Happy New Year everyone! Because it IS a new year, I've decided on a resolution. From now on, I vow to run no lower than 1600x1200 in everything I do. (OH! Never saw that coming I bet. ;)

Anyhows, seriously... I'm planning on posting news every two days, even if it kills me. Of course if it does kill me, then I won't be posting news for quite a while.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the year end LAN party at VAM Computers. I've got the pictures posted here.

Working on some reviews right now. Got a really nice Nobelesse case in for testing and review, working on a review for Stronghold, and considering doing one for Wolfenstien Mutliplayer. It's a totally different game than the single player. (Developed by another company, which is interesting.)

More later, really busy at work.

I have no news today. We're at a LAN party, and we're having fun. (and gun as well. Freudian slip ;) Join our Wolfenstien server if you care to. Just open the console (~) and type /connect 209.135.104.14

Working on a review for a few things right now, more on this tomorrow.

Few pics from the party, more later.

Hey all, just wanted to talk this oportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holidays. Merry Xmas to all you Christian folks out there, and Merry whatever it is you celebrate (even if it's only a few days off work!) to the rest of you!

I only actually have one tiny piece of news today, largely because I'm at work untill 4pm, and really busy trying to get everything done.

The conspiracy theory guys may just be right.

This just in from the Dman hotline! NORAD has Santa on Radar. Regretably, he's been declared a possible terrorist by the USA (After all, he doesn't have a landing permit, wears a disguise, and avoids jewish households......) and a flight of F-15's are on their way to intercept. Hope he's got some flares and chaff mounted on that bad boy sled of his.

I'm out for the next few days, and damned if I could come up with a good christmas poem or song this year... So download this instead, and this, oh yeah. and this too and read this.

Since it's a short one I'll just repost the .plan here:

The Quake 2 source code is now available for download, licensed under the GPL.
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/source/quake2.zip

As with previous source code releases, the game data remains under the original copyright and license, and cannot be freely distributed. If you create a true total conversion, you can give (or sell) a complete package away, as long as you abide by the GPL source code license. If your projects use the original Quake 2 media, the media must come from a normal, purchased copy of the game.

I'm sure I will catch some flack about increased cheating after the source release, but there are plenty of Q2 cheats already out there, so you are already in the position of having to trust the other players to a degree. The problem is really only solvable by relying on the community to police itself, because it is a fundamentally unwinnable technical battle to make a completely cheat proof game of this type. Play with your friends.

You can also grab the source code locally here as id software's server is getting worked over harder than Marauder at a Mac convention.

He then followed up on his .plan with a comment in the Slashdot forums:

Thanks for the kind comments, it helps me brace a bit for some of the really vile hate mail that is already starting to come in from the people worried about cheating.

Bill Heineman is preparing the mac source code for Q2 for a release.

We will see about getting the 3.21 changes we missed into an updated release.

I am also happy to say that another old game's code will be released under the GPL soon. We can always hope that it becomes a trend...

John Carmack

A lot of people have been speculating that this other game could possibly be Commander Keen! Robert Duffy also added a bit to Carmack's comments:

3.21 Will be out soon, Timothee located it and repacked the zip. Should be up soon.

OpenQuake is a great source for checking out what people are doing with these open-sourced games. They've got everything from tutorials to mods based off of the source of all of the code that id's released. Check it out!

Hah look! Now you can get Xbox sneakers! So you can either have sneakers with either a check/swoosh or an X.

I can't believe that Marauder forgot to include this one in his post about funny 404 pages.

By the way, if your one of the few who are still hardcore into Quake 3 then you might want to download the new "point release" (a.k.a patch). Be careful though as this will probably fux0r any mods that you have including the new-released Generations Arena. Speaking of Quake 3 mods the Quake 3 Rally guys have finally updated their web site with a snazzy screenshot of a 5000 polygon Quake 3 model! Sweeeeet...

Have you guys seen the Lord of the Rings FoTR movie yet? I just saw it last night and it kicks mucho ass!! The only downside is that now we have to wait an entire year for the next installment. Even the soundtrack is great...

If you haven't picked up Return to Castle Wolfenstein yet now you can give the single player demo a shot. Rtcwfiles also has the new "Trench toast" multiplayer map. Time to fire up some RtCW multiplayer!

DIV-X, GET YOUR DIV-X, GET'EM WHILE THEIR HOT!!, yes ladies and gents a new version of the divx codec has been released, that would put them up to version 4.12.

Umm yea, I'll get one of these for christmas, daddy needs a new monitor and damn is it big.

One for the MAC umm people, we all know how Marauder cringes at the sight or thought of one, only reason I'm posting this that it looks really cool, anyways have a look here.

Getting a little bored of Half Life, CS, TFC?? Well heres a new mod/addition for Half Life called POKE646 (don't ask cuz I don't get it either) but it looks damn sweeet and I don't play Half Life anymore but it should be enough to tide you over until Half Life 2??, hurry up valve we need our crack umm I mean our gaming fix satisfied.

More news later or send some in, we need your news!!!!!! :)

In a move that's somewhat related to the evil Santa fun of a Futurama Christmas, may I introduce you to: Santerminator. He's back, and he's pissed off about the commercialisation of the most wonderfull time of the year! Thanks to Dillinger for drawing him. Oh you'd better be good for goodness sake! (Let's see how much hatemail I get from the unamused and easily offended.)

After that rather amusing 404 from 3D Realms I started looking around for 404 related pages for no apparent reason, and I found this: the 404 Top whatever. Hah! :) Some funny stuff in here.

Dman sent in an interesting link. Apparently scientists are working on computers that can read lips. Only evil can come of this, as your computer will now be able to "see" you calling it a lousy piece of m(*#$(@(*(#$ *(&#$( and be offended. Remember HAL baby... This technology could lead to bad special effects and acting!

Proving that he's a really, really lonely little person, Yrunsob informs me that he can spank his monkey at 1,400KPH, and has even found ways to cheat at it. Take your screenshots Gentleman. It's a monkey spanking contest!

He's also sent in a GREAT flash animation. I always thought this MP3 was killer, and now you can get down in flash with the dark master of Rap, Darth Vader!

Sweet game development site over at Gamasutra. Pretty shweet. :)

Out for tonight ;)

Still experiancing some downtime on the T1, but they assure me they're working on it. Apparently we had some downtime last night, but it was at.. Hmm.. 3am EST. :)

Not much to report lately, other than I've been playing Stronghold. Not a bad game, not bad atall. Reminds me alot of the old "Castles" PC game from back in the day.

Darksiege sent me a link to a really, really sweet looking case. Man, talk about tasty! Loads of drive bays, fans, AND a mirror on the front to check your lipstick in. Very nice. Darksiege also informs me that AOL techs hate everyone. Here's your proof.

Interestingly enough, everyone I know who does tech work ESPECIALLY phone tech work hates everyone. This is because everyone is stupid.

I was looking around the Everglide site the other day, checking out what new mousepads they have... And.. Uhhh... They carry cutlery now? WTF?

I was also poking around 3D Realms web site by accident, and found that they have a most interesting 404 error. Go ahead, refresh it a few times. Looks like a CIA operative from the 1950's did it up for them :)

Anyhows, more later. Working on things.

Title sez it all. Sometimes I just hate these things.

Anyhows, a few tasty links for you to peruse today.

First off, thanks to Tactician for confirming that there is no God. I've been wondering, what with recent world events if the big diety in the sky is really up there watching over us. Finally we have confirmation that Marx was right. There is no God. If there was, could an abomination such as this exist??

Croteam has release a demo for Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. Looking good. :) Can hardly wait to get my hot little hands on it.

Have a fascination with canned foods? Apprantly Doug the bringer of evil does. Check this link out, and you'll know what to avoid in the future.

Mmore later, back to work now.

Been playing Castle Wolf like a mad man, rather than doing the things I SHOULD be doing.. But hey, waddyah gonna do, eh? The review is complete, and not to badly done if I do brag so myself. ;)

Just a few little pieces of noteworthy news today.

First off, found a sweet, sweet radio station, thanks to a link that Dopper sent me. Check out Digitally Imported. Wow, some great tunage there.

DAOC fan? If you don't know about the Camelot Herald you should get your ass over there and have a read. Info from the dev team, news, and info on how each guild and realm are doing on each server. Very sweet and well worth a read.

Thanks to Symplicite for pointing out that some of the News Archives on the site don't work. All fixed, my bad. I've also posted the Planet Quake writeup on FRAGtopia 2(001), which should have been up there a long time ago, along with the Game Citizen interview with me. (yay for me! :) :)

That's it for today, more tomorrow I promise. Well...... I'll try anyhows ;)

Welp, sorry for the lack of news. Thanks to our good fiends at Rogers/AT&T I was without internet for the weekend... AGAIN! Luckily this time around I had Return to Wolf to keep me warm on those long, internetless nights.

We're looking for help folks! While I'm normally the one who does the vast majority of rants/articles/reviews and news postings, I've had some help in the past from Rune and Iceman, as well as occasional (and much appreciated) help from others such as Kingpin and Praetorian. Over the last few months however, everyone's been too damned busy to help out, and I'm mostly on my own these days.

I can't do everything by myself. If you're interested in writing reviews, opinion pieces, rants, or just sending me in interesting links, email me. Job doesn't pay anything, but if you're getting software or hardware for your own use, write a review, that's what I do. :)

Mr. E Mahn has apparently been hosting a Shoutcast Stream in the evenings. If you're into whatever it is he's playing (Dance I suspect.) Tune in here with your Winamp.

Heh. Doug, who's going to be helping us up recently sent me an interesting DAOC screenshot. Apparently the Realms have been taken over by an evil John Travolta clone, sent here from the 1970's to destroy us all.

I'm glad these guys were wrong. Horray for cheap RAM! (Although the prices have been going up a little bit lately, especially on the DDRAM.)

Apparently Sony is finally getting off their asses and doing their Broadband tests for the PS/2. 'twill be interesting to see how long it takes them to get it working. Nice of Microsoft to come along with the Xbox and kick things into gear. I like competition.

A pile of different people have sent me a link to this one. Shockingly the FTC is actually praising the Video Game industry, and running down those bastards in the music business. Ah, how the worm has turned my little RIAA friends! HOw the worm has turned indeed! WHAHAHAHA!

In interesting news that makes me scratch my head and wonder how in the name of god people come up with stats, Microsoft and Nerdtendo are both claiming the lead in console sales..... Uhh... Yes.. We're Both #1! We're both #1!

Marauder out.

Been playing DAOC a little bit lately, and I hope to play more and more as time permits..... At least untill Shadowbane raises it's pretty head... Ohhhhh... Pushed back when DAOC got released, it's due out in roughly 2 decades. Looking very sweet indeedily.

Allrighty, been downloading alot of C64 and Amiga music lately, and I've also picked up a few albums. It's actually suprising how many C64/Amiga Remaster/Remix albums there are out there today. Some great tunes. :) Btw: Anyone heard the tune Zombie Nation? I always thought it sounded familiar. It is. It's a complete rip off of the old 1985 Commodore 64 tune from the game "Lazy Jones". The Zombie Nation guy just signed a settlement with David Whitaker, the guy who did the tune in the first place. :)

It's always interesting to see where hits on the site come from. Two of the most common Google searches are Rosanne Barr Naked and Stupid Humans. I'm not sure if I should laugh, or cry. Maybe a little of both.

I'm not sure what these Russian guys are talking about, but I did find the Ghost Recon post in the Operation Flashpoint forums pretty funny :)

In an effort to support our #1 hosted ha ha site, 3 Finger Salute, please click this link to vote for them on the Top 100 comics. Prae's so pathetic when he grovels. (shesh)

Hmmmm. That was a pretty boring news update. Ahh well. :) At least the world didn't end while you were reading it.

We can all thanks Doug for our laugh of the day. Take a look at this article. Now tell me what you think? (It'll take a few minutes, site is slow as dirt.) What a pompous, arrogant, stupid f^&%*(g IDIOT. Jesus H Christ in a dump truck am I pissed off reading this. (I'll have a rant up later today on this one.) I can't decide if it's real, or a prank someone posted. I'm leaning towards a hoax myself. It's just a little toooo exagerated.

Really want to piss your girlfriend or wife off? Send her this. :) It must be true, 'cause I read it on the interweb!

FRAGtopia is gamesite of the week up on Singnet Dominion. Woot! :) And hey, they even speeled the name right!

In the vein of the recently posted link to the "Which Quake Monster are you?" Have you ever wondered which Bond Villan you are? It's a puzzle that most people have pondered over the ages, and now it need no longer plague you!

Remember Joust? Goshwin and I have been getting our old skool midway on over at AT&T Wireless. Woot! :)

Heh. Speaking of old skool, check out Trace's site. It's done up like the 'ol C64 OS.

There's a new movie for 2.0 of the Day of Defeat mod for Half Life. Truly one of the greatest mods ever made, I can hardly wait! :)

More later. Have to get to work!

Woohoo, I'm back from the dead, took a small vacation from doing updates and computers in general, good to be back just in time for the new look, nice going Marauder and all who was involved in the new look, well on with the news.

VIA has stepped into the world of FIREWIRE.

" Two fully 1394a compliant ports enable dual hot-pluggable peripheral connections running simultaneously with data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps. Combined with a link layer in consumer electronics devices such as digital video recorders and cameras, the VIA VT6302 is ideal for bandwidth-hungry multimedia applications. The VIA VT6302 can also be combined with an IDE bridge for fast storage access for external storage disk drives, allowing rapid data transfer with the high volume isochronous signal. The VIA VT6302 also offers full 1394 functionality in PC systems when combined with a South Bridge with integrated link layer."

Audiophiles, your prayers have been answered for the king of all sound cards. The Maya 7.1 using the new Creative Audigy sound chip. Check out the specs below.

Maya 7.1 Gold 2 analog in, 8 analog out micro in internal aux and CD input G9 connector (6 channel analog out) TOSLINK digital optical output Sample rates between 8 and 48 KHz 5.1 channel surround support 7.1 channel surround ready Enhanced Windows Driver Model based 18 Bit AD converter and 20 Bit DA converter 90 dB(A) dynamic range CARDamp 2x 20 Watts output THD: Less than 0.05% Frequency response: 15 Hz to 50 KHz Efficiency: 85% Cinch input to connect to sound card 1/4" phone jack outputs for connecting speakers 300 W computer power supply recommended.

Here's a pretty slick mod for your cpu, its a 80mm fan adapter with a twist, it has three small leds underneath the fan with a clear casing so your case will glow with nice pretty colors.

Funky new mouse alert, looks more like a cicurlar sander if you ask me, this things also freakishly small and has no moving parts, using a technology called membrane switch technology, if you really want to find out what that means and what this little beast looks like go read the review here.

more news later, time to get back to work and sleep :)

There's nothing like watching Rune play games at a LAN. It's a truly unique experiance watching him foam at the mouth, and convulse at the mouse like a cheap porn starlet in her first feature film. He also curses in a way that would get him asked to leave a bar filled with sailors. Sometime we're going to film it and post it for everyone to enjoy.

The reason I'm off on this little note is that Rune is programming for his courses, which means that he's drinking again. I'm trying to picture Rune, gaming.. Drunk.... Now THAT would be quite the thing. :) The thought of it make me smile.... Well, smirk actually would be more the word. If you know me, you know I don't really smile. :)

Anyhows, here's a few pieces of news for today. First off Chisel sent me in some sweeeeet photos..... Check 'em out.. that's not a city.. It's a flippin' LAN PARTY BABY! WHOOHOO! I'd love to be there, even if everyone was cursing at me in German.

Getting bored of that standard shell on Win32? Dman seems to be making sweet love to Litestep quite a bit lately. It looks interesting, but sounds a little too complicated for me to bother with.. But you never know.... If I get bored enough....

Donut911 has sent me... The Pessimists Mug! When things are looking too damned cheerfull for you.... You can always get a healthy dose of reality from your mug.

Dopper was nice enough to hook me up with True Launch, a very VERY sweet utility that I've been enjoying for about a month now. Loverly.

I'm pleased to announce that FRAGtopia.com has just surpased our best month ever by just over 1,000 hits. We're working on the site hardcore now. As you may have noticed we've posted what I'd call a "crapload" of reviews this month, along with doing the complete site revamp. We do need some more good people to write and do reviews, also just to forward any interesting news they find in their wanderings. If you've think you've got what it takes to be a sarcastic, bitter bastard such as myself, and maybe just to have some fun, lemme know.

I'm off to bed now. It is late.

Not much to report today, other than Runex0rz got a cameo on 3 Finger Salute a few days ago and he's alllll pleased with himself. You may all be impressed now....... Good work. :)

In other Runenews, apparently you llamas who are still using voodoo cards can trade them in towards a GeForce (Read "real video card" here) Take a look, salvation may be just a mouse click away.

In one that Dopper will surely love and bookmark, just what kind of Quake monster are YOU?

Dopper gave me the heads up on a few sweet shockwave games located on pepsi.com. You know, it just amazes me that you can have games like this.. Over the interweb..... That have graphics that beat games like GTA that we were oohing and ahhing over just a few short years ago. Sure the shockwave versions don't have the complexity or depth of the offline ones... But you know.. That could change quite easily. Please note I'm posting this because Dopper has been too busy playing with DAOC and other things to post news or a review he's had sitting on his hard drive for over 6 months now.

Someone sent me over a link to Todesangst2, a single player mod in the making for Half Life. I can't even remember who they were, but they were all impressed with the original apparently.

Hey, they finally named a website after our mascott and head audio-meister, Skotos.. They offer interactive story telling games, actually a pretty neat idea if you're into that sort of thing. "Suddenly Marauder spun around the corner, his FN-FAL battle rifle at the ready and got shot right in the face by his own f()*&*(g teammates. Again. And again. And again." (This is an actual story.... You know who you are you bastard. Not that I'm bitter.)

I don't know that I ever mentioned it, but the Mechcommander 2 review we did got a link from the Microsoft Games page. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal, and I wouldn't have giggled like an idiot.... Except for the fact that there's a line in the review that makes fun of Microsoft. :) Heh. Suckers.

Had an interesting experiance a few weeks ago. Wienerboy Dave sent me a link to a website he was working on. When I accessed the site it attempted to run the Nimda A virus on my computer. Luckily Norton caught it and killed it dead. Apparently he had this virus on his machine when he created the web site, and when he uploaded it, this code tagged along:

htmlscript language="JavaScript"window.open("readme.eml", null, "resizable=no,top=6000,left=6000")/script/html

Woops. :) Gotta be carefull with those pesky little bastard viruses. That was pretty sneaky.

Wienerboy also sent over a worthy link a few days ago... You think you've got a funky heatsink? I've never seen anything like this, and they're very quiet as well, apparently.

Hmmmmm. Ever wonder if the seXbox is all part of Microsoft's evil plot to take over the living rooms of the world? Looks like it just might be.

And that is todays news. :)