2/02/00 - Latest News

Site Updates
Berendir @ 21:15 EST

Theres a bunch of updates to the Gaming Havens today. A new review was added, Hero's Journey, an exciting game in development by Siumtronics. You can also check out a page about that in the Upcoming Games section.

Also you might notice you can now link directly to the Gaming message board through the Havens. Its the side link, Gaming Board.

And theres been new Game Art added as well. Art on EverQuest, more on Hero's Journey, as well as some great new shots from the War Craft II Conversion. Go check those out.

SNES Game
Berendir @ 11:34 EST

I received an email from Julius regarding a Lord of the Rings game for Supernintendo. Here it is:

Many of you may already know this but there's a cute little game on the Super Nintendo called: "The Lord of the Rings". Now you can play it on your PC! it's a cute game but don't expect to much of it since it's almost 7 years old.

Download it at this site: Sweetnet.com

The Hobbit Project
Berendir @ 07:29 EST

Theres a game in development called The Hobbit, being created using a basic game program. I'm not sure how far along the game is in production, but you can visit the site Here.

Also I've added the screenshots of this game in the Game Art section. Check them out Here.

2/01/00 - Latest News

War Craft II Conversion Beta
Berendir @ 19:39 EST

Heres what Gurthaur had to say about Beta for the War Craft II Conversion:

I've gone through some extensive beta testing on my own (before I make it public) and found (and even fixed) some minor bugs too big for you to see ;) I've sent the rest to RAtt so he can finish it. When it comes back I'll test it again, and them I'll maybe send it to YOU!

Also if you like the Screenshots on this game in the Game Art section now, I've put a few more up there, and you can expect more of them there real soon.

Check out Gurthaur's page Here.

Hero's Journey Art, and new site.
Berendir @ 14:55 EST

I've added some screen shots from the game Hero's Journey to the game art section. Hero's Journey is a game currently in development by Simuntronics, and the main site has just been given a new face lift:

Hello, and welcome to the relaunch of HJ Vault! We decided that the old look had seen it's better days and that a new look was in order. I hope you like it. In addition to the facelift, we have added new content and reorganized the old. All links should be working soon if they aren't already, and over the course of the next week we'll be adding even more content for your consumption. We're anxiously awaiting "the announcement" as much as you are and can't wait for things to really get rolling.

Go Here to learn more about the Hero's Journey game.

Game Art Section is Launched!
Berendir @ 14:38 EST

The Game Art section is up! Go check out the Game Art to find lots of screenshots and other pieces of artwork for many of the games in development out there. I'll be updating the section quite frequently, enjoy.

Also special thanks to Corvar for helpin me out with it.

1/31/00 - Latest News

Another page on The War Craft Conversion
Berendir @ 14:17 EST

I got a message from Strider today, who mentioned that he to is working on the Warf Craft Conversion:

I'm an editor of Warcraft II, and I am working on a Tolkien TC myself, much like my friend (and one of my many mentors) Gurthaur.)

Go here to check out Strider's site.

1/30/00 - Latest News

A Lesson in Roleplaying
Berendir @ 20:17 EST

Heres something funny to read about roleplaying:

Chapter 3: How to speak in tongues
By now, you've probably skipped reading the actual text of this article and you're just skimming ahead to read the charts. Honestly, I'm not hurt by this. Each of these charts is painstakingly crafted, then run through special filtering algorithms that turn the letter "o" into the number "0" until they become funny.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. What I was going to say was that you always want to speak in character when you roleplay, and it's actually quite simple. Say "thee" or "thou" instead of the word "you" at random intervals. The word "are" is always "art." Be sure to make your character point and gesture a lot, if you can. Finally, endest random verbs with "st." This chart should help you translate:

Go Here to see the chart, which is very funny, and the rest of the article.

Thanks to Enoreth for the tip.

1/29/00 - Latest News

LOTR Diablo Mod!
Berendir @ 15:02 EST

Well this is great! Last week we find out theres a War Craft two conversion game, and now this! Its a mod of Diablo that is given MIddle Earth Twists. Heres some info on it:

- we threw out anything we felt was not "middle earthish" in the original Diablo 1.07 game. Well, at least everything we could throw out.

- new monsters. Some of them even with new graphics (that is why you have to download so much)

- tons of new bosses. Many of them will seem somewhat familiar if you are a Tolkien fan :-)

- new unique items. LOTS of them. Every single one has been replaced

- other than with the "original" 1.07 mod, we balanced the game to our liking right from the start. So, for example, in this Middle Earth mod we put more emphasis on the lower armour types - i.e. leather armour and chain mail are much more important than plate mail. You will have trouble even finding a plate mail armour (of course we adjusted the AC ranges of chain mail etc. a bit to compensate). Two handed weapons have been improved somewhat. For a beginning warrior, axes are far more interesting now than before, for example.

Of course there were lots of limitations to what we could do - we had to use the existing monster graphics, for example, even if they did not really fit the monsters we wanted to create. Just look at the poor Orcs, for example :-) But, hey, we did not want to create a simulation. This is a fast paced action roleplaying game, and we are sure when you first meet Morgoth, you will feel the terror, even though he looks very familiar for every Diablo fan ...

Interested? Well go check out the site Here.
The link to the Middle Earth Mod is at the top of the page.

Thanks to Chris4 from Barlimans for the tip.

1/28/00 - Latest News

Elendor MUSH Review is Up
Berendir @ 10:36 EST

Yet another Review has been posted by Smaug. This one is on Elendor, which according to Smaug is the best MUSH he's had the pleasure of playing.

Go check out the Elendor review and the others Here.

1/27/00 - Latest News

News on War of the Ring
Berendir @ 08:25 EST

Heres some more news from the War of the Ring site, on the War Craft II Conversion:

So I finally got that darned ALE clone to work, well, kinda. I used WotR as a base! ;)
It still has a lot of errors. The Uruk for example is all over the place when he tries to move, and you sometimes have no idea of where he's at. And almost all of the buildings are mirrored, making you feel kinda seasick ;)
The weirdest thing is that you play in a sort of windows console, or a popup window in windows.. this is the 32bit version, of course.

It has other cool features too, when the peon is chopping his wood (shutup) there shows up this percentage of work that is done, very cool. And you can see how much food you have in the top frame. :)
The coolest is the fog of war. It's just like in StarCraft. I'm gonna take some screenshots for you soon.. WotR / ALE screenies ;)

Source: War of the Ring