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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.
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...
Battlefield 1942.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
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
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.
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!
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
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.
Got Extra Money?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
A first-person Starcraft?
Someone tell Penny Arcade.
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 :)
The patch:
What's new? :
There you have it.
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.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
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
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.
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
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.
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)
What about cool games that don't require a P4 screamer with a cutting edge video card?
Any recommendations?
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
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.
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).
I have to wait until they leak a version for the Mac.
Not only does he need Bob the Angry Flower, his soundcard deleted his hard drive?
Wah!
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
one has to wonder how that works, makes my head hurt just thinking about it
I hate sigs.
Strange, I didn't have any problems earlier today.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
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.
try hunters. lots of crashy goodness.
Ah, the asian women...
You need a FREE iPod Nano
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.
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
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.
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