Archived News:
The Interstate '82 intro
movie has been posted on GameSpot (thanks Auto Combat). This AVI is the "opening credit
sequence from Interstate '82 which reveals its main characters (including Taurus and
Groove from I'76), and offers a taste of the synth tunes you'll hear in the game. Note
this movie contains no real gameplay footage."
I just posted a new and improved Blue's News Mouse Resource Page with updated links. Seems the GamesNet FTP server that's been so kindly hosting the related files has gone away, so I apologize if you've had trouble with those downloads in the past few days. Also the full disk drive
we experienced here this afternoon caused a small BlueTracker spasm: it's back on line, but a couple of .plans that haven't been updated have shown up as new, including John Carmack's and Jason Hall's. Sorry about the confusion.
The qED3 Homepage has a new
version 3.0 update for this level editor for Quake engine games, which adds support for
Half-Life editing. The update will only work on version 2.0 or later, and will not patch
qED1. Thanks unitool [cM].
Updated. A new Diablo II movie is out, with a first look at the new
Paladin character in action (thanks DiabloII.net).
The 19 MB download is available locally, as well as from Blizzard's FTP server, so swing
by our download
page to get it. We're working out a couple of glitches on the FTP server, but as soon
as they're fixed we should have local copies of some other recent files up ASAP. Update:
One of the files we're having trouble uploading is now available elsewhere, as PCBlitZ.com has posted a new move from Acclaim showing
off gameplay from their upcoming third-person Voodoo extravaganza, Shadow Man, in both
large and small varieties.
Phoebus sends word that Raven is offering Soldier of Fortune T-Shirts for sale for a limited time, if you want a memento of this upcoming game like the ones to be distributed
at E3. Details on this limited time offer are up on Soldier-of-Fortune.com.
GuruTech interviews Greg MacMartin,
lead designer on Amen, Cavedog's upcoming first-person shooter.
The Tucows Network has a new build 1701 of beta 2.15
of ICQ 99a. Thanks Michael Work.
id Software's Graeme "Zaphod" Devine updated his .plan with word on the release of the test version of Quake
III Arena, which he says is "getting closer." Here's the word (ooh, more pop
culture: The Matrix... I'm unstoppable!):
We're getting closer to releasing the test version of Quake 3 Arena. It's worth
going over our expectations from the test vs. the world's expectations from the test. I
appreciate all the voice mails, faxes, and emails with suggestions, death threats, and
comments, and I do read each and every one of them. I try to respond to a lot of them, but
obviously I can't respond to them all.
At this point, we still have no release date on the test. We're testing builds here and at
Activision and continuing to go through cycles. As soon as feedback from both internal
testing and our testers at Activision dies down, we'll be ready, but while this is
providing heavy reports, as it still is today, we're still not ready to come out with the
public test.
There will be two maps in the test; these maps will also be in the final product. The
feedback we're looking for is specific to the technology in the test. We're pretty happy
with the design, and feedback on things like weapon switch times, models, gibs, and so
forth are not things we'll pay as much attention to as real issues with the technology.
We're looking closely at modem, ISDN, and cable play to see how our new network code
works, and how that works when a bunch of different connections are playing together on
the same server. We're anxious to gauge server load and use with the maps we have to see
how the server works under heavy use, and to make sure we've got a lot of the new
client/server communication working reliably and securely.
That said, we do and will watch you play, read the message boards, and try to gauge
feedback. But the main thing to remember is that this is a test technology build, not a
demo, there will be a demo, we plan on a demo, but this is a test. A lot of you will want
to wait on the demo rather than playing the test.
The test will be on all three platforms, Mac, Linux and Win32. We're still working on
minimum and recommended specs. There are no bots in the test. We do plan on revving the
test once it's out at regular intervals to get fixes out there.
There is no spoon.
A new version 0.94 of the TRIBES Administrator program is up on Tribes.de. This is a GUI Telnet program for
Starsiege Tribes to allow easy remote administration of a server. New features are BanList
editing, a Mission/Map editor (change the map with only one click), and more, and the new
release also clears up some bugs.
GameSpot
UK has a news bit on that new Tomb Raider freebie that's coming soon, including
their announcement that they'll have an exclusive one-level demo available for
download on April 22. For those Lara fans out there who aren't satisfied with
the free add-on or her upcoming commercial debut ( see
story), you'll be pleased to know that wheels are turning on that much talked
about, and even more delayed Tomb Raider movie. Here's the news, care of Dark
Horizons:
At last, things are moving on the film adaption of one of the decades
most famous computer games. Variety reports that Paramount has put the adenture
flick on the fast track, with plans to make it their big film release during
Summer 2000. Paramount won the rights to turn the project into a feature film
last year, with various writers developing scripts - none of which have caught
their eye, till now. Scribe Steven de Souza ("Street Fighter") submitted
a draft which Paramount snapped up right away and has deemed it ready for development,
with Director Stephen Herek ("Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure",
"Mr. Holland's Opus") very likely to helm it. No word on who'll be
playing the buxom Lara Croft as yet, but you can bet when it is announced the
Net will go wild.
The Aliens vs. Predator Network has a bunch
of new images of the box art to AvP, showing off not one, not two, but six
different boxes. Looks like Fox Interactive's
trying to give Unreal a run for its money here...I shudder to think of how many
boxes SegaSoft's 10six is going to end up
with. :)
Marcus Whitlock updated his .plan with some more skinny on Raven's upcoming Soldier
of Fortune:
Yummy Soldier Of Fortune stuff
Yikes... a whopping two months since my last update... still working on stuff for Soldier
Of Fortune. Just about finished porting the weapon and inventory system across into the
player.dll so that all the player view-weapon animations and sequences (fire, reload,
muzzle flashes etc. Hmm... the whole dang shop actually!) are predicted and animate much,
much nicer under laggy net conditions than the original Quake2 player view-weapons.
Course, all this stuff will be customizable, being in a separate dll and all that. Muchos
kudos to Gil for creating Ghoul!
Also decided I'm going to stay with Raven... after condiering everything... this had to be
the coolest place in the world to work... [at least for normal people like us anyway, i.e.
those of us who aren't porn stars, rock stars or movie stars with babes and cash coming
out of the upholstery :)].
Beyond 3D's Heavy Gear II preview
offers a look ahead at this upcoming giant robot game from Activision offering a couple of
new screenshots and some commentary from the game's producer Dave Georgeson.
3DFiles.Com has posted a
new version of APK 3dFx Tuning Engine 2000++ adding full Voodoo III capabilities to this 3dfx tweak utility. HardOCP has posted some
results from playing around with (and of course overclocking) a TNT2, though it's warned this is not a production board. Also, on the Mp3 front, Microsoft
Internet Music Format To Challenge IBM talks of a new standard that will allow music downloads theoretically without piracy. There's a new version of Winamp that should pop up soon supporting this dealie. The IBM part of that story in reference to IBM Enlists RealNetworks In Online Music Race, which reports "IBM said on Monday it had enlisted online multimedia company RealNetworks to help its bid to create a universal standard for sending music over the Internet." Thanks Phil Pierotti. Also in the world of legal
battles, U.S. Court of Appeals Rules for AMD in Patent Dispute With Altera. Thanks GA-Source.
Finally, Voodoo Extreme has posted some news
on how Voodoo3 owners can beta test the new 3dfx OpenGL ICD:
In anticipation of our public release of an OpenGL ICD for the Voodoo3 family of
cards, 3dfx is allowing a small number of beta testers access to a beta ICD driver.
This beta ICD is for the sole purpose of evaluating our OpenGL functionality on
individual or corporate OpenGL programming projects. It is not available for
evaluation of public applications or games (as we're doing that testing ourselves at
3dfx.) The beta ICD made available will not include full performance enhancements as
this beta program is designed solely as a test of functionality.
To be considered for the 3dfx beta OpenGL ICD program, please send an email to
devprogram@3dfx.com with "Beta OpenGL ICD request" in the header. The
email must contain the following complete information:
1) Full contact information of the individual including email address, shipping address,
phone/fax, and company information if relevant.
2) Brief description of your OpenGL programming projects that you will be testing and
providing feedback on.
3) Version of Voodoo3 card that you will be testing with.
Valid requests for inclusion in the beta ICD program will be followed up with a 3dfx NDA
and beta ICD agreement. The beta ICD program participant must fax back and agree to
the terms of both the NDA and beta agreement prior to being sent the beta ICD
driver.
GameCenter
has premiered the Starsiege (vanilla, not Starsiege: TRIBES) demo in Gigex format, so it's an 87k download followed by a 52 meg download. Here are the details:
The demo features two single-player campaign missions along with four
training missions to get you up to speed. It also features a mission recorder,
full customization of the controls, and save-game options. Other features include
native Glide compatibility, shell audio, and OpenGL compatibility for RIVA TNT
cards.
There are half a dozen new SEED Screenshots
on GA-Source along with a short update on the status of this upcoming shooter from HumanSoft saying, while they are still seeking a publisher, beta testing should begin in August, and the game will be complete in October. Also, Andrea from Matrox sent over a
screenshot from Rage's upcoming Expendable, that shows a still shot of some impressive looking water using environmental bumpmapping. Here's the shot:
PlanetUnreal
has posted an interview with Travis Williams, the Executive Producer of ASC Games'
upcoming Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
The audio-oriented Redchurch.com has a new interview up with 3D Realms' Lee Jackson
talking about his work creating game music and sound effects.
Quantum3D
Introduces New Product Configurations Featuring Pentium III & Voodoo3 at ITEC `99
is the announcement on some new products based on 3dfx technology from Quantum3D that
include an integrated V3/Pentium III product and a line of Voodoo3 accelerators that will
be available through the Quantum3D web store. Thanks Sharky.
Epic's Tim Sweeney made an update to the Unreal Technology page talking of his positive impressions of running a Voodoo3 with the
Unreal 224 beta (there are problems running Unreal 220 on the V3). Thanks Apache at Computer Gaming Review. Tim also slips word in there of some sort of performance enhancement in the works (it seems unrelated to the Voodoo3 comments):
Unreal 224 performance is also being helped by some new lighting optimizations,
and a major new engine feature, which Erik de Neve (Unreal optimization and algorithmic
texture guru) has been working on. But I'm not allowed to talk about that since Mark
Rein is writing a press release about it now.
N64.IGN.COM's new Quake II 64 Preview
is up, offering a brand-new account from some hands-on time with this Nintendo 64 port of
the game, offering a whole load of shots along the way, including some showing off the
split screen deathmatch views, both for two and for four players (remember, no camping).
ION Storm's Bob White made a post to a Music and sound effects thread on the ION Storm BB talking about the music and sound effects in ION's upcoming Deus Ex (thanks again Apache). Here's the content of the two updates (woo, Blues
Brothers in the pop culture quiz!):
Music and sound effects are being spear headed by Stan Neuvo. Stan is a great
sound guy with an excellent ear for the job. He formerly worked with a lot of us at Origin
and we were pleased then and more so now with what he has given us for Deus Ex.
We plan to use both types of music in our games...Country and Western....
We are trying still to find the "right" music style for the game. Once we get
that nailed down we will probably look at whether it will be dynamic or not. Several of us
would like to see a heavy duty techno sound (something along the lines of Prodigy) Others
see some modern electronic as a good choice (something like Patrick O'Hearn does).
The sounds are realistic. We are getting effects from all over and trying to stay away
form canned effects. On the NYC streets you here the horns honking, traffic rushing by,
the squeals of the subway trains, barking dogs, crying babies, people yelling...basically
the whole gambit.
...
A quick adindum to my previous post on music in order to clarify something. The music will
have to carry the mood of the game and some of those listed probably wouldn't.
We want to make sure there there is ambient music to match the scene and mood. Maybe
something of an Asian flavor in Hong Kong. Something moody and dark in the gehttos of New
York.
The news of the parents v. game/porn/movie companies lawsuit ( story1, story2, story3)
inspired a flood of reader responses, and it seemed like a topic worthy of a special mid-week edition of the MailBag
entirely on the subject of the lawsuit.
Ars Technica's Behind
the Benchmarks looks at "SPEC, GFLOPS, MIPS et al" in a piece by their
resident CPU guru looking at what makes a good benchmark, what makes a bad benchmark, and
discusses the make-up of some of the more common benchmarks. SciTech, the medical school behind the famed
Display Doctor software, has announced: " QNX and BeOS Support Coming Soon." Thanks DemoNews. The Tweaks at Tweak3D have updated their Modem Tweaking Guide. Finally, Tech Zone's Poor Person's Upgrade turns
"an old P233 into a 458Mhz screamer. All for a net cost of just $200!"
The Assimilation page has a new
version 2.5 R2 of the Assimilation Quake II mod replacing the old version 2.5 R2 (trying
to figure out why they didn't increment the version, like resistance, is futile). The
update addresses crashing problems and should reduce lag for most players.
The Prospect Vector site has a new version 1.01 patch for the Tread level editor, which fixes a bug that caused Tread to crash when loading some model files.
- If you think the twisted folks over at Twisted Half-Life were going literature crazy (as opposed to literally crazy) before, then it's time their commitment got them committed, as they've posted the first four chapters of an unofficial Half-Life novel! The part completed so far represents about a quarter of the final dealie, and they heartily vouch for its quality (I haven't been able to read it yet, since I've been having trouble dragging it into the bathroom where such reading is conducted)...
- If your favorite site in the Critical Mass empire is down at the moment, it may be because of a hardware failure over there that has resulted in some lost data. Things should get back up to speed pretty quickly, though apparently some sites may seem a little musty as they reappear, since they're being restored from an older backup...
- All the results of the 1999 Quake Movie Oscars have been posted on The Quake Movie Library...
- Yesterday's User
Friendly asks, is Quake III Arena porn, and today's
cartoon follows the Q3A theme as well...
To finish off the odd subject of Buffalo Sabres hockey player Miroslav Satan's devilish name (last couple of Out of the Blues), several readers (ColdFire was the first) point out that: "In Islam, Satan is called Shaytan," so the pronunciation becomes an
even thinner veil, eh? Alright, it's all just in fun, but... entry 666 in three different hockey databases?
Link of the Day: The Illustrated Guide To
Breaking Your Computer. A follow-up to yesterday's LoD since a picture is worth a
thousand words. Thanks devilbunny.
Zombie's Spec Ops2: Green Berets
site is now online offering the official source of news and information about the
sequel to Spec Ops that's due fourth quarter this year. Thanks SpecOps.Org.
Starsiege TRIBES Players site
has the release of the development tools for Starsiege TRIBES on their Multimedia and Downloads
page. Thanks [Inq]Colosus. Here's the skinny on the release from the page:
TRIBES Tool Kit
Below is the link to download the TRIBES tool kit. Please be aware that this is a
non-supported release; in other words, we give you these tools "as is", use at
your own risk. This is by no means a required download, that is, this is not a patch. It's
a collection of tools and utilities that we used to create objects and missions for
TRIBES. If you aren't interested in creating your own missions, or customizing the
graphics in the game, don't bother downloading this. For a listing of the tools included
in this package, along with short descriptions of their functions, please examine the readme file
before downloading.
The ClanRing Mod Development site has a
new version 5.00 of the classic ClanRing CRMod++ for classic Quake. Thanks X-racer. The
new version adds even more features to assist the civil operation of a server, including
running commentary in observer modes, Autopause (matches can be automatically paused when
someone disconnects), and full ghost restoration when match is paused (weapons,
health, position, etc.).
Daikatana Nation posted a Q&A with John Romero
in their Sunday news talking a bit about Daikatana, mentioning that by using .mp3
compression for voices and music, the game would now be shipping on one CD. The Q&A
acknowledges the possible CPU impact of this, pointing out that MMX will help. Thanks GA-Source. Also, Planet Daikatana
interviews Mike 'Tarix' Montague about his work as "Programming Bitch-boy"
for Daikatana (hey, sometimes you have to lure the talent by offering fancy titles).
The Adrenaline Vault
News is reporting that "According to GT Interactive, news that it will cease its U.S. distribution operations is false" ( story).
The report goes on to say "Instead, the company has outsourced the day-to-day
mechanics of its distribution center, which means the people putting things in boxes are
no longer hired by GT; this part of the process has been turned over to a vendor."
A post on the Epic MegaBoard by Mark Rein gives word that the Unreal 224 patch is due sometime later this week (making the promise twice as intriguing as the more generic "in two weeks" that often means "when it's done"). Here's the quote spotted by Voodoo Extreme where Billy has also posted a new screenshot showing "Epic's Tim Sweeney, at work on Unreal Tournament" showing his programming tools in action. Here's the quote from Mark Rein on the release:
Chaostar--> Better D3D support won't be coming in time for 224 but it should
be coming at some point after that.
As Gavin found out, if you're using TNT, make sure you get the MOST RECENT DETONATOR
DRIVERS for the best possible performance. Gavin noticed this for the current version 220
D3D support but having the latest drivers will be even more important when 224 comes out
later this week.
Can Media
Make a Killer? is the name of an article on Wired news that covers the parents
vs. game/porn/movie companies lawsuit (thanks devilbunny). The article has quotes
from some baffled people in the industry, and adds Xatrix's
Redneck Rampage to the list of offending games (see story
1, story
2). The piece offers some reassurance, however:
Experts say that the suit will be thrown out of court. "This is a very
tough case to fight," said Eugene Volkoh, a law professor at the University
of California at Los Angeles. "It has virtually no chance."
The Starsiege
development status page was updated with details regarding the soon to be
released demo of this first person mech-er...HERC game:
The demo is finished and is almost ready for distribution. It should
be released sometime this week. The Demo consists of the four training missions
and the first two missions in the human campaign. It will be around 52 MB to
download. There will be no multiplayer in this demo.
Thanks Datumplane. If you're like me
and totally baffled as to what the heck a "Datumplane" is, by the
way, they've been kind enough to set
up a page for screwballs like us.
A new version (1.8) of the Gamer's Extreme
tournament mod is available, fixing the map rotation bug, as well as other
minor problems. The mod is server side only, and available in Win32 and Linux flavors.
4D Rulers' Gore site has been spiffed-up with a whole new look, and has a short update on the news page about the state of the deathmatch demo, which will not make the April 15 release they had hoped for:
We're putting in the final touches on the new web site, hope everyone likes it.
The AMP networking code is almost finished, so we can begin integrating Gore soon. We will
not make the April 15th release on the deathmatch test, but will give you an idea on how
its progressing: The maps are coming along good, the weapons models and skins are done,
it's just a matter of putting it all together and tuning it in for gameplay. The 24 bit
color OpenGL version is almost finished, so we can start delivering the eye candy soon:)
The Wheel of Time site has a new development update giving the status of this upcoming Unreal-engine game along with a new screenshot, which shows off the user-interface, which the update describes as "seems to be kicking in."
Computer
Games Online's Realistic Ops: The Sequel is a new article that declares "Once
more unto the breach dear friends!" the piece looks at several new and upcoming games
and add-ons with an emphasis on tactics: Rainbow Six: Eagle Watch, Spec Ops 2: The Green
Berets, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, TeamFortress2, Navy SEALs and more (as of
this writing, the article seems to trail off on the first page, however).
There's a Mortyr preview
on PC Paradox looking at this upcoming game that puts you in the role of Sebastian
Mortyr (somewhere between Thomas Magnum and Frank Cannon on the armament-name continuum)
who must do combat in World War II and in the year 2093 A.D.
Autocombat's Loose Cannon Preview
offers some new screenshots from Digital Anvil's upcoming car combat game. Also, there's a
Loose
Cannon preview on GameSpot UK with a brief
hands-on look at the game. Here's a quote on what's new and cool from GSUK:
Since we last spoke to lead designer Tony Zurovec, the team has been
concentrating on making the driving physics as realistic as possible, and developing the
12 countryside areas, and nine impeccably detailed cities. These now include
pedestrians, a working police force and realistic traffic. There are 15 customisable
vehicles, and you can steal other cars, repair and upgrade them yes, they do take
frequent and visible damage. As the screenshots show, it's coming on a treat.
Enough bits for a byte here: Sharky Extreme's NVIDIA roadmap asks: "TNT3 Ready?" in a piece that talks about the NV10, and speaking of SE and NVIDIA, Clockspeeds Clear as Mud is another Sharky Extreme article talking about the difficulty pinning down what speed the TNT2 will be running at when it debuts at
retail. Tweak3D's Hard Drive Tweak Guide
has been updated. Gamer's Depot's
Voodoo3 - TNT2 First Look is up. Finally, Intel and AMD Slash Prices
is a GameCenter piece
reprinting a news.com article on CPU price cuts.
The Q2Admin Workbench has version 1.1 of this Quake II mod that adds extra administration features to any other mod. Some of Q2Admin's features are Z-Bot detection (multiple ways to detect users including commonly
hacked Z-Bots), advanced banning (IP and nick), including exclude and include banning, sub-net user limiting, passwords on nicks, etc., advanced logging, and more.
Have you entered our name the two guys in
this picture contest yet? (Who says all the creative ideas for contests are taken?)
Remember there is an actual prize, but it's all for fun... please, no wagering ![=]](/miscimages/smiley4.gif)
- Do geeks need
to go to college is a Salon Technology
article spotted on Slashdot that discusses the
oft-debated question of whether a degree is an asset in the world of high tech. As
loonyboi points out, you need a Religion degree to join the editorial staff at Blue's News
(well, at least we're one for one so far)...
- The XingMP3 Player is now available,
from the folks that have brought so many other similar xings in the past. Also, Creative cranks up MP3
player announces the Nomad, Creative Labs' entry into the porta-mp3 player market that
comes in 32 MB and 64 MB versions...
- The Flagship is now online to
"(serve) the Quake2 Capture the Flag community by offering a broad selection of
resources under one banner," with an interesting spaceship interface...
- Birdman's Lair, home of all things SpaceOrb
has a modified version of their Half-Life SpOrb patch that's been modified into three
different versions of TeamFortress Classic SpaceOrb patch...
John Cash dropped a line to point out his shock (which I share) that any discussion of geek diets could leave the John Cash Diet unmentioned (yesterday's etc.). Here is the JC diet, originally posted in his .plan on March 14, 1997. I can personally verify the results of this, but of course I (and I'm sure Cash) will take no responsibility for any future obesity, bypass operations and the
like resulting from following the diet.
Several readers were quick to point out that Miroslav Satan, the hockey player in yesterday's Link du Jour actually pronounces his name Shay-tan, clearly none of them familiar with Young Frankenstein, where I recall a similar deception (it's Frank-en-shteen!).
Andy Blender points out that in a startling turn of events, both The Sporting News Miroslav
Satan listing and ESPN's
Miroslav Satan listing both also use number 666. please excuse me now, I have to go
exorcise my hockey puck.
Link of the Day: Step By
Step - How to destroy your computer. Thanks James Boswell.
|
Twitter 
