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Uber Engine Preview at E3!

Mark Dochterman of Ritual Entertainment took some time on the HardCorps message board to answer questions from the gameplayers out there concerning Sin. But.. the big news in my book, Mark mentions that they will be previewing the Uber Engine at E3!

TombRaider Gold Demo

w00, it's here. another demo with lots of Lara Croft T&A in it. Gotta love it. I think they included a game or something as well. Check out the download page over at AVault and download your soft porn courtesy of Eidos Interactive.

GL Tweak Guide

There is a new version of 3Fingers' Quake2 tweak guide (Which even has info. on tweaking V2/V1 cards) that is not in html format -- for fat free viewing. http://www.voodooextreme.com/3Fingers

Incoming Demo

A brand new demo of the game Incoming has been released over at the Diamond Underground pages. Here is the direct link thanks to VooDoo Extrmeme. ftp://ftp.diamondmm.com/files/incoming.exe

Industry News

A couple of items of note for people interested, first off John Carmack has updated his .plan file with the news that Robert Duffy, currently working on the very popular QERadiant project which was porting the id QE4 source code over to work on mortal machines etc has been contracted by id! Looks like homeboy did such a good job that id Software took notice, here is a snippit, oh and check out this interview as well.

"Robert Duffy, the maintainer of Radiant QE4 is now "officially" in charge of further development of the editor codebase. He joins Zoid as a (part time) contractor for us. A modified version of Radiant will be the level editor for Quake 3. The primary changes will be support for curved surfaces and more general surface shaders. All changes will be publicly released, either after Q3 ships or possibly at the release of Q3Test, depending on how things are going."

Also, another Robert Huebner, one of the many guys who seem to be fleeing Lucas Arts recently has joined forces with Nihilistic Software, a newly formed game company. Robert was the guy who helped create the COG language used in Dark Forces II, Jedi Knight.

Polls

• FrogBot
  Metropolis has posted a poll where you can vote for which features you'd like to see most in upcoming versions of the frogbot. you can go to the poll directly
  
  
• Quake2 Sites
  GameTemple has posted a site that is ranking the top Quake 2 sites: -GameNews-WIRE
  

Q2 Patches

• Tangential
  The new version is v1.50. New features include VWep support, chase camera, server toggles for all features, new teamplay options for SecantBot (a deathmatch bot) and more. I have a list of features posted on the web site which can be found at: http://www.planetquake.com/tangential
  
  
• AutoBot v1.9
  This version of Autobot adds support for the current and the new (unreleased) version of SecantBot, AceBot and FamkeBot as well as tweaking a few things here and there. You can also use all the DM flags.
  
  
• Weapons Factory
  Another new version of the Weapons Factory patch for Quake2 has been released. There are several different fixes added to this version along with of course new features for you to play with as well. Check out the page http://www.captured.com/weaponsfactory/news.html
  
  
• ArmourBack
  The Coven has just released the first details of the ArmourBack mod which will be included in the Quake II section of our forthcoming dual-release Quake/Quake II deathmatch pack, Disposable Heroes. Choose a battle suit and a pair of weapons before letting rip against your fellow deathmatchers. With three weight classes, each featuring two suits and four weapons, there are 60 possible combinations of suit and weapons!
  
  

Interviews

• Joe Selinski
  RitNews has just posted an interview with Joe Selinke of Ritual Entertainment. Mr. Selinke has the honor of being a project manager at what many consider to be what will soon be the premier 3D gaming company after the release of Sin and the Uber based engine games.
  
• Thresh
  Ten has posted a really fairly interesting discussion with Thresh asking some pretty good questions from the gamers. Thresh has revealed that despite playing Quake2 recently, he has moved back to playing Quake1 for the time being.
  
  
• Randy Pitchford aka DuvalMagic
  Mr. Pitchford from Rebel Boat Rocker, the "Chief Game Architect" is interviewed over on the Rust pages today. Randy of course talks about the current RBR project (gonna be a killer, these guys will surprise you) based on their own 3d technology which is more advanced than anything currently on the market.
  
  
• Chris Taylor
  I'm pretty sure I linked this before but I can't find mention of it. Chris Taylor of CaveDog is interviewed on Plug-play.com. CaveDog is of course the guys behind the wildly popular Total Annihilation.
  
  
• Rick Johnson
  I missed this one yesterday, one of our very own here at VRGN PsychoNews has posted an interview with Rick Johnson of Raven Software. As you guys should know Rick is currently heading up the work on porting Hexen2 to the QuakeWorld code.
  
  
• Tom Hall & Lee Perry
  Two different guys both on the Anachronox project for Ion Storm are both interviewed on the ANAnet page. The interviews are conducted in Real Audio format so of course you'll need a Real player from www.real.com -Blue's
  
  

Preview / Review Land

• Prey
  The latest Prey Designer's Journal has been posted on GameCenter. As always they include a shot or two for you to check out all the purty colors and give an update on just what the guys are working on right now. -Blue's
  
  
• VooDoo2
  Yet more testimony on the wonders of the VooDoo2 chipset. This time the guys at PCM&E are singing the praises. of the Creative Labs VooDoo2 card.
  
  
• RedLine Racing
  I just checked out this demo the other day, and it is pretty damn cool. Reminds me of POD a bit in the gameplay style, as well as it being incredibly beautiful. Check out the hotgames.com preview.
  
  
• Unreal
  Unreal Nation has just posted Onlyone's impressions after a first hand look at a recent build of Unreal from Epic.
  
  
• Mysteries of the Sith
  GameBriefs has posted a review of the Jedi Knight expansion pack that you better have checked out by now.
  
  

Hardware / Drivers / Patches

• H3D Quake2 Drivers
  The H3D Media pages over at www.h3media.com have been updated with some new Quake2 drivers for use with their 3D goggle thingies. Theis patch will modify your glide driver, so be careful. :) Thanks VE
  
  
• Diamond Stealth II G460
  Diamond has just announced a new video card based on the Intel I740 chipset that was revealed about a month ago. They are pricing them at about $200 bucks, not sure when they plan on release.

Sites

• HIGHSCORE Quake II patch is now hosted by PlanetQuake. There is a new website and the latest versions with more to come this week. Head on over to: www.planetquake.com/kunani and check it out.
• Music to Quake By is a page that well, gives you some selections of music to listen to while playing Quake, dig it at http://www.cyberhighway.net/~krank

werd

OH MY LORD we saw Wild Things last night. The greatest movie ever. Ok, well aside from Austin Powers, and that one part in 5th Element where the dude says "Gimme da cash!" those 2 will live in my heart forever. But well, anyway.. yea.. Wild Things.. you know you wanna see it..

$1,000 For a Cool Level

Well, since you guys seem to enjoy entering contests so much, the VRGN Level design contest has extended the deadline another week due to FTP problems on the final day of entry. Fire up your level editor and create the most impressive Quake2 level you can. The first place winner scores a big $1,000 hard cash, and a look at from several game developers.

nVidia 4

VooDoo Extreme has posted a bit of info concerning the next gen 3D chip from nVidia. (the Riva128 rocks my world, I love this thing) Here is a quote from David Kirk of nVidia concerning the performance as compared to VooDoo2 cards.

"We'll be limited by CPU performance , so I expect our fill rate with Riva4 will be in the ballpark of two Voodoo 2's with SLI"

Rocket Arena 2!

Starting this evening the members of the PQ Quake 2 Players list will be conducting an private beta of Rocket Arena 2. Once this beta period is complete the full release will of course soon follow. The Beta release will include one map with 7 arenas, skins, new sounds, and a new environment map. The Final release will add 6-8 more maps with 30-50 arenas total, new textures, and a few other goodies. Rocket Arena 2 is about to become the biggest, baddest mod to hit the Quake scene since, well, Rocket Arena1.

Now, this is all fine and dandy, but I need Clan Arena!

Q2 Model Poll Results

The Quake2 Bodyshop had posted a poll for people to fill out and help decide which player plugin people like the most. Well, the results are in, and of course Paul Steed's CrackWhore model took home the gold. an honoroable mention should go to Fule by Stecki in a close 2nd, and Eric Cartman of course came in 10th by Brian G Yee. :)

VRGN Contest Winners

That's right, the lucky winner of a VooDoo2 card has been announced. Actually, there were so many entries into the VRGN Twisted Christmas contest that we decided to give away prizes to the top 5 entries. First place of course scores a VooDoo2 card, and the 2nd through 5th place entrants score themselves a nice VooDoo card.

1st Place Winner is Yonatan Donner of Israel Email: ruthd@post.tau.ac.il 2nd Place Winner Travis Harlan of Bakersfield CA Email: tharlan@lightspeed.net 3rd Place Winner is Mattias B„ckstr”m of Sweden Email: mattiasb@df.lth.se 4th Place Winner is Magnus Landqvist of Sweden Email: mlq@df.lth.se 5th Place Winner is Anthony Lafond of Canada Email: a_lafond@hotmail.com

Quake2 Patches

• PCX2WAL
  The Quake2 texture utility which converts, amazingly enough, .pcx files to the native format for Quake2 has been updated .
  
  
• Keys2 v1.666
  Another new version of the Keys mod for Quake2 has been released. Some gameplay issues have been addressed, the major one being that when you drop a key, you have to wait a few seconds before you can pickup a different one.
  
  
• HighScores Source
  Source Code for the HIGHSCORE patch is available at: www.kunani.com/highscore.html - There is a text file explaining how/where to insert the HIGHSCORE source into any MOD. The patch also reports to Gamespy/Qstat type of software so you can pull and display the Highscore / Highscore Holder from ANY server running this patch and display it on a webpage, etc.
  
  
• Eraser Bot v0.85
  Thanks to Redwood for the word that the new version of the Eraser Bot for Quake2 is available on the Team Impact homepage. Speaking of Bots, AutoBot has been updated again to version 1.81
  
  
• Weapons of Destruction
  Wow, havent even heard about this mod before and they are already up to version 5.0. The Weapons of Destruction patch for Quake2 implements several features into the game which people seem to enjoy. (Chasecam, etc)
  
  

Interviews

• Zombie
  The development team working on Spec Ops, Zombie, are interviewed on GameHut.
  
  
• Level Designers
  Several level designers for game companies are interviewed in this GameSpot article. Including John Romero of Ion Storm, American McGee formerly of id Software, and Richard THE LEVELORD Gray from Ritual Entertainment. -Blue's
  
  
• Tom Mustaine
  Rust has just posted an interview with Tom Mustaine of Ritual Entertainment.

Hardware Land

• Jazz Rush
  The Jazz Multimedia VooDoo Rush card has some new drivers available on the driver page. -VE
  
  
• Dynamite 3D/GL AGP BIOS v. 1.44
  A new bios upgrade for the Dynamite card has been released on the FTP site. grab it and install it, but remember.. If it aint broke, dont fix it ok? -GameNews-WIRE
  
  
• VooDoo2 FAQ
  Creative Labs has updated their VooDoo2 FAQ once again. There is information pertaining to the 8meg as well as 12meg board. -VE
  
  

Preview / Review Land

What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• The Reckoning
  Electric Playground has posted a preview of the Quake2 Mission pack from Xatrix Entertainment. -GameNews-WIRE
  
  
• Bot Reviews
  The Quake2 Bot Epidimic has been posting more bot reviews, there are a couple more reviews for you to read lately, one of the ACE Bot, as well as the latest veresion of the C.R. Bot
  
  
• BattleZone
  Adrenaline Vault has just posted what they are famous for, another in depth solid look at a game. BattleZone from aCtivision has been getting a lot of attention lately and for good reason. The game looks incredibly intruiging and combines the FPS with the RTS genre. Coolbeans.
  
  
• Revenant
  AVault has also posted a preview of Revenant. Another cool looking 3D accelerated game. (Do they make games anymore that dont use a 3D card? Revenant has a Diablo'ish look to it.
  
  
• PowerVR 2nd Gen
  Well now, since we are AVault freaks today, why not take a look at some pics they have posted of games on the 2nd gen PowerVR card that has so much self generated hype surrounding it. Anyone know that PowerVR outsold 3dfx last year? HAHA ok.. yea.
  
  

Sites

• Campers rejoice, the home you have all been looking for is now open for business.
• The Deathmatch Database is now completely up to date! The initial flood of forms led to a backlog of 300 people waiting to get in at one point, and there was a five day waiting list... But they up to date again! Almost 1400 players are currently listed worldwide.

werd

Yea, by popular demand I'm headlining every patch etc for quick browsing. It makes the page look a hell of a lot longer too though, dunno if that is good or not but oh well.

Preview / Review Land -updated

• Vigilance
  GameSpot has posted a lengthy preview of the 3D multiplayer game, Vigilance. They have posted most of the storyline as well as a list of cool stuff you can expect to see in the game. -VE
  
  
• The Reckoning
  GameCenter has posted a preview / review of the Xatrix Entertainment Quake2 Mission pack which is nearing release. -Blue's
  
  
• qME
  A preview of a Quake Model Editor, can it get any more exciting than this? Ok, actually it's a release, but they call it a preview release so I figure it can go in this section. :)

Drivers / Patches

• Pure3D Drivers
  Some new Direct3D / Glide drivers for the Canopus Pure3D have been released on the homepage. There are new drivers for WindowsNT as well as Windows95.
  
  

Q2 Mods

• GibStats
  GibStats II 1.6 has been released. The user interface has been further enhanced and major speed enhancements were achieved. Get it at http://www.planetquake.com/gibstats.
  
  
• Quake Army Knife
  Version 5.02a of the Quake Army Knife front end util for Quake / Quake2 is available on the QuArK homepage. -Blue's
  
  
• EraserLaunch
  A front end utlity designed exclusively for use with the Eraser Bot, the EraserLaunch has been updated to what is hopefully the completed / final version. 1.2
  
  
• FamkeBot
  A new version of the FamkeBot for Quake2, along with the source code has been released on the homepage. I haven't heard much about this one so it'll probably surprise you :) -Quake2.com
  
  
• SuperHeroes
  The SuperHeroes Quake2 patch has released a skin pack on their homepage for you to download.
  
  
• Hot Launch
  The 1.5a patch for Hot Launch is out, adding lots of stuff. There is a list on the homepage of exactly everything that has been added. Ridah even helped fixed one of the naming problems. New web site even!
  
  
• WinGlide
  Version 0.7 of the WinGlide patch which you can use to play Quake2 in a window with your 3dfx card has been released on Chris's WinGlide page. This new version as always, is even faster than the previous one.
  
  
• ServerConfig MOD
  Hopefully the final version of ServerConfig Mod, the big v2.0 has been released. There is full support for most popular mods.
  
  
• Future vs Fantasy 2
  The Total Conversion Net page has posted some information on what to expect for the Future vs Fantasy mod to make it's way into the Quake2 universe. -Blue's
  

Unreal

Myscha has made a short post the the Unreal msg board describing how multiplayer co-op will function in Unreal. Here is part of it from Unreal Nation.

Unreal's Combat is extremely challenging-in the sense that the creature AI is ultra-realistic and monsters do not "dumb out" You won't have to start on a later level or increase the skill level all the way to make it challenging.

Another Reptile / Kornelia Demo

Ok kids, yesterday's demo seemed to get so many people excited that Kornelia felt she had to send out this email to clarify:

Recently there's been a little too much publicity about my victory over Reptile at Beatdown 8. In addition to being a friend, Reptlie is one of the best players I've gone up against, ever. We've practiced together many times, and he regularly beats me down 9 out of 10 games. On top of that, the Beatdowns are casual fun parties, not tense tournaments. Neither of us were playing with the expectation that the outcome would be touted as anything other than a friendly match. I'm proud to have done so well against him at the Beatdowns, but I was lucky and I make ABSOLUTELY NO CLAIMS to being "better than Reptile" based on this or any other match. To be fair, I'd like to publish the following netQuake demo of Reptile and I playing on DM6, which is more indicative of our usual matches. This is from sometime before The FRAG,when he was helping me prepare for the tourney.

Oldies

VooDoo Extreme has posted their Golden Oldies contest entries which you should all check out. These are all 3dfx enhanced Classic style video games. (You know, space invaders, Defender, PacMan style stuff)

Interviews

• Brian Bruning of 3dfx
  MeccaWorld has posted a real audio interview with 3dfx employee Brian Bruning. Mr. Bruning is pretty damn interesting to talk to, and of course he works at 3dfx so prolly knows some interesting stuff about our 3d future. :) -VE
  
  
• Brian Turner
  Brian Turner President of 3DI Software talks to PCGaming.com about 3DI's upcoming title All Out War (AOW) According to Turner: "[AOW] is based in the near future during Vietnam 2. It is a Strategic 3D Shooter" and "[AOW's engine] blows all voxel landscape in existance out of the water"
  and a very early screenshot
  
  
• Ikka Keranen
  Saw this one linked on Blue's. The "Orville Wright of AirQuake" is interviewed on the rants section of Sepulchre. Ikka is now a game designer working for Ion Storm.
  

Sites

• Flag Wars http://www.captured.com/flagwars/ is an exciting Q2 CTF mod that introduces the Force powers from Jedi Knight into Quake 2, and it is now a part of the ever-growing family at Captured.Com.
• Thanks to the good people at Planet Quake, Hot Launch has a new home: http://www.planetquake.com/hotlaunch

werd

I'm working on making the page easier to read. I'll be goofin around with the pages this evening after going to the office for a bit, so if it gets a little goofy looking don't worry, I'm aware of it. :)

Demo Posted

Man, dunno what was up with getting those timout msgs, a few reboots on my end seemed to have fixed it. (If duct tape can't fix it, a reboot will) So the 2 demos of Kornelia and Reptile going at it have been posted here.

Half-Life Going Gold?

According to Fragile Mortality, a "reliable source" claims that Half-Life will go Gold Master by May 15th, 1998. Valve Software has neither confirmed, nor denied the rumor at this time. Find out more here http://halflife.telefragged.com GameNews-WIRE

Patches / Drivers -updated

• Some new drivers for the Permidia2 vid card have been released on the 3DLabs page. The Permidia2 is generally the vid card of choice for developers working with QE4. -Blue's
• The H3D News page has word on several different things including Glide 2.45 support, V2x00 chipset support, and work with 3dfx among other things. Check out the web page if you own a pair of the goggles. Thanks VE
• The Nascar Racing 2 3dfx patch has been released. You can grab a copy from our own VRGN hosted Psychonews at http://www.vrgames.net/psychonews/files/N2-3dfx.exe
• There are some new drivers for the Thriller3D Card avaialable on their homepage for both Windows 95 as well as NT.

Hexen2 AVI

aCtivision has released yet another AVI of the Hexen2 Mission pack. Check it out on the news page.

Quake2 Tweek Guide

3Fingers Quake2 Tweak guide hosted by the boys at VooDoo Extreme has been updated yet again. Check it out.

Interviews -updated

• MPlayer has posted an interview with Paul Steed of id Software. -hal
• There is a brief interview with former id Software employee American McGee posted on the Gamers Exchange page. Can you guess what the topic of conversation was?
• PlanetQuake has posted an interview with the infamous Hank Leukart. The guy behind the DoomFAQ, and of course a couple other publications. Hey, I knew this guy on IRC! Hankle! w00.

JawMD2

A "pre alpha" release of a 3dfx enhanced version of Jawed's 3D model viewer project has been released on the homepage for "compatibility testing"

Q2 Patches -updated

• Quake2 Pong is apparently coming along well. There are 3 screenshots after a closed beta test posted on the Jailbreak page. -Houngan.
• PureDM for Quake2 has been updated to version 2.5. The new version includes support for the ever increasing in popularity Visible Weapons patch.
• Another new version of the Lithium Mod for Quake2 has been released. They are up to version 0.93 now, exciting eh?

Tombraider Movie

Eidos today announced that it has entered into an agreement to license the worldwide film rights to ``Tomb Raider'' to Paramount Pictures. Paramount, in conjunction with Eidos, plans to produce a live action feature film based on the top-selling video game title. Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc. -GameNews-WIRE

The Reckoning

OGR has posted an article talking about the Quake 2 Mission Pack by Xatrix Entertainment which is nearing completion. -Quake2.com

Staff Movements

• Ritual Entertainment has announced yet another hiring. The announcement today is of Matthias Worch. Level designer for the highly acclalimed Beyond Belief level pack.
• Chris Taylor has left Cavedog Entertainment to pursue other opportunities. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency will ship the last week of April, and Cavedog Entertainment's Total Annihilation team will continue with the development and delivery of TA2. GameNews-WIRE

Competition:

• As for QTV for last Sunday's Elite12 matches, the goal was to have a capacity for 1000, and they were hoping for about 300 to actually show. What happened was a capacity for about 600 and a showing of about 300, so things turned out surprisingly well, not often your hopes are satisfied when it comes to QTV. We also had an awesome bonus on top of QTV, Diablos of Clan Gib scrounged up a Real Audio server about an hour before things were scheduled to start and commentated the first 2 matches. The Real Audio server maxed out, and word has it Diab's commentating was awesome
• March 14th 1998 was the first ever Gib Fest hosted by the Quake 2 Ladder. Fifty contestants participated in the 12 hour FFA tournament. After the grueling half day of Quake2, twenty-five players progressed to the finals. The free for all dwindled down to the top 8 players. Each match was an elimination FFA with the bottom two scores being dropped. We would like to congratulate StoneFire[UWO] for winning Gib Fest '98 Final Results:
  1) StoneFire[UWO] 2) k-rad311 3) blurr[FUCT] 4) tAng[NOK]
  5) EX|Lobo 6) BlackAria 7) Iceman[NOK] 8) RabidPlat

.plan Wagon

• Whaleboy over at 3D Realms has made a .plan update with some advice for other people wishing to do the work that he does.
• Zanshin has posted a .plan update which states that he has spoken to American McGee and found a few new things out.

Sites

• The GSLogMod has moved to http://www.planetquake.com/gslogmod The GSLogMod enables the user to output logs on Quake2 dedicated servers which comply with the Log Standard, so that the logged games may be analysed by any Log Parser, like GibStats, supporting Standard Logs.

Lewinsky's Statement

I've been meaning to post this statement by Ms. Lewinksy for a while now, check it out: (Thanks Ronny!)

M. Lewinsky, in a statement released today, countered President Clinton's firm denial: "I have had enough. This whole experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I can't stomach any more. I feel as if I am getting the shaft, that this ugly matter has come to a head and blown up in myface. This may be a load to handle, but when things are hard, that is when I am at my best. I have faced hard things in the past, and I know what is coming. I will meet this challenge the only way I know how...head on. I have licked bigger things than this before, and I will again. No one will ever be able to say that Monica Lewinsky isn't a finisher, that she quit before the job was done. I will work non-stop and fight this, blow by blow, until I am wiped clean of this dirty affair. I will not be stained by it.

Why is this Quake related? Because I said so!

werd

Oh, happy St. Patricks Day a day late. I've been updating the weekly sections by the skin of my teeth the past couple of days. Squeezed em in there though. I'll be posting a pair of demos between Kornelia and Reptile today as soon as my connect will stop timing out after 1meg.

Excitement of the day: I have 8 bucks to my name, thanks for dinner Pat. :)

VRGN Map Contest

Due to a few people having problems uploading their Quake2 map to the VRGN ftp, the deadline has been extended to the end of the month. Just remember the person to submit the best Quake2 map judged by members of game companies here in Dallas wins $1,000 CASH. Check out the page and get working you puds.

BSP in Question

Blue's page has posted a statement from the Author of the popular BSP Quake / Quake2 level editing program. Here is a quick quote:

Needless to say, these commitments are going to make further development of BSP (by me, anyway) very difficult. I am considering the possibility of releasing it to another developer to work on. However, the priority here--obviously--is to make Worldcraft the best and most popular 3D editor available and I'll do whatever I can to help make that happen, including adding various popular BSP features to Worldcraft as the need arises....

Ion Storm

Mr. Haskins over at Ion Storm has been busy. The Daily Informant has been updated as well as the Daikatana Team update part 2. also:

- The Wright Stuff: A Chat with Daikatana AI Programmer Jonathan "Nelno" Wright The philosophy, goals, and daily challenges of Nelno the Amoeba
- PLUS!!: A lovely St. Patrick's Day photo of Anachronox level designer and resident leprechaun Dave "Cleaner" Namaksy

Bible Studies

Recovering from his 21st birthday, Thresh has updated the Quake Bible with more team/clan strategies for DM3. In this installment he analyzes the strategies that Clan Unforgiven (U4) used to defeat DeathRow in the exciting first match of the National Clan Championships. Check out the new update at: http://www.gamers.com/bibles/quake/subsections/maps/dm3-III/maps-dm3.asp

Interviews 2

Got a few interviews for you to read this morning:

• Paul Steed of id Software recently did an e-mail interview www.NeuroGamer.com/ge/steed-f.htm with Xaos of the Gamer's Exchange Network. It focuses on the most important happenings of the day (beer, chicks,) and touches on some fluff (American McGee's departure from id, the controversial EULA.)
• Scott Miller of 3DRealms / Apogee is interviewed over at The Daily Dementia hosted by MeccaWorld. -Blue's
• Paul Jaquays, level designer for id Software is interviewed over at the Quake Workshop for those of you interested in furthering your level design skills.

Hexen2 Mission Pack AVI

aCtivision's Hexen2 page has just posted this new AVI for you to check out with footage of their Hexen2 Mission Pack, Portal of Praevus. It's a zip file and stuff so you have to download it locally then unzip to view it.

Hexen2World This Week.

Rick Johnson of Raven Software is making more .plan updates on the status of Hexen2World and his recent work on GLHexen2World.

Got the gl version mostly working - few minor glitches. Next update to the alpha testers will be Tuesday and will include the gl version. Probably will also include a few new DM levels that will not be shipped with the upcoming Mission Pack. If everything goes well with this test, then we may release a beta version of both the client and server to the general public late this week.

SGI Radiant

An SGI strain of the QERadiant project has been posted on their PlanetQuake homepage. This is now version 0.46 in the Quake2 level editor project.

Quake2 Patches

• The Cthulhu Quake Total Conversion has been Terminated, and has been taken over by an undisclosed party for development in Quake 2. Cthulhu Quake is based on the novels by H P Lovecraft. Find out more here http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9530134/mythos.html -GameNews-WIRE
• Battle of the Sexes for Quake2 version 2.8.2 for has been released http://www.quake2.com/spinoza/
• Version 3.1 of The Quake 2 Orange mod has been released http://www.captured.com/orange/development.html

Bots

A number of Quake / Quake2 Bot related happenings:

• The Estepbot, a Reaper bot enhancement bot, has new version, 2.000, with many new features like lag simulation, ctf runes, new female model, etc.. Now all messages in English, and the "read.me" too http://usuarios.airastur.es/quaked/estbt/estepboti.htm -Faustus
• Version 1.03 of the Quake 2 automated deathmatch opponent, C.R Bot has been released http://www.planetquake.com/crbot/
• Version 0.006 of Bot Launch, a Quake 2 Bot launcher, has been released http://www.false.com/false/bl.html
• Version 0.83 of the Eraser Bot for Quake 2 has been released http://impact.frag.com/ Source code should be released soon, once the bot is tweaked a little more, and some bugs are squashed. A linux version should be forthcoming as well. GameNews-WIRE

.plan Wagon

w00, Stomped is back online, which means my .plan tracker is back online. Also, Redwood's is back online. :)

• Paul Steed of id Software has made another lengthy .plan update saying to just calm the hell down about his previous update.

werd

Off to the office again this morning, the evening update will be here at around 6pm. Gonna try and get my computer setup over there.

A big congrats to RonSolo and his wife of Stomped for spawning another entity into the world. :)

3D Realms Interview

Thanks to Billy Wilson from VooDoo Extreme for the word that 3D Realms "Game Space Engineer" Matt Wood is interviewed on the Preyground.

Rogue Quake2 Mission Pack

I saw on PlanetQuake this response from John Carmack in email revealing that Rogue Entertainment's "secret project" is indeed a mission pack for Quake2:

Q: Also, will the mission pack by Xatrix still come out, and if so is that less than a year away? A:The xatrix pack is due out reasonably soon. Rogue is also doing a Q2 mission pack. John Carmack

EFE

The first version (1.0) of the Eraser Frontend (EFE) has been released to http://www1.scasd.k12.pa.us/students/jgp11/industry.cgi . The URL for the file is http://www1.scasd.k12.pa.us/students/jgp11/efe.zip (111KB)

Q2 Patches

• Quake2 Java is now well underway, with the first version 0.1 already available for people to download. The source is included as well. -Blue's
• SuperHeroes for Quake2 version 0.76 is now avaialable on the homepage. Check it out via PlanetQuake.
• Requiem for Quake2 has posted a new link with tips / information / strategies on how to rock your friends world while using this patch.
• Tectonic version 0.9 for Quake2 has been released on the homepage. There is now support for both the Eraser Bot as well as the C.R. Bot in this version.
• Keys2 version 1.65 for Quake2 has been released on the homepage. The new version also comes with a Solaris port for the server admins out there who run a Solaris box.
• Flag Wars CTF version 1.0 alpha for Quake2 is making it's first public release on the homepage. This is an "alpha" release so if / when you have suggestions just bug the author.

Preview / Review Land

What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• PC Gamer has posted a preview of The Reckoning, the Quake2 Mission Pack being worked on by Xatrix Entertainment.
• Here are 40 something screenshots of the Urban Assault project that look pretty damn cool. -VE
• Games.net has posted a preview of Sanitarium.

.plan Wagon

Heh, glorious.. just a day after I switch my .plan tracker to Stomped, it goes down. :) Hopefully it'll be back online sometime today.

• Jack Mathews of 3dfx / GameSpy fame has returned from his trip overseas and seems to be doin peachy. Email anyone?
• Rick Johnson of Raven Software is still hard at work on porting Hexen2 to the QuakeWorld code. Check out his latest .plan update for word on just how far he is on the project and what he's working on right now.
• Paul Steed has made a couple of .plan updates to help people who are having some minor problems with the CrackWhore model / skin / sounds.

FAQ's

• Satanic has upped the version of the Official Hexen II FAQ to v1.7, to include some new H2W info. http://www.hexenworld.com/h2faq.html
• Bruce Lewis has posted a mini-FAQ for GLDoom that he is working on at the WinDoom / GLDoom homepage hosted by frag.com Make sure and check out the nifty new screenshot while you are there.
• Blue has posted the former Trinity FAQ that has now been renamed to the Quake3 FAQ.

Competetions

• LanWar 1 is open for business over at http://www.lanwar.com they have room for 250 people to attend.
• The guys at www.syndicates.net have opened the doors up on their Quake tournament.
• For you competetive Q2 CTF players, check out this page which explains quite well how to use the autotext features in Q2 CTF. -Blue's

Sites

• Quake3.net has opened up their doors, and already is a member of the OGR Network. Not of course to be confused with Quake3.com :)
• The Quake2 Press has a new design up. There are also a few more features up! Among them, a new message board and newsletter.
• The Necronomicon has risen from the dead, fresh with a new look and updates covering Hexen2.
• BadMonkey's Prefab page has moved to Quake2Fortress.com
• The Weapons Factory page has been relocated to Captured.com
• The Stroggos TC for Quake has been assimilated by PlanetQuake.
• GamePen Insider is now re-opened over at GamePen.net of course.

werd

Um, I started using the bold on the page for quicker reading. Like it? Monday's really do suck.

Quote of the day: "...how much would the ass by itself weight...probably like 80 pounds. Pure ass."

More Q2 Stuff

Got a few more updates of patches released over the weekend for you to play with:

• The C.R. Bot for Quake2 has been updated to version 1.03 now. The C.R. Bot was rated a close 2nd to the Eraser Bot in the recent survey that was held online. This new version may just be good enough to catch up :)
• HotLaunch, the Eraser Bot front end utility has been updated to version 1.1a. The utility is pretty damn cool and I'd suggest anyone who uses the Eraser Bot give it a try.
• HighScore CTF for Quake2 - The Highscore patch has been added to Zoids CTF 1.02 source and is now available for download. Anyone running CTF servers simply download this highscorectf.zip file from www.kunani.com/highscore.html and you will have Highscore Tracking throughout all the CTF levels..
• Wally the Quake2 Texture Editor has been updated to version 0.90 Just some of the recent enhancements:
  - 24bit image/clipboard support
  - Quake1 MIP file support
  - Texture browsing
  - Viewing of all 4 sub-mips
  - Paintbrush, eraser, lighten, darken, scratch, tint, bullet hole all added

Polls

• Speaking of Polls, here are the latest results from the Bot Epidimic page:

The "Which FEATURE do you think is most important for Bots??" POLL has ended with the following results (out of 1273): teamplay 383 convincing human-likeness 350 level navigation 64 combat skills 214 speed 36 hazard avoidance (eg. lava) 17 customisable configurations 34 intelligence 175

• Also, I saw a link to this page on Blue's that TriCentriC will be hosting polls for you guys to play with as well. The first one dealing with Trinity.

Game Company Hirings

A couple of new hirings by Ritual and Valve Software have come to light this weekend:

• Ritual Entertainment has sent out a press release announcing the hiring of 3D modeler / artist Brandon Riza. Brandon will be working on the UberEngine team for Ritual's first project to be released under g.o.d.
• Last night's online Valve Software interview revealed the little known secret that the author of the immensely popular BSP editor for Quake / Quake2 has been hired by Valve. Here is the log file, (Thanks Sean McCleese) and there is ane edited version available on this Half-Life page. To Quote Gabe Newell: "Yahn's the most recent hire. We're looking for another game designer, and talking to a couple of people in the industry about that, as well as some senior engine people."

DM Guide

GameSpot has posted their "CGW Quake2 Deathmatch Guide" now online for those of you who strive to be the best Quake2 Deathmatcher you can be. :)

QTV Tonight

Something that Diablos of CGIB mentioned to me the other night is that I've tended to not mention actual games for the players that are going on out there recently. What I'll try to do is whenever there is a big match scheduled, and a confirmed QTV setup I'll post information on the match for people to view. As in tonight:

• 10PM EST show up on EFNET IRC #CLANRING and get QTV ip's as well as live scoring reports and a RealAudio announcer for the match between CGIB and Clan Kapitol of the Big12 League.

Interviews:

• Dimension 128 has posted an interview with nVidia employees. (Makers of the immensely popular RIVA 128 chipset)

Preview / Review Land

What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• Games.net has posted a preview of Sanitarium which looks pretty durn cool. -VE
• Bruce Lewis has updated his WinDoom / GLDoom page with some more screenshots for you to check out of GLDoom in action. Here is a small quote from homeboy:

So far the rendering test is going pretty well on the 3Dfx cards. The nVidia cards have a problem that I'm going to have to figure out how to work around. (a blending mode missing) The Rendition cards work pretty well and the blending all seems to work but they aren't doing the bilinear filtering for some reason. I'm not sure what's causing that. The PowerVR cards are not doing so well. Even when the program runs, there's no video and the frame rate in the output file is awful. (10 to 12 fps) I am dropping the support for the PowerVR cards.

• PCM&E has posted a preview of Everquest that looks nifty. -VE

werd

Been catching up on some other sections for the VRGN pages today. (Tournament pages, a new links section, etc etc)

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Copyright Steven M. Gibson - VRGN