But as far as specific graphic cards are concerned, I have no doubt that Sierra will use only Direct 3D for the game. They are very pro-Microsoft, so I would expect the game to work on any card that supports D3D, not just the two you "mentioned".

I doubt there will be any native versions of the game, since the D3D API should handle it all.

French being my primary langage (en fait, je viens du Quebec), I thought it was weird choices of words ( "ca" being a ugly word in french) and that "seignes" would not take an "s". So I was discarding the France speculation.... I was thinking more of Spain or Italia (the house and the music of the trailer bring those country on my mind).

Until I examined the trailer of GK3. Looking frame by frame, i'm almost positive that the word on the train station end by "gare". In french "gare" means "train station" so it would be a incredible coincidence, wouldn't it?

Furthermore, France would fit well. There's the story of a dethroned prince... Another hint we all have is that the rural town is real and the home of a great mystery (in real life). Jane, in her interview say she saw this mystery on the newspaper and read a book about it.... so it's a well known mystery!

Unfortunately, I can't guess what town or mystery it is... perhaps if you ask to all your visitor to enumerate the town with mystery they know of France (or Europe, I could be wrong about the gare), we could recognize one of the city for being the good one (before Sierra tell us hehe).

Hmm, easy suggestion, harder to think of a city... the only one coming to my mind is Fatima, the city where the Virgin Mother appeared regularly for quite a while... (but i think this is a very bad guess)."

• Home Page (After you click through the initial animated GIF's, you will be presented with a page detailing quite a bit of how GK3 will start).

• Features (Explains what kind of things to look for in the new GK title).

• Progress (A GK news page)

• Images (Download conceptual art, and AVI clips)

• Tech Specs (Minimum requirements to actually run GK3)

• Goodies (More stuff to download)

• Characters (those encountered in the game)

• Links (Those related to the game, and those created by fans)

• Meet the Team (People involved with the development of the game).

• Join the Club! (Register yourself on an email list to receive privileged information!).

"Just the facts m'am, Just the facts..."

• The title of the game will be "Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the damned".

• The release date is currently expected to be "Summer 1998".

• It will be set in a rural village in Europe, based upon an actual place.

• No casting decisions have been made yet, though Dean will definitely be an option if he is available.

• The game will begin with Gabriel being invited to the home of a "Prince", who is a descendent of a noble family. It turns out that the Prince invited Gabriel, so that he may protect his newborn son from some form, or manifestation, of a family curse.

  Unfortunately, the boy is kidnapped, and despite Gabriel giving pursuit to a nearby village, he loses all track of them.

  Grace soon joins Gabriel, and investigates the mystery that surrounds the village that they are both in.

  From here on in the game begins proper, with Gabriel and Grace having to interact with many people, both local and visiting tourists, including Mosely!

• The game will be more "localised" into a few highly detailed and atmospheric environments, rather than spanning many countries (such as just to pick up a water lily... )

• The game environment will contain characters who move around the gaming environment, all doing their own things. This type of environment can be seen (to some extent) in "Toon Struck", and "Sentient" by Psygnosis. Unfortunately, the latter is rendered almost unplayable and horrendously difficult due to the number of time-critical puzzles that seem to infest the game. Hopefully, GK3 won't suffer from this.

• The game "camera" can be moved in both the actual game playing sequences, and the story scenes. Previously, only "static" cameras have been allowed in action/adventure games (such as "System Shock" by Origin, "Alone in the Dark", and "City of Lost Children").

• The game point of view will be seen as both 1st and third person perspectives.

• There will be large cinematic sequences in the game, especially nearer the end of GK3 (as in GK2), involving the new 3D engine.

• "G-Engine", the game engine that has been built specifically for GK3, is a custom-built 3D modeller. It promises highly detailed and intricate locations, smooth animation, the ability to create realistic characters to interact with during the game, and support for the major 3D hardware cards on the market today (most likely Rendition and Voodoo based chipsets). For machines without these cards, details can be scaled down so as to be playable, albeit without all the graphical frippery (now there's a word I don't use everyday!). This engine is being developed by Jim Napier, who has been working at Sierra for the past 8 months.

• The game environment will allow full 3D exploration and access, similar to that experienced in "Under a Killing Moon" and "The Pandora Directive", both created by Access.

• Robert Holmes will be doing the music (Yay!). A small snippet can be heard when you download the GK3 trailers available on the official Sierra GK3 web site.

• GK3 will be very different from GK2!

"Just one more thing..."

• The outdoor scenery colours are very unusual, especially for a rural village in Europe! I immediately likened the scenery to "Outlaws" by Lucasarts, thinking that the scene was something meant more for South America. Unless its some kind of "evil, dark, forbidding" type effect.

• Since it is set in Europe, has Gabriel now settled in Schloss Ritter permanently? And is that another bike he has bought, or the same one flown over?

• The conceptual art is absolutely stunning! How well it is able to be translated in the "G-Engine" remains to be seen. However, the Emilio AVI rendered video clip looks very promising. I would only expect this high level of detail with machines equipped with either Rendition or Voodoo acceleration chipsets.

• Mosely has had some time to get himself in shape, as he looks VERY different in the conceptual art sketch! Wearing sports apparel, brandishing an automatic, this maybe something to expect during the game...

• Will the environment also model weather and time (day and night)? One of the items that may eventually be in your possession, will be a night site. This can be seen in the conceptual drawings. Note that this is marked as an "early" concept drawing, so anything could still happen!

• As an owner of a Righteous 3D card, I have already mentioned how these types of 3D accelerator cards can greatly enhance the atmosphere of a game. By the look of the lobby, hotel, and village screenshots, its all starting to look very sexy indeed. For those who have been able to view the high-bandwidth video clip on Sierra's site, and who don't own a video accelerator, that sequence was (in all likelihood) generated in real time. The hardware accelerators really are that good...

• All this technical wizardry and genius will have a price. In my opinion, the minimum specification that a PC will need to play GK3 will be as follows:

  * Windows 95                                     
  * 16mb Memory                                    
  * Pentium 133                                    
  * 1mb video card, capable of 640x480x8 bit colour
  * 70-100mb disk space, excluding save game files 
  * CD Rom                                         
  * Sound Card                                     
  * Mouse                                          
  

  But hold on! I would imagine that this spec would require the user to make considerable sacrifices in the game to play at an acceptable speed. Using less/smaller/no texture mapping, fewer simultaneous sound channels, simple polygon objects with which to draw principle characters, and other items such as the inventory and scenery.

  Let's now predict what the recommended specification might be:

  * Windows 95                                     
  * 32mb Memory                                    
  * Pentium 166                                    
  * 1mb video card, capable of 640x480x16bit colour
  * Additional 3D hardware accelerator             
  * 70-100mb disk space, excluding save game files 
  * CD Rom                                         
  * Sound Card                                     
  * Mouse                                          
  

  Time will tell how far off, (or near the mark), I am with these...

Hi. I am here to inform all Gabriel Knight fans that I am trying to come up with a list of e-mail addresses to send to Computer Gaming World so that they will put GK1 in the Hall of Fame. The first was a truly breakthrough game and MUST be included in the Hall of fame at all costs.

It's been nearly four years since GK1 came out. Since then, the Co-Winner of Best Adventure game of the Year in CGW for 1993 was Day of the Tentacle (along with GK1). DOTT is in the Hall of Fame. GK1 isn't. Even Wing Commander 3, out a year later than GK1, went into the Hall of Fame. Surely this shows CGW has no intention of putting GK1 in the Hall of Fame. Yes, GK2 will 99% sure be in it, but GK1 deserved it more, being the start of a legendary character.

Please, put this up on your webpage and inform as many people as possible about this. Please send all e-mail addresses of anyone interested in this petition to natomate@ibm.net.

GK fans unite!

Raymond Pat