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Gaming Goodness

Let's shoehorn a few gaming submissions together: tabby writes "For those not in the know here's the most amazing game I've played in ages. Its a Half-Life mod called Natural-Selection. Try to imagine CounterStrike + StarCraft. Its essentially a multiplayer First Person Real Time Strategy game." real_b0fh writes "I'm surprised no one mentioned it here yet, but Silicon Ice Development has released the beta 2.6 for their very cool Quake 3 Arena mod Urban Terror. Have played it a bit and it features cool things like better weapon hit model, some anti-cheat features, improved maps and some new nasty bugs. Well worth a try if you are into FPS games." And on the lighter side, LSDsmurf reports that there's a patch for Doom III Alpha. Yes, you read that right.

227 comments

  1. Doom II patch by AcquaCow · · Score: 5, Funny

    And on the lighter side, LSDsmurf reports that there's a patch for Doom III Alpha. Yes, you read that right.

    Does this mean that I might actually be able to get positive FPS now?

    -- AcquaCow

    --

    up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
    *makes note to limit user processes...
    1. Re:Doom II patch by STREMF · · Score: 1

      Does this mean that I might actually be able to get positive FPS now?

      what? do you use log-transform normalized FPS measurements?

  2. Another good game, by dirvish · · Score: 4, Informative
    1. Re:Another good game, by Wild+Bill+Hickock · · Score: 2, Informative

      and here is where you can buy it for $20 instead of $50. The website says though that they are out of stock for the time being. here is the link

    2. Re:Another good game, by glwtta · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, you should check out Unreal Tournament 2003 and Quake III, I hear they are pretty good too.

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
    3. Re:Another good game, by TheKey · · Score: 1

      Sarcasm? Your parent post's comment was well made. BF1942 is a good change of pace, and not just the same as all the other FPSes. A lot of people are complaining about all the FPSes being the same these days - well, BF1942 is probably what they're looking for.

      --
      My Journal - 1,337 fans and countin
    4. Re:Another good game, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      game of the year

  3. Patch? by The+Pi-Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can only think one thing, being the typical paranoid slashdotter... E. T. Phone Home! And then get caught by the cops!

    I think it's just a few "fixes" to make people download it, then it phones home.

    --j

    1. Re:Patch? by Jimmy_B · · Score: 3, Informative
      I can only think one thing, being the typical paranoid slashdotter... E. T. Phone Home! And then get caught by the cops!
      <BR><BR>
      I think it's just a few "fixes" to make people download it, then it phones home.</blockquote>

      That's because you didn't follow the link and RTFA. This isn't from iD, and all it's changing are config files.
    2. Re:Patch? by sheetsda · · Score: 4, Funny

      At 2.02 megs thats the biggest config file I've ever seen...

    3. Re:Patch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The patch files were getting size envy over the textures. Apparently they've fallen victim to the belief that size does matter

    4. Re:Patch? by Jimmy_B · · Score: 1

      The download server's not responding, but I'd say it's probably 2.02 megs because it features a bloated installer to apply the changes. If you read the changelog, it's pretty trivial.

  4. Doom III patch by Clay+Pigeon+-TPF-VS- · · Score: 1

    Hopefully I will actually be able to begin a game now.

    --
    Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
    1. Re:Doom III patch by AcquaCow · · Score: 1

      Hopefully I will actually be able to begin a game now.

      Yeah, it would be great if you could actually play a game that you spent all day downloading on 56k. (even if it is a leaked copy =P)

      -- AcquaCow

      --

      up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
      *makes note to limit user processes...
    2. Re:Doom III patch by killthiskid · · Score: 5, Informative

      The patch:

      What's new? :

      • Removed binary for loading intro. To watch video:type: map e3/intro at the console
      • Removed flashlight3.tga and pointed the doomconfig entry to the existing flashlight2 changed flashlight lag so it is more responsive
      • added F5 and F6 keymapping for recordDemo and stoprecording
      • bumped up number of speakers to 6 and enabled stereo. Conflicting stories of whether this works or not.
      • changed r_useNV30 back to 0 since noone should have one of these yet
      • added give_weapon_flare to F12 weapon bind. (Use 0 to pick flares)

      There you have it.

    3. Re:Doom III patch by AcquaCow · · Score: 1

      Perhaps its worth downloading then...

      These new game mods and patches need to stop coming out just before finals.

      -- AcquaCow

      --

      up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
      *makes note to limit user processes...
    4. Re:Doom III patch by Dakisha · · Score: 1

      How about reading the appropriate NFO files.. To load a new game, goto console and type 'map e3\e3_X (Replace X with 1, 2 or 3)

    5. Re:Doom III patch by AcquaCow · · Score: 1

      I've read them, don't worry, I was more of making the point about the lack of playablity in the leaked version due to the apparent need of a geForce5 to actually get over 50fps...

      -- AcquaCow

      --

      up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
      *makes note to limit user processes...
    6. Re:Doom III patch by bsharitt · · Score: 3, Funny

      I have to wait until they leak a version for the Mac.

    7. Re:Doom III patch by zaffir · · Score: 1

      Those seem like config modifications, no hardcore haxx0ring. I was all set to be impressed by either iD "officially" patching it (i know, stupid me) or at least some cool binary hacking to get us some extra features or fps boosts.

      --
      "Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
    8. Re:Doom III patch by atinoco · · Score: 1

      just trim down the details. In my machine is playable at rates of 15-30 FPT at 1024x768, with most effects turned down like the shadows, bump mapping, 32 bit color, etc. I know that frame rates are not the best ones, but at that rates you can enjoy the DEMO as it is, just a preview of the game. I'm looking forward to see the final product.

      BTW, I own a p4 1.8a with Geforce 3 ti-200.

    9. Re:Doom III patch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      heh, i remember when people said the same thing about the leaked quake beta.

      "I need like a 486 DX-4/120 to even play this!"

      kids.

    10. Re:Doom III patch by XO · · Score: 1

      Now if only I could find someplace somewhere somehow to get ahold of it... *sigh*

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
  5. Huh? by ar1550 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have played it a bit and it features cool things like better weapon hit model, some anti-cheat features, improved maps and some new nasty bugs

    So are these bugs bugs, or are these bugs features?

    --
    I once shot a man in Reno 'cause they cancelled Firefly.
    1. Re:Huh? by Slide100 · · Score: 1

      C'mon! Everyone knows there are no bugs in software - they're 'undocumented features'.

      --
      >B2 Spirit, radar contact......
    2. Re:Huh? by cicatrix1 · · Score: 2

      Give parent a life. Encourage parent to get out more. Encourage parent to destroy all video material of Carrot Top.

      --

      I know more than you drink.
    3. Re:Huh? by Picer · · Score: 1

      Urban Terror was never as good as AQ(Action Quake)Urban Terror was just the half-life brother of AQ but never any god. Urban Terror to Q3? Common. RQ3 is the word... or three letters

    4. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he used...sarcasm.

  6. No more unofficial D3 news!!! by DaHat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Come on, the first Doom 3 story about it being leaked was fine as a reporting of the news. The story did get a little overboard with publishing links to help people find and use the alpha... but this is just worse, a story not about news but completely about piracy. You should be ashamed!

    1. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, you forgot to mentioned that someone should "think of the children!" That would've made your idiotic rant complete.

    2. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Hrothgar+The+Great · · Score: 1

      You should start "whinedot" or "crybabydot" and ball and bitch and moan on there. But on the other hand, it sure is convenient how I can get all my boring self-righteous moralizing right here at slashdot. Thanks again!

    3. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Explain how it isn't news, again? You made an assertion "completely about piracy" concluding that it's a "story not about news". I don't follow. Seems like "News for Nerds" to me: hackers releasing a patch to a premature game. Kind of cute.

      Oh, or maybe you're saying reporting about illegal activities should be illegal, unethical, immoral, or all three. For you, I suggest a subscription to "Reader's Digest", and stop visiting Slashdot, ABCNews, CNN, Fox, ESPN, NYTimes, and just anything other activities that deal with that pesky "real world" that the rest of us like getting news (doh, there's that word again) about.

    4. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh.. the world would be a better place if we all just stuck to reading Press Releases. ... come again?

    5. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Parent poster obviously hasn't played D3. I would suggest a link, but....

    6. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Fortyseven · · Score: 1

      Shut up.

    7. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by Drakino · · Score: 2

      I have to agree with Shacknews on this whole Doom 3 issue. Why are major news sites even talking about it? There has probably been a leak of many of the recent games (hell, I saw two different leaks of UT2K3), and no news site talked about those. Why is Doom 3 different? Sure, it's a very hyped game, but spreading news about the illegal alpha complete with links to download it?

    8. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by putch · · Score: 1

      exactly how is an *alpha* copy of doom3 going to hurt it's sales? If anything it is only hyping it more. It will invariably have a cd-key requirement for online play, which is all anyone will really want. and for which you WILL have to shell out $50 (which most of us will). and remember, when Q3A came out they released a free MP beta months before the release.

      don't forget, the sales of the actual doom3 game are just gravy. they will make the real cash from licensing the engine to dozens of other companies.

      I think that ID leaked this on purpose so as to keep doom3 in the minds of fps gamers while they frag away to UT2003 which decidedly beat them to the market.

      your rant is uncalled for and just trolling. anyone who has the time, patience, ability and desire to download a buggy pre-release alpha is nothing more than a super ID fanboy who just can't wait to shell out $200 to buy the game, the collectors edition and the later released game of the year edition.

      this is not piracy. this is PR.

      --
      just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!
    9. Re:No more unofficial D3 news!!! by xipperhead · · Score: 1

      Yes we should be ashamed. This Doom 3 thing is really disrupting our lives- can't seem to keep up with all the downloading :P xipperhead

  7. I Know by strateego · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I know why you never hear about in other Half-Life mods.

    First their are not that many people playing anything but counter strike. If nobody is then no one is going to play by themselves.

    Two People are sheep if everyone was still playing wolfenstein every one would be bragging about it.

    That's my two cents.

    1. Re:I Know by kikensei · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I'm still playing wolfenstein. IT's my favorite.

    2. Re:I Know by BrookHarty · · Score: 2

      While Wolfenstien has good single player mode, q3 based games seem to feel the same for multiplayer. Not sure if Doom3 will offer good multiplayer value, but the leaked alpha was not inspiring at all. Also someone needs to come up with some better netcode for Q3 based games, MOHAA is a bandwidth hog taking 2x the bandwidth compared to Wolf.

      Tribes1 and CounterStrike seem to offer some great multiplayer fun, UT2k3 offers lots of eye-candy, but is a little weak on a heavy player map. Thou bombing run is pretty fun.

      I'm still playing CS, with 6x AA and 16X AF, it looks freaking awesome. Too bad trueform doesnt seem to work in CS (1.5 has trueform) Just need some more detailed skins to top it off.

    3. Re:I Know by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The number of people playing Counter-Strike as opposed to other FPSes is truly staggering. Take a look at Gamespy's stats. As I post this there are over 100,000 people playing Half-Life mods, and 60,000 of those people are playing Counter-Strike. The next-highest commercial game is Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, with an order of magnitude less players than Half-Life (less than 10,000).

      Natural Selection isn't doing too badly for a new mod with 2700 players online at the moment. However, the ratio of players to servers for Natural Selection is much higher than for other games. This probably has to do with the large amount of processing power a Natural Selection server needs. If NS gets more servers I imagine the number of players will go up as well. It really is a unique game. It encourages teamwork and communication to a degree never before seen in any mod. I think this is its greatest strength. In CS you can play without teamwork but in NS it is really necessary. When teamwork is pretty much forced on people, it actually starts working. Good luck joining a random Counter-Strike server and forming an effective team; in Natural Selection cooperation is the norm and not the exception. Assaulting an alien hive with 3 guys backing you up and your commander watching out for you is a cool experience.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    4. Re:I Know by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1

      These player counts are really amazing when you consider how old the half-life game is. I think it came out in 98, and the whole mod thing seems to have given it amazing legs. I think Natural Selection might be a little slower to adopt because of how different it is and how large the download it (I haven't tried it yet), but the chat on it is very positive. As someone who only plays on public servers I'm looking forward to trying something with better teamwork. By the way, I think the GameSpy stats are low, particularly worldwide. I don't know how often they refresh this or how they poll servers, but I see many more servers and players with other locator utilities than with GameSpy.

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
    5. Re:I Know by Manes · · Score: 1
      Also someone needs to come up with some better netcode for Q3 based games, MOHAA is a bandwidth hog taking 2x the bandwidth compared to Wolf.

      You do realize that both these games use the Q3 engine? :)

    6. Re:I Know by BrookHarty · · Score: 1

      ya, but people are left to write thier own netcode. And nobody can seem to come up with a standard for cheat protection.

  8. New Games by Tempelherr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some of these new games coming out are really awesome, but I find myself disappointed in the lack of games that still provide single player action. So many of them are going multiplayer only, and that leaves out a large group of people still stuck in the stone age with mdoems like me. Good thing I've still got Lan parties to fall back on for good entertainment.

    1. Re:New Games by outofpaper · · Score: 1

      It's more than under standable that a new game that is devoloped out of half live is going to be a first person multy player game. It is rather easy to modify the main look and feal of most first person games. For example back whene I was in high school I modified the original doom so that it could be used as a musiem in with people could look at the Glories of Rome. On the other hand to take a simple first person shooter and add complex AI's for strat combat including construction, while posible, not extreamly feasable. To bild a game like Warcaft 3, a rather large amount of people are gathered together, on top of that they get rather nice saleries, as far as I can tell Natural Selection has no inc. backing it so the people making it are probably not geting paid for their lovely work.

    2. Re:New Games by re-Verse · · Score: 2, Interesting

      this is a Troll and should be marked as such. The first 2 games are mods for what is the most popular multiplayer game Ever - and therefore its really quite normal that you see multiplayer mods for such. As far as doom 3 - its a single player game, with a little bit of multiplayer thrown in, but the focus is really going to be single.

      This post is as foolish as saying "imagine a beowolf cluster of these"... yes i know complaining about multiplayer overpowering single player was a really popular thing to say 2 Years Ago, when quake 3 came out, but in the last year a LOT of great single player games have happened.

      This was a tough choice - to mod the 4 down to 3, or to post, hoping people read, agree, and mark down to -1, where it belongs.

    3. Re:New Games by wmacgyver · · Score: 1

      that was one thing I rather enjoyed about Star Fleet Command 3. The single player mode was quite nice. Then again, any game that let you control Borg cube can't be that bad. :)

    4. Re:New Games by cicatrix1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      You should be robbed of mod points if you mod down only in disagreement. The horror! The horror!

      --

      I know more than you drink.
    5. Re:New Games by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you are finding that you can't play well with a dialup modem, try buying a hardware 56K modem. At the local store they go for ~70$.

      The benefit of a hardware modem over a winmodem is ping time; pinging 150 to a game server on a hardware 56K modem is not uncommon. If your ISP runs game servers, you may well ping lower than 150 to them.

      Try to stick to games that have good prediction. Half-Life has client-side prediction on all hitscan weapons (Instant-hit weapons. Not sure about projectile), and it's very low-bandwidth and dialup friendly. I've been playing Natural-Selection quite a bit, and due to it's server CPU problem, I regularly play with pings of 250-300 or higher (I'm on DSL), and it's quite playable.

      If you're the type who doesn't let server lists finish pinging, let them. The more servers that get pinged, the better the chance you'll find more low-ping servers. Always re-ping a server manually before you join it to make sure its ping isn't a fluke.

      Gaming on dialup is entirely possible, and it's easy to get very playable conditions going.

    6. Re:New Games by cicatrix1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Good luck having sex with even one lesbian.

      --

      I know more than you drink.
    7. Re:New Games by re-Verse · · Score: 1

      Its not in disagreement, but in response to a subtle troll + mod whoring. The shooting down of multiplayer games is a sure way (or was 6 months ago) for 5 mod points. It could be under a topic of space missions to mars or a new form of DNA decoding - if someone posts "I hate multiplayer games; why aren't there more single player games", they would be marked +5 insightful. People are mainly getting bored of hearing this over and over again, and are moving on now.

      This is a huge difference than simply disagreeing. Because i don't. In fact, i love a good single player game. If nothing else - it should be modded nown as redundant. And why kick dirt on a few mod that is REALLY amazing. The Natural Selection guys have outdone all expectations, and have created a completely Addictive and Envigorating game. Forget disagreement.

    8. Re:New Games by Guspaz · · Score: 2

      I should add that that price of 70$ is CDN, so that's roughly 50$ US. Roughly.

  9. Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by zenst · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Given that school is meant too prepare us for later life and enable us to lead productive and fruitfull lives. When will that start embracing education into gaming mods. Not only would they be touching upon the real world but would also enforce the use of math's, physics, art,creativity, logic, design etc etc as part of the process. I'm sure that alot of mods/maps come from students already who even work in groups, just be a nice fun way to help educate and enforce knowledge though aplication.

    1. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by stevey · · Score: 1
      When will that start embracing education into gaming mods.

      I can see it now, Quake III Arena meets Battle Royale. With the addition of some tentacly chuthulu aliens to the schoolgirl mix it could be this years hot game over in Japan ;)

    2. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by AdamTheBastard · · Score: 3, Interesting

      why limit it to "math's, physics, art,creativity, logic, design etc etc" a lot of games (not all unfortunatly) have stories behind them. There is more to game/mod dev then pumping out code and mesh/texture/levels. There are plenty of ppl in the games industry whos purpose is to write the story, script or dialog for games not to mention those horible readme.txt files or those horible design docs. As far as I can tell this is all very much bassed on English/Language skills. You could have a whole class devoted to game dev or perhaps even a whole School ;)

      With all the work that goes into making games there is no need to limit it to those ppl who can code or create art.

    3. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by AdamTheBastard · · Score: 1

      I knew I was forgeting something...

      What's that you say? What's that you hear? Could it be the sound effects?

      Not only is there Code, Art and Story put into a game but theres also sound. This is where a lot of games have faild. The last game that I feel used sound well was AVP (aliens v predator 1 not sure about 2) in which there was a lot of spooky mood setting ambiant sounds and music.

      id's (yes its lower case ppl look at their logo) upcomming Doom 3 is going to use sound to create a lot of atmosphere. id are so keen to have great sound they have hired Trent Reznor (the main man behind Nine Inch Nails) to do most if not all the sound for Doom 3.

      With people like Creative Labs pumping out 3d sound cards like there's no tomorrow and their friends at Crambridge Sound works pumping out the speaker systems to boot more and more gamers are getting high quality sound out of their computers. All we need now is to get some games that have the quality of sound that we can expect in Doom 3.

      Whats the point of this story... dont forget the musos! Let them add their talents to games!

      Now who else have I forgoten???

    4. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by neur0maniak · · Score: 1

      Didn't trent reznor do the sound track to quake?

    5. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by blanktek · · Score: 0

      +5 interesting? Funny OK but interesting?

    6. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by Bishop · · Score: 2

      yes. Trent Reznor has been working with the id guys for some time now.

    7. Re:Gaming mods as part of school curiculum by BernardMarx · · Score: 1

      So, it's probably not what you're think of, but here are some Unreal mods being created at universities to develop and study AI. I know of two of them,

      John Laird is heading the Haunt 2 project at the University of Michigan

      and Martin Martin is heading Escape Online at Carnegie Mellon.

      I'm currently helping develop Haunt 2.

  10. Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of my assosiates in a gaming organization is in on Natural Selection because he helps moderate their forums. Due to this, my team of gamers got a first crack at Beta 1.00 and 1.01b [before it was released no less :)] and are still pointing out something thats obvious. The game needs some major balancing before it reaches its acme, as do most games. At first players complained that Aliens were underpowered and Marines could win the game in just about any situation. Now while the game is a little more even the Aliens are starting to come out a bit more powerful and the marines a bit weaker. The most obvious flaw in this game is that the whole outcome can be determined in the first 5 - 15 minutes of the game. With an average game running anywhere between an hour to four hours this is considerably undesirable. One team knows they're destined for doom hours ahead of their demise.

    Another note is how players constantly claim that aliens can rush marines in the beginning and overpower all their foes easily with the high attack power on the level 1 alien creatures. Well the night before last I displayed what a marine rush and an alien rush can do:

    Aliens Win: ~5 minutes
    Marines Win: ~3 minutes

    I'm pretty sure they didnt make this game to be played in under 10 minutes. So while it does have great prospects and is a considerably nice idea, I would like to see it balanced out before I start calling it the best game ever.

    1. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Mezzrow · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You know. I just heard about this mod this morning from my brother. He said the exact same thing about the balancing issues. I just thought it was cool that fun new mods are still coming out for Halflife.

      Any game devs out there? How do you restrict the ability to rush in games like this?

    2. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 5, Interesting

      First, I agree on your comment. I find it extremely cool that a game I bought for such a small price has blossomed into dozens upon dozens of good Mods that are completely FREE :)

      In response to the 2nd half though... I am not a game developer but I know my way around the gaming community and I think I can give you a good idea of how it works.

      Natural Selection takes advantage of both FPS [First Person Shooter] and RTS [Real Time Strategy] characteristics. Its in essence a hybrid.

      To start with the marine side, it has a commander who plays the game more like an RTS [top down strategy] where you dont get to control your "units" [the marines / players] directly but you can give them waypoints and stuff to build or use. The players experience the game like a first person shooter and can ask the commander to drop them weapons and armor, or place turrets for them to build.

      The Aliens follow a similar structure except they have no commander. They all have their own resources and have multiple levels of alien evolution. Each type of alien has its own attacks and stats like armor and health.

      A major way to prevent aliens and marines from rushing is to adjust weapon damage, or available resources for either side or even both sides. With lower starting weapon damage rushing wouldnt do much damage. This would be undesirable because you would loose resources and time. It could also prove to be hindering to either side later on where their first level marines or aliens would be nearly useless against higher level creatures or equipment.

      The other way, to adjust starting resources, could determine how quickly either side could build up defenses, evolve, or research better equipment.

      In reality there are many different ways to approach that problem. Its determined more by the problem, the game, and the community that defines the problem.

    3. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Rayonic · · Score: 2
      One team knows they're destined for doom hours ahead of their demise.

      Well now, I wouldn't say that. I've heard stories of drastic comebacks and surprise victories on both sides of the fence. It's really hard to say what in the game is imbalanced right now, because people haven't "settled in" yet. Give it another week or two, and the real glaring imbalances will start to surface.
    4. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Jester99 · · Score: 2

      This is an interesting effect that many of my friends and I found when we play "real" RTS games like Age of Empires/Kings, Empire Earth, etc.

      Wars will rage for many hours. A four-army game of Age of Kings can last for upwards of three. However, the initial minutes of the game are the most crucial. Losing a battle later into the game isn't such a big deal, because you have many more armies still to go. However, in the initial minutes, a single attacker inside the enemny base will set them back greatly, so that while they may last for a long time into the game, they're clearly on the defensive the whole time.

      Perhaps its just a flaw of the genre that needs to be accepted? Or are there workarounds that can "balance" the play so that the beginning counts as much as the middle and endgame?

    5. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      hehe its probably just because so many of the people playing NS right now are greatly more used to First Person Shooters. Its just a common complaint I hear. :) I personally would like to see NS develop both its FPS and RTS sides though. then again why would this be BETA 1.01 if it werent already far into testing ;)

    6. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      True, I've seen drastic comebacks and sudden victories, but out of 20 games how many fall upon that outcome? I admit you're correct though, the imbalance(s) isnt(/arent) obvious yet and probably wont be for awhile. A week or two isnt going to do it. I've been playing for more than that and some of the "fixes" placed since starting havent even touched on it. So yes, the imbalances will surface, but it might not be so soon.

    7. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Rayonic · · Score: 2

      Eh, most games I've joined have been a pitched battle between the two sides, one side makes great advances, then the other side does. It really, really depends on the quality of the marine commander. Having a good commander can make or break a team.

      Also, the aliens really need teamwork to take out human fortifications (damned turrets). Preferably one or two weak Lerks to spray some Umbra, then some combat classes to clean house. I really need to play more marines, though.

    8. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by tpv · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I agree with what you say, but I'd like to make my own comments.

      Th designer need to draw a distinction between a "full frontal assault" (FFA) and a "full frontal assault in the first 5 minutes" (rushing).

      The FFA should be an acceptable tactic. If you're a marine, it is a good strategy to wait until half the alien team is away from their hive, and then go in with guns blazing. It just sucks when you do it in the first 5 minutes, and the game is pretty much decided from that point on.

      So, they key is really to make it relatively easier to defend than attack, during the first few minutes.
      How do you do that? Lots of ways
      e.g. Give the team a useful defensive weapon that has limited lifetime (pehaps a fixed number of proximity mines), so that they can lock down their base for a short period, while they build up.
      Or, make the maps harder to navigate. Have doors that don't open straight away etc. Make it hard to get to the other team in the first 5 minutes.

      Now, I haven't played NS yet, but in general the key really is to make it hard to attack at the very beginning. It's not really about balancing the sides, it's about making sure the game last long enough for the strengths/weakneses of each team to come out.

      --
      Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    9. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      :) Exactly, someone mod this guy up. Knows what he's talking about ;) :)

    10. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      Have you played on a patched server yet? Fades are a lot stronger, and can be a strong force to use against those turrets. Regardless you're right, this game relies heavily upon teamwork.

    11. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Rayonic · · Score: 1

      I dunno... I only started playing after the patch, but I've still had problems with those damned turrets, even as a Fade. Seems no matter how many acid rockets or bile bombs I throw at the damned things, it doesn't matter. Ditto for using Xenocide as a Skulk.

      I need to play it more, I think they might have been repaired frequently, though it's hard to tell when you're peeking around a corner, shooting, then running back under cover. Or busy waiting to respawn.

      I actually don't like the Fade so much conceptually, since I think it's a little too marine-like. Great all-around unit, but slightly too generic.

    12. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      I believe the acid rockets do no damage to buildings or turrets. ;) Might be why its a problem for ya.

    13. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by ShadowDrgn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      e.g. Give the team a useful defensive weapon that has limited lifetime (pehaps a fixed number of proximity mines), so that they can lock down their base for a short period, while they build up.

      Actually that's already in there. The marines have trip mines that they can place very early in the game for little cost. The alien side has the advantage that they can kill a starting marine in 2 hits so rushing them is usually suicidal. The maps are huge and the marines move slowly, so a dead marine early on has a long way to go in a rush.

    14. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Hard_Code · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not sure about the rushing...the team has to be pretty well organized to all rush, and in that case, perhaps they should win.

      Anyway, NS is pretty well balanced at this point. There are some funky flaws where the Fade bile bomb doesn't do as much damage as advertised, and on ns_hera, seige turrets are mysteriously ineffective...but these are minor quirks. On the whole the game is well balanced at this point. Rushing will probably always be a problem in games where you have to start up from scratch.

      I can just see a flood of misinformed slashdotters aware of NS for the whole of 3 minutes flooding the NS forums demanding the game be drastically changed. I don't know why this was posted to slashdot.

      --

      It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
    15. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Moleculor · · Score: 1

      Yes, however that's assuming the team actually wanted to remove the possibility of rushing, which it didn't. Flayra (the coder) wanted rushes to be something that was a viable tactic, but not always successful. And it isn't always successful.

    16. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Moleculor · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it's a random bug. There seem to be a lot of those right now... The patch made a lot of them (like siege cannons doing one tenth the damage they should).

    17. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by TekReggard · · Score: 1

      Then wouldnt a logical fix to that problem be to start marines and aliens with some kind of primitive defenses? Maybe a turret factory and one or two turrets [for marines] and a handful of offensive chambers for aliens? I do notice that the *premise* for the marines landing is that the aliens had been on the *ship* or *colony* for an extended period of time. I'm still quite confused as to how the aliens could be there for so long and only have a hive structure and one resource tower.

    18. Re:Balancing Issues in NS by Daniel · · Score: 2

      I don't think this is particularly unique to RTSes -- you get the same thing in other strategy games like chess, risk, etc..

      Daniel

      --
      Hurry up and jump on the individualist bandwagon!
  11. Warez Patches? by Hays · · Score: 5, Insightful

    John Carmack personally posted on Slashdot to express his frustration with the leak of the Alpha, and Slashdot keeps advertising it and aiding it's distribution anyway? Who cares if it's illegal, it's extremely immoral to continue hyping an effectively stolen piece of software that the authors desperately don't want us to have yet.

    And this is id! They're an unbelievably community minded company and this is how we pay them back?

    1. Re:Warez Patches? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could I get a link to Carmack's comment? I've been meaning to check that thing out.

      Hey, I'd be pissed is /. took sides and started not publishing stuff like the D3 alpha because we like Carmack. /. isn't known for journalistic integrity,I'd loose a lot of respect if any prominent member in the community could dissuade them from posting an article.

    2. Re:Warez Patches? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hey this is slashdot: Free as in speech until we can get Free as in beer!

    3. Re:Warez Patches? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the HELL is this moderated down? How is this off topic?! It is directly addressing the topic of this news story!

    4. Re:Warez Patches? by Hays · · Score: 5, Interesting

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=44077&cid=4591 655

      Though nobody will be reading this since some moderators went crazy on my grandparent.

    5. Re:Warez Patches? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like duh, why was that moderated down? He's refering to the Warez LINK on the story that Michael Sims has posted. You know this guy? I just called the FBI hotline and reported him and /. to them for promoting software piracy online. They said they'd invistagate right away.

    6. Re:Warez Patches? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If he is so community minded then I susgest he donates his car to the poor: me.

      Slashdot is the home of the lamers anyway.

      People post links!!!

    7. Re:Warez Patches? by The+J+Kid · · Score: 1

      Notice the "Moderation Totals: Redundant=1, informative=5 at the bottom. :P

      --
      Moderation: +4. Modded 70% Funny and 30% Overrated. 100% Saturated.
  12. Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... The Doom III patch isn't official, so how much could they really improve the performance? Plus, I'm a little uncomfortable downloading some patch from people I don't know/trust. But I didn't download Doom III in the first place, so...

  13. New Topic Needed on /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Due to the influx of stories about Warez, Illegal software and direct links to such illegal products, CmdrTaco should create a new Warez topic (possibly with the logo right from GoatSe.CX), so that we do not get confused whenever we see great posts to warez 0-day sites and direct downloads.

    Thankx

    MASTER_D0NWLODRZ_W0RE at SOME IRC CHANNEL!! KICK BAN YA.

  14. Define 'patch' by quantax · · Score: 2

    This sounds more like some simple user-made bug fixes via configs & file alterations than an actual patch that alters any binaries. Anyone know? That link to the patch is getting smacked down.

    --
    "What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
  15. Re:Not as good as.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh come on! At least try to disguise the goatse link!!!

  16. PA's dream come true. by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 5, Funny

    A first-person Starcraft?

    Someone tell Penny Arcade.

    1. Re:PA's dream come true. by brett42 · · Score: 5, Informative

      PA is a little bit faster than slashdot when it comes to game news.
      http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2002-11 -04

    2. Re:PA's dream come true. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's nice and all, but Penny Arcade is teh sux0r.

  17. Mirror for Doom 3 Alpha patch by KarateBob · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You will need to register if any of you can figure out how to bypass registration, like NYT's website, Please reply

    1. Re:Mirror for Doom 3 Alpha patch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would you want to bypass my site security?

      UniSol

  18. Good Gaming Site and Company by TekReggard · · Score: 3, Informative

    Another note I'd like to make is where you can find a large variety of services for the gaming community. Anything from game reviews to servers for rent. They beta tested BF1942, another game noted on the comments, and AA [America's Army] as well. :) Its a great place to be if you love gaming. www.homelanfed.com thx :)

  19. Urban Terror by bookroach · · Score: 1

    I hope the server lookup screen isn't still broken in urban terror

    --
    GTA3 is like the Sims to me - MC Hawking
    1. Re:Urban Terror by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      It is. Because of that I've just always played on the same server (VVM), however as it was down this evening I finally downloaded "The All-Seeing Eye". Very nice server browser.

    2. Re:Urban Terror by Flagbrew · · Score: 1

      Nice of you to mention Urban Terror. It's a great mod, but for some reason it's hard to get a lot of media exposure.

      Couldn't agree more. Love this mod, and have been an Urban Terror fan for quite some time (year and a half). If you are tired of bouncy pads in space, this may be the game for you.

    3. Re:Urban Terror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To fix it easily, read this:

      http://forums.urbanterror.net/default.asp?action =g etTopic&discussionID=1&topicID=9909

      -BBQ

  20. Natural Selection is Fantastic by Rayonic · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's easily the best, most innovative online game I've seen in a long time. It's amazing that a independently-developed, free mod for a four year old game can put the likes of UT2003 to shame.

    To those who haven't tried it, it's a game that pits some Zerg-like aliens against a team of space marines in an innovative FPS/RTS hybrid. The humans are led by a single commander (a player voulenteer) with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. The aliens have no central commander but -- this is neat -- they can "see" their teammates, important waypoints, and any enemies that another team member is seeing right then. (Sort of like an organic built-in radar.)

    Anyhow, anyone who likes action games should try it out. There has been a lack of fast servers out there, so if you've got a decent spare box then set up a dedicated server by all means. Also, there may be some balancing issues so early after release, but honestly it's hard to tell.

    1. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by colinramsay · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've got into it over the past few days and it's clear that the mod is in it's very early stages. It suffers from "deathmatch syndrome" like CS... people don't want to work with the team. But I think that at the moment this is mainly because people don't know what they're doing. I think the future of this mod may be decided in a few weeks - if it's players gel to create a community which realises this is a game which needs teamplay, it has a great deal of potential.

    2. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by moonbender · · Score: 2

      I just played it, I thought it was terrible. Can't believe I patched up HL for this. But oh well, there's a new version of Front Line Force coming up, so I guess it's not in vain.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    3. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by colinramsay · · Score: 1

      Oh come on, how did that get modded to 2? This is trolling - the poster doesn't provide any justification at all!

      Why was it terrible? How long did you play it for? Half an hour? It's not a simple mod, and it's not easy to get an impression of what it's all about.

    4. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by Rayonic · · Score: 2

      It suffers from "deathmatch syndrome" like CS... people don't want to work with the team.

      This "deathmatch syndrome" isn't quite as bad as you make it out to be. After a new game is released, people want to jump in and test the boundaries of what they can and can't do.

      After they find out that they can't charge an enemy base alone, then they decide that maybe a bit of teamwork is in order. Of course, "deathmatch syndrome" doesn't go away if it turns out you can be moderately successful at it, but a game like NS really is stacked against the individual lone-wolf player.

    5. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      It didn't get modded up to 2. People with "Excellent" karma post with a +2 bonus by default. People should learn how the mod system works before complaining about it.

      --
      Why not fork?
    6. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by tpv · · Score: 1
      However, people with "Excellent" karma shouldn't abuse the bounus (which is +1, not +2) by using it on contentless posts.

      I think the "No Score +1 Bonus" is back-to-front.
      You should have to manually tick a box each time before you can get the bonus, so you at least have to spend a micro-second thinking about it. Asking people to volunteer to give up their bonus is giving them more credit that most /.-ers deserve.
      Even better would be if it was only available to select after preview.

      --
      Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    7. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      Well if its any consolation, I have my bonus turned off by default.

      --
      Why not fork?
    8. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by jedrek · · Score: 2

      The deathmatch syndrome is a curious thing. People don't play in teams... until the other side plays as a team. I play TO:AoT, which is to Unreal Tournament what CS is to Halflife, and I've seen teams made up of weak players take out crews of *great* individual players. All it takes is strategy, teamwork and training (which is actually quite a lot.)

    9. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do that
      Tis very useful
      You can also se Post Anon as default (I don't do that, I have mod points thou)

    10. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by moonbender · · Score: 1

      There's nothing in particular which I hated, it's just a more general feeling of total repugnance. Although I'm pretty sure I could find out why I hated it exactly, but I'm not going to waste my time analyzing that. It's just that I had the impression that virtually everybody thought NS was the best thing since sliced bread, turns out it's just a normal mod after all. Nothing wrong with that, obviously, I'm sure there'll be a lot of people who do like it.

      Oh and just for you, I disabled the +1 bonus for this post. Nevertheless, using is by no means abusing it - it's more easily modded down, at least if more people consider it a troll. To quote the FAQ: This is how the system is designed to work: you can't just rack up karma, and then post nonsense.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    11. Re:Natural Selection is Fantastic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...turns out it's just a normal mod after all."
      Did you try playing it?
      this is the sort of thing I would expect to see from Looking Glass -- a near-perfect blend of 2 genres.

  21. Mirrors by RudeDude · · Score: 5, Informative
    Natural Selection V1 full install (90MB)
    Natural Selection Server Patch 1.01 (2.1MB)
    Doom III Alpha Patch (2MB)
    Urban Terror Beta 2.6 FULL (239MB ouch!)
    BF 1942 patch (15MB)

    I may not be able to keep that Urban Terror one up there too long, that's huge!
    Free mirrors provided by Mr HOSTBOT. From that link you can get a free Gig with a new account.

    --
    RudeDude
    Perl/Linux/PHP hacker
    1. Re:Mirrors by cmckay · · Score: 5, Funny
      Free mirrors provided by Mr HOSTBOT. From that link you can get a free Gig with a new account.
      Checked out Mr HOSTBOT. Seems cool, but I was a little disturbed by the fact that they sell a Mr HOSTBOT thong in their online store.

      Honestly, people. A thong?
    2. Re:Mirrors by Bvardi · · Score: 1

      What scares me more than marketing a thong, is marketing a thong to GAMERS... I don't need that mental image! *Goes out to scrub his brain with steel wool*

    3. Re:Mirrors by RudeDude · · Score: 1

      I'm seriously laughing out loud here! :)
      This is pretty much exactly the reaction we expected to the Thong... we don't exactly expect to sell a ton of them. heh :)

      --
      RudeDude
      Perl/Linux/PHP hacker
    4. Re:Mirrors by RudeDude · · Score: 1

      Id has sent me a cease and desist so the Doom III file is disabled now, along with those other two huge files (NS full, and UT) due to bandwidth reasons.

      --
      RudeDude
      Perl/Linux/PHP hacker
  22. Re:Mirrors PLEASE MOD UP +5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tried to get on fileplanet to download natural selection -- there was a 2 hour wait then whatever time it took to download, but thanks to this guy it's only going to take ~10 mins. thanks alot!

  23. Natural selection is neat by Bobulusman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But I've had problems playing it. Due to legal issues, I can't set up my own server on campus, so I must depend on the servers I can find in the game. So far, it seems that most people are just playing small games with their friends that they password protect.

    I like playing as an alien, but it is annoying to try to play by yourself versus several marines. Maybe I'm missing something, but I have not been able to attack a machine gun turret without dieing yet.

    Also, if you are a server: Just becuase your crappy PC can run a CS server doesn't mean it can run a 30 person NS server. The game seems to need a lot more umpf per player. They have already issued a patch for the servers to fix this, but it doesn't help when your computer sucks already.

    --
    Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
  24. MOH:AA Spearhead demo by jfedor · · Score: 2

    Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead demo was also released recently. Spearhead is an add-on to MOH:AA and the demo includes two multiplayer maps - Malta (which is exclusive to this demo) and Druckkammern.

    (It's Windows only.)

    Oh, and BTW, could you please stop posting stories about the leaked Doom III alpha? One story about it being leaked was fine but posting about patches? WTF is wrong with you?

    -jfedor

  25. MODERATORS: CHECK YOURSELVES INTO THE HOSPITAL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How this could get modded down as offtopic is hard to believe -- and this post was a link to the worksucks website.

    Was the bender you had last night carrying over into tonight? I think someone may have put something in your drinks.

  26. useless "patch" by demmer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    this this is 2MB.. for what? for a few bytes changed in cfg and map files? useless. should not be on /. anyways, but since it does not do anything "great" it should REALLY not be here.

    1. Re:useless "patch" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually there is very little config file changes. There are 3 hex edited map files, 1 binary hex edited file, and several modified scripts that fix the menu system.

      Some of the sound fixes are in the config files, yes, but otherwise this "patch" makes this alpha work for the masses. Not everyone takes the time or has the know how to make the raw D3 alpha work as it was leaked. (BTW, I officially regret the alpha being leaked and empathize with id)

      This patch is mostly to:
      Makes the start menu work!
      Progression from 1 map to the next.
      Get sound to work throughout the intro map.
      Start in fullscreen instead of a window.

  27. While NS isn't a cstrike killer... by Thomas+A.+Anderson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is my 2nd favorite Half-Life mod. Is has a level of detail and replayability found in maybe only cstrike and dod (and neither of them are as unique as ns).

    We are playing ns right now in my linux-based gaming center - it's very popular so far.

    --
    Personally its not God I dislike, its his fan club I cant stand (bash.org)
    1. Re:While NS isn't a cstrike killer... by tunah · · Score: 3, Funny
      linux-based gaming center

      Is that like a microsoft workstation? :)

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    2. Re:While NS isn't a cstrike killer... by Thomas+A.+Anderson · · Score: 2

      Funny,

      With Half Life and many of it's mods (especially Counter Strike of course), Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament (original amd 2003), Sim City 3000, BZFlag, Civilization CTP, Soldier of Fortune, The Sims and (Coming Soon) Neverwinter Nights and Doom 3, my customers seem very happy with the game selection.

      --
      Personally its not God I dislike, its his fan club I cant stand (bash.org)
    3. Re:While NS isn't a cstrike killer... by tunah · · Score: 2
      The internet has these things called "smilies" or "emoticons", see, that stand in for tone of voice when you type messages. For example, :) would mean that the message is intended in a humourous and/or frivolous manner, and is not to be taken seriously. These "emoticons" allow what might otherwise be seen as an insult or slight to be recognised for what they are, thus preventing angry replies and flamewars.

      :)

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
  28. My take on the game after playing it recently: by bertok · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I have tried a few dozen games of N.S. recently. I even played as a commander a few times. In my opinion, the concept is good, but the game seems incomplete and unbalanced, but I expect that that'll be fixed in upcoming versions. Some impressions:
    • The HUD display of the aliens really helps teamplay. I wonder why other games haven't had the same feature earlier...
    • The game is somewhat unbalanced. In the first few minutes on the smaller maps, aliens have a massive advantage, and can win quickly by rushing the human base.
    • Later in the game, the defensive structures are unbalanced. Human turrets are nearly impossible to kill for the aliens, but the alien structures fall quickly to heavy machine guns or grenade launchers.
    • The commander interface is a good, but they need to improve the mini-map. If it were bigger, more detailed, and showed team requests, it would make the commander's job much easier.
    • The ability of the commander to heal 50% of a soldier's health instantly is too powerful, because it allows the commander to turn a few soldiers into unstoppable juggernauts. It would be better if the health packs only healed a few hit points per second.
    • Neither side has enough weapons and upgrades to make the game interesting in the long run. I'd like to see humans with medic packs and an alien infiltrator class (like the Team Fortress Classic spy class).
    • The jetpack and flight controls don't suit the maps that come with the game. They cause huge bursts of movement that prevent hovering or level flight, and all the maps have ridges and beams everywhere, making the flying classes nearly useless.
    1. Re:My take on the game after playing it recently: by alyandon · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've been following this mod for over a year now and while your initial impressions might seem valid -- they are really the result of inexperienced teams playing.

      Marine anti-rush build order:

      1 IP
      1 Turret Factory
      A few turrets
      1 armory

      Have one or two marines tops building -- the rest hang around at base ready to shoot anything that enters it.

      Dealing with marine defensive turrets in mid-late game:

      Lerks + Umbra + any melee alien class. Anything inside the umbra cloud will take virtually no damage from machine gun and turret fire.

      Also, unmanaged turret farms are easily taken out by persistantly attacking them with skulks. It may take a while but it is an effective strategy as the commander can't have his marines spread out all over the map defending every resource nozzle + turret farm.

      With the latest patch, taking out the turret becomes easier as you can destroy the turret factory -- which disables all turret guns in the area.

      Flying problems:

      I've found that most maps can be navigated once you become adept at flying (either as a marine or a lerk). It just takes a lot of practice. You are always going to have some small/cramped areas in maps where flying is difficult or impossible.

      Will this game appeal to everyone? Probably not. I can see where it can be quite dull if you are playing on public servers where people are disorganized and refuse to play as a team (ie: everyone on alien going builder class, marines not following commander's orders, etc).

    2. Re:My take on the game after playing it recently: by ShadowDrgn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The game is somewhat unbalanced. In the first few minutes on the smaller maps, aliens have a massive advantage, and can win quickly by rushing the human base.

      I blame this on inexperienced marine teams. If at least one person is watching every enterance, the aliens don't have a chance of winning with a quick rush. The problem is when the entire marine team has their back turned building something, and no one starts firing until the first guy is already dead.

      Later in the game, the defensive structures are unbalanced. Human turrets are nearly impossible to kill for the aliens, but the alien structures fall quickly to heavy machine guns or grenade launchers.

      As was already said, the lerk is the ultimate anti-turret weapon. With a bit of experience, you'll get rid of them in no time. Three or four alien defense chambers can make any group of chambers nearly impervious to grenade fire, and will only fall to dedicated heavy machine gunning by multiple marines. By that time, hopefully a few aliens are snacking on them from behind.

      The ability of the commander to heal 50% of a soldier's health instantly is too powerful, because it allows the commander to turn a few soldiers into unstoppable juggernauts. It would be better if the health packs only healed a few hit points per second.

      I like your suggestion, but I haven't seen that abused too often. A commander can't continuously heal everyone, and a marine with full life and no armor is dead in 2 bites anyway.

      Neither side has enough weapons and upgrades to make the game interesting in the long run.

      Aliens have 5 classes with 4 weapons each. Marines are a bit more limited, but the whole RTS integration adds more stuff than any other FPS has. Speaking of enough weapons, Counter-Strike has tons of them yet how many people buy anything besides mp5, ak/colt, and the awp? It seems that most people don't care about weapon selection, as long as they like the weapons they have.

      Obviously the game needs more work, but it's extraordinary for a version 1 release.

    3. Re:My take on the game after playing it recently: by Soulslayer · · Score: 5, Informative

      1) Marines get a similar HUD bonus when they advance far enough to get motion tracking.

      2) Rushing works when the Marine side is unprepared and disorganized in the opening moments. Aliens always try to rush with Skulks in the opening minutes and almost always are easily defeated so long as you don't have unskilled morons on the marine side.

      3) Human Turrets are very hard to destory. But you are either playing an unpatched server or haven't read the docs if you think they are hard to disable. All you need to do is take out the Turret factory and all the turrets near-bye will cease to function.

      4) Commander interface has a hotkeys to jump around the map more easily, the problem is that a lot of this is not obvious to newbie commanders. The biggest thing a commander needs is a headset. Communication between commander and troops is vital and with 10 marines yelling at you it is hard to type responses to all of them.

      5) No this is not too powerful at all. It is very easy to take out a marine faster than the commander can select a new health pack and drop it and if the marine manages to last a long while the commander is occupied with that area and ignoring others which are then far more vulnerable.

      6) Medics are not really necessary with the commander and the aliens already have the ability to cloak with an upgrade not to mention the skulk being able to climb walls and cielings to avoid detection. In the middle of a huge battle with turrets everyewhere I managed to sneak my Skulk all the way into the command area and attack and kill a commander and his command station.

      7) There are several levels where flight is crucial and you can effect very very nasty surprises from the rafters of super tall rooms. One alien tactic is to evolve into a Lerk then fly 10 stories up to a vent then evolve into a Fade and bomb any humans that enter the room to death with acid rockets and the like.

      Overall I have found that while there were some minor balance issues with game initially, with the server side patch NS is almost perfect and virtually all the "problems" people list stem from an inability to play the game properly. This is not a deathmatch game. This is not Team Fortress. There is a lot more strategy and tactical prowess need to play NS properly.

      --


      Once more unto the breach dear friends...
  29. Left out by rinkjustice · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What about cool games that don't require a P4 screamer with a cutting edge video card?
    Any recommendations?

    1. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quake 3 & Half Life mods can both be enjoyed on a P3 700 with a Geforce 2 MX... Not exactly demanding requirements

    2. Re:Left out by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      Master of Orion 3 is due out in about three weeks, and it's shaping up to be quite the worthy successor to the series. The minimum requirements are way low, but of course it's a turn-based strategy game.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    3. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nethack. There's always nethack.

    4. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with the parent poster. Nethack is a good game.

    5. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wasteland, Fallout, Fallout 2, UT (not ut2003), nethack or other roguelikes, plenty of arcade games than can be played with mame.
      Morrowind is awesome, but has somewhat hefty requirements.

    6. Re:Left out by tunah · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yep.

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    7. Re:Left out by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 2

      heh, has it actually gone gold?

      Seriously, I've been one of those people who's been checking with the various games shops around here, and everytime I come in it seems that they have a new release date.

      on that note though, it better be pretty good. I still play MOO2, and the only thing that really bothers me about the game is the serious problems with multiplayer support (I can deal with IPX, but the crashes are unbearable)

    8. Re:Left out by porksoda · · Score: 0

      having a celeron 400 with 128 megs of ram and a riva tnt2 ultra 32 meg video card kinda limits me to oldwarez, and, if anyone cares (you do, admit it) what follows is my list of 10 games that run well on such a system and still rock major bootay:
      in random order
      6. system shock 2
      0. deus ex
      4. gta3 (min detail = crappage, but hey)
      1. star control 2 (still the best game ever made)
      2. civ 3
      9. pro pinball big race usa
      7. ultima underworld 2
      3. day of the tentacle (and any other lucasarts adventure games for that matter)
      12. fallout 1 & 2

      there's 4 years of your life you'll never get back. enjoy!

    9. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HL & Natral Selection, works fine on my Cel 466 w/ 256MB & Voodoo 3 (or more commenly know as old pile of shit)

    10. Re:Left out by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      MOO3 has been massively delayed, a total of a year (so far?). However, the Official Release Date is now November 29th, and they haven't made any noises about changing it. The team is in serious crunch mode at the moment, so it sounds possible. Given the state of things, even if it is delayed, it won't be by much.

      Yeah, MOO2 multiplayer is pretty bad. I think it's better on the Mac (where I play it), but there are still lots of problems. And the micromanagement in a big solo game drives me insane sometimes, but hey, it's still cool.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    11. Re:Left out by L0k11 · · Score: 1

      Liero rocks out :D real time 2 player "worms" game, my friends and I spent hours and hours playing it at school and i think the requirements are like....286

      --
      "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything" -- Josef Stalin
    12. Re:Left out by L0k11 · · Score: 1
      I found some more info (http://lierozone.vze.com/) for you guys.

      The site also has mods for the game :) There might even be a linux version floating around somewhere I think I read about it once just search google.

      Liero at it's heart is a deathmatch game whereby you control a worm and basically take out your opponent before they do the same to you. It's based on real time gameplay where true skills in movement and firing is essential to winning. Matches are played on levels that are comprised of dirt, tunnels and rocks. At first, you'll begin to dig tunnels to move about, but this isn't the only method of movement as your worm is also armed with a ninja rope.
      --
      "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything" -- Josef Stalin
    13. Re:Left out by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 2

      heh, actually the biggest thing about MOO2 that I love *is* the micromanagement. It adds a level of play to the game that I just can't get in Civ, unfortunately.

      If you have a good setup with MOO2, you can manage it pretty easily, that is, using the various screens instead of managing your planets and fleets through the main screen.

      That's why I liked alpha centauri so much, adding the ability to design new units with your acquired technologies was a BIG bonus to me.

    14. Re:Left out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed, System Shock (2) is/are the greatest. Ultima Underworld and Fallout are great too.
      And they all run on cr*p machines (I got SShock2 running on a p2/200MHz with an ATI video card, of all things!

  30. Agree.. but... by Viewsonic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Even John can't possibly turn down the free promotion Doom is getting from all of this. I mean, christ, it was an Alpha that barely worked, and people were going nutso over it! How many games can do that? And get on CNN, Slashdot, and every major news outlet? None. In the end, someone releasing a "patch" for an Alpha of this game is just HILARIOUS. I suppose what might tick John off more than anything is the fact other devs can get a peek at his brilliance ahead of schedule and figure out what he's doing that they're missing in their own games. Outside of that, I will bet anyone they'll be forking over their hard earned cash for Doom3 and a new vid card sometime early 2003 regardless if they've downloaded this, made a patch, or anything else that happens between now and then.

    1. Re:Agree.. but... by ergo98 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even John can't possibly turn down the free promotion Doom is getting from all of this. I mean, christ, it was an Alpha that barely worked, and people were going nutso over it!

      The reason he gets upset is because of the Duke Nukem syndrome: Duke Nukem was a great game, however they came out with the demo version of it so many months before the actual release that by the time people could buy it, most people were sick of it: The novelty had worn off. Because Q3 brings a lot of graphical "invention" to gaming, if people have seen it for months before the actual game comes out, suddenly it might seem run of the mill instead of special.

    2. Re:Agree.. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ugh...was playing Urban Terror at the time... I meant to say Doom 3 instead of Q3.. :-)

    3. Re:Agree.. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even John can't possibly turn down the free promotion Doom is getting from all of this.

      This is NOT the issue AT ALL.

      What Carmack wants is for this game to be like nothing anyone's every seen before. He wants it to be surprising, shocking. He wants millions of gamers to go out one day, get the game, install it in their computers, and then proceed to literally shit their pants and cry with joy at the same time.

      But this will not happen if the game is leaked bit by bit. And while I will not comment on the legality of this, it is completely obvious that Slashdot is NOT HELPING in this area.

    4. Re:Agree.. but... by Babbster · · Score: 1
      I suppose what might tick John off more than anything is the fact other devs can get a peek at his brilliance ahead of schedule and figure out what he's doing that they're missing in their own games.

      That would be more than enough to make me, were I the esteemed Mr. Carmack, go to every place that I knew I had given that alpha to and take a huge magnet to every hard drive in the place.

      Id has made a ton of money licensing their engines out to other developers. While that opportunity is obviously still there, getting a look at the internals of Id's latest engine before release gives competitors the chance to refine their own engines. One could reasonably assume that such refinements would give other engines (Lithtech, Unreal, et. al.) better odds of attracting more customers and thus cut into Id's bottom line - more than they would have if they never had the chance to get a sneak preview of the Doom III engine.

      Out of all the arguments - the pride factor reduced by people seeing an unfinished product and disliking it, the art factor in terms of wanting to carefully control what people see before release of the game, and the money factor - the money factor would seem to be the scariest to any company or company employee, president, founder, visionary, stockholder.

    5. Re:Agree.. but... by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Uh, Q3Test was out almost a year before the game was released.

      And before that, there was the Q3 IHV test, which is essentially the same thing that happened with the Doom 3 leak.

      Maybe if you weren't speaking for him, that might solve your problem with your lack of psychic abilities :)

    6. Re:Agree.. but... by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you missed my own self-correction, but I noted that of course I was referring to Doom 3 rather than the stated Q3. I was in the middle of a game of Urban Terror and was thinking Q3 for some reason.

      BTW: Why do you think all of the showings of Doom 3 have been so low key? I believe it's for exactly the reason that I stated. Indeed, another great example would be Halo: When Halo was demoed early in its development at a Mac conference it raised interest throughout the industry. By the time it was actually released it was so ho hum and seemingly ordinary (ordinary because we all were long used to the things that Halo brought to the table, having read countless articles discussing them, and watching videos showing them) that it was just another game release.

    7. Re:Agree.. but... by Schnapple · · Score: 2
      What I find most interesting is how almost no news agency would even acknowledge the DOOM III leak until they heard commentary from id on the subject, and the only commentary thus far has been JC's post on Slashdot, the only forum I know of where he comments. Then the story was the response, not the leak (though they obviously vicariously reported it).

      So had Slashdot not covered this, I would have never heard of it (I had heard mention of it, but the consensus was it was fake). And yet Carmack posted here, giving pretty much every website the go ahead to comment on the story.

      Criticize Slashdot if you will but by posting the original DOOM III story they ensured their place in history.

    8. Re:Agree.. but... by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 2

      That's because Halo took a lifetime to develop! That, and they promised a 'unique' gaming experience, and really didn't deliver on that.

      That, and I don't want to speak for anyone else, but the one console genre that I will never consider buying is an FPS. The keyboard and mouse are significantly more tactile combination to aim and move.

    9. Re:Agree.. but... by xipperhead · · Score: 1

      How can you get sick of something that only gives you a tiny taste of what to expect? If you believe that, then what gets you out of bed? Folgers? xipperhead.com

    10. Re:Agree.. but... by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      First person shooters are a well trod genre, so to really keep people interested you need to bring something new to the table (otherwise wouldn't we all be playing games on our Atari 2600, still plugging away at Centipede). Doom 3, from all appearances, brings primarily a remarkable new graphics engine: It doesn't matter what the gameplay is like if it's really a variation of Q3/Unreal Tournament (notice the absolute quiet when Unreal Tournament 2003 came out: It's just more of the same so people really aren't that interested), but if the graphics are a whole new level, then that does matter. The last thing they need is for everyone to consider them par for the course by the time it comes out.

  31. IT's my favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You mean there's a Segway in Wolfenstein?! Where?

  32. Urban Terror mod & Natural Selection by antdude · · Score: 5, Informative

    Remember that UT mod can be played under Linux port of Q3A easily. I play it often.

    I love Natural Selection especially marines part (think Aliens movie). :)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Urban Terror mod & Natural Selection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      (think ******* movie)

      Shhhhh!! If someone suspects this is like ******* then it'll get shut down like the Aliens Total Conversion for DOOM (oops, I said it).

  33. minesweeper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    the killer app.

  34. Snide snipe by MrEd · · Score: 4, Informative
    And yet again I let you guy's down by missing another week for MOTW. Well, I'll have you know I had spent the week desperately trying to get my computer to a useable level after my Audigy Soundcard deleted my hard drive


    Not only does he need Bob the Angry Flower, his soundcard deleted his hard drive?

    ...

    --

    Wah!

    1. Re:Snide snipe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately that doesn't have the possesive plural.

      ie: The cats' tails were cut off.

    2. Re:Snide snipe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That gay cartoon is by no means complete. If he wants to educate folks on the correct usage of apostrophes, it should be complete and comprehensive!

  35. thanks for the link by A_Duck_Named_Ping · · Score: 1

    figured it might be buried, thanks for posting it

  36. Tribes 2 by nihilogos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Was a f-cking awesome FPS with RTS components. Playing in a clan battle with organised and practice offense and defense was unbeatable. It wasn't exactly the most technically brilliant engine but it worked well on good enough hardware.

    Unfortunately it is dead, at least in Australia. What killed it was a stupid proliferation of patches and mods. There was the "classic" mod where you ran around aimlessly killing everything - popular with braindead CS players who like to camp somewhere with a sniper rifle and work on their mouse skills. Then there was the latest "patch" which changed the gameplay and also included some bugfixes. The whole community (and servers) split into groups running different and incompatible versions of the game, each of these groups was below critical mass and they all died.

    Mods can really, really suck.

    --
    :wq
    1. Re:Tribes 2 by imr · · Score: 3, Informative

      what killed the game was a terrible reputation due to delivering it while unfinished. Then came the patches which either broke gameplay or brought new problems.
      After a while, players quit playing it because they couldnt play it more than one hour before an error, because it was laggy and unplayable with a rtc modem or without a geforce and because gameplay was baaaad.
      I finally bought it after nearly one year of remote deception and at loki's full price. Well, stupid of me. Stupid that i did listen to all this internet crap since the game fps were ok on my tnt2, the latency was playable with rtc modem unlike a quake3 game, and the game is just the best piece of multiplayer that has been put together (except action quake 2, of course). As for the crash, they just didnt exist with the linux version.
      I reinstalled it today after a bit of deception by q3ut2 release, it still is the best game I can play right now. and you can find at least 10 full servers to play it.

    2. Re:Tribes 2 by DeathPenguin · · Score: 1

      Yeah... The big re-release patch really cleaned things up, but it was too late. I think gamers were expecting the game to be more like how it is now at it's initial release. Outstanding game, I still have a lot of fun whenever I play it. Get a couple friends on, get voice communications up one way or another, and coordinate a couple bombing runs or beowulf + shrike escorts. Very fun. The fact that there's a Linux version and a Linux re-release update makes it a must-have for any Linux gamer.

    3. Re:Tribes 2 by mgs1000 · · Score: 1

      Not to metion Sierra fired all the programmers as soon as the game was released.

  37. Urban Terror by Skandal · · Score: 1

    Nice of you to mention Urban Terror. It's a great mod, but for some reason it's hard to get a lot of media exposure. If you like multiplayer in SOF2, chances are you'll like Urban Terror. A previous coder from the Urban Terror team was recruited by Raven earlier, so similarities aren't purely coincidental in some cases.
    The new release features a few more weapons, a cool groundshaking grenade effect, a few more bugs and some updated maps.

  38. Adding to the list by wmacgyver · · Score: 2

    As long as we are adding games to the list. Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance hit the streets on the 8th. Tribunal expansion pack for Morrowind is out also. Both are wonderful games.

    1. Re:Adding to the list by Erik+Fish · · Score: 2

      Sure, but does anyone know when the PC version will be out? The Konami site says "TBD" for all of their upcoming PC releases now, however Silent Hill PC used to be marked as "October" and I'm pretty sure Substance at least had a quarter specified.

      Oh well, seeing as how Splinter Cell PC is being released this month (a week after the XBox version) I think I'm going to tell Hideo Kojima where he can stick "Vamp the Castlevania reject" and all the five million senseless, unresolved plot twists of MGS2.

    2. Re:Adding to the list by wmacgyver · · Score: 1

      March 2003, same time as the PS2 version according to the announcement at Fall Tokyo Game Show.

  39. Natural Selection vs GLOOM by Trioge · · Score: 2, Informative

    Gloom is a Quake2 mod available at www.planetgloom.com It is phenomenal, and a truly fast-paced, balanced alien vs human game. All around, much more fun. The game is perfect, and the classes are wonderful. Go there! Natural Selection pales by comparison.

    1. Re:Natural Selection vs GLOOM by Guspaz · · Score: 2

      You've gotta give NS a break here. Gloom has had years to get balance down pat, NS has had... all of 10 days?

      I've never tried Gloom, however it does look interesting. But, I've got enough games to play at the moment, so Gloom will have to wait.

      Besides, from looking at a few screenshots, Gloom doesn't stand up visually to NS. I know, I know, graphics aren't everything (Look at CS), but it doesn't hurt.

    2. Re:Natural Selection vs GLOOM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go go "Anonymous Coward." You're kidding, right? Having been a playtester for NS since July, I can say I've never played a better multiplayer game - PERIOD. The production values are incredible, the innovation is unreal, and the magic they've done with the 4-year-old engine is truly breathtaking. If you're complaining about balance, you were either playing a pre-patch server (there's already a 1.01 server patch), or - like any RTS - you need to take a little more time to learn the nuances and tactics of each side.

      Not so anonymous - I'm "coil" on the NS forums and in #naturalselection on irc.gamesnet.net.

    3. Re:Natural Selection vs GLOOM by Moleculor · · Score: 1

      Actually, the balance is near-perfect in NS now. The inital release was unbalanced due to a bug in the economy, but now that that's fixed, the balance is about 95% of what it was near the end of the six months of Playtesting.

      The only problem is that the game -requires- teamplay, and finding teamplay on public servers is somewhat hard. So the better -team- wins.

  40. no, what killed tribes 2 by bani · · Score: 1

    ...is that it was a crashy pile of shit

    it was a brilliant game otherwise, but crashing every few map switches is a guaranteed way to kill off a game.

    1. Re:no, what killed tribes 2 by nihilogos · · Score: 2

      crashing every few map switches is a guaranteed way to kill off a game.

      A game that was that bad would never take off in the first place. The "UE errors" (which were never a problem on linux anyway) became far less frequent after the second patch, and my brother's stopped completely after he stuck a bigger fan on his video card.

      --
      :wq
    2. Re:no, what killed tribes 2 by bani · · Score: 3, Informative

      yes, the ue errors were a problem on linux. and windows. its impossible to play more than 2 or 3 rounds of hunters or rabbit without it crashing. only regular ctf seems to approach anything near stability.

      and its not a hardware problem. that's why q3 rtcw ut2003 etc work *perfectly* but tribes2 is ONLY application that ever crashes.

      the tribes2 crashes are the #1 complaint about tribes2 in the in-game forums as well as on the web sites.

      the reason it "took off" in the first place is that it had a huge tribes 1 audience to pick from. the problem is that most of them went back to tribes 1 because they were pissed off with tribes 2.

    3. Re:no, what killed tribes 2 by swv3752 · · Score: 2

      Strange, I didn't have any problems earlier today.

      --
      Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
    4. Re:no, what killed tribes 2 by bani · · Score: 2

      try hunters. lots of crashy goodness.

  41. Yes BF1942 is great by AbRASiON · · Score: 0

    as is urban terror, damned good mod - I loathe CS, but I love urban terror. War 3 is the one which has me though........ damn blizzard.

  42. ...and the zero gamma... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good lord, could they have made the levels ANY darker? Sure it makes the environment "creepier", but it's very discouraging when you first start the game and you're getting killed by other players who've already learned to turn their gamma or brightness way up. So obviously if you want to compete with them, you also have to turn your gamma up. This is just a pain in the ass and probably wears out a CRT faster...I wish they'd just make the levels brighter. Please?!

    Oh, and I disagree that the play is unbalanced. Due to the structure of the game play (single commander building things), it's difficult for marines to expand rapidly if the aliens play correctly. Thus, usually they end up with fewer resource nodes. Their only hope is that they can hold out long enough to get the advanced weapons and cannons, so they can overpower the aliens. Conversely, the aliens must attempt keep the game from becoming a protracted battle.

  43. Did anybody else misread the headline? by shazbotus · · Score: 1

    I thought it said "Gaming Godess." Dang, it got my hopes up.

  44. ns by tabby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    woo-hoo, my first posted story ;-)

    Seriously though I work at a internet/games cafe in Brisbane Australia and there are about 12-15 people that have started playing it there since I put it on a few machines last week. It is still unbalanced and some things don't fit right, but it does suit many different players and styles, and can only get better. I have people playing this that have always hated FPS and only ever played RTS, and they are becoming good FPS players now.

    --
    I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
    1. Re:ns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which one?

    2. Re:ns by tabby · · Score: 1

      CyberRoom, 25 Adelaide Street in the City - neon sign can't miss it.

      I work on the weekends but am often in during the week playing as tabby_cat.

      --
      I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
  45. Natural Selection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can we play the Natural Selection mod if we only have "Half Life Initial Encounter" ?

  46. fps rts by Raven42rac · · Score: 2

    one has to wonder how that works, makes my head hurt just thinking about it

    --
    I hate sigs.
  47. Battlezone by nounderscores · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anybody remember Activision's battlezone and BZ2? That was one of the first RTS/FPS games around, where you could both drive vehicles and then hop out and snipe the pilots out of other vehicles.

    one majorly cool feature of the BZ2 engine was the deformable models and terrain. Some alien units could literally morph from speed to combat mode, and buildings would deform the terrain, digging holes if you wanted to put in a semi-underground command bunker.

    I've always wondered what would happen if somebody resurected the BZ2 engine and made a contemporary Afghanistan mod. all the tools are there. Mines, machine guns, bombers, satchel charges, buildings that can be instructed to build specific configurations of a particular unit, pilotable resource gatherers.... You could even have modular trench systems that the commander could have dug.

    1. Re:Battlezone by AmazingRuss · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People have been modding the heck out of BZ II...there are at least 3 professional quality mods out there and dozens of lesser ones...including all new models, weapons, and even a couple of races. Anyone who is at all intrested in FPS/RTS hybrids should check it out...Battlezone is the grandaddy of em all. When the game released, it was too much for the hardware of the day, but on modern systems it rocks. Graphics are damn good even by todays standards, it has a lot of depth, and the multiplayer is just plain awesome. The main forum can be found at www.planetbattlezone.com, and copies of the game can be picked up dirt cheap on amazon or bigbox stores.

  48. respect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    big up yah chest RD nice , respect :)

  49. well here is a rundown on this thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it is mainly just so tweaks and stuff to make the game work better

    for example
    the doom.exe fix will make it start up the e3 map then a map that was never in the alpha package which crash the game

    and e3 maps been edited so it will go to the next map without needing to go into the console to load the next map

    there are some config fixes which allow a bit more stuff

    and a bad menu.gui that a person push him to add in

    i have done some cool stuff to do like

    made the fist to work, make a doomguy monster and some other stuff

    but it isn't in this package

  50. Girlfriend Luck by pjammer · · Score: 1
    Lexicon

    Girlfriend Luck: [noun] (gerl frend LUK) - the uncanny and highly annoying phenomenon where girlfriends who are invited to join player-vs-player computer/console games that they are wholly unfamiliar with, nonetheless beat the stuffing out of more-experienced male opponents.

    background: As most residents of college dormitories or mixed-gender households can tell you, the player-vs-player computer and console gaming world appeals disproportionately to the male demographic. The cause is likely something to do with testosterone and its affinity to simulated gunfights/swordplay/unarmed combat. Whatever the case, from time to time someone's girlfriend/roommate/sister is invited to join a game - typically to even out FPS (First Person Shooter) teams, or as an answer to the incessant question "what's so fun about these silly games anyway?"

    Because she is unfamiliar with a game's commands or dynamics, the newbie usually proceeds to mash all the buttons/commands at random ... and much to the bewilderment and chagrin of her opponents, wallop them repeatedly because she is such a wildly unpredictable adversary.

    (continued here) :)
  51. Yeaaah... by Mulletproof · · Score: 2

    Ah, the asian women...

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  52. Sven Coop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't understand why more of the new FPS games aren't supporting Cooperative multiplayer out of the box for the default maps?

    Sven Coop ( http://www.svencoop.com/ ) is one of my favorite mods for Half Life.

    I like to run around killing the monsters with friends. It's mindless fun that reminds me of the old Doom 2 days.

  53. Playin the Alpha = Stealing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i don't have the thing, but i was wondering why Carmack himself didn't say that the people who were playing it were stealing it.

    Anyway, I don't wanna start a whole piracy debate, but would just like to hear Carmack's opinion on the matter.

  54. Single player game suggestions by phorm · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just a suggestion and a plug... try older games that are still cool. There are lots of good single player games, you just don't see them because they go under in the hype for the sweeeeet multiplayer games that come out.

    I'm still plugging a bit at "Nocturne." The control is a bit roundabout, but the graphics are very good (considering the game isn't a new-off-the-shelf) and storyline is cool.

    Otherwise, how about an RPG, or a racing game? If you're just talking about FPS games, then you're looking at the wrong genre as most people like to be able to extend their gaming value with multiplayer (long after the single missions grow boring).

    Those who want to play alone should go console, one of the main aspects that made PC's into gaming systems was the superior multiplayer abilities.

    1. Re:Single player game suggestions by sciion · · Score: 1

      If you enjoyed Nocturne then give the Blair Witch trilogy a try, you should be able to get them cheaply, perhaps as a pack containing all three. The second one is particularly good.

      There are a lot of good SP games being created for the PC, think Doom 3, Unreal 2, Deus Ex 2 (yes, all sequals, but that is partly because they get more coverage)Also consoles are getting multiplayer, so that they will be little different from the PC in that reguard.

  55. The thing that sucks about NS by Manes · · Score: 1

    NS will suck due to the same reason many many other games sucks:

    Combine:

    a) A Great game

    with

    b) The lamers playing on public servers

    Example: Battlefield 1942, noticed how your teammates ram your carrier onto shore? Or how they shoot down their own planes when they takeoff since they didn't get it themselves?

    Enjoy your cluefull commander :)

    Seriously, I've seen soo many games that would absolutely ROCK if you had cluefull players playing them, but 90% or so of everyone playing games (especially popular ones) are total lamers who will do their best to fuckup everything if they get a single chance to do it.

    Thank god for clangames :)

  56. Cumulative patch for doom - My Ass ! by bushboy · · Score: 1

    Big deal - it's just a bunch of minor modifications that anyone whose fiddled with the doom alpha should've tried already.

    --
    A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
  57. It *is* fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yes the game is not perfect. Yes it has its balance problems. However, IT IS A WHOLE LOT OF FUN. They got the feel just right for the marines and the aliens. There are many different strategies that can be used on either side. I haven't had this much fun with a mod, ever. I and that goes back to Doom I (although the aliens mod for Doom I was really cool). This is very much a TEAM oriented game. If you don't cooperate as a team, you loose, regardless of the balance.

  58. First marriage of FPS and RTS by nut · · Score: 2

    I'm sure someone will correct me, but this is, to my knowledge, the first time someone has combined RTS and FPS styles in this manner - where someone is essentially playing a RTS game and others are playing a FPS game.
    A friend suggesed exactly this idea, only he wanted to put a civilisation-style turn-based layer over the top again. Only, of course, he never actually did anything about it...

    --
    Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
    1. Re:First marriage of FPS and RTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this was kinda done in a Quake II mod called Quake and Conquer...

      http://www.bluestar.com.au/qandc/main.htm ...you can't play against the computer (yet?), but you can play online...one of the great things it does is allow flying units, so you can conceivably have a battle from above/below! 3D is neat!

  59. MOD for Q3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Just my 5 cents. Urban Terror team worked hard but if you just like med like a realistic fps that requires som skill UT sucks big time.

    Try http://www.truecombat.com

    This mod rocks and will be unbeatable when the update is made. You have good models. Leaning. Tactical mode. Great looking maps. /blackdog

  60. Something different: Pontifex II by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 2

    Want something really original? Try building bridges in Pontifex II. Works under Windows and Linux now (and I believe they're working on MacOS support).

    (Screenshots, since the official site's screenshots fail to capture what you can do with it: 1, 2, 3.) I've been a fan of the two previous versions (the regrettably non-Linux friendly Bridge Builder and Pontifex), and I'm pleased to no end that I can play under Linux. The game is alot of fun, like a really geeky Lego set. You get a large number of materials to work with, iron, steel, heavy steel, cables, suspension cables, and hydralics. The game starts a bit slowly with simple levels (probably to help introduce you), but advances to some real tricky problems. Can I span 800 meters? Can I build a drawbridge that allows two boats to pass side by side? Can I build a 200 meter long bridge with no underwater anchor points using only iron beams (the weakest beams). And once you've successfully completed a level, it's fun to see how low you can drive the price down without dunking the train or cars in the river. Or try something radical like a bridge that swings to the side out of the way of the boat or other tortured designs. Or just stick to more conventional designs.

    I purchased Pontifex II and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the same day and it's a hard choice for which to play each night.

    The game comes with a level editor and has a healthy community that discusses designs, runs contests, and develops extra levels.

    I'm glad I purchased a copy and highly recommend it to fans of building stuff and simulations.

  61. Re:New Games..Counterstrike mods by Zurk · · Score: 1

    alternatively try bots.
    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pat.murphy/rcb ot/
    has a NS bot.

  62. Last Post! by alpg · · Score: 1

    Not me, guy. I read the Bash man page each day like a Jehovah's Witness reads
    the Bible. No wait, the Bash man page IS the bible. Excuse me...
    -- More on confusing aliases, taken from comp.os.linux.misc

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...