After a nice vacation for me, it's time for you guys and girls to read Ask Fragland nr.4., although there weren't a lot questions for me to answer this time.
Three questions, about Locomotion, RPG's on the Xbox, and Call of Duty (and yes, when you hear CoD you can expect Speed giving a visit).

Just mail all you questions for Ask Fragland nr.5 to askfragland @ fragland . net, and we'll (try to) answer'em for you. You can send the questions untill Monday 16th August 2004 at midnight. Anyway, here's Ask Fragland nr.4, enjoy it!


< - - - - - >


Rian:
Sid Meier's Locomotion will be like a successor to TTDX (Transport Tycoon DX). You can't find a lot of information on the game though. Can you take care of a bit more information?

Fragland:
Luckily, my parents gave me some nice brains when I was born, and I instantly saw that Sid Meier's Locomotion doesn't exist. You're mixing Sid Meier's Pirates! with Chris Sawyer's Locomotion, but I guess you want to hear information about the latter.
After the succes of Transport Tycoon, Chris Sawyer wanted to make an even better successor, but he got disturbed because of the development of all the Roller Coaster Tycoons (RCT 1 + expansion packs, RCT 2 + expansion packs). When he finished those he decided to start working on the development of Locomotion again, and he's still doing that right now. He also helps a hand with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. In CS's Locomotion, he promises better graphics of course, an easier gameplay, and lots and lots of new things to do. In an interview he also said that he's happy with the new technology, because now he can insert bridges, tunnels, hills and stuff, in stead of some rails on a flat surface.

- - - - -

Stijn:
Why is it that Microsoft waited such a long time to release a typical console RPG for the Xbox? (I'm referring to Sudeki). We only had the typical PC RPG's for the past three years. Why would they leave out such a popular genre for such a long time when the Final Fantasy games smash all records on the PlayStation?

Fragland:
Since Microsoft is a company from the west, and almost all the games coming to the Xbox are more developed for the west, the Xbox isn't very succesful in Japan (although they do try to gain market). Few Asian developers are interested in developing in the console. The typical RPG's you're referring to are Japanese, and that's why you don't often see them on the American console.

Still, there are more en more Japanese developers who try out the Xbox, so you'll probably see more Japanese RPG's coming to that console in the future as Microsoft is working hard to get better support in that region.

- - - - -

Ragnarok:
Will there be a demo of CoD: UO? And what's the releasedate for now? I've read 14th September and mid-September, but on the official site, it's just 'Fall'.

Fragland:
I can't let anyone else than Speed, our Call of-Duty freak answer this one:

I've just checked the latest release list from Activision (dated 6th of August) and the official release date for Call of Duty: United Offensive is 24th of September for the Benelux. 14th September was an earlier given date which has been delayed with 10 days.

A demo will probably not be released because of the fact that this isn't a stand-alonge game but an expansion on the original. To be sure we checked all the CoD: UO info there is, but we couldn't find even the smallest hint about a demo.

In other news: