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Archived News:
"Unwrap Your Present Early..." declares the
QuakeCon Website,
where they have posted first details about the next installment in the
long-running LAN gathering (thanks Redwood). Scheduled for August 2-5, 2007 at
the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, TX, they are promising "more gaming, events,
exhibits and fun planned than ever before." The announcement says BYOC
registration will open on March 2, 2007, but that hotel reservations with a
special event rate are being accepted right now. Here's a bit: This year’s
BYOC Area will consume the entire Trinity Hall 1, with over 70,000 square feet
of floor space and 2,700 player spots – over 1,000 more seats than 2006. We’ve
also increased the exhibit area 5X to 25,000 square feet, enough to accommodate
up to 50 exhibitors demonstrating their latest games and computer hardware. Of
course, it wouldn’t be QuakeCon without our high-stakes pro gaming tournaments;
and attendees can also look forward to the return and expansion of our
enormously popular and one-of-a-kind “Quick Draw” tournaments, which pit
randomly selected attendees against each other in high-pressure battles for
serious cash. And in keeping with QuakeCon tradition, every day will be packed
full of contests, conferences, announcements, and entertainment.
EA sends word they plan on releasing a new version 1.10 patch for Battlefield
2142 tomorrow. Here's the portion of the read me outlining what's different in
the new version: BUG FIXES
- Remove ability to resupply all unlimited ammo objects
- No longer able to use Sentry Gun pushing player into Titan Crate collision
- No longer able to use RDX DemoPaks drop through first section of the 3rd and
4th upper hallways of both Titans
- Away Bonus is now used when calculating in-game promotions
- Improved communication with GameSpy Database
- EU Duty Ribbon/PAC Duty Ribbon awarded correctly when all criteria are
fulfilled
- “Commander score" statistic no longer resets to zero
- Enabled tabbing to password field when using a dedicated server
- News Tickers Speed time to display increased
- When scrolling through the list in Multiplayer you no longer move both at the
same time as the server info
- EMP effect on Gunships reduced from 4 to 3 seconds allows the gunship to
recover when throttled up at medium altitude
- SL drone: Tweaked the acceleration on the left right aiming for the bot. It
now acquires targets properly
- Adjusted pistols: Increased ROF Clamp values, slightly reduced damage fall off
over range
- Adjusted up the damage of the HMG rounds to counter its lower RPM
- Adjusted and/or increased entry radius points for all vehicles
- Removed unused RangeFinder setting from EU Walker, Titan Guns to fix the
APC/Railgun/FAV draw out bug
- Fix for latency and TV guided missiles (lowered the acceleration on the
missile and fixed firing lag)
- Fixed active camouflage to no longer offset image
- Changed default server port to 17567
- Update to most current PunkBuster client files
FEATURES
- Reserved Slot Enhancement (Gives reserved slots the ability to be filled if
not used)
- Unranked Unlock Control (Option to give all first level unlocks and
Enable/Disable control of all other unlock levels use)
- Spectator Function
This
Strategy First Downloads Page now offers a new patch for Space Empires V,
updating the space strategy sequel to version 1.20. The
version history file has all the details on the new version, and there's an
accompanying note saying an update for the Steam edition of the game will be
made available automatically.
Playlogic now offers a new patch for Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales,
bringing Akella's swashbuckling adventure/RPG to version 1.5.
The patch notes outline all the changes. Thanks Frans.
Red Planet Arena now offers a new
version 6.02 of Alien Arena 2007, updating both the Windows and Linux editions
of this freeware first-person shooter.
The
change log has the skinny on what's new and different.
The SUNFLOWERS
Community Forums have the release of a new patch for the German edition of
ANNO 1701, updating the strategy sequel also known as 1701 A.D. to version 1.01.
The download is also available from
3D Gamers,
FileFront, Gamer's Hell,
and Worthplaying.
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Attack,
Destroy, and Rule the World of “Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning” on
GameZone is a Q&A with Jeff Hickman and the
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Q&A on Killer Betties talks with Jeff
Hickman and Paul Barnett about EA/Mythic's MMORPG: "This is a game that
rewards concentration and skill. Commitment and skill are the big rewards.
So as long as the match up is all about skill and you are around about the
same level, I'm slightly clever in using my abilities than you are, I'm
going to use the terrain, I know how to out gun you, I'm going to beat you.
As soon as skill becomes negligible, I don't know, something like companies
with nuclear weaponry taking on people who got a shoebox, well then our game
mechanics take over and say, "You can't do that, there is no skill
involved." While some people will say, "But if I have a spoon and I want to
attack a Greater Demon of Court, shouldn't I be allowed to?" That isn't
skill…that is called insanity. So when it comes to PvP and levels, levels
affect you in so much as that as long as there is still a skill requirement
for you to be successful you are fine. As soon as skill becomes irrelevant –
you've got someone who is too hard or someone too easy – we actually lock
you out from play."
- Myth War Online
RPG
Vault's Myth War Online Q&A - Part 2 continues their conversation with
Billy Ren about Unigium's persistent-stat RPG: "There are myriad NPCs that
show up in this game, and they tend to act friendly to the player or at
least assume a neutral stand. They endow the players with abundant missions
as well as selling them all kinds of articles, and providing them with
storehouses and other types of support. Some NPCs may even respond according
to different attitudes the players take. It is because of these points that
we can say the players' moves will, to a large extent, depend on various
NPCs."
- Battlestations: Midway on
GameSpot.
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars on
GameSpot. Designer Diary #4.
- UFO Afterlight on
Pro-G.
- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning on
MMORPG.COM.
I'm off for the planned revelry with my comrades. From the looks of the
quieter-than-normal news flow, it seems that the postponement of our debauchery
to the week before Christmas was well timed (though it may be just from running
so early, like the deficit of links of the evening).
More On
CPL's Plans For Severity on FiringSquad offers the fruits of a surely
welcome late Sunday night phone call to Tom Mustaine to probe for further
details on Severity, the just announced game being created by the CPL, revealing
the GPL Quake 3 Arena engine will be the core technology for the project. The
game will feature a modern/futuristic setting, and will offer bots for offline
play, though the single-player experience will be fairly limited. Other salient
details include their hunt for a publishing partner to ensure post-release
support, plans to include features to enhance the experience for spectators, and
the possibility of PC gamers being able to play against Xbox 360 players. They
are currently hoping to release a public demo in time for the CPL Winter
championships in December 2007, with a full game release planned for mid-2008.
Eidos Announces North
American Release Date For the Massive Naval Combat Game, Battlestations Midway
(thanks Frans) has word on when to expect the release of the World War II
action/strategy game. Word is Battlestations Midway "will be released in North
America on January 30, 2007. The game will be available on the Xbox 360 (TM)
video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows."
The Sports Mogul Website
now offers a playable demo for Football Mogul, offering a sample of this game
that puts you in complete control of your own American football franchise. Don't
understand the game? It doesn't stop Tom Coughlin, so it shouldn't hold you
back. The demo is a 17.5 MB download. Thanks Frans.
This forum post offers downloads of new patches for the German and Czech
editions of Armed Assault (thanks Frans), updating Bohemia Interactive's
military shooter to version 1.02 (a Polish edition of this patch is still in the
works). Word is: "Due to some network bandwith [sic] optimizations 1.02 is no
longer compabitle [sic] in multiplayer with 1.00 and 1.01 and users who installs
1.02 will not be able to play on servers with 1.00 and 1.01." Also,
this forum post offers the corresponding beta version 1.02 Win32 dedicated
server.
The
Charles Cecil Q&A on Adventure Classic Gaming talks with the Managing
Director for Revolution Software about the Broken Sword series, and the latest
installment, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death: "The release date for North
America is not decided, but we expect to make an announcement very shortly. In
the UK the game reached number one in the PC charts on release so we have very
high hopes for North America. I am not sure about surprised; I think that the
ending is dramatic, I hope that the story will prove entertaining and dramatic,
and the feeling of the game is that it returns to its roots in terms of puzzle
design. "
- Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins on
play.tm.
Argh, I'm finally caught up after a late start this morning, as MrsBlue failed
in her duties as hearer of the alarm clock. This is particularly poor timing, as
I was already set to skip out on the early side this evening to hook up with my
buddies for our rescheduled holiday carousing (apologies in advance for matching
my late start with an early departure). I hear the clamor for a pear review
(heck, it may have drowned out the alarm clock this morning), so rest assured,
that like my opinion on so many unimportant things, my thoughts on the
worthiness of the Royal Rivieras will come to the surface soon enough.
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