Archived News:
As promised earlier, the 10Six beta test
is now open to the public. Those wishing to join in on the fun will need to
become a registered HEAT.net user, and download both the HEAT.net software and
the 10Six software, totaling over 30 megs (not including the optional music
tracks). Update: several reports have come in that you cannot download the software from outside the United States and Canada, so apparently the beta test is currently restricted to that area.
A new version of the
Genesis3D engine has been released (thanks Voodoo Extreme). Genesis3D is a free, open source 3D
engine that boasts both Glide and Direct3D support. This new version supports
3D Studio Max R3 and adds enhanced MIP-Mapping in addition to other changes.
Blizzard has released this week's Diablo
II screenshot of the week (thanks Diablo
II.net). This week's shot shows the Barbarian inside a guild hall.
Another preview of Urban Chaos today, as Gamecenter examines Mucky Foot's 3D action adventure that is scheduled for release in December. Comparisons between this third-person title and the Tomb Raider series are not accurate, according to this quote:
From the outset, Urban Chaos may remind some of you of an urbanized Tomb Raider. For instance, D'arci's repertoire of gymnastic
moves closely mimics Lara's. She'll climb up fire escapes and waltz along window ledges with ease, not unlike the manner in which
Lara traipses along cliffs. However, concluding that Urban Chaos is just Tomb Raider set in a city would be a mistake, though,
because Urban Chaos represents a broadening of Eidos's take on the third-person action game.
There are a number of innovations that Urban Chaos brings to the table, the biggest of which is perhaps the free-form exploration of
Union City and its distinct neighborhoods, which are inhabited by innocents and criminals alike.
The German games site gXp has posted two new
screenshots from Bungie's third person title Halo. The quality of the shots
leaves a bit to be desired, although one shows off an alien ship and the other
the rocket launcher. Halo.Bungie.org is
reporting that a new Halo movie is available on a German gaming magazine, which
may in fact prove to be the origin of these screenshots.
As promised some time ago, there is now a full complement of international build 444 patches for Drakan: Order of the Flame available at the official download page. Next to the previously released English and German patches, there are French, Italian and Spanish versions, which contain all of the fixes from the build 442 patch plus improved server support.
Legend level designer Matthias Worch has posted the first part of his strategy
guide for Wheel of Time up on his homepage
(thanks to the Shugashack). The guide
is for the "Citadel" multiplayer game, although some of the tips apply
nicely to the single player and deathmatch modes as well.
SegaSoft has decided to make the beta test for their massively multiplayer
3D strategy/action title 10Six (don't you just love genre-bending?) open to
the general public. There's a notice up on their
website to check back later today for full details (thanks AVault).
GamesMania has posted a preview of Urban Chaos, looking at a beta build of Mucky Foot's upcoming 3D action/adventure. A gallery of screenshots is included, and here is a bit more about the game's structure:
Urban Chaos is structured around a mission scheme (30 in all, taking
place over a variety of different neighborhoods in the city). Each mission
has a specific objective. Sometimes it can be as simple as arresting a
mugger, or breaking up a street gang meeting. One mission we played
even required us to talk a jumper off a roof. However, these missions are
not linear, and have sidequests, as it were, and other developments. En
route to one crime, you might encounter another. Or, by talking to
somebody, you might learn about something else you can do. After
every mission, you're given a count of how many criminals were on the
level, so you can see if you missed anything, and perhaps try the
mission again.
SCi has released six new screenshots of Titanium Angels, their upcoming third-person action adventure, showing off heroine Carmen Blake and her spider-like assault vehicle Titan. Thanks GA-Source.
Federation HQ has posted another pair of movies of Star Trek: Klingon Academy, showing in-game combat footage of Interplay's upcoming Trekkie space sim.
IGNPC has posted an interview with the people behind Hitman: Codename 47, a third-person strategic stealth shooter in development by IO Interactive and Eidos. Here are some more details about the game's storyline:
IGNPC: Give an overview of the game's storyline. Will there be any twists at the end of the plot?
Flösser: Hitman has a classic linear story. You are introduced in a
flashback to the origin of the games central conflict, in the beginning of the
game. Our hero is a result of some dubious experiments, but he is not
aware of the fact. Advancing through the levels, will bring him closer to the
brain behind the plot, and it will became significantly more dangerous to
get there. Hitman's tasks bring him to five very different locations
throughout the world. These locations are built to be extremely realistic,
and basically, you will find similar references to these locations in real life
situations. Hitman has a main target in one and each on these locations,
and their henchman protects them all. He is hunting the bad guys.
Another day in GameSpot UK's Lara Week brings an interview with Core's Susie Hamilton giving an insight into developers Core Design. Also added to their Lara Week stuff is a new installment to the "Lara vs..." series of articles, as well as a photo gallery of Lara Croft model Lara Weller (first name coincidence? nah...).
Mortyr.net has posted a small patch for the Dutch and English versions of Mortyr, to solve a problem that occurs when the CD-ROM drive letter is above H. The patch is a small .DLL file that needs to be copied into the Data directory of Mortyr.
The German games site gXp has posted two more
screenshots from Bungie's third person squad combat game Halo (thanks satcyz).
One of the new shots contain what looks to be the first glimpse of the flamethrower
weapon in the game.
Ubisoft has released a version 1.2 patch for Shadow Company (863 KB), which fixes many of the control and mobility
problems encountered during the game, as well as problems with ATI 3D cards, cursors, and the control problem in Multiplayer mode. Thanks Patches Scrolls.
id Software's Graeme Devine updated his
.plan with a simple request for all of you out there playing the Quake III
Demo Test: We've got a debug server up on 192.246.40.115, if people could
connect to it and bash on it
that would be great.
Thresh's Firing
Squad has posted the first part of their Comdex writeup, which features
an interview with Scott Sellers of 3dfx, some new Quake III shots using T-Buffer technology, as
well as loads of info regarding the new Voodoo products. Perhaps the most eye
opening part of their writeup is word that the Voodoo 5 6000 will actually feature
an external AC adapter, and the 5000 and 5500 will need to be plugged into the
case's power supply (thanks to Michael Tan for noticing that).
Sgt. Hulka has posted 12 new screenshots from Battlezone II on
his site, showing off a number of different locations from this upcoming
sequel from Activision and Pandemic Studios.
id Software lead programmer John Carmack updated
his .plan with some techie talk about how vertex lighting works in the new
Q3A Demo Test. In addition to the techie stuff and his latest worklog, the
update also offers a "set of go-fast-and-look-ugly options" for those
looking to speed up their frame rate at the expense of eye-candy: r_mode
2
r_colorbits 16
r_texturemode GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST
r_vertexlighting 1
r_subdivisions 999
r_lodbias 2
cg_gibs 0
cg_draw3dicons 0
cg_brassTime 0
cg_marks 0
cg_shadows 0
cg_simpleitems 1
cg_drawAttacker 0
I.am.Quake3Arena has posted an all
new Console Guide for Q3Test providing assistance with things ranging from
simple key binding to creating complex scripts and custom commands. They've also
updated their complete categorized lists of ALL Q3Test console commands and
variables. The lists now include all of the commands and variables from version
1.08 of Q3Test.
The Stomped Quake 3 Arena Resource has
posted a simple solution to problems with mouse wheel doohickey support in the
new Quake III Arena Demo Test. After switching to the desktop and back to the
game again using <ALT><TAB>, problems using the mouse wheel will
clear up.
ClanLink's TeamFortress
Classic Guide is online, covering installation, playing tips, weapon damage
ratios, mission tactics, class breakdowns, and more, with map-by-map strategies
planned for the near future for the popular Half-Life add-on. Also, Monolithic
Illusions Homeworld strategy guide is online with tips for the multiplayer
portion of Sierra and Relic's strategic space sim.
Eager to support those who have "acquired" the Soldier of Fortune OEM
demo by whatever means, Raven's Rick Johnson updated
his .plan with some tech support tips, including how to fix some fog
rendering defects caused by the inclusion of a bad .cfg file.
CitizenKabuto.com has a brief status report on Giant: Citizen Kabuto that
gives the status of this upcoming third-person action game direct from Jim at
Planet Moon studios talking of the cool detail in the latest beta build. Thanks PlanetMoon Central.
The ballsy folks over at Birdman's Lair
have posted the necessary files to enable support for the venerable oddball
SpaceOrb controller. According to the page "It works much better than I was
expecting, even if 3 of the 5 axes used are on/off in nature instead of analog."
A new version 4.25 of Name Maker Studio
is now available, offering an updated version of this utility to create colored
and animated "fun" names for games that support them. The update adds
support for Unreal Tournament, ICQ, and StarCraft to the program's support for
Quake, QuakeWorld, Quake II, Hexen II, and Quake III Arena.
- This Interview
on SpookHouse catches up with Kyle Richards, the composer and sound
designer for Nocturne, as well as Mary Beth Brooks, the singer behind the
haunted song in the speakeasy scene in Nocturne's Chicago mission,
"Windy City Massacre"...
- The G-Sector page
has an updated version 1.1 alpha of G-Sector, the freeware third-person
hoverboard combat game...
- The ACT LABS GS Zone is
online with all the skinny on their new gun controller systems, including
how they can be used in real FPS titles, not just rail-shooters...
The cgi overloads caused by the heavy traffic with the release of the Q3A Demo
Test continued throughout the day yesterday causing errors in retrieving .plan
updates and using the messageboards. I mentioned yesterday I wasn't sure of the
ETA of addressing these issues, but today I learned I will probably be able to
have a meeting about this sometime this week, so I my hopes have been raised that we will
be able to address this more quickly than I was thinking when I made my comments
on this subject yesterday. I'll give a status report on this as soon as I have
more info to provide, because I'm concerned .plans and messages may be wonky
until this is addressed.
Link of the Day: The Batgirl Bat-Trap
Homepage. Thanks Scott "Cyclops" Summerton (hey, I get it!). This
one is kinda freaky. I always had the hots for batgirl in the old TV series, but
this page provokes the amazing recollection of exactly how much of her onscreen
time was spent in bondage.
Image of the Day: I
Can Still Bite You! Levelord loses his head.
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