| Saturday, May 29, 1999 |
Daily Discussion: Drakan [6:45 am]
Well this is simple, I'm wondering what you guys thought of the
Drakan demo that Surreal Software released on Thursday night over at GameSpot. Was it cool? How
was your framerate? You can tell the game isnt completely done. Or.. 95% as they like to
call it. Of course you guys can also just continue on with the eternal boob debate.
Carmack & Romero [6:45 am]
MSNBC has an article taking a look at the
paths that John Carmack and John Romero have taken after the success of Doom and
Quake. Romero having parted id Software in favor of Ion Storm, and Carmack cranking out
the Quake2 and Quake3 engines. Thanks Rikki. Oh yeah and here is a good quote: (Thanks VE)
MSNBC: When you look at the competition in first-person shooters, which ones do you think were the best games?
Carmack: I think Unreal did some very nice things, and that was the first time we’d ever had any competition that was actually a step forward. It was innovative had 16-bit color and all of that, and I’ve said a lot of nice things about their work. I think they’re worthy competition now in terms of producing the same style of games. In our current work with QUAKE III,we’ve definitely got the best graphics technology. We’ve got the best networking technology, and in the style of game that we’re doing, we’re the most fun game, which is what we’re basing everything off of right now. We’ve just decided to not even to not even pretend to compete in things like story-driven areas and things that involve working your way through a plot line.
All we’re doing is just the absolutely raw have-fun-while-you’re-playing type of game. QUAKE III is a simple, shallow arcade game, but it’s a whole lot of fun, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re just not making any pretensions about vast originality. This is the same style of game that we’ve been doing for a long time, and I will say this is like the best job that has ever been done
Descent3 [6:45 am]
The guys at VertigoExtreme have slapped up a
pair of new screenshots of Descent3 in action as well as posting the HTML'ized version of
the Descent3 newsletter which includes a fair amount of new information on the game. Here
is a bit that loony quoted:
This includes stuff like a new city level that comes complete with a sewer section and supersonic futuristic underground subway system as well. Lots of new robots with fantastic AI, a lot of new multiplayer levels and new modes of play have been recently implemented as well. We've really improved different aspects of the game by taking advantage of some new technology we created, started using higher quality art, implemented more ambient sounds, done more with the music and put more cinematic stuff into the game. All the rendered movies have been finalized and received their final audio as well. Tons of polish and the addition of little details throughout the game are really making the game shine.
Views [6:45 am]
Tech [6:45 am]
werd
Ugh, up way too late. I got a lot done on the screenshots section. Doing thumbnails is
some of the most incredibly boring work ever. Here is what I've got so far if
you're interested, I imagine I'll be able to finish it by the middle of the week. Yes,
those Q3 shots on the index are just placeholders. I'm thinking the load time on those
thumbnail pages might be pretty nasty, probably break them off to about 8 images per page.
Been trying to play Drakan some more, cranked out the far clipping plane and changed the gamma a bit. The dragon animations are just too damn cool. I really dont like the flames that the dragon shoots though, and when you kill one out of the air when they fall to the ground they look all goofy (they dont line up with the ground surface) Very much worth downloading.
Here is something for you guys to play with. Oh yeah and this flying car thing is nifty.
| Friday, May 28, 1999 |
New Drakan Demo [7:05 pm]
3DFiles has posted a fixed
Drakan demo which offers a size of only 58.7megs now and has a fix for people who were
experiencing troubles with the 6.1 DirectX install. Might as well grab the new NFS: High Stakes racer
demo while you're there.
Max Payne [6:45 pm]
The Remedy Max Payne website has a new development
update talking about a visit to NYC.
Q3:A Server Setup [2:45 pm]
The official Quake3Arena website has a couple of
updates you guys should check out. Firstly there is a bit from the id Software CEO talking
about redistribution of Q3Test and how you shouldnt be handing it out on CDs. Secondly
Graeme Devine has put
together a technical document on Q3Test server communication. Thanks Blue
Half-Life v1.0.1.0 Stuff [2:15 pm]
Erik Johnson of Valve Software sent out this email describing some problems people are
having with the new Half-Life
v1.0.1.0 patch and an explanation along with how to fix things:
To allow your gamma settings on 3dfx hardware to be governed by the Half-Life launcher, run Half-Life with the command line switch -3dfxgamma.
If you are receiving an error connecting to servers running Hunted or Rock telling them that their map does not match the server's. In the 1.0.1.0 update we released new versions of these maps for speed optimizations. Currently, servers running the 1.0.0.9 versions of these maps are listed on the WON server list. Those servers will remain on the server list until this Tuesday, June 1st.
Server admins should update with the primary server program. Grab it here. You can also grab the new linux server here.
Intel Price Cuts [1:45 pm]
It's that time again.. check out the press
release announcing even more price cuts on Intel CPUs. Time to upgrade?
The price of its top-end 466MHz Celeron will drop 13 percent to $147, while its 433MHz Celeron processor will fall 21 percent to $113. Intel's 400MHz and 366MHz Celeron processors will drop to $93 and $69, respectively.
TF2 Bots [1:45 pm]
The guys at Bot Epidimic have some Q&A with
Robin Walker of Valve Software asking about AI bots and their roll in TF2. Check it out
and then wait till christmas:
...The bots can be used in any game. That's not something being debated. We're not thinking of hiring a 3rd party bot developer, instead, we're planning on continuing our own investment in AI. The brains behind Half-Life's monster and squad AI are working on the TF2 bots.
Drakan Demo! [YESTERDAY]
From yesterday, cuz it's cool: Well check this out, it looks like the Drakan demo from Surreal Software came out a day early. How's that for
something different. I just got word from Duncan that the demo just popped up over on GameSpot.
The demo is gonna weigh in at close to 70megs though so just grab the file and start the
download before going to eat dinner. If you are wondering wtf Drakan is, here are a few
screenshots for ya:
MDK2 In Depth [5:45 am]
GameCenter has a really long article taking a look at MDK2 from Shiny Entertainment. They
break it down into Gameplay,
Story, Development, and Technology which is
pretty cool.
We can have large open environments, big animating objects interacting with the player, some swank lighting, and good physics. We're using OpenGL as our development API and we're quite happy with it. As far as release APIs, we haven't formalized our plan yet. We've got well-localized graphics calls so it will be quite portable to different APIs.
Daily Discussion: Boobs [5:45 am]
Man, what the hell am I thinking talking about games on this page, all you guys really
care about are the hotties. So as suggested by Stasis here is the topic of the day. Which
famous model/actress/slut has the best boobs, face, legs, and butt. This has absolutely no
relation to anything other than we are like 95% young perverted males. Here is my 2 cents, make sure
and share!
Views [5:45 am]
Tech [5:45 am]
werd
Well, I planned on finising up my TF2 preview for today but instead wasted time goofing
off with Drakan and marveling at my server being down for an hour yesterday evening.
Image of the day? Wondering what the bubbles look like in Q3Test? Well if you grabbed that map converter then you probably saw these bubbles showing underwater action. Thanks Mike Dowell.
Oh yeah, and here is what Todd Porter is saying about his Ion departure rumors.
| Thursday, May 27, 1999 |
Linux 3dfx Drivers [6:45 pm]
The 3dfx folks have just released some new drivers for
Voodoo3 and Banshee cards. Check em out: (Thanks VE)
Thief Editor [4:25 pm]
The LookingGlass guys have released some tools for working with
their Thief: Dark Project game. You can grab the DromEd level editor, also they plan on
releasing all of the editable missions that shipped with the game so you can mess around
with them on your own.
NVidia Stuff [4:25 pm]
GamersDepot has a couple of reviews
of the Diamond TNT2 cards, also Raymond Chow
sent some email to AGN3D noting that NVidia has passed up
the 10million units mark.
NVIDIA has just surpassed the 10 million-unit production point. The TNT2, which started shipping in April, has already surpassed the 1 million-unit pruduction mark. More importantly, we will have to see whether their sales figures reflect similar growth for the TNT2 and Vanta processors. Jon Peddie Associates, a market research firm that tracks didigtal media, has recently found that, "Our research indicates NVIDIA's 128-bit architecture dominates the performance category with 44 percent market share.
Half-Life v1.0.1.0 Patch [1:25 pm]
The new Half-Life patch has been released from Valve Software, you can grab it right here. Check out
the list of changes / improvements:
- Dedicated server has been optimized and requires less overhead to run a server. This means that latency values for clients will go down since the server is not working as hard.
- The dedicated server is now a console application, which will allow server operators to more easily administer their server remotely.
- Updating your server list through the server browser uses less bandwidth, making it much faster.
- Starting a LAN server will not attempt to connect to the Internet.
- Fixed a bug where latency values were incorrectly reported in the server browser.
- Underwater prediction code optimized.
- Fixed a bug in the mod browser at the request of the mod development community.
Washington Post Article [2:35 pm] - Jack
The Washington Post has put up their article
on the game violence issue. The interviewed co-workers Rob Atkins and Mark Dochtermann
(sp?) at Ritual.
More Views [2:35 pm]
Drakan This Friday! [4:15 am]
Well, the playable demo at least. Surreal Software's
supremely cool Drakan, a 3rd person POV dragon-riding action/rpg title is nearing
completion, and they want to share with us. VE got the word,
and here's a bit from it, Also, some more details from an earlier post on VE:
The demo will be the first part of one of our worlds/levels (keep in mind - these are HUGE). Gameplay should be around and hour and a half or so, depending on how much you explore vs. blow/chop stuff up. The level begins just after you find Arokh in the mountainous regions of Drakan, so there is a good combination of both ground and air (dragon) combat. There is one NPC/cut scene and two sub-quests. Arokh only has his fire weapon for this demo, which has both a primary fireball and alternate flame breath attack. There are also some juicy secrets with bonus swords and armor. Overall, Rynn can collect around 8 different hand-held weapons, several magic items, and a bow with 2 types of arrows.
Contrary to previous plans though, the demo will be single player only. Bummer.
Guillemot products [4:15 am] >> Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
Guillemot, a company not widely known in USA as they are in other parts, is a large
multimedia manufacturer. While innovation isn't their forte, they offer a very wide range
of products. Products such as video cards, sound cards, game controllers, and even
speakers are part of Guillemot's portfolio. While I was at E3, I had a chance to quickly run down their product line,
and so, here's the report.
Daily Discussion: 3D Cards [4:15 am]
Damn, it looks like just about nobody really cares about the Ion Storm stuff anymore
considering the so few posts. Well today I'm thinking we should cover the much debated 3D
accelerator race. I've always been a fan of framerate first, image quality second. I'm
wondering just how many of you guys are the same? Which 3D accelerator do you plan
on using for Quake3? Make sure and check out the Shack Q3Test benchmark comparison for reference.
Oh yeah, and if you have a topic for debate drop me a line smiles@shugashack.com and I'll slap it up here.
More Quake3 Work Logs [4:15 am]
John Carmack is hard at work as always, staying up at insane hours laboring away on Quake3
(along with the rest of the id crew) and here's what he's got in the work log today. You
can grab the
current version of Q3Test here.
* enable scissor test properly
* archive r_lodBias
* cg_draw3dIcons 0 option
* data cheating protection
* userinfo renamed to clientinfo, added state and current
server address
* don't forward commands to a server when playing demos
* fixed NULL extension on dir command
* added one more shotgun pellet
* added CG_Shutdown for cgame cleanup
* fixed jitter in rising smoke
* increase minimum time before reusing an entity slot
* soundinfo reports current background streaming file
* changed IPX separator to . from :, moved port processing
to system independant code
* auto port scan wasn't updating the net_port cvar
* attack button presses reset inactivity timer now
* increased the forced respawn time from 10 to 20 seconds
* show smp on gfxinfo, slight reformat
Q3Test RL Smoke "Fix" [4:15 am]
This little patch that replaces the rocket smoke in Q3Test with a less
obstructive smoke seems to be making a hell of a lot of people happy. (Myself included)
I've been using this for a couple of days and Stencil made this post to the Q3 board
with his version which is the best
I've seen yet. What's it look like? Here is a screenshot, and a pre-modified shot for
comparison sake.
New TF2 Shots [4:15 am]
Valve Software has released a pair of new TF2 screenshots showing off a soldier with a couple of
medics in the background as well as a spy pulling one of those
Metal Gear Solid sneaking around moves. You can also grab the bitmap for windows bg here and here.
Anachronox Diary [4:15 am]
Tom Hall, big man over at Ion Storm has updated the Anachronox.com
website with a new "designer diary" talking about progress on their incredibly
cool looking Quake2 engine RPG. I liked it so much at E3 I even did a preview of it!
Views [4:15 am]
Tech [4:15 am]
running the 3Fingers "Crusher" benchmark in 32 bit gives the following scores: 640x480 - 30.1 fps ; 800x600 - 29.3 fps; 1024x768 - 30.2 fps; 1600x1200 - 10.1 full screen. Running in 1280 windowed mode on 1280x1024 screen the score was 17.4.
werd
Been spending a lot of time converting older articles
over to the new format. Got the Quake3 preview done, about half the weekly sections done,
and a few of the hardware write-ups done too. I eagerly anticipate the db-driven Shack
going live in June.
Image of the day you ask? Check this animated gif out.
| Wednesday, May 26, 1999 |
Creative vs id [5:45 pm]
Brian Hook has
a .plan update which should interest some folks and spark a bit of debate. With the
release of Creative Labs' mini-driver solution for Quake3 without consulting 3dfx or id
Software, it looks like some feathers have been ruffled. Thanks Redwood Check it:
We will not be supporting any form of OpenGL minidriver for Quake3. As a matter of fact, we will actively be attempting to DENY support for minidrivers. Minidrivers have proven to be nothing but a support headache for us and a constant barrier to improving technology and giving user's sane maintenance updates. We are philosophically opposed to the idea of an OpenGL minidriver in this day and age because every important IHV has a solid, working _full_ OpenGL driver.
Brian also has a follow-up to clarify things a little bit more:
Our goal, in the end, is to allow anyone that buys our product to run our product with minimum hassle. Some of that is under our control, some of that isn't (e.g. driver quality). We want people to buy Q3A then run GLSETUP and have it magically install the right drivers. We do NOT want people to have to go through some byzantine matrix of decisions as to which drivers they need to install, since this is only of interest to power gamers, not your average buyer of games. So use the Creative minidriver at your own risk. We're not against it just because of some ideological issue, but also because there are significant support issues that just aren't readily apparent from the surface. It's tough enough managing just the regular driver sets, having this tossed into the mix only adds more confusion for us, 3D chip manufacturers, and our customers.
More Views [5:15 pm]
Oni Screens [2:35 pm]
PlanetRiva has scored some interesting
360degree screenshots of Bungie's Oni game. Make sure and check out Onicore.com while you're at it.
TRIBES2 Stuff [2:15 pm]
SharkyExtreme has a big
old preview of TRIBES2 which was looking quite a bit better than the original as far
as graphics go, although I really didnt get a chance to have a look at the actual game.
Lightmaps are a plus though. You can also have a look at these 5 new screenshots
of TRIBES2 over at Blue's page.
New Creative Drivers [2:15 pm]
Creative Labs has released
a few new drivers for their Banshee and Voodoo2 cards which are targetted at the Q3Test Win32 release.
Thanks VE
This is a beta releases of an optimized mini-GL driver for both the 3D Blaster Banshee and the 3D Blaster Voodoo2. This driver supports Quake II, QuakeGL and Hexen II, as well as adding support for Quake III (specifically Quake III Test 1.05). We have developed a single mini-GL file that supports all of these programs.
While you are playing with your computer and drivers, have a look at the Ars-Technica What to do when it won't boot article. Not that these drivers will kill your machine or anything...
No Daikatana LAN Demo [2:15 pm]
John Romero sent a response to Blue stating that there
will be no LAN demo of Daikatana. Contrary to prior statements made by Romero after
everyone's favorite MPlayer demo release.
Right now i don't have plans on releasing an updated LAN version any time soon. We're totally focused on finishing the game since we're so far along, but if all goes well during our final push, we might see an updated LAN release before the game hits the shelves.
Quake3 Work [3:15 am]
The Quake3 work logs from John Carmack continue. The big news for a lot of you guys is
that Carmack has increased the blast damage radius on rockets from 120units to 150units.
Honestly I think that should help. The combination of somewhat slow rockets with the
faster moving players seemed to be a bit more of a pain in the ass than I had envisioned
it being during prior testing. I'm sure you guys will want to raise hell or thank god on
the Quake3 messageboard, have at it.
* basic joystick controls some work still needed for advanced controlers
* r_dlightBacksides 0 option
* forced cvar_restart when version changes
* fixed some flare-in-fog problems
* fixed skin color in menus
* print obituary message even when you are the killer, so all kills get an entry in the logfile
* fixed bugs in line token parsing when quotes or commands aren't white space separated
* multiprocessor acceleration "r_smp 1"
* increase menu dimming
* increased rocket damage radius from 120 to 150 units
* check for running server in all server commands (dumpuser, etc)
* new cvar cheat setup -- by default, only archived variables can be changed when not cheating
* "cg_drawstatus 0" only removes status bar
* "cg_draw2d 0" removes all 2d
Daily Discussion [3:15 am]
Well, what better to talk
about than the recent "rumored" departures of the two big-wig Ion Storm owners.
Todd Porter and Jerry O'Flaherty. More than likely they are out the door and this is just
"damage control" trying to keep it under wraps? Man who knows what the heck goes
on over there sometimes. It's always a show though.
Oh yeah, and I've heard from a number of reliable people that the Ion Storm thing is legit. Also the guys at GameSpot are posting the same.
Quake2 to Quake3 Map Converter [3:15 am]
I've gotten word from a number of people about the Quake2
to Quake3 map converter that was posted on the Quake3 messageboard page which
will of course take existing Quake2 maps that you have and convert them over to Quake3
format compatible with the v1.05 Q3Test
so many of us are currently playing. Thanks to Lake for the first word. If you have a
problem getting to the ftp try getting it from the PlanetQuake mirror list.
Note that this version only converts Q2DM1.
Soldier of Fortune [3:15 am]
The 'Shack Soldier of Fortune article
is finished up and posted taking a look at the stellar Quake2 engine based title from
Raven Software which was being shown behind closed doors at the E3 show this year.. A big thanks to Raven
Software for providing us with a dozen (!) new screenshots.
Check out those bumps! [1:15 am] >> Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
Since Steve's showing signs of life, I've decided to celebrate by posting something in the
Shack E3 Reports. First, we have Matrox's G400 which was basically the
only thing Matrox was showing off. This quickie from E3 just runs down the general info,
and by no means a review as I haven't received anything from Matrox yet. There are quite a
few pictures included, some even at 1600x1200! I encourage you all to have a gander at the difference a few
well placed bumps can make. For example:
G400 MAX [3:15 am]
AGN3D has posted a few answers from Matrox talking
about the G400MAX card which has a few people flipping out after the recent benchmarks posted by Brian Hook.
Here is the answer to the golden question:
When will there be a final (or very well performing) OpenGL driver for the G400/MAX?
There will be an Open GL driver shipping in the box with the Millennium G400 and Millennium G400 MAX boards. While this solution will be very good, we won't call this a final driver, as we will continue to optimize performance levels on the drivers after the card ships.
Speaking of the G400MAX, you can check out the GA-Source preview of the card, Don't forget to check out Marcus's article as well.
Views [3:15 am]
Tech [3:15 am]
AGP-V3400TNT driver for Win95/98 Ver. 2.17 3400drv.exe
and AGP-V3400TNT Tweak utility Ver. 2.00 tweak.exe
Gaming [3:15 am]
werd
Ahhh.. good to be "back in the saddle" again. I don't have any more MIA's
planned in the near future, and considering the huge volume of email you guys were sending
bitching at me for dissapearing, I'll try not to do it so many times in a row like that
anymore.
Image of the day you ask? Check out Britney making her way to Quake3! What, you wanna play? Here are the instructions.
| Tuesday, May 25, 1999 |
Porter & O'Flaherty @ ION? [7:15 pm]
After the initial post earlier today Gaminginsider has a bit more word on just what is rumored
to be going down at Ion Storm. There has been no official confirmation from Ion, but there
generally is a grain of truth to most rumors isnt there? Check this out:
john totally went off and called eidos saying that the 2 losers had to be fired. eidos was overjoyed that they didn't have to talk john into this, as they expected to have to. they had already found all the legal means neccessary to remove the two leeches from that poor company. a meeting was called immediately for all the owners and eidos in SF, where they laid down the law... yesterday.
However, here is word from Todd Porter over at Ion Storm (apparently he's in the building still.. heh) over at MaximumPC:
"No one was escorted anywhere," Porter told Maximum PC from his home in Dallas late Tuesday afternoon. "The reason I'm home is because I'm moving and have a two-week old baby."
Also, the guys at GA-Source have a quote from Mike Breslin of Ion.
My original post: Ok, well "leave" is probably the wrong word. It looks like Gaminginsider has gotten word that the "controversial" Ion Storm employees Todd Porter and Jerry O'Flaherty are parting ways with Ion Storm. Todd has scored himself a 3 year severance check though so he'll be sitting pretty.
More Q3Test Benchmarks [3:45 pm]
Brian Hook over at id Software has updated his .plan
file with more benchmarks
using a Celeron 400 system on the TNT2 Ultra showing the nVidia card coming out on top in
the 640x480 16bit color department over all the others. I imagine Jack will update his Q3Test Benchmark Analysis this
evening to reflect the new scores and some pretty graphs. You should also check out some
of the fictional
emails Brian has gotten which are amusing.
SHOGO MPack Canned [3:45 pm]
Yup, the SHOGO mission pack according to The Hive
has been canned. Actually you can get some of the work that was being done on the mission
pack over at this page. Here's a bit of
the scoop:
The Hive has learned that the other official Shogo: Mobile Armor Division add-on pack, subtitled Shugotenshi and planned for release by UK company Instant Access, has been cancelled. A call to the company today confirmed their plans not to release the product, and a call to Monolith's PR Manager Paul Butterfield confirmed that there is currently no commercial add-on pack planned for Shogo. Instant Access had been featuring the Shogo add-on on their site up until today (Tuesday) when they removed mention of the title from the web site.
You can also check out this GA-Source interview with Steve Adkins from the team.
Descent3 GOLD [3:45 pm]
Octane got word that Descent3 has finally gone gold and is off to the presses for
packaging and shipping. You guys should be seeing copies on shelves within a week or so.
Dig it:
Unless something catastrophic happens at the duplicators, the CD burn we made today will be the one that you'll see on the shelves in a couple of weeks. Now, onto Descent 5...
-Jason
Thief2 Team [3:45 pm]
The immensely popular Theif game has a sequel in the makings, and the darkproject web page
has some news on additions to the team which may interest a few fellow developers out
there. The latest addition being Iikka Keranen formerly of Ion Storm. Thanks Blue
Here's the rough equivalent of the Thief 1 "The Band" web page info, before anybody stops me. You might remember a while ago we brought Emil Pagliarulo on as a designer. We couldn't say at the time that it was for Thief 2.
In addition, I'd like to welcome Terri Brosius, Rafael Brown, Rich Carlson, Mike Chrzanowski, and Iikka Keranen to the Thief design team(s). Terri (aka Viktoria) has done contract voice acting and screenplay writing work for us before. Rich and Iikka are Thief fans from ION Storm (we think we'll even have desks for you Monday, guys). Mike brings an impressive wealth of game knowledge from the retail sales business. Rafael comes from Reality Bytes, where he was part of the Dark Vengeance team.
Views [3:45 pm]
Tech [3:45 pm]
Gaming [3:45 pm]
werd
Yeah, I'm a little asshole dissapearing on you guys all weekend and yesterday.
Got more stuff coming but had to get that Ion Storm story posted asap :)
| Monday, May 24, 1999 |
Huh? [8:15
pm]
Well, I got home late last night from a pretty eventful weekend, and... slept... a lot.
I've got a couple more E3 reports, the weekly section stuff, and hopefully some hardware
reports from Marcus as well lined up. Gonna work through the night just because I love you
guys and come bearing gifts early in the morning.
Who are all these punks updating my page? I gotta chase down Pat and get my underwear back, that guy is such a freak.
3dfx and Gateway, Sitting in a Tree [2:55 pm] - Jack
Found this while looking at my stock today - 3dfx has announced that they gotten an OEM
win through Gateway! What's this mean? It means get 3dfx stock! :)
It seems like the cards will only be in the high end PC's, and not general consumers' hands, which is a bit annoying.
Anyway, you can check out the press release here on Yahoo.
Jack's Word
Seems Steve got back all safe and sound. You all will probably be getting an update
from him soon. I would give a good update, but I've got to get to work now. If
there's nothing on here by the time I get back from lunch, I'll do an update for ya'll, k?
In the meantime, you can always read my Q3Test Benchmark Analysis if you weren't here during the weekend.
Update - Egads! Another shitty news day!
| Sunday, May 23, 1999 |
What in the Samhell? [11:40 pm] >> Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
Interview spud under this ole Shack discusses Quake
3, current hot topics and his life in general with Christian Antkow of id Software. He
is, btw, proof positive that Canadians rule. The only thing that could stop us would be a
bag of Steve's bad gas next to an open flame. But, according to Jack, that's not something
we have to worry about any longer...anyway, click
here.
Win Quake3 Stuff! [11:40 pm] >> Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
What to do...what to do while we're all waiting for Quake3 to go gold? How about this KAK
sponsored contest?
Over the past few weeks I've seen some wonderful things created by fans anticipating Quake III Arena. Well, it got me thinking about other cool things done in the past (Doom, Q1 & Q2 days) and came up with a fun way to await the Q3A full game release.
* Note: This is not an id sponsored thing, it's a Katherine Anna Kang sponsored thing. This is a personal endeavor and I've received permission from id to utilize my id e-mail address for this thing.
So what is it? It's a contest. I'll be the sole judge of the winner and I'll be putting up a personal valued possession as a prize. The prize is a custom made DOOM/QUAKE chess set. The chess set is pewter and electroplated gold (pewter pieces for black side and gold for white). It took over a year to get the chess set made and cost me almost a whole month's salary. It's a VERY cool chess set with character pieces from DOOM/QUAKE.
The rules are simple:
- Create the coolest thing with Quake III Arena and its logo as the topic of focus. It can be painting, food, banner, sculpture, web site, whatever (must not have been seen before) - be creative. Remember, I'll be the sole judge of what is the coolest submission. Extra points for originality. Nothing illegal or crude! Send me photos, links, recipes, etc. via e-mail or send it to me if you have the snail mail address. If you send it, I get to keep it. If you see me around, holler and show me what you've got... uhhh... no flashing please. Interesting/cool dreams about Q3A may be original but unless well written and VERY impressive and engrossing, please skip sending me those. I'll announce the winner and 5 runner-ups the day Quake III Arena is complete. Runner-ups get my Q3A paraphernalia (hat, keychain, etc.).
Katherine Anna Kang kak@idsoftware.com
I can't wait to see some of these.
More Boring Garbage [10:30 pm] - Jack
Could today be a slower f'ing news day? Man. Sucks to be you
guys :-) If you want something to do, go see Election. It was really funny.
So Steve's not back either. Me and Scott have therefore assumed him to be dead.
We've rifled through his clothes already. His pants are too tight, but thank goodness he wears baggy shirts all the time. Man, I have all sorts of good shirts now! We just gave the contents of his underwear drawer to Pat - I'm sure he'll make good use of them! Now we're fighting over this monitor and the ad revenue from the Shack here. I'm sure we'll work something out. Seeya tomorrow!
[Yes, I get dibs his $40 3M mouse pad! w00! - Marcus]
[You guys are silly, I claimed dibs on shack revenue last time we thought he died :) - Huntsman]
PSX Quake2 [10:30 pm] - Jack
Thanks Blue. Well here's something I didn't
expect to happen, a Playstation version of Quake2 is being developed, and actually runs at
a decent framerate! I suspect they had to just scrap the current engine and start
over, but it does have the look of the game there. Here's the preview by the dudes at
psx.ign.com.
I wonder if it looks better than Rogue Entertainment's N64 version of Quake 2? Not sure how, but who knows?
PGL Coverage [2:40 pm] - Jack
Recluse sent me a link to his PGL coverage
page. He's got various statistics, bios, and even the demos from the matches.
Check it out if you're into that stuff.
New York Times Article [1:40 pm] - Jack
Here's a link to a New York Times article on
game violence. It's a very big article, and a decent enough read. Its
target is not the people reading this page, but rather Joe Beercan. So if you hate
it, it's because you're not the right target, like Star Wars: Episode One. :-)
Here's my favorite part. I hope these quotes are taken out of context or something:
Romero is relishing his pumped-up status. "When I drive this car," he says, "people know who I am." He chafes at waiting for a table for half an hour at a crowded Dallas lunch spot. ("If they knew I was here, we wouldn't have to wait."). He imagines his reception in Japan, where he's never been but where his games are huge. "I'd probably get mobbed by Japanese chicks," he says.
New QxAdmin [1:40 pm] - Jack
Thanks Blue. QxAdmin, a Quake3/QW/Q2 server
administration tool has come out. It allows neat stuff like console bindings, player
kick, and cvar modification keys. Get it here.
Views [1:40 pm] - Jack
Is it just me, or are the number of these
"previews" just getting out of hand?
Jack's Word
Wow, you guys haven't had a "werd" section
in like two days now... Man, how are you living with yourselves?
Anyway, I got lots of feedback on my Q3Test Benchmark Analysis. Almost all of it was positive, which was nice. A couple had me point out a few things on Page 4, like that the G400 doesn't have a stencil buffer, and a few fixups here and there. Then, of course, someone emailed me with a G400 spec showing that it *does* support a stencil buffer(?!) What's the deal? Is it just disabled for Q3?
I also had some nVidia fans email me telling me it wasn't fair that I compare the 166 mhz Voodoo3 3000 to the 125 mhz TNT2, saying stuff like "If it were clocked to 150 or 175, it would kick Voodoo3's ass." Well, it's not. And it's not fair to play "what if" with comparisons. Now the TNT2 Ultra will probably whip the Voodoo3 3000, but we'll have to wait for new benchmarks to be run by id to see. But who cares anyway, did anyone see those G400 scores?!
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