Archived News:
Drakan.Net has word that an updated demo for Drakan:
Order of the Flame has been available via the Gigex download dealie since sometime last
week. The newer version of the demo fixes some bugs, and adds refined AI as well as
Arokh's lightning attack. The links provided there are Gigex for modem users
and Gigex for LAN users
behind a firewall, and Frans also sends word that the demo is available as a 60-some
MB download from 3D Action
Gamers' Archive's Drakan Order of the Flame page.
VampireCentral is the name of
a new site devoted exclusively to Nihilistic's Vampire - The Masquerade: Redemption.
To celebrate their grand opening, they've posted their
E3 Preview, complete with new screenshots.
Black & White Wire has posted a new
interview with Scawen Roberts, 3D programmer and animator on the upcoming 3D
"god game," Black & White.
Here are a few more previews for your Sunday afternoon enjoyment:
George Broussard posted to the 3DRealms message board, with a small bit on
Duke Forever (thanks JulianKC). Here's George's response to a complaint about
the lack of interactivity in Unreal, and the question as to how it would be
fixed in DNF: We've done so. DNF is the most interactive FPS game I've
ever seen as it stands right now. Some is done with meshes. Some with world
brushes. But we have god-like control over both and it leads to "emergent"
gameplay the likes of which you've never seen
That's a large part of what we spent our first 6 months doing with Unreal. Making
it more flexible dealing with interaction. The last 6 months have dealt with
character systems and interaction.
SSI Beta Test Central now has Prince
of Persia 3D listed as one of the games that they will be beta testing in the near future,
saying on the site "Beta Test scheduled for June or July." Thanks BetaNews. There's no word on how open the process will
be, or how many testers they plan on accepting, but there is a Beta Test Application if you are
interested in trying to participate.
A bunch of reviews and word on those daughterboards for the Monster Sound MX300:
Tweak3D's Half-Life Tweaks page has been
updated with new intelligence on getting best performance from Half-Life, adding a whole
load of information on running TeamFortress Classic, which was released since the last
version of the guide was published.
A big update to the Q3Test console commands list on Mad Dog CFG has been updated, as
has the Quake3Arena
Visual and Performance Tweak Guide, offering their best effort at providing support to
improve performance and tweak the visuals in Q3Test. They claim their Console doc is
"the most complete and up-to-date on the web."
The Quake 3 Center's Randamu mod is a new
Quake II mod that adds random item placement and a unique scoring method that rewards
"streaks" where a player gets a run of frags without dying. The plan is to
continue to refine the Quake II version of the mod, and when Quake III Arena is released,
to create a full Q3A version.
Kokak's Doom Page has
version 0.5 of Kokak's OpenGL port of the id Doom source code. Thanks Billy "ArchVile" Wilson. According to
the site, "For fast rendering, a 3D accelerated card is needed (OpenGL compatible).
It runs fine on a P200 with a voodoo1 3dfx card."
The Generations page details a
situation emerging that's put the future of this ambitious Quake II modification in doubt,
as id Software is apparently concerned that the mod's use of material from other id games
causes a copyright problem. Thanks iGore. This is all preliminary, but
the update on the page makes it clear they are concerned about their ability to continue
with the project, saying "id has yet to mention anything of foxing the project; it's
only a possibility at this point."
- The 4th Dimension Interactive site
has news that the cool-sounding "Crush Depth" mod for Quake II is nearing
completion, with an update on the site already giving word on plans for Crush Depth 2...
- Birdman's Lair has added SpaceOrb 360
configs for Requiem, Aliens vs. Predator, the Drakan demo, and (oldie but goodie)
Mysteries of the Sith for Jedi Knight. Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers...
- Dteam 3d Design Guild has a new utility up
to help create Q3ATest configs that requires Excel...
(Or: What happens when someone says "here, just use this HTML")
I've started getting reports of what seems to be a return of the glitch that causes the
news page to reload for some readers (actually I think the problem never went completely
away for some). I'm fairly positive it has something to do with the ad banner below that
uses an "iframe" to display it (which I'd be lying if I claimed I understood).
I'm going to look into this again, but if I can't figure it out I'm just going to kill the
offending banner, because something is clearly going wrong, and while I've never had the
reload glitch myself (I imagine it's something browser specific), I know I'd have no
patience for it if I did, especially if I was one of the few who are apparently
occasionally redirected to the page in the ad, which is just plain out of control (my
apologies if you are one of the readers so affected).
Link of the Day: The Original Joe Forman Micro-Gerbil
2001, from the same deranged mind that brought us the The Frog Bender 2000. Remember,
these are drawings... no actual animals we harmed in the making of these animations (to my
knowledge). Thanks Brian Thomas.
Version 1.02 of the GameStalker is now
available, adding more customization for the Windows version of this fast Quake II &
Q3ATest server browser, and offering the first release of a Linux version. They are still
looking for volunteers to run a Zero-ping Database
server (which is what GameStalker is built upon), email reverend@zero-ping.com if you are interested.
The official Mechwarrior 3 Home is now live,
offering messageboards among the support for the newly released mech combat game. Thanks
Sixxo.
The Q3ATest strategy guide on Raven
Insurrection mentioned yesterday ( story), has been updated already, adding a bunch of new tips based on
feedback from readers.
There's an Oni Preview on
PCGameFan giving a rundown on what to expect from Bungie's upcoming action game after
checking it out at this year's E3. Thanks Apache.
Here's a bit from their write-up on what Oni is about and what gameplay is like:
Oni, which translates loosely as “Ghost” or “Demon,” centers
around a young woman (fully clothed for a change) named Konoko. Konoko is “an elite
agent of the Tech Crimes Task Force.” Basically, your basic special police force of
the future (the year 2032 in this case). As a gamer it will be your job to punch, kick and
shoot Konoko through her various missions as she discovers there is more to crime
syndicate busting than she knew. That is where Bungie is hoping the commonplace is left
behind to reveal a new, innovative and fun gaming experience.
The on-screen action in Oni will take place from a 3rd person perspective. Similar to an
arcade fighting game, Konoko will have several kick, punch and combination moves at her
disposal. However, it also goes much deeper than that as there will be weapons from
handguns to rocket launchers that will have to be used appropriately and sparingly if
Konoko is to survive her many trials. As was described to me in the demo I witnessed,
stealth and resource management (weapons vs. hand-to-hand in this case) are essential and
are all a part of what Bungie refers to as "full-contact action."
There are a few new screenshots showing off gameplay from SWAT 3 on TacticalPlanet. The game, sub-titled Close-Quarters
Battle, is a first-person tactical police simulation where you command a five man
team throughout "the chaos of hostage rescues, high risk warrants, barricaded
suspects and dignitary protection."
The Perceptum Informatica Ltda site has six new screenshots up from Varginha Incident 2: Shadows of Truth (a.k.a. Incidents em Varginha 2: Sombras da Verdade), the sequel to Varginha Incident, the first-person shooter developed in Brazil by Perceptum, based on what they call the "worldwide famous Varginha case," a UFO incident. Here's a link to the English language page with the shots from the game which is due for release this month. If you're curious, here's a link to MetaCrawler
search results on Varginha, which yielded me 45 results, none of them pornographic(!).
Aureal's By Design interviews Chia Chin Lee, talking to Raven Software's lead sound designer and composer about Soldier of Fortune, talking primarily about sound (as you would imagine given the site's focus and
Chia's job) discussing composing for 3D in particular. The piece offers eye candy as well as an earful, as they have also posted a pair of new Soldier of Fortune screenshots showing off progress on this Quake II engine game.
GA-Source interviews Dave Perry
of Shiny Entertainment, talking mainly about industry trends in a conversation that also
touches on Shiny's upcoming multiplayer game, Sacrifice, though Dave says he's going to
wait until later this summer to start talking about that in detail.
Helping out on a slow news Saturday (we actually lost a story today, as those Daikatana
screenshots mentioned earlier are old), MGON Interviews the Action Half-Life
development team talking to Suislide, Oddjob and Bartender about the upcoming
Half-Life version of their now-classic Quake II modification, offering a few AHL
screenshots along the way.
U-Games has
posted a bunch of Descent 3 shots from a gold version of this now-shipping game.
A new version of Console Stats,
the QuakeWorld/Quake 2/Q3Test log parser has been released. This version adds
support for Linux servers, as well as weapon-specific kill stats.
Hardware Central has revisited their supercooled 1 GHz Pentium III chip, posting new benchmark results from a duel with a 633 MHz Celeron processor.
Yesterday saw the passing of DeForest Kelley, better known as Dr. Leonard "Bones"
McCoy on the original Star Trek series. As a long-time trekkie, this is sad
news indeed. Like many trekkies, I have fond memories of such "Bones-isms"
as, "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" and of course, the
required, "he's dead, Jim!" He will indeed be missed.
Link of the Day: DeForest
Kelley, Dead at 79 (care of CNN.com).
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