4-30-2

Yes, Today is my birthday.

ShellShock's Crater now offers version 02.04.21.00 of Q3Offline, the front-end utility that eases the process of setting up games that use the Quake III engine. The major change in the new release is support for the Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Multiplayer Test, and the new version also adds new options for Jedi Knight II, but MoH map rotation is still messed up, so they have posted a workaround for that.

GameSpot's Grand Theft Auto III Q&A is online chatting with Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies of Rockstar Games about plans to bring the crime-filled hit PS2 game "back to its PC roots" as well as its "mature" themes, what's being improved to take advantage of PC hardware, the game's lack of multiplayer support, controller support, and more. Meanwhile, there is also a Grand Theft Auto III Q&A on GameSpy.com also talking with Leslie Benzies, also discussing PC improvements, controls, and multiplayer, as well as inquiring about the game's system requirements. If that's not enough for someone, almost unbelievably, there's also a Grand Theft Auto III Q&A on PC.IGN.Com talking with Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies, covering the exact same topics once more, while also asking about support for creating your own custom radio stations using your own MP3s and their projected release date. Each article is accompanied by its own pair of new screenshots, though the links to the full sized shots on IGN are broken as of now.

NVIDIA's version 28.32 NVIDIA Detonator XP drivers for Windows 95/98/Me and Windows XP/2000 are now WHQL certified.

An updated version of the Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP is now available.

4-29-2

HomeLan Fed's Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix Preview is online, offering hands-on impressions based on playing with a preview build of the mercenary first-person shooter sequel currently under construction at Raven Software. The article describes getting started playing in the role of real-life soldier of fortune John Mullins, how the storyline unfolds, the use of the Quake III engine, weapons, AI, the multiplayer modes it was ultimately decided would be included, the random mission generator, and more.

There's a 1.5 Client Tweak Guide on FLFmod.net showing how to improve client-side performance on the just-released new version of the Front-Line Force modification for Half-Life.

4-28-2

House`O Spank Goes Postal is their Q&A with Mike Jaret of Running with Scissors, who discusses progress on Postal 2, the upcoming sequel to the ultra-violent original Postal. Topics include how they are utilizing Unreal technology, the first-person perspective, the game environment, objectives, weapons, multiplayer modes, responses to their use of mature themes, and more.

Birdman's Lair has posted new files for SpaceOrb owners to add SoF2 MP test support and update JK2 support for these oddball controllers.

4-27-2

Unreal Center's Pancho Eekels talks with the lead designer on Unreal Tournament 2003, the upcoming shooter sequel in the works at Digital Extremes. Topics include how increasing the size of the maps will change gameplay, importing custom content, creating new levels, whether the addition of character stats will impact multiplayer games, whether users will be able to create custom death animations, AI, support for platforms other than the PC, cheat prevention, and more.

EverQuest 2 Teasers? on PC.IGN.Com speculates that Sony Online Entertainment's registration of two domains, www.nektulos.com and www.wailingcaves.com represents hints about a future EverQuest game. As they point out, each site is named after an EQ zone, and each offers glimpses of an image as you run your mouse over the screen.

4-26-2

There is an Unreal Tournament 2003 video on Italian site NGI where Epic's Mark Rein demonstrates Digital Extremes' multiplayer shooter at the Italian World Cyber Games event. The movie is available as a streaming Windows Media Player clip that offers more than half an hour of rather shaky ShakyCam footage, showing off the game's weapons, maps, gameplay modes, editor and more.

The debut release of Alteria is now available, a new stand-alone game based on id Software's publicly-available Quake source code that's been released under the GNU GPL.

4-25-2

There's a Bad Karma Q&A on ELiTeD talking with the maintainer of UTBuilder about his UT maps, as well as his contribution to the retail version of Mobile Forces, and more.

4-24-2

Attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill, the Kamist-Markand Website now offers the release of version 2.0 of the King of the Mountain modification, a conversion that brings the King of the Hill gameplay of previous mods to Quake III Arena. Each map in the mod includes a "mountain" area, which player must control in order to score.

The Qtracker Homepage now offers a new version 3.22 of the Qtracker server browsing and launching utility for Windows that also acts as an MP3 streaming audio browser, a server administration tool, an HTML/PHP server list generator. The new release adds Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix support, an auto-refresh feature for PlayerWatch, bug fixes, and more. Version 3.22 was released quickly on the heels of version 3.21 to fix problems with SOF2 player color, pings, and frag displays.

Unreal Tournament2 Net's Dr. Sin Q&A talks with this Epic programmer about cheat protection in Unreal Tournament and in the upcoming UT 2003.

The RamPage Software Website now offers a new beta version 6.5 of Name Maker Studio, the utility that allows you to create a player name using colored letters in several games. The new release adds Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix support, but unfortunately manages to remove support for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, so an update to restore that is probably to be expected fairly soon.

A new version 2002a Beta Build #3728 of the ICQ instant messaging software is now available.

4-23-2

Unreality points the way to an Unreal Tournament 2003 video captured by a German fan during the Epic Games whirlwind press tour of Europe. This teaser movie requires a 42.9 MB download and runs for nearly four and a half minutes, including about three minutes of good quality ShakyCam footage from the action-packed gameplay on the Kalendra Icefields map, while the full movie from the presentation can be expected later.

As promised, 7FX has now released a new demo of Team Factor, their upcoming team-based multiplayer shooter, available for download from the German Team Factor site. At 109.2 MB it's significantly larger than the previous installments, and this demo includes a new level, Internet support, improved animations, physics and weapons, an enhanced user interface, new weapon sounds, Direct3D support, and more. Mirrors are online at 3D Gamers, Gamez.cz, BonusWeb and Worthplaying.

A new version of the nVHardPage NVIDIA tweak utility is now available.

4-22-2

Happy Earth Day.

Activision has now released the multiplayer test for Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix for download from FilePlanet (registration required), allowing you to try out Raven's mercenary first-person shooter. The test offers one map called "The Shop Under Siege" that's playable in deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination and infiltration modes with a variety of weapons and player skins.

Just under the wire for the game's release, there are some new Spider-Man: the Movie screenshots and a brief but hands-on preview on UGO.com.

4-21-2

There is a single new Unreal Tournament 2003 screenshot on Unreality, offering a new scene in the multiplayer first-person shooter by Digital Extremes.

Valve's Doug Lombardi sends along word of a planned Half-Life/Counter-Strike release next week that marks their public migration to their Steam broadband distribution system.

As promised, Westwood has released the Command & Conquer Renegade tools (21.6 MB - direct FTP link) which includes the level editing tools, tutorials, and RenX for gmax.

A new version of the GetRight download manager utility is now available.

4-20-2

Four new Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix screenshots accompany some brief impressions of a beta build of Raven's mercenary FPS sequel on blueyonder multiplayer gaming.

Computer and Video Games has posted another 20 new Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza screenshots, showing more from the imminent first-person shooter by Piranha Games.

4-19-2

Games Domain's Unreal Tournament 2003 Preview is now online, another article based on checking out the upcoming shooter sequel during Epic's tour around Europe to show it off. Along the way they also got to chat with Epic's Jay Wilbur, discussing how the name change to Unreal Tournament 2003 demonstrates their emphasis on being a sports-type game, and going on to describe the aspects of the game's design that likewise reflect this philosophy, cheat prevention, weaponry, the graphics, the Unreal editor, the Karma physics engine (which was not running on the build of the game being demonstrated), and more.

4-18-2

The Qtracker Homepage now offers a new version 3.2 of Qtracker, now updated with Serious Sam support, fixed MoH support, and several new features to make this server browsing software more useful in a LAN environment. These include the ability to find servers on a LAN running on non-standard ports and a new "server watch" feature that will auto connect you to a server when it's playing a favorite map or when a certain number of players have joined. Accompanying the new version is the debut release of QtSkin, a skin viewing utility.

4-17-2

A new version 1.1 of the Defence Alliance modification for Unreal Tournament is now available offering five updated maps, new skins for each class, a bunch of other new features, and even more bug fixes.

4-16-2

HomeLan Fed's Navy SEALs Q&A talks with Tem Mirage map designer Benjamin 'BenB' Bauer to discuss the realism-oriented Navy SEALs: Covert Operations modification for Quake III Arena.

The Gang Wars for Half-Life Website now offers the debut beta release of the Half-Life version of this mod that began as a Quake II conversion. In the time since then, the mod's emphasis on realism has gone from unusual to the norm, and it has been reworked as a Half-Life project. Here is their description: "Gangwars has a new type of team play, which promotes organized planning and assassination. Some of the features it offers are: 29 realistic weapons, new physics engine, new revised network layer, weapon upgrades, extreme attention to detail, and fluid gameplay."

4-15-2

Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix Multiplayer Test Available on April 18 is the press release announcing the impending release of a multiplayer compatibility test for Raven's mercenary first-person shooter. The multiplayer test will offer "one map across four different game modes including deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination and infiltration" as well as "20 skins and all the weapons available in the multiplayer portion of the full game," and will be released through FilePlanet next Thursday.

German site GIGA Games sent word this morning that they would be posting several movies of their TV show that featured Unreal Tournament 2003 and Epic's Mark Rein, and they are now indeed online. There are five movies in DivX 5 format totaling a hefty 135 MB, and they offer some studio footage with Mark answering questions about Digital Extremes' multiplayer shooter, as well as copious amounts of action-packed gameplay footage with a total running time of some 45 minutes. Mirrors of the movies are available at BonusWeb.

GameSpy.com has posted a Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix multiplayer preview based on attending last week's press event for Raven Software's mercenary shooter sequel. The article offers impressions of the several multiplayer modes they got to try out, the weapon load out and player configurations, enhancements made to the Quake III engine, the random mission generator and more, all illustrated with five new screenshots.

3DAvenue's Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Walkthrough offers their first pass at some guidance for the new Star Wars shooter, though some of the missions have not yet been outlined.

There's a Final Fantasy Q&A on Xen Gamers talking about plans for Final Fantasy XI, the upcoming installment that adds online play to this series that has been such an outstanding success as a single-player series and an equally spectacular failure as a movie.

4-14-2

The Remote-X Admin Tool Website now offers a new version 2.1.50 of the Remote-X utility for the administration of Half-Life servers. The new release adds "a lot more features as well as the introduction of plug-in DLLs and in turn the Plug-in SDK." Users of prior releases are urged to upgrade to take advantage of the features and stability of the new release.

GameSpot has captured 22 new Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza screenshots from the now-gold first-person shooter by Piranha Games that's based on the 1988 Bruce Willis movie.

The latest AOW2: Behind the Magic is online at PC.IGN.com, and this fourth installment once again takes a closer look at some of the wizards in Triumph Studios' upcoming turn-based strategy game, Age of Wonders II: the Wizard's Throne.

4-13-2

The Chaotic Dreams Website now offers a new beta 4 of the ChaosUT modification for Unreal Tournament. The new beta adds some new game types, a new shotgun, a sharper sword, easier to kill proxies, and much more.

4-12-2

3DGaming.de's Q3Radiant Tutorials Index offers German-language tutorials on creating and editing maps for games that utilize the Quake III engine.

A new version 4.6b of the Espionage Tournament Edition of Action Quake 2 is now available. Version 4.6 adds a boat-load of new features, while the 4.6b update adds an "extra improvement for Espionage CTB mode."

The UT Jailbreak Website now offers downloads of a service pack for the recently released Jailbreak III modification for Unreal Tournament. This release is network compatible with the previous one (so neither servers nor clients should run into compatibility problems for having upgraded or not), and offers some frequently-requested features, a bunch of bug fixes, a "vastly" faster server browser, and more.

4-11-2

A new version 4.01 of the QuakeIT game launching utility is now available, offering improved performance on slower machines, the addition of many new configuration files, and some bug fixes, including fixes to the Internet bot database.

GameSpyDaily has details and downloads of a new version 2.57 of this server browser.

There's a Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Q&A on Tiscali Games talking with Randy Pitchford about Condition Zero, Gearbox Software's upcoming game that will add single-player play to the Counter-Strike multiplayer experience.

Czech site GamePort has posted a set of new SimCity 4 screenshots and other images to reveal more from this management strategy game in development at Maxis.

4-10-2

The Q3F Website now offers the new version 2.0 of the Q3F modification for Quake III Arena, following almost a year of development, and almost exactly two years after the release of version 1.0. The new release offers new player models, a new version of Stag (an advanced CTF scoring system), and more. If you have any problems installing or getting Q3F 2.0 to work, help can be found in their FAQ, their Support Forum, or by joining #q3f.support on irc.quakenet.org.

MacGameFiles now has downloads of Preview Build 3 of Unreal Tournament for Macintosh OS X.

4-9-2

HomeLan Fed's Generations: Arena Resurgence Q&A talks with the folks behind the Generations: Arena Quake III Arena modification about their plans to create a Resurgence mode for the mod which will add monsters to the gameplay mix.

As I have previously revealed, the Majestic Website has the announcement that Majestic, EA's game that made unique use of external communications like email and faxes, will be concluding at the end of this month. Calling the failed game "one of the most creative, innovative and critically acclaimed games in history," the update goes on to say: "Players may play through their game until April 30th. Majestic puzzles and gameplay can be completed in just under two months, so it is possible to finish Majestic before the service ends on April 30th. Be sure to play Majestic daily and complete each day's activities in order to complete Majestic before April 30th."

Action Vault serves up Unreal Tournament 2003 Q&A #1, kicking off a new series in their patent-pending format of one question many answers. Today the Digital Extremes team is grilled on: "Based on your personal preferences, what are a couple of your favorite weapons in Unreal Tournament 2003, and why?"

The Wizard Wars Homepage has version 1.1 of this Half-Life modification that features magic-based battles between teams of wizards.

A new version 4.40.01 of the HyperSnap-DX screen capture utility is now available.

4-8-2

A new version 1.2 of Quake III Radio is now available. This modification adds radio messages to Quake III Arena. The new release is compatible with Q3A version 1.27, and is available as either a full installer, or an update for previous versions.

There is a new jDoom version 1.13.0, a new jHeretic version 1.2.0 and a new jHexen version 1.1.0, all three updating the respective ports by Jaakko Keränen of the public source code of id Software and Raven Software's venerable first-person shooters. As the engine is now unified the changes in all three ports are the same, and they include renamed console variables, improvements to WAD handling, enhanced networking code, a few new KickStart features, and more.

4-7-2

id Software's Christian Antkow updated his .plan with word on a new Return to Castle Wolfenstein dedicated-only server program that's currently undergoing testing, a relatively small (under 30 MB) download which will allow a game server to run on a Win32 machine without the rest of the game data. There is also word on plans for new browser-based server administration tools being created with the assistance of Tony Ray of Even Balance (Punkbuster).

Action Vault's Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Q&A talks with Raven's Kenn Hoekstra about their upcoming Quake III-engine mercenary first-person shooter sequel. Topics include a summary of the game, aspects of the original SoF they are looking to expand upon, the locations John Mullins will visit, weapons, enemies, mission objectives, interactivity, working with the Quake III Arena engine, multiplayer play, how development is progressing, and more.

4-6-2

XGR.COM's Ask James Schmalz Interview is another of their audio broadcasts, this time out talking with James Schmalz of Digital Extremes about Unreal Tournament 2003, the upcoming Unreal Tournament sequel. The "Ask" part of this is that the questions they pose have been submitted by participants in this messageboard thread. At the time of the interview, they also plan on releasing some brand new Unreal Tournament 2003 screenshots.

A new version 2.0 RC 10.1 of the RivaTuner utility is now available.

4-5-2

A new version 02.03.30.00 of Q3Offline is now available, adding Jedi Knight II support to this front-end that also supports Q3A, Q3TA, Elite Force, Wolfenstein, and Medal of Honor. They also have posted word for admins using Q3Offline for Medal of Honor servers that they can remove the "maplist=Y" line from Templates\MOHAA.q3t since map rotation was fixed in the last MoH patch.

A new version 3.15 of the PowerStrip utility is now available.

4-4-2

Activision has released the "lite" patch for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, updating only the previous version 1.3 to v1.31. It doesn't include PunkBuster and requires a modest 5.4 MB download.

Section31 has news from the May issue of PC Gamer magazine that Ritual Entertainment is working on a sequel to Elite Force, the first-person shooter set in the Star Trek Voyager universe. The follow-up will once again make use of id Software's Quake III engine, and is to be released "sometime in 2003."

4-3-2

The Qtracker Homepage has a new version 3.1 of the Qtracker server browsing utility. The timely update adds Jedi Knight II and Medal of Honor.

The Vavoom website offers a new version 1.12 of this port of the public DOOM, Heretic & Hexen source code. As usual, it comes in binaries for DOS and Windows as well as source code, and this release includes "some new editing features" while "most of the changes are in progs."

4-2-2

There's a Generations Arena Q&A on Jolt.co.uk catching up with the team behind this back-to-the-future Quake III Arena modification, discussing the mod's reception, favorite maps, and plans for upcoming versions.

A new version 1.2.0.3 of bQuery, a freeware game server browsing utility, is now available. This release adds support for the brand-new retail version of Jedi Knight II to the list of game's program supports, which already includes support for most every first-person shooter based on either the Quake Engine or it's Half-Life-based descendants.

4-1-2

This map bring me back so many memories from Quake 2 CTF (McKinley Revival). So, head over to Deja-Review for a small review of this remake for Quake 3 Arena that I'm downloading as I type this! Or also, at the same time, you could check this other version of McKinley Revival.

3-31-2

Happy Easter all.

So you're tired of the same old single player maps in Return to Castle Wolfenstein? Fear not for here come The lurking fear. This site made by Privateer and Vondur is dedicated to bring you new single player maps only. So far there is only 3 maps that has been released but more are coming along and at the end they'll make some nice pak also for compilation. Good luck guys! Give them a visit today.

So after more than 2 years that the big Q3 is out, are there any newbie out there, new to the game who would like to know the difference between the Quake 3 weapons? Well, I found this Quake 3 weapons manual on Q3Center. It can be nice sometime also to relearn/remember what's the dis/advantages of all the weapons.

3-30-2

The CyberAthlete Amateur League has opened the registration for clans for the second seaon of Threewaves Classic CTF. Note that the registration process is open for 2 weeks. They need about 20 clans. If this requirement is not met, the season will be cancelled.

From SavageUK there is another tournament for Threewave Classic CTF. Here's the whole PR: Sign ups are open for the Threewave cctf cup. You can sign your clan up here. To see a list of clans already signed up go here. The cup will commence with Group stages starting on Tues 16th April.More info to follow once I know how many clans will be taking part.

3-29-2

Devlar's Purgatory is a DM map inspired by the hallway from Quake 1. You know the place where you would choose the episode you would want to do? Yep that's the one! It could be fun fraggin' Quake 3 style in this place. The second map, still @ Deja-review is the last map from Quake 1 first episode. This map didn't get a good praise since there is some errors in it.

Baneforge is re-launching for their second birthday and to celebrate the occasion they've got a lot of cool goodies! Some nice new skins for the Klesk model (check this one). Also there is some new wallpapers. Be sure to check to drop them a visit for their nice skins.

3-28-2

ShellShock's Crater now offers a new version 02.03.25.00 of the Q3Offline front-end for Quake III Arena. In the new release Qstats now offers HTML output of game statistics, a change in how cvars are executed so that all the selected options are in effect for the first map, and a new toolbar on the game's config page.

Citing unspecified "increased costs of running the EverQuest game service," the EverQuest Website has word of plans for a jump in the monthly subscription rate for the addictive MMORPG to $12.95

A new version 7.0.1.5 of the CPUCooL utility is now available.

The ICQ Downloads Page has a new ICQ 2002a Beta Build #3726.

3-27-2

Notwithstanding the fact that the game has been slated for a PC release since last year, Take Two has now confirmed a PC version of Grand Theft Auto III for May (one month later than the previously known date), and GameSpyDaily, PC.IGN.com and GameSpot all serve up two new screenshots each with their coverage of the announcement.

Raven Software sends along the dedicated Linux server for Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast in anticipation of the impending release of their 3D action title. The 1.0 MB download contains the Linux executable and associated config file, as well as a disclaimer that this release is not supported by publisher LucasArts.

Following up a recent report that Hitman 2: Silent Assassin was delayed, Eidos sends word that "in our effort to make Hitman 2 the best game it could be" the contract killing sequel is now scheduled for release September this year, in order "to give additional time to the development team." In other release-related news, Microsoft has posted a Dungeon Siege International Release Dates schedule (thanks Dr. Del) giving an idea when the game is expected in your neck of the figurative woods.

A new version 2.2.6 of the CPUFSB utility is now available.

3-26-2

Beta version 0.5 of the BattleBots modification for Quake III Arena is now available, offering gameplay based off the source code of the Alliance modification and the base UI design of UI Enhanced. This debut release of this mod offers a pair of gameplay modes designed to emphasize skill and promote more protracted melees. More information about the mod can be found on this about page, and the client download is under 1.5 MB.

An Unofficial pre-release UT 2003 FAQ is online, collating all the known information about the upcoming UT follow-up trying to clarify some points that may be causing confusion amid all the recent announcements about the game.

The Day of Defeat Website now offers a patch for the version of this Half-Life modification that was released on the cover-mounted CD on the April issue of PC Gamer magazine. The update brings this version of the mod in line with the beta 2.0 patch that was recently released.

3-25-2

The JB/POW Website now offers a new version 1.4 map pack for Quake III Arena Jailbreak/Prisoners of War which also offers a code update for this modification of jailors, prisoners, and prison breaks. This features 65+ maps, two gameplay modes, a clan competition mode ("with extensive referee abilities" and more).

PlanetJailbreak offers the short and sweet announcement that Jailbreak III for Unreal Tournament is now available, offering 16 maps, three mutators and a complete manual.

Games Radar UK serves up a new preview of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin that previously appeared in PC Format magazine.

Epic Games Releases The Unreal Performance Test 2002 The Ultimate Game Benchmark, described by Mark Rein as: "the first true indicator of how gaming hardware will respond to the ever-increasing demands of tomorrow's games."

3-24-2

A new version 2.01 of the Seismovision Demo Player is now available. The new version adds further ability to associate a modification with a demo, fixes a problem with Return to Castle Wolfenstein support, and adds some other tweaks and fixes to this utility that supports Quake (1), Quake II, Quake III Arena, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, Star Trek: Voyager--Elite Force, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

QUAKELORD'S QUAKE NEWS © Copyright 2005 MARK PASKO mail@quakelord.net  Dont forget to check out our forum .