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Matrox Parhelia Reef Demo – The Best DirectX 8 Benchmark Ever?
Dungeon Siege Tweaking Guide
 
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Midnight Club 2: XBOX
Inside Pitch 2003: XBOX
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
EverGlide MousePad


 

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  Saturday, Jun 1, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
D&D on your GBA
- Posted 11:16 AM By WaRMaN
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The classic role playing game Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder is being brought to the Game Boy Advance system by Infogrames this fall. Based on the third edition of the widely popular Dungeons and Dragons game published by Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder will deliver an authentic D&D experience for fans and non-fans alike.

"More than 3 million enthusiasts play the Dungeons & Dragons pen and paper game at least once a month and Infogrames believes this will translate into a successful launch on Game Boy Advance," said Jeff Sehring, senior marketing manager at Infogrames' Minneapolis studio. "We are extremely pleased to have an opportunity to introduce Game Boy Advance's younger demographic to Dungeons & Dragons and we are confident this audience is ready and waiting to play the classic game their siblings grew up on."

Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder, being developed by Pronto Games, will recreate the Dungeons & Dragons universe in stunning style. With immersive first-person exploration and strategic, turn-based party combat, Eye of the Beholder reintroduces the elements that made the original Forgotten Realms adventures an overwhelming success.
Source: Infogrames
 

Test Drive on your Console
- Posted 11:38 AM By WaRMaN
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Infogrames announced that Test Drive is now available for PlayStation2 and is shipping soon for the Xbox. The game’s stunning visuals and arcade handling are complemented by the new story mode to ensure a power-packed ride.

Featuring more than 20 beautifully modeled licensed sports cars and a blockbuster soundtrack of thumping driving music from DMX, Ja Rule, Saliva and others, Test Drive promises to outshine, outwax and outrace the competition.

"Powerful exotic racers and muscle cars, ruthless opponent AI and huge crashes make Test Drive the new measuring stick for console arcade racers," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior vice president and general manager of Infogrames’ Los Angeles studio. "Not only is the game visually spectacular, it throws the player into the driver’s seat of the most prized custom vehicles in the world and sets them loose to wreak havoc on the streets of the world."

Test Drive challenges players to compete in an illegal street racing league by facing off against opponents as well as the local police, who pursue the wreckless racers as they careen through the streets avoiding pedestrians, traffic signals and oncoming traffic.
Source: Infogrames
 

  Sunday, Jun 2, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
OSP for RTCW
- Posted 3:52 AM By WaRMaN
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Orange Smoothie Productions has released version 0.2 for Return to Castle Wolfenstien. Features include:
- Enhanced match mode play, utilizing player "ready-up" to force synchronized matches (all modes of play).
- Extensive in-game player and match statistics.
- Advanced and configurable voting system.
- Remote admin ("Referee") capabilities with many commands
available to control the match and players.
- Configurable client-side modifications that allow for extra visual
settings.
- Ability for teams to "lock out" spectators to prevent giving
away strategy and cheating posibilities with Internet voice
communication mechanisms.
- Game "timeouts" for match play that allow for a pause in the
action (i.e. a lagged/crashed player).
- Enhanced UI with additional "tooltip" help information on added OSP
options.
- Enhanced latency support for laggier network connections.

osp-wolf-0.2.zip
 

  Monday, Jun 3, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
HL 1.1.1.0 Change-List
- Posted 12:21 AM By Curve
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Are you ready for some HL/CS Changelist goodies?!?!?!?! I KNOW YOU ARE!!! Get a jolt cola and get PSYCHED! Coming at ya:
Changes/Additions:
------------------
» Ricochet included in this release.
» Added logging of the anti-cheat system catching and kicking detected cheats.
» Added logging of "kick" commands.
» Added logging of "banid" commands.
» Changed error message if clients try to download missing resources to be more helpful.
» Added new debug message for mod makers if a packet couldn't be parsed correctly.
» Linux: hlds_run now does auto-restart by default (to disable: define "-norestart" on the command line)
» Linux: hlds_run uses "exec" when you define the "-norestart" option.
» Linux: Added -pingboost command line parameter. Currently supports three different methods ('-pingboost 1', '-pingboost 2', and 'pingboost 3'). These may not work well (or at all) on some OS environments.
» Linux: Added "-debug" flag to hlds_run to automatically run gdb and pull out useful info.

New CVARS:
----------
» Added "serverversion", can be set to '1108' to view/re-record old demos.
» Added "sv_logbans" to turn the logging of player bans on and off. Default is 0 (off).

Bug Fixes:
----------
» Fixed incorrect WonID logging.
» Fixed sv_allowdownload being required to be set to 1 for clients to connect to secure servers.
» Fixed 'bad address type' fatal error on servers that attempt to run in secure mode but have no DNS resolution.
» Fixed DropClient messages for Steam clients who were banned or have a duplicate Steam ID to properly show the SteamID of the client.
» Fixed HLTV reporting wrong spectator numbers if connection to server was pending.
» Fixed "multicast 1" not working if it was issued before HLTV connected to game server.
» Fixed relay proxies reporting wrong spectator/slots numbers in
multiplayer/LAN menu.
» Fixed DMC powerup bug where the invisibility ring would make people glow red.
» Fixed rcon bug in HLTV.
» Fixed delay being reset to default value during changelevel.
» Fixed a problem with propagating HLTV banners.
» Fixed client freeze on exit.
» Fixed framerate problem on some ATI video cards.
» Fixed MaxPing filter not being saved correctly.
» Fixed sky box bug.
» Linux: Fixed server using 64 MB more memory than it needed to.
» Linux: Fixed 'undefined symbol: __strtouq_internal' on some Linux systems.
» Linux: Fixed segmentation fault on some Linux systems when attempting to run in secure mode
I know what your next question is, "So, Curve, umm, wtf?". Well here's the answer. Looks like we are looking at the 12th of June for a release date while the Valve team work out some bugs. Many of the features you see are the same things you have already seen in beta builds, but there's also so much more! Gonna be good, and I am Curve.
Source: CSNation
 
DirectX 9
- Posted 12:30 AM By Curve
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It seems as though DirectX has taken it up a version. Oh they aren't afraid, they show no fear when it comes to next versions. But seriously, this next version will take things up a notch. Look forward to seeing features that boost performance and visual goodiness for newer video cards. Here's a read from the article:
DirectX 9 includes many other features as well. Some, like displacement map support and tessellation of surfaces, were announced with the upcoming 3Dlabs and Matrox chips. Others, such as version 2.0 specs for vertex and pixel shaders and real-time animation blending, haven't yet been revealed in detail. There are also additions outside of Direct3D, the part of DirectX that many games use for 3D graphics support. Most notably, DirectMusic has seen some improvements for low-latency playback, there's more support for hardware video acceleration, and DirectPlay networking has been enhanced and ported to work on PocketPC 2002 handhelds. The most wide-ranging changes to Direct X traditionally happen with the even-numbered versions, so it's somewhat surprising to see even this many enhancements in DirectX 9.
This bad boy has just been released to beta testers so it'll be some time till Curvey and Co. can get their hands on it, but oh the yumminess. Check out the full article here.
Source: GameSpot
 
Morrowind Plugins
- Posted 12:35 AM By Curve
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Does Morrowind, the recently released, amazing graphically intensive RPG from Bethesda tickle your pickle? It does? You sick monkey! Well here's a little somethign something for you, Bethesda has released 2 "official" plugins for your installing enjoyment. Guys it doesn't get any easier, it's as simple as point and click. Here's a bit:
Game publisher Bethesda has announced the release of two new official plug-ins for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, its popular fantasy role-playing game. The first plug-in, Area Effect Arrows, adds new specialty arrows that can be obtained from a specific fletcher character in the game. The second plug-in, Bitter Coast Sounds, adds new dragonfly creatures and sound effects to the game. In order to use the new add-ons, the .zip files must be unzipped into the data files directory. Players can then load the game with the different plug-ins selected. Bethesda plans to release additional official plug-ins in the coming months.
And am I just an idiot or is June spelled with an 'e'? Squirre1 is probably just too cool for school and left the 'e' off cause he's a rebel. He is you know. A rebel.
Source: GameSpot (of course)
 
Front Line Force In The News
- Posted 12:46 AM By Curve
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For those who follow one of the 4 very popular HL mods, you will know Front Line Force has stayed up with the game. They are looking for a July release of their version 1.7 and hope to pump 2.0 (which is of course a whole new FLF) sometime after. It seems as though the maker of FLF has been hitting the "I'm depressed pills". Here's a little tiddy bitty from PHL's website:
After some thinking (and some pubbing) I've made some decisions regarding FLF's release schedule for the future.

First off, there will be another version released before 2.0

This version (1.7) will SLIGHTLY weaken the HK21 (not like in the betas, think between 1.6 and 1.5)

I've come to the conclusion that the weapon is imbalanced, but it's not enough of a problem to patch immediately.

Which brings me to my next point, 1.7 will probobly be released at the beggining of July, possibly a week into July.

I've decided to do this because, as mentioned above, I don't believe the weapon imbalance is serious enough to cause immediate damage to the mod (aka auto shotgun and suppressive fire)..additionally, a German game magazine is putting 1.6 on their June 19th issue, and I'd like people who purchase it to be able to play.

After 1.7, the next version of FLF will be 2.0.

2.0 will be a major overhaul/facelift of FLF. We have several new weapons planned, a new class, new VGUI's, the works. (More specifics later)

Finally (and I don't want this to sound ominous, because it's not) I most likely wont be the person doing the majority of work on 2.0

It's been a wild ride, and I've enjoyed every second, but I think the time is coming for me to pass on the reins to someone else.

I'll have less free time come the end of summer, and I have several personal projects I want to pursue - it wouldn't be fair to try and juggle FLF and everything else - nothing would get enough time.

Having said that, rest assured that I'll continue working on FLF (1.7 and 2.0 design/code) until I find a suitable replacement

Once I find someone, I'll hand over the 2.0 work I've done and let them at it. I wont be completely gone, I love to play FLF and I'll certainly take a backseat/managerial role in overseeing 2.0's development.
In other news it seems some game publishers don't care anymore ;). I mean, just make a text game. I'm bad.
Source: PHL
 
  Tuesday, Jun 4, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
NVIDIA and AMD to Partner
- Posted 2:29 PM By WaRMaN
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Here is a snip of the partnering story on NVIDIA's site:

NVIDIA announced that the Company's core products, including the NVIDIA nForce Platform Processors and GeForce Graphics Processing Units, will take full advantage of the unique technologies integrated into AMD's next-generation Opteron processor and eighth-generation Athlon architectures. The AMD Opteron processor architecture will deliver a world-class computing experience for commercial and consumer users with a host of new innovations including an integrated memory controller and HyperTransport data bus technology. NVIDIA has both 32-bit and 64-bit software drivers in development that will leverage the power of the 64-bit AMD Opteron and Athlon processors upon their release in the market, and will introduce a new line of nForce- based core-logic chipsets for the AMD Opteron processor architecture later this year.

"As the leader in graphics and platform processing solutions, we are excited about new high performance 64-bit and 32-bit X86 architectures that excel in professional and consumer applications," stated Dan Vivoli, vice president of marketing at NVIDIA. "By combining AMD's forthcoming processors with NVIDIA's graphics, audio, networking and streaming technologies, NVIDIA can deliver the fastest, most feature-rich, multimedia and networking experiences for both the consumer and commercial desktop PC markets."

Intel and ATI still own you :P
Source: NVIDIA
 
Custom CS Models
- Posted 3:10 PM By Anthos
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With all the new changes going on in the CS community, some of you may be wondering about custom models. Here's what Eric Smith had to say about them, in response to a question:
Can someone please Confirm or at least clear up for me the issue of Custom Models. I know a lot of our regs just downloaded and installed the new FUSION 7.0 pack for CS. I would like to know if this is a problem so I can spread the word in our community.
Thanks
_dave

As long as the models pass the normal consistency checks done by Counter-Strike, they should be fine. This hasn't changed.

-Eric
So, there ya go. Just make sure that you can join a regular server (they all have consistency checks). Have fun with all your custom goodness.
Source: GameSpyDaily
 
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Screenshots
- Posted 3:33 PM By Anthos
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New screenshots available from Konami. Click on the source button below to go have a look see. For more info on the whole game, give your mouse a work out right here. You can also go to the MGS2 website for information on the original game, if you are not familiar with it.
Source: GameSpot
 
Blood Rayne
- Posted 3:45 PM By Anthos
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Here's a little bit of info from PC Games, regarding the new vampiristic game from Majesco and Terminal Reality.
As a hampire (half human, half vampire) working for the government in the 30's, it's your job to stop the Nazis from taking over the world through occult means. How the heck is one "person" supposed to stop an army of disgruntled Germans and a slew of nasty monsters? Well, like Blade, you can kick some serious booty. Armed with nasty blades and guns picked off of fallen enemies, BloodRayne decapitates, dismembers, bludgeons, and eviscerates all in her path.

What's slightly weird about the game's premise is that this totally slick-looking vamp chick, who exudes Lara Croft-like 1990s modernity, but lives in the 1930s and fights Nazis. Hmm... The backstory is a work of fiction, however, that fits right into videogame plausibility, i.e., anything that sounds good goes. Employed with a secret fraternity targeted on destroying supernatural threats, agent BloodRayne must seek out and then take out a powerful Nazi, Jurgen Wulf, whose plans are much larger than BloodRayne even knows. Naturally, Wulf is well protected by hordes of Nazis, and behind these grunt Nazis is an elite group of far more lethal super evil Nazis.
So, there ya go. Lots more info available in the preview. Also available, is their ever-present media page.
 
Xbox Security Defeated
- Posted 5:07 PM By tmmicklabs
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A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims to have found a way to circumvent the security system for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video game console. Given the particular encryption algorithm that was used and the decryption key, both of which Huang has identified, "one can run original code on the Xbox," he said, meaning it would be possible to run things like unauthorized games and other operating systems on the console. This is great news. The X-Box could become the ultimate tool for Console Emulation. You can view the entire artile by clicking here!!
Read More...
Source: Extreme Tech
 
  Wednesday, Jun 5, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
New Benchmark For Laptop's
- Posted 6:28 AM By tmmicklabs
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The guys over at Madonion, makers of the well known 3dMark 2001 benchmark, have released MobileMark 2002. This is a benchmark designed to test the performance and battery life of Laptop PC's. Nothing gets me more exicted than a new benchmark boys and girls. Too bad I can't afford a decent laptop to run the benchmark with =-( Click here for the official press release.
 
Hi-Res UT2003 Screenshots
- Posted 10:41 AM By tmmicklabs
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Voodoo Extreme has some new Hi-Res Unreal Tournament 2003 screen shots up today. This game looks like it's gonna bring every PC game out there to it's knees. Click here to see what I am talking about.
Source: Voodoo Extreme
 
Mobile Gaming At Desktop Speeds
- Posted 11:05 AM By tmmicklabs
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Ever wanted to play Quake 3 while sitting on the loo ? Now you can. The lucky guys at HotHardware have gotten there hands on a new Dell Insperion 8200 laptop that has the new Geforce 4 Go chipset. I gotta get me one of these bad mothers. Click here to check out their review.
 
Seagate to Make Your Gadgets Cheaper
- Posted 11:23 AM By WaRMaN
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Seagate, the worlds leading hard drive supplier, unveiled U Series X, the first hard drive designed specifically for cost-sensitive applications that require reliability, silent operation and sufficient capacity. This effects applications such as the Xbox, audio jukeboxes, copiers, retail point-of-sale systems and low-cost PCs. The drive features just one read/write head and a 25 percent thinner profile. It boasts low cost, fast performance and rugged durability. This all means better performing products at a lower price.
 
New Screens for The Art of Conquest
- Posted 12:43 PM By Anthos
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If you haven't heard of it, The Art of Conquest is the latest chapter in Sierra's success story with Empire Earth. With this add-on, you will see three new single player campaigns, as well as a new epoch, all by the end of this year. Click here to get started with GameSpot's four new screenshots.
 
WW1 in 1964
- Posted 1:05 PM By Anthos
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Ironstorm is a new war game in development that differs slightly from the real life version of World War One. Here's a snip:
This atrocious war began in August 1914. It is now March 1964 and, believe it or not, it is still being waged… I was born in a bombed-out bunker and, though I have never known my parents, I know only too well this crazed humanity, which, for the last 50 years, has only been concerned with slaughtering itself…
You will need Flash player to view the website, which has five different language versions. So, if English isn't your cup of tea, you should be able to find one you like. Their website is chock full of information, so you can spend quite a bit of time there, checking out the story, several screenshots and one awesome trailer in Quicktime format.
Source: Blue's News
 
Gothic II E3 Teaser Available
- Posted 1:24 PM By Anthos
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The hi-res version of this teaser is a hefty download, weighing in at 100MB in a .zip file. Trust me though, if you download it, you will NOT be disappointed. The actual movie is in .avi format so your default Windows Media Player will be able to play it. Please, please, please view this in full screen. What you will see is quite simply amazing. Plenty of pretty graphics to look at, showing some in-game footage, as well. For those of you who thought Dungeon Siege was good looking, prepare to be blown away.
Source: Blue's News
 
Tom Wears The Daddy Pants
- Posted 1:44 PM By tmmicklabs
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Tom's Hardware recently posted a great article. He took thirty video cards, ranging from the TNT2 to the Geforce 4, and ran the gammut of modern benchmarks on them. It's amazing to see how far video card performance has come in the last three years. Click here for the goods.
 
  Thursday, Jun 6, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
Raven Software is Hiring
- Posted 1:03 AM By Anthos
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So, if you are willing to move to Madison, WI, and begin work immediately, this is the job for you! Here's some of what they are looking for:
Raven Software is looking for talented individuals to work on AAA-quality next generation console and PC titles. Applicants must have a strong background in gaming, with experience in a 3D modeling or animation package, preferably Lightwave, Maya, or 3DS Max. Along with a strong artistic side, experience with QERadiant and programming / technical expertise is a large plus.

We're also looking for people that know the ins and outs of QERadiant and Quake 3. Technical expertise and experience with Lightwave, Maya, or 3DS Max will be beneficial to this position.
This should be pretty good for anyone that is skilled with the Quake3 engine. If you get hired after reading this, drop us a note in our forums and let us know. That would seriously rock. Oh, and get the full scoop right here.
Source: GameSpyDaily
 
Strong showing by GTA 3
- Posted 1:11 AM By Anthos
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Grand Theft Auto III debuted at number three in the list of best-selling games for the week of May 19-25, 2002. While The Sims: Vacation and JK2 still clutch the top two spots, this result certainly bodes well for the game's success. Especially considering it didn't even get a whole week of selling in. You can take a look at GameSpot's top ten list (retail sales) for the week by going here. Also recently released and selling well is Activision's sequel to its popular shooter, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix.
 
Purge Online
- Posted 2:04 AM By Anthos
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Here's a game that is combining RPG elements with FPS elements of computer games. Or, in their words:
Purge is an online-only computer game. It is a hybrid Role-Playing-Game / First-Person-Shooter set in the near future accounting a war between the diametrically opposed forces of science-fiction (the Order) and fantasy (the Chosen). Technology versus magic. Science versus religion. Purge is being developed by Freeform Interactive LLC and utilizes the LithTech Talon system.
Several screenshots, a forum page, application to closed beta testing and lots more, right here.
Source: GameSpyDaily
 
Benchmarks That Will Make Your Pc Cry
- Posted 7:54 AM By tmmicklabs
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Here is some benchmarks for those of you out there that think you have a fast pc. Very nice eye candy if you have a Geforce 3, 4, or Radeon 8500. Good luck.

Click here for 3dmark 2001 SE.

Click here for the Codecreatures benchmark pro.

Click here for the Commanche 4 benchmark.

Click here for the Dungeon Siege Benchmark.

Please post your system specs and results in the comments section.
 
AvP2 Update
- Posted 8:33 AM By Kagato
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For those of you still playing Monolith's Aliens Vs. Predator 2, then you'll be happy to know they have released a new Patch (v1.0.9.6). Weinghing in at 7MB, this update includes a the lowering of a couple of ammo limits, a multitude of change and improvements to multiplayer, and adds new mod support options. You can download the English update directly from Sierra's ftp server right here. Grab it and head back in there soldier!
 
DoA : Xtreme Beach Volleyball Pictures
- Posted 8:44 AM By Kagato
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Just by looking at some of the screenshots, you can easily tell which age group Tecmo is gearing this new Xbox title towards. Titled "Dead or Alive : Xtreme Beach Volleyball", the game presents you the player with the ability to choose some of your favorite DoA babes and pit them against others in a game of Volleyball. Fear not, for if you grow tired of your character wearing a one-piece bathing suit, you can actually go and buy a new outfit, huba huba! Check out all the tantalizing screenshots of this upcoming title, scheduled for a release sometime in Fall 2002. Pictures hosted via courtesy of MagicBox.
 
Tribes 2 Beta Patch
- Posted 8:52 AM By Kagato
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Though I still find the first installment of Tribes funner than the second (Tribes 2 was just aiming for too many ideas IMHO), it's still fun to kick back and play a few rounds of a this great team-based game and take a break from fragfest (Q3). The good news is that the wonderful folks at GarageGames (with support from others in the "community") have released a new Beta Patch for Tribes 2. There are WAY too many updates to list them all here, so be sure to check out their updates page to see them all. NOTE: You will need to be running version 2.4.8.3.4 (most current version) of Tribes 2 to install this update.
 
Soul Caliber 2 Screenshots
- Posted 9:28 AM By tmmicklabs
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Very nice eye candy. I was playing the original game on my Sega Dreamcast the other day and it still looks great. Soul Caliber 2 is on schedule to be released on the PS2, Gamecube and X-box simultaneously sometime next year. Click here for the juice.
Source: Gamers.com
 
ATI Readies Nvidia Killer
- Posted 9:49 AM By tmmicklabs
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ATI is getting ready to drop the bomb on Nvidia. The Inquirer has posted the specs of Ati's R300 which is on schedule to be released this fall. Click here to check out the article.
Source: The Inquirer
 
Endgame Brings Light-Guns Back in Action
- Posted 12:15 PM By WaRMaN
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Remember the day that the NES 8 bit console was released? You could get it with the optional light gun pack that was used with the game Duck Hunt. That was the coolest thing back then. Now there is a new light gun shooter. Endgame, developed by Cunning Developments for the PS2 is now available in stores. What separates this title from others in its genre is an in-depth story line, fast-paced action and multiplayer capability.

"We’re excited about our first release in the light-gun category to fill the void in the market." Jimmy Lamorticelli, General Manager, Empire Interactive NA. "We want the consumers to be thrilled about another game that they can pick up (or purchase) their light-guns once more."
Read More...
 
Weekly Console Sales Figures
- Posted 2:18 PM By tmmicklabs
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Planet Xbox has the details on this weeks consoles sales in Japan. Price cuts have helped improve sales of the Xbox over two weeks ago.
Sales for week ending June 2, 2002:

  • PlayStation 2: 60,000 (Annual: 1,765,300)
  • Game Boy Advance: 36,200 (Annual: 1,223,900)
  • PSOne: 7,900 (Annual: 122,700)
  • Xbox: 5,700 (Annual: 199,400)
  • GameCube: 5,400 (Annual: 568,700)
  • Game Boy Color: 2,200 (Annual: 52,600)
  • Wonder Swan Color: 1,700 (Annual: 85,300)
  • Looks like X-box and Gamecube are picking up some steam from the recent price drop.
    Source: Planet X-Box
     
    Nvidia Detonator 5 Due Soon?
    - Posted 3:01 PM By Kagato
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    An interesting little story brought to you buy the folks over at the inquirer. Apparently Nvidia is poised to soon be releasing their Detonator 5 series of drivers for their video adapters. Besides it being the next step in their evolution of drivers, there's news of new performance tweaks:
    We got a nice explanation from nVidia here in Taipei, that Anisotropic performance in 28.32 and previous Geforce 4 drivers where not as fast as you might expect because the Nvidia driver team focused on FSAA performance first, since they accepted that as a priority. After that they started to work on improving Anisotrotropic performance, I'm told.

    You'll enjoy this driver. It's unusual that you get something extra from a new driver, mostly they're just for bug fixes and the like.
    I imagine some of this falls on the heals of news of ATi's upcoming chipsets and Nvidia is wanting to squeeze out every extra bit of strength they can with their current line of cards.
     
    Gothic II Screenies
    - Posted 3:49 PM By Curve
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    In some follow up news to Anthos' post on the E3 video featuring Piranha Bytes sequel to Gothic, Gothic II, here are some pictures that show the amazingness that will be Gothic II.

    If you are not so hip as to what Gothic II is or what even Gothic is, be sure to check out their site and buy the original.
    Source: GameSpot
     
      Friday, Jun 7, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    First Benchmarks Of The AMD Clawhammer CPU
    - Posted 6:22 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Looks like the lucky guys at Tec Channel have gotten their hands on a early sample of AMD's new Clawhammer CPU. This bad boy was only running at 800mhz and had around a 1% performance lead on a P-4 at 1.6ghz in the Quake 3 Arena test. This is amazing. Faster than the P-4 at half the clock rate. This really shows how inefficient the floating point pipeline of the P-4 is. Click here to read the article.
    Source: Tec Channel
     
    Controversial Windows XP Patch Released To Beta Testers
    - Posted 6:44 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Beta News has a news story about the release of a beta version of the upcoming Windows XP Service Release 1. This patch will not only address some of the security issues and other bugs that typically exist in any new OS release, but will also deal with some of the fallout from the government Anti-Trust trial. For example, removal of certain elements like Media Player and Windows Messenger will now be possible. Also, some new features will be added, including support for Tablet PC's. The release is tentatively scheduled for late Summer of this year. I'm gonna stay away from this patch like the plague. Click here to read the article.
    Source: Beta News
     
    New Leaked Radeon Drivers (6093)
    - Posted 7:09 AM By tmmicklabs
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    The guys over at Warp2search are hosting the new leaked Ati Radeon drivers. It's good to see the Ati has gotten thier act together. Nothing gets me more excited than a new set of drivers to play with. Click here to download the drivers. Happy benchmarking.
    Source: Warp2search
     
    1.8GHz Athlon XP 2200+ Next Monday
    - Posted 7:31 AM By tmmicklabs
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    AMD will introduce its newest desktop PC processor, the 1.8GHz Athlon XP 2200+, next Monday, sources say. The new chip, AMD's highest-performance desktop chip to date, gains nearly 70MHz over its predecessor, the Athlon XP 2100+.
    Source: AMD
     
    Online Game Market Set To Grow According To 'DFC Report'
    - Posted 7:44 AM By tmmicklabs
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    A new research report from DFC Intelligence forecasts that 114 million people worldwide are expected to be playing online games by the year 2006. Furthermore, online game usage is expected to increase nearly six-fold in that period. According to David Cole, president of DFC Intelligence, "Online games should garner significant usage over the next few years. The major question mark is whether individual companies will be able to monetize that usage."
    Further details about the report can be found here.
    Source: DFC Intelligence
     
    mIRC 6.02 Released
    - Posted 8:50 AM By Kagato
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    For those about to IRC, we salute you! Users of the ever-popular mIRC application should be thrilled to know that there is a new version for your downloading pleasures, bringing it up to version 6.02. You can choose your download location here. For all things new in this release, head on over to update page as there are to many fixes/additions to list here. Happy IRCing.
     
    MSN Messenger Multiple Instances Fix
    - Posted 8:54 AM By Kagato
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    For those of you choosing to use Microsoft's MSN Messenger for their Instant Messaging needs and find that it'd be helpful to be able to log into multiple accounts at once, then head on over to Heavy K's Hideout as he's got a new version of his hack to allow just that. *NOTE* You will need the newest version of MSN Messsenger (4.7.0031 - that's the one that has been ripped/leaked from the XP SP1 beta update) in order for this to work. Not running the newest version? No worries, as he also still has links to hacks for those running the older versions as well.
     
    Asheron's Call 2 Interview
    - Posted 2:22 PM By Anthos
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    Looks mighty interesting. Hopefully when this comes out, they won't make the same launch mistake as the last one and turn many people away from the game. Here's a little bit from the interview:
    RPGDot: How many face models are there for each race (not counting the hair)?

    Judith: We have six or seven face models for each race, each one of which can be modified by choosing among dozens of styles of hair, beards, etc. The total number of appearances a player can generate goes into the hundreds.


    RPGDot: Are there NPCs to interact with? If so, how varied are they?

    Judith: AC2 is revolutionary in that there are no true NPCs in the game. Since the game world has recently been devastated and has only recently recovered enough to support adventurers again, there is no place for NPCs to come from! Players will explore, fight, build, and quest by working together and gathering clues from rediscovered relics, talkative monsters, and many other sources that you'll have to see to believe.

    RPGDot: How smart are the mobs (mobile objects, aka monsters)? I mean, if I keep showing up at their daycare center, luring single young monsters away to a nasty death, can I do this forever, or do they eventually take action? Is the mobs behavior static, or is there a psuedo random component? By this I mean, if I shoot a mob with an arrow, A) It always chases directly at me, back to the waiting hoards for slaughter, or B) 70% give chase, 20% attempt to use an evasive maneuver, and 10% run for help?

    Judith: The monsters in AC2 are far more intelligent, and dangerous, than the ones in AC1. Creatures will have the capacity to respond to threats based off of their level, race, and method of attack. In addition, there will be different variations of existing creatures. Here's an example: The Scowl Drudge you see running at you may not be the brightest creature in the cave, but when its leader, the Murk Drudge is around, watch out. Things could get hairy when it shows up, orienting all of the Scowl drudges to attack your weakest member. Consider yourself warned. Dereth is full of wonders.
    So, to read more, click right here. There are also a few screenshots for you to take a peek at.
    Source: Blue's Clues
     
    Delta Green Screenshots
    - Posted 2:27 PM By Anthos
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    18 brand-spanking new screnshots available right here from GameSpyDaily.Here's what it is:
    Delta Green is based on Pagan Publishing's award-winning series of tabletop role-playing games, novels, and shared-world fiction anthologies with an international following. Inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft and lavishly detailed with up-to-date government and military agencies -- both real and rumored -- Delta Green posits an underworld of secrets in which conspirators manipulate the federal bureaucracy to keep the darkness of cosmic evil at bay for one more day.

    The game features both strategic and tactical play, in which you build your conspiracy, solve mysteries, and fight alien horrors in real-time small-unit combat. The Seattle design studio, Flying Lab Software, is collaborating with Delta Green creators Dennis Detwiller, Scott Glancy, and John Tynes to develop the game for a 2003 release.
    Here's where you can read about it.
     
    John Mullins Interview (SoF)
    - Posted 11:20 PM By Anthos
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    Here's a bit of what's in it:
    John talks about his own origins as he rose from simple farmer to the heights of videogame stardom. Along the way, he's had many other jobs: paratrooper, Green Beret, A-team leader, military advisor to the Saudi Arabian government.
    You can download it (yes, download, it's a Quicktime video) here. If you wanna read what else PC Games had to say, you can jump over here.
     
    QuakeCon Tourneys
    - Posted 11:25 PM By Anthos
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    If you think you're good at Quake III or RTCW, then QuakeCon 2002 is the place for you to be.
    The upcoming QuakeCon 2002 action game convention will host two tournaments featuring a total of more than $100,000 in cash prizes. The tournaments, both sponsored by ATI, include a Return to Castle Wolfenstein team tournament and a Quake III Arena deathmatch tournament.
    For more details, you can visit GameSpot's article, or for the full scoop go directly to the main source.
     
    UT2003 Demo? You'll just have to wait.
    - Posted 11:29 PM By Anthos
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    Here's the scoop from GameSpot:
    Infogrames has confirmed that the playable demo for Unreal Tournament 2003, its upcoming first-person shooter, is at least a week from release and possibly two or three weeks away. No official release date for the demo was given, although developer Epic Games has stated that more information will be released when the demo is approximately a week from release. The full version of Unreal Tournament 2003 is scheduled for release this summer, and online retailers are estimating that it will be available in July or August.
    If you haven't taken a look at the game yet, be sure to check out the official website.
     
    Max Payne 2, how much is it worth?
    - Posted 11:36 PM By Anthos
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    Well, Take-Two Interactive thinks it's worth about $8 million. That's how much they're willing to give in incentive payments to Apogee Software and Remedy Entertainment for the development of the sequel to last year's hit game. For those of you using Macs (Lord help you), you're in luck this time. There is a Macintosh version in development, as well. For more info, you can check out GameSpot's article.
     
    MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
    - Posted 11:45 PM By Anthos
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    Here's an excerpt from the three-page write-up:
    Don't worry about getting stuck out on some bumfudge planet on the outer reaches of the Mullet System playing the same search and destroy missions over and over and over again. Mercenaries features a completely dynamic campaign, so you're never locked into a set series of missions. New planets will open up multiple missions, so you'll never be at a loss for something to do. Even if a certain mission is particularly difficult and you're too low on C-bills to jump to the system you, you can just opt to complete one of the easier missions on the planet you're on and earn some cash.
    So, if you enjoyed the previous games, be sure to take a look at the newest one coming out. Also, it will be a completely stand-alone game, so you won't need anything else to install it. You can also look at the little bit of info that is available from Microsoft.
    Source: Blue's News
     
      Saturday, Jun 8, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Operation Summer and Fall Release
    - Posted 11:20 AM By WaRMaN
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    Infogrames has anounced the future release of three "Operation" series games. Operation Blockade is the title that started it all. Most games in this genre are highly sophisticated and take hours to master. Operation series games only take minutes to master, and still manage to provide hours of entertainment. Games available soon:
  • Operation Tiger Hunt
  • Operation War Pacific
  • Operation Steel Tide
  • The part I like most is the $19.99 price tag.
     
    Challenge Pro Mode Arena 99x1
    - Posted 11:45 AM By WaRMaN
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    With the new release of CPMA 99x1 for Q3A, comes changes to this fast paced hard hitting MOD. Fixed:
  • chg: the "low" ammo point for SG is 5 rather than 10
  • chg: enabled armoursystem vote in CQ3
  • chg: cg_shadows 2 and 3 removed - too buggy and cheaty (both project through walls etc)
  • chg: stepup events optimized
  • chg: improved client prediction during djumps - CPM3 lower rl is easiest place to see the difference
  • chg: popsicles refreeze over time if abandoned mid-thaw same rate as for thawing, i.e. if you thaw for 2 secs then leave for 1 sec, there's 2 secs left
  • If you haven't played Quake 3 with the physics that CPMA offers, then I must say that this is a mandatory download!
     
    Xbox Does The DivX ;)
    - Posted 4:58 PM By Kagato
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    Xbox owners who have braved adding one of the new Xtender Mod Chips to their machine apparently have a new method to play DivX encoded movies on their systems. Apparently the newest version of the program has some rather major bugs (i.e. No sound, video runs too fast, and is garbled after looping) but it definately shows potential of what is to come to the Xbox platform now that owners have a way to run/boot burned CDs. Another new program is called the Enigmah Video Mode Selector. This little tool allows users can switch between PAL/NTSC video output on their system. Granted most folks in the US would never need to switch to PAL (UK/Europe areas) but now you can have the option, maybe for those travelling afar?
     
    Seriously, Instagib
    - Posted 8:36 PM By Anthos
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    If you're a fan of Instagib mods, or if you already have Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, then you'll want to check this mod out. The new version of the mod offers up both Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes for you to get those lucky one-shot kills ;) in. Go grab it now and start some fun-filled fraggin'.
    Source: Blue's News
     
    4 new Q3A maps
    - Posted 8:46 PM By Anthos
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    These are the newest maps available from ..::LvL:
    Nuclear Wasteland by StormShadow
    Des Hertogens Hove by Geit
    In The Well of Time by Larry D Crandall
    Theoretical Probability by Lake Trout
    Not only that, but these guys are looking for reviewers and translators, as well. So you, if you think you've got what it takes, get in touch with them.
    Source: GameSpyDaily
     
    Chaos UT Interview
    - Posted 8:51 PM By Anthos
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    HomeLan Fed sits down with the Unreal Tournament Chaotic Dreams team to discuss the UT Chaos mod. Here's a snip:
    HomeLAN - What plans do you have for the Chaos UT 2003 mod? Will you go for the tried and true weapons and game play options or will there be new content as well?

    Chaotic Dreams - The sky's the limit for us at the moment as we have some very creative minds on the team. We will strive to add as much new content as possible. Sure some things will be similar but we do have new things planned. When we started on the CUT version we wanted it to evolve from the Quake2 version. We tried to bring the core elements that help made Chaos what it was. But we tried to improve or enhance them in some way. We will try to follow that same mind set, taking the things from CUT and improving them for the UT2003 version. With Beta 4 we started to branch into Game types with KOTH (as well as TeamKOTH). We would like to follow that and develop more Game types as well as improve on KOTH. As you can imagine we can not give you any exact detail at this time but we will make sure that the version for UT 2003 continues to deliver all that our fans have come to expect from Chaos!
    Sounds pretty cool. If you're a UT player and you haven't checked this mod out yet, do so now. And don't forget to read the rest of the interview.
     
      Monday, Jun 10, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    AMD Thoroughbred 2200+
    - Posted 7:55 AM By Kagato
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    For those considering upgrading to a new processor, AMD officially releases the new Thoroughbred 2200+ processor today. The TBred is basically a clone of it's younger sibling, the XP, with the exception that they have shrunk the die size to .13 microns, which means less power requirements (voltage) and less heat which equal better overclocking (*grin*). It's a shame they didn't include any newer features like more cache, SSE2 instructions, or other new features, but I suppose the smaller die size (and the fact that they did reduce the amount of transistors a bit) should suffice for now. If you're looking for a review, there's quite a few out there, so to help you decide if you are gonna want to upgrade, I'll list a few of them:
    Hexus
    AMDMB
    Tech Report
    HotHardware
    I'm sure there's plenty more out there, but this should give you enough information to round it all out.
     
    New Motherboard Monitor Released
    - Posted 8:01 AM By Kagato
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    If you've ever used Motherboard Monitor, you know what a handy utility this program is. You can monitor internal temperatures (up to 32 different ones!), fan speeds (up to 16 fans now!), various voltages, and you can even set alarms if temperatures go beyond a certain point and force a PC shutdown. Version 5.1.9.1 is now available for download, and appears to resolve one issue over 5.1.9.0. For all the information, head on over to the Motherboard Monitor homepage.
     
    New Polls
    - Posted 8:50 AM By Squirre1
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    New polls have been added to the polls page. If there is anything you would like to see polled, just drop me a line and I will get it posted for ya.. For quicker access you can go here.
     
    NVidia Jumps In The Sack With AMD
    - Posted 8:59 AM By Squirre1
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    In a press release today, NVidia states that all of their components including the nForce Platform Processors as well as the Detonator Series of drivers for the Geforce line of video cards have been optimized for the AMD Athlon XP 2200+. They are trying to grab an edge where-ever they can if you ask me. Here is a quote from the press release:
    “Through our deep working relationship with AMD, we have transitioned the PC from a rudimentary device into a platform that is capable of performing the most complex tasks requested by today’s most demanding users,” said Dan Vivoli, vice president of marketing at NVIDIA. “The combination of our nForce Platform Processors and AMD’s new Athlon processors manufactured on 0.13 micron process technology offers radical levels of performance and functionality at extremely competitive price points, and we look forward to continued architectural innovation as we deliver unprecedented real-time graphics, audio, networking and streaming experiences to the PC desktop.”
    You can checkout the whole press release here on NVidia's Website....
     
    IL-2 Sturmovik Patch
    - Posted 3:10 PM By Kagato
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    According to news over at the official IL-2 Sturmovik website, there appears to be new patches for this World War II combat flight sim. For users running under the current relase (1.0.4), there's a 30.6MB patch for, and for users still running 1.0, you'll need to download a whopping 73.4MB patch. Both patches update you to version 1.1. The update adds 10 new flyable planes, several gameplay enhancements, a game events log file, and more. You can find more information over at their homepage.
     
    Counter-Strike 1.5 Due Wednesday
    - Posted 4:21 PM By Kagato
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    I'm sure this info will be posted again (with links) when the time comes, but expect a new patch/update for the ever-popular Half-Life/Counter-Strike this Wednesday (06/12) from the wonderful folks at Valve. Word:
    New client and server updates for Half-Life and Counter-Strike (Half-Life 1.1.1.0 and C.S. 1.5) will be released this week. Both updates include the Ricochet Mod, phase two of the recently introduced anti-cheat technology, a new Counter-Strike map (de_piranesi), as well as various fixes and tweaks. Server files will be released to the public Tuesday evening. Client files will be released for download Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. PST, at which point Steam clients will be updated automatically.
    Hopefully Squirre1 (or anybody for that matter) will snag a copy early and add it to the section so you don't have to wait in line with the other download pages.
     
      Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    ATI Sponsors Upcoming QuakeCon 2002
    - Posted 8:03 AM By tmmicklabs
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    QuakeCon has some scoop out letting gamers know that ATI is sponsoring QuakeCon 2K2 down in Texas this coming August. $100,000 in prize money will sure buy you a whole lot of Geforce 5's or Radeon 9000's. Click here to check out the article.
    Source: QuakeCon
     
    New 1.09 Beta 4 Drivers For 3dfx Cards
    - Posted 8:08 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Guru 3D has news of new 1.09 Beta 4 drivers for 3dfx Voodoo 3, 4 and 5 cards. Files are an updated version of the 1.09 Beta 2's and are dated May 30, 2002. Click here to grab the drivers.
     
    New SB Live & Audigy Drivers Out
    - Posted 8:13 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Guru 3D has word of new drivers for the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live and Audigy cards. Maybe these new drivers will fix the EAX issue I am having with Dungeon Siege. Feel free to comment on your experience with these new drivers.
     
    PowerStrip 3.18.287b Is Now Out
    - Posted 8:17 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Warp2Search has the goods on the latest release of the mega-popular, ultra-powerful PowerStrip Beta release. Long a favorite by tweakers across the globe, the latest version includes support for all the latest cards, like the Nvidia TI 4600 and the ATI 8500. If you have the chance to take this for a spin, please let your fellow gamers know the results in the comments section. Click here for the goods.
    Source: Warp2Search
     
    GameCube WaveBird Controller Ships
    - Posted 8:20 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Game Spy Daily has word that Nintendo has released their new wireless WaveBird controller for the GameCube. It was scheduled to arrive in stores on June 10, 2002 at a price of $34.95 USD.
    Source: Game Spy Daily
     
    $50 To Change EverQuest Character Name?
    - Posted 8:33 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Planet EverQuest has a news post up indicating that if you want to change your character name in Sony's EverQuest Online, you have to fork over 50 bucks for the privilege. Evercrack is out of hand. Sony is generating around 7 million bucks a month on this game. Click here to check out the article.
    Source: Planet EverQuest
     
    Dungeon Siege Tweak Guide Now Online
    - Posted 9:41 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Ah yes, Dungeon Siege. You either love it or you hate it. I'm hooked harder than a bad smack habit. As some of you may have noticed, Dungeon Siege brings most PC's to their knees. I've been working vigorously for the past month trying to get Dungeon Siege to run smoothly on my PC. It's been a real challenge getting this game to play smoothly, but after a month of blood, sweat, and tears I've finally figured it out. Check it out to find out how I got a 75 % increase in performance in Dungeon Siege. Be sure to post your personal results in the comments section. Click here to read the article.
     
    Leaked Detonator 29.60 W2K/XP Drivers Available
    - Posted 10:14 AM By tmmicklabs
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    If the 29.42 drivers from NVIDIA aren't good enough for you, then you may want to check out the latest leak from Guru 3D which is version 29.60. They're available only for Win2k/XP at the current moment, support all chips, and weigh in at 8.40MB. Click here to grab the goods.
    Source: Guru 3D
     
    nForce PCI Bus Write Issue Resolved
    - Posted 12:39 PM By Kagato
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    For those of you who own a motherboard with the heart of a an Nvidia nForce chipset, you may have noticed that your throughput to the PCI bus was rather pathetic (assuming you actually monitor these types of things). The good news is that there appears to be a resolution to the issue at last thanks to some investigation by the folks over at The Tech Report. Apparently it boils down to an issue with an incorrect setting or two with the machines BIOS and a simple update to the newest BIOS release resolves the issue of being strapped to a max of 20MB/s bursts. The only users left out in the dark so far are users of the MSI MS-6373 board, who seem to have provided no update or information as of yet. Moral of the story, if you own a nForce chipset based mainboard, update your BIOS to make sure you're getting the bandwidth your PCI cards need.
    Source: The Tech Report
     
    A Better Site For You
    - Posted 3:08 PM By Squirre1
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    How can we make this a better site for you. We would like to make the MwGL website one that is not the best at this or the best at that, but one that is a jack of all trades site. How can we get the site to that point. This is your chance to provide feedback on how to make the site better. Please supply your input on what you would add to, remove from, or update on this website.

    I have created a thread in our forums for discussion and you can also post in our comments area if you like.

    Thanks for your input guys and gals...
     
    Never Winter Nights Due Out This Month
    - Posted 3:11 PM By Kagato
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    I imagine some of you were probably foaming at the mouth when you heard news by the folks at EB Games stating that Never Winter Nights had gone gold. Unfortunately that is NOT the case as brought to us by the folks over at GameSpot. The good news is that BioWare is still planning on it shipping this title sometime this month (yes, for those who aren't up to tracking the date due to it being summer vacation and all, that's June 2002). Mmmm, 64 player D&D goodness.

    *UPDATED*Well, it now appears that BioWare is confirming that the game is finished and should be on store shelves by the end of June. Amazing what a days difference will do. Perhaps it's just a example of the left hand (PR) not knowing what the right hand (management) is doing. Either way, good news for us all!
     
      Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Server Releases
    - Posted 12:04 AM By Curve
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    The Half-Life server files have been released prior to the client side files as per usual. You can download the server files from the fileplant mirrors (links found below), find a link at CSNations page or wait until Squirre1 gets the files uploaded on the download section.

    FilePlanet Mirrors:
    Win32 Half-Life Dedicated Server 4.1.0.9 - 4.1.1.0 Update (7.3Mb)
    Win32 Half-Life Dedicated Server 4.1.1.0 Full Install (117Mb)

    Linux Half-Life Dedicated Server 3.1.0.9 - 3.1.1.0 Update (6.6Mb)
    Linux Half-Life Dedicated Server 3.1.1.0 Full Install (115.3Mb)

    Look for mirror coverage of the client side files tomorrow starting at 1PM CST.

    *UPDATE*
    We have added this to our download areas and will be mirroring it from other MwGL servers. Please stay tuned..

    You can get the dedidated server files here as well:
    hlserver4110.exe -- MwGL Site
    Source: PHL
     
    Sign-ups for Morrowind Beta Patch
    - Posted 11:50 AM By Kagato
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    Not sure if I understand the logic behind this, but there is now a Bethesda Softworks Beta Test page where you can apparently sign up to take place in a closed beta test of the first upcoming patch (i.e. This is actually that game that we should have shipped instead of the pile of junk we put on the shelves - our bad!) for Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Sign up and perhaps you'll be lucky enough to get on the team and actually get a stable game.
     
    Counter-Strike 1.5 Server Release
    - Posted 12:27 PM By Curve
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    You have the HL server files, aren't you ready for the Linux ones? Damn skippy you are. Same applies to these files; download from the fileplanet mirrors (links found below), goto CSNation to grab a link, or wait for Squirre1 to get those bad boys up. The choice is yours, too bad it isn't a matrix-type choice. No matrix jumps here, just sweet sweet server loving. Yea, anyway.

    Fileplanet mirrors:
    Counter-Strike Linux Dedicated Server 1.4 - 1.5 Update
    Counter-Strike Linux Dedicated Server 1.5 Full Install

    1.5 client files just moments away.
    Source: PHL
     
    Win 2K / XP Refresh Rate Fix From Microsoft
    - Posted 12:28 PM By tmmicklabs
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    3D GPU is reporting that the 60hz refresh rate bug that has plagued Windows 2000 and Windows XP may be fixed in the upcoming service packs for both operating systems. It's about time that Microsoft fixes this annoying problem.
    Source: 3D GPU
     
    HL/CS Client FIles Released
    - Posted 1:09 PM By Curve
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    The client side files have been released, and this will complete the patching process. For the third time, you can download from the FilePlanet mirrors (links found below), grab a link from CSNation's temp mirror page, or wait for the glorious Squirre1 to put them up.

    FilePlanet links:
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Client [Full English Client]
    Half-Life 1110 Client (Upgrade from 1108)

    Counter Strike v1.5 Updater Patch (Non-Retail version)
    Counter-Strike 1.5 Full Mod Client (Non-Retail version)

    Counter-Strike v1.5 Retail Update
    Counter-Strike v1.5 Full Retail Patch
     
    SOF II and GTA 3 Take Lead
    - Posted 4:10 PM By Curve
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    Over the past few weeks Soldier of Fortune II and GTA III have done an impressive job of staying at the top of the charts. SOFII managed to jump to the top and lead the pack. Here's a view of the charts thanks to GameSpot
    Rank / Title / Publisher / Average Price
    1 / Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix / Activision / $38
    2 / Grand Theft Auto III / Take-Two / $46
    3 / The Sims: Vacation / Electronic Arts / $29
    4 / The Sims / Electronic Arts / $43
    5 / Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast / LucasArts / $49
    6 / Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Electronic Arts / $23
    7 / Medal of Honor: Allied Assault / Electronic Arts / $46
    8 / Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs / Microsoft / $16
    9 / Zoo Tycoon / Microsoft / $27
    10 / Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns / LucasArts / $30
    SOF 2, I'm gonna haveta get it!
    Source: GameSpot
     
    WarCraft 3 Out?
    - Posted 4:39 PM By Curve
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    It's very possible that WarCraft 3 could have been shipped already and on it's way to the shelves. Stop playing your damned beta copies and listen to what GameSpot writes:
    While online retailer EB Games has posted an announcement that Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos has gone gold, a representative for Blizzard Entertainment clarified that the announcement was posted "without any information" from Blizzard. The representative would not comment on whether the game has actually gone gold, but said that there would be an official announcement concerning the game soon.
    We have seen this done before though. EB listed TF2 for sale for a while until they were smacked with the 'Are you stupid?' trout. Time will tell, but I can tell you got excited, you are poking me. Read more if you wish.
    Source: GameSpot
     
    Regarding CS 1.5
    - Posted 11:24 PM By Anthos
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    Here's a little something important for those of you who have your F1 and F2 keys bound to something in Counter-Strike:
    to make F1 and F2 rebindable go to your Half-Life or CS retail directory, open the valve subdirectory, and then the cl_dlls subdir. Rename the GameUI.dll to something else, like GameUI.bak (so it's easy to remember). These keys will be used for Tracker and the Viewdemo command in future versions.
    Also, there's an issue with NextWish scripts not working in 1.5. While some sites will just leave it at that and give you an alternative program, such as, RzE's CS Helper, luckily you're reading this. So, if you don't wanna mess around with a new script setup and just want to keep your NextWish, here's what you do: 1) copy your nwcs1.cfg and nwcs2.cfg files from your NextWish directory (inside your cstrike directory) into your cstrike directory; 2) add these lines to your autoexec.cfg "exec nwcs1.cfg" and "exec nwcs2.cfg", without the quotes, of course. There you go. All fixed, thanks to your friendly neighborhood Anthos. :) Cheers.
    Source: CS-Nation
     
      Thursday, Jun 13, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    ATi's New "Catalyst" Software Package
    - Posted 6:39 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Hot Hardware has a preview up of the soon to be released Ati Radeon drivers. Looks like these are the drivers that we have been waiting for. They ran 3DMark 2001 SE and gained almost 200 points with these new drivers. Click here to check out the article.
     
    VIA KT333 Motherboard Roundup
    - Posted 6:52 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Anandtech has published a roundup of all the new Via KT333 based motherboards. This is a very good resource for those of you that are thinking about retiring their good ol' Pentium 2 setups. Click here to check out the roundup.
     
    Game Boy Advance Sells Over 6 Million Units
    - Posted 6:57 AM By tmmicklabs
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    IGN is reporting that Nintendo's Game Boy Advance has sold, not shipped, but sold over 6 million units in one year. These are very good numbers for a device with no back-lighting and a low-resolution screen. The games must be the driving force, along with the portability. To celebrate, they will be issuing a Platinum version of the unit as well.
    Source: IGN
     
    VisionTek Xtasy Ti 4200 Review
    - Posted 7:04 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Firing Squad has a review up of the VisionTek Xtasy Ti 4200. This card is a bad mother. It beats the Radeon 8500 and is not very far behind the Geforce 4 TI 4600. And it's 200 bucks less than it's bigger brother. 200 bucks for a 128mb video card ? What is this world coming to. Click here to check out the review.
     
    Return To Castle Wolfenstein Patch v1.33
    - Posted 7:53 AM By Kagato
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    Activision has released a few new patches today for the ever-popular FPS, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, bringing you up to version 1.33. Users already running v.1.32, there's a simple "lite" patch, which weighs in at 4.1MB. Those running without any patches will need to download the full patch, weighing in at 9.9MB. Additionally, the Game of the Year map pack (49.0 MB) is also now available. This pack offers three previous maps (Trenchtoast, Icelab and Tram Siege) along with four new maps: Chateau, Keep, The Damned and Rocket. And without further delay, here's the links:

    Version 1.33 Lite: Blue's News, 3D Gamers, PlanetMirror (Australlia), and FilePlanet (registration required)

    Version 1.33 Full: Blue's News, 3D Gamers, PlanetMirror (Australlia), and FilePlanet (registration required).

    Game of the Year Map Pack: Blue's News, 3D Gamers, PlanetMirror (Australlia), and FilePlanet (registration required).

    For a listing of what's all new/fixed, read the Wolf_update_133.txt file.
     
    10-Gigabit Ethernet Standard Approved
    - Posted 8:12 AM By Kagato
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    Great news for fans of Gigabit networking, the new IEEE 802.3ae standard for 10 Gigabit/second Ethernet has been approved. Those of you out there running plain old Gigabit Ethernet, you are now officially obsolete. The one downside, if you can consider it that, is that the new standard is fiber only, NoCopperForYou! Wonder how much an 80port switch would cost? Hmmmm.
     
    Severe IIS Security Hole
    - Posted 8:22 AM By Kagato
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    Not sure if this affects anyone, as everyone knows, real web servers run Apache!. Anyhew, Microsoft announced yesterday that there is a serious software flaw with its IIS web server. The "vulnerability affects a function in the server software that allows Web administrators to change passwords for an Internet site." [Takes a step onto the soapbox] The worst thing about this issue is that a researcher with eEye Digital Security discovered the flaw in MID-APRIL but it wasn't announced publicly because of an agreement with Microsoft. Yeah, now I can see why Microsoft prefers you contact them and not publicly announce when you find a security hole/bug, because it takes them TWO FREAGIN' MONTHS to patch the blasted thing. Uhm, let's see, surely there are hackers good enough who would eventually find this bug, Microsoft tells nobody about it because that would be "bad", all the while the hackers are running amuck until Microsoft can finally resolve the issue and then alert the public. Yeah, there's a GREAT plan *SIGH*. Anyway, if you ARE running IIS, you can download the patch from Microsoft. [Steps down from the soapbox]
     
    Weekly Console Sales Figures : Japan
    - Posted 8:56 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Looks like the X-box is not doing to hot in Japan. Gamecube is on a steady rise though. Go Nintendo.

    PlayStation 2: 49,800 (Annual: 1,815,200)
    Game Boy Advance: 29,500 (Annual: 1,253,500)
    GameCube: 18,700 (Annual: 587,400)
    PSOne: 4,500 (Annual: 127,300)
    Xbox: 3,800 (Annual: 203,300)
    Wonder Swan Color: 2,000 (Annual: 87,400)

    Source: Planet X-Box
     
    NVIDIA's Cg Technology
    - Posted 9:52 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Today Nvidia has unveiled a new programming language solely for graphics: Cg. Find out more about Cg and its possible ramifications for the graphics world in Firing Squad's preview of this technology. Click here to check out the article.
    Source: Firing Squad
     
    Will Cable Companies Unplug the File Swappers?
    - Posted 10:49 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Worth Playing has an article up about how the Cable Company may be putting a cap on the amount of data a user can download a month. They will even charge you if you go over the limit. What a bunch of crap. This article is a must read. Click here to check it out.
    Source: Worth Playing
     
    Blizzard Confirmed : Warcraft III Is Golden
    - Posted 1:20 PM By Kagato
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    Well, you knew it was coming, with GameSpot's post yesterday reguarding Warcraft III going gold (brought to us by Curve), you knew Blizzard had to be poised to make the announcement. Well, today you can hear it from the horses mouth because it's been confirmed, Warcraft III : Reign of Chaos is golden and is due in stores by July 3. Can 'ya smellalalalala what the orcs are cookin'?! I'm just thrilled there are two titles I've been waiting on for ages are finally being released : Never Winter Nights and Warcraft III (good-bye to another $100).
     
    Real Fix for NextWish
    - Posted 7:32 PM By Anthos
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    Okay, if you read yesterday's news, you saw my fix for the NextWish Scripts in version 1.5 of CS. Well, today, here's a better fix, allowing those little nwcs files to stay in their preferred folder. If you look in you cstrike directory, there is a file called valve.rc. Open that up with your basic text editor (e.g. Notepad) and change the exec lines from
    exec NextWish\NWCS1.cfg
    exec NextWish\NWCS2.cfg
    to
    exec NextWish/NWCS1.cfg
    exec NextWish/NWCS2.cfg
    Odd, isn't it? Well, there you go. Just a little switcheroo and you're up and running with your favorite buy scripts again.
     
      Friday, Jun 14, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    MwGL Counter-Strike Downloads Updated
    - Posted 3:08 AM By Squirre1
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    We have created a this news post that is setup to help with the downloading all of the new HL/CS files from the MwGL Server and its members Mirrors.

    I would like to take this time to give a special Thanks to our service provider CaveNetworks.com. Without them we would not even be on the web. Thanks to Tim and Shaun. Next I would like to send another special Thank You to DarkPhan who is a MwGL member who is providing a Mirror to help with the traffic of these downloads.
    MwGL FTP Server:

    Half-Life 1.1.0.9-1.1.1.0 Upgrade Patch (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Full Patch (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Dedicated Server (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.4-1.5 MOD Patch (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.5 MOD Full (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.0.0.4-1.0.0.5 Retail Patch (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.0.0.5 Retail Full (Win32)

    MwGL Sponsored Mirrors:

    Half-Life 1.1.0.9-1.1.1.0 Upgrade Patch (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Full Patch (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.0.9-1.1.1.0 Dedicated Server Upgrade (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Dedicated Server Full (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.4-1.5 MOD Upgrade Patch (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.5 MOD Full Patch (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.0.0.4-1.0.0.5 Retail Patch (Win32)
    Counter-Strike 1.0.0.5 Retail Full (Win32)
    Half-Life 1.1.0.9-1.1.1.0 Dedicated Server Upgrade Patch (Linux)
    Half-Life 1.1.1.0 Dedicated Server Full Patch (Linux)
    Counter-Strike 1.4-1.5 Upgrade Patch (Linux)
    Counter-Strike 1.5 Full Patch (Linux)
    Enjoy everyone,

    MwGL Staff
     
    Virus Payload Via JPEGs
    - Posted 7:40 AM By Kagato
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    An interesting story over at the 'ol C|Net News page discussing what is believed to be the first "JPEG Infector" of its kind. The good news is that you won't get infected just by opening a "tainted" JPEG. Your machine would first have to be infected by an extractor virus, which would then receive its orders to perform dirty deeds from the encoded JPEG. Something else to note is that in its current form, this virus will corrupt the image, but if it were to evolve to a point where it could "hide" itself in the picture without corruption (like current software that lets you send text encoded into JPEG files) then there would definitely be cause for concern.
    Source: C|Net News
     
    Dungeon Siege Tweak Guide Updated
    - Posted 9:07 AM By Squirre1
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    Hey all, Tmmick2000 has updated the DS Tweak guide with GF 2 GTS numbers. You can go directly to page 4 or start at the beginning of the article here. Thanks for the update Tmmick2000.
     
    Age Of Wonders II Playable Demo
    - Posted 5:39 PM By Kagato
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    Those of you looking for a way to pass the time until Never Winter Nights and Warcraft III hit the stores need not worry. The folks over at Triumph Studios have released their final playable demo of the very recently released Age of Wonders II: the Wizard's Throne. Perhaps you'll wanna try it out before adding it to your gaming shopping list. Weighing in at 104.8MB, this demo version "features one scenario, playable from two sides as either a single player game against two AI opponents or as a multiplayer game against one human and one AI opponent. The demo offers select features, spells and units from the game," along with several multiplayer options. You can nab the demo here from Gigex (If you have issues downloading from the previous link, here's a direct link).
     
    Yuri's Revenge Map Pack
    - Posted 5:46 PM By Kagato
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    Westwood's official Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 site is now offering a new map pack for players of Yuri's Revenge for your download pleasures. Weighing in at a mere 156Kb, this midget of an update contains two multiplayer maps (a 2-4 player map called Circuit Board and a 2-6 player map titled High Explosive Round). More info can be found on their homepage.
     
    QuakeCon 2002 Registration Opens Tonight
    - Posted 5:52 PM By Kagato
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    Just a friendly little reminder for the little frag in 'ya, the QuakeCon 2002 registration, the ever-impressive LAN party/tourney brought to you by the folks at id Software, begins tonight at 10:00 PM EDT. Registration will remain open until the actual launching of the event (August 15th-18th), but Quake III Arena tournament players are being urged to sign up ASAP as spots are expected to disappear fast. Remember, kiddies not yet 18 years of age planning on attending the event must have a signed waiver from their parent/guardian.
     
      Saturday, Jun 15, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Case Mods From the Other Side
    - Posted 12:37 AM By WaRMaN
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    As the price of computer parts and accessories continue to drop, it becomes easier and easier to fill your case with the "top-of-the-line" pieces. Now that you have accomplished this, what do you do now? Well, as of late, the public has noticeably drawn great intrest in case modding. I have seen some nice case mods in my days, such as the one at the last MwGL event brought in by RRZ|Rage. His computer had the square plexiglass inlay, 3 color cathodes, an AM/FM stereo, 3" square LCD display for readings, and a few more gadgets. If you get into case modding like he does, then you will like this link I came across which leads to KoreaMOD. They have 60 case mods posted (to date), and go into great detail about each with plenty of pics. The catch is that it is written in hongul (Korean), but it is obvious what you are looking at. So, head on over and tell them kamsahamnida (Thank You) for their great mods gallery.
     
    ATi Catalyst Drivers Released
    - Posted 7:22 AM By Kagato
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    You heard about these a few days ago, now ATi has officially released 'em. The new ATi Catalyst drivers have been released and are ready for download. Just head on over to ATi's Driver Download page, select your OS and adapter, and you're own your way. There have been positive and negative reports discussed over in the Rage3D Forum, ranging from games now working properly to BSODs. Your mileage may vary.
     
      Monday, Jun 17, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    New Epox 8KHA+ BIOS v2612!
    - Posted 9:42 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Here is a list of the fixes for the new Bios.

    Show DRAM real clock x2 for DDR SDRAM.
    Disable AC97 audio at POST by item.
    Support shutdown temperature in Windows 2000 platform.
    Support shutdown temperature in POST.
    Support No CPU FAN shutdown in POST.
    Solved VIA IDE tool show ATA-33 if ATA-133 HDD Plugged.
    Change AC97 item name.
    Enabled ATi RADEON 7500 Memory-WB-RW.
    Solved some nVidia serial AGP card unstable problem When Host = 100Mhz DRAM = 133 Mhz.

    Click here to download the update.
     
    DivX v5.0.2 Updated
    - Posted 9:58 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Here is a list of the fixes that are in the update.
  • Fixed a lot of memory leaks in the encoder. This should prevent the codec from slowing down gradually during a long encode.
  • Version 5.0.1 encoded 7% slower than 5.0. DOH! Not sure how that happened. This has been fixed and version 5.0.2 is as fast as version 5.0.
  • Fixed a problem where the trace_b.txt log file would be written out during encodes which would take up significant disk space. The log file is no longer written.
  • Fixed a problem where the MP4 Creator would not work on files that included B-frames. The MP4 Creator should now work with all DivX 5.x files.
  • Fixed a bug where the right macroblock would not be displayed with the custom brightness/contrast settings. This would cause a dark or light "band" of video on the right side of the screen.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause playback problems when the seek bar was moved back and forth quickly. This same bug some cause bad frames to be displayed at the beginning of some content when playing back video in Windows Media Player. This should no longer happen.
  • Fixed a bug where the "Decoder Configuration" application would crash when run on Windows 98. The application should now run properly. (Yes, we know we said we fixed this in 5.0.1, but we really fixed it this time.)
  • Click here to get the goods.
     
    New SiSoft Sandra Versions Out
    - Posted 10:12 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Sisoft has released a new version of their system analyser, diagnostic and reporting assistant software. The professional version as well as the standard version of Sandra have been updated. Click here for the goods.
     
    Fraps 1.8 Released
    - Posted 10:54 AM By tmmicklabs
    EMail News to a Friend  Printer Friendly Version    0 Comments | Add 
    Fraps is a tool that lets you monitor current framerates in a corner of the screen for programs utilising DirectX or OpenGL technology. It also allows you to easily take screenshots of games, and manually determine the average framerate between two points. The best part is that its free. Click here to grab a copy.
     
    ATi's Hydravision™ and MM Center Upgrades
    - Posted 10:58 AM By tmmicklabs
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    HYDRAVISION™ 3.10.1010 is ATI’s multiple display management software, which allows user's to manage the display of multiple windows/applications across two displays*. This software also provides multiple desktop support. and ATI Multimedia Center 7.7 Upgrade this bundle will update an existing ATI Multimedia Center 7.6 and/or ATI DVD Player 7.6 installation to version 7.7. Click here to grab the goods.
    Source: Warp2search
     
    SIS Xabre400 Review
    - Posted 11:03 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Digit-Life has a review up of the brand spankin new SIS Xabre400 video card. This is the first true budget card out on the market to have Direct X 8.1 pixel and vertex shader support. Click here to read the review.
    Source: Digit-Life
     
    New MechWarrior 4 Patches
    - Posted 11:13 AM By tmmicklabs
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    The official MechWarrior 4 web site has word on a new patch for Microsoft's big robot action game. The patch fixes some bugs and makes the game compatible with the just released Inner Sphere Mech Pak expansion that should now be in stores. Click here to grab the goods.
    Source: Blues New's
     
    Interview With Blizzard's Bill Roper
    - Posted 3:34 PM By Freex
    EMail News to a Friend  Printer Friendly Version    0 Comments | Add 
    4gamerz has a Q&A with Mr. Roper talking about Warcraft III, and the possibility of a Diablo III. One second they ask a good question that you might like and the next second they blindside him. It bounces around a bit but you'll get the jist... Happy reading...
    Source: Blue's News
     
    Age of Mythology Signup
    - Posted 4:23 PM By Kagato
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    FPS fiends needs not apply, but for those of you who enjoy a good Strategy Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studio have announced a chance for 10,000 lucky gamers to try out the online multiplayer test of their upcoming title, Age of Mythlology. Here's the blurb from their announcement:
    Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studio today announced that 10,000 gamers will be invited to participate in Ensemble's online multiplayer test of Age of Mythology. Between Friday, June 21 and Sunday, June 30, gamers will be able to sign up for a chance to be among the first to experience the wrath of the gods. This alpha version of Age of Mythology will contain two of the nine civilizations that will be available when the game is released this October. Up to four players will be able to compete head-to-head as a follower of either Zeus or Poseidon on one of two multiplayer maps. This limited alpha version of the game will be available to qualified testers in early July.
    They're definately allowing alot more folks in than you normally see on a beta test, perhaps that'll increase your chance at nabbing a spot.
     
      Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Six Sound Card Round Up
    - Posted 7:37 AM By Kagato
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    Ever feel like you've been brainwashed from birth into buying only Creative Labs sound cards? More than likely a large percentage of you have always stuck with the Sound Blaster/Live!/Audigy line of cards because everybody else strived to be them, everywhere you looked cards were marked as "Sound Blaster Compatible" and what not. For those of you who have ever thought of going with an alternative brand, then do yourself a favor and read Andrew Browns's (The Tech Report) Six-way sound card roundup of some of todays most popular cards (Ok, creative makes it in there twice with a Live! and Audigy, but you'll see the pros/cons of other cards compared to them as well). Blurbbage:
    In most cases, the differences we uncovered here aren't anything to write home about. The Muse XL was notably slower than the rest in the benchmarks, but otherwise everything was pretty even. As for the listening tests, all of the differences we heard were the results of back-to-back tests, but no matter what we said about any of the cards, none of them were objectionable. The days of ISA Sound Blasters that hiss like a cat are gone; unless there's a really bad card out there that we didn't include, the state of PC sound today is that even the worst card sounds pretty darn good. If one were to listen to any of these cards by itself, one probably wouldn't find any gross deficiencies in audio quality (with the possible exception of the overdone EAX effects in Serious Sam, but we're not sure whether to blame that on the sound cards or the game developers).
    I personally switched to a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz after my last Live! and have never had an issue with it yet. The quality of their drivers has always impressed me, especially with XP compatibilty from day one, which is one thing that I was fearfull about when switching from Creative Labs. It's a good read, be sure to check it out.
    Source: The Tech Report
     
    Killer Gaming Rig Giveaway
    - Posted 7:51 AM By Kagato
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    If you're a frequent reader of Hard|OCP (if you're not, what's WRONG with you!), then you've probably seen the AWESOME gaming machines that the ever-so-gracious Steve (and all the dedicated hardware vendors) over at Hypothermia holds giveaways for from time to time. Well, now's the time for you to sign up for your chance to win Killer Gaming Rig #7. If you have an aging machine, heck, even have a brand-spankin' new one, sign up and make one machine a dedicated LAN Event machine! The contest will run for 30 days and you can enter once a day (all you need to supply is your name and a valid e-mail address), so post a sticky note on your monitor to remind you.
    Source: Hypothermia
     
    Quake III Fortress v2.2 Released
    - Posted 8:06 AM By Kagato
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    Players of the father of all First Person Shooters (that'd be Quake III) take note, a new version of the popular Q3A mod Quake III Fortress has been released, bringing you up to version 2.2. Weighing in at 52.7MB, this new update includes 16 new and updated maps as well as a large number of fixes/features (so many fixes that it's too long to post here). Click on the Read More... link below or head on over to the Q3F changelog for a full listing of all the changes made in this version.
    Read More...
     
    Counter-Strike 1.5 Issues And Work-Arounds
    - Posted 8:19 AM By Kagato
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    You may remember a short-while back, Anthos posted a simple fix for the F1/F2 key binding issue as well the NextWish scripts associated with the Counter-Strike 1.5 update. Apparently there are a couple new bugs being reported by users in the field and there is news on the Official Counter-Strike homepage reguarding work-arounds for these errors. If you are receiving either a "Error! Server verification failed" or "TrackerUl.dll Invalid" (this is associated with the F1/F2 binding bug, use the same resolution) error, then be sure to check out the work-arounds so that you can get back up and playing/sniping/camping.
     
    Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne Review
    - Posted 2:30 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Though it may seem difficult for beginners, Age of Wonders II sounds good, looks great, plays terrific, and improves on every aspect of the original game. Click here to check out Gamespot's full review of this cool game.
    Source: Gamespot
     
    Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project 1.01 Patch
    - Posted 2:35 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Blues News has the information on the new version 1.01 patch just released by 3D Realms for their recently released semi-retro side-scroller for the PC. Details on the what the patch fixes can be found at the link on Blue's. Click here for the details.
    Source: Blue's News
     
    ATI R300 Info Rumors
    - Posted 2:39 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Nv News got a chance to check out a .pdf file from a Geocities site with information on the upcoming R300 from ATI. It's by no means confirmed, so keep this in mind. Here's what was listed:

    350 MHz. clock
    400+ MHz. memory clock
    8 Pipelines
    150 Million Tri/sec (peak)
    Increase Multitexturing to 8 textures
    Improved Pixel/Vertex Shaders
    DX9 Support
    MPEG 1/2/4 Encode/Decode

    If true, this card is shaping up to be one kickass card.
    Source: Nv News
     
      Wednesday, Jun 19, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Sims Online E3 Movie
    - Posted 8:05 AM By Kagato
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    FilePlanet (no mirrors found as of yet) is now hosting the Sims Online move trailer as seen by the attendees of this year's E3 2002. Weighing in at 23.5MB, this movie gives viewers a quick little look at what Maxis and EA have planned for their announced title Sims Online. I'm honestly amazed that even their official homepage shows the expected release as "Coming in 2002", I'd of figured sometime mid-year 2003. Sure, that date is open ended and may give them up until Decemter 31st to get it on the shelves, I just hope they realize the magnitude of their fanbase and don't release it TOO soon (i.e. chocked full 'o bugs,etc.) as people have come to expect an entertaining/playable game from Maxis and their Sims line of games.
     
    Never Winter Nights Possibly In Stores This Week
    - Posted 8:13 AM By Kagato
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    Not really sure how I missed this spicy little report yesterday, but according to this little blurb over at GameSpot, production appears to be running at full speed because according to Infogrames and Bioware, Never Winter Nights has begun shipping out to retailers. So long as the UPS guys don't fumble up the delivery, everyone could be playing this weekend. You, uh, did preorder your copy right?
    Source: GameSpot
     
    Need Help Making Off-Site Backup's ???
    - Posted 12:15 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Tom's Hardware has an informative article up about the current state a game and music cd backup schemes. Very good read for those of you out there that are having trouble making backup copies of some of the newer software out there. Click here to check it out.
     
    Free Online Monitor Tester
    - Posted 12:22 PM By tmmicklabs
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    The MonitorsDirect ToolKit is designed to help evaluate monitor quality, diagnose possible problems, and help properly adjust the display image.

    At the core of the MonitorsDirect ToolKit are a series of test patterns and instructions on how to evaluate any CRT or LCD monitor. This web-based application can be accessed from any system and requires no special software other than Macromedia's® Flash™ Player for your Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser.

    This tool requires Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater browser and will not work with Netscape or other internet browsers.

    Click here to give it a go.
     
    GF4 Renders Final Fantasy TSW Realtime
    - Posted 12:35 PM By tmmicklabs
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    That right boys and girls. According to The Inquirer , they did not believe it either until they witnessed it in person.
    Click here for the details.

     
    EverGlide Mousepad Review Up
    - Posted 3:13 PM By Curve
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    This is your super sweet ass friend Curve here informing you of the latest read that is up at your friendly neighborhood MwGL site. I have taken it upon myself to write a review up for the EverGlide MousePad. So, if you've been wondering what's up with these things, check it out! Here's the linkz0r. This also begins our new reviews section! :)
     
    Morrowind Patch
    - Posted 4:27 PM By Curve
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    Want to get your hands on a patch of goodness for the popular RPG Morrowind? Well here's a little bit of happy information you'll probably like to know about release 1.1.0605 courtesy of Blues News:
    The patch includes a number of fixes and added features. Here's a short list of some of the added features:

  • An auto run feature has been added. You can now continue to run forward when you press the Q key on your keyboard once. This will cause you to run forward until you press the autorun key a second time or the back or forward movement keys.
  • A Health Bar for NPCs and creatures has been added for when you are in combat. An orange health bar for the creature or NPC you are currently in combat with will now appear above your own health bar on the lower left part of the screen. This health bar will only appear when you are attacking a creature or NPC and will slowly fade out if you stop attacking. It will also update to a different creature or NPC's health if you switch targets in the middle of combat.
  • Added Difficulty slider to Preference menu under Options. The Difficulty slider has 200 different settings that will either increase the amount of damage you deal and receive or reduce the amount of damage you deal or receive, depending on where you set the slider.
  • The user can now load multiple plug-ins without losing references when both plug-ins affect the same cell. This means that if you have 2 or more plug-ins that add or remove references from, for example, Fort Moonmoth, you will be able to keep all of the additions or removals from all the loaded plug-ins.
  • There's of course more goodies it did, but whaddya say you download this 3.41 MB file @ bethsoft.

    Source: Blues News
     
      Thursday, Jun 20, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Never Winter Nights Patch
    - Posted 8:15 AM By Kagato
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    For those of you already playing the just released title Never Winter Nights from BioWare, make sure 'ya head on over and grab the 1.18 patch if you haven't done so via the auto-updater already. According to their site, this patch fixes the following three issues:
  • Fixed the server filter crash
  • Improved client and server stability
  • Fixed the issue with plot items being dragged directly into an inventory bag
  • Grab the patch and head back in, it's a big world in there.
     
    Gore & Die Hard Patches
    - Posted 8:25 AM By Kagato
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    Today appears to be patch day on the net, rather than keep listing seperate posts, I'll just list a few more here for 'yall.

    Players of 4D Rulers Gore should snag the first patch that has been introduced for the game, version 1.47. Updates/fixes can be found on their support site

    Sierra has a new patch for Die Hard : Nakatomi Plaza. From what can be seen, the only fixes apply to a slight graphics issue with ATi Radeon 8500 users. Grab it if this applies to you.
     
    Weekly Console Sales Figures For Japan
    - Posted 11:16 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Sales for week ending June 16, 2002:

    PlayStation 2: 47,900 (Annual: 1,863,100)
    Game Boy Advance: 31,500 (Annual: 1,285,000)
    GameCube: 8,500 (Annual: 596,000)
    PSOne: 4,400 (Annual: 131,800)
    Xbox: 3,800 (Annual: 207,100)
    Wonder Swan Color: 2,000 (Annual: 89,500)
    Game Boy Color: 1,200 (Annual: 55,500)

    X-box is getting creamed by the PS2 and Gamecube. I predicted all along that the X-Box would fail. Mwa ha ha.
    Source: Planet X-Box
     
    A Beginners Guide To All Things PHP
    - Posted 11:59 AM By Kagato
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    Ok, I know this isn't really game related, but perhaps it'll provide some of the avid gamers out there the information they may need to start their own little gaming themed page, perhaps a Clan page for you and all your fraggin' buds. Anyhew, the fine folk(s) over at Sniper Tech have presented a introductory article to PHP. They cover such things as:
  • What is PHP?
  • What can PHP do?
  • What is Apache?
  • What is MySQL?
  • Setting up Apache HTTP Server
  • Setting up the PHP Engine
  • Test if PHP Works
  • Setting Up MySQL
  • A good read if you've never had any experience or background with this type of environment (i.e. IIS). Remember, Apache is your friend, IIS is the devil in sheeps clothing.
    Source: Sniper Tech
     
    Q3/RTCW Benchmark
    - Posted 7:22 PM By WaRMaN
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    Q3Bench is a benchmark program for use with Quake 3 Arena and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It is a pretty simple concept actually. It uses form inputs that you provide. Then runs the game while executing certain scripts that report results to the console. Once the scripts are complete, the program does a /condump command and creates a text file that is in-turn formatted into a report for easy reading. All this for 1.6 MB.
     
      Friday, Jun 21, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Geforce 4 Go vs Ati Mobility Radeon 7500
    - Posted 12:23 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Desktop gaming speeds on a laptop are finally are reality. These mobile chips from Nvidia and ATI let you play the lastest and greatest games at high resolutions with full detail. Click here to check out the battle to see who is the new king of mobile 3D performance.
    Source: Anandtech
     
    AMD vs. Intel - Database Server Comparison
    - Posted 12:46 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Anandtech has a comparison up pitting the Athlon MP vs the P-4 Xeon running some test on the actual server databases that make up the Anandtech web site. Click here to see who is the champ of serving duties.
     
    MPEG-4 Videos On Older Computers
    - Posted 1:00 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Tom's Hardware has a review up of the new Sigma Designs Realmagic Xcard. This card allows people to play Dixv movies full screen on older cpu's. This card is worth checking out if you are on a cpu slower than 800 mhz and watch a lot of Dixv encoded movies. Click here to check out the review.
     
    Driver Updates Galore
    - Posted 1:09 PM By Kagato
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    Gaming news seems to be slowly trickling in today, in the mean time, why not make sure your keeping your machines drivers up-to-date.
  • Per Warp2Seach, new VIA 4.40A 4-in-1 drivers. Though I could not find them listed on VIA's homepage, Warp2Search claims "This is an official release including: New security catalog files, VIA AGP driver 4.20, VIA Inf driver 1.60a, WHQL Certificate."

  • SiS has released AGP Driver Version 1.10. Supported chipsets include :SiS630, SiS730, SiS735, SiS733, SiS635, SiS633, SiS645 , SiS650 , SiS740 and SiS745.

  • ATi has released multiple updates for users playing Grand Theft Auto 3 with the new Catalyst 2.1 drivers and have noticed excessive fog issues. Patches include : Windows XP / Windows 2000 / and Windows 9x/ME.

  • Windows XP users be sure to run Windows Update as there are several new security holes that need patched. See articles Q320678 and Q319322 for more info.

  • Not sure how many people even bother with their mouse drivers, but Logitech has released Version 9.61 drivers for their mice.
  • I'll add to this if anything else significant trickles in today driver-wise.
     
    Britney's Dance Beat For PC Released
    - Posted 1:43 PM By tmmicklabs
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    If you thought Britney's Dance Beat for the PlayStation 2 was the bomb, then you may be excited to hear that THQ has released the dance competition game for the PC today. The real difference between the PlayStation2 and PC versions of the game is the inclusion of a Britney Quiz and a Free Play mode in which fans can create their own choreography. Look for it in stores everywhere beginning today.
     
    iPod To Communicate With Windows?
    - Posted 1:51 PM By Kagato
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    Des Moines based MediaFour plans on releasing their new XPlay software package on Monday which will allow iPod users to hook directly up to a PC running Microsoft Windows 9X, Me, 2000, and XP. According to a rumor over at C|Net, there's word that Apple is also working on their own version of a software package that'll allow iPod users to hook up to a non-Mac (i.e. PC) equipment. Should be interesting to see, if anything, this could really help sales of the unit as I imagine there are alot more MP3 users running on a Windows machine than a Mac.
     
    Luke, I Am Your Fada!
    - Posted 4:29 PM By Freex
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    Have ya ever wanted to be Darth Vader? If you said no, then you'd be shoving lies up your wazoo, cuz deep down, every Star Wars fan at one time or another wanted to kick arse as the Sith Lord himself. Well, here's your chance. If you play Jedi Outcast, then head on over to jedi-outcast.com. They have Darth Vader's skin, as well as a whole slew of others, including Padme, Han Solo, and even the Emperor himself. Click herefor the list of skins.
    Source: NP.com
     
      Saturday, Jun 22, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    DOOM III Breaks Record
    - Posted 11:09 AM By WaRMaN
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    DOOM III was honored with a record setting 5 Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2002 honors including Best of Show, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, Special Commendation for Sound and Special Commendation for Graphics. The "Best of E3" was judged by the Game Critics Awards committee, which is comprised of 35 leading industry journalists.
    "We've set out to blow people away with DOOM III, and the demonstration at E3 was a tremendous success," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "People have now seen that in everything from graphics and sound to atmosphere and gameplay, we are creating the most advanced and uniquely frightening game ever."
    This game is already the most widely anticipated PC title currently in development, and with a background of Quake and Wolfenstein, this title should lift the bar to all FPS games like it did when it only fit on one floppy disk.
     
    Auctioned Games Raises $10,000
    - Posted 11:33 AM By WaRMaN
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    The BioWare Kids' Fund is a charitable fund benefiting the Children's Mental Health Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their focus is to provide access to educational and recreational outings and sporting events. These outings give the kids in the unit a refreshing change from their everyday lives.

    Software titles that were donated for the auction were two autographed first-run copies of BioWare's latest Dungeons & Dragons role playing game, Neverwinter Nights. It is nice to see the gaming community giving back, and amazing to see that only two copies of Neverwinter Nights sold for $10,000. I'll sign my copy of RTCW - any buyers?
     

    Sony Hits The Road With Everquest
    - Posted 11:45 AM By WaRMaN
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    Sony Online Entertainment will be hauling around EverQuest to millions of people through ten cities across the United States. Working with industry leaders including Intel, AT&T, Best Buy, NVIDIA, Sony, Altec Lansing, Prima Games and Computer Gaming World Magazine. The EQ Invasion Tour features a 26-foot custom-designed EverQuest-branded trailer equipped with 12 Sony VAIO desktop PCs with the Intel Pentium 4 and NVIDIA GeForce4 offering consumers the ultimate PC gaming experience. Consumers will have the chance to test drive the game, talk to the people behind the EverQuest phenomenon and meet players in their local area. The tour kicked off yesterday in San Diego, CA and is expected to attract more than four million viewings during its four months on the road. Check their website for dates and locations.
    Source: Everquest Invasion
     
      Sunday, Jun 23, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    SOF 2 Map: Dust
    - Posted 7:12 PM By WaRMaN
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    Almost everyone has played the ever popular map de_dust for counter-strike. Now PIT has ported the map for use with Soldier of Fortune 2.

    The map is very close to scale just falling a little smaller than the original. Some boxes are unreachable that were reachable in the CS version, but this elimantes camping spots in my opinion. The map functions in all game modes which is a big plus for making sure that all SoF 2 fans can get a taste of it. When you run around this map you almost forget you are playing SoF2! Very good port, and I hope to see more downloads from this author.
     

    SOF 2 Patch Coming Soon
    - Posted 7:47 PM By WaRMaN
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    Activision is reporting that they will release a patch for SoF 2 the week of July 1st.

    The patch will address some bugs reported, add a new gametype (demolition), a new weapon (MP5SD), and four new maps(Kamchatka Factory, Airport Warehouse, Hong Kong Streets, and the Barn). It's great to see that the game is being well supported with an upcoming patch, a new MOD (RealDamage), some maps and misc files.
    Source: SoF 2 Center
     

    MAME Released For The X-Box
    - Posted 11:30 PM By CCMC
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    MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) will only run on Xbox consoles equipped with a mod chip. It emulates over 3800 arcade machines, from Space Invaders to Mortal Kombat III, many of them perfectly. "This is probably only the first of many such PC software projects to be ported to modded Xboxes," Says www.slashdot.org. Also they are working on porting it over to the Playstation 2 as well at http://www.otakunozoku.com/ps2/index.html

    Take a look and enjoy...
     
      Monday, Jun 24, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Tribes 2 Beta Update v25005
    - Posted 7:35 AM By Kagato
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    Lo and behold, the folks over at Sierra are actually still churning out updates to Tribes 2. Users already running v2.4.8.3.4 (most current patched version), will simply need to run this patch while those updating from a clean CD install, will need to run this patch. There's a few too many updates/fixes to list here, if you'd like to see them all, just click on the Read More... button below. Currently this release is for the Windows version only, a Linux version is planned soon.
    Read More...
    Source: TribalWar
     
    A Comeback For Rambus? 6 Intel 850E Boards
    - Posted 8:17 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Tom's Hardware has a review up of 4 new motherboards that have support to the brand new PC-1066 32-bit RDRAM. Looks like the P-4 is finally reaching it's full potential when combined with 32-bit RDRAM. Click here to check it out.
     
    Screenshots Of New Official SOF2 Maps
    - Posted 8:45 AM By tmmicklabs
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    Evil Avator has some nice screenshots up of the 4 new maps that will be included in the upcoming Soldier of Fortune 2 patch. Click here to check them out.
     
    Half-Life MOD Expo
    - Posted 11:51 AM By WaRMaN
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    Valve, in partnership with NVIDIA and The CPL, have announced the Fourth Annual MOD Expo. It will be a showcase for aspiring game designers building new new MODs for the Half-Life engine.

    If you have a MOD and want to show it at this year's Expo, then send an e-mail to MOD Expo with information on your project. To be selected for the Expo each MOD must be in a working state. While they do not need to be final, each MOD should be far enough along that levels, characters, and/or weapons can be demonstrated within the engine.

    The MODs selected for the Expo will be announced in early July. The Expo itself will take place Monday, July 22 from 8 PM to 10 PM CDT in Dallas, Texas, during the CPL's Pentium 4 Summer Championship 2002 Event.
     

    Layoffs At Funcom
    - Posted 1:00 PM By Kagato
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    According to this news bit over at Funcom's Anarchy Online homepage, there's been a new round of cutoffs at the company. They seem to want to stress the fact that development of their online MMORPG will not be affected. In their words:
    Earlier today Funcom released a public statement outlining an organisational restructuring involving a few cutbacks in staff. Employees in all three offices were affected, but the product development of Anarchy Online will remain unaffected.

    As product development will not be affected, patches and new development for Anarchy Online will continue as planned, including the expansion pack, Shadowlands. Subscription numbers for Anarchy Online have been steadily climbing since the beginning of the year, and we expect the positive trend to continue.
    I'd be curious to know what "steadily climbing" numbers mean? Maybe 5 or 10 new members a month? Though I understand it's actually a pretty stable game now, who knew it'd only take a year.
     
      Tuesday, Jun 25, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Xbox LoTR Interview
    - Posted 10:33 AM By Kagato
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    You've read the books, you've seen the movie, and you're anxiously awaiting the second theatrical release of Tolkien's classic Lord of The Rings. What else does that leave you to do? Well, if you're an Xbox owner, you'll be able to play the LoTR game as well. No, it's not out yet, but the guys over at X-Boxed.com has posted up an interview with Tracey Montoya, Development Producer over at WXP, the folks developing the LoTR : The Fellowship of The Ring title. Snippage:
    XBD: From an visual standpoint, how difficult was it in deciding how to recreate the Middle-earth world?

    Tracey: It`s been exhaustive, but I wouldn`t necessarily say difficult. Tolkien provided a great wealth of detail in his descriptions of the people and places of Middle-earth. A day in the at WXP starts with an idea which is then cross referenced at least five times. We often call upon Daniel Greenberg, our resident "Tolkien Expert". All of the content and assets are reviewed by Universal Interactive as well as Tolkien Enterprises for final verification. While it may sound a bit cumbersome it`s worth it. Our hope is that enthusiasts such as ourselves will appreciate our attention to detail and in the end will feel we `got it right`.
    They've included a few screenshots from the game as it stands now just to keep you dreaming of this game until it's release, and maybe for some time after. To keep up-to-date on the newest information reguarding the game, be sure to visit the Official Homepage.
    Source: X-Boxed.com
     
    Seagate Announces 60GB Per Platter
    - Posted 10:44 AM By Kagato
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    Those of you who find todays hard drive storage space just isn't enough to keep your entire collection of MP3s, DivX, and pr0n online at the same time, take note. Seagate has announced that they can now cram 60 gigabytes on a single platter, meaning more space for you as todays drives top out at about 40 gigabytes per platter. Seagate's 120GB Barracuda ATA V drives will be the first to start sporting this technology (down to 2 platters in the drive) as well as make an entrance into Serial ATA. No official date is noted as to when these drives may start showing up in retail supplies, but I can't imagine it'll be long.
    Source: ZDNet
     
      Wednesday, Jun 26, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    EVE Online Q&A
    - Posted 10:15 AM By Kagato
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    Everywhere you turn these days, somebody's got their own massive online game or one is in the works which isn't surprising considering the revenue (gimmeh money!) growth they're predicting this market will take in the coming years. Fortunately there are plenty of reviews and inverviews with those working hard on these games to try and earn your faith and monthly payroll. The folks over at MGON have posted an interview with Mike "Campion" Wallis, producer at Simon&Schuster Interactive, about their upcoming massively multiplayer space game - EVE Online. Word:
    MGON: Eve-Online is certainly a graphically pleasing game to look at from the released shots, how much are these a true representative of the over all game world? Do they do justice to the sheer feeling of overwhelming space that one would expect in this type of game?

    Mike Wallis: In all honesty, the screen shots don’t even do the game justice! Upon entering the EVE universe, the player is treated to a visual delight unlike any other. Ships & stations come alive in amazing realism, and special effects such as weapons fire, shields, and damage to other ships is a sight to behold. Finally, the spatial objects/environments are beautiful; nebulae, planets of all types & sizes, comets, asteroid fields, and even black holes. I suspect that many first time players will spend a good deal of their early days just flying around taking in the magnificence of the EVE universe.

    Beneath all the fancy graphics & visual effects, however, are robust and deep gameplay elements which will absorb players into the game like none other.
    I'm definately hoping the game isn't all eye-candy, a great background/storyline and gameplay are what make or break a game these days, everyone can do fancy graphics.
    Source: MGON
     
    Xbox Coming To A GBA Near You
    - Posted 10:21 AM By Kagato
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    Owners of Nintendo's GameBoy Advance will apparently have the opportunity to play Xbox title games on their GBA according to the report on CNN Money. According to the story "Starting next year, you're going to see some games that (up until now) have been exclusive to Xbox appearing on the GameBoy Advance. Microsoft and third-party publisher THQ announced a publishing deal Tuesday that will bring 'Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee' and 'Monster Truck Madness 2.0' (among other titles) to the portable gaming system." Now sure, you're not gonna get all the graphics the Xbox can throw out on the screen, but hey, you can tote it around with 'ya.
    Source: CNN Money
     
    Medieval :Total War Playable Demo
    - Posted 12:41 PM By Kagato
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    For those of you who haven't gone out and purchased (or downloaded) a copy of Never Winter Nights (this game is darn addictive!), then perhaps you'd care to download a playable demo of Creative Assembly's Medieval : Total War.. Weighing in at 235MB, this Battle Tutorial demo offers eight tutorials as well as a single-player mission (the Battle of Jaffa) from the full game. If the four download sites listed at Games Domain are busy, you can try either of the mirrors at 3D Gamers or AusGamers. Prefer to beef up on the game and what it's about before taking the time to download the demo? Then read Games Domain's review of this title.
    Source: Games Domain
     
      Thursday, Jun 27, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    New To Old, Counter-Strike
    - Posted 10:37 AM By Reinth
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    Did you love the old models that all looked like furby's? Love bunny hopping with all your favorite weapons? Well, I recently found out about Classic Counter-Strike, it takes betas 4, 5, and 6, and mushes them together to create what is now "Classic Counter-Strike"

    Since the page for the site is down, I can't give you any other information than what I just did, so I will link directly to the file.

    You can get it here.
     
    Preview of Asheron's Call 2
    - Posted 1:33 PM By Kagato
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    You can tell how popular online is gaming just from all the news thats around surrounding the games that are out and the ones that are still in development. The folks over at PC.IGN have up a new review of Asheron's Call 2, the upcoming MMORGP sequeal from Turbine Entertainment and Microsoft. They cover quite a bit of ground, including the new layout, the skill system, player races, game politics, and much more. If you'd rather skip the chit-chat and just look at the sweet new graphics, head over to the Media Page.
    Source: PC.IGN
     
    Matrox Parhelia Review
    - Posted 1:33 PM By tmmicklabs
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    Anandtech has a good review up of Matrox's new Video card.
    This card cost 400 bucks and can't out-perform a geforce 3 in most benchmarks. This card may spell the end for Matrox. Click here to check out the goods.
     
    Microsoft Bumps MAME Off The Tracks
    - Posted 1:49 PM By Kagato
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    For those of you heard about a new version of MAME for the Xbox and downloaded a copy, consider yourself lucky as only four days after it's release, Microsoft has pulled the plug on it's distribution, at least least via the MAME homepage (i.e. Just fire up your favorite P2P package). This has apparently rippled to other areas as one of the groups behind one of the new Xbox mod chips is halting their development into this product.
     
    NWN Patch 1.19
    - Posted 5:56 PM By Kagato
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    Those who have taken the time to take a break from their constant playing of BioWare's recently released Neverwinter Nights, should be aware that there is a new 1.19 patch that has been released. The new patch does the following:
  • Creatures will now use their spell-like abilities again.
  • Bards will no longer become illegal characters.
  • Neverwinter Nights now works with DirectX debug DLL's.
  • Added a Tech Support chat area.
  • Grab the patch, some caffinated beverages and snacks, and resume your normal playing experience.
     
      Friday, Jun 28, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Grand Theft Auto 3 v1.1 Patch
    - Posted 11:55 AM By Kagato
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    There's a new patch for players of Take 2's Grand Theft Auto 3. Not alot of updates, but they include the following:
  • Exception error after blue Rockstar load screen fixed.
  • Error loading saved games fixed.
  • Mouse sensitivity now saved with other settings (no changes made to existing settings).
  • Option for user to play audio files directly from hard disk. Copy the contents of the PLAY discs Audio directory into your installed Grand Theft Auto III Audio directory. Grand Theft Auto III still requires the presence of the PLAY disc when started. This may give better performance on some machines (though worse on others).
  • Grab your copy and get back to jackin' them cars.
     
      Monday, Jul 1, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Gamespy Download Spreading Nimda
    - Posted 4:20 PM By CCMC
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    For all you Gamspy Users out there, the Nimda virus has infected some Gamespy Arcade 1.09 installers. Approximately 3,100 infected files were served in a seven hour period. This happened on Download.com, they have been infected twice in the last week. The times that the installers were infected were Teusday and Wednessday night. So if you downloaded GameSpy Arcade during that time. Scan away...
    Source: Yahoo News
     
     
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