Following
recent indications from
Monolith founder Jace Hall about the possibility of a
Blood revival, Jace
posted a photo to Facebook to fuel whatever speculation this news generated.
The photo shows Jace and original Blood designer Nick Newhard sitting in front
of a monitor with the Blood logo. Seeming to misunderstand the word, the caption
explains they are discussing "secrets," saying, "Sitting here with OG game
designer Nick Newhard discussing secrets.. U do the math. #iLiveAgain — with
Kevin Kilstrom, Matt Saettler and Nick Newhard."
Though the
Splash Damage website and
Twitter account are silent on the topic,
press release from the Hong Kong exchange indicates that Paul Wedgewood is
in the process of selling Splash Damage to Radius Maxima, a subsidiary of Leyou
Technology Holdings, a Chinese company that also
recently acquired the balance of developer Digital Extremes (which was not
noted here at the time). Splash Damage emerged from the
QUAKE mod scene,
and they have created or contributed to several first-person shooters including
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory,
Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars,
Brink, and
Doom III. Here's word on the deal:
The Targets
comprise Splash Damage, Fireteam and Warchest. Splash Damage is principally
engaged in the development of computer games for different hardware platforms,
including consoles, personal computers and mobile devices. Fireteam is
principally engaged in the provision of online services and back-end support of
computer games. Warchest is principally engaged in owning, publishing and
operating competitive multiplayer games with high production values for all
leading platforms. The Targets are companies incorporated under the laws of
England and Wales.
The Consideration (excluding the Aggregated Adjustment Payment) payable by
Radius Maxima to Paul Wedgwood and the Optionholders under the Sale and Purchase
Agreements shall not in any event exceed US$150 million (equivalent to
approximately RMB996 million). The sum of the Aggregated Adjustment Payment
payable by Radius Maxima to Paul Wedgwood and the Optionholders under the Sale
and Purchase Agreements shall not in any event exceed US$10 million (equivalent
to approximately RMB66 million). The sum of the amount payable by Radius Maxima
to the Targets under the Main SPA (including but not limited to any payment
obligations under the sub-section headed “Additional project funding” below),
shall not in any event exceed US$10 million (equivalent to approximately RMB66
million).
An update to
the Team
Fortress 2 blog discusses the admittedly rough launch of casual mode in
Team Fortress 2, Valve's multiplayer shooter. They offer
a new patch to
address some issues and remove leaver penalties, and say another patch will
follow to allow players to specify the maps to join. Here's a rundown on their
concerns:
First, and most important, queue times. The queue times you are
currently experiencing are a bug, not a feature. It is something we are actively
working to correct. Several backend issues appeared post-launch that culminated
in long wait times. Removing this issue is our highest priority right now.
Second, abandonment penalties. We had put in a ten-minute cooldown period to
encourage players to complete matches. Your feedback has convinced us that it is
more important for players to be able to come and go as they please. Today's
patch will remove abandonment cooldown penalties from Casual Mode.
Third, user choice. We'd intended to roll out the number of match options
available to players incrementally, so as not to overload the matchmaking system
with too many variables on Day One. In retrospect, of all the match options to
hold back, map selection should not have been one of them. It is the next
feature we are adding to Casual Mode, and you will get it very soon.
Fourth, Casual Mode levels. Levels are a cosmetic feature that show how much
you've played. They can never be lost, and they do not affect matchmaking. We
did a poor job of communicating that Casual Mode Levels are in no way similar to
Competitive Mode Ranks (which do affect matchmaking, and can be lost).
I think I'm turning a corner on my Lyme disease, as my aches and pains went away
pretty quickly. My energy level is still not quite what it should be, but that's
slowly returning to normal as well after about a week on antibiotics.
Coincidentally, we just finished treating the Gunnar-man for a different
tick-borne illness, and the cure was the same, a round of doxycycline. When the
vet prescribed that he warned me it was expensive for dogs because it is in
somewhat short supply due to how many humans need it to treat Lyme, and
sure enough, it ended up costing a couple of hundred bucks. Then true to the
description of the cause, a few weeks later I had to fill my own prescription.
Luckily in my case insurance coverage reduced my cost to around twenty bucks.
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