Friday, May 18, 2001

ASUS Retracts Cheating Drivers -- 9:57 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I saw on a number of sites that ASUS has once again retracted their cheating drivers which allowed users to see through walls, etc. They have instructions on how to turn off those features, although as anyone should realize, the instructions on how to turn them off can be easily reversed to turn them on. It's a bit like slamming the barn door once the cows are already out. I wish someone from NVIDIA would go beat them over the head so those morons at ASUS stop trying this garbage every six months.

The Register has an article on these drivers and the potential impact they might have along with the various other forms of cheating out there.

Tribes 2 Patch Release -- 12:51 pm CST, Update by The Master

Dynamix has released a new patch for Tribes 2. This patch should take care of the massive list of issues with T2 since it's release. Blue has the full list of fixes posted here. This patch should be available via the Tribes auto-update tool.

UPDATE! Midnight by A.T. Hun The patches for the Linux version are now available from Loki too.

Thursday, May 17, 2001

Threewave Map Pack #1 -- 9:40 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Threewave Compilation Pack #1 (22.6M) has been released! It contains eight Quake III Arena / Team Arena capture-the-flag maps from different designers all over the 'Net. What are you waiting for? Get downloading! Thanks Shacknews.

Wolfenstein Site Live -- 6:26 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Activision's official site for Return to Castle Wolfenstein has gone live. They give a bit of background on the game and a couple of new screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Freelancer Trailer -- 6:24 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Microsoft has released a pretty sweet trailer for Freelancer (11.3M), the forthcoming space combat/trading game from M$ and Digital Anvil. Very slick stuff. I dread to think what the system requirements will be for this bad boy. Thanks Blue.

Jedi Outcast Impressions -- 6:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamespot posted their impressions of the Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II demo at E³. Methinks I'll have to upgrade my computer before next spring so I can run this bad-boy. I saw this link on several sites.

New NVIDIA Linux Drivers -- 3:57 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

NVIDIA has released new Linux XFree86 4.0.x drivers. These are version 1.0-1251. You can check out the README for the drivers as well. Thanks Linux Games. I'm going to give these bad-boys a whirl and see if they improve Shogo performance at all.

UPDATE! 9:00 P.M. Nope, didn't help. Oh well.

Jedi Knight II: Confirmed -- 11:34 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

LucasArts has confirmed the existence of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the long-awaited sequel to the Jedi Knight/Dark Forces franchise. Here's a snip from the press release:

Players of Star Wars Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II will find an expanded and enhanced use of the Force, including Heal, Jump, Speed, Force Push, Lightning, and Jedi Mind Tricks. Depending on the situation, whether in combat or stealth, players also have a variety of weapons -- old and new -- at their disposal, including the lightsaber, Bryar blaster pistol, blaster rifle, stun baton, Wookiee bowcaster, thermal detonators.

Star Wars Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II features breathtaking locales, such as Cloud City, the Jedi Knight Academy on Yavin 4, Nar Shaddaa, the smugglers' moon, and many-never-before seen locations.

The game is being developed by Raven using the Quake III Arena engine. Here's another interesting bit from the features page:

Two multiplayer modes: Jedi training and team-based cooperative play

Too cool. Here's to hoping they develop a decent system for lightsaber control. The game is scheduled for a Spring 2002 release. Thanks Blue's News.

DNF Trailer (For Real) -- 10:17 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Blue got word that 3D Realms has released the official trailer for Duke Nukem Forever in much better formats than the shortened streaming version we saw yesterday. Here are the links: High Quality Bink (43.2M), Lower Quality Bink (15.6M), High Quality QuickTime (45.3M), and Lower Quality QuickTime (28.3M). Naturally, the mirrors seem to be getting beaten into oblivion right now.

Sharing a Brain Cell -- 8:52 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I couldn't help but notice as I glance at some of the E³ material how many sequels are in production: Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Soldier of Fortune 2, Jedi Knight 2 (aka Dark Forces 3), Duke Nukem Forever, Unreal II, Aliens vs. Predator 2, and I'm sure there's some I missed. Granted, some of these games (in particular Wolfenstein and JK2) are among those I am eagerly waiting for. However I think it is a bad sign when almost every game title ends in a number. Has the gaming industry really run out of ideas, or is game production costing so much money these days that the money men are too scared to try anything new?

The Master comments: Have to point out Doom 3 (or whatever they decide to call it) as well before I comment. My opinion on this is simple: it's "all about the Benjamins". No publisher is going to put up money for anything risky, especially now with the slowing economy. With games costing well into the millions to make nobody wants to stake their financial futures on a hunch.

Past Two Days' News

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