12-31-99

As a final note to those of you who believe that today is your last day on earth before the world ends... GET REAL !!!

GameSpot has posted an extensive guide to Quake III Arena, providing strategies for general deathmatch and one-on-one games, the use of weapons and powerups, a run-down of all deathmatch, tournament and CTF maps, and more.

Quake III Arena is reviewed on GamePower.

12-30-99

Quake III Arena versus Unreal Tournament on Game-Guru.net.

The Q3Logger Homepage has a new beta 2 version 1.0.1.0 of the Q3Logger log parser for Quake III Arena. This freeware Windows program can generate HTML pages with statistics from games played on a Q3A server, offering game-by-game and lifetime stats as well as Doom-like Killer/Killee tables broken up by specific weapons. Sample output can be found on this page.

The December issue of Incite magazine features a Q&A with Motley Crue member Nikki Sixx, who apparently (along with his band 1958) has been contracted to write the music to the as of yet formally unannounced title Half-Life II. Mr. Sixx explained this by saying, "when they heard some of the 1958 loop-based music, we all felt it was a marriage made in hell."

12-29-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on GameSurge.

RIVA 3D has posted a daring-sounding homebrew mix of drivers that combine the NVIDIA Athlon only drivers and Creative Labs' latest Annihilator GeForce drivers to create a new hybrid for CL cards only that they say enhance D3D performance while maintaining Athlon compatibility.

12-28-99

The Engineering Room's Quake III Arena Console Commands listing has been updated with well over 100 new commands/cvars.

id Software's John Carmack made a .plan update addressing the unhappiness some have expressed at the release of the Quake source code since it may allow for more online cheating. According to the lengthy update, all is not lost:

There are a number of people upset about the Quake 1 source code release, because it is allowing cheating in existing games.

There will be a sorting out period as people figure out what directions the Quake1 world is going to go in with the new capabilities, but it will still be possible to have cheat free games after a few things get worked out.

Here's what needs to be done:

You have to assume the server is trusted. Because of the wau quake mods work, It has always been possible to have server side cheats along the lines of "if name == mine, scale damage by 75%". You have to trust the server operator.

So, the problem then becomes a matter of making sure the clients are all playing with an acceptable version before allowing them to connect to the server. You obviously can't just ask the client, because if it is hacked it can just tell you what you want to hear. Because of the nature of the GPL, you can't just have a hidden part of the code to do verification.

What needs to be done is to create two closed source programs that act as executable loaders / verifiers and communication proxies for the client and server. These would need to be produced for each platform the game runs on. Some modifications will need to be done to the open source code to allow it to (optionally) communicate with these proxies.

These programs would perform a robust binary digest of the programs they are loading and communicate with their peer in a complex encrypted protocol before allowing the game connection to start. It may be possible to bypass the proxy for normal packets to avoid adding any scheduling or latency issues, but it will need to be involved to some degree to prevent a cheater from hijacking the connection once it is created.

The server operator would determine which versions of the game are to be allowed to connect to their server if they wish to enforce proxy protection. The part of the community that wants to be competetive will have to agree to some reasonable schedule of adoption of new versions.

Nothing in online games is cheat-proof (there is allways the device driver level of things to hack on), but that would actually be more secure than the game as it originally shipped, because hex edited patches wouldn't work any more. Someone could still in theory hack the closed source programs, but that is the same situation everyone was in with the original game.

People can start working on this immediately. There is some prior art in various unix games that would probably be helpfull. It would also be a good idea to find some crypto hackers to review proposed proxy communication strategies.

Otser's Site has the release of version 1.00 of QRec (pronounced cue-wreck), a utility that provides automatic unlimited demo recording for Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena.

12-27-99

QuakeStarter's Official Homepage has a new version 0.75b of the QuakeStarter front-end. The new release adds full Quake III Arena support to this program that can also serve as an interface with Quake/QuakeWorld and Quake II. Though QuakeStarter is freeware, there is a registration function, and registered users will need to re-register since that's been rewritten.

Quake III Arena versus Unreal Tournament on PC.IGN.com.

12-26-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on 3D Action Planet, Gone Gold, and 24 Hour Gamer.

Glide Underground reviews the D-Link DHN-910 Phoneline Network Kit.

12-25-99

Merry X-mass and happy holidays all. Quake III Arena is reviewed on Adrenaline Vault.

12-24-99

Computer and Video Games News interviews Mark Rein and Todd Hollenshead of Epic Games and id Software, respectively, talking about Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena, respectively.

WinFast GeForce Drivers page has new Leadtek BIOS, DVD support and drivers.

The Quake 3 Arena Resource has an update from id Software contract programmer MrElusive talking about Q3A bots, mapping and physics for level designers. Also, there is a Quake III Arena Editing FAQ on Rust to help those looking to design their own maps. Continuing in that helpful vein, they have posted a list of Quake III Arena editing links.

12-23-99

Version 0.5.1 of Q3A-Total Control is now available from Borderfield Software, offering a couple of major bug fixes to this front-end for Quake III Arena that includes such handy doodads as a server starter, an integrated server browser, a config editor, a key binder, a FunName editor, and a dial-up optimizer.

It's been a while, but the latest version 0.3 of ZDoomGL has now been released, bringing the OpenGL port in sync with version 1.22 of ZDoom, adding support for floor mirrors, and fixing several bugs.

A new version 1.0.41 of the WinTune 98 benchmark is now available, offering ways to speed test your CPU, Video, OpenGL, Direct3D, Memory and Disk. Thanks DemoNews.

12-22-99

An 800-MHz Match-Up on PC Magazine First Looks offers AMD vs. Intel benchmarks, pitting a Coppermine-based  Dell Dimension XPS B800r and a pre-release Athlon 800 MHz Falcon Northwest Mach V.

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with the details he promised earlier on the Quake III Arena point release. Here's the scoop:

Here's the cliffnotes version of most of the bugs we're looking at. I'll make the actual feature database available as HTML at somepoint soon so everyone can take a look as to what issues we're addressing.

- New scoreboard.
- New team scoreboard
- Voting can change the gametype if the new map doesn’t support the current gametype
- Misc icon fixes
- Team overlay tidied up
- Spectators can go through doors
- Late player start on screen score display fixed
- Re-add mouselook
- Callvote nextmap
- Extra/different pakfile disconnect bug fixed
- Packetloss on the scoreboard
- Delay deferred loading of players until after death
- Server browser remembers “show full”/’show empty” status
- Server browser will not refresh on stopped lists
- Show IP address in server browser
- Compressed sound support
- JPEG from disk support
- Cache filefind results so we do not requery the filesystem every load
- Make 10.x.x.x and other public addresses not use auth server
- Protect CD key into a different file
- Improve overall error reporting to user
- Make sure everyone can command the bots
- Load/Save config re-added
- Bots don't start kill, hitnokill, or hitnodeath chats when there are nearby enemies
- Awaiting snapshot/gamestate issues resolved

12-21-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on Computer Games Online and Games Weekly and Unreal Tournament is reviewed on GamesMania, Gaming Age, and Game Addict.

12-20-99

A whole plethora of stuff has been added recently to The Quake 3 Arena Resource, including articles on setting up servers for LAN parties, clearing up issues on aliasing, how to edit the intermission screens, logs and logging games, and an ANSI C Guide for coders looking for a starter on how it will be used to code mods for Quake3. Also, Quake 3 Arena Tune-Up Guide for GeForce 256-based cards is online.

12-19-99

Vexar's Quake III Arena page has posted a PK3 file containing 3 new DM maps for the game.

12-18-99

DirectX 7.0a has been released today, only fixing various DirectInput problems with game controllers and USB devices.

Quake III Arena is reviewed on Gamelinks.net and Game Downloads Online.

The EETimes reports AMD demonstrates 900 MHz chips and Intel to demo 1,000MHz chip in February.

12-17-99

The Mac version of the final Quake III Arena demo has been released on the official site.

3DGPU.com's GeForce 256 Tweak Guide is online.

Quake III Arena is reviewed on EuroGamer and GameSpot.

12-16-99

Black Hand of MPU is home of the BH Q3A Demo Helper, a simple system tray utility to assist in the recording of demos in Quake III Arena by assigning demos unique names automatically as part of its one-touch operation.

Q2DM1 (The Edge, one of the best ever Quake 2 deathmatch maps) will be ported to Q3A.

12-15-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on MakeItSimple.com, and Woodenmen.org.

12-14-99

Quake III Arena reviewed on PC.IGN.Com, Quantum9 Network, Gaming Chronicle, and 3D-Unlimited.

Quake III Arena vs. Unreal Tournament on Daily Radar and Power Gamerz.

12-13-99

Dave "Zoid" Kirsch, contract programmer at id Software, sent along an image showing all the levels in Quake III Arena along with the level names and numbers designations. As his accompanying note points out, he did this, because, at least for now, he finds these designations as confusing as the rest of us:

Lately, people have been telling me, "Wow did you see that cool thing on q3dm14?" and I can't for the life of me remember what map q3dm14 is. I do plan to memorize them in the future, but for now I need some help.

Using the Unix ImageMagick montage utility, I was able to quickly cook up a reference image for all the maps that include the BSP file name and the map title. It's really handy when you just can't remember what map q3dm10 was. I hope that other people find it useful as I have.

12-12-99

Tweak3D has posted a demo for Quake III Arena that's similar in concept to the infamous "Crusher" demo for Quake II, in that it has been designed to push your hardware to its limits. So be sure to download, benchmark, and brag to all your friends.

Quake III Arena on Challenge.World, IGamer.Net, and (quick take) on Gone Gold.

Unreal Tournament on Computer Games Online and GNN.

Unreal Tournament vs. Quake III Arena on Teamplay.Net and the Houston Chronicle (free registration required).

Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena on USA Today

12-11-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on Challenge-US, GameSpy.com, WAGZ, and GamesFirst.

Unreal Tournament is reviewed on Thresh's FiringSquad, GameProWorld, GameSpot, and 3D Audio Immersion.

This text file contains a list of keywords that trigger responses from the bots in Quake III Arena (including the "dirty" ones).

Activision has opened their Support FAQ for Quake III Arena, offering solutions to an initial batch of problems they have identified in id Software's recently released shooter.

12-10-99

Today is the sixth anniversary of the first release of Doom, while yesterday is the two year anniversary of the release of Quake II in the US.

According to LinuxQuake, Loki Software's Linux port of Quake III Arena has gone gold and is off to manufacturing. If you pre-ordered a copy from them, LQ is reporting that you could have it within a week.

The official Roger Wilco site has posted a new beta version of this popular real-time voice communication software package (thanks CiKoTiC). The changes are mostly bug-related, but there's also new stuff added to allow easier integration with MPlayer (which recently purchased the company).

Quake III Arena is reviewed on GameFan, RPOV, and first look on EuroGamer.

Half-Life: Opposing Force is reviewed on PlayNOW and Sharky Extreme.

12-9-99

Quake III Arena is reviewed on Telefragged and Q3A vs. UT on Overclocking Worldwide.

Unreal Tournament is reviewed on IGamer.net and Unreal Universe.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is reviewed on Community PI Singapore.

12-8-99

LadyICE over at PlanetQuake put together screenshots from every DM and Tourney level, categorized by Tier. Click here to check it out! Please note that there are no shots of the CTF maps.

Quake 3 Center has partnered with the Clan World Network to provide the best Quake 3 Ladders. Win products from nVidia, Won.net, Razer, 3dfx, and more! Check out Q3Center's info and rules page for more details.

12-7-99

The Bind: Arena has been updated with a plethora of configs for Q3.

12-6-99

A list of planned fixes for Unreal Tournament version 401 are up on Unreal Universe where they say the approximately 3.5 MB patch should be released "around Monday."

Unreal Tournament is reviewed on EuroGamer and Unreality.Org.

Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings is reviewed on Insane Gamers.

There are a bunch of Q3A benchmarks on nV News showing the effects of various tweaks.

12-5-99

sCary's Shugashack has posted a filter for GameSpy to filter servers running the retail version of Quake III Arena. Just download and import it, and you're good to go.

3dfx has released new beta drivers for Voodoo 2 based cards. These new drivers add support for DirectX 7 (which is required to run them) and fix various game bugs.

A Quake III Arena retail version filter for PingTool has been posted to their FTP site, allowing you to easily find games that are running the full version's levels.

GameSpy has announced Beatdown 2000 - a LAN party on New Year's Eve.

A huge number of people (2) have e-mailed us reporting that they have found an easter egg in Quake III Arena. Rather than spoil the surprise, I'll just tell you this much: look around on Q3DM19 for something odd.

12-4-99

The Quake 3 Arena site has the updated and final Quake III Arena Demo.

Quake III Arena (full version) reviewed on Stomped.

The Q3Center Q3 Ladder is getting underway soon, with plans on awarding a GeForce 256-based accelerator and a new Razer BoomSlang mouse/EverGlide mousepad combo to the ladder's first and second place finishers (respectively), when the competition wraps up in February.

id Software's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with word that the final Quake III Arena demo has been completed, and should be available in a few hours, as well as some thoughts on piracy. Here's an excerpt from the large update:

The demo has gone final and will be available through Sandpiper in a few hours.

I've gotten a lot of feedback from people regarding the use of authentication servers. Yes, John Carmack has a nice car from his hard work, but unfortunately software piracy has become such a serious issue that we need to use schemes such as CD keys to protect our future sales. Games cost large sums of money to make and market, and if you want to have software developers continue to develop games then piracy, understanding it, and addressing it, needs to be part of the development process...

Is piracy of id products the only way the community has prospered, grown and sustained itself all these years? It’s true a certain number of you will always pirate a game and never make the purchase. But a whole bunch of you are raving, fanatical loyal id fans with money in one hand and EB on speed dial in the other to see if Q3A is in stock. If you help the community by helping to stamp out piracy, then I think you’ll see that the community will be just fine and who knows, software prices might fall, Doom 2000 might come out, or the Y2K bug may not burn us all.

So yes. Use a SOCKS server (we will authenticate multiple CD Keys off a single IP), open up those ports on your firewall (you can resolve master.quake3arena.com and just use that IP address), but please don’t belie our intentions. We’ll work extremely hard, 24 hours a day, to make everything in Q3A work flawlessly for you, but we’ll also work on another game with the money we get from sales of Q3A, and by the time it’s done we may be able to release on DVD-ROM and piracy will be a non-issue. But alas, I fear, if it’s there, it will be copied.

These are my views, although I think id also frowns at piracy.

12-3-99

Age Of Empires II: The Age of Kings is reviewed on Gamers Depot.

Version 0.93 of the Future Technologies mod for Quake II is now available. The new release adds a new map and a teamplay mode, as well as offering improvements to the locational damage system and several bugfixes.

The AirQuake II page has released a new version 2.0 Beta 47 of the mod AirQuake 2 mod for Quake II that allows you to be the daring young Marine in the flying trapeze, as the mod offers all sorts of innovative planes and vehicles to use when you're in the mood for a little air superiority.

A new version 2.0.4 of Server Watch is available on their newly-redesigned homepage. This is a utility that automatically pings a game server and displays the number of players currently on that server in your system tray. The new version adds a new network based installer and improves Quake III Arena support.

Intel finds new bug in new Pentium III chips is the press release announcing an "erratum" in the Pentium III family of CPUs that slows down the boot process in about 1 to 2 percent of all the Coppermine chips that have been manufactured to date.

12-2-99

3dfx has released new drivers for their Voodoo 3 cards. This version fixes the desktop corruption problems, as well as updated OpenGL support. The drivers are available with or without DirectX 7, as it is required to use them.

Hauppage WinTV-GO video capture card is reviewed on CPU Review.

A shareware version of GameSpy 2.18 has been released, and is available for download at FilePlanet. This version, which was previously only available to registered users, adds Rogue Spear support and preliminary support for Battlezone II.

Stomped has unearthed another three character renders from Quake III, adding to the 29 they already posted, and completing their run of all the characters in the game. These last three are actually renders from the game's manual, as opposed to the others which were full character sheets, but they're still worth a look, especially since one of them (Crash, the female Doom marine) hasn't been seen publicly before.

GameSpy has posted an article that chronicles the history of QuakeWorld. Newcomers to the Internet gaming scene might not realize the importance that QW had, so it's an interesting read. There are some notable omissions in the article, including the infamous QuakeWorld domain wars, but the article is worth checking out nonetheless, especially for those who missed out on it the first time around.

PowerGamerz reviews the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 6800 27.3 GB Hard Drive.

12-1-99

John Carmack made a post to Slashdot's forums with a detailed explanation for the information Quake III Arena sends back to id, including a way to disable the feature (thanks Andy "Mantle" Chan). Here's what he had to say (boldface added by me):

This has been discussed before, and has been going on with the previous tests. The message of the day server was intended as a half-assed auto update feature that could be cross platform.

We send a normal message most of the time, but if the version is out of date, we can send a message with telling you where to get the update. I didn't want to deal with binary auto-updates on three platforms, and I worry a bit about security issues with that in any case.

You can disable it by setting "cl_motd 0" when the game starts up if you really don't want to send anything or see our message.

We added the result of glGetString( GL_RENDER ) to get some much needed information about the distribution of video cards and drivers. We can see how many people aren't following directions and running glsetup. This is a big support issue. We can see how many people are running minidrivers, which are going to make our lives a mess in the future. We can see how many mac ( steady 5% ) and linux (5%at initial release, tailed off to 2%, probably due to dual booting) people are playing.

Getting this information has been useful. We can compare the numbers of people playing with a given card with the amount of support emails we field, so we know which vendors (3DFX) we need to give more crap about their driver quality.

John Carmack

Slashdot has posted a bit regarding the news (by way of LinuxQuake) that Quake III Arena sends information about your hardware to id's master server when you play online (thanks Chris Recoskie). Specifically it sends your video card and software version - nothing about your personal setup. LinuxQuake posted a reply from John Carmack, who says they do this to track support they give for Hardware vendors. He gives an example of how 3dfx and NVIDIA users are about even, but they get 10 times the e-mails to support for 3dfx card owners.

11-30-99

Stomped's Quake III Arena Resource has posted a rundown of all the medals in Quake III, with descriptions provided by id Software's Paul Steed.

Epic's official Unreal Tournament site has been updated with information on a problem that causes some users with recent 3D cards to experience lower frame rates in the retail version than in the latest demo. The cause could be that the UT installer failed to recognize Direct3D as a rendering option and the game runs in software mode instead, and the update gives instructions on how to enable Direct3D as yet, and mentions a few other performance tips, too.

Boston Acoustics' MicroMedia speakers are reviewed at Glide Underground.

Otser's Site has posted a list of handheld FPS games for WinCE and Palm Pilot systems. IR deathmatch anyone?

11-29-99

Quake III Arena Demo Test is reviewed on Video Game Millennium.

As promised, Stomped has posted the last three Quake III Arena character renderings, depicting Gorre, Wrack and Xaero. This concludes their series of 29 renderings from the game, all of which you can check back in their archive.

The Tech Zone has posted an article titled, "An Overclocking Journey" which chronicles one man's attempt to squeeze more MHz out of his processor and that reminds me, I was supposed to email a colleague with help on overclocking.

 TF2 Center reviews Half-Life: Opposing Force.

ClanWorld has posted an article on the history of id Software and their games.

11-28-99

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings second opinion on Games Domain Review (a rather harsh review).

GameSpy.com reviews Unreal Tournament.

This Abit FTP directory has new ABIT BH6 and BH61.1 mainboard BIOSes.

Unreal Tournament reviews on GibWorld and quick take on Gone Gold.

Quake III Arena Demo Test is reviewed on Damage Gaming.

11-27-99

GameSpy has posted an article on Quake III Arena's CTF mode, featuring quotes from Dave "Zoid" Kirsch on various gameplay decisions, as well as CTF screenshots.

The official ZDoom site has released version 1.19 of this popular DOOM port. Changes include improved support for DeHackEd and fixes for various features that were added to this port over the original DOOM source, and both Win32 and Linux versions as well as source code are available. Note: this is the original ZDoom, not the OpenGL accelerated version by Kokak, although an updated version of that is bound to appear soon.

GameSpy version 2.18 has been released, and is available for download at FilePlanet. This new version adds support for Rogue Spear, as well as beta support for Battlezone II (beta, of course, since there isn't a multiplayer demo out there as of yet). In a few days I will have a new high bandwidth site for you to download programs like this from me.

GameSpot's AOE2 Age of Kings Game Guide is online now so go and check them out.

With the sequel due to appear in stores within a few days, Eidos went back to Tomb Raider III and posted the Fast Track Guide for the 3D action adventure, intended to help you get through the nineteen regular levels as well as the secret level.

More guidance from Eidos, as they have also posted the Fast Track Guide to Thief, providing general tips and quick walkthroughs of all levels in last year's acclaimed sneaky first-person action game.

11-26-99

We just received this mini-press release from Activision with word that Quake III Arena has officially gone gold, and will be in stores on December 12th. Here's the scoop:

November 23, 1999 - Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision today announced that Quake III Arena has gone gold. Developed by id Software, Quake III Arena is the third installment of one of the most popular computer game franchises of all time and is designed to be the final word in online multiplayer mayhem. The title, which was sent into manufacturing today, is expected to hit retail shelves on Dec. 12, 1999 at a suggested price of $49.99.

A new version 2.22SE of the Holy Wars mod for Quake II is now available, described as likely the last version of this mod that separates the saints from the sinners. The new release offers a Mac server, along with several small fixes and changes. Also now available are a couple of new Holy Wars bots, one based on the Ace Bot, and the other on the Frogbot.

ASUS GeForce v6600 is reviewed on TheGuru3D.

11-25-99

Happy thanksgiving all.

John Carmack is quoted on Voodoo Extreme clarifying why he is only supporting one 3D sound API (A3D) in the Quake III engine, saying he is "not going to support three sound paths," talking of how the A3D code "will have to justify itself all over again at the end of the next project."

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with word that he's working on a new version of the Quake III Arena demo that should be released later this week.

11-24-99

John Carmack updated his .plan with his thoughts upon the completion of work on Quake III Arena, discussing his general plans on what he will be doing next:

d:>mkdir research

Ahhhh....

I am very happy with how Q3 turned out. Probably more than any game we have done before, it's final form was very close to its initial envisioning.

I will be getting all the Q3 code we are going to release together over the next week or so. I will write some overview documentation to give a little context, and since you can do game mods without needing a commercial compiler now, I will write a brief step-by-step to modifying the game code.

I'm looking forward to what comes out of the community with Q3.

The rough outline of what I am going to be working on now:

We will be supporting Q3 for quite some time. Any problems we have will get fixed, and some new features my sneak in.

I have two rendering technologies that I intend to write research engines for.

I am going to spend some time on computer vision problems. I think the cheap little web cams have some interesting possibilities.

I am going to explore some possibilities with generalizing 3D game engines into more powerful environments with broader uses. I think that a lot of trends are coming to the point where a "cyberspace" as it is often imagined is begining to be feasible.

I am going to spend more time on some Free Software projects. I have been stealing a few hours here and there to work on the matrox glx project for a while now, and it has been pretty rewarding. People with an interest in the guts of a 3D driver might want to look at the project archives at http://glx.on.openprojects.net/. The web pages aren't very up to date, but the mailing list covers some good techie information.

11-23-99

Quake III Arena. Fans will be pleased to know that there are four CTF maps included in the game right out of the box, and they are accessible from the game's menu system. As for the bots, they do play CTF, using the commands listed in the Demo Test. For those wondering, there are no plans at this time to release a CTF enabled version of the Quake III Demo.

Half-Life Opposing Force is reviewed on Game-Over.

11-22-99

Quake III: Arena has gone gold.

Aztech's RivaTNT2 32T is reviewed on Hardware One (found in some Power Spec computers).

11-21-99

UnrealUniverse has posted a Q&A with Epic Games graphics programmer Erik de Neve. It's short, but Erik talks about what he does, and how relieved he is that Unreal Tournament has gone gold (is  done).

11-20-99

RealPlayer 7 Basic or RealPlayer 7 Plus are now available for download.

PlanetUnreal has word of their upcoming coverage of an official Unreal Tourney release party this Friday evening. Word is there will be streaming audio broadcasts from the event, which looks like it will be attended by employees of Epic and GameSpy Industries.

The Gamer's Press reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings multiplayer. Gamelinks reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Games Domain Review reviews Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings.

11-19-99

MNGamers reviews the Quake III Arena Demo Test.

BarrysWorld in jolly ole England (an old stomping ground of mine) reviews Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings. I can fully recommend this game.

11-18-99

FullOn3D reviews Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, speaking of which, I am getting a free copy today from Microsoft.

I.am.Quake3Arena has posted an all new Console Guide for Q3Test providing assistance with things ranging from simple key binding to creating complex scripts and custom commands. They've also updated their complete categorized lists of ALL Q3Test console commands and variables. 

A simple solution to problems with mouse wheel support in the new Quake III Arena Demo Test. After switching to the desktop and back to the game again using <ALT><TAB>, problems using the mouse wheel will clear up. 

id Software lead programmer John Carmack updated his .plan with some talk about how vertex lighting works in the new Q3A Demo Test. In addition the update also offers a "set of go-fast-and-look-ugly options" for those looking to speed up their frame rate at the expense of eye-candy:

r_mode 2
r_colorbits 16
r_texturemode GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST
r_vertexlighting 1
r_subdivisions 999
r_lodbias 2
cg_gibs 0
cg_draw3dicons 0
cg_brassTime 0
cg_marks 0
cg_shadows 0
cg_simpleitems 1
cg_drawAttacker 0

11-17-99

3dfxGamers has posted seven new screenshots from Q3Test, which show the game running on 3dfx' new technology, with full-screen antialiasing and motion blur enabled.

11-16-99

Sorry I didn't get up a list of mirrors for the new Quake III test demo yesterday as real life tends to take its toll. You should find that you will not need a list of mirrors as that unlimited Sandpiper bandwidth will suffice. 

Win32 Quake III Arena Demo Test 

As expected, 3dfx has officially announced their new products, including the Voodoo 4 and 5, both of which utilize their new VSA-100 chipset. There are full details in the press release and their newly updated website about specific products and their new technology. (which range from low end Voodoo 4 cards, all the way up to a 128 MB Voodoo 5)

11-15-99

John Carmack updated his .plan with his latest work log, as well as the news that the Win32 version of the Quake III: Arena demo could very well be released tonight. Here's the full .plan:

The demo test is built. It should go up in a couple hours if nothing explodes.

Mac and linux builds won't be out tonight.

* clear SVF_BOT when exiting follow mode
* render temp memory
* new mac GL initialization code
* no zone memory use in music thread
* added check for trash past zone block
* explicitly flush journal data file after a write
* added FS_Flush

Quake 3 Arena demo test should be out tonight. Watch the skies!

11-14-99

The KickassGaming Network reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

Gamecenter has posted a multiplayer strategy guide for Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings, featuring specific tips for each different civilization.

The debut release of the Ravenous DM mod for Quake II. Ravenous includes it own unique scoring system that advances you levels as you frag, allowing more goodies (hey, which should promote more frags!). More details on what this deathmatch mod consists of can be found in the ReadMe.

GameOver.dk is where the new version 3.56 NVIDIA Detonator drivers can be downloaded.

11-13-99

3dfx has released new drivers for Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo3-based accelerators, each set of drivers offering OpenGL support. The files can be found on 3dfx Gamers Voodoo3 2000-3000 WHQL Win9x Retail Drivers - AGP-PCI Boards Version 1.03.04 and 3dfx Gamers Voodoo Banshee Windows 9x DirectX 7 Reference Drivers AGP-PCI - Version 1.03.04. In addition to the OpenGL support, the V3 drivers address desktop corruption issues as well as power management and screensaver issues. Both sets of drivers require DirectX 7.

A new version of GLSetup, the handy program that automatically detects your hardware and installs the latest OpenGL drivers for it, has been released, and is available for download on its official site. This new version fixes problems with Voodoo 2 and 3 hardware detection, eliminates the annoying expiration date came with the last version, and adds new drivers for 3dfx Voodoo3, Voodoo3 3500TV, Matrox G200 & G400, NVidia TNT/TNT2/GeForce256.

11-12-99

There's a patch for Deer Hunter 3 on FilePlanet (the hunter's haven). Here's the patch for a full install, and here's the patch for the minimum install

11-11-99

EuroGamer reviews Age of Empires II : Age of Kings.

A new version of ZDoomGL, an OpenGL port of the Doom source code, has been released. This new version adds a new lightmap feature, bug fixes, and new network support.

Stomped has posted the next two of their 29 total character profiles from Quake III: Arena. Today's two characters are Visor and Orbb, and there's a picture of each, as well as a general description up. All four of the shots released so far are available on this page.

Word from the MSN Gaming Zone is that they're holding a event for the final rounds of the MechWarrior3 Meltdown tournament. The tournament began on October 23 with hundreds of two-person teams competing online on the MSN Gaming Zone. The finals will be on November 13 at 4:00 PM PST at GameWorks in Seattle. The top two teams will each take home a pair of Year 2000 Harley Davidson FatBoy motorcycles valued at over $18,000 each. These two teams will then do final battle for ultimate MechWarrior bragging rights plus a bonus Harley Davidson prize package. Also, this evenings match in The Ragnarok, an ongoing LMCTF (Quake II) tournament features a meeting between the league's two undefeated teams with Clan Evil and Clan Doom Troopers each putting their 8-0 records on the line.

11-10-99

QuakeClan.Net offers free clan page hosting.

Bedlam Gaming is now accepting sign-ups for the Bedlam 2000 Q3A tourney scheduled for December 20-23 in Denver Colorado. Thanks Lawgiver.

The bleem! site has a new version 1.5a of this PlayStation emulator for the PC. The new release is a bug fix for a problem that could cause version 1.5 to hang. Thanks Wario64.

id Software modeler Paul Steed was kind enough to send along a pair of new rendered images from id Software's upcoming Quake III Arena showing off some of what is seen in the between match cinematics. One shot is of the Klesk enjoying a rather gruesome kleskian meal (I don't think he got that in a drive-through), and the other is showing off several of the game's models in a group shot. Here is a page with thumbnails of both shots and links to the full-sized images. The shots have been jpeged. Here are the accompanying descriptions from the two images:

When you finish one tier or group of four maps your reward will be a short animation. This cinematic features massive vault-like doors opening up to reveal your new set of opponents that will be in the next set of four maps. I render all the characters in interesting/dramatic poses both in a group and separately. This is the pose for Klesk showing what he does when not fragging happily in the arenas.

This is what it looks like once the doors are open and the new opponents are revealed for the first time. Keep in mind that although the characters are beefed up with more polygons they have the same textures that are in the game. The fact that they hold up under hi-rez scrutiny is a testament to the Skillz of Mr. Kenneth Scott. He is to be commended.

11-9-99

Damage Gaming reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

A new beta 39 of AirQuake II 2.0 is available. The new release marks a new phase in development of this innovative Quake II mod that puts you in control of all manner of jet aircraft, and with the original code scrapped and re-written, the version number has been iterated to 2.0. Among the new features in the new release are improved speed and stability, new camera code, and new bot code.

Stomped has posted the first two Quake III Arena character sketches of a series of 29 that they will be doling out over the coming weeks. The first ones up are Sarge and Slash, and the sketches show the characters front, side and back, as well as including some stats and a profile.

11-8-99

3D-Unlimited reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

TacSim reviews the GeForce 256 powered MaxiGamer 3D Prophet.

The official AirQuake 2 site has posted public beta version 0.37 of the Quake II mod that "provides Quake 2 players the joy of being able to target aircraft with an air to air homing missile and blow their closest friends and relatives out of the sky."

a|revelation's FRAG3 review on True Gamers offers more recap from the recent festivities in Dallas, including a rundown on the action in the one-on-one Q3Test tournament.

11-7-99

GameSpot UK reviews Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.

 Teamplay.Net's Quake 3 Showdown is a Q3Test Team Deathmatch tournament for all pings. At the end of five weeks of round-robin play, the top teams in each division will be moved into a bracket to decide the champion. Details on the 99X.com 99Xyberfest Quake II tourney are online.

id's Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan addressing two issues of note: the "official" release dates for Quake III: Arena that are floating around on various e-commerce sites, as well as the cool-beans tin box edition of the game. Here's the scoop:

There hasn't been a formal announcement about this that I'm aware of, so I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that several retailers are running Quake III Arena pre-order programs with the limited edition tin box. There will be less than 30,000 of the tin box editions available world-wide, so if this is something you want you probably need to get your order in ASAP. I don't have a picture to post, but if you were at QuakeCon and saw the metal box in the black display case, you know what the box looks like.

Just to clarify a few things that may be confusing:

We won't be selling these direct from id - it's purely a retail promotion. There is no difference in the game content, only the box is different. Some retailers are charging more for the tin box, and some are charging the same price. The actual retail price of the game is something that is out of our direct control, but we aren't charging the retailers more for the limited edition box. I don't have a full list of all of the retailers world-wide, but in the U.S. EB, Babbages, and CompUSA are all participating at a minimum. Availability may vary by store, however. The release date for Quake III Arena is, as you know, "When it's done!" Retailers are notorious for posting "official" release dates, but unless it comes directly from id, it's just speculation.

GameSpy has released a shareware version of GameSpy 2.17. This is identical to the version released a few days ago (which added Wheel of Time and Nerf Arena Blast support) but is available for everyone, not just registered users. You can snag the file over at FilePlanet.

11-6-99

PC Gameworld reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

sCary's Shugashack has posted four new screenshots they obtained from a German-language magazine. These shots were not used in the magazine, making them exclusives of some kind. The shots show off previously-unseen levels, as well as the female character model, and the Tank Jr. model in addition to others.

11-5-99

Planet RIVA reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

The Logitech Mouse Software Downloads page has the full version of the MouseWare 8.62 software available for download. Also, Chris from Logitech sends along help for those having trouble getting their wheel doohickey working on their Logitech mice, especially in Q3Test:

Also, for those of you who are having problems getting the wheel to function properly in games (especially Q3), you'll want to modify the value "MouseHookDllEnable" in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Logitech\MouseWare\CurrentVersion\Technical key of the Windows Registry. This value is 1 by default to prevent double scrolling (scrolling 2 lines instead of 1) in certain applications. When set to 0, wheel messages are sent to games properly rather than intercepted and discarded. Logitech engineers are aware of the bug and are working on a better fix. This fix works in both Win9x and NT 4.0, though in NT you will need to create the key and string manually.

11-4-99

Ingava reviews Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.

John Carmack updated his .plan with another Quake III Arena worklog. Among the latest programming changes he's implemented is a change to the teamplay rules: "weapons always have a full load of ammo," which sounds like picking weapon up a weapon will add a full load of ammo to your inventory instead of just one when you are already carrying a load of ammo for the weapon.

Italian games site NextGame.it has posted an interview with id Software's Graeme Devine. There's nothing new revealed, but you do get to read Graeme skillfully dodge questions, with such entertaining answers as, "Next game? We're doing another game?"

Mounting a P3 Cooler Without The P3 Backplate by The Tech Zone shows how to do just that, to increase cooling.

Blizzard has released a version 1.07 patch for their real time strategy game Starcraft. The patch will auto-download if you connect to Battle.net within the game, or you can download it directly from Blizzard's site.

ZDNet News reveals MS' pricing plans for Win2K (are you sitting down?): $219 for an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, and $319 without an upgrade. A 10-user version of Win2000 Server will cost $1,199.

Chip Tester's Weekly Hardware Price Update is up.

Tech-review.com's CPU Prices have been updated.

11-3-99

id Software's John Carmack updated his .plan with the latest installment of his work log. There's nothing too earth shatteringly significant in here, so I won't paste it here, but he does mention that the lightning gun damage has been dropped to 160 points per second amongst other changes.

Game Post reviews Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

A new version 4.11 of the Motherboard Monitor is now available.

RIVA 3D's Special 3.53 Driver Report looks at what they feel are some problems with NVIDIA's 3.53 drivers.

A new version 2.54 of the PowerStrip utility is now available.

11-2-99

GamesFirst reviews Age of Empires II.

The idiots survival guide to TFC aims to teach the nuances of TeamFortress Classic for Half-Life, even if you're such a newbie that you don't know which is the dangerous end of your gun.

11-1-99

This page at EBWorld hints at a Quake III Arena Elite Edition in a limited edition tin box.

Demo version of Microsoft Age of Empires II Age of Kings at: Gigex via GameSpot, PC Zone UK, WON.net, FilePlanet.

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