Tuesday, August 15, 2000

Visor Replacement Already -- 2:34 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

As I mentioned before (story) I called Handspring on Sunday to get a replacement for my Visor Deluxe. It had been going through batteries like mad since I patched it for the 8M DRAM problem. Naturally, we were out of the house earlier today and my new one came via FedEx already! Obviously Handspring has cleared up some of the support problems they had earlier. Kudos, folks!

J.t.Qbe comments: Wow, that's fast! I hope they're as quick with mine. I bumped a table yesterday morning. The Visor case was fine, but the screen was cracked. Costs $85 for a new one. Yikes!

Interview with Mr. Elusive -- 12:12 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's an interview with "Mr. Elusive" over on Stomped. They talk about his work on Q3A, and what he will be contributing to Doom. Cool beans.

Loki to Produce FreeBSD Compatible Games -- 11:48 am CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

This morning I noticed a press release stating that Loki, well-known for porting current Windows games to Linux, will begin working with BSDI to ensure that its Linux ports will also work with FreeBSD. Currently you can run many Linux binaries on FreeBSD via a set of compatibility libraries (and FreeBSD advocates claim that they often run faster than on Linux). Loki will begin certifying that its games work with those libraries. This is big news for FreeBSD fans, who previously had no guarantee that Loki's games would work in this way. I'm a big BSD fan myself--in my experience and use, FreeBSD has been more stable and faster than Linux. You can read the full press release here. Thanks for the tip, Daemonnews.

Help Wraith! -- 10:13 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Our very own Wraith, as most of you know, is working on a mod for Quake III Arena called Bloodbath Arena. He updated his site, asking for some extra help.

If you are any/all of the above [Mappers, Modelers, 2D Texture Artist, Skinner], email me right away. We are desperate for your help. Right now, other than coding stuff (which is ALL me), some light modelling (again, me), and a couple of maps (Ghost in My Shell), not much is done. The code is keeping me busy enough that I can't take another break to learn another skill (I think I've already proven that my modelling skills suck...but I can make a really cool box), and I can't map to save my life (I couldn't even get the "Make A Box" tutorial right...although I can map all day for UT...UnrealEd2 is incredible). I need help so that I can focus my attention on where it needs to be: squarely on the code.

Deus Ex Port to Linux -- 8:35 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Linux Games is reporting that Loki will be porting ION Storm's Deus Ex to Linux! Hopefully once they yank out all the D3D code, it might actually run decently on my system. User Friendly posted a picture of Deus Ex on display at Loki's booth at LinuxWorld. Cool stuff. Kudos to the team at Loki--those guys are porting machines!

Obi-Wan Screenies -- 8:30 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamespot got their hands on a bunch of new screenshots from LucasArts' forthcoming Episode I: Obi-Wan. After playing a bit of the FAKK2 demo, my faith was restored in third-person games. The concept of playing the entire game with only the lightsaber is almost too delicious.

FAKK2 Patch -- 8:24 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

This actually came out last night whilst we were having quite the thunderstorm here. Ritual released a patch for Heavy Metal: FAKK2 (2.8M). Unfortunately, sTeve at the Shugashack is reporting that the patch really didn't help people who were having problems. I played the demo for a little while and didn't have any problems, even with EAX2 turned on. Go figure.

Monday, August 14, 2000

Paul Jaquays Interview -- 3:44 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

My partially functioning brain and I forgot to post this earlier. Stomped posted a quick interview with id's Paul Jaquays which reveals, among other things, that the fabled Q3CTF5 which didn't make it into Quake III Arena will be included in Quake III: Team Arena.

J.t.Qbe comments: Geek quiz for ya, A.T. What did Paul Jaquays do before he worked in computer games?

A.T. Hun comments: I know he did art for some AD&D modules. I don't remember if he designed any of the actual levels or not. What do I win?

J.t.Qbe comments: You win the official title of "Way Too Old Dude." Congratulations!

NVIDIA Releases the Detonator 3 -- 9:21 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

No more leaked drivers needed. NVIDIA has posted the Detonator 3 drivers right on their website. The revision number is 6.18. If the benchmarks are right, you want these drivers if you have a GeForce 2 GTS. I don't think I'll bother with them since I think I've gotten about as much out of my TNT as I can. :) Thanks Blue.

GeForce2 GTS Ultra Announced -- 8:39 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Prepare for ludicrous speed! It seems that the NV20 would not be ready for a Fall release, so NVIDIA has cranked up the GeForce2 GTS. The Ultra basically the GTS with a higher clock speed and faster memory. The Firing Squad got 53.1 fps at 1600x1200x32 in Quake III. Erp. Extra memory bandwidth is a Good Thing. You can check out the Firing Squad's preview and the zillion more that are appearing on the 'Net. Be prepared for a bit of sticker shock--this bad-boy will set you back $499. Thanks Shugashack.

Firing Squad also reviewed the new 6.16 drivers, aka Detonator 3, from NVIDIA. They supposedly help the memory bandwidth problems. It seems to work since the GTS scores at 1600x1200x32 in Quake III are 50% (yes, I typed that correctly) faster! They help a little bit with the GeForce DDR, but the GTS and the GTS Ultra really seem to benefit the most.

RA3 Server 1.3 -- 8:23 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Rocket Arena 3 for Quake III Arena team has released a new version of the server, version 1.3 to be exact. Only server operators have to download it. Thanks Blue.

Past Two Days' News

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