Ever want to just get away from it all? Christopher Rush provides us with a beautiful piece of concept art depicting a great place for a weekend getaway. The big question is, is it really as nice as it seems? Could this island be the home of something terribly powerful or an ancient race long lost? Ah... many questions.

I'll let ya'll ponder that while you take a look at Christopher's latest work in the World Artwork section of the site!

When do you expect to go live?

Hopefully very soon. I think it’s reasonable to expect a release within the next 3 months, possibly sooner.

Are you looking at any options for publishing?

We are currently in talks with publishers and we are weighing our options carefully. Several well-known publishers have expressed their interest in Jumpgate and we are awaiting their decisions.

You can read all about the interview here.

It isn't hard to spot the most notable change in UO: Third Dawn. Every scrap of 2D animation has been tossed out the window in favor of fully 3D polygonal character and monster art. This has two distinct benefits, aside from making the game more technically savvy, of course. The first is that it allows for much smoother and more varied animation. The original UO suffered from choppy animation even when the game was not lagging, but the motion-captured movements of the new player models is a major step forward. In the beta, several movements are a bit wacky and unfinished--the bizarre swimming motion that results from casting some spells, for example--but most look remarkably good. The movements of most monsters are also much improved as a result of the 3D changeover.

You can catch the full preview here.

In addition to the look and feel, a new land has been added -- Ilshenar, which is geared for more advanced players. The monsters that inhabit the area are typically powerful and in groups, and there are no guards and very limited settlements. Lone characters can quickly be overwhelmed in the densely populated areas and with no ability to gate or recall from a fight, it's either win or outrun the enemy. Even advanced parties are in jeopardy, as elder land wyrms and demons roam around accompanied by other nasty denizens. And let's not forget the gazer town, or the fallen city that holds "The Lord of the Abyss" and more nasties than can easily be counted. As an added bonus to people concerned with aesthetics, there will be no new housing on Ilshenar. There will be new monsters, armor and weapons, though, throughout all of the game, not just in Ilshenar. There won't, however, be changes in terms of gameplay; this will be the same UO as that being played right now.

You can read the whole preview here.

"'The Big Three' starts today!

Yes, we're sponsoring "The Big Three" contest. In anticipation of Fallen Age's smash Beta release, we thought we'd let you play along with us until April when beta begins. We will announce a different contest each week during the month of March building toward beta beginning on April.

Get your cameras ready... the first of the big 3 is a photo contest. The winner will be the gamer who best portrays "Fallen Age" in a photograph (an example: Spell out the name Fallen Age in bottle caps on the beach and photograph it).

The winning photograph wins a 64 MB GeForce2 video card, and a guaranteed spot in Beta!

Yes, you will not only have the satisfaction of producing a great Fallen Age photo but we will give you a prize. Entries must be in our hands on or before March 5th, 2001. We will announce the winner on March 6th and unveil part two of "The Big Three!"

Send your entries to Savant@fallenage.com."

3. How did you come to the Virtual City Project?

Connections. I happened to get in contact with Crusher and his brother some time ago via email. His brother answered one of my usenet entries (in which i "complained" that i hadn´t found a dumbhead (free translated) to pay me for my Hobby 3D programming), and said that Reakktor would be looking for people. I applied, and drove over to Hannover right away to have a look at them. They all were congenially and I simply refused to leave. A month later they actually paid me for my attendance, which made the whole thing even better.