id's Christian Antkow posted this comment in one of our Return to Castle Wolfenstein stories yesterday, saying that there will be more multiplayer maps coming soon. Good news indeed, as most people really seem to dig the team play.

Heh, actually, Nerve finished a bunch of maps, but some of them didn't make it into the retail release. Plans are currently to release those maps at some point in the not-so-distant-future.

If you like mp_destruction, there is another great map they did named "Trench Toast" that's a blast to play... I'd love to see that map released.

As noted in Christian Antkow's latest .plan update, the Linux binaries for the full version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein are now out. It's a 4.57mb download, and you will need the Windows game for the content.

Todd Hollenshead has a .plan update with word that RTCW should be on shelves by this Friday across Europe. He also mentions that the Mac and Linux ports are coming soon and sooner.

Missed this one the other day and been meaning to mention it. The Gray Matter Studios website is now live. They dont have any word on what they are up to now (Vacation) but they did make that one Wolfenstein game.

So Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released two days ago and people have been able to post their impressions. Although it looks like we dont have anyone here that has finished the game just yet a lot of people have put several hours in to the game. Here's a bunch of the more thought out impressions of the game that appeared yesterday in a stupid looking table format until I can think of something better.

Also, I finally got some time in on the game this morning for a couple of hours in single player mode. So far I'm surprised a bit. From what I saw at the trade shows I was expecting something pretty dumbed down. It's no Half-Life or Max Payne, but I havent gotten bored of it yet which is saying a lot for a single player FPS game.

Composer Bill Brown has released seven music tracks from his Return to Castle Wolfenstein score on his website in streaming Real Media and MP3 form. Bill Brown also composed the music for games like Undying, Rogue Spear and Ghost as well as music for movies like Any Given Sunday.

If you want to cheat in Return to Castle Wolfenstein (wuss), Achtung Wolfenstein has posted instructions on how to enable cheats. Not surprisingly, the cheat codes are still /god, /noclip, /give all and /notarget.

HomeLAN has an interview with Kevin Cloud of id Software talking about RTCW. Discussion is about the game (dur!) and the decision to work with Gray Matter and Nerve Software on bringing the project to life.

So yesterday was the big Return To Castle Wolfenstein release in most US locations. Seems like an appropriate time to do one of those opinion gathering things again. If you've purchased the game and got to play it for a few hours yesterday, what did you think? Did it bring you back to the days of the original Wolfenstein? Is that really important?

Personally I played through the original Wolfenstein sure, simply to see it all. I didnt really get my start in all of this stuff though until the late DOOM days. I'm just looking for a good new game to play but dont share the sentimental attachment to Wolf that I'm sure many people do.

note: Whining about retailers jacking the prices above the $49 MSRP is not the topic here.
note2: I'll pick through the posts here at the end of the day and do the collection of most interesting/insightful ones for tomorrow.

id CEO Todd Hollenshead's updated his .plan file talking about various Return to Castle Wolfenstein related items, such as pricing, paying attention to the enviroment and a tip on how to surive on the highest skill mode

- The suggested retail price, as indicated in Activsion's press release this morning for the regular paper box is US $49.99 and that is what most retailers should be charging. If you're in Canada, the exchange rate comes into play. The Collectors Tin box is priced about $10 higher because it's more expensive to make and comes with the sew-on patch and poster. Duffy tells me that CompUSA in Mesquite has the paper box and they are currently being sold for the SRP of $49.99.

- You should really take some time to take in the surroundings of the game. You can blow through most of it with guns blazing if that's your style (the game allows for it), but you may miss a fair amount of the depth of the game. When you're confronted with a situation, think about the alternative approaches before rushing in and shooting everything and you'll be rewarded. [...]

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan file with a few notes on the Return to Castle Wolfenstein cd-key code. All keys seen floating around the Internet on warez sites and such will be banned, which means they will be useless for those who pirate the game. Also if you're dialup user, you can join the same RCTW server if your connection drops, but otherwise you'll have to wait for the 5 minute timeout on the key lease.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein by Gray Matter Studios will be available as mentioned yesterday on store shelves. Actually at CompUSA , Best Buy , EB (USA) , Gamestop , EB (Canada) according to Mr. Hollenshead.. You can check out the official website for more info.

If you're some kinda wacko and already picked up a copy and got to play the game some, feel free to share some first impressions. update: In case there was any doubt about demo plans changing, I emailed Todd Hollenshead about a single player demo. here's his response:

We plan on releasing a full demo (SP+MP), but don't have a specific time frame yet.  Right now, the GMI and Nerve guys are taking a well-earned break for Thanksgiving.

Wolfenstein Extreme is the lucky recipient of two new Return to Castle Wolfenstein wallpapers, created by Gray Matter artist Corky Lehmkuhl. One of the wallpapers shows B.J. with an American flag backdrop, the other shows shows a few of the game's enemies. Again these wallpapers are available in 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024.

id's Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan file with a list of stores which should have the Tin edition pre-orders of Return to Castle Wolfenstein tomorrow, along with a few Tin editions for those who didn't preorder. Todd also mentions the Prima strategy guide should be out on Friday.

According to my sources at Activision, the following stores will have the game available tomorrow, Tuesday November 20:

CompUSA
Best Buy
EB (USA)
Gamestop
EB (Canada)

The Australian Gamespot has posted an interview with Todd Hollenshead, talking to the id Software CEO about various id related topics. Of course, most of the Q&A focuses on Return to Castle Wolfenstein but there are also questions about pay for play games, the new DOOM game, piracy and more. Thanks Erik.

The guys at Wolfenstein Center have got some shaky-cam footage of the Return To Wolfenstein intro cinematic which was shown at the recent Australian GDC event. It starts back in 943AD and features a battle between a mysterious and powerful monk and Heinrich the pre-Christian Saxon prince, it then it jumps to 1943 the time period of BJ's adventures in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and that's where the game should begin.

NVidia's Castle Wolfenstein page contains a brief Q&A with id CEO Todd Hollenshead. There are Q&As on how closely the story of the new game relates to the original, the improvement in technology, enhancements to the Quake 3 engine, the relationship between id Software, Gray Matter and Nerve Software, the detail of the characters, and tips for BJ Blazkowicz.

The third Penny Arcade Return to Castle Wolfenstein tip comic is up at the official website for the game. This time the tip is about being an effective medic.

Carried over from last night ... Activision's Caryn Law sent over word that Gray Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein has GONE GOLD. The game will hit stores November 21st (20th for a few selected retailers). If you haven't yet, you can try the multiplayer demo, and a single player demo is on the way though there's no date for that as of yet. To celebrate the gold status of the game, Gray Matter's Corky Lehmkuhl created this image (241kb).

id CEO Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan file thanking all the teams involved, and has some release info the Mac and Linux versions, and for us Europeans, with a little something for the Germans among us specifically

It looks like people will actually be able to pick up copies early next week in many places and after Thanksgiving most everywhere in the U.S. The international versions will follow very shortly behind due to increased manufacturing time and shipping logistics, but I'm guessing there will be world-wide availabilty by the first of December.

No date yet on the Mac version, but it's coming soon (not gold yet, though). We don't have plans to sell Linux in retail, but Timothee has done great work on the downloadable binaries so far, and I expect that to continue.

**Special note to our German fans: buy as soon as they come out and avoid the "rush" ;-) I know you guys know what I mean...

Nerve Software's Joe Waters updated his .plan file, where he talks about the Wolfenstein multiplayer test 2. Some things changed since test 1, and people who think mouse code was altered, might want to check their mouse sensitivity settings. Apparently there are also some graphics problems, such as the game turning off dynamic lights, and enabling trilinear filtering which might be a bit much for some cards. Turning back on dynamic lights is a good thing, as is going back to bilinear filtering.