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SiN Preview

Gamers Zone has posted a preview of the hot title Sin from Ritual Entertainment. Rumor has it that Sin has been wowing the press quite a bit recently, and will be one hot property at E3. There is also an interview with Joe Selinke posted on the site for you to read as well.

Display Doctor 6.5

A new version of the video util everyone should have, Display Doctor has updated their util to version 6.5. I tried installing it along with the new "universal video driver" on my Win98 box and got a nifty write protection error, I then just installed it without the windows / directdraw driver support and it still bummed out my framerate. Oh well. I do recall the driver speeding up every other vid card I've owned aside from the RIVA128 chip card though, (Millenium, Stealth, #9 cards, etc) so snag a copy from GameCenter and their "EXCLUSIVE RELEASE" -Ant

Ion Storm Release Dates

The Ion Storm web page has posted some release dates you can hopefully count on for several of their current projects:

Dominion: Storm Over GIFT 3: 2nd quarter, 1998 Daikatana: 4th quarter, 1998 Anachronox: 1st quarter, 1999 Warren Spector’s as-yet-untitled-even-though-it’s-being-tentatively -called-Shooter-but-that-probably-won’t-be-its-title-title: 2nd quarter, 1999

VooDoo Roundup

The Nex-Gen guys are doing their job and have posted a roundup of everything 3D that they saw at the recent CeBIT trade show. -VE

Bot Board

The Bot Epidemic and the Metropolis have combined to provide a new Bot Message Board for the masses.. after the huge success of the Epidemic's WWWBoard they hope to continue it on a more "prettier" board :) You can visit the Board directly from this link: http://www.telefragged.com/message_boards/metropolis/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

Speaking of bots, check out this bot challenge page.

Help

• Heretic2 FAQ
  The Heretic2 FAQ has been updated with some minor changes, as well as another new section added to it by SoulTaker.
  
  
• Total Strategy
  Total Strategy, the Total Annihilation super site has been drafted into the Sgt. Hulka army. If you're looking for strategy to kick butt playing TA, then stop into http://www.vrgames.net and check out Sgt. Hulka's TA Manifesto, and Total Strategy today!
  
  
• Hell Spawn
  "QUAKE 3" Sean "HellSpawn" Oliver, Member of the Q2palette Team has just finished his first tutorial for all to see over at his site Q2Meister.. This is the first ever Quake 3 art!! worked into a tutorial. Yes I said Quake 3!! Get over there fast to check it out and download a 1024x786 bitmap of it for your wallpaper.
  
  

ScreenShots

• C&C2
  Tiberium Sun, the highly anticipated sequel to Command and Conquer has some screenshot posted on their website. www.tiberiumsun.com of course.
  
  
• Blood2
  Monolith Production's Blood.com web page has posted 6 new screenshots for you to check out. There is a disclaimer at the top of the page stating that these pics were taken "early in development" though, so like, if you don't like them, don't worry, because it's supposed to get better. They look pretty nifty to me though. Well, I dunno about those street lights in shot #3.. Oh, I also noticed that they have the big GameSpot "G" logo on them, so more than likely they come from a GameSpot article that was posted earlier.. which means.. maybe they arent new afterall?
  
  
• Portal of Praevus (Hexen2 MP)
  The Hexen2 Mission pack for um, Hexen2 has gotten some more screenshots posted on the HexenWorld web page. Accompanying the screenshots is a bit more information from aCtivision about just what is up with the mission pack and when we can get our hands on it etc.
  
  
• Quake2
  Dax has posted some screenshots of his own for Quake2 in high resolution. He was dissapointed that the recent shots were actually scaled down so had to put some of his own up. I'm gonna have to agree with the guy.. neeto, take a 1280x1024 screenshot, then scale it down to 640x480.. cool.
  
  
• RIVA128ZX
  Talk about excitement.. it doesnt get any crazier than this. Actual exclusive pictures of a video card! Check out the Dimension 128 page for a couple of snap shots of the reference board design for the upcoming RIVA128ZX boards. -Blue's

Q2 Releases

• Strogg CTF
  Another new version of the Strogg CTF mod for Quake2 has been released. There are a couple of new maps in this version which are quite good.
  
  
• Eraser Front End
  The Eraser Front End util, the one that isnt packaged with the Eraser Bot but is still quite good has been updated to version 1.7a. No idea what is new in this version, My guess is it um, helps you run that Quake2 bot or something though.
  
  
• GSLMod 3
  Yet another new version of the GSL Server Mod is available on the homepage. It now meets the standardized log format.

Interviews

• Tom Hall
  There is an interview with Anachronox lead designer Tom Hall from Ion Storm on Anachronicall Correct.
  
  

My first award!

Well, I'll be damned.. I finally got an award or something. Check out this press release and marvel at my greatness. (note: I've actually really never gotten an award for my web pages aside from some stuff from GameSpot I believe about 2yrs ago. Just goes to show you you can be pulling an honest 10,000 or more visitors a day to a site that doesnt even contain porn and still not get squat because I use terms like "knob" and "pud".. or.. it could be my page just sucks, but a few friends of mine are hitting auto reload all day to make me feel better. Thanks guys!)

werd

Weekend, joy.. damn Charlie keeping me up late again. Working on some Quake2 pages for VRGN.

Heh

The ultimate form of flattery, Shai has posted an interesting pic of me on his Q2Utils page. To really understand it though you'd have to check out my clan homepage at http://werd.com/r3v/ OMG!

GameLaunch Released

Thanks to Gregory Powell and Billy Wilson for the word that Critical Mass has released GameLaunch 3D, the newest addition to their GameSpy family. It has all kinds of peachy keen features including making your fun names for Quake1 and anything else you could think of.

Here is a local copy.

ThreeeDeee

• 3dfx Donut Demo
  Remember those nifty pictures that 3dfx had posted to show off the bump mapping for the VooDoo2? Well they have released the executable demo for you to check it out on your home computer. You of course need um... a VooDoo2 or something to check out the demo I would imagine. Here is the download page, entertain yourself.
  
  
• AMD K6 3D
  Anand's Hardware page has posted this little blurb concerning AMD's next chip: -VE
  

  We finally have some confirmed information about the AMD K6-3D, apparently the processor will make its debut at 266MHz & 300MHz (not just at 300MHz as we originally thought) and it will make its official release on May 27 of this year. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I'm hoping to have a K6-3D sample before May 27 (knowing my luck, AMD will probably ship one out to me for arrival on the 26th...hehe), and hopefully before then I'll be able to get a K6/266.

  
  

• VooDoo2 Game FAQ
  VooDoo Extreme has posted this .doc file which lists off all the games that currently work with a VooDoo2 card. The list shows which games work right out of the box, and which games need patches and where to find them. Pretty useful.
  
  
• Blood 3dfx Patch
  An alpha of the 3dfx patch for Monolith's Blood has been released. Check out the Blood homepage here for downloading and some instructions.
  
  
• Pretty Pictures
  AVault has posted some high res screenshots of Quake2 if you are just wondering how good it will look when you buy that snazzy VooDoo2.
  
  
• DirectX 6
  A ZDNet article posted recently tells a bit of Microsoft's plans for the next DirectX release. The big plan, release DirectX 6 in July for both Windows95 as well as Windows98. Yea, that means they plan on having Windows98 released by then as well. -Blue's Oh, speaking of DirectX 6, I spotted this article posted on OGR that gives out the dirty details.
  
  

Da Views

• Interview - Tom Hall
  The new Stormtroopers page has posted an interview with Anachronox lead designer Tom Hall.
  
  
• Interview - Lee Perry
  Anachronically Correct has posted an interview with the lead artist on the Anachronox project. AC is of course also hosted by the new StormTroopers site.
  
  
• Preview - GameLaunch
  The Q2 Utils page has posted an "exclusive preview" of the GameLaunch front end util from Critical Mass which looks to be interesting. It supports all your favorite games, plus if you use it when it is released you will become popular among your friends.
  
  
• Review - Die By the Sword
  PCFan has posted a review of the interesting 3D title, Die By the Sword.
  
  
• Preview - Everquest
  The MeccaWorld guys have posted their own preview of the Everquest project, an online RPG that seems to be generating a lot of press for itself recently.
  
  
• Review - Eraser Bot
  PC Games has posted a review of the Eraser Bot for Quake2. Guess what, they like it.
  
  
• Review - Emotion3D Vid Card
  A bit late, but what the heck. A VooDoo Rush based card from California graphics is reviewed by GameSource. -VE
  
  

Quake / 2 Releases

• Entropy CTF
  Version 0.84b of this CTF mod for Quake2 has been released on the homepage over at Captured.com
  
  
• Custents
  Custents version 6 has been released: http://wartrench.telefragged.com/
  
  
• Linux QStudio
  For all you Linux users out there, a port of the QStudio editor for Quake has made it's way to the Linux platform. Check it out on the Epicenter.
  
  

Kali Quake

A beta version of QuakeWorld for KALI has been released on the homepage. I'm not particularly sure why you would want to use KALI to play QuakeWorld, possibly just as a meeting area? Well, at any rate check out the ftp. -Blue's

Heretic2 FAQ

Well here ya go, the FAQ for Heretic2 is already online by SoulTaker.

Unreal System Specs

Something that a lot of people seem to be concerned about, just what kind of system will you need to run Epic's Unreal at a reasonable framerate? Well here is what the box that GT is shipping for Unreal says thanks to Unreal Nation

CPU: P133MHz or Better (166MMX recommended) MEMORY: 16MB RAM (32MB recommended) AVAILABLE HARD-DISK SPACE: Est: 250MB DISTRIBUTION MEDIA: CD-ROM AUDIO SYSTEM: Windows 95 Compatible Sound Card VIDEO SYSTEM: PCI Local Bus Video Card O/S: Windows 95/Windows NT NETWORK AND INTERNET PLAY: via TCP/IP

werd

Was suffering a bit of burnt out on life fever yesterday, just got the links posted this morning. I even posted 6 instead of the regular 5 because I lack the ability to count.

Back by popular demand, here is a little movie from yesterday at the VRGN office that I posted yesterday.

Heretic2 Screenshot

The guys at HexenWorld have gotten a hold of the first ever Heretic2 screenshot thanks to Steve Stringer.

I love product announcements-especially one the likes of Heretic II. It's like knowing you have a full house in your hand and waiting until the last moment to reveal it. I'll say it now: Heretic II will be the next Big Thing. In the coming weeks and months, we are going to be releasing more screenshots-the likes of which you have never seen. We have shown Heretic II to two focus group groups now, and to a person, they have been blown away by what they saw. As is typical with Raven games, the art and environments are mind-blowing, but the amount of work they have put into the game's special effects pushes this title over the top. It's a great sensation hearing a room full of people respond to a weapon with, "Whoa…do that again!" This screenshot shows Corvus (the main character) using one of his spells called the Sphere of Power. The whole animation has him drawing his arms up from his side summoning and channeling magical light into the sphere you see in this screenshot. When you let go of the fire key, Corvus releases this sphere and channels it towards your enemies. <snip>

Don't email John Carmack

Mr. Carmack of id Software made a .plan update you all should read:

I haven't even seen the "BeOS port of Quake". Stop emailing me about aproving it. I told one of the Lion developers he could port it to BeOS in his spare time, but I haven't seen any results from it. -- There is a public discussion / compilation going on at openquake for suggestions to improve technical aspects of quake 3: http://www.openquake.org/q3suggest/ This is sooo much better than just dropping me an email when a thought hits you. There are many, many thousands of you out there, and there needs to be some filtering process so we can get the information efficiently. We will read and evaluate everything that makes it through the discussion process. There are two possible reasons why features don't make it into our games -- either we decide that the effort is better spent elsewhere, or we just don't think about it. Sometimes the great ideas are completely obvious when suggested, but were just missed. That is what I most hope to see. When the suggestions involve engineering tradeoffs and we have to consider the implementation effort of a feature vs its benefits, the best way to convince us to pursue it is to specify EXACTLY what benefitswould be gained by undertaking the work, and specifying a clean interface to the feature from the file system data and the gamex86 code. We hack where necessary, but I am much more willing to spend my time on an elegant extension that has multiple uses, rather than adding api bulk for specific features. Point out things that are clunky and inelegant in the current implementation. Even if it doesn't make any user visible difference, restructuring api for cleanliness is still a worthwhile goal. We have our own ideas about game play features, so we may just disagree with you. Even if you-and-all-your-friends are SURE that your suggestions will make the game a ton better, we may not think it fits with our overall direction. We aren't going to be all things to all people, and we don't design by committee.

ZIP's in Quake3

While we are on the .plan wagon, check out Brian Hook's update about ZIP files instead of the old trusty .PAK format:

The ZIP file issue has been resolved to my satisfaction (for now). First off I converted PAK0.PAK and PAK1.PAK to ZIP0.ZIP and ZIP1.ZIP by using an unpacker that John wrote a while ago in Java. After unpacking the PAK files I rezipped them using InfoZip (sans compression) into ZIP0.ZIP and ZIP1.ZIP (yes, I could've put them into a single file, but what the hell, this was faster). Then I had to write the ZIP stuff. I went ahead and made the assumption that the beginning of the end-of-central-directory header was exactly 22 bytes from the end of the file. This means no ZIP file comments (oh darn), but simplifies my life a hell of a lot. After reading the EOCD header I take that info and skip to the start of the central directory. From there I read the directory entries and store them in the pack_t format we have internally, so to the rest of the code that uses the file system it could care less if we're using ZIP, PAK, or files on disk. Coolness.

g.o.d's New Disciple

The GameSlice article talking with Rob Cohen, the man behind Turok and Quarterback Club for N64, has a new development studio, not to mention a new publisher: The Gathering of
Developers. In this exclusive interview, he tells GameSlice what to expect from his new development studio.

Romero's Take on Heretic2

Doh, ok.. fixed the headlin, thanks Redwood. I also added a litle movei clip at the bottom of todays news for you guys to check out. After the announcement of the Heretic 2 project by Raven yesterday, John Romero of Ion Storm updated his .plan with a quick thought on the matter. Well, actually he spent a lot of time thinking of how to phrase it..

March 26, 1998 --- Heretic II. Uh, thanks guys. --- Heretic, Hexen and Hecatomb would have been the artistically "right" way to preserve the scope and story of the Trilogy of the Serpent Riders. After i left, Hecatomb became Hexen II and series integrity went out the window. --- <sigh> --- The sentence that was originally here was rewritten about 10 times because i'm trying to be Politically Correct in stating my feelings for how the whole series lost its focus and instead is just using its established brandname to sell copies.

Wheel of Time Update

Here is a quote from Glen Dahlgren of Legend Entertainment via the GameNews-WIRE:

"As you may have noticed, I've stopped the incessant wail of the level design siren. I've staffed my team with some very talented and experienced mappers, and we've got lots of potential candidates still waiting in the wings, just hoping that one of the front-runners will trip up. I want to thank everyone who submitted their maps--it was a lot of fun playing through them (mostly). I'm amazed at how many people are actively creating these things. Internally, most of our tools are done and distributed to our artists, freeing up the programmers for implementation of more magic, AI, interfaces, etc. I'm continuing to design the game, direct the assets, and put the finishing touches on personnel additions to the team. I'm really excited about the single-player plot, although it's getting somewhat complex--there's a fair amount of storytelling that has to happen. I'm really glad Steve's gathering his steam for these cutscenes! Now for the big news. Barrel number one: We've signed the final contract with the publisher. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to go through this process--I can't imagine how long it would have been if they didn't like this game! But now the signatures are on the dotted line and we're thundering ahead. What this really means to you is that, very soon, we'll be announcing the identity of our mysterious publisher. Watch this space! Barrel number two: We've decided to blow the doors open at the upcoming E3. The publisher's going to set up a forum to show WoT off, and it's my intention to finally reveal what this design is all about to the press. I'm not only going to describe it--I'm going to show the game up and running. I think you'll find a lot more information flowing about WoT shortly thereafter. That's about it for this week. Y'all come back now, ya hear?"

PGL Signups

Registration for the second season of the PGL has begun and will continue until April 10. The new season features Quake and Total Annihilation single-player tournaments as well as an all-new Quake clan championship. Check out the Next-Gen article.

ThreeeDeee

• Diamond V330 Drivers with GL
  Check it out, the new drivers from Diamond and their RIVA128 based Viper card. If you've been wanting to play GLQuake / Quake2 on your RIVA card at possibly higher framerates than your VooDoo1 can get (If you got a P2) then you better snag these. -VE
  
  
• Dungeon Keeper Direct3D Patch
  AVault has gotten a hold of a new patch for Dungeon Keep which enables Direct3D support. If you have Dungen Keeper Gold, you don't need this patch.
  
  
• Matrox Plans
  PN's Hardware page has posted press released from Matrox which will give you an idea of just what the company plans on doing. With the recent announcement of the MG-200 chipset a lot of heads are turning their way. -VE
  
  

Q2 Patches
The daily dose of poison

• Final Eraser Bot
  The Team Impact web page has an update concerning the final release of the Eraser Bot possibly: "Here's the deal. I'm putting the final touches on what will be a "final candidate"
  release. So I'm getting close to considering the current code "complete", as far as pre v1.0 Eraser goes. I've made a lot of fixes and amendments since the last release, with huge speed improvements on large maps (like the CTF maps), and some more CTF and Teamplay AI tweaks.
  
  
• HighScore
  HIGHSCORE DM and CTF (Ver .30) have been released, features include Highscores for EACH Level!, VWEP Support, KUWEP Support (Kuick Weapon Selection for Aliases!), Enhanced Chase Camera with Zoom/Freeflight Chase, Message of the Day in CTF, Saves Highscores for each level to server rules for Gamespy and Qplug!! A mailing list for support and suggestions is now available as well, Visit the new website at: http://www.planetquake.com/kunani
  
  
• Weapons Factory
  Weapons Factory CTF 1.06 has been released, and it includes VWep support as well. The web site also has posted some nifty new screenshots for ya.
  
  
• QStat
  There is a small patch on the QStat page for the log parser. QStat generates statistics for Quake as well as Quake2 servers.
  
  

Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• HexenWorld
  Looni over at PlanetQuake has posted a review of the HexenWorld beta that was released a couple of days ago on the HexenWorld pages of all places.
  
  
• Blood2
  GameSpot has posted a preview of Blood2 which I don't recall linking earlier.
  
  
• aCtivision's Games
  AVault has gotten a hold of the big list of games to be premiered at E3 by aCtivision this year. Tops on that list is of course Heretic2 from Raven. There is also a short description for each title for those of you who wish to be in the know.
  
  
• Forsaken 64
  The incredible eye candy game for the PC is making it's way to the N64. Check out the preview on IGN64. Thanks to Frag.com
  
  

werd

Yow, I submitted my embarrasing moment to Mynx for her weekly PlanetQuake article this morning.

Oh, exciting quote of the day: "I'm not saying I'm normal man, I'm just trying to act like I am"

Lastly, here is a little movie from yesterday at the VRGN office.

Heretic 2 Announced

Big news kids, Dan Freed has announced that Heretic2 has been under production for a while now and will be shown at this years E3, dig it: (Thanks HexenWorld)

3/24/98 The time has come at long last for the unveiling. We have already made an official announcement about our new title so here it is... We are currently working on a game called HERETIC II. Yes that’s right HERETIC II. The character from the original Heretic is back for more action. We are using the Quake II engine and it is going to be played from the third person perspective. This way the character (Corvus is his name currently but we reserve the right to change that if need be) can climb up ledges, jump to ledges and grab them, climb ropes, and various other really cool stuff. I don’t want to get too specific yet, so just stay tuned. We will be showing the game at E3 so those of you that make it there can see it, and it is definitely worth seeing. Watch for a new .plan file for Corvus. This will contain journals from his adventures that took place between the end of Heretic and the start of Heretic II. I’ll keep updating this. Also I will be adding a Heretic II section to my web page at Geocities. This will contain information and the like about the game and story and anything I feel like posting there (and anything I am allowed to post). So keep your eyes open!!!

HexenWorld

All kinds of stuff is going down on www.hexenworld.com Raven's Project "?" Announcement, Portal of Praevus Release Announced, Profile of the Demoness, HexenWorld Server List, Fixed HexenWorld Server Package, HexenWorld Pic O' The Day Contest, HexenWorld Client And Server Info, etc etc..

Incoming Demo

I mentioned the release of the Incoming demo a few days ago but had never gotten a chance to play it. Well I checked this game out last night, and HOLY HELL.. Man, after you finish the somewhat boring sitting behind a gun phase, they let you take off in a Helicopter.. wow. The terrain.. awesome.

Download the demo! it's only 3.9 megs and will blow you away.

Quake2 file format

Brian Hook made a lengthy .plan update which discusses the possibility of using the .ZIP format of all things in Quake3 instead of the current .pak format being used in Quake1 and Quake2.

Unreal Box Art

Yea, we all love this stuff. I saw over on VooDoo Extreme these images linked on the Unreal News Australia page. The Front of the box, (has a hole for the CD Cover to show through) and the more interesting back of the box for you to look at.

Wheel of Time at E3

If you can pull yourself away from the Uber Engine preview to be given by Ritual at E3, head on over to the Legend Entertainment booth. The Wheel of Time page has been updated with the news that they will be showing off some of their work at E3 as well. Legend has licensed the Unreal engine from Epic Megagames

BeOS Quake

Apparently a BeOS port of Quake has been completed, but they are waiting on id Software to approve the project according to this web page. -Blue's

Someone in the audience at BeDC asked about Quake got BeOS, Dominic Giampolo, a Be engineer answered that Quake had been finished and has been waiting approval from ID Software for weeks, if not months....

Opinions

• QuakeGod of Telefragged has written an opinion piece you may wish to read talking about those giant Quake webring sites opressing us and assimilating all the other websites. Ethics, policies, etc.
• The Rocket Arena page has posted an essay talking about the BFG and if it belongs in Quake2 Rocket Arena. I'll keep my opinion to myself on this one. :)

Big 12

The Clanring's Big12 league seems to be a hell of a success recently. The latest box scores from this past weekends matches have been posted on their website. The Big12 is a NetQuake LPB league with *gasp* 12 teams that compete in 3 divisions towards a playoff. They setup QuakeTV servers for every match and prove to be very entertaining to watch. Just stop by IRC Efnet #clanring channel to find out about the games.

GibCon'98

The Gibcon98 guys are holding a map contest to find the deathmatch map they wish to use in the upcoming LAN party tournament.

Quake64

I didnt mention this a couple of days ago, but Quake for the Nintendo 64 should now be available on shelves. I got this email from Mitch Berry about a page as well:

Just thought I'd ask you to inform your readers that I'm putting up a Quake 64 vs Quake PC level differences section on my web site (Quake 64 News and Information). I will verify each of these myself, or even if anybody wants to help verify or contribute any other information they find playing Quake 64 that is relevant to people playing it like myself, cool screen shots, etc.

Q2 Patches
The daily dose of poison

• Tectonic
  Another Quake2 bot front end, Tectonic is up to version 0.94 now. The C.R. bot support is the latest thing to be updated.
  
  
• Botster
  In case you just cant figure out how to use that command line, Botster is your answer for launching the C.R. Bot, Eraser Bot, and a couple other Quake2 bots you may want to play with. -blue's
  
  
• EFE
  Eraser Frontend (EFE) version 1.6 has been released to the EFE home page http://www.frag.com/industry/index.cgi?mode=efe on Industry News http://www.frag.com/industry/ . New features include the full editing of the bots.cfg file, teamplay support, and the ability to spawn specified bots based on their name.
  
  

Anyone else sick and tired of bot front ends? I'm gonna boycott these damn things or something, it's getting outa control.

ThreeeDeee
I've heard this rumor that 3D gaming may be getting pretty popular...

• Matrox's VooDoo2 Killer
  Bootnet has posted a preview of Matrox's new 3D chipset that has been under wraps until now. The numbers they have posted by hands on testing are pretty damn impressive, and it's a 2D / 3D combo card to boot. The card is called the MGA 200. The Matrox guys are quoted as saying something to the tune of VooDoo2 and they are not in the same market though, so this VooDoo2 Killer deal I'm guessing was tacked on by Bootnet. -VE
  
  
• VooDoo2 Obsidian
  We've all been waiting for this one, just what those Quantum3D guys were gonna do with the VooDoo2 chipset. Well here is a list of the products they plan on shipping: -VE
  - S-12 AGP - 12MB Voodoo2 AGP 1x (NLX form factor)
  - S-12 AGPTV - 12MB Voodoo2 w/TV AGP 1x (NLX form factor)
  - X-24 - 24MB Voodoo2 w/TV Single slot SLI 33/66 MHz PCI
  - X-16 - 16MB Voodoo2 w/TV Single slot SLI 33/66 MHz PCI
  
  
• ATI's GL Quake pics
  Here are some pics for you to check out the image quality of the ATI card running GLQuake with the recently released drivers. Now, all they need to do is get the framerate over 15fps and they'll take 3dfx outa the market! -Blue's
  
  
• 3dfx Market Share
  3Dfx Interactive today announced that data from a periodic report issued by PCData show that it earned 87 percent of U.S. retail sales for add-in 3D-only graphics accelerator cards in 1997 calendar year. The 3Dfx Interactive marketshare was 6.7 times as large as PowerVR, the nearest competitive technology from NEC Corporation and VideoLogic.
  
  "3Dfx Interactive has become a standard for 3D entertainment," said Greg Ballard, president and chief executive officer of 3Dfx Interactive. "Ourgrowth and momentum is based on delivering the best real performance for 3Dgames along with great software titles and strong brand recognition." -GameNews-WIRE
  
  

Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• Spec Ops
  GameSource has posted a preview with screenshots etc of the Spec Ops project from Zombie. As we all know that ZPC project from Zombie was such a hot commodity in the 3D market, I cant imagine them living up to such a high standard 2 projects in a row, but this one just may do it. :)
  
  
• Requiem: Wrath of the Fallen
  Well this game looks interesting, PC Gamer has posted a preview of this 3D enhacned title. It has some of that Angel / Devil stuff in it just to piss off all you religious nuts out there. From reading the plot line though it sounds like it may be more than just the standard "shoot stuff that moves" deal, which is a good thing. -VE
  
  

werd

Whew, got the Tuesday section updated in the nick of time, and Wednesday's demo is already posted for a change. all this pressure!

Thanks to Redwood for my new mail notification sound, you rock man!

I also read that Dennis 'Thresh' Fong has sold off or given away his ownership in the Gamers Extreme company. Gamers Extreme is contracted by TEN to work on the PGL and regulate the PGL tournament. Dennis dropped his ownership in an effort to try and distance himself. Now he only has family members helping with the PGL, and volunteers to work for Gamers Extreme.

Omicron Bot v1.02

It's here! the new version of the Omicron Bot for Quake1. This is absolutely the coolest patch you can download for Quake1 and entertain yourself. At all of 986k, you would be silly to not download this and check it out.

Turok2 Preview

Next-Gen has posted a really cool looking preview for Turok2 with several screenshots for you to check out.

Ion News

A number of bits of news on the Ion Storm front:

• Stormtroopers Invade the Net A look behind the scenes at Stormtroopers, the new ION Storm community megasite.
• Meet the Dominion Gang: Part 4 Today, the Daily Informant introduces you to Houston "Big T." Tucker, one of the many Dominion comic book characters.
• Todd Porter answers questions tonight on EB World's chat.
• Gamesmania Takes a Sneak Peek at Dominion from Ion Storm.

3dfx MiniDriver

3dfx has posted a new GLQuake mini driver for their VooDoo1 and VooDoo2 cards. Thanks to Billy Wilson of VooDoo Extreme for the word. Apparently the new version features better gamma correction and fixes a couple issues for people using SLI mode with multiple 3dfx cards.

Tietze Leaves Rogue

Steve Tietze, level designer and social icon for Rogue Entertainment has decided to leave the company in favor of working for Nihilistic Software. Steve Tietze was a level designer, 3D modeler, and animation guy for Rogue. Redwood has posted this goodbye letter from Steve, check out Red's page for the whole deal.

- ni·hil·is·tic /"nI-(h)&-'lis-tik, "nE-/ adjective - soft·ware/soft-"war, -"wer /noun Those two words combined have been recently causing a lot of stir in the gaming industry. Some of you may have heard of these names already: Ray Gresko, Rob Huebner and Ingar Shu. Now its time to add another name to that list, Steve Tietze aka (Gateway). It’s now time to combine the best of the Quake design world with the best of the Lucasarts design world. I will be joining Nihilistic Software to head up the level design partment. As of the first of April I will no longer be with Rogue Entertainment, a company which has given me great experience in the gaming industry. I would like to thank Jim Molinets for supporting me in this decision and allowing me to pursue this dream and John Carmack for allowing me to work with some of the best engine technology currently available. <snip> Thank you. Steve Tietze

Carmack on Trinity

If you are dying of curiosity and wish to know just what some of John Carmack's plans are for Trinity, he answered some email over at this Trinity fan site. Put your programmer hat on.

HexenWorld Released

It's here, the QuakeWorld code has been ported to Hexen2 thanks to the hard work by those guys at Raven.

HexenWorld Client (3 megs)

HexenWorld is split into two portions, the server and the client. You need to download the server only if you plan on running a HexenWorld server. Everyone should download the client. HexenWorld Client V0.09 HexenWorld must be installed in your Hexen II directory, and Hexen II must be fully patched to version 1.11. This patch can be found in the Hexen II area of the Activision website at http://www.activision.com. Two new exectuables and a folder are installed: glhwcl.exe GL renderer hwcl.exe Software renderer hw folder There are two new maps released with HexenWorld: hwdm1.bsp and hwdm2.bsp

HexenWorld Server (2.8 megs)

I'm not sure if we have a copy of Hexen2 around the VRGN offices, but if so I'll make sure and get a HexenWorld server going when I get to the offices in a couple hours.

PingTool with HexenWorld Support

PingTool version 2.0 (beta) is available at the PingTool site: http://pingtool.telefragged.com PingTool is a full featured server browser that supports QuakeWorld, Quake2, and (as of this latest version) HexenWorld. Additionally there are some improvements to the "shared ping" feature. "Shared Ping" allows you to easily compare your buddies ping times to own making easy to find a server that pings well for everyone.

New Omicron Bot

Word has it that a new version of the Omicron Bot will be released in a day or two. Keep your eyes open, and I'll have the file posted here locally asap.

Quake2 Weapons FAQ

Randy Pitchford over at Rebel Boat Rocker has updated his Quake2 Weapons FAQ for people who wish to be in the know. There is a lot of useful information over there as well as some tips / tactics on how to use each weapon effectively based on the characteristics of the weapons.

Quake in the Oscars

Now this is just cool, Headcrash of Clan Burning Chrome was the technical director of Geri's Game. Homeboy's short file scored an Oscar last night, congrats. :) -Brass

MacQuakeWorld

Looks like QuakeWorld is making it's way all over the place. On the same day of Raven announcing the release of their port of the QuakeWorld code, there is word that Westlake Interactive is working with the code themselves to let Mac users have at it: -Blue's

Westlake Interactive has begun the conversion of QuakeWorld to Macintosh. Due to the strong demand for a Mac version of QuakeWorld, MacSoft and Westlake are going to jointly fund the conversion of QuakeWorld to the Mac, as well as update the Mac version of Quake to the latest version of GL Quake (.97). Once completed, these updates will be available for free. The GLQuake update should come fairly soon. Due to Westlake's other time & resource commitments a release schedule for QuakeWorld is unavailable at this time.

ThreeeDeee
I've heard this rumor that 3D gaming may be getting pretty popular...

• Pure3D Price / Pure3D LX
  Canopus has made a couple of announcements worth note. Firstly they have dropped the price on their highly popular Pure3D VooDoo1 based card with 4megs of texture memory to $149. (A $30 drop) and also they have announced an even cheaper VooDoo1 card, the Pure3D LX. The new card is the same as the original Pure3D but does not include TV out feature to cut the price even lower. -VE

The Pure3D LX game accelerator combines 3Dfx Voodoo performance with award winning Canopus design offering the most powerful product in its category. Like its predecessor, the Pure3D, the LX has a total of 6MB of memory comprising 2MBs of frame buffer, for shapes and scenes, and 4MBs dedicated to texture processing. The additional texture memory provides unmatched realism and detail while not compromising game speed. With the Pure3D LX you have fluid motion throughout complex 3D scenes maintaining the best frame rate of any Voodoo product

• nVidia TNT
  In case you didnt know by now *cough* nVidia is working on a new 3D chipset called the TNT. They have sent out a press release you can snag on Yahoo. -VE
  
  
• Monster 3D Drivers
  Diamond has released some new drivers for their VooDoo1 based Monster3D card. Download em if you got em. -VE
  
  

Quake2 Stuff
Missed a couple int

• Eraser Bot & Hot Launch
  In the near future, Eraser Bot will be accompanied by Hot Launch in it's future full releases. Now, configuring and starting the world's best Bot will be simple and easy right out of the box. Patches will still be available separately on both the Hot Launch and Impact Development team's home pages, but distribution of the full Eraser Bot installation will include the Hot Launch package.
  
  
• Eraser Front End
  If you want to be a rebel and use a different front end, Version 1.5 of the Eraser Frontend (EFE) is now available on Industry News at http://www.frag.com/industry/index.cgi?mode=efe . New features include basic editing of the bots.cfg file.
  
  
• Battle of the Sexes
  New version of the popular Battle of the Sexes mod for Quake2. Up to version 2.8.3 now with *16* new "features" -Redwood

Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:

• BattleZone Review
  PCM&E has posted a review of the aCtivision title, BattleZone which has been creating a bit of a stir recently. They seem to be extremely impressed, enough so that I'm gonna have to check it out this afternoon now :) -VE
  
  
• Urban Assault
  OGR has posted a preview of the Microsoft title, Urban Assault which looks interesting. Urban Assault is doing the same deal BattleZone does, a combination of the RTS and the FPS. Could we have a new game fad?
  
  

werd

Ok, I apologize.. I missed the Stuff that Sucks yesterday. I generally do the weekly section right after my morning update, but of course I was chilling in traffic on my way to the VRGN offices yesterday instead of updating it. The streak has ended. =/ Oh well, I'll update todays section when I get to the office this afternoon.

btw, those guys who make a living criticizing the way movie stars look and what they wear to the Oscars.. sad.

Frogbot for Quake1

Just got this email (ok, it was a couple of hours ago but I was busy setting up here in the new office) that a new version of the Frogbot has been released over at the Metropolis pages.

Folks, the frogbot 0.03 has been released, featuring dm4 support, dm modes 1-5, more of that advanced ai, full clinet color support (no need for those skins) and more!

TeeeThreee

Heh, since I'm here at the office this afternoon will be spent updating the files section that is much in need. I'll add all the QuakeWorld / Quake2 and other misc files I can think of that you'll need. If you have any major files you think I should mirror here at VRGN just drop me a line at smiles@vrgames.net

Rocket Arena 2

The much anticipated Rocket Arena 2 project is in need of some more testers it seems. If you wish to become a tester and partake in the Rocket Arena2 mailing list, check this out from crt:

PlanetQuake has launched an official Rocket Arena mailing list. This list is for discussion of all topics related to Rocket Arena 1, Clan Arena, and Rocket Arena 2. We also plan to do things like organize tournaments and test new features via the list. Both myself (crt) and Mungo will be available to answer questions and listen to ideas. You can subscribe to the list by sending a blank e-mail to subscribe-rocketarena@list.criticalmass.com All list members are invited to take place in the current Rocket Arena 2 beta test and will get information about it in their welcome message.

btw, I checked it out the other day and it is indeed pretty cool. Much more entertaining than the standard Quake2 FFA which is generally the norm on most servers. Oh, I was the "other webmaster" Blue was referring to when we were accused of not enjoying Quake2 Deathmatch :)

GLDoom

Bruce Lewis is still hard at work on his GLDoom and WinDoom projects. Mr. Lewis has posted his latest WinDoom build of course along with the source code for you to check out. He has even put a console into Doom among other cool features.

WinDoom v0.96a

Name QuakeCast

Joost is looking for a new name for the QuakeCast show hosted by the guys at www.pseudo.com in an attempt to get away from the id worshipper appearance and go more mainstream to cover all 3D games.

Cool Pic

VRGN Contracted artist Dhabih Eng took some time away from his hard work on our site (He did my logo btw) to make this nifty new image for you to check out:

Previews / Interviews
Missed a couple interviews yesterday, so many of em recently:

• Wheel of Time
  GN has posted a preview of the Wheel of Time project based on Epic's incredible looking Unreal engine. This is the most information I've actually seen revealed concerning the project. Check it out and get all excited from the screenshots. -VE
  
  
• Billy Wilson
  I'm sure a lot of you guys who read the very popular VooDoo Extreme page. (I'll admit it, my startup page has been moved over to VooDoo Extreme now. these guys rock) have got to be curious just who Billy Wilson is. Check out his interview.
  
  
• EverQuest Team
  A couple of guys on the development team behind the Everquest project ( Producer of Everquest, Brad McQuaid and Shon Damron) will be getting the 3rd degree thanks to Games.net this Wednesday. Check out the page.
  
  
• UnderLight
  AVault has posted a preview of the Underlight project. This is a 3D RPG style game which boasts some interesting features. Oh, and yea.. you can play it online of course.
  
  

Game Demos
A number of 3D game demos have been released recently, check em (Thanks to VooDoo Extreme)

• World League Soccer
  3dfx Mania has posted a demo of World League Soccer which looks pretty nifty. This demo is only a bit over 6 megs.
  
  
• StarSiege (Formerly Earthsiege III)
  An updated demo of Starsiege is now available over on BootNet. It weight in at a nice little 15 or so megs. If you are into mech combat stuff check it out.
  
  
• Triple Play 99
  Electronic Arts has released a playable demo of their 3dfx enhanced baseball simulation that you should check out. This demo is about 9megs.

ThreeeDeee
Missed a couple interviews yesterday, so many of em recently:

• RivaTNT
  Thanks to VE for the word that the code name for the 2nd generation 3D card coming from the nVidia guys has been revealed. The RivaTNT. TNT is referring to the multiple chips onthe card for single pass lightmaps. "Twin Texel Engines" they like to call it. nifty. Well, OGR has posted a nice article giving the low down on just what we can expect from this next big chip from nVidia. Here is a snippit :

As to full performance... Well, I've implied it's fast, but I haven't given you any numbers yet, and I'm sure you're fairly hungry for them. Well, since the chip is still in the development stage, numbers are iffy, and nVidia is trying to stay conservative with their numbers so as not to incite unrealistic expectations. But here are some basic numbers, nonetheless. First, the absolute maximum pixel throughput of the card is 250 megapixels per second, although most likely you won't see that kind of performance anytime soon. By the way, that number is arrived at simply by multiplying the clock speed of the chip (125 MHz) by the 2 texels per second number. A more conservative estimate for average game performance (say on something of the Quake2 variety) would be around 150Mps. Some games should be able to reach sustained rates as high as 200Mps (more than 2 Voodoo2's in SLI), although quite frankly if you turn on every feature, expect the lower number to be more realistic. The TNT is a total 2D/3D solution as well, so nVidia doesn't exactly see themselves as directly competing with the Voodoo2's market anyway.

• Intel I740
  All these nifty new 3D chipsets to look out for, fun huh? Well Intel's entry into the 3D market is reviewed over on The Silicon Edge page. The reviewer takes a look at the Real3D Starfighter AGP board based on Intel's baby.
  
  
• PowerVR Gen2 (PVRSG)
  This article located on eXtreme3D shows off a benchmark of the 2nd generation PowerVR card (codename Highlander) running Quake2 timedemo at around 48fps. This is an early version of the chip running at 66mhz. The final chip is reported to target running at 100mhz which should increase performance even more. How legitimate are these numbers? Heh.. why not ask Zanshin over at his GLDojo. -Blue's
  
  
• DirectControl
  I havent mentioned this cool little 3D app before, so I figure now is the time. The guys at 3dfx Mania have posted a new version of this 3D control center applet that lets you modify just about any advanced setting you can think of for your 3D hardware. For "power users" only guys.
  
  
• VooDoo2
  In case you just havent read enough literature about the VooDoo2, Kimlee Thompson has written up a nice article discussing the benefits of the VooDoo2 and why different features are included.
  
  

Q2 Patches
The daily dose of poision:

• Quake2 Executor 4
  A new version of this Quake2 front end is now available for download. There is support for config modification, server / client startup and a few other features that make it easy on the people out there who dont understand a command line.
  
  
• FamkeBot
  Another new version of the FamkeBot has been released. This new one includes support for teamplay.
  
  
• VikingMod
  The Viking Mod, which is an addon to the ThreeWave CTF mod for Quake2 has been updated to version 0.75. This mod enables server admin rights similar to a Clanring mod. Oh, and guess what else is in there?
  FUN NAMES! Muahahahha.. you can not escape.
  
  
• C.R. Bot
  The C.R. Bot for Quake2 which is right on the heels of the EraserBot for being the best Quake2 bot out there according to votes on the Bot Epidimic pages has been updated. This new version has some AI improvements, w00!
  
  
• Visible Weapons
  Another new version of the Visible weapons patch for CTF is up on the homepage. This has got to be the most popular hack for Quake2 to date.. jeeze. -Blues
  
  

.plan Wagon
Missed a couple interviews yesterday, so many of em recently:

• Gary McTaggart
  Gary over at Ritual Entertainment talks about the recent Ritual Barbeque and of course a bit on the much anticipated preview of the UberEngine to be previewed at E3 and possibly CGDC.
  
  
• Richard Gray (Levelord)
  Richie rich over at Ritual Entertainment also talks about the recent Ritual party and mentions that they didnt have any drugs, just a bunch of guys playing computer games inside. heh.

werd

Today is the big day.. we all move into the office.. regular work hours! I know.. what about those 5am updates? Well, luckily Chris Roberts over here at VRGN likes to stay up late. :)

Carmack on Mac

John Carmack over at id has a little mini lecture talking about how "the man" (Microsoft) is opressing the game developers:

haven't given up on rhapsody yet. I will certainly be experimenting with the release version when it ships, but I have had a number of discouraging things happen. Twice I was going to go do meetings at apple with all relevent people, but the people setting it up would get laid off before the meetings happened. Several times I would hear encouraging rumors about various things, but they never panned out. We had some biz discussions with apple about rhapsody, but they were so incredibly cautious about targeting rhapsody for consumer apps at the expense of macos that I doubted their resolve. I WANT to help. Maybe post-E3 we can put something together. The SGI/microsoft deal fucked up a lot of the 3D options. The codebase that everyone was using to develop OpenGL ICDs is now owned by microsoft, so it is unlikely any of them will ever be allowed to port to rhapsody (or linux, or BeOS). That is one of the things I stress over -- The Right Thing is clear, but its not going to happen because of biz moves. It would be great if ATI, which has video drivers for win, rhapsody, linux, and BeOS, could run the same ICD on all those platforms.

P1mp IRC

Got email from our favorite reviewer guy, Obiwan that he is hard at work on a TC, but wanted everyone in our little Quake community to check out PimpIRC which. Written by Quake players, for Quake players. www.planetquake.com/mod/pimpirc its a very modified mIRC that changes icons, program buttons, and adds incredible features for your everyday leet Quake IRC'er and anyone else, It is written by Tritian.

Hardware / Drivers / Patches
Missed a couple interviews yesterday, so many of em recently:

• ATI GL Drivers
  As of Monday, the beta mini-GL drivers for ATI Rage Pro boards should be out. You'll want to point people to www.atitech.ca/3dalley/
  
  
• Flash3D Drivers
  RealVision has posted some new drivers for their VooDoo1 based Flash3D card. Check out the homepage or something. -VE
  
  
• New nVidia Chip
  News.com has posted an article talking about the next 3D chipset to be coming our way courtesy of nVidia. the nVidia guys are of course responsible for the RIVA128 chipset, and Brian Hook himself says the "nVidia driver programmers rock!" -VE
  
  

Interviews
Missed a couple interviews yesterday, so many of em recently:

• Ken Hoekstra
  Ken Hoekstra of Raven Software is interviewed on the HexenWorld page. Of all things they decided to discuss, it was HexenWorld! It's fairly informative and hints toward the future release time frame for the Hexen2World port.
  
  
• Justin Chin
  Formerly of Lucas Arts, Justin Chin, one of the many game developers to recently flee from Lucas has done his first interview since leaving. The article is posted on PC Gamer's website.
  
  
• Mike Wilson
  The big man behind the Gathering of Developers publishing group project, (These guys have already signed Ritual, 3DRealms, TRI, and several other big names companies) is interviewed on CNNfn's Digitial Jam. -Blue's (note: you need to download a plugin for this, bleh)
  
  
• Mr. Elusive
  Omicron Bot programmer, Mr. Elusive is interviewed once again on Ramshackle. If you havent downloaded and played with this bot you are missing out. Honestly I feel it's the best DM bot out there, yea.. better than the famed Reaper Bot.
  
  
• Zoid
  Not really an interview, but close enough to be listed here. Zoid has confirmed that he will be speaking at the next www.gamescon.com lan party to be held in Canada.
  
  

Q2 Stuff
It never stops..

• Eraser Front End
  Version 1.1 of the Eraser Frontend available on the newly relocated Industry News page on www.Frag.com . New features include the ability to save all settings whenever you open and close EFE. The URL for the site is now http://www.frag.com/industry/industry.cgi?
  
  
• Bot Poll
  There is a new POLL titled: "What type of bot are you most looking forward to OR most interested in??" Find it on the Epidemic at http://www.quake2.com/epidemic/
  
  

Sites

• TF Newswire (your PREMIER TF 1&2 news site) is now at http://www.planetquake.com/tfnewswire

werd

Damn hot water is turned off here at the house. Half of Ritual is gonna be stinking today since we all live in the same complex.. heh.

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