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Unreal Tournament 2004 Goes Gold
psyco484 writes "Unreal Tournament 2004 has gone gold, the game will be in stores on March 15th. After an impressive demo, I'm certainly looking forward to this one." There are several improvements over UT2003, but my favorite is the ability to carry dual assault rifles.
The vehicles in the Onslaught mode have to be the coolest addition ever!!!
Is it even possible to carry two assault rifles simultaneously in real life? sounds a bit heavy...
This is my
What are the hardware requirements?
I'm thinking about buying a new system and want to make sure UT2004 will run well.
... hopefully a good game, too.
I will cheerfully fork over my $50 just on the strength of the demo.
But I had a problem when I tried playing it at a resolution other than 1280x1024. I couldn't read some of the text (especially when trying to join an internet game). Another problem that UT2k3 had was the size of the maps. Even with a broadband connection, transferring a 10 MB map takes a looooooong time.
The dogcow says "Moof!"
Hopefully they've fixed this bug in the gold release, and also the palette issues on the Mac (can't see blue team's text).
sweet now it is gold, i wonder how long it will take for a full copy to be leaked, i give it 2 days.
I can't wait now for Red Orchestra 2.0 using UT2004. Hopefully this will generate more intrest in this awesome mod.
But when I play it now, there's usually only one server with people playing on it. It's ashame because this is such a great game that tries to be more realistic. Like no floaty crosshairs, get shot with a bullet and you die...not 50 bullets while you jump around like a chicken.
It still needs work, but the guys making it are listening to the people playing it. And with ut2004 and all kinds of tanks sitting around, can't wait to see what they do with the new engine.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
With a demo already out, it looks like MacSoft will have this out for OS X almost at the same time as the PC version. Sweet.
This guy is way out there
I've been playing the UT2K4 demo on both Windows and Mac (yay PowerBook) and the community chatter is right -- disabling audio results in framerates jumping anywhere from 50% - 200% faster. I hope it's a bug and not just the base requirement for UT2K4 audio!
This miht be a silly question, but is this a usual case of Windows version only without specifically mentioning it is?
Or are the Mac and Linux versions also gold? The article didn't specifically mention, but when that happens I usually suspect it referring to window's only
OSX desktops, hints and gaming
I must admit, while I love the various flavors of UT, I dislike the naming convention. The same problem sports games have: once a year, they will seem out of date. They're basically making themselves stay on a once a year schedule: let's be real, how many gaming companies can do that (HL2, Doom 3...deadlines go to hell). And, unless there's actual changes, I would rather not buy a new version every year just to keep up with the online play (though I know you can always play the old versions). That said, I want this game. The vehicles are great, as is the gameplay and graphics in the demo.
NOVA.ORG
Will this be including the Linux version of the game, like 2003 did? Maybe they'll be nice to us this time and put a notice on the box stating Linux version included.
I seem to have lost my UT 2004 CD Key during my deployment in Iraq with an army group rolling out open source based systems for the interim government. Anyone care to lend a fellow patriot one of yours?
Does anyone else but me miss the original Unreal? That game had such an awesome atmosphere, with cozy cabins, the enormous sun spire and that city in the clouds.
I had this problem but discovered it was because the display settings for my Ti4200 were at "performance" rather than "quality" (right click desktop, settings, advanced, directX, blah, blah). It's probably because fonts are treated just like textures and are reduced in resolution along with everything else. It seems to me there's no difference in speed between performance and quality settings, so it's no loss - and it looks way better anyway.
Hope that helps... it certainly had me puzzled for a while. I think they need to at least add this to the FAQ.
i dunno if it works in windows, in fact i played the demo (and i play it every day) only in linux. that microsoft's crap doesn't matter :P
I absolutely loved Unreal and UT. UT2k3, Unreal 2 and UT2k4 were horrible for me. Nice graphics, utterly stupid gamplay. If you liked 2003, this game may appeal, otherwise a waste of d/l time. Call of Duty and ET are waay better, actually requiring some brain. Just my 2c
I got the collector's edition for 40 bucks, comes on DVD with a nice logitech headset and bonus dvd. It also has some kind of emblem that adds either 50HP to your car or 2ghz to your pc (whichever you apply it to)
..should rush out and buy this game and then send a mail to one of these people, letting them know that the fact that the game ran on Linux was one of the factors that made you deside to buy the game.
Bacially, thank them for their support of your favorite platform. And let them know you are always looking for quality game titles running linux to buy.
That won't hurt the chances of future ATARI distributed games being ported to Linux.
If you already have 2k3 its only $30 after the rebate.
get thee back under thy Redmond bridge, foul Troll! Ballmer, is that you?
I dual boot Win2000 and Linux, and it plays fast on both. It plays faster with better transparency and OpenGL rendering on Linux than Doze. My Claw controller works better on Doze, however, so it is a coin toss for me.
I definitely plan to play more under Linux than Windows. I contributed to a thread on the uT2004 forums with FUD spreader n00bies like this troll, and intelligent Linux users could make good points for the uninitiated there.
I specifically PAID my money to Epic games _because_ they gave such a great Linux and Mac OS X demo. Companies who "get it" regarding Linux should be rewarded and pubblically thanked and respected. We need to broaded the community for gaming. Far too many k1dd13z believe that GNU/Linux doesn't support great games.
Thanks Epic/Atari!!
As already pointed out, it will run on Linux, in fact, there is a 64-bit version for Linux. Download all versions of the demo here.
This move by MacSoft (although I'm sure is making them bust their asses) to bring out the Mac version ASAP is so very respectable in my opinion. I don't buy many games, but this is one where I can't wait to throw my money at its creators. Too bad MacSoft isn't taking direct preorders :(
...what the heck is that red and silver icon attached to this story supposed to be?
Sounds like you need to get a better computer, turn everything ON, and crank the reasolution to 1280x1024... then maybe you can stop being bitter that your system sucks and enjoy the game!
The Onslaught game is so totally not decided in the first 30-40 seconds. I was in a game yesterday that took 52 minutes. That's right! Thes server did not have overtime mode turned on (this is usually at 15 mins, and get triggered a lot). I've been in many games where the tides turned against the team that looked like they were going to win.
The rocket launcher has been replaced with Anti-Vehicle rockets.. I'm not sure if you understand this or not. And it can hold a lot more then 3 rockets. I do miss the pistol though..
Grenades may suck, but spider mines are definitely nice. I think the vehicles are implemented much better then they are in Halo.. the Manta, for one, is the perfect vehicle for running over groups of unsuspecting members of the opposite team.
What do you have against the gun turrets? They give you both an inside and outside view (press F4; this works in everything you can get inside), let you zoom in, and are VERY powerful. What more do you want from a gun turrets?
I agree that UT2003 was dissapointing.. but UT2004 just plain rocks in my opinion.
DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
Let me guess, you have an ATI card.
I play on a 3-year old 64MB Geforce 4 and it rocks for play and framerate. Perhaps you backed the wrong horse.
Did you vote for Bush, too?
My Radeon 9800 Pro runs it just fine and dandy, thank you. If anyone has poor performance in Onslaught it's probably because that game mode requires a lot more power than any of the other game modes.
While I also think the weapons are a tad weak, it does make it easier for newer players, no instant death. (Unless you get run over by a vehical) Game play needs tweaked, weapons could be a little better, but its a very fun game.
One of my favorite parts is the Gun Turrets, zooming in, defending the base. They are destroyed WAY to easily for a base turrent.
Theres 2 types of game play, fast quake3 rail type action or slower CS type games, where you have to make your first shot count. UT2004 is extremely to the fast action shooter. One of the reasons I didnt care for quake3, spawn and get railed or instant death. UT trys to deal with istant death, it will be interesting to see what tweaks and mods come out.
I'm really waiting for the Tribes game to come out, the open areas, the jetpack, and the slower combat with lead time for weapons. Little more thought in your actions, less of a twitch game.
I'm installing gentoo this weekend, really want to see if I can get a lan game going with a windows box, my mac and a linux system using the demo. Really impressed with this multiplatform release.
I'm getting tired of paying more money for the same thing
Well if that's honestly what you believe then just don't buy it.
Personally I'm all for it - I never got around to getting 2k3 and can get 2k4 for half price in the UK from play.com.
"If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
Voice recognition is the besst feauture for me, I'm surprized it's not being mentioned more. All that you have to do is download MS speech SDK, train it and then the fun begins:
_ 1. php
ALPHA GET OUT! the bot will exit the vehicle, or
EVERYONE DANCE!, lol
http://www.beyondunreal.com/content/articles/74
The dual weapons (pistols? assault rifles?) were there but it was so much more dark. It was an extreme sport setting with somewhat realistic human (future) characters. I really miss that.
Quack, quack.
Enjoy such new features as onslaught, assault...and good old backstabbing.
...if you can't be bothered to post the specs of the machine you're trying to run it on. It's completely meaningless.
"The pistol is gone; it was highly accurate"
Pistols aren't supposed to be accurate. You cannot snipe people with pistols. If a game allows you to do such a thing it's rediculous even for a fantasy world.
If you like unlimited firepower with "can't miss" weapons, feel free to use cheat codes in single player or continue playing the original. It's not like there's a shortage of maps or players.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Yeah it seems like the only way to get a Linux port is by indi developers who created their own franchise these days ever since Loki went bust like BioWare's NeveWinter, Id's Quake series, or S2Games Savage.
Probably get tagged as redundant later, but I believe you could use Dual Assault Rifles in the first Unreal Tournament. Not only that, but you can turn the "gats" sideways with the secondary fire button. With that said, I was glad when I found out they brought it back in UT2004 as well.
The 7 CD version or the special edition 2 DVD pack?
> But will it run on Linux?
Yes
> Thought not.
That makes no sense. Yes it does run on Linux
> Yet, this same crowd who hates Microsoft with a passion still
> love the precious windows games.
Yes I hate windows, I havent run it this century. I'm still an intense gamer. I don't play Windows games
> Hypocrites.
Having a little argument with yourself there Mr. Slow minded?
webalizer - thousands served daily
The biggest things I missed from the original were a real sniper rifle and Assault mode, both of which are back in 2k4 :D :D)
Although they kept the "lightning gun" sniper rifle clone in the game for some maps. I guess to keep down on the campers in certain areas. It can be hard to see snipers in the foliage in certain areas (I know first hand, even with the lightning trail giving away your position, someone has to be looking to see it
All in all, must of my gripes about 2k3 (which I didn't buy) are gone now, and I'm almost certainly going to buy it. I just hope they fix the lag that makes it hard to walk on an elevated platform without falling to your doom.
Hell, I have a GeForce 3 and it still runs fine on my machine. I've had no hiccups at 1280x1024, and I think all detail levels maxed.
I belong to the ______ generation.
I played the link-the-powernodes game and found it endlessly stupid. The game's pretty much decided in the first 30-40 seconds by who gets the most nodes.
That hasn't been my experience. This play mode rocks. It's balanced in the sense that when you are down to just your base, you always spawn right where you need to be to defend, and in a good game the control of the middle and tank nodes on the demo map shift control often.
If you have unbalanced teams you'll see someone dominate early, but the game seems to have a mechanism for rebalancing teams when the next round starts, probably according to kill count.
I've found it's best to take your opponent's tank node before you bother taking the middle, but I'm sure others have their own opinions.
Yep, buyin' this one. Thanks for a great game that runs really well on linux. I just wish Unreal II had been available for linux, I LOVED the first single-player unreal. I'm not sure I've seen a more beautifully drawn game since.
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
You must not have played much. The assault rifle is extremely accurate and has no trail to tell the target where your shots came from, unlike every other weapon. Its only fault is that it does no damage; otherwise it would be too powerful. Yes, I liked the pistols.
As for onslaught, games are interesting if you play with people who understand the map (much rides on the link layout, too). Since the cores drain in overtime faster if you hold more nodes, you can't just scratch their node and hold on. I've seen a few comebacks, each quite thrilling (well if you're on the winning team).
" Companies who "get it" regarding Linux should be rewarded and pubblically thanked and respected."
It's not that they don't get it. It's that a AAA successful game sells 40,000 copies in the Linux market. The problem isn't lack of respect for Linux, it's that there isn't enough of a base to be reasonably successful in that market.
You want more games for Linux? Start encouraging others to use it. Want a good suggestion for that? Burn a few Knoppix CDs and give it to peeps who run Windows. If they're reluctant, say "Put it in next time Windows shits itself." Sooner or later, they'll get it. In the mean time, learn to live with the fact that the gaming industry isn't going to be interested in Linux until they can associate the word 'Millions' with it.
"Derp de derp."
This is pretty off topic, but this reminds me of the Soviet Spetznas being trained to throw shovels with deadly accuracy.
-"It seems like you're trying to exploit a security hole. Would you like help?"
Actually the best way to make sure your copy is associated with Linux is to play the retail version online as our masterserver keeps track of the last OS used to connect to it (per CD key).
-- Daniel, Epic Games Inc.
Holy crap, I didn't know you read Slashdot.
Mod parent up. This is the horse's mouth, people.
... And so it comes to this.
I wish they'd push Linux support a little harder. I mean, you can't find concrete verification anywhere that if you buy the Windows copy it will work on Linux. Now, I know it does, but thats because I found a screenshot of the back of the box somewhere. No online store mentions it.
Some of the changes were to rebalance things and to make it so that you needed to use skills instead of just carpet bombing things. Like with the rocker launcher, you need to aim with three rockets instead of just spraying 8 of them into an open area with fighting. I like the balance since I can kill just about as well with any weapon with a small deviation for the flak cannon (I have to try and avoid getting "flak monkey") and the assault rifle. I don't think the assault rifle is bad for a default gun, just doesn't have anything special either. The charged grenade is useful for pushing back people if you are making a dash for a better gun.
Of course I can't kill as easy with some of the weapons as compared to the original UT, but neither can other people. I think the balancing in this game lets me have more fun by just grabbing something and going, instead getting torn up by the same thing over and over again or only being able to compete by sniping which gets boring real quick for me.
This is an excellent game. I was never a big fan of FPS but the "onslaught" mode in UT2004 has me hooked. Excellent mix of combat and strategy, the controls feel right, and the vehicles are really fun.
I still haven't played the standard "deathmatch" and "capture the flag" modes (and I am not really in a hurry to try them).
There is much more to be had here then in previous Unreal titles.
So you prefer the endless crack-monkeyness of death match over a team-based gametype that requires some degree of coordination and teamwork? I also fail to see how a game is decided in 30 - 40 seconds; I've fought many a back-and-forth match of Onslaught.
By the way, the rocket launcher has been changed since UT2k3. The old rocket launcher (5 or 6 rockets, IIRC) was just pure crack and somewhat excessive. The Enforcer in UT was about as useful as the assault rifle in 2k3 and 2k4 is now.
Granted, you're entitled to your opinion, but as one UT fan to another, I'm having a hard time following your logic.
"It never got weird enough for me." - HST (RIP)
you obviousally dont have a god grasp on onslaught "link the power nodes" game.
you can easily turn the tide towards the end of the game if your team is skilled enough... one camper in a tank on the hill overlooking the enemy's vantage point blowing to hell every vehicle that re-spawns will allow you to overrun that power node quickly.
I suggest you play it with some people instead of AI only.
oh and nothing feels better than driving a pickup recklessly into the enemy base and jump it into their power supply, jumping out of the vehicle in the air and watching it crash into their cell as you launch a few rockets into the truck and target winning very VERY quickly.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Yeah, but at least this runs on Linux!
[...] but my favorite is the ability to carry dual assault rifles.
I'm guessing this is like in every other game, you still aim them together?
I was thinking that it would be interesting to experiment with individual aim for dual-weapons. You could have 'hold RMB and move mouse to aim second gun' (would subsume looking around) and 'hold RMB and press LMB' to fire.
But it guess it would be odd to controll one weapon as "an arm" and the other like usual (that is "where you look you fire"), so then you'd have to do the same but in reverse for the "left" gun, which I'm sure few gamers would like. Maybe for an option...
Just a thought.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
3 years ago, your argument might have held water. I think you'll find that opinion slipping quickly now days.
My Tech Posts on Twitter
The thing that stands out about good games these days are their replay value it seems.
I keep finding that those "play through the game once and forget" games hardly get any replay value, whereas games like GTA (especially the racing, taxi, and police missions) and Unreal have endless replay value because of the underlying game involved is actually fun, with many variations on the theme...
(which reminds me of the Atari 2600 games, which had more variations on the theme of a particular game than you could shake a stick at - I think there was about 26 variations on Space Invaders alone!)
In that way, Unreal Tournament and the original Quake III have a kind of replay value that the original Pac-man (with all those patterns) and the Street Fighter series (with all those characters) had.
The frustration that other "3D tourism" games have (where you get stuck in one part and have to solve a puzzle to get to the next bit). Just doesn't hold up to replay value. Once you finish it, you throw the CD into the cupboard.
We need to see more games like this, and not the next Madden 3005 - if Madden is still with us by then.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
I don't know what kind of rig you have, but my Athlon 1800+, 512MB RAM, GeForce 3 ti 200 plays is very well at 1024x768 with most everything on "normal" or higher.
Did you play Onslaught for more than 30-40 seconds? It doesn't matter how many nodes you have if you can't hold them. I've played games where we had all the nodes and were assaulting the enemy generator, but were eventually pushed back to our own base and defeated.
You realise there are two different rocket launchers now, and one is an excellent vehicle destroyer. Oh wait, no you probably don't.
Also the assault rifle has a much higher rate of fire than the Enforcer ever did and in UT2004 you can have two at a time, so it's possible once again to go double-fisted. It's at least as acurate as the Enforcer ever was, more so than that useless "gangsta-style rapid fire".
Maybe you just suck and should stick with your original UT. I don't see anyone holding a gun to your head to buy UT2k4.
There. I'm done with my monthly troll-feeding.
... And so it comes to this.
The problem isn't lack of respect for Linux, it's that there isn't enough of a base to be reasonably successful in that market.
I'm going to continue to claim that it's because most game developers (studios) aren't serious about writing solid code. If you write solid portable code from the beginning, there's no additional cost to releasing on multiple platforms, and you get development benefits (better code; less bugs, higher maintainability, better reuse).
In short, games should target SDL as the backend.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
"I've fought many a back-and-forth match of Onslaught."
Wow congratu-fucking-lations. The whole human race is proud of you.
" If you write solid portable code from the beginning, there's no additional cost to releasing on multiple platforms, and you get development benefits (better code; less bugs, higher maintainability, better reuse)."
Your view isn't exactly wrong, but it is a little too optimistic.
1.) It has to be tested, THOROUGHLY on Linux.
2.) There's packaging considerations with making a Linux version.
3.) You need tech support staff to help in the Linux world. Sadly, it's not ubiquitous enough to seriously manage this.
4.) How does one justify steps 1-3 if only a handful of people end up playing it?
It's really not that easy. That's why a couple of companies have tried making a business of it and failed.
Don't forget that this exact problem you mention exists in the console world as well. Again, Linux isn't being shunned, it's just not attractive enough.
"Derp de derp."
Agree, I also have a Geforce3 and the game is GORGEOUS. Preordered SE at EBGames for $40 - $20 in a gift certificate.
you should have got one of the original claws then, with a ps2/at keyboard interface and all the programing done in hardware, it works perfecly on anything.
If you write solid portable code from the beginning, there's no additional cost to releasing on multiple platforms,
:)
Wishful thinking
n00bies like this troll ...
Far too many k1dd13z believe that GNU/Linux doesn't support great games.
You're doing nothing to differentiate yourself from the "n00bies" when you refer to Windows as "Doze". Almost any credibility you hoped to have is lost.
In an attempt to salvage intelligent discussion from this thread - what hardware are you running on? I would be very suprised if my ATI Radon 9800 Pro was better supported under Linux than Windows.
In addition, you don't make it clear that UT2004 uses Direct3D - not OpenGL - on Windows. 1 to 1 comparisons aren't possible anymore. I was under the impression that they used high-end shaders under D3D - under Linux you don't see those effects, although the game may very well run slightly faster.
Having said that, I absolutely have no performance issues running under Win 2k with the previously mentioned ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with the detail settings much maxed out.
Is it now? I have a Geforce4 Go 420 in my laptop. Two of my friends has a Radeon 9000 - laptops from two different brands. My laptop runs UT2k4 in Linux like a charm, all settings except for AA maxed (or AA on and all settings at medium). At lowest settings and resolution, their laptops play it horribly choppy. Then of course there's the ever-hated WineX and their lack of support for ATI. All WineX comments aside, GTA3, MOO3, GTA:VC, and BF1942 work perfectly in Linux on my laptop -- better than in Windows (yes, I did measure). I don't know anyone with an ATI card that can say that.
:-)
nVidia takes good care of their Linux drivers, ATI puts them out as an afterthought.
And, even if ATI gets their act together, we can still slam them for not having FreeBSD drivers (nVidia does)!
You can mod your friends, you can mod your nose, but you can't mod your friend's nose.
I'd imagine pretty much any new hardware you can get nowadays should be fine. One thing I highly recommend if you're doing any sort of modding-- if the OS you're using can run Maya, then it should run UnrealEd with no problems (I know this for sure when it comes to Windows. Not so sure about Mac and Linux).
Tell your bot with voice command to "cover me". Then they get in your vehicle. It also works to get a bot in the turret seat of the Goliath.
Err, except the winning team will almost always have BOTH tanks..
"nVidia takes good care of their Linux drivers, ATI puts them out as an afterthought."
That's obviously not an issue for the large majority of gamers, myself included. One of the reasons (just one) I don't run Linux is lack of support for newer games. I'll admin though, with the Unreal series, and Americas Army, things are starting to look up.
My Tech Posts on Twitter
"...the biggest thing to ever hit multiplayer gaming...the granddaddy of all multiplayer competition...most exciting multiplayer title ever to grace the PC." Somehow I doubt these spurious claims. I remember playing Quake III Arena and the original UT (in fact I still enjoy playing both), and those were the biggest things ever to hit multiplayer gaming. The adrenaline rush from playing at breakneck speeds against human opponents was fantastic! Initially, I had to decide which one would get my $50, and went with UT because of the different gameplay modes. I was highly disappointed with UT2003, especially since the assault mode was dropped. I'm glad to see UT2004 has assault mode back in, but I'm still looking forward to Doom III and Half-Life 2 far more than this release. Carmack: Where's my Doom III? It's been nearly a year since I asked that last!
If you think grenades suck, you're using them wrong.
They are for covering your own vehicle with so when you die you blow up extra big.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -Plato
Runs great on my Radeon 9500 PRO on Linux. It's a modern game, so I wouldn't expect it to run exceptionally well on anything lower than today's midrange cards.
I disregard costs from PR, packaging and support since they're removed from the actual development. Adding the different executables to the media you're already going to distribute anyway isn't an additional cost the way I see it, and if that's too complicated, just release the executable on the internet. (just don't go Bioware and put all the game resources in some 'Win32-container' and it'll be fine)
Testing? Well, I guess if your worldview is that 'thorough testing' as an expense, then yes, you're not getting it :-)
(I'm simplifying somewhat, but I still stand by my core point; multiplatform development is only more expensive if you're discounting the benefits of the process)
Belief is the currency of delusion.
I've seen a few posters comment about rendering speed increasing if sound is disabled, but that's not really an option for a serious player... if you can't hear where the shooting is coming from (or hear the footsteps of the person tailgaiting you) you're not gonna last very long. So turning off the sound isn't a serious option.
Also, just in general I'd say the frame rates on the mac are a lot slower than on the PC. Are they even bothering to use hardware accelleration? It feels like I'm back playing the original Unreal Tournament on my Wallstreet with its sucky graphics speed, and yet this is a fairly new tibook. My fps drops to around 4 or so during heavy action.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Grenades suck? I think you're just using them wrong. They aren't great for taking out other people on foot, but they can do pretty good against the vehicles (especially the slow ones). The other major use is to take out the nodes. The grenades will stick to the node and do ALOT of damage. A couple guys with grenade launchers can take out a node in a few seconds.
well, Thanks anyway for making it run on linux-- My machine is too, erm... *scattered* to run video games under linux... I have to go into windows to get my unemployment fix...
/ex /ex
Something about having a desktop of 3840x1440 just disagrees with X and hardware acceleration (well, maybe it's the fact I've got a Radeon and a Geforce4 running a monitor each)
Regardless, someday I'll set it up to run video games, in the meantime, Thanks for the effort.
EBGames.com is selling it for $40 and you get a free $20 Mail-In Gift Card. It really can't get much cheaper than that.
The only two games that get much coverage on /. seem to be Quake, Doom3, and Unreal(x).
/. press when it had like 20x the number of online players than Q3 had, at the time, and getting modded as a troll.
Meanwhile, BF1942 and others get little coverage -- even though other titles were the ones to pioneer 64 player servers and larger maps.
The only thing I can figure is the old school FPS game with a gun that fires the EXACT same while running at a scale speed of 38mph, jumping, etc.
I remember posting the same question about Counter-Strike getting no
Personally, being a seasoned player of FPS titles since Wolf3D, I prefer games that have some level of chance when it comes to firing a perfect shot. Getting 18 consecutive headshots in MP with a sniper rifle is just lame after a while.
I also play paintball a lot, which is fairly inconsistent when it comes to accuracy. I've also got a couple of scoped rifles I enjoy doing some target practice with sometimes. Even with the bipod extended and laying prone, I can't hit consistently within a foot at 100 yards. Mind you, I have some eyesight problems.
This just makes the running and shooting perfectly thing in Unreal and Q3 just too cartoony for it to be fun.
It's a hassle, but it's quicker than restarting the computer.
After that kind of experiance., all i want is MORE!!!
works great on a P-III 866 with a $39.00 Geforce4 MX
Huh? Are NVIDIA's graphics chipsets region-coded for price discrimination like DVD Video titles are? Are there a GeForce 4 US for English-speaking America and a GeForce 4 MX for Latin America?
Or have I been out of the 3D video card loop too long?
I wonder if they fixed the OpenAL driver. In Demo, I was never able to enable my mike, although the sound worked perfectly.
Especially since this one is being shipped on SIX CD's if I recall.
That's doubly important for games which are multiplayer-oriented. Even if you have a wintel machine you may very well have friends into gaming who don't. And such games are nicer to play when you can frag your friends...
The 3-rocket rocket launcher is still there.
Looks like you haven't played CTF/DM yet...
If some opponent is on the redeemer spawn spot, and you have control of a flying vehicle (not sure on the name) :)
Spidermine it first, then lightly scrape over the floor while flying past the high-redeemer spot : The spider mines will jump off, and target any enemy on top of it :
Great fun
I really think due to UT 2003's relative lack of innovation, and overally not being that great of a game, that Epic (or whoever the publisher is), should give people who bought UT 2003 a rebate on UT 2004. Now, I never went out and bought UT 2003 since I figured it was nothing new, except an updated engine. This was pretty much the case, since really, UT 2003 is a demo for the Unreal Engine. Epic's 'real' game was Unreal II, which even though I wasnt too big a fan of, was atleast better than UT 2003, if only because the weapons were better. I give Epic a lot of credit for the work they've done on UT 2004, but by the same token these features either should have been in UT 2003 (given the lack of anything really new besides a new engine) or people who bought the $40 engine demo that was UT 2003 should get a rebate.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
...but my favorite is the ability to carry dual assault rifles.
That's one good reason why I like the original UT better than either 2k3 or 2k4. Others include the ability to boost the game speed up to... something like 200%, and older but much much less graphic-intensive graphics engine. My computer will theoretically run 2k3 and 4 just fine, but I still like the original's gameplay much better.
The power of Christ compiles you.
A Random Blog
Sorry, Captain Clownpunch, but even on my anemic Duron 950-G4 Ti4200 system the game is still quite playable. Assault is an excellent game.
I'm still a little confused about the football game, though...
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
"I disregard costs from PR, packaging and support since they're removed from the actual development."
:-)"
The problem with doing that is that the expense still exists. They're going to be looking at that. Don't get me wrong, I see your point, but it's still a very important factor.
"Adding the different executables to the media you're already going to distribute anyway isn't an additional cost the way I see it, and if that's too complicated, just release the executable on the internet."
You still need an installer developed for it. You can depend on the 'smartness' of Linux users. However, that would get old REAL fast.
"Testing? Well, I guess if your worldview is that 'thorough testing' as an expense, then yes, you're not getting it
Well sorry. Testing is an expense. It is part of the development cycle, as is support. You cannot release a product without considering these things. If the cost of testing it >= the profit, then you've got no motivation to do it.
"(I'm simplifying somewhat, but I still stand by my core point; multiplatform development is only more expensive if you're discounting the benefits of the process)"
Actually I'm considering the end result here. They can spend the extra time doing it this way (and yes, it will be extra time. It's about profit, not quality of work. It's a sad truth I'm afraid.) but the result of this time, at the end of the day, has to earn them a greater profit.
"Derp de derp."
Yeah, I thought about doing that... I kinda just don't like killing X... I feel like if I have time to play video games, I should do something useful... Like getting my scripts written before the people that already paid me realize it doesn't work... /Ex
Ack! Big brother is in our games now! I, for one, don't want Budweiser to know that I'm drinking their beer on Linux.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
New games cost new-game prices. I don't have a problem with that.
What bugs me is that I can't find UT2003 anywhere. I figure THAT should be floating around $25cdn now. Instead, they pull it from the shelves and only sell one game at a time.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Assault rifles are designed to be relatively light... they're the middle ground between full rifles and submachine guns. I believe a loaded M-16 is like 10 lbs, so carrying 2 would be possible (now, accuracy is a different matter...)
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
I fully agree with this post. Ever since Half-Life I haven't seen a single game that had something truly new in it that made me want to buy it. The FPS genre is full of games trying to clone each other and keep up with the latest trends, and I'm sick of it. When Sam & Max 2 was cancelled I knew that the days of intelligent gaming were over.
How about giving me a game with an engaging storyline that I can immerse myself in?
Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
put up or shut up
That onslaught map IS decided in the first 30 seconds. You might get super lucky and make a comeback if you lose that middle node, but don't count on it.
Gun turrets? How about a little armor? Those things get destroyed in no time flat. Some "defense".
Assuming that everyone else is ignorant is sometimes not the right course. Perhaps you should work with the Linux community on development and some of us will give it another try?
- s
to defend final node, use other vehicles to attack home node.If you think you can recapture a node with two tanks hammering it you are sorely mistaken, note a good tanker knows how to use the mg to shoot down missiles and stays out of sight of your base.
Just FYI, the Raptor vehicle (no relation to the UT2004 Raptor) in Unreal 2: XMP plays Dixie too if you get airborn with the boosters (and hit the horn). :)
I loved watching that thing come flying over a hilltop with fire streaming out the vents playing that cute little tune. It was hillarious, right up until the point that it smacked into you, chewwed you up in the grinders, and spit your gibs out the same vents.
After playing the demos I can't say I'm a big fan of this game's vehicles. The vehicles don't drive well.
:/
It feels like vehicles have been tossed in to compete with Halo. However, they don't feel like a polished and integrated piece of of the game... like they do in Halo.
This game is kind of weak
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
This deserves to be modded up just so more people can see it and laugh at it.
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
Close. Its a rocket launcher.
The grenade launcher looks like this.
The Linux version should be in the same box as the Windows release, Tux is even on the box cover. The Mac version will be boxed seperately.
:)
Hope my pre-order shows up soon...
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
Do you know roughly what % of retail copies run on linux then?
95% of all computer errors occur between chair and keyboard (TM)
I don't doubt that it is, but could you give a few specific examples of what needed to be done to make the game multi-platform, just for curiosities sake?
Thanks, Greg
Remember UT2004 is 100% backward compatible with UT2003.
You can play on UT2003 servers, and use UT2003 mods.
So it _is_ an evolutionary step. And you get rabate if you got the original UT2003.
How much money are they making on licensing the engine?
They supply a key with every CD. So if the game servers require a key, you cannot pirate the game - even if it is Open Source.
Yes it does!
PIII-700 with a TNT2 M64
Low-end...
I may have 15-20 fps but runs with a fair amount of visual goodies anyhow!
Amazing, considering the age of the card.
The Unreal Engine, be it orignal, UT2003, modified, whatever, was made to host maps on a speperate server. The UT server itself will send maps and other files, if it must, but at the same max rate as whatever the max client data rate is. This is done so the server doesn't screw people playing because someone is downloading.
What you are supposed to do is setup a web server that holds all the maps, textures, sounds and such that you need. You then set a redirector in the UT config to the web server. When a client needs a file, they get sent there, which then proceeds to send at the maximum rate possible as ber HTTP.
An additonal advantage is that the HTTP redirect supports compression. You can zip up the files (50% size on average) with the UCC program. They then download compressed and decompress on the client side, saving bandwidth and time.
So if you run a UT server, of any version, host the maps on a web server and setup a redirect. It can be on the same physical hardware if you like, or a completely different host, whatever works. However don't have the UT server itself serve up the data, it isn't efficient.
I mean, I liked BF1942 and all, neat game design and fun to play. However it's engine sucked. Poor framerate, given the quality, shitty bot logic, etc. iD and EPIC, however, produce engines that drive many games. CS infact is Halflife engine which is, believe it or not, based on the Quake engine.
/.
As a geek site, I can see the focus on engine games like UT2004. The big deal isn't the game itself, though I've no doubt it will sell well and be played plenty. The big deal is the new version of the Unreal Engine, which acts as the foundation of many games. Deus Ex 2 and Splinter Cell are two receant games that are Unreal Engine that quickly come to mind.
It is the same thing for the latest iD engine. Many, many games are based on one iD engine or another. As I noted, the Halflife enigine comes from the Quake engine. There are also tons of other games based off of new incarnations such as Call of Duty and Jedi Knight.
Then, of course, there is the fact that both developers support Linux whereas BF1942 does not. This makes a difference, given the Linux slant of
I'm outta mod points...
---- Take the Space Quiz!
Will there be a 64bit release?
I played the demo on a 32bit and 64bit linux, but there was no difference in performance. Will the gold version take advantage of AMD64?
Thats nothing, I got a CGA card and a 286 that gets a healthy 30 fps no sweat.
I'll tell you right now that I can take out your tanks quite easily.
I win many battles with people that use your tactics... it's fun and pisses them off.
Nucular waepons of muss distracton, hello world and goodbye.
Preserve old classics: copy your collection onto all hard drives.
HALO is alot easier on my dual G4 800's CPU's than UT2K3 or UT2K4, as well. GeForce 4Ti. Tho UT's maps are more vibrant and texturous.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
Counter Strike hit the multiplayer gaming quite hard too. So hard that today, theres a Quake3 mod (Threewave?) where you can play "a la CS", die and wait for a team winning. I dont know all the details, but its a mix of CTF and CS, and its called CaptureStrike.
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
I seriously dont call a game realistic when theres no horn in the cars, like Need For Speed Underground IIRC
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
Run the single-monitor X server alongside your normal X server. Then you can use Ctrl+Alt+F8 to switch to it (and Ctrl+Alt+F7 to go back to the first one). (Keys may be slighly different depending upon distribution's preference of XFree86 setup.)
Watch the damage meter. When it gets low, bail. Also, if I recall correctly, the AVRiL won't lock on unless you are in it. I use that trick with vehicles, especially the tank.
Or, when the damage gets to 50%, you can hop out and heal it with your link gun's secondary fire.
If you want atmosphere, the best recent creation is Metroid Prime for the GameCube. PC shooters seem to care about other things now.
The Vehicles are great. But why didn't they put them into Deathmatch and CTF? DM and CTF just seem like boring rehashes of the ut2k3 versions with new maps.
WinXP blew up on me this morning on my desktop, and I'm really starting to be fed up with it.
Could I use some flavor of linux as my desktop OS?
What I'd need to survive is:
internet browser
movie file player that supports all the current codecs
a photoshop-like utility
a word processor (if it makes files compatible with wordperfect and msword it's a plus)
a firewire movie capture, processing and compressing (DivX, Xvid, etc) utility
cd-rom burning utility
UT2k4 for linux coming out just might be reason for me to switch.
and would I need help setting it up if I dont know anything about linux?
Why was this modded Funny?
...and my eyes are bleeding already just from the demo ;-)
Personally I love Tribes, but the whole feel of onslaught smells like Tribes to me.
I guess that Tribes, after years of being out, is finally dead and buried, and the dream of Tribes Vengeance is going to be swept under the rug by UT.
That is the way that it feels to me. All of the vehicles and weaponry just smell like Tribes, especially all of the movement, and all of the speed.
How about the suicide bombers? Glue a whole bunch of grenades onto your foes' vehicles while dodging them and set it off when they go home. Yeah! Or stick em onto your teammates (with friendly fire off) and have him walk near a vehicle. HEh.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Why not get drunk before you play? This will make your aiming more "realistic".
The original Unreal is great. I really love the single player experience, which the Unreal Tournaments don't really have by themselves, and Unreal 2 failed at delivering. Still, single player Unreal is alive and kicking. If you like single player, check out UnrealSP.Org.
ahem, it is REAL easy to steal a tank. just wait for the sod to exit it to "activate" that node for his team, steal tank, blow him and node up, activate node and start cranking...
Instead of turning my own on, I decided just to stop playing the game.
Speed hack = No fun
God spoke to me
I don't know if anyone's still reading this thread, but I really want to point out that while it's all fine and good to steal from Microsoft and Adobe, thou shalt not steal from game developers! The guys at Epic deserve their payday, so cough up the $40 and encourage developers to make more awesome titles. And if anyone asks you to use your geek knowledge to help them get a warez copy of the game, tell them to go out and buy it.
I've seen it written for a while now that we, the owners of 2003 will get a rebate, but how? Was I supposed to keep the packaging the game shipped in? I suspect so, and as someone who rationally recycles boxes things come in, I have no way to "prove" i bought and paid for 2003. I mean, thanks for the rebate, but I doubt I'll see it.
In general, code isn't portable till it has been ported. Ryan could elaborate more on the details... I just giggle whenever he complains about gcc/ glibc ;)
Sorry about the vague answer but porting games is something you only realize the scope of when you're done. It's not rocket science, but it doesn't fall into your lap either.
A specific example would be dynamic lighting for rocket explosions. On Linux/ Mac those cause the surrounding terrain/ static meshes to light up like a Xmas tree though it works fine on Windows. The reason it didn't work correctly with gcc was because (it seems like) it didn't handle NaNs correctly in our case. Of course one might argue that NaNs are bad but the code in question was written to handle them relying on the IEEE spec so I don't feel that dirty.
In any case, it uncovered a bug (technically the code was corrected but it was just luck and not intended behavior) though it only surfaced with gcc...
Yep the vehicles are a cool addition but they make it necessary to play in very big maps (see ons_torlan...) and therefore they aren't as detailed as the UT2003 ones.
Another thing I really don't like about UT2004 are the assault levels:
They are *cool* but they seem as if it's a race and not the old defender-attacker thing I know from other games.