Archived News:
A new beta 17 of Qtracker 2.3 is now available on the Qtracker Homepage.
In addition to its original use as a game server browser, Qtracker also serves
as a server launcher, a streaming .mp3 browser, and an HTML server list
generator for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. Here is the description of the new release
from the page: "This is a maintenance release which fixes several bugs,
including a large memory leak which was introduced in Beta 16. New to this
release are Half-Life (and any half-life mod) remote server administration, 3
server full sounds provided by Sanctum6, and ICMP trace route
functionality."
TeleFragged
interviews Doug Avery of BioWare about Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn,
their upcoming sequel to their AD&D role-playing game. The Q&A gives
background on the game, and offers an ETA of third quarter this year for its
release.
The Legend Entertainment Website has
been updated with a new shot of a model of a Skaarj warrior from Unreal II to
whet appetites for the official GT Unreal II website which, according to the
accompanying blurb, will open this summer. Thanks Unreal Universe.
Actiontrip previews RUNE
looking ahead at the Unreal-engine Viking game in the works at Human Head
Studios. The article offers quotes from Ted Halsted, a level designer and
concept artist at Human Head.
WarCentral.com
interviews Kenn Hoekstra talking with the project manager on Soldier of
Fortune, Raven Software's upcoming Quake II-engine mercenary shooter about
progress on the game, talking about the possibilities of a sequel, multiplayer
options, and more.
The El Niņo Quake Extensions page
has a new version 2.3.5 of the Viz mod for Quake III Arena, following what
author Hentai describes as a "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" theme, offering
enhanced server-browsing, a new UI, and "a bunch of new uses for old id
models."
A new beta 2 build 454 patch for the Quake 3 System Management Server
is now available, updating this replacement console for Quake III Arena
dedicated servers. The new version kills off a couple of bugs, adds a new GUI,
new local stats support, and more.
Though not yet available on the PQ
version of ShellShock's Crater, the old, unassimilated ShellShock's Crater
has a new version 00.03.11.00 of Q3Offline, the program that allows you to play
single player Quake III Arena matches against user-created bots. The new version
primarily offers bug fixes.
Alfred's Page has a new
version 0.65 of the Admin Mod for Half-Life, which allows server operators to
give others administrative access to their server without allowing access to
rcon. The new version fixes "numerous crash issues," adds "admin_vote_map"
and "admin_vote_kick" commands, and is now Counter-Strike beta 6.0
compatible.
A new beta 0.5 of the Counter-Strike Alias Binder
is now available, which is required to create binds for the new beta 6.0 of
Counter-Strike for Half-Life. The new version also offers a new interface, with
a visual representation of keyboard.
There's a GDC First Look at PS2 Unreal Tournament
on ps2.ign.com giving first impressions from seeing a demonstration of a
version of Unreal Tournament running on a PlayStation2 at the Game Developer's
Conference. On the subject of the PSX2, 20
Questions About The PS2 on The Mushroom's Legit Section gives hands-on
impressions of a Japanese version of the system.
A second part of ShugaShack's
Q&A with George Broussard is online, peppering the part-owner of 3D
Realms with 10 more questions about 3DR's upcoming Duke Nukem Forever. These
second-string questions and follow-ups include 'leet intellectual ditties like:
"will duke4 EVER COME OUT?," and the soon to be set to music: "Will
Duke4 be 3dfx's Bi@tch!?"
Newly opened HaloPlayers.com has posted a new screenshot of, you guessed it, Halo, the impressive looking 3D action game from Bungie. The image shows off the sniper rifle. Thanks halo.bungie.org.
An update to the official American McGee's Alice site brings a description and a concept image of a new enemy character, the Boojum, which apparently will not be hostile unless provoked.
Daily Radar has posted an interview with Jamie McNeely, producer at Strategy First on their upcoming space-based RTS, entitled O.R.B. The discussion covers the story, gameplay and mission structure, the inevitable comparison to Homeworld, and more. Here is how Jamie McNeely describes the game himself:
O.R.B is a real-time 3D strategy game in space with full 3D movement in all directions so
you can control fleets of ships in battle against each other. The O.R.B is the Offworld Resource Base, which plays an important part in the game. You need to collect
resources from the asteroid belt to build your fleet and upgrade your fleet as well. Get the resources and half the battle is won...
If you're participating in the Star Trek: Armada multiplayer beta test, you'll want to get hold of the final beta patch. You can apply this version 0.6 patch only if you're already patched up to version 0.5.
CamelotVault, a site covering Dark Age of Camelot, has posted a new screenshot of this upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG for short) from Mythic Entertainment, which is being developed with the NetImmerse 3D engine.
CombatWorld has posted part two of a Q&A with NovaLogic, in which the company addresses common support questions from DF2 players regarding their tactical first-person shooter (thanks SpecForce). Part one is also still available, and there's a promise of even more in the future.
There's an interview on Shadowbane online at VR Magazine, discussing this upcoming MMORPG from Wolfpack Studios, which aims to bring more tactical, social and political interaction between players than previous offerings. The article is illustrated by a bunch of screenshots and concept art.
GameSpot has posted another
one of their Vampire Character features. This week's installment focuses
on Wilhem Streicher, and there are five screenshots of him, and two MP3 files
with dialogue clips.
If you're having trouble downloading Counter-Strike Beta 6 which was released last night ( story), here's a list of
mirrors that should help you out:
The Wheel of Time Movie Studio
has been released, and is available for download at
Machinima.com. The WoT Movie Studio is essentially a Wheel of Time port
of the Unreal Tournament Movie Studio, and allows you to create in-game movies
using a director-style layout.
Origin has updated their official Ultima Online
2 site with new questions in their FAQ, part one of their "Meer Serial
legend" and new comments from the development team about the game (thanks
Voodoo Extreme).
Version 0.03 of the Oni Bot for Quake
III Arena is available for download at
its official site. It's still an early release, but the bot now recognizes most
of the items in the game, and the author says, "deathmatching with 4 or
more bots in small arena-type maps is starting to become more fun."
LucasArts' official
Force Commander site has posted the second part of their "Officer's
Training Guide" (a beginner's strategy guide) for this soon-to-be-released
3D strategy game (thanks Force Commander
Outpost).
Sick of the X-Box yet? Don't worry, there are only 18 more months until its
tentative release date! Here's the roundup of today's X-Box stories:
- PC.IGN has posted their detailed
write-up of Bill Gates' keynote address from GDC, as well as an
interview with Microsoft's Kevin Bachus, Director of Third Party Relations,
and Donald Coyner, Director of Marketing.
- The biggest news yesterday (besides the official announcement, of course)
is that the processor will be manufactured by Intel, and not by AMD (as many
people were expecting). ZDNet
has an article up examining how Intel beat out AMD for this key role in
the X-Box' rollout.
- ZDNet also has a
report from GDC up, where they quote Bill Gates as saying the X-Box is,
"three generations beyond the graphics that PCs are capable of today."
- Well-Rounded News has posted screenshots
from the "giant robot" X-Box demonstration movie, for those
of you who haven't seen it in motion.
- How four
renegades persuaded Microsoft to make a game machine is the name of an
article at MSNBC's site that covers the announcement, but also features a
close-up shot of the demonstration hardware and controller that were on-stage
with Gates (thanks Wipeout).
- Daily Radar has posted their
impressions of the system, which are remarkably levelheaded and coherent
(they don't fall for the hype, instead focusing on facts).
A new edition of PC.IGN's Baldur's
Gate II Journal has been posted, featuring BioWare writer/designer Lukas
Kristjanson discussing his day-to-day tasks working on Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, including
how he implements a "satisfying" plot into the game.
A whopping 18
new screenshots from Shogun: Total War, a real-time strategy game that lets
you control an enormous 16th Century Japanese army, have been posted at AVault. The shots show
off the truly massive playing field, with hundreds of combatants on-screen.
Everlore, an EverQuest fan site, has posted footage
from the upcoming Ruins of Kunark expansion pack for EverQuest, which was
taken at the Saint Louis Everquest Gathering II LAN party. The files are available
in either Quicktime or AVI formats, and there are quite a few of them.
New screenshots and information
from Icewind Dale, the upcoming RPG from Black Isle (the same people who brought
you Planetscape: Torment) are up at PC.IGN. There are details about 4 of the spells
in the game, as well as word that there are a total of over 180 spells to be
learned.
- The PC Gamer Championships
web site is live, featuring info about this upcoming Unreal Tournament LAN
tournament with £5,000 in prizes at stake.
- Gib-O-Rama is the name
of an upcoming LAN party/tournament in Houston, Texas, where you can win a
Razer Boomslang mouse or a Voodoo 3 3500 from amongst other prizes.
Well, at long last, Microsoft has made their X-Box announcement...and being
the huge fan of both PC and console games that I am, I'm certainly excited about
the prospect of a new system, although there really hasn't been anything shown
that has blown me away as of yet. The demonstration movies certainly were impressive,
no question about it, but they were pre-rendered, "using the specifications
of the system" (according to this
Q&A on PC.IGN, anyway). I'm not sure what that really means, but to
me, that big robot demo looked like an ad for Character Studio (I was waiting
for the dancing baby to come grooving in). Also, since Microsoft has literally
just decided on their final specs, there's no physical hardware yet. Once I
see an actual X-Box, even if it's just running a looped demo, I'll be totally
psyched to get my hands on one. Until then, I suppose we'll just be subjected
to the usual round of hardware sites pitting press releases against each other
("Dolphin vs. X-Box vs. Playstation 3! Which one should you buy?").
Link of the Day: Raising
Nancies. A bizarre fable for anyone that's ever owned Sea Monkeys - or wished
they did.
Story of the Day: Korean
Man Dies During Marathon Gaming Session (thanks Harold Ernst).
As promised, a new beta version 6 for Counter-Strike, the popular Half-Life mod, has been released. As usual, there are full install and upgrade files for Windows along with the Linux server that was released earlier today, and this release brings new scenarios, player models, guns, and other features, as well as bug fixes.
Nine new screenshots
from Thief II: The Metal Age have surfaced over at Gamer's Voice. Eidos Interactive
tells us that the game is, "hours away" from going gold, and that
it will arrive in stores on March 20th.
New on Adrenaline Vault this evening are six
screenshots from SWAT 3: Battle Plan, the upcoming add-on for Sierra's
tactical shooter, SWAT 3 that adds multiplayer functionality amongst other new
features.
In anticipation of the full release of Counter-Strike beta 6 later today, the Linux server port is now available for download on the Counter-Strike site, so that server admins can upgrade in time. This is a new release of the popular Half-Life mod, so it comes only as a 43.3 MB full install. And in strikingly related news, there's a quick chat with the mod's creator, Minh "Gooseman" Le, on EuroGamer.
If you missed last night's AnachroChat, Bennyland has posted a log from the event where ION Storm's upcoming 3D RPG was freely discussed with some members of the development team. It's an unedited log, so you'll have to dig through the usual IRC mayhem to find the useful bits.
ActionTrip has updated its Devil Inside page with another pair of screenshots and a short sound clip from the third-person horror action/adventure by GameSquad and Cryo.
Games Domain Review has posted a preview of Loose Cannon, the mercenary driving/shooting action game by Digital Anvil. The article is based on what the author saw at his visit to last week's GameStock event, and while only the already widely publicized screenshots illustrate it, there are also quotes from designer Tony Zurovec. Earlier this week, GDR also posted a similar preview of Dungeon Siege, featuring quotes from designer Chris Taylor on Gas Powered Games' upcoming 3D action/adventure.
A new
interview with 3D Realms' George Broussard has popped up over at The Shugashack.
It's an interesting interview, with George talking about their upcoming
Unreal engine title Duke Nukem Forever, with some general details (nothing too
specific) about their plans for the game, the world of engine licensing, as well as his thoughts on EverQuest,
which George calls "the game of the decade." Here's an excerpt with
details on Duke's multiplayer: We do not believe in shipping now and adding
functionality later. Patches should be for bugs, not gameplay. I think we are
planning 10+ multiplayer maps, but really we have to get down to making them
and seeing how much time we have. But I think anything less that 10 is a waste
of time.
As for multiplayer modes, we're still talking about options. We want to do a
couple of different things other than DeathMatch, but we haven't decided yet.
Some form of class based team play is appealing to us.
The Gathering of Developers' Age of Wonders site has been updated with a version 1.36 patch for the retail version of Triumph and Epic's fantasy strategy game. Thanks Gone Gold. This release fixes several bugs, and the complete list of changes can be viewed here.
Our top story? Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Our second from the
top story? The X-Box. Dig:
- First off, the video links in GameSpot's
Microsoft Announces X-Box story are now operational, so if you are
interested in checking out demos of the X-Box, MS' now-announced console
gaming system, or watching Bill Gates send some gentle X-spin our way, there
are four movies from which to chose, two .mpgs, and two in QuickTime format.
- Microsoft to unveil X-Box video game console,
the Reuters press release on the subject, reveals more on the system's
NVIDIA connection, saying: "The system will also use an Nvidia Corp.
graphics processor, a third generation chip called the NV25 that is not yet
on the market. Microsoft said its graphics will be more than three times as
fast as the highly praised graphics on the new Sony Playstation2."
Thanks Planet GeForce.
- GameDaily
interviews Kevin Bachus (thanks Chumely) talking about the X-Box with
the Microsoft evangelist (and SuperCuts customer, from the accompanying
photo).
- There's a new Microsoft X-Box
FAQ on Active Windows to help figure out what this thing is and is not
supposed to do.
- Finally, the official X-Box website is
now live (thanks EvEm.org.au), offering
specs on the new system, as well as a link to the
full press release. Here are the specs:
600 MHz x86 compatible CPU Custom 3-D NVIDIA graphics processor
64 MB of RAM (unified memory architecture)
Custom 3-D audio processor
8GB hard drive
4X DVD drive with movie playback
Four game controller ports
Expansion port
Proprietary A/V connector
100 MBps Ethernet
There's a
new Thief II movie on Insane Gamers that offers some cinematic sequences
previously available elsewhere, but also shows off a few moments of
never-before-seen gameplay from Eidos Interactive's upcoming stealthy sequel to
Thief: The Dark Project. The movie is in QuickTime format.
Here's the first in a string of interviews this morning: Stomped
interviews Alex Mayberry talking with this level designer at Electronic Arts
about The World is Not Enough, EA's upcoming Quake III-engine shooter that
will feature the exploits of James Bond, sure to make liberal use of his license to
kill. In addition to the Q&A, the piece offers a couple of screenshots,
including one that's brand new.
Unreal Universe
interviews Chris Norden talking about Deus Ex with the programmer on ION
Storm's upcoming Unreal-engine RPG about progress on the game, as well as
his career in gaming, from his start programming for the Apple II.
Hypothermia
interviews Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin talking with the programmer on
Quake Rally, the Eraser Bot, and Kingpin: Life of Crime about his work in the
biz, as well as their usual mix of wacky other questions. The Q&A talks of
"progress of our current project," though I do not believe it is
clear yet whether Ridah is part of Gray Matter Interactive Studios, the new
developer "founded by the top designers formerly from Xatrix
Entertainment" currently at work on the sequel to Wolfenstein 3-D ( story).
I told you there are a bunch today:
A post on PlanetAvP says that Fox
Interactive's Pezman is currently at work on a programming project that will
warm the hearts of fans of Aliens versus Predator, Fox' three-species shooter,
as he is attempting to create a dedicated server program for the game. There is
a preliminary version available, though it currently only supports two-player
games.
Part three of the Computer Games Online
Starlancer preview is online, subtitled "Digital Anvil gets back to
basics," giving impressions on this upcoming space combat game to be
published by Microsoft. Thanks The Lancers Reactor.
- A new version 2.65 of the PowerStrip
shareware video tweaking utility is now available.
- Creative Labs Annihilator Pro GeForce 256 DDR is reviewed
on Sharky Extreme.
- Tekram ProP6-A+ Apollo Pro Slot 1 motherboard is
reviewed on CTNews.
- Northwind GFD Rev 2 Athlon Overclocking Card is reviewed on SystemLogic.
There are a couple of new Star Trek New
World Screenshots on New Worlds News showing off gameplay from this upcoming
Trekkie 3D RTS.
The Freeze Tag page has a new
release of the Quake III Arena version of this teamplay modification. In Freeze
Tag fragged players are frozen, and players look to avoid becoming Popsicles and
freeze their foes, while simultaneously rescuing teammates by thawing them.
Frozen players are free to observe in the new version, in addition to other
changes.
The Wyrm2 World of Destruction
page has a new alpha 3 of the Quake III Arena version of the Wyrms mod.
Among the new features in this release are decapitation(!), locational damage,
and alternate fire modes for several of the game's weapons, which include
Throwing Gauntlets, Homing Rockets, Impact grenades and a Shrink Ray.
The Doom LEGACY homepage has a new
version 1.29 pre-release 5 of the Linux port of this enhanced version of Doom.
Word is this glibc binary has all the new features of the Windows version "except
a good launcher," and is linked with libGL and not libMesaGL.
According to the Rogue Spear Retreat,
Urban Operations, recently reported as being gold ( story), is not actually
complete, though a follow-up on Gone Gold,
normally infallible in this regard, still indicates that it is (perhaps this
means development is done, and Quality Assurance is yet to sign off on
the master, but that is just a guess that attempts to reconcile the conflicting stories). Also, in referring to the Deus Ex interview yesterday ( story),
Warren Spector, the project leader on ION Storm's upcoming RPG was incorrectly
also credited with being the game's lead designer, a role that is filled by
Harvey "Witchboy" Smith. We regret the error and any confusion it
caused.
Digital connectivity continues to elude both loony and me, I've heard from a
handful of others in the greater New York area describing other such problems,
one of the most popular theories being offered involves recent heightened
solar flare activity having fried some vital piece of equipment somewhere... the
flux capacitor perhaps (yes, I snuck a Dirty Harry pop culture reference in the
news yesterday, I was feeling puckish, though it was good to start slow with the
first of these in a long time). My ISP got my hopes up by leading me to believe
sDSL is available in my area, but after ordering, loony tells me this is the
same sort of tease he's been victim to twice already, so I guess it's my turn to
be the DSL guinea pig, and find out if this is for real.
Link of the Day: The Artemis Project,
looking to promote "Private Enterprise on the Moon" (we need to hook
them up with previous LoD the Lunar Embassy).
Thanks ZDim.
Story of the Day: $6 System-On-A-Chip Mimics Human Vision
(TechWeb). Thanks CiKoTiC.
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