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Matrox Parhelia Reef Demo – The Best DirectX 8 Benchmark Ever?
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Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
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  Tuesday, Sep 3, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
Review For The Thing
- Posted 7:45 AM By Freex
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HomeLan Fed has posted up a review of the PC game The Thing. A direct quote:
One of the things that was hyped up in the gameplay of The Thing before its release is the trust system where you have to keep the trust of the people you encounter and team up with high in order for them to work with you in battling aliens as well as solve some of the puzzles you have to deal with (opening a door, activating power to systems and so on). Of course, some of the people you encounter turn into beasties so sometimes you feel sort of stupid handing a weapon clip to a teammate to gain his trust only to have him try to eat you later in the game. Still the system is a good way to keep track of your teammates and have them perform tasks for you.
 
Microsoft To Release Bluetooth Peripherals
- Posted 8:01 AM By Freex
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c|net has an article about Microsoft's upcoming release of Bluetooth capable mouse, keyboards, and USB transceiver.
"Bluetooth (wireless radio technology) is one of the most advanced cable-replacement technologies available today, and it will enable consumers to wirelessly connect enabled devices, such as mice, keyboards, printers, PDAs and cellular phones, to the wealth of information on their PC."
This is in response to Logitech's hold on the wireless peripherals market. Microsoft plans on releasing these peripherals in November.
 
Counter-Hack to support Battlefield 1942
- Posted 6:52 PM By Anthos
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Good news for those of you who have found the endless entertainment available in EA's newest demo game, soon to be released in the full version. Hopefully, it will be a moot point and the cheaters won't ruin a perfectly good game, as we know they can/have. Here's a peek:
Games Counter Hack is supporting: Half-Life & Mods, Quake III, Diablo II, WarCraft III, Jedi Knight II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and StarCraft. Future games: America's Army, Battlefield 1942.
When you go there, you'll notice that they are also requesting more help, with the ontake of more games. If you think you've got what it takes, check it out right here.
 
New [8Ball] Clan Map Pack (8)
- Posted 10:37 PM By WaRMaN
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Clan [8Ball] has released yet another great map pack (8Ball8). Maps included:
  • as_summit
  • awp_city
  • cs_oldmansion
  • cs_pacmanx_8ball
  • de_aztec3
  • de_herrenberg
  • cs_castorv11
  • cs_aldi2k
  • de_troy
  • starwars_2a
  • It is good to see these guys supporting the game they love. Head over to their site for more info, and let them know you appreciate their work. You can download it from the MwGL File Area by clicking here.
    Source: [8Ball]
     
      Wednesday, Sep 4, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Unreal Tournament 2003 Update
    - Posted 4:54 PM By Kagato
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    Yep, it's still not done, but it sure sounds like it's getting close for UT 2003. Epic Games' CliffyB has posted an update on the status of playable demo (not to mention the final product) for Unreal Tournament 2003. Here's the word:
    Not much longer folks.

    Menus have been reworked and are being ironed out.

    Server browser is almost finished.

    We're focusing on testing the maps that are shipping with the demo.

    4 maps will be in the demo: (forgive me if this has been posted before)

    ANTALUS - DM map in an exterior setting. Beautiful grass, rolling hills, neat rock structures around, etc...
    ASBESTOS- DM map in a factory style setting.
    CITADEL - CTF map - Like Face, but with multiple paths.
    ANUBIS - Bombing Run map - tons of fun.

    Level Designers are reviewing the AI in their maps to make sure that the bots know how to Shieldgun jump, Translocate, Double Jump, and Low Grav jump to EVERY available spot in their maps.

    The single player campaign is being tested and finalized.

    The Redeemer is in and fully functional and is very close to being bug free.

    All levels are being finalized for ragdoll (low poly) collision.

    Extras are being put in. Select a mesh for your player avatar and the voice is now hooked up to announce it. Kill someone with a redeemer and their body goes flying. Sound matches up with the redeemer explosion properly. Mutators are being tested in random combinations with each other. Instagib with zoom and translocator and QUAD jump is quite a kick!

    One thing that I'm excited about with the new UT - all of the gametypes will be very fun and viable online. Assault and the original Domination, as much as I love them, had some issues that prevented them from reaching their full potential online. Dom 2.0 and Bombing Run are right up there with CTF and other gametypes!

    Hang in there guys!
    I'm just itching for a new FPS game. Q3A is still fun as hell, but it'll be nice to try something new.
     
    Battlefield 1942 MP Demo Patch v1.1
    - Posted 10:44 PM By WaRMaN
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    Battlefield multiplayer demo fans have been heard and alot of fixes have been made with the release of the v1.1 patch. If you have yet to play this demo, please put down your "nOOb magazine" and join in on the action which just happens to be the second most game played right now! Download the mp demo and v1.1 patch from our File Downloads area. Click Read More to see what was fixed in the demo.
    Read More...
     
      Thursday, Sep 5, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    BF:1942 Interview
    - Posted 7:26 PM By Kagato
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    Say what you will about Battlefield : 1942 being a WWII era based Operation Flashpoint, I still find it to be a much more enjoyable game (maybe that's why I gave Squirre1 my copy of OFP). Anyhow, the fine folks at ShackNews have posted an interview with EA assistant producer Jamil Dawsari, discussing their soon-to-be-in-stores Battlefield : 1942, go figure. Snip:
    Shack: What really sets this game apart from other first person shooters?

    Jamil: Well, a couple of things really, the first is it's a totally new game engine, Refractor 2. Unlike other engines, R2 can handle everything from huge landscapes, big ships, fast aircraft and individual soldiers...all in the same environment. You're looking at an engine which runs models made up of thousands of polys (4K for a soldier (with facial animations), 2k for a jeep, 10k for the battleship) AND still gives you framerate of over 45 fps on your mid- to high-end machines.

    Add to that the game's focus...action, pure and simple. When you hear people swapping their favorite in-game stories you know you've got something special. Whether it's the tank team who destroy a jeep as it's careening towards them, only to have the jeep go airborne and take out the machine-gunner in the cupola...sheer comedy! Or the pilot who bails out of his flaming plane and watches its carcass slam into the AA gun which shot him down as his buddy in the two-seat dive-bomber zips by and picks him up in mid-air. Its all about those special moments which make you sit back and go...wow...did that REALLY just happen?
    I just wish I could coax my local Electronics Boutique guy to gimme my copy early.
    Source: ShackNews
     
    VeriSign In Trouble With ICANN Again
    - Posted 11:00 PM By CCMC
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    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)has made 17 complaints about VeriSign (formally known as Network Solutions) in the last 18 months. ICANN is saying that VeriSign is not keeping accurate records of its customers, including one customer who registered a domain name using the fictitious name of "Toto" with the fake address of "Yellow Brick Road" in "Oz, Kansas.". ICANN is threatening to take away VeriSign's right to sell domains, if they do not clean up their act in 15 days.
    According to VeriSign, of 10.3 million records, they pulled out 17 of these that have inaccurate data on it.
    ICANN is also saying that, "VeriSign Registrar appears frequently to publish incomplete Whois data and to routinely ignore reports of inaccurate and incomplete contact data in its Whois database."
    Source: CNet News.com
     
      Friday, Sep 6, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    PC Rooms: Rated M For Mockery
    - Posted 9:27 AM By Anthos
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    This article caught my eye while browsing CS-Nation's website. It speaks mostly to LAN gaming centers and the lack of ID checking for a place that caters mainly to computer games with Mature ratings. Here's a bit of a preview:
    Critics contend that such arcades have created a wide loophole in the already haphazard effort to keep children from access to games designed for adults. The PC rooms, which charge users about $5 an hour, typically do not check players' ages or limit access to games like Counter-Strike, which is rated M, meaning that it is for players 17 and older.

    Opponents contend that the PC rooms are the equivalent of movie theaters that admit schoolchildren to R-rated movies on an unlimited and unchecked basis.

    "It undermines the integrity of the rating system," said Dan Gerstein, a spokesman for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, who has called on retailers to refrain from selling adult-rated games to children. "If arcade operators are applying their own standard, that's not fair to parents."
    Read the rest of the article here. You will need to submit a free registration in order to view the article.
     
    New Forum To Join EA's New Game
    - Posted 12:51 PM By Anthos
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    We've added a forum section for Battlefield 1942 for you all to post in. I've started it off right here. This looks to be a big release folks, especially for all you Counter-Strike fans. Let's get some comments!!
     
    Morrowind Expansion "Tribunal"
    - Posted 2:56 PM By Kagato
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    Not content enough on getting Morrowind released, the folks at Bethesda Softworks have announced that they are developing an expansion pack, currently titled Tribunal. The expansion is slated to be in stores later this year, hopefully in time for THE holiday. Snip:
    In Tribunal, a ruthless new king has taken the throne of Morrowind, while an aging god drifts deeper into madness. Into this chaos you are thrust, with deadly assassins close behind you and Morrowind's uncertain future ahead. Your journey will lead you to Mournhold, capital city of Morrowind, to the Clockwork City of Sotha Sil, and through massive, epic-sized dungeons.

    "In Morrowind you get to meet Vivec, but he is just one member of the ruling Tribunal," said Todd Howard, Project Leader. "We've always wanted to take you on an adventure to Mournhold to meet the other two god-kings, Almalexia and Sotha Sil. It's an awesome city, and the quests there are some of the best yet."

    Strange and deadly creatures await you in Tribunal, including goblins, lich lords, and the mysterious Fabricants. Powerful new armor and weapons will aid you in your survival, and your adventures will be documented in the improved journal system and an annotatable map. The fate of Morrowind is in your hands.again.
    Word has it you'll need a P4 3+ Ghz and Ti4600 or better to even run this one - j/k.
     
    Windows Hacked Yet Again...
    - Posted 8:00 PM By Freex
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    Wired has an article about a new hack on the Windows operating system:
    Microsoft has issued an unusual warning to Windows users: watch out for a hack attack that could lock you out of your computer and turn it into a launching pad for other attacks...According to a "hacking alert" posted on its website, Microsoft's Product Support Services (PSS) Security Team has detected a "significant spike" in Windows systems compromised by a mysterious attack. Once hit, systems may not allow legitimate users to log on to the network, due to changes made to the systems' security settings...[Microsoft] also noted that antivirus software may not detect some of the attack files, specifically "back door" programs that provide an attacker with remote access to an infected system using Internet relay chat (IRC) networks.
    Yeesh.
     
      Sunday, Sep 8, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Preview For NOLF 2
    - Posted 6:28 AM By Freex
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    pc.ign has a preview of No One Lives Forever 2, which includes 9 videos. A small taste:
    "New smart objects that are essentially pieces of non-interactive environment have a sort of function that enemies can play off of. I guess that makes them interactive, non-interactive environment objects. Not only do they make scripts livelier and more believable (badguys will turn and work at consoles or sit in chairs), but they also seem to work with combat, in that enemies will recognize and play off of them accordingly. This makes leaping ninjas and rolling Russians more effective, believable, and active. Some jump on ledges, others hide and go prone behind cars, etcetera, etcetera. Honestly, it may all even be dynamic, the way they react. The point is that they behave in constantly changing enough ways that their routine never feels predictable. It's like the fights are actual fights and the enemies are doing their best to not get killed."
    The new generation of AI in games?
    Source: HomeLan Fed
     
      Monday, Sep 9, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    BAWLS - Not Just For Gamers
    - Posted 10:57 AM By Kagato
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    While it may not be quite gaming news, anybody who's ever gone to any LAN event knows the drink of choice for diehard gamers has to be BAWLS. Now comes news from the New York Post that apparently gamers aren't the only ones hooked on this high caffiene soda, Wall Street loves it too! Not only that, but they've apparently signed a deal with CompUSA to start selling it in stores, only 3 test markets for now, but it's a start! Word:
    Down on Wall Street, meanwhile, the drink is becoming the choice stimulant for those who stay up late to see how the Nikkei opens, rather than spend extra hours in front of a PlayStation. "I drink one [BAWLS] in the morning and one around 3 in the afternoon," said Peter, a Wall Street trader who asked that his last name not be used. "I stopped drinking coffee when I found [BAWLS]."

    A Goldman Sachs employee said one of the firm's techies suggested it to him one morning, and he's been hooked since. "[I drink] two each day at work and one when I get home. My girlfriend thinks I'm nuts, but it's better than the '80s way of doing [cocaine] all day."
    Now if only they could get themselves into a grocery chain or two, would be alot easier to go down the street to pick up a case rather than having it delivered.
    Source: NYPOST.COM
     
    AI - How The Games Think
    - Posted 11:04 AM By Kagato
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    The blokes over at BBC News have a little article posted discussing AI (Artificial Intelligence)and how it is developed and used in today's games. This ain't your papa's AI for sure, these new batch of games definately have some distinctiveness beyond the old "if player1_distance <= weapon_range then shoot_the_noob". Word:
    The makers of Medieval: Total War have drawn on the writings of ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu to inform the artificial intelligence (AI) controlling the games computer players. Michael de Plater, creative director at Creative Assembly which made Medieval, said Sun Tzu's classic work The Art of War was a great guide for the writers of the AI. "He wrote large sections of it as concrete rules," said Mr de Plater. "We have built these straight into the AI." The rules give advice on what to do if enemies are approaching over bridges, how to outflank, when to press home an advantage and how to fight cautious and rash opponents.
    I wonder if somebody would ever design a game that required 2 PCs to run? In terms of the first machine is for your to run the client on, the 2nd is for the AI module, to have it's own computing power purely for "thinking".
    Source: BBC News
     
    Neverwinter Nights Patch v1.24
    - Posted 8:28 PM By Kagato
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    In case you haven't run the auto-update function, there's a new patch available for Neverwinter Nights, weighing in at 1.8MB. For those opting to download the newest patch (v1.24) for Bioware's Neverwinter Nights rather than using the auto-update, you can grab the various pathes here. There are quite a few patch versions available depending on what version you're currently running. No word yet on what's new/fixed in this patch.
     
      Tuesday, Sep 10, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    UT2003 Demo Due This Week
    - Posted 11:56 AM By Kagato
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    Faithful fans of UT and the upcoming UT2003 should be happy to know that, according to this post by Epic's Mark Rein, the Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo should hopefully be out sometime this week. Word:
    The demo is nearly ready to go. It should be out sometime within the next few days. Keep watching this space (the stickies) for an announcement. When it's ready we'll just be releasing it randomly to a few major sites so that hopefully it will spread like wildfire and everyone will be able to get it from their favorite games site. There won't be any special exclusives or anything like that. We want everyone to be enjoying it the minute it goes live.
    Hmm, I'm hoping for more than a few mirrors, this will get hammered on any site hosting it for sure!
     
    Maxtor Unleashes 320GB Drives
    - Posted 12:11 PM By Kagato
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    Not wanting to be left in the dust behind other competitors' drive storage limits, Maxtor has announced a new line of drives, dubbed MaXLine, which will have storage capacities of up to 320GB. Pricing is expected to be in the $300 to $400 range and should be available by the end of the year. I just wonder how they expect ANYBODY to back up that much data?! DVD-R only holds 4.7GB currently and tape devices just plain suck IMHO. Hmm, need an array of these things one to mirror the other - just pray you don't get hit by lightning!
     
    Intel And The Future Of Computer Privacy...
    - Posted 7:25 PM By Freex
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    According to an article in the Boston Globe,
    "...Intel Corp. said yesterday that its next generation of microchips, due next year, would include anti-piracy features that will protect computers against hackers and viruses while giving digital publishers powerful new tools to control the use of their products...[allowing] Hollywood, the recording industry, and software makers much stronger controls over the way consumers use their digital music, films, and computer programs. Publishers, for example, may prevent PCs that run LaGrande and Microsoft Corp.'s software-based Palladium security technology from copying CDs, forwarding certain documents, or running unlicensed software...'These systems are likely to police copyright by watching who consumes what,' said Chris Hoofnagle, legislative counsel with the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. 'There are grave consequences for privacy with these systems,' he added."
    Hmmm...AMD to follow suit?
    Source: Slashdot
     
      Wednesday, Sep 11, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN
    - Posted 1:39 PM By Anthos
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    Some of you may have seen this before, but I think it bears remembering today.
    Read More...
     
    America Attacked 9 1 1 (56K beware)
    - Posted 4:17 PM By Anthos
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    A big thank you goes out to the makers of this website.

    Thank you.

     
    Soldier Of Fortune 2 Takes A Loss
    - Posted 10:04 PM By WaRMaN
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    SOF-LAND is reporting that the MODs Red Orchestra and H.E.A.T will stop coding for Soldier of Fortune 2, and start supporting Unreal Tournament 2003. Both MOD teams are stating that UT2K3 will have better MOD support and a bigger community.

    This is a big blow to Soldier of Fortune. In my opinion these MODs were going to be key in the survival of SoF2. Now that these MOD teams are jumping ship I believe the SoF2 community will as well. You can only play so much of the boxed version gametypes.

    Although I was unable to get a responce from the H.E.A.T team, I did get a link for Red Orchestra's statement. I will try to get some quotes for you guys soon. Thanks to MajOverkill for passing us the news!
    Source: SOF-LAND
     

      Thursday, Sep 12, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Understanding Your BIOS
    - Posted 7:36 AM By Freex
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    Wayne Hardman of arstechnica has written an article to help understand and tweak your BIOS for optimal performance of your PC. Disclaimer:
    "Most PC users don't even know what a BIOS is, "where" it is, "how" you "see" it, and what you can do with it. That's hardly surprising, because most users purchase OEM machines, and OEMs aren't too excited about users tinkering with their BIOSes. That's one of the reasons why the BIOS on any given machine may or may not have most of the settings I'm about to talk about. That's also why we need to be clear: we cannot take responsibility for your system should you choose to attempt any modifications based on the material herein. While we have done our best to make sure that this information is accurate and applicable, we cannot be sure how the BIOS on your system is actually set up or how it specifically implements some of the options. You can completely hose your OS install if things do go wrong. But hey, you're reading this, so you already know that performance seeking isn't for the lazy nor the timid."
    Happy Tweaking!
     
    Q&A About XIII
    - Posted 7:49 AM By Freex
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    Electric Playground has a Q&A with Ubi Soft's Julien Bares about the cel-shaded first person shooter "XIII":
    "XIII is a first person shooter using cel-shaded animation and based on a Belgian comic book by Jean Van Hamme. It's being built with the Unreal engine and will be released early next year for all platforms. Ubi Soft promises 'a conspiracy of epic proportions, and players will unravel clues behind the story's compelling and mysterious events through the game's unique flashback visuals.' They are also claiming a finely balanced combination of action and stealth, unheard of levels of interactivity and freedom, and exceptionally smooth textures and fluid animation. We can't wait to see if the game delivers, and to find out more about XIII we asked some questions of the game's producer, Julien Bares."
    This game looks to be a hit.
    Source: Homelan Fed
     
    New Drivers For ATI's Radeon 9700 Pro
    - Posted 7:57 AM By Freex
    EMail News to a Friend  Printer Friendly Version    8 Comments | Add 
    If you're lucky enough to have this brand-spanking new card, but you're having Direct3d issues with playing Battlefield 1942, Mafia, or The Thing, then get this new driver. Now, resume with your gaming goodness.
    Source: Homelan Fed
     
    AMD Delays Hammer
    - Posted 6:12 PM By Kagato
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    For those of you hoping to see AMD's upcoming Hammer line of processors, there's bad news on that front. According to the folks at C|Net News, AMD has announced a delay the desktop version by nearly a quarter (i.e. four months). AMD was originally slating the Hammer line to be on shelves first quarter 2003, the newly announced delay pushes those plans until second quarter 2003. One could hope that perhaps they're retooling the line for even better performance, guess we'll all have to wait a little bit longer to see what this new line will bring to the PC platform.
    Source: C|Net News
     
      Friday, Sep 13, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    The First Smiley :-)
    - Posted 4:14 PM By Kagato
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    While reading up on the daily news over at Slashdot, I came across a rather humerous little link reguarding an online archaeology dig for the first use of the smiley. While it's not game related, I thought it was rather interesting project for somebody to undertake for something many people use daily in e-mail correspondence. Word:
    "After a significant effort to locate it, on September 10, 2002 the original post made by Scott Fahlman on CMU CS general bboard was retrieved by Jeff Baird from an October 1982 backup tape of the spice vax (cmu-750x)."
    Oh what wonderful ways of spending time we do come up with to amuse ourselves when we're bored.
     
    UT2003 Demo Released
    - Posted 9:36 PM By Kagato
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    Well, it's official, the folks at Epic have finally released the demo for Unreal Tournament 2003 this evening. Weighing in at 100MB, there are quite a few mirror sites (see links below) hosting the file. Good luck on actually getting a copy downloaded, they're all SWAMPED! If you'd like more info on this title, you can find it at the official site.

    Mirrors : Nvidia, 3D Gamers, Beyond Unreal, The Shack, HomeLan Fed, Aus Gamers, File Planet, Faster Files, and GameSpot.
     
      Saturday, Sep 14, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Unreal Tournament 2003 on MwGL
    - Posted 1:20 AM By WaRMaN
    EMail News to a Friend  Printer Friendly Version    6 Comments | Add 
    Searching for a good server to download the new demo of Unreal Tournament 2003? Well look no further! We have posted the file in our File Downloads area, so DOWNLOAD it now. The Demo features multiple gameplay including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination 2.0 and Bombing Run. I got a chance to play the demo on-line to a server list of over 500 servers to choose from. Most of those with very decent pings. So, get the demo and prepare yourself for an "Unreal" experience!
     
    Western Digital - Increasing Sizes, Shrinking Warranties
    - Posted 10:55 AM By Kagato
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    I couldn't believe it when I heard Maxtor was dropping their drive warranties to one year. Now it appears that on the heals of Western Digital announcing their new special edition 200GB drive (4x the cache), they too will be moving to a 1 year warranty on all drives, effective October 1. I haven't seen any update from Maxtor, but with Western Digital, you can at least buy an extended warranty to cover your drive for up to 3 years. Geez, guess they don't make enough profit off the drives, now they gotta go the way of Best Buy and offer you an extended warranty on everything they sell! Maybe they're planning on basing new lines of drives off of IBM technology and figured they'd crash and burn supporting anything over a years worth of warranty.
     
      Monday, Sep 16, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Neocron Beta Trial Ends
    - Posted 11:17 AM By Kagato
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    For those of you who've been trying out Reakktor's upcoming title Neocron have probably noticed if you'd tried logging in within the past day that the beta has been closed. The folks at Neocron Central have some news reguarding the ending of this beta trial. Word:
    One reason why we have to take it down is the fact that too many people didn't understand the meaning of beta. I saw a tremendous amount of players whining about the lack of support in this open beta on other boards (e.g. at VE3D). People were running around saying that KK doesn't care about their 'customers' and stuff... and many people didn't get the message that they were actually complaining about a lack of support in the beta and NOT in the retail version (Please note that there is a big, fat splashscreen at the launch of the B4 client that says that there is "NO SUPPORT AT ALL FOR B4"). Also I was starting to get really sick because of the personal insults for bugs in Beta4. Many people didn't understand what beta means and started an anti-NC campaign on other boards because of the bugs in the game... AND AGAIN many other people didn't realize that the trolls were complaining about the B4, NOT about the retail version. As you can see, there actually are valid arguments to close beta now. Retail is running smooth and we want our reputation coming from that clientel, rather than from flaming beta trolls.
    I can understand their feelings toward the flaming tards on various posting boards, but to close off a public testing of the system because of it seems a bit lame to me. How else do they plan on stress-testing the system?
    Source: Neocron Central
     
    NOLF 2 Demo Due Soon
    - Posted 6:29 PM By Kagato
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    Rumor has it that Monolith will be releasing a demo for their upcoming "No One Lives Forever 2 : A Spy in Harm's Way" title within the next day or so. Word:
    Guess what a little birdie just told me? The NOLF2: ASIHW demo will be out in less than 24 hours!! The official demo will include four levels total from three of the game's 15 chapters and the locations will be Japan, Siberia and the never before seen, Underwater Base. Just think, by this time tomorrow, you'll be playing it yourself. And in just about 15 days, 2 will finally be here. It's hard to believe that almost two years have passed since NOLF entered our lives on November 3, 2000, and for many of us, changed our lives forever. I know I'm being dorky, but I don't care.
    It's a Bond thing, you wouldn't understand.
    Source: Nolf Girl
     
    Alien Culture - Q3A Mod In The Works
    - Posted 11:10 PM By Kagato
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    You wanna talk about devotion for game modding? Look no further than the upcoming Alien Culture mod for Quake III Arena. Talk about you rtotal conversions, this'll be an entire remake of the single player gaming experience. They've even got a storyline:
    The year is 2294. The human population of Earth is growing to the point that the planet's resources will soon no longer be able to effectively sustain its inhabitants. The world's governments have been unable to devise a plan to control the problem...until now.
    So far, most of the images just consist of are sketches and ideas, but there looks to be great potential. Get your frag on!
     
      Tuesday, Sep 17, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    UT2003 Demo Patch
    - Posted 9:00 AM By Kagato
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    There's a new patch available for those of you playing the Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo. Weighing in at 3.24MB, the update fixes the following issues:
  • Fixed support for Voodoo3 / Matrox G400.
  • Fixed initial framerate hitches in network play.
  • Fixed the jittery screen updates in the server browser when sorting by ping.
  • Fixed a possible DoS attack in the server code.
  • Fixed a few other minor potential crashes.
  • Grab it and return to your normally scheduled FPS.
     
    NOLF 2 Demo Released
    - Posted 2:50 PM By Kagato
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    Just a quick follow-up to yesterday's blurb about the upcoming demo release for No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. The 158MB demo is now available and offers four levels to play from three of the game's 15 chapters (Japan, Siberia, and the never before seen, Underwater Base). You can download the demo from the following links.

    Fileplanet ( registration required)
    Fileshack (registration required)
    3DGamers (No registration required)
     
    Pioneer DVD-R/RW Drives Overheating
    - Posted 4:09 PM By Kagato
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    Figures, I no more than pick up my new Pioneer DVD-R/RW drive and then happen to find this article over at C|Net News. If you happen to own a Pioneer DVR-A03, DVR-103, DVR-A04, DVR-104 computer drive or Pioneer DVR-7000 DVD and PRV-9000 Professional recorders, make sure you head over here for the firmware updates to resolve the overheating issues. Apparently the bug is due to the recent approval of the 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW specifications by the DVD Forum.
    Source: C|Net News
     
    VIA Licenses Quad Band Memory
    - Posted 8:30 PM By Kagato
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    Looking to advance their position as leader in the chipset market, VIA announced today that they have licensed Kentron's Quad Band Memory technology to integrate into future core logic chipsets. Word:
    The QBM controller interface license provides VIA and S3 Graphics with the necessary IP coverage to incorporate QBM into their line of core logic chipsets. QBM technology doubles the speed of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory devices while maintaining the existing 64-bit bus structure common in today’s general purpose computing systems and meeting market requirements for low cost memory modules.
    With the introduction of QBM, not only does VIA stand to have the potential to double the current available memory bandwidth, but QBM DIMMs can be built with existing DDR chips. You can learn more about this new techonology over at VIA's QBM information page.
     
      Wednesday, Sep 18, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    ATI Trade-up Program announced
    - Posted 3:04 PM By Kagato
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    Looking to upgrade that 'ol ATI for one of them phat, new 9700's but don't wanna chuck out that much green? Well, no worries now as ATI announced a trade-up program today which will allow Canadian (eh?) and U.S. customers to obtain a brand new ATI graphics card at discounted prices by swapping in their old model, irreguardless of its brand. Word:
    The trade-up program is a bonanza for customers as it offers them a quick path to the latest and greatest technology from ATI," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President, Marketing and General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "Customers are finding the simple and swift ordering process a great bonus."

    Boards currently available through the trade-up program include the RADEON™ 9700 PRO, the RADEON™ 9000 PRO, the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 8500, and the RADEON™ 7000 and RADEON™ 8500 MAC EDITION. ATI will consistently update and expand this list based on customer feedback.

    ATI will send customers their new board in advance to install and work with. Once satisfied, they return their older board for a significant trade-in credit that is applied to their credit card purchase.
    No specifics on what savings you can expect, but anything would be better than shelling out another $400 for a a new one right?
     
    SoF II Patch Coming
    - Posted 5:38 PM By Kagato
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    Just as a heads up of what's in store for Soldier of Fortune 2 players, here's a sneak peak at what's being done with the upcoming 1.02 patch for SoF II. There's WAY to many updates to list here so I'll just list a few of the highlights, you can click on the "Read More..." link below to see the full list, or just read the post over at the Raven Software bulletin board.

  • Increased the rate of fire on the M60.
  • All pistols are now single fire but can be fired much faster.
  • If crouched when walking over an item it will make no noise when it is picked up.
  • Crouching in mid air no longer gives accuracy bonus. This means that shooting when jumping will be much more inaccurate as initially intended.
  • Can now pick up bomb, case, etc immediately after its dropped when someone dies.
    Read More...
     
  • Coop for NOLF 2!
    - Posted 9:15 PM By Anthos
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    A fun game that actually incorporates multi-player cooperative play!
    What sort of online play will be available?

    NOLF 2 features a fully immerse Cooperative based multi-player system. This mode allows up to four UNITY agents to be sent out on secondary missions against H.A.R.M. One thing that’s unique about the NOLF 2 coop mode is that the story and mission objectives tie directly to the progression of the single player story. Allowing players to experience a separate game play experience while still being connected to the main story line.
    Finally!
    Source: Nolf Girl
     
      Friday, Sep 20, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    UT2003 Is Golden
    - Posted 9:13 AM By Kagato
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    Rumors have flown around for the past few days about Unreal Tournament going gold, all of which were shot down. Well, now comes the official word from Epic Megagames own Mark Reign, that as of this morning, the title has been shipped off to the manufacturer for production. Word:
    Just before 5AM Eastern Standard Time this morning we shipped the release version of Unreal Tournament 2003 to manufacturing. It should be in production later today and in stores before the end of the month. We want to thank everyone on the forum for all of the valuable feedback. In the week since we shipped the demo we worked pretty much non-stop to squash a lot of bugs and incorporate some of the great feedback we got from players all around the world.

    Steve Polge is going to post a list of some of the gameplay changes we made since the demo in the demo feedback forum.

    UT2003 is a 3 CD set. Of course you know it’s a huge game with a ton of content (over 35 levels), great characters, awesome gametypes, incredible AI, cool mutators, etc. But there’s also some great tools including the following:

    1. Maya Personal Learning Edition from Alias|Wavefront - a special version of the professional-strength 3D content creation tool used by top game designers and major Hollywood studios along with a special plug-in created by our friends Secret Level Inc. that provides seamless integration between the game's engine and Maya.

    2. The Karma Authoring Tool (KAT) that allows you to set up character joint constraints for use with MathEngine's Karma real-time physics system which is incorporated into UT2003.

    3. UPaint - a 3D painting application that lets you paint directly on the games' characters in 3D and also provides face projection which allows you to paste your face over the game's characters.

    4. The Unreal Editor 3.0 - the latest version of the main tool we used to build all of the UT2003 levels.

    5. The UnrealScript Real Time Debugger lets mod authors trace through their code like never before. This is the kind of tool that professional developers rely on to ship the best possible code.

    6. A fully working Karma-enhanced vehicle and a test level to drive it around it. This will give mod maker a head start on how to do cool vehicle-based mods with our technology.
    They're aiming for this to be on store shelves before the end of the month. 35 levels? Can you say sweeeeeet!
     
    Donkey Kong Announces "Microsoft ownz joo!"
    - Posted 4:39 PM By Kagato
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    Well, it's been speculated and rumored for awhile, and now appears to finally be happening!. What is it that I speak of? Microsoft's buy-out of Rare, the game designer behind such Nintendo favorites as Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Starfox. Word:
    CNN/Money has learned that Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has purchased Rare Ltd., the development house behind such titles as Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye and the upcoming Star Fox Adventures. Nintendo previously held a 49 percent interest in Rare, but announced it had sold that ownership position Friday.

    "We sold our position back to Rare and then they sold the entire company to Microsoft," said George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Nintendo of America.
    Great, there's a whole new line of games that we can expect to get the "Xbox only" branding.
    Source: CNN/Money
     
      Monday, Sep 23, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Creative Labs Announces SB Audigy 2
    - Posted 11:26 AM By Kagato
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    That's right folks, Creative Labs has announced their new Audigy 2 chip today. What all will the new chip bring to the table? In a word:
    Audigy 2 delivers up to eight times better clarity than host audio. The new Audigy 2 chip, premium quality 24-bit/192kHz Digital to Analog Converters (DACs), and a true 24-bit ADVANCED HD audio path ensure "hiss-free" audio fidelity and exceptional clarity of 106dB SNR. The power of Audigy 2 processing enables full 24-bit/96kHz audio resolution in discrete 5.1 surround sound with playback of Windows Media Audio (WMA) 9 Professional, the Web's first digital 5.1 surround sound audio codec from the new Windows Media 9 Series.
    I imagine these will beginning popping up shortly. I personally gave up on the Creative Labs brand of cards when they started charging (i.e. mailed you a CD) for software updates rather than allowing you to download from the web.
     
    IFPI Announces Copy Control Symbol for CD
    - Posted 11:32 AM By Kagato
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    Lo and behold, something that actually informs the consumer as to what they're buying. IFPI announced today the introduction of a new (although optional) logo that record companies may use to inform consumers that the CD they are buying incorporates some type of control copying technology.
    The logo is available for use by record companies internationally, and is being announced in consultation with IFPI's national associations in 46 countries, and with music retailers worldwide. It could feature either on the artwork of the CD or as a sticker, and may be accompanied by additional information about the technology being used.
    In a related story, the RIAA announces a $1 increase on the price of all CDs sold due to the increased expense of printing the new logo on labels (j/k). Being that there's no mandate, I'm not sure how the big media folks will be towards its introduction to the music you buy.
     
    MS Makes Xbox Changes To Thwart Hackers
    - Posted 9:36 PM By Kagato
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    Looks like the folks in Redmond aren't taking a liking to all the hacks (i.e. Mod chips, etc.) that are in the market now so they've decide to make some internal changes to try and throw a curveball into the market.
    Word of the changes began spreading on sites devoted Xbox hacking, with some buyers of recently manufactured Xbox units complaining that mod chips designed for the original console won't work now.

    Microsoft Xbox spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell confirmed that the company had made minor changes to the console's configuration as part of ongoing efforts to "increase security and reduce overall costs."
    Riiiiight "increase security", there's something Microsoft's really known for (*Insert snicker here*).
    Source: C|Net News
     
    More Important Info Regarding Tournament Vote
    - Posted 11:50 PM By Anthos
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    Sorry, folks. Due to an oversight on my part, we are going to have to remove Battlefield 1942 from our tournament list. If you voted for this tournament, please let me know via PM or email for which tournament you would like to vote; and I'll get it changed.

    We're still looking for more input regarding which new tournament will be incorporated into the next event. It's going to be here before you know it. Make your opinion count! Click here and vote!!
     
      Tuesday, Sep 24, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Ghost Recon Patch v1.3
    - Posted 8:12 PM By Kagato
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    Ubi Soft has released a new patch for US players of Ghost Recon, updating the squad-based tactical shooter by Red Storm Entertainment to version 1.3. This release adds a huge number of changes, including gameplay, graphics, AI, editor and multiplayer improvements and fixes, and brings compatibility with the newly shipping Island Thunder expansion pack. For a full listing of all the updates, fixes, and changes, click on the "Read More..." link below.
    Read More...
     
      Wednesday, Sep 25, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Games on Demand
    - Posted 8:09 AM By Freex
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    MSNBC has an article about Yahoo!'s new PC game rental service: Games on Demand.
    Users with high-speed Internet access will be able to rent games for a few days or for a month with a range different pay models. It will cost $4.95 to play one game for three days, $12.95 for five games for a month or $14.95 for the rental of 10 games for 30 days.
    After a one-time download of the Game Launcher, which allows games to be streamed to the desktop, players can choose how they rent the titles, either multi-game, monthly subscriptions or single, three-day rentals.
    For those of you that are strapped for cash, this may be a way for you to test-drive a new game before buying it.
    Source: Ars Technica
     
    Tribes 2 "Re-Release" Patch
    - Posted 7:21 PM By Kagato
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    I suppose this would fall under the old phrase "good things happen to those who wait" and wait, and wait, and ... . Anyhow, it appears as if the promised relaunch of TRIBES 2 appears to be underway (if you missed it originally, you can read about it over at Blue's News) as can be seen with the newest patch that has just been made available. As with any major update, there's too many changes, additions, etc. to list here, just just click on the "Read More..." link below or head over and read Guy Welch's post on the Vivendi Universal Games Forums. For those who already own the game, the new patch will be a required update, users who haven't purchased the game yet will find that their retail version will have all the necessary updates included as of October 4th. While currently not available in the auto-updater, word has it that it should appear sometime tomorrow. If you can't get the patch from the FTP above, give it a try over at 3D Gamers.
    Read More...
     
      Thursday, Sep 26, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Nvidia v40.71 Detonator Drivers Released
    - Posted 4:41 PM By Kagato
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    Users who decided to upgrade to the 40.xx Nvidia Detonator driverset, probably noticed some stange texture issues while playing Unreal Tournament 2003. The good news is now you can have both because Nvidia has released the 40.71 version (they are still beta however) of their Detonator drivers. No current list as of yet to what all is new, but it has been confirmed that the UT2003 demo issues have been resolved. In this round, they have released updates for both Win9X and Win2K/XP which you can find linked here:

    Detonator 40.71 for Win9X/ME
    Detonator 40.71 for Win2K/XP
     
      Friday, Sep 27, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    Epic Starts New Gaming Studio
    - Posted 5:23 PM By Kagato
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    The folks over at HomeLan Fed have word that Epic Games is helping to start and fund a new game development company called Scion Studios. Apparently it all started with an Art Lead job listing which was posted Wednesday on the Gamasutra web site (free registration required). From the information given on the lising, the new studio which will apparently be housed in the same building as Epic's offices in Raleigh, NC.
    When contacted for comment about the job listing, Epic Games' Vice-President Mark Rein told HomeLAN today, "The job application on Gamasutra is the only information we are giving out publically at this time. Any further infomation will be given only to qualified job applicants". He would not comment on what games the new company will develop. Rein did confirm that Scion Studios is being headed up by Dr. Michael Capps who until recently was the lead designer for the Unreal engine powered shooter America's Army: Operations.
    Hmm, will be curious to see what this new startup is geared towards, PC or console.

    Source: HomeLan Fed
     
    Toshiba To Release Wireless Cable Modem
    - Posted 5:31 PM By Kagato
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    Adopters of today's wireless system (802.11b in this case) may be happy to know that Toshiba America is planning on releasing a Wireless Cable Modem. The device will be both DOCSIS (I'd assume 1.1 as it wasn't mentioned in the report) and WECA certified and will include a built-in 4-port 10/100 switch. Not satisfied with that feature-set alone, they will also be including router/gateway functionality (VPN-1/FireWall-1 solution from Check Point Software Technologies) into the device. Look for the device to start showing up sometime in late October.
    Source: Internetnews.com
     
      Monday, Sep 30, 2002 Report News | Archive | Top  
    UnrealED Tutorial
    - Posted 3:39 PM By Kagato
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    Definately one for those of you who are looking to screw around with level building, etc. in UnrealED, Unreal Tournament 2003's level editor. Digital Extreme's Pancho Ekels has written a tutorial on how to use UnrealED to get lightwave objects imported into UnrealEd. Definately a nice read if you're into more than just fraggin'.
     
    Unreal Tournament 2003 In Stores
    - Posted 6:18 PM By Anthos
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    As a follow-up to Kagato's news story, you should be able to find this at your local retailer, as of today. Looks like a good spend of your $50. Let's get some practice in before the event, all you tourney-goers!
     
    Hitman 2 Goes Gold
    - Posted 11:22 PM By Kagato
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    Looks like it'll be a busy month for gamers, as several popular titles are making their way to a store near you. Most of you know that UT2003 is out, or at least on its way, and now comes word from Eidos that Hitman 2: Silent Assassin has gone gold as well and will be shipping later this week for PC, PS2, and XBox owners (Microsoft, if you're listening, we need more cross-platform titles like this, i.e. released at the same time, haha). If you'd like more information on this new title, head on over to the Official Hitman 2 Homepage.
     
     
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