Beta 1.3RC1 of the Q3Map Explorer program is now up PlanetQuake3.net. Q3Map Explorer is a front end utility used for compiling maps for Quake, Quake2, and Quake3. The new version address's a lot of fixes.
Here is the list...

• CTF Gametype didn't work under the quake3 tab.
• Added command templates. (Toggable)
• Added more options for the size of the command line window, hide, small and big.
• The devmap button now works even if a .map file is selected in the file list.
• Added support for -vlight and the following switches: -v, -nostitching, -noalphashading, -nocolorshading, -patchshadows, -novertex, -nogrid and -samplesize.
• Added support for -forcesidesvisible and -grapplereach in the bot page.
• Fixed the delete button in the arena editor.
• Breadthfirst switch was incorrectly spelled. Fixed.
• Removed -threads from bsp stage, not needed.

Download the lastest file here.

Quake3Stuff is offering some great prizes to the persons that can come up with the best Q3A FFA map.
Here's the poop from the website....

This is your chance to WIN a NVidia GeForce2 GTS graphics card and a bundle of other prizes to boot. All you have to do is get cracking with your favorite mapping software and create the best, most realistic and of course the most playable Quake III Arena map known to man. The competition begins on 1st July 2000 and will run until 31st August 2000.

Check out the contest website for more details.

The Capture the Gunz mod has just added bot support to their beta release. Anyone interested in adding this support should download the file on their website. Capture the Gunz is a Q3A "teamplay mod that gives all members of a team access to a type of weapon when your team is the last to control its spawn point, while none of the opposition will have that weapon until regaining control."

The crew of a new mod in development called Intoxicated Quake3 is in need of skilled mappers. Interested persons should check out the Ultimate Quake III Development Center or email Rean for more info.

"Why type when you can talk?" is the title of a new article at FragPipe.com which delves into some of the programs which offer voice over the internet for gaming. The article takes three of the most popular programs, Roger Wilco, Battlefield Communicator and Team Sound, and analyzes them. It's a good read so head on over to FragPipe.com and check it out.

Rune Quake 3 beta 1 has been released. The Q3A mod features 42 Runes giving the player unique powers, 3 new weapons including a grappling hook, new commands and a new HUD. They have a server ready and waiting for you so, download this mod at the Rune Quake 3 site.

The controversy over which vidio cards are the best between 3dfx and Nvidia has lead to a challenge to see just who's card is best in DM. Those interested in participating in an informal DM tournament should sign up at the respective websites. The only requirements are that you own one of the two cards, have Q3A, and possess some good DM skills.

3DFX
Nvidia

A new ladder based competition site called the Proving Grounds has just opened. The site is offering 20 gaming ladders for Half-Life, Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament and features completely automated ladder management. More info can be found on the Proving Grounds site.

PlanetQuake's Q3A Guide section has posted the location of a bunch of easter eggs (things put into the game that are either secrets or were put there just for fun). If anyone knows of any more, the site will be glad to post them crediting the contributor.

The busy folks at the BackBurner have 5 more Q3A map reviews available for your pleasure.

Here's the list of maps they have to offer today...

• Final Shutdown
• Fraggin' in Danforth CTI
• Reloader
• Pure and Simple
• The Roman Baths

The Xtreme Tournament Gaming League, an online gaming league, is hosting a FREE 4 on 4 Quake 3 Team Deathmatch Tournament starting July 1st. D-Link, the tournaments sponsor, will be providing $1,500 in prizes for the event.

Five members will be allowed on each team, but the matches will be played 4 on 4.
The prizes for the tournament are the following:
1st place team - 5 D-Link DMP-100 MP3 players with 32 MB of built in memory and an integrated voice-recording feature.
2nd place team - 5 D-Link DSB-C300 Web Cams that provide high-resolution video, video to e-mail and video conferencing.
3rd place team - 5 D-Link DSB-R100 USB FM Radios for your PC.

Sign-up for the tournament began on Monday June 26. More information including sign-up instructions can be found on the Quake 3 Team Deathmatch Tournament web page.

End Time Mod Productions has released a new Q3A mod titled Focal Point in its first public beta offering.

Here's what they say about the mod... "Focal Point is a Quake III: Arena Mod designed with TEAMPLAY in mind. The best way of describing it is as a new mode of play: a new focus in the same manner that CTF was to Quake 1. Focal Point centers around an item (or on some levels, two or three items) that player must attempt to obtain and hold. There aren't any bases in the mod, nor are there any goal spots in the level where you capture the item; rather, you and your team will be granted 1 kill for every second you hold the focal point. Rather than a mad rush for the flag and a chase to prevent a score, Focal Point is a constant chase where using the terrain, new features (weapon drop, armor throw, and sacrifice), and improvisation are you best bet for securing victory."

Q3Mod Frontlines is looking for new 2D artists, mappers, skinners and modelers. The mod has been in development for some time now and is hosted on Quake3Mods.net. The mod is about modern warfare and is very realistic. They have already completed most of the weapon models, and 2 maps are almost finished. Anyone interested in becoming part of the team should send mail to fkauder@yahoo.de.

Q_Check v2.0.0 for mIRC has been released and can be downloaded at the Q_Check website. Q_Check is the original gaming script for mIRC, which works in conjunction with game server browsers (currently supporting GameSpy and csDOOM Wizard) to automatically set the user away and announce his/her location upon joining a game server. The script sports a graphical interface and has numerous customization options. The Q_Check website also contains descriptions and links to many other mIRC gaming scripts and the poop on whats new in this new version.

Stereovision.net has some gaming (Q2, Q3, and others) screenshots which can be viewed in 3D. All you need is those funky 3D glasses that you hopefully didn't throw away at the movies. The good news is, if you did throw them away, you can still see the images in 3d by following their one thumb, cross eyed instructions.

The crew at the The BackBurner have been busy and posted 5 new Q3A map reviews for your enjoyment.
Here's a list of the latest maps they have.

• Railgun Void
• Cuts Both Ways
• Arrakeen Beta
• Spank Me! Chapter One
• Lost Forever

Fragpipe.com is looking for help in their reviewing/previewing, interviewing, and their newsletter departments. Interested persons should look the site over and send an email to Predator with information about the job you would like to help out with and provide info on your previous work.

The Alliance team has posted a fix for people who cant get the Alliance CTF mod to run on their servers.

Here's what you need to do to fix it for now....
Macintosh users who can't get Alliance working but are getting the error message: Quake 3 Error: VM_Compile: immediate value 34720 out of range should open their /baseq3/q3config.cfg file with Simple Text (or similar text editor) and change the following to:

seta vm_ui "1"
seta vm_game "1"
seta vm_cgame "1"

Version 0.7 of Requiem for Q3A has been released. This brings the mod out of beta and into its first "finished" release. The new version has the following changes in it.

• Many freezebomb changes to balance out the game more.
• Minor balance-changes to flamethrower and touch grenade.
• ESD doesn't knock back people who are still in fairstart mode.
• Disable-runes option was broken. Fixed.

A complete list of features for this mod can be found on the Requiem Q3A site.

CrazyLaunch, a front end utility for launching Quake, Quake2, and Quake3 mods, has released version 1.70 fixing some bugs, adding a new interface design, and adding a new autosave mode.

Two mod reviews have been posted recently. Quake3Mods.net has a review of Prisoners of War up in their ever growing review section.
Also, Z-Axis has posted a review on the Alliance CTF mod that is available right here.

Version 201 of Q3Radiant, a map editor for Quake 3 Arena, has been released just days after their version 200 release. This new version fixed a nasty bug in the texture menu. If you downloaded 200 already, you only need the 201 editor and q3map binaries. If you want a setup version or the full install you can find it in the files section of QERadiant.com.

TargetQuake3 Alpha has been released. TargetQuake3 is a sidescrolling multiplayer Q3 mod, encompassing three maps. The authors say to "think of it as a map pack on its side. You can play with bots or players, in ffa or teamplay." This mod is running on a server as I type so be sure to check it out at the TargetQuake website for more information.

Polycount, id Software, QuakeCon 2000 and its sponsors are calling for entries in the QuakeCon 2000 Map Object Model contest. Models will be judged by a handpicked panel of game industry professionals (artists, modelers and mappers) and by attendees of QuakeCon 2000 in Mesquite, Texas.

The Map Object Model Contest will be a Judged Show. All qualifying entrants submitted will be presented for evaluation and voting by both the professional judges and "Bring Your Own Computer" attendees of QuakeCon 2000 in Mesquite, Texas. This will be a subjective contest, reflecting the opinions and preferences of the panel of judges and the attendees.

More information can be found on the official contest page.

The Xtreme Tournament Gaming League has started their summer season tournaments.
Here's a little clip from their press release...

The tournaments include Quake 3 CTF Team, Clan arena team, and clan arena 1 on 1. Each competition is split into 3 time zones: West, Central/Mountain, and East.

"The XTGL uses a state of the art competition engine to provide our members with a gaming experience the Internet is lacking," said Gregg Pollack founder of the XTGL. "We will soon be announcing a free Quake 3 deathmatch event which will be awarding $1500 in prizes. In addition, more prize events are on the horizon."

More information can be found on the XTGL website.

GameSpy, the most widely used gameing internet server locating software, has a new version 2.21 for regestered users up on their website.

New games supported:

• Sanity Multiplayer Beta
• Buckmasters Deer Hunting
• High Impact Paintball
• LaserArena
• RallyMasters
• Wild Wings

New features included:

• ICQ Integration: your away message let's your buddies know where you're playing
• Faster updates: using compression technology, GameSpy Network sources now take 60% less time to update!

The busy reviewers at Z-Axis are looking for new maps to review. If you are a mapper and have made a new Q1, Q2, Q3A CTF, Soldier of Fortune, Half-Life, or Counter-Strike map, Z-Axis wants to review your map. Contact the Z-Axis team via the map submission links on their website for more information.

Michael Adams sent us a tip for recording demos without lag on a server. Here's what he said will work...

When you go into a server try to record demo. It will tell you that the server isn't set to record. You will see this command g_syncronousClients 1 is disabled. Well that is true now. Now type into the console /g_syncronousClients 1 this will enable demos. Now try to record demos. You can now record demos but you will lag from it. Keep the demo going and type /g_syncronousClients 0. The lag stops and you are still recording demo.

I personally do not know if this works so you should send all of your comments to Michael.

Q3Center has posted a coding tutorial section on their website. The section covers general coding, client side, server side, and UI. It is their hope the coding section will provide you with enough information to get started coding and maybe get into some more advanced topics.

Alliance CTF 1.0 is now available. It is offered as a self installing .exe file (50 MB) for windows machines or as a .zip file (50 MB) for other platforms. The Alliance team has a new help file posted which should help you pass the time while downloading the files.

Found this story on Blues...
CheckOut.com has an article in their Games Features section called "The House That Id Built". The article details id's chronological history and covers Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Quake2, Quake3 and finally mentions the new Doom 2000 game they are working on.

Advanced UI v 1.4 has been released at the Spine Design site. Advanced UI is a mod which offers a new User Interface for Quake3 Arena with better model, map and addbot screens.

The crew at Alliance Games have announced the release of Alliance CTF 1.0 sometime tonight. For more information on the boatloads of features in this MOD, click here.

A follow up to the Quake3 Nostalgia article is up on the Shuga Shack. They now have most of the screenshots labeled and identified, and now there are also a few shots that Zoid sent on the early ThreeWave CTF maps on a separate page.

CNET Networks, announced the first annual "Battle by the Bay" a gaming tournament to bring together Quake III Arena's best players to battle for a $100,000 purse. The tournament, taking place at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco August 17-20, will be the largest networked gaming event in San Francisco's history. The first place winner will receive $50,000, one of the largest ever prizes awarded to an individual in the history of computer gaming tournaments. The tournament will be open to all people 16 years of age and older. More information can be found on the "Battle by the Bay" website.

Weapons Factory Arena has released a new beta version addressing multitudes of bug problems with the previous releases. Server Admins can celebrate, this release addresses their infamous server crash bug. For a complete list of fixes and tweaks see the list at the WFA website.

For those of you who need a flash from the past, the Shuga Shack has posted 33 screanshots of the early Q3A betas complete with John Carmack's blessing.

Quake3Mods.net has posted 8 new Q3A maps they say are chosen for their exceptional quality. This posting brings the total to 43 maps in their data base just waiting for people to download and enjoy. Check out the new maps here or go to Quake3Mods.net and look at all the others they have to offer.

This just in from John at EuroGamer...

EuroGamer has announced its second EuroLAN event, taking place in Brighton (UK) on July 15th-16th. More than half of the 90 places available for EuroLAN #2 have already been filled, so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment!

As well as giving you the chance to play all your favourite games with near zero ping, the event will also host a mix of Quake 3 duel, Quake 2 Lithium and Counter-Strike tournaments.

AMD and GamesInferno will again be backing the event, and of course the legendary half-price pizza deal from Domino's will be returning! At the first EuroLAN we went through more than £1000 worth of half-price pizzas over the weekend, and I'm sure we can beat that record this time round.

Full details can be found on the EuroLAN website.

For the gamer that has Q3A for Windows and is thinking of switching to Linux, Q3Xtreme.net has a simple tutorial with all of the details to get your Windows version running on your Linux system.

EuroGamer takes a look at Windows 2000 and particularly its performance and compatibility for gamers. The article includes Quake 3 benchmarks across a number of systems comparing performance under Win98 and Win2k, as well as looking at Win2k's new features, stability, and the possibility of dual booting so that you can keep Win98 and Win2k running side by side on the same system. You can check that article out right here.

Quake3mods.net has an in-depth 13 page tutorial on how to make models for Quake3 using the popular Milkshape 3D program. The tutorial seems to have just about everything you will need to make custom models look great in a Q3A mod.

For people who need help getting their custom .pk3 files to work on pure servers, a new site devoted to just that is now available called The PAK Project. Visit the site for more information.

A new GameSpy2mIrc has been released bringing this version to 3.0Beta2. New this time around is a separate .ini file so you can keep your settings when they release the next version and the ability to report which mod you are playing.

The Missouri Fragging Association has sent word that they have started a new site devoted to LAN Gaming in Missouri. News about LAN events in the Kansas City and St. Louis Metro Area as well as anywhere in Missouri will be covered. They plan on providing prizes and sponsors for new and old LAN events in Missouri. More info can be found at the MFA-LAN site.

Q3Center has a brand new mod tutorial up called "Making A Simple Quake3 Mod". This tutorial is aimed at new mappers but is detailed enough to shed some light on areas that even seasoned mappers could use.

Claiming the version to be "very solid", the author of the Orio Arena, a 1 on 1 mod for Quake III Arena, has released beta version 0.64. This new version fixes several bugs and includes an improved server browser, improved/fixed spectator handling, improved/fixed player sorting, client-side score filtering during matches and added a default "orioserv.cfg" server configuration.

Two more Q3A texture packs are available at the Convulsion site. These two recently released packs bring the total to seven.

Weapons Factory Software has announced the WFA Q3 mod will be distributed with the September issue of PCGamer. 370,000 CD copies of WFA will be distributed when the issue hits shelves August 8th. Weapons Factory Arena is now over 80 mb and this latest version contains 6 new maps in its latest beta incarnation, bringing the total to 22 maps.

Requiem version 0.7pb2 has been released fixing all known bugs, including the "spectator bug," the inability to use on a Macintosh, and the inability to play Requiem in Tournament mode. A complete list of fixes for this Q3A mod can be found on the Requiem website as well as the download files.

Build 200 RC1 of Q3Radiant, a map editor for Q3A, is now ready for download. There are no new features in this public test but a lot of bug fixes have been addressed.

GameIDE, designed as an alternative to Visual C++ to be used for game coding, has released version 2.7. The new version addresses problems with the workspace system and also adds custom build with preliminary Half-Life support.

Version 1.13 of the Zappy Mod for Q3A, the mod with smart rockets and magnetic grenades, has been released.

Here is a list of the latest additions:
-Added cg_rockettraillength which is a multiplication of the regular rocket smoke length. 1=Regular, 0.5=half, 2=double smoke time.
-Upgraded cg_desiredfps to lock into low-fps mode for 15 seconds when the fps falls below cg_desiredfps.
-Added a "Rocket" or "Rail" menu selection in the server configuration screen.
-Fixed a Win/Lose bug where the winner would not get credit in ffa games.
-Finally changed the gamename to "zappy" from "baseq3". It is still "baseq3" complient and does not require clients to download the Zappy MOD. Although it is suggested for enhanced game play.

The ClockBot site has just released a new version 0.3 for everyone to enjoy. Clockbot is a custom Q3A Bot with new AI and user interface, and has been compiled with Duel, Tourney mode and now FFA (free for all) enabled. Some of the additions in this new version are strafe jumping, better retreat AI and Tuned Bot goal AI. More info can be found on the ClockBot website.

Registration has started at The Playing Fields Site for the UK Qualifier to the CPL Scandinavian Open. The winner will share in the £1,000 cash prize purse and will be flown free of charge to Stockholm to play in the CPL Scandinavian Open in August. The prize purse in Stockholm will be $25,000.

Hot on the trail of yesterdays release of v1.0, Q3MaN Name Animator v1.03 has been released fixing a multitude of bugs. Q3Man is the first ever, true Quake 3 Color name Animator in which you can design your name, frame by frame, in any color(s) you want.

Gwrap v1.0, the Linux server wrapper in Perl, has been released. Gwrap is a linux dedicated server monitoring tool. It will start servers upon startup, monitor them and restart them if they fail. It also allows insertion, deletion, and listing of servers while it is running. This version has been tested with Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Kingpin, Unreal Tournament, Halflife, Heretic 2 and LxDoom.

The new release of T.E.C. Beta 2a fixes some problems that were found in yesterdays Beta 2 offering. The fixes in this version are mainly on the server side so, unless you are running a server or are playing single player with bots, you wont need it.

Version 1.666 Test of Urban Warfare has been released and is running on some servers. Some of the new features included are 5 distinct classes, many new maps, new items and weapons, a completely new hud and menu system, and better weapon physics. The 16.9MB download is available at the Urban Warfare site. This version is not compatible with the previously released Beta 1 version so you will have to delete the old one to be able to play on the servers.

Eurogamer has an in depth report on the i4 LAN party held last week in Swindon, UK. Over 350 hardcore gamers and their computers were packed into the local football club for a three day event which featured a mix of Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 Arena, Counter-Strike, TFC and Starsiege Tribes competitions, as well as a lot of unofficial Total Annihilation matches.

Weapons Factory Arena Beta v0-20 is now available for download as well as a smaller v0.21 patch. The WFA team has made many bug fixes and added some new features that users requested. Be sure to inspect the readme to find out all of the bug fixes that accompanies the 4.5MB download which includes 2 new maps bringing the total to 16.

DC-Con 7 has announced that it is the official East Coast qualifying center for K9-Con. Sponsored by K9 Sports, and Stomped, DC-Con 7 will be sending the first place team of the 4 vs 4 tourney to San Jose, CA to compete in K9-Con in August, 2000. DC-Con 7 is July 21 - 23, 2000 in Linthicum, MD at the Holiday Inn at BWI. Visit the DC-Con 7 site for more information or send of an e-mail to answer your questions about the events.

Touted by the author as being "the first ever, true Quake 3 Color name Animator", Q3Man Name Animator v1.0 has been released to the public. With this program "you can design your name, frame by frame, in any color(s) you want, for a wicked animation to play at the end of a game, when you cream your fellow fragmates".

The guys at Q3Arena.xzone.pl have posted an interview with GlitterKill delving into what makes the Q3A wallpaper guy tick. The interview goes into what tools he uses, what inspires him, and what else he does with his life. There is a Polish version and an English version of the interview so get your butts over there and find out all you would want to know about the guy who has over 32 Q3A wallpapers for us.

T.E.C. 2.0 beta 2 has been released for both Windows and Linux. There are so many bug fixes and new features in this release, you should simply read about them here. T.E.C. started out as a simple mod to bring back the old-style play of Quake 2 CTF to Q3A and now has evolved into a mod that includes a grapple, adds 9 new tech powerups, and a ton of other features.

Version 0.60 of the Q3A 1 on 1 mod Orio Arena has just been released. A number of changes and bugfixes have been implemented. One of the more interesting additions is support for "instagib" and "rocketwar" gametypes. Instagib is the standard infinite-ammo railgun-only with no map items game. Rocketwar is similar, except it has finite ammo; every gun morphs to the rocket launcher, and all ammo morphs to rockets. All health / armor are bumped up in strength too. More info can be found on the Orio Arena site.

In the Trenches has 5 exclusive screenshots of the Urban Warfare mod for Q3A. The screenshots show off some of the weapons, night vision, and of course some of the architecture of the mod. You can gaze upon these pictures here.

Requiem for Q3A Version 0.7 public beta #1 has been released.
The new features in this release include:
- Bots use Requiem weapons!
- Holographic self-projection.
- Jumping boots - jump really high when you want to.
- Freezegun - freeze your opponents!
- ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) - protective 'bubble' protects you.
- Intro screen AFTER user has joined with *5* configurable MOTD messages.
- Touch grenade spews nails on impact.
- Chaingun improved (much better sounds now!)
- Various bugfixes.
- And a really cool full-featured installer.

Skirmish Arena 1.8b has been released. Skirmish Arena is a Q3A mod that brings some of the features of the single player game into the skirmish game.
Here's a short list of its new feature and its fixes.
- Bugfix now showing correct targetter again
- New targetter crosshair
- Team-mate icon back ingame, but smaller
- Smaller weapon icons again on HUD

Want to convert your Quake2 maps to Quake3? A new version of the Quake2 to Quake3 Map Converter has been released. As its title implies, this program will convert your Quake2 maps so you can play them in Quake3.

Are you tired of the same old text like "Dumess ate Awoq's rocket" showing up on your screen while your playing Q3A? You don't have to see all of the same text now with the release of the Turkey Jerky text changer Beta v1.00, a Q3A editor that lets you change the text.

Here's a list of its features.
- 25 death messages, all changeable with the in-game console.
- Changes nothing integral to the game other than the text.
- Comes with separate application to create your own "Packs", or change individual messages.
- Messages are changed on the server, so everyone on the server can see them!
- Distinctive new text messages and frequent new "Turkey Text Packs" to be released.
- Send your messages to Turkey Manor Design - we might put them up for download!

RastaWorld Productions, makers of an upcoming screen saver for Q3A made from users submissions, sends us word they have received 2 to 300 good shots so far. A deadline has now been set for June 17th, 2000 for users who wish to submit their screens. Also needed are artist impressions as well as any other custom Q3A images. The submissions must be in .jpg or .tga format, 800x600 or higher, and 16bit or better. Images used by submitting users will get his/her name in the credits of the screen saver. The Screen Saver will be released as freeware to the entire public when released. Submit shots to RastaMan rastaman@ispchannel.com.

Convulsion now has 3 custom Q3A texture packs for mappers to use.
Texture pack 1 contains an assortment of outdoor textures such as rocks, sand and dirt for creating realistic outdoor areas in your maps.
Texture pack 2 contains light emitting surfaces in brightnesses ranging from 1000 to 5000, in red, blue, green and white colours.
Texture pack 3 contains various wooden crates, metal barrels and storage boxes to give your map a `warehouse´ feel.
These textures are free for anyone to use. You can download them at the Convulsion site.

A new version 0.98 of Qoole 99 has been released. Qoole 99 is a map editor which supports Quake, Quake II, Hexen II, Half-Life, Sin, and Heretic II.
This new version includes the following features.

• Less floating point problems.
• OpenGL antialized wireframe.
• OpenGL texture blending support.
• OpenGL surface culling.
• OpenGL double buffer support.
• Plus more!

In the Trenches has an interview with Paul Jaquays delving in the world of mapping. The interview covers some of his tips for making good maps, his disappointments and difficulties with his latest projects, and a little bit on his work with Team Arena.

GameSpot UK has posted a preview of Quake III: Team Arena, the up and coming upgrade pack from id software. Included with the article are a few screenshots.

The latest version (0.03.01) of the Crusade Q3A mod is now available. This version includes some new graphics, two new classes, the Cyborg and Sniper, and much more. There are two servers up waiting for players: crusade.stanford.edu and server.prospeed.net. You will have to uninstall any previous versions of Crusade, as they will not be able to connect to the pure servers.

Graeme Devine updated his .plan today with news that they are moving the office today and the id Master Server may be down during the transition. Here is the update in its entirety.

"We're moving office today. Of course, various forces have collected to ensure that our T3 line is not moving over smoothly, so Xian has had his hands full (well, mostly his ear on his phone) getting things lined up.

We will be installing a second master/auth/motd server at the new office so that when the switch happens, things //should// go smoothly. Of course, things //may// not go smoothly, in which case, the master server will be down. If the auth server goes down, all servers automatically authenticate, so the worst case scenario is that the in game browser will report no response from the master."

Freeze Tag v1.31a for Q3A has been released. This version includes a drop command which lets you drop a weapon and ammo. Once you drop a weapon, you wont be able to pick it back up. Also added to this version is a weapon stay dmflag setting, and it should work fairly well for those without a client. More info about Freeze Tag can be found here.

In The Trenches has a new tutorial for making Q3Arena maps. This tutorial is in 12 steps, covers a lot of ground, and uses the Q3Radiant editor for its examples. It should be a good tool for new people to the editing scene. You can check out the tutorial here.

Those of you who are interested in attending the CPL Frag 4 event, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas on September 28 through October 1, 2000, will be able to register starting next Monday, June 12, 2000 at 3:00PM Central. The BYOC area will accommodate 400 computers and 800 people are expected to attend. Registration will take place at the CPL online registration site. Special event rates to stay at the Hotel can be arranged for $99 per night by calling (800) 233-1234 and mentioning you are part of the FRAG 4 CPL event.

Q3LA build 036 is out with team play stats added to this version. Q3LA is a utility to analyze Quake 3 Arena's games.log. More information on this utility can be found on the Q3LA website.

Rastaworld Productions is working on a Q3A screensaver. They plan on using the best submitted screenshots made from the public for their freeware release. They are asking Quake3 players to send in their 'High Color' (16bit or better) and 800x600 or higher screenshots for the screen saver.

Also, they are looking for someone to compose an MP3 or WMF soundtrack with some catchy toons for the screensaver. Please submit shots and soundtrack inquiries to: rastaman@ispchannel.com. You will be listed in the screensaver's credits if your screenshots are chosen.

Q3MaN Server v2.5, public release #1 is now available for download. Here is what the author has to say about this front end utility. "Q3MaN Server v2.5B, which includes a Server launcher, Map Cycler, Bot launcher, Script writer, Enhanced Console (designed for sending point and click commands to the server, no more typing commands!), Automatic LPB Kicker (for LPBs that sneak into the HPB Servers!), as well as built in Q3MaN Remote support, and much more! " You can check out all of its features on the Q3MaN website.

The creators of the 007 for Quake 2 mod have released alpha version 1.3a to the public. Now you can be James Bond in a Quake 2 game. The mod includes most of the James Bond weapons, 5 custom maps, and offers bots, GL fog, dual weapons, and Bond death music. Check out more on this mod at the 007Q2 website.

Version 0.53 Beta of Orio Arena is now available. Orio Arena is a one on one mod for Quake III Arena. It seeks to eliminate the primary drawback of current one on one mods, namely that a single good player takes turns beating up on half a dozen other players who end up spending most of their Q3 time as spectators. Orio Arena achieves this by offering multiple one on one games occuring simultaneously across several rungs. Winning the match on your rung moves you up one rung; losing moves you down a rung. All of the details can be found on the Orio website.

Since the story leaked out when John Carmack did his last .plan update, id Software finally got around to officially announcing that they are working on a new Doom game. Blues News has the official press release which can be viewed here.

Quake3mods.net has added 2 more tutorials in their ever growing coding tutorial section. They cover "More On Structures" and "Pointers".

Q3F Beta 1d , the mod that changes the multi-player aspects of Quake 3 to create a much more team oriented experience, has been released. Check out this page for a complete list of all of the features, commands and bug fixes to this beta release.

The makers of the popular Coliseum2 mod for Q3A have announced a need for an experienced modeler and skinner to do some light modeling for Coliseum3. Interested persons can contact WarMonger for more information.

Apple and Linux users should be glad to hear that the Capture the Gunz! mod for Q3A is now available for them. Capture The Gunz! is a Q3A teamplay mod that gives all members of a team access to a type of weapon when your team is the last to control its spawn point, while none of the opposition will have that weapon until regaining control, which likewise deprives their opponents.

Classic CTF Beta .99b has been released. Classic CTF is a Q3A Mod bringing back the old school feel of Quake 1 and 2 and putting it in the awesome environment of Quake3.

The public beta includes a grappling hook, runes, super nail-gun, weapons stay, CTF Optimized Weapons Physics, q2 style armor, lightning gun discharging, match commands, a brand new overtime feature, 16 new crosshairs, new player skins, all the match commands you'd ever need, custom player cvars, as well as the q2 location/weapon/ammo/armor variables (%t, %e, etc).

For all of the clans, this update is made specifically for OGL match play, with an OGL ladder already up, and being enabled very soon. For the full scoop, head over to the Classic CTF website.

Redwood at Stomped.com has posted some comments Paul Steed has made regarding his being fired from Id. Even though he doesn't get into specifics about id's dirty deed, Steed still pretty much shows how unhappy he is with their decision. You can read more about it here.

The Cronic deathmatch level starring Eminem and Dr.Dre has been released. Chronic is a Quake 3 deathmatch level including 2 new character models of Eminem and Dr. Dre. This map is part of a promotion for Interscope Records to publicize a new album "the Marshall Mathers LP" coming out today.

Q3Terminator Beta 0.2 is now available at their brand new site on PlanetQuake. This Q3A mod lets you be the Terminator when you pick up a special item in the game. The player then receives 200 health and 200 armor and scores by fragging his targets. The other players can become one by fraging the Terminator. There is also a special HUD that locates the players and the Terminator.

Tune up your Q3A game with the Q3 Tune-up Guide part 2. nV News has posted a comprehensive and easy to use guide to get you up and running fast with your new GeForce graphics card!

Version 0.93 of Lee's Mod for Quake 2 is now available.
Here's a list of the new features and fixes.

Bots
• Bot routing improved, shouldn't get suck in a area.
• Bots will spawn between levels.
  
  CTF
  
• Bot routing improved, shouldn't get suck in a area.
  
  Mission Based Mulitplayer
• You can join now.
  
  Networking
  
• Each client spawn, would create ## bot points, only server now loads bot points, bot names and bot messages.
  
  Other
  
• MIDI now gets the length of file and loops.
• Version on 0.91 was 0.90, sorry (in changes.txt).
• A copy of what you were doing before the intermission started is spawned but not on either SP or COOP.

Q_Check v1.6.1, a plugin for mIRC that can detect when a user joins a game server via GameSpy, has been released. This version fixes a problem where the plugin would report "Too many parameters: $addtok (line 70, q_check.ini" when connected to some servers.

FragAndFlag:Arena version 1.2 has been released and is available as an upgrade or a full install. The pak files load super fast now, and this version has support for Freeze Tag.

FragAndFlag:Arena is a server utility for Quake 3:Arena that uses an easy to understand graphical user interface (GUI). Using easy to understand check boxes and buttons, the user can quickly get a Quake 3 server up and running.

PlanetQuake3 has posted an article on how you can make AVI files out of your Q3 games. They also point you to a program to merge the files into an animation.

The crew at the Tribal for Q3A website is now in need of a coder for the all new HUD and interface programming to go along with their mod. You can find out what is needed and get instructions on how to apply for this position here.

DemoShow Creator 1.2, the Demo Player for Quake III Arena, has been released. This website is in German but the readme files included in the download also offer an English translation. You can download DemoShow Creator here.

The final Main Menu coding tutorial brought to you by IoN_PuLse is up at Q3Center.com. The tutorial "is a combination of the actual code plus explanations, so aspiring coders can figure parts out on their own to become more familiar with the code".

The Urban Terror website has posted over 60 exclusive screenshots and over 20mb of mapping files for anyone who would like to make maps for the mod.

For those who don't know what the Urban Terror mod is about, here is the description found on the website.

"Urban Terror is a Quake 3 modification [mod] based on action and realism. Like its predecessor, Action Quake 2, Urban Terror will feature realistic weapons, damage, characters models and true to life physics. All the action will take place in real world settings, such as cities and buildings. We have a good variety of maps which will enhance overall game play."

The BackBurner has been working overtime with 7 new Q3A map reviews for our enjoyment.
Here's the list:

• Unnatural Selection
• PQ Arena
• Falling Higher
• The Hot Tub
• Darkmeat
• Redmeat
• Whitemeat

In a shocking update in his .plan, John Carmack announced that DOOM will be the next id game with gameplay focusing on the single player game experience. Also he states that Paul Steed was fired.
Here's the .plan in its entirety.

Well, this is going to be an interesting .plan update.

Most of this is not really public business, but if some things aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone.

As many people have heard discussed, there was quite a desire to remake DOOM as our next project after Q3. Discussing it brought an almost palpable thrill to most of the employees, but Adrian had a strong enough dislike for the idea that it was shot down over and over again.

Design work on an alternate game has been going on in parallel with the mission pack development and my research work.

Several factors, including a general lack of enthusiasm for the proposed plan, the warmth that Wolfenstien was met with at E3, and excitement about what we can do with the latest rendering technology were making it seem more and more like we weren't going down the right path.

I discussed it with some of the other guys, and we decided that it was important enough to drag the company through an unpleasant fight over it.

An ultimatum was issued to Kevin and Adrian(who control >50% of the company): We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us.

Obviously no fun for anyone involved, but the project direction was changed, new hires have been expedited, and the design work has begun.

It wasn't planned to announce this soon, but here it is: We are working on a new DOOM game, focusing on the single player game experience, and using brand new technology in almost every aspect of it. That is all we are prepared to say about the game for quite some time, so don't push for interviews. We will talk about it when things are actually built, to avoid giving misleading comments.

It went smoother than expected, but the other shoe dropped yesterday.

Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition.

Paul has certainly done things in the past that could be grounds for dismissal, but this was retaliatory for him being among the "conspirators".

I happen to think Paul was damn good at his job, and that he was going to be one of the most valuable contributors to DOOM.

We need to hire two new modeler/animator/cinematic director types. If you have a significant commercial track record in all three areas, and consider yourself at the top of your field, send your resume to Kevin Cloud.

Copyright © 1999-2013 Q3Arena.com
Q3Arena.com is hosted courtesy of the high speed services of Net Megs Webhosting