Saturday, December 31, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:50 PM

Category: Quake IV

• Change the resolution from 640×480 up to 2048×1536 (in 9 steps)
• HD WideScreen resolutions (1280×768, 1920×1080, 1920×1200) support
• 1 built-in demo in the lite version, 2 built-in demos in the full version
• Change aspect ratio
• 4 graphics quality (Low, Medium, High, Ultra)
• Support Symmetric MultiProcessing-based acceleration (SMP)
• Comments
• Change filters (Antialiasing and Anisotrophic filtering)
• Support command line parameters (batch benchmarking)

Friday, December 30, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:45 PM

Category: Quake IV

Toward the end of Quake 4, while most of us were in crunch mode, the artists and modelers had more time on their hands as they moved on to the next project. One of the modelers, Derrick Hammond, and Paul decided they wanted to collaborate on a project they could call completely their own. Out of the blue one day at work Derrick asked me, "hey Caryn...you want a Hellchick Quake 4 model?" Like I was going to say no to that. I was incredibly flattered that they asked.

So Paul decided to concept her, using the original Quake III Arena Hellchick model that Paul Steed and Kenn Scott from id Software originally did for me as inspiration (with doc rob doing the animations). For those not familiar with that model, the quick backstory is that out of the blue one day back in about 2000, Paul Steed offered to do a Hellchick .ppm file for me for the Major model from Quake III Arena.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:18 PM

Category: X-Men: Legends

If you never played the original, as you plunge into the world of XML 2 it will take about 20-40 minutes of game time to get comfortable with the controls and play. The camera view is reminiscent of games like Diablo and X-Com, and while the standard PC keyboard setup is not set for optimal performance, this can be easily tweaked to your liking within the game options. The camera can get in your way at times, but does a good job of following the character you are controlling. Your group will consist of 4 mutants total, and you can select from a broad range of X-Men and Brotherhood alike.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:50 PM

Category: Quake IV

With these Multiplayer Deathmatch map I particularly paid attention to the Gameplay. The map for approx. is optimized. 6 players. Additionally to the normal Deathmatch mode can be played also the Tournament mode.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:07 PM

Category: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

This model pack contains just about every clone varient shown in Episode II, and III.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 3:04 PM

Category: Quake IV

You begin with the ubiquitous pistol until you find yourself a rifle, and along the way, you meet your squad's medic and have to escort him to your squad from the outside of a very human-looking complex and into some dark corridors, where you are jumped by some of the game's lower-end grunts. From here, you can see the Doom 3 engine's indoor and outdoor capabilities, which impress the eyes and ears. Light sourcing and texturing both look phenomenal, and the map's architecture are complex and realistic and feel authentic, but I wonder why things looked so human if this is supposed to be the Strogg Homeworld.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:52 PM

Category: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

This is a very nice and detailled map in Kam style. If you like the Kamchatka maps, you can add this one to your personal favourites too.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:35 PM

Category: Quake IV

But according to AMD, gamers who’re into today’s games won’t want to sacrifice frame rate for the possibility of better performance down the road, which is why its current flagship, the Athlon 64 FX-57, persists as a single-core powerhouse wielding plenty of clock speed.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:19 PM

Category: Quake IV

A remake of "heat" from the old Kilnet LAN Quake 2 days... "HEAT" is a bad place, in which I encourage bad things to happen. I tried to make it feel "hot" in places, like the original, and it definately has a gritty and unpleasant atmostphere.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:39 PM

Category: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

I'm glad some people still think of single player smile This mod changes many things regarding weapons in SoF2. Damage is adjusted and so is the penetration value. Something I like very much is that you can now use the Sig and the Silver Talon in the singe player! I don't know if this has been done before, but I liked it. You don't have to worry about running low in ammo for the new weapons because your enemies will use those weapons too.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:15 PM

Category: Quake IV

ELuSiVe has published his first Quake4-MP-Map. This DM and TDM-Map is suited for 4-6 players. The weapons are strategically placed.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:23 PM

Category: Quake IV

Monday, December 19, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:13 PM

Category: Quake IV

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:11 PM

Category: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

The map is set in a Rocket Base, you can play above the surface but if you like you can play underground too. Above the surface are a few buildings, some snipertowers and many other things to fill up the map. It looks very good too. Under the surface it´s hard to find your way out of it since many things look the same out there. But after a while you'll know your way out of there.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:34 PM

Category: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Friday, December 16, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:19 PM

Category: Quake IV

The level is medium sized, so best suited for 2-8 players. You can find more information in the readme.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:55 PM

Category: Quake IV

Quake4 edition of the popular Quake3:Arena CTF-map Q3ctf1 aka''Dueling Keeps''. Re-designed from scratch, so not a lame conversion via a converter-program. It has a new theme, featured by custom-made textures. The gameplay is almost the same as the original Quake3 version. This is also why i didn't used weapon-placeholders.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 1:29 PM

Category: Quake IV

With Raven developing the game using the Doom 3 engine, the results are excellent. Raven has a history of producing what I feel are some of the best First Person Shooters. Quake 4 continues their tradition of excellence and with the technology of the Doom 3 engine at their disposal, the game looks as good as it plays.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:04 AM

Category: Quake IV

A BETA update for QUAKE 4 is now available. This update is recommended for Windows users with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology) (HT Technology) enabled processors, multiple processors, or systems with a dual core processor. The update is also required for Windows and Linux server admins as it addresses a recently identified problem with servers left unoccupied for very long periods of time (these servers will appear to be operating normally, but will crash clients that attempt to connect to them). This update will bring any previous version of the game (1.0.0 or 1.0.4) up to date and will not affect pure server, PunkBuster compatibility or protocol consistency.

id Software and Raven have worked with Intel to dramatically improve QUAKE 4 performance on systems with HT Technology, multiple processors, or dual core processors. Players who have a system with one of these configurations will notice performance gains in QUAKE 4 of anywhere from 25% - 87% depending on processor type. If you do not know whether or not you have a multi-processor, dual core, or HT Technology enabled system, please see the ReadMe file for simple instructions on checking your system. Please use the form at www.idsoftware.com/bugs/ to report any issues you find with the 1.0.5 update.

Finally, although we've released only small (but critical) updates to QUAKE 4 so far, we are working on a much broader update for release early next year, and we also have a couple of multiplayer map packs currently being tested for release in the near future. Stay tuned.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 11:19 PM

Category: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

For those of you who don't believe me without a little proof, this map seems just about spot-on to the Dantooine Jedi Enclave from the original Knights of the Old Republic. I play it pretty often, so without actually putting them side by side (so to speak) I can't find any big inconsistencies, except perhaps there's more here than there was in KotOR. And when I say more, I mean quite a bit more. I suppose you could say the fact that the enclave is now completely surrounded by cliffs is a big inconsistency, but I prefer it better this way than having a path that leads to nowhere.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 7:02 PM

Category: Quake IV

As a rule you generally want performance over graphics in multiplayer games anyway, and throwing in CPU eating bots means you may want to consider dropping details down a bit. i.e. High special effects and shadows off, dropping down resolution. Have a look for Quake 4 tweak guides on the net.As well as experimenting with how many bots your system can comfortably handle.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 12:00 AM

Category: Quake IV

Friday, December 9, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 5:54 PM

Category: X-Men: Legends

Battling evil has a distinct twist this time around. A bigger bad guy than Magneto has come to town, going by the name Apocalypse (hence the game’s title) so Magneto’s Brotherhood is forced to team up with the venerable X-Men to defeat him. What this means for the player is entirely new combinations of mutants, powers and fighting styles. In fact, you can have arch rivals grudgingly fighting along side each other. The ensuing cutscenes are highly enjoyable as the good and bad mutants attempt to get past their embittered history.

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 8:57 PM

Category: General

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:17 PM

Category: Quake IV

Whether it's the elegant Gladiator and his glowing orange shield, or the awesome size of the Harvester, towering over everything, they all look superb, and the huge variety keeps things exciting right through to the end. The AI on show isn't anything special, but it does its job, with the more advanced enemies doing a little more to stay alive than the Strogg marines that you encounter as first line attackers throughout the game.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 9:28 PM

Category: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

Ok, the map is based on the area in which Sir Paul lives and he tried to stick as much to the reality. The map contains many buildings and all buildings are accesable so you can hide and sneak into a corner of a building wink Sir Paul also put his own house in the map, the one with the porch infront of the house is Sir Paul's house. Paul also made good use of models, there're plenty of them in the map! The FPS is good enough too, so you won't get any lag in this map. If you put the gravity a bit lower, you can acces the roofs too.

Monday, December 5, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:00 PM

Category: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Sunday, December 4, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 10:21 PM

Category: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

Saturday, December 3, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 4:41 PM

Category: Quake IV

During the game, some of the soldiers and commanders you meet will give you orders and missions, and you also receive radio commands too. The level areas are all quite similar, which promotes the feeling that you’ve visited any given area already, and a lot of the enemies are also similar to one another as well—though occasionally you do come up against a notably difficult boss.

Friday, December 2, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 6:42 AM

Category: Quake IV

The opening scenes and a very cool intro movie set the tone nicely. The engine casts shadows where they need to be, and during the first hour or so you might even half expect an Imp to come crawling out of the walls or worse yet, spawn behind you. The early parts of Quake 4 do remind a bit of DOOM3, but it must be said that Quake 4 is not at all the same game. They’re both shooters, yes, but just because these games share the same engine doesn’t mean they share the same type of gameplay as well.

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Posted by Darren 'Doom Dude' Finch at 2:20 PM

Category: Quake IV