single player mode available.
- Inertia - A Descent-style game where players can customize their vehicles for battle and compete with others on racetracks and battle arenas.
- Monster Truck Madness 2 - the sequel to Monster Truck Madness adds new tracks and trucks, improved graphics and sound, and variable weather conditions. If you got a kick out of the first installment, you'll probably love this.
- Motocross Madness - a stunt driving and racing game with a unique rider/physics model that allows players to control the throttle, brake, steering, and gears on the bike. 3D card support and a track editor round out the features on this interesting competition title.
- Oblivion - Another Internet Gaming Zone-only title (read: multiplayer only) that combines a space action shooter with a strategy game. Oblivion features over 30 unique user-controlled spacecraft and space stations, up to 300 simultaneous players, 3D card support, and realistic space combat action.
- Revenge of Arcade - Ah, bliss. Microsoft is finally releasing the third installment in its excellent Arcade line. This one features such arcade classics as Xevious, MS. PAC MAN, Rally-X, Mappy, and Motos. Unlike most games released in the past ten years, these games are simple, fun, and infinitely replayable.
- UltraCorps - Command one of 14 alien races, develop new technologies and weapons, dispatch fleets to conquer and colonize other planets, and turn their resources into the materials needed to maintain a growing empire, all in an online battle for domination of the universe. A turn-based game that supports thousands of participants, UltraCorps will appeal to the D&D/Traveler crowd.
- Urban Assault - A first-person 3D shooter with 15 types of combat vehicles set in a foreboding, post-apocalyptic 3-D world. This blast-fest includes varied cityscapes and open battlefields with more than 100 destructible building types. If you see it, you can blow it up.
0 comments
Hide comments
