Wednesday, May 31, 2000

NVIDIA Detonator 2 Drivers -- 9:09 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Believe it or not, NVIDIA has actually posted new reference drivers on their site! Dubbed the Detonator 2, these drivers are supposed to improve OpenGL and D3D performance, enable anti-aliasing, and fully support the new GeForce 2 GTS. These drivers are for NVIDIA's full range of products (except the Riva 128) from the TNT through the aforementioned GeForce 2 on Win9x, WinNT, and Win2K. The version number is 5.22 so they may be the same as the recently leaked drivers of the same number.

UPDATE! I checked the archive and the only difference between these drivers and the leaked 5.22s (at least as far as I can tell from file size and date stamp) is that the Nvagp.inf file is about 10K smaller. Not sure what difference that would make. I'll probably install them because I enjoy causing myself pain.

New ICQ -- 6:39 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's a new ICQ 2000a Beta v.4.31 build #3143 available for download. According to the latest updates summary, this version features better communications and more firewall options. Heh-whatever that means.

Evil Avatar Daikatana Review -- 12:30 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well folks, I promised myself I wouldn't post all kinds of Daikatana reviews since most of them are either simply beating a dead horse or appear to have been written by Mrs. Johnson's third-grade English class. Nonetheless, I present you (drum roll please) the only Daikatana review to which I will link, Evil Avatar's. He had the intestinal fortitude to make it through the whole game, for which I salute him. Check out his review so he'll at least make some money from ad banner hits while he recovers at the Shady Acres Psychiatric Hospital.

Ask Sweeney -- 9:45 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

More Q&A goodness with Epic's Tim Sweeney at Voodoo Extreme! As always, the topics are rather technical for the most part. This isn't the article for you if all you read on the 'Net are articles about the booth babes at E3.

J.t.Qbe comments: Why can't we have both: technical topics and booth babes? Can't we all just get along?

The Master comments: Wow. Excellent read for those interested in the technical side of game programming. Must read. Now I'll scrape my brain up quick-that first answer blew it to ribbons.

History today -- 9:06 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1819: Walt Whitman is born in West Hill, NY.
• 1859: Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in London, began telling the time.
• 1889: Over 2,000 perish when a dam breaks in Johnstown, PA.
• 1910: The Union of South Africa is founded.
• 1911: The White Star liner Titanic, the largest passenger vessel at that time, was launched. It sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912.
• 1913: The 17th Ammendment to the US Constitution, which provides for the popular election of Senators, is declared in effect.
• 1961: South Africa becomes an independent Republic.
• 1962: Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel for his role in the Holocaust.
• 1970: Tens of thousands die in Peru earthquake.
• 1977: The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline is completed.
• 1994: The United States announces it was no longer aiming ICBMs at targets in the former Soviet Union (it would take about 3 minutes to rectify this, so this is a moot point in reality-but politically it's a big deal(tm)).

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

POR: Ruins Preview -- 10:44 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's a quick peek of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor over on ign/pc.

I was a HUGE fan of the original Pools of Radiance AD&D game on the old Apple ][. Heck, that was the MAIN game I played on my Apple for about a year. After I got over my Might & Magic 3 addiction that is :-)

J.t.Qbe comments: I spent way too many hours on Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds. Even more on my Might and Magic III addiction. All three are great games. Now if I could just finish M&M VI. . .

MDK2 Demo -- 6:33 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Because I had heard so much about it, I decided to try the MDK2 demo myself. I like the comic book style and the graphics are quite nice. I like the fact that there's humor injected just about everywhere (you end up playing part of the game as a six-legged dog, after all). But all in all it's still a console shooter. As long as you aren't expecting anything incredibly deep, it's quite a bit of fun. You can download the demo from FilePlanet (82.4M). Incidentally, MDK stands for "With two, you get eggroll".

Guided Tour of Nethack -- 2:29 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

Gamespy has published an entertaining Guided Tour of Nethack. Take a look at a game which is better than Diablo II (and took longer to develop), if you haven't already.

Hmmm, interesting news day: history, hockey and hack!

The Master comments: You missed one: handhelds, history, hockey, and hack. Now we've got to try to keep this up :-)

Epic Tech Overview -- 12:58 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's an Overview of upcoming technology from Epic over on Thresh's Firingsquad. Interesting read.

Rocket Richard, Dead at 78 -- 10:20 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Unless you are a big hockey fan, this news probably went unnoticed. If you are a big hockey fan, this is huge news. Maurice "Rocket" Richard passed away yesterday after a prolonged battle with stomach cancer. He was 78. The Rocket was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season. He led the Montreal Canadians to eight Stanley Cup championships in his 18 year career. The battles between Richard's Habs and Gordie Howe's (my hero) Red Wings are legendary. They don't make them like The Rocket anymore.

History today -- 8:27 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1431: Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
• 1539: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto lands in Florida.
• 1848: Under a treaty signed in February 1848 and ratified on this day by Mexico, the United States received New Mexico and California as well as parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado in return for $15 million.
• 1854: Nebraska and Kansas territories were established.
• 1911, Indianapolis saw its first long-distance auto race.
• 1922: the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington D.C.
• 1942: 1,047 Royal Air Force bombers set off to bomb Cologne in the RAF's first 1,000-bomber raid of World War II.
• 1943: American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese.
• 1958: Unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflict were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1971: American space probe, Mariner 9, blasted off on a journey to Mars.
• 1980: Pope John Paul II arrived in France on the first visit by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.

Stupid Website Tricks -- 12:04 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Since I've got a Handspring Visor PDA now, The Master and I are working on an AvantGo-compatible version of The Haus. AvantGo allows web content to be viewed on PalmOS or WinCE PDAs, or on web-enabled cell phones. If you have a PDA, you really should check AvantGo out.

The Master got a version of the news script running that looks pretty nice on my Visor. I'm going to work on figuring out what needs to be changed to make the other content available. I'm such a geek . . .

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).