The staff of Q3Arena.com would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year! Please give all your friends, family and even strangers a big hug. That is what keeps the world spinning :)

S**t..  There goes another news source :(  Let's hope that this hemorrhage stops or the net is really going to start blowing..  It seems that Stomped.com and it's various satellite sites are going the way of the dodo.  I was browsing ars technica when I came across this little news post:

In yet another testimony of the cruel reality of running an enthusiast website in today's economy, Stomped.com, once an absolute staple in the gaming community, is closing. As you might expect, it's the same old story. There's a brief interview Gary Arndt up at HomeLAN concerning the shutdown.

I think that everyone understands that the Internet economy is really different than it used to be. We ran several months worth of ads for OCZ only to have them tell us "Sorry, we're not going to pay you anything". We tried the PayPal route, but the results were disappointing to say the least. (While some were very supportive, it's was a small minority). As the revenue dried up we had to cut costs which meant letting more people go.

Therein is the mortal coil. We've been fortunate insofar as subscriptions are concerned--indeed, the only reason you're reading this right now is because we've got some of the most dedicated readers in the world. While we're still running the site off of a personal loan that we had to take out, we are chipping away at it, and we have high hopes for 2002, including a much-needed server upgrade, the return of some larger review round-ups, and some cool new subscriber features coming down the pipe. But I think the example of Stomped shows us all that no matter what, these days life on the web can be rough for us guys without the backing (and bias) of the corporate kind. They'll be missed, but I wish Arndt et alia the best of luck with their brick-and-mortar LAN gaming business they're launching, the StompingGrounds LAN Center in Minneapolis.  

::sigh::

23 days and counting peeps...and to help ramp up the excitement until Medal of Honor: Allied Assault goes gold Computer and Video Games Magazine has posted a buttload of screenies from 2015's upcoming WWII Q3Engined shooter.  They also promised a full review for the game in the upcoming issue of PC Zone out on January 10.  The 22nd of January can't come soon enough, wooOOOOOO!!

Saw this first on Quake3world. BerneyBoy has done a remake of Dead simple a Doom II map made by American McGee. You can find the map for a review and for download at Deja-Review. Personnal comment on the map: It's been a while since I had so much fun in a simple square map. Definitively worth the download. There is 2 version of the map, one classic and the other one railgun only. Try both!

Homelan sends a shout that they have posted an interview with Robert "Sgt. Hulka" Waring from Team Evolve in regards to their soon to be released version 3.0 for their popular Quake III Arena mod, PainKeep Arena. The interview is about where the game stands developmentwise (:-/), when version 3 is coming, and throws in some new screenies for ur viewing pleasure.  Here's a cut'n'paste:

Homelan - What sorts of new content (weapons, levels and the like) will be in version 3.0?

Sgt. Hulka - PainKeep Arena 3.0 will add new "Holdables" to the level inventory. One of the new PainKeep Arena enhancements is the ability for the player to hold more than one holdable at a time, providing they are different. Version 3 will add three new holdables to the inventory. At this point in development all of the new holdables are still very secret - shhhh. On the weapons front, the Dragon (grappling gun) will get some teeth. Opponents hit with your "modified" dragon's tongue will receive a good lashing full of damage.

Read the rest of it right here.

So! the holydays partys are almost finished, but not yet. There is still the new year party to do and after that I'm going back to work (with my lUsers :P ).

Any Quake related news? Well there is some new version of the mod True Combat. I don't even know what this mod is but it look good. Seriously, if you're into CS or real weapons, I think you'll like that mod.

Now for the people left on this planet who still love Lara Croft (is there any left?) you can go to Polycount.

And lastly some new levels at ..:LvL.

IMHO, and remember this is is MY humble opinion--I think I'm going to stick with UrbanTerror and MOHAA when it comes to multiplayer gaming action and maybe play RtCW in single player only. WolfMP sux :P

NOTE -- I just wanted to clear up what I posted, due to some e-mails I received... I DID finally break down and buy the FULL REGISTERED version of RtCW. I honestly think the single-player game is cool; I just think they could have done a better job with multiplayer--and, as I posted, it is MHO.

Here's a little nugget for those who are still messing with, or want to mess with Quake2 and it's source code.  After releasing the source code for Quake 2 last week, iDSoftware has released an updated version. This latest version of the code includes all the changes made for the final 3.21 revision.  Grab it here.

Weapons Factory Direct has has updated their site with two new maps (one for WFA, and one for Q2WF) as a late Christmas present for you WF players out there. Golf by BeLaC is the Q3WFA map, and The Hole by Lanman is the Q2WF offering. You can grab them both right here.

One of our Teutonic friends from across the sea, Fiesling,  has released his very first Q3 map and it looks like it's a pretty nice one.  If you don't mind playing Lilliput style  maps go ahead and grab it right here.

3DActionPlanet have updated their site with a first look and gameplay movie they took of the first minutes of the game, including the Omaha Beach sequence.  Since this is a new video (and D@mmit!! we have to wait until late Jan to play the game!!!!) it thought it would be kewl to provide a link to the movie right here.  Check it out and read the article.

Thanks to a Shacknews shout, you Linux FrEaKZ can grab the updates of iDSoftware's Return to Castle Wolfenstein at their servers.  The update for the full version of the game fixes some bugs and adds a new map pack (mp_trenchtoast).  Also released is a small update for those who already have the win32 demo multiplayer version of the game and a full linux multiplayer demo.  Here they are:

wolfmpdemo-linux-1.1-MP.x86.run: complete Return To Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer demo for Linux includes all the files needed, to run the client and to run a dedicated server.
wolfmpdemo-linux-nomedia-1.1-MP.x86.run: lightweight version of the Return To Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer demo for Linux, if you already have the demo for win32. You will need to copy manually demomain/pak0.pk3 after install. see here for details
wolfmp-linux-1.1-MP.x86.run: this is the updated installer for owners of the full game. bug fixes and new map pack (mp_trenchtoast) included.

NOTE:-- In my laziness--and MOHAA fervor--I haven't yet played the RtCW multiplayer mode, but I'll get there soon and tell you what I think about it.

It looks like the days of futuristic weapons such as the railgun are probably numbered.  Also, I honestly believe that many games are going to die by the wayside with so many FPSs cropping up recently and in the near future.  Of course, one or two are going to make the grade and develop a rabid "Quake-like"--or "Counterstrike-like" if that suits you--fan base to keep the game alive.  One of the games in contention is Raven's up-coming Q3-arena engined game called Soldier of Fortune 2.  To get ya whet until it comes out, here are some screenies for your viewing and reading pleasure, courtesy of GamingGroove.  They are from UGO's Gamepen, who have posted the first 4 bloody (heh) screenshots.  Be patient as the site seems to be slower than my grandma =)
 

[SHOT1]

[SHOT2]

[SHOT3]

[SHOT4]

I hope all of you have had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.  You know it's not over yet.  It will be time to imbibe and kiss everyone (of the opposite sex of course :-/) in just a few short days, so don't let your guard down.  If you do though, you are welcome to search the MOHAA  demo servers out there (if you can find an empty one :P) and try your hand at killing me :P  Anyhoo, for the first post of the day I would like to point out an MOHAA fan website that seems to have some pretty useful utilities for getting the most out of the game.  The site is called Allied Assault.com.  On this site is a little mod page which features an "un-locker" so you can play DM and that new map called "The Hunt."  Of course there are other .paks which modify the look of the blood, some that modify the crosshairs, and one that changes the ambient sound of the game to name a few.  Go 'head and give them a visit.

For those of you wrestling between playing Q3 1.30 servers and Q3 1.31 servers, here's a little nifty utility which will help you switch between versions, courtesy of Python from Railbait.  Be sure to read his enclosed directions so you won't screw everything up =)  Get it here.
NOTE -- One of my clan members has posted something like this as well.  Just wanted to give him a little credit.

Just in case you missed it--like me ;P, here's a neat lil poem written by ReconN of the Weapons Factory Arena website.  Here's a little cut'n'paste:

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the fort,
"Not a creature was stirring," came the defensive report;
The sentries were placed on the walls with great care,
In the hopes that the enemy soon would be there;

The snipers were nestled all snug in their loft,
while dreaming of Tomb Raider III (starring Miss Croft);
And marines at the ready, blasters trained at the door,
had just set up Turrets, and proxies on the floor,

Of course there's more to this poem.  Go check it out.  Thanks goes out to Captured.com for giving the "heads up."

Hmmm, one of my friends was complaining about this and I came across this as well, but didn't think much about it at the time. GamingGroove reports that the recently released bonus map for the Medal of Honor multiplayer demo ("The Hunt") had an installation bug.  When you install the map (via Winzip self extractor), the background sounds are installed in a different directory resulting in a no-background-sound game.  You can "fix it" by simply running the Winzip interface and extracting the "Amb_M5_TownExt_2.mp3" file to the following directory: "medalofhonorfoldermainsoundamb_stereo" and running the game as usual.  Grab the map if you haven't--and if you play this demo you absolutely need this map--right here.
    Note:  There is a lot of noise going around about MOHAA and RtCW in regards to which game is better.  I DID finally break down and buy the game (Todd H., you are a very persistent cheerleader :) but have yet to play RtCW in multiplayer mode.  Still, I don't know...  I think MOHAA is gonna be awesome; it even gives my fav Q3UT a run for the money with it's realism.

Hmmmm.  Well GamingGroove posted that we were waiting for this :-/, but it's all good.  For those of you who are blowing up stuff and sniping all over the place playing MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Multiplayer Demo) and getting mighty tired of dm6 :-) (I'm not, I like the look of bodies flying after a bazooka hit!!)  EA Games has finally released the promised map (6.2 MB) for the multiplayer demo of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault over at Fileplanet(bleh!!).  The map is called "The Hunt" and unlike the original free-for-all deathmatch (team deathmatch if unlocked) map included in the demo, this map has an objective:  the Allies are to find the flank 88 cannon and blow it up while the Axis tries to prevent them from doing so.  Grab the map.

The Navy Seals: Covert Ops team sent a shout that they've released a trailer video showing off the state fo their Q3TC offering tactical combat and "realistic" damage. The video is available from FilePlanet(bleh!!!) in both .avi and .mpg formats, and both files will eat through about 15megs of bandwidth.  Since you're gonna have to wait about 2 hours to get it from FilePlanet(bleh!!!), you might as well visit their website.

Uhhh, what he said =P

The staff of Q3Aarena.com would like to wish all those around the world who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ a very Merry Christmas. May the Good Lord be with you down every road you roam. Peace be with you! Bini

2 days after the announcement of John Carmak that the source code of Quake 2 was public, someone already ported the game for the PocketPC (found the story on Slashdot).

The game is not finished yet but it looks promising. You can find the original post of the author (and that's not his first work of Quake on PocketPC) on the forum of Pocketmatrix.

Warning: the site may be slow to answer since it has been slashdotted.

And I wish you all a happy Christmas!

There's been a lot of new models at polycount lastly. Check out the Terminator model (I heard a rumour about Arnold signing for a third movie, but it's only a rumour so far). Also another character from the universe of Spawn is the Violator himself. Go check it out they're worth it!

2 new .plan from ID Software today. You can read the one from Todd here and Paul here.

For a quick summary Paul advised us that for the ones who are into skinning, there is a new release of the Team Creations documents. Many errors corrected from the skinners. We can all use some RTFM once in a while. And he wish us all a Merry christmas and a Happy New Year too. Isn't that sweeeeeeeeet?

Todd on his side give us some informations from the .plan of yesterday concerning the price of the engine of Quake 2.

He also wish us all a safe and happy holiday and plays lots of RTCW!. I guess that he must do his job once in a while (i.e. selling games). Haha! :)

Hello! I am DGhost and I will be the news poster of the weekend. Quake addict as I am my favorites mods are: CTF, classic ctf and Tribal ctf (get the picture? :) ). Yeah I am ctf lover. So the introduction is done let's get down to business. John Carmak release a new .plan yesterday. The quake 2 source code is now public. Here's a cut & paste:

December 21, 2001 -----------------

The Quake 2 source code is now available for download, licensed under the GPL.
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/source/quake2.zip
As with previous source code releases, the game data remains under the original copyright and license, and cannot be freely distributed. If you create a true total conversion, you can give (or sell) a complete package away, as long as you abide by the GPL source code license. If your projects use the original Quake 2 media, the media must come from a normal, purchased copy of the game. I'm sure I will catch some flack about increased cheating after the source release, but there are plenty of Q2 cheats already out there, so you are already in the position of having to trust the other players to a degree. The problem is really only solvable by relying on the community to police itself, because it is a fundamentally unwinnable technical battle to make a completely cheat proof game of this type. Play with your friends.

The guys behind Q3 Generations Arena have made beta .99a of their Q3 mod available for our fraggin' enjoyment. WTF is Generations Arena you ask?  Well, here's a snip from their site to get ya up ta speed:

Generations Arena is an "ultimate tribute" to id Software (developer of the Quake and Doom series) as well as id's fans. Developed and released under the Quake3 engine, Generations Arena recreates all the classic First-Person-Shooter gameplay styles, physics, and weaponry that FPS players have come to know and love.

Players select their favorite "generation" among five choices. Each generation "class" has its own unique character, weapons, physics, and gameplay, all styled after such classic FPS deathmatches as Doom, Quake, and Quake2. Each class represents a particular style of FPS gameplay, so Quake2 fans feel at home with the Strogg Troopers, QuakeWorld fans enjoy the Slipgate class, and so on.

Once players make their selection, they battle it out online against other players, generation versus generation. BFG balls sear the air, lightning guns fry unlucky swimmers, nailguns and chainguns cut through opponents, and chainsaws, fists, and axes deliver humiliations all around. Players can battle in Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Tournament, and Capture The Flag modes of play, or use the bot support to create computer opponents to train against.

GenArena Version 0.99a will include all five Generations, over 40 weapons to choose from, new powerups and powerup effects, techs, grapples, and much more, with support for server administrators to select what powerups, techs, and even classes are used in their game. All standard Quake3 multiplayer modes will be available; additional modes are being considered for a later release.

BTW, the mod authors are Wirehead Studios.  Go ahead and give 'em a visit to see what else they may have in the oven!

Thanks to GamingGroove, our first news post of the day isn't about RtCW =)  PCShooter has posted an interview with LucasArts's Brett Tosti about their soon to be released--if you think Spring 2002 is soon--Q3-Engined FPS codeveloped with Raven called Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.  Here's a little cut'n'paste from the interview ta get ya whet:

For those gamers who are not Star Wars fans (Huh?!-mayhemm), what reasons would you give them to spark their interest in Jedi Knight II?

BT: Beyond the deep compelling story and high-paced action, Jedi Outcast has some very unique game features not seem in other FPS’s. Your ability with the lightsaber to not only attack but to defend yourself adds a different gameplay element. And of course the wide range of force powers intermixed with the conventional weapon arsenal not only makes for an interesting single-player game but adds a whole new level of depth to the multi-player experience.

 

Read the rest of it here.

Hey!!  They said 1.30 was final, but they didn't say they wouldn't support the game any longer :P Head on over to iDSoftware and get The latest point release(1.31). It is only 26 megs :-/

What??!!  You haven't bought Return to Castle Wolfenstein yet??  Well John Hollenshead has something to say to you in his latest .plan file.  Here it is:

Only 8 days 'til Christmas!  While the sales from last week are over, you last minute shoppers can still get RTCW at a very affordable $34.99 from Circuit City, courtesy of their 12/16 circular ad.

So there ya go (OKOK I'm going too!)

John, the BiG CheeZ™, errr VP, of Syntech Software, gives us the heads up that he and his company have released a new tool for the remote Q3 (or other Q3 Engined game I assume...) Administrator.  WTF does that all mean??  I don't really know :P  Seriously,  this seems to be a great proggie indeed..  Instead of typing in PITA (you can guess what that means) rcon commands, all you have to do is run the remote console server on the machine with the Q3 dedicated server, set a password, and use a client from somewhere else to connect and then you will gain full control of the console.  He has invited all of ya admins to visit the Syntech site so you can find out more.  So go visit him right here...

Looks like ..::LvL has added a few new maps for our enjoyment on his site.  Check 'em out.

The guys behind FMJ have updated their news page with the happy announcement that they have quashed another bug for beta1 of their realism\real combat Q3TC called Full Metal Jacket.  Now..  I'm sure you're wondering (since we haven't run any news of them for a while) who the h3LL they are...  Never fear =)  here's a cut'n'paste!

After Frontline Force and Day of Defeat, Full Metal Jacket is the next mod to be expected in this war genre, only this time not based on the Half Life engine, but the (loved by all) Q3 engine.

The name and idea for this mod are diverted from the war-movie Full Metal Jacket, not that you'll find parts of the movie in this mod, but it is a war mod that situates itself in Vietnam. The version I got to play was an alpha version, but looked impressive nonetheless. Upon starting the mod you're sucked right in, thanks to the adjusted menu and matching sounds. In FMJ you either choose for the side of the Vietnamese or that of the US marines. You can choose between different game modes, being: deathmatch, team deathmatch, mission mode and campaign mode. Everyone knows the first 2, but what are those other modes all about then? Well, mission mode can be compared to assault for UT, one team has to destroy a target and the others needs to stop them, in campaign mode you're playing a sort of mission, but now the next map will be determined by the winning team. In this mod they've also tried to achieve reality as much as possible, you will break your leg's falling off of a 15 m high canyon, and you wont be able to run as fast with an m60 as with a knife. on top of your screen you see a miniature 3dmodel of yourself which shows what you're doing. The map's look very detailed and are completely in style, very much unlike the original q3 maps these map's are mostly outside area's and heavily feature water and jungle environment's. Also you can expect a vast array of weapons, including the all-too-known AK-47, the M16a1 and the M60. But expect to see players running around with real rocket launchers as well. The graphic's look slick and are right up there with q3's, although it does need a rather medium-end pc....

Heh, now you know everything, cuz that's their whole FAQ =)  Go check 'em out (check out their screenshots as well, they look d@mn sweet!) right here.

WooOO.  Tired of the same 'ole build of SCTA/Q3 clogging up your hard drive?  Well, I have some good news for ya!  Cinergi, from the SCTA team has given us a shout that they have released another build for ya.  This version comes up to 1.6.  What are the changes?  Here's they are:

• 1.29h source integration
• Optionally disable voting during warmup
• 16KB worth of IP (with netmask!) banning
• Reverted to standard games.log format (to make stats parsers happy)
• An even more configurable map rotation system
• No more prox-mine exploit (indestructible mines)!
• Numerous bugfixes against the base code
• Much more!
   

So there ya go.  Grab it right here!

Roger from Planetquake3.net wants all of us to know that they have posted an interview with none other than Casey from the ThreewaveCTF mod team.  They discuss Casey's job on the team, what plans there are for future ThreeWaveCTF releases, why he likes the Quake3 engine, and other, errr, schtuff.  Get all the p00p right here.

I haven't seen any news about this game in a while, so this is kindof refreshing.  Loadedinc has posted 5 new Jedi Knight II shots (well they have screenshots from another game, but the other one isn't that important :P).  Check 'em out right here.

OK Macheads.  Now's your chance to participate in the RtCW hubbub..  It seems that Aspyr Media is currently developing Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the Macintosh platform. You can read the press release here.

Heh, well we just couldn't get away from RtCW news could we?  I just noticed (heh, well someone sent me an e-mail notice :P) that there is a new Return to Castle Wolfenstein tweak guide for our use.  Tweaks include graphics settings for the speed freak and anti-lag cg-commands.  It's pretty well written and shouldn't be a problem to follow.  Read it here.

Have you ever looked at some of those crappy skins out there in cyberland and thought to yourself, "what s*1T!!, I can do better myself!!"  Well now here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is...  It's in the form of a little skinning resource site called Skindom.  Here's a site with messageboards, how-tos, articles and examples at your fingertips to help you start out, or become the very best Q3, T2, HL, SS, and UT that you can be.  So..what are you waiting for?  Go give 'em a visit.

I just came across this little news post on Billy 'Wicked' Wilson's (he IS/WAS VoodooExtreme) new gaming news site Gaminggroove, and thought it would be an interesting thing for all of us to know (besides :-P it's not RtCW news):

Just checking out AlliedAssault.com and came across the following tidbit of news, posted by 2015's Mackey (level designer) in regards to force feedback in Allied Assault with Force Feedback mice:

I don't know if force feedback is in the demo, but I know it's in the full game.

I'm not a huge force feedback fan, but I know a few that are, so figured I'd slap this puppy up here.

The Annihilation website has been update with new screenshots, renders, and a video showing some of the new features in the upcoming version 2.0 of this Quake 3 WWII mod.  Grab it!

DOH!!  Buy the game!!! Todd Hollenshead does his best  job of RtCW salesman by always pointing out the best and cheapest place to get the game in his .plan file..  Check it out, it's only 34.99.  Go get it :)

Whew!!  Here's an interview of Kevin Cloud (from iDSoftware :-/ in case you don't know) from the DTeam.  Read it here.

I simply have to find some non-RtCW-related news!!  Sigh, but I won't.... Because I'm lazy :P  Anyway...  If you're having a real problem getting through that one level and are ready to start pulling your hair out, then this little guide may be the thing for you..  PlanetWolfenstein has posted a complete walkthrough of the latest and best Q3 engined game to have been released.. Check it out right here.

Hmmmm, I saw this on PlanetWolfenstein--and to tell ya the truth, this bit o' news is not really a surprise, as there is already a Q3 port for the PS2.  Heheh.  Anyway.. Here's the story:

Playstation Centre got word on a few little details concerning RtCW on the Playstation 2!
While it's not the most solid information we ever got, and nothing official has been said, it appears as Ebgames.com all ready have there RtCW PS2 order form up, with a set shipping date of 6/1/2002! (But then again, we've never been able to trust Shipping dates)

So there ya go..

Here's some Good News™ for those of us who use the Gamespy server browser...  None of us wanted to pony up for Gamespy Arcade (which, with the exception of the All Seeing Eye, was the only server browser capable of running muliplayer MOHAA (you know what that is, don't you??).  Of course, there is always a catch; you have to be a registered user of Gamespy to use this..  Other game support added is Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Operation Flashpoint, Alien vs. Predator 2 and Serious Sam 2nd Encounter demo.  For all of you misers :P  you only need to wait a few weeks for the shareware version.  Oh!! BTW, the version is 2.56 =)  Grab it here.

The Tribal CTF website has been graced with a massive update.  Since I'm lazy and Q3UT is startin' ta knock on my door :P, here's a cut'n'paste from the news page:

A lot has been going on at the Tribal office as usual so I'll give you all the latest news on our progress. Adonis and me have been working on the two new Cyborg themed maps that are going to be the Cyborg map pack. There's one gargantuan canyon terrain map and a smaller, more head on ctf map. Both these maps as well as the Elemental maps are being re-build for our new bot support.

The texture sets for all the Tribes have been expanded and improved to give the maps again a more professional and immersive feel. Next to that we're working on all the weapon skins for the 17 new weapon models. Some of the weapons have already been finished and you can have a look at them in the new exclusive picture on your right. And to see what we've done to the alien texture set you'd have to check these two kewl pics out.

What?  Don't know WTF Tribal CTF is all about?  Well I'm here to put ya in the know with another cut'n'paste:

Tribal CTF is a totally new and fresh approach to the standard CTF concept. Its foremost characteristic is its 3-team CTF based gameplay mode. The classic Red and Blue teams have evolved into three unique tribes that each sport their own characteristics and unique looks. Another striking feature is that the Tribal 3-team CTF graphical setting is of a beauty found in single player games. The tremendous atmosphere of environments, structures and terrain ensure a whole new CTF thrill...
 

So there ya go.  Give 'em a visit right here.

Speaking of playable demos... If ya want to check out the single player Wolfenstein, errr THAT'S Return to Castle Wolfenstein demo, then you can grab it as well right here.

WoooooOOOOo!! Good News™ and, ugh, bad news peeps!!  Ea Games promised and they delivered!!  A brand-spankin' new demo of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, that Q3-engine powered, focus of all our dr00l is here.  Of course, with the good there must always be the bad.....  Until there are mirrors out there in cyberspace, we're all gonna have to get it here (bleh!!!) from Fileplanet.  As soon as we receive news of mirrors we'll give ya a shout.

We are looking for an experienced volunteer news updater or two to do the news here at Q3Arena.com. There is a possibility that we can use someone during the week and then someone else during the weekends.

If you feel you have the time and qualifications send a note to me stating why you interested in the job, why you think you are qualified, and when we can count on you do post news. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Waiting to hear some info about RavenSoft's upcoming Q3-engined game, SoF2?  Well... here's a little preview posted by the online games magazine, Computer and Video Games.  Read it right here.

Just ta get ya whet, Gamespot has provided us with an updated preview of the Q3-engined game, which has made us all dr00l uncontrollably; Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.  Go check it out.

Todd Hollenshead has updated his .plan with a little warning directed to all youz WaReZ JunKeeZ.  Here's the whole shabang cut'n'pasted for ur perusal:

Software pirates beware:

 http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2001/December/01_crm_643.htm

 http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/po862.htm

 Also, if you are running a "cracked" Wolf server, or are posting links to these
 servers, don't be surprised if you are contacted in the near future about this
 behavior.  Fair warning - you are not anonymous and we *do* look at those IP
 addresses.

 It's a simple thing to just run a Test server instead if you don't want to pay
 for the game or can't afford it or just want people to be able to come and play
 on your server without having to buy the game.  Besides, at $30, it's cheap
(see
 my 12/9 update below).

 12/9/2001

 Killing Nazis and saving the world from Himmler's evil plans is now on SALE!
;-)

 Just saw the circular ads this Sunday.  CompUSA has RTCW for $39.99 and Circuit
 City has the game on sale for a downright CHEAP! price of $29.99.  Folks, $30
is
 a deal I doubt you'll see again for a while and some people were paying twice
that
 the day the game came out (the Suggested Retail Price is $49.99, btw).

 As I've stated before, most of the retailers will price match these days, so if
 either of these retailers isn't convenient, you might want to pick up a Sunday
paper
 with the ads to get these deals in your favorite store.

 [Query:  Do the online reviews that criticized the game because of the price
have to
 now be re-written?]

So there ya go :-)

The ACE team sent out word yesterday that they have released their first public beta of this interestingly named--and very sw33t lookin'--new TC called Dark Conjunction.  If you don't remember our first news post about this mod, here's the story.  Rather than tell ya to go get it, here are some links to in-game screenies and a little preview, before you go and---grab it. =)

Hmmmm. :-/ Well... Sorry for not posting news yesterday.  I know you don't care :P but I have a good excuse:  It's my fault.  I didn't tell the, errr, better half to give the right-of-way to oncoming vehicles when turning left......  The important thing is that she's ok and my deductible isn't gonna be that high...

Thank you very much Captured.com!!  It seems that the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault website has been updated with word that a multiplayer demo of the upcoming game will be released Friday! Seems like the game is finished and they're just sitting on it until January.  Here's a cut'n'paste:

The demo will contain one of the eleven huge maps that will ship with the full retail version on January 22, 2002. You can choose the type of model that you want to be in the game, including Axis military models, and select from 14 different weapons including the Browning Automatic Riffle, Bazookas and the Colt .45.

D@mn I gotta get sum money!!  W00ooo check it out here!

Roger LaMarca from PlanetQuake3.net shouts out that they have posted a review of a new Q3 mod, which will be hitting the scene 15 Dec, called the Afterwards Mod.  The preview includes a review, info about the mod, and 43 screenshots.  Here is the article, and here are the screenies.  Hmmm.  Those maps look familiar :-/ hehe oh well I guess I'll let ya decide for yourself :P.  Go check it out.

I was browsing some of the news sites today, and came across this little post from Billy Wicked's Wilson's (yeah, didn't you know he's not part of VE3D any longer?) new site GamingGroove.  They have a little post that points to a little editorial from a political group called Children Now complaining about the PC and console game scene.  Here's a little clip from the rant:

Based on the games, the report said nearly all the game heroes are white males, and that women represent just 16 percent of human characters. The group said women generally were portrayed as bystanders or secondary characters. Eighty-six percent of black women were portrayed as victims of violence, and there were no Hispanic female characters, the study said. The study also said that 89 percent of games contained some violent content, half of which harmed game characters.

 

Hmmmm, I wonder who buys these games??!!  Haven't they heard of NOLF?  Read the rest of it here.

Just saw this on Captured.com..  It seems that there has been some noise going on on the PlanetWolfenstein message boards.  It seems that if many peeps are getting too many problems with invalid cdkey errors with Wolfenstein and 3rd-party server browsers.  Here is a little part of it (oh yeah, hehe Paul Jaquays started the thread :P):

Don't use 3rd Party browsers. Not all browsers have been configured to work with RTCW. If you are trying to use a 3rd party browser and are getting an invalid message, verify that your CD Key is still correct and try using the in game browser to locate a game. These 3rd party browsers are not endorsed by id Software or Activision. As is the case with unlicensed 3rd party game add-ons, you use them at your own "risk."

Read the thread here.. you may find out some good info..

The Navy Seal Q3 peeps have updated their site with yet another weekly news update.  In this week's update they post some more progress news and sum sw33t@$$ new screenshots some face models.  Here they are:

• Gregor
• Jayant
• Rasul, and
• Tu Dinh

Of course you can read more about this up coming Q3TC and check out some more screenies right here.

Graeme Devine has updated his .plan today with something that I think I missed, but I'm sure much of you didn't.  I was, errr, busy yesterday :P but it seems as if the iDSoftware master server went down.  Here is the .plan:

The Q3A master/auth server fell over on Saturday, I went into the office and re-started. When I got up this morning (Sunday), it was down again.  It seems an uptime of 200 days straight is a little much on the computer.  I took the opportunity to upgrade the Q3A master/auth code to the same codebase as RTCW this brings up all the anti-piracy measures that have been employed in the RTCW codebase.
 So apologies for the downtime, we were on it as soon as possible.  The authorize server resorts to "auth all" when it's down, but the internal browser will not work when the master server is down.  Any problems beyond that were, of course, your own. :-)
 If you get an "invalid_cdkey" message back from a server, that REALLY means that the authorize server has received your cdkey, decoded it, and found it to be BAD.  Re-entering your cdkey should fix this problem.  It does not ever give this message with good cdkeys.
 If you get the message "client unknown to auth", this means that the authorize server has yet to hear from you (the player).  Make sure you can ping authorize.quake3arena.com (type "ping authorize.quake3arena.com" from a command or ms-dos prompt).  If you do not see "192.246.40.56" in the responses, then this is why you're not getting to play.
 If you're playing behind a firewall or NAT router, ensure that the ports to the server, and the authorize server are open through your firewall or for your NAT IP address.  Refer to your firewall or router manual, there should be a section for games in it.  The authorize server runs on port 27952, most servers run on port 27960.
 There's a lot of people using the same few cdkeys on Quake 3 right now.  These keys will be added to the ban list.  If you see "banned cdkey" when you try and connect to a server this is because your cdkey is in general distribution, and while it will not work that way (you will get a cdkey in use error), we do now keep lists of banned keys for both RTCW and Q3A.

 Graeme.
 

So...there ya go!!

Version 3.21 of the Alliance mod has been released. For those who are upgrading, the new version is available as a patch that weighs in under 2mb and comes in .EXE and .ZIP formats.
New in this version is:

- Fixed in-game overflows bug.
This freed up a lot of bandwidth in the process.

- Forced a minimum of :45 seconds for g_warmup.
Smaller values were causing overflow problems at map-start. We still recommend all servers run with g_dowarmup 0. This does not affect matchmode countdown.

- Fixed dropping items bug when cheat protection is enabled.

- Fixed health and armor values in team camera.

- Fixed radar image for actf35.

- Added com_hunkmegs prompt to Server Launcher and Alliance shortcut.

Check out the Alliance site for more details or go here for the download page.

Here's a little MOHAA movie to let you go by as you salivate for it's release in January.  Hehe, that's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for those of you who don't follow acronyms.  Check it out here.

Just saw this on Captured.com.  All of you budding map artists out there who are just itching for the map tools for RtCW (you know they haven't been released yet) can use this little utility which converts Q3 maps to Wolfenstein format.  Of course you can make your Wolf. maps in Quake3, then  convert them for RtCW play.  Read about it right here.

If you've downloaded, installed and love the new UnlaggedQ3 or Unlagged Alternate Fire Quake 3 mods--but can't find enough servers to get up a good fraggin', then Neil Toronto has sum good news for you.  He has added to the Alternate Fire site a page that lists all active servers which gets updated every five minutes.  Go check it out.

The guys behind the Demo Show Ceator have developed a tool for Return to Castle Wolfenstein called the RtCW Demo Player.  For maximum convenience, you don't have to run the game to see your RtCW from the game, you can view them from Windows Explorer.  It does a few more things, but I'll just let you give them a visit.

I just saw this on the RTCW Online website... Hmmmm here's a blatant rip cuz it's time for Q3UT :P

The gaming site, Blue's News, has reported that that Id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead has confirmed information on the changes made to the German release of RTCW.

The German version of the game will have replaced the Nazis with a cult called 'The Wolves' and renamed Heinrich Himmler, to Heinrich Höller. There are also obviously some changes in flags and articles inside the game that display Nazi swasticas.

For more info, check out on this thread on ShackNews.
 

RTCW (Return to Castle Wolfenstein) online was given the final three wallpapers from Gray Matter artist, Corky Lehmkuhl by Activision tonight. They have them available in zip form and each comes in three resolutions. Tell ya what... Those things look d@mn sweet!! Check 'em out.

Tumi, from :-/ TumisTomb and the M3A (Multimapper, Multiarena RA3 mapping project) has sent me a very big shout that he and his buds at the M3A have released a map pack called "M3AMap2: Let the Good Times Roll"  It is a multi arena pack from 5 separate RA3 mappers trying their best to outdo each other.  If you're an RA3 FrEaK, snag that sucker right here!!

The "Cowboy" Ben Alman has updated his nifty--and popular (for me at least and anyone else using mIRC)--little mIRC script superIP.  As of today, you can call it superIP 1.1.  Now if you've been living under a rock :P here's a little explanation for what it does:

...Anyhoo.. with SuperIP, you can query any server that is caught for up-to-the-second information about players, score, maps, etc. You can save favorite servers for easy retrieval, join servers painlessly from within mIRC, even run a !lastlink bot to tell your friends where you last went to play. Thanks to integration with QStat, SuperIP can now query game master servers, to retrieve an up-to-the-minute list of what servers are running, who is playing on them, and more....

Believe me folks, it works and works well.  If you have a friend in IRC who is playing a game of Quake (or other games) you can just double click on his/her away message and you will be joining the server they're at as well.  Here are a few of the changes since the last version:

SuperIP...supports *8* games:

• QuakeWorld
• Quake 2
• Quake 3
• RTCW
• Unreal Tournament
• Tribes
• Tribes 2
• Half-Life
• New Master Query filter options have been added for Half-Life
• the Quake 3module now works with the 1.30 point release (and server protocol is user-definable)
• general code revisions
• tweaks
• and a whole lot more!

Read a little more about it--and grab it--right here.

Jaboby from the Alliance Team gives us a shout that they have released a patch for their just-released Alliance 3.0.  So... You ask, why do they need a patch?  Well don't ask me :-/  I just report the news, but I have a cut'n'paste from Jaboby himself to get ya in the know:

The Quake3 Alliance 3.1 patch is out....It's about a meg in size and fixes all the issues with the 3.0 release (we hope ;-). Head over to the downloads page and grab it. People installing Alliance 3.x for the first time will need the full version of 3.0, the 3.1 patch, plus any map pak¡¦s they wish to download. If you're having problems running Alliance, check out this important info - (Memory and Frame rate at the bottom of the page.)

Here is a list of changes for Alliance 3.1:

• FFA server, then ref change to a team game; players spawn on 'Free Team'
• instead of red or blue, fixed.
• Runefx2, resist shader broken, fixed.
• Broken auto hud switching between insta and other game modes, fixed.
• HTF scoring bug, fixed.
• Flag returns in fog on actf41 even if you don't die, fixed.
• Actf39 2D radar pic / bases switched, fixed.
• 2x flag/rune bug, fixed.
• Many issues involved with loading of models and bots, fixed.
• Lagometer covers scores on HUD, fixed.
• Pickup icons/name missing, fixed.
• Pause message not always displaying when game paused, fixed.
• Shredder sound not playing when carrying flag, fixed.
• Added OSP Anti cheat protection.
• Added g_allowvote 2, enables all voting except for game mode.
• Added Q3 models back into team games.
• Added cg_forcemodels 2 & 3.
• 1=Selected (fixed from always being default model.)
• 2=Quake 3 models only.
• 3=Alliance models only.
• Improved client memory usage for sounds.
• Added 'Listen Server' option to Server Launcher util.
• Added 2 new head models / bots, Fett and Solid.
• Made '2D radar' and 'Team Camera Off' by default.

Well :P I guess that's a good way of filling up a page--with a long@$$ list :P  Go give them a visit!

I just saw this on Shacknews, and it's good news indeed for all of us MOHAA salivators :P  Here's the clip:

Ben 'Bigd' Swarts gets the mad props for spotting the update on the EA Medal of Honor website with word on a shipping date as well as an upcoming playable demo of the game:

It's official. The full retail version of Medal of Honor Allied Assault is scheduled to ship on January 22, 2002. Until then, gamers can get a taste of the action by playing the single player demo, which is available on Computer Gaming World's February demo disc or by pre-ordering the full game at Electronics Boutique or GameStop stores.  For more information on the level featured in the demo, please click here.

Maarten contacted EA so we should have some higher res shots of that demo level soon. Here are a bunch of our other MOH:AA screenshots.

Version 01.12.03.00 of Q3 Offline has been released, adding Return To Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer support to allow you to easily set up servers for this shooter. Just in case you don't know WTF Q3 Offline is, it's a lil' tool for those who don't want to play multiplayer Q3 or it's mods, or games that use the Q3 Engine.  Go grab it.

The Navy Seals website has been updated with some news and.....some screenies.  Go check it out.

Well, he promised and he delivered =).  Neil "haste" Toronto, that bad boy behind Alternate Fire and Unlagged Q3 (as if you didn't know already) has released Alternate Fire 1.52u.  What's different about this version?  Well.. He has integrated his nifty unlagged code into Alternate Fire.  He has also made an upgrade patch available for those of you who have the latest, errr, Un--Unlagged version of Alternate Fire.  Go get it.
 

Rick Johnson, who is the lead programmer of the SOF2 team at RavenSoftware, does us all a favor by warning us all of some internet mischief against---should I say it??  Yeah =) us warez junkeez who think we can get an alpha or beta copy of a game long before it comes out.  Here's the update:

Be aware, there is a Virus going around pretending to be a Quake4 demo.  Of course there is no Quake4 demo!

Of course--heh-nobody here does WaReZ, do they? ;-P

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