Welcome to Through the Looking Glass

Somehow it slipped under our radar - but that's thieves for you, and Dmitri Lazarev just popped up and informed us that there's a Russian Thief site, Thief: The Dark Fate. The site has a fair amount of stuff, though, of course, it's almost all in Russian. Zdrastvui, Rossiia!

Irrational Games has released a version 1.1 patch for Freedom Force here. The patch contains three modes of skirmish play, tweaks, fixes, and scripting corrections. Once more into the breach!

This just in from Dalai from the Thievery team:

"The first patch for Thievery is ready! This fixes some of the more critical issues that came to light after playing with so many people."

The patch is currently available at FilePlanet, but should be available on other mirrors soon. Check the Thievery site for an updated list of mirrors, or to check out the list of changes.

Thanks Dalai!

And now, taffers, the moment you've all been waiting for...

Thievery UT has been released!!!

The Thievery Beta 1 file is currently available for download from FilePlanet and TTLG's gracious mirror host, Jason Tibbitts, III (Thanks Jason!), as well as a few others. The Thievery UT site has full details on how to install the mod, along with all the download links.

Go there now! Grab your friends and your UT and get thieving!

Friday 28 June 2002.

The Official Thievery Site has announced the following:

Thievery Beta 1.0 weighs in at 125 megs and is playable offline against the AI, or (much more recommended) online, taking on the role of either a thief or a guard. If you're using dial-up, don't be put off, due to clientside code and the nature of the gameplay, Thievery is still playable with high ping. We'll be holding something of a release party in our irc channel and a bunch of online games, so be sure to drop by (more details will be announced nearer the time).

Wow! I can't wait! :)

That's right!
Following the recent news that the german version of Arx Fatalis had gone gold it was announced today that the german version of the demo has been released!.
Apparently this version is not bugged to hell, like the english version in March.
You can grab the demo (160mb) here!

The official Arx Fatalis website has just released a collection of new screenshots. These new shots really are quite stunning, in fact, and it would be well worth it for you to look at every single one. I think some of these are the best I've seen yet - and better, they are of areas we have not yet seen before. All of those settings are so rich in detail it simply astounds. Ahem, off with you... look at them now, and become a believer.

Irony has analyzed SHODAN as a role model for women... makes interesting reading.

"Some gamers claim that there are no good female role models in video games, but I think SHODAN is a shining example of what a woman can accomplish when she puts her mind to it."

Apparently, E3 also let gamers see other platforms other than consoles and PCs: The Pocket PC! Chris Harris was kind enough to let us know that PocketGamer has an informative report on the pocket games being displayed at E3, most notably, Ultima Underworld. Here's a snip:

But I can tell you what I saw: Ultima Underworld is an exact port. The game runs flawlessly and the controls are actually pretty intuitive for the game, very reminiscent of playing it on my old 486. If you’re a fan of the series and/or this game, you won’t be disappointed. However, if you’re looking for some major amazing 3D graphical feat to blow you away, this game is not it. As I said, it looks exactly like the 3D graphics did on my 486. Which would make my real complaint about the 3D playing field part of the screen is a bit too small, of which I complained about in the original too. According to ZIO, this game is scheduled for a release sometime in June. Whether they meant June of this year, last year or next year couldn’t be confirmed ;)

Be sure to check out the rest. Ultima Underworld lives!

Update: It seems that PocketGamer has received word (check out their main page) that Ultima Underworld has in fact been released and can be purchased for a measly $29.95! Here's some more:

Features include:

• Exact conversion to give you the true original feeling.
• Travel through 8 levels of fraught with peril, where the only way is down...
• Based on the PC game awarded GAME OF THE YEAR by Chicago Tribune.

Wow, this sounds real exciting. Those of you with Pocket PCs better get a head-start!

This from Grey Mouser (in many ways my opposite number over at Eidos).

He went to E3, talked to the team, and came back with this small (but welcome) bit of information:

'GeForce 3 or Radeon 7500 (or equivalent) will be required to run it.

GeForce 4 or Radeon 8500 (or equivalent) -- or whatever top end vid card is out by then....VideoSmoker 3000 anyone? -- for full lighting support.
They are planning on GeForce 4 (NOT the MX versions) as the standard.

It will of course share much of the Deus Ex 2 engine but will have some Thief-centric code, esp. Sound related. The teams are sharing stuff up to a point, but Deus Ex 2 is looking more Thief-like with the addition of shadowing and a "light gem" than the other way around.'

Pitch in your two cents in the forums...