Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

There’s a poll up on VoodooExtreme.com that asks what your most anticipated game of 2003 is. While Impossible Creatures is not on the list, HOMEWORLD2 is.

If you feel like voting, just pop by VoodooExtreme and have a vote. Please vote however you see fit.

Well, it’s 2003 in some parts of the world, so let’s get a jump on the party! Happy New year folks!

It looks to be a promising year for Relic. They’ve got impossible creatures due on store shelves in the next couple of days, and HOMEWORLD2 following up later this year (if it stays on schedule)!

Look for some upcoming information on IC’s launch. As usual, we will be watching for news about IC from around the ‘net. Remember, IC ships to stores on January 7th!

In my holiday excitement, I missed a note from SajuukCor. There’s a contest up at Gamestop.com in which, if you live in the United States and are over 13 years old, you can win an Alienware computer!

Check the contest out here. Rules and regs are here.

Our contest may not be as great as this one, but at least you don’t have to live in the states to enter! :-D

Merry Christmas Everyone! Here’s to hoping for world peace!

Hey all it is my pleasure to announce that from now until January 7th, 2003 we are running a contest to get rid of some awesome swag and put it into your greedy paws. What is at stake you ask why just take a gander:

1st Place: Signed copy of IC, signed T-shirt, IC bag

2nd Place: Signed T-shirt, IC Bag, and Microsoft beanie

3rd Place: Signed poster and Microsoft beanie

Full contest rules and information is here. A big thank you as well to the people at Relic and Microsoft for sending us the swag to give away.

On a side note I just want to add that if you have the intention of handing over your sisters, girlfriends, and/or mothers to increase your odds they must be at least over 18 and no older then 43, we do have some scruples.

It’s that time of year when the Christmas Card department at the megacorporation known as Relic churns out their mass-produced Christmas Card.

For your viewing pleasure, Relic provides you with a shot of Whitey with his HW2 logo’d screensaver.

For past Christmas cards, see the miscellaneous gallery.

Spotted on Blues that DirectX 9.0 has been officially released. Snag the web install here. Note that it can’t be uninstalled, so create a system restore point before installing it.

As you may have seen, Impossible Creatures is intended to use DirectX 9.0, so those of you in the stress test might want to seriously consider installing it.

Yes siree. Impossible Creatures has gone GOLD. From the press release:

Microsoft Game Studios today announced that Impossible Creatures has gone gold and is scheduled to ship to stores in North America on January 7. Developed by Relic Entertainment, Inc., this unique real-time strategy (RTS) will be available for an estimated price of $44.95 (U.S.). Gamers can cash in their holiday gift money in early January so that they may be among the first to battle with their very own army of unique and fearsome creatures.

Congrats to Relic!

On November 27th, Relic and Microsoft allowed Gamespy to release 20,000 copies of the IC Multiplayer Stress Test into the wild from four super fast download servers over at Fileplanet. On December 13th, they opened up another 20,000 slots, but folks had to wait in line to download the file. Thankfully, Gamespy’s exclusive ends on the 17th, and now, with the initial testing and bug fixes out of the way, you can fully distribute the latest Impossible Creatures Multiplayer Stress Test installer to whomever you like!

The Impossible Creatures (IC) Multiplayer Stress Test contains the tutorial, a skirmish mode, animal combiner and online play. This test contains 14 of the 51 creatures that will be available at release. This beta test is scheduled to end on January 2nd, but can be freely distributed until that time. The final version is scheduled to ship to stores on January 7th.

The IC Multiplayer Beta requires a connection to the Internet to play (or even start up). The reason for this is that the IC Installer includes a suite of Digital Rights Management software named EZ Pad, from a company called Netquartz, to be able to run. A small part of the IC Executable is stored on the netquartz servers, and it must be downloaded for you to play. More info on EZ Pad and Netquartz can be found at the Netquartz site. The final version of IC does NOT use EZ Pad.

The IC Multiplayer Beta requires the installation of DirectX 8.2 (included). More info on DirectX 8.2 at Microsoft’s site. The final version of Impossible Creatures is intended to ship with DirectX 9.0 (assuming that DirectX 9.0 is ready). Microsoft recommends the installation of DirectX9.0 RC0 which is available for download.

If you go through a firewall or a router to get on the net you may need to configure it to play IC online. Please see the IC Firewall FAQ or the Readme.rtf file for more information.

IC has had several fixes and improvements added since the first MP beta started. The 1.07 Installer has the 1.2.0 version of the IC Stress Test. You do not need to download any additional patches once you have this latest version of the test installed. Details for the patches and the original release can be found in the Readme.rtf file in the IC Install directory. A list of commands for the game can be found in the “Goodiez” sub-directory.

If you need help, have questions, want to talk multiplayer tactics, or spot a bug that you think needs fixing, please stop by the Official Relic forums at http://forums.relicnews.com and head to the Impossible Creatures area for help. General comments on the Stress Test go in the IC Discussion Area, and re-creatable bugs in the Bug Reports Area. The official game website is at http://www.microsoft.com/games/impossiblecreatures/. Your gaming statistics can be found at http://ic.stats.zone.msn.com/ic/zsweb/. A single player demo can be found at the IC site.

ICyouOnline!

Tyler “UberJumper” Higgs
uberjumper@relicnews.com
http://www.relicnews.com

List of Download Locations Goes Here:
-File Planet
-3ddownloads
-3dgamers
-Filefront

Tiny item, but fun to see it on Blue’s little news site. His Logo of the Week is Impossible Creatures.

Also, stand by for more info on the IC MP Stress Test.