The ServerWatch guys have released a new version of their nifty util that funny enough watches a LAN for Q3Test servers to pop up, as well as TRIBES.

If you're attending the GroundZero NYC Q3Test tournament, and like to harass game developers, have a look at Randy Pitchford's .plan update at fingershack.com talking about the official Half-Life Expansion pack which will be showing there.

gBi0Tch's Home Page has busted out a new Q3Test log analyzer which spits out some really impressive stats. If you're running a large Quake3 server it's pretty damn cool. Thanks Hutama

John Carmack, who rumor has it is a programmer over at id Software has another .plan update with some good news for a lot of you guys who are among the HPB contingency. I snagged a few of the latest changes and slapped them here. Check out the fingershack for the full update.

* spinning machinegun barrel
* changed q3data -origin option to -offset, defaulted to
0 0 24 for all player grabs
* removed second parm from -lod in q3data
* fixed 0 ping on last player killed before fraglimit
* better ping calculation right after transitions
* add time back to scoreboard
* sv_maxRate option to force all clients to play with a max rate. This can be used to limit the advantage of LPB, or to cap bandwidth utilization for a server. Note that rate is ignored for clients that are on the same LAN.
* reduced client to server bandwidth by 35%

Well, I've got a bunch of other stuff to still get ready for posting but I figured you guys would want to see this news right away. John Carmack has an extremely long .plan update that covers all sorts of stuff. The biggest news being a new Q3Test is scheduled for release in the middle of September which will feature all the latest fixes AND DM BOTS. Yup, we finally get to see the fabled bots for Quake3.

The current plan is that we will have another test release around the middle of next month. This version will be running game/cgame/ui with the virtual machine, and will include single player play against bots. No new maps.   I will be releasing the source for all the VM modules with it, and setting the executable up so that it will allow modified modules to be used.
<snip>

John also goes on to list off all of the latest changes and fixes he has made in his .plan file including (thank god) he fixed players getting stuck in each other. Here are a few of the other changes that homeboy has made. The discussion has already begun over at the Quake3 messageboard, have at it but play nice kids!

* fixed players getting stuck together
* new pak file support
* intro/loop option for music files
* fixed lerp-through-world when changing teams
* show ping and netgraph for spectators
* fixed timescale off by one problem
* tracked down player count wrong on server list
* info_spectator_start entity
* fixed can't-respawn-when-someone-is-on-your-body

The Q3Center guys are awful proud of their updated console command list for Q3Test. The TrendKill guys have a list as well. Speaking of stuff like this, a new version of Q3Stats has been released which will generate all kinds of nifty statistics from your server logs.

If you're curious how they did it try typing cmdlist or cvarlist at the console. A trick I'm not sure many people are aware of is wildcards. For example if you type this:

cvarlist cg_
the console returns all of the cvars containing the characters cg_
cg_gun, cg_gibs, etc etc.

Hey, Marcus here for the morning news. Vanilla Ice is tied up again (either that or he's rocking a mic like a vandal, lighting up a stage and waxing a chump like a candle)...now the judges are still out on the caption contest decision, but I'm just going to have to say snackula's entry really cracked me up, "Steve, the 80's called. They want their hair back."

It's a slow weekend, so enjoy the summer while it's still around--I think I need to play some Q3Test now.

The Exxtreme3D guys have a cute little run down of the evolution of Q3Test.

Firingsquad has posted a set of comparison shots from the pre-release version of Q3Test 1 & 2 maps, and the current ones of today. The older "development" ones have more of and old-school Quake flavor, ya?

The Quake3Arena Bus Tour page has another update with word that there will be an announcement later this afternoon (a surprise) and whoever can guess it by 5pm today will score a Q3 t-shirt courtesy of Anna Kang. Check out the page for the scoop.Also, for you weenies out there who cant figure out strategies in Q3Test of your own, here is a Q3Test2 strategy guide which should help you on your way to manhood.

I am carrying this one over from yesterday since it's such a hot topic.So with the recent news that there most likely won't be any more Q3Test releases until the OEM demo, do you guys feel like Quake3 is going to turn out ok? I mean given we havent seen the BFG or grenade launcher, and the lightning gun is going to change a bit. What about the rest of the game dynamics? There seems to be a number of tweaks left to be made which I'm assuming id will take in to account. The v1.08 code is certainly not a reflection of the final game code, but man do I hope they change a few things. Any "final thoughts" guys? Carry it over to the Q3 messageboard if you're feeling extra saucy.

I open Outlook Express
and what do I see?
Packets of 1 and 0's
the email fairy has left them for me!

/me takes a bow. Anyway, the news well seems to be a bit dry tonight, but a new Q3TStats has been released, including Q3Test 1.08 support. Seeing how you do on servers is pretty freaking cool, so everybody go download this and install it if you have a server. I'll be checking on you.

A little tip from Graeme Devine up there at id Software for those of you who plan to do some freindly fragging. If GameSpy isnt your thang, the Q3Test intenal server browser has filters of its own that you can play with. Here is the quick blurb from our man via Fingershack.com:

BTW. You can search for Q3A Internet Servers using the keywords "ffa", "tourney", "deathmatch", "team" and "tournament" in the Internet game browser screen to only show specific types of maps.

That wacky Redwood guy has word that the Linux Q3Test v1.08 has been quietly slipped out onto the FTPs for you guys to download. Here are the first couple of places to grab it:

q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.rpm (34,435KB): Stomped FTP id Software FTP
q3test-1.08-glibc-2.i386.tar.gz (34,434KB): Stomped FTP id Software FTP

Just as QuakeCon was wrapping up, Steve had posted some information regarding the possibility of a fixed demo playing feature, as well as DieharD's demo being included. Well Blue just received an email from Graeme Devine giving us both bad news and good news, all at the same time:

No there will not be a special update for playing back the QuakeCon levels. We're in pretty much the final push now to get this thing out the door and we've started to make CD images etc. to test out the game, so another test is looking doubtful. I expect the next update will be the full demo, followed in very short order by the game itself.

TechZone posts information on using excess RAM to RAMDisk Q3Test, which only ~65MBs. Buy four 512MB DIMMs and then you can RAMDisk the full thing when it comes out!

Before running more errands yesterday evening I mentioned a possible new release of Q3Test which will fix demo support and include the QuakeCon championship demo. (note: here is a QuakeCon article) Well not much new on that front aside from the fact that all of us demo lovers can only hope. DieharD's shaft work was pretty damn amazing though, you can check out the NetGamesUSA stats page and just wonder about it for now is about it. Also on the topic of big tournaments, the CPL guys have sent out this sneak peek of their next big tourney, outside of Dallas! New York City in fact on Septermber 9th - 12th featuring the finals for a Quake2 female tourney and an official Quake3 tournament.

Well, been running around all evening taking Mr. Quakecon champion DieharD-r3v over to id Software for his tour of the offices. He got to check out the latest build of Quake3 and a bunch of DM maps. Have to head up to the airport in about 15 minutes to drop off DieharD for his trip back to Vancouver. I've got some pretty good news for you guys though. While up at the offices Graeme had the news that they are *possibly* going to release a new Quake3.exe which will fix the demo playback, and more interestingly include the demo of DieharD's QuakeCon championship game. The release isnt for sure just yet, but its a good possibility. I'll try and find out some more for you guys when I return from the airport. Oh yeah, and here is R3V's homepage. Hope you guys can figure out that midi in the background :)

The 'movie trailer' to the Q3Test movie, Quad God, has been released. It's just over 1MB and is in .asf format [download it here], so make sure you have the newest Windows player.

New guys over at 3DWars have pitted up just a handful of recent and not so recent first person shooters, and have compared the most popular according to multiplayer and graphics. What? No Q3Test?!