Yeah...only a few big game releases for christmas.

It sounds like you had something interfering with your keyboard driver, for instance a keylogger. Sure, it could have been a random bit error in a driver status register or something strange like that, but in my experience these things happen due to an event which causes them, like downloading something that includes code for direct keyboard access.

Awesome! I don't even see them available on Steam yet. I wonder how Fran gets the inside track on this stuff?

Wow...a WWII FPS! I've always wanted to play one of those! What an original concept. (insert more insidious sarcasm here).

This sounds like investment dollars are being thrown into the game industry for "what has proven to sell well". Sad...money and no brains seems to be the going standard for USA business trends. When are the investment people going to learn that they will make more money by building a new shelf for a new product than placing yet another similar product on the same shelf?

I'd say this is good news for Blue. I normally forego any on-site technicians when I get a new ISP...all they normally do is type in a command on a computer at their site, so mostly techs just plug the modem into the wall and into the computer...5 minutes later they gave me a bill for $150. But, this last time they said I HAD to purchase the tech service...and I was glad, apparently there were several analog amplifiers and a couple of open loops on my line which resulted in a digital bandwidth of nothing better than 384Mb in both directions. Eliminating these problems has my bandwidth cooking at 1.5Mb download while the upload is still limited to 384Mb.

Let's just hope that you get smooth sailing after they get through.

That TF2 trailer is not an authorized trailer. Steam users were told via their Steam client that a trailer will be released in the next few days:

Thursday, August 24 2006

Valve showed more of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal at the Leipzig Games Convention this week. Our new trailers with new gameplay footage will be made available via Steam media downloads within the next few days.

We have not yet received those media downloads in Steam yet. The trailer IGN shot is an unfinished work-in-progress and not intended for public release.

Some of you remember Team Fortress Classic as if THAT version of TF was the original TF. Some of you remember Team Fortress when it was first a Quake 1 mod made by Team Fortress Software as a Total conversion of ID Software's Capture The Flag mod for Quake. I remember all of that and more.

It's been 8 years since TF2 was announced. In 1999 TF2 was demonstrated at E3...I was there and watched a demonstration of a soldier walking through different areas and hearing the ambient sounds change due to the environment. Highlights then were to be in-game realistic environment voice communication...if you weren't in the room at the time someone was speaking then you would hear it faintly through windows and such...beyond a certain range you wouldn't be able to hear them at all.

It's finally on the billing...amazing. The image of TF2 is very interesting...almost like a Super Heroes cartoon style...if you don't know what I mean then get a mental image of "Strongman", "Ropeman", "Cookooman", and "Diaperman" OK...it was intended to be funny. My point is that the TF2 characters look more like comic book characters...I'm not saying that's bad...it will be fun I'm sure! I'm really looking forward to getting behind that chain gun again...and this time I might have a better look!

Yeah, I think System Shock 2 should have gotten a nod or two. Thief does has it's scary moments, but most people rate SS2 as the scarier of the two Looking Glass Studios titles.

The scariest game I've played is Doom3...no not because of the game itself (now having played it on a good system) but because I was playing on a 1.4Ghz P4 with just 384MB RAM and an old FX5700 graphics card in an AGP 4x slot...average 10 FPS. The thing about something this slow is that the controls are sluggish...like something is holding you back...the monsters are at a much better advantage, especially the imps who pop out of nowhere, and extra special on Nightmare! It's like many scary moments in reality when time seems to slow down, so does the game when there's like 4 or 5 monsters attacking you...oh yeah, that was scary. Now that I'm playing Doom3 on a better system it isn't really that scary...like the rubber arm guy is so easy to put down with a shotgun if you can move as fast as him.

The first game that scared me was Bards Tale with a dungeon with skulls on all the creapy green walls. It really wasn't the game that was scary, but being lost in the underground maze looking at those skulls for hours at a time really started to get to me. I started to feel afraid of playing the game.

I didn't really get scared playing FEAR. HL2 "We don't go to Ravenholm" was thrilling, though those zombies made easy targets when they made noise...I wish they would have attacked more and said less. Clive Barker's Undying had some very scary moments and is a hell-of-a-game, especially when you go back in time.

But, for some reason the original Doom and Quake series didn't really scare me...it was more of a frag fest.

I'm glad you had fun. My preference is to just scope out a large parking lot and set up some cones. But, I also own a Stingray.

Rock On!

LOL, maybe that wasn't her dog, but her dog is shy.

Oh...sorry, I bet that bite scared u. Aren't boxers the type of dog that kind of starts with a finger and just keeps swollowing until it's got everything up to an elbow?

Or, maybe it was female...you know they like to bite a little.

Yeah, first big rain of the season after a hot summer melts the oil to the top of the black top always makes for a slippery excercise.

On another note...has anyone noticed how Gordon Freeman looks like Blue?

OK...We've been hearing and hearing about the dogs...seen pictures. But, we need video. You are telling us the truth about these wild exploits aren't you?

BRING BACK THE QUAKE BLUES NEWS LOGO FOR THE RELEASE DAY!

I agree. That's where it all started anyway didn't it? Keeping track of all the quake mods, quake ladders (yes, they called them ladders back then), quake leagues (I especially like that Quake2League...the first site that posted megapics of ingame snapshots though it only lasted a week before the ISP pulled the plug), and of course mods. Perhaps resurrect some of the actual web pages so we can take a look at what it looked like back then...uhm...actually, it didn't look THAT much of a difference except there was no java, navigation column on the left, etc. Well, the background was still blue wasn't it?

This comment was edited on Oct 8, 07:24.

Ray Marden:

Hence, my wish for a true sequel to what was presented in Quake. And, yes, I realize I am in a very, very small minority.
And come on! A dragon boss in the one expansion!!!

I'm with you on that! The original Quake series was awesome and innovative, and the mission packs are legendary. Who would have thought that an improvement for a nail gun would be Lava Nails? Htsssssss. The Ogre was excellent...sure the AI was dumb compared to current AI, but that was actually a kewl thing about the Ogre...it was just a loony with a chainsaw!

Quake II was more like a U.S. marine science fiction thing like something you might see on Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. It was great to be evicerated by a fiend. And, don't forget the abominable snowmen!

Yeah, a sequel to the original Quake series would have been great indeed, but I suppose the real difference is the focus in Quake2 was toward multiplayer. Perhaps now that the focus in Quake4 is toward single player we can expect some more fun stuff...especially when there's a squad with you. Oh, and that's where a faster machine will be necessary...if your computer is just barely meeting the specs then your squad isn't going to be much fun to have around....they will probably just get in the way.

Anyway, Oct 18th is just 10 days away.

Yes Celestial Toad has it true...the site now has the feel of Quake4 along with some new vids of the game including a squad based segment and a segment with several more guns including the lightning gun. The site is:

http://www.quake4game.com

This comment was edited on Oct 8, 07:26.

Ahh! Thanks blue! About time we got some kind of confirmation on the dates.

Now, I wonder if VU Games is going to confirm the same date for FEAR? LOL!

I'm sooo glad I got my new system running.

Hehe...yeah, my upper division physics professor is always putting me down in class...saying things like, "engineers aren't aware of this" or "doing it that way would make you an engineer" etc. I take it as funny...it's all funny if you step back a moment.

Well, now that I've read all the comments here's my unqualified thoughts...

For Adrian to file in court there must have been something going on...something serious. We know that Doom3 was not their first choice of game, so for the past year they have been working on "something else" and nobody has said what it is...I think Kevin Cloud [i]almost[/i] gave something away just after the release of Doom3, but so far I don't think we know "exactly" what they are building.

If Activision offered to "buy" idsoftware for $100 million cash then there must have been more on the table than just the money. Activision must be ready to make a big purchase so they can pull ahead of Sierra. Has anyone noticed a game called FEAR? Have you noticed when it's release date is and how it's being marketed? You following me now?

OK...I think Activision feels that idsoftware isn't putting out as much as it really could...that's the only reason to buy something that is already doing business with them, because Activision thinks it can sqeeze more out of it in the future than what it's getting now. Activision probably wants to know more about what their "shining star" is doing right now and is willing to pay $100 million to control the direction that idsoftware is heading. Activision makes a lot of money on the Doom/Quake franchise when a new release hits the streets. Perhaps Activision heard something about what idsoftware was doing now and wants to do something about it. Let's face it...if there was a release directly from idsoftware next month we would be buying their prerelease from Activision yesterday as long as it doesn't have a monkey throwing barrels at us.

So...maybe id's new project is Captain Keen...a 2d game that should stay in the late 80's...capture the stars and tomatoes...jumping spinning...being chased by a walrus...yeah like that other game with the gorilla in it. It would be like Valve suddenly wanting to develop a multiplayer chess game or something like that.

OK...I've spent too much time on this...I have school work to do. But, just keep in mind that there is more going on that just the money.

Wow, talk about everyone suddenly getting advanced economic and law degrees! This is reminiscent of a /. forum!

Uhm...you do know that many gaming businesses and wannabe businesses rely on Blue to gather the news that we are too busy to gather for ourselves. I tried doing his job back in 1997 and it's a 25houraday job. He does an excellent job too! So, don't be surprised if some of the people posting comments to his news articles have degrees that would make your head swim. I'm not one of them...I'm just finishing up my Computer Engineering Bachelors Degree with minors in Physics, Math, and Mechanical Engineering...which means you may see me make comments on high tech stuff like I think I know what I'm doing. I'm just an interested soul when it comes to economics and law.

Heh...vote Blue!

I've got the SDK, and have compiled my first debug version of the gamex86.dll. Now if I only had time to change something in it.

By all means Blue...since you've been through all of the cabling and networking, you are very familiar with it at the moment. It would be best to configure some backup now, rather than later when you may forget where everything is...not to mention in the middle of a crisis.