Archived News:
Battlezone 2 Center has posted their new
weekly screenshot showing off Pandemic Studios' upcoming Battlezone sequel, as well as a
post gleaned from the Pandemic
Studios Discussion Board about the capabilities of the game's included map editor.
The QxAdmin page has a new version 1.10 of QxAdmin, which allows you to remotely control QuakeWorld, Quake II, and Quake III Arena servers from a Win32 machine. It can also be used as a simple server public status
program. Thanks Barbat. The new version adds a remote log view, with this note from the author ( Pierre-Andre Cote): "You can now see what people are whining about in real time! No need to telnet in!"
Unreal Universe has posted another new
screenshot from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament, this one showing off a Last Man
Standing game on Dave Ewing's Matrix-inspired level.
Beta 4 of MacUnreal 224 has been released by Westlake Interactive. Thanks 3DFiles.com (who mirror the patch here). Once again the new update
is a patch, which will only work if you already have one of the previous version 224 betas
installed. Word is the new release fixes slow down problems, and has a couple minor
tweaks.
A day late, but worth it, it's time for the
results of last week's contest! Whee! Thrill to the strange answers sent
in, and swing by to see if you won! And of course, while you're at it, don't
forget to enter this
week's contest, where someone will win...er, something.
The Virtual Reality Notre Dame
Project, a project that is building an architecturally accurate representation
of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris using the Unreal engine has posted five
gorgeous screenshots from their upcoming beta demo release (thanks
UnrealEngine.com). The demo page says,
"please check back after 7/1/99 for the demo world," so mark your
calendars.
AVault
is reporting that Sierra and Valve Software are going to be publishing a "Game
of the Year" edition of Half-Life, featuring the complete original game
(with patches) and the Team Fortress Classic add-on included.
Activision's Heavy Gear II site
has got the editing tools for this new game of giant robot combat on this page, which
says you'll be able to create multiplayer maps, (Deathmatch, Capture-the-Flag, Strategic,
Duelist, and Steal-the-Beacon), "Historical" (Single-player) maps, terrain
environments, and zero-gravity space environments. Thanks Tim from 3Dfiles.com.
They also have Bonus Multiplayer Map #1 for Heavy Gear II in the Downloads section,
along with this description:
Bitter rivalries have been going on for ages between Erech and Nineveh, two
city-states on Terra Nova. Most concern the rich oil caches found under the local terrain.
For the past several months Erech has had a price war with Nineveh. Now tensions are
running high. It was inevitable that a fight would break out.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water:
- The ViewSonic Support Desk has a
USB HostOnView Windows 98 software for ViewSonic P817, PT795, and PT775-3 monitors. Thanks
|6iX|Dire Wolf. This software allows users of these recent ViewSonic models to make
adjustments to most all of the monitor's settings (brightness, h/v.pos, tilt, etc.) using
the mouse. Cool stuff.
- The Quantum3D Raven FAQ
has new version 3.0 drivers for the Quantum3D Raven. The new drivers implement version
1.48 of the 3dfx OpenGL Mini-driver, Direct 3D version 4.11.01, Glide 2X version 2.60.01
& Glide 3X version 3.10.01, a new uninstall process, AMD K6 3DNOW compatibility, Cyrix
without MMX compatibility, and more. Thanks Cut-Throat" Jake.
- Thresh's FiringSquad's Montego
II Quadzilla review is online.
- Overclockers'
Workbench reviews the SOYO SY-6BA+ motherboard.
- Phoenix to sell
Windows' launch ads is a ZDNN article revealing BIOS maker Phoenix Technology's plans
to sell Windows ads that would display on startup. Thanks Chern Ann.
- The Hercules Computer
Technology Dynamite TNT Drivers page has the new drivers for Hercules' TNT/TNT2-based
boards. Thanks Mike Brewer and Josh.
- Matrox sends the announcement of three future upgrades for the Matrox Millennium G400
Series of graphics accelerators: the Matrox G400 Flat Panel module, Matrox Rainbow Runner
G-Series and Matrox DualHead and TV-Out module, offering "professional and home users
increased functionality with digital flat panel support, video editing, TV on the PC and
more." When ready all will be made available on the Matrox
Online Store Home Page.
- In a separate announcement, Matrox also sends word of the software bundle to be included
with newly announced Matrox Millennium G400 Series, which will include Micrografx Picture
Publisher 8 and Simply 3D 3, Expendable, the Matrox Software DVD Player and PointCast
Network.
-
Investors pan Diamond-S3 merger reports the ZD Inter@ctive Investor with early reactions to
today's merger announcement (story).
- Sharky Extreme's Weekly CPU
Prices has been updated, along with a bit of commentary from the Sharky staff.
GA-Source's
Q&A With S3 on Diamond's Products is a short two-question interview with S3's Paul
Crossley about the announcement from earlier today that S3 is acquiring Diamond Multimedia
( story), touching on S3's intent to continue to supply AIC partners
other than Diamond with product, and Diamond's arrangements to continue receiving NVIDIA chips for their product lines based on them.
Phoebus has put the newly redesigned Raven Software
website online. The site is now a portal to all their current game-specific sites, HereticII.com, HexenWorld,
and Soldier-of-Fortune as well as Raven-Games.com, home of their classic games. The
newly redone site adds an updated Bios section to keep up with the cast of characters at
Raven.
GameSpot UK
previews Heavy Metal FAKK2, Ritual Entertainment's upcoming Quake III-engine game
connected to the upcoming Heavy Metal movie. The piece gives the rundown on what to expect
from this third-person action/adventure title, and is accompanied by a collection of Heavy Metal
FAKK2 Screenshots which include a couple of in-game shots, some concept art and
covers, and even a photo of the fabulous Julie Strain in her F.A.K.K.2 get-up.
Also on GameSpot UK is a Kiss, Psycho
Circus The Nightmare Child Preview giving a look ahead at Third Law Interactive's
upcoming LithTech-engine game based on the Todd McFarlane comic series, which is of course
based on the superheroic exploits of 70s (the decade, not their ages) rock band, KISS.
Business Wire reports S3
Enters Internet Appliance and Home Networking Markets Through Acquisition of Diamond
Multimedia Systems Inc. announcing S3's intent to acquire Diamond Multimedia. Here's a
bit from the release:
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 1999---S3(R) Incorporated
(Nasdaq:SIII) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:DIMD), a leading supplier of PC Multimedia and
Internet connectivity solutions. In a strategic move to capitalize on high-growth areas,
S3 expects to emerge as a key player in the Internet appliance and home networking
markets. S3 also plans to maximize the two companies' multimedia strengths to become a
total solutions provider (silicon, software and PC boards) for its graphics business.
"Today's announcement represents a significant strategic
shift for S3, which was focused solely on the PC graphics market," said Ken
Potashner, president and CEO of S3 Incorporated. "By merging the strengths of both
companies, we intend to create a major force in the industry for Internet appliances,
broadband communications, home networking and complete graphics solutions."
Added Potashner, "The acquisition is part of our ongoing
strategic plan to return S3 to profitability and diversify into related high-growth areas.
We are extremely pleased with the execution of our plan, which has included the successful
launch of our Savage4 and Savage MX graphics products resulting in design wins with volume
OEMs including Compaq, IBM, NEC/Packard Bell and Micron. We also are pleased with the
company's financial improvements and expect these to accelerate based on our volume
shipments."
"We are excited about the opportunity that we see in
combining S3's highly tuned graphics engine and substantial financial resources with our
strong graphics brand and channels and our Internet appliance, Internet connectivity and
home networking growth businesses," said William J. Schroeder, president and CEO of
Diamond Multimedia.
The company recently announced that it is scheduled to receive 252
million shares of United Microelectronic Corporation (UMC) stock, which is valued today at
approximately $600 million based on current NT value and UMC trading price. This combined,
with S3's current cash position of approximately $130 million, has the prospective
combined company positioned to aggressively invest in new product opportunities.
Target product market growth areas include Internet appliances,
where Diamond Multimedia is an industry leader with its well-known Rio MP3 music player,
and home networking, where Diamond is a leader with its wireless and phoneline HomeFree
product line. In addition, S3 and Diamond Multimedia intend to continue to aggressively
invest in Diamond's DSL and cable modem programs.
There are a pair of new Soldier of Fortune screenshots on 3D Palette following up on their Eric Turman interview posted
Saturday ( story). These are a couple for the parental advisory types, one
captioned Head Shot
and another the provocative take it like a man
(more violence, it's not that kind of parental advisory stuff). Soldier of
Fortune is Raven's upcoming Quake II-engine game based on the mercenary magazine.
There are a pair of new screenshots on Voodoo
Extreme showing off the upcoming first and third-person action game Giants: Citizen
Kabuto, currently in production at PlanetMoon Studios.
Unreal Universe's
James Schmalz Interview talking with the game designer and artist from Epic Games
about Unreal, Unreal Tournament, and what's to be expected in the Unreal Tournament demo
(subject to change). The conversation also puts the possibility of an Unreal demo in
doubt, saying "most of the people who wanted to play Unreal have already played
Unreal."
- HardOCP has posted an amusing account of a Viking
funeral they gave to a fried motherboard, photos included.
- CoolComputing's
Future CPU Brief gives an outline of expected release dates for Intel CPUs.
Gamesmania takes
a Sneak Peek at Omikron looking at this upcoming action/adventure game from French
developer Quantic Dream, that will feature the music of David Bowie (as well as a
Bowie-inspired character in the game). Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.
The June 1999 "issue" of the online Quake Map Magazine is now up, devoted
to Quake map editing. This month's edition features an interview with Quake II mappers
Rick Troppman and Yuri Davidov, a Quake II trivia contest with a Quake Collection Neil
Manke Limited Edition CD-ROM as a prize.
Kokak's Hexen Page has a new
version 0.1 of his OpenGL port of the Hexen source code, representing the first beta of
the program (previous releases were listed as Alphas). Thanks Billy "Heretic" Wilson.
The Download ICQ page has a new release of the
ICQ 99a Beta, this one actually marked version 2.22 build 1800 (a previous release in
their confusing number scheme claimed to be 2.22, but wasn't). Thanks Ant.
- AMD Zone's K7 FAQ has had another
update, bringing it up to version 1.2, adding some new info just learned, like what the
K7 will be called at launch, which is "Athlon."
- I.Am-TFC is looking to give the game of the
winner's chooice to the artist that can fill their need for a link button dealie.
I mentioned that Metaspy EXPOSED dealie as yesterday's link of the day, but a couple of industrious readers write to point out that it is indeed a gag, as the search patterns repeat if you reload often enough, I'm told there's a keyword list that's updated on about a weekly basis. natX was surfing the links MetaSpy provides, and noticed Zoid's Bikini Links, which I'm pretty
damn certain isn't id's Zoid.
Responses from readers who have done a bit of reading on the subject(s) seem to
indicate that the TV movie portrayals of Steve Wozsniak and Dean Martin (from yesterday's
OotB ramblings) as well-adjusted folk were both pretty accurate. It certainly doesn't
qualify as a research project, but I'm happy to be a believer, it makes me feel better
about the world.
Link of the Day: Microworkz
iToaster, as Phil "Cain" Hall points out, "Now that's a cheap
computer!"
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