Sunday, May 14, 2000

History today -- 10:28 pm CST, Update by The Master

For those who wonder about these little blurbs: one of the things I have always wanted to do was develop a history database online for history junkies like me. I'm gonna crank it out when I get some free time, but this allows me to build up some notes for when I get the DB online.

• 1796: The first smallpox innoculation is administered by Edward Jenner.
• 1904: The first Olympic games in the U.S. are held in St. Louis.
• 1940: The Netherlands surrender to Germany in WW II.
• 1955: The Warsaw Pact is formed.
• 1973: The first U.S. space station, Skylab, is launched.

The End of the World -- 3:41 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

If Daikatana going gold wasn't enough to make you repent, this definitely will. The Detroit Tigers, the worst team in baseball, just completed a three game sweep of the New York Yankees. OK, so it's off topic. Sue me. I know my fellow Haus'ers J.t.Qbe and Wraith will enjoy this.

More MP3.com and Napster -- 1:24 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

This article on ISP-Planet (yep, there's a Planet for everything on the 'Net) talks about the recent legal wranglings between the RIAA on the one side and MP3.com and Napster on the other. The author makes an excellent point, which I was not clever enough to think of in my diatribe on the whole MP3 situation:

Record companies and the RIAA should learn the hard lesson now, before companies like mp3.com figure out how to set up their own labels and negotiate directly with recording artists.

Boy, if that would happen, the RIAA would be cut out of the picture altogether. I hope for their sakes that one of them has a fully functioning brain cell and embraces MP3 while there still is time. Thanks Linux Today.

E3 Games -- 1:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

In case you care (and I know you don't) here are the upcoming games the interest me the most. A few days ago (story) I mentioned that the only upcoming games of interest to me were Quake III: Team Arena and Episode I: Obi-Wan. After reading more previews than one man has a right to, my list has expanded. Here is my revised list in order of interest:

1. Digital Anvil's Freelancer
2. LucasArts' Episode I: Obi-Wan
3. Gray Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein
4. id's Quake III: Team Arena

Just what I need, more games :) I'm REALLY intrigued by Freelancer. If it ends up living up to 1/2 the hype, it should be an amazing game.

Unreal Info -- 12:13 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

loonyboi posted a couple of interesting Unreal Engine notes. The first is regarding Unreal's next generation engine which will be dumping Glide and OpenGL in favor of Direct3D. This will obviously make Linux and Mac ports much harder in the future.

Secondly they confirm that an Unreal Tournament add-on is in the works. It will be a "a cyberpunk style adventure with a focus on teamplay". I heard about this yesterday but I wanted to get some confirmation before posting it.

Saturday, May 13, 2000

Freelancer at E3 -- 6:18 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Thresh's Firing Squad tells of their look at Digital Anvil's forthcoming space sim Freelancer at E3. From the sounds of it, this could be the modern version of Elite that J.t.Qbe and I have been waiting for since we both wasted many an hour on Elite in college. The game isn't due until next year, so we'll have to wait for a while to find out. Thanks Evil Avatar.

UPDATE! FS is reporting this title as being due in 2001. Others put it at Winter 2000. I'm not sure who to believe. Probably neither, if I know how projected release dates go.

History Today -- 11:34 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1607: English colony at Jamestown, VA, settled.
• 1846: US declares a state of war already exists with Mexico.
• 1917: Three children in Fatima, Portugal, report a vision of the Virgin Mary.
• 1918: First US Airmail stamps (including the collectible upside-down stamp).
• 1940: PM Winston Churchill makes his famous "blood, toil, sweat and tears" speech in the British House of Commons.
• 1981: Pope John Paul II was shoot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square.

Mappers and Modelers Needed! -- 9:50 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Haus' very own Wraith is working on a new mod for Quake III Arena, tentatively titled Bloodbath Arena: Young Gods. You may know Wraith's work from his extremely cool Bloodbath mod for Shogo as well as helping with several other Shogo-related projects. Wraith's going to do the coding himself, but he needs some modelers and mappers to bring his ideas alive. Interested? Check out Bloodbath Arena: Young Gods page (right here on The Haus, 'natch). Email Wraith for more information or if you are interested in signing up!

Past Two Days' News

The Haus is powered by:

All original information on this website is copyright © TheHaus.Net, 1999-2005. The use of original images, text, and/or code from this website without expressed written consent is prohibited. The authors of this site cannot be held responsible for any damage, real or imagined, which comes from the use of information presented on this site. All trademarks used are the properties of their respective owners. This site is not to be used as a floatation device (but if you try, I want a video tape of it).