Welcome, dear reader, to this first installment of the developer's diary for UFO: Aftermath. I hope that you will find it both enlightening and light-hearted; I abhor the dreary dullness of the hype-filled marketing-made buy-this-game "diaries" just as the self-indulged ego-trips of the developers who believe anybody is at all interested in their minutest whims. As a result I am not going to talk much about my work as such but rather about the game we are working on; and I will try not to hide from you any doubts, sacrifices, dubious decisions and the like as they happen along the way. This is not to say that I will not be holding anything back, but I will try to be as honest and open as possible, under the circumstances. Thanks to Altar's Jiri for passing this on!

Fans of the Close Combat series had a lot to talk about today, after Strategy First and Freedom Games announced that they have entered into a North American publishing agreement for the G.I. Combat series, the next generation of real-time historical strategy gaming. The first release will be G.I. Combat: Episode I, Normandy.

After an exciting couple years, the game is shipping! We all had a lot of fun during the development and can't wait to play against you all. Check your local stores in the next couple days to pick yours up! A special thanks to all the beta testers and server hosts for their hard work in helping make this game great! Global Operations is a stand alone, team based, first person shooter based on a significantly modified version of the LithTech 2.5 engine,. Although it is being developed as a multiplayer experience for up to 24 players, there will also be a single player game with AI controlled teammates and opponents. We'll be bringing you some screens and info as soon as we got it in the mail.

Big Huge Games just put up the FAQ on their upcoming RTS "Rise Of The Nations. Items such as release date, demo, public beta and many other goodies are discussed .. Here's a snippet ...

Q: How is Rise of Nations different from Age of Empires?
A: While both are "historical RTS games", the two products are very different. In particular, Rise of Nations covers the sweep of human history, not just one specific time period. Players can guide their civilization from the stone age to the modern era, all in the span of an hour.

Following up a recent report that Hitman 2: Silent Assassin was delayed, Eidos sends word that "in our effort to make Hitman 2 the best game it could be" the contract killing sequel is now scheduled for release September this year, in order "to give additional time to the development team." In other release-related news, Microsoft has posted a Dungeon Siege International Release Dates schedule giving an idea when the game is expected in your area. Loaded Inc. posted a preview of Dungeon Siege based on the press beta build

Star Wars Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II is a dynamic single and multiplayer action experience that continues the saga of the once powerful Jedi Knight, Kyle Katarn, as he struggles with the power – and dangers – of the Force. Through a multitude of complex and richly detailed Star Wars environments players face a variety of powerful enemies and once again fight for the Rebel cause. Armed with the power of the Force, and an arsenal of weapons, including a Jedi Knight's signature lightsaber, players hold the fate of the Star Wars galaxy and the destiny of Kyle Katarn in their hands. I'm battling my way through the game and i must admit ... i am impressed! The graphics are great .. the AI is good, the animations are crisp and above all .. the level design is fabulous ... tricky, hard, and big levels ... a few more days patience people ... it is da coming! In the meantime take a glimpse of what to expect and check the screens ... a whopping 60 and more coming as i slash my way through the game!

While looking for a little Asheron's Call 2 news, I noticed that the AC Vault posted a Q&A of sorts with Turbine, which is based from developer responses that took place over the past week. HomeLAN kicks off the week right with an Q&A with Ingo Horn of Westka Interactive talking about their sci-fi genre blender, The Y-Project (powered by the Unreal Warfare engine). Gamehelper.com offers a status report on Gearbox Studios upcoming Counter-Strike game, Condition Zero. Black Moon Chronicles Q&A #8 on RPG Vault chats with Benoît Papy, lead game master at Vircom on their upcoming MMORPG based on the French comic, discussing his goals for the servers under his control. There's a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Chat Transcript on Games Domain recapping Friday's chat session with BioWare's team creating this upcoming Star Wars MMORPG. The log is in an easy to follow color-coded Q&A format. There's a Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness Q&A on The Electric Playground talking with Core's Adrian Smith about the Lara Croft franchise, the movie spin-off, the future of the series, and more. There's a Cameron Spence Q&A on BarrysWorld talking with this former SAS operative about the expertise he's lending to the team creating Conflict: Desert Storm.

Warrior Kings...come out and pla-ay! Microïds sends word that the US version of Warrior Kings, their 3D RTS game that's already invaded Europe, is gold. The game is expected to be in stores throughout North America by April 15.

The largest movie franchise of all time ­ all 180 feet of it -- will stomp into gamers’ living rooms around the globe this Fall.. Infogrames, Inc., a leading global publisher of interactive entertainment software, is bringing Godzilla®: Destroy All Monsters Melee, to the Nintendo GameCube in a global launch slated for Fall 2002. Based on the classic movie license from Toho Co., Ltd. and Sony Pictures Consumer Products, the fighting game challenges players to punch, kick, stomp, throw and blast each other to claim the title of King of the Monsters.

Ubisoft seems to be slapping games together like there is no tomorrow ... We now have word (and proof *g*) that they are planning to release a Real Time Strategy-pack (named RTS including Battle Realms, Settlers IV and Shogun: Total War), a EverQuest Gold Edition (including classic Everquest, The Ruins Of Kunark, The scars Of Velious and Shadows Of Luclin), a Worms Battle Pack (containing Worms 2, Worms Armageddon and Worms World Party) and last but not least Myst Trilogy (Myst, Riven and Myst III: Exile). Talk aout value for your money ... check the boxshots so you know what to look for ;)

Digital Mayhem, a division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., announced that the highly anticipated upcoming action game Hunter: The Reckoning is scheduled to ship on June 2002 for the Xbox. Hunter: The Reckoning is a fast and furious action game based on the characters and fiction found in the popular role-playing game Hunter: The Reckoning and the immersive World of Darkness created by White Wolf Publishing, Inc. It will be distributed by Virgin Int. in Europe.

Octagon Entertainment has signed a representation agreement with Walker Boys Studio and is seeking a worldwide publishing deal for its debut title, Civil War: War Between the States. Brothers Eric and Chad Walker, who once served as conceptual artists and designers at Ensemble Studios, formed the development team in 1999 with the goal of creating computer games that raise game industry expectations.

Fishtank Interactive have released new trailers from their upcoming games Wildlife Park (2 MB / 4 MB, 00:42 min) and Call of Cthulhu (2 MB / 5 MB, 1:24 min), which are available to download in two resolutions (320x240 / 640x480) from Tiscali Games in DivX version.

Entertainment software publisher NovaLogic, Ltd. released more details on the forthcoming stand-alone Mission Pack for the successful Delta Force Land Warrior, part of the Delta Force franchise that has sold over 3 million units worldwide.

Frictionless Insight has posted an article on End-User License Agreements (EULAs) and games. EULAs are attached to all games, and often misunderstood in forum board postings. This article discusses, in plain English, whether these EULAs can be binding at all, and why. The article also covers to a lesser extent whether specific terms can actually be enforced by the company.

Rockstar Games announced the official name change of DMA Design, developers of best-selling tour de force "Grand Theft Auto 3" to Rockstar Studios. DMA Design was acquired by Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, and has been part of the Rockstar Games family since September 1999.

Termite Games tossed up the official site for their upcoming action title New World Order. The site features FAQ, screenshots of the game in action and more. New World Order is a team-based multiplayer game which features environments that could easily be taken right out of a film. It's fast paced team-action simulator with gritty attitude.

There is some FAQ posted today about Unreal Tournament 2ºº³ on cleaned beyondunreal. They have collected all known information about this upcoming game by Digital Extremes, in cooperation with and under license / supervision of Epic Games, the makers of U1.

Gone Gold reports that the newest entry in the Carnivores series has gone gold and should be in stores soon! This fast-paced game will have you on the edge of your seat as you fight for your life across the backdrop of a futuristic city.

On the Game Developers Conference, GameSpy managed to get an interview with Peter Molyneux, where he amongst other things admits to having plans for Black & White 3. Here is a spot from the interview:

Early development of Black & White 3 will begin in a few months with a small team devoted to developing a new engine for the game. The storytelling will allow more branching instead of a straight linear variety. There will be different resolutions to problems, bringing a slight RPG aspect to the game. "I'm incorporating what we are learning from Project Ego to enhance the game experience," Molyneux said. Full interview here!

Prague Business Journal has posted a interesting article about Italian police are trying to ban the game Mafia. Here follows a spot from the article:

President of the national anti-mafia police section Roberto Centaro told the national newspaper Il Giornale: "I'll do anything I can to ban the sale of the game in Italy. This is a proper instruction book for wannabe Mafiosi." Former interior minister Carlo Taormina said: "When it comes to Mafia, one simply cannot take it as a game. There's really nothing to joke about here." Full article here!

LithTech™, Inc., a leading developer of licensable game technologies and tools, announced today the release of an updated version of its advanced Jupiter system, the foundation for the highly anticipated sequel to No One Lives Forever. Jupiter now delivers an even broader range of features including a new polygrid system that supports dynamic lighting, Fresnel reflections and dynamic surface animations as well as the addition of cubic environment mapping. Other new features include an improved command editor to more easily create cinematic events and more robust support for dynamic texture effects.

We already mentioned it earlier, here is the official press release. Project Three today announced that starting Tuesday March 26th 12.00 CET the highly anticipated Public Multiplayer Beta of the next-gen tactical first person shooter New World Order will be downloadable for public use at the following location. The playable demo will also be mirrored by several other websites, to allow people to pick their optimal download location.

Today the official Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind site offers a new trailer from this upcoming 3D RPG. The movie sports two minutes of game-footage and some ingame action.

The Russian site Xaos let us know that they tossed up four new screens from this upcoming WWII RTS, Blitzkrieg. Here they are.