If trying to crash that Microsoft page wasnt enough fun for you, then go play with Ridah's KingPin server and help him hunt down bugs. Here is the .plan file with the word on where the server is and what he's up to.

A new version of KingPin has shown up on the beta tester page. Keep in mind this is not an official release and is intended only for players who dont mind working with versions that have not been fully tested. (You're the tester, thats why its called a beta) At any rate its now up to v1.14 and available for Win32 & Linux.

A quick and brief 98% goes to Kingpin reviewed over at Quakecity.

Well, as many of you guys posted to the original KingPin patch release, it seems there were some bugs that found their way into the 1.1 release. Well our man Ryan Feltrin over at Xatrix Entertainment has a .plan update with two big words. Open Beta. Have a look at his .plan file for the full details, here's da juice though:

I have decided to open up the Kingpin beta testing to the public. With most of us on holidays (yes, that includes me) at the moment, I'm thinking the best thing to do, is to make what would usually be internal builds, available to anyone willing to help the testing process. This way those that are experiencing major problems with the commercial release, can get access to builds that may fix their problems, or at least they can help me get their problem fixed sooner, rather than later. The beta page can be found here
<snip>
Here is a new linux KingPin forum.
Here is the Shack KingPin Forum.

Speaking of KingPin, Bot Epidimic has word from Ryan that a code release should be happening within a week so that you 3rd party developers can bust out with some of your own code for the game.

Well now, this is pretty interesting. Check out the email that Milamber sent in from over at wagz.net

... As you probably know, before being hired by Xatrix, Ryan "Ridah" Feltrin coded the immensely popular Q1 TC, Quake rally. So, the vehicle code is pretty damn special. Anyways, start the game using +set developer 1 and the bring down the console and type g_vehicle_test 1 and for a really authentic feel, turn on the rear-view mirror by typing cl_rearviewmirror 1. Now map one of the DM levels, kpdm1 works fine, and try being, from what I can gather, a motorbike, complete with fairly realistic physics and sounds. Rock!

The first official KingPin patch has been released by Xatrix Entertainment. You can grab it from the PlanetKingPin guys here. How about a word from Ridah eh? here ya go:

NOTE: this patch will break server/client cross version compatibility. After upgrading, you will only be able to connect to servers that have also upgraded. Your patience is appreciated.Linux ports will be made available shortly, via my .plan.

F, there have been many many Kingpin reviews, and it's already getting old. But CGO wrote one up that was too fg entertaining to pass up.

While a few games have been blessed with some profanity (even Final Fantasy VII had a stray "shit"), nothing can touch Kingpin's profane universe. There's a lot of swearing in Kingpin-or to be more specific, the game is enamored with the word "f" and its variants. And it uses them a lot. A whole fg lot. So fg much, in fact, that it pretty much fg dilutes whatever fg intent the fg designers had for having their fd-up characters use more fg "realistic" dialogue. It's un-fg-believable. No designer in his or her right fg mind could have fg envisioned a fg game with this much fg swearing. While playing the fg game, you're like, "f, there's a fload of potty language in this motherfg game." Every fg character, when they fg attack you or even give you the fg time of day, says the fg word "f" in some fg context. "You f," "You motherfg f," etc. Every fg cut scene features some fat f saying, "f," "motherfr," "fg" or some other fg variation.

btw, we should be seeing the fg patch soon.

Ryan Feltrin of Xatrix Entertainment has a .plan update announcing that the KingPin patch is just about finished. He is just chasing the "S_Update: overflow" bug down right now. Once that is fixed up the patch should be ready to go live. Here are a few other changes being made:

+ Fixed long level loads
+ Fixed pauses during multiplay
+ Fixed erratic mouse during multiplay
+ Optimized Vertex Array support
+ Allow access to consol while in multiplayer game
+ Only play intro once
+ Optimized scoreboard, fits more players
+ Fixed invalid model causing a thug model with sewer rat skin during teamplay
+ Fixed gibbing characters in single player mode causes character to dissapear
+ Completely disallowed alt-tab, causes several video drivers to hang the system
+ Added "maxrate" setting for servers
+ Pain skins on buddies in single player
+ Player ID display

Killjoy has posted a quick 3 part Q&A with Ryan Feltrin of Xatrix talking about KingPin of course.

There is a little rumor mill update over at AVault which may interest a lot of you guys wondering whats up with Xatrix after the completion of KingPin. Words flying around that the company has broken up to stuff like they are working on the Wolfenstein sequel with the Quake3 engine among other things have been heard through the grapevine. Myself and a couple of other webmasters have sent out emails requesting public confirmation, but nobody seems to be willing to go on record.

KungFu from PlanetKingPin was kind enough to forward on some email from Ryan Feltrin of Xatrix with word on the progress of the first KingPin patch. What's gonna be in the patch? Well here ya go:

What bugs have you got nailed?

The long level loads, pauses during multiplay, scoreboard issues with more than 10 players and some server crashes are the main bugs fixed. The new client/server package will not be backwards compatible, so everyone will need to upgrade at once, which is why we want to put it through a good testing cycle first.

The obligatory KingPin walkthrough is now available for you guys. The folks at I.AM/KingPin are one of the first out the gate with one. Also got a buttload of KingPin reviews for you guys, lemme just list them off for ya here: GamePost , 3DZone , DarkLabs , GameSpotUK , Gamesmania , and 3DRage

Ryan Feltrin of Xatrix Entertainment is making a few .plan updates to help out you guys who just picked up KingPin.

Now, that being said, I've had a few problems from people that seem to be getting stuck at a light-brown screen on load-up, using TNT/2 cards. This MAY be due the existance of an old glide2x.dll in your system directory, from and old 3Dfx installation. Since the game will first try to initialize the 3Dfx minidriver, this will crash under the above circumstance. The solution is to delete this file, ONLY if you do not have a 3dfx brand card in your system.

Well check this out, the 3DFiles guys dont just do files eh? They picked up a copy of KingPin which was just released and have done up their own review of the game.