January 2001

INTERPLAY ANNOUNCES OFF-ROAD REDNECK RACING™ FOR THE PC....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 1:06 PM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
Redneck Racing is a handful of Southern Pride, giving gamers thechance for some good clean fun in the mud. Players will drive the hottestoff-road vehicles on the market today against unscrupulous racers around thewildest tracks ever made using a seriously powerful simulation engine,providing dynamic racing and physics. Players can choose from a collectionof 16 different types of off-road vehicles including Jeeps, pick-up trucks,off-road beetles, and other Dixie staples, and race around 24 differenttracks in six unique locales. Players will race in arcade challenges,attempt to beat the clock in time trials, or race professionally inChampionship mode. LAN support also allows you to race fender-to-fenderagainst up to six other good ol’ boys!Other aspects of the game include: destructible track objects ranging fromoil drums and advertising banners to the infamous “crate-o-chickens”.Weather conditions - from rain and thunderstorms to snowstorms and icepatches - offer many different types of challenge, changing pleasant racingcourses into mud-slicked nightmares! Different lighting conditions rangefrom broad sunlight to hazy sunset, and pitch black - where course changesare revealed only in your headlights glare! Race well and receive theability to upgrade your vehicle with better acceleration and handling,allowing you to race in the big league where professional teams might justshow an interest in your skills.

The Future of Online FPS ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:58 PM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
The most popular form of gaming is arguably the Shooter Genre, preferably first-person perspective. The 90's saw fit to some of the revolutionary, from Doom, Wolf3D, and Quake all the way to Half-Life, System Shock 2, and Tribes. Now it is the 21st century, and we don't really know what to expect from the genre. Quake IV, or god help us all, Mortyr 2 could be the next titles in release. What can we expect from the future? More @ the Source: guru3d.com)

MechWarrior 4 (PC) Interview....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:56 PM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
GameSpot UK talked to TJ "PAINGOD" Wagner, producer, and Heinz "tryptic" Schuller, art lead, from the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Team. (More @ the Source: gamespot.co.uk)

PCShooter Looks @ Quake 3 Team Arena ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
Quake fans are likely to get bored with the usual sanguinary, non strategy, fragging and gibbing commonly seen in the series. We also saw mediocre results in previous Quake series games where companies other than ID Software handled mission packs. While Quake III Arena focuses mostly on the death match concept, Team Arena focuses more on a team arena game as seen on the Unreal Tournament Game of the Year. Along with the amazing new maps, weapons, characters, medals and power-ups, Team Arena features three new game types: One Flag CTF, Harvester, and Overload. Here we will look into the specifics of these different game types and the new additions to the game. (More @ the Source: pcshooter.com)

Running a Game Server....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:11 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
In this article, I'll discuss some of the finer points (as well as some of the not so finer points) about running a game server. Since I'm most familiar with running Quake2 and Quake3:Test servers, I'll focus on those. For the most part, though, the points that I'll touch on can be applied to almost any other game out there. (More @ the Source: mediapipe.ns)

Oni -The Review....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:11 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
The year is 2032. A powerful crime syndicate has been running amok in Japan, leaving death and destruction its path. You are Konoko -- the TCTF's (Tech Crimes Task Force) new experimental agent that can disarm her opponents in more ways than one. Your objective: put an end to the syndicate and its reign of terror. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

Online Games Gets Real....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:11 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
In a medium dominated by blood-spattered shoot-’em-ups like Quake, sword-and-sorcery role-playing games like Everquest and innumerable versions of chess, checkers and bridge, Majestic is sure to shake up the online gaming world when it launches this spring. And it’s just one part of Electronic Arts’ efforts to blend the casual gaming experience (games that you can quickly pick up, play for a few minutes and walk away from) with the richness of software that you’d buy on a CD-ROM (detailed graphics, realistic sound and compelling gameplay). (More @ the Source: msnbc.com)

Giants Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:11 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
New audio interview with Bob Stevenson, the vice-president and co-founder of Planet Moon. The interview has an amazing running time of one hour, and of course discusses his company, the development of their third-person action game Giants: Citizen Kabuto and what it is about, and lots of related topics at great length. (More @ the Source: bluesnews.com)

Red Faction Visit Report ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:11 AM MST Wednesday, January 31, 2001 [Comment on news]
Located in east central Illinois, the City of Champaign is perhaps best known for being home to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Indeed, the huge educational institution is a dominant part of the community, which numbers approximately 68,000 residents, or 110,000 if you count the combined Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area. At first glance, it is reminiscent of many other college towns - small, peaceful, friendly and full of young faces - so it comes as something of a surprise to learn that Champaign has been rated as one of the United States' up and coming high-tech centers, in the company of much larger locations like Seattle, Boston and Austin that are much more familiar to those who follow the game development industry. (More @ the Source: actionvault.ign.com)

SWAT 3 Patch Released....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 7:03 PM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
As promised below, the version 1.7 patch for SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle has been released, and the 3.6 MB file is availablefrom Sierra's ftp server: (More @ the Source: sierra.com)

During A Lan Party....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:31 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
So, after you've greeted your guests, you can relax a little and start to have fun yourself. Keeping the party going shouldn't be a problem if you've organized and planned out everything beforehand -- provided you've got good help. Unfortunately, things can (and do) get fubar, so let's spend a moment talking about handling some emergencies that crop up. What do I do If...? (More @ the Source: lanparty.com)

Launching The PCShooter.net Game Server!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:17 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
In the coming weeks we will be launching the PCShooter.net game server. This will be a dedicated game server with a dedicated T-3 line allowing gamers to go head to head on our server with the lowest possible ping times we can achieve. When that server goes up this page will be replaced with a schedule outlining down times, game schedules, and news on where we will be running LAN tournaments. (More @ the Source: pcshooter.xrgaming.net)

The World of Windows 2000....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Well I finally took the plunge to Win2k. How was it you ask? The transition was actually painless only because I burned off any info of value I had before fdisking my drive and leaving the safe familiar feeling of Win98SE behind. Then I just booted from the Windows 2000 CD ROM and away I went. (More @ the Source: computerchaos.net)

Prepare To Pay For Napster ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
"The music industry was not ready to handle this new consumer behaviour. The publishers threatened to sue, but you can't sue one hundred million customers, because at the same time these customers are heavy buyers of music. They love music.""We did market research and asked 20,000 Napster users and the willingness to pay is there," Middelhoff said. "We decided to speak to the company (Napster) and develop an legitimate business model." (More @ the Source: news.bbc.co.uk)

Preston Watamaniuk Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Tell us a little about your job at BioWare. - My official role within the design department is that of Technical Designer. I keep track of all information for spells and monsters by designing and programming database utilities. It is my job to organize the possible spell and monster choices and to make sure we have a balanced system. This role allows me to do a lot of rules interpretation and implementation, which is something that I enjoy. I also work out the logic for spells, and the way they will work within the game. (More @ the Source: neverwinterhaven.com)

AOpen New line Of CRT & LCD Display Monitors....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
''We want every user of display monitors to own an AOpen display product,'' comments Paul Su, President of AOpen America, Inc. ''These displays are very high quality, superb display technologies that offer extremely competitive pricing with the industry's best warranty and support program to back them up.'' The new CRT line includes four new models: the A50S, A70S, A90S and A21S, available in diagonal color display sizes of 15'', 17'',19'', and 21'' respectively. Resolutions range from 1024*768 for the A50S to 1600*1200 for the A21S. All the monitors accept analog input with frequency ranges varying from 30-55Hz up to 30-95 Hz for the A21S. (More @ the Source: aopen.com)

Madden NFL 2001 Tips....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
We collected his main tips below, but be sure to check out the streaming video of Terry Jackson laying out a playbook of gridiron strategies for GameSpotTV host Adam Sessler. (More @ the Source: techtv.com)

Massively Multiplayer Online Games....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Massive multiplayer online games have exploded in recent years. Gameplay worlds such as Asheron's Call, Everquest, and the upcoming Ultima: Third Dawn have evolved from the 2D realms of Ultima Online into 3D-enhanced games. (More @ the Source: techtv.com)

Freedom Force Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
We've been waiting for a kick-ass superhero game for the PC ever since Bullfrog tried to pull off The Indestructibles a few years back. Now Irrational Games, the developer who gave the world System Shock 2, is set to save us from certain doom with Freedom Force.The game boasts incredibly cool touches such as a destructible world, great graphics and create-your-own-superhero gameplay. Although Freedom Force is still a while off, to learn more we decided to talk to Ken Levine, the Galactus of Irrational Games. Although many developers in this industry boast of being uber-dorks, few can back up the claim. But as Ken has ably demonstrated with his extraordinary knowledge of Silver Age trivia, he clearly deserves to be among our industry's comic geek elite. (More @ the Source: dailyradar.com)

Weekly CPU & Video Card Price Guide....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Welcome to the second installment of the CPU and Video Card Price guide for January 2001. We publish this article to help you, the consumer, find the best deals on the internet. All the tedious work like finding the best prices and locating reputable retailers has already been done so all one has to do is figure out what product is right for them. As always we encourage the reader to investigate every retailer's reliability before ordering, but we have eliminated typically problematic ones from our price guides. (More @ the Source: anandtech.com)

Preston Watamaniuk Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
What do you find the most exciting feature of NWNights and why? --The most exciting feature to date is the scripting language. This is my personal bias since I am slated to do a lot of scripting in the coming months. It is nice to have a language that allows you to achieve maximum effect with a minimum of code. (More @ the Source: neverwinterhaven.com)

Unreal Tournament Tweak Guide....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Tweaking Unreal Tournament is pretty easy and straight forward. Make sure you have the latest patches from the Unreal Technology Page. Also download the latest video drivers from your video card manufacturer. If you use Windows 2000, you might want to consider upgrading your DirectX version to DirectX8. (More @ the Source: hardwareassassin.com)

Stevie Case Interview ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Tuesday, January 30, 2001 [Comment on news]
Miss Stevie "KillCreek"” Case is very well known in the gaming industry, for better or worse. She started really getting into gaming in the Quake clan Impulse 9 while attending University of Kansas. In early 1997, she answered a challenge to beat John Romero in the game he helped create, Quake, and beat him down. Following that, she took to level design and worked on a mission pack for Quake 2, did various levels in other games/add-ons, before ending up as a QA person at Ion Storm, which led to a level design position with the Daikatana team. (More @ the Source: stomped.com)

Shoot I Was Wrong!!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:18 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
Baltimore throttles New York 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV --A year ago, Ray Lewis was involved in a street scuffle turned deadly that would come perilously close to ending his brilliant NFL career. A year ago, Trent Dilfer wasn't sure where he'd be playing quarterback this season, if anywhere at all. Trent Dilfer did all that was asked of him -- stay away from interceptions, and put at least one touchdown on the board. Whomever emerges from the Australian Outback in Survivor II will have nothing on Lewis or Dilfer. Together they led the Baltimore Ravens to a muscular 34-7 victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium. (More @ the Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

Tactical Ops Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
At this time, the "realistic" military mods rule supreme, and one of the best is the Tactical Ops mod for Unreal Tournament. The team based mod (formerally known as S.W.A.T) became one of the most popular UT mods when it was released last year. At one point, Epic Games and Infogrames had plans to put in the mod in the Unreal Tournament: Game of the year retail product, but certain events occured that prevented that from happening. (More @ the Source: stomped.com)

Win2k File Protection guide....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
One of the newest features in Windows 2000 is WFP (Windows File Protection), while a godsend to many, it’s also quite the opposite to many a Power user out there, myself included. So what is WFP, how does it work, what are its uses & how can I control it? Well this guide will hopefully answer all these questions. Read on (More @ the Source: 3dspotlight.com)

650/1GHz T-bird overclocking!!! ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
Ever heard of the AMD Athlon Thunderbird @ 650mhz? Well, read on my good friends, and you’ll soon know what’s so special about this little critter. If 900-1000mhz on the cheap is your cup of tea, then you will love this. (More @ the Source: thetechzone.com)

Hitman Codename 47 ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
Hitman - Codename 47 is a game where you play the title character, an unnamed hitman for hire who is the product of some revolutionary genetic experiment. The story behind this game is that you are being hired out to eliminate the people and evidence of this experiment and you discover that you are the NEXT TARGET. Wow, they must have spent like the time up to when their potato skin appetizers came to develop this revolutionary new plot - maybe if we're lucky he could like save a princess from a large lizard/turtle guy (uh-oh, here comes Nintendo 15 years ago to franchise my new idea). Well the story sucks, but the game play definitely makes up for this deficiency - this game brings a new idea to the gaming industry: real "realism". (More @ the Source: armchairempire.com)

GeForce2 Ultra Shootout!!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
If you look at Nvidia's products over the last, oh, say two years, you might think the company's new motto is "power to the people" - 3D power, that is. But out of these turbulent developments and the incredible pace of evolution a question arises. How much power do you really need? While for most the answer to this question is dictated more by price than by their wishes, there are two categories of people who can go by other priorities. These is the hardcore gamer, who just needs to have the newest and fastest card out there or he'll hurt, and the wealthy guy who has cash to burn and wants bragging rights. Well, or any combination thereof. (More @ the Source: rivastation.com)

The Skinny on Icewind Dale : Heart of Winter....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
If this is the first you've heard of Icewind Dale or Heart of Winter, let me explain. Otherwise, skip this paragraph. Interplay has two roleplaying endeavors in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons world. One of them is developed by Bioware, who made the game engine. These include Baldur's Gate I and II, and the upcoming Neverwinter Nights. (More @ the Source: xgr.com)

Tribes 2 Meta....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
Over at the TribalWar's Forums there was confirmation about some rumors about a second phase of the Tribes 2 Beta test which they are calling it meta. There is a bit of information that might be interesting...(More @ the Source: tribalwar.com)

Happy Birthday, PlanetDuke!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
As diverse a population as hardcore action gamers are, there's one thing most of them can agree on: Duke Nukem is The Man. And The Man, of course, deserves an extensive and thriving website devoted to worshipping his smart-mouthed, stripper-gorging ways. One year ago, that website was born -- PlanetDuke. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

The Art of Gaming ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Monday, January 29, 2001 [Comment on news]
GameSpy: What advice can you give someone who wants to become a professional gaming artist?Carey Chico: Go to college. I can't tell you enough how important both deductive reasoning and social interaction are to becoming good at what you do. A professional demeanor and a quick mind go a long ways in letting your ideas be heard and turned into reality. Apart from that, learning the technology, playing games, learning the tools, and demonstrating your skills in a sharp portfolio are the general means to the end. (More @ the Source: gamespy.com)

SuperBowl Sunday!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:09 PM MST Sunday, January 28, 2001 [Comment on news]
Who Will Win Today's Game????????? The Giants figure to be the bigger offensive playmakers in Super Bowl XXXV. That might not be saying much, of course. But it should be enough for a 17-10 victory that I expect to enjoy watching. (More @ the Source: PCShooter.com)

SWAT 3 EE Strategy Guide and Walkthrough....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:04 PM MST Sunday, January 28, 2001 [Comment on news]
As with any assignment, you only have general information on what to expect. Two people--the suspect and a femalecompanion--are in the house and their positions and level of aggression are unpredictable. Although this two-story house issmall, it has a good selection of starting points for the suspect and his female companion.You take control after the element(your team of SWAT members) has successfully taken position on the suspect's front porch. Using the command menu,issue the Stack command. You can try to open the door with your Use/Open key, or you can issue the Try Door command(press "1" twice while the door is highlighted with your reticle) to the element. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

PlexWriter PX-W1210TS....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:09 PM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Shut yo' mouth! But I'm talkin' about Plex... Just like when you hear the name Shaft, the name Plextor brings thoughts of kicking serious butt with attitude. Over the past few years Plextor has brought us some of the fastest and highest quality CD-RW and CD-ROM drives. Whenever Plextor releases a new product the question no one asks is "How good the drive will it be?" You already know that it will be one of the top drives on the market. (More @ the Source: cdrlabs.com)

Z-Axis 20 Favorite Quake3Arena Maps....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:06 PM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Checkout Z-axis 20 favorite quake3 maps! (More @ the Source: q3a.stomped.com)

Amod Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:03 PM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Games Fusion has interviewed Dan Walters of the AMOD team about their upcoming mod. We bring a clip:GamesFusion: Where did you get most of your ideas for the mod? Manic: I’ve played quite a few half-life mods, although most have been multiplayers. It all really started when I played some map packs that were a bit wasted on the basic set of valves weapon models. After playing Metal Gear Solid I was amazed how the game brought out the characters of a heartless assassin held from secrets with such a strong plot, I kept me gripped more than any other game. (More @ the Source: gamesfusion.net)

FALLOUT TACTICS MULTIPLAYER DEMO....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:59 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
The multiplayer demo for Micro Forte’s tactical game Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is ripe for pickin' on FilePlanet. And it comes with Gamespy support... (More @ the Source: fileplanet.com)

Carmageddon 3 TDR 2000....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:54 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
After the release of the first two pedestrian crushing games in the Carmageddon series back in 1997 and 1998, it seems as though the developer SCi decided it was time for yet another Carmageddon game to be introduced. While Carmageddon 3 TDR 2000 has been released for quite a few months in Europe, it's finally available here in North America. At first I thought this new title was a sequel to the previous games but to my surprise I found out that this isn't a sequel totally but something new. Well, that is according to SCi. They claim that Carmageddon 3 TDR 2000 is not a sequel, and that they have set new standards that others would follow by changing the rules of the game. However, it might seem that Carmageddon 3 TDR 2000 really isn't a sequel, but during the time I was playing, I didn't notice anything that was going to set new standards like they claimed. (More @ the Source: 3dgameforce.com)

How Big Is YOUR Pipe?....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:45 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Are you tired of people swearing at you because you have low ping? Do you wish games ran as smoothly as your old modem to modem games ran? Do you flinch when a developer says he doesnt want make the netcode in his game high-speed optimized? I am, because broadband is the future, and we're living in a broadband world. I remember a time when I played games over the modem, calling a friend's house through it and playing games like DOOM or Duke Nukem. Lag back then was nonexistent if you played with people who lived in your town, and usually not bad with people further away. Along came Quake, and with it came the next step in gaming programming. Along with this came more strain on your modem, sending out much more data than what was being sent out by your old games. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

New Oni Movie....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:43 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
The "triple-hit haymaker" is the feature special fighting move shown in movie form today on the official Oni web site as the third person action-fighting game from Bungie and Gathering of Developers gets closer to its official release next week. (More @ the Source: stomped.com/oni.godgames.com)

Weekly Price Guide....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:38 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Quite a few people have been requesting to have the AMD prices shown on the first page, as Athlons seem to be the real deals on the market today. In addition to this I have also updated the guide to list prices in five different currencies including the U.S., Canadian, and Australian dollars as well as the Euro and British Pound. It doesn't take taxes or shipping into account, as those things vary too widely to calculate. Nonetheless, it's a pretty sweet little tool. (More @ the Source: tuplay.com)

DirectX 8.0a Released ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:37 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Although it's not mentioned on Microsoft's DirectX page, according to ActiveWin, this is the latest DirectX that you can grab. Not sure if this is the real deal or not, it seems to be so, and there's no word on what's new/added/changed/fixed. So, of course, download and use at your own risk. (More @ the Source: VE)

Medal of Honor preview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:34 AM MST Saturday, January 27, 2001 [Comment on news]
Now Electronic Arts, 2015, and EALA (Electronic Arts Los Angeles, which was formerly known as DreamWorks) are bringing the venerable franchise onto the PC with the late 2001 release of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Powered by the Quake III engine, the game will take place throughout the war over a number of missions, each of which will be more or less based on historical fact, much in the same way the first two games were designed. Allied Assault isn't a port, but a completely new iteration of the Medal of Honor series. Playing as Lt. Mike Powell, you'll be tasked with doing your part to stop the Nazi war machine by infiltrating enemy camps, sabotaging war factories, rescuing POWs, and even taking part in real-world offensives like the invasion of Normandy and Operation Market Garden, which were popularized by Saving Private Ryan and A Bridge Too Far, respectively. We recently visited the Electronic Arts headquarters to take a look at Allied Assault, and we were impressed with what promises to be the most ambitious first-person shooter of 2001. (More @ the Source: zdnet.com)

Intel Price Cuts....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:18 AM MST Thursday, January 25, 2001 [Comment on news]
We live in a wonderful time, you know. Spring will be rolling around soon, little birdies will be singing, women will be digging out their shorts for the warmer months, AND there is healthy competition in the processor market. Yes, AMD and Intel are battling it out tooth and nail. What does this mean for you and I? Price Cuts!! (More @ the Source: theregister.co.uk)

The Ultima V Lazarus Project....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:16 AM MST Thursday, January 25, 2001 [Comment on news]
Simply put, Ultima is a series Computer Role-Playing Games, or CRPG. Based in medieval fantasy, not too unlike the works of Tolkien, but more closely related to Dungeons&Dragons.Eighteen year-old Richard Garriott (a.k.a Lord British) wrote Ultima in 1980, while living at home with his parents in Houston, Texas. It was this very simple, tile-based graphics adventure that paved the way of his future, and the future for many Ultima fanatics. After his success with Ultima 1, Garriott went on to produce the largest Computer Role-Playing series ever made, Ultima 1-9. (More @ the Source: pcshooter.com)

A First Look at Breed....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:14 AM MST Thursday, January 25, 2001 [Comment on news]
It never fails: you go to all the trouble to colonize a planet light years from Earth, and a bunch of alien jackholes decide to ruin all your fun by attacking you for no apparent reason. Then you have to spend valuable time, energy, and not to mention colonists' lives in furthering the plot of the story by defending yourself. Where's the fun in that? Well, in teaching those ingrate aliens a lesson, which you'll get to do in Brat Design's upcoming game, Breed. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

PCShooter Down!!....
Posted by [Blood] @ 5:26 PM MST Wednesday, January 24, 2001 [Comment on news]
Late last night I noticed the CGI scripts on our site were down. Unfortunately because of the late hour I wasn't able to have Gush fix it until today. Anyway we are still here and plan to be around for awhile. The problem has been resolved and hopefully it was a one time event. The duplicate news items are a result of the problem we had and will hopefully be fixed within the next two hours. Thanks

Weekly CPU Prices....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:46 AM MST Wednesday, January 24, 2001 [Comment on news]
Welcome to the Sharky Extreme Weekly CPU Prices. This is a weekly update on CPU prices we find around the net. (More @ the Source: sharkyextreme.com)

Deus Ex 2?....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 8:14 AM MST Wednesday, January 24, 2001 [Comment on news]
Kristof Uhlig: 1. Did you come to a decision yet, which graphic engine you are going to use for Deus Ex 2? Warren Spector: We're still evaluating what we need to do to be competitive, technologically, in the 2002/2003 time frame. Once that research phase is over, we'll start talking about engine specifics. It's just a bit premature to talk right now ...(More @ the Source: deusx.de

Mods Akimbo!....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 2:20 AM MST Wednesday, January 24, 2001 [Comment on news]
Yesterday we brought you Quake 3 mods. Today, it's Unreal Tournament and Half-Life! Either way, if you've only played the same old single player or deathmatch game, you're missing out on one of the best waves to hit multiplayer games: mods. Today we talked to the teams behind a couple of mods you may not know about -- check them out and broaden your gaming horizons. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

The Official Venom Site Now Open!....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 2:56 PM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
This site will have info and screenshots, from the upcoming first person shooter from Russian developer GSC Game World. More @ the Source: venom3d.com)

Sega Source Denies PS2 Link....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 2:49 PM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Dreamcast: Sega is definitely making some big announcements next week. But our mole at the company is denying that PlayStation 2 development is on the agenda. What's the score. (More @ the Source: fgnonline.com)

Tribes2 production period extended....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 2:28 PM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Game publisher Sierra and design studio Dynamix have made it official: Tribes 2 is going to have its production period extended. In a press statement, Senior Producer Dave Georgeson said the team will still hit the scheduled beta date, but have been granted a longer post-beta period to hone the game. “Because Tribes 2 is a AAA-title, we decided it would be best to extend the beta test and appropriately finesse the game so it meets the highest standards. This means we will be able to ensure the greater compatibility testing and play balancing that a game of this scale requires,” Georgeson wrote. “While we realize this is disappointing for many gamers, we hope you will agree this is the best decision, as our community deserves no less than our best effort.” Sierra and Dynamix will be announcing a new ship date soon.

CD-RW Blaster 12x10x32x....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:29 AM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Today we’ll be taking a look at the latest offering from Creative Labs and their CD-RW Blaster series, the CD-RW Blaster 12\10\32x CD-RW internal EIDE drive. As its name suggests, this baby is able to record CD-R discs at a blazing 12x speed, re-writable CD-RW drives at an amazing 10x speed, and read mastered CDs at a speedy 32x speed. While CD-RW drives might not be up everyone’s alley, the CD-RW Blaster 12\10\32 will undoubtedly help you alleviate your crunch for more storage space. (More @ the Source: techextreme.com)

Upcoming Quake 3 Mods....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:26 AM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
We're about to take a look at some projects that have made their way to the general public yet. These mods, partial conversions and total conversions will make some heads spin and show just how much creativity is left in the community. Remember that this is merely a sample of what's to come, and in no way a complete list of the only cool things we have to look forward too. We'll take a kind of cross section, or sample look and focus on some areas that are up and coming with some creative themes. From realistic war to flights of fancy, the Quake III mod community is unstoppable. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

Return to Wolf3D prev....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:24 AM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Finally Glide support for Wolfenstein 3D. Just kidding. Catch up on the full fledged update to the original classic Nazi trasher. Let's not get all weepy-eyed with nostalgia here - when was the last time you played the original Wolfenstein 3D? It was a groundbreaking game at the time, and loads of fun. Games have become much more graphically impressive since, and key collecting isn’t as much of an emphasis now as it was 8 years ago. So, what does a self-respecting game developer like id do to bring the game up to date? They bend Gray Matter over and hold their hand through a Wolfenstein update, prison love style. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh - Gray Matter (formerly Xatrix of Redneck Rampage and Kingpin fame/infamy) is doing all the grunt work in developing Return to Castle Wolfenstein using the Quake III engine, but is getting some heavy guidance from id in all aspects of the game. (More @ the Source: pcgamerweb.com)

GameVoice Beta 1.2b....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:19 AM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Microsoft has released the GameVoice 1.2 Beta Update. This new release comes with the following enhancements and fixes: (More @ the Source: gamevoice.com)

Unreal Engine Update....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:17 AM MST Tuesday, January 23, 2001 [Comment on news]
Epic's VP Mark Rein speaks to FGN Online about the new features implemented into the Unreal Engine, which represents Epic's future products - especially those geared to Xbox. Screens included. (More @ the Source: fgnonline.com)

AMD Athlon 1.7GHz by Year's End....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 5:56 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
In a presentation last week made by AMD Japan, a few future Athlon products were mentioned. According to this BizTech news, AMD "plans to release a 1.3GHz chip by the end of March, 1.4GHz and 1.5GHz chips by the end of June and a 1.7GHz chip by the end of December. There is no explicit mention of any specific new technology that AMD could be using to achieve these higher clock speeds, but AMD Japan is planning to emphasize the "lower-power" Athlon's heat dissipation advantage over the Pentium 4. (More @ the Source: firingsquad.gamers.com)

System Recommendation Guide ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 3:03 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
I figured enough time has passed that I could make an update to our Recommended System Guide without getting a whole bunch of flack. At Amdmb.com, we believe that yes, there can be one system for all your needs. That is why you won't see a "High End, Low End, Mid Range, Gaming, Business, etc, etc." system guide here.. No, sir! One guide, that shows you what we think is the best all around system for you hard-earned (or stolen, we're cool with that) money. (More @ the Source: amdmb.com)

Gigabyte GA-7DXC Review ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:39 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
As AMD's launch partner for the 760 chipset, Gigabyte is the first motherboard manufacturer to bring a fully-fledged 760 product to market. In particular, the GA-7DXC motherboard we're reviewing today. With the added memory bandwidth its DDR SDRAM provides, many hardware enthusiasts have been looking forward to the 760 chipset the GA-7DXC is based on. One quick glance over the GA-7DXC spec sheet however, reveals one missing ingredient: support for PC2100 and the new 266MHz front side bus. Is this missing feature only a minor kink in the GA-7DXC's performance, or is it the GA-7DXC's Achilles Heel? This is something we'll attempt to determine over the course of this review. The GA-7DXC. (More @ the Source: firingsquad.gamers.com)

VisionTek GeForce2 Ultra ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:28 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
While many gamers are new to the VisionTek name, odds are if you have a Micron or Gateway system with an NVIDIA based card, odds are you are already a VisionTek customer. I would have to say that VisionTek is largest video card maker that no one has ever heard of. (More @ the Source: nvnews.net)

Top 10 CTF Maps ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:24 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
Capture the Flag, a schoolyard favorite with kids around the world, quickly became a staple in online multiplayer gaming. We count down the Top 10 CTF maps of all time. (More @ the Source: gamespy.com)

Unreal 2 Dated....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 12:19 PM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
Updated: Infogrames has given word that Unreal 2 is due to be released in Q1, 2002, and the title will be showcased at E3 this May. All the rumors cleared up inside. (More @ the Source: fgnonline.com)

Z-Axis Quake 3 Map Review....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:39 AM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
2-9 player deathmatch map called $p@cE's $hrine by $p@cE's. This map is fun to play, I did find it odd though that the author named himself $p@cE and created a gothic map. Never mind what I expected, what I found was a well constructed map. The gothic theme runs right through the map, every part of the map matches the other part. The only piece of architecture I found to be out of place was the pool. However the pool seemed to be more roman than gothic, but it was well constructed. I tried for hours to get outside the map, but $p@cE has placed clipping boxes in the correct places. forcing the player to keep inside the map, where he belongs. (More @ the Source: zaxis.stomped.com)

Giant for the PlayStation 2! ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:36 AM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 22 -- Digital Mayhem, a division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., announced today that the popular and critically-acclaimed Action/Adventure PC game, Giants(TM): Citizen Kabuto is being developed for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system. On the PlayStation 2 system, Giants: Citizen Kabuto will take full advantage of the machine's high technical specifications, including its ability to display massive amounts of polygons. Richly detailed character models, as well as smooth and more organic-looking world models will join with all-new effects to completely transfigure the already amazing game visuals of Giants: Citizen Kabuto. The controls and interface will be much simpler, giving players easy access to the core fun elements of the game. Giants: Citizen Kabuto for the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for domestic shipment to retail in Q2 2001. (More @ the Source: stomped.com)

Red Faction....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:33 AM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
Don't you just hate it when you unload ten rockets at a wall and nothing on the wall changes with the exception of a scorch-mark decal? Or some weenie camper is hiding out in some secluded tower picking people off as they come along? Well, with Volition's upcoming FPS, Red Faction, you'll be able to blow that hated wall to hell and give that camper a well-earned ass-whoopin. Red Faction is not just your ordinary FPS that we see a lot of today. Red Faction is special. The Red Faction engine is capable of real-time arbitrary geometry modification, or Geo-Mod for short. This new technology that Volition has developed allows a player to deform any part of the environment with their weapons. No more scripted, pre-programmed destruction in levels. It's all real-time now. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

DDR SDRAM - A First Glance....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:31 AM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
Like most of you, I’ve been waiting to see what DDR SDRAM really has to offer over PC133 SDRAM, and also to see if there will be differences in performance between chipsets. And as always, I’m also interested in the performance difference between an Athlon and Pentium III based system. There has been a lot of market hype over the last few months on this issue. Is DDR SDRAM really worth holding off your purchase? Is it really worth investing in new memory? What does it mean in 'realworld' use – those programs you and I use every day? (More @ the Source: realworldtech.com)

Gunman Weapons Guide....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:27 AM MST Monday, January 22, 2001 [Comment on news]
All the Gunman's weapon systems offer the versatility to adjust fire modes to suit a particular mission. Each can be customized to your liking, whether you like to play with power or accuracy. (More @ the Source: gunmancentral.com)

Asking Tim Sweeney ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:52 AM MST Sunday, January 21, 2001 [Comment on news]
Question: One thing that's bothered me about 3d engines today is the way brightness is dealt with. Pixels and textures and such don't actually get brighter, they just change colors. Do you think it's possible / reasonable to implement an intensity feature into next generation videocards and monitors? Basically, something that would let the programmer control the amount of lumens being output by a monitor. Take, for example, the flashbang from counter strike. Currently when it goes off, your whole screen turns white, then fades back in. But, what if, instead, it got really bright, and actually made you squint to be able to focus on whats going on. I think a feature like this would add a whole new level of immersiveness, and it appears to have been overlooked by developers for some reason.Tim -- This is a very good point. Monitors provide horrible approximations of real-world lighting. The contrast ratio on typical monitors now (the ratio of brightness of a "pure black" pixel to a "pure white pixel") is about 300. In the real world, your eye can perceive about a 1,000,000 contrast range -- the ratio of the darkest object you can see at night, versus the brightest object you can easily distinguish in day. Games have to work around this discrepancy by using fairly unrealistic lighting algorithms. (More @ the Source: voodooextreme.com)

Counter-Strike Update....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:50 AM MST Sunday, January 21, 2001 [Comment on news]
Here are a couple shots of N@rby's cool new map, de_inferno. We've had a couple public playtests with this map and we've had some fun. If you caught the post here advertising it, thanks for stopping by to help us test. Anyway, here are the shots. Look for this in 1.1 (which we still don't know when will be out). (More @ the Source: counter-strike.net)

The Art of Gaming: Volume 11....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:47 AM MST Sunday, January 21, 2001 [Comment on news]
GameSpy: Would you mind giving us a brief introduction? Ted Halsted: My name is Ted Halsted. I'm a co-founder and graphic artist here at Human Head. On our game Rune, I worked as a level designer, writer, and concept artist. My original art background is in comic illustration. I worked at Valiant Comics for a number of years, and for a while after that I worked on some projects for Marvel. I love the tools that UnrealEd gives me to realistically create rooms and environments that used to take me much longer to draw and paint out by hand...it's a natural progression to move from a narrative visual art like comic illustration (where you handle the story, the casting, the lighting, the backgrounds, the camera, etc.) to working on map construction in video games. (More @ the Source: gamespy.com)

Point/Counter-Point: Is Pro-Gaming A Sport?....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:45 AM MST Sunday, January 21, 2001 [Comment on news]
As many gamers would say, we can all agree that professional gaming can be classified as a sport. It's whether or not it's a sport with merits that we differ on. This is a question for the ages, one which our own Hellchick and GameSpy's shaithis differ on. Naturally, conflict ensues! (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

Aopen AK73 Pro AMD Athlon VIA KT133....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:38 AM MST Friday, January 19, 2001 [Comment on news]
With the introduction of the AK73 motherboard, AOpen has officially opened itself to the newest generation of Socket A logic-boards. Unlike the AK72, which was a Slot A board that implemented the VIA KX133 chipset, the AK73 uses the Socket A CPU interface coupled with the VIA KT133 chips. As a result, the AK73 supports both ATA100 drives, and PC133 memory, and also happens to sport an integrated AC"97 audio-card along with a number of other interesting features.Now, with that said, let's see what our newest board has to offer. (More @ the Source: active-hardware.com)

High-End Business PC Buyer's Guide....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:35 AM MST Friday, January 19, 2001 [Comment on news]
Whether you are a graphic artist, lawyer, accountant, publisher, or work in any profession that needs ample computing power, or if you build a PC for just such professionals, this is the PC system we recommend for your high-end needs. You need something fast, easy to use and of course reliable. We feel that, if time is money, these recommendations are completely justifiable. Feel free to checking back every month as we update this article often.Read on to get our recommendations for a High-End Business PC. (More @ the Source: sharkyextreme.com)

BattleTech strategy gets real with MechCommander 2 ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:33 AM MST Friday, January 19, 2001 [Comment on news]
Have 'Mech, will travel: it's the calling card of the year 3063's version of the hired gun. Only this time, you're the one calling the shots—you and your company of hardened MechWarriors, making a living on the Chaos Marches, hiring out to the highest bidder. Everybody has 'Mechs; it's what you do with them that matters. That's where you come in. You're the MechCommander. (More @ the Source: cdmag.com)

Inside the Action Gaming ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:30 AM MST Friday, January 19, 2001 [Comment on news]
Have you taken a look around 3DActionPlanet lately? The site, focused on the action-gaming genre is thriving with new, hosted sites. Long-time favorites such as PlanetQuake and PlanetUnreal are stronger than ever, launching new sites from members of their respective communities.With all the recent news about game sites being shut down for lack of advertising dollars and growing bandwidth needs, you would almost think gaming communities are about to disappear.Not a chance. Communities have been behind computer games for as long as, well, as long as there have been computer games. Whether you cut your teeth on consoles, or learned to frag your neighbors online at 4 a.m., there have been fan sites and news sites to give you information about games. (More @ the Source: 3dap.com)

Sacrificing Poopsie ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:29 AM MST Friday, January 19, 2001 [Comment on news]
Billy: We are to the point where the game is long gone, as far as development, if you could go back and change things, what would it be?Joby "poopsie" Otero, lead artist at Shiny for Sacrifice: Oh boy, so many little things. You always second guess yourself in hindsight. But when you really get a chance to go back and re-do/change things you find you had more solid reasons than you thought. We did this a few times during development and usually found we were right the first time. (More @ the Source: voodooextreme.com)

A Talk With TrItin....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:12 AM MST Thursday, January 18, 2001 [Comment on news]
When you think of a game community, you think of mods, maps, and maybe models. But few rarely ever think of films and movies made using game engines or game materials. You might be surprised to learn that there's a burgeoning community for machinima, or films made using game engines. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.2GHz CPU Review....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:25 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
With the Athlon 1.2GHz, AMD has a 200MHz lead over Intel's last successful release, the Pentium III 1GHz (their 1.13GHz has been recalled after flaws were discovered). Intel's Pentium 4 is about a month and a half away, so AMD will have a clock speed lead for quite a while, but will they have a performance lead as well? In order to find out, we ran a full suite of benchmarks and used the processor to see how well it works. Read on too see what we found out. (More @ the Source: sharkyextreme.com)

Weekly CPU Prices....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:23 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
We've recently changed things around a bit so please buckle your seat belts, “Captain to Cabin crew, we have just lost cabin pressure.” Instead of the same old introduction and explanation, albeit important, detailing how we do what we do being at the very start of this article each week we're moving it to the end. That way you get what you came for at the very start and we're cutting to the chase instead. But don't worry, if you're new to all this and are itching to find out the rules/regulations of the tables/prices, feel free to use our rather handy "jump to" feature below or use this link and it'll take you to where you want to go.So without further ado here are your CPU Prices...(More @ the Source: sharkyextreme.com

Vision Master Pro 451....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:21 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
IIyama is back at it once again, this time with their new VisionMaster Pro 451 TrueFlat CRT monitor. What makes this one unique over its competition? For starters it incorporates an extremely handy USB hub, as well as integrated audio. There’s little doubt that this unit is being aimed at the desktop professional that has very little desktop space to work with. Just looking at this monitor and you’ll immediately see the curves that help set it apart from other offerings we’ve reviewed from IIyama. Because of the new curved back bezel, the VisionMaster Pro 451 takes up less of a footprint than most 19” monitors. And to help you save even more space on your desktop there is audio speakers and a USB hub built right into the base of the unit. (More @ the Source: gamersdepot.com

Trans review....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:19 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
Let's face it, most action gamers have a place in their heart for games with giant robots that blow stuff up. I've spent many a day playing MechWarrior with friends, so when I heard about TRANS, I jumped at the chance to review it. Unfortunately, TRANS was disappointing. Instead of taking the traditional "This is what they did right, this is what they did wrong" approach, I will walk you through my experience with TRANS, from installing, configuring and finally playing the game. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com

NVIDIA Gary Tarolli Q&A ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:17 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
Tell me your feelings now. You were one of 3dfx's founding members... how hard was this a decision to make/agree to?When I first heard the news that the deal was done, I had two opposite reactions. I was very saddened that 3dfx was finished, but I was very happy that it was all over and that now I would get to do something different. I had been debating for the last year or two if and when and how I should leave 3dfx, and what to do next. In hindsight, I obviously should have left 1-2 years ago, but now there was no longer a decision to be made. It was over. I wasn't part of the group that made the decision, but I agree with it. There basically was no other option. I really wish there had been, but there wasn't. (More @ the Source: 3dpulpit.com

Project IGI (PC) Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:12 PM MST Wednesday, January 17, 2001 [Comment on news]
We talk with Project IGI's producer and designer Andrew Wensley. GameSpot UK: Why isn't there a save option during missions? Andrew Wensley: We wanted to make GoldenEye for the PC - that was our main aim during the design of IGI. We wanted to promote stealth and really push the element of tension - the player wasn't going to succeed if they ran into an enemy base, all guns blazing. We wanted them to think their way in and shoot their way out. These principles were key in our decision not to have a save option within the game. (More @ the Source: gamespot.co.uk

Best and Worst Awards 2000....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 10:36 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
GameSpot is pleased to present its fifth annual Best and Worst of the Year feature, which highlights the most noteworthy achievements in the current year in gaming. We award games in 20 different categories, each with five different nominees. In this process, we consider every game released in 2000 that was evaluated on GameSpot this year; this includes virtually every commercially available computer game. (More @ the Source: zdnet.com)

Here's the Openhack III deal....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 10:33 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
In our continuing quest to find and evaluate the best ways to secure digital infrastructure, eWEEK once again invites hackers from around the world to examine, probe and crack into four servers accessible from the Internet. (More @ the Source: zdnet.com)

Red Faction Screenshots....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
check these hot new screens thanks to XGR.COM:) (More @ the Source: xgr.com

AMD Duron 850MHz....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
Following Intel’s announcement of their Celeron 800MHz, AMD ups the ante today with the announcement of the Duron 850MHz. As the processor wars continue, AMD is attacking Intel’s processor dominance on the consumer and professional desktop fronts. If you have the Home Shopping Network channel on your cable TV box, you may already know about the new Duron, as yesterday they were selling brand-new Compaq systems featuring the new chip live from the show floor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (More @ the Source: gamersdepot.com)

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
Amidst snow-covered plains and crystalline ice caverns, in the deep regions of the North, a fledging band of adventurers were swept into a battle against countless monsters and quarrelsome immortals. Ultimately they would emerge as victorious, battle-hardened warriors. But the story of Icewind Dale would not come to an end just yet. Unbeknownst to the heroes, hostility was brewing amongst the Ten Towns and the barbarian tribes. A shaman of the barbarian people appeared before them, requesting they attend an audience with their leader, Wylfdene, who claims he has been infused with the spirit of Jerrod. Legends speak of Jerrod, the warrior who sacrificed himself by throwing his body into a portal linked to the Lower Planes. (More @ the Source: cdmag.com)

Top 10 Ways To Be a Llama....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
Meet Hidon. He enjoys sunshine, long walks on the beach, and camping on top of the health rune. In the gaming community, there are many people out there who play not only to win, but to make your life miserable. Back in the day, we used to call them "llamas". The term died off long ago, but the people still remain.And you'll find lots of them on the servers still. What's a gamer to do? Easy: take advantage of the situation. If you're like me, and laugh maniacally when you shoot someone into lava, this list is for you -- The Top Ten Ways To Be a Llama. And if you're a beginner, I've even given you some tips on how to get started. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com

A Look @ NVIDIA NV20 GPU....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
No secret that on February 27 at Intel's Developer Forum (IDF) a new GPU from NVIDIA, known as NV20, must be announced officially. All are interested what's new could be seen in this graphics processor. So, we are going to lift the veil of secrecy. Note that we won't give results of performance measurements since this engineering sample is rather raw and the drivers are not finished. But on the NV20 functional features we can speak today in full volume. (More @ the Source: digit-life.com

Web Tip: Measuring Modem Speed....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Tuesday, January 16, 2001 [Comment on news]
We all wonder how fast our Internet connection is. Most of us already know that a fast connection makes for a more enjoyable Web experience, but how do you measure the speed of your connection? (More @ the Source: techtv.com

The State of the Internet....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 2:21 PM MST Monday, January 15, 2001 [Comment on news]
As previously mentioned, the online banner advertising market is crumbling before webmasters' very eyes. Two years ago, independent sites could easily command up to $10-15 CPM (that's $10-15 per every 1,000 ads served) for banner ad campaigns. The Internet was a fresh and exciting place, and many industry analysts were proclaiming it to be the "new television" of entertainment. Gigantic websites devoted to streaming media, audio, and all forms of interactive entertainment sprung up, funded by traditional brick-and-mortar companies who were all too eager to immerse their feet into the Internet's seemingly limitless pools of potential. (More @ the Source: somethingawful.com

TRIBES 2 Visuals Q&A....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 11:00 AM MST Monday, January 15, 2001 [Comment on news]
How does the visual effects compare with tribes 1? Give us a few examples of how some elements have changed.Dave G. (Qix) - The engine has been completely rewritten from scratch to embrace OpenGL and hardware acceleration. Although suits are still recognizably suits and you'll see things (like the spinfusor) that you remember from T1, the look of the game has been dramatically upgraded. Of course, you've almost certainly seen that in the deluge of screenshots that are out there. ; ) Marketing has been very zealous on this product and there's lots of visuals available. (More @ the Source: tribes2players.com

Fallout Tactics Q&A....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 10:58 AM MST Monday, January 15, 2001 [Comment on news]
1) How many different unit models can we expect to see? Ed: There's about 40 different sprites for humanoids, 13 critters and 15 specific bad-guys. Parrish: Yeah we had a lot of fun making them all. 2) How many frames of animation for each? Ed: They run at about 15 frames of animation per sequence. There's about 300,000 frames of animation all up. (More @ the Source: gamerspulse.com

PCShooter Announces Upcoming Local LAN Tournament ....
Posted by [Blood] @ 1:05 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
For anyone interested in a good old fashioned LAN tournament. PCShooter in conjunction with AOpen, a leading hardware manufacturing company is planning on hosting a LAN Tournament in the Utah County Region of Utah. This will probably occurr in May or June. We are planning at this time to play Quake 3 Team Arena. A review will be posted shortly on the game. We will also be putting up a messageboard for the LAN tournament. If you are interested drop us a note. We will also be posting details and updates on the board as well. Check back as the board will be up by Monday.

Point/Counterpoint: Subscription ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:49 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
Would You Ever Pay to Visit a Gaming Site?? Hrrm.. What can I read for a buck sixty one? It's been a rough couple of weeks for a lot of gaming sites. Restructuring, refocussing, and good old-fashioned dumping of gaming websites has been going on left and right, with an inability to make a buck as the preferred culprit. Ad sales is a mean game, and a lot of sites are finding that they can't make enough money off of it to maintain a huge network of well-paid (or paid at all) websites. In the recent past, IGN, C|Net, and UGO have all had to take steps to staunch the outflow of cash. (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com

Oni Review @ CNET....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:47 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
When Eidos announced the first follow-up to Tomb Raider, fans couldn't help but speculate on what new moves Lara Croft would have. Sure, she could run, jump, roll, and hang from ledges--but when it came to fighting, she was limited to an assortment of big guns. Couldn't this acrobatic heroine fight hand-to-hand? And wouldn't it be cool to hit just the right button combo and see Lara put down one of those huge thugs with a roundhouse kick? Unfortunately, that never happened, but a handful of the third-person games that followed have introduced some arcade-fighting elements into the now-familiar formula. The latest is Oni, and it's a stylish mix of inspiration and frustration. (More @ the Source: gamecenter.com

The Man With a Million Atari Games....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:46 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
What would you do with more than a million brand-new Atari game cartridges? Why, sell them, of course. Bill Houlehan of O'Shea Limited has been in the overstock reselling business for the past 25 years. He has bought and sold everything from container loads of PCs to bushels of Mr. Potato Head foot massagers. But the overstock items that have caught the most attention from consumers and collectors are the thousands of boxes of Atari 2600 and 7800 game cartridges he keeps in his limestone cavern warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri. "People are shocked when they find out the games are not opened," said the 51-year-old father of six. In fact, these are the same games Atari had in its warehouse when the company shut down operations in 1991. Initially, Houlehan purchased 2.3 million cartridges with the plan to market them to retailers in Holland and other Scandinavian and European countries. In ten years he has only managed to trim the stock down to 1.1 million. (More @ the Source: gamecenter.com

More Art of Gaming 2: With Id Software....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:43 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
How would you describe your art style? Kevin Cloud: I like working with different tools and playing with different techniques. When a project begins I usually do the fill-in work of creating basic stuff like concrete, dirt, grass, etc. Once a level begins to take shape I'll do a few decorative images. If I had to identify a style I would call it pragmatism influenced by occasional creativity. (More @ the Source: gamespy.com/

Tribes 2 Soon ? ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:36 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
Dynamix's Dave Georgeson made a post on the Tribal War forums regarding the status on Tribes 2. We're close to done. The game is getting stronger each day. We'll be reopening the beta soon. It's a reality and will not be slipping any further than our new (and yes...undisclosed) ship date. Sorry about the undisclosed part of that. But if you still refuse to believe me, then well...I'll just hush up. You can apologize once the game comes out. (More @ the Source: VE/tribalwar.com

GeForce2 PRO vs. GeForce2 ULTRA....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:34 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
Over the last few months there has been much confusion surrounding the GeForce2 family. The main reason for confusion is simply this; you have four GeForce2 based cards that are all different in their own little way. But what confuses people is how are they different, why they’re different and which difference will make it the right GeForce2 for them. This is why I am writing this article, however this article will only concern the two most recent GeForce2 family additions, which would be the GeForce2 PRO and ULTRA. Now the reason I have only selected these two high-end 3d graphics cards is because most of the confusion lies around these two cards. (More @ the Source: legionhardware.com

Giants Image Comparison....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:33 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
GeForce2 GTS, Voodooo5 5500, ATI Radeon..Here are the 3 cards in two different shots, each in the exact same place taken at 1024x768x32 with no FSAA. Each one opens up in it's own window, so you can compare them side-by-side. (More @ the Source: 3dgpu.com

Bush and Gaming: Compatible?....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:30 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
As we all have known for a few weeks now, the presidential election is over. George Bush is our new President, and Clinton will be checking out in a little over a week.Now for the question that is on all of your minds: how will this affect PC gaming? It's a topic that's worth a look. The federal government can have a major effect on the industry, whether we like it or not. So what exactly would George Bush do to us? (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com

Review: Project IGI: I'm Going In ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:27 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
With the exception of titles such as Delta Force and Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6, few first person shooters have stepped out of the realm of fantasy or sci-fi in favor of a contemporary setting. Now we have Project IGI. In this game of strategic espionage you'll play as David Jones, a former SAS agent now working as a freelance operative. It is your mission to track down and recover a nuclear warhead from the hands of criminals. It's not the most original story, as it's been done about a hundred times in the movies or on television. Fortunately, it manages to pull the game together quite effectively thanks to a few twists along the way. (More @ the Source: gamers.com

Serious Sam Interview with Croteam President Roman Ribaric ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 12:25 PM MST Saturday, January 13, 2001 [Comment on news]
Our very own fearless leader Billy "Wicked" Wilson cornered Croteam's head-hancho Roman Ribaric about its upcoming arcade/action first person shooter -- Serious Sam! (More @ the Source:voodooextreme.com)

Xbox Interview Part 2....
Posted by [Lefty 2 Guns] @ 1:20 PM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Gamespot continues their chat with the Xbox main man J Allard. Here's a piece of the action, "When game developers really learn how to use that technique, that's more muscle. When you have a lot more muscle, what do you do next? Take SSX on the PS2 - great game but instead of having five snowboarders in a race, you could have fifty, instead of one type of tree on a mountain, you could have fifty types of tree and they'd all be different - it's taking it to the next level." (More @ the Source: gamespot.co.uk)

The FPS Evolution ....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 9:41 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Single player FPS games are rapidly evolving into interactive movie experiences where genres naturally become blurred as hell and every single-player FPS can be a RPG (and it obviously is), action, thriller, or an action-comedy. The single player FPS are natural descendents of the adventure games, RPGs and shooter games. They are bringing the artificially imposed borders down and edging one step closer to their ultimate goal of becoming interactive movies. (More @ the Source: actiontrip.com)

Giants Guide....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 3:04 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
The guide has individual walkthroughs and strategies for each of the three characters, plus the all-important cheat codes for those of you looking to take the easy way out. (More @ the Source: bluesnews.com/zdnet.com)

Ben Geisler Interview....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 2:57 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Ben Geisler, one of Raven Software's new programmers, has agreed to sit down and have an interview with SoF Center! Without further ado, here is the interview: Bigdog: Ben Geisler, you are one of the new programmers for Raven Software. How do you like your job and Raven so far? Ben Geisler: Raven is very exciting and challenging. Everyone here is great to work with. It's very cool to be at a place that, for example, goes to the premiere of the new DnD movie together. Not to mention company sponsored paint ball, and people to share geeky programming jokes with. (More @ the Source: sofcenter.com)

Warning!! From Vaykent....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:17 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Due to the rather irregular influx of SEVERELY fried-out AMD cpu's,(Sockets) I thought I'd just post this quick reminder.... All Intel chips have a built in 'overheating' protection. NO AMD CHIP HAS THIS!!! In other words - if you plan on pushing your cpu - don't get AMD. Again, Intel has made their chips so that they automatically shutdown when they start to reach their limits for heat - AMD chips will keep merrily chugging along until the sadly fried piece of hardware you try and hand back to the store you bought it from will only bring a woefull shake of the head with the phrase, "... uhh.. there's nothing we can do for you...". As a personal note - I have seen fried chips before - but none as bad as the latest AMD's.... so be carefull...

Call to Power II ....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:13 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Any game starts when you open the package. When Luckee dropped the box in my office, I grabbed the poster which details the 70 or so units 24 terrain types, along with governments, tile improvements, city improvements and wonders of the world you can build. I couldn’t wait to get it on my hard drive. Luckee asked, does the shotgun have one or two barrels? Thus, before you buy, make sure you are ready to learn about the world. This usually means more than simply blowing away your opponents. In the real world, you need a big shotgun, but you also need diplomacy, strategic alliances and a strong economy. CTPII appeared to cover this in style. (More @ the Source: pcshooter.com)

Carcas On is RTS DOA?....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:06 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
There has been much talk as of late about Real Time Strategy games being dead. People say that there is nothing noteworthy being done with the genre and what you see now is largely death throes, the golden age before the sun sets. Others, of course, disagree. Opinions seem rampant on the subject and I know you are probably thinking "I wonder what Carcas has to say about this." *shrugs* Okay, maybe not, but I will tell you just the same. (More @ the Source: pcshooter.com)

Return of the Worst....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:05 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Of course, you would be wrong or else you wouldn't be here, reading the Return of the Worst Gaming Moments. Not only have readers given us even more of their own mishaps, unfortunate accidents, and generally clumsy missteps by either them or their teammates, but we asked some game developers to give us a few of their own as well. So if you thought you were alone, take heart: even the developers can have a bad gaming day."I hate it when I launch a Redeemer at someone in Unreal Tournament and they blow it up in my face with a minigun. Pisses me off!" (More @ the Source: 3dactionplanet.com)

Detonator3 6.50+ WIN9x Overclocking....
Posted by [Luckee] @ 1:05 AM MST Friday, January 12, 2001 [Comment on news]
Since this article will not require a lot of explanation - I will "cut the crap" (so to speak) and get right to the point. Just to clarify, we were given this advice from a visitor who figured out a solution and we cannot grantee that this information hasn't already been published on the Internet - After searching the Internet I did not find an article of this kind... Apologies to parties involved if it already has been published online. This is why I'm going to avoid the words "exclusive" and "scoopage" purely because of the reasons stated above. (More @ the Source: tweaktown.com)

Army Game Project Interview....
Posted by [Lefty 2 Guns] @ 12:39 PM MST Thursday, January 11, 2001 [Comment on news]
Stomped has conducted an interview with the lead designer of the Army Game Project, Dr. Michael Capps. Army Game Project is an upcoming U.S. government funded project to create a first person shooter game for military training purposes. Here is a chunk of the interview, "Stomped: Recently, a number of people and politicians have come out against first person shooter games, terming them 'murder simulators'. What's your reaction to these arguments?" "Capps: The Marines used a tweaked version of Doom for training--not to learn how to shoot (much less how to shoot imps), but for how to work as a team in a stressful situation. Maybe "teamwork simulators" is a better phrase?Military history shows us the difference between warrior and killer and the difference between soldier and warrior. Unfortunately, the darkest moments of the twentieth century were created by people who lost or ignored those distinctions. One of our top goals is to realistically portray the training and operations of soldiers. Our players might use MILES laser gear on a training mission, then later practice street-by-street techniques in live-fire urban combat. The military's peacekeeping responsibilities are ever growing, so we'll include operations other than war as well. U.S. Army training teaches soldiers how to kill people, but it also emphasizes values and teamwork. This is a Good Thing, because the US Army is the world's most effective user of deadly force." (More @ the Source: stomped.com)

Xbox Interview....
Posted by [Lefty 2 Guns] @ 12:25 PM MST Thursday, January 11, 2001 [Comment on news]
Gamespot sat down and had a nice Q and A with Microsoft's main Xbox man, J Allard. Here is a bit from the great interview, "Xbox is about the games. The game is the experience right? The Xbox is just the amplifier. So think about that bad-ass amp you want to buy to play your CD on. The actual experience is the CD itself, the amp is the clean piece of equipment with one volume out." (More @ the Source: gamespot.co.uk)

GeForce2 GTS Performance On A Value Platform....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 11:19 AM MST Thursday, January 11, 2001 [Comment on news]
When NVIDIA originally announced the plans to include hardware transformation and lighting acceleration in the design for their GeForce 256, it was speculated that owners of value systems would see the most performance gain. Since the processor would be doing less work on the 3D pipeline, fewer applications would be CPU limited, and frame rates would increase. Of course this was theoretical, and real-world scenarios did not always turn out so optimistically, but low-end systems did see some semblance of a boost. (More @ the Source: sharkyextreme.com)

The Art and Science of Level Design....
Posted by [NewsStaff] @ 10:31 AM MST Thursday, January 11, 2001 [Comment on news]
Features The Art and Science of Level DesignEditor's note: This paper was originally published in the 2000 Game Developer's Conference proceedi