Archived News:
The Half-Life FAQ version 4.10.1999 (hey, a Y2K compliant version number!) is now available, adding some new info, including stuff on
the newly released TeamFortress Classic.
As I mentioned earlier today, the LAN Parties and the Want Ads, a couple of my favorite
areas on the site here, have been in a state of neglect for some time, since a project has
been underway behind the scenes to automate the function of these two areas. I am pleased
to announce that the first of the two projects, the revived LAN Parties page is now online. You can add your own LAN
party through this page, which will email back a passworded personal URL that allows
you to confirm, modify, or delete the information for your event so it can always be
current. Because of this, we decided not to take the liberty of adding the parties from
the older HTML LAN parties page so that the maintainers of those parties can get properly
set up with their URLs when they enter their info. Props to Furn for a fine job in
programming the new page. Enjoy!
"To celebrate the positive resolution of System Shock 2's slipped release date debacle," The Adrenaline Vault News has posted a pair of new System Shock 2 screenshots. According to the resolution they mention, the game is still on track for a Summer release.
The ReDeMpTiOn SiNbot page has the
version 0.6 beta of this artificial intelligence playmate for Sin. Thanks fernando guerra.
The new release has been re-written with the Sin 1.03 source code release. Here's a list
of what's new:
- Changed bot accuracy formula again
- Added coloured highlight text for the centerprint
- Added b_arena CVAR [0/1] to make bots attack ONLY humans! This sets b_autoskill by
default too...
- Finally fixed bot bodies lying around in mid-air bug.
- Put node system back in. Navigation is not perfect yet, but we'll get there.
- Added ladder nodes
- Made level up message an external file (arcade)
- Taught bots to hunt enemies
- Camper hunting AI in place (30 second delay)
TribeNet Neutral Ground has opened, intended
to serve as a nonpartisan home for posting TRIBES challenges, as the name implies. Word is
TribeNet will provide a free message board for any squad that requests one.
Work continues apace on the automated LAN Parties section, which may go online later this
afternoon, which will be followed by the newly automated help wanted section. In the
meantime, here's a help-wanted that Monolith's Jason Hall posted in his .plan
(yeah a fix on the BlueTracker is still TBA, too):
Our director of product development (Chris Hewett) has asked me to put this in
my .plan file - so here it is unedited!
--Begin Quote--
---
IMPORTANT! Monolith is looking to fill 2 very important positions on our other currently
undisclosed mega-AAA title. We are ready to hire immediately!
The first position we are looking to fill immediately is the Art Director position. This
person needs to have strong illustration skills and should be familiar with 3D programs
(SoftImage or 3D Studio Max). The second position requires a highly skilled character
modeler/animator. If you think you can fill either position, then Monolith will do
everything in our power to make sure you are taken care of! For the Art Director position,
please send your resume and your best illustration samples that you have created to 3DJobs@lith.com. For the character modeler/animator
position, please send your resume and your best samples of human character models that you
have created to 3DJobs@lith.com.
------
- End of Quote -
PlanetBlood has posted a good sized Q&A with Monolith CEO Jason Hall about some issues they have with Blood II, asking about the status of the tools and source release, as well as a discussion about 'net play. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme. In the discussion Jason mentions the possibility that Monolith would offer "some limited support to a key mod group so that Blood 2 may live on and take some of the directions that various Bloodites would like it to take."
Pandemic Watch has posted a brand new screenshot from the upcoming BattleZone II that "shows an ISDF Walker lurking around a base on Pluto." Thanks again Billy.
Apparently the registration screen that kept coming and going on the PCZone Quake III Arena preview mentioned in this story the other day was an accident, and the intent was to keep
registration from interfering with the article. If you are one of the readers who hit the
back button when confronted with the registrations screen, here is a
link to the PCZone Q3A preview that should not revert to requesting a log in, since it
has a group login built in.
QuakeFiles.Com has got a dealie set up to notify folks by email when the q3atest becomes available, promising the word as soon as it's given, courtesy of their all knowing technological ways.
The Requiem cheats have returned to Requiem-HQ (they were posted, then pulled), giving up the goods on how to access god mode, all the weapons, and more. They plan on keeping the list up-to-date with new stuff as it's learned, and to annotate the list with notes where appropriate.
The Starsiege TRIBES
Scripting Documentation Index has been updated with more scripting documents with info
on modifying the game, adding sections titled: Group and Set,
Item, Math and
Vector, Miscellaneous,
Moveable,
Network, Team, and Vehicle,
leaving only the blanks for the Object, Player, and String not filled in. Thanks Trev.
PlanetUnreal has posted an interview
with Travis Williams, Executive Producer of Werewolf: The
Apocalypse, the upcoming Unreal-engine werewolf game.
GameSpot's Preview of Mechwarrior
3 is up looking at the entry in the upcoming giant robot wars (along with Starsiege
and Heavy Gear 2) from Zipper Interactive that the article contends "has the most at
stake."
A newsletter sent along by CTW says
their next edition will carry the news that GT Interactive will cease their US
distribution operations due to a "huge fourth quarter financial downturn." The
report quotes GT Interactive Europe Chairman Frank Herman saying, "As far as GT
Europe is concerned, there are no changes anticipated."
Prick up your ears (huh?), there are a few of these .mp3 stories: Strange Company has released The Strange Company mp3 decompressor, a utility to allow Quake II mod makers to distribute sound files in compressed
mp3 format that will automatically decompress into the mod's .pak file upon installation. This is the util behind their Nightfall movie's 22 MB install which decompressed to 140 MB.
More on Nightfall in the next story. Also on the .mp3 front, while we're at it, the new version 1.0 of the Mp3Spy dealie that finds streaming
audio content on the Internet is now available for your listening pleasure. Finally, Diamond has announced their Multimedia
Rio PMP300 Limited Edition, a 64 MB version of their portable .mp3 player that sports a new think the same as those who "think different" sort of design. They are also set to announce 32 MB upgrades for the Rio PMP300 as well as a limited time $50 mail-in rebate offer to customers who purchase the original Rio PMP300 between April 12 and July 5, 1999, expect word on that soon.
The previous story mentioned a new distribution of the Strange Company's Quake II movie, Eschaton:
Nightfall. This prompted me to re-download the second installment in this four part Eschaton series based in the
world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Pagan Publishing's Delta Green because I'd
had problems with the RAR compression they were using in previous attempts to run it. The
new distribution worked, and I have to say, that this is really wild stuff. The audio is a
bit muddy, and my American ears had trouble following all the British-accented dialog, but
the effort that went into this movie is evident throughout, with plot, sets, dialog, and
action all getting equal attention. It's a bit odd having this kind of movie be so dialog
heavy (you spend a lot of time looking at models talking without their lips moving), but
the couple of action sequences make it all worthwhile, with great looking hand-to-hand
combat, and a boss monster confrontation that outdoes many games.
Offering an add-on for an add-on, the AQDT
has released Action Quake: Espionage, code name AQ:E, a new add-on for the popular Action Quake2. AQ:E will allow you to create
your own scenarios and or use the included scenarios, CTB, ATL (Assassinate The Leader),
ETV (Escort the VIP), and more.
To the dismay of many Star Wars fans, I wrote Darth Moll in place of Darth Maul in yesterday's out of the Blue ramble, my apologies. My excuse is that I'm actually staying fairly insulated from most pre-release news on the movie, and can't recall seeing the name in print before (it's no "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit" but it's something). My apologies to the Darth and the entire empire. ("Apology accepted Captain Needa"). More apologies: BlueTracker is still borked (sorry).
True signs that the apocalypse (or something) is upon us: Lara Croft - Icon for the 90s
and now... The New Face of Lucozade.
Shane "Fishman" Sherman sends word that WorldCraft 2.1 is out, and
available for download over at GameDesign.net. You'll note that this version is only for Half-Life.
Here's a list of changes in the new version:
- Fixed crash when selecting large entities (the TFC entities for example)
after placing them in the map.
- Moved registry keys to be independent of Worldcraft 1.6, so now 2.1 can
coexist with 1.6.
- Added a new mouselook navigation system. Press 'z' to toggle it on/off.
ASDW keys work like in Half-Life. This system can be disabled from the 3D
options page and everything should work the old way.
- Streamlined memory allocation to be more economical.
- Fixed a crash when an entity in the game data file had a type "flags"
or "choices" variable and another variable of the same name but
with a different type. The only way to test this would be to add this error
to the FGD file.
- Added an autoupdate utility so that Worldcraft can be updated over the
internet.
- The old lights.rad has been renamed valve.rad. The new lights.rad contains
only one entry (for +0~WHITE). If you want the old lights.rad file, copy valve.rad
over light.rad.
He also points out a few caveats: this is a full install (so it's a beefy 8 meg download) and it'll overwrite your CmdSeq.wc, so back that up if you're installing on top of an older version (if you make Half-Life levels, that makes sense, i'm sure).
The QuakeCon homepage was updated with the news that the registration (originally scheduled for tonight) has been pushed back to next friday at 9:00 EST, due to hardware issues with the registration server.
Sony Loses First Round to Bleem is a GameSpot article announcing
that Sony was not awarded a restraining order this afternoon to hold back distribution of the upcoming Bleem PlayStation emulator ( previous story). Thanks Davos.
There is an English-language version of GameStone's
interview with Wesley Davis (the site is Russian), a conversation about Project V1,
Digital Platoon's upcoming Unreal-engine game. The piece is illustrated with a few new
screenshots.
2015's Tom Kudirka sends word that he's updated
his .plan with word of a day versus night trick you can try while playing their Sin add-on, Wages of Sin:
For those of you that didn't know this, a big part of the plot in Wages of Sin
changes depending on what YOU do. You will visit levels at different times of the day and
in a different order. You will see different cinematics, even the location of where the
hostage is held changes.
If you KILL Dr. Lansing, or leave the room before he gets a chance to talk to you (or if
you never find him) the order of levels is as follows:
- Warehouses will be visited in the daytime
- Shipyards will be visited in the daytime
- Ship will be visited in the daytime
- Nightclub will be visited at night
- Vacant Building will be visited at night
If you listen to Dr Lansing, the order of levels is as follows:
- Nightclub will be visited during the day
- Vacant Building will be visited during the day
- Warehouses will be visited at night
- Shipyards will be visited at night
- Ship will be visited at night
Whether you visit a location during the day or night will actually change the gameplay.
For instance visiting the Shipyards at night makes for a stealthier mission since there
are fewer workers at night than in the day, whereas visiting the Shipyards in the day
requires you to keep your gun holstered in order to prevent the workers from freaking out.
Check it out!
Ear On Games, the "game audio
reference," has an interview
up with Lee Jackson, the sound designer for Duke Nukem Forever, talking about his work
on the audio from 3D Realms' upcoming Unreal-engine game.
With Half-Life's emphasis on its story, which was written by noted cyber-punk author Marc Laidlaw, it's little surprise it has inspired others to take up the characters involved in the incident at the Black Mesa facility for stories of their own. In that vein,
there are four new stories posted on Twisted
Half-Life, three about Half-Life and one TeamFortress2 story (one, The Chaotic
Factor, is a nine chapter work in progress that has earned a 10/10 rating from their
crack staff). They are now ready to accept and distribute other story submissions.
Games Domain
Review's Slave Zero Interview offers a conversation with Accolade's Matt Powers talking about their upcoming
Slave Zero discussing the gameplay, game's "ecstasy engine," and its
development. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.
Business News from Wired News is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment will appear in a San Francisco courtroom this afternoon attempting to obtain injunctions against two software companies: First they are seeking a preliminary injunction preventing Connectix from selling the Virtual Game Station for Apple Power Mac G3 that emulates a PlayStation (on March 11, Sony was awarded a temporary order "preventing Connectix from using a specific piece of software to develop a Windows version of the emulator"). Second, in a separate action, Sony will try to get a temporary restraining order this afternoon against Bleem
that would prevent the release of the Bleem emulator (this Tuesday, Sony filed a lawsuit against Bleem, claiming infringement
of Sony's copyrights). Thanks JimmyPop (no relation to Iggy AFAIK) and, of course, Wired News for this story.
A bunch of bit-based stories for your viewing pleasure this afternoon. First
up is Viper
3D's comparison of Quake 2 benchmarks at 16 and 32-bit color, and then there's
Gamer's
Depot's comparative screenshots between a Voodoo 3 and a TNT2, both at 1600x1200,
with the V3 in 16-bit color and the TNT2 in 32-bit. Lastly is Beyond3D's article on 3DFX's 22-bit color, which explains how 3DFX manages 22-bit color from 16-bit input.
In a wacky sort of follow-up to yesterday's Q&A
with Graeme Devine, Computer Gaming Review
has posted a quick Q&A with Stephen Polge, master of all things AI at Epic
Games regarding the bots in Unreal Tournament. Here's a quick excerpt:
I've rewritten most of the bot AI for Unreal Tournament. I was only
able to spend a little over a week focused on the Unreal I bots (although they
also shared a good bit of their AI with the Unreal I monsters), while I've been
able to devote a substantial part of the last 10 months to the Unreal Tournament
bots. As a result, I've been able to really tweak and improve them in a lot
of areas. Their navigation is much more polished. They feel a lot more human,
in terms of how they make decisions about what to do, how they use weapons and
inventory items, how they hit or miss targets, and how they have different personalities.
Another significant improvement is their vastly improved team AI support. The
bots play the Unreal Tournament team games (Assault, Domination, and Capture
the Flag) very well. They work together and support each other, as well as changing
strategies based on the situation. Players can also give them orders on the
fly. The code is also designed so that mod authors will be easily able to extend
the AI support for new game types.
I never really enjoyed playing the reaper bots or the Unreal I bots, because
I was always too cognizant of their flaws, which really distracted me from the
game. I do really enjoy playing against the UT bots.
UnrealTournament.Net has posted some new
in-game screenshots from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament. The new images can be found in
the Weapons section under the Gallery link, and they show off the Ripper and the BioRifle.
GA-Source has
posted some Loose Cannon Screenshots showing off action from this upcoming car combat game from Microsoft and Digital Anvil.
This Italian-language Mortyr preview
offers a whole load of new shots from this upcoming World War II inspired shooter, as well
as the opportunity to brush up on your Italiano.
The MacGamers Ledge (don't jump!) has posted some benchmarks of Q3A Test running on a Mac and an ATI accelerator, along with
some comments from id's John Carmack about the new ATI drivers.
StormTroopers has word of tonight's monthly
chat with the Anachronox team. The chat starts at 8:00 PM CST in the ION Storm chat room,
accessible through the ION Storm web page
and clicking chat lobby, or via an IRC client via IRC server "www.ionstorm.com"
room #ion.
The MADHUD Home Page has a new version
of their cool HUD add-on for TRIBES that's compatible with the newly released version 0.93
of the feared Presto Pack for TRIBES.
A new version 0.13r007 of the Crystal Space 3D
Engine is out, offering a newer version of this free 3D engine after the 0.13r006 "disaster release," which suffered from some severe bugs. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.
The Adrenaline
Vault News has posted the news that Revenant's planned 3D action game Akolyte,
has been cancelled. Here's a bit of the announcement:
The Adrenaline Vault has learned that Revenant’s 3D action game Akolyte
has been cancelled. According to our source, the development team has separated after an
arrangement with a major publisher did not go through in the time the team wanted to have
a deal in place...
GameSpot has posted the latest Homeworld
Developer Diary, Beyond3D
has some new screenshots, and a clarification about the WON.net
beta has been posted to homeworld.org,
that explains that it is only to test the multiplayer, and that a forthcoming
(public) demo will show off the single player game as well. (Thanks to homeworld.org
for all those.)
The Aliens vs. Predator Network has posted
two screenshots from AvP's multiplayer game, and promises more sometime today.
My Trip to id Software is a
feature on Q3Arena.com offering a report on a visit to Mesquite to do some hands-on play-testing Quake III Arena (not by me: "My Trip..." is part of the title of the story).
General registration for QuakeCon '99 begins
tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern time.
Tweak3D interviews David Gallay of Nevolution who are working with Instant Access to create the forthcoming add-on for Shogo: Mobile Armor Division titled Shugotenshi. The interview discusses the story behind the mod and discusses its progress, offering several new screenshots along the way.
A bunch of new Holy Wars releases are up on the Holy Wars for Quake II page, including new
versions of Holy Wars for QuakeWorld, the Holy Wars FrogBot for Classic Quake and the Holy
Wars Solaris Server for Quake II.
A beta 5 (bugfix) version of Terror Quake2 is
now available, which fixes the "grunt" problem (of course bran can often help
with this, as well).
CrazyPete´s Toolbox has posted
Quake2Runner, revision 1, a simple Quake II launcher which can manage and launch several
mods. Crazy Pete's is also the home of the just-released Grissly Half-Life front-end ( story). I mention this because I failed to include the link in that
story at first, so that may help if you saw the story before it was added.
Vate Powell points out that by scheduling their NYC competitions on the weekend of the Star Wars Episode One release, it has become PGL versus Darth Maul. Bug update: We've now got both Furn and Webdog's Bagpuss tracking the blues being sung by the BlueTracker, so
I'm hopeful that will go away today (that's my roundabout way of saying it's still
broken). Happy birthday to ace Blue's News proofreader Wouter 'JinXter' Teeninga.
Link of the Day: Beat up the Backstreet Boys
(an earlier, funnier, effort from the same folks that brought the kill the Ham(p)sters
dealie).
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