Slashdot Mirror

Thanks to Eurogamer for their first impressions of Worms 3D, as Team 17's 2D turn-based strategy classic gets Sega-published and updated into the third dimension. The article suggest that "...we couldn't really see how the move to 3D would bring with it much in the way of 'improvements'", but ends up addicted, and "surprised at just how timeless the Worms formula appears to be." Blue's News reveals that a demo for Worms 3D is now out, possibly leaked early, but downloadable from Gamer's Hell, 3D Gamers, and BitTorrent via GameTab, and for those of you still digging the original 2D version, it seems the Asian-only Online Worms has 3 million Beta testers in China.

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing out that Valve has released the Counter-Strike 1.6 installer for Steam, the broadband delivery platform for which "over 200,000 new accounts have been created" since its official launch on Friday. The 379mb install, helpful for those who can't get swift downloads from Steam itself, is available from Gamer's Hell, Worthplaying, and FilePlanet (reg. required).

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing out that the non-Beta version of Valve's Steam has been released, and a valid Half-Life-related CD key is required to install the online content delivery system and play Half-Life engine games online. Since launch this morning, Planet Half-Life are noting: "we said, 'the transition over to Steam is bound to be a little bumpy,' and hoo boy, did that turn out to be an understatement", as many are experiencing installation problems and slowness at the Steam servers. Elsewhere, a Wired News article discusses Valve's plans to make the Steam software base available to others: "Valve is also actively licensing the commerce software that manages the game's download and purchase process to other developers, publishers and Internet service providers in exchange for 5 percent of their gross sales."

Thanks to GameSpy for posting a developer diary for XIII, the multi-platform, cel-shaded FPS from UbiSoft that's now due to ship on the 9th October. The executive producer on this Unreal-engine title talks about some of the stylistic innovations, such as "pop-up windows to show major actions or headshots", and "onomatopoeias... to help [the player] like a form of sixth sense", Batman TV show-style. GameSpot also has some recent, guarded impressions of the title, which is "based on an immensely popular [French] graphic novel series", and features an intriguing soundtrack from San Francisco turntablists Future Primitive Sound.

Thanks to Blue's News for the info that a PC demo of Homeworld 2 is now available, offering "a sample of Relic's now-gold space-based RTS sequel... [including] a tutorial, two solo missions and a pair of multiplayer maps." Mirrors of the 141mb demo include Gamer's Hell, IGN Downloads, Worthplaying, and a BitTorrent links via FileRush and GameTab.

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the PC demo for Activision's World War II FPS Call Of Duty has been released - there are mirrors at Gamer's Hell, 3D Gamers, and a BitTorrent via FileRush, and Blue's News, as well as providing a longer list of mirrors, clarifies: "The 174 MB demo offers the single-player Burnville mission from Infinity Ward's upcoming shooter." This public release follows last night's controversy over the demo's exclusivity to FilePlanet, and Activision's subsequent change of heart, following a petition from many of the major game sites.

Thanks to several readers for pointing out the PC demo for Activision's World War II FPS Call Of Duty has been released - there are mirrors at Gamer's Hell, 3D Gamers, and a BitTorrent via FileRush, and Blue's News, as well as providing a longer list of mirrors, clarifies: "The 174 MB demo offers the single-player Burnville mission from Infinity Ward's upcoming shooter." This public release follows last night's controversy over the demo's exclusivity to FilePlanet, and Activision's subsequent change of heart, following a petition from many of the major game sites.

Thanks to Shacknews for their open letter regarding Activision's Call Of Duty demo for PC, which will apparently be initially exclusive (with some file-based protection?) to GameSpy's FilePlanet subscribers. The letter announces that "...the following websites will not be carrying the Call of Duty playable demo, even after its exclusivity is over", and includes notable signatories such as Blue's News and Shacknews themselves. The appeal continues: "The above-listed websites hope to show Activision that the enthusiast industry is strongly opposed to the idea of exclusive demo releases. Feedback from our users shows that gamers hate to be forced through a single point of congestion if they want a demo right away... Deals like this hurt the industry much more than they could possibly enhance a single relationship." Update: 08/29 06:25 GMT by S : Activision have bowed to pressure, and will make the demo available everywhere, non-exclusively, from Friday night.

Thanks to Shacknews for their open letter regarding Activision's Call Of Duty demo for PC, which will apparently be initially exclusive (with some file-based protection?) to GameSpy's FilePlanet subscribers. The letter announces that "...the following websites will not be carrying the Call of Duty playable demo, even after its exclusivity is over", and includes notable signatories such as Blue's News and Shacknews themselves. The appeal continues: "The above-listed websites hope to show Activision that the enthusiast industry is strongly opposed to the idea of exclusive demo releases. Feedback from our users shows that gamers hate to be forced through a single point of congestion if they want a demo right away... Deals like this hurt the industry much more than they could possibly enhance a single relationship." Update: 08/29 06:25 GMT by S : Activision have bowed to pressure, and will make the demo available everywhere, non-exclusively, from Friday night.

Thanks to Yahoo!/Hollywood Reporter for the news that a new videogame will incorporate exclusive raw video shot by U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, and elsewhere. The PC action title, called Kuma:War, launches next February (there are screenshots available via Blue's News), and intends to allow you to "play the news" with a CNN-style filmed introduction to each real-life themed game level - the article explains: "players could get a first-person perspective experience of what it was like to rescue Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch or participate in the raid that killed Uday and Qusay Hussein - staged authentically, right down to such details as the type of grenades that were used in the mission and the exact location of the snipers."

Thanks to Blue's News for their post indicating that the playable PC demo of Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII has been released, "offering a sample of the upcoming Battlefield 1942 add-on that plays 'what if' with experimental weapons." You don't need the original title to play, and there are mirrors of the 165 MB download on 3D Gamers, Gamer's Hell, BF1942files.com, and a BitTorrent link via 3DGamers.

Ant writes "According to an article at Blue's News: 'Though id Software basically invented the idea of using "when it's done" as a release date, and thus did not specify a release date when DOOM 3 was announced, many have been assuming that the game would be available for this year's holiday season. Now a report on HomeLAN Fed cites Activision's 2003 release calendar and quarterly financial conference call... [saying that] Activision admits that this matter is entirely in id's hands, but that they are not expecting the game this year, and have it "penciled" on their calendars for fiscal Q4 (Jan-March) 2004.' Additionally, Quake IV is now due in Fiscal 2005 (which begins April 2004)."

Ant writes "According to an article at Blue's News: 'Though id Software basically invented the idea of using "when it's done" as a release date, and thus did not specify a release date when DOOM 3 was announced, many have been assuming that the game would be available for this year's holiday season. Now a report on HomeLAN Fed cites Activision's 2003 release calendar and quarterly financial conference call... [saying that] Activision admits that this matter is entirely in id's hands, but that they are not expecting the game this year, and have it "penciled" on their calendars for fiscal Q4 (Jan-March) 2004.' Additionally, Quake IV is now due in Fiscal 2005 (which begins April 2004)."

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing out that, according to the official Blizzard tech support site, the new V1.10 patch for Warcraft III is available via in-game auto-update. There are also detailed new patch notes, with the update briefly summarized as being: "..an upgrade to Reign of Chaos in preparation for the upcoming release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, available on July 1st. This patch contains numerous new features and upgrades to Reign of Chaos, as well as several balance changes."

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing to a New York Times article entitled 'On Video Games, the Jury Is Out and Confused' (registration required). It talks about the mixed messages being given to parents about video gaming, especially with regard to violent content, and its effect on their children: "In the face of contradictory, inconclusive or just plain confusing evidence, some parents... agonize over what limits to set." One concerned mother even has to keep her spouse in check as well: "My husband is a little hard to control. Sometimes he lets them rent games with little figures on top of buildings trying to shoot each other off." What limits do you or your relatives put on their children's gaming, and why?

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing to a new RPGVault interview with Liquid Entertainment about their forthcoming Tolkien-themed PC RTS, War Of The Ring. This Vivendi-published title, which we first mentioned a while back, is from the developers of Battle Realms, and is intended to be the first in an ongoing series. Topics commented on include setting - "..we will be focusing on the time of the Fellowship, most of the battles will occur in and around Rohan, with some battles in Mirkwood, The Iron Hills and Northern Gondor", and the developers also mention they want to "..please the hardcore Tolkien fans and RTS fans without alienating the casual Tolkien fan" - a tricky task?

Thanks to Blues News for pointing to this online petition demanding a sequel to Daikatana. Reasons for wanting a follow-up to John Romero's infamous PC FPS include the fact that "Daikatana's former notoriety has left many people with a feeling of nostalgia for the days leading to the game's completion." Some of comments attached to the 37 current signatures also add insight, including Attila Houtkooper's comment - "Daikatana has changed my life, I need Daikatana 2 to change it back the way it was!"

Thanks to Blues News for pointing out an announcement from Origin/EA that Ultima Online's monthly subscription rate will increase to $12.95, though you can still buy 6-month prepaid packages for the previous rate of $9.99 per month. We covered Sony's flat-rate MMO subscription a few days ago, and it'll be interesting to see if EA would consider doing similarly for their properties, which would include Earth And Beyond and The Sims Online. But does Ultima Online still have certain charms that other MMORPGs can't offer?

Thanks to Blue's News for pointing to the new official website for The Matrix Online. This massively multiplayer PC title, where you get to live, explore and fight within the machine construct of The Matrix, is courtesy Warner Brothers and Ubi Soft, and is being developed by Monolith (of No-One Lives Forever and Tron 2.0 fame) for a 2004 release. IGN.com has more details, and a healthy, if sensible, skepticism until they see the game playable. Finally, this project is completely separate from Shiny/Atari's Enter The Matrix game that we covered a little while back, and which is shipping into stores about now.

Phy writes "3DGPU reports a story from Blues News today that Majesco has officially announced Advent Rising, a third-person action/adventure game trilogy developed on the Unreal engine for PC and Xbox created in collaboration with famed sci-fi author Orson Scott Card. The Advent Rising website is now online. The site has a place to register, a copy of the formal press announcement, and a couple of wallpapers." I admit I don't usually read books that I don't have to, but I've read a couple of Card's books and enjoyed them. Here's hoping his talents translate well to pixels.

scottcha+4 writes "When it was released in November 1998, Half-Life redefined the action gaming genre by combining fast-paced action and an intelligent, intense story. Players quickly began clamoring for a sequel, but developer Valve Software responded with silence. Five years later, the call for that sequel is as loud as ever. Get the details via this CNN story." The CNN coverage has a couple of amazing-looking screenshots and some brief details, but there's going to be a whole lot more after magazines like this arrive in stores and the press embargo is fully lifted.

Screaming Lunatic writes "There seems to be a big security hole in the Unreal engine that has been around for about 5 years. It affects servers for a number of games and operating systems, including Linux (which accounts for about 40% of UT2003 servers). Epic has been working on a patch for about 3 months. Imagine the bad publicity games would receive if a worm on the scale of Slammer had been created." A Bugtraq post from Thor Larholm of Pivx, says that Marc Rein of Epic threatened PivX with "getting our lawyers involved with this"; the TechTV article Larholm cites (the same one linked from this submission), however, contains no mention of legal action. Rein nonetheless apologized for "those completely unfortunate comments" in a followup message to Bugtraq.

Nexxpert writes "John Carmack has posted his thoughts on the NV30 vs R300 (featured via www.bluesnews.com. Highlights some of the shortcomings of Nvidia's next step as well as pointing out what they've done right. Interesting read." In particular the arb2 vs nv30 path differences mean that it's not as simple as saying "ATI roX0rs nVidia" or vice versa.(update: sorry bout the misspelling, don't know how I missed that)

Nexxpert writes "John Carmack has posted his thoughts on the NV30 vs R300 (featured via www.bluesnews.com. Highlights some of the shortcomings of Nvidia's next step as well as pointing out what they've done right. Interesting read." In particular the arb2 vs nv30 path differences mean that it's not as simple as saying "ATI roX0rs nVidia" or vice versa.(update: sorry bout the misspelling, don't know how I missed that)

Screaming Lunatic writes "John Carmack has decided to write an OpenGL2.0 rendering path for Doom3. You can read his .plan or you can finger him. This will be huge for the development of OpenGL2.0. Video cards are typically benchmarked with respect to the framerate when running Quake3. Future benchmarks will be based on Doom3. This means IHVs will be somewhat forced to write good OpenGL2.0 implementations."

An enthusiastic Anonymous Coward writes: "Id Software and Activision released the sources of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Single-player and multiplayer included. Unbelievable! Another great surprise from Id Software!" Update: 04/14 15:19 GMT by T : Note: don't get your hopes up -- these are the sources for the game code, not the engine.

Ant was fastest on the mouse to report that Id Software has a single-player demo and a set of linux binaries available for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Blue's News has some more information and a mirror.

Screaming Lunatic writes "Woohoo, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has finally shipped. Check this story out at Yahoo. You should be able to buy it at the regular gaming shops. I highly recommend buying it rather than hacking it, as noted in Graeme Devines .plan file." CD: I am seriously flashing back to the Apple II game with a similar name, hope this doesn't suck like daikatana.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "I just went over to Blue's and saw that Bleem is dead. What happened? Have the lawyers finally gotten to them?" Maybe they just got tired.

Kallahar writes: "Everybody and their pet will report this, but the new Wolf MP test is out! Get it from Blues News (or many mirrors)." This probably would have been a better submission if it had included a download link of some sort.

JWhiton writes: "According to Blue's News, Mandrake and TransGaming are going to ship a new distribution of Mandrake Linux specificially aimed at gamers. It comes with The Sims and TransGaming's WineX for compatibility with Windows games. Apparently it's going to ship on November 9th."

ipoverscsi writes: "A new Quake3 binary is out for both Linux and Windows. This is supposedly the final release of the game for all time. You can get the new version 1.3 at FilePlanet or your regular pusher. Mirrors would be good as the hour+ wait will only get worse." Ant provides a link to this thread on Blue's News (including a mirror) as well.

Mandelbrot-5 writes "From the Activision Wolfenstein web site: "The multiplayer test is OUT! You can find it at www.castlewolfenstein.com, www.gamespy.com, as well as a few other places. Here is a list of other mirrors in case you're among the many who are fighting to grab it: FilePlanet 3D Gamers Blue's News Return to Castle Wolfenstein multiplayer pits players in a team-based Axis versus Allies contest for front-line domination, where multiple player classes must mobilize and work together to accomplish mission objectives. The multiplayer element of Return to Castle Wolfenstein is currently in development by Nerve Software with assistance from id Software and Gray Matter Interactive.'"

An Anonymous Webmaster asks: "I'm the webmaster of one of the largest websites on the UGO Network. This past month UGO gave notice to all affiliates that they say all guarantees are gone and will only make payments up to February's ad traffic at half rate. Yes they are currently 2 months behind on payments. (This includes HardOCP, ShackNews, BluesNews, VoodoExtreme, Telefragged, OldManMurray, my website and many others. UGO handed out contracts last week saying we must forfeit all our rights to previously owed money and rights to sue them to get those last 2 checks. Yes that's right, if we don't sign a paper saying we wont sue them they will withhold 2 months of payments they already owe and have available to them. Does anyone have any realistic advice for all these webmasters? A lawsuit just doesnt seem like it would really net any cash." Now this just doesn't sound fair at all. It's a shame that these big site networks aren't able to pay their sites what's owed, but is such extortion really the answer? I'm sure many webmasters may have found themselves in this position before. What did you do to resolve this kind of problem?

The word "Internet" was uttered precisely once in last night's presidential debate, and I don't have to tell you the context. You already know the topic was Columbine, and you already know the Net was being blamed for mass murder. What our Republican candidate failed to mention is that his party's bogeymen, the evil Internet and its evil twin violent entertainment, have brought about a new era of peace. If we really want less violence in our schools, we obviously need more violence on our Internet.

"Columbine spoke to a larger issue, and it's really a matter of culture. It's a culture that somewhere along the line we begun to disrespect life, where a child can walk in and have their heart turn dark as a result of being on the Internet, and walk in and decide to take somebody else's life."
- George W. Bush, presidential debate, October 11, 2000

The term we're looking for is "manufactured crisis." That's what we need to start calling it, this supposed violence in our schools.

I don't need to provide you with more quotes from Bush, Gore, Cheney and especially Lieberman about how disgustingly violent our culture has become. You can't pick up a paper without seeing at least three people moaning about violent movies, the violent internet, and worst of all violent video games. They're infecting the minds of our children, don't'cha know. It'd be the new national pastime if it weren't 200 years old: grumping about those damn kids.

Let's counter disinformation with some real numbers. Here's an annotated timeline showing the increase in violent imagery, and the corresponding decrease in actual violence.

1993
Students' nonfatal violent crimes: 1,438,200.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 49.1.

Let's consider 1993 our baseline year, the pre-Doom year. That blockbuster was not released until December 1993, so I think we are safe to assume that it did not begin darkening hearts until 1994 or later. By the end of 1993, the internet's two million host machines include 500 webservers.

Demolition Man, Kalifornia and Falling Down are in the theaters.

1994
Students' nonfatal violent crimes: 1,424,200: a 1% decrease from the previous year.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 51.2: a 4% increase from the previous year.

In 1994, shareware Doom, downloadable from the evil internet, shatters existing gaming records. Its bloody graphics and Satanic imagery shock and offend many who are easily shocked and offended. In an era where 200,000 is a great-selling title, 1994 sees the first of fifteen million gamers who download and play Doom.

Meanwhile, the web grows at an annual rate of 341,000%, becoming the 2nd-most popular type of data; among the three million machines on the net, there are too many webservers to count.

The movies Pulp Fiction, Timecop, True Lies, Children of the CornIII, and the politicans' favorite Natural Born Killers are all released in 1994.

1995
Students' nonfatal violent crimes: 1,290,000: a 9% decrease from the previous year.
Total under-18 murderers: 2,169.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 46.1: a 10% decrease from the previous year.

In 1995, the web becomes the most popular internet service among the net's four million machines. Shareware Doom continues to rack up downloads. Doom II: Hell On Earth, released last October, takes over as the violentest game ever, with an initial release of half a million units.

The Basketball Diaries, Braveheart, Se7en, and Die Hard3 are released.

1996
Students' nonfatal violent crimes: 1,134,400: a 12% decrease from the previous year.
Total under-18 murderers: 1,683: a 22% decrease from the previous year.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 41.6: a 10% decrease from the previous year.

1996 is a banner year for violent images. Doom II continues on its track to eventually sell two million copies. Duke Nukem 3D, aimed at the young teenage male market, gives our nation's young boys a healthy mix of strippers, jokes, and mass slaughter with machine guns. Soon after, the breakthrough title Quake offers unprecedented visual accuracy: blood, gore, and murder are now illustrated with detail that makes Doom and Duke Nukem look cartoony.

Scream is released in theaters to tremendous success, along with Broken Arrow, CrowII, Sling Blade, and the excellent Fargo. Meanwhile, there are now 9 million hosts on the net.

The effects of all that horrible media violence in 1996 appear in 1997's statistics...

1997
Students' nonfatal violent crimes: 1,055,200: a 7% decrease from the previous year.
Total under-18 murderers: 1,457: a 13% decrease from the previous year.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 38.8: a 7% decrease from the previous year.

In 1997, there are 16 million hosts on the net. At year's end, QuakeII is released, and is quickly banned in Germany for its even-more-realistic violence. And Con Air, Face/Off, Starship Troopers, and Scream2 are released in theaters.

1998
Total under-18 murderers: 1,169: a 20% decrease from the previous year.
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 36.0: a 7% decrease from the previous year.

In 1998, Quake II hits its sales stride and begins corrupting young minds. Grand Theft Auto, one of the more vilified and censored video games, is released. The web crosses the 300-million-page mark.

Brace yourself for the movie list: Lethal Weapon4, Saving Private Ryan, American HistoryX, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Ronin, Urban Legend, Blade, and the crappy remake of Psycho hit the theaters.

The result?

1999
Victims of violent crime per 1,000 population, all ages: 32.1: an 11% decrease from the previous year.

There it is. In the four years between the release of Doom and Quake II, the number of killers under the age of 18 in this country plummeted. A drop of 46% in just four years is nothing short of astonishing.

Long-term graphs are even more valuable. Click through to these, they're small and quick:

• The homicide rate, 1900-1998. We are experiencing the longest and steepest sustained dropoff in violence since the Great Depression.
• Homicide offenders grouped by age, 1976-1998. The number of teenage killers is steadily falling.
• Average age of homicide offenders, 1976-1998. The average age of the American killer has been rising since 1993.

Last month, I watched CNN as my friend Bennett Haselton got grilled opposite Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). After CNN's introduction telling us what to think - cutting straight from footage of Doom to footage of crying Columbine students - the Senator explained how violent games cause children to commit violent actions. He wants to keep dangerous weapons like Quake away from our kids.

That's how the Senator - who voted against secure handgun storage, and twice against child safety locks - positioned himself as our noble defender of children.

How do the posturing panderers justify their crisis-du-jour? How'd we end up with the phantom of media-created child violence as a major election issue, while violence plummets?

The facts speak for themselves. If seeing violence has any effect on children's actions, it obviously makes them calm and peaceful.

So here's the slogan for my campaign: our kids deserve the best in first-person shooters. In my America, every family will have free movie tickets, 300 megatexels, and low-ping broadband. Let's put an end to frame rates under 30Hz. For our country - for our safety - we can leave no child behind.

(Sources: US DOJ 1, 2, 3; OJJDP 1, 2, 3; FBI UCR; Blues News; crime.org; poynter.org.)

ewhac writes: "Blue's News is reporting that Cyan is working on a realtime version of Myst, and has some advance screenshots to prove it." (more)

"Personal Musings: After downloading the Serious Sam demo -- excuse me, technology test -- last weekend, and marveling at the rendering quality, it occurred to me that technology has finally advanced to the point where we could do Myst in realtime. Here it is three days later, and I discover it's being worked on. Just amazing.

I'm interested to see how they address certain issues in the game. One thing that made some of Myst's puzzles work at all was that you didn't have complete freedom of movement. For example, the clock tower at one end of the main island was only accessible after you fiddled with the knobs and got the walkway to appear. But in realtime Myst, what's to prevent you from just wading over? It can't be more than three feet deep there. Likewise, what if you walk off the dock and into the water at the beginning of the game? Will you drown immediately, will there be an obvious way back out, or will they contrive that You Just Can't Go There? Oh, and if I crank the boiler pressure really high, can I launch the tree off the island? :-)

However they address these issues, I'm interested in seeing the result."

ewhac writes: "Blue's News is reporting that Cyan is working on a realtime version of Myst, and has some advance screenshots to prove it." (more)

"Personal Musings: After downloading the Serious Sam demo -- excuse me, technology test -- last weekend, and marveling at the rendering quality, it occurred to me that technology has finally advanced to the point where we could do Myst in realtime. Here it is three days later, and I discover it's being worked on. Just amazing.

I'm interested to see how they address certain issues in the game. One thing that made some of Myst's puzzles work at all was that you didn't have complete freedom of movement. For example, the clock tower at one end of the main island was only accessible after you fiddled with the knobs and got the walkway to appear. But in realtime Myst, what's to prevent you from just wading over? It can't be more than three feet deep there. Likewise, what if you walk off the dock and into the water at the beginning of the game? Will you drown immediately, will there be an obvious way back out, or will they contrive that You Just Can't Go There? Oh, and if I crank the boiler pressure really high, can I launch the tree off the island? :-)

However they address these issues, I'm interested in seeing the result."

ewhac writes: "Blue's News is reporting that Cyan is working on a realtime version of Myst, and has some advance screenshots to prove it." (more)

"Personal Musings: After downloading the Serious Sam demo -- excuse me, technology test -- last weekend, and marveling at the rendering quality, it occurred to me that technology has finally advanced to the point where we could do Myst in realtime. Here it is three days later, and I discover it's being worked on. Just amazing.

I'm interested to see how they address certain issues in the game. One thing that made some of Myst's puzzles work at all was that you didn't have complete freedom of movement. For example, the clock tower at one end of the main island was only accessible after you fiddled with the knobs and got the walkway to appear. But in realtime Myst, what's to prevent you from just wading over? It can't be more than three feet deep there. Likewise, what if you walk off the dock and into the water at the beginning of the game? Will you drown immediately, will there be an obvious way back out, or will they contrive that You Just Can't Go There? Oh, and if I crank the boiler pressure really high, can I launch the tree off the island? :-)

However they address these issues, I'm interested in seeing the result."

Fireball sent us linkage to a quote (its way down there, can't link it directly) from BluesNews where Apogee's Scott Miller replies to my little tirade yesterday about the apogee license agreement. Basically it says that they would never do such a thing and shrugs it off as mere sensationalism. Of course I never figured Apogee would sue over this:my beef really isn't with Apogee as much as UCITA and what it makes theoretically legal. One can only hope that the courts strike it down, but only after many expensive legal battles I'm sure.

Stab writes: "John Carmack updated his .plan file with the startling news that id has had a bit of political infighting recently. In response to an ultimatum laid down to Kevin and Adrian regarding starting a new DOOM sequel, they fired Paul Steed! Read the full story in JC's .plan update." The important news here is that they're working on Doom III, but the decision to do so was a rough one for the company, not the developers. Note to Kevin and Adrian: Firing developers out of spite ain't cool.

Snaller writes: "Partnering up with Game Commander developers Mindmaker, Interplay is promising the world that when their space sim Star Trek: Klingon Academy is released, Trekker happy players will be able to order the crews around simply by speaking to the game - the press release does not specify if it has to be in Klingonese." And if Loki ports it, perhaps they will also come up with a robust, generalized voice recognition system for Linux! :)

Ant was among the first to write with a link to this article on Blue's News claiming that Epic's new game engine is Direct 3D only, based on statements made at an E3 demo yesterday. Check that link to read the full article, but consider this excerpt: "A major side effect of this is that any future ports of Unreal-engine titles that use the new technology will need to have a completely rewritten rendering system, making Mac and Linux ports significantly more difficult." DoenerMord also wrote, saying "This kind of puts some perspective on recent comments from Tim Sweeney (the man behind the Unreal engine) on Microsoft's breakup ..."

Jacek Fedorynski writes "John Cash has left id Software to work on a yet unannounced project at Blizzard. Here's Graeme Devine's .plan update on the subject."

greg writes: "I saw on Bluesnews that the lawsuit against id Software over the Paducah County school shootings has been dismissed. Here is a link to id CEO Todd Holleshead's .plan file." Sounds like a sigh of relief from id -- just think of the implications if the judge had gone the other way. (Remember the PMRC?)

slothdog writes "Brandon Reinhart of Epic Games has updated his .plan with some more info about the open-sourcing of Unreal Tournament for Linux. Specifically, it will be available under the Artistic License and coordinated through SourceForge. A little snoop-work will lead you to the project's page. Yummy. "

ESR as chimed in to say his bit on the recent quake problems that popped up following the source release. Its definitely a problem that will happen again and something that needs to be handled. Read what he has to say about it.

The following was written by ESR. You know who he is already ;)

The case of quake cheats The open-source community got a lump of coal in its Yule 1999 stocking from renowned hacker John Carmack, the genius behind id Software and such games as Castle Wolfenstein, Doom, and the Quake series. Carmack's .plan file noted a problem that has swiftly emerged since the Quake 1 source was released under GPL; it seems that some people have used their ability to modify the Quake client as a mechanism for cheating.

This may at first sight seem a trivial issue -- who cares if a few testoterone-pumped teenagers cheat at a shoot-em-up game? But in today's internetworked world, countermeasures against Quake cheating arguably provide an important laboratory model for cases that are decidedly not trivial, such as electronic commerce, securities trading, and banking.

The Quake model is made particularly relevant by its open-source connection. Open source advocates (including me) have been making a strong argument over the last two years that open-source software such as Linux and Apache is fundamentally more secure than its closed-source competitors. Cryptographers have long understood that no encryption system can really be considered well-tested until it has been energetically and repeatedly attacked by experts who have full knowledge of the algorithms it uses. Open-source advocates argue that there is nothing special about cryptography but its high stakes -- that, in general, open peer review is the only road to systems which are not merely accidentally secure by obscurity, but robustly secure by design.

Carmack, therefore, caused a bit of a flutter on Slashdot when he went on to to suggest that only a pair of closed-source encryption programs could solve the Quake-cheating problem. The problem, as he correctly pointed out, is that asking the open-source client to verify its own correctness won't work; a sufficiently clever cracker could always write a client that would simulate the right kinds of responses and then cheat.

A debate ensued, with several people pointing out that trusting the client half of a client-server pair is bad security policy whether the client code is open or closed. Fundamentally, there's no way for the server to be sure it isn't talking to a clever simulation of `correct' behavior. Thus, opening the source to Quake 1 didn't create security problems, it merely exposed one that was already present (and exploitable, and for all anyone knew already secretly exploited) in the design of the game.

Carmack weighed in to make clear that the Quake-cheating problem is subtler than many of the debators were assuming. It's not possible for a cheating client to give a player infinite ammunition or life points; the server does not in fact trust the client about these things, and manages them itself. This is correct design; whether or not it's open-source, a bank should not depend on a customer's client software to tell the bank what the cutomer's balance is!

Carmack observes that "the [cheating] clients/proxies focus on two main areas -- giving the player more information than they should have, and performing actions more skillfully."

The serious "more information" cheats depend on a performance hack. In order to hold down the number of updates of the Quake world it has to pass to the client, the server gives the client information about the location of objects and opponents that the player can't yet see, but might be able to see before the next update. The server then counts on the client not to make those things visible until they "should" be (e.g, until the user gets to a particular location in the maze the client is simulating). A cheating client can reveal an opponent seconds before the player would turn the corner and expose himself to fire.

The "more skillfully" cheats substitute the computer's speed and accuracy for tasks that the server and other players expect the player's hands and brain to be performing. Carmack talks about "aim bots" which automatically lock the player's gun onto visible opponents and fire it with inhuman accuracy.

And indeed it's hard to see how either of these sorts of cheats can be prevented given an open-source client and no way independent of the client itself to check that the client is honest. Thus Carmack's suggestion of a closed-source Quake-launcher program that would take a checksum of the client binary, communicate with the server to make sure the binary is on an approved list, and then handle communication with the server over a cryptographically-secured channel.

Carmack's argument seems watertight. What's wrong with this picture? Are we really looking at a demonstration that closed source is necessary for security? And if not, what can we learn about securing our systems from the Quake case?

I think one major lesson is simple. It's this: if you want a really secure system, you can't trade away security to get performance. Quake makes this trade by sending anticipatory information for the client to cache in order to lower its update rate. Carmack read this essay in draft and commented "With a sub-100 msec ping and extremely steady latency, it would be possible to force a synchronous update with no extra information at all, but in the world of 200-400 msec latency [and] low bandwidth modems, it just plain wouldn't work." So it may have been a necessary choice under the constraints for which Quake was designed, but it violates the first rule of good security design: minimum disclosure.

When you do that, you should expect to get cracked, whether your client is open or closed -- and, indeed, Carmack himself points out that the see-around-corners cheat can be implemented by a scanner proxy sitting between a closed client and the server and filtering communicatiuons from server to client.

Closing the source of the client may obscure the protocol between client and server, but that won't stop a clever cracker with a packet sniffer and too much time on his hands. Carmack confirms that even without the packet sniffer or access to source there are a variety of ways to flush out anticipatory information, ranging from tweaking the gamma and brightness on your screen to banish shadows to hacking your graphics card's device drivers to do transforms of the world model (such as making walls transparent).

We're back in familiar territory here; the history of computer security is littered with the metaphorical (and in some cases maybe literal) corpses of people who thought security through obscurity was sufficient. Crackers love that kind of naivete and prey on it ruthlessly.

The aim-bot cheat is trickier to prevent. The difference between human and aim-bot actions is measured only in milliseconds of timing. Changing the protocol to stop it from leaking information won't banish aim-bots; it would take the server doing statistical analysis of player action timings to even detect them, and (as Carmack points out) "that is an arms race that will end with skilled human players eventually getting identified as subtle bots."

Fortunately, the aim-bot cheat is also much less interesting from a general security point of view. It's hard to imagine anything but a twitch game in which the client user can cheat effectively by altering the millisecond-level timing of command packets. So the real lesson of both cheats may be that a closed-source program like Carmack's hypothetical secured program launcher is indeed a good idea for security -- but only if you're a hyperadrenalized space marine on a shooting spree.

(Any computer game at which computers are better than most humans has analogous cheats, some of which aren't even detectable in principle. Carmack observes "correspondence chess has been subverted from its original intent by players using computers." This isn't something security design can fix.)

If Quake had been designed to be open-source from the beginning, the performance hack that makes see-around-corners possible could never have been considered -- and either the design wouldn't have depended on millisecond packet timing at all, or aim-bot recognition would have been built in to the server from the beginning. This teaches our most important lesson -- that open source is the key to security because it changes the behavior of developers.

Open source keeps designers honest. By depriving them of the crutch of obscurity, it forces them towards using methods that are provably secure not only against known attacks but against all possible attacks by an intruder with full knowledge of the system and its source code. This is real security, the kind cryptographers and other professional paranoids respect.

It's the kind of security the Linux kernel and the Apache webserver have, and the kind people victimized by the Melissa and Chernobyl viruses and Back Orifice and the latest Microsoft-crack-of-the-week don't have. If you're betting your personal privacy or your business's critical functions on the integrity of software, it's the kind of security you want, too.

To recap, the real lessons of the Quake cheats are (a) never trust a client program to be honest, (b) you can't have real security if you trade it away to get performance, (c) real security comes not from obscurity but from minimum disclosure, and most importantly (d) only open source can force designers to use provably secure methods.

So, far from being a telling strike against open source, the case of the Quake cheats actually highlights the kinds of biases and subtle design errors that creep into software when it's designed for closed-source distribution and performance at the expense of security. These may be something we can live with in a shoot-em-up, but they're not tolerable in the running gears of the information economy. Avoiding them is, in fact, a good reason for software consumers to demand open source for anything more mission-critical than a Quake game.

Eric S. Raymond

Stargazer writes "Well, looks like people are having problems with Quake's release under the GPL. It's not a conflict with the license, but rather, mean-spirited people are now creating clients which give them an unfair advantage, to say the least. John Carmack ponders this problem in his .plan file, and offers, unfortunately, a closed-source solution. "

WarSpite was the first of many to write with the news that id has open-sourced the Quake 1 Source Code. This includes WinQuake, GLQuake, QuakeWorld, and GLQuakeWorld. Yes, it's been released under the GPL ^[?] . id's ftp site got the goods.

AugstWest writes "According to Brandon Reinhart's .plan, even though the Linux support for Unreal Tournament will be on schedule with the rest of development, GT Interactive has decided not to include the Linux executable within the box. After Carmack's statement yesterday, the implications are pretty big. The only thing that could let them know how big the Linux gamer base is would be to have everyone interested in the Linux port make their opinions known, both publicly and to GT. " Politely let GT know - and thanks to Brandon Reinhart, who will be making the Linux executable available for download after UT hits the shelves.

keefer writes "Since I know /. readers are generally fans of various ZD magazines anyway, I thought I'd pass this along that I saw from Blue's News. The gist is that programmer Randy Pitchford at Gearbox Software gave a .plan update talking about a piece Family PC(a ZD mag) did relating to some under-17-year-old supposedly being able to pick up Half-Life: Opposing Force, an M-rated game (17+), without incident at a CompUSA store. However, um, the game isn't even done yet, let alone gold or on the shelves."

I thought I'd post this in the YRO section for a couple of reasons. One is that it's starting to reverberate, and has generated at least one counter-editorial. But the second is a larger point. Half-Life and similar games are marketed to adults, not children; the 20-30 year old age group purchases almost all of these types of games. Yet attackers want to restrict the sales of these games to anyone on the basis that they're unsuitable for children. The fact that Family PC misjudged the game's release date when making up their article (remember, this had to be written months ago to make it to publication now, they probably forecast that the new game would be on sale by now) makes the attack more obvious, but these sorts of attacks happen all the time from the "save the children" crowd. (Family PC makes most of their income from advertising filtering software and similar snake-oil parental protective measures.) This is how you whip up the troops to go censor the internet or whatever other target you have in mind.