› A shot of McKinley's vengeance, which may just be in Alliance 3.0.

› Tribes 2 Linux 22859 Patch › Strike Force 1.60 RELEASED! › Alliance Bits › Gooseman Interview › Global Ops Quickie

› submit news › submit pic › news archive › news search

Thursday, May 31, 2001

Tribes 2 Linux 22859 Patch >> Misc 1:40 PST - Kerbuffel I saw over at Planet Tribes that a new patch is out for the Linux version of Tribes 2, meaning a Windows version shouldn't be far behind. There's a big honking changelist for the patch, but here's some juicier stuff: (optimization) Changed object shield shapes from the form-fitting forcefields into a less poly-intensive dome effect. Also gave shields a lower memory profile. (optimization) Changed the way the clouds' planes are clipped. Sky's the limit, right? (improvement) Heavy armors are tougher against snipers. You now require four headshots or five body shots to kill a Juggernaut with a laser rifle. (improvement) Footspeed of all armors increased slightly, as well as a minor boost to jetpack performance. Some improvements made to air resistance for mediums and heavy armors (very subtle). (improvement) The jetpack effect was reverted back to the old effect (by popular demand). (improvement) A Chat HUD message has been added that is displayed whenever you try to deploy a mine, but your team's maximum number of mines has already been deployed. Previously, the mine would just blow up and not explain why it detonated. Now, it still blows up, but tells you why it happened. (improvement) Polished up the health meter on the HUD so when you're still alive, it displays a visible sliver of positive health. (improvement) Made framerate and gameplay changes to Caldera. The attackers' base has been moved farther from the defenders, and the switch has been put in one of the upper chambers, while the stations are located separately from the generators. The changes should fix a serious defensive advantage. (improvement) After you buy a vehicle, you now fade into the driver's seat if your armor and pack make you an eligible pilot/driver. No offficial word on the Windows version, but it's a good bet it'll be soon. For the latest new of Tribes 2, you gotta check out Planet Tribes.

Strike Force 1.60 RELEASED! >> Mods 1:37 PST - Kerbuffel And in case you missed yesterday... It's out! That super neato realism mod for Unreal Tournament is released, and we can all get it! You can grab your copy from all the mirrors at Strike Force Center. Here's the changelist: New real-life weapons and equipment: Beretta M92, Glock 18, Benelli M3, Benelli M1, HK MP5-Navy, HK MP5K Mac-10, HK G36K, Colt M4A1, Remington M40A1, Claymore Mines, Knives and Nightvision goggles: over 22 in all! Updated weapon models for the Frag Grenade, Flash Bang and Kalashnikov AK-47 3 additional game modes: Hostage Rescue, Escape and Deathmatch 48 brand-new maps from our award-winning team of mappers for all game types New original player models and skins for both the Strike Force and Terrorist teams Realistic new gameplay features, including prone position, scope wobble, encumbrance and more Improved online code to reduce lag and improve speed New code specific features to prevent online cheating An advanced new reticule voice command system for both online and offline play Communicate using the new wave and whistle feature Updated bot pathing and AI to enhance the single-player experience All new and updated sounds for firing, reloading, zoom and weapon adjustment. New animations for both first and third person including prone, firing animations and aiming! A customizable HUD and new character selection interface New and improved character biographies and descriptions New art by professional artist Jay Faircloth and new music by professional musician Tim Jenssens All new online manual with information for veterans and newbies alike The download is a very beefy 250 meg, and the mirrors are already packed. Play nice, children.

Alliance Bits >> Mods 1:35 PST - Kerbuffel I think I'm going to take this opportunity to announce that without the brave work of CoreyFeldman at Alliance News, our Alliance related new items would be few and far between. We salute you, CoreyFeldman! With that out of the way, Mr. White has posted a movie of a bot doing the "grapple jig." As frightening pornographic as that sounds, I have been told this is work safe. In addition to that, BeyonDeath has once again updated the Alliance 3.0 map preview page, cutting out a few maps, and adding "Castle" by Geit. What will make the final cut? What will be discard to the dark corners of the internet? Only time and the Alliance 3.0 map preview page will tell!

Gooseman Interview >> Mods 1:30 PST - Kerbuffel Gamasutra, one of best gaming development websites anywhere, has posted an interview with Minh Le, aka Gooseman. He made Counter-Strike, but if I was a betting man (read: if I had money) I'd bet you guys already knew that. The entire interview is pretty intresting, talking about his history with Counter-Strike and the such, but it also has a few questions about cheating, which is become a bit of a problem with CS nowadays, I hear... What are your feelings on people who cheat, player kill, and team kill? Well, they're annoying. There's really no other way to describe them. But it's really hard to stop them totally, guaranteed. It is impossible to say, "Oh there's not going to be any more cheats." It's just too hard to do that with Windows. The way Windows works, if there is a process running then hackers can see that process and munch with it. It's just so hard to come up with a foolproof method. I don't really think that anyone has come with a game that is 100% cheat proof. I mean, if I game is popular, it's going to attract a lot of people, and out of those people there's going to be a few idiots that just want to screw it up. It's something that you've got to deal with, something that you've got to live with. It's difficult though, trying to find a fix for it. It's a pretty intresting read you should probably check out even if you don't dig CS that much (I know I don't...) Check it out now, funk soul brother.

Global Ops Quickie >> Community 1:20 PST - Kerbuffel FGN has posted a quick Q&A; with Chris Mair of Barking Dog about their upcoming title Global Operations, and how working on Beta 5 of Counter-Streike helped them define their goals. Or something. If you haven't heard of Global Ops yet, I think the best definition I can give Global Ops is just like Counter-Strike, only I'll enjoy playing it. :) Here's a snip: We asked Barking Dog's Lead Designer Chris Mair what experiences they took away from Counter-Strike that helped the team in the creation of Global Operations. "The work on Counter-Strike helped a great deal with the creation of GO. At the time we were only a five person team and the CS work allowed us to grow the team, adding a few new faces to help us achieve what we were setting out to do in a short period of time." It's a short, sweet read, so check it out.

Unreal II Preview >> Misc 1:15 PST - Kerbuffel I think this is the last one I'm going to post, as all the E3 previews are basically just rehashing the same thing. Once, you know, Legend starts sending out press preview copies *coughcoughhinthintwinkwinknudgenudgei'llbearyourchildren* we might get some new info, but in the meantime... You'll find yourself relying on your teammates a fair amount in Unreal II. There are, in fact, several team-based missions, pairing you with a squad of mercs or marines to fight off hostiles. But even outside of combat conditions, your interaction with NPCs will shape the game world with you. On board the Atlantis (and presumably in other environments as well), the head and eyes of the people you're talking to track you as you move during the conversation. And you'll be able to judge the mood of your shipmates and other allies by simply looking at them. If they're upset with you, you'll be greeted with a scowl warning you away - or at least of a cold reception if you start a conversation with them. A good way to piss off your friends is to interrupt their conversations. The game allows for you to break into other people's discussions in order to get information - just as other will interrupt you. Do so and you'll probably learn what you want to know, but the people you interrupted will remember your rudeness and hold it against you. Hey, neat. I'm going to go and preorder Unreal II tonight, if you don't mind... read the rest of the preview here.

Previews, Previews, Previews... >> Misc 1:10 PST - Kerbuffel If you've finally come to the realization that no, Team Fortress 2 does not exist, and you need a new game to wait for, Gamespy is so very there for you. They've posted over 50 game previews of titles coming out over the next year. And you thought they went to E3 just for the booth babes! They've got previews of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Freedom Force, Neverwinter Nights, Age of Mythology, Empire Earth, Blue Shift, and literally dozens more. If you've been curious about what cool new games are coming out, wonder no more.

Allegiance for Free >> Community 1:05 PST - Kerbuffel Microsoft's massively multiplayer space combat game Allegiance will no longer require monthly payments according to this report on AVault. Allegiance always seemed like a pretty cool game, but I was turned off by the pay-to-play aspect of it. If you never heard of Allegiance, it's a neat multiplayer-only space combat game, which can be very strategic. There's teamplay modes, including CTF, which is one of the cooler things about it. Now that it's free, I may just pick it up. Should be pretty cheap, too. To find out more info about Allegiance, check out (surprise!) Planet Allegiance.

Incoherent Ramblings of an Idiot >> Misc 1:00 PST - Kerbuffel In case you haven't been keeping track, women still don't make any sense, computers still run magic, and aliens as we know them are actually extraterrestrial beings that are slowly polluting the ranks of our governments. And now you're up to date, so go back to play Tribes 2.

› top

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

Science & Industry Server Patch >> Mods 3:12 PST - Kerbuffel The Science and Industry Website has been updated with a new server side patch to fix some problems. In addition to that, they've also set up a new mailing list for server admins. Server Admins: we've set up a mailing list to help keep all of you informed on updates, rampaging llamas, and how you can best tweak your Science & Industry server. If you're running a dedicated server for S&I;, sign up to the mailing list here. The mailing list'll be a great way for the S&I; team to help hammer out the bugs. Help them help you.

Blue Shift Editing Interview >> Misc 3:06 PST - Kerbuffel The Valve Editing Resource has put up an interview with David Mertz of Gearbox, talking about the new stuff map designs will get to play with in Blue Shift. Not directly related to teamplay, but some classic CTF maps start off as third party downloads.... Obviously the question on most people's minds is, what kind of new entities are we going to have to play with? I know the focus of Blue Shift is mainly single player action, but will any of the new entities add any new possibilities for multiplayer maps? The Blue Shift entity set is built off of the original Half-Life entity set instead of the Half-Life: Opposing Force entity set. Minor modifications to existing entities were made as well as the creation of entities for new items and our new scientist character. One new entity, the env_warpball is a nice entity for convenience. It basically creates the effect when Xen aliens teleport in, replacing anywhere from 4-32 entities depending on how a designer made their teleporter effect. Blue Shift is strictly single player, the online multiplayer component that is included with Half-Life: Blue Shift is Half-Life: Opposing Force Online which includes all the online multiplayer material from Opposing Force, along with Opposing Force Capture the Flag (Op For CTF). We have already made available a wealth of level editing information for Op For single player and multiplayer. The standard Half-Life multiplayer game entities work with Op For multiplayer and Op For CTF has an extended entity system that is very flexible and allows level designers to make different game types, not just CTF. Blue Shift will be hitting stores sometime in the beginning of next month (I want to say the 10th, but I'm not positive.) In Blue Shift, you take on the role of a Black Mesa security guard, things start blowing up, yadda yadda yadda, you save the day. Good? You know it! Check out that interview.

Strike Force and Marlin Studios Team Up >> Mods 2:54 PST - Kerbuffel A bit of news on the Strike Force front. Strike Force has teamed up with Marlin Studios, who has provided them with a whole bunch of professional quality textures to include in their next release. Marlin Studios made a partnering arrangement with our team this week. We have signed on with them and we will be using their commercial quality textures for all of our maps in the next release of Strike Force. So expect to see some of the best looking maps in any UT mod to date. These texture CD's are some of the best texture sets we have ever seen. You can check out the high quality of these textures right here. They are running an awesome deal right now on the Studio Titanium Pack which is what we recently got for our next release. You can check out the prices and order form on this page. Hey, Strike Force 1.6 comes out today. Warm up your modems, as the download will be over 250 megs. The Strike Force team has commitment to quality, so you know it's got to be worth every byte. We'll keep you up to date on release info, and hopefully there will be enough mirrors for everyone. :)

Art of War v1.6 Released >> Mods 2:49 PST - Kerbuffel The Art of War v1.6 has been released. Insert assorted cheering here. Here's some of the changes, ganked from their news page: New Brimstone Pit model Dynamic lighting and colors for all spells Ability reload meter Powerup Icons for Rage and Freeze Display of next map name on voting screen Protection shell for players that resist abilities/damage Wizards' Seeker Missiles navigate through the whole level, looking for targets. Sprite has a mimic spell which copies the abilities of other classes. Barbarian has an antimagic shield. The shield protects from enemy spells Minotaur has a lunge maneuver. Lunge is a 30 foot jump in any direction. If you haven't heard of Art of War yet, it's an exciting new teamplay mod. Teams create different buildings which unlock new, more powerful classes for that team. You win the game by destroying enemy buildings. Would you like to know more? It sounds like a pretty fun mod, so it might be worth the time to check out.

Planetside First Look >> Community 2:36 PST - Kerbuffel 3D Action Planet has posted it's First Look at Planetside. I'm not a fan of MMORPGs in the least, but the more I hear about this game, the more and more intrigued I get. I'm still not sure if I'm going to buy it or not, but it sure looks like it might be worth a shot. Here's hoping for a demo. :) Snippetage: Imagine playing Quake or Tribes online with up to three thousand other people. Imagine graphics that look as smooth as pre-rendered movies. Imagine running into battle, with hundreds of other players, against another team of the same number. You’ve just imagined PlanetSide, the world’s first massively multiplayer first person shooter. Developed by Verant Interactive, the makers of EverQuest, PlanetSide will be bursting onto store shelves in about a year, if all goes as planned. This is one of the most exciting games to be made in a long time, one I’m sure many will enjoy. When asking those who were lucky enough to attend E3 which game they were most excited about, PlanetSide was a common answer. This isn’t surprising, when you read some of the information that’s been put out. The graphics seen in game are amazing, each blade of grass and small plant is rendered beautifully. It has its host of innovative features as well, including system to help put a stop to grief players. Players will be customizable, with many models and skins as well as enhancements. Enough with my mumblings, however, and let’s get on with the details. It's a pretty intresting read, and the screens look a lot better than I thought they would. Check it out.

Classic Gaming Relaunches! >> Community 2:25 PST - Kerbuffel Classic Gaming has relaunched, now with a slight touch of woodgrain. In addition to a new redesign, there are some changes to make the site work smoother. The Vault is now called the "Game Vault." This change was made primarily to help new visitors to the site. Your first time here, you wouldn't necessarily assume that a section called "The Vault" had games in it. Hence the name change. Emulators and Games are in separate sections now. If you remember, the old Vault had Emulators and Games listed on the same page. That was convenient in some ways, but it was impossible to logically link to. Now in the sidebar, there are links to "Emulators" as well as the "Game Vault." Make sense? The sidebar also has a "Classic Games" link to the Game Vault under "Features." Because the Game Vault contains game information as well as emulation files, it qualifies as both a site feature and an emulation resource. We want to make sure you can find it regardless of which you're looking for. There is a new emulation "Help!" section. We've had Quick-start Guides for some of the popular emulators for a while now, but they weren't always easy to locate. The Help! section is where to find them. What we used to call "Features" are now called "Articles." This was done to differentiate featured articles from other parts of the site that could be referred to as "features," like the Game of the Week section. All the old Features are now part of the Articles section. It's always good to remember your roots. If you haven't ever visited Classic Gaming, or it's been a while since your last visit, go get in touch with the past.

Incoherent Ramblings of an Idiot >> Misc 2:18 PST - Kerbuffel Your dose of defensive advice from the Goddess of Nifyness: Be alert. Your defense needs more lerts! Could someone please explain to me the point of have wipers on your headlights? I meant, come on, that makes no sense! Oh, and btw, Warren Spector ranks up there with Jesus.

› top

© 1999-2000 GameSpy Industries. Be sure to read our legal stuff, or check out how you can advertise with us and target your products and services to gamers.