Archived News:
The Official QuArK Homepage has the
version 5.9 of the Quake Army Knife editor, which seems to be a non-beta version. Thanks
Fist. To find the new release, go to Armin's news page, rather than the downloads page.
AVault has published a story about the lawsuit being brought by the parents
of victims in the 1997 Kentucky high school tragedy ( see story), featuring court documents
they've obtained that shed some light on what companies are being mentioned.
Here's an excerpt:
According to court documents obtained by the Adrenaline Vault, the defendants
include Apogee Software, id Software, GT Interactive, Sega of America, Atari
Corporation, Acclaim Entertainment, Interplay Productions, Midway Home Entertainment,
Nintendo of America, Activision, Sony Computer Entertainment, Capcom Entertainment,
Eidos Interactive and Squaresoft. The complaint contends these companies produced
and supplied games that made the violence “pleasurable and attractive” and disconnected
the savageness from natural consequences. In addition, the plaintiffs claim
the games taught Carneal to point and shoot in a fashion that made him an “extraordinarily
effective killer.”
I contacted id Software's Todd Hollenshead for a clarification, and he did
tell me that they have not been served with a lawsuit as of yet, but
mentioned that if that happens he won't be able to speak about pending litigation.
We'll keep you updated as this develops...
A handful of interviews for your enjoyment this evening...first up, Computer
Gaming Review has a quick Q&A with Rick Overman, director and lead programmer
on Dynamix's other Starsiege title, the well-named...well, Starsiege.
The Q&A deals with the status of the first Starsiege patch, which according
to Rick will be released sometime in about a week, assuming it clears QA on
time. If you're into Wing Commander, swing by WCNews
for their latest Chris Roberts interview in Real Audio format. It's a bit on
the large size (a big ol' 8 meg!) but it deals with Roberts' new game Starlancer,
as well as the Wing Commander movie. Lastly, GuruTech has a quick Q&A with George Broussard of 3DRealms regarding their recent announcement that they won't be showing anything at E3 this year ( see story).
Bioware's David Chan e-mailed us regarding
the multiplayer (or lack thereof) in MDK2, in response to the feeling conveyed
in the now pulled GA-Source Q&A ( see story):
Just to let you know that "MDK2" does not lack multiplayer.
Saying a game "lacks multiplayer" implies that a game isn't whole
unless it supports it. MDK2 was never intended to be multiplayer and that stance
has not changed from day one. The focus is to make a cool single player game.
I understand that the gaming community, especially the Quake fans, all think
that single player only is a death sentence. I would have to disagree. Half-Life
and Thief are perfect examples of really solid single player games. If Half
Life didn't have multiplayer I wouldn't have missed truth be told.
Don't get me wrong, I love multiplayer games, that's why I worked for 2 years
putting on Fragapalooza here in Canada. I think that it is important to realize
that there are distinctions between the categories and that is a good thing
for all gamers. I am really looking forward to Q3 so I can kick some office
butt :)
This of course, comes as no suprise to any MDK fans, who will recall that the
original MDK was a single player title from day-one as well.
A bunch of screenshots for you on this Monday afternoon... Insomnia
Software has updated their site with some new (pre-alpha) images from Decay,
their freaky-realistic first person shooter (thanks Rasgueado). Also, Derek
Smart has posted some new shots from Battlecruiser 3020 AD over on the BC3K
page, complete with the first ever shot of the redesigned interface. If you're not sick of screenshots yet, swing by GameSpot UK for a new System Shock 2 gallery, featuring new screens from Looking Glass' new title.
According to this Yahoo!
news bit, the parents of three students killed in a Kentucky high school
shooting spree by a 14 year old freshman are possibly naming id amongst the responsible
parties in this horrible incident. Here's the scoop:
The parents today announced their intent to file a $130 million lawsuit
against two Internet porn sites, several computer game companies and the makers
and distributors of the 1995 Leonardo DiCaprio film "The Basketball Diaries."
The suit will be filed in U.S. District Court later today, lawyers said.
"We intend to hurt Hollywood. We intend to hurt the video game industry. We
intend to hurt sex porn sites" on the Internet, said Jack Thompson, one of
the parents' lawyers.
The lawsuit claims that confessed shooter Michael Carneal, a 14-year-old freshman
at Heath High School at the time of the Dec. 1, 1997, shootings, was influenced
by the violence in "The Basketball Diaries" and by several violent computer
games such as "Doom," "Quake," and "Mortal Combat."
As promised, the fine folks at Pair were able to help us with the corrupted database this
morning, so the BlueTracker
is back online bringing you the best laid .plans of mice and men (though hopefully with
the DB problems fixed, they won't so oft go awry).
GamesZone previews Mortyr with a German language preview of Interactive Magic's upcoming World War II shooter (literal translations, as always, available through AltaVista).
The piece contains screenshots, including the first shots I've seen of what combat looks like when you return from the past to your own time (in the game) of 2093.
More multilingual madness, as Pa-Hom.Com
interviews Todd Hollenshead (in English) talking to the id Software CEO in a Q&A
which has also been translated into
Spanish.
Daikatana HeadQuarters has posted an
interview with Justin "Logic" Randall, talking to the ION Storm programmer about
his work on Daikatana.
Interview mania continues, as the MDK2 Q&A on
GA-Source talks with Greg Zeschuk, president and joint-CEO of BioWare Corp., about the
planned lack of multi-player support for MDK2. Update: this story has been removed from GA-Source.
It's a new week, and a new issue of loonygames.
Here's the rundown of what's appearing throughout the week:
- Totally Tribal: Jason "loonyboi" Bergman sits down with Mark
Frohmayer for this talk about all things Tribes. Featuring bits about Tribes
2, what the singleplayer version of Tribes would have been like, why there
aren't any AI driven bots, and more! [Monday]
- Pixel Obscura: Josh Vasquez checks out StarCraft: Brood War! [Tuesday]
Also look for Jason "loonyboi" Bergman's look at StarCraft in The
Bargain Bin! [Thursday]
- From the Mouth of Madness: Photoshop for webmasters...part deux! [Monday]
- User Friendly: Continuing this week, the ever popular Star Wars parody!
[DAILY!]
- PLUS: A pair of Penny Arcades [Wednesday, Friday], Code on the Cob [Wednesday],
Pad Happy does Silent Hill [Thursday], do it yourself space scenes in Painting
on Polygons [Wednesday] and lots more! And then some more, because we just
cough up content, baby.
According to this
article on ZDNET, the long awaited BeOS version 4.1 has been cancelled (aww...)
in favor of version 4.5 which will be released in June. One of the features
BeOS fans have been waiting desperately for is hardware accelerated OpenGL,
which has been holding back any major game development on the platform. To reassure
BeOS users, the article also says, "in addition, a Be version of Quake
2 will ship shortly after its release." Also, Reid sends along word that BeQuake 2 is being demonstrated at the BeDeveloper Conference, as mentioned in this BeNews story.
This week's editorial on GameSlice covers a few bases, offering a new screenshot of Sven Technology's Multi-Resolution Geometry, the new modeling tech being used in Duke Nukem Forever. There is also the revelation there that Duke Forever and Prey will both be no-shows at this year's E3 (May, in Los Angeles), as part of what the article describes as a movement away from programming demos specifically for shows like E3. Here's a quote:
However there is starting to be a backlash against the need for an "E3
demo" for well established game franchises. Take, for example, the fact that both
Duke Nukem Forever and Prey from 3D Realms will be no where on the show floor. And
they won't be in a back room or on videotape either. 3D Realms' made the decision to forgo
the madness of E3 a few weeks ago. Although this news will surely cause speculation about
the current status of these projects,it exemplifies the latest thinking on trade shows:
Only show something unless it's just about to ship or going to blow everyone away.
There's a TRIBES Weapon Skinning
article up on PlanetStarSiege giving the
skinny on how to skin weapons in the game with new textures.
10 Questions With SamHell interviews Don "OneThumb" MacAskill talking to Ritual's digitally impaired one about work and play.
Morning bits that don't byte: Beyond
3D 22 bits color Follow-Up Part 2 has more on this 22-bit rendering dealie of 3dfx'.
Also, "So hart, jeder Zahnarztbohrer würde an uns verzweifeln!" declares the
new German language version of HardOCP. To
segue, the original HardOCP (and perhaps the
translation already, as well), also has word on a program they've posted that allows
software control over the clock speed of ASUS P2 mobos, similar to ABit's SoftMenu dealie.
Finally, I see on VE there are Voodoo 3 2000
overclocking results on Blitz3D.
Fishman's DM Mod is a server side only Quake II modification featuring an off-hand (Lithium II-style) grappling hook, a flashlight, sunshine, laser-mines, as well as new grenades and
a new hyper-blaster. Available on Fishman's
DM page (the Spanish language page has 10 screenshots).
QFL Home Page has the release of their King of
the Server mod, a server-only Quake II enhancement that "adds an RPG feeling to Quake
II." To play this mod you must create a password upon joining the server so your
persistent information can be retrieved when you re-join.
The Rogues' Gallery is a repository for Quake II players unaffiliated with clans to find competitions. Speaking of rogues galleries, also, as promised yesterday, here's today's identify the photo contest:
Think you know? Send your guess to contest@bluesnews.com,
and a random entry from the correct guesses will even win a prize (unnamed to avoid giving hints). We'll stop accepting entries at Midnight EDT Friday night/Saturday morning. No purchase necessary, void anywhere it will cause a hassle.
- Diet Tips of Programming
Stars is a humor piece in National Game Review offering theoretical health food tips from id's John Carmack (pork rinds and cheese), ION's John Romero ("two words: Corn Nuts"), and even Mario's papa Shigeru Miyamoto ("the 'Monster Burger' combo from Hardee's"). Thanks batou.
("Coming Soon! Sex Tips from Top Programmers!")...
- Another short Half-Life story has been added to the collection on Twisted Half-Life...
- Holy Cacodemons Batman! The Doom engine lives on in the
Batman Doom 32 level TC featuring the caped crusader (thanks da prowsta), and Billy at
Voodoo Extreme points out that Kokak's Heretic Page has a
new version 0.08 of GLHeretic...
Thanks Casey "a guy" Barton for sending along some JavaScript code a while back (loony inspired me to check it out yesterday) that clears the "search!" box when you click in the box, and puts it back if you click outside it when it's empty. Neat stuff, I'm hopeful it won't cause any problems on anyone's browsers (JavaScript isn't supposed to, but we've already experienced otherwise here in the past). Fixing the BlueTracker has
been waiting on Monday morning to get someone at our host to look at a database for us, hopefully the end is in sight for this glitch. Speaking of glitches, about the last known
Blammo bugs have been squashed, fixing some remaining cosmetic problems (no more
"0"s padding single digit dates or the AM hours, and the midnight hour now
displays as "12" instead of "00"), so if any things like that remain,
please pass along word, since I am not aware of them.
Link of the Day: Miroslav Satan is a player for the
Buffalo Sabres. As Matthew Rorie pointed out when he sent this along, "I would think
the lord of the underworld would average at least a point a game." Proving someone
with a sense of humor/irony is paying attention over at CNN-SI, Mr. Satan's URL in the database is
indeed .../hockey/nhl/players/666/ (cue Twilight Zone music).
Yep, it's Mailbag time again. In this week's thrill-packed installment: more
on Sin, an open letter to GT Interactive, Requiem: Avenging Angel, Daikatana,
John Carmack vs.Y2K, and of course, more. Hop on over to the April
11th edition of the Mailbag, and remember: I didn't make a single one of
these up. Seriously!
There is a Voodoo 3
Possible Fixes thread on the Starsiege
Players Forums offering fixes for V3 owners playing Dynamix' new giant robot game.
Thanks Apache at Computer Gaming Review.
Team Evolve's Red Odyssey page
now has a version 1.1 patch for this add-on pack for Battlezone. The patch would seem to
be mostly bug-fixes, as the page simply says it is a "patch to fix some issues that
were noticed after the product shipped."
Eidos Eyes Bigger
Stake in ION Storm is the headline of a GameSpot
story with the rumor that "Eidos is negotiating for a 51-percent ownership position
in the Dallas-based developer." Thanks Flamethower.
Here's a bit more on the implications of such a move according to GameSpot:
The source also said that if the investment is completed, changes affecting
top-level management at ION were also likely.
When asked for a comment, ION Storm CEO Todd Porter denied that Eidos was making such an
investment.
Valve is offering a reward to one lucky member of the Half-Life primary server program.
Here's the announcement sent along by Jenni (which I should have posted yesterday):
In an effort to thank those who joined Half-Life's Primary Server Program (PSP),
Sierra Studios and Valve will be giving away a free trip to Valve to one lucky PSP member.
To be selected, these members must be registered participants of the PSP and have their
server up and running this Saturday. The 100 chosen at random will be sent a Team Fortress
Classic T-shirt. Then next Saturday, April 17, Sierra Studios and Valve will check these
servers again and select one of the hosts at random to come to Kirkland, WA and spend the
day at Valve.
Those who are not currently enrolled but would like to participate must complete the short
questionnaire and download the server software from CNET's Gamecenter.com.
Some afternoon hardware bits for your reading pleasure: There's a PowerVR 250 article on Kert's page
talking about the difference between the PVR's tile-based rendering and more conventional
polygon-based graphics processors. Thanks Billy at Voodoo
Extreme. Also, from VE, FullOn3D
Hardware's Matrox interview talking to Dan Wood about the G400. Computers R Us' updated
chipset guide looks at the current stable of chipset selections. Finally, Ars-Technica mentioned that Intel Unveils Processor Road Map
At WinHEC offering an actual CPU roadmap released by the big I. Thanks Shugashack.
There's an RBR
Update on GA-Source where they asked Randy Pitchford about the status of the folks who
once staffed the now-defunct Rebel Boat Rocker. His reply reveals the news that they
have more-or-less remained together, forming a new company called Gearbox Software:
Most of the RBR content team stayed together. We've re-organized and
reincorporated as Gearbox Software.
We're working on a new very exciting project that will be publically announced in just a
couple of weeks.
There's a very large Q&A on PlanetBlood with
Monolith CEO Jason Hall (thanks Billy at VE).
The folks at P.B. have taken issue over the current state of the game, and ask some very
direct questions about Blood2's future, starting off with this strong intro: "Okay
Jason, I think we've tolerated this enough now. This is a list of issues we have with your
game..."
The Quake Movie Library is announcing the winners of their Quake Oscars today in an IRC session in Undernet #qmovies at 8:00 PM GMT. Everyone's welcome! Black tie optional.
Version 1.1 of the Gaz Mod, is
out (hours after the release of version 1.0) offering a gateway program that will connect multiple Quake II servers. The mod is a server-side .dll that lets the server admin create 'special' teleporters in a map that transport players to a new server when activated.
A new beta 5 release of Terror Quake2, a
Quake II mod that adds many real-life effects and weapons, as well as terror to the game,
is now available. There is also now a new online Terror
Quake2 manual.
The Console Stats Homepage has version 1.1 of the
Console Stats 2.1 preview, the latest release of this Quake II demo/log file analyzer
offering improved HTML output, and new stats to report.
Hardware for your weekend! Not even a Sunday morning can stop all the hardware bits
running down the wire, here are a couple of morning bits: Anandtech's Super7 3D
Video Accelerator Comparison is up offering a look at the state-of-the-art in 3D
accelerators when running on non-state-of-the-art Super 7 motherboards. Thanks
Pyscho_Clown at 3DNow.net. Also, Sharky Extreme's Memory Guide
Part 2 is up offering a look at the performance of whatchamacallit, memory. Finally, An In-depth Look at A3D 2.0 with Heretic2
EP is an article that looks at Aureal's A3D 2.0 sound API using the audio in Heretic
II as a test-bed.
The update yesterday about the .mp3 dealies ( story), mentions "a limited time $50 mail-in rebate offer to
customers who purchase the original Rio PMP300 between April 12 and July 5, 1999,"
but I jumped the gun a bit, since word on that hasn't been posted there yet, I'll mention
it again when it is. Whoops, also I called the werewolf interview a vampire interview
yesterday (you can't tell the monsters in upcoming action/RPG's without a scorecard!) in
the headline yesterday. Also, Hexagon at Ritualistic
says that the ReDeMpTiOn SiNbot has
been using the 1.03 source for some time, yesterday's new release wasn't the debut of that
feature.
- TFC vs. G.I. Joe (as the page declares,
"no, it's not a MOD!") offers a comparison between the classes in TeamFortress
Classic and the post-Vietnam era GI Joe figures (the 6-8" versions, not the
foot-longs of my youth). Some of the similarities here are startling. Thanks Twisted
Cowboy...
- The second edition of Datumplane::Starsiege's
Ask Prometheus column is up, acting as a "Dear Abby for TRIBES"...
- AMD Zone interviews Hap
talking to the man behind Future vs. Fantasy about this cult-favorite Quake mod,
discussing development of the upcoming new version using the Genesis3D engine...
Response has been strong to the newly revived LAN Parties
section, if you have an event to add, be sure to head on over, or, of course, if you are
looking to attend an event in your area, there are already a bunch of listings. Next up is
the Want Ads, which will be similarly automated so it's always up-to-the-minute fresh.
Rocking right along, I have a guess who's in the photo contest to put up just for fun
(well, there'll be a prize, too), look for that tomorrow.
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