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Saturday, September 19

Quake3 Screenshots [10:35am]
Yup, check it out kids, Quake3 screenshots. These are magazine scans actually.

Taken from an edition of PCGamer, due to be released on Sept. 24th. We have them NOW. Please mention these were scanned by Eoa-Swam and FunK, and hosted at GameKillaz by FunK, Nach0KinG, DaMaul, HeadachE and Swam.

What can we tell from these shots? Well obviously curved surfaces, what looks like specular lighting, level design appears to look to have a lot of Q2 influence, and the Q3 logo is cool. :)

Unreal OpenGL Patch [2:35am]
The Rendition page has posted a new version of the OpenGL patch for Unreal. You dont really need this if you already run Unreal on a 3dfx card with D3D, but for you V2x00 and Riva / TNT owners, this is for you.

Max Payne [2:35am]
GameSpot has posted a very interesting article about Max Payne from Remedy which discusses the technology they are using. There is also some talk about the tools they are using as well.

The engine is also focused only on 3D hardware without a software rendering environment much like the rest of the industry and will optimize the engine for use with Direct X 6.0-enabled 3D accelerators. MAX-FX includes support for TCP/IP networked-based multiplayer gaming, DirectSound 3D audio, and Force Feedback.

MessageBoard FAQ [2:35am]
Ok kids, got the Messageboard FAQ posted along with a link in the left menu. Big thanks to [R2]Huntsman for volunteering his time to clean up the boards and moderate.

Heretic2 Shots [2:35am]
I should have mentioned yesterday along with the info from programmer Jake Simpson, there are some new screenshots of Heretic2 posted on the aCtivision page. Here's a couple of them:

Mac QW 2.3 [2:35am]
The Westlake page has been updated with info on the progress of the port for QuakeWorld v2.3 for those Mac users out there. (I saw a Mac once about 2yrs ago, it didnt talk to me or anything though)

KingPin Shots [2:35am]
The boys at PCAccelerator sent word that they will be publishing some new screenshots of KingPin.

Today at around 1:30 we are going to post 4 exclusive screenshots of Kingpin. Of course we have about 20 and the full story in our October issue hitting newsstands September 24th. The web address is http://pcxl.ign.com

GameSpy v2.03 Released [2:35am]
For all registered GameSpy users, a new version has been released for you to play with over at www.gamespy.com

Q3 Arena in PCG UK [2:35am]
To quote Mr. Heaslip: "The chaps over at PC Gamer UK tell me that their November print issue has a big Quake III Arena preview, including the first screenshots released from id's upcoming game. They mentioned the issue would be available September 24, but I've gotten mail from some readers who've found copies already."

Views [2:35am]

Tech Etc [2:35am]

werd
Figured might as well update since I'm up. :)

 

Friday, September 18

Corrinne Yu & Ion's Tech [11:35am]
I originally posted this: "GameGirlz has posted a new profile of Corrine Yu, director of advanced technology over at Ion Storm. I got ENGINE!"

[GG] What can you tell us about the new technology you are developing for ION?
We have several graphics features that make our worlds look more pre-rendered or real. The following is not an exhaustive list, but a few things that come to mind

To follow up, Corrinne dropped me some mail hoping to clarify for a few of you who have been a bit mislead by the wording in the interview itself (and I goofed up on her name spelling to boot!)

I am a little afraid the wording and implication of the link is that the interview is talking about a "new stand-alone engine" when I am talking about Anachronox, a game that we are shipping beginning of next year, that still has a small amount of Quake 2 legacy code in it.

The features I have listed are features that are already inside Anachronox, a game that "legally" and "financially" licenses the Quake 2 engine, though the 3D engine/graphics/refresh side had all been completely re-written (there is still the game interface code remaining).

The engine that we will create (for future ION titles like Anachronox 2) will have a lot more features and more advanced features than what I have for Anachronox shipping beginning of next year.

Weekly Section [11:55am]
Contemplating suicide? Maybe this weeks weekly section will help.

Heretic2 [9:25am]
The aCtivision page has been updated with some info from programmer Jake Simpson on the progress of H2:

A3D support for 3d sound is coming along. There are some bugs that the guys at A3D know about, and hopefully will get back to us on. Colored fog on the 3dfx is proving to be a royal pain, the problem is in the GL drivers that 3dfx put out. They know about it, but are spending all their time on the drivers for the impending Voodoo Banshee. They've promised to look at it, but its unlikely they will get to it before Heretic II ships. I would imagine we'll support this in a patch of some kind, rather than trying to code now for something that doesn't work.

Deus Ex [9:25am]
One of the Unreal engine license game in the family over there at Ion Storm, GamePen has posted the latest developer diary in cooperation with the Ion guys.

The game starts off in the United States, in the near future rather than the far-flung future of so many SF games. This distinction is an important one; as an explorer moving through the game you will see familiar sights. Rather than taking place on wacko, anything-goes alien planets, Deus Ex takes place on Earth. The player is part of an elite anti-terrorism unit. He will be required to move through train stations, corporate strongholds, scientific labs, key districts of major cities, top-secret (but real) governmental locations and other such recognizable settings. It will be really powerful if we manage to pull this off, but it also represents an additional level of design challenge.

GLDoom Chat [9:25am]
Bruce Lewis has updated his GLDoom page with mention that he wants to have a little chit-chat with you guys. "For anyone interested I'll be on IRC (Undernet #gldoom) Saturday (19 Sep, 1998) at 1800 EDT. (6 PM) "

Half-Life Movies [9:25am]
From VE a little recap of the movies that have been already released on fan sites throughout the net, Sierra has "offiicially" released these movies though so you can officially watch them now. :)

ftp://ftp2.sierra.com/pub/goodies/pc/hlgunfit.exe   [12MB}
ftp://ftp2.sierra.com/pub/goodies/pc/hltentcl.exe   [13MB]
ftp://ftp2.sierra.com/pub/goodies/pc/hltrain.exe    [10MB]

Q3 Arena FAQ [9:25am]
Telefragged has posted a new updated FAQ for id Software's Quake3: Arena. A few more details about Q3 have been filtering through the grapevine recently, don't you guys think it's about time we heard whats up? :) I've got about 5 or so I think I'll fire over their way to see if we can keep us satisfied for a little while.

Views [9:15am]

Tech Etc [9:15am]

werd
Ah hell, nothing exciting happened all day yesterday. Actually aint been crap going on for a good couple of weeks now, someone release a game or someone bash people in a .plan file at least or something.

Weekly section to be posted after I get a decent meal. This pot pie was horrible. That ramen over there is lookin mighty good though.

Also, the messageboard is much more active than I had hoped. I appreciate your concern for my sexuality and preferences, although I'm not quite sure the messageboard is the place to ask if you are lookin to score. :) Check out the Quake1 and Quake2 Forums as well.

 

Thursday, September 17

Team Fortress 2 [8:55am]
The UKFN is proud to announce the publication of the exclusive TF2 interview it conducted with Robin Walker at the ECTS in London last week. There's a load of new stuff you won't have read before, so go check it out now at the UK Fortress Newsdesk. Go! Now! Shoo!

Intel's Master Plan [8:55am]
Figured this is stuff that interests everyone, what exactly Intel is planning on sending our way in the coming year. Saw this news.com link on Billys page:

Xeon: 700-MHz chips made under the 0.18 micron process.
Pentium II: 600-MHz chips by end of year. Katmai ("MMX 2") technology in Q1. Chips with 256K integrated cache memory will appear in the first half, before coming in the Celeron line.
Hardware support: Native support for USB (universal serial bus), DVD, and TV tuner add-in cards.
Celeron: 100-MHz bus in the first half. Technology will lag Pentium II to preserve segmentation. Far in future: integration with graphics chips a possibility.

While you are at it, check out this Katmai preview posted on GameSpot

Weekly Links [8:55am]
Here you go, the weekly screwed up links for you guys to cruise around with.

Views [9:15am]

Tech Etc [9:15am]

Stuff [6:35am]
Some other things you may wanna check out:

werd
Yup, havent been around in the day much past couple of days. I've got something that will keep me around for most of the day today though so count on some more update action :) Also the messageboard stuff I've got ready to go. I'm just hoping to get it into much faster load times before really plugging the thing.

Also, for those of you who were confused about the Q2 10hz stuff (hehe, what!?!?) the actual visual representation of what you fire is random up to +/- 100ms, the commands are still sent though right away.

 

Wednesday, September 16

SHOGO Gold [9:15am]
According to .plan updates by both Jason Hall and Mike Dussalt, SHOGO: Mobile Armor from Monolith has gone gold and will be hitting store shelves near you in the weeks to come. Dig on Jason's update:

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division www.shogo-mad.com has gone gold.

It is my strongest suggestion to the gaming public that is anticipating the release of Shogo, that they go to the store NOW and reserve a copy. There will only be a certain amount available on the first day (Oct. 19th).

This also means that the LithTech Engine v1.0 is officially feature complete, fully tested, and mother approved...!

I want to personally thank the gamers out there for their support of Monolith and the Shogo team. The support REALLY has a big effect on team morale and energy. In a real way, you all helped to get Shogo out the door.

Varginha Anyone? [9:15am]
Aint nothin like some good Varginha in the morning. Dig on the email I got:

The first brazilian 3d action game, "The Varginha Incident" is now shipping. some shots in http://www.perceptum.com "An overwhelming military operation is in progress to cover up the landing of an alien spacecraft. Frustrating the military personnel involved, some aliens escape towards the city, where they are spotted by several eyewitnesses. You are one of those witnesses - the first who actually makes contact - and who is assigned a very special mission...

PGL Brackets [9:15am]
The boys have posted the new brackets for PGL after the big qualifying rounds for Quake2 have been completed. Go check out who you are paired up against. You can all give a big thanks to Wicked3D now too because you have no way of knowing if the guy you are playing in this league for money is cheating or not.

Speaking of big competetions, DC-Con5 is on its way. Check out the website and sign up. DC-Con4 attracted 4-500 people last year and sported a great 1on1 and clan tourney.

Q2 MP2 [9:15am]
Check out what Jim Molinets of Rogue Entertainment had to say in his .plan talking about the recent release of their Q2 mission pack and the feedback they are receiving, along with answering a couple of common questions:

We're getting a ton of positive mail from everyone about Ground Zero, thanks to you all. We're glad that you like the new additions and that it seems like the new DM toys are working out great. Just a couple of little info tidbits that will probably help to avoid some confusion.

1) Almost all of the new additions for DM can be turned on/off via the DM flags menu in the multiplayer setup. The Anti-Matter Bomb, Spheres and Mines can all be changed there. The only thing that you cannot turn on/off are the new weapons. But hey, why would you want to do that anyway? ;)

2) If you are playing DM, and it seems like you are not able to get to all of the 14 new maps, it may because we looped the DM maps a little differently to try and help everyone out. rdm1-5 is the 'small-medium' loop and rdm6-14 is the 'medium-large' loop. We decided to separate those so that based on users, it's easier to find people in the levels. (Hint: If you are playing with one other person, you probably don't want to use the rdm6-14 loop.) Hope that's not confusing. All of the single players levels are looped consecutively, so don't worry about those.

3) If you have any problems, please let us know. We want to help as much as possible. If you do, you can talk with Activison, or contact us directly at: info@rogue-ent.com

4) We WANT comments about the pack. Please tell us what you like, don't like, ect. You are the people that we make the games for, so what do YOU want to see? If you're writing about comments, please use this for the subject heading: Ground Zero Comments

On an unrelated note, yes, Berenger Fish has traded his Pirate Hat for a Ritual Mask. Our best wishes to Berenger at his new home and also to all our friends at Ritual during crunch time. Good luck and don't forget our free copies of Sin. :)

Weekly [9:15am]
Doh, it's fine and dandy when I update a weekly section, its just that whole complex thing about updating the page so everyone can actually read it that gets in the way sometimes. Here is yesterdays If I Were King

Views [9:15am]

Tech Etc [9:15am]

werd
Should have the messageboard stuff integrated tonight hopefully, also have a FAQ goin thanks to [R2]Huntsman (Who will also be the moderator for the message board) . For now, you guys should just check out news://news.3dchat.net and dig on the Shack forums. I almost prefer people ask questions there instead of in email, since they are so common several people can read them and get the answers.

 

 

Tuesday, September 15

KingPin Shots [9:55pm]
Saw on that Blue dudes page that there are some new Kingpin Screenshots on the Xatrix Entertainment page offering more of a look at this upcoming Quake II engine gangsta game.

Quake / Quake2 Demo Stuff [7:45am]
A couple of new toys for you guys to play with. First off a toy that I really enjoy playing with IDDA takes any .QWD, .DEM, or .DM2 (Quake, QuakeWorld, Quake2) demo file and analyzes it for stats. I'm not talking log parser, we are talking demo parser. What I'd love to see is some of those oldschool stats like "flick factor" etc. Maybe next version yes? Secondly,Version 0.990 of the DEMentED 2 editor for Quake II demos is now available.

Max Payne @ ECTS [7:45am]
Scott Miller made a .plan update discussing Max Payne's showing at ECTS this year being quite favorable. This game is looking SWEET right now.

Max Payne was the only game 3D Realms was showing at the show (no Duke or Prey), which was being demo'ed in the Take 2 booth, in a backroom area reserved for Gathering of Developer games. (Take 2 is the exclusive distributor of Gathering games in Europe.) Remedy's Petri Jarvilehto (project leader) and Sam Lake (lead designer, story architect) showed the game for three solid days to impressed crowds. I've heard through solid sources that Max earned at least two Game of Show honors from major industry publications (yet to be publicly announced).

Ex-Ritual Employees Project [7:45am]
Nearing completion? Check out this .plan update from shaithis concerning his contract work for Mike/Gary/Charlie and crew.

Very close to completion on the project I'm currently working on. As far as I can tell, I have one texture left to do, and then it's all up to Mike/Gary/Charlie. If there's any news, it'll come from them, tho. I don't have the authority, or even the knowledge, to talk further about it.

But I will be putting up many of the textures I did for the project in my portfolio, along with the page redesign I'm working on

Ok, I admit it. Mike works 10 feet behind me, but this is what I can post ok? :) For the curious, the "project" is not meant for public consumption.

Wheel of Time [7:45am]
The weekly Wheel of Time update has been posted discussing the latest developments on the Unreal engine based project.

Ryan has continued to battle the AI architecture, readying the world for Mike Fox's (our new AI guy) arrival. Dave has completed a couple of new artifacts--Balefire and Champion--as well as a new trap. I'm anxious to get into a game with the most recent build to try them out.

Anachronox [7:45am]
GamerzEdge has posted a new interview with Anachronox project leader Tom Hall

LD: It has been noted that Anachronox will have 2 sequel games. I know you probably want to stay tight-lipped concerning the plot, but I was wondering if you have already fleshed out the story or do you just have a general idea of how things are going to be?

TH: I've fleshed out enough of the story to give the current story good context, and to have certain events and revelations set up for those games that will be cool. Hope people like the first one! :)

Quake vs Quake2 part 2.5 [7:45am]
Gotta love this, after checking out Thresh's 2 part editorial comparing the 2 games and stating that he prefers Quake1, but he in no way is saying that 1 game is better than the other. Brian Hook sent in some email explaining the technical aspects behind Thresh's arguments. Lemme quote for ya:

. Weapon fire is not predicted in Quake II, which means that an average of 50ms elapse before you get any visual feedback that your weapon has fired. Also, sounds are not predicted at all, so there is an average of 50ms lag before a sound is played.

Translation: Every shot you take, every sounds you make, is interpolated to 10tics per second. Yea, we are talking up to 100ms of extra latency on top of whatever latency you already have. It's not even a predictable latency either. Unless you can count to 10 every second in your head and fire right on one of those tics. :) You can also check out what Ronald Edwards has to say. Despite making the mistake of speculating the reasoning behind Quake1 players dislike of Quake2, its a pretty good read.

Q2 Mission Pack [7:45am]
Worldcraft now has support for the Quake2 Mission Pack Ground Zero. Check out The Forge. Speaking of which, check out the new AVI that was released:

The Quake II MP2 trailer (6MB)   released on Aug 19 in 240x180 format now
has a 320x240 companion:
ftp://ftp-west.activision.com/q2mp2tr.avi   14MB
ftp://ftp-east.activision.com/q2mp2tr.avi
ftp://ftp.activision.co.uk/q2mp2tr.avi

Views [8:15pm]

Tech Etc [8:15pm]

werd
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is one of the coolest games on earth. Just to keep you guys on your toes, I've got another movie for you to check out from a recent press conference.

Oh, my favorite story on TV right now. The press going nuts on how the Starr reports on the internet are corrupting all the young kids who have internet access. Because we all know there was just NOTHING on the net before those reports that kids could see that would possibly disturb them. I mean, nothing like pictures of chicks eating feces or anything like that.. right?

 

Monday, September 14

More Tech Etc [8:15pm]

Team Fortress 2 Info [6:41am]
Gamers Alliance has gotten a hold of a bit more info about the Team Fortress 2 project being worked on for Valve's Half-Life. There are also a couple of screenshots there to dig on.

Team Fortress, a squad-based Quake ‘mod’ (modification) product, is the most popular product of its kind with an estimated 250 000 downloads. The sequel will be a Half-Life exclusive add-on product – this is only logical as the developer of Team Fortress has recently been acquired by Valve Software, the developer of Half-Life. Taking advantage of Half-Life’s advanced technology, Team Fortress II will plunge players into the shoes of one of nine classes, working together to defeat the opposing team on 20 original maps, spanning 4 campaigns.

StarSiege Tribes [10:31am]
OGR has posted a new preview of StarSiege Tribes

The game takes place about 1,000 years in the 'Starsiege' future. Mankind is in the grips of war for territory in the vast reaches of space. But this war isn't made for the use of massive 'Hercs'. No, it's up close and personal. Rival tribes of men and women don protective suits of powered armor, the latest weapons, and jet-packs to duke it out on alien worlds in a style much like Heinlein's Starship Troopers

MessageBoards [6:41am]
Well, got 3 forums for you guys to goof off in and post whatever you want. General Stuff, Quake1, and Quake2. I'm gonna have it really stripped down as well for all the modem guys soon. Also, for you newsgroup hax0rs, you can use news://news.3dchat.net/

The Suckage [8:51am]
Yea, I took last monday off. Here is this weeks suckage though since we know just coming to work on Monday doesnt suck enough as it is, you need to be reminded what else sucks in the world.

Blood2 [6:41am]
The-Chosen.com has posted the latest weekly update giving us some insigh into Monolith's development of Blood2. This week Rick talks about all the blood to be included in Blood2 that we can look forward to.

Messiah Movie [6:41am]
I'll just quote Billy on this one, since I read it on his page. :) "PVRGen has posted their Messiah MPG from ECTS. Unfortunately the camera didn't really catch it all that well, but you can watch like 10 seconds of Messiah (1.25MB MPG)."

Rainbow 6 Patch [6:41am]
The Rainbow6 website is still posting patch after patch to fix up some of the bugs that slipped through the testing phase and went into the shipped product. This new patch addresses problems with launching multiplayer servers. Speaking of which, the RSB editor for Rainbow6 has hit version 1.3 now and is available on this website.

Editing Stuff [6:41am]
From Blue: The Unreal Zone is holding a one-on-one Unreal DM tourney, offering a 12MB Voodoo2 as a prize. Also, Jedi Knight Outpost is now hosting JED, what is supposed to be the only editing utility you will ever need for making levels and adventures for Jedi Knight along with the Mysteries of Sith mission pack.

Also, for you newsgroup hax0rs, you can use news://news.3dchat.net/

Views [6:55am]

The 3D engine was totally incredible, I was very impressed. The game is still in early development, yet the actual quality was way better than most finished games I have seen. The ship moved in space as smooth as you could ever wish, and the entire environments and quality was of very high quality. I did notice a slight blockiness in some parts of the picture, but I am very much sure they will be fixed long before the release.

Tech Etc [6:55am]

werd
You guys can stop emailing me about the messageboard being pig-ass slow already. I'll smack around Sam a bit until we can get it done right. I'm talkin totally stripped down, similar to ATQWT. Ya dig?

 

Sunday, September 13

SHOGO Gold? [8:31am]
First off, I linked the PlanetQuake coverage from ECTS with a quote concerning SHOGO in Friday's news. The quote was not indicative of the entire article, sorry for misleading a few of you. Also, here is a quote from 3DNews.net:

Jeremy from Monolith posted on Usenet today that Shogo will be going Gold this monday, which means it should begin to hit stores by Wednesday. Unless they hit some game-threatening bugs, that is!

Daikatana ECTS Trailer [8:31am]
Check it out, the boys at Ion Storm have posted on their website the video trailer that is showing at ECTS right now. -Cyrellis

Daikatana Trailer Hi-end (18MB)
Daikatana Trailer Lo-end (6MB)

Amen Shots [8:31am]
The boys at CaveNews have gotten a hold of a couple of new screenshots of CaveDog's AMEN project which is looking sweet. They are a pair of images scanned in from the most recent PC Gamer. Shot1 , Shot2

Quake To Unreal MAP Converter [8:31am]
Woah, check out this util posted on Blues. Jeff "Pointdexter" Preshing sends along Bsp2t3d (11 KB), his Quake BSP to Unreal brush conversion utility.

It does dm4, dm3 and Hipdm1 for sure. But you may find that UnrealEd gives you error messages when you try to work with the brushes from other Quake maps. In this case, all you can do is cry like a little girl. The problem lies in the fact that UnrealEd makes no promises to work with brushes having more than 500 faces; in fact it says so when you try to import them. Nevertheless, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Try using different import options, try intersecting the brush with a cube to divide the brush in half, maybe you'll find a way. You never know, but don't get your hopes up.

Views [7:55am]

Tech Etc [7:55am]

werd
Well now, I'm sure you guys noticed that things didnt quite work out as planned. (No updates on Saturday, ouch!) I hope you knobs dig on the messageboard. Please dont kill me for it being slow to load. I'm aware of the problem but just figured might as well let it go live so you guys can appreciate it more when it's faster. :)

 

3DNews.net Last Weeks News copyright Steve Gibson 1998