Archived News:
A new beta 21 of Qtracker version 2.3 is now available at the Qtracker Homepage, updating this "server browser, server launcher, server administrator, MP3 streaming audio browser, and HTML/PHP server list generator for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000" (phew). The latest beta brings support for No One Lives Forever and RUNE, a new Quake III: Team Arena filter, new skin controls, and new filter variables, while also integrating the Qtracker Masters. Finally, some server finding and other bugs have been squashed.
As the third year-end Q&A in a row today, back on Stomped the latest willing victim of their standard template of questions is Chris Taylor, and as usual the Gas Powered Games lead designer looks back at this year and ahead to 2001, when they hope to release "Dungeon Siege in the summer-fall timeframe."
The "other" year-end series of Q&As on Israeli site VGames also features a new installment today, as Ritual level designer Levelord is quizzed about their accomplishments of the past year, and comments on the always-fun topic of PC versus console gaming. Thanks GameSeek for the tip.
Another day, another year-end Q&A on Stomped, and this morning Gearbox' Randy Pitchford is invited to look back at the now nearly-completed year, and forward to the new one. Randy highlights the reception of Monolith's No One Lives Forever, finds the proliferation of professional competitive gaming one of the most encouraging trends, but doesn't reveal yet what Gearbox will be working on in 2001 apart from their Half-Life port to the Playstation 2.
Continuing yesterday's trend, a new version 2.1.2 of PrBoom is now available at its SourceForge homepage. PrBoom is a port of the public DOOM source code that offers OpenGL acceleration and compatibility with the previous Boom and MBF ports, billing itself as "the purest Doom-port?", and it comes with Windows and Linux executables as well as source code. This release brings improved demo support, fixes a sound and a networking problem, and more.
GA-Source awakes from its week-long holiday slumber to post three new Venom screenshots, illustrating the upcoming first-person shooter by GSC Game World where you guide a two man squad through a futuristic world.
Westwood sent along an updated version of the official Emperor: Battle for Dune FAQ, written by producer Chris Longpre. Three times as large as the first FAQ ( story), it offers up-to-date information on this upcoming 3D real-time strategy game, including its place in the Dune universe, gameplay details such as the AI and multiplayer support, and more.
TimeGate: Developer Diary #2 on GameSpy.com offers a new update on Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, the isometric RTS under construction at TimeGate Studios. In this installment lead designer Steve Hemmesch takes a tour through the Kohan universe and details the backstory to the game.
A new version 1.1RC of the SuperConfigurable Team Arena mod for Quake III: Team Arena is now available at its official site. This is a release candidate version while work continues on a full 1.1 release, intended to address what the authors call "a quickly-growing exploit," but it also includes a slew of other improvements and bug fixes as listed in the changelog.
RPGPlanet previews Survivor of the Ages based on their experiences with a beta build of this top-down role-playing game by Alien Logic. The article looks at the storyline, the camera and combat system, its application of the Genesis3D engine, and other aspects of the game, which will be distributed online in monthly episodes.
The Freeze Tag page offers a new version 1.4 of this Quake III Arena mod for download. Freeze Tag is a mod where teamplay centers around freezing your enemies while thawing your friends, and this release brings it up-to-date with the version 1.27g point release as well as the Team Arena expansion pack, while other changes include "Rewritten Bot AI for thawing people, Number of thaws shows on scoreboard, Number of times you fell in lava/slime/void," and more.
Daily Radar brings their week-long look at what they feel will be the greatest
games of next year to a close this morning with their
final roundup article. This last edition looks at Sigma, Motor City Online,
MechCommander 2, Mafia and Team Fortress 2, and for each there are new screenshots
and a Q&A with one of the developers. Those looking for hardcore details
about the elusive TF2 will be disappointed however, but Valve's Robin Walker
does say that, "Although we have been quiet lately, that doesn't mean that
we haven't been busy -- very busy, actually."
Build 150 of GoingUP has been released.
Going Up is a handy utility that allows for instant downloading and installation
of mods for Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena and with this latest
release, Star Trek: Armada, and also new in this version is a streamlined codebase
and other miscellaneous changes.
- Thunderbird Burn-In Article
A
new article at AcidHardware examines the "burn-in" process that
has been used on AMD's Thunderbird CPUs, and why it's a good thing for overclocking
enthusiasts.
- Buying Guidance
The December
2000 edition of Hardware Central's buyer's guide is online, with tips
for building that perfect system.
- Make Your Own Cat5 Crossover Cable
Hexus.net has
posted an article with directions for creating a mod that turns a standard
ethernet cable into a crossover one by changing the termination on one end.
- CPU ID Article
D128 has an
article up explaining CPU identification, complete with details on how
you can use this information to pick a processor that's best for you. There
is a disclaimer, however, saying that the article is limited to Intel processors,
with a note saying AMD CPUs will be added in the future.
- Mu Shu CPU?
Taking the prize for strangest hardware article
this morning is this
one over at G3D that shows you how to add or remove a socket heatsink
using chopsticks. And yes, the first thing listed is, "stop by any Chinese
restaurant and pick up a pair."
Artifact Entertainment has updated their
official Horizons site with new concept artwork and a rendered image of
the Mountain Grelk monster from the game, as well as a
new FAQ (or at least, that's what they call it - there aren't any actual
questions) that explains how housing will be handled.
Version 1.0 of the
Half-life Configurator utility has been released. The HLC is a front-end
for Half-life, and contains a multitude of features, including the ability to
easily change all graphic and sound settings and tweak gameplay options prior
to launching the game.
The award for best awards write-up this year without a doubt goes to GameSpot,
whose massive
awards article this year spans so many pages it took me 20 minutes just
to flip through them all. There are separate (and equally huge) awards for PC
and console
systems, and at the end of each there is even a reader's choice awards ballot
for you to pick your own winners. In other award news ( "Awards! They
do nothing but give out awards!"), The Shugashack has unveiled the
winner of their reader-voted game of the year award (no surprises here),
Inside Mac Games has their year
in Mac games article up, GameOver has their
top 10 worst games of the year online, and Planet Unreal has posted the
winners of their UT mutator/mod awards.
The guide
to Hitman: Codename 47 at GameFAQs by Dune Tiger has had a major update,
and is now considered complete by the author, as it contains info on all the
missions, items and weapons in the game. Also new at GameFAQs this morning is
a major update to the
MechCommander FAQ by BKerensky, which is, like the Hitman one mentioned
above, now considered complete by the author.
The saga over the incorrect news the other day ( story) that
said Nintendo was considering purchasing Sega continues, and Stomped has posted
a
good (if brief) rundown of the latest developments, which includes a
letter from Sega Japan's Shunichi Nakamura to the New York Times asking
that they run a formal apology over the story in question. Also, Daily Radar's
great games of 2001 series continues with day
four of The Nintendo Greatness of 2001, Sega's
Online Greatness and The
Games That Will Make or Break the PS2.
Esports-Live.com has started their QIL4 pre-coverage, and included is a
detailed write-up of some of the key players to watch in this hardcore teamplay
tournament. In contest news, SimHQ's
latest contest gives you the chance to win the Aimsworth F-16 Cockpit Simulator,
a $1,300 cockpit simulator (this ain't no joystick) that is no doubt the ultimate
accessory for obsessive flight sim fans.
It's been quite a relaxing week here, as a lot of developers have been off
for the holidays and a lot of major sites haven't been updated, so I've used
this time to get caught up on some of the many, many games that have been piling
up. I'm pleased to say that with Final Fantasy IX behind me I was able to play
through American McGee's Alice from start to finish and play a bit of Jet Set
Radio on the Dreamcast (I'm sorry, but I refuse to call that game by its silly,
pointless North American name) and am currently making my way through Escape
From Monkey Island, which is quite silly. And I also managed to try out Quake
III: Team Arena and get trounced in Counter-Strike a bit. Next week I'll get
back to tweaking the design...I've got a full list of things to work on.
Story of the Day: 'Human
calculator' says It's time for human calendar (Fox News). Thanks ggandalf.
Bonus Story: Math
Genius Uses Different Parts of His Brain (Fox News). Thanks again ggandalf.
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