We've got our hands on scans of the whole PCGUS DX2 & T3 article. (Thanks Abysmal, for the scan, and Mokkis, VK, and Eberon for letting me know about them!) Here it is, page by page...

Syndicate is a multiplayer mod, stressing teamwork and strategy, that alters the multiplayer aspects of Deus Ex, throwing the world into chaos as the Mafia, Yakuza, and Luminous Arrow Triad battle it out for control. Each syndicate faction has been training its own paramilitary forces, and as they overthrew the governments of their respective countries and began to expand the borders of their influence, their armies met and conflict broke out. This mod blends the military-style tailorings of Front Line Force or Firearms, with the flavor of Action Half-Life, while keeping true to the intricacies that made Deus Ex so enjoyable. The mod features different player classes, several different game types (including Jailbreak and Corporate Courtesy), and many locales to battle in. We already have a sizeable team together, but we're looking for a few more people to round out the team.

New Providence was Sam Dixon's home for all of his life, the city whose streets he grew up on. Street smart, he was able to survive and become a detective, using his experience to solve crimes for the N.P.P.D. Then, mobsters like Joe Tusk began to take control of the city. It became tougher for an honest cop to function in this new environment. By the time Dixon was discharged from the force, his family had been killed in a train wreck and his partner had met the business end of a .38. Slowly turning into a drunk, Sam Dixon became just another dishonored cop with a private investigator license.

So if you have a subscription, pat yourself on the back and wait by your mailbox. If you don't, then be scouting out your newstands within the next few weeks. If you're not in the US, don't fret, hopefully someone will scan the sucker and send it in.

Rarely found in a usable state, the user will need to use three items - petrol, a bottle, and a rag, to make this incredibly fun to use, realistic and visually impressive weapon. There is a small chance that the Cocktail will be a dud, and not work at all. Trajectory, Angle, Location and a weapon skill will all come into the probabilty of the cocktail exploding on impact - just like a real molitov (ie. if you throw it low and flat, it will not shatter).

We're all walking a line here, working our asses off to get a game out (and its patch/demo/trailer) that we all are proud of and believe in. If we didn't, we wouldn't have stuck around to see the project's end with such uncertainty in our company's future.

I'm tired of websites talking about ION Storm (and the people that depend on ION for their livelihood and the livelihoods of our families) like we're a forgone conclusion.

We MAY be shut down once this is all over with. We may NOT be shut down. Hell... we might end up making Anachronox Super Bombad Big Headed Racer once all is said and done.

The fact of the matter is this. NO ONE (and I mean NOOO ONE) knows what's going to happen with ION Storm-Dallas after Anachronox hits shelves. Not Eidos... not John Romero... not Tom Hall... not me... not chinaman... not Shacknews... and not MCV.

This was posted earlier today, and proves that the ISD office doesn't even know their own fate yet. As for the title of this post, and Ion Storm Austin carrying on if ISD gets shut down, I'll direct you to a post that was made two days ago.

Ion Storm in Dallas looks set to be closed by Eidos, but the sister studio in Austin will expand. The Brit publisher's relationship with the Dallas studio, headed up by Jon Romero, has been troubled since signing a ten year publishing deal in 1997 before later taking an equity stake.

Its first project, Daikatana suffered from horrific delays and then faield to deliver either critically or commercially. Its follow-up Anachronox, has also been delayed and will finally see the light of day with little hype or expectation. Once it is released Eidos is expected to to take a decision on the future of Dallas.

CEO Mike McGarvey told MCV: "We've made no public statement about Dallas yet, but the truth is a lot of money went in and not much came out. I'm sure those guys will be making games in the future, but whether or not it's with us remains to be seen."

At least we can all rest easy knowing that Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 will be coming out from the offices of Warren and crew. The only thing I'm concerned about, and it's really not even a concern...I'm more puzzled than concerned, is what are they going to change their name to if ISD gets shut down.

Well, what can I say? I played [ Deus Ex ] (MP) the other night for the first time in almost two months and I actually enjoyed it, so much so that I'm back!

Things have calmed down a lot now and I've got quite a bit more spare time too, so I've started mapping again. As you can see from the panel on the right, Hell's Gate will be finished and there's a possibility of a Towers 2!

Martian Dreams, The Serpent Isle, Ultima Underworld I-II, Wings of Glory, System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief II: The Metal Age, Deux Ex. Anyone knows a better way to introduce Warren Spector?

Anyone know a better way to introduce Warren Spector, they ask? Hell yeah...get your facts straight. You can get the Q&A right here.

Well, I just couldn't keep all of my journalism non-brilliance from the community forever, so I felt that I should contribute again ASAP. Although the fans out there may disagree with me views, I really don't give a corn starch A** because I make perfectly good sense to myself.

Stay tuned for the BackDoor's Ramblings that you all (or maybe not) have been waiting for.

San Francisco, CA. (June 20, 2001) - Eidos Interactive, (NASDAQ: EIDSY), a leading worldwide interactive entertainment publisher, today announced that ION Storm Austin has been granted a license to use Epic Games' next generation Unreal Engine in their upcoming games. ION Storm Austin used an earlier version of the Unreal Engine technology in the creation of the award winning, genre-bending, first person shooter, Deus Ex.

"The decision to use the original Unreal Engine as the foundation for Deus Ex was one of the best decisions we made," states Warren Spector, project director on Deus Ex and Studio Director for ION Storm Austin. "Unreal, and the Unreal toolset, freed us to focus on design issues rather than technology which, given the response of public and press to the game, seems to have been a good thing! Looking ahead to future projects, the next generation Unreal Engine offers us even more power, even better tools and a multiplatform solution."

Delusive is mainly a single player mod/TC for Deus Ex (though the TC will also later include new multi-player modes and levels) You are one of the Illuminati's nano-augmented agents charged with the task of keeping them in power. Soon you are caught in the crossfire between them and another even more sinister power, that is slowly eating away at the roots of the Illuminatti's power and using the Illuminati's one strength against them, secrecy. It is taking their power and the Illuminatti can do nothing to stop them; for to do so they would have to come out of secrecy and tell the world that they, the Illuminati, had been secretly, for many years controlling and taking advantage of them. And to do that would mean chaos...

To dream of the light fantastic, to melt into the mesh that is the grid - to seek that heavenly gate or the burning lake. To smell the burning crome. To feel the adrenaline that stems from the override. The pulse. To cut ICE like a blade white with heat. To justify existence in a differnt world... in both worlds. Dex was one of the greatest net jockeys ever to punch grid. But that all ended one fateful night when his employers decided he was to much of a liability. Now cut from the only world he knew, Dex makes his way as a pusher in the dark underground of tomorrow’s cities. Dex has no friends no family and no one he can trust. But soon things will change for Dex.

Essentially, the mod allows players who join a server to select the map they wish to play, and when you throw in some weapons, they get to fight over the next map. Currently, the mod is up and running on DerianX's server "DerianX's Meeting Place" most of the day. Those who want to see it in use need only join the server and give it a test.

Yo there. I am Minty Fresh Death and this is my first tutorial, and so I decided to spill the beans on the clever weapon effects in Minty's Mod. The first of which is one of my personal favorites: The Sniper Rifle from Heaven. As those of you who have played the mod know, the rifle shoots out a bullet capable of travelling THROUGH a single wall (or two NPC's). This is the coding for it.

- You are playing a ghost in a very strange world. The world of dead.
- The game is a Horror game with investigation elements.
- You can cast spells. There is a magic system, with magic points, that can help you to cast spells in the dead world.
- You can read and Decrypt magic books, or clue books.
- You can go back to the living world for a limited time and frighten people.
- You can persuade people to give you more information when you talk to them.

G4M: Which are the main difficulties or differences in the development of Deus Ex PS2 version than Deus Ex Mac port?

MA: The PS2 is a whole different world than the Mac or PC. There are many limitations (much less RAM for instance), but some benefits (the exact same hardware configuration on every unit sold). Our experience on Deus Ex on the Mac is definitely helping out.

I'm happy to announce that the Co-Op Project has been launched finally. Just click on the link above to head over to the site and see what the project is all about.

The modding community is a very important factor in every teams development process. This project is a chance for everyone from the various mod projects out there to come together and produce a new style of gameplay for DX.

So far the two contributing groups are Deicide who's leader Geordie has been the man running the show and Convergence who has all 3 of our coders involved with the project.

It has come to my attention that a certain person has been hosting a beta version of Hell's Gate. This person, [Y]YOURSELF, was a beta tester for the map whilst I was still developing it. The only right he had was to play the map LOCALLY (not hosted) or connected to my password protected server.

He has distributed the map to at least one person, claiming to be a beta testing. I was never asked by him if it was ok and he acted regardless of my explicit instructions set out when he became a beta tester. By hosting the map on an unprotected server he has effectively allowed anyone to get the map. In his defence he said the map name was renamed, but the map was the same Hells Gate.

DXMP_NYC-Streets is unique in the sense that it utilizes the environmental resistance skill. There are bullet vests and thermoptic camo to be found; look for them in the vans. This definitely adds to the gameplay, since you can now be invisible without the cloak aug. What’s more, you can also have a weapon out, and be cloaked at the same time. This can be a bit unbalancing at times, so keep those EMP grenades handy.

You can grab the review with 6 screenshots by clicking on this highlighted portion of the text.

After twenty years of exceptional service Liquid Snake was let go from the military’s secret special forces unit. Wanting to find the reason for his dismissal Liquid Snake stumbles upon another secret. Liquid Snake’s father who has been missing since Liquid was in his teens may be alive. Not only that, but his father may be at the centre of a huge underground conspiracy focused on the Ziliphore, the mythical element that is thought to be the source of the greatest power. After retrieving this information Liquid finds that his family has been kidnapped. The ones behind the kidnapping is an organization known as the Ziliphore Seekers. Are they just a random terrorist organization or could they be behind his father’s disappearance, and what do they want with Liquid Snake’s family? To find out the answers to these questions and find the true meaning of Ziliphore you must play the Mystery of Ziliphore.

IGNPC: So where does J. Frankie go from Deus Ex?

Jay Franke: At the time I worked for Ion Storm. I work for Activision now, but I would love to work for Warren again. Warren Specter is one of the most brilliant men I ever worked for in my life. Not only that, he's also one of the most amazingly personable guys I've ever met.

I had gotten married right before the project and my company Ion Storm and Eidos said, "Hey, you're going to be here and you're working this and doing that." Warren Spector jumped in and said, "Hey, you just got married. Go home." Second of all, Warren's record speaks for himself. He makes great games. If someone came up to me and said, "Warren Spector's working on a game, wanna work on it?" In a second.

The interview gives you some nice insight of Jay Franke himself as well. What are you waiting for? Go read the whole interview already.

It seems someone named Tolstiy interviewed Warren on the preproduction of games. Since nothing is firm on either T III or DX2, he doesn't go into details. But still the short article is very nice reading if you have a deeper interest in game development and how it works. (the short answer is gutfeeling)

Have a look at http://www.tolstiy.ag.ru/what/spector.htm for the full interview. Though not much tangible news on DX2, Mr Spector says "I'm just itching to turn Harvey and the DX2 team loose. We'll start talking soon enough!" and refers to talking about DX2 only with Tolstiy.

You can get the interview at this link right here.

The promised update is on its way to being finished. Due to the many problems in launching the Co-Op website we have been unable to update everything fully.

Convergence Updates:

- Map List has been extended
- Partial Weapons list has been posted
- NEW song has been added to our MUSIC section.
- Credits have been updated with our new team members.

Co-Op Project Updates:

- The Co-Op project is on it's way to being finished. Sorry for the abnoxious Coming Soon! logo

If you're asking yourself, "What do we care about EIDOS", you'd better educate yourself, because they're the publisher of the upcoming Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 from ISA.

Money continued, "We've made changes to the game for the Playstation 2 however; one of the major additions has been our character art. We have remodelled all of the characters within the world to higher polygon versions. We are now using a skeletal animation system with all the character data gathered from an extensive motion capture session. Characters now look and move in a more natural fashion. This makes the world feel much more alive and real."

Keep those eyes open for the full interview later on this week.

BackDoor's Ramblings: Catching Up...With Yourself

So, naturally, with the lack of information available to the public at this time (there's not even a screenshot out yet!), a release date isn't even being considered. However, rest assured that the game is being worked on, and we shall get our fix of Deus Ex in the future. And despite the fact that the game is being developed with consoles in mind, Ion knows that Deus Ex is a hot property, and I'd be surprised to see them let it slip. We do have quite a wait on our hands, though, so don't plan on getting rid of Deus Ex multiplayer anytime soon.

If you'd like to give the developers of DX 2 some input of what you'd like to see in the sequel, then visit the Deus Ex 2: Ideas and Concepts forums over on the TTLG Network of Deus Ex Forums. Heck, you might as well, join the TTLG family and visit all of the TTLG Forums.