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Archived News:
Valve's Gabe Newell gave a presentation at ATI's Shader Days event in Seattle
where he discussed Half-Life 2 performance, Direct X 9, and benchmarks, among
other things. Included are some Half-Life 2 benchmarks and some details about
the DirectX 9 performance improvements they've achieved. Reports on the
proceedings can be found on AnandTech,
Beyond3D, Gamers
Depot, GameSpot,
and The Tech
Report. There's also a Gabe
Newell Interview on Gamers Depot discussing all this, including why DirectX
and not OpenGL.
The promised Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory patch has been released, updating the
free World War II shooter to version 1.02. The Win32 and Linux client/server
patches are mirrored on 3D
Gamers, AusGamers,
FilePlanet
(registration required), GameSpot,
IGN, and Worthplaying.
Activision sends news that they plan on releasing a new version 1.02 patch for
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory later today. The update will improve server
stability to "help to remedy unexpected server timeouts" and will also
include the updated version of Even Balance's PunkBuster anti-cheating software.
The Steam Website has word that
today's planned Steam client release has been pushed back until tomorrow (thanks
Funluvncriminal), though the server code is still slated for release later
today. There is another post on VERC
quoting Doug Lombardi apologizing for the delay, and saying: "We've been
making final changes to the Steam network throughout the night. Unfortunately,
it's taken longer than we planned."
The countdown clock on the Medal
of Honor Allied Assault Website has reached zero, and sure enough, TKO
Software's demo of the Breakthrough expansion pack for 2015's World War II
shooter is now available on their
downloads page. The two-level multiplayer demo is a 204 MB download, which
is mirrored on 3D Gamers,
Boomtown (registration required),
Computer
Games Online, FileFront,
FilePlanet
(registration required), FileShack (registration required), Fragland,
Gamer's
Hell, GameSpot,
Gaming Asylum, IGN,
and Worthplaying.
The Chaser
Website now offers downloads of an updated version 1.49 multiplayer demo for
Cauldron's first-person shooter. The approximately 150 MB demo now offers All
Seeing Eye support, optimized network code and server stability, and anti-cheat
code. The update has been mirrored on several site, some of which are also
carrying the new German version of the demo: 3D
Gamers, Computer
Games Online, FileFront ( English
and German),
Gamer's Hell,
Loadedinc (registration required), and Worthplaying.
In a bulleted list, due to popular demand (threats, etc.).
Microsoft Hails
'Half-Life 2' as New Benchmark in Games for Windows (thanks Frans) has a little corporate
log-rolling in which we learn that Microsoft thinks that Half-Life 2 is
absolutely super, and that Valve holds Direct X 9 in equally high regard, even
quoting former MS employee Gabe Newell on the topic.
Counter-Strike NZ (thanks Gameplanet
and Frans) has a post up describing Valve's plans to release a new Half-Life
update via the Steam system sometime
today. The update will include a new version 1.1.2.0 of Half-Life,
Counter-Strike version 1.6, and a new version of TeamFortress Classic. Here's a
bit: "This update won't be a required update initially; there will be a
grace period where both CS 1.5 on old servers and CS 1.6 on new Steam servers
will be playable online, before the old version will stop working. "In a
couple of weeks we will make this update mandatory," said Alfred Reynolds
from Valve Software. Players should beware you will require a valid Half-Life or
Half-Life: Counter-Strike CD Key in order to install the update. All players
will be assigned new 'Steam IDs' and the WONID system will slowly be phased out."
Russobit-M sends word of plans for a new strategic RPG titled Phase: Exodus
that's due for release in 2005. Here's the word: Finally, after long,
hard negotiations, fightings and squabbles Russobit-M is proud to announce - the
contract with "Horns & Hoofs" developers studio for publishing the
"Phase: Exodus" RPG was signed. The genre of the game is RPG with a
strong strategy element. The action there will take place at the territory of
Western Syberia, near Baikal lake - at the near future. The post-apocalyptic
setting has to take us in the middle of the conflict between groups of people,
which were separated when the great catastrophe took place. "When Earth
orbit's form digresses from the ideal circle for more than 1 percent, the
gravitation influence upon it increases, drawing the entire planet and its
massive ice mountains too. Its great weight presses down the earth's crust, and
this pressure in combination with increased tilt of the equator axis makes the
crust move..." In 2014, the civilization was destroyed, and the cataclysm
had buried all what human's hands were creating for five thousands years of
history. In dozens of years, people populated the lands again. But, the new
danger was near...
The main game features are:
- realistic sci-fi world
- classical 3rd person view
- quests matrix - the complex of connected quests, partly built with the
technology of plot projecting
- APARpS
- specially developed role system
- more abilities to interact with the gaming world (entering the house
through windows, many kinds of "quiet killing", constructing of
weapons and equipment, many tactical solutions, hard social interaction,
etc.)
- multiplayer mode - more than 150 kinds of weapons
The approximate date of release is planned at the beginning of 2005.
We'll tell you more soon - wait for the details about project, first
screenshots, secrets and innovations from the developers recently!
British developer Pineapple Interactive announces work on Bloody Waters: Terror
from the Deep, which will offer the unusual opportunity for players to play as a
shark. They have also released the first screenshots from the project and some
gameplay movies on this
media page. Here's the announcement: Bloody Waters: Terror from the
Deep is a new third person action adventure game (PC, PS2, Xbox) where you take
control of a genetically altered Great White shark. You manage to break free of
your captors and in a chain of islands you build up in strength to take your
revenge on the scientist who was in charge of doing the experimentation on you.
Along the way you discover the 'Cult of the Shark', a people who sypmathise with
your cause and who will help you in a non-violent fashion.
The game is based in an unrestricted physics based environment, allowing you to
swim through the oceans without a loading screen in sight and being able to
throw people and boats at other objects to push them around or tailflip a
fisherman's body back at his friends on the pier knocking them in for you to
feast on for energy!
For more information please visit, http://www.pineapple-interactive.com
(HTML, Flash 5 and 6 versions of the site)
Please note there are low quality movies on the site currently, to be replaced
in a week by higher quality versions. Register on the site for the website
update newsletter!
Purge Jihad has been announced, a
free add-on for Purge, Freeform Interactive's online
FPS/RPG. The add-on will take the gameplay in Purge and push it further in the
direction of Freeform's original Future versus Fantasy Quake, and once the
add-on is released, support for the original Purge is to be discontinued.
Fappin's Strike Force 2003 Q&A chats with Michael “Optimizer” Hamlett about Strike Force 2003, the Make Something Unreal competition, their retail aspirations, and more.
- This BF42.com
Forum Thread has some rants on the topic of modification support from
EA/DICE for Battlefield 1942. Thanks Ant...
- The System Shock 3 Petition
looks to inspire another installment in the highly regarded first-person
RPG/shooter series...
- Multi Player Zone is now offering
fully configurable bookable servers for several games completely free of
charge...
- Ubisoft Announces
New Logo: ">Strategic Milestone Accompanies Sale Of
100 Millionth Game." Thanks Frans...
- Games Fusion
is now making all the versions of their Fusion Packs prior to the current
releases freely available...
- Hoyle Games 2004 Demo available for download on Gamer's
Hell...
It was a pretty exhausting experience driving back and forth to the funeral and
burial on back-to-back days, but now that it's over with, I am very grateful for
the chance to properly pay my respects, as is my brother WalterEgo, who had to
go through the same process with even more traveling. As my bro put it, it was
the last thing we were able to do for her.
Thanks once more to all of you who have expressed their condolences and patience
for the spotty updates that this caused, I'm sorry there's such a glut of news
today, but I think we're pretty much caught up again (after using more bullets
for this update than in The Matrix - whew!).
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