Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

Gamepen has thrown up its initial thoughts on the preview build:

The visual elements of this game really remind me of the first time that I played Myth, meaning that they’re simply beautiful. The game is entirely in 3D so you’ll be able to rotate and zoom the camera to your heart’s delight. I didn’t know what to expect in the visual department but I can tell you that this game is shaping up to be a beauty.

They have an abundance of pics as well (a new set at the bottom for each page) so be sure to hit em up. Thanks to those crazy kids at VE for the tip.

The Homeworld community’s favorite site has gotten its hands on Impossible Creatures. Elysium at EvilAvatar.com has run it through their very own review combiner to create a well crafted and enjoyable read that provides some good insight into the game’s development. I’ll let Elysium’s words speak for themselves…

Let me say this now, Impossible Creature could, and likely would, be released as is by lesser companies. It is just that stable in its current form. What’s more, it would probably make an adequate showing in an increasingly bland genre, sell a respectable number of copies, and receive some perfectly average reviews. The creature creation tool alone gives the game enough originality to be noteworthy, and the 30’s pulp fiction storyline blended with heaping spoonfuls of humor would briefly satisfy most gamers. Then why not release?

Pop on by and find out why he thinks they’re not releasing it until 2003!

The Evil Ones have also got some great screenshots included.

More comparisons between O.R.B. and Homeworld in this article on Gamesdomain. Thanks to VoodooExtreme for the heads up.

Recently, in a thread about Homeworld Ship Models on the forums, people commented on how they wanted to see Models and such made for Homeworld ships. Some say go to a stereolithography printing place and get a sample model of a ship made. Apparently Xypher’s got a model of a Taiidan Bomber done by one of these places… view it here.

The only other way, it seems for now anyway, that you can get a model of a Homeworld Ship is to make it yourself. That link was found by accident when MajorFreak dug up the site that housed it. If you’re interested in scratchbuilding a Homeworld model, go here for inspiration.

If anyone knows of any other Homeworld Models out there, please email me. Hopefully Relic/Sierra will have some models or other figure type items created for Homeworld 2.

Thanks to Barking-Dog for sending along these screenshots from Disney’s Treasure Planet. Note: As our Gallery tools are currently not working properly, please excuse our amateurish display of these images from a bare-naked directory.

Check out this note to the Homeworld Community, which was hand crafted by pirates, that Barking-dog sent along with the Shots.

Treasure Planet is a Real Time Strategy Game being developed by Barking-Dog for Disney. The game is set for a launch date that will coincide with the release of the movie this fall.

Again, the screenshots are here until we get the galleries working again.

First off, Happy Birthday to our very own Xypher… he’s the big 24 today. Second, hats off to the Baddest Dragon (and former HeavyCruiser) on the forums who turns 19 today. GG BloodDragon! Finally, happy pre-birthday to Mecha (who’s 28 tomorrow), newly hired at Relic straight out of the Homeworld community.

Looks like a couple of community members from the Vancouver area will be getting together this weekend for food (and stuff). So if you want to tag along and live in the Vancouver area, drop me a line.

From the “let’s compare every 3d-space RTS EVAR” to Homeworld files, comes this link from Dave@Ibm. It seems Gamespot’s got their latest preview of ORB up. The first 3 paragraphs make direct reference to Homeworld, yet hugely fail to note that Homeworld came out in 1999, not 1998. Maybe I should send a friendly note off to the author of this article.

For at least as long as people have been making games, nerds everywhere have dreamed of exploring the cosmos in cool-looking futuristic spaceships. They’ve been able to do so in countless computer games, including Relic’s innovative and very impressive 1998 game Homeworld, a real-time strategy game that let you control a fleet of starships in a fully 3D universe and was later followed by a stand-alone product called Homeworld: Cataclysm. Since then, no game has been able to reproduce Homeworld’s brand of fully 3D space exploration and combat. That is, at least until now–or, to be more precise, about five years ago.

As the competition to be “The Standard to Which All Other Spaced Based RTS’s are Judged” heats up, expect more direct comparisons to Homeworld. I still don’t figure how ORB started before Homeworld. As far as I know they both started at around the same time… anyone care to clarify?

Frictionless Insight (new site to me!) has a preview up of iCreatures. It’s small, yet still quite yummy, and does reveal something I had not caught before.

The single player campaign will put the player in the shoes of Rex Chance, combating major and minor villains across fifteen missions and fourteen islands. During the single player game you will be able to combine creatures whenever you want, in whatever combinations you want. The catch is that you will have to tag animals, sampling their DNA, in order to combine them with other beasties. A few new animals will be made available each mission, so that your strategic choices will grow exponentially as you progress through the game. The plot is not to be scoffed at, either. The game will contain over ninety minutes of dialogue using the in-game engine, and if some of Relic’s early advertising is any indication, should capture the feel of 1930s pulp adventure quite well.

90 Minutes of Dialogue! That’s almost as much as a feature movie! Pop on by and check it out. Thanks to Blue’s for the heads up.

The latest NIS Cut Scene has been released. Get it here.

There’s an interview up about Treasure Planet on Homelanfed. Amongst the topics discussed are why Barking-dog was tapped to create this game.

HomeLAN - Why was Barking Dog Studios chosen for developing the game?

Jamie Berger - Two basic reasons, we were extremely impressed with Barking Dog’s experience with Homeworld Cataclysm, and thought they could take their experience and learnings for that title to take make a game that was deep and innovative, while also being accessible for novice gamers.

In addition, we were motivated by Barking Dog’s passion for the Treasure Planet property. They are extremely excited about the film and the title concept, which shines through the outstanding quality of the game.

Pop on by and check it out!