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Archived News:
id Software's Paul Steed has released the intro CGI sequence from Quake III
Arena in AVI format (here's a
local copy with mirrors). The file is quite large at over 88 MB, and was
worked on by Steed himself and the CGI wizards at Digital Anvil.
A new beta version 3.2 release of the Mesa
3D graphics library has been released, and is available
for download at SourceForge (thanks Jacek
Fedoryñski). Mesa is a cross platform OpenGL-esque graphics library
that supports a number of different operating systems, including Linux and Amiga.
This version is an unsupported beta release, but it fixes a number of bugs that
popped up in version 3.1 (the last official release).
incite has conducted a new interview with Warren Spector, talking about his upcoming Unreal-engine powered 3D action RPG. As usual, Warren remains tight-lipped about the plot of the game, but there is a good deal of other info, including this quote on the possibilities of ports to other platforms:
I don't know if I'm supposed to say, but I've
already seen Deus Ex running on the Mac. The guys at
Westlake Interactive (best Mac guys in the business)
and Aspyre are doing the port. Looks sweet. And we've
certainly thought about other platforms. But I don't think
it'd be prudent to go much further than to say we're
thinking about it.
Reakktor Media sent word of an extensive update to their Neocron website, bringing a new look to the site, and ten new screenshots, a comprehensive FAQ, and more on their upcoming futuristic 3D massively multiplayer online RPG, which they dubbed "the #1 Virtual City Project."
Diablo II Nation has conducted a
new interview with Blizzard's Bill Roper, talking to him about the usual
batch of Diablo fan concerns, including guild halls (which won't be in the shipping
version of the game) and how the revamped server will be storing character information.
New
screenshots from Private Wars, TS Group's upcoming 3D tactical combat game,
have surfaced at AVault. In addition to the screenshots, AVault is reporting
that TS Group plans to release a demo version of the game, "sometime before
E3." More screenshots are also available at Matrox' site, where they've
posted new
shots showing off the Private Wars engine's bump-mapping effects.
An interview with Origin's
Damion "Ubiq" Schubert has been posted at the newly unveiled Ultima
Online 2 vault. Damion is the lead designer on Ultima Online 2, and he talks
about their plans for the game, including some details on the team, and some
info about the skills, monster AI, and other gameplay issues.
The first part of the freshly revamped Soldier-of-Fortune.com's
Raven Interview is online, with Raven's Studio Head Brian Raffel answering
some questions about Soldier of Fortune. Tomorrow's update will bring a new
Q&A with Kenn Hoekstra, SoF's project administrator.
Four
new screenshots from Icewind Dale, Black Isle's upcoming RPG, have been
posted at incite. The new shots show off four different offensive spells in
all their multicolored glory.
3dfx has announced
that it plans to acquire 3D technology developer GigaPixel for a whopping $186
million dollars (thanks Voodoo Extreme,
who are having some server difficulties at the moment). Here's a brief excerpt
from the detailed
press release that hints about 3dfx' plans for the company: GigaPixel,
founded in 1997, specializes in the design, development and licensing of 3D
core technology. Designed to dramatically reduce the memory bandwidth and high
gate count designs traditionally required for 3D acceleration, the GigaPixel
technology for the first time enables high quality 3D display capabilities in
low power, cost sensitive environments.
"We are on the verge of an exciting new era of 3D display capabilities,"
said Dr. Alex Leupp, president and CEO of 3dfx Interactive. "The graphical
displays on today's PDAs, cell phones, internet appliances, etc. are lackluster
at best. With this transaction, we are now positioned to be the leader in providing
advanced 3D technology to enable the era of true three-dimensional visual communication
for all consumer electronics devices."
Aureal has released beta
Windows 2000 drivers for Vortex 2 based cards (thanks Whackd and -=KodiaK=-).
These are beta drivers, and therefore are not supported at all by Aureal.
Epic has released a version 413 patch for Unreal Tournament ( here's
a local copy, with mirrors). This new version adds a ton of changes, fixes
and enhancements, and is a reasonable 5.6 MB. Here's an excerpt from the features
list, which is quite large: New features (Gameplay):
- D3D uses vertex buffers for all drawing operations - gives overall performance
boost.
- Can now use number and arrow keys to navigate voice menu
- Random bots picks from all 32 (not first 16) - including the specially configured
ones
- Can summon specific bots: 'AddBotNamed Alarik' adds the bot with the name
Alarik (if he's in the list of configured bots)
- Now shows waiting players on team scoreboards before start of game (players
who aren't ready are greyed out)
- Improved bot AI about triggering pressure zone when player is in it
- Changed xDSL and cable modem clientspeed to 10000 (and added separate category
in netspeed selection)
- No longer need to type 'iamtheone' for cheats in single player
- Demos can now play looping - demoplay demofile?loop
- Turbo/hardcore mode is now shown in UBrowser for team games
New features (for Mod Authors):
- Unreal monsters will now fight UT bots
- Fixed Mutator RegisterHUDMutator() - only sets bHUDMutator if successful registration
- F3 brings up objectives menu for subclasses of Assault.
- Call voicepack in player setup menu rather than just playing voice to allow
effects to be heard in setup menu.
- AttachDecal() now returns the texture the decal was attached to
- UTExtraKeyBindings class to allow modmakers to add to Customize Controls menu
- Mod menu organization - mod menu class is adjustable with [UMenu.UMenuMenuBar]
ModMenuClass
- manifest.ini correctly reports version number so mods can require UT version
beyond 400 for installation
- Mod authors can add UBrowser tabs, see http://unreal.epicgames.com/files/SampleUBrowserPage.zip
for an example of how to set this up.
3dfx has released beta 2 of their Voodoo
3 3500TV drivers for Windows 2000. Like the first release, these are beta
drivers, and feature a somewhat frightening warning, as well as word that 3dfx
is not supporting them...so download at your own risk.
GameSpot UK has posted a
new preview of Heart of Stone, an upcoming 3D fantasy/strategy game from
Pyro, the developers of Commandos, featuring several screenshots from the game,
as well as a general rundown of the gameplay.
Just when you thought the flurry of LithTech announcements had died down, LithTech,
Inc. and Real Networks have
announced their partnership to create games for Real.com's games section
using the LithTech engine. While there aren't any details about the games in
question in the press release, it is mentioned that they will be available for
download on Real's website. Here's an excerpt from the
full press release: Kirkland, WA (March 27, 2000) LithTech, Inc. today
announced the signing of a multi-game development agreement with RealNetworks®,
Inc. to create original content for distribution through the Real.com™
Games division (www.real.com/games). The agreement will give exposure for LithTech
game titles to more than 95 million unique, registered RealPlayer® users.
"We are extremely pleased to be working with RealNetworks on this exciting
new paradigm. The Real.com Games distribution mechanism is a tremendous step
forward for the game industry that will provide developers with increased control
over product distribution," comments Jason Hall, CEO for LithTech, Inc.
"In addition, new advances in technology will insure that a downloadable
game has the same quality level as a traditional CD-ROM game."
LithTech, Inc. will utilize a proprietary version of its state-of-the-art LithTech
3D Game Operating System in the creation of the new titles for Real.com Games.
LithTech is a licensable technology for multiple platforms that functions as
a complete, full-featured, 3D game operating system which allows developers
to easily design, develop and focus on content without reinventing new technology
for each project.
BW Vault has conducted an interview with Lionhead director Tim Rance, talking about his start in the games industry, his current responsibilities and of course, their upcoming strategy god-game Black & White. In particular, the article addresses the differences and similarities between the PC and Dreamcast versions of the game.
A new, hands-on
preview of Star Trek: Armada has been posted over at GameSpot UK. They visited
Activision's offices to try out this Star Trek-themed 3D strategy game, and
in addition to their initial impressions, they've posted some
screenshots from the game.
A.T. Hun's House of Shogo has conducted an
interview with Hyperion Software's Thomas Frieden, talking to him about
their upcoming ports of Monolith's LithTech (1) engine title, Shogo: Mobile
Armor Division, as well as some general stuff about the Amiga, the OS that just keeps on
keepin' on.
A new interview
with Dynamix programmer Rick Overman has popped up at Gamelinks.net. The
interview focuses on their upcoming multiplayer shooter Starsiege: TRIBES 2,
and Rick discusses the engine's features amongst other things.
Russian developer Akella has posted a
bunch of new screenshots from Sea Dogs: Between the Devil and the Blue Sea
( "Jonathan Livingston Seagull! We're on a collision course! Hard a-starboard!"),
their upcoming action/strategy/RPG (Handsome Pete not included). In addition to the new shots, they've also
announced that the game will be published by Bethesda Software.
Nine
new screenshots from Hired Team: Trial, New Media Generation's upcoming
first person action game, have popped up at The Daily Telefrag, showing off
a few different locations (but no characters or enemies).
The Savage UK-Console Stats page, the
relocated homepage of the CStats log parser/analyzer for QuakeWorld, Quake II,
Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament deathmatch and CTF matches. Now available
there is a new version dashingly named Console Stats 2000, which is said to fix
"all GUI display bugs," add an Autodetection feature, remove scoring
options from the preferences, and more.
Birdman's Lair, devoted to the
recently discontinued Spacetec SpaceOrb,
has posted a couple of new official SpOrb support patches, a Tomb Raider 4
configuration and an updated Half-Life patch that supports TeamFortress Classic
and Opposing Force.
Tech Extreme's interview with
Suneil Mishra is Q&A with Aureal's A3D Product Manager that took place
last week right as word trickled out announcing the resignation of several
members of senior management ( story),
so the interview promptly detoured to ask about that, receiving a definitive
"no comment," like so: "I cannot comment right now on the current
situation at Aureal. Expect more details to be announced soon. If I am able to
comment in the future, I will let you know."
id Software lead programmer John Carmack updated his .plan with his personal memories of Seumas McNally, the Tread Marks programmer who passed away last week ( story). Here is what he had to say:
Two years ago, Id was contacted by the Startlight Foundation, an organization
that tries to grant wishes to seriously ill kids. (www.starlight.org)
There was a young man with Hodgkin's Lymphoma that, instead of wanting to go
to Disneyland or other traditional wishes, wanted to visit Id and talk with
me about programming.
It turned out that Seumas McNally was already an accomplished developer.
His family company, Longbow Digital Arts (www.longbowdigitalarts.com), had
been doing quite respectably selling small games directly over the internet.
It bore a strong resemblance to the early shareware days of Apogee and Id.
We spent the evening talking about graphics programmer things -- the relative
merits of voxels and triangles, procedurally generated media, level of detail
management, API and platforms.
We talked at length about the balance between technology and design, and all
the pitfalls that lie in the way of shipping a modern product.
We also took a dash out in my ferrari, thinking "this is going to be the best
excuse a cop will ever hear if we get pulled over".
Longbow continued to be successful, and eventually the entire family was
working full time on "Treadmarks", their new 3D tank game.
Over email about finishing the technology in Treadmarks, Seumas once said
"I hope I can make it". Not "be a huge success" or "beat the competition".
Just "make it".
That is a yardstick to measure oneself by.
It is all too easy to lose your focus or give up with just the ordinary
distractions and disappointments that life brings. This wasn't ordinary.
Seumas had cancer. Whatever problems you may be dealing with in your life,
they pale before having problems drawing your next breath.
He made it.
Treadmarks started shipping a couple months ago, and was entered in the
Independent Games Festival at the Game Developer's Conference this last month.
It came away with the awards for technical excellence, game design, and the
grand prize.
I went out to dinner with the McNally family the next day, and had the
opportunity to introduce Anna to them. One of the projects at Anna's new
company, Fountainhead Entertainment (www.fountainheadent.com), is a
documentary covering gaming, and she had been looking forward to meeting
Seumas after hearing me tell his story a few times. The McNallys invited
her to bring a film crew up to Canada and talk with everyone whenever she
could.
Seumas died the next week.
I am proud to have been considered an influence in Seumas' work, and I think
his story should be a good example for others. Through talent and
determination, he took something he loved and made a success out of it in
many dimensions.
http://www.gamedev.net/community/memorial/seumas/ for more information.
Refraction Games has announced that their first-person action game Codename Eagle should now be available in stores in the US (it was already released in Europe last year). The update also explains their plans to unify the US and European versions for Internet play, include GameSpy support, and expand the game with a number of multiplayer features.
Gray Matter Studios' programmer Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin updated
his .plan with word that he's posted a compiled dedicated Linux Kingpin version
1.21 binary set. Here's the update, which also recaps the other current patches
and support files for the life of crime shooter created by Xatrix, (Ridah, and
much of Gray Matter's previous company): Kingpin:
I've gone and compiled a dedicated Linux Kingpin v1.21 binary set, it is
available at:
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kpded-linux-glibc-i386-v120-to-v121-patch.zip
Since Interplay have locked Kingpin at v1.21, I decided to roll back the changes
and release a linux v1.21. This should be the final Kingpin release, assuming
there are no issues with this Linux release.
Why no Linux client release? I didn't have enough time to work on the Linux
client since v1.20, so considering the only fixes since then are server-side
only, it wouldn't make sense to release a new Linux client, only to have the
existing problems get reported again. The v1.20 Linux client should be fully
compatible with v1.21 servers, so if it works for you, you should be fine.
The other remaining issue, is the lack of Linux compilables in the SDK, for the
files that were omitted from the game source. I have placed these files, along
with an example MAKEFILE in the following package:
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kingpinSDK-v121-navlib-linux-glibc-i386.zip
The MAKEFILE included is the one I use to build the full source, so you'll need
to modify it so that it only tries to build the game source.
-------------
In an effort to summarise the current (final?) Kingpin releases, here is a list
of links to up-to-date versions and releases:
Kingpin v1.21 Patch for Windows (patches any version below v1.21)
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kingpin_v121_patch.exe
Kingpin v1.20 Patch for Linux:
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kingpin-1.20_glibc-i386-linux2.0.tar.gz
Kingpin v1.20 for Linux to Kingpin Dedicated Server v1.21 for Linux Patch:
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kpded-linux-glibc-i386-v120-to-v121-patch.zip
Kingpin SDK v1.21 for Windows/Linux (Linux requires addition package):
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/Kingpin_SDK_121.zip
Kingpin SDK v1.21 Additional Linux files
http://impact.frag.com/ridah/kptest/kingpinSDK-v121-navlib-linux-glibc-i386.zip
Some minor updates and fixes to ©leaner's
big unofficial FAQ for Unreal Tournament brings this detailed compilation of
frequently asked UT questions up to version 1.10.
The Hacx Download page
has a full version 1.0 of Hacx for download, a free release of the formerly
commercial Doom2 conversion with the difficult to pronounce name (rolled back
from the CD version 1.1 to undo some texture bugs). Rather than freeware, the
release is described as "requestware," as they ask you to agree to a
couple of painless requests before you download. Thanks Doomworld.
A week remains in 3DGPU.com's GeForce Giveaway,
offering a shot at a Leadtek WinFast GeForce 256 DDR accelerator, with another
one on tap that they're giving away soon.
I got the most outrageous piece of spam ever yesterday, offering $120 an hour to
view ads on my computer--I mean, does anyone respond to that? Boggles the mind.
Fun stuff last night: great Sopranos, great game, I even enjoyed what I saw of
the Oscars®, since I tuned in for the last half-hour or so, and got to see a
load of awards... the show's not so bad when you catch the end as they're
running that far behind. On the other hand, now that the show is over, we don't
expect loony to escape post-Oscar depression until sometime next week.
Link of the Day: Scratch
It. More web-based interactivity. Thanks EvilToast.
Story of the Day: Charity Offers Canine Sensitivity Training for British Postal Workers.
Thanks Buclerpp.
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