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| Pocket UW Interview and Screenshots - Elenkis - 7:30:47 PM EST |
The Pocket PC website Ludipocket has done an interview with Pocket Ultima Underworld developers ZIO Soft. While the interview doesn't say much about the game it is still worth a read and does contain some screenshots! You can find the screenshot goodness right here.
Much thanks to David Yozie for bringing this to our attention!
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| Guide to Running UW1 and 2 - Elenkis - 9:00:18 PM EST |
Twisty has put together a great guide and FAQ to help get the Underworld games working properly on modern systems! This help page is for getting both games to run with sound, mice and CD-ROM, through the use of a boot-disk. You can find the help page by following the Running UW FAQ link.
We've also rearanged the Underworld section a little. The UW Articles link now leads to our new article page, where we will soon be compiling every UW related review, interview or article that we've managed to find (though at the moment you will still only find the classic TTLG articles there). Enjoy! :-)
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| Arx to ship in November! - Elenkis - 8:32:37 AM EST |
According to pc.ign.com Fishtank have today announced that Arx will be shipping in November of this year! Here is the important part of the news:
With most developers looking to the cosmos for gaming inspiration now a days, and coming up with what seems to be the same product over and over, FishTank Interactive thought that success might be achieved through an alternative approach. Today the gaming division of Ravensburger Interactive Media announced that they would ship Arx Fatalis, a game inspired not by the realms above earth, but rather what lies beneath, in November of 2001.
The story says very little else (nothing that we don't already know), but you can read the whole thing right here.
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| Raf responds to the Arx Fatalis character poll - Elenkis - 6:23:24 AM EST |
Arx main man Raphael Colantonio graced our message boards today with a post responding to some naming suggestions and questions sparked by the new poll. Here's what he had to say:
Hi all, I realise that this name poll triggered various interogations and one is "why can't we choose the name ?".
Well, there is an extremly good reason plotwise, but I can't obviously explain now, because I don't want to reveal anything before you can play the game. The strange 'oriental' nature of the name has also a reason to be as it is, so we won't change the concept of the name itself, but we'll find a solution about this possible confusion with a swear word in english some of you mentioned, and thx for spotting it by the way, it isn't always easy to check on names in every languages. I hope these 'vague' informations will be helpful.
You can read through the whole thread right here!
Thanks Raf!
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| Arx Fatalis Player Character Poll - Dan - 2:38:18 PM EST |
Please take note of the current poll. Arkane Studios is interested to see what people think of the potential name for the Player Character in Arx Fatalis. Though that name is currently planned for use, if the result of the poll is strongly negative, they will choose a new name. If the result is strongly positive, then they will be pleased. Get voting - and remember - this vote counts.
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| Ultima Underworld Viewer - Elenkis - 11:41:43 PM EST |
Peroxide (the guys behind the Ultima 1 remake) have also made a Viewer that allows you to walk around the UW and UW2 levels in 24 bit real 3D. All you need are the original games and the 84KB ZIP file found here on their site! Here's a short blurb from the site:
What I have done is that I have made a program which converts the 2d maps into real 3d meshes of triangles. This 3d data is more suited for the modern hardware accellerated 3d graphics cards. Because the levels are now real 3d you also get full freedom of movement which means that you can move and look in any direction in the world.
The page also contains some interesting information about the UW engine, worth the read!
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| Ultima 1 Remake! - Elenkis - 7:52:48 PM EST |
We felt it was our duty to make everyone out there aware of the fantastic looking Ultima 1 remake being worked on by the guys at Peroxide Entertainment! Here's a short quote from their FAQ:
Q: What is Ultima 1: Reborn?
A: Ultima 1: Reborn is the remake of the first game of the Ultima Series by Peroxide Entertainment. It's a new vision upon the original game with the efforts to bring up the outdated looks to the technology advancements in the field of computer gaming of the recurring years.
So all of you Ultima fans (that means everyone) get yourselves over to the Ultima 1: Reborn site and check it out! If you've never played Ultima before (shame on you!) then this will be your perfect chance to experience the classic RPG and with the addition of graphics this nice, how can you resist? You have no excuse!
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| New UW Links - Elenkis - 7:35:00 PM EST |
We've uncovered some more of the Ultima Underworld related information that is here on the TTLG network and linked to it all in our main menu. The UW Gallery is Zerker's collection of artwork from the UW2 Clue Book. Then we have Zerker's great UW maps for Unreal Tournament (UW for Unreal) and last but not lest we have a bunch of classic UW related articles that can be found by following the UW Articles link.
Enjoy!
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| Old Interview Rediscovered! - Elenkis - 6:53:00 PM EST |
Garrett and our friends over at RPGDot have kindly found and sent us an Arx interview that they had on their site earlier this year but was unfortunately no longer up. The interview was conducted and translated by Jeuxmag and then offered in English on RPGDot.
Fortunately the interview is now available once again, this time here on the Abyss. Thanks to the guys at Jeuxmag and RPGDot!
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| Submit your Visions! - Elenkis - 1:41:20 AM EST |
The Visions section of the site is open and ready to display your works!
Feeling creative? Had a vision of the world of Arx (past, present or future) that you wish to express and share with others? Then send us an email so we can display your Arx Fatalis (and Ultima Underworld!) related stories and artwork here on the Abyss!
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| Underworld for Pocket PC - Elenkis - 4:17:40 PM EST |
Yes, you read that right! The original Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is being recreated for the handheld Pocket PC by ZIO Soft.
You can find their official site for Ultima Underworld for Pocket PC: The Stygian Abyss here. Although we would like to point out that while Richard Garriott played a rather small role as Director for the original Ultima UW, it is wrong to give him sole credit for "creating" it (check out our UW Creation link in the main menu for more info).
First you must explore the Stygian Abyss, a tremendous cavern fraught with peril, where the only way out is all the way down. Then travel to a mysterious maze where dark magic has opened rifts that lead to eight dangerous new worlds!
Your quest is dead simple: Arial, Baron Almric's daughter has been kidnapped by a troll. You are implicated as an accomplice for some reason so your head is for the chop. To prove your innocence [and the fact that you are the squeaky-clean Avatar] you must find and rescue a maiden from the Stygian Abyss.
Ultima Underworld for Pocket PC will give you with all the action and excitement.
Never-before-seen-game for Pocket PC, Ultima Underworld is recreated by ZIO.
Coming in August 2001.
Well, I guess this means we all have a reason to go buy a Pocket PC now! ;-)
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| The Abyss Opens and brings Demo news! - Elenkis - 5:17:54 PM EST |
Welcome to StygianAbyss, the newest part of the TTLG network! This compendium of knowledge is our dedicated shrine to Arx Fatalis, the upcoming RPG in development at Arkane Studios. Anticipated by many eagerly awaiting fans as being the spiritual successor to the legendary Ultima Underworld classics (created by the loving hands of Looking Glass Studios - RIP); Arx Fatalis is set to bring together an intricate, intruiging story with a high level of interactivity and open ended gameplay, set in a fantastical underground world full of danger and darkness. Please browse through the Book of Paths (found at the top of site) at your leasure. In the Tome of Knowledge you can learn more about Arx Fatalis, the gameplay and the world it inhabits. Also be sure to visit our Gallery to check out screenshots and media of the game in action and also browse the Community and Press section for our ever expanding digest of Previews and Interviews.
I would also like to take up your time by thanking and introducing all the staff here! Twisty for doing additional site design and graphic work, he has done some great work and has more in store! Razeam, who worked with me in writing the content and created the fantastic quotes you will see in the Book of Paths. Master Nightfall for being "The Creator" and mastermind behind the base design. CRC for the textures used. All of TTLG for making this possible! And especially of course thanks to Arkane Studios for developing this game that we're drooling over :-)
Without further delay we bring you our first piece of exclusive news, this time about the Arx Fatalis Demo. Straight from lead designer, Raphael Colantonio:
The playable demo should be out around september. It will be about 1 hour of gameplay from the start of the game. So, you'll start in the goblin jail, and have to escape the place. That will let you learn the basic of the game, including the magic. Yes, somekind of tutorial, but not organized too much as a tutorial, it is blend into the gameplay. We didn't design a tutorial level, where you perform tasks one after the other. The demo won't have very powerfull spells. I think the biggest will be magic projectile. So, you'll have to solve a few puzzles, talk to a few npcs, kill your first monsters, discover what you're doing in that jail. and get the hell out of here.
- Raf
Thanks Raf, we await with bated breath!
Be sure to come back often for the latest and most complete source of Arx Fatalis news!
-Elenkis, Webmaster
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