Archived News:
Reports are coming in from all over the place with news that Doom is repeatedly
being mentioned on MSNBC when talking about
yesterday's Colorado School shooting ( see
our earlier story for the "proof" that the suspected shooters
were Doom players). Mike C wrote in saying that he heard one reporter say that
the kids may have thought they were playing a "real life game of Doom,"
while other reports have pointed out that in game footage was being shown. Also,
it has been brought to light that one of the alleged shooters ran, of all things,
a site on AOL devoted to Doom mods.
pc.ign.com has posted a
brand new demo from Descent 3 for your downloading pleasure. The 36 meg
download does feature multiplayer, for those itchin' to try it out. According
to the developers, "[the] Descent 3 Demo 2 is a one-level demo of Descent
3 that we've created to give everyone a taste of all the great stuff we've done
since we released the original Descent 3 Demo last year." So there you
have it.
Nihilistic's Steve "Gateway" Tietze updated his .plan
with word that he's posted some video footage taken from the recent Game Developer's
Conference in Real media format. The video shows off a number of different games,
a lot of various images from different booths at the show, and even has a glimpse
at a really wacky webmaster. Here's the scoop: Well I put some of my
Game Developer Conf video I took this year of the show online. I encoded it
with Real Player.. you will need the latest version of G2.
Its just some bits and pieces of the expo floor showing
off some games and hw.
I'm looking for mirrors to support the load on the servers I have right now.
I will keep these up for a day
or so so email me if you want to mirror it on your site as well.
I also have a 50 meg mpg of this if like better quality video :)
here are 2 mirrors for it right now..
http://lazy.accessus.net/~gateway/carp.ra
http://www.trebel.org/gateway/testVMHB.ra
Several readers have written in reporting having seen televised news reports showing the Doom logo on something visible through clear bags containing materials said to be related to the suspected shooters in the Colorado School shooting yesterday that left 15 dead. Now
u238|Malleus points out that the second picture under the It looks like a war zone headline on the School
cleared of bombs, investigators enter story on CNN Interactive does indeed show what appear to be a pair of books, each with the Doom logo
on the cover, in bags being removed from the home of Eric Harris, one of the alleged shooters in the tragedy. There is no word yet of what connection anyone is drawing between these materials and this case.
Two bit of editing news: Qoole.gamedesign.net
has posted a new set of entities for TeamFortress Classic editing with Qoole. Also,
Valve's Harry Teasley sends word of an IRC chat about Half-Life mod making tomorrow night
(April 22) at 5:00 PM Pacific Time, in #halflife.org on irc.gamesnet.net. Here's the
skinny:
"Half-Life MOD and Level Development Chat"
Talk to the developers of Half-Life and get answers to your questions on the SDK, and
building MODs. This chat is a great opportunity for serious developers to have all their
questions answered.
The kinds of questions appropriate for this chat:
- How does the MOD browser work?
- What's the difference between the standard and professional SDK?
- How does TFC replace the HUD graphics? - Can I sell my MOD?
- What is in the next update of Worldcraft?
GA-Source
interviews Randy Pitchford of Gearbox software about their upcoming Half-Life: Opposing Force. According to the Q&A, they are about 20% through the project, and they expect
it to be available in October.
QuakeCity Gaming Network interviews
Rob Gee talking to the Raven's Rob Gee about their upcoming Star Trek: Voyager game.
Computer Gaming Review has posted a short
Q&A with Dynamix programmer Rick Overman talking a bit about the new 1.002 patch,
what's down the road, and about progress on the editor.
Valve has created versions of their Teamfortress Classic Guides translated into English,
French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The new files are now available on Planetfortress.
Two bits about Half-Life this afternoon for you...first up is an interview
with Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford over on AVault about their new Half-Life
mission pack Opposing Force, which he says will be shown at E3. Also, ModCentral
posted this bit from Harry Teasley, regarding Valve's desire to show off HL
mods at E3: Sierra Studios would like to extend the opportunity to all mod teams
to showcase their Half-Life add-on at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the
gaming industry's largest trade show, this May 12th through 15th in Los Angeles,
CA. Sierra is looking for professional-quality mods of any type, so here's a
rare opportunity to display your skill and creativity before the entire computer
and video game industry.
Add-ons chosen for the show will be shown on the show floor on PCs specifically
designated for these demos and will be included on a special CD distributed
to the gaming press. This is an incredible opportunity for add-on teams to make
themselves known to the industry professionals. If you wish to be considered
for inclusion in the Sierra Studios E3 Half-Life presentation, send your mod
or ftp information to het3@valvesoftware.com no later than May 10, 1999.
Regards,
Harry Teasley
News and Pictures from the Raving Toy Maniac
already has news up about plans for Quake III Arena action figures from ReSaurus, as well as an update on the stat of the
Quake figures (thanks Steve Lawson). Here's the update:
The eternally busy gang at ReSaurus has just announced, via
their new ReSaurus Newsletter, that their next all-new series of Quake
figures will be based on the upcoming id
Software release Quake III: Arena!
There are four figures planned for the new series, including a new Male Marine named Sarge,
Slash, a female cyborg, the alien champion known as Klesk
(pictured, from the game) and Sleeg a heavily armored alien.
Subscribers to the ReSaurus Newsletter were given a special sneak peek at
the control art for the Klesk figure. Want to see it? All you have to do
is sign up for the Newsletter right here!
So, what about the figures based on the original Quake game announced at Toy
Fair? ReSaurus plans to release many of those items, including
the nearly completed Shambler, in the future (possibly as exclusives for
their in-progress Collectors Club). As always stayed tuned to the ReSaurus website, as well as right
here, for the latest news!
It's a Quake world, baby! Are you ready?
BTW, there's a specific request on the Q3A toy concept art described above that it is
not for republication, so you'll have to get the newsletter if you want it. Also, the ReSaurus Newswire has word of an
"upgrade" to their Quake II figures (though as far as I know no patch or point
release will be available for existing users). There will be changes to some existing
figures, adding some new features, and some cultural diversity: "Four brand new
characters will include Marine Viper - a solid African-American fighting machine; Female
Marine Lotus - a seductive, Asian warrior; an imposing Tank Commander; and an even
creepier Iron Maiden. All four figures feature "upgraded" heads, accessories and
paint schemes."
The bleem! site has word that the first CDs of this
PlayStation emulator for the PC have arrived and are ready to ship. Thanks McCheese (who
apparently lost his bid for re-election as Mayor). A comment on the site makes it sound
like there's a chapter in the Bleem (bleem!?) saga that's yet to be revealed: "we
don't have much time to explain the delay right now, but once we get your orders out the
door, we'll tell you the whole story ... and it's an ugly one!"
The Hive interviews
Gabe Newell talking to Valve's Managing Director about Half-Life and its follow-ups.
Here is a quote on the subject of the newly announced official add-on from GearBox:
Newell: We knew the guys at Gearbox. Doug Wood here at Valve
was actually one of the founders of Rebel Boat Rockers. Charlie Brown and Gary McTaggert
had been doing some consulting with RBR on Prax Wars shortly before coming to Valve. So we
had a lot of confidence in their team, and we were excited by the ideas they came up with
for creating a complementary experience for Half-Life.
Put down your crack pipe and hit the Frag Pipe, Nihilistic's Steve "Magicman"
Thoms updated his .plan
Can't wait for Quake3? Tired of midair railing 5 of your friends simultaneously?
Need something fresh and exciting to occupy the time between refreshing your ftp sites
checking for Q3:Arena? Well, I have the answer for ya...a brand spanking new Quake DM
level.
Ok, it's not exactly brand new, but it's new to Quake. My second level converted from
Quake2 to Quake, The Frag Pipe.
Get it here:
ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/levels/deathmatch/p-r/q1_q2dm3.zip
And, in case you haven't seen it, my first conversion to Quake, The Edge (released about 4
months ago), can be found in that same directory:
ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames2/levels/deathmatch/p-r/q1_q2dm1.zip
A new beta version 2.3a of QStat
the Quake server status program is now out. This program that can generate a live webpage
for a game server now offers complete Half-Life support (players and server rules),
Half-Life master server, TRIBES servers, TRIBES master servers, Shogo, Hex player colors,
Several new template variables, bug fixes and more.
Sloshy Software Inc. has a new version 2.39
of the QuickStart Eraser Bot wizard that fixes a few bugs in this front-end to this Quake
II bot.
- GameStats's
Spring Cleaning Contest offers you the chance to win a lot of the clutter from
someone's office, which include unclaimed prizes from previous contests.
- Icon Contest Amended: Here are the updated (as of yesterday) rules to
our IE5 Icon Contest: It turns out that the IE5 icon can be 32x32 under some circumstances
(blame loony for making me think my original 32x32 posting was wrong), so it causes a bit
of a change in our Icon contest. We'll award a prize for both the best 16x16 and the best
32x32 Icon. Also, it turns out the better format is .ico format (blame me for that one
-- I'll be sure to run the next contest through more rigorous quality assurance before
posting it). Thanks Red-Death for the clarification about the icons, as well as the
helpful link to WinFiles.com
Windows 95-98 Icon Editing Tools. Sorry about the messiness. I will convert any .bmps
we've already received to .ico files, and of course, anyone who wants to redo their own
and resubmit it is welcome. Entries go to contest@bluesnews.com.
Contradicting my comment yesterday, today was another late start. I had a trip to Dr. Drill yesterday, and, though it turns out I still have a wisdom tooth extraction in the near future, for the most part, this marks an end to the work we had set out to do, ending the over year-long saga of my choppers. While I thought that with loony in place to cover my absence yesterday I could get away with this trip without comment, it turns out the pain-killer thing knocked me out last night, so even this last trip goes on record, but I guess it's
only appropriate to share the news that this is over with those who have been subjected to my tales of dental woe all this time. If I had any idea this morning would have been impacted, I'd have had loony make this the first day he tried his loony hand at the morning update, certainly one of the ideas behind his presence is for just such an eventuality.
Link of the Day: Someone wrote asking why no links to one of
Levelord's favorites, Old Man Murray Game Reviews.
No, they're not very nice to Levelord, they're not very nice to a lot of people (including
me), but it's pretty damn funny stuff.
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