Thursday, March 16, 2000

Verant and Star Wars -- 11:05 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Verant has announced that they are making a massively multiplayer game based in the Star Wars universe for LucasArts. This could be intensely cool and could get me to rethink my previously hard-line stance against massively multiplayer-type games.

What Do You Think? -- 8:40 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

So do you like our new navigation bar at the top? It gives more direct access to the content on the site and enables us to play around with the logo a bit in the future. We've added two new sections: Linux Stuff which will contained all our amassed knowledge of Linux, and Game Servers which will have information on the game servers The Master and I help administrate with EZ-Net. Both sections are very sparse, but more information will be added soon! Stay tuned!

Mark Rein Interview -- 1:37 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's an interview with Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic Games posted over on RPov. I found one of Mark's answers rather interesting:

...we've got all kinds of next generation tools in totally usuable shape so it won't be all that long before you see another game from us. We're the productivity leader now and we're going to get better and better and better - just watch!

Ummm... actually, I think that title belongs to Raven, since it seems they can punch out a new, impressive, game title every year. They may not make the spectacular sales figures of id or Epic, but a YEAR to make SOF, or Heretic 2 is VERY impressive.

Q3A 1.16n source released -- 12:55 pm CST, Update by The Master

Robert Duffy announced the release of the 1.16n source in his .plan. Here's the scoop:

The game source for 1.16n is available on our ftp and should be appearing on mirrors soon. As with the previous source release this is a Win32 installation.

The code should be compilable into vm's without Visual C headers this time around so lcc (included) is all you need.

75GB Hard Drive?!?!?!? -- 12:32 pm CST, Update by The Master

All I can say: I want two of these, with fries and a shake. 75gb HDs. Wow. I remember when a 20 meg hard drive was huge.

Windows2K humor -- 11:33 am CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

Well, maybe it isn't funny if it happens to you. Apparently installing IE5.0 with 128-bit encryption on your Win2K system can lock you out. You can't log in. Period. Read about it here. There's nothing quite like marrying your OS to your browser, is there? Thanks for the laughs, Microsoft!

More on Q3A cheating -- 9:19 am CST, Update by The Master

There's a thread going on The Shugashack on the whole cheating thing in Robert Duffy's plan from yesterday (story). Both Robert Duffy and Christian Antkow have posted to this thread.

Personally, I think the whole hash ID is a great idea, and EZ-Net's servers will definitely be switched over to it if and when it becomes available.

Windows ME loses some networking -- 9:16 am CST, Update by The Master

According to a C|Net article, entitled "Windows Me to eliminate some networking support", Microsoft is removing the Banyan and Novell client software from Windows ME. Ironically, Microsoft is saying this is to focus ME on the home market, but personally I think it's to force small businesses or IT departments with small budgets to purchase Win2000, with that extra $100 premium. Ya know, Billy G isn't rich enough already or anything . . .

Wednesday, March 15, 2000

Duffy on Q3A Cheating -- 2:30 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

In his aforementioned .plan update, id's Robert Duffy also went off on cheaters and potential ways to combat them (beyond sv_pure 1):

Cheating is obviously a big issue. It seems that some people just cannot get over the fact that they suck at the game and have to cheat to try and make up for it :-) This along with abusive players has caused quite a few requests for the ability to generate a unique user ID based on the end users CD Key. This would allow servers to ban troublesome players or habitual cheaters. This method would not compromise the CD Key in any way but would provide a unique string that would identify a particular user irrespective of their user name, ip address and so on. Our current thought process is to implement a system very similar to caller ID. This would allow a server to be setup to accept only clients that provide their ID or accept all ( anonymous ) clients. Clients would be able to specify whether or not to provide their ID or be anonymous. Any feedback on this is welcome ( This is NOT in the game at this time but is under consideration )

I think the obvious answer is to beat cheaters silly, but that is not always practical and, in some cases, illegal. Thoughts?

The Master comments: Well, I wish for the ability to switch their phone line onto a 50k power line, but like you said-that's illegal . . .

Final Q3A 116 Point Release -- 2:14 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

id's Robert Duffy updated his .plan with news that the final (that is, non-beta) 116 patch is available for Quake III Arena. Here's a sniff:

The 1.16 point release is done. It should start appearing on mirrors soon, in all three flavors. The release also contains the original player models done way back when for Xian, Carmack, Hellrot, Paul Jaquays, Willits, and Brandon James ( now at Rogue ). These are included in the PK3 file. Available separately are the Max files for each as well.

There were only a few changes between 1.16m and 1.16n, the readme details what was changed. I should get the code bundled up and out within a few days as well.

Any problems with the release ( or the game in general ) need to be e-mailed to livehumanfeedback@idsoftware.com, this will ensure the issues get added to our bug database and looked at.

Mirrors:

• Blue's News (and 3D Action Gamers) Win32, Mac, Linux
• Shugashack Win32, Mac, Linux
• Stomped All versions

Mods for The Master -- 10:18 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I think it's really nice that someone went out and tailor made a mod for The Master. Thanks PlanetQuake for the link.

The Master comments: So what if I'm a QuadWhore. You'll thank me the next time we're 'bot-hunting in CTF and Xaero has it instead of me.

RealPlayer Licenses FakePlayer -- 10:10 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

This News.com article reports that RealNetworks has licensed Windows Media Format. RealNetworks has not decided what products they will use the technology in. This could be a Good Thing because it would allow me to keep Windows Media Player off my computer forever, and Real might bring WMF streaming to Linux under this license. This could also be a Bad Thing in that it is a sign that Microsoft has used its bulk to run another company's products off the market. Thanks Slashdot.

The Master comments: Amazingly, Microsoft will now use this license in some kind of spin-control press release showing how wonderful and pure they are. Bah. Microsoft is a monopolistic crusher of all competition in the computer world.

Beware -- 9:42 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

If your name is Caesar (or Julius for that matter), I'd advise using some extra caution today. That and avoiding anyone named Brutus.

J.t.Qbe comments: Hey A.T., how's about we fire up the Aldis lamps?

Past Two Days' News

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