News Archive: February 2000
[2:21 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
There's an interview with Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software up on Gamecenter, talking about the upcoming Dreamcast port of Half-Life. Since the news is so damn slow today, here's a juice: What kind of graphical bells and whistles can we expect?
The technology team doing the porting (Captivation) is planning lots of goodies. These include content upgrades (such as higher polygon models) and feature upgrades (such as special effects and lighting). The primary advantage of the Dreamcast is that it's a consistent platform, so the game will look as good as it possibly can without concern for low-end systems (there are no low-end systems!). This means that the Dreamcast version is likely going to be much more impressive than the PC version. You'll see for yourself in a few months or so when the game is ready for us to start showing more of it. [2:18 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks over at 3dfxgamers have released new beta 1.00.00 Windows 2000 drivers for boards based on the Voodoo2 chip. [22:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Q3Post version 1.23 is out, offering some new options - as well as the usual bug fixes. [22:14 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Epic Games has, as announced, released the Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack for download through Gamecenter. The free add-on pack features 3 new characters, 11 new deathmatch levels, as well as the Relics, some new power-up items in the game. I strongly recommend that you grab this tasty lil' bastard - both the Mac and PC version weighs in at a mere (it's a bonus pack, dammit!) 13.8 megs. [20:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Majesty-Dragon is reporting that Cyberlore's latest puppy, Majesty has gone gold - and it will show up in U.S. stores soon. [20:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Raven Software developer Brian Raffel's Soldier of Fortune Designer Diary over on GameSpot has been updated. Here's a snip: After we were deep into the story and had a lot of the base weapons implemented, we started to get the feeling we might need some direction from someone who really knew about warfare if we were going to make the game what we wanted it to be. I mean, none of us had fired an AK-47 or had been in the heat of battle or had been on any covert missions (minus Raven Software paintball outings). The larger questions were things like what sound does a bullet's impact make, and what types of weapons are practical in covert missions? We decided to go right to the source by contacting the people we were working with at Soldier of Fortune magazine to ask if they had any consultants. We've had many people e-mail us from the very beginning after the announcement of Soldier of Fortune who claimed to be real-world mercenaries or Navy seals who wanted to "help" us, but we didn't want to get stuck wasting our time with some wanna-be. Soldier of Fortune magazine quickly responded that they had the perfect consultant for us. His name was John Mullins. [20:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
We'll start the late day off with some Med Related goodness for your viewing pleasure: - QstatList (a pack with different game log analyzers for Unix) version 4.0 is out.
- Randomly.com has the new 1.0 release of Comm Center, a new real-time game communication program that "lets you play your favorite video games while using your microphone to talk with other people online". Thanks PlanetSmurf.
- QCheck, a neat plug-in for the mIRC chatting software that auto-posts a message when joining a game server through GameSpy, has been released in a new 1.50 version. New GUI and other new features in this release.
- Q3Comp Beta 2 has been released, offering new stuff like stats, clan arena, in addition to customizable command listings. Q3Comp is a Quake III Arena modification made by ]R[eactive Software - designed to provide anything a player or admin could want. Complete customization, player admin, match services, server configuration, stats reporting, and a whole lot more.
- New modified versions of id Software's Quake code has been released yesterday. There's ports for Warp, Amiga, and PowerUp of the classic Quake, as well as version 1.09 of GLQuake for Warp - and Quakeworld version 2.40 for the previously mentioned operating systems.
- The fine folks behind the The Caliber Mod for Quake III Arena has requested feedback related to their mod.
- The gang over at Fragstomp have released the source code for their Quake III Arena modifications; Bloodlust (makes the game far bloodier) and Release Be Gone (server side mod that makes some cool changes to the gameplay).
- A new version of the /\/\atchMod server-side modofication for Quake II is now available
- Assimilation 2 version 1.02 is out, fixing a bug in the previus release of this Q3A mod.
- Version 1.2 of the DooM Legacy Launcher is now available for snagging.
- Wolf's Unreal has a new freeware map utility for Unreal Tournament, named Ulight.
- Version Usk822300 of the Usk8 mod for Unreal Tournament is now available.
[23:00 CET by Insomnis - Post a Comment]
3dfx launched the Voodoo 4 and 5 graphics cards in Europe today. They should be at retail stores in Europe this spring. Read the 3dfx CeBIT press release right here, or read more about the Voodoo products in (almost) your own language @ 3dfx Europe. [22:54 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
It seems that Avault has scored some major Thief 2 news, directly from the publisher, Eidos. Appearently, Thief 2's feautures are now locked ("feauture freeze"), meaning that no other feautures will be added, and all that remains is bugfixes and some final polishing. Eidos is aiming for a 22 March release date! Check out the whole thing. [22:43 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
A demo of Skout, a new first-person shooter, has been released by German developers Soft Enterprises. The game feautures, among others: - 4th generation graphics engine: full 3d, mirrors and reflections, volumetric fog, dynamic colored lightsources, keyframe based interpolated object animation, ...
- 21 huge levels
- program controlled difficulty level
- supporting characters with AI
- enemies with good AI
- more than a dozen enemies with over 1,500 frames of animation each
- network game mode
In other words: go get (at 3DFiles)! [22:42 CET by Insomnis - Post a Comment]
Maybe you havn't tweaked the hell out of your system yet... Well then it's time you take a look @ this great TNT/GeForce tweak guide that the fine folks at 3D Spotlight has wipped up. It involves messing in the registry - but who doesn't like that, right...? [22:24 CET by Insomnis - Post a Comment]
Sierra Studios has released the International versions of the patch for their shoot-em-up action game, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle.
- United Kingdom
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish [19:40 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
CheckOut has a small, but interesting interview with Mucky Foot, the makers of Urban Chaos, where they, among other things, ask weather there is a sequel in the works: Any plans for Urban Chaos II, and more importantly, any details you can let slip out? Please? I'll be your best friend….
We're currently looking at doing the sequel, and all I can say is what greater challenge can D'Arci face after she saved the world from hell itself? Answers on a postcard to... [19:16 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
Patrick Deupree of Gearbox Software (makers of OpForce for Half-Life) updated his .plan, explaining more on his update yesterday (story), regarding dedicated servers in Opposing Force for Linux: One clarification on the WON verification in the dedicated server. Our game will work the same way that Half-Life works. A dedicated server doesn't require a WON ID. The support I have to add for WON is checking to ensure that the people connecting to the dedicated server have been verified through the WON service. So never fear, you can still play and run dedicated server at the same time [19:09 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
Voodoo Extreme has word of a new patch for Need for Speed - Hot Pursuit being released over at 3DFiles. It's supposed to fix issues concerning Voodoo Banshee compatibility problems, so, by all means, go get it! [13:13 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
My personal Preacherman sent word that The Slave Master team have released a beta version 0.9 of their Unreal Tournament modification, Slave Master. Since I really suck on descriptions - here's a round-up of the features: - Bots much less confused! Bots now make really good slaves!
- Cheater suppression! You can no longer commit suicide or log out and back in to avoid slavery.
- Looking at a slave reveals who owns it
- Cool clanging sound as you are made a slave
- Color-coded slave messages, so you know what to care about
- Inheritance weapons now come from the weapons available on the level - should work with any weapon mutator!
- A vast variety of end-game options (that actually work now).
- And a whole bunch of other stuff!
[12:44 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
There's a new version 1.3 of Map Viewer Pro available. New in this release of this nifty Quake1, Q3A, and UT map viewing utility is proper naming. [12:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Spotted over at SoFCenter that Raven Software's Rick Johnson made an update to his .plan file, announcing the version .57 patch for the Soldier of Fortune Demo. It weighs in just over a meg, and you may grab it from our local mirror right here. The list of fixes is pretty extensive, so I'm not going to paste it here (check Rick's .plan for that). [12:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Dynamix programmer Nels Bruckner updated his .plan file, with word that he is leaving Dynamix - after almost 12 years in the company. Here's the juice: Some of you may have noticed that I've been a little harder to get in touch with lately and have been a little less responsive to emails and the like. That's because I've been trying very hard to wrap up all the loose ends around here before I move on. Yep, that's right -- after almost 12 years here at Dynamix it is (past) time for me to look for a new set of challenges and see what life is really like out there. :) I'll be joining a small local startup... kinda like I did 11 1/2 years ago.
I think Dynamix has some extremely bright and talented people working for them and a whole slough of exciting projects (both in progress and soon to be started). It's hard to leave. In particular, it's gonna be really weird seeing Tribes 2 for the first time on the shelves! But, given my personal situation and my current opportunities, I feel this is the right move for me now.
Now, how am I going to fit all the "stuff" from my office into my car? ;) [12:22 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Tim Sweeney of Epic Games has made an update to the always busy Unreal Technology Page (a heavy tradiotion nowadays) - with frequently asked qestions related to the company, their games, and how be be a game developer. Along with decent answers, of course. [12:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
AVault has posted the updated demo of Rally Championship 2000, Magnetic Fields' racing game. New stuff is "Demo of Clocaenog and Wichester using the F2 car SEAT Ibiza or 4WD Mitsubishi Lancer". [12:16 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Volition has updated their official Summoner page, with updates to the screenshots and characters, as well as new devloper diaries and profiles - all somehow related to this upcoming 3D RGP. [1:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's some late night Mod Related stuff for 'ya: - DooM Legacy 1.29 pre-release 3 is now available for download sourceforge.net (along with the source code). This version adds dedicated server support (it's not yet finished, though) and fixes some previous bugs. Wallsplats are also included, but are still experimental. Word is that this version is particularly for testing, and this is the last public release before the final - so hurry up and submit your bug reports!
- Macintosh users would be delighted to hear that the Mac port of Roger Wilco has been released. Roger Wilco is one of the most popular real-time voice communication software for multiplayer games, so if you are running PowerMac System 7.1 or higher, you might give it a look (or should I say hear?) see. Saw that on Blue's.
- GameFan's Q&A Justin Chin is taking a look into the level design in his upcoming Unreal engine-powered action/RPG, New Legends.
- Version 1.6 of Q3aToolsGUI has been released, offering some small fixes and additions to this nifty map-compiler front end for Quake III Arena.
- Planet Soldier of Fortune has a brief Q&A with Raven's Keith Fuller on the scripting language in Soldier of Fortune.
[1:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
According to AVault, Interplay and Volition will re-launch their widely acclaimed Freespace 2 title, in a special new flavor called the Sim of the Year edition. Check this story for details. [1:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Patrick Deupree of Gearbox Software has made an update to his .plan file, with some saucy info on the poddibility of a Linux dedicated server for Opposing Force (the Half-Life add-on pack). Here's the sauce: A while back we talked about releasing a Linux dedicated server version of Half Life: Opposing Force. I wanted to post an update on how that's going. We've had the "port" done for quite a while now and it's been tested and works just great. The only problem is that, since we're a commercial add-on, we need to put WON net support into the Linux dedicated server. This is turning out to be a harder to deal with issue than I originally anticipated. Some changes to the WON libraries since we released Opposing Force, plus the basic differences between the Windows and Linux versions have been delaying the Linux dedicated server.
I'm still working on the Linux version when I can and I would like to get it released ASAP, but unfortunately I have to resolve these WON issues before I can get any farther. [1:25 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The latest editiorial over at ESCMag is entitled "Online Gaming: Future or Fad?" - discussing the future of online gaming. [1:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Hugh has let me know that Machinima has tossed up a bunch of new articles. First, they there's a new "Outside the Garage" article, talking with folks like Paul Steed on 3D movies in games. Then, they have posted the first installment of "Engine Coding for Machinima", as well as an editorial named "Veridian, Corporatism and Machinima". [21:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The final version of the playable demo of Fiendish Games' fast-paced puzzle game, Tower of the Ancients, may now be downloaded from FG's website, or by clicking right here (10.2MB direct link). [21:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The busy gang over at Jack Chaos have updated all 45 of their Ultima IX: Ascension guides - and you can take a look at 'em right here. [16:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GA-RPG has posted a brief interview with Todd Templeman of Logic Factory, talking about their upcoming role-playing adventure - which is delayed until Q3 2000 now. The little chat has the current development status of the title. [13:01 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Robert Duffy made a .plan update last night, announcing a quick Quake III Arena update, bringing the .exe file up to v116j. You can grab the new files (Win32, Linux and Mac) at id's FT Site, but as the .plan update says, there is no really big changes: -Zombie/Ghost unpure clients no longer remain connected.
-Recursive File System error corrected when running mods with logfile set to 1
-The Auto-download rate is controlled by 'sv_maxRate', specify this value in bytes per second. The maximum band rate caps out around 25K per second. [12:56 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The newly relocated Q3Log Homepage has a new version 0.96a of the Q3Log log file-analyzer and config file editor for Quake III Arena, offering some small bgfixes. Nothing less, nothing more. [12:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at Mod Central Unreal has released its new Mutator Database for Unreal Tournament, now with a total of 82 mutators. Word is that this database allows sorting by name, author, file size, rating, and date added - and there's descriptions of each, as well as a lot of screenshots. So if you want to p1mp some extra goos out of the game, check it out. [12:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As The Informative SourceTM we are, I have decided to p1mp the latest on the "engine war" between Epic and Monolith. And yup, we're talking about the Unreal Tournament vs. LithTech 2.0 engine here. To fresh things up, both of the developer companies have said things about the other in interviews posted the last days, here's a quote from the most recent one, RPOV's Q&A with Monolith's CEO Jason Hall (story): LithTech does this far better than the other technologies you mentioned. It's not even a close race. Every developer that we have licensed to has come to this conclusion. They look at the engine architecture, the API, the tools, etc., and there is no doubt in their mind that relative to our competition we meet and exceed the 2 golden reasons far better.
Some engine companies use the sales pitch logic of "Our game sold 1 million copies, so you should license our engine..." Those companies entirely miss the point. What their game sold is irrelevant to explaining how that helps the licensee develop product. Licensees have very specific needs, the top 2 needs are what I call the "Golden Reasons", and the "I sold a million copies" doesn't address anything. The real questions to ask are: Who is using your technology? How long is it taking them to ship their product using your technology? How long did it take YOU to make YOUR million selling game using YOUR technology? What is your support like? Were you able to meet your production schedules? Not every developer has an endless amount of money that they can pour into production, and these questions are key. Then, Epic's Code Lord, Tim Sweeny - decited to toss his thoughs on the subject up on The Unreal Technology page. The update is huge, so I'm just gonna quote a little tidbit: Jason's Claim: Competing with us at this point is going to be extremely expensive and most of our "competitors" aren't specifically focused on engine licensing.
Tim's Response: There are two sides to Epic's business: game development and licensing. It's just the same with Monolith; they have their game subsidiary and their licensing subsidiary. Jason is CEO of both divisions, correct, Jason? So if Monolith were to exit the game business to focus only on licensing, then Jason's claim of singular focus would be legitimate. But, as it is, it's just baseless posturing. We both make games and engines.
The primary difference isn't focus, it's that Epic has a successful track record of shipping products in both markets, while Monolith has a spotty record with their own LithTech games and no track record yet shipping licensed games.
Therefore, Jason claims that track record is unimportant. But, isn't that a ludicrous and untenable position? Let's try to pitch it: "trust us and license our huge, complex 100,000-line piece of software -- even though our lead programmer left, and the two projects we attempted with it yielded a dud and a sub-150K seller. And don't worry about track record; the fact that Unreal sold a million isn't any indication that their engine is more suitable for developing hit games". Finally, Jason Hall decided to make an update to his .plan file, stating that there's no engine war, and neither does he wish it was. Here's an exerpt from the extensive update: First of all, there is no "engine war." I certainly don't feel like I'm in some war, I feel like I'm just trying to answer interview questions as best as possible and as a separate task I'm trying to communicate information on LithTech and what we are doing with it. That's it. Nothing about this is personal. I have been very careful to pay attention to everything that I say (and I assure you that I can back up everything I say with regard to this topic), and I have kept everything I do in this regard completely above board. By that I mean, when it comes to a discussion about LithTech and its competitors, I only discuss 2 things, Technology and Service. [... snip ...]
Again I apologize to them, and more so to the gamers out there. I can certainly see from the outside as to what all this looks like. Our industry is more grown up than this, so I'm stepping out of this "engine war". I'm ashamed that people may associate me with all this crazy behavior - and further, I know that there is nothing that I can really do to stop the continuation of a company's slanderous remarks about me personally, but I hope that they can at least see that I'm not going to participate. UPDATE 21:21 - Jason Hall made yet another .plan update. Dig it: Some people have read my last .plan and understood that I was trying to say that I realized that things had gotten out of hand, and that I was apologetic for my participation in the events, and that going forward I will be more attentive to matters like this.
Others have read my .plan and feel that I'm trying to be "innocent" and that I'm acting like I'm "unjustly attacked." This is not so. To me, the coloring of my character may have been a bit much, but I certainly see justification for the healthy competition I've received back! All I am saying that I'm done participating, that there really is nothing left to say, and that this whole thing has run its course. [12:37 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
UnrealEngine.com has posted brief interviews with both Andrew Scheidecker and Gregory Wood - two of the folks that is working on UnrealtyED, the customized version of UnrealED for the Unrealty real estate visualization project. Thanks PlanetSmurf. [23:45 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Tim Gerritsen, Business Development Director of Human Head Studios, made an update to his .plan file, with his latest thoughts about... stuff - including some chatter on RUNE, this year's E3 expo, and free rush-made games. Here's a tasty tidbit: We will definitely be at E3 showing off the latest, greatest version of Rune. I'm not sure how the Gathering is doing the booth this year, but I think we're going to be in the Promised Lot again. If so, we'll be showing the game behind closed doors, but we're going to do our best to make it a playable demo since we'll be so close to shipping. If not, we'll just have lots of free drinks and show Super Duelling Mini-Vans. (In case you aren't sure, that last part IS a joke. I don't want to see all the sites posting that Human Head Studios will be showing Super Duelling Mini Vans at E3. I can see it now, by the end of the day it will be posted that this game will be using the Unreal 2 engine and feature an enhanced version of our Skeletal engine.) We are probably going to show a very early peek at the Blair Witch game we've just started as well. I'll release more details when we have more to share. [23:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
SoFCenter recived word from Raven Software code lord, Rock Johnson, regarding the release of the next patch for the demo version of Soldier of Fortune - and according to him, it should be out this week. I wondered about that, so that cleared things up. [23:37 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The mad gang over at Playspoon have released a new version 1.1 update, along with the source code, for the demo of Deranged Raid, their wicked little flight sim. Here's the What's New: - Increased r_speed
- Updated all models (watch for the cool new power plant)
- Fixed crash-bug
- Added Timesystem
- Reliable collision detection
- Day-Night Transition
- Particle priority
- Variable range-of-sight
- Music [23:34 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Hot on the heels of yesterday's version 0.99.0 release, comes a little patch for JHexen - fixing a crash bug, in addition to a font change. Alsong with the patch comes the game source code, which might be worth checking out if you are a mod author. Thanks VE . [19:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Voodoo Extreme has gotten their grubby hands on two new hi-res screenshots from FAKK2, showing off some great scenes from Ritual's upcoming action/adventure, based on the Quake III Arena engine. [19:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Eric Biessman of Raven Software has posted the 5th installment of his Soldier of Fortune designer's diary on SoFCenter, discussing fan sites, how the development progress is going, and all the ususal stuff. [19:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Eric Biessman of Raven Software has posted the 5th installment of his Soldier of Fortune designer's diary on SoFCenter, discussing fan sites, how the development progress is going, and all the ususal stuff. [16:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
According to AVault, Electronic Arts has decided to drop the 3D FPS, Splinter. Here's a taste from the news report:
The Adrenaline Vault has learned that game publisher Electronic Arts has dropped the 3D shooter, Splinter, from its product slate. Caz Derby, associate producer at Australian-based Stromlo Entertainment on the project, said the title is still in full development and “so close to beta, [they] can smell it.” However, Stromlo is in the process of shopping the project around for a new publisher. Splinter places gamers in the role of a pilot for a special ops response team in search of stolen micro technology. Armed with high tech weaponry, the gamer is miniaturized and must battle his or her way through a threatening world.
According to the developers, the offering will incorporate multiple weapons, a wide array of organic and man made enemies, and inventive level design. The story is set in present day Mississippi. An experiment in miniaturization has gone awry, resulting in the theft of a Micro Experimental Response Craft at the hand of a lead scientist. The military code word for a missing micro weapon is "Splinter," and the objective is to find it.
[15:14 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GA-Source has posted nine new in-game shots of Gamesquad's upcoming action/adventure title Devil Inside, as well as three in-development shots in 3D Studio Max and some comments from game designer Hubert Chardot. Kudos goes to The Smurfed site. Also, newly opened SoF Operations has posted some sweet Soldier of Fortune concept art. [15:08 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's the most interesting interviews of this early afternoon: [15:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I spotted over on PlanetSmurf that the folks over at Fists of Fury have released a new version 0.98 of their Fists of Fury modification for Quake III Arena, offering some new additions to the custum HUD, as well as new additions to this mod that allows you to put the guns down and flight like a true man... [15:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
There's a new version 1.4.2 of LxDoom, the Linux port of the Doom source code, out. Bug fixes and bug fixes. [12:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
CheckOut has slapped up their How to Make Custom Skins for Unreal Tournament tutorial, which - as you probably figured out yourself - will help you getting started with some sweet UT Skinning. [12:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
id Software's Robert Duffy has made a pretty lenghty update to his .plan file, with a little something on mod support in the latest Quake III Arena point release. Here's an exerpt from the start: There was a lot of new functionality added in the latest point release, primarily centered around mod development support. We are still sifting through all the feedback e-mail but here are some problems and solutions based on what we have found so far.
1. If you are are not seeing the new "Mods" menu, it is likely that you are running something that replaces the UI. ArenaSpy and several other mods have their own UI DLL's or QVM's so you will not be able to see the point release UI. This can be remedied by removing any extra UI mods. This can also cause a problem with auto-download in that if you connect to a server that sends you something, you cannot see the download progress because the UI your using does not support it. The download is working but you just see "Awaiting gamestate" ( because your not using the new UI ). If you see partial files in baseq3 or an fs_game path this is what happened. Again, using the UI that comes with the point release solves this problem.
2. If you have chosen a 3rd party model or skin, you CAN still connect to and play on pure servers. The caveat being that you will temporarily revert to Sarge. This works just like it always has. [1:00 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Shack posted word that this thread on The xlr8yourmac.com Forums has posts from a lot of the "Mac biz guys", who discusses the 3dfx Voodoo5/VSA-100 demo that was shown off recently in Tokyo, compared to nVidia's technologies. If you are one of these folks into 3D Card tech, you might give it a look see (though it's a massive thread). And here's some snippy goodness Steve has collected: The anti-aliasing capability of the board is being easily seen through the use of a hotkey which toggles the effect on and off. And users are telling us it's a very compelling demo of the true benefits of real-time, full-scene anti-aliasing. ... the T-Buffer effects and anti-aliasing. The VSA-100 does anti-aliasing on the fly - and in all games - new or old. T-Buffer, however, has to be supported by content creators in the future. ... the Voodoo5's are being seen right now - for the first time - at Macworld Tokyo. ... and with real-time anti-aliasing enabled in today's most popular titles. [0:49 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Yup, as we just went into a new week, a quick saucy Mod Related for your Viagra-enhanched pleasure: - There's a new version 00.02.19.00 of the Q3Offline modification for Quake III Arena, offering bug fixes and minor additions to this front-end that helps you set up offine game sessions.
- JHexen, the OpenGL port of Hexen, version 0.99.0 is out, offering a buttload of sweet changes.
- UT Booty has posted a review of the CTF-2Pyramids and Trifle Havock maps for Unreal Tournament.
- There's a new public beta 0.75 of the Equilibrium mod for Quake III Arena available, offering a nice amount of bug fixes and additions to this populat teamplay mod.
[20:56 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Descent3D has whipped up an interview with Kevin Bentley, talking with this former Outrage employee about the prevous work on Outrage's Descent, and what his lazy ass (that's a joke) is doing now. Here's an exerpt: How do you feel about the issue involving the Mod community (or the lack thereof)? What do you think about the new mods scheduled to be released??
I'm disappointed in the low number of mods, but I'm not surprised. It's a pretty versatile game to modify but it's also pretty complicated. I think we figured that if we gave people every possible way of extending the game that there would be tons of mods. What we didn't realize is that it's so complicated, there aren't enough people with the skills to make the mode. I don't know much about some of the mods out there, but I'm anxious to try them all! [18:59 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GA-Source has posted a movie from Diversions Entertainment's upcoming title One Must Fall: Battlegrounds, showing off some action from this 3D robotic fighting game. [18:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Slovenska Quake III Arena Stran has posted the result of a brief interview session with id Software's Robert Duffy regarding security issues with CD keys (in English). [15:49 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GA-Source has posted new screenshots, as well as new engine details on Psygnosis' upcoming Unreal engine-powered strategy/action title, Hired Guns. [15:16 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Version 00.03.02 of the FightClub launcher front-end for Quake III Arena is now available at the newly relocated FightClub Website. The util now supports more than 20 mods. [13:29 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Raven Software's Eric Biessman made an update to his .plan file, announcing that they are looking for several talented and experienced level designers to join their team. Here's an exerpt (we are suffering from no quotes on the front page, you know=): We are looking for highly motivated, creative and skilled people who have experience with the Quake technology in any form (Heretic 2, Half-Life, Quake 1-3, SiN). The abillity to adapt is a strong plus, and any background in code or scripting will go a long way [...].
If you think you have the drive, determination, and creativity to make it as a designer, drop me a line with your resume and a little bio about yourself. We also need to see your best single player level to date... this should be in one of the previously mentioned games. So if you are a great map cooker and want to make this your full-timne job, this might be your chance. Head over to Eric's .plan for more information. [13:20 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Reactor Critical has gotten their hands on some new nVidia 3.77 reference drivers (for TNT*/GeForce boards), offering small bugfixes, as well as re-enabling the coolbits function. [13:17 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Finally - Mod Related for a Sunday! - There's a new varion 1.4.0 of the Viz mod for Quake III Arena out, adding player class characteristics to Q3A based on the model you select, as well as new gameplay options.
- Home of the FireArm modification for Half-Life has been updated with a development report, stating that the release date is still "When It's Done"
- A new version 1.6 of the Weapon Mod for Quake III Arena, has been released, offering minor additions and changes with the weapon handling. The Weapon Mod lets you change varius options in the game.
[13:03 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at 3DFiles has smacked up a demo of LucasArts' 3D accelerated adventure/strategy - Star Wars: Pit Droids. It weighs in at a semi-hefty 17.1MB, and the screenshots looks sweet - so if you are a Star Wars fan, you might give it a look see. [12:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Saw over at VE that the Battlecruiser Online Downloads page has a new version 2.09 patch for Battlecruiser 3000AD, that will run properly under Win9x and Win2k (basically the Win32 version of the previous DOS release). Though the patch is unsupported, it "supports every DirectX compliant graphics card, sound card and controller". More information here. [3:01 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Avault has whipped up a development update with the latest on Soldier of Fortune, Raven Software's highly anticipated 3D shooter, that now is "in final beta testing" (no release date news, though). The page has three new screenshots, as well as some comments from Steven Rosenthal, Activision's associate producer. [20:20 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I know it's off-topic, but since this is one of my favorite kick-ass utilities around, I belive it's worth a mention. A new version 3.30 of DVD Genie, the DVD region and tweak tool, has been released. This new release fixes some crash issues for those of you running Windows NT/2000 with a Matrox board, as well as tons of improvements with the WinDVD handling. [20:16 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
PlanetSoldier has smacked up an edited log of last night's developer chat session with the folks working on Soldier of Fortune. [20:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As a little pause in all tjose new Win2000 drivers popping up every hour or so, 3dfx has released new version 1.04.00 drivers for Windows NT 4.0. Snag 'em at 3dfx Gamers. [14:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Snow Dog has released a new version 2.08 of Servarena, his Quake III Arena dedicated server launcher, offering fixes of a few map-related bugs that have been reported, as well as some code cleanup.
[14:01 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
DAPsycho let us know that games xtreme has posted five new screenshots of Illusion Softworks and Pterodon's upcoming Flying Heroes. Also on the screenshots front, there's some new screenies from Black & White up in Incite, some screenshots from Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force on GA-Source, as well as a hefty buttload of 24 Battlecruiser Millennium screenshots on the official Battlecruiser 3000 AD site (thanks Blue's for that one). [13:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
id Software's Robert Duffy made a quick update to his .plan file, announcing a new 1.16i patch for Quake III Arena, fixing some security issues in the recently released beta-pre release alpha release candidate (I'm not kidding). Here's the download links: [13:46 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GameFan has posted a little interview with Tim Sweeney, the Code Lord over at Epic Games. Topics covered are Playstation2 (surprise), the E3 expo, in addition to some lovin' on the LithTech 2.0 vs. Unreal Tournament 3D engine. [13:43 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Word from The Smurfed site is that Activision has released a patch for the Heavy Gear II copy bundeled with the Samsung DVD Revolution. [13:38 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
This seems to The Big Patches Day... Firaxis has released a new v9.84 beta patch for Sid Meier's Antietam, weighing in at a mere 930 Kb. [1:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Hot on the heels after the multiplayer add-on announcment (story), Sierra Studios has released a new, and this time not leaked, version 1.2 patch for SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle. This update includes a HTML-based FAQ, new AI behaviors, and several gameplay adjustments. [1:43 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Sharky Extreme's Jon Simon has posted the latest update of the ever-so-popular Hardware Buyer's Guide over there, diving into the world of hot hard stuff to put into your chassis. [1:38 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Word from TeleFragged is that there's a new version 0.8 of the Quake2 LAN client & server tool - TecArena - is available for download over at the Tectonic site. This new release offers some new options, as well as minor bug fixes. [1:35 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The shiny folks over at Gone Gold has posted a press release from Sierra, announcing an add-on to SWAT 3 - entitled Battle Plan. The pack will feature multiplayer support, as well as new missions and maps. Also worth of note, the add-on will be provided free to owners of the orginial game, and it will be released 3Q of 2000.
UPDATE 01:50 - Gamecenter has posted some screenshots from title, as well as an interview with Rod Fung, the SWAT 3 producer. [0:44 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Prima Games has smacked up the third installment of their interview series with Ion Storm's John Romero. The interviewer is none other than Stevie "KillCreek" Case, the beatiful Daikatana level designer that will appear in the May issue of Playboy - and they are talking about, guess what, Daikatana and Ion Storm. [0:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
While giving 3DFiles a look see, I noticed that they've posted an updated demo of Codename Eagle, TalonSoft's 3D-action adventure. It weighs in at 35.2 megs, not too bad. [22:34 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Yup, that's right. Some saucy Mod Related on a Friday: - Win32 and Unix build of QStat version 2.3g is now available, offering Soldier of Fortune support and bug fixes to this command-line program that displays the status of Internet Game servers for Quake and many recent shooters.
- The firt free release (as a push for getting it included in DirectX 8) of Battlecom, a real-time voice communication program for multiplayer games, is now available for download at ShadowFactor.Com. It's named v1.3, and requires DirectX 7.
- Tarot has released version 1.0 of the HeadHunters Classic modification for Quake III Arena.
[20:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A couple of interesting interviews this slow Friday follows: - Gamespy has posted a brief Q&A with Jason Hall of Monolith, talking about their upcoming 3D Engine, LithTech 2.0. Speaking of good ole' Mr. Hall, he made an extensive update to his .plan file - discussing pretty much the same subject as the mentioned interview, as well as more on LithTech licensing.
- Voodoo Extreme has posted an interview with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, chatting a bit about Gearbox' co-developing the Dreamcast post of Valve's Half-Life.
- The gang at i2e2 have slapped up an interview with Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games, talking about Unreal Tournament and the future plans at Epic.
- AGN3D has smacked up the text version of their interview session with Derek Smart, one of the main brans behinf the Battle Cruiser 3000AD space-sim. The RealVideo version is also available from the page.
- The upcoming Lilith & Eve chat session will be with none other than Tom Hall, Anachronox designer. Pop over there and get the instructions for joining the fun.
- Hecubah.com has cooked up an interview with John Hight and Mike Booth of Westwood Studios, regarding Nox, thir role-play title that just hit the shelves.
[20:34 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks over at Gee Whiz! Entertainment have released a demo of Jaruu Tenk - their strategy/adventure title. It only weighs in at a mere 4MB, so it might be worth a download! [17:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Sorry for not hanging around here much lately - it has been awfully much to do at school, and I have some deisign projects that I need to finish as well... Anyways, it's friday, and I'm back! Windows 2000 is available, and I have to say that I'm impressed of how stable the new OS is! Basically every hardware developer have p1mped out new Win2k drivers today (including Creative, Aureal, 3dfx, Logitech, ATI and nVidia), so be sure to point your browser o' p1mpage over to your provider's homepage! I need to get some food now, so see ya later, folks! [17:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
id Software has released new 1.16h patches for Quake III Arena, available in three flavors; Win32, Linux and Mac. Snag the patch from the following places at The Shack: Mac Release, Linux Release, Win32 Release. [17:31 CET by cosmo - 1 Comments]
Paul Jaquays of id Software made an update to his .plan, announcing the manual for Q3Radiant, id's Quake III Arena map editor. Here's the whole tasty bastard: The Q3Radiant Manual is Done!
... and it's available for download. The manual is big ... 163 formatted pages. It's being released in two distinct "flavors." One is an MSWord version (created in Word 2K on the PC, which appears to be very backward compatible with earlier versions of MsWord) and a somewhat "raw" HTML version converted directly from the Word document. The document contains a number of embedded graphic files and organizational formatting, so ripping it down into a text document didn't appear to be the way to go.
Each of the versions is zipped and run just under half a meg each. Unpacked, you'll need 2 megs of drive space.
Q3Radiant Manual (HTML version) on id ftp site
Q3Radiant Manual (MSWord version) on id ftp site
[...] A couple things to note.
The document is targetted at version 192 of the Q3Radiant editor, which Robert Duffy is still working on. Some of the things documented in the manual are not in the released versions of the editor.
Second, if you want to mirror these files on your own site, go ahead. If you want to make a more functional, robust HTML version (one that does not require a full download to view), we (id) want to see it and approve it before you make it available for public viewing. This document is covered by the same EULA that covers our earlier tools releases.
Licensed developers of Quake 3 Engine product should contact id directly for this manual. Also, there's a 675k PDF version of the manual available from id's FTP site. [17:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Tim Sweeney has made yet an update to the Unreal Technology page, discussing the PC and console markets. Here's a snippet: The Internet bashes down barriers between platforms and enables the best ones in each market to succeed. An optimal platform for couch-sitting, joystick-based TV access is quite different than an optimal platform for desk-sitting, mouse-based high-res monitor access, and the Internet is the communications medium that will bring them together. Game engines--just like web browsers are for web pages--will be the way to bring great games to multiple platforms. [17:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As usual, your spiffy round-up of yesterday's game reviews - mailed in by Derrick: [22:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at WildTangent have released a "preview pack" of Game Driver - including the demo, a level editor, tutorials, sample code - and all of it only weighing in at a mere 14MB. [21:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Tim Sweeney, ho-pop at Epic Games, made an update to the Unreal Technology Page with assorted news, among those a scoop on Windows 2000: I just got the final Windows 2000 today. There have been some lukewarm articles about Windows 2000 lately, which I think really understate the progress of this new OS. I've been beta testing Win2K for about 15 months, and can testify that it's the most thorough and productive operating system I've ever used. Combining the rock-solid stability of NT 4.0, and the latest peripheral and Direct3D support for Windows 98, it's a game developers' dream system. It should be in stores in a few days. How much money did he get for saying that :-Þ No, seriously - I agree with the man. Also on the Tim Sweeny front, Unreal Kingdom has greased up an interview with him, talking about the latest on his game development front (UT for the Playstation 2 is the key word here). [18:08 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Mad Dipper has released a new version 005b of InstaGib+, his instant kill mod for server runners. This relese has one minor update; changed protect time cvar from milliseconds to seconds. [17:46 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 4.36 of the ÆStats log analyzer is out, offering some small bug fixes, as well as Unreal Tournament 4.05+, and built in ngStats support. ÆStats analyzes game logs from 15 popular 3D Shooters (including Q3A, UT, Half-Life, Kingpin etc.) [16:18 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Chip Maker ATI to Buy ArtX in $400-Million Deal is a story on Yahoo! - confirming that ATI technoligies will buy the chip developer ArtX for nothing less than $400 000 000 in stocks and options. [15:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GXS poisted news that the very first reference drivers (v9.01.12) for Savage2000-powered boards is now available. [15:14 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Monolith has officially announced that they are working on a licensable, massively multiplayer game engine - named LithTech Online. Word from VE is that it is based off of their cheap *cough* LithTech engine, and that there's a brief Q&A with Monolith's CEO Jason Hall on the subcject right here. [15:07 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
More stuff on the recently released 1.0.1.6 Half-Life patch (story). Stomped has a fix for the incorrect sky issues with the software mode in the game. D3D or OGL users do not need this patch. Also, 3D Action Gamers has gotten their hands on the French, German, Italian, Spanish and Korean versions of the patch. [15:00 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
We'll start the new day off with some game review goodness round-up type of stuff, as usual courtesy of Derrick: [23:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
When will we get enough of Lara's adventures? This story on GameFan has some romours on a next Tomb Raider title - which will be released after the Tomb4 add-on pack some time, maybe around Christmas this year. Here's the nugget: An independent source has confirmed for GameFan Online that a brand-new Tomb Raider game, titled Tomb Raider: The Movie, will hit retailers just in time for Christmas. The game's set to follow the story of the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, and will be released this November for the PC, Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. We’ll keep you informed as more details on Ms. Croft’s next adventure surface--so keep your browsers right here at GameFan Online! [23:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Incite has slapped up four new shots from Ion Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine RPG, Deus Ex. IMHO, they are looking very sweet (ok, then - there are some killed enemies there, but at least the atmosphere looks exciting)! [22:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 1.49b Wally, the Quake, Quake2, Half-Life and SiN texture editor and builder - is now available for download at Wally's Home. After two weeks of alpha testing of 1.49 - the beta is ready - with bug fixes of nearly all of the bugs spotted in the prevoius release. [22:27 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
According to GA-RPG, Nox, Westwood Studios' role play title, is packed and ready to hit the store shelves - and the first boxes will appear in US stores tomorrow. [21:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Ga-Source has posted eight new screenshots and a movie, showing off some action from Microsoft and Zipper Interactive's upcoming flight sim, Crimson Skies. [21:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Even more stuff from GA-Source. They have posted some more conceptual artwork from Barking Dog Studios' recently announced Homeworld sequel - Cataclsym. [20:46 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at Delphine has released a new version 1.0.5b patch for Darkstone, available for both the US and European version. Fixes from the recently released 1.0.5 patch (story) is some save game issues, in addition to a crash fix. [20:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Chris Rhinehart made an update to his .plan file, announcing that Human Head (the folks currently working on the Unreal engine-powered Viging title RUNE) has released a full game available for FREE download on their website. Here's a taste from the .plan update on how the game was borne: Back when I was still working at Raven Software, I met up with a few other developers here in Madison, Jason and Rowan (who worked for a company known as Argo Games). They had the idea to try and create a game in 24 hours. So the three of us got together and attempted to write a complete game FROM SCRATCH in only 24 hours. Well, it took us 33 hours, but we ended up with Dueling Minivans.
Later after some people had tested it, we tweaked it and added a few new weapons to the game, and thus Super Dueling Minivans was born. Both versions are available for free download on the Human Head website. A game from scratch in 33 hours? I'm impressed! [20:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As announced, Valve Software has released the v1.0.1.6 patch for Half-Life, offering a buttload of changes to take note of. I especially liked the sound of two new TFC maps, in addition to all the server improvements listed. You'll find a list of changes right here - and a quick list of mirrors you may download from follows (will be updated when new mirrors arrives): I'll get our mirror up as soon as the FXP-thingie works, so I can get the server grab it instead of myself downloading and then uploading. [17:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 2.71 of the Infiltration modification for Unreal Tournament is out. Swing by the website for more information, download links, as well as some new custom texture packs and a map. [16:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Lee sent word that they are holding a competition at Snipers Alley where you can win a copy of F/A -18E Superhornet, Creatures
3, Close Combat IV and Battle of Britain. The closing date is February 26, so if you feel lucky you may head over there and enter. [16:25 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Sebastian sent word that Gamelinks.net has posted the second installment of thier feature which shows you how to build your own PC gaming monster. This part is explaining how to prepare the case, install the motherboard, install drivers, and all the other small fixes and tweaks you need to do to get the most out of your bad boy. [16:10 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Word from our pals at Stomped is that - believe it or not - Raven Software's game developer (sound comppser, actually) Michael Clarke Duncan is nominated for the Oscar Academy Award, for his "Best Suppporting Character" role in "The Green Mile". And speaking of Oscar awards.... Since we have a lot of Norwegian readers (and is run by Norwegians only), I can tell you that Torill Kove's "Min bestemor strøk kongens skjorter" is nominated for the best animated shortfilm. [16:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Ga'ash at Billy's house of love has greased up some predictions for the future 3D products from the big hardware folks (ATI, nVidia, 3dfx, S3 & Matrox). Here's a taste from the article: I expect ATI to be the surprise of the year. They are the largest 3D accelerator company and the profits from mid-range and OEM sales are already there. ATI definitely has the resources to compete at the top and 2000 will be their year. The upcoming ATI accelerator is rumored to feature T&L performance of over 60 million triangles/sec, as fast as Playstation 2, and we've seen what that can do. It's only a matter of time before they become a major, if not the major, player in the high-end market. Every year they come closer and closer; the Rage 128 was, for a small period of time, the fastest 3D accelerator available. [15:25 CET by NoName - Post a Comment]
Hey peeps, long time no see. Cosmo wanted me to update with this buzzle (is that a word) that he found on VE. Seems like the official Counter-Strike page has been updated with words on some weapon model issue in this kick-ass Half-Life mofication: Anyways, on to more CS related news. Someone has contacted me and succesfully mirrored the CS weapon models!!! Yes, that's right folks.. Chances are very likely that you'll have right handed guns for CS BETA6.. I'm can't guarantee anything but things are looking for positive with regards to right handed guns. Don't thank me for them though, thank none other than Ben Wilder!! A true genious who figured out how to make Milkshape 3d mirror the bone structure and animations of the current guns! There was also a remark that left-handed guns will still be available. Well, dunno 'bout you guys, but I never liked shooting stuff with "wrong" hand. My cents for today. [15:04 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's the first Mod Related of this afternoon - offering some of the latest news on the game modification scene: - Eavy's Valentine's Day dedicated Assault Practice Mod for Unreal Tournament has been releaseed. The training mod ReadMe is located here, and this directory has the game files.
- Black Knight Productions has a new release of Prisoners of War, bringing this Quake III Arena teamplay mod up to version PoWV10B1 (can version numbers get any worse?).
- The final version 1.0 of the Combat mod for Tribes is now available for downloadand, as well as the source code. Word from the aouthor is that the mod is now public domain, and the author "will not be involving himself any further with its development unless major bugs are uncovered".
- Servarena version 2.07 has been released (a server front-end) with the help from 300 beta testers.
- Jonathan has released a new version 0.96 of Q3Log, a "log file analyser and config file editor for Quake III Arena". Some new changes to take advantage of in this new version, so go grab it.
- The folks at ProQuake have finally released the Linux port, along with the source code, of ProQuake - their modified port of the Quake (1) source that adds some new interesting features to id Software's old school game.
- The gang at Quake 2000 have gotten their grubby hands on the first screenshot of the BeQuake port to the BeOS operating system.
- QuakeSource is now open, offering a list of all the Quake source modification projects.
- The Quake Standards Group has relaunched itself under a spiffy new domain name and with a new layout.
- A pre-release of ShaderLib for Quake is available.
- My personal Pain Supplier let me know that Painful Detail has released four ned high-resolution texture packs for Unreal Tournament.
- There are only some minor bugfixes in the new version version 1.6 of the Jumbot AI playmate for Half-Life.
Today's plump kudo goes to PlanetSmurf. [14:33 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at Epic Games have been talking a lot about game development for the Plastation 2 console lately, but this takes the cake. Tim Sweeney, Epic Code God, made a massive update to The Unreal Technology page, entitled "Game Engines and PlayStation2". It discusses pretty much everything about Unreal Tournament (which will be ported to PSX2) - and some new details on licensing the UT PSX2 engine. Here's some juicy loveness from the fat and plumpy bastard: First of all, we're bringing our enhanced Unreal Tournament engine to the Playstation2, with some new, powerful and heavily polygon-exploiting features: - Skeletal animated characters: So 2000 to 5000 polygon characters will be a reality for Playstation2 games and PC games targetted at 3D cards with hardware T&L support.
- A multitexture terrain / displacement-mapping system, enabling the creation of large outdoor areas with smooth shading and realtime displacement effects, such as procedurally animated, displacement mapped water waves.
Second, a larger-scale upgrade of the engine's world rendering architecture is underway, adding additional core rendering features like curved surfaces and an enhanced surface shading model. These features will be especially exciting on the Playstation2, which is a powerful but complex beast -- taking maximum advantage of the vector processing units will be the holy grail of Playstation2 engines.
We will have the enhanced Unreal Tournament engine ready for U.S. launch titles on the Playstation2, with a large-scale rendering upgrade soon to follow. [8:06 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Our usual round-up of yesterday's game reviews is back - mailed in by Derrick: [21:49 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Word from Blue's is that ATI has released new version 4.11.6263 drivers for their Rage 128 / Rage 128 Pro cards, offering a ton of fixes - so be sure to snag 'em! [21:43 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Unofficial GLQuake Project website has released a new version 1.13 of their improved port of id Software's GLQuake. New in this version is bump mapping and slipgate mirrors support. [20:38 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I spotted over at PlanetSmurf that Sierra Studios, Valve and Sega have officially announced Half-Life to be ported to the Dreamcast console system. Captivation Digital and GearBox Software, the folks behind the Half-Life: Oppposing Force expansion pack, will do the porting. Here's a snippet from the press release: Half-Life: Dreamcast will also feature an all-new single player mission that surrounds the Black Mesa Security Guard character, Barney. This special mission is being custom created for the Dreamcast by Gearbox Software, the Texas-based development team that created Half-Life: Opposing Force(tm), the official PC expansion for Half-Life and runner-up to 1999 Game of the Year by PC Gamer magazine (March 2000). UPDATE 22:50 - Also, Stomped has posted a brief Q&A with Randy Pitchford of GearBox about the announcement. [20:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Dooing sent word that FragFacility has taken a look through their bunch of custom UT maps, and picked out the best 42 of them. Now you can pop over there and vote for the best map of each game type out of these 42 maps to get the ultimative winner. [19:40 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
It's Not Easy Being Green is the title of a new interview on coming your way from loonygames, where Russell "RadPipe" Lauzon is talking with Epic's programmer Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart - mostly about the life at Epic and development for the Playstation 2. I don't normally post all these reviews, but this one was a good read. [19:11 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I was taking my regular tour to Mortyr.Net when I spotted this little news item under today's news: Cool Link of the Moment
Be sure to check out Cosmo3D, my cool link of the moment. Thanks for the support Axel. Thanks, Brian. Really nice to hear, your site is cool. [18:51 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The above headline is the start of GameGirlz' latest article, called "Sim LIFE". Sailor Mur has cooked together some thoughts on The Sims - the recently released game from Maxis - discussing the lesbian and relationship sides of the game. We are suffering from quotes, so why not gank a snip: Of course, everyone is trying to make the lesbian couple hot tub scenario (Check out the latest PC Accelerator, the gaming industry’s answer to Maxim – they created the lesbian household and the Playboy mansion). I, personally, want to make a household of trim pool boys, along with pool and a big walk in closet, but that’s just me. In fact, maybe those are the people I should create for download. Forget the Daily Radar staff, you need to download the GameGirlz Pool Boys! Whoo hoo! And - yup, it's Valentines Day today. This year's best card must be the personalized Quake 3 Arena Valentines Day card from Alliance News. Send it to your sweetie right away! Also recommended is Destroy QuakeD's Valentine map for Quake III Arena. [18:40 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Bequake is hosting a Quake III Arena Screenshot Contest. To enter you just have to send in the most amazing, hilarious, or flat out strange screenshot - and who knows - you might win a Microsoft Sidewinder Dual Strike game controller.
[18:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
My good ole' bud Fabian has released a new build 024 of Q3LA, his Quake III Arena logfile analyzer. There are a whole buttload of changes, improvements and fixes in the new release, so I suggest you go download it right away! [16:53 CET by cosmo - 1 Comments]
GA Strategy has posted the announcement of "Homeworld: Cataclysm". Sierra and Relic Entertainment has dusted off the carpet at the Milia trade show in Cannes, France - and word is that Homeworld: Cataclysm will continue the saga from the original Homeworld game and introduce a new threat from a techno-organic entity known as "The Beast". You can view the details here.
UPDATE 21:50: Sierra's official site on the title just opened it's doors, offering some information on the game, as well as introducing us to the first screenshots. [16:45 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Substance Abuse Inc. (that name just rocks!) has released a tech demo called "Bong Water", showing off some effects from their new engine, yup, Bong Water. The site has the more on the engine and what it will be used for, so you might give 'em a look see. [16:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
GameSpot UK just posted the demo of Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact, Edios' add-on pack for the latest Lara adventure. It weighs in at a mere 14.3 MB, and you can grab it right here.
[16:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here it goes, a quite massive Mod Related today: - Lohnman ICQ'ed word that Simon of The White Palace has updated his site with the latest on the (soon to be released) Legacy modification for Unreal Tournament. Head over to this post on deCyber for the scoop, as well as a reminder of their Mapping Madness Week.
- A new version 6.0 of the CRMod++ for Quake (1) is now available, offering "heavily optimized" code, "resulting in the smallest and fastest crmod ever to hit the streets", as well as some other updates.
- A new version 2.1beta5 of BloodSplash, a ZDoom(GL) launcher, has been released, offering Heretic support, as well as a minor bug fix.
- Kanon Zone has posted a new version 1.1 upgrade patch for KanonBall.
- The Weapon Mod for Quake III Arena version 1.5 may now be grabbed from The Weapon Mod site. New stuff includes "some new menus, added ammo box amount and respawn time, health amount, toggle and respawn time, armor amount, toggle, and respawn time, degenerate health and armor, and holdable toggle and respawn time".
- Paul Jaquays of id Software has made a post to the Quake3World.com forums, about the naming of pk3 files.
- People experiencing trouble with the Q3 Build setup should download one of the newer setup files for this Quake III Arena map compiler front-end.
- According to Blue, The Gathering of Disciples has what they describe as a "breakthrough" for the design of maps for Rogue Spear: Working Landmines.
- Q2Java has released the source code for their MDLView and MDLMovie.
- The Lithium Half-Life Mod site has been updated with a screenshot showing off some changes to the in-game HUD changes, in addition to the latest on the devlopment progress.
Kudos goes, among others, to The Smurfed site and Redwood's. And - when I managed to p1mp such an amount of news into a single post - why don't mention the new Winamp 2.60. [7:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
TeleFragged posted word that Tutorial Warehouse has posted a 2D Graphic Tutorial, as well as a 3D Graphics Tutorial. [7:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 1.53 of Q3A Tools GUI has been released to the public, offering various changes and fixes to this front-end for Quake III Arena compilers. [7:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
David has released a new version 1.1 of S.H.U.D. (Stats Head-Up Display), a Quake III Arena modification that replaces the in-game HUD (Head-Up Display) with one offering real-time display of various game stats; your number of shots fired, hits, hit percentage, improved scoreboard, in addition to some other fancy snacks. This new release adds number of consecutive hits, and maximum of consecutive hits, as well as a new configurable number of deaths scoreboard. [20:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Pulpit has posted a brief Q&A (actually two Q&As) with Rick Johnson, talking with Raven Software's programmer on the next patch for the Soldier of Fortune demo. Since this must be the most damn slow news day in history, I'll quote a bit for your Viagra-enhanched pleasure: I was waiting for the low violence demo to go through QA, then I would be able to synch the code up with the patch (and then I can forget about them). It should finish QA Monday, then all I have to do is create the patch files - I tried RT patch earlier this week, and it choked on the PAK file changes, so I was going to run it through the night this weekend to give it another shot (I didn't want to tie up a BSP machine, as the designers need them all now). [20:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Kudos goes to VE anf PlanetSmurf. [16:49 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Spotted over at Glide Underground that the Official UltraHLE Website was updated with nine new screenshots showing off some of the latest development progress on UltraHLE - the Nintendo 64 emulator for the PC. Personally, I thought that RealityMan had cancelled the project - but now it looks like the software and OpenGL accelerated version is really near (previously a 3dfx-powered board was required). And - according to the guy - "UltraHLE finally runs in a window". Cool! [13:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As ususal, here's our little round-up of yesterday's game reviews, courtesy of Derrick: [13:27 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I noticed over at 3D Chipset that Creative's FTP site has been updated with some new Win9x drivers for the CL TNT-series based on nVidia's 3.68 reference drivers. There's no word on this puppy on Creative's website for the moment, but you can get it right here. [23:45 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
There's a new build of the Berylium modification for Quake III Arena out, offering bug fixes and "suicide lamer suppression" to this server admin tool. [23:42 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Nihilistic's Robert Huebner just updated his .plan file with a buttload of information on the Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption development progress. A reccomended read if you are looking forward to the game.
[23:38 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The gang over at Unreal Universe spotted a post by CliffyB (I never get his surname right, so I've learned to stick with the nick =) of Epic Games on the GT Forums. It's a brief report on the latest development on the upcoming free expansion pack for Unreal Tournament. Here's the lowdown: The only bugs that remain now are the ones that are related to testing between UT versions. For instance, a person with the bonus pack connecting to a version 400 server having issues, or a person without the bonus pack running version 400 connecting to a 405 server that's running the pack.
This would have gone a lot quicker if we just had maps and did not have new models and the cool Relics. It'll be worth it, though! Also, it seems like Cliff is turning 25 years today - happy birthday, mate! [20:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Next Generations's March issue has the first screenshots from The World is Not Enough, an upcoming FPS (using the Q3A engine from id Software) from Electronic Arts based on the James Bond movie with the same name. The bastards at Gaming Age has scanned the screenshots and put them up for your pleasure. Check them out with some sort of speed, because I have a bad feeling that Next Generation will force them to take the pics down... [20:18 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Flatware Design Gaming Division has the debut release 1.00 of Holy Wars, a new Unreal Tournament modification based on the popular Quake 2 mod with the same name. Smurfed kudos. [15:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Æon has packed together a new version 4.33 of his Æstats log file analyzer (with neat stats/ranking output in HTML). The analyzer supports Unreal, Quake II, Lithium II, Rocket Arena II, Quake III Arena and many other 3D Shooters. New in this version is support for Opposing Forcem, improved Counter Strike 5.2 support, as wel as a handful of bug fixes (including an y2k date issue). [15:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Saw on Demonews that Interactive Creations has released the first non-beta verison (1.7.5) of their WWII combat flight simulator, WarBirds. This is the full install of the program with all 50 planes and cockpits, so flight fanatics should grab it! [14:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The latest (fourth) installment of Eric Biessman's Soldier of Fortune developer diary is now available at SoFCenter. The most recent from Raven Software's programmer is named "A night in the life of Raven Software", and has more on little sleep and lots of work... [14:28 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Surfin' over at Aureal's driver pages, I noticed that the long-awaited A3D 3.0 powered drivers are available! They are called version 3.1 (don't be confused now), and new A3D releases for both A3D-powered boards and A2D drivers for A3D emulation on non-A3D cards are available. [14:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
PlanetQuake has posted the chat log from last night's public chat session with id Software's CTF Guru; Dave "Zoid" Kirsch. Here's an excerpt: Aside from possible limitations of storage space on the CD, were there any other particular reason why so few CTF maps were released? Was it the intention of ID software to let the community make up for that small quantity of maps?
We felt that the four maps on the CD were sufficient for the CTF we wanted in the game. I had hoped that my ThreeWave maps would have been included, but the timing of the release didn't coincide well. The user community is always welcome to make more, but that isn't something we focused on. [14:20 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Gamespy has posted a brief story on the Cavedog shutdown that was announced yesterday (story). It quotes Glen Broderick, director of online marketing for GT Interactive, and says that it doesn't necessarily mean the end of Total Annihilation and the Boneyards online gaming service that currently were in development. The TA: Kingdoms expansion pack will be shipping soon anyway. [14:16 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Time for some sweet-ass Mod Related for your Viagra-enhanched pleasure: - Counter-Server, the new and official Counter-Strike server admin resource, has now opened its doors. You have probably figured out already that this is a recource center providing everything a Counter-Strike server runner needs...
- Q3Center has posted a brief tutorial on Quake III Arena programming.
- Lithium has released a new Q3A level entitled Endocrine. You can grab it from Brain-Tank.
- Newly redesigned VR Magazine has released a new crosshair pak for Quake III Arena.
- legowhore.com has a new version 2.0 of Q3ServerKit available, offering some new features to this Quake III Arena server monitor and administration tool. The source is included, and you'll get the program to work under most OSes (Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac etc.) - because it's written in Java.
- wHeretic, the Win32 port of Heretic, version 0.5a build 7 is now available for download at Home of wHeretic. New in this release is display code fixes, looping sounds, vissprite and visplane limits removals, as wella s other fixes.
- Z-Axis has released a new set of Quake III Arena maps from the S3TC map pack that now feature textures that will work with all video cards and have the appropriate alpha channels in them (thanks TF).
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I don't normally post all these shots popping up, but a figured out that this one is noteworthly - because I haven't heard/seen much about this upcoming game yet. GA-Source has gotten their grubby lil' hands on 11 new hi-resolution (1024x768) screenshots from Carmageddon TDR 2000, showing off some nasty driving action. Many of them seems very simular to Carmageddon 1/2 - except the firstones showing a house... [1:17 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Looks like Rich was bored tonight (according to him - not me=), and therefore he has made a QuakeWorld client emulation server and made it available on Rich's Project Warehouse. Here's the explanation: Basically, this allows people to create fully working true client bots inside their QuakeC code with just a few lines of code (as opposed to the previously required pages of code with redone weapon functions and custom animation code, even still resulting in a bot that isn't a full client). The source code distribution also includes qwprogs.dat source for an example bot that runs and fires, so people can figure out how it's done easily. Spotted on Telefragged. [23:25 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Surfin' around at Billy's house of love, I noticed the official announcment from Digital Extremes, regarding their next game; Dark Sector. Thre press release is available here, and since we are suffering from too few quotes on the main page, here's a bit on the sucker: Dark Sector is set in the wake of world devastation, where survivors are scattered throughout the solar system in a vast crumbling network of outposts and space stations. Anarchy reigns as violent factions wage war over limited resources. The remnants of world government have sanctioned bounty hunting in a desperate attempt to control the growing chaos.
Players carve out their destiny in a violent struggle for fortune and fame. Begin your career as a bounty hunter tracking your target from Mars to the moons of Jupiter and then face off in an ice mine on Europa. Or choose the darker path by hunting the law-abiding citizens around you; build an infamous reputation as an assassin, while the growing price on your head turns your own friends against you. Also, VE has scored some new and exclusive concept artwork from the game. [22:18 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Valve Software has officially announced new partners to their PowerPlay initiative (related news stories). According to The Shack - Bungie, Dynamix, Nihilistic, Raven Software, Gas Powered Games and Jellyvision has joined the club for making lag-reduced games. [22:13 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Home of The Unofficial GLQuake Project has, along with new site content, released a new version 1.12 (and source) of the Unofficial GLQuake Project's GLQuake. This update of Keith Harrison's modified Quake1 source code offers new "Weapon Flash Lighting" and "r_shadows" options underwater fog, linear interpolation, as well as other small changes. Thanks PlanetSmurf. [22:08 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Armed Service has smacked up a little Quake III Arena mofidication called nothing else than Kick@$$. The little mod changes a few gameplay elements in Q3A, like faster guns etc. Snag it here. [22:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Not the typical Cosmo3D-news, but this looked so damn fine that I'm gonna p1mp it... Hugh sent word that this week, Machinima.com is showcasing No Exit, a real-time 3D rendered film/demo by Nomad Medialab. Created in their own 3D engine, No Exit won the Takeover 99 competition recently. Now, you may grab the baby right here. [20:40 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
...is the name of the latest article coming your way from Daily Radar. It discusses the best way to get yourself a job in the gaming industry, so if you've got the greatest game idea in the universe, give it a look see. [20:38 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Home of the Sin2UT Project has a new beta version 1.6 of Sin2UT available for download. Word from Redwood is that this Unreal Tournament modification intend to make Epic's FPS to be more like SIN. This version includes the Sinsniper mutator and also has team skins support. [20:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Next up in the series of id Software developer chats hosted by PlanetQuake is a forthcoming chat session with Dave "Zoid" Kirsch, the brain behind Threewave CTF in all the Quake titles. You can join the public chat room at 19:00 PST tonight in #PlanetQuake on irc.gamesnet.net. You'll need an IRC client like mIRC to join the fun, and note that mapping is the subject!
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The E3 division over at Stomped has recived word from Mike Verdu of Legend Entertainment that the sequel to Epic Games' first-person shooter (Unreal), so imaginally named Unreal II - will be shown off for the first time on this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in LA. It looks like they will be giving a back room presentation for some selected hardcore gamers. Here's the scoop: [...] we'll most likely be doing a back room presentation for Unreal II. We'll show some preliminary (and very limited) sections from a couple of levels -- and we'll talk about the direction we're taking with the game. [19:29 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
PlanetQuake have posted the chat log from last night's Robert Duffy IRC chat session - as a part of their Map Week. Here's a little lovin' juice from the chat (which intened to relate with Q3Radiant and mapping in Q3A): Did you antisipate the effect releasing the Q1 source code would have on the community and would you have done it differently if you could. Or was it designed to make people \move on to quake3?
actually i think the Q1 release was a great thing. It was not designed to make anyone move on, it was designed to put some great technology in the publics hands. There are methods to cure cheating. It was an amazing gift to the community, I am surprised people bitched. [19:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
My good ole' bud Fabian has released a new build 023 of his Q3LA; Quake3 Log Analyzer. New since build 016 includes a new output design ("much nicer than before"), improved performance, some crash bug fixes, funname support, as well as some new options. [18:06 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
This story on AVault has GT Interactive's quarterly results, announcing that their internal development house, Cavedog, is no more. Cavedog is most widely known for their recently cancelled title, Amen: The Awakening. [18:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Saw over at VE that Delphine Software has released a new version 1.0.5 patch for the US and European versions of Darkstone, their role play game. This new release is letting you play new quests which have been created and generated by the new quest editor - as well as fixing some other minor bugs. [17:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As expected, AMD has officially announced their Athlon processor runnin' at 850Mhz. Click here for the press release. [16:09 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Stomped have posted a scanned image of the PC Acclerator magazine March issue cover, which features Ion Storm's KillCreek. If you are looking forward to the May Playboy issue that will feature nude pics of Ion's beauty - check the news archive. [16:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Time for a little Mod Related this slow afternoon: - Outrage Entertainment just released a new A new version 1.1 of their Descent 3 level editor, D3Edit. Along with the new release comes the updated source code.
- Ritchie has released a new version of Q3Log, bringing this "log file analyser and config file editor for Quake III Arena" up to beta version 0.95b. The new release supports spaces in names in the HTML and fixes a problem displaying the logo in HTML game displays.
- There's a new version 1.5 of OverDrive Quake3 available.
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Seems like status updates on game development is popular these days, as Raven Software's Jake Simpson just made an update to his .plan file - with news on Soldier of Fortune, as well as some scoops on Star Trek: Voyager and Playstation 2. Here's a little taste from the rather lenghty update: ...we are putting the finishing touches to SOF, putting in all those little tweaks that makes a great product rather than just a good one. Games are all about fun, but there is no doubting that a polished front end, and a full feature set always help that along. [15:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As usual, the daily rouind-up of yesterday's reviews - courtesy of Derrick: And - it seems like we have a new tradition of posting the recent previews when in the scene. Here's my list: [2:59 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
Version 1.0 was supposed to be the final release of the Jumbot, but here we are, seeing 1.5. New in this version are fixes of a few bugs, and some additions. Also, if someone is using the 1.4 source code for their mod, some important information is listed on the site. Anyways, get your copy here [1:42 CET by Doff - Post a Comment]
Mirabilis has a new version of ICQ out, this time bringing it up to version 4.22 build 3086. (And yes, this is the 2000 version we're talking about). The last time they decided to release a new build of the 2000 version, they pulled it back a few hours after, and I'm not sure what they're thinking about this one - so - if you want it, go snag it with some sort of speed :) New in this release is better Windows 2000 support.
UPDATE by cosmo: According to the 2000a FAQ over at Mirabilis, the new relese "is intended for use with Windows 95, 98 and NT and may not operate properly with Windows 2000". AFAIK, there's no warnings on the Win2k compability in ICQ 99b, and the 99b version works perfectly on my Win2k system - so I'd held the sucker off if running Microsoft's new and shiny OS. It might not work as sparkling with Win2k as Doff utters. Anyways, if you have Win9x/NT - grab it now, because ICQ 2000 rocks the buzz =) [0:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Faded & Ebos' Quake 3 Clan Arena website has a new release of the Q3 Clan Arena modification, bringing the current version up to 1.0 (my fav. version number, BTW). Word is that new stuff in this version is some new options/variables, weapon spawn changed, a new Q3ClanArenaServer.cfg for the hackers, some model changes, and lots of other minor bug fixes. [0:36 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I'm not normally posting all these movies, but this is so tasty that I'm gonna p1mp it. Incite Games has posted the movie that until now only has been available from the Incite Magazine CD-ROM, featuring some sweet in-game footage from Daikatana, as well as an interview with John Romero. The good-quality MPEG movie weighs in at a pretty massive 43MB, but it's interesting, so if you're not heavy bandwith-impaired - you might give it a look see. [22:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
According to The Shack, Ion Storm's upcoming FPS is a bit after schedule for the release, and the multiplayer features might not appear in the retail version. At least according to Steve's source; "people who are close to Ion". However, a patch will be released as follow-up patch after the game is shipped to stores.
UPDATE Friday 00:23 - Looks like the roumers were false. Both Romero and KillCreek made comments to the Shack post stating that it's "ludicrous". [22:29 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
More status updates coming... Tim Gift at Dynamix made an update to his .plan file with the latest details on how the Tribes2 progress is going. Here's a snip from the rather lenghty update: At this point you can drive around in the scout vehicle. It has four wheel drive and independent suspension. It handles pretty well, though at high speeds it tends to under-steer. Have to be a little careful going fast on the uneven ground or you can end up upside down. Vehicles are going to be pretty fun :)
All the engine, suspension and tire parameters are specified in the datablock. The number of wheels, which ones steer, and suspension travel is all extracted from the shape file. It should be fairly easy for mod authors to build and customize new vehicles. [22:26 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
are coming your way today... There's new version 1.04.00 reference drivers for you guys running the 3dfx Banshee card. Also, Matrox has smacked new beta drivers for Win9x, Win2000 and WinNT4 - usable on the Millennium G400, Millennium G200, Mystique G200, and MGA G200 boards. [22:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Surreal's Tech Page was updated with a bit on Drakan and Windows 2000 compatibility: Retail Drakan does not run on Windows 2000 because the CD-Check fails due to a difference in Microsoft's Win32 API in Windows 2000 (read: a BUG in Windows 2000). This can be fixed by installing the Drakan Patch 445 which removes the CD-Check. Microsoft has informed us that they are also planning to release a "service pack" for application compatibility. Supposedly Drakan (and a lot of other games) will be fixed by this update. I like how Microsoft is doing their software compatibility testing AFTER they ship the new operating system (dripping with sarcasm)! [22:21 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Smurfed site reposrts that there's a new version 1.1 patch for the English edition of Phoenix, Team 17's space sim. No clue on what's new in this release, but it has to be something, so grab it if you have the game. [22:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 1.43 of the Weapons Mod version is now available. Start health, min health, max health, start armor, min armor, and max armor options have been added to this Quake III Arena options tweaker (in lack of a better description). [18:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Telefragged has posted the second installment of Robert Aronsson's development diary for Side-Scene, a WWII action title. [17:06 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
...this afternoon. Ultimazone, a German site, has posted their Quake III Arena strategy guide. According to the Smurfed site, the thing is written in German, but you might give the Babelfish translation a try. Also, there's some other German-language stratgegy guides coming from K-Cheats; Unreal Tournament (translate) and Quake III Arena (translate). Then, Tribes Vault has a Desert of Death strategy guide. [16:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
id Software's Graeme Devine made an update to his .plan file, looking for some help. If you got, mail him here. Here's the sccop, BTW: Doing a real .plan thing.
I'm looking for a video sequence of high resolution lossless digital images that we can use in some experiments we've got going here at id. Up until now we've been using the in-house rendered stuff, which is great, but I've previously used some nice standard sources that really test things out like compression and color space conversion issues. Any pointers would be appreciated. [16:12 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Spotted over at PlanetSmurf that PC Zone has a 44MB multiplayer demo of Westwood's Nox available. According to Blue, the full game should be out in stores next week. [16:10 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Time for some snacksy Q3A Tool Related for a Thursday: - Hot on the heels after yesterday's v0.94 release (story), there's a new version 0.95a of Q3Log available, fixing a bug that apparently made the log analyzer to crash.
- There's a new alpha 2 version of Wyrm 3 for Quake III Arena available, offering a new replacement for the BFG: the Shrink Ray.
- Shag has made the debut release of his Quake III Arena compiling front-end available - called Q3 Toolbox.
- Snow Dog has released a new 2.07 beta version of his Q3A server launcher, Servarena.
[15:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
HD Interactive's Mortyr Patches page got a new link today, as they've released a patch for folks experiencing trouble with several Pioneer CD/DVD drives in the game. [15:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here comes the round-up, as usual courtsey of Derick: [23:25 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The ultra-busy GameGuides crew at GameSpot has cooked up their guide to Battlezone II, offering tips, information and strategies covering most of the gameplay areas. [23:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Hugh sent word that Strange Company has re-released the short Ozymandias film, this one as the first one made in the Lithtech Film Producer, a movie maker that's powered by the Lithtech 1.5 engine. You need to have the original real-time movie installed in order to watch the new "Director's Cut"-version. [23:19 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
This story on AVault has word that that Interplay & 14 Degrees East's Voxel/3D RTS, Invictus, has gone gold. It is now sent to the publisher for packaging, and will hit the shelves later this month. [22:35 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The chups at AVault have posted the playable demo of The Rift, ThrushWave's space-sim RTS ttitle. It weighs in at 16.5MB, and you can snag it here. [22:12 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
3dfx has released new version 1.04.00 reference drivers for the Voodoo3 3500TV board. Seen on VE. The update has a bunch of enhanchments and fixes, so be sure to grab it! [22:04 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
In The Trenches has posted their interview with John Scott, speaking with Raven Software code meister about Soldier of Fortune - an upcoming title that is shaping to be a damn fine game. [22:00 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Rage Underground has released a new version 1.3 of the Rage 128 Tweaker, offering some new features and fixes for this utility that'll tweak your Rage 128 powered cards. [19:12 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
PlanetSmurf reports that the Czech developers at Pterodon has opened the doors of their new website, offering some details on the fantasy 3D action/strategy title they currently are co-developing together with Illusion Softworks; Flying Heroes. [18:20 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Raven's level designer Michael Raymond-Judy made an update to his .plan with a little something on how the Star Trek Voyager : Elite Force progress is going. Here's a little snippet from the full thing: STV:EF is moving along very well, we're now in "pre-crunch" mode as I call it, or maybe that should be "crunch lite"? We're going back to all the maps and adding pretties, scripts and actual enemies, fixing architecture glitches and making sure file size stays reasonable. One of our programmers recently put up a build from this time last year for us to compare with, it is truly amazing how much has been done and how much better things look. Every day there is something new, every day I see something that makes me (cynical jaded fellow that I am) go "Crikey, that's amazin'!" [16:54 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new beta version 0.95 of Q3Log - a Quake III Arena log file analyzer, is now available for download. In addidition to some minor changes and fixes, this release has support for client-side log files. [16:46 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
pc.ign.com has slapped up the result of their chat with Headfirst's Andrew Brazier, talking to this programmer that currently are working on the scarybloody Dark Corners of the Earth: The Call of Cthulhu. Here's a taste: IGNPC: Let's start with easy questions. What's the basic premise behind Dark Corners?
Andrew Brazier: The best way to explain the game is to get the lowdown on Lovecraft and his novels. Lovecraft was quite a prolific author around the start of the last century, 1900's time. There's still loads of interest in his novels especially in America. The Cthulhu Mythos is the name given to his group of novels. Basically all his creations can be encompassed under that broad title. The general gist of most of his stories are about this ancient race of alien creatures who are immensely powerful, who used to rule the earth originally, and now live underground, and are waiting for the time they can take over the world. But generally, these creatures are so powerful that people just die on the spot when they see them, they have that amount of power. That's the whole story really. The RPG, the Call of Cthulhu is based around that premise really with the characters playing investigators who try and discover the secrets behind the whole mystery. [16:17 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at Firing Squad have smacked up part II of their interview with the code God at id Software, John Carmack. The first part (story) was about pretty much everything, but this one focuses mainly on the next title from id, his thoughts on the futre world of 3D Engines, as well as what he thinks of the game industry. Here is a poop on the next id game: FS: Have you decided if it's going to still be a first-person game?
John: It's very likely to still be a first person game, but it may not be an action game. Graeme and I have been sitting around talking about game design ideas for different things, and they cover a pretty fair range, exploring a few different choices that we've got, but we're not prepared to talk about any of them yet. They are likely to be first person, almost certainly. On the interview front, Gernam site UTWorld has translated their little interview with Epic's Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart from German to English. Themes discussed are PSX2, UT, Q3A and Rocket Arena UT, an Unreal Tournament modification he is working on. To not make it unfair, here's a quote from this Q&A too: What do you think about the Unreal/Unreal Tournament online scene? There are popping up new Unreal Tournament sites everywhere. Can Unreal Tournament beat the Quake III online scene some time?
I think the scene is great. There is a really large number of people making maps for UT and a bunch of people doing mods. I definitely think that UT can beat Quake3 with the scene. Its all a matter of mods. Good mods draw players. Mods play a big role in Epic's plans. We are helping produce several big name mods and we think the results will be very cool. [16:09 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Redwood stomped the news of a debut release this afternoon. It's an IRC bot called TFC-Bot, which will automatically post various stats from a Team Fortress Classic server when commanded through a program like mIRC. It will post all kinds of info, like the IP (of course), captures, scores, player stats etc. Quite like Q3Post for Quake III Arena, actually. Grab the 0.1b version from Veterans Clan. [15:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Ga'ash at VE has written up the fifth installment of his articles on 3D Engines. It's a reccomended read for you guys into math, programming and stuff, but a normal player probably won't care a dirt =) [15:16 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's the usual round-up of yesterday's game reviews, exclusively from out Main Man, Derrick: Also, I, myself (wow! that lazy ass? <end Cartman-voice>), have cooked togheter a little, but sweet, list of the most recent Previews out there: [21:43 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Spotted over at Billy's house of love that the Surreal Tech Page just got updated with word of a new version 445 patch for their 3D action/adventure title, Drakan: Order of the Flame. A list of changes is available here, lead programmer's Stuart Denman comments on the release is viewable here, and you might just grab the 6.5MB file right here. The patch will overwrite all saved games, and is mainly made for multiplyer users. [16:04 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Whoa, that's not a joke! If you were impressed by the recent AMD 1.1GHz story, this will really blast you off the chair... IBM has announced a new technology that will make it possible to make 3.3 to 4.5GHz processors for the PC, and they'll show off the sucker (which isn't near as finished as the 1.1GHz Athlon, then) on the ISSCC show (in two days). Here's a snip from the press release, yanked from The Smack, errr, The Shack: The new circuits employ an innovative design -- called ``Interlocked Pipelined CMOS'' -- to reach speeds of 3.3 - 4.5 billion cycles per second (3.3 - 4.5 GHz) using conventional silicon transistors, while dramatically reducing power consumption. [15:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
loonygames' latest article, "Thinking Outside the Box: Reviewing the Reviewers", is cooked together by id Software's Paul Steed, discussing his opinions on game reviewers who has visited id Software. Here's a snip from the interesting read: Now take your average game reviewer. What kind of system do they have? What kind of knowledge do they have? What kind of experience do they have? Do they represent the average consumer of ANY game sold today? Hell, no. They don’t. Let me let you reviewers in on a little secret...you are not normal. You do not represent any form of normalcy. You are the freak of the freaks. You are the hardcore. You are the person who (possibly) gets paid to play games and vomit your opinion of them to the far reaches of the cyberspace universe. Don’t get me wrong. It takes one to know one. I am anything but normal. Just ask my therapist. [15:48 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Raven's Eric Biessman updated his .plan with word that they are looking for several new level designers to join the team. Then, there's a .plan update by 3D Realms' George Broussard, mentioning that 3D Realms are looking for a programmer to work on Duke Nukem Forever. On the job scene, pc.ign.com mentions that Firaxis Games' lead designer on Alpha Centauri and Civilization II, Brian Reynolds, has left the company. There's no explanation on his decision to leave, but according to Firaxis, Reynolds's departure would not affect the two games currently under development. [15:42 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new version 2.06 of the Servarena Quake III Arena server launcher is now available, offering some new features, including the list of available maps in alphabetical order, as well as the ability to define default values for all maps. [15:39 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
AMD has officialy announced their demonstaration of the super slow *cough* 1.1GHz Athlon processor. Word is that the CPU was made at their Fab 30 facility in Germany, and utilizes the .18 micron process. /me must have. [22:11 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The latest article at EuroGamer is named D&D - DND, looking at, according to TeleFragged, "how recent RPG titles such as Asheron's Call and Baldur's Gate are still using the old tried and tested paper and pencil D&D formula". A nice read for this slow Monday eve'. And here's a little poop: One of the most fundamental parts of any RPG is its experience system, the method by which players advance their character's abilities. After all, without some form of experience and character development system, an RPG would just be a glorified action-adventure game with delusions of grandeur.
Most RPGs I have played over the last decade have had the same basic experience system though, inherited almost verbatim from the original D&D and its successors. [22:05 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at UT World has posted their Voice Tutorial, discussing how to make your own character voices for Unreal Tournament. The tutorial is available in two flavours - English or German. Also, speaking of the voice scene, there's a new beta version of ComCenter, a real-time voice communication program for Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament, available. Thanks to BlueTower. [21:29 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Fooling around at AGN3D, I noticed that they have posted an interview with Epic's code mokey Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart, dealing mainly with Playstation 2 and Unreal Tournament. Here's a tasty tidbit: Playstation 2, how cool is this machine? Because I am starting to wonder if we are going to get sucked into the hype faze or is this machine as powerful as they say and is it more powerful then the Dreamcast?
Well it is pretty cool. I have not seen a whole lot of the marketing demos that they pull off with like the free looking water and stuff like that. What I have mainly been looking at is programmer demos and stuff like how to throw off triangles in the screen and how to implement control and stuff. From what we have done so far it definitely looks like it is going to live up to the expectations. It is definitely a very fast machine. [21:26 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
SC Bastion will host a public chat with the developers at Valkyrie Studios, currently working on Septerra Core. The chat takes place on Saturday, February 12th at 01:30 GMT. Here's the details. [21:23 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
VE brings word that NT Compatible has updated their instructions on how to install Creative Labs Liveware 3.0 on machines running Windows 2000. According to Billy, Soundfonts, 4 speaker setup and EAX now works fully. [18:22 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Have you ever wished that the Quake III Arena lightning gun would discharge in water like the good ole' Quake lightning gun did? Then this baby should be worth checking out. It's basically a little Q3A modification named Lightning Discharge that will make your wish come true. Neat stuff. [18:10 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Spotted over at The Smurfed site that the German site gXp has a video interview (in English, though) with Massive Entertainment's Martin Walfisz, talking about Ground Control. [18:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Marcus Whitlock over at Raven Software made an update to his .plan file with some news on the upcoming patch for the Soldier of Fortune Demo: One thing I'd like to point out regarding the SoF demo patch (which has no firm release date yet - you'll hear from RJ when it's ready, be assured)... most likely, it won't incorporate the improvements to client prediction that I recently made (BTW - thanks for lending me your ears Jake, Pat & James).It's quite phenomenal - how you can loose sight of the wood for the trees... when you're toiling away so close to a problem - you can get stuck in this thought loop and don't realize you're stuck in it until someone else points out the obvious that you just fail to see! Predicted in-view weapons are now very stable, without the oddities and artifacts that are present in the SoF demo. Needless to say, I'm sleeping a lot better now too. More generally, we are all feeling pretty freaking good about the way things are looking on SoF - it's really come together and will be our best game yet for sure.
[16:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Wheee, finally back. I'm not going to cover the whole shit that has happened the last days - but instead focus on the future stories... Hope you don't mind. And, BTW, I got a new Nokia 21" monitor yesterday, and I have to say that I'm pretty much dissapinted. According to the spec page, "it's a 21" high resolution monitor designed for 1600 x 1200 resolutions with flicker free presentation". Nah, 65Hz max in 1600x1200. Don't think so... Anyway, a new 445X is on it's way, which makes the 85Hz biff, and that should be fine. [16:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Our mighty round-up of yesterday's game reviews is here, just for your Viagra-enhanched pleasure (as always, courtesy by Mr. Derrick): [16:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The mad gang at Voodoo Extreme have posted their chat with Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski. [16:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Firingsquad has posted an interview with The Man himself, John Carmack of id Software. They are talking about pretty much everything - a nice interview. Here's a taste: FS: Most people would say you're one of the world's foremost gaming engineers. Do you think that in this world that there's enough of a range of tasks and depth to keep you intrigued for years to come?
John: Sure, there are a lot of different things. Right now, I'm spending more of my time in this lull or break, working on some things in Linux. One of the things I've done is written two 3D drivers for Linux or done a good chunk of the coding on them. That's useful for me as a developer, because I certainly do the high level stuff, the API level programming, but it's also good to go ahead and take it underneath that. Doing some implementation level stuff on the device driver down to programming the hardware gives me more scope, looking at things through the entire process. There are a lot of programmers who only know things from the top and don't realize why things are sometimes the way they are because of the structure that's "invisible" to them.
One of the other things that I'm considering doing is (because I like knowing things very clearly from the highest to the lowest level) spending some time implementing my own network stack for the research and the learning experience. I've also got some experiments I want to try, finding out how much overhead the operating system actually imposes on the routing time and queuing things down to a serial driver level and a packet driver level. There's some information that I'd like to get from below the layers that you're normally communicating with. [16:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's some Mod Related lovin' from the latest days (basically stuff to change/enhanche your game): - Good ole' PaPa & PiRaMidA let me know that a new version 2.33d of the aGSM (alternative Game Server Monitor) is released. New in this version of the utility to find & monitor Internet/LAN game servers is Drakan Internet support, minor bug fixes (a handful of Win2K issues fixed), and more.
- The most recent version of the Counter-Strike Alias Binder is called 0.41, and has a handful of fixes and new pictures. This tool will help you configure the key bindings in the oh-so-famous Counter-Strike modification for Half-Life.
- The first public final release of the Version 1.0 of the S.H.U.D. (Stats Head-Up Display) modification for id's Quake III Arena is now available, offering some really nice enhancements to the Q3A HUD - like real-time stats on the screenshots, hits, hit percentage, display of rewards, frags per hour, and more. Word from The Smurfed site is that all the options can be turned on or off separately. A nice baby to grab, indeed.
- Speaking of such Q3A HUD thingies, EliteHUD is released, adding some options like placing the health, armor, and ammo stats next to the crosshair, adding a mini-scoreboard, and moving all the weapons but the railgun to the center of the screen.
- Another Quake III Arena modification, this one called qwFIX. It claims to make all the QuakeWorld fanatics more happy with Q3A, offering QuakeWorld-like functionality like "air control, weapon statistics, armor protection and various other settings".
- AZ Development has released a new version 0.5 of the point-based Quake III Arena mod, Equilibrium.
- An update to the Homepage of the Unofficial GLQuake Update has the new version 1.10 of, yup, a modified version of id Software's GLQuake part of the recently released Quake1 source code. The new stuff in this lil' update includes ARB_multitexture support, bug-fixed shadows, OpenGL fogging (yeah!), Quake2-style sky rendering, revised Options menu, and much more of these small, but sweet changes.
- The Quake III Arena version of one of my favorite (shivery) Quake II mods, Freeze Tag, is now available for download at the Freeze Tag Homepage
- Heretic Fortress beta version 4.5 is now available, offering some fixes to this modification that, kind of like the qwFIX, gives some action like another game into the good ole'. But this one does the job from TeamFortress to Heretic II, of course.
- The Man, Bert Peers has slapped up a new version 0.2 beta of his Q3A Shader Editor, that will let you edit the quite advanced Quake III Arena textures in a more friendly Windows interface.
- FvF World has cooked up the second part of their Q3A Modeling Tutorial for 3DStudio skinners.
- A new Quake III Arena modification entitled CTG (Capture the Gunz) is now available for download by your grubby hands. Word from the always mighty PlanetSmurf is that this is a teamplay mod that "gives all members of a team access to a type of weapon when your team is the last to control its spawn point, while none of the opposition will have that weapon until regaining control, which likewise deprives their opponents". Uhlalalala.
- Black Knight Prod. has released a new beta version their Q3A modification, PoW (Prisoners of War).
- GameQuery is the name of an "ASP component that can do server queries against Quake2 & Quake3Arena servers". Whoa, sounds weird.
[20:59 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Sorry for the update lack. I'm having some serious badass shitball DNS-trouble here, so I'm not able to access Cosmo3D (this post is made through phone by a bud)... My ISP promises that the problems will be fixed sometime the forthcoming night (probably after I've gone to bed), so hopefully there will be a huge update after school tomorrow). Sorry again for the inconvinience! [18:30 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I'm leaving the house now, because my mom is celebrating her 40 years o' living on earth tonight... Then I gently have to leave the house, to arrive at my friend's house. However, I'll try to get my ass online and cover the news foy ya =) [15:27 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
This page on GT Interactive has an updated version 333b Wheel of Time patch. It fixes the Movie and Music problems introduced by the original 333 patch, and fixes a crash problem when disguise was used in multiplayer games.
[13:30 CET by cosmo - 1 Comments]
Sarah Walker from Valve Software was oh' so generous firing off some details on the 1.0.1.6 patch for Half-Life, scheduled for a next week release - to all the game news sites around the net (exept us of course). Here's the poop on it, ganked from PlanetSmurf: Half-Life update 1.0.1.6 contains two new maps for Team Fortress Classic and a variety of server enhancements.
The New Maps
* Badlands - Primarily an outdoors map with an emphasis on vertical positions, Badlands features traditional capture the flag play through a twisted collection of step canyons-a locale tailored for the sharp shooters.
* Crossover - A mix of exposed outdoor areas and tight indoor spaces littered throughout the corridors of two symmetrical bases, this map provides a venue for varied and fast paced CTF games.
Server Items
We have addressed a number of server side items in this release, including the Linux message of the day fix and a number of other items requested by our Half-Life server administrators. And here's a link to a Badlands screenshot and a Crossover screenshot. [13:26 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Yet another new version of Servarena, the Q3A server launcher, has been released on its official page. This new release changes the way Q3A handles server passwords, as well as fixing a bug that caused the map rotation to stop under certain conditions. [13:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A new Quake III Arena modification has hit the net on the Quake 3 Clan Arena homepage. As you guessed, it is named Quake 3 Clan Arena - and it's basically a remake of the Clan Arena for Quake1. Grab 0.8b here. [13:21 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
To not fill the site with thousands of stories, here's a nice bulletted list of the inter/previews that has popped up recently: - Snipers Alley has posted a first look at Westwood's up and comming "NOX", as well as 30 stunning screenshots. Along with the preview comes a Q&A with executive producer John Hight, in addition to the whole game manual.
- pc.ign.com has an interview with Mark Frohnmayer and Tim Gift, respectively Lead Programmer and Technical Director at Dynamix, working on TRIBES 2.
- There's a brief interview with Raven's Brian Raffel up on 3D Alpha, talking about Soldier of Fortune.
- OIn other SoF related news, Daily Radar has smacked up a list of links to previews of the game, as well as a few new screenshots.
- pc.ign.com has cooked up a little preview of TalonSoft's upcoming title, currently code-named "Flying Heroes".
- There's an interview with Robert Duffy up on Quakeidge, talking to id Software's boy on... games.
- Gamecenter has splashed up an interview with Julian Gollop, talking to Mythos' programmer on Dreamland.
- Gamecenter also has posted a preview of Submarine Titans, Ellipse's upcoming 3D RTS title.
- The American McGee's Alice just got updated with details on Centipede Lair, the third area in the Mushroom Forest.
- There's some new information on Martian Gothic: Unification up on AVault.
- GameSpot has slapped up a pretty extensive preview of Nihilistic's upcoming bloody title, Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption.
- PlanetAnachronox has posted a log from ION Storm's recent chat on Anachronox.
- There's a new Soldier of Fortune movie up on InciteGames, showing off some gameplay from Raven's title.
- ACVault has posted the chat log from this month's Asheron's Call chat.
- InciteGames has cooked up a bunch of screenshots showing off some violence from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
Kudos goes to Stomped, The Smurfed site, shaggy & co. [12:51 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Word from The Smurfed site is that the UT Bugs section over at Epic's Unreal Technology page has been updated with a little tip for you hoocies sticking with a Diamond Viper II board: *New-and-improved Savage2000 / Viper II Metal .dlls which are fully compatible with UT 405b (install the UT 405b patch first) are now available from Diamond's ftp site here.
ftp://ftp.diamondmm.com/pub/display/viper/viper_II/viperII_metal_2003.exe [12:44 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Rick Johnson, the programmer monkey at Raven, made an update to his .plan with word that a patch for the recently released Soldier of Fortune demo is in the works. Here's the sauce: At some point in the near future, I'll be releasing a patch for the SoF demo to address some of the issues that have come. A few of the more popular items/fixes that will be include in the patch are:
* Raised player height
* g_movescale cvar to scale the multiplayer move speed
* A3D sound updated to 3.0, fixed some crash issues / speed
* Fix for Default Sound / A3D crash in certain multiplayer circumstances
* Fix for invisible players in DM
* Better spectator movement
* and a bunch of other things
The demo code is still very separate from the main product now, so that we are only bringing over select changes. No ETA on when I'll release this demo patch (a 'non-violent' demo is being QA'd with these changes, so I'll see if anything further comes back), but I will be updating the Raven servers later this evening. [12:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
PlanetSmurf has word that there's a new version 1.99e of Kali, an IRC server/client browser, available for download. Word is that this new release, also called "2.0 beta", adds support 17 new games, as well as improved support for many existing games. It seems like the new version only is available on the official FTP site, so here's a pair of direct links; full download (2.9 MB) - upgrade from 1.99d (350KB). [12:32 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Who gives you the fresh start of a new day? We do! Here's a round-up of yesterday's game reviews, sent in by Derrick: [17:08 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
AVault has word that the upcoming DirectX 8 will be incorporating Battlefield Communicator's real-time voice technology. Here's the poop: Microsoft today announced plans to incorporate real-time voice technology, called DirectPlay Voice, into the next version of its suite of multimedia application programming interfaces. The technology was adapted from the Battlefield Communicator application created at ShadowFactor Software, a Canadian company acquired by Microsoft in June 1999. The new DirectPlay Voice technology will be integrated into the DirectPlay API and optimized for use in multiplayer games. [17:04 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I stopped by Gamers Home this sweet sweet Friday, and spotted a new section over there, called "Demo Hall of Fame/Infamy". It's a database listing the most famous demos recorded in Quake I/II/III over the last couple of years. Cool. [16:59 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's some mod related lovin' for your pleasure (seen on The Smurfed site): [13:41 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Ah, the best way to start the day. A round-up of yesterday's game reviews, as usual mailed in by Derrick: [17:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Sorry for the lack of news lately. I've been very busy (kinda like the CEO of a quite big company listed in the stock exchange or something)... I also have a lot to do the next few days too, so you might check the other gaming news sites to Know What's HappeningTM. But I'll do my best, then. Also, it's really snowing like hell here in Norway these days. Avalanches everywhere, snowing like 50cms every 24hrs... Geez, glad I'm in Oslo and not far North =) [17:15 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The folks at Westlake Interactive has released a new Macintosh patch for Unreal Tournament, bringing it in sync with the PC version 405B patch. Here's a list of mirrors, and I'll p1mp the list of fixes here: - Fixed a bug that caused custom skins & maps to not auto-download when joining a server.
- Added an option to disable command key shortcuts (like Cmd-Q)
- Added some extra code to the RAVE driver to boost performance on newer AGP Rage 128 cards.
- Added an option for dedicated servers that will detect if the server has stopped accepting connections (which can happen after 2 to 10 hours of running). If the server sees this has happened, it will relauch itself with all settings entact.
- Fixed remote web administration code, you can now change settings, kick/ban players, and even type directly into the server console of a Mac server all from a standard web browser. [17:14 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Dynamix has popped up a new version 1.10 patch for TRIBES. VE reports that you can grab it from 3D Files, Tribes2.dk, or Sierra. Here's the What's New: - Fixed a health kit bug/cheat issue.
- Fixed armor/damage level bug.
- Fixed a server crash bug issue.
- Fixed OpenGL "black bug" with new maps. [17:11 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's the first Mod Related today, some sniffy-nifty-keen things to enhanche your game: - Servarena version 2.01 is now available, fixing a bug to the newly released "Final Release". The 2.0 version had a buttload of fixes and new enhanchments, so you might give this Quake III Arena modification a look see if you need some assistance setting up a Q3A-server.
- My buds over at chUmbaLum sOft has released a new version of Milkshape 3D, their low-polycount 3D modeller for Quake II/Q3A
- The first public beta of the Prisoner of War Quake III Arena modification has been released by Black Knight Productions. Their in-side beta testiong went really well and now there's your turn to help the folks.
- The debut release of Wrym 3, the Quake III Arena version of the Wrym 2 for Quake2, has been released to the public. This mod offers the ability to have custom classes.
- You may now grab the beta 2 of Quakeworld Forever, as well as the latest source code. QWF provides strong encryption making cheating in Quake1 really difficult, after the Quake1 source code release (stories).
- Beryllium version 0.99B of now available, offering a new Micromod system, which will make it easier to configure your server - to this Quake III Arena mod.
- Merc has released a new version 1.2 of his Quake III Arena TeamMod, offering tons of fixes and new additions.
Kudos goes to PlanetSmurf and Telefragged. [17:11 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
I'll kick the new day up with some game reviews recently posted on the good ole' net. Kudos goes, asu usual, to Derrick: [23:09 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
AGN3D reports that Fiendish Games has released the beta demo of their 3D puzzle game, Tower of the Ancients. It is "featuring spectacular graphics and sound as you attempt to avoid the wrath of God". [22:55 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
A lot of announcment these days... Activision, that recently announced the Return to Caste Wolfenstein title (story), has made a press release with word that they'll be publishing D.W. Bradley's upcoming first-person fantasy RPG, Wizards & Warriors. [22:50 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Dynamix' Nels Bruckner made an update to his .plan file this eve, with a small note on the upcoming 1.10 patch for Tribes: Just a quick 'mini-update' - for those of you that have been waiting for the Tribes 1.10 patch... it's almost done! I'm sorry it's taken so long. The process is fairly difficult now, with everyone working on Tribes 2. Speaking of small announcments, VE reports that Westwood's tech director Mike Booth made a sweet lil' post to the Nox message board, regarding the release date of the demo of NOX: We are working on a playable demo right now! Look for it on this website sometime in the next few weeks. [20:53 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
According to VE, Monolith has announced that the developer company behind famous titles like Fallout and Baldur's Gate - Black Isle - has decided to use Monolith's LithTech engine in their "next generation of role playing game". Here's the press release: (Kirkland, Wa February 1, 2000) LithTech Inc. today announced they will license the powerful LithTech Engine to Black Isle Studios, the role playing game (RPG) division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: IPLY). The LithTech Engine functions as a complete 3D game operating system that allows game developers to quickly and easily design, develop and focus on content without reinventing technology from scratch each time a new project begins.
“The Black Isle name is synonymous with quality RPG games,” comments Jason Hall, CEO of LithTech Inc. “The versatility of the LithTech Engine will allow the team to create the most dynamic, graphically beautiful game possible. We can’t wait to see the end results.”
The LithTech Engine, the technology behind Shogo: M.A.D. and upcoming Monolith games Sanity and No One Lives Forever, allows for a full range of cutting edge graphic effects, from spectacular lighting to highly detailed character models. The engine also allows designers to create breath-taking outdoor areas from magnificent mountain ranges to sprawling cities.
“In researching all the available 3D Engine technology out there, we were very impressed with both the support and advanced feature set of the LithTech engine. It is an engine that will definitely help Black Isle create the incredible worlds we are known for,” said Feargus Urquhart, Division director for Black Isle Studios. [19:33 CET by cosmo]
While fooling around over at Mortyr.Net, I spotted that The Mortyr Editing Site has posted the first Mortyr Skin Editor, sent in by master programmer Sebastian at Mirage. I just tested it, looks cool. [19:24 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Raven's Eric Biessman has whipped up the latest edition of his Soldier of Fortune designer diary to SoFCenter, discussing the release of the SoF demo. [19:22 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
As fas as I remember, version 1.0 was suposed to be the last one, but Rich can't just stop helping the community, can he? A new version 1.4 of the JumBot AI playmate for Half-Life is now available, offering some minur changes and fixes. [18:47 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Unreal Center has posted an interview with Human Head's programmer monkey, Chris Rhinehart. Thanks Revolver. The chatting is about lots of things, but mainly regarding his work on RUNE, an upcoming Viking title. [18:12 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Smurfed site reports that Gold Creek Technology has officially announced a new RPG-game to be based on the Unreal-engine, Second Genesis. Since we are suffering from some front-page quotes, here's some saucy lovin' from the press release: Second Genesis is a science-fiction adventure game that transports players to alien worlds populated with many different races and cultures. Taking on the role of a mercenary soldier, fighter, pimp, or even a good Samaritan, players embark on quests while exploring environments and flying through space. Gamers learn and execute a variety of martial art offensive and defensive techniques in addition to traditional weapons use while controlling a dynamic inventory and weapons system. As the player progresses through the single player game, they will encounter several gladiator or arena matches for multiplayer action. [18:08 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
XSReality now has all the demos from their Quake III Arena tournament available for download. [18:06 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
There's a new preview of Bungie's upcoming title, HALO, up on GamersCentral. Speaking of previews, pc-ign's Evolva preview has got a third facelift with the impressions of the mnost recent beta. Then, GameSpots's extensive Thief 2: The Metal Age preview is up, offering a lot of information on Looking Glass' title. [18:02 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
The Stomped site reports that the Reload Be Gone homepage has a new version 1.1 of this Quake III Arena modification - which increases the firing rate of the weapons in the game. [18:00 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
3D Palette has slapped up an image by Pascal Blanche that is based on John Mueller's famous Visor picture. It's a sweet piece of Quake III Arena concept art - called Mr. Bunny "lapinou". [17:57 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Joseph let us know that the Clan Central database has returned, providing clan members with the ability to search and find other clan information. [17:56 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Ragnarok has posted a new and exclusive 29MB AVI-movie, showing off some gameplay scenes from this upcoming Viking title. Word is that it's a "pre-alpha look", taken from the latest build that is "about 75% complete at this point, so the final game will be much more polished than the footage seen here". Some of the footage is slowed down a little to show off the animation in super cool slow motion. [17:31 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Robert Duffy at id Software mad an update to his .plan file, with some details on the upcoming new Quake III Arena point release. Here's the poop, ganked from PlanetSmurf: The point release is still in progress. We are addressing several things, among them auto downloading, mod support, cheating, and a few other things. It is moving into testing now and should be done "soon".
One area that we are working hard to improve on is releasing things for all three platforms at the same time. As we have still not released the final point releases for the Macintosh or Linux based systems, the new point release will be available in all three flavors at the same time. [17:17 CET by cosmo - Post a Comment]
Here's a short list of some of the interviews posted recently:
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