New Ladders 31 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
CG League are looking for staffers for their new Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon Ladders. Contact them if you fancy the challenge.

With the clever "you settle the score, we keep it" tagline, XL2002 are getting under way, sporting ladders for both Ghost Recon and Rogue Spear : Black Thorn. Black Thorn is (as if you didn't know) the latest instalment in the Rainbow Six series, and goes on sale tomorrow. If you hunger for some challenging missions before Ghost Recon is released, you can take Team Rainbow on one last tour.

New Images 31 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Games Domain have played a Ghost Recon preview version - and report it is "one of the hardest games". Read the one page report here, and scan the ten new screenshots here.

New Movie "Covering Fire" 30 Oct. 2001 | InfraRed
Belgian site GameShrimp has a terrific new Ghost Recon movie that lasts over 8 minutes, and contains heaps of ingame footage. It is a large 33Mb zipped download however, so dial-up users prepare for a long download. We will try and compress the file and bring you a more 56K friendly version as soon as we can!

Although the commentary is not in English, the two play-testers frequently break into English, which often is funny stuff. That's what is great about this movie, even though you may not understand all these guys are saying, they are obviously having a great time of it, which is a refreshing change from the sometimes serious face of the seasoned Red Storm fanbase! Check it out, leave the volume up, and see why I call this movie "Covering Fire" - enjoy!

New Wallpaper 30 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
SOTO Reco's Ghost Recon Wallpaper is the latest addition to our growing selection, you can view it here.

Screens and Weapons 29 Oct. 2001 | Blues News
German site PC Games Portal has 3 new images worth checking out, while GameSpy have a quick look at some weapons, and Gamespot look at the gamers next gen weapon!

TCZ Ladder Updates 28 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
The Combat Zone are working on brand new automated system and hope to have it ready for the launch of Ghost Recon. Read about their plans, and check the Ghost Recon sign-ups here.

Exclusive Images 27 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Three GR.net exclusive images have been added to our Gallery, the second two are part of an action sequence, ouch.

GR Media File 2 27 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
The latest three movies released by Ubi Soft are great, but not so great if you are on a dial-up connection as they are hefty downloads. Enter Xian Saint, the saviour of slow connections, who has turned all three videos into one 16Mb download! Grab it at File Retreat.

Dedicated Servers 27 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Diana Stelmack of RSE has provided more details on how Dedicated Servers will work with Ghost Recon. You can read it, and the ensuing cries for Linux support, at the GhostRecon.com forums.

Quick Hits 26 Oct. 2001 | Rocky

• New Screenshots at C&VG
• Gone Gold
• WinAmp GR skin

Multiplayer Hands-on 26 Oct. 2001 | Nash
IGN have an new GR report up today, this time the focus is on Multiplayer. Different modes such as Last Man Standing, Deathmatch and Hamburger Hill are all discussed.

GR Calendar 26 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
SOTO Mac has started our brand new Calendar download section with November, December and January. Feel free to download and print, or use as a desktop wallpaper!

Dev.Chat 25 Oct. 2001 | Dirk Pitt | XTS Highlander
Thanks to Platoon we can see what went on when Ubi Soft organised a developers chat on mIRC, check it out! At the tail end of the chat comments were made again about the awesome sound...

"The sound is absolutely incredible. The "bullets-whizzing-over-head" sounds has seriously caused people to duck when they use headphones. Your soundcard might need an upgrade to experience GR's sound to it's fullest. The sound is the coolest part of the game."

Soundcard upgrade - check!

Updates 25 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Plenty of news today-

• New Weapons section at GhostRecon.com
• Developer Chat 2pm PST, 10pm GMT, ask a question
• Ripped GR.com, see it to believe it
• Gamespot Specialists Part 2 (part 1 here)
• Squad Links - register your GR clan now.

More Movies 24 Oct. 2001 | Pie's Tactics
Two cracking new Ghost Recon movies have appeared over at Gameshrimp . It is a Belgium games site, but it contains a surprising mix of English, take this quote for example

"Spank my ass and call me Baboon Boy! Hier zetten wij al de coolste moviekes "

I guess that means they are quite happy with the new movies. Anyway, check out the Vehicles movie and the Characters movie, although be warned - they are both well over 30Mb. Did I mention these were cracking movies?

More Screens 24 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Five new screenshots today at gr.com, and a few neat concept art images.

Specialists 24 Oct. 2001 | Torroella
Gamespot have updated their great Ghost Recon preview pages with new information and images, including the Specialists!

Gold 23 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Just received news from Ubi Soft that Ghost Recon is Gold! Here is the media alert :

TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON™ GOES GOLD

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 23 2001: Ubi Soft Entertainment is delighted to announce that the title Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon has reached Gold Master Status.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon has been developed by Red Storm Entertainment, the studio behind the multi-award winning 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six' franchise.

Set in the year 2008, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is a squad based tactical combat game that follows the exploits of a fictional US Special Forces team.Russia has fallen under the control of ultra-nationalistic leaders intent on rebuilding the Iron Curtain. This leads to conflict with NATO as Russia attempts to reclaim the breakaway republic of Georgia, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As the war escalates, casualties mount, hostages are taken and the Ghosts are sent in.

The player takes command of the Ghosts through a series of missions that range from demolitions, to search and rescue, to all-out firefights for survival.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon ships on PC CD ROM on November 13th 2001. MSRP $49.99

Does that give you butterflys or what?!

Good, Mad and Serious 23 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
There are seven Ghost Recon clans on our links page now, and they come in different shapes and sizes. From the totally mad XTS and Master Clan to the slightly more serious SOTO and M2 . Renegade are the latest edition, miffed that they won't get to use their 45Mb T3 Linux servers, but still looking forward to Ghost recon big time! So there are plenty to choose from for any Ghost Recon "Ronan" looking for a new home!

GR FAQ 23 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Ubi Soft have updated the official FAQ, which now has some interesting details! Voice communication, dedicated servers claymores, and more - check it out.

Mag Ads 22 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Ubi Soft have started advertising Ghost Recon in magazines, you can take a look at the news post dated Oct 2st at GR-R which has 3 scans.

Special Forces 21 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
As revealed at the beginning of the month, The Ghosts insignia designation is valid one within the US Army. The 5th SFG [Airborne] is pretty much the most decorated US Army Special Forces unit. SOTO Mac has prepared a 13 section special report on The 5th SFG including background info, crest, pathces and Green Beret information.

Gamigo Screens 21 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Delta has located a nice collection of Ghost Recon screenshots at busy German games site Gamigo.de, where they have archived 48 screenshots. You can see this weeks cool additions here.

Specialists Revealed 19 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
GhostRecon.nl has launched with a storming report on the Specialists. Problem is, its all in Dutch. Not to worry, I already have it translated and am preparing a report right now - stay tuned!

Ghost Recon Demo 19 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Nice work and a chance meeting caught by Munkey over at The Platoon reveals that a Ghost Recon Demo is on the cards for November the 7th. This apparently came from a Ubi Soft source who also confirmed the mission editor will ship with the game.

After a little investigation I can confirm the mission editor is called Igor, and is very cool tool. Red Storm have put a lot of work into it, gamers are going to love it!

GR Game Lobby! 18 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Ubi Soft have already started preparation from Ghost Recon game rooms. At the moment the only room operational is for IL-2 Sturmovik, but there are rooms set aside for Ghost Recon as well as Rogue Spear and Covert Operations.

Edit. I just noticed that the guys at Platoon have also been checking Ubi Soft's Gaming Zone out, and they found a registration page too - sign up now!

Official FAQ 18 Oct. 2001 | Jester
Ubi Soft have posted the Official Ghost Recon FAQ, although it is a little disappointing right now, they are planning on building up over the coming weeks. Stretching to 11 questions, the only new information reveals that there will be no armpatches (boo), and a curious mention of "Igor" in relation to modding, but Ubi Soft will not be drawn into revealing who or what Igor is just yet! If you have any ideas share them in our forum. Remember to check our own FAQ which has additonal information, including the Euro launch date.

Official Sites 18 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
I had noticed that Ubi Soft have been rolling out official sites around the world, but the French Ghost Recon site has been the first to mail us directly. Their community manager tells me they have some exclusive content coming very soon including screenshots - and a movie! Make a note to visit them tomorrow for the in-game movie.

Exclusive Error 18 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Thanks to Eurogamer mailing us with a correction to our news post of 17th October regarding an exclusive Ghost Recon X-Box deal. It seems Gamespot reported this incorrectly, and Ubi Soft were quick to put the record straight.

A brief statement from UbiSoft reveals that "there is no exclusivity partnership between Ubi Soft and Microsoft for Ghost Recon on the Xbox, therefore Ghost Recon may be developed on some other systems in the future".

Thanks Eurogamer!

GR Media File 117 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Xian Saint has produced a cool 8 minute compliation movie for Ghost Recon. 3DRetreat have been good enough to host this 28Mb file that contains 5 movies and over 100 screenshots. Streamed together with a superb soundtrack taken from Rogue Spear remixes by Bill Brown, this movie sets the scene for the games release next month!

Ghost Recon Toolkit 17 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Anyone who has played Rogue Spear online should be familiar with the great RS2000 toolkit. Amongst other things it offers a quick launch straight into multiplayer Rainbow Six series games. Now Snicker at Rogue Spear Retreat is looking for Beta Testers for a Ghost Recon version, read all about it here.

Ghost Recon Preview Nov 1st 17 Oct. 2001 | Jester
Ubi Soft have announced that Rogue Spear : Black Thorn is set for a 1st November release, and included in the box is a Ghost Recon disk!

"Rogue Spear Black Thorn will also contain an additional bonus CD 'The Making of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon' which will give consumers an exclusive behind the scenes look at one of the most anticipated PC games of 2001 - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. The CD features development interviews, gameplay videos, design art and gameplay tips from the team."

Ghost Recon is due out on the 13th of November, so if you can't wait grab Black Thorn and get a sneak peek!

X-Box Update 17 Oct. 2001 | Caligari updated
Gamespot have news from X01 Europe, the event primed to kick start the huge Xbox bandwagon in Europe. Ubi Soft announced at X01 that Ghost Recon is to be a console-exclusive for the Xbox. This was incorrectly reported at Gamespot - there is no exclusive Microsoft/Ubi Soft deal.

Ladder Update 14 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Some news on the Ghost Recon Ladder scene. UGC have just been named by Gamespy as their main ladder, which will allow them to organise Special Events at Gamespy. 25 teams have already signed up with UGC, and at The Rumble they also have 25 teams raing to go! Meanwhile the latest news from The Combat Zone is they have a new design and automated scoring, and 30 team sign-ups.

Rumble 13 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Boomslang at The Rumble dropped me a line to remind me about a new Preview over at CG Online. If you haven't read any other previews it does go into some detail, and has a few nice images. Boomslang also mentioned that The Rumble already has 24 Ghost Recon clans signed up! you can find a list of Ladder sites here.

Weapons Update 12 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Thanks to a reminder from Leon I dug out SOTO Mac's report on the L96A1 Sniper Rifle and added it to the Arms section.

Release Date... 12 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
GhostRecon.com have just confirmed that the USA release date in our FAQ of 13th November, is correct. They have also added two new shots to their gallery - they keep getting better and better!

Non-English Sites 11 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
News of another non-english Ghost Recon website arrived today, although this one is a little different. GhostRecon.at intend to run both a German and English version. You can find more Ghost Recon fan sites on our Links Page.

Amazon Pre-Orders 10 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
I got mail today from Amazon explaining that Ghost Recon Pre-orders would be met on a first come first served basis. Boxes ship on the day of launch, although I have heard of games arriving on launch dates before! You can order from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Gamespot Update 10 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
An updated Ghost Recon preview is over at Gamespot with some great all-new images! Thanks for the heads-up Delta!

GR.com Updates 10 Oct. 2001 |
Xian Saint noticed that there are 2 brand new, official wallpapers and a new Web Kit over at GhostRecon.com. The new Web Kit weighs in at almost 8Mb and contains a large green reticlue logo and 4 screenshot bitmaps in hi-resolution.

Still at gr.com, this time in the forums I noticed old-time RS modder Mother.may.i pointing out this rather awesome screenshot. From the same collection this is a good shot of the on screen information, and this may hint at armpatches.

Dedicated Servers 8 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
What a day - what other website gives you five news updates in one day! Anyway back to business, thanks to some great work from - Thumper, one of our forum regulars we can at last confirm there will be dedicated server support in Ghost Recon! This from Ubi Soft's Director of Online Gaming and Content -

"There will be dedicated server support!"

It's been a long time coming but at last the speculation is at an end!

Sounds Great 8 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Ubi Soft have just about flooded the community with screenshots over the past few weeks, but what about the sounds? Are the gorgeous visuals going to be complimented by top notch sound effects? You'd better believe it! Jeffrey Wesevich is weaving the Audio magic for Ghost Recon, and it is sounding awesome.

"Guns, bullet hits, footsteps, crawling, explosions, tanks, shell brass bounces .... "

Bullet hits? Sounds gruesome, but cool!

"rivers, streams, waterfalls, wind of nine various flavors, gusts, trees creaking in the wind, rainfall falling against all sorts of things, swamp things, frogs, crickets ..."

Swamp things? Nothing an OICW can't handle I trust!

"russians chat, cough, hum, interrogate, mutter and whistle. In any case, you'll surely hear them taunt, curse ..."

Ah, but will they still "Ubigai!, ubigai!"?

Roll on next month, I can't wait to see and hear Ghost Recon!

Euro Release Date 8 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Ubi Soft UK have been in touch with me today with the official release date for Ghost Recon in the UK. Mark your calendars for the first Friday of the last month in year - December the 7th 2001. The USA/Canada release date is still the 14th of November as far as we know.

Attention 8 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Here's something for those of you with short attention spans, or simply not enough time to sift through the brilliant designer diaries at Ghost Recon.com. Here are my favourite quotes from the Ghost Recon design team!

John Sonedecker

"The character guys have been working hard on a kick !@#$% Sniper character and I have matched up his rifle to the ..............gasp......Ghillie suit! It is INCREDIBLE" Read more ...

Jeff Wesevich

""That's ok..." Read more...

Greg Stelmack

"Oh, bug hunting we will go
Bug hunting we will go
Hi-ho the derry-o
Bug hunting we will go"
Read more (note - allow an hour)

Weapons List 7 Oct. 2001 | Rocky
Pie's Tactics have a list of Ghost Recon weaponry thanks to a new article in Computer Gaming World. We already have reports up on 8 of these weapons, and the others are in draft form ready for publishing during the coming week!

• M136 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher
• MP5 Submachine Gun
• M24 Sniper Rifle
• SVD (Dragunov) Sniper Rifle
• L96A1 Assault Rifle
• M82A1 Assault Rifle
• M16A2 Assault Rifle
• M16/M203 Assault Rifle
• OICW Assault Rifle
• M4 Carbine
• SA-80 Carbine
• RPK74 Light Machine Gun
• M249 SAW Light Machine Gun
• MG3 Light Machine Gun
• M9 Pistol / silenced

An interesting point is the inclusion of the silenced M9 Pistol; earlier this year when Red Storm held a focus group there were no silenced weapons at all!

Check out our Arms section for full weapon coverage as more details emerge.