- The dev team was exploring the possibility of forming a new company. We were looking at several options, including contracting with Sierra to continue developing Tribes and/or working with publishers like Microsoft or Turbine to develop original material for console. These options are gone. A cadre of five dev team members broke off to form their own company, very likely to use the V12 from Garage Games, though in all honesty I have no idea what their plans are. There were enough key people in that splinter group to shut down all immediate funding options for the team.

- Those of us who are left are exploring the slim possibility of putting together a new team. We still have a considerable amount of talent left, so we'll see what happens.

- Dave Georgeson has accepted an offer to become the Executive Grand Poobah of Planetside. He'd wanted to stay with the dev team, but after the team split, he felt he had no option but to take Verant's offer.

- The remaining dev team members will explore all job offers individually.

The deal, one of the largest in technology history, would merge two of the biggest names in computers, printers and computer servers, and would have total revenue only slightly less than IBM, the largest computer company.
Carleton Fiorina, the chairman and chief executive of HP, will become the new company's chairman and CEO, while Compaq's Chairman and CEO Michael Capellas will become president of the new entity. Capellas and four other Compaq board members will join HP's board.

When will the game be released?

With a wry smile that spoke volumes Blizzard is not going to be drawn on this question at this point. They inevitably miss it as they strive for perfection and some bright spark claims "It would be cool if we could x,y,z" and of course any date given now will fall by the wayside like all those before it. Bill did say that the game has been in production for a little over a year (which is about the same length as Warcraft III when that was announced in September 1999). Some websites have reported two years in production and that's incorrect. But it will be released this Millennium.

The press conference left attendees hankering for more information. From the presentation it was obvious that Blizzard had thought long and hard about creating the World of Warcraft as their next game and bypassing a completely new franchise or even Starcraft II. Speaking to some of the other journo types after the press conference it was apparent they'd had a very positive reaction to it. There was a real buzz and no doubts from anyone that this would take the MMORPG genre by the scruff of the neck and give it a right firm shake.

Creature Isles' plot centers around a group of unmastered creatures (those without Gods) that have met on a distant island and are now vying for the heart of the one female creature. Your job is to make your creature the most promising (successful) potential mate for the female creature and win a place at her side (so to speak). While the shock of sex in a computer game may stun some, as was explained, nature documentaries show it all the time. Peter went on, "You can tell what was on the mind of our designers immediately after they completed Black & White."

These new chips could run at more than 70Ghz, compared with the 2Ghz speed of the best current chips. It has not been possible, until now, to combine silicon with III-V materials – such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide – as their crystalline structures did not match up and they could not be successfully bonded. Motorola has discovered a substance that can lie between silicon and the III-V material and fuse the two together.Motorola apparently scooped up over 200 (WOW!) patents on this process alone. Can you imagine if AMD/Intel license such technology? Home PCs will ship standard with liquid nitrogen cooling!
 

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it will add mounted horses to its popular online role-playing game, EverQuest. The new feature will be included in the upcoming game expansion, EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin, along with a variety of other additions and improvements. Sony also released a number of new screenshots from the expansion that show off different characters riding and fighting from horses.

Players will be able to purchase a horse from designated locations and then summon their horse using a magical whistle. Characters mounted on horses will be able to travel long distances faster than unmounted characters. In addition, characters will be able to fight while mounted, although specific details about mounted combat have not been revealed.

FIXES:
- Fixed a bug where a connection problem ("Unable to connect to Battle.net")would instead result in a downloading patch dialog that stayed at 0% indefinitely.

Simply connect to Battle.net to download the patch. We will post the standalone version of this patch on our FTP site as soon as it's available.

Menuet is a new, 32-bit OS under the GPL and it fits to a single floppy (along with 10 or so more applications that come as standard with the OS). It features protection for the memory and code, it has a GUI running at 16.7 million colors (except with 3Dfx Voodoo cards), sound at 44.1 khz stereo etc. And the most important and notable feature? The whole OS was written in 100%, pure 32-bit x86 assembly code!

We picked one network at random, associated with the access point, and immediately received an IP address from that network's DHCP server. Since the SSID was set to the manufacturer's default, we decided to play a hunch. We pointed our web browser at the IP address of the router, and discovered that whoever installed the wireless router hadn't even changed the default password. Not only were we into their network, we could have changed the router configuration. We were able to surf the web using their Internet connection. And if we had really put a little additional effort into it, we could have discovered additional information about their internal network. However, we were more interested to see how many wireless networks we could discover, not how deeply we could get into them. We discovered that we could identify wireless networks inside buildings at least 6 blocks away.

Initially, we are going to release the beta with the conventional run-and-pickup system. This means that you will run around the map, and pick up items and guns to use for that specific round. This was the system used in Q2DP. We are using this as our primary system to save coding time and to get something out to you guys who have been waiting for so long.

However, eventually we are going to offer a more realistic type of gameplay. The plan is going to be that you earn money from eliminating a team, or tagging an opponent. With which you can purchase guns, grenades, hoppers, and all the other necessary equipment that you would need to play in real life. This system will be similar to the one used in Counter-Strike for those of you who are familiar with it. Eventually, we are going to implement a system where you go to a sort of "Buy Station" or Hut in the map where you get a HUD to buy items, guns, camo, and anything else we can come up with!

As it stands now, you will only be able to carry one grenade, being a paint grenade or smoke, but not both at the same time. You also can carry only one gun at a time, and one hopper and barrel on your gun. Currently, the plan for the beta is you must pick up paint to supply your gun, then load it when you run out. Eventually, you will have to buy a pod, and carry only one pod with you on the field, which will supply you your extra ammo for the whole round, so shoot selectively! No more spray and pray to those of you who support it. This is also going to be implemented to slow down rounds and make the game more enjoyable. Not like HLPB... no offense...

To: NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA- news)

We, the dedicated customers and users of 3dfx products DEMAND that Nvidia support the customers of 3dfx Interactive. Last year, Nvidia purchased 3dfx Interactive (Their main competitor.), and have not lifted a finger to support existing 3dfx products. They basically bought out 3dfx to kill the company and boost sales of their own products. With the upcoming release of Windows XP, Nvidia has decided to shaft 3dfx owners by not creating compatible drivers for the new operating system. What does this mean? Well users of the Voodoo line of 3dfx card will not able to use all of the features that their card was intended for when they upgrade to Windows XP. Before, users had support for 3D API engines such as GLIDE, OpenGL and Direct 3D. With the new operating system, GLIDE and OpenGL support are gone and games like Quake 2 and 3 (which run under OpenGL) cannot be played by these users. Please sign this petition and DEMAND that Nvidia support these products. Nvidia MUST be shown that when that when they acquired 3dfx, they acquired their customers as well!

NWN Stratics: What type of anti-hacking devices/options will be in place to protect users of the server from outside interference?

Trent Oster: The major anti-hacking feature in NWN is everything happens on the server. Every roll, every rule, every spell is calculated in the same place. This really eliminates a huge number of potential cheating loopholes. We assume that anything the client sends us could be hacked and as such, we treat it as suspect data.

1-800-933-BLOOD

Some improvement is noticeable. What I like about the Det XP (4's) is the fact they are supportive under Windows XP and Windows 2000. For those running Windows 98SE/ME will see the largest improvements by far. When I say supportive, I mean something that takes advantage of the OS for better performance...

It's rather shocking to see a whole new 'set' of Detonator drivers released by nVidia pertaining to increase by 50%. That is a huge jump from all of their previous drivers released. It's also nice to see nVidia releasing these new drivers way ahead of the release of Windows XP, so for those who might or will be upgrading will be able to rest easy.

While there is not much of a jump in performance under Windows XP, as you can see, it's still worth the driver upgrade.

Those running Windows 98x/ME will see a large improvement with the GeForce3 video cards.

Faster Boot Time via Accelerated Operating System Load Time

Accelerated Disk I/O for Games, Graphics Applications, Disk Utilities, and Media Authoring Applications

Performance-enhancing Data Pre-fetcher for Intel® Pentium® 4 processor-based systems

Support for 137GB and larger hard drives

Until the end of his probation, the teen is also prohibited from associating with "hacker/cracker" groups or visiting Web sites, chat rooms or message boards related to those topics. And if Mafiaboy does get back on the Internet again, he will have to tell the RCMP which Internet service providers he uses.

Download the 38 MB file, and enjoy these new features:

* Dedicated Server support
* AH64 Helicopter (new vehicle)
* CH-47 Chinook US Transport Helicopter (New vehicle)
* M998 HMMWV (New off-road vehicle)
* Multiplayer mission - 2-12 Sector Control (team based)
* Multiplayer mission - 1-6 lost squad (Co-operative)
* Multiplayer mission - 3-9 Return to Eden (Co-operative)
* Peripheral - General programmable joystick: improved compatibility
* Peripheral - General programmable game pad: improved compatibility
* Peripheral - Force feedback joystick improved: compatibility
* Multiplayer Features - mission creation wizard with templates
 

This particular picture is of a soldier doing some kneeling, a characteristic that can be attributed to years of intense training. Sure, any fool with legs can kneel, but only a soldier as highly trained as this can kneel in just this way. Not only is is form and posture entirely acute and correct, but solely based off of instinct he is actually able to position himself in just a way so that the light gently shines across his back. It's all about presentation. He'll charm the enemy with his devishly poised stance before he engages them.

Due to the recent tragedy in the United States, JoWooD has decided to postpone the
release of World War 3 Black Gold until further notice.
We condemn those acts of terrorism and want to express our condolences to the victims,
their families and friends.

This title was set for September release. Stay tuned, and we will update you when a new date has been announced.
 

Half-Life 1108 Update Wednesday

The Half-Life 1108 update, which includes the new spectator and voice technologies, will be released Wednesday, September 19, at 11 am PST. Counter-Strike 1.3 will be released at the same time. Those interested in mirroring the files should email mirrors@valvesoftware.com.

The Dimension 8200 -- powered by Intel Pentium(R) 4 processors with speeds up to 2GHz, Rambus RDRAM, the latest in graphics cards and other peripherals such as a 100GB hard disk drive -- delivers the necessary performance to effortlessly run video editing applications, 3D games, and various other high-end entertainment and business applications.

The footage from the E3 demo of SWG will be live Wednesday afternoon , September 19th!

Team Factor is a 'tac-shooter' action FPS set in the environment of 'shadow' military operations. The main features of the game are 3 teams competing with each other, 4 different specialization classes within the team, RPG element for developing the players character, more than 45 different realistically reproduced weapons, a challenging mission design and top-class graphics (not only by multiplayer games standards).

CS v1.3 for both Mod and Retail versions is out! Head on over to the windows downloads page to grab the files. Each version comes with a upgrade from 1.2 / 1.0.02 or a fulle installation. Make sure you grab the right files, depending on whether or not you have the retail or mod version of CS. If you aren't sure which you have, see our FAQ. Make sure, if you have the mod version, that you have updated your HL to 1.0.0.8!

A few notes: If you are using an ATI video card, you must run in Direct3d (D3D) for the time being. If you are getting the overflow error you are either cheating or using an ATI card. This bug will be fixed soon by Valve.

The Story Having successfully defeated the Mental forces in ancient Egypt, Sam "Serious" Stone seizes an abandoned spacecraft. On course in his crusade to finally assassinate the great evil Mental, our hero's spaceship suddenly tumbles into the South American Mountains - Sam seems destined to stay on Earth. He must fight the tougher, now more experienced members of Mental's destructive forces and find a new way to reach the notorious Mental himself.

"Serious Sam: The Second Encounter" offers numerous multiplayer options including the highly acclaimed "Serious Warped Deathmatch" MOD (Version 3) created by A Few Screws Loose. Players can join forces against the swarm of enemies in cooperative play through all single-player levels, an option rarely delivered in the first-person shooter genre. Players may utilize the multiplayer option via LAN and Internet for up to 16 players in six different multiplay modes and over 20 multiplayer maps. Plus exclusive split screen support on a single computer for up to four players.

The idea of the i845 chipset was to lower the price of the P4 system which was hurting Intel sales. This was a smart move by Intel, but now the going rate for 128 MB of RDRAM is $35-$40. This is a significantly lower price, but PC133 DIMMS are selling for $7-$10. Is this really a savings the public wants?
Read More...
 

Just five weeks after the company rigorously denied an analyst's warning that the launch that would mark its move from software making into hardware making would be delayed.

By running the command with around 128 characters it is possible to overflow the buffer and execute arbitrary code. While this problem is on the client side it is still a serious issue, since servers have a function named "g_engfuncs.pfnClientCommand" which allows the server to force clients to execute whatever console command they want. This means that this overflow can be exploited remotely by means of this function. A server administrator could easily easily take advantage of this and exploit clients automatically as they connected to the server.

Speakeasy's e-mail to its customers read, in part: "Over the last three months, we have been battling it out with the Code Red worm. Just as we were beginning to believe the worst was behind us, we have now learned that there is yet another hostile bit of rogue data coursing its way around the Internet. The affects of this worm are detrimental to all ... after 9/23/01, Speakeasy's Abuse Team will be freezing the DSL circuit hooked to any machine infected with the worm.

An emerging high-speed Internet standard in Europe holds potential for faster download speeds and broader availability for many U.S. businesses--if they're willing to wait a while.

Although DSL speeds vary widely, the new G.SHDSL could be two to three times faster than most versions of DSL targeted at business customers. The G.SHDSL standard also can deliver data farther than earlier DSL technologies, which are limited to a relatively short distance.

SUNNYVALE, CA - SEPTEMBER 25, 2001 - AMD today announced it is accelerating key components of its strategy to reduce costs and enhance the financial performance of its core businesses. The company will close Fabs 14 and 15, two semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities (fabs) in Austin, Texas that primarily serve AMD's foundry operations. AMD will also reduce and restructure other manufacturing activities as well as administrative support associated with these facilities.

These changes will result in the reduction of approximately 2,300 positions, or approximately 15 percent of its worldwide workforce, by the end of the second quarter of 2002. Approximately 1,000 of these positions are associated with closing the fabs in Austin. The balance of the reductions will result from realigning and restructuring back-end activities in Penang, Malaysia. The company will provide severance packages and outplacement services to affected employees.

On a sad note to honest players of Counter-Strike and Half-Life mods, we have determined that the current version of PunkBuster cannot be appreciably improved without the direct support of VALVe. We have offered to do business with VALVe on multiple occasions in the way of integrating proven Anti-Cheat technology directly into their games. At this time, we are suspending development of the Half-Life version to focus on game platforms where the developer is willing to support the effort. We sincerely believe that we have had a positive impact on the Half-Life community and we truly appreciate the support of our hundreds of thousands of users. However, from the beginning we have said that we did not want to charge users directly for our product and we intend to abide by that decision. The remaining bugs, problems, issues, etc. with the Half-Life version cannot be addressed properly without direct integration with the game, and at this time, there is no hope of that even being a possibility.

For PC gamers like all of us at FiringSquad, the attraction of Xbox is… you guessed it: money. Seriously. The easy explanation is that the Xbox is $300 and yet it includes a DX8 graphics chip that's actually more feature-rich than the GeForce3 -you might even think of it as a GeForce4 MX. Buying the Xbox is like paying for a graphics card and getting a motherboard, a 733MHz Intel CPU, 64MB of DDR RAM, a 10GB hard drive, a high-end Dolby Digital compatible sound card, a DVD-ROM, a network card, and a fancy gamepad, all for free. Let's not forget about the case and powersupply either. Even if you had to add the price of an Xbox™ keyboard, Xbox™ mouse, and Xbox™ VGA adapter, you'd still have a dirt-cheap gaming setup. Many gamers have yearned for a low-cost DirectX8 graphics chip - the Xbox is it.

The VIA VT6202 PCI Universal Series Bus Specification 2.0 host controller is the first VIA product complying with the USB2.0 specification, and delivers transfer speeds of up to 480Mbits per second. Supporting the PCI-Bus Power Management Interface specification, the VIA VT6202 has advanced power efficiency features that permit aggressive management of I/O power consumption, ensuring that USB2.0 is suitable even for low-power systems.

?Intel invests billions of dollars each year in research and development to create new, patented inventions that bring significant value to our customers," Peter Detkin, Intel vice president and assistant general counsel, said in a statement. "Those inventions and the underlying intellectual property are the cornerstone of our business and significant assets. Like any other valuable asset, Intel has an obligation to its shareholders to protect the value of its intellectual property."

NEW NETWORK CODE - There is a new compression system built into the network code of the latest point release. Essentially, this reduces the bandwidth usage of Quake 3 and Team Arena by a ratio of 5:1 over previous versions of the game. Modem players, as well as everyone else, should experience a significant improvement in internet game play because of this.

Since Tuesday's announcement regarding PunkBuster going commercial, we have received four inquiries from commercial game developers (including Valve) about the possibility of integrating our Anti-Cheat software technology into their products. We continue to desire relationships with game designers who are serious about stopping cheaters. We will release more details as soon as possible (hopefully, in the near future).

We have uncovered a probable bug in the installation program for PoR that could wipe out a user's Windows 9x system files during the uninstallation process. During our installation of PoR, the install program locked up the computer, forcing a reboot. After this, the PoR installation program would only give the option to uninstall the game; at this time, the program also wiped out our Win98 SE system files and would not reinstall the game. A further bug was uncovered in the installation program that prevents the user from installing to any directory other than the default.

Camelot takes place in 3 distinct realms. Each of these Realms can wage war against each other forming the player vs player or "PVP" element of Camelot. What considerations have been given to those people who don't want to engage in struggles versus real opponents (i.e. other players)?

There's plenty of "PvE" (player vs. environment) gameplay in Dark Age of Camelot. Players that do not want to participate in Realm vs. Realm combat have a huge world to explore, that fully supports playing up to high levels. There are dungeons to explore, high-level monsters to kill (some that require lots of team strategy) and many other things to do.

There are a few "fixes" that I have read/tried, and here they are:

Disable EAX sound - I don't like it either :(

Download the latest Detonator XP drivers for your GeForce2 card - Don't be confused by the "XP"

Disable antialiasing - may cause tearing, but saves FPS

Try lower resolutions and 16 bit color