Archived News:
Saw on Doomworld that a new version
0.2.2 of Hexen32, a Win32
Hexen source port, is now available on its newly-relocated homepage. In
semi-related Raven Windows port news, I also see on DW
that it's looking like the wHeretic
project may be at an end, though even if that is the case, another version of
the port will still be released.
A brand-new unofficial StarLancer FAQ
is now online, asking and answering all sorts of questions about Digital Anvil's
upcoming space opera. There is also an officially Unofficial FAQ
on Lanced.Net.
The Ęstats Page has been
updated with a new version 4.19 of the ĘStats log parser for 3D shooter games.
Among the changes in the new version is new Unreal v2.25f support and Hexen
II support.
The maXtron main site has the
debut release of Licensed To Kill for Action Quake2,
which adds an AI bot to this popular Quake II mod. The early version is based on
the ACEBot source code (and the name is indeed an homage to James Bond), and is
described as having a lot to learn, but apparently aim is not one of them (the
quote was "it shoots nice :)").
The ZDoom page has a new version 1.18a of
ZDoom, a freely distributed Win32 port of Doom. The new release is purely a
bug-fix for a couple of glitches with version 1.18, and offers no new features. Thanks Frans at 3D Action
Gamers.
Planet Half-Life has word of beta
version 3.0 of the Half-Life Game Launcher,
a front-end for Half-Life, Valve's "game of the year" shooter.
Well, the finals are over at Ground ZERO,
the CPL event that ran throughout the weekend, and stx-wombat has walked away
with the $10,000 purse (thanks Cache). The
full stats from the event are up at NetGames USA's Ground ZERO site, and they're
pretty interesting to look at - this was definitely a surprise filled tournament,
with Rix, DieharD and Sujoy all getting knocked out of the finals.
The Pulpit chats with Gary
Tarolli, talking with 3dfx' CTO about a variety of current events topics
related to 3dfx and 3D acceleration in general.
Saw on StormTroopers that Nintendojo's
N64 Daikatana preview was posted semi-recently with a look ahead at the Nintendo
64 version of ION Storm's upcoming era-spanning Quake II-engine shooter. Though,
as Planet Daikatana points out not
all the info in the piece is accurate (one reference is to a PSX port, which has
apparently never been mentioned elsewhere, so it's either inaccurate or a
scoop), the piece does offer a new screenshot.
Jeff from the AMD Zone sends along a few
tidbits related to AMD: AMD cuts chip prices
is a ZDNN article on price slashing, AMD's
guide to building a computer with the Athlon processor is online to help
with your homebrew needs, and the sometimes very accurate and sometimes less-so THE REGISTER
has word that AMD's K8 to be re-engineered K7,
speculating on the nature of AMD's yet-to-be-announced next processor.
Voodoo Extreme has posted three new
screenshots from Wheel of Time showing off Legend's upcoming Unreal-engine
action/adventure/strategy offering.
There's a new Starlancer
Pic of the Week feature over on GameRush.Com
that offers a new peak ahead at this upcoming space sim from Warthog,
and as the name suggests, it looks like they will be following this up with a
new shot on a weekly basis ( Source: email. Err, thanks AGN3D).
A half-dozen new questions have been added to the I.am-KingPin
Kingpin FAQ, fortunately along with the corresponding answers (I guess
technically a Frequently Asked Question really does just need the questions,
right?). The document attempt to be a comprehensive listing of what's what in
Xatrix' life of crime shooter. Thanks Frans at 3D Action
Gamers.
Also on the Kingpin front, IPlayGames Kingpin Map Tutorial - Part 4
is up, adding to their ever-blossoming Kingpin Mapping Guide.
The new chapter offers tips on how to make platforms using Kingpin Radiant (and presumably
other editors that support Kingpin entities), and "how to make use of the
surface and content properties of a brush to make your environment more
realistic." Previous chapters include tutorials on the basics, expanding
your map, and complex doors.
As promised, another new release of the SpoonBot
is now available after a quiet period in the development of this server-side mod
that adds improved AI opponents for Starsiege TRIBES. The new version 0.5d
offers more aggressive bots, optimized treefile
calculation (takes minutes instead of hours), a new demolition bot behavior, bug
fixes, and more. Thanks Bot Epidemic.
Sharky Extreme's
ECTS Report on MDK2 gives a look ahead at Bioware's upcoming sequel to
Shiny's quirky single player third (and first) person action title. The preview
is based on checking out the game at this year's ECTS, which just concluded in
London. MDK, of course, stands for Missing Dumb Komment.
There's a chat log
on A Talent for War with the outcome of last night's chat session with the
developers of a bunch of upcoming space sims, including Tachyon, Parsec,
and Jumpgate (apparently Starlancer, Starfleet Command, and Klingon Academy were
trapped in the neutral zone, unable to attend).
Well the cards involved aren't available yet, but that's not stopping Thresh's FiringSquad
from making a recommendation between the Savage2000 or the GeForce 256,
referring to their comparison, as a shootout between the
next-generation specs of both cards. Unfortunately, once again we are deprived
of benchmarks showing how the press releases for both products perform
head-to-head (since they are the only physical components of the new
accelerators currently available). The piece does include some Q&A with S3's
PR Manager Paul Crossley and 3D Architect Raja Koduri.
An article linked yesterday about an overclocked PIII-550 running at 668 MHz
originally called the CPU's original clockspeed as 350 MHz, which would have
been quite the newsworthy piece of overclocking. Thanks to the many that wrote
in with the correction on that, and our apologies for any confusion this caused.
- Word on the Assimilation
home is to expect a new version 3.0 of this Quake II mod next Monday, to
be distributed after an IRC soiree. A confirmation of the day should be out
soon...
- Seems the Dreamcast may turn out to be sophisticated enough to hack into.
This Slashdot
Article describes on intrepid geek's discovery that you can actually
telnet into a Dreamcast, though an applicable username and password have not
yet been doped out (perhaps the NSA knows it). Thanks James. Update: Seems this turns out to have been an error or a hoax...
- Quake Shakes Manhattan
is a TechWeb article on the festivities at Ground ZERO, currently taking
place. Thanks Bakkteria...
- ATFW's
ECTS '99 Cheesecake Awards...
MrsBlue reminded me we had tickets for a show last night. For whatever reason I
was not optimistic (I recall saying something about planning on napping), but I
had such a great time I want to make a recommendation in case you have a chance
to see the show or the performers in action. It was a comedy called Thwak (currently in Manhattan's small Minetta Lane Theater),
and the performers call themselves the Umbilical Brothers (not really related,
they are a pair of Aussies named David Collins and Shane Dundas), and it's
clever and inventive beyond description. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot
more from these two, at least I certainly hope to.
Link of the Day: Punch John Tesh,
from the people who brought you punch Bill
Gates, Michael Jackson,
and Captain Kirk. Thanks
David LaPort. This is just a simulation, no actual photos of celebrities were
punched in the creation of the site.
Bonus Link: ThinkGeek Caffeine Scheduled Delivery.
Thanks David Hamilton. Cue Homer: Hmmm, a Bawls subscription...
ActiveWindows has
gotten a confirmation from Microsoft, that DirectX 7 has "gone gold"
internally (in quotes since there's no gold pressing involved) and will be released
to the public soon (they're reporting by the end of the month). The final version
number, they say, is 4.07.00.0700.
The Half-Life site Area
13 has posted a list of "bloopers" from Half-Life (complete with
screenshots). They're not exactly bloopers in the literal sense, just a bunch
of goofs that nit pickers have been able to find. Some of them are pretty funny
though, such as incomplete keyboards on the scientists' computers, and a fan
that isn't connected to anything (thanks Ant).
An email from Brandon Reinhart on the
story about an Unreal Tournament Test next week says the Unreal Tournament
release that Mark Rein called a test is, in fact an actual demo. Also, thanks to
Unrealism for pointing out another
post to the UT put back till nov - GT Forum
thread from that story has more from Epic's Mark Rein on the release:
The demo/test will have 4 or 5 maps. The plan right now (it is still
subject to change) is 3 deathmatch maps, 1 Domination map and one Capture The
Flag map. Of course there will be bots and a single player ladder (albeit
shortened to the 4/5 levels that come with the demo).
The Sincest page has a new
version 1.0.8 of SinEd Omega that fixes "the MAX_SUBMENUS problem"
with editing Wages Of SiN maps, adding lots of other stuff to this Sin level
editor along the way.
The Adrenaline Vault Ground ZERO Coverage
has two new screenshots from Half-Life: Opposing Force being shown off at Ground
ZERO (loonyboi is there even as I write these words). Word there is that they
are working on an OpFor movie to be appearing as a covermount with some upcoming
gaming magazines and on some websites. Also, fhibbard sends the following about
a short OpFor FAQ available for download: I compiled all (Well, most
anyway) currently known information on Opposing Force into an easy to read faq
which you can download at http://sol.wctownhall.com/downloads/OpForFAQ.zip
(9.47k) You'll need Microsoft Word to read it though. Let me know if it needs
any corrections or new info... Sincerely, Jeremy
Dunn.
Epic Designer Cliff
Bleszinski updated his .plan with word that he'll be speaking in the Raleigh
area at a GDC roadshow, so as he puts it "If you're in the area and have 90
bucks to spare, the GDC roadshows are worth checking out." While you're in
the area it's a good chance to visit Mayberry and Mount Pilot, as well.
There's a big old SWAT 3
preview on TacticalPlanet (or as they call it "big-ass"), giving a
look ahead at the upcoming game of tactical police operations currently in
production over at Sierra. In addition to a look at gameplay in SWAT 3: Close
Quarters Combat (perhaps to distinguish it from a future SWAT 3: Long Range
Tear-Gas Attack) based on hands-on experience with the beta, the preview offers
no less than two dozen screenshots.
A pair of new Giants screenshots have quietly popped up on CitizenKabuto.com
(I spotted the news over on IPlayGames News)
giving a couple more looks at in-game scenes from Planet Moon Studios' upcoming
third-person action game. These are before-and-after shots of Kabuto the giant
himself, gobbling down one of those pastoral big-macs that graze the hills in
the land of Giants. Would you like fries with that?
GA-Source's KISS Psycho Circus The Nightmare Child
interviews doesn't actually talk with Gene Simmons or anything, but rather
with several of the folks at Third Law Interactive where they are working on a
LithTech-engine game based on the comic book exploits of the only-sometimes fictitious
but almost always made-up rock band. The Q&A includes some screenshots, including a pair that are new (the bottom two).
A thread titled UT put back till nov
on the GT Unreal Forum has word from Epic's PR maven Mark Rein that we may
be seeing a test release of Unreal Tournament (with another quickly to follow),
as early as next week. Thanks Syclone. Here's the post: Next week (and
again the week after) we'll be releasing a demo/test version that will help us
find and shake out some of the last few bugs in the game. Once we see what users
report then we'll have a much clearer picture of when the game will be ready.
[This message has been edited by Mark Rein (edited 09-11-99).]
Ritual's Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2
Gallery has been updated with a bunch of F.A.K.K.2 concept art from Kevin Eastman showing some the illustrated inspiration for Ritual's upcoming Quake
III-engine Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 game. Thanks again Frans at 3DGamers
for spotting these (I have to take his word for it, every time I go to that page
I get terminally stuck in the Julie Strain section).
BW.Wire has posted eight new screenshots
form LionHead's upcoming god-game Black & White, of course, based on
the Michael Jackson song of the same name (or was that Black or
White... anyway). The shots are taken from the build of the game that was being
shown off at the recent ECTS in London.
The Tread Marks Screenshots
page has been updated with a pair of new shots showing off this OpenGL
accelerated tank racing game. Thanks Frans.
Both shots show off "the volcano level,"
one with a descending lava ball, and the other a "post nuclear" shot
(think more yellow than an ABC ad campaign and you've got the picture).
GameFan has posted
a hands-on preview of Legend's Wheel of Time, based on the author's experience
playing a build of the game from start to finish. There's a bunch of new screenshots
there to boot, and the report is very detailed.
Drakan.net has posted the log
from last night's chat with Surreal Software, the developers of Drakan: Order
of the Flame. The big news of the evening is that the patch that's currently
in limited beta testing will be out next week (although these things have a
tendency to change on a day by day basis).
More coverage of this weekend's Ground Zero event here in NYC can be found
at Next-Generation
Online, where Mista Gamez has been dispatched to file daily reports. His
first report is from Thursday, which means it's a writeup of the Female Frag
Fest. For stats from the whole weekend, stay tuned to NetGames
USA's Ground Zero page, where they'll periodically be posting tournament
stats (there's no Internet connection at the show, so they're not live).
The Rogue Spear
Database has posted a complete walkthrough for the Rogue Spear demo, complete
with screenshots and a downloadable replay file (thanks RainbowSix.net).
Possibly because they really want to give Blue a new GeForce 256 card, the
screwballs over at Maximum PC are throwing a Gordon
Freeman Stunt Double Contest. Entrants only have to send a high-quality
picture of themselves looking like Gordon, with the grand prize winner walking
away with an NVIDIA GeForce card, and the runners up getting Maximum PC swag.
The QuakeWorld Server Launcher
has been released. This program will allow you to launch as many as 20 servers
at once, and the author recommends it for use at LAN parties.
Thanks as usual to Frans of 3DGamers
for most of these.
Well, the Dreamcast launch date has come and gone, and since I'm still waiting
for mine (hopefully it will arrive tomorrow - or heads will roll) I decided
to fire up Final Fantasy VIII. Since I was a huge fan of its predecessor, I
wasn't planning on doing that until I had the time...I have a tendency to get
horribly addicted to this sort of game. I'm pleased to report that it is very
good...I'm not far enough into it to point out the flaws that many people say
it has, but I'm getting my money's worth, that's for sure. Of course, right
after I post this, I'm placing it back on the shelf, where it will remain until
next weekend - I can't afford to lose whole days during the week to the game.
Link of the Day: Perpetual
Bubble Wrap. Surely the product of someone with waaaaaaaay too much time
on their hands.
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