Archived News:
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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