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12-31-2 IGLNET has announced they are adding a Quake III Arena tournament to their IGL Winter LAN, which is scheduled for February 21-23 at the Cummings Center in Beverly, MA (outside Boston). A new version 1.80 of the Strike Force modification for Unreal Tournament is now available. The file is a staggering 377 MB download, and includes no fewer than 88 maps, and eliminates almost all of the bugs identified in previous versions. Additionally, they are set up to send a free copy of the modification on a CD to those whose connections are to slow to make such a massive download practical. 12-30-2 The Mean Arena now offers downloads of the first sample video from the Bones: Legacy Of The Vadrigar, their upcoming Quake III Arena modification. HomeLan Fed's Strike Force 2003 Q&A chats with Michael "Optimizer" Hamlett about the upcoming UT2003 version of their Unreal Tournament modification (which began life as a TRIBES 2 project). They discuss the status of the final patch for the UT version of the mod, their long-term goal of working with the DOOM III engine, the decision to make a UT2003 version, the sort of content they plan on including, and more. 12-29-2 Game Menu Headquarters now offers a new version 1.14 of the Quake 3 Menu utility, the update to this menu/scripting utility is not noted on their news page, but is available in their downloads section. The Cyberathlete Professional League has posted the results of their winter event, Team 3D (USA) won the $100,000 Counter-Strike tournament, Johnathan ''Fatality'' Wendel (USA) won the $30,000 UT 2003 championship, and Team Vindicate (USA) won the $10,000 TFC tournament. 12-28-2 A new release of the UT2003 XXXPak is now available, collecting a bunch of gameplay mutators in one locale. 12-27-2 The Command & Conquer: Generals Website has re-launched, offering the whole nine yards: music, Flash, pop-ups, screenshots 12-26-2 The Mean Arena mow offers downloads of the first sample video from the Bones: Legacy Of The Vadrigar, their upcoming Quake III Arena modification. A new un-numbered version of the Judgement Half-life Mod is now available, as a holiday gift. In addition to teaks and bug-fixes, the new release offers new 'On Weapon' displays for some weapons, VGUI character selection, the flashlight on the Scatter Gun now moves with the model animations, and more. A new beta version 1.5 of The Specialists is now available offering changes to the voting system and gameplay of this Half-Life modification. The update is available as a patch of a full installer, and in addition, a new dedicated server package is also now available for those interested in running a The Specialists Linux server. A new version of the free America's Army Operations game is now available, updating the game to version 1.5.0, adding new features like a new map, parental controls, new voices, and more. The update is available from 3D Gamers, Computer Games Online, Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying. 12-25-2 Merry Christmas all. There's a Todd Hollenshead Q&A on Computer and Video Games talking with the id Software CEO about what's what. Topics include what's going into the console ports of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, technical hurdles to making the ports, AI improvements for the Enemy Territory add-on, new classes, "battle sense," the possibilities of future Wolf games using the DOOM III engine, and more. The Doomsday HQ now offers a new version 1.7.6 of the Doomsday DOOM engine. The new version features a more compatible sound dll and a new particle flag. All the changes are listed in the changelogs for Doomsday, jDoom, jHeretic, and jHexen. Version 1.0 of the Escape From The Darkness single-player modification for Half-Life is now available. There's not a lot of information about what the mod is all about, except that it offers 38 new maps, five chapters, seven new weapons, new enemies, a new HUD, new sounds, and more. The Linux version of the new version 2166 patch for Unreal Tournament is now available. There's some Halo: Combat Evolved for PC news on GameSpot with a status report on the PC version of the Xbox shooter. The article recounts the history of this project as a PC/Mac project that was assimilated into an Xbox project upcoming Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie, how Gearbox happened to become involved in the PC port, some of the technical hurdles they have vied with, what parts of the "about 40% done" project they have completed, plans to add next-gen graphics card and internet support, and more. 12-24-2 A new version 1.1 of the Tour of Duty modification for Half-Life is now available. The new version adds auto team balancing, a new prone posture, some client memory issues have been fixed, and more. A new version 2166 patch Unreal Tournament 2003 is now available, adding the much ballyhooed demo recording/playback capabilities, as well as other changes, fixes, and tweaks. This DirectX 9.0 End-User Runtime Page now offers downloads of version DirectX 9.0. Here's a bit: "DirectX 9.0 includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX 9.0 APIs." For the wary, here's a warning: "The DirectX 9.0 runtime cannot be uninstalled. We recommend Windows Millennium and XP users create a 'System Restore' point before installing." John Romero's ROME.RO now offers some DOOM-related background materials and downloads. Terminator 3 Trailer (QuickTime required). 12-23-2 Q2D First phase completed on SourceForge.net is the announcement that the conversion of the original C Quake II source to Delphi source code, and the new source is now available for download for those looking to participate in this project. The debut release of the Spatial Fear: Prologue modification for Unreal Tournament is now available. This is a single-player mod, and offers features like a multiple path storyline, a wide range of weapons and items, "stunning" architecture and design, atmospheric settings, a unique and interactive HUD, intelligent AI, an intuitive inventory system, and more. A post to the Infogrames Forums called Next Patch Information by Kyle Peschel has the latest on the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2003 patch, saying: "Well, it would appear that we are in the home stretch for the next patch release. With any luck it should be ready in less then a week (hopefully)." It goes on to offer a detailed list of what's new and different, here's a bit on how demo recording will be handled at this time: "Demos can be recorded either on a server, or in single player. Recording a demo as a client in a network game is not yet supported." Xbox may boost Microsoft earnings (thanks Mike Martinez) has word that "Microsoft should see its current quarter results lifted by the strong holiday season performance of its Xbox video game console and related game software, an analyst said Wednesday." This Age of Mythology News Page has word that a new patch is available for Ensemble's RTS game via the in-game auto-update feature. The update offers balance fixes, addresses some timing exploits, and more. The PC version of the Splinter Cell Demo is now available. The 101 MB file offering a sample of the stealthy third-person gameplay of the upcoming PC version of this Tom Clancy game is available from 3D Gamers, AusGamers, FilePlanet (registration required), FileShack (registration required), Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying. 12-22-2 The debut release of Quake II Evolved is now available, offering updated graphical goodness including Quake III shaders, 32/24-bit Targa and JPEG support, cinematic on map surfaces, Quake III skies, stencil buffered shadows, anisotropic filtering, and more. They have the file mirrored. There are some issues with this beta 1, including HUD problems and missing sounds, so an update is in the works. 12-21-2 A new version 3.5 of the Weapons Factory Arena modification for Quake III Arena is now available. The entire list of what's new and changed can be found on this page. The Team Freeze 2003 website now offers a new beta 0.16 of the TeamFreeze 2003 modification that brings the gamepay of FreezeTag to UT2003. The new release features the implementation of the original Freeze Tag scoring system, a fixed GameObjective problem with SquadAI where bots would sit idle, new freezing code for bots and players, and more. A new version 0.3.15 of the America's Army: Forward Observer server browsing utility is now available from militarySIM.com. This program provides an alternative to the in-game browser and other third-party utilities for finding multiplayer servers playing America's Army: Operations. The new version offers America's Army version 1.40 support, performance improvements via configurable multi-socket server querying, a fully-searchable player list, an improved buddy list, and more. 12-20-2 A new version 1.03 of the Tenebrae modification that adds some high-end graphics technology to the Quake engine is now available. The new version offers particle/decal scripting, decals, underwater caustics, fog, compressed texture support, normal map support, and PNG support for textures. A demo version of Earth & Beyond is now available on FilePlanet (registration required) allowing a five day sampling of Westwood's space-based MMORPG. The demo is a more than 1,000 MB, and allows full access to the game for that limited time. A new version 2.1 of the NVRefreshTool for NVIDIA accelerators is now available. 12-17-2 Blizzard Entertainment now has a list of mirror sites hosting the Macintosh version of the WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Demo. The demo requires 120 MB of disk space, 128 MB of RAM, and a 3D accelerator. This directory offers downloads of a version of Serious Sam: The First Encounter that's been ported to Linux for those with penguin-powered PCs. The port has been mirrored by Seriously where they have word that the multiplayer support does not allow the Linux version to interoperate with the PC version. 12-15-2 The Q2Models Java Quake2 Model Viewer is a utility that allows you to view Quake II models online. Microsoft vows more cash for Xbox (thanks Mike Martinez) reports: "Microsoft on Wednesday said it would pour more resources into its efforts to carve out a position in the $10 billion video game market rather than cutting its losses and exiting from the venture." A post on Unreality offers details on the additions and changes planned for the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2003 patch, which is currently undergoing beta testing. The extensive list includes changes to gameplay, the HUD and menus, AI, networking, mod support, the engine, D3D/OpenGL, audio, and the oft-discussed demo feature. 12-12-2 Activision has released a new version 1.41 patch for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. All the files can be found on 3D Gamers, while the Win 32 update is available on AusGamers and FileShack.com (registration required), while the Linux update is on AusGamers and FileShack.com (registration required). The new Win32 game source is also available on AusGamers and FileShack.com while the new Linux game source is on AusGamers and FileShack.com (registration required). Here is the brief description of what's new: "Fixed bug in Anti-lag weapon prediction code where Player's body remains present, animated with Medic icon - Even when player has "tapped out". · Fixed miscellaneous issues in anti-lag code that generated unpredictable results." In addition, they have also released some new Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory screenshots "that show off the single player game with the new HUD and team menu, and from the multiplayer game that show the new maps and team skins." Finally, they have released some Return to Console Wolfenstein screenshots, showing off the upcoming versions for both the PS2 ("Operation Resurrection") and the Xbox ("Tides of War"). This MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries Page now offers the MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Mission Editor, "a powerful editing tool that allows you to create your own single and multiplayer MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries missions." The editor is a 15 MB download. They also have downloads of a "hotfix" for an audio problem with the German version of the mech game. 12-10-2 Today is DOOM's birthday! Brace yourself: the grand old game is nine(!!) years old today. 12-9-2 There's an American McGee Q&A on Computer and Video Games talking with the cofounder of Carbon6 about their upcoming Oz game. Topics include the misconception that the original Oz novels did not have a darker side, the game's protagonist, the visual style they are creating, and non-answers to several questions about aspects of gameplay they are not prepared to discuss at this time. Activision Announces Multi-Year Exclusive Publishing Partnership With Stainless Steel Studios is the press release with word that Activision "announced today that the company has signed an exclusive multi-title, multi-year agreement to publish real-time PC strategy games developed by Stainless Steel Studios." 12-7-2 There's a Rainbow Six: Raven Shield Preview on Computer and Video Games with some brief impressions of getting the chance to play with the upcoming Unreal-engine Tom Clancy shooter. This NVIDIA Driver Page is where to find new version 41.09 WHQL Candidate Detonator reference drivers. The new release offers compatibility updates, as well as the usual "25% increase in performance" listed with all these updates. 12-4-2 A brief report on The Adrenaline Vault has news by way of their colleagues at the CPL that Epic has informed them that they are "a few days away" from releasing a Pro patch for Unreal Tournament 2003 competitions that will offer demo recording as well as what's described as a "pro interface." Blizzard sends news that the WarCraft III Demo has now been officially released. 12-1-2 The debut release of Team Freeze 2003 is now available, offering a UT2003 version of the Freeze Tag gameplay first developed for the Quake engine. Players are not killed outright by weapon fire in this teamplay mod, but rather are frozen, either to be thawed by a teammate, or to be turned into a gib-sicle when their entire team is frozen. 11-28-2 A new version 3.0 of Promod is now available on JediKnightII.Net Files. This mod offers class-based gameplay for Jedi Outcast that provides players with a skill set that can be dynamically altered to provide the player's choice of Force Powers, Gunnery skills, or a hybrid of both. BerneyBoy's First-person shooter maps has a rough breakdown on the relative popularity of the different versions of the map they released for six different shooters. 11-24-2 The Jolt.co.uk public forums have word on an alpha version 1.80 release of Strike Force, as they look to test the next version of this tactical Unreal Tournament modification to get user feedback on new features and track down bugs. The alpha release is about 80 MB, and performance and graphics tweaks are included along with gameplay alterations. 11-21-2 The Q3Matador Homepage now offers the debut release of Q3Matador, the Quake III Arena remake of the Matador modification that dates back to the days of QuakeWorld. The mod adds runes and a grappling hook to any Quake III Arena map, while also supplying server administrators with some helpful tools for keeping things running smoothly. 11-19-2 B-F Total Gaming Network's Unreal Command Q&A talks with members of the team behind this upcoming Unreal Tournament 2003 modification. 11-17-2 There's an Unreal II Preview on GameSpy.com with the latest peek at progress on the upcoming Unreal sequel based on attending the recent soiree at the offices of developer Legend Entertainment. They offer a description of the festivities, thoughts on getting to check out the game, and quotes from the developers in attendance. The article is illustrated of some photographs snapped at the gala. Xbox Live vs. PS2 Online on CNET.com offers review comparisons. 11-16-2 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for the Xbox has gone gold, and is set to ship November 18. Opera Software has released version 7 beta 1 of the Opera browser. 11-15-2 Enter The Matrix Details on HomeLan Fed is a story with word that the latest print issue of Game Informer magazine has details on Enter the Matrix, Shiny's upcoming action game based on the Matrix movie and its pair of upcoming sequels. According to the report the magazine article offers the first screenshots from the game along with word that the film actors will lend their voices to the project, the story is being written for the game by the Wachowski brothers themselves, and that the game will feature a record amount of motion-captured animation. This page on 3D Gamers now offers a new patch from Electronic Arts for the recently-released multiplayer demo of Medal for Honor Allied Assault Spearhead, updating the WW2 FPS to version 2.11. RPG Vault's Asheron's Call 2 Fallen Kings Preview is online, offering a hands-on look at Turbine Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG sequel. The Sim City 4 Preview on EuroGamer offers a look at the upcoming installment in Maxis' long running city construction simulator. A DirectX 9.0 RC 0 Public Beta for End-User has been released by Microsoft. Contained within the download instructions is a dire enough warning to suggest this should be avoided unless you have a compelling reason to mess with this: "This is an unsupported Pre-Release version of DirectX 9.0 and may contain bugs or issues that prevent correct operation of DirectX applications. The DirectX 9.0 runtime cannot be uninstalled. We recommend that this pre-release only be installed on Windows ME or Windows XP systems, and that users create a 'System Restore' point before installing. Failure to create a system restore point may require users to reinstall Windows if a critical issue is discovered. Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows 2000 do not support the 'System Restore' feature." 11-14-2 A new version 2.5c of the QStat game server status utility is now available. The new version adds support for Ghost Recon, UT2003 (native protocol), various broadcast query fixes, and "various other stuff." Full details on what's new and different can be found in the release notes. The Soldier of Fortune II Tweak guide on TechSpot has been updated with more troubleshooting, suggested tweaks and settings, multiplayer tweaks, key binding suggestions, and more. The debut release of the Third Reich modification for Unreal Tournament is now available. 11-13-2 BeyondUnreal's Interview with Scott Dalton catches up with the Legend Entertainment designer about Unreal II: The Awakening, the upcoming sequel to Epic's debut first-person shooter. The Halloween: The New Nightmare Website now offers a new version 1.3 demo of their Halloween 3D shooter offering improvements to the 3D engine. 11-12-2 Beta 2.6 of the Urban Terror modification for Quake III Arena is now available. The new version is available as either an 88 MB update for the previous version, or a 239 MB full installer. 11-11-2 C&C Generals Preview on GameSpy.com looks at the upcoming iteration in the Command & Conquer series of RTS games. 11-10-2 BeyondUnreal's Unreal II: The Awakening Preview is the latest preview to pop up based on the recent showing of the upcoming Unreal sequel at the Virginia offices of Legend Entertainment. There's an Unreal II: The Awakening Preview on ActionTrip with another first-hand account of making a voyage to visit Legend Entertainment to experience the upcoming Unreal sequel in person. They offer impressions of the presentation, as well as the game, describing the systems they played on, the story and setting, the graphics, sounds, weapons, and more. NVIDIA has released new version 40.72 Detonator Drivers, the WinXP and Win2000 drivers are WHQL Certified and they claim that they can give up to a 25% boost in speed. 11-9-2 id Software Unleashes DOOM(R) II for Game Boy(R) Advance Onto Retail Shelves Nationwide is the press release with word that DOOM II GBA has shipped in North America. UnityHQ.com's NOLF 2 Walkthrough is online, offering 12 separate chapters of guidance through Monolith's spy shooter. There's a Dolby Virtual Speaker Q&A on Digital Silence learning more about this recently-announced technology. 11-8-2 The Unreal Technology Website now offers "a .zip containing all of the .UC source files + debug .U packages for the official 2136 patch" as well as an updated version of the UDebugger. The archive is 9.6 MB and they have several mirrors listed. Platoon Goes Gold is the press release with word that Platoon, the tactical Vietnam War game from Digital Reality, is the latest title to join the holiday gold rush, and the game is scheduled to ship on November 19. Here's a bit more on the game: "Players follow the career of newlywed Martin Lionsdale of the 1st Airborne Cavalry Division, and take part in the most thrilling moments of the conflict, controlling an entire platoon through missions based on historical events. A soldier’s performance is continuously affected by the environment, terrain and combat situation, all brought to life with realistic 3D graphics and effects. Players learn US army tactics in the tutorials and take advantage of a wide range of weaponry, vehicles and support units. Combat and weapons are ultra realistic, real-life tactics making use of real US Army reports and documents." They've released a gameplay trailer to celebrate the occasion, which is mirrored on Worthplaying. A new version 1.01 of the Natural Selection server is now available, updating this popular recently-released Half-Life modification. The new release improves server performance by 20-30%, moves all gameplay constants into server code (so economy and balance will be identical on all servers), adds auto team-balance, and more. This update is only required to run a server, and is not needed on the client end. WinZip 8.1 Service Release 1 is now available. 11-7-2 The Urban Terror Website has word that beta 2.6 of this popular Quake III Arena modification should be released next Saturday (November 9) as part of a grand IRC release party. As noted in Graeme Devine's .plan, a new Quake3-132.pkg.sit is now online, offering the latest beta of the Mac version 1.32 Quake III Arena point release as a 28 MB download. The new version comes with an installer, and places a PunkBuster installer package in the Q3A directory. 11-6-2 A post by id Software's John Carmack to a thread called Doom 3 Alpha Leaked on Slashdot has confirmation of the fact that an early build of DOOM III has been leaked. Here's the post, which vaguely hints at the source of the release:
11-5-2 id Software's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with word that he's posted a fifth beta of the Mac version of the Q3A 1.32 point release on id's FTP server (direct link). The new release is a complete 30 MB build, and now includes Even Balance's PunkBuster support. A playable demo of Mafia is now available via Gigex, and the magic of their resumable download client, offering a playable sample of Illusion Softworks' organized crime game. The demo is a 230 MB download, and following information is offered: "The Mafia demo contains a single mission taken from the full game. The first time the demo is run you will need to configure the game settings, after saving and exiting run the demo from the desktop shortcut or Start Menu. Please do not contact Gathering of Developers, Take 2 Interactive or Illusion Softworks for technical support for the Mafia demo." The demo is mirrored on 3D Gamers, FileShack (registration required) and Gamer's Hell. Coolermaster ATC 111-SX1 Aluminum Case (in video) on 3dGameMan. SOYO P4X400 Dragon Ultra Motherboard on HEXUS.net. Xoxide LL60 Case on TweakTown. 11-4-2 There's an Urban Terror Q&A on Q3 Center talking with Oswald about the upcoming release of beta 2.6 of the Urban Terror modification for Quake III Arena. Version 1.0 of the TransFusion modification for Quake. This mod, formerly known as qBlood, introduces gameplay inspired by Blood, Monolith's cult-classic shooter, and now includes a modified version of the Quake engine (for which the source code is publicly available). This release falls under the Gnu public license, and includes the full game, the source code, and an SDK. The debut release of the Natural Selection modification for Half-Life is now available. Here is how the mod is described: "Multiplayer-only Half-life mod where one team plays marines and the other plays aliens. The humans must keep their cool and work together to assault an alien-infested spacecraft or colony. Marines vs. marines and aliens vs. aliens scenarios will also be supported in the near future." They have posted a complete list of mirrors for the mod as well as the dedicated server software. A new version 2136 patch for Unreal Tournament 2003 has been released by Epic. Here is a local version of the 10.2 MB patch which also includes a list of mirrors along with the extensive list of what is new, changed, and fixed by the patch. There's an Unreal Tournament 2003 Tweak Guide on TweakTown offering tips on installation, troubleshooting, optimization, as well as console commands, special moves, etc. Also, a new Infogrames Deadly Dozen: Pacific Theater Support Page is open with both gameplay tips and technical support for nFusion's WW2 tactical game. A new version 7.1.4 of the CPUCooL utility is now available. 11-3-2 As noted in Robert Duffy's .plan, the new Quake III Arena and Team Arena SDK's are up on id's FTP server for both Windows (direct FTP link) and Linux (direct FTP link). These new versions have been updated to encompass the recent version 1.32 point release. Beta 1.0 of The Specialists, the debut release of the Half-Life modification, is now available. The Specialists introduces new weapons, new weapon effects, and new "special moves," all intended to impart more of an "action movie" feel to gameplay. A new version 2.50.50 of the Half-Life Admin Mod is now available. The installer options have changed significantly, so even experienced users of this program are urged to check out the Release Notes. A new version 1.30 of HLGuard is now available, described as a "final and stable" version of the mod, which has now left the beta stage. Gigex is now offering a demo of Surreal Software's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. There are no details on what is offered in this sample, but the full version of the game allows player to play to take on the roles of Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn. This is the first installment in the series of games based on the original J.R.R. Tolkien novels, rather than the movies inspired by them. The demo is a 132 MB download. Criticism of sniper games rises (thanks Dan Leadbetter) has the news that Sniper: Path of Vengeance has been pulled from Wal-Mart shelves in the Washington, D.C. area. The move is described as being motivated by sensitivity to how the game's title and subject matter relate to the numerous recent murders by a sniper in the area, rather than any actual belief that the game is somehow at fault for, or otherwise connected to these attacks. The article goes on to discuss criticisms of shooter games, offering opinions both supporting and countering theories about their influence. 11-2-2 There's a UT2003 Q&A on PlanetUnreal catching up with Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski and Tim "TimmyS" Sweeney of Epic Games to discuss the recently-released Unreal Tournament sequel. They discuss how the game's design evolved over the course of development, the reason the game ended up delayed, the most difficult aspect of the game's development, valuable feedback based on the demo release, favorite aspects of the finished project, the game engine, modification support, level design, the community, what the future holds for the first-person shooter genre, and more. Blizzard has launched their revamped Warcraft III Ladder Website, featuring a new design, and more detailed information about the ladder and listed players. 11-1-2 Polycount has more UT2003 source art for download courtesy of Digital Extremes. As they put it: "These are the raw MAX files, grouped per species for the animations of the character models. Also it comes with a readme that details exactly what you are looking at and gives some advanced details on the animations themselves." |
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