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Rockstar Republishes Wild Metal For Free
Thanks to several readers for pointing to the download section on the official Rockstar Games site, where they've just released full PC title Wild Metal (also sometimes known as Wild Metal Country) for free download. The page explains: "Another vintage title from Rockstar North, then known as DMA Design, Wild Metal (1999) is a 3D strategic vehicular combat game." The game originally debuted on the Sega Dreamcast, with the PC version getting a limited release, and a C+VG review mentions "this is a good [LAN-specific?] multiplayer game... lots of tanks, lots of ammo, lots of big explosions." The original, top-down view Grand Theft Auto is also available for download on the site.
This is great! Thanks so much for the info. GTA has been a great dynasty of games, and even with the advances that GTA III and Vice City have reached, the original GTA still will always remain a classic. I haven't gotten to play Wild Metal, but I will as soon as I get home. I appluade Rockstar for their support of the open source world, in releasing these old versions of the games. Rockstar continues to impress me always, first with their games, then with their actions.
"Sure I like deadlines, I like the 'whoosh' sound they make as they fly by" - Douglas Adams
A lot of these companies have a huge backlog of titles that would require recompiles and minor changes to timing to make them usable on modern machines. Release them using the same bandwidth they are paying for to distribute patches, and you have a huge marketing opprotunity.
It especially makes sense when you have sequels that are vastly improved (original GTA vs the double pack). So why don't we see this more often?
Sig under construction since 1998.
Ok I got a little conspiracy theory here
... I'm still working out a theory for what reason they would need that information, but anyway.
You are free to download the game from their website, but are not allowed to share that file to others.
Also you get a download link that will only work for you (so you cannot share the link with others)
Now, I think they add hidden data to their file wich contains your IP adress or something, so they can track who is sharing their files.
Now my question is to all of you who downloaded the game from rockstar to make a MD5 sum of the file they received, to check if indeed the files are different, or that I'm just too suspicious about the whole thing.
You can add your MD5 sum as a reply to this message, and of course any conspiracy theory is welcome.
Oh yes if you need to download the MD5 summer program got to this adress:
http://www.md5summer.org/
Time is the only precious thing I've got left; Don't waste it
Actually, this game did have a bit of enjoyment if you had force feeback joystick. I played it for a few hours.
I had the most fun just driving around the landscape and feeling the different forces. You could feel the tank engine at standstill, then as you moved, you could "feel" the tank's weight shift as you started to gain speed. You actually knew when you were about to slip/spin out of control. Plus, the greatest thrill was jumping mountains!
Try it with force feedback. The game content is a bit lacking but the feel makes the game. IMHO
Now that a court has ruled obsolete videogames are exempt from the DMCA, expect a lot more 3rd party companies to start rereleasing old games. Hopefully this will spur developers to rerelease the games themselves.
The physics are indeed very good. The gameplay is of course ultra-simplistic; basically we're talking about a 3D update of Combat with more complicated controls. I didn't care for the controls on the Dreamcast version but the PC version worked pretty well, I thought; unfortunately I only played the demo and never got to try the full PC version, since it was only released in Europe (and as a bundled title with a few 3D cards). High marks for Rockstar for finally bringing this out.
Another vintage title from Rockstar North, then known as DMA Design
So the makers of Lemmings then went on to make GTA? That's awesome.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
GTA is totally different. It's the same idea: go on missions, steal cars, fuck shit up. It's fun for a while but GTA3 is much better. It's a top-down perspective pseudo-3d game. It's still very violent and humorous, but the gameplay is lacking. The biggest problems are bad framerate (on my p4 1.7 with gf2), bad camera, and getting lost in the city is way too easy. It's still worth a free download though. Lots of people like it more than I.
Remember, there's no point to Counter-Strike, either. No story, no rewards. Just fun shooting and watching pretty blood splatter from emptied heads.