Q-and-A posts

With the release of Splinter Cell Conviction just weeks away (we hope), developers at Ubisoft Montreal have taken the time to answer some of the submitted fan questions. It's clear that Conviction won't feature the same Sam Fisher fans have come to know, but how extensive are the game changes? The developers provide some enlightenment, but the most important revelation is that a playable demo is in the works. However, there's no word on when that demo will release, what maps it will cover, and whether or not it will be exclusive to consoles. Players can find out how stealth is reinvented for themselves when the game releases on April 13th.

Download HD Splinter Cell Conviction Q&A, Part 1 (36 MB)
Check out all Splinter Cell Conviction downloads

The folks over at GSC Gameworld are hard at work polishing up their newest game, Clear Sky, for release on August 29th. Thankfully, though, the have had some time to answer some questions over at PC Igre about the new entry in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise. They talk about things such as the new DX10 visuals that were shown off in the trailer as well as a wide array of new features.

New things in the game include the often-mentioned ability to choose a faction and assist them in the inter-factional wars, modifying weapons to increase various attributes like clip size or accuracy, using a detector to navigate through dangerous fields full of anomalies, and improvements to the AI routines to make them seem more realistic. Check out the full interview over at PC Igre.

Continuing their long line of Q&A sessions, the developers over at Blizzard have revealed some more information concerning the map-making and modding capabilities of the Starcraft 2 editor. Before answering the questions, they came right out and said "anything you can do in Warcraft 3's editor, you can do in Starcraft 2's editor". With that disclaimer, let's take a look at all the new features!

• You can blend attributes of races, such as making Terrans regenerate or Zerg have shields
• Custom races will be able to be loaded in melee as long as the mod that runs them is currently on. In other words, you will no longer have to join a team or choose at the start of the round through an in-game selection to obtain a custom race in a map. You can do it in the lobby!
• Elements from third-party editors will be added to the official editor
• Custom data files will be completely supported
• All database files will be completely available for modders and map-makers to utilize

This is some awesome stuff, especially since Warcraft 3 has a such a large modding community. Check out the Q&A on the official forums.

If you're the kind of person whose rampant enthusiasm for Starcraft knows no bounds, take heed! Blizzard has released another in their long line of Starcraft 2 Q&A sessions, this one being the 36th entry in the sessions. It covers some interesting questions and shows a new screenshot showing the new size of the Banelings as they swarm another Zerg player's base.

There's not much more than that. Out of the answers, the discussion of how a nuke works against certain targets is pretty interesting, as well as how the Overlord upgrades into an Overseer. Give it a look on the battle.net forums.